Employee Involvement Essay

Why is a greater degree of involvement in employees’ personal lives inevitable in many international HRM activities? Explain using relevant illustrations. When an international assignment is not completed, necessitating a replacement of the expatriate, the cost of the failure to the organization are both direct and indirect. The direct costs include salary, training costs, travel and relocation expenses. The indirect costs could be loss of market share, poor relationship with the hosts. This is quite costly for an organization and therefore careful selection would be determined by the expatriate success rate in completing their assignments. Expatriate failure is primarily caused by error in selection. Historically, the selection of expatriates has been based on interpersonal factors of expatriates. For instance, Clarke and Hammer, (1995), found that interpersonal skills assist in the cultural adjustment of the expatriate and his or her family In the domestic setting the Human Resource department’s involvement with the employee’s family is limited. Most expatriate selection decisions are made informally because expatriate jobs require much more than the right skills. When an organization sends its employees to some other country, it takes over the responsibilities besides the basic functions of human resource management. They do not deal merely with the selection of the best employees for work in foreign countries but also have to be aware of the needs of the family that will accompany the employee to the new cultural environment. A lot of people taking on international assignments are unsuccessful since their spouses or families cannot adjust to their new surroundings. Hence it is necessary to organize training in the foreign language for the employee and his/her family. Also important is to organize everything necessary for the journey including visas. It is also important to prepare the residence in the new surrounding as well as to assure health services and enrolment into schools for the children of the employees. It is also important to find out if the spouse is working and whether they will be able to get a working permit in the new environment Particularly, as more and more spouses are working and children may not wish to leave their friends and other family behind, Aanne Harzing explains there are some companies that include spouses in the selection process, although this may be seen as a barrier to personal freedoms, to have the company so involved in the personal affairs of a given family. It may prove that preparing the family as well as the expartriate employee will reduce expatriate failure. Expatriate failure is the early recall of an expartriate from an assignment. In selection therefore, firstly is to ensure technical ability which is, does the candidate possess the required skills and managerial capabilities required to fill this position. For example, Hixon found that the expatriate selection was based on technical ability and willingness to reside abroad. Another factor is cross cultural suitability, will the candidate be able to function in the new environment, how adaptable is a person, does he have the requisite language ability, a positive attitude and emotional stability. There also may be family considerations, such as does the spouse and children see this assignment as positive experience. Another family experience is whether or not the spouse is working; the chances are quite high that the spouse will not be able to obtain a work permit in the assigned country. Owing to the above observations, the human resource department needs to ensure that the selection process is faultless by not concentrating only on the skills competencies but in the understanding that most failures on the expatriate assignments are actually related to the employees inability to adjust in the new environment and family factors. So when selecting, over and above the skills competencies requirement, it will be necessary to get involved in the personal life of the potential expatriate. This involvement will help the human resource department to access information including emotional stability, willingness to relocate, stability of the expatriates marriage, whether the spouse is willing to relocate, whether the spouse is working or studying and whether the children see relocation as good experience. If the children are school going.. The above information will be useful in planning the relocation process of the expatriate which will involve organizing appropriate travelling arrangement and getting adequate residence for post departure training and counseling when and if needed. It will also be important to get personal information on the spouse, on whether she’s working and if she would be willing to relocate even when at times it is not easy to get a working permit in the new country. Also whether the spouse may want to enroll for further studies. In the event of the spouse wishing to work then it will be the responsibility of the human resource department to get them a working permit and or enroll them in college. If the spouse has children, this information is important to the human resource department as they will need to enroll the children to schools albeit carefully since some learning institutions accreditation may not be recognized in the home country. If this is not carefully addressed it can have devastating effect on repatriation since the children will have to repeat classes and therefore loosing valuable time. This personal involvement goes as far as need to know the size of the employees family. This will assist in getting the right size of residence for the family. Again the human resource department will need to organize for health care and all aspects and all aspects of the organization package provided for the assignment. Expatriates and their families need time to become familiar with the new environment and to become comfortable living there. When they arrive, the newness of the experience is exciting. A few months later, when they have had more experience with the culture, expatriates might begin to feel frustrated and confudsed as they try to make sense of their new living situation. This feeling is’ culture shock’. At this point counseling services are necessary and the same should be availed by the human resource department. As expatriates get comfortable and understand more about the culture, usually six months after arrival, the culture shock will wear off, and they will experience a more normal feeling (Adler, 1997).

