Monday, January 27, 2020

Employee Attitude And Performance Management

Employee Attitude And Performance Management Employees are the major drivers of any form of business and good employee performance is the most important need for the current competitive business environment to run successfully. Many organisations have started to attach a great emphasis towards the knowledge workers as claimed by Armstrong and Baron (1998) which makes it even more essential to understand the various practices of performance management. Performance Management and Performance Appraisal are very important tools; it helps to motivate employees to work hard and improves overall companys productivity Based on the study of Armstrong (2000) , performance management aims at improving the current results of the organisation or individuals or a group. A simple way to describe performance Management it is A process that significantly affects organizational success by having managers and employees work together to set expectations, review results and reward performance (Bowen, J. 2007). Performance appraisal is a way of giving employees feedback about their performance at work. According to ACAS (2003)  ¿Ã‚ ½Performance appraisal is an assessment of employees performance, potential and development needs. Performance appraisal is an opportunity to take an overall view of work content, loads and volumes, to look back on what has been achieved during the reporting period and agree objectives for the next( ACAS, 2003). 1.1 Background Study Research Question Performance Management , regular, balanced and systematic appraisals must be administered consistently in order to evaluate the performance of each individual in the organization. This allows human resources to pinpoint the weaknesses of an individual ¿Ã‚ ½s work style and the strengths. They can then share this information with the employee in order to affect a change in performance. This in turn will lead to more productivity and potentially better returns on human investment. Design of Organization, Analyze the work processes and recommends improvements when necessary. HRM also need to scan the world environment and identify emerging trends that will affect the organization and the management of people therein. In this role, the HR person contributes to the development of and the accomplishment of the organization-wide business plan and objectives. The HR business objectives are established to support the attainment of the overall strategic business plan and ob jectives. performance appraisal method that  ¿Ã‚ ½ranks individuals performance by counting the number of times any one individual is the preferred member when compared with all other employees in an organization ¿Ã‚ ½ (Decenzo, D and Robbins, S. 2001) According to Rue and Byars (2003) they illustrate the Paired Comparison Method using an example  ¿Ã‚ ½Suppose a manager is to evaluate six employees. The manager firstly compares the first employee with the second employee on a chosen performance criterion, such as quantity of work. If the manager thinks the first employee has produced more work then the second employee, he or she gets a higher rating. The first employee is then compared to the third, fourth, fifth and sixth employee on the same performance criterion. A better rating is given to the employee who produced the most work in each of these paired comparisons. The process is repeated until each employee has been compared to every other employee on all the chosen performance criteria. The employee with the best rating is considered to be the best performer. Likewise, the employee with the lowest rating is the lowest performer ¿Ã‚ ½. The main drawback of this method is that it can be used only in small organizations, wit h small numbers of employees, but in large organizations with large number of employees, it is difficult to compare each employee with every other employee in the organization. An appraisal method in which the employee ¿Ã‚ ½s performance feedback comes from such sources  ¿Ã‚ ½as self assessment, peers, team members, managers in the organizational hierarchy, and also from external sources such as customers, suppliers and other interested stakeholders has become very popular in contemporary organizations ¿Ã‚ ½ (Decenzo, D and Robbins, S. 2001) 360-Degree appraisal is a very useful tool, the data for appraisal is collected from a wide range of resources and it provides a very through picture of how an individual ¿Ã‚ ½s performance is viewed and can be an extremely powerful tool in analyzing performance. According to Foot and Hook. (2005) they state.  ¿Ã‚ ½To have any genuine value or meaningful impact, 360? feedback must be far more than a standalone activity. It should involve managing the individual ¿Ã‚ ½s expectations, aligning questionnaires to competency frameworks, setting goals to integrate the exercise into personal development plans and providing feedback from trained facilitators. The process surrounding the 360? process itself is complex, and how well HR and learning managers plan that process will determine what impact it will have ¿Ã‚ ½ this shows that while 360? feedback is not an easy process to introduce into an organization,  ¿Ã‚ ½it does nevertheless provides a powerful tool that fits well with t he performance management and performance appraisal approach ¿Ã‚ ½ (Foot, M. and Hook, C. 2005) Career Management, managing people is one of the most difficult aspects of organizational management .It means dealing with people who differ physical and psychologically. HR need to always talk with employees to find out what are individual assessments of abilities, interests, career needs and goals or all kinds negative feedback. 