Operational Amplifier (Op-Amp) Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Operational Amplifier (Op-Amp) - Lab Report Example ed, high gain, voltage amplifier. They form the basis of a wide array of electronic circuits, including amplifiers, buffers, comparators, and analogue-digital/digital-analogue converters. An op-amp is represented in schematic notation by the following symbol: Figure 1 - Circuit Diagram Element Where V+ and V- are the differential inputs, VS+ and VS-, are the positive and negative supply voltages, and Vout is the output of the amplifier. While they are represented as a single element, op-amps are in fact composed of many circuit elements, and are conventionally sold as monolithically integrated silicon chips. 1.1 Origins and Development of the Operational Amplifier The operational amplifier can trace its origins back to fledgling telecommunications industry in the United States at the turn of the 19th century. With the invention of the telephone, there was demand to carry electronic voice communications over longer and longer distances. The challenge was to build signal repeating equi pment that minimized problems like distortion and crosstalk, so that multi-channel communications could be carried from one side of the country to the other. Advances in electronic equipment and amplifier design eventually led to the development of the first operational amplifiers at Bell Labs in the 1940s. Vacuum tube devices were essential to the development of amplifier technology, because they made possible for the first time the non-linear manipulation of voltage and current. â€Å"The Fleming Diode†, patented in 1904 by J.A. Fleming [1], was the first major breakthrough in this respect because it allowed for the rectification of current. Then in 1906, Lee De Forest [2] built upon this work with â€Å"The Audion†, a three-element triode vacuum tube that was the first device capable of signal amplification. Amplifiers built in the following years suffered from stability problems, as they used a positive feedback principle, and distortion due to the generation of ha rmonics by vacuum tubes. Harold Black [3], in 1927 while searching for a means of improving linearity and stability of currently-used positive feedback amplifiers, came up with the negative feedback amplifier principle. The idea of deliberately sacrificing gain in to improve stability ran counter to conventional ideas at the time, and it took 9 years for the original patent application to be accepted. Once implemented, however, the advantages of this approach quickly became clear. Within a few years the theory for stable amplifier design was formalized by Nyquist and Bode, two names now synonymous with fundamental electrical engineering principles, during their work at Bell Labs. At this

Study question the Victorians poetry & prose Essay Example for Free

Study question the Victorians poetry prose Essay 1. What is the function of poetry for Mill? Of poets? What differences do you see between his ideal of poetry and the Romantic ideal? The function of poetry, according to Mill, is to act upon the emotions. It differs from prose or science in a sense that while these address beliefs, poetry is to feelings; that while the other two works by â€Å"convincing or persuading†, poetry works by â€Å"moving† emotions; and while the other two presents a â€Å"proposition to the understanding†, poetry â€Å"offers interesting objects of contemplation to the sensibilities. † Poetry should â€Å"paint the human soul truly. † There is not much difference in Mills function of poetry to Romantic ideals in the sense that both appeal to the emotion of the readers. 2. In the passage from his Autobiography, what does Mill become depressed/love his faith? What â€Å"saves† him? What is Mill’s critique of Utilitarian philosophy? Although Mill is a famous exponent of Utilitarianism, he has some objections or criticisms about it. His father was also an exponent of Utilitarianism and here lies his delemma. He took the oppurtunity to publish his criticisms, alongside with his defense, when an earlier work by Professor Sedgwick was published that assaulted utilitarian ethics, and which had given his father and other utilitarians much indignation. 3. What choice is the Lady of Shalott making when she leaves her tower? The Lady of Shalott decides to leave her isolation when she decided to leave her tower. All her life she lived in isolation, that although reapers hears her song, none had seen her and she couldnt look down fro her tower because of the curse if she did so. One time she exclaimed: â€Å"I am half-sick of the shadows. † Even though she resists looking down from her tower, she finally did when she heard Sir Lancelot sing and the curse is starting to manifest on her. Perhaps, at least at the time of death the Lady of Shalott does not wish to be alone but wish herself to be known to others, that she left the tower, labeled the boat she found â€Å"The Lady of Shalott,† and died crossing the river going to Camelot. 4. Is Ulysses’ decision to leave his home again (a) heroic or (b) escapist? Defend your answer. Ulysses decision to leave his home again is an escape to the life in his kingdom. There is nothing heroic in his new conquest, other than to â€Å"seek a newer world† or to â€Å"touch the Happy Isles. † In the beginning of the poem, Ulysses already suggest that there is little point in staying home and states that he â€Å"cannot rest from travel. † He believes that going back to sea again would yeild â€Å"some work of noble note† suggesting that travelling the seas offers a much simpler and fruitful life than staying home. 5. Explain how the setting and circumstances affect our reading of â€Å"My Last Duchess†? Is the narrator reliable? How do we know? The setting and circumstances in My Last Duchess leads the readers to speculate on the mysteries that encompasses the poem, speculatively from actual historical events. The tilte itself reveals that the speaker in the poem is a Duke whose last wife had died. The mention of â€Å"nine-hundred-years-old name† suggest that the Duke came from a long line of prominent and powerful family, and through the speaker we know that he is presenting to his audience his art collections suggesting that he is a lover of the arts. There is little error from the information if we take the popular belief that the speaker was Duke Alfonso II, who lived in the 16th century, to be true. Alfonso II came from the house of Este, whose earliest known member lived in the 10th century, which makes his name â€Å"six-hundred-years-old† at the time the duke lived, in contrast with the â€Å"nine-hundred-years-old name. † 6. According to Arnold what is the value of education in the humanities as opposed to just being educated in science or â€Å"practical† issues? Just being educated in science or practical issues, according to Arnold, has put the world in a state where nothing is certain. It has brought the â€Å"Sea of Faith† in melancholy as scince has challenged the precepts of religion. He hopes that with the confusion brought about by science, education in the humanities would cure the world of its lack of faith. Education in the humanities would, at least, keep the world its moral standards. 