Pachycephalosaurs - The Bone-Headed Dinosaurs

Pachycephalosaurs - The Bone-Headed Dinosaurs Pachycephalosaurs (Greek for thick-headed lizards) were an unusually small family of dinosaurs with an unusually high entertainment value. As you can guess from their name, these two-legged herbivores were distinguished by their skulls, which ranged from the mildly thick (in early genera like Wannanosaurus) to the truly dense (in later genera like Stegoceras). Some later pachycephalosaurs sported almost a foot of solid, albeit slightly porous, bone on top of their heads! (See a gallery of bone-headed dinosaur pictures and profiles.) However, its important to understand that big heads, in this case, didnt translate into equally big brains. Pachycephalosaurs were about as bright as the other plant-eating dinosaurs of the late Cretaceous period (which is a polite way of saying not very); their closest relatives, the ceratopsians, or horned, frilled dinosaurs, werent exactly natures A students, either. So of all the possible reasons pachycephalosaurs evolved such thick skulls, protecting their extra-big brains certainly wasnt one of them. Pachycephalosaur Evolution Based on the available fossil evidence, paleontologists believe that the very first pachycephalosaurssuch as Wannanosaurus and Goyocephalearose in Asia about 85 million years ago, only 20 million years before the dinosaurs went extinct. As is the case with most progenitor species, these early bone-headed dinosaurs were fairly small, with only slightly thickened skulls, and they may have roamed in herds as protection against hungry raptors and tyrannosaurs. Pachycephalosaur evolution really seems to have taken off when these early genera crossed the land bridge that (back during the late Cretaceous period) connected Eurasia and North America. The largest boneheads with the thickest skullsStegoceras, Stygimoloch and Sphaerotholusall roamed the woodlands of western North America, as did Dracorex hogwartsia, the only dinosaur ever to be named after the Harry Potter books. By the way, its especially difficult for experts to untangle the details of pachycephalosaur evolution, for the simple reason that so few complete fossil specimens have ever been discovered. As you might expect, these thick-skulled dinosaurs tend to be represented in the geological record mainly by their heads, their less-robust vertebrae, femurs and other bones having long since been scattered to the winds. Pachycephalosaur Behavior and Lifestyles Now we get to the million-dollar question: why did pachycephalosaurs have such thick skulls? Most paleontologists believe male boneheads head-butted each other for dominance in the herd and the right to mate with females, a behavior that can be seen in (for example) modern-day bighorn sheep. Some enterprising researchers have even conducted computer simulations, showing that two moderately sized pachycephalosaurs could ram each others noggins at high speed and live to tell the tale. Not everyone is convinced, though. Some people insist that high-speed head-butting would have produced too many casualties, and speculate that pachycephalosaurs instead used their heads to butt the flanks of competitors within the herd (or even smaller predators). However, it does seem odd that nature would evolve extra-thick skulls for this purpose, since non-pachycephalosaur dinosaurs could easily (and safely) butt each others flanks with their normal, non-thickened skulls. (The recent discovery of Texacephale, a small North American pachycephalosaur with shock-absorbing grooves on either side of its skull, lends some support to the head-butting-for-dominance theory.) By the way, the evolutionary relationships among different genera of pachycephalosaurs are still being sorted out, as are the growth stages of these strange dinosaurs. According to new research, its likely that two supposedly separate pachycephalosaur generaStygimoloch and Dracorexin fact represent earlier growth stages of the much bigger Pachycephalosaurus. If the skulls of these dinosaurs changed shape as they aged, that may mean that additional genera have been classified improperly, and were in fact species (or individuals) of existing dinosaurs.

