Movie Analysis Dad With Jack Lemmon, Ted Danson, And...

I chose to watch the movie â€Å"DAD† with Jack Lemmon, Ted Danson, and Olympia Dukakis, just to name a few of the actors. In the past, I’ve seen â€Å"The Notebook† and absolutely loved it, but I wanted to allow myself a new opportunity with a fresh perspective. DAD is a story about family, missed opportunities, and estranged relationships, along with dedication, commitments, and loyalty. I found this movie inspiring, as well as, an accurate portrayal of not only aging, but more importantly, the power of love. This movie begins by telling the story of a husband and wife (Jack Lemmon and Olympia Dukakis) who live an unquestionable, regimented life as the man is starting to slow down and his controlling wife becoming the caregiver. One of the opening scenes is that Lemmon meanders into his bathroom where his toothbrush is laid out, alongside toothpaste, parallel to his comb and razor. Everything is neatly arranged, on the countertop, as a reminder of things he needs to do when he enters his bathroom. The day continues as his wife makes him the same breakfast each morning, while guiding him through their routine for the day, such as trailing behind her in the supermarket. She has taken away her husband’s dignity and respect by treating him as a child instead of an equal partner. During their mid week grocery store visit, she gets a heart attack and is rushed to the hospital. Their daughter calls her brother (Ted Danson), a big wig executive, to fly down and lend

A Marxist Critisim of Barn Burning - 1062 Words

Virginia Benefield Mrs. Woody English 1020 Section C07 11 February 2012 A Marxist Criticism of â€Å"Barn Burning† â€Å"It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but on the contrary their social being that determines their consciousness.† (Marx, A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy). Marx believed that being born in one social class determined ones thoughts and actions. Marx also was adamant that conflict was caused by the division of labor. In â€Å"Barn Burning† by Falkner, both of these beliefs were especially prevalent in the differences between Abner Snopes and Major de Spain. â€Å"Barn Burning† showcases Colonel Sartoris Snopes’s (Sarty) break with his father’s beliefs on how best to deal with the class†¦show more content†¦His son, Sarty, is also developing class consciousness. He, however, thinks there has to be a better approach to creating social justice. Sarty Snopes is only ten years old, yet he has already developed a distinct sense of justice. This is particularly obvious at the beginning of the story. The story opens up in a courtroom where Abner is on trial for burning a barn. Sarty is caught between his blood ties and what he knows is right. Sarty ends up not having to testify, and, for now, does not have to make his decision. Sarty is also beginning to realize the social inequalities of the South and its sharecropping system. Sarty was beginning to see what his father saw, but Sarty was not his father. Sarty sees a different way to enact change, a way without violence. Sarty wanted to be a better man than his father. He detested his father’s brutal ways. Sarty wanted to be a man that would tell the truth no matter the personal consequences. These views were in direct conflict with his father’s, and Sarty knew he would have to make a decision between his father and the man he wants to be. Sarty’s own name is in conflict with itself. Colonel Sartoris was an upper class colonel in the Civil War, while his la st name Snopes is quiet lowly. When the time comes, he does make the break and tells Major de Spain of his father’s plans, but he also has to live with the guilt he now feels for being partly responsible for what he thinks is his father’s death. In â€Å"Barn Burning†,

Essay on Concentration Camps in Night by Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel’s book â€Å"Night† shows the life of a father and son going through the concentration camp of World War II. Their life long journey begins from when they are taken from their home in Sighet, they experience harsh and inhuman conditions in the camps. These conditions cause Elie and his father’s relationship to change. During their time there, Elie and his father experience a reversal in roles. At the beginning of the novel , Elies relationship with his father is fairly close. Slowly but surely, through out the novel their relationship changes. The reason for their father-son relationship tobe fairly close and not extremely close as it should be is because his father, Chlomo’s commitments to the community, affects his life at home.†¦show more content†¦Elie’s thoughts and actions reflect his reliance on his father in the camp. When he is going through selection for a komodo, he begs, â€Å"I want to stay with my father† page 48. But further on in the novel, they drift further and further apart. At some point in the novel, Elie starts to feel that his father is a bit of a burden. Elie and his father experience a reversal in roles, where Elie takes on the fatherly role and his father takes on the child role. After their run to Gleiwitz, Elie noticed how his father had changed from the time they arrived at the camps, â€Å"He had become childlike, weak, frightened, vulnerable† page 105. When they are finally at Buchenwald, Elie and his father spend an entire night apart. When Elie wakes the next morning, he frantically goes looking for him, as a father would look for his lost son. When he locates his father, he notices that his father was just sitting their like a lost child, waiting to be found. Elie says, â€Å"Father! I’ve been looking for so long†¦.where were you? Did you sleep? How are you feeling?† pg.106. .As Elie’s father continues to show that now he is dependent on Elie, Elie slowly but surely grows into a parent. Elie believed he needed to be by his father because his father needed him. At one point in the novel, on page 108 Elie makes a sacrifice for the little bit of food that they barely get for his father, â€Å"For a ration of bread I was able to exchange cots to be next to my father†. ElieShow MoreRelatedA Relationship Between Fathers And Sons Being Broken By Selfish Acts1234 Words   |  5 Pagesshatter the sturdiest of relationships, forever. In Elie Wiesel’s legendary book, Night, Wiesel vividly describes his and his father’s lives in the concentration camps during the Holocaust. During the book, the connection between Elie and his father, Shlomo Wiesel, slowly transitions from a broken father-son relationship to the point where they would risk their lives for one another. Initially, when their lives are rather laid-back, Shlomo and Elie do n ot find much in common with one another, and ShlomoRead MoreFigurative Death in Night995 Words   |  4 PagesDeath in Night In the early 1940’s, Hitler started death camps. His goal was to kill all of the