Final Project Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Final Project - Research Paper Example By 1969, Wal-Mart had moved from a small business enterprise to an incorporated company Wal-Mart Stores Inc (Clemers, 1993). This paper will analyze Wal-Mart Stores and make recommendations to better align Human Resource practices to the vital business initiatives of the organization. First, I will examine Wal-Mart’s history and market position then describe and analyze the recent and targeted work procedures, as well as the respective skills, knowledge and abilities needed for Wal-Mart to achieve its objectives. I will also show the technology used by Wal-Mart to achieve work output in line with the company’s goals and provide a set of HRM recommendations suitable for Wal-Mart. The 1970s saw Wal-Mart emerge as one of the leading companies with a significant economic growth (Andersen & Narus, 1999). It acquired the Hutcheson Shoe Company and started a section of pharmaceuticals called Wal-Mart pharmacy. There was an increase in both the workforce and turnover. Wal-Mart rose to become a huge retail company with 276 stores, 21,000 employees and a turnover of over US$ 1.248 billion after a decade. The 1980s and the 1990s saw it rise from a huge national retail chain of stores into an international business. Within this period, Sam’s club was opened and a super center was launched becoming a conventional shop in several regions and countries worldwide (Dreher & Dougherty, 2001). By this time, it had one thousand four hundred and two stores, one hundred and twenty three Sam’s clubs, and it sales were over US$ 26 billion. From humble beginnings, Walton’s brain child has become one of the organizations that have contributed immensely to the world (Weinswig & Tang, 2010). The retail shops, discount stores and super centers have had a great impact on shops and consumers in the world today. To date, the organization has a workforce of over 2.2 million (Dreher & Dougherty, 2001). The company also gives its services to 176 million consume rs all over the world. Credit goes to Sam Walton and Wal-Mart for setting precedence to the world by upholding principles and running an immeasurable successful organization. In this paper’s analysis, I saw the need for the company to be more responsive to customers by improving their current and target work processes so as to ensure urgent and precise actions are taken in responding to their customers’ needs. The three key objectives they should focus on in order to achieve this are fulfilling specific customer requirements, achieving high levels of customer satisfaction and trying to adapt to the needs of business and market environments that change every day. Wal-Mart is capable of achieving these objectives while still maintaining and improving profitability and market share. This work processes can be met by linking workgroups and their processes in the internal customer and supplier chains. Once this is achieved, this linked functional work processes will become the major cross functional processes by which Wal-Mart’s externally focused business objectives will be met (Weinswig & Tang, 2010). These key cross functional business processes will be highly dependent on the way in which the management at Wal-Mart will structure their work processes (Dreher & Dougherty, 2001). They can do it in two ways; through the delivery work processes, which refers to the customer facing processes, and the support work processes, which are those that are required to sustain the delivery functions.

What is Liberal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

What is Liberal - Essay Example The distinction between conservative and liberal economics is, at the most basic level, the distinction between a belief in the advantageousness of government involvement and a belief in the advantageousness of free market capitalism. Friedman, of course, was one of the most vociferous advocates for a free market, as he showed in Capitalism and Freedom. However, the essence of Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom was advocacy of capitalism in a liberal society, where a liberal society refers to a society that does not restrict individual liberties. In contrast, the conservative society is one that does limit individual liberties based on tradition and social values. With that, Friedman cannot be accurately called â€Å"conservative†, since his profoundly libertarian political viewpoints contradict the essence of the conservative establishment. When Friedman called himself a â€Å"liberal† in the John Stuart Mill sense of the term, what he was referring to was a tradition known today as â€Å"classical liberalism†. The use of the word â€Å"classical† before the term refers to a commitment to individual freedoms both in the economic and social sense. Classical liberals believed in laissez faire capitalism and the liberal ideology. John Stewart Mill, as an ethicist and political philosopher, was liberal in his ethics and conservative in his economic views, which today meant he was a â€Å"classical liberal† and a libertarian. Mill believed the government should not be allowed to restrict the freedoms of its citizens under any circumstance, and this is the sense in which Friedman refers to Mill and places himself in his tradition. In Capitalism and Freedom, Friedman writes, â€Å"Political freedom means the absence of coercion of a man by his fellow men. The fundamental threat to freedom is power to coerce, be it in the hands of a monarch, a dictator, an oligarchy, or a momentary