The Large, Meat-Eating Dinosaurs

The Large, Meat-Eating Dinosaurs Few issues in paleontology are as confusing as the classification of theropodsthe bipedal, mostly carnivorous dinosaurs that evolved from archosaurs during the late Triassic period and persisted until the end of the Cretaceous (when the dinosaurs went extinct). The problem is, theropods were extremely numerous, and at a distance of 100 million years, it can be hard to distinguish one genus from another based on fossil evidence, much less to determine their evolutionary relationships.   For this reason, the way paleontologists classify theropods is in a state of constant flux. So, Im going to add fuel to the Jurassic fire by creating my own informal sorting system. Ive already addressed tyrannosaurs, raptors, therizinosaurs, ornithomimids and dino-birdsthe more evolved theropods of the Cretaceous periodin separate articles on this site. This piece will mostly discuss the big theropods (excluding tyrannosaurs and raptors) that Ive dubbed the saurs: allosaurs, ceratosaurs, carnosaurs, and abelisaurs, to name just four sub-classifications. Here are brief descriptions of the classifications of large theropods currently in (or out of) vogue: Abelisaurs. Sometimes included under the ceratosaur umbrella (see below), abelisaurs were characterized by their large sizes, short arms, and (in a few genera) horned and crested heads. What makes the abelisaurs a useful group is that they all lived on the southern supercontinent of Gondwana, hence the numerous fossil remains found in South America and Africa. The most notable abelisaurs were Abelisaurus (of course), Majungatholus and Carnotaurus. Allosaurs. It probably wont seem very helpful, but paleontologists define an allosaur as any theropod more closely related to Allosaurus than to any other dinosaur (a system that applies equally well to all the theropod groups listed below; just substitute Ceratosaurus, Megalosaurus, etc.) In general, allosaurs had large, ornate heads, threes of allosaurs include Carcharodontosaurus, Giganotosaurus, and the huge Spinosaurus. Carnosaurs. Confusingly, the carnosaurs (Greek for flesh-eating lizards) includes the allosaurs, above, and is sometimes taken to embrace the megalosaurs (below) as well. The definition of an allosaur pretty much applies to a carnosaur, though this broader group includes such relatively small (and sometimes feathered) predators as Sinraptor, Fukuiraptor, and Monolophosaurus. (Oddly enough, as yet theres no genus of dinosaur named Carnosaurus!) Ceratosaurs. This designation of theropods is in even greater flux than the others on this list. Today, the ceratosaurs are defined as early, horned theropods related to (but not ancestral to) later, more evolved theropods like tyrannosaurs. The two most famous ceratosaurs are Dilophosaurus and, you guessed it, Ceratosaurus. Megalosaurs. Of all the groups on this list, megalosaurs are the oldest and least respected. This is because, early in the 19th century, pretty much every new carnivorous dinosaur was assumed to be a megalosaur, Megalosaurus being the first theropod ever officially named (before the word theropod was even coined). Today, megalosaurs are rarely invoked, and when they are, its usually as a subgroup of carnosaurs alongside the allosaurs. Tetanurans. This is one of those groups thats so all-inclusive as to be practically meaningless; taken literally, it includes everything from carnosaurs to tyrannosaurs to modern birds. Some paleontologists consider the first tetanuran (the word means stiff tail) to have been Cryolophosaurus, one of the few dinosaurs to be discovered in modern Antarctica. The Behavior of Large Theropods As with all carnivores, the main consideration driving the behavior of large theropods like allosaurs and abelisaurs was the availability of prey. As a rule, carnivorous dinosaurs were much less common than herbivorous dinosaurs (since it requires a large population of herbivores to feed a smaller population of carnivores). Since some of the  hadrosaurs  and  sauropods  of the  Jurassic  and  Cretaceous  periods grew to extreme sizes, its reasonable to conclude that even the bigger theropods learned to hunt in packs of at least two or three members. One major topic of debate is whether large theropods actively hunted their prey, or feasted on already dead carcasses. Although this debate has crystallized around  Tyrannosaurus Rex, it has ramifications for smaller predators like  Allosaurus  and  Carcharodontosaurus  as well. Today, the weight of the evidence appears to be that theropod dinosaurs (like most carnivores) were opportunistic: they chased down juvenile sauropods when they had the chance, but wouldnt turn up their noses at a huge  Diplodocus  that died of old age. Hunting in packs was one form of theropod socialization, at least for some genera; another may have been  raising young. The evidence is sparse at best, but its possible that larger theropods protected their newborns for the first couple of years, until they were big enough not to attract the attention of other hungry carnivores. (However, its also possible that some theropod kids were left to fend for themselves from birth!). Finally, one aspect of theropod behavior that has received a lot of attention in the popular media is cannibalism. Based on the discovery of the bones of some carnivores (such as  Majungasaurus) bearing the tooth marks of adults of the same genus, its believed that some theropods may have cannibalized their own kind. Despite what youve seen on TV, though, its much more likely that the average allosaur ate its already-dead family members rather than actively hunting them down for an easy meal!

