Saturday, October 5, 2019
Macro Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1
Macro Economics - Essay Example The focus shifts from expenditure to save more of the current income for future spending. Thus in reacting to this less expenditure on the part of the consumers and the investors the firm will lower their production resulting in less output. Reduction in the wage rate of the workers in this circumstance will not contribute to the elimination of the huge unemployment rate prevailing in the economy. Simultaneous decrease in the interest rates in the economy will also not succeed in returning the economy back in the original track (Gwartney, Stroup, Sobel and MacPherson, 228). Wages and interest rates are considered fixed in the Keynesian theory. According to the theory even if there is a decline in the wage rate a negative impact will be exerted on the economy through the reduction in income and hence reduction in aggregate demand. Keynesian theory rejects the view of the classical economists that market forces will bring back the system of full employment in the economy. Equilibrium i n the economy will be reached when the total spending in the economy will be equal to the total output. Changes in output may drive the economy to a certain extent towards the equilibrium as opposed to price changes as suggested by the other stream of economists.
Friday, October 4, 2019
HIPPA and Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words
HIPPA and Technology - Essay Example iii. ââ¬Å"Technologies that address the needs of children and other vulnerable populations.â⬠HIPAA allows for technology that will address the needs of vulnerable people; iPhones and iPads may help to reach them since they may find it hard to reach various health institutions. The new changes in HIPAA regulations state that the sale of protected health information must not involve a disclosure of protected health information. An entity may not reveal protected health information unless the law compels the release of information or when required by the Secretary. The article ââ¬Å"How might the iPad change healthcareâ⬠notes that the iPad will bring a revolution in the health care sector since sharing of health related information will be very easy. The article ââ¬Å"Identification of iPhone and iPad Applications for Obstetrics and Gynecology Providersâ⬠believes that it may be very hard to design gadgets that will address issues that pertain to obstetrics and gynecology. Breach Notifications: Formerly, notifications were needed when a data breach posed any harm. Today, it is required to inform the Department of Health and Human Services once unsecured data is breached. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (2006). HIPAA Administrative Simplification. Retrieved on May 26, 2015 from
Thursday, October 3, 2019
Commanding heights episode Essay Example for Free
Commanding heights episode Essay Commanding heights: The New Rules is the third film in the series and is about the 21st century economy. PBS sponsored the film under the direction of Michael Sullivan to inform the public about the economic situation. They speak about how the economy adapted to what is today. How the world nationalized third world countries allowing exchange and investment. Episode 3 addresses the current and future problems of a globalized world. Thats the structure of the film. The film clearly, thoroughly, and excitingly explains this through historic facts and stories told by citizens who lived during the changes. This is not an economics lesson but rather a high dramatic event that impacts peoples lives. Commanding Heights shows that it is people who create the ideas, it is people who accept or reject them, it is people who profit or suffer by them. The series travels to the locations where events happened, and in many cases, interviews the people who made them happen, from Bill Clinton to Milton Friedman to workers in various countries. Episode three encompasses that along with globalization and an open free market and period of peace and advancement of technologies and ideological views will happen. A global economy ill introduce a path to peace and prosperity for rich and poor nation alike. The New Rules of the Gamin 1992, things looked bad for the U. S. economy: Western Europe was assembling into a powerful economic alliance (the European Union) to compete with America, Japans economy was unstoppable, and the U. S. was in the worst recession in decades. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was a trade agreement between the U. S. , Canada and Mexico that lowered, but did not eliminate, many trade barriers between the three countries. In large part, Bush wanted to get NAFTA approved to strengthen the U. S. economy against Japan and Europe. The negotiations for NAFTA began under his term. NAFTA became an issue during the 1992 elections. Bush wanted NAFTA 100%, Perot wanted it cancelled, and Clinton wanted NAFTA, but with important amendments added to force Mexico to raise labor and pollution standards so they would have to compete on more even footing with American workers. Clinton won, and his plan was put into action. The labor unions gave Bill Clinton the support he needed to win. NAFTA led to a huge increase in the amount of trade between the three countries. Likewise, each country ad significant GDP growth that was directly attributable to the freer trade. The biggest growth was in Mexico, in wealth and employment. The impact on the U. S. was that 400,000 American Jobs were lost to more competitive workers and factories south of the border, American