1.2 Research Questions 1. What is the relationship between performance appraisal and Employee attitude? 2. What is the attitude of employees towards goal setting? 3. What is the attitude of employees towards agency relations? 4. What is the attitude of employees towards dynamic capability? 5. What is the employee attitude towards relevant resources? 1.3 Research Objective 1. To investigate the relationship between performance Management and employee attitude 2. To investigate the employee attitude towards goal setting 3. To investigate the employee attitude towards Agency relations 4. To investigate the employee attitude towards Dynamic capability 5. To investigate the employee attitude towards Relevant resources 1.4 Problem Statement Many SME ¿Ã‚ ½s in Malaysia are facing numerous problems in the current business world which comprise of the information age, development of the technological factors at a rapid pace and globalisation are some examples, these changes are very rapid and highly unpredictable and the only department which manages this pressure is the HR department and the polices of the department which have equipped themselves to overcome these situations and volatile changes in the business environment and such policies include manpower planning performance plans and development performance plans and frequent appraisal of employees and performance guidance. Many organisations fail at this level which is a major concern, and the organisations which have overcome these obstacle have gone a long way bringing in many revolutionary changes in the business world and HR practices. (Becker et al., 2001; Zairi, 1998). 1.5 Significance of the study SME ¿Ã‚ ½s represent the major group of business organisations in Malaysia based on the Malaysia SME ¿Ã‚ ½s Report (2008) which contributes to a total of 99.2% , which in itself has its own significance and lays emphasis behind conducting this research study . The research paper also aims at establishing the relationship that exists between performance management practices and employee attitude. The purpose of this paper is to establish the relationship between performances 1.6 Research design and research context: The research philosophy which the researcher thinks is suitable is the positivist philosophy of research. The method used will be a survey method with questionnaires with both primary and secondary sources of data. This will include questionnaires, interviews and document analysis. The data analysis technique for the proposed research will be multiple regression analysis to find the relationship between the variables. In terms of the research context, the proposed research is based on Ahsan Ullah and Routray ¿Ã‚ ½s (2007) research employee attitude and performance management in Malaysian SME ¿Ã‚ ½s. The research will be carried in Malaysian SME ¿Ã‚ ½s. The reason for choosing Malaysian SME ¿Ã‚ ½s for this research purpose is largely due to their representation in Malaysian business as claimed by the Malaysian SME ¿Ã‚ ½s Report (2008). 1.7 Structure of Dissertation The dissertation is laid out in five chapters; the first chapter introduces the reader to the concept of Mutual funds and describes the aims and objectives of the study. The actual study begins from chapter two with Review of Literature analyzing the concept of mutual funds and assessing the previous research carried in analysing the mutual fund performance. The contents in the research report can be elaborated briefly as shown under the following headings. Chapter One: Introduction The first chapter of the research study as the name suggests the chapter introduces the study and the major area of focus in the research. The chapters clearly describe the aims and objectives of the study giving the reader glimpse about overall research. It also gives out the scope of the research and spells out the rationale behind the study. Chapter Two: Literature Review This chapter primarily prepares the study for empirical work by looking at evaluations and conclusions drawn on certain theories and concepts to check for similarities and difference made by past writers on similar or related studies. It ¿Ã‚ ½s on this basis, that later stages in the research are developed. In particular, academic journals, websites and textbooks that articulate models and related theories are used as a reference. Chapter Three: Research Methodology The Chapter three reviews a range of research methods and highlights the strength and weakness and also research design discussion. Chapter Four: Research Findings and Analysis Chapter four discusses the main research findings and provides critical evaluation of primary and secondary data ¿Ã‚ ½s about the leadership behaviors in the engineering organization. Chapter Five: Conclusions and Recommendations After careful examination, evaluation, assessment and analysis of data, in this chapter, the study points out how the aims and objectives of the research are met. It points out how the respective objectives are realized and tries to give an answer to the research question. 1.8 Limitations 1. The Research Study will be based only in Malaysian SME ¿Ã‚ ½s in Kuala Lumpur due to time constraint. 2. The research study will be cut short to just the evaluate the relationship between employee attitude and performance management 3. The research study will be carried out in Limited number of organisations only. 1.9 The Research Framework Adapted from James Kagaari (2010)