Martinez Surname Meaning and Family History

Martinez Surname Meaning and Family History Martinez is a patronymic surname meaning son of Martin. Martin comes from the Latin Martinus, a derivative of Mars, the Roman god of fertility and war. Surname origin:  SpanishAlternate Surname Spellings: Martines, Martins, Martinson; see also Martin Fun Facts Martinez is the second most common surname in the Spanish language, and the second most popular Spanish surname in America, just behind Garcia. Famous People With the Surname Olivier Martinez: French actorPedro Martinez: Pitcher for the New York Mets baseball teamYsidro Martinez: Inventor of a below-the-knee prosthesisMayre Martinez: Winner of the first season of Latin American Idol Where Is the Surname Most Common? The Martinez  surname is the 74th most common surname in the world, according to surname distribution information from  Forebears, and is among the top 10 surnames in Honduras (#1); Nicaragua and El Salvador(#2); the Dominican Republic and Paraguay (#3); Mexico (#4); Spain, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba and Panama (#6), and Argentina and Belize (#8). This means that tracing a familys possible origin based on the surname is of little use. According to  WorldNames PublicProfiler,  the Martinez surname is fairly prevalent throughout Spain, but is especially common in the Murcia region, followed by La Rioja, Communidad Valencia, Castilla-La Mancha, Asturias, Navarra, Galicia, and Cantabria. Genealogy Resources Martinez DNA Project: Open to any male with the Martinez surname or its variant from anywhere in the world.Martinez Family Genealogy Forum: This free message board is focused on descendants of Martinez ancestors around the world. Search the forum for posts about your Martinez ancestors, or join the forum and post your own queries.  FamilySearch: Explore over 11  million  results from digitized  historical records and lineage-linked family trees related to the Martinez surname on this free website hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.GeneaNet: Includes archival records, family trees, and other resources for individuals with the Martinez surname, with a concentration on records and families from France and other European countries.Ancestry.com: Explore over 14  million digitized records and database entries, including census records, passenger lists, military records, land deeds, probates, wills and other records for the Martinez surname on the subscripti on-based website, Ancestry.com. References Cottle, Basil.  Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967.Dorward, David.  Scottish Surnames. Collins Celtic (Pocket edition), 1998.Fucilla, Joseph.  Our Italian Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 2003.Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges.  A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989.Hanks, Patrick.  Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003.Reaney, P.H.  A Dictionary of English Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1997.Smith, Elsdon C.  American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.

Critical writing skill Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Critical writing skill - Essay Example It is critical for organizations to monitor workplace relationships because they affect teamwork, worker motivation, employee retention, and worker productivity. Improving work relationships involves several actions. According to Long (2014), developing a positive mindsets and avoiding unenthusiastic thoughts and criticisms enable employees to create rapport with other organizational publics. Positive attitudes enable people to appreciate each other’s thoughts and points of view without unnecessary criticisms. Additionally, positive attitudes also enable workers to avoid being too judgmental, which may lead to strained relationships. During discussions, work relationships can further be boosted by avoiding jumping into invalid conclusions. This can be achieved through gathering as much information as possible in order to objectively respond to discussions. Zeidner, Matthews & Roberts (2009) posit that reacting defensively to situations without having all the information concerning the issue in question can lead to widespread misunderstandings. Giving false information when handling issues exposes workers to dangerous conflicts; this c an cause hatred and destroy harmony in the organization. Cultural and behavioural diversities constitute the best approaches for maintaining positive workplace relationships. Cultural diversity refers to the situation where different cultures respect each other’s customs, beliefs and opinions. Modern workplaces are characterized by widespread communication between people, regions, and countries. Good workplace relationships are determined by the extent to which organizational publics have embraced cultural diversity. Being diverse enables people to respect each other’s point of view, ensuring respect and appreciation of other people’s ways of doing things (Zeidner, Matthews & Roberts, 2009). Behavioural diversity also enables people to appreciate other people’s