unions sustained major and lasting damage to their political influence and membership, and the gap between rich and poor Americans grew wider. As in previous cases, deregulation and freer trade benefitted a whole economy in aggregate while severely hurting a small percentage of people and massively benefitting some companies that are able to take advantage of the new rade policies. In the global economy, annual trade in tangible goods and services is worth $8 trillion while trade in currencies is worth $288 trillion. U. S. workers in both public and private sectors have trillions of dollars invested in work-related retirement portion of American workers pensions is invested overseas. Thus, most American workers are significantly invested in the global economy. After NAFTA, Clinton pursued other important trade liberalization policies across the world. One of his major accomplishments was strengthening the global free market in the aftermath of Communisms collapse. In 1994, Mexico faced political and economic crisis, and the country came to the brink of defaulting omits foreign debt. There was real fear that the country, left to its own devices, could fall into chaos, and millions of refugees would head north into the U. S. Clinton had crisis meetings with his advisors over the issue and decided to give Mexico a $50 billion loan. It worked to stabilize the country, Mexico repaid the money ahead of schedule, and the U. S. looked like a benevolent actor to the world. However, many critics considered Clintons actions to be a prime example of moral hazard: By bailing out the Mexican government, the U. S. was in essence bailing out thousands of private investors who had put money into the country without properly weighing the risks. The bailout signaled the private sector that it could make similarly bad future investment choices without fear since the U. S. would again rescue them. Critics feared this would make sovereign debt crises more likely. Globalization is defined as the free flow of goods, services, capital, and labor across national borders. China has a number of Free Trade Zones, which are small geographic areas in which companies can build factories to build and export nything with very few restrictions. The Zones are exempt from Chinas otherwise strict business and export laws. Seaports and airports are usually located very close tour within Free Trade Zones. At long last, Japans economic bubble burst in the 1990s and the country slid into a major recession that it never really recovered from. American fears of Japan someday taking over the world economically were quickly and permanently dispelled. In the beginning America was behind Japan and Europe in trading and economic growth, thus NAFTA was created to allow trading between North America. The United States were now able to trade freely with Canada and Mexico, providing great economic growth for all three countries in North America. When trading borders opened up Tijuana became a massive manufacturer of televisions for the United States, Northern Mexico was able to open up many Jobs giving opportunities to Southern Mexicans. This created an economic boom in North America leading to a surge that would be able to compete with other Countries, because this would allow us to buy cheaper goods. In the end although it hurt American Jobs because Mexicos goods were cheaper, Both Bush and Clinton wanted NAFTA to succeed in order to put labor and pollution laws into effect in all the countries involved.
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
The sustainable development
The sustainable development Sustainable Development has become the ââ¬Ëbuzz word in the present times. It is being used in every field right from environment to economy and politics. It is seen as the right kind of development, a solution, that is going to free the world from the dangers of environmental catastrophes triggered by the economic activities of man. On the one hand, sustainable development is perceived as the means to achieve a balanced civilization that exists in sync with its environment while at the same time progressing economically, and on the other hand, it is subject to endless debates on what exactly are its goals and how they can be achieved. This essay is a review of the chapter by Michael Jacobs, ââ¬Å"Sustainable Development as a Contested Conceptâ⬠which is a part of the book, Fairness Futurity: Essays on Environmental Sustainability Social Justice (Dobson, A., 1999). In this chapter, Jacobs expounds the radical theory of sustainable development and argues against the section that proclaims the principles of Sustainable Development (SD) to be redundant. He puts forward several interesting arguments stating the usefulness and absolute necessity of Sustainable Development in the present society. The aim here is therefore to underline some of the key issues and arguments put forward by Jacobs and to critically analyze the article. The author starts out with emphasizing the popularity of SD in the present times and its importance in context of the problems faced by the world. He highlights the two main definitions that have been generally used for sustainable development. One by the Bruntland Commission, states ââ¬Å"Sustainable development means development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needsâ⬠. The second definition by caring for the earth states that, ââ¬Å" Sustainable Development means improving the quality of life while living within the capacity of the supporting ecosystemsâ⬠. The author has in a systematic manner, explored the key issues pertaining