7. What does Arnold’s poem, â€Å"Dover Beach† suggest as an antidote to the loss of faith? Do you think the poem ends pessimistically or optimistically? In Dover Beach, Arnold suggest that faithfulness in love is the antidote to the loss of faith. His appeal: â€Å"Ah, love let us be true† suggests that his only hope on this uncertain world rests on the faithfulness of his love interest, probably his wife, to him. The poem still ends pessimistically since Arnold emphasizes on the confusion the world is currently at the time the poem was written.

Human Resource Strategy Of The NHS

Human Resource Strategy Of The NHS Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is located at the Tameside General Hospital in Ashton-Under-Lyne. The organisation was formally authorised as a Foundation Trust on 1 February 2008. The Trust was formerly known as Tameside Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust. Employing approximately 2,300 staff, the hospital provides the wide array of services one would associate with a general hospital, including Accident and Emergency services, general and specialist medicine, general and specialist surgery and full Consultant led obstetric and paediatric hospital services for women, children and babies. The Trusts clinical services are provided in a number of different specialties and departments. These are organised into four Divisions. Situated at the foot of the Pennines, eight miles to the east of Manchester the Trust services a population of over 250,000. The population is concentrated in the largely industrialised areas of the eight townships of Tameside, which comprises Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council. The Trusts overarching purpose is to become the local Hospital of Choice for patients, the public and staff. The Trust will continue to play its part in the local community, and to seek to build strong and enduring partnership relations throughout 2010/11 and beyond. The Trust is committed to building on its achievements of 2009/10 and continuing to improve the care the hospital provides and the way we work. Tameside appears to have a very positive future ahead as we have recently undergone extensive building work under a PFI (private finance initiative) Project where we have had  £120 million investment. The Health Investment in Tameside (HIT) Project is the biggest investment and most extensive site improvement Tameside hospital has seen for decades. It will result in new Acute and Mental Health facilities with a construction programme which started in autumn 2006 and will be completed by the end of 2011. The organisations expenditure consists of around two thirds on its workforce. The approach in the way the hospital manages staff is crucial and is key to delivering the best possible care to patients. Staff have the opportunity to develop their skills, knowledge and attitudes and engaging staff in this way will the lead the organisation through a very difficult economic climate. Tameside Hospital like other hospitals is dominated by a mainly female workforce and this is impacting on a previously male management culture and there is a competitive edge now between the existing male workforces in similar organisations. The financial and economic outlook for the coming three years is very challenging and the demands on healthcare services are likely to rise at the same time as available funding becomes more constrained. Improving productivity will be a key focus of the Trusts work over this period, but this will not be allowed to come at the expense of the quality of healthcare services. The Trust Board recognises the challenge of maintaining an accessible and comprehensive range of clinical services for the population of Tameside and Glossop in the current economic climate, and acknowledges that this may be more readily achieved through both innovation and scale. The potential to work collaboratively with another organisation in the development of a hospital group to ensure the continued delivery of quality and productivity is being actively explored. The key aim of such collaboration would be to achieve additional efficiency and quality gains, without the need for major structural change (merger). The Trust already has an active programme for the involvement of patients, the public and staff in its work. Website http://www.tamesidehospital.nhs.uk/Documents/AnnualPlan201011.pdf Accessed 30.03.11. However, it remains the view of the Trust that there are additional benefits to be gained from developing wider and deeper involvement. The Trusts staff also will need to feel empowered to seek out ways to achieve quality gains whilst also delivering productivity improvements, such that the Trust can secure financial and service stability going forwards. As stated above, the Trusts Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Strategies will set out the Trusts plans to enhance the involvement and engagement of key stakeholders. Staff involvement plays a major part in delivering the high quality services expected by such a large community like Tameside and as such the organisation invests heavily in staff development. There is a direct link to the performance of staff and the organisations HR strategy. Unfortunately in the current economic climate this couldnt be further from the truth as staff morale and motivation is certainly not what it was as job cuts is the focus of every member of staff at the Trust. Current Challenges in Strategic Priorities The HR function at Tameside Hospital has become the forefront of driving change within the organisation. The workforce