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Essay --

On BBC documentary called Seven Ages of Britain, which was hosted by David Dimbleby, one of the most famous contemporary artists, Damien Hirst, was once asked that did he pay for all the diamonds to make For the Love of God (2007, figure 1), which is so called as the diamond skull because it is made of a plenty of diamonds. Hirst answered that artists used what around him or her, and money was around him. Therefore, he thought that what he could do with money, and he could do something amazing with them. Consequently, he created For the Love God. What should be spotlighted is the point that an artist creates his or her works with materials, which are around them. As Damien Hirst said that money was around him, money was around people in the world whether the amount of money is great or humble. In short, money is one thing that people, including artists, could easily find in their routine life. Therefore, there has been a possibility that artists could try to create his or her works with money. Or at least, some artists see money as their potential art medium. There are several artists who actually tried to make his or her works with money. It is not saying that artists make money by their works, or artists make their works with supporting of their rich patrons. Also, it is not saying that artists design the currency. However, artists who create his or her works with money are artists who are using actual money as their medium in this paper. Furthermore, those art works, which are using money as their important medium, would be called as ‘money art’ in this paper. In short, there are some artists internationally who create money art; for example, Andrà © Levy, Justin Smith, Hasegawa Yosuke, and so on. Among money art artists, I wo... ...ously representing the real world. He uses various banknotes form other counties. For example, he uses U.S. dollars ($), British pounds ( £), Japanese yens ( ¥), Korean wons (â‚ ©), European euros (â‚ ¬), and so on. These currencies are representing their countries. He does not cover their nationalities, so it is possible to say his works are representing their nationalities. Also, the currency represents economy and politic. Even though he tried to cover money’s economical value, it is impossible to remove its value as economical index because it is money. Also, most of figures portrayed on money are political figures of their country. Therefore, money is a metaphor of one nation’s political and economic status. Hasegawa Yosuke illustrates Globalization of today’s world by putting his moneygami together. Shortly, his money origami works are representing the real world.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Mobile Learning

Mobile Learning Mobile learning can be defined as any sort of learning which employs wireless handheld technology. The recent development in mobile technology allows students to access information and learning materials from anywhere and at any time. With some great benefits, mobile learning is becoming more important in the current educational system. However, there are some limitations which cannot be omitted. One major advantage of mobile learning is its high flexibility. This mainly stems from the advances of size and weight of mobile devices.Compared to books and personal computers, mobile devices are easier to hold and have higher portability [1]. According to Kukulska-Hulme and Traxler [1], learners are able to use mobile devices in dissimilar learning settings, ranging from informal situations to more formal situations. In other words, students can use their phones during spare moments. Boyes [4] believes that this property can allow them to make good use of ‘dead timeà ¢â‚¬â„¢ for studying. In addition, the touch screen display, as the main interface by which students control the mobile devices, might improve their efficiency of study.However, this could as well be a shortage of mobile learning, which will be mentioned afterwards. Last but not least, the mobile devices can be useful tools for assisting disabilities in studying. Although mobile technology is developing rapidly, there is no specialized device which is designed for learning. Ally [3] indicates that mobile devices are mainly designed for occupational purposes but not educational and training purposes at present. Consequently, these tools may not satisfy all the educational needs.For instance, the small screens of the devices, with poor readability, are inconvenient for students to read articles. In the meanwhile, long term usage can possibly cause serious health problem, such as short sight and blood-brain barrier. According to Boyes [4], battery consumption and storage capacity are a lso inevitable limitations of mobile devices. Moreover, Ally [3] thinks that connectivity might be another considerable hindrance to mobile learning. With limited bandwidth and wireless capabilities, learners can hardly