to sustainable development. These can be summarized as follows: KEY ISSUES The first issue pointed out by the author is that the concept of SD has not yet been universally accepted. There are various forces of opposition that resist the concept. He highlights three important resistances. The first is that SD is an insufficiently defined term and hence some doubt its incorporation into policy-making, as the objectives are not quite clear. Secondly, the section of populace known as the ultra-greens absolutely rejects the notion of SD. According to them, SD provides an excuse to the business and development interests to carry on their economic activities without considering the environment as much as it should be. According to them, SD runs the risk of getting sucked into the capitalist milieu. And thirdly, opposition comes from the academia who state that the concept of SD stems from the same set of ideals i.e. ââ¬Ëmodernism, scientific positivism and realism, which were the foundation of modern economic growth and society. The second issue lies in the lack of a precise definition of SD. The author points out that the meaning of SD lies at two levels. At the first level, the definition is universal and consists of a set of ââ¬Ëcore ideas that are accepted as an integral part of the concept. At the second level comes the debate on how it should be interpreted in practice leading to alternative conceptions of the meaning. Certain sections call for a more precise meaning for the concept to become operational. ââ¬ËThe technocrats for example, state that SD can be functional only when one single meaning is agreed upon. There is a ââ¬Ëgallery of definitions and it is not exactly clear as to what it means by the terms ââ¬Ëdevelopment or ââ¬Ëneeds or what must be exactly sustained and how ââ¬Ëquality of life can be measured. Then the environmentalists concerned about the concept getting politicized claim that unclear definition can lead to misuse of the term Sustainable Development (SD). It is in danger of becoming a clichà © used by businesses in order to show their support to the environmental concerns whilst actually carrying out unsustainable activities. The Third issue highlighted by the author is the rift between the ââ¬Ëradical sustainable development model and the ââ¬Ëconservative sustainable development model. The author starts out with putting out the six core ideas of sustainable development that are integral part of it no matter which model one advocates. These six core ideas include: Environment-economy integration Intergenerational equity Intragenerational equity Environmental protection Quality of life Participation. The key argument of the author is that despite of the fact that SD contains some drawbacks in terms of ambiguity at the second level, the core ideas of SD make it unequivocal at the first level of meaning itself. He explains that the core ideas are neither meaningless nor redundant because each of them makes up a very important objective requiring firm changes in every field of policy making. Secondly, he reasons that these core ideas were never a part of the ââ¬Ëdevelopmental goals of the countries in the past 50 years. Hence incorporation of these core ideas into governmental objectives has put development on a different flight altogether. And thirdly, the scope of SD is very broad consisting of not only environmental protection but also other issues that are social and economical. These issues spring out from the environmental roots and branch out into various sectors. Hence, SD helps in building a society whose, social, economic and political agendas are underpinned by the env ironmental agenda. The author brings out the rift between radical and conservative models of SD by exploring the opposing interpretations of SD along four faultlines drawn from its core ideas. The first faultline pertains to environmental protection where SD is divided between weak SD and strong SD. The weak SD lies on the principle that economic activities cannot be carried out under the limits of environment. Environment has to be protected ââ¬Ëwhere possible only after assessing the economic benefits availed from protecting it. It does not consider the intrinsic or existence value of the environment. The strong SD, is totally opposite, as in, it lies on the principle that economic activities should not exceed the carrying capacity of the environment whatsoever and takes the help of tools such as ââ¬Ëmaximum sustainable yield to govern extraction of resources. The second faultline is in terms of equity, which is again divided between the North and South interpretation. The southern view calls for a redistribution of global resources and the release of northern domination upon the resources of the world. However, the north is still uncomfortable about this viewpoint and stresses very little on issues of global distribution of resources or intra-country equality. The third faulline pertains to participation. Here the implementation of SD can be divided into ââ¬Ëtop-down approach or the ââ¬Ëbottom-up approach. In the ââ¬Ëtop-down approach the governments make the decision and public participation is only limited to implementation levels and personal changes such as recycling, energy saving etc. in the ââ¬Ëbottom-up approach, participation occurs at the objective setting and the implementation stages. It seeks the participation of public in shaping the objectives of SD and how it can be achieved. And finally, the last faultline pertains to the scope of the subject area. Government and businesses restrict the scope of SD to only environmental