strategy (see Appendix 1) links back to the Trusts Mission Statement (See Appendix 2) for being the hospital of choice for the people of Tameside and Glossop. The Trust wants to use this to underpin the strategy and link it to its business performance. To define human resources and human resourcing strategy Human Resources Human Resourcing Strategy The efforts, skills or capabilities that people contribute to an employing organisation to enable it to continue in existence The general direction followed by an organisation in how it secures, develops and, from time to time, dispenses with human resources to help it continue in the long term Leopold et al (1999) Since the recent change in government and the plans reform the NHS, HRM has become more prevalent to everyone working at the Hospital and what the unknown aims and objectives will be in the coming years. The much criticised Nick Clegg at the Liberal Democrats conference in Sheffield recently has been humiliated by his own party after passing a motion that our family GPs will be in control of commissioning services. Paul Burstow the Health Minister was quoted saying There will be no US-style privatisation of the health service on our watch. Sunday Times 13.03.11. The truth is that nobody really knows what the future holds for the NHS and whether the future reforms will be successful. Mr Burstow also told delegates stripping out layers of needless management and capping administrative costs (means) well be able to make  £5bn of savings over the next four years all of which we will plough straight back into patient care. www.bbc.co.uk. The strategic HR priorities of the NHS as a whol e will be on how these cuts will affect staff and the services they deliver and also how with a significant number of job losses the business is expected to continue with delivering the adequate patient care required. The Independent predicts that union leaders have also indicated that a loss of 50,000 jobs could be lost to due to efficiency savings. www.independent.co.uk. Inevitably this type of reform is going to lead to failures on the frontline with the loss of nursing staff delivering the patient care which is so widely criticised. The focus in our organisation currently is efficiency and effectiveness as there is a significant hole in the purse which funds the whole organisation. We are currently nearly  £2 million in deficit and this is predominantly the case for many public sector organisations where cuts are being made within the existing workforce to combat the financial deficit which hospitals, police and local councils are declaring at the current financial year end. The role of Human Resources is also changing not only as a result of a coalition government but also as a result of globalisation and the expectations of stakeholders and how the rapid development of technology impacts on HRM. Within a change in environment, the HR professional has to evolve to become more strategic and a change mentor within the organisation. People Management (January 2011) suggests that in many Asian companies the positioning of HR is best placed as a business function with a leadership role and operating at a very transactional level and they tend to think less about HR strategy but focus directly on growth. This indicates that the UK can learn from the way their HR leaders operate. They have: Faster implementation cycles Asian leaders have a much more fluid interpretation of HR structures and that a rigid definition of business partner, specialist and HR services can create silos and slow response times. Putting insight at the heart of the function HR leaders are savvy and they use this to drive business growth strategy. Pull the purpose lever they create a sense of purpose by harnessing the press, the project and the organisation behind a big idea. True Engagement they use the three As accountability, authenticity and adaptability. It could soon mean that the UK is struggling to keep up with the way HR is responding to competition and change. In order to succeed in the UK, HR must be a business driven function with a thorough understanding of the organisations bigger picture and be able to influence key decisions and policies. In general, the focus of todays HR Manager has to be on strategic personnel retention and talents development. HR professionals will be coaches, mentors and succession planners to help motivate organisations members and their loyalty. The HR manager will also promote and fight for values, ethics and beliefs within their organisations, especially in the management of workplace diversity. Leopold et al (1999) states that strategy makers are seeking to achieve a fit between HR Strategy and the broader business strategy and ultimately this should contribute fully to the achievement of business objectives. Whittingtons (1993) fourfold typology shown below is extremely useful and helps to understand the complexity and the multidimensional ways in which strategy might be conceived. It is based upon outcomes and how they are perceived purely between either profit-maximising or pluralistic and whether the strategy is either deliberate or emergent. Processes Deliberate Classical Systemic Outcomes Profit-Maximising Pluralistic Evolutionary Processual Emergent Whittingtons typology of strategy Marchington et al (2008) Mabey et al (1999) suggests that the National Health Service has been exposed to decentralization and division into profit-responsible divisions. The organisations workforce strategy is also expected to deliver the employer of choice and the domains for this method are as follows: Employee Resourcing The focus for Tameside is workforce planning and contingency staffing, managing change, modern recruitment and selection practices, new roles and job redesign and developing shared services. Workforce/HR Planning This is essential to any organisation in ensuring we get the right caliber of staff, with the right skills. As an integral part of the business planning process it involves recruitment, retention, development strategies and the provision of workforce information to managers. Effective workforce planning ensures you will have a workforce of the right size, with the right skills, organised in the right way within the budget that you can afford, delivering services to provide the best possible care. www.healthcareworkforce.nhs.uk There are four categories of staff that are important