Cultural Differences between U.S. and U.K Essay

Cultural Differences between U.S. and U.K - Essay Example Since the paper is written from the perspective of UK Citizen, it is important to first discuss the different characteristics of the country at hand, which is the US.US culture can be termed as a Western culture because the presence of the influence from European countries can be felt. Although initially it was very much like European cultures, it has developed into a separate one, in terms of different music, values, folktales, dialect etc. Initially the culture was also biased towards some races too. Today, however, the US culture has become more and more racially and ethnically diverse because of the presence of people from different regions across the globe. Some characteristics of the US culture are as follows. Although the US has no official language, a majority of the population (in around 30 states) is fluent in English. Other than English, there are more than 300 languages, out of which Spanish is the most famous, that are spoken either by the natives of US or the people who have migrated from different areas around the world. Although US, like UK, has essentially the same language, the dialects are very different in both countries. The English spoken in the US, more commonly known as the American English, is similar to the language spoken in the UK in many ways. But dealing with a language which is similar to one’s own and yet has different turns of phrase, unexpected meanings and unfamiliar nuances is a problem that is often experienced by British who have gone to America and also by many Americans working in Britain. (Doke, 2004) The dialect of UK English is quite firm while that of US English is more informal. Often, for a UK citizen, it is hard to guess what an American is saying because Americans seem to nibble through the words as they speak. Even if the dictionary section is compared, there is a huge amount of difference. Firstly, it seems that Americans make little use of the letter ‘U’ so when the British spell ‘labo ur,’ Americans spell ‘labor.’ The same goes for other words like colour, behaviour, programme, centre etc. There is also a difference in the meanings of different words or phrases that are spoken in everyday language in both countries. For instance, a ‘1st floor’ in the US might mean the ‘Ground Floor’ in Britain. Similarly a ‘fag’ in UK is a term used for cigarettes while in the US; the same word is used for a gay person! (US2UK) It is amazing how the meanings can differ in two dialects of the same language. Folktales Most of the folktales in the US are the result of a very rich mythology of the Native Americans. The folktales are not just simply

Innovation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Innovation - Essay Example As an enabler of social, personal, business and information sharing interaction, Internet has had far reaching effects on the societies and individuals across the world. Previously unimagined, Internet has allowed people to have instant online access to information including news, education, and entertainment as well as allowed communication through email. While this facility has had a notable effect on individual lives and how we communicate and do business, the real societal changes lie elsewhere. The Internet has allowed democratisation of information where individuals and communities can now become producers in addition to being consumers of information. Domains like journalism and art, which were limited to mainstream and traditional spheres of influence, have opened up to individuals who can express and create their own identity and personal following. Social networking sites like Facebook and Youtube have given rise to new online relationships. While some of these never result in face to face contact in person, the phenomenon has enabled connections across geographical and cultural divides based on personal preferences, interest groups and vocational interests. Several social support groups have sprung up on the webs which have particularly helped those who are either shy or unable to be part of physical groups. The ability to be anonymous on the web is an advantage here. Finally, the Internet has increasingly become home for civic and political advocacy (Lin & Atkin, 20 07: p. 184). President Obama’s presidential campaign depended heavily on the Internet, for example. Tyler noted that there was nothing new about the Internet and that it merely allowed â€Å"new ways of doing old things† and did not have a social impact (Tyler, 2002). So, in essence, are the benefits or pitfalls caused by Internet indistinguishable from those we already know of? Perhaps the answer is not that