concerns. They claim that the efficiency of SD decreases as its breadth increases, as it only becomes a generalized approach to ââ¬Ëprogress. However, advocates of the broader conception state that SD is about the total quality of life and is valid for the entire societal concerns. The radical SD model is based on the egalitarian, strong, bottom-up and broad interpretation of SD while the other set of ideas characterize the conservative model of SD. Here it would suffice to say that the author clearly advocates the radical model of sustainable development and refutes the criticism that SD is vague and unsuitable for application. He argues that implementing SD no matter what its weaknesses are, would lead to the slow diffusion of radical SD without making the political and economic organizations jittery and uncomfortable. He argues, that even though SD is blamed to provide an excuse to the governments and businesses to carry on their economic activities, it has at the least, put up environment on the map of the business agenda. SD has created considerable debate on what should be done to protect the environment and how it should be done. It has raised awareness and increased pressure on the government to deliver. After highlighting these key issues and arguments, the following part of the essay shall consider the strengths and weaknesses of the article. It would delve into how the author has convincingly advocated the implementation of radical SD model and what are the issues he has missed out on. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE ARTICLE The author has applied a very structured methodology to put forward his argument in support of sustainable development convincingly. His approach is to first define the concept of sustainable development. He uses the two most common ones that are widely accepted. These include the brundtland definition and the caring for the earth definition. These have been given at the beginning of this essay. Then he gives out the six core ideas of SD, which make up its essence. He uses these core ideas to explain the rift between the radical and conservative sustainability and finishes off with the conclusion that radical sustainability forms the core of the definition of sustainable development. As the author clearly states ââ¬Å"There is nothing underhand about this: though contested at the second level of meaning, the radical model is drawn directly from the uncontested first level concept of sustainable developmentâ⬠. The major strength of the article lies in the fact that it clearly stresses the importance of sustainable development in spite of its various drawbacks. It is of a common opinion that sustainable development is the most appropriate existing approach to bringing policy changes in every phase of the society. The author puts forward alternative interpretations of the concept of SD and expounds that the kind of interpretation defines the perception of usefulness or uselessness of SD. SD has suffered from severe criticism in terms of its definition and objectives as have been clearly stated by the author in the form of the three kinds of resistances. The article is refreshing in the sense that, the author puts a positive view in support of SD and reestablishes its critical role. Many critics state that SD is incapable of changing the path of development. That economic growth will continue no matter what. The author is quick to point out the political significance of SD in this context. He states that SD has allowed adoption of international documents such as Agenda 21 by various countries putting SD and environmental protection on their objective list. ââ¬ËThere are much greater levels of activity and debate in the environmental policy field. The author highlights the various ways in which SD has been able to bring a change in the approach to things. Firstly, governments are faced with an obligation to fulfill their commitment by signing documents such as agenda 21. As participation forms an integral part of SD, it has revived the participation of the public who are demanding for greater initiatives by the government. Secondly, it has increased the pressure of the media and pressure groups on the government and has become a valuable tool to make the government and businesses accountable. And thirdly, it has led to redefining the policy framework of institutions and put environmental protection on the table. Many critics are of the view that SD runs the danger of commercializing environmental protection. The author refutes the argument saying that if it were not for SD the governments would not even have been ââ¬Ëpretending. SD binds the governments to new commitments and makes them more responsible even if it is at a b eginners level. The author very nicely puts forward that the strength of SD lies in the fact that every community has endorsed it. It is supported not only by the radicals but also by the conservatives. In the words of the author, ââ¬Å"SD appears to have the remarkable capacity to articulate, nourish and propagate quite radical political ideas while appearing respectably non-politicalâ⬠. The author uses the four faultlines very effectively in order to bring out the ambiguity created by differing conceptions. While one interpretation, i.e. the conservative interpretation, limits the effectiveness of SD, the other interpretation calls for an overhaul of the existing policy making infrastructure. Hence before being critical of how sustainable is sustainable development, it is important to judge the interpretation taken into account for that particular