Punishment as the Main Deterrent for Wrongdoing Assignment

Punishment as the Main Deterrent for Wrongdoing - Assignment Example I would therefore rather take Kant’s wider viewpoint, that a sense of right and wrong is derived from individual experience, which may or may not include punishment and/or the religious ideal.  I would therefore rather take Kant’s wider viewpoint, that a sense of right and wrong is derived from individual experience, which may or may not include punishment and/or the religious ideal.  3. I would not say the needs of either society or the individual outweigh the other, particularly in the current paradigm of human rights and the individual’s right to happiness and freedom.   Society should never be allowed to suppress the needs of the individual because this is in direct contradiction to the human rights paradigm favored by the democratic world today.   Although Jeremy Bentham’s philosophy of justifying decisions by the number of people benefiting from it makes scientific sense, I would rather agree with John Stuart Mill’s caution that majori ty rule could deprive many citizens of important rights.   Slavery appears to be a case in point.4. From the humanistic and altruistic point of view, economic resources should be owned and controlled by communities.   In this way, the resources can be shared among all those sharing a community, without factors such as greed ruling the economy.   On the other hand, Adam Smith believed that self-interest is an ideal economic principle that all should be free to pursue.   According to him, self-interest translates to overall economic well-being, as all business people were interested in delivering quality services and goods in return for fair remuneration.   Smith’s system of built-in checks and balances were to prevent an imbalance of wealth creation for only a few companies.   However, history has taught that this system is not strong enough to prevent extreme greed and monopoly that marks today’s economy.   The gap between the extremely rich and the extre mely poor is widening on a global scale, with a disproportionate amount of humanity using all the earth’s resources.   This sector of society deprives not only today’s poor of their right to life but also the generations to come.   From this point of view, I believe a sharing economy is better than one in which a monopoly is the main paradigm.

Fish Cheeks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Fish Cheeks - Essay Example Amy Tan also demonstrates the power of culture and the need to be acceptable. She wanted a slim American nose, and she was terribly embarrassed by her family's distinctively Chinese ways. This is because she grew up in America and had been immersed in its culture, and has come to believe, at least subconsciously, that the American way is the "correct" way. The essay provides us with an honest depiction of the author's youthful self. The story dwells on the ever present clutch of cultural norms and the pressure of "acceptability". I felt invited to consider how the totality of her life was like back then, when she so desired to be American and fit in, while the unfortunate truth was that she was trapped with her "unmannered" family, who became a source of embarrassment to her. The Chinese idea of table manners is burping after a meal to show appreciation. "At the end of the meal my father leaned back and belched loudly, thanking my mother for her fine cooking. "It's a polite Chinese custom to show you are satisfied," explained my father to our astonished guests. The minister managed to muster up a quiet burp. I was stunned into silence the rest of the night." This is totally at odds with the American idea of polite discreteness. She found that her favorite dishes were becoming a source of her embarrassment in front of Robert, particularly when her father "poked his chopsticks just below the fish eye and plucked out the soft meat. "Amy, your favorite," he said, offering me the tender fish cheek. I wanted to disappear. " We can imagine the story having been told in a frenzied and excited manner the reflects how Amy felt back then, but she is reflective and calm throughout the story. She looks back at these events and simply tells the story without implying that she still has leftover emotions from these episodes. She was embarrassed, but not anymore (a bit regretful perhaps). Amy tells us that she has learned from this experience. The reader is rewarded with a little moral, and a little irony at the end. "You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame." her mother had told her. Now Tan is perfectly honest about her family's "Chineseness," which she used to perceives as shortcomings. We get the idea that she now has a more mature and accepting attitude towards her family. She now realizes that during that Christmas dinner, perhaps the only person who did not act honestly was