access learning materials on mobile devices.The good capability is another compelling advantage of mobile learning. Nowadays, mobile devices are compatible with audios, images and even videos. Ally [3] maintains that learning materials in multimedia format are more stimulating for learners. To put it differently, these elements probably improve the originality of students. Besides, including multimedia components prevents the learning materials to be too dull. This can increase the motivation of students. Additionally, students can easily find numerous supportive applications using their devices.For example, students can find and learn some difficult words with the help of dictionary applications. Furthermore, online search engines are excellent assistants for inform ation collection. All the above mentioned tools can improve learning efficiency. Even though mobile learning has tremendous benefits due to its high flexibility and multimedia compatibility, it poses an underlying problem at the same time – lack of communication. In real life lectures, students are doing face to face interaction with the lecturers.They may raise questions or give feedbacks instantly while they do not have the same opportunity in virtual lessons. O’Driscoll [5] suggests that this may cause a suppression of creative thinking and developed ideas. Moreover, as noted by Kukulska-Hulme and Pettit [2], it can be easy for students to get distracted. Furthermore, as one-way communication does not promote mutual understanding between people, misunderstanding and conflicts may easily occur. This deficiency can lead to poor team work. Also, mobile learning cannot help improve specific skills, especially presentation skills.This is because students must practice th is skill in front of audience in real life. In conclusion, the high flexibility and excellent capability are two advantages of mobile learning. Some aspect of learning can be improved through implementing this innovative learning method. Nevertheless, some substantial limitations show that it is definitely impossible for mobile learning to replace the traditional learning. Instead of a replacement, mobile learning should be considered an integral to the current educational system. In my opinion, mobile learning is important presently.However, there is room for improvement. Battery consumption and health problem might be ameliorated by the future technologies. Mobile devices should adapt to the needs of learners, in order to be an ideal tool for education. Apart from that, infrastructures for high bandwidth and wireless capabilities have to be built to enhance connectivity for better access. References 1. A. Kukulska-Hulme and J. Traxler, Mobile Learning: A handbook for educators and trainers. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis Inc, 2005. 2. A. Kukulska-Hulme and J.Pettit, â€Å"Practitioners as Innovators: Emergent Practice in Personal Mobile,† in Mobile Learning: Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training. Canada: AU Press, Athabasca University, 2009, ch. 7, pp. 135-156. 3. M. Ally, Mobile Learning: Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training. Canada: AU Press, Athabasca University, 2009. 4. M. Boyes. (2011, Dec 17). 24 benefits of mobile learning. [Online] Available: http://insights. elearningnetwork. org/? p=507 5. N. O’Driscoll. The Disadvantages of One-Way Communication. [Online] Available: http://www. ehow. com/info_8307652_disadvantages-oneway-communication. html Mobile Learning Mobile Learning Mobile learning can be defined as any sort of learning which employs wireless handheld technology. The recent development in mobile technology allows students to access information and learning materials from anywhere and at any time. With some great benefits, mobile learning is becoming more important in the current educational system. However, there are some limitations which cannot be omitted. One major advantage of mobile learning is its high flexibility. This mainly stems from the advances of size and weight of mobile devices.Compared to books and personal computers, mobile devices are easier to hold and have higher portability [1]. According to Kukulska-Hulme and Traxler [1], learners are able to use mobile devices in dissimilar learning settings, ranging from informal situations to more formal situations. In other words, students can use their phones during spare moments. Boyes [4] believes that this property can allow them to make good use of ‘dead timeà ¢â‚¬â„¢ for studying. In addition, the touch screen display, as the main interface by which students control the mobile devices, might improve their efficiency of study.However, this could as well be a shortage of mobile learning, which will be mentioned afterwards. Last but not least, the mobile devices can be useful tools for assisting disabilities in studying. Although mobile technology is developing rapidly, there is no specialized device which is designed for learning. Ally [3] indicates that mobile devices are mainly designed for occupational purposes but not educational and training purposes at present. Consequently, these tools may not satisfy all the educational needs.For instance, the small screens of the devices, with poor readability, are inconvenient for students to read articles. In the meanwhile, long term usage can possibly cause serious health problem, such