scenario. Although all the ideas suggested by the radical model as put down by Jacobs, are relevant and address the core problems directly, one very important issues highlighted by Jacobs has been the North-South issue. This issue deserves more thought as it plays an important role in garnering international cooperation for SD. However, the issue does not solely lie in the global redistribution of the resources but also on the blame-game played by each other. While the North blames the poor of the south for environmental degradation, it doesnt take into account issues such as subsistence lifestyles of the very poor in the south and local scale of the degradation caused by them as compared to the global scale of degradation caused by the activities in the north (Timothy Boyle, 1998). Unless the North recognizes the consequences of its own activities and the need to change them, SD will mainly remain ideal in nature. Another important point that has been missed out is that economic growth forms the basic premise of SD. SD does not stop economic growth but only changes the way in which this growth is achieved. It has been implied that economic growth is needed to remove poverty, which is a major cause and effect of global environmental problems (WCED). However, the fact that has gone unrecognized is that economic growth per se has not been able to remove poverty till now. In the words of Sharachchandra, ââ¬Å"if economic growth itself leads to neither environmental sustainability nor removal of poverty, it is clearly a non-objective for SDâ⬠. And finally, the notion of equity differs from place to place. What is equitable in the north may not be equitable in the south. There has been literature in the developing countries especially by authors like Jodha, who have pointed out evidence that inequity has actually ensured sustainable usage of resources. The standards governing equitability differ and hence cannot be made universal. Hence to conclude, Jacobs has done a good job at propounding the usefulness of sustainability and dismissing its critics. However, there are many minute points of digression in the concept that need to be looked at. SD as a concept cannot be run across the breadth of the globe but has to adapt itself to the microscopic differences between region to region. This is not to undermine the fact that SD has and will continue to play an important role in modifying global economic and political scenarios.
Things Fall Apart :: essays research papers
Things Fall Apart is a novel written by Chinua Achebe. I t takes place in the middle of the twentieth century, in Umuofia Africa. It is based on the life of its main character Okonkwo and his village. Okonkwo was a well known, accomplished man in his village. He was a man of two titles and he earned every bit of it. Okonkwoââ¬â¢s family included eight children, six sons and two daughters. He also had three wives which was also a symbol of wealth in Umuofia because in their village it was their custom to have men pay a bride price for their wives. Okonkwo worked very hard to obtain everything he had because his father Unoka left him with nothing but debt. Unoka, Okonkwoââ¬â¢s father was a very lazy degenerate gambler of whom Okonkwo was ashamed of. Unoka was often referred to as an efulefu, or a man with of no worth . Okonkwo overcame these negative aspects of his childhood, started with a small loan of yam seeds, and worked to become a very wealthy man. Everything in Umuofia seemed normal and seemed to be going well for Okonkwo and his family until Okonkwo committed a fatal action. The story then takes another turn when Okonkwo, his village, and the eight villages surrounding his were affected by the new coming European customs and laws. . The village of Umuofia was located in the rainforest region Africa. The people of Umuofia were mainly farmers of root crops and herders of sheep and goat. Their farming and herding was very successful and it provided a surplus which made way for their market. Umuofia and the eight villages surrounding it were male dominated villages, yet women were also very important because of their abilty to give birth. The femaleââ¬â¢s ability to conceive children was the most important and beneficial thing for a woman to do in Umuofia. Women also helped in farming , but they were limited to farming beans, cassava, and things that required light duty farming. The men farmed the yam which was referred to as the king of crops because it required heavy labor and attentive care. The people of Umuofia were polytheistic, they had a long list of gods and goddesses such as Chukwu, who was believed to have created the world and the other gods, Ani, who was their earth goddess, Agbala, and many others. The Umuofians created carvings and other things that were symbolic of their gods. Things Fall Apart :: essays research papers Things Fall Apart is a novel written by Chinua Achebe. I t takes place in the middle of the twentieth century, in Umuofia Africa. It is based on the life of its main character Okonkwo and his village. Okonkwo was a well known, accomplished man in his village. He was a man of two titles and he earned every bit of it. Okonkwoââ¬â¢s family included eight children, six sons and two daughters. He also had three wives which was also a symbol of wealth in Umuofia because in their village it was their custom to have men pay a bride price for their wives. Okonkwo worked very hard to obtain everything he had because his father Unoka left him with nothing but debt. Unoka, Okonkwoââ¬â¢s father was a very lazy degenerate gambler of whom Okonkwo was ashamed