Jews because they were not pure Germans. He started concentration camps, where they would beat and starve the prisoners until they died. The prisoners went through selections to see what job to make them, and if they were not fit enough, to kill them. The Nazis used crematories in which they burned prisoners, in ovens, until they were ashes. One of the most infamous concentration camps was a camp calledRead MoreThe Holocaust By Elie Wiesel1107 Words   |  5 PagesThesis Statement: The hardships that Elie Wiesel faced in the concentration camps lead him to lose faith, until after when realizing it was crucial to keep faith in God despite the horrendous events of the Holocaust. What God would let his people be burned, suffocated to death, separated from their families, and starved toRead More Faith lost in God Essay697 Words   |  3 Pagesnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The book Night by Elie Wiesel, tells a story about a young religious boy who begins to lose his faith in God at such an early age. The book deals with the tragedies as well as the occurrences which has happened during the Holocaust and at the Nazi concentration camps. The young boy named Elie Wiesel deals with the death of his family as well as the painful times during the Holocaust. There are many representations in this book on how Elie Wiesel is shocked with trama atRead MoreThe Psychological Association Of Night By Elie Wiesel1285 Words   |  6 Pageswonder what happened to the children who did survive. Elie Wiesel was one of those children who was ‘lucky’ enough to survive. However his ‘luck’ came at a severe price. Elie Wiesel suffers both severe emotional and physical trauma in his novel, Night. Night tells the story of a young boy, Eliezer Wiesel, and his struggles to survive during the Holocaust. Becoming a victim of various Nazi German concentration camps at the young age of fifteen, Elie finds himself separated from his mom and sisters, neverRead MoreRoad Rage1653 Words   |  7 Pagesghettos, Dr. Mengele’s medical care, and food in the camps Genocide during WWII was unbelievably cruel and awful. The Holocaust was sure to be remembered from this time period and have permanently engraved horrible memories into those who survived. During the Holocaust many victims suffered while living in the ghettos, soon to reach the camps they also suffered there as well. The encounters with Dr. Mengele were unbearable too. Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night is very important especially the fact that it accuratelyRead MoreEliezer Wiesels Relationships1270 Words   |  6 Pages Elie Wiesel was a young boy, when his life changed drastically. He was born in Sighet, Transylvania, which is now Romania. He was born to Shlomo and Sarah, which they had four children, Hilda, Bea, Tsiporah, and Eliezer. Wiesel and his family practiced the Jewish religion, before he was forced into the concentration camps. In the novel Night, Elie Wiesel had a strong belief in God. When Elie and his family were sent off to the concentration camps, he tested his belief in God. In the novel NightRead More night Essay1246 Words   |  5 Pages Night is an autobiographical novella written by Elie Wiesel a young jewish boy who tells of his experiences during the Holocaust. Elie is from the small town of Sighet, Transylvania. This book begins in late 1941 and chronicles Elies life through the end of the war in 1945.He had two older sisters, Hilda and Beatrice Wiesel and a younger sister, Tzipora Wiesel. Elie spoke many languages including Hungarian, Romanian, German and he grew up speaking Yiddish. At the beginning of the book Elie hasRead MoreElie Wiesel Reflection991 Words   |  4 Pagessurvivor by the name of Elie Wiesel was involved with the horror of the Holocaust. After surviving the traumatic incidents of the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel wrote a book called, â€Å"Night†. In his book he details his experiences in what took place in the concentration camps, as well as, many other daunting memories. Before Elie went to the concentration camp, Auschwitz, he had many personality traits that made him who he was, such as being recollected, gretty, and caring. In the book â€Å"Night†, on page 34 it statesRead MoreEssay about Elie Wiesels Night881 Words   |  4 Pagesdetailed accounts of the horrific events from the Nazi regime comes from Elie Wiesel’s Night. He describes his traumatic experiences in German concentration camps, mainly Buchenwald, and engages his readers from a victim’s point of view. He bravely shares the grotesque visions that are permanently ingrained in his mind. His autobiography gives readers vivid, unforgettable, and shocking images of the past. It is beneficial that Wiesel published this, if he had not the world might not have known the extent

Labor Market Policy A Comparative View- Contribute To The Development

Question: Understand key contemporary labour market trends and their significance for different kinds of organisation in different country contexts? Know how to contribute to the development of resourcing strategies? Understand how to maximise employee retention? Answer: Introduction: This assignment deals with the aspect of resourcing and planning of talent within business organization. This assignment deals with the given case study of two big companies within online gambling market. Two fictions company XXX and ZZZ compete with each other within this industry. Trends of the labor market and recommendation for retaining the employees have been discussed in this assignment. Evaluating major trends in contemporary labor markets of different countries: The performance of labor market within UK has been increased from the fallen scenario of the labor market. Labor market of United Kingdom has experienced a severe fall in the rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the year of 2008 and 2009. The labor market of United Kingdom is more flexible than other economies of Europe. Other European countries have more rigid labor market. However, it is less flexible than the labor market of United States. On the other hand, David and Dorn (2013) argued that, in recent times, United Kingdom has shown a huge growth in real level of GDP. In the period of recession, the economy of United Kingdom has shown that, average growth of UK has been remained slightly lower than the total of OECD, in contrast with the faster growth of United Kingdom for the period of 2007. As discussed by Crpon et al. (2012), online gambling industry has potential market in the countries like China. India, United Kingdom, America, South Korea. However, there are provisions in order to provide opportunity of online gambling for the industry. There are different trends in the market industry of online gambling also. Important trends are included in the aspect of industry consolidation, business-to-business expansion and entry