in human resources planning: Exisiting staff New recruits Potential staff Leavers Marchington et al (2008) suggests when the world markets were much more stable and predictable, HR planning was prominent in HRM, personnel management and labour economics. HRM texts have discussed whether HR planning is still worthwhile. In some new organisations HR planning conveys images of bureaucracy, rigidity and a failure to comprehend the limitations of planning in an uncertain environment. Tamesides Workforce Strategy focuses on tactical adjustments to address unknown forces in relation to high demand of services from our commissioners and also the public. Tamesides workforce planning is flexible in nature which allows the organisation to respond effectively to the peaks and troughs of activity. This is through the use of agency and temporary staff which relieves some of the pressure associated with peak times of the year like winter. Skill mix is another focus for the organisation to ensure staff can work across all divisions which gives increased flexibility to the staff we have and which departments they can work. Changes over the next 5 years are projected in our Workforce Strategy. The reductions in staff are significant and this will be managed through effective strategic planning and the deployment of HR interventions such as stringent vacancy controls, allowing for natural wastage, effective redeployment and a planned approach to contingency staffing. Beardwell et al suggests that the Markov model is something which should be used by manpower planners in addressing internal factors that need to be considered in the development of a manpower plan. Recruitment Retention Staff are the most valuable asset in an organisation. Their performance determines whether the organisation achieves its goals and expected results. As a manager you need to create and maintain an environment in which your staff are motivated to perform well. The Trust is developing Recruitment Retention strategies locally, nationally and internationally to help fill vacant positions and hard to fill posts across the Trust. We are seeking to recruit returners back into nursing, midwifery, professions allied to health and medicine. In addition we monitor the reasons for staff leaving and have developed an exit questionnaire to ascertain the main reasons why staff leave. The NHS as a whole advertises through a centralised internet site http://www.jobs.nhs.uk/ this enables the organisation to attract a wide variety of candidates for any single advertisement. We also use techniques such as talent banking and generic recruitment campaigns. The trust aims to ensure that the recruitment and selection of employees and volunteers is always carried out in a fair, timely and cost-effective manner. Poor staff retention has many consequences including cost of staff turnover, loss of company knowledge, and decreased morale. These things can all be detrimental to your business. The retention of key employees is critical to the long-term health and success of any business. Organisations need to try to do what they can to retain their best employees to ensure customer satisfaction, product sales, satisfied co-workers and reporting staff, effective succession planning, and deeply embedded organisational knowledge and learning. www.health4work.nhs.uk Tameside is considering undertaking the introduction of assessment centres, psychometric testing and competence-based selection methods for all vacancies within the organisation. This approach will underpin our commitment to delivering dignity in care by ensuring a workforce hard wired with the requisite behaviours and values. The induction process is also being reviewed and it will be mandatory for staff to be re-inducted every 2 years. Essentially Tameside is aspiring to be as modern with its recruitment process as possible as well as cost efficient. The Trust marks itself to be able to attract and retain the best possible staff but Torrington et al (2005) suggests that this varies over time as labour markets become successively tighter and looser depending on economic conditions. Because an organisation may have to bring about a cultural shift within the company in order to improve employee retention, you may be faced with some resistance to change from some members of staff. Resistance can take many forms ranging from the subtle undermining of change initiatives or withholding of information, to active resistance including strikes. Poor communication has been linked to issues surrounding the effectiveness of change management because imposed change can lead to greater employee resistance. Reward and Recognition Through communications, pay modernisation-benefits realisation and staff recognition schemes Tameside audits itself to ensure the workforce is fully engaged with the delivery of the corporate objectives. Benefits realisation of the recent new pay systems so we can continuously improve productivity. There are schemes which recognise staff commitment which reinforces values and behaviours: Chairmans Prize for Service Improvement, Teamwork and Innovation Above and Beyond Award Caring for Those Who Care Award Long Service Award 100% Attendance These schemes motivate staff and contributes to wider organisation performance and links back to Tameside being the Local Hospital of Choice. Succession Planning Ideally an organisation would not want one talent to replace another but to develop a pool of talent. This is a more dynamic approach to succession planning and gives individuals the chance to put themselves forward to a talent pool. One of the key features of a structured management development system is a succession plan. Cole (2002:390) Succession planning is typically defined as a process by which one or more successors are identified for key posts (or groups of similar key posts), and career moves and/or development activities are planned for these successors. In other words, succession planning is about preparing organisations for likely or inevitable changes now, in order to minimise challenges later. www.idea.gov.uk Some large organisations develop schedules for their succession planning but Tameside does not have such an elaborate schedule. Succession planning is a very informal discussion between managers identifying potential candidates who would be suitable for roles which are about to become vacant from retirement, voluntary