of. Unoka was often referred to as an efulefu, or a man with of no worth . Okonkwo overcame these negative aspects of his childhood, started with a small loan of yam seeds, and worked to become a very wealthy man. Everything in Umuofia seemed normal and seemed to be going well for Okonkwo and his family until Okonkwo committed a fatal action. The story then takes another turn when Okonkwo, his village, and the eight villages surrounding his were affected by the new coming European customs and laws. . The village of Umuofia was located in the rainforest region Africa. The people of Umuofia were mainly farmers of root crops and herders of sheep and goat. Their farming and herding was very successful and it provided a surplus which made way for their market. Umuofia and the eight villages surrounding it were male dominated villages, yet women were also very important because of their abilty to give birth. The femaleââ¬â¢s ability to conceive children was the most important and beneficial thing for a woman to do in Umuofia. Women also helped in farming , but they were limited to farming beans, cassava, and things that required light duty farming. The men farmed the yam which was referred to as the king of crops because it required heavy labor and attentive care. The people of Umuofia were polytheistic, they had a long list of gods and goddesses such as Chukwu, who was believed to have created the world and the other gods, Ani, who was their earth goddess, Agbala, and many others. The Umuofians created carvings and other things that were symbolic of their gods.
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Comedy of Errors, Adrianna/ marriage Essay -- essays research papers
Marriage: What Can you Posses? à à à à à Within the very beginning of the story we see that the characters are placed into a society of which there is seemingly very little value in a persons humanity and kindness, but rather the society into which we first enter is seen as almost materialistic, and even though Egeon, has lost a wife and son, the Duke of Ephesus is only concerned with the money from which he can extract from Egeon. We see here that in order for Egeon to keep his marriage alive he has to pay for his life and so we begin to see the trend of what one can posses in a marriage, instead of love and respect. à à à à à We see this act of possessions come through most clearly in the relationship of Adriana and Antipholus of Ephesus. We see that Adriana is jealous of her husbands freedoms when she knows that he married her only because of her wealth, a fact we find out later on in the play, but as she states, ââ¬Å"Why should their liberty than ours be more?â⬠(II,10). When Luciana states to her sister, ââ¬Å"because their business is out of doorsâ⬠that only serves to infuriate Adriana even more and retorts that Luciana speaks without experience and that once she is married, she will have a different point of view. As they debate, Dromio of Ephesus returns and reports the bizarre behavior of his master saying that Antipholus is mad and will talk of nothing but his gold. Furious, Adriana is thinking that yes her husband married her for her...
Human Resource Management and the Banking Sector Essay
tHuman resource management and the banking sector By Imran Samad Human resource management (HRM) has long been overlooked in the corporate sector in the country where a small section, comprising mostly the multi-national companies was practising the same. With the growing realization of proper HRM in the corporate sector, it has grown into an important activity. Now the head of HRM is an important member of the senior teams of any thriving business. Although the idea is new for many local businesses where entrepreneurs are at the beginning of the learning curve yet in reality the theme is getting support from the organized entrepreneurs. The banking sector has grown from a few institutions primarily involved in deposit acceptance and trade finance into a complex multi player markets where large number of commercial banks, financial institutions and specialized banks are operating with various products and activities. The banking has become a complex activity within the financial market linked directly and indirectly with an over-all national growth and its impact as an integral part of regional segment of a global banking environment. Almost every bank and financial institution is involved in various functions in a dayââ¬â¢s job and thus requires a highly effective team and appropriate manpower to run the show. Corporate goals are translated into viable realities and profits only with human element who play their due role in achieving the desired results. Thus even the high automation would require proper man behind the machine to make things happen. This idea has been realized by top managements in progressive banks. Like many other organized sectors, banking requires a multi layer manpower for its various requirements of professionals and support staff. The range may require reasonably educated security guards on the one end and a highly educated and trained professional as head of corporate finance at the other. With liberalization of activities within the banking sector, for example, more emphasis on consumer and house finance and personal loans, etc. banking has turned itself into a more market-based business where banks have expanded their reach more to customersââ¬â¢ door steps in a big way making banking more practical. This has further highlighted the need for proper deployment of man-power to run banks efficiently. For many years, HRM banks like other