of different land based casino operators and emerging platforms. Online gambling industry is one of the richest companies within different industries. The growth of online gambling industry is the important sources of business within this industry (Brooks, 2014). However, Leuven and Oosterbeek (2011) discussed that, the economy of UK has returned to a sustained trend of recovery. The economic structure of United Kingdom has rapidly increased. Therefore, the rate of unemployment has also been increased in accordance with the increased nature of economy. However, the labor market of United Kingdom has faced some issues regarding the level of productivity among the employees within different industry of the competitive sector of the market. The rate of skilled labor is very low within the competitive sector of the market. In case of online gambling, every labor market has faced immense rate of competition between the rival companies within the competitive sector of the market (Sparrow, Scullion and Tarique, 2014). Explaining the significance of loosening or tightening the condition of labor market: As discussed by Kahn (2012), tight labor markets have resulted in the particular period of time when there are shortage in knowledge and skills within the aspect of labor market. On the other hand, loose labor markets are the result of knowledge and surplus of skills those are very useful for undertaking different available roles. The roles as well as responsibilities of loose labor market are included within the initiatives of recruitment, retention of employees and effective design of organization. Therefore, Armstrong and Taylor (2014) argued that, losing and tightening both have strong impact over the condition of labor market. Loosing labor market requires effective process of recruitment, retention among the employees within the competitive sector of the market. Tight labor market has implied fierce competition for the skilled and talented labors within the market sector. On the other part, loose market indicates that the potential employees have the plenty of supplies within the competitive sector of the market. However, Nikolaou (2014) stated that, there are many conflicts among the scholar as well as practitioners in order to implement tight or loose labor market. Loosening or tightening the condition of labor market is very cyclical in nature. It can also be stated that, tight labor markets can become as norm. In the tight labor market, such trends can be done with the help of some challenges of ageing population of workforce or changed nature of work. On the other hand, Handley (2012) stated that, in order to compete within a tight labor market, the market requires reduced people with required capabilities for completing the whole project. The group of employees should remain aware about the effect of power balance (Knight, 2013). In the situation of tight labor market, employees do not have any opportunities for demanding such necessary things. They cannot be able to demand for good working condition, flexibility, pay and development opportunities within the competitive sector of the market. However, in this perspective, the process of work life balance is very required. It is very much required for maintaining the level of employment and labor market within the competitive sector of the market (Kahn, 2012). Describing the role of government and employer for meeting the needs of future: Policy of government and trade union has been changed over the time. With the effect of globalization, liberalization and privatization the scenario has been changed within different competitive sectors of market. In the scenario of United Kingdom, the needs of the employees and employer have also been changed within the competitive sector of the market. The level of competition has been increased due to the changed scenario of the market place. Therefore, every employer of the organization has focused upon the process of meeting the demands and need of the employees within the organization. Therefore, the government and trade union should change the policies and procedures in order to meet the future trends of the market place. However, Ransbotham et al. (2015) argued that, trade union has played a significant role in order to shape the working condition of the employees within different organizations of market place. However, in the very near future, different internal strategies can be adopted by different organizations. Government and trade union should play significant roles as well as responsibilities towards the employer organization or the employees within the competitive sector of the market. Flexible labor market: Government can reduce the impact of laws and regulation towards the situation of labor market. Flexible labor market refers to the market where intervention and regulation of government is low than other competitive market of labor. A flexible labor market has several advantages for the employers and employees also (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). Therefore, the flexible labor market has effective features as well as advantages for the sector of labor market. In a flexible labor market, employer organization can hire as well as fire employees with very easy steps. A firm can be very competitive and efficient as well as effective towards the workers of the organization. With the effect of globalization, every firm needs to be very competitive within the competitive sector of the market. The productivity of labor should be increased within the competitive sector of the market (King, 2014). Most of the employees prefer flexible work environment because it can be suited with the life style and working condition of the employees (Crowley-Henry, 2013). On the other hand, trade union can provide adequate success towards the employees with the changing nature of the employment relation. Foreign direct investment, property and share should be attractive for the employer and employees within the competitive sector of the market place. Trade union can develop different measures for the development of the employees as well as workers (Cooper, 2013, June). Analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of competitors of labor market: UK labor market has seen different difficulties within the competitive sector of the industry. The online gambling industry is very competitive. The industry of online gambling has faced immense competition and rivalry within the competitive sector of the market. However, technological changes have happened within the market sector (Handley, 2014). UK labor market has seen a severe down turn in the period of recession. In the year of 2008 and 2009, the level o economic condition was low in relation with the other competitive sector o labor market. The rate of unemployment was very low within this period of United Kingdom. However, United Kingdom