as short sight and blood-brain barrier. According to Boyes [4], battery consumption and storage capacity are a lso inevitable limitations of mobile devices. Moreover, Ally [3] thinks that connectivity might be another considerable hindrance to mobile learning. With limited bandwidth and wireless capabilities, learners can hardly access learning materials on mobile devices.The good capability is another compelling advantage of mobile learning. Nowadays, mobile devices are compatible with audios, images and even videos. Ally [3] maintains that learning materials in multimedia format are more stimulating for learners. To put it differently, these elements probably improve the originality of students. Besides, including multimedia components prevents the learning materials to be too dull. This can increase the motivation of students. Additionally, students can easily find numerous supportive applications using their devices.For example, students can find and learn some difficult words with the help of dictionary applications. Furthermore, online search engines are excellent assistants for inform ation collection. All the above mentioned tools can improve learning efficiency. Even though mobile learning has tremendous benefits due to its high flexibility and multimedia compatibility, it poses an underlying problem at the same time – lack of communication. In real life lectures, students are doing face to face interaction with the lecturers.They may raise questions or give feedbacks instantly while they do not have the same opportunity in virtual lessons. O’Driscoll [5] suggests that this may cause a suppression of creative thinking and developed ideas. Moreover, as noted by Kukulska-Hulme and Pettit [2], it can be easy for students to get distracted. Furthermore, as one-way communication does not promote mutual understanding between people, misunderstanding and conflicts may easily occur. This deficiency can lead to poor team work. Also, mobile learning cannot help improve specific skills, especially presentation skills.This is because students must practice th is skill in front of audience in real life. In conclusion, the high flexibility and excellent capability are two advantages of mobile learning. Some aspect of learning can be improved through implementing this innovative learning method. Nevertheless, some substantial limitations show that it is definitely impossible for mobile learning to replace the traditional learning. Instead of a replacement, mobile learning should be considered an integral to the current educational system. In my opinion, mobile learning is important presently.However, there is room for improvement. Battery consumption and health problem might be ameliorated by the future technologies. Mobile devices should adapt to the needs of learners, in order to be an ideal tool for education. Apart from that, infrastructures for high bandwidth and wireless capabilities have to be built to enhance connectivity for better access. References 1. A. Kukulska-Hulme and J. Traxler, Mobile Learning: A handbook for educators and trainers. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis Inc, 2005. 2. A. Kukulska-Hulme and J.Pettit, â€Å"Practitioners as Innovators: Emergent Practice in Personal Mobile,† in Mobile Learning: Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training. Canada: AU Press, Athabasca University, 2009, ch. 7, pp. 135-156. 3. M. Ally, Mobile Learning: Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training. Canada: AU Press, Athabasca University, 2009. 4. M. Boyes. (2011, Dec 17). 24 benefits of mobile learning. [Online] Available: http://insights. elearningnetwork. org/? p=507 5. N. O’Driscoll. The Disadvantages of One-Way Communication. [Online] Available: http://www. ehow. com/info_8307652_disadvantages-oneway-communication. html

Friday, January 3, 2020

Anorexia Nervos An Under Nutrition Eating Disorder

Anorexia Nervosa is a mental illness and is referred to as an under-nutrition eating disorder that is often mistaken for a â€Å"lifestyle choice†. It is when the person with the illness sees themselves as overweight and wishes to lose a few kilos. So said person begins to diet and exercise and they notice they’re losing the weight. Said person then reaches said goal weight but is still not happy with the way they look so they decide to keep dieting. People with the illness often say they can hear a voice in their head (often referred to it as ‘Ana’ for anorexia and ‘Mia’ for bulimia) telling them that they don’t look good enough and they need to lose more weight. Eventually, said person has lost so much weight that you can see their bones and their knees don’t touch, but no, that’s not good enough for ‘Ana’ so they continue to diet and exercise religiously until eventually, their body can not handle the stress and it shuts down. Anorexia affects both males and females in all age groups, although it is most commonly found in teenagers, and is the third most common long-term illness for teenagers. Men make up 10-15% of the surfers, and woman make up the rest. Anorexia is a mental disease which affects the way you eat all foods, so unlike celiac, or diabetes, there is no list which tells which specific foods they need to avoid, because, although this isn’t true, suffers believe they need to avoid all foods in order to become skinny. Some of the more obvious symptoms in