institutions have been handling this sensitive activity through respective personnel departments. This means human resources were managed like other physical assets e. g. pieces of furniture, calculators, equipment and appliances. Personnel departments were primarily engaged in approval of leaves, handling of staff loans, issuance of show cause, conducting disciplinary enquiries and termination from service. Recruitment was a routine function and was done in a mechanical way to hire people with specific educational background irrespective of their real value to the institution. Success stories of large banking companies have been evident of the fact that HRM is quite different from management of physical assets. Human brain has its own peculiar chemistry. Its strong sensory and decision-making capacity has to be greatly emphasized by the employers. The work force constituting all levels of employees are constantly thinking in many dimensions. On the one hand it is the assigned duty and task they are to perform and for which they are paid by their employer, on the other they think of their long run goals and objectives. By no means, their brains can be controlled to think beyond the current situation of employment. Managing this educated, skillful and trustworthy work force is not an easy job. A few of the current challenges faced by the banking industry in terms of human resource management may be the following: Effective work force:à A time-consuming and hectic job is to hunt the right talent. Its just sitting by the river and waiting for the right fish to catch. Higher the professional value of the vacancy, tougher is the search. Identifying the right stuff followed by negotiation is the element which makes the job tough for the employer. Banks are keenly interested to fill up two types of breads of professionals. Ones who are outstanding professionals with high job hopping attitude ââ¬â these are those who come in ââ¬â work for some time and then leave for better prospects. Others are those who are keenly picked-up, trained and are some how retained to be developed as future management within the bank. Management trainees are a growing popular phenomenon where freshly qualified business graduates are engaged by banks and a certain percentage of these well equipped professionals stay back within the organization to grow into the footsteps of senior managers. Banking jobs being apparently lucrative for many, attract a large number of candidates against advertised vacancies in media creating a large data base management problem. This has been facilitated by specialised hiring agencies who may take up the job of hiring in case of large number of vacancies. Right people:à The most difficult agenda of HRM across the banking sector is to retain the right people. Sudden growth of retail banking and other services has put pressure on HR mangers in banks to engage more professionals within shorter span of time thereby attracting manpower in other banks on attractive packages has made the job market very competing. A bank in a normal course invests time and money to hire and train the appropriate work force for its own operations. This ready-made force is often identified and subsequently picked-up on better terms by others. Compensation:à How much to pay to the right employee and how much to the outstanding performer. Banks have traditionally followed pay scales with predetermined increments, salary slabs, bonuses and time-based fringe benefits like car and house advance, gratuity, pension, etc. The situation is not the same anymore. An increment of Rs500-800 per annum is no more a source of attraction for a professional anymore. A basic pay with traditional formulas of linkage with medical and other facilities has no soothing effect today. A promise of future growth, learning culture and corporate loyalty is out of dictionary and does not mean anything to this energetic and competent performer today. A waiting period of 3-4 years in each cadre haunts the incumbents who strongly believe in immediate compensation. There are examples to this. Thanks to the car financing modalities car is no more a fantasy item any more. A freshly hired professional requires a brand new car or car loan on resuming office quite contrary to his previous breed of bankers who would wait for the job seniority to qualify for a car loan. Job satisfaction: Everybody in the bank wants to work in the preferential department, preferential location, city of his own choice and boss of his liking. An administrative deviation from any of these results in lowered job satisfaction. Although hiring is normally based on regional requirement matching the area of activity with that of employeeââ¬â¢s nativity yet other elements like appointment in the department of choice and preference makes the job of HR manager quite challenging. What the HR manger cannot afford is the dissatisfied employee who not only disrupts the smooth working himself but also spreads the negativity to others by his de-motivated attitude. Morale boosting:à What has long been overlooked is the morale boosting of the employees by the organizations. Human beings even if satisfied of material wellbeing need to be appraised and encouraged constantly. Smart banks have realized this need and have taken steps to keep their work force motivated through proper encouragement like man of the month awards, repeat get-togethers, conferences, sports events, dinners, company sponsored travel, reunions, etc. This is the way employees create a feeling of belongingness.
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