has played an effective role in order to increase the productivity among the labor market. Different policies and regulations of labor market have played efficient role in order to reduce the gap within the productivity among different employer organization (Cooke et al. 2014). The strengths are included within different well-managed firms. United Kingdom has huge capital market (Raidn and Sempik, 2013). The firms here operate within very limited competition (Pilbeam and Atherton, 2012). On the other hand, weakness is included within the wide perception of the competitiveness within the competitive sector of the market. There are substantial issues of low skilled workforce. Process of poor management is also included in the weakness of labor market (Cooper, 2013). Explain how organisations position themselves strategically in competitive labour markets. Organization like XXX and ZZZ are operating their business in online gambling industry. This kind of business is not legal in every country. So they have to be very careful about their business process. There are countries where online gambling is legal and that are the reason both the companies have established their business in Gibraltar. Gibraltar is a place where cost of living is very high. Both the companies operate dozens of website which require skilled employees to operate. Both the company is facing problem in the employee management so they have employed human resource director for the first time (Ransbotham, Kiron and Prentice, 2015). 200 employees are working in each company. The recruitment criteria of the company are the fluency in two languages compulsory in English. Both companies were facing the same problem of staff turnover since the requirement of the employees was high skill since they have to talk with customer to solve their problems. The main problem of this industry was that it requires skilled employees but the job was not so exciting and more over the cost of living in Gibraltar was very high. So both the companies have to make a good human resource strategy to retain their staff. The strategies are as follows (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014) Demand forecasting Demand forecasting is the process by which the human resource department will evaluate the current employee position and what will be their future requirement of employee. By this process the company will be able to understand their future recruitment. Demand forecasting can be done on the rate of employee turnover of the concerned organization (Gray et al. 2012). If the employee turnover is less, then the demand of employees will be less in the future which will also benefit the companys total profitability. If the turnover is high then the demand of future employee will also be high because organization will plan accordingly (Nikolaou, 2014). Supply forecasting Supply forecasting is also a very important task for the human resource department (Leuven and Oosterbeek, 2011). Supply forecast is generally being done on the availability of proper employee in that particular area where they are operating their business. The local demography is the primary source of supply forecasting because organization will always prefer those employees who are local. This kind of strategy will help to retain the employees for a long time. If the local area is not supporting the employee requirement of the organization then they have to think of other sources from where they will be getting their employees (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). Forecasting requirement Forecasting requirement deals with the type of the employee organization required. This is the most important because without proper skilled employee it is very difficult to operate business. Only available of the people will not be able to solve the problem, employees has to be skilled enough to met the requirement of the company.Many time companies find that the local people are not so skilled then they have to hire people from different places to meet their requirement (Handley, 2014). Action Planning In this stage company plans their recruitment by evaluating all the forecasting methods. In this stage company knows what their requirements are and what the supply of employees for the industry is? If local area is not supporting the demand of employee then they recruit their employees from other areas (Taylor, 2014). The compensation has to be good to retain their employees because the cost of living in Gibraltar is also high for the outsiders. Action plan also ensures planning for employee retention. Training is one of them. Training for the employees provides two benefits, first is to increase the skill of the employees for better performance and second is if employees are trained for the proper skill then they will be able to perform well which in turn retain that employee because they are satisfied with their job (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). Figure: Human resource planning flow chart (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014) Evaluate why and how organisations seek to be seen as employers of choice. The company is operating in the industry of online gambling where customer satisfaction has to be very high. To provide best of customer service, company should employ skilled employees for the operational process. Bothe the organization have employed human resource department who will look after the payroll section and introduce the human resource policies for better administrational efficacy of the organization. This kind of activity will ensure a better treatment of the employees who are working in those companies. The organization has introduced few policies which are Responsibility the Companys human resources policies starts different responsibility programme from both the end. The company is taking responsibility for better work environment and skill development of their employees where as they are giving responsibility to the employees, who will provide better work satisfaction for them. Both the companies are operating the business which is illegal in many countries so it is very important wherever they operate their business they operate it ethically by following all the guideline of the local government. Ethical policy will provide stability for the company.Respect Respect is very important for any job it can be respect of the job profile, respect in the work place by the employees and the other colleagues and respect of the job in the society. Both the companies changed their human resources policies for their employees so that they can be satisfied from both the end. The job profile was changed which will provide a good respect in the society.Work life balance Work life balance is important in every industry so that the employees can balance their professional and family life. In this industry the operation of the company