RESPONSE PAPER for Comparative Politics class Essay - 1

RESPONSE PAPER for Comparative Politics class - Essay Example According to the research article by Questia, the capacity of a party-state aimed at preserving both communist rule and social harmony was lightweight when placed close together against a global and interconnected world. The preference for a panoptic control shows strict constraints deserving a strong emphasis which is the nature of the medium in connection with political context requiring further exploration. This exploration is the communist heritage that is a matter of interdiction as of social mobilization. The Society of China has begun putting into use the resources of new information technology to put effectively pressure on the authority regarding social and economic issues (Questia, 2015). Wider patterns of social privileges and disadvantages remain as an influence on the public society. Some accounts show that new ways of state-society relations have reduced the influence of class and race on politics and policy (Orvis & Drogus, 2015). Shifts in modes of state-society relations have tampered with the mechanisms of racial influence and social class in ways that sometimes reward economic and social benefits. For example, business mobilization and citizens around economic development and environmental issues in some parts of France and USA has reinforced the local governance against most disadvantaged neighbor-hoods (Orvis & Drogus, 2015). Elsewhere, more so in the northern part of Europe, a great local participation is working to the advantage of marginal groups in social policy. In other developing cities in the world, a growing opposition from the middle and upper-class car owners are underestimating initiatives to curb vehicle pollution. How do institutions affect sate-society interaction? Although institutions are important, other types of institutions have emerged to control and regulate governmental and state-society relations.

Fish Cheeks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Fish Cheeks - Essay Example Amy Tan also demonstrates the power of culture and the need to be acceptable. She wanted a slim American nose, and she was terribly embarrassed by her family's distinctively Chinese ways. This is because she grew up in America and had been immersed in its culture, and has come to believe, at least subconsciously, that the American way is the "correct" way. The essay provides us with an honest depiction of the author's youthful self. The story dwells on the ever present clutch of cultural norms and the pressure of "acceptability". I felt invited to consider how the totality of her life was like back then, when she so desired to be American and fit in, while the unfortunate truth was that she was trapped with her "unmannered" family, who became a source of embarrassment to her. The Chinese idea of table manners is burping after a meal to show appreciation. "At the end of the meal my father leaned back and belched loudly, thanking my mother for her fine cooking. "It's a polite Chinese custom to show you are satisfied," explained my father to our astonished guests. The minister managed to muster up a quiet burp. I was stunned into silence the rest of the night." This is totally at odds with the American idea of polite discreteness. She found that her favorite dishes were becoming a source of her embarrassment in front of Robert, particularly when her father "poked his chopsticks just below the fish eye and plucked out the soft meat. "Amy, your favorite," he said, offering me the tender fish cheek. I wanted to disappear. " We can imagine the story having been told in a frenzied and excited manner the reflects how Amy felt back then, but she is reflective and calm throughout the story. She looks back at these events and simply tells the story without implying that she still has leftover emotions from these episodes. She was embarrassed, but not anymore (a bit regretful perhaps). Amy tells us that she has learned from this experience. The reader is rewarded with a little moral, and a little irony at the end. "You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame." her mother had told her. Now Tan is perfectly honest about her family's "Chineseness," which she used to perceives as shortcomings. We get the idea that she now has a more mature and accepting attitude towards her family. She now realizes that during that Christmas dinner, perhaps the only person who did not act honestly was

Job Satisfaction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Job Satisfaction - Essay Example Many studies acknowledge this either explicitly, by using questionnaire data but taking it as indicative rather than accurate, or implicitly by focussing on more reliably observable data like reasons cited for leaving, and incidences of non-productive and counter-productive work. Interestingly, many studies conclude that pay is not generally a factor in job satisfaction, but job type, sex, age, being married and education do seem to be relevant factors. (Clark, 1996). In an older study from the mid-1970s, Katzell and Yankelovich concluded that job satisfaction and productivity â€Å"do not necessarily follow parallel paths† (1975, p. 12). What this means is that workers may be very committed, and very happy with their jobs, but they do not necessarily channel this into goals that the company wants to achieve. With the passage of time, and the focus more and more on hi-tech and knowledge-based industries, the need for every growing creativity and commitment in workers is evident, but the divergence between individual and company needs seems to be growing too. Added to this is the uncertainty and risk of free-market economics, and the fact that workers can no longer count on a fixed career plan, or a permanent position in any one company. It is very tempting to conclude that â€Å"the degree of relationship between job satisfaction and job performance is so tenuous and variable that, if there is a causal connection, it must either be intrins ically weak or conditioned by other circumstances in the work situation.† (Katsell and Yankelovich, 1975, p. 124). Later research has fortunately delved a little more deeply into those ill-defined â€Å"other circumstances in the work situation† and has begun to look beyond simple productivity at attributes like commitment and creativity which are increasingly required.