leaving, dismissal or sickness. Strategically the NHS has a workforce review team (WRT) but at local levels like District General Hospitals it is more difficult to implement workforce planning effectively. With an organisation such as Tameside a more formalised approach to succession planning would be advisable to build a pool of staff rather than assessing staff within your own department. For workforce planning to be successful it requires accurate data, modelling, continuous and iterative planning, specialist skills, scenario building and stakeholder involvement. Talent Management Develop leadership and staff empowerment, talent spotting and succession planning. Performance Management and Monitoring with HR Metrics, Performance Monitoring and External Benchmarking. Tameside recognises the importance of a positive approach to the management of unsatisfactory work performance to enable the Trust to deliver quality services. Unsatisfactory performance by individual employees for whatever reason is detrimental to the service and Trust as a whole. As well as reducing standards of patient care and service delivery, poor performance by individual members of staff has a demotivating effect on other employees. The hospital operates a rigorous Capability Policy for managers to use when assessing individuals who require performance monitoring. It also ensures individuals are treated fairly, sensitive and in a consistent manner. It is the responsibility of managers to ensure when recruiting that the right candidate is selected and they can perform the role they are applying for. Managers are given full support from their individual HR Managers to ensure the policy is adhered to. There are 4 stages to the Capability Policy: Stage 1 Informal monitoring, coaching and counseling Stage 2 Formal meeting Stage 3 Formal meeting Stage 4 Formal hearing stage This is a lengthy process and on occasion has been known to take 12 months to redeploy or dismiss an employee who is not performing their role. Performance Management takes the form of a continuous self-renewing cycle, as illustrated in the figure below: The performance Management Cycle Armstrong et al (2009) There is a lot of red tape to the current performance management technique. If a staff member is unable to perform the role to the required standard the process is so long that nobody really bothers to use it and usually waits for the individual to leave. This workforce strategy was produced in 2007 and was scheduled to be periodically reviewed over the course of 5 years. Leopold et al (1999) suggests that the correct definition for Human Resource Strategy is personnel strategy. Organisations which do not concentrate on attracting and retaining talents may find themselves in a very vulnerable position, as competitors may be outplaying them in the strategic employment of their human resources. With the increase in competition, locally or globally, organisations must adapt themselves to become more resilient, agile, and customer focused to succeed. Human resource management challenges cost your organisation money, time, resources, lost opportunities, and reduced productivity, to name but a few. Organisations need to rethink their strategic HRM and think more about strategic recruitment. www.strategic-human-resource.com Cole (2002) suggests that there should be strategic long-term goals when it comes to a HR strategy which includes: Ensuring the HR needs for the next five years are met Maintain wage and salary levels sufficient to recruit, retain and motivate staff at all levels in the organisation. Give priority to the development of leadership skills Ensure effective training and development opportunities Effective communication systems between management and other employees Provide mechanisms to cope with the human consequences of change This is certainly reflected in Tamesides Workforce Strategy. How Human Resources Management (HRM) contributes to the achievement of organisational objectives. HR Consultant Louise Allen suggests there are key steps in the quest to delivering a successful HR strategy that links to the organisation objectives of the business. Aligning business and HR needs The business goals sit at the heart of any HR strategy and in order to align business and HR needs can your organisations internal capability deliver its business goals? A HR strategy which is aligned with the business strategy is about the growth of the organisation by increasing the performance of the employees and keeping budgets under control. The process of the alignment of the HR strategy with the business strategy is about going deeper and finding the real root of the successful human capital management in the organisation. Developing your HR strategy It needs to understand your business goals and the business model can identify any potential threats and opportunities in the quantity and quality of human resource required by your organisation. It is critical the HR team as a whole has a high level of knowledge and expertise in aligning HR interventions and how this impacts on business performance. Organisational performance This is the process by which business goals and objectives are cascaded and managed across and down an organisation. It provides a rationale for all other HR activity and directly impacts the business success, enhancing HRs reputation and contribution. Organisation culture Culture commonly described as the way we do things round here www.thetimes100.co.uk Organisations tend to create their own culture and this gives the business a sense of identity. The organisation culture encapsulates what it is good at and what has worked for the business in the past. These values can often be acknowledged and accepted without question by long-serving members of the business. In re-aligning an organisations culture there can be real benefit and competitive advantage through improved service. Changes to the Organisations Current HR Strategy The fundamental change to our Workforce Strategy is that it needs updating. The current strategy differs somewhat to where we are currently. The change in government is not something that was envisaged and the impact of this change and how it would affect the Trust. I understand this would be difficult to envisage but all eventualities should be considered in a HR Strategy which has a 5 year plan. There isnt a one-size-fits-all and your HR strategy may change as the business