runs twenty four hours. There is a need to break the work responsibility of the employees in different shifts so that they do not get tired. The breakdown of shift will provide good balance of personal and professional life. Both the companies are providing good opportunity for the better growth of the personal and professional life which also balances the work life. 5.1 Explain the costs associated with dysfunctional employee turnover and ways of calculating them. Employee turnover is a common problem in the gambling industry where there is a minimum employee retention rate for all companies. The recruitment of employees has certain procedure. There are many consultancies who supply employees for the companies who have a demand of this. The recruiting company has to pay a lot for this service which incurred lot of cost for the company. The process of recruitment therefore cannot be cost effective. Companies spent lot of money to recruit an employee then they spent on their training and development process. If an employee leaves the job after these process then these cost does not add any value to the companys growth. These types of expenses are then treated as loos for the company. Company runs their business on the basis of certain fixed cost which includes the cost to the employee. Now if there is a huge turnover in the originations, then it become difficult to calculate the fixed cost (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). Examine why people choose to leave or remain employed by organisations. The job of gambling industry is call centre type where well skilled worker is very important. Now a people with good skill will always try to find a good company in a good industry for his or her employment. This was the main problem of this industry. Another problem was there of cost of leaving in Gibraltar which was not affordable for the outsiders which was not compensated by the salary (Handley, 2012). If the company can increase their salary then they might retain more number of employees for longer period of time. The job profile was also not good as well as the industry. This kind of industry is not acceptable throughout the world and the job is monotonous so the employees do not get proper motivation to retain in this industry. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to the retention of talent. Strength and weakness of the retention strategy of the companies are discussed below. Strength Both the organization have introduced different HR policies like good payroll, better administration, flexibility of job timing which might be counted as the strength of the company for the retention of their employees (van Hoek and Schultz, 2013, July). Weakness In this industry the weakness is more than the strength for the employee retention. The job is type of call centre where stress is high and employee satisfaction is very less. The cost of living is very high which also contribute to the high employee turnover and moreover the job profile and the industry are not very respectable (Scott, 2014). The companies are trying hard to retain their employees which are very difficult for this industry as it is not legal throughout the world. This is the main reason the companies are unable to get skilled employees who wish to work for long time for them. Reference list: Armstrong, M., and Taylor, S. (2014).Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers. Brooks, S. (2014). Strategic, future-proof succession planning connects Telefnica with success: How HR was able to move the process on.Human Resource Management International Digest,22(2), 28-30. Cooke, F. L., Saini, D. S., and Wang, J. (2014). Talent management in China and India: A comparison of management perceptions and human resource practices.Journal of World Business,49(2), 225-235. Cooper, A. (2013, June). Employer of choice: holistic conceptual model of employer brand creation. InTourism and Hospitality Research in Ireland Conference-THRIC. Cooper, A. (2013, June). Employer of choice: holistic conceptual model of employer brand creation. InTourism and Hospitality Research in Ireland Conference-THRIC. Crpon, B., Duflo, E., Gurgand, M., Rathelot, R., and Zamora, P. (2012).Do labor market policies have displacement effects? Evidence from a clustered randomized experiment(No. w18597). National Bureau of Economic Research Crowley-Henry, M. (2013). Employee Resourcing: The Planning and Recruitment Phase. David, H., and Dorn, D. (2013). The growth of low-skill service jobs and the polarization of the US labor market.The American Economic Review,103(5), 1553-1597. Gray, D., Blackburn, M., Butterfield, E. M., Harrison, P., Kelsey, S., and Window, L. (2012, May). Virtual EQthe talent differentiator in 2020?. University Forum for Human Resource Development (UFHRD2012). Handley, J. (2012). Talent management: the construction of talent. Handley, J. (2014). Gender, networks and talent management: interim findings of a narrative inquiry. Kahn, L. M. (2012). Labor market policy: A comparative view on the costs and benefits of labor market flexibility.Journal of Policy Analysis and Management,31(1), 94-110. King, S. (2014). Workforce, employee resourcing and development and the role of human resources. Knight, E. J. M. (2013). Strategic Human Resources Management practice,are we there yet? A study of the Incorporation of a Strategic Plan.International Journal of Human Resource Management,71, 2104-2111. Leuven, E., and Oosterbeek, H. (2011). Overeducation and mismatch in the labor market.Handbook of the Economics of Education,4, 283-326. Nikolaou, I. (2014). Social networking web sites in job search and employee recruitment.International Journal of Selection and Assessment,22(2), 179-189. Pilbeam, S., and Atherton, J. (2012). The Critical Role of the Front-Line Manager in Operationalising People Management Strategies.Contemporary Themes in Strategic People Management: A Case-Based Approach, 41. Raidn, A., and Sempik, A. (2013). resourcing best practicein construction organisations.Human Resource Management in Construction Projects, 226. Ransbotham, S., Kiron, D., and Prentice, P. K. (2015). The Talent Dividend. Scott, B. (2014). Graduate attributes and talent perceptions: Reflections on the first year of graduate employment.International Journal of Employment Studies,22(1), 39 Shepherd, S. (2014). Attracting the right employees-an ongoing challenge. Sparrow, P., Scullion, H., and Tarique, I. (Eds.). (2014).Strategic talent management: Contemporary issues in international context. Cambridge University Press. Taylor, S. (2014).Resourcing and talent management. van Hoek, L., and Schultz, C. (2013, July). Performance management and remuneration as main dimensions of talent management in a natural resources mining company in Africa. InTechnology Management in the IT-Driven Services (PICMET), 2013 Proceedings of PICMET'13:(pp. 1935-1943). IEEE.

Essay on Attitudes - Components and Aspects

Question: What are the main components of attitudes? What aspects of attitude theory might be of interest to those in business? Answer: According to McGuire, attitudes are responses that locate objects of thought on dimensions of judgment (Fiske, Gilbert and Lindzey, 2010). Attitude is defined as a set of attitudes or emotions, behaviors or beliefs towards a particular person, event or object. Psychologists define attitude as a tendency of evaluating things in a perceived way. The perceptions may be positive or negative in nature. They can be implicit as well as explicit in nature. In social psychology, attitudes may be affected by social norms and social roles. The social roles relates to the expectation of behavior of people in a particular context. The social norms account for the rules that are considered appropriate in nature. As defined by Staats, the three functions of attitude are conditioned stimulus, reinforcing stimulus and discriminative stimulus function. An attitude change is the change in individuals perception towards a certain event or person. There are certain theories related to change in attitude. The theories are as follows: Learning Theory offers an account of the processes involved in storing residual values of direct and symbolic experience. These objects are portrayed as habits, emotions and cognitions. The cognitions are acquired from symbolic communication that is not involved in acquisition of emotions. Elaboration Likelihood Theory is an accounting for the changes observed in attitude. Attitudes are formed and changed after careful integration and consideration of human attitude or issues (Acrwebsite.org, 2015) Cognitive Dissonance Theory- Cognitive dissonance is a situation involving conflicting beliefs, attitude or behaviors. This may produce discomfort that leads to a change in ones attitudes, beliefs or behaviors in order to restore balance. This theory was propounded by Leon Festinger seeking the idea of bring about a balance or consistency in ones behavior or attitude (Stedman, 2002) The attitude has three main components which are also called the ABC Model of Attitudes. The ABC model stands for- Affective, Behavioral and Cognitive components of attitude. The affective component of attitude refers to the feelings or emotions that are linked to an object or person. Attitudes are influenced by affective responses in numerous ways. It follows a belief or evaluation of the attitude towards an object. The responses can be verbal in nature. The verbal response comprises of expressions like appreciation, disdain or disgust. There may also be nonverbal in nature. The nonverbal expressions involve body gestures or facial expressions as affective responses. The affective component is a concern towards target language, or anxiety about learning it. It is defined as a feeling based evaluative component. Affective component of attitude also expresses and validates the moral belief or value systems (Ajzen, 2010). The behavior is based upon ones own behavior that may be weak or ambiguous in nature. In an organization, if the person who believes is working hard may get angry or frustrated if he is not appreciated or promoted. The affective component becomes stronger because the individual gets a direct experience with the situation or person. Affect is considered to be an emotional component of attitude. The affective component is reflected by statements like I prefer that or I like this. The psychological indicators such as changes in electrical resistance of skin and blood pressure indicate emotional arousal. Such indicators display changes in emotions by measuring psychological arousal. A change in arousal might be shown if an individual tried to hide his or her feelings (P. G. Aquinas., 2009). The affective component at a workplace defines what the employee feels about at organization. The behavioral component of attitude refers to the behavior or a consisting attitude of a person towards an object, person or event. It is also called the conative component that has influences upon how one acts or behaves to situations. It is an evaluation of behavioral component towards an event or situation with regard to a persons verbal statements concern behavior. This component of attitudes represents a tendency of an individual to behave in a perceived way. This is the only component of attitude that is visible in nature. The other two components can only be inferred. It is also influenced by the attitudes people have been following in their past towards a situation or person (Robinson, Shaver and Wrightsman, ). The self-perception theory uses knowledge or attitude to make a sense out of any action taken. The peoples attitude in a workplace or an organization largely stems from various factors like job involvement, job satisfaction and organizational commitment. In an organiz ation, consistency and satisfaction are the primary things that people seek. Job satisfaction refers to the general attitude or level of satisfaction of employees towards their job. Psychological identification is done by job involvement of people. The degree to which an employee identifies goals of a particular job is job involvement. At a workplace, the behavioral component means what an employee thinks must be his behavior as per situations and to people. The cognitive component is the belief, attribute or knowledge about a person or object. A persons attitude might be based upon both positive and negative attributes the individual associates with an object. An attitude or belief towards an object may newly be formed under this component of attitude. The perceptions or concepts are usually expressed by verbal questions. The cognitive component maybe categorized into verbal and non verbal responses. The verbal responses refer to the expression of beliefs towards an object. The nonverbal responses are difficult to assess. The information provided about attitudes is mostly indirect in nature. The component mainly involves thoughts and beliefs (Maio and Haddock, 2015). Discrimination is wrong, being a belief, is a value statement. This forms the cognitive component of attitude. The cognitive elements are evaluative beliefs that measured by asking about thoughts. They may also be measured in scales. The cognitive component