evolves. www.humanresourcesiq.com The organisation needs to create a robust performance management process that sets out performance objectives for all levels of staff within the business. This is an opportunity to develop line managers skills in being able to disseminate and set stretch targets for their business. Another element is a personal development review process where individual strengths and weaknesses are identified for the purposes of assessing and meeting organisational development needs. Evaluation of the impact of SHRM on the business Even though HR professionals like Guest and Legge are convinced that their efforts add value to the organisations bottom-line, frequently there is little evidence to demonstrate such belief. www.allbusiness.com Improvements could be made to our HR department but it seems to be a consistent trend throughout the organisation with regards to funding and resources which would enable you to deliver those objectives. A prominent guru of HRM, David Ulrich discusses the role of HRM moving from a functional to a more operational role and involves partnership rather than being resource based. He describes HR as being a four sided partnership consisting of: Strategic Partner Change Agent Employee champion Administrative expert This allows the challenge of change to be more transparent and enables a strategic involvement from the beginning involving all stakeholders from the macro and micro environment. The employee champions act as an advocate for the employees and protects them throughout the process of change. The administrative expert is a flexible role within Ulrichs model ensure the maximum possible quality service is delivered at the lowest possible cost to the organisation. The Ulrich model relates very closely to how Tameisde will require support in the future developments and changes within the organisation. Competitive Advantage There is evidence to suggest that HR practices have a direct link to sustaining a competitive advantage in any organisation. Leopold et al suggests that in order to gain human resourcing advantage there should be a combination of efforts towards generating both human capital advantage (by recruiting and retaining outstanding people) and human process advantage (instigating difficult-to-imitate, socially complex, historically evolved processes such as learning, co-operation and innovation). There is also evidence to suggest that mixing human resourcing activities inevitably presents HR planners with a major challenge. To help with this, the notion of horizontal integration, this relates to the degree to which different aspects of HR are compatible with each other. Porter has argued that employers have three basic strategic options in order to gain competitive advantage: Cost Leadership Differentiation Focus www.business-fundas.com Porters five forces model (Appendix 4) provides a simple perspective for assessing and analysing the competitive strength and position of an organisation. This model can be used alongside other models like SWOT and PESTEL with good analytical effect. More recently Michael Porter has been working with Elizabeth Teisbery to revolutionise Healthcare reform in the United States. The Economist (Aug 2008) suggests that Porter effectively redefined the way that businessmen think about competition Conclusion After reviewing the HR strategy for Tameside Hospital it is clear that as an organisation we have yet to deal with any real human resource issue that leads to any disciplinary action. Our paperwork trail is not fluent and procedures are followed in a haphazard way. Due to a significant cut in resources even before the new round of government cuts it is difficult to follow out-of-date policies effectively. There is a real need for training and education on Human Resource Management as Tameside is leaving itself wide open to legal disputes. Clear guidelines need to be in place to protect the workforce and also the employees and organisations interests. The succession plans of the business are also ineffective. There are no established structured channels for promotion for staff within the business which are committed to their own self development. With the future of the Primary Care Trusts diminishing and the commissioning role transferring to the responsibility of the GPs, Tameside will come under increasing pressure to have their policies and protocols up-to-date which are adhered to by staff at every level.

Innocence in Daisy Miller :: Henry James, Daisy Miller

Is innocence an acceptable excuse for behavior at odds with societal norms? In the Henry James novella, Daisy Miller, we see Daisy behaving in very controversial ways for women of the mid-1800†²s. She looks directly at men without blushing, speaks bluntly about her life, travels alone with Mr. Winterbourne after only knowing him for half an hour, and cavorts regularly (unchaperoned) with a handsome, but common, Italian man. Daisy performs all of these scandalous behaviors with hardly a thought to how they may besmirch her reputation in a Europeanized group of American expatriates. Although she is unaware of the repercussions, we are told that she is ostracized from the high society that she may have been a member of if she behaved more respectably. So we may consider her as breaking the laws of the society; the punishment: expulsion. Winterbourne seems to contend, although half-heartedly, that because Daisy’s behavior is all innocent that she should be excused from the laws. When confronted by her improprieties, Winterbourne states, â€Å"The poor girl’s only fault is that she is very uncultivated† (41). His feelings that she should be excused because of lack of training continues until he finally sees her at midnight in a private moment with the Italian man. In this regard, Winterbourne seems to reflect the views of the author who writes, â€Å"Poor little Daisy Miller was, as I understand her, above all things innocent. It was not to make a scandal, or because she took pleasure in a scandal, that she went on with Giovanelli. She never took the measure really of the scandal she produced, and had no means of doing so: she was too ignorant, too irreflective, too little versed in the proportions of things.† A certain level of forgiveness is necessary for people who have not been familiarized with the rules which they are expected to live by, but Daisy Miller took this innocence to extremes.