forms the more c ritical part of attitude. At a workplace, the cognitive component defines what an employee believes to be true about the job, regarding the duties and responsibilities. People can experience different moods at work. The moods can be categorized into positive and negative mood. Such an attitude is caused by certain events or happenings at a workplace. The employees feel enthusiastic, active, elated, excited and peppy when they have a feeling of positivity. The negative moods are reflected by feeling nervous, jittery, scornful, fearful or hostile. Such moods also affect an organizational behavior that turn into attitudes towards the organization. A subordinate may feel stronger if motivated by the superior. Similarly, a manager may feel elated with a positive attitude of employees. The basic need of an organization is to keep a balance between emotions of what the employees, client or customers and managers feel about the organization. The summation of everything relates to profitability, smooth functioning and long running of an organization. The feelings are expressed in both verbal and non verbal expressions (Hellriegel and Slocum, 2007). There are several kinds of attitudes withheld by people at a workplace. Every human being has his own attitudes and perceptions towards issues and people. They see things differently, and the level of satisfaction varies in every person. Job involvement is the level of involvement of employee how they relate to the organization. It is an attitude of a psychological relation between a person and the organization. The involvement in a job by an employee determines the commitment he has towards the organization. It also acts as an evidence for people who are strongly attached to the job. Job involvement is an identification of worth of work and value in an employees life. Employees can engross themselves in a work highly. They also invest their time and energy to provide a fundamental basis in overall life. Higher organizational citizenship and creation of self image is formed with more job involvement. Higher the job involvement more is the psychological empowerment. The traumatic effects of job loss are explained by employees holding meaningful jobs. They construct self image and explain the loss of job effects on esteem needs. Every company has a different code of conduct or ethics, which can be explained by the empl oyees by exhibiting high growth needs. Such employees also make an involvement in decision making. Job involvement at a workplace helps in reducing absenteeism and turnover rates. A high involvement by the manager in the company satisfies the employees working under him. Such involvement is important for an organizations effectiveness and in maintaining a highly competitive environment. Job Satisfaction is an attitude of satisfaction of content that individuals carry in an organization. As quoted by Brown, "Take away my people, but leave my factories, and soon grass will grow on the factory floors. Take away my factories, but leave my people, and soon we will have a new and better factory" (Griffiths and Costi, 2011). There are several factors or aspects in a job such as promotional opportunities, pay or wage and the role of co-workers that are played in the base of job satisfaction. The determinants of job satisfaction are certain policies and procedures, supervisors style and other work environments that affect the level of job satisfaction. It may also be defined as a set of emotions that may be favorable or unfavorable in nature that employees perceive from their work in the company. It is an affective attitude by nature. An employee can have likes or dislikes towards their job or position in the company. This may be viewed as an overall attitude that may be app lied to various parts of work. It may be related to positivity that one perceives in the organization. There may be certain negative feelings carried by the employees in an organization that also relates to job satisfaction. Organizational Commitment may be defined as strength of identification and involvement in an organization. It may be termed as a state when an employee identifies oneself with a particular organization. He may also relate himself with the goals of the organization and work in the required way to attain the objectives. Organizational commitment is the willingness of an employee to remain as a working element of the company. The commitment reflects the employees belief in attaining the goals of the company. Where there is a high level of job involvement, there is high organizational commitment. It may be identified as a relationship between job productivity and organizational commitment. The commitment is described by the willingness in the employee for the organization to fulfill the duties and responsibilities. There must be development of new ideas to make a company better. One must take initiatives to resolve problems or issues in the organization. It is an individuals identificati on for a strong desire, strong belief in the organization. There are certain aspects of attitude that might interest to a business and they look forward in their employees and managers. These set of attitudes are appreciated and required in individuals for effective working and functioning of the organization. Such aspects help in resolution of conflicts and create a positive environment at a workplace. Assertiveness is an attitude of being confident and self-assured without being passive or aggressive. A good leader must be assertive in nature. At a workplace, one must be assertive in nature. One must have patience to listen to others problems. One must also be patient for their queries or issues to get resolved. A passive behavior is nit appreciated in the organization. One must focus on leading. It is the responsibility of individuals to guide others if other goes wrong. A proactive nature is also considered important. One must frame a set of possible future implications and map a plan of action. The sharing of ideas must be communicated as headlines by the leader. One must have an attentive mind. One must demonstrate that he is listening and not just hearing message. Respectfulness is an important attitude in an organization. Employees must treat each other with respect. There must be a respectful attitude in the organization among colleagues and peers, clients and customers. Respectfulness is having a consideration for oneself and other. In a workplace, mutual respect is very important. A common goal in all organizations is profitability. One must consider taking viewpoint of others as well as state ones own state. The motivations can be better understood if there is a respectful communication among employees. The knowledge must be valued that are presented by the people. There must be places to be agreed or connected for support. In a workplace, one must acknowledge the feeling and self esteem of others. It is not necessary that the individual self will be right at all times. A good listener is always welcomed in an organization. Even in case of a workplace conflict, there must be ways devised to resolute such conflicts with respect. One must a bide by the ethics of organization, learn the art of small talk and take things in a lighter manner. There must be presentation of opinions and treat colleagues as one expects to be treated. There must be maintenance of confidentiality. Pridefulness is an attitude both positive and negative in nature. Prideful does not mean that an employee would not accept or help in teams. Instead it means that the improvement in connection and getting recognition for the work performed by them. The leaders often look the importance of pride in an organization. Pride acts as a motivation to employees in retaining or developing their personnel. It is also useful to maintain standards in the organization. The company must make the employee feel proud by giving recognition to his work. Pride can be negative in nature that makes a person as mean and not welcomed in the organization. Pride is a desire to lift an employee beyond the place. Commitment is an important aspect of attitude at a workplace. It is of great value in a workplace as the companies need such people who are committed to the organization, its goals, its mission and its values. The commitment is described by the willingness in the employee for the organization to fulfill the duties and responsibilities. There must be development of new ideas to make a company better. One must take initiatives to resolve problems or issues in the organization. It is an individuals identification for a string desire, strong belief in the organization. The commitment reflects the employees belief in attaining the goals of the company. Where there is a high level of job involvement, there is high organizational commitment. It may be identified as a relationship between job productivity and organizational commitment. Innovation is a significant change that the employees construct in the organization. The innovation may arise in a product, process, position or paradigm. There may be innovation in the mentioned parameters to bring about a change in the working of organization that helps in attaining goals. The concept of innovation is diverse. It is a trait that is intangible in nature. But it relates to the capacities of thinking and developing ideas that may benefit the organization. Organizations can provide training to the employees in order to enhance their mental growth. Creativity that may be applied in attaining organizational goals may be tangible in nature. It is a behavior of employees that pursues a measuring process in order to measure results. Helpfulness is an indicator that assists clients and customers, or the behavior of helping each other at a workplace. The attitude must be willing to help others in times of need regarding some work that the person is difficult to understand. The managers must help the employees that drive motivation in them. A good leader is a person who helps the workers in times of difficulty. There must be a trust built among employees of the organization by enhancing the working relationships. The teamwork must be improved. Team work helps in inculcating the attitude of helpfulness in an individual. Helpfulness must extend focusing on problem solving for oneself as well as others. An attitude of conflict resolution is appreciated in the organization. Punctuality is another attitude that involves timeliness. One must commit to arrive and leave on time. There must be a thinking to prepare the work on time within the given time frame. The meetings conducted must begin on time. Time is money. The employees should not waste their time as well as others. The managers must consider beginning the meetings so that no time is wasted for the people attending the meetings. This must be confirmed y the managers or superiors conducting meetings. Te employees must consider meeting the deadlines for work. There should not be a lag in work relating to time frame. Punctuality or very less absenteeism must be acknowledged in the organization. One must have a clear understanding of purpose of ones job. There must be a critical assessment of different tasks. Priority of task completion must be allocated smartly by the workers. Conclusion Attitude helps in motivating and decision making at a workplace. The affective, behavioral and cognitive components of attitude play an important role in the organization. The aspects of attitude like assertiveness, punctuality, helpfulness, innovation, commitment, Pridefulness and helpfulness plays an important role in determining the success of an organization. Such qualities or working attitudes are appreciated in the organization as it helps in attaining organizational goals missions and objectives. The aspect of attitude is mainly determined by three ways that is job involvement, job satisfaction and organizational commitment. It is important to maintain decorum in the working of organization with a positive attitude. The managers and employees must work efficiently in a positive manner. A common goal in all organizations is profitability. One must have a clear understanding of purpose of ones job. There must be a critical assessment of different tasks. . The determinants of job satisfaction are certain policies and procedures, supervisors style and other work environments that affect the level of job satisfaction. . There must be development of new ideas to make a company better. One must take initiatives to resolve problems or issues in the organization. References Acrwebsite.org, (2015). 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