A Separate Peace - Thematic Analysis :: essays research papers

An analysis of John Knowles A Separate Peace brings up the theme of man's inhumanity to his fellow man. What makes this novel unique is that in protesting war, Knowles never overtly referred to the blood and gore of war; he showed the consequences of war, some paralleling the nature of war and some simply laying out how World War II affected noncombatants thousand miles away. There have been many books written about war, what happens, why it happens, and why wars should stop. Knowles explains through the life of Finny why war never will cease, with only one death in the entire book; a quiet one at that. When Gene is responsible for Finny's fall off the tree, the reader is in some confusion as to what really happened. All the book reads at this juncture is "Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step near him, and then my knees bounced and I jounced the limb. Finny, his balance gone, swung his head to look at me for an instant with extreme interest, and then he tumbled sideways, broke through the little branches below and hit the bank with a sickening, unnatural thud." The reader does not know whether it was accidental or intentional. It is not until later that Finny realizes that Gene is responsible for his crippling, and what a natural thing it was to do. Gene bounced the branch just to see if he could make the invincible Finny fall; at least, this is why Gene claims he did it. This is true, but at some level, Gene was scared of Finny, of his confidence, his abilities, and his potential for breaking records. Consider Gene's paranoia over Finny's attempts to make him advent urous. Gene interprets these genuine acts of friendship as attempts to prevent him from reaching the top of the academic ladder. This paranoia parallels war in that after it is declared, no one is safe. Countries, leaders, people suspicious of all who are perceived as a threat, causing them to lash out at anyone even peripherally involved. Adequately proven in A Separate Peace, there are also historical examples: the Nazi death camps, the American Japanese-American relocation camps, and the McCarthyism of the fifties. Apparently, in America, the Constitution rules until war is declared, then paranoia and vindictiveness take charge. When Gene had the opportunity to get back at Finny, he did, which is so human it is disheartening.

The Never Ending Israel-Palestine Peace Talks Essay -- International C

The news of people dying and suffering, killings of women and children, and bombings by terrorists and militaries, has undoubtedly grabbed the world’s attention towards the Israel-Palestine conflict. While Palestinian children scream for their dead parents, the world’s leaders and academics initiated a frantic debate, trying hard to point out the real cause and viable solutions for the current situation. This has led to many peace initiatives by the international community that were unfortunately a devastating failure. This deadlock had left leaders and supporters of both sides blaming each other for their stubbornness, in some cases elevating the unrest in Israel and Palestine (Reynolds). In this difficult condition, it is hard for us to determine what actually caused the failure of the peace talks without being biased towards one side. Therefore, my goal in this essay is to examine the cause of the peace talks’ failure objectively by observing the history of pa st peace talks, the reasons for disagreement that are given by Palestine and Israel and the key issues discussed in peace talks. Finally, I will conclude my research by developing my stand on the causes based on the research I have conducted. Before we move on to discussing the cause of peace talks’ failures, it is crucial that we understand the peace initiatives that had occurred between Israel and Palestine. The starting point for the peace talks was UN’s Security Council Resolution 1967 which occurred after the 1967 war (Reynolds). This resolution stressed on â€Å"withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict† and â€Å". . . respect for and acknowledgment . . . of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and re... ...tinue the Peace Process?: No, It's Heading for Disaster." Middle East Quarterly September 1995: 23-28. Reynolds, Paul. History of Mid-East peace talks. 27 August 2010. 1 April 2012 . Saad, Lynda and Steve Crabtree. Opinion Briefing: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. 30 March 2012. 2 April 2012 . Sabbagh, Karl. Palestine History of a Lost Nation. New Yourk: Grove Press, 2006. The Telegraph. "Middle East peace talks: key issues between Israel and Palestinians." The Telegraph 14 September 2010. Tibi, Ahmad. Pressing Netanyahu is the key to success in Mideast peace talks. 3 September 2010. 1 April 2012 . United Nations Security Council. Resolution 242 (1967). Official Record. New York: United Nations, 1967. —. Resolution 252 (1968). Official Record. New York: United Nations, 1968. The Never Ending Israel-Palestine Peace Talks Essay -- International C The news of people dying and suffering, killings of women and children, and bombings by terrorists and militaries, has undoubtedly grabbed the world’s attention towards the Israel-Palestine conflict. While Palestinian children scream for their dead parents, the world’s leaders and academics initiated a frantic debate, trying hard to point out the real cause and viable solutions for the current situation. This has led to many peace initiatives by the international community that were unfortunately a devastating failure. This deadlock had left leaders and supporters of both sides blaming each other for their stubbornness, in some cases elevating the unrest in Israel and Palestine (Reynolds). In this difficult condition, it is hard for us to determine what actually caused the failure of the peace talks without being biased towards one side. Therefore, my goal in this essay is to examine the cause of the peace talks’ failure objectively by observing the history of pa st peace talks, the reasons for disagreement that are given by Palestine and Israel and the key issues discussed in peace talks. Finally, I will conclude my research by developing my stand on the causes based on the research I have conducted. Before we move on to discussing the cause of peace talks’ failures, it is crucial that we understand the peace initiatives that had occurred between Israel and Palestine. The starting point for the peace talks was UN’s Security Council Resolution 1967 which occurred after the 1967 war (Reynolds). This resolution stressed on â€Å"withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict† and â€Å". . . respect for and acknowledgment . . . of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and re... ...tinue the Peace Process?: No, It's Heading for Disaster." Middle East Quarterly September 1995: 23-28. Reynolds, Paul. History of Mid-East peace talks. 27 August 2010. 1 April 2012 . Saad, Lynda and Steve Crabtree. Opinion Briefing: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. 30 March 2012. 2 April 2012 . Sabbagh, Karl. Palestine History of a Lost Nation. New Yourk: Grove Press, 2006. The Telegraph. "Middle East peace talks: key issues between Israel and Palestinians." The Telegraph 14 September 2010. Tibi, Ahmad. Pressing Netanyahu is the key to success in Mideast peace talks. 3 September 2010. 1 April 2012 . United Nations Security Council. Resolution 242 (1967). Official Record. New York: United Nations, 1967. —. Resolution 252 (1968). Official Record. New York: United Nations, 1968.

Annie Leibovitz Biography and Image Sample Analysis

Annie Leibovitz is a famous American portrait photographer and is best known for taking extraordinary and yet unique photos of celebrities. She is one of the most demanded photographer for celebrity pictures and became a celebrity herself that way. Most of the photographs she taken have been featured mostly in magazines such as Rolling Stones, Vanity Fair and Vogue. Leibovitz has always been interested in the arts since a young age. Her mother was a dance instructor and influenced her to take dance classes not only from her, but from many other teachers. In high school she focused in music. She specialized in the guitar and wrote numerous songs, eventually becoming the head of her schools’ folk sing club. When she attended university however, she took an interest in visual arts and considered being a painting instructor as a career. It wasn’t until her family was stationed in the Philippines (her father was an Air Force lieutenant colonel) and a trip down Japan, that she was awestruck by the wonderment of photography. When she went back to school, she took night classes for photography. â€Å"A thing that you see in my pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people.† – Annie Leibovitz. This quote is a little look of how she sees her images, and how much she loves what she takes. Indirectly she also means that we should love what we take pictures of because what's the point of making others like a photograph you don't like. Photograph One â€Å"Where Romance is Celebrated† (2009) This is a photograph featuring Zac Efron as Prince Philip and Vanessa Hudgens as Princess Aurora in the Disney film, Sleeping Beauty, recreating the awakening kiss scene. This is one of the many photographs Leibovitz took for Disney Parks â€Å"What will you Celebrate?† campaign portraying highlight movie moments of different Disney animations. The atmosphere of the photograph is enchanting and the gesture of the two faces together is quite romantic. The costumes and make up enhances the features of the models, making them look too perfect. The dark background and roses make the photo also very surreal; almost fairy tale-like. In this photograph the roses and the bed frames around Efron and Hudgens to make emphasis on them together. Leibovitz also uses Rule of Thirds to make their faces the centre of interest. She uses artificial lighting above them making an angelic effect and intensely shines on the princess's face, making her complexion paler thus contrasting with the dark background. Photograph Two â€Å"John Lennon and Yoko Ono† (1980) In this photograph is the last photograph ever taken of John Lennon embracing Yoko Ono naked on a bed before he was assassinated. It is an intimate moment between the two; holding each other tenderly while he's giving her a kiss displays their deep love for one another. The bareness and position he is in also displays the vulnerability of human passion. The one evident compositional element is making John Lennon the centre of interest, by making the eye focus on him because he's curled up in a ball or fetal position. Also Yoko's black clothing contrasts Lennon's light skin. Leibovitz uses natural lighting, but since this is on of her earlier photographs the lighting is nothing to creative and simple. Conclusion and Legacy In the being the majority of her images were in black and white because of her lack of education, but later self taught herself about colour development and uses that more often. Leibovitz approach to taking her images is unexpected and out of the box; one never really knows what her next piece will turn out. She captures her effects with artificiality, flair and outrageousness that makes her artwork different from other portrait photographers. Generally she doesn't really care about other's opinions on how to take photos and often gets in trouble by the media by doing things that might offend other people. But all in all, we should admire her genius as a photographer and her â€Å"risk taking† attitude on how to interact with her subjects and audience. I first got interested in Leibovitz because of the Miley Cyrus incident and the work we went over in class, she truly is fascinating in how she see celebrities in such unusual poses. Out of the two photographs that I chose in this essay, the one I like the most is â€Å"Where Romance is Celebrated† because the Disney series are my favorite works by her. I just can't help loving and reminiscing my childhood.