The Practical Value of Purchasing Power Parity Theory

Background information Multinational corporations (MNCs) are faced by various risks in their operation (Gallagher Andrew, n.d, p. 595). One of these risks relate to economic risks.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on The Practical Value of Purchasing Power Parity Theory specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More For example, the cash flows earned from the firms’ operations have to be repatriated to the parent company which means that the cash flows are subject to exchange rate fluctuations. According to Kim (2006, p.110), exchange rate refers to the price that one currency is traded for another. The exchange rates fluctuate from time to time. In a free market, the exchange rate is determined by market forces of demand and supply (Kim, 2006, p.110). Economists have developed different models that explain how the exchange rate is determined. One of the elements that managers of multinational corporations take into consi deration in their operation relate to exchange rate determination. This arises from the fact that exchange rate impacts the value of the multinational companies and hence their competitiveness. Additionally, managers of multinational companies must understand how the exchange rate is affected by external forces such as inflation and interest rates (Madura, 2010, p.233). This is due to the fact that increase in the rate of inflation and interest rate may erode the value of multinational company. Bartram, Dufey and Frenkel (2010) assert that fluctuation in the exchange rate is one of the major risks that multinational corporations are faced with. In extreme situations, exchange rate fluctuations may cause substantial losses to multinational companies and even bankruptcy. This underscores the importance of multinational corporations managing these risks professionally (Bartram, Dufey Frenkel, 2010, p.1). There are 5 main theories that explain how the exchange rate is determined. One o f these theories is referred to as the purchasing power parity.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More To maximize their wealth, investors consider developing an optimal investment portfolio. To achieve this, they integrate different investment vehicles. Some of the investment vehicles considered relate to financial securities such as bonds. Other investors consider investing in the foreign investment markets as the best option. Examples of these markets include the forward and spot market (Buckley, 2004, p. 82). The investment deals made in these markets are intended to be settled in the future. Therefore, investors make expectations regarding the yield that they will receive from the forward and spot markets. One of the hypotheses that try to explain the impact of the investors’ future expectation on the spot rate is referred to as the expectations hypothesis. Aim The obj ective of this report is to evaluate the practical value of Purchasing Power Parity theory to managers of multinational companies. T he report also evaluates whether the assertion that the forward rate is a valid predictor of the future spot rate according to the expectations hypothesis is true. Scope The report is organized into two sections. The first section illustrates the importance of purchasing power parity to managers of multinational corporations. The second part entails an analysis of the expectations hypothesis. Finally, a conclusion and a number of recommendations are outlined. The value of Purchasing Power Parity theory (PPP) to managers of MNCs This theory is based on the law of one price which states that the price of commodities in different locations have to be the same. Lack of uniformity in price means that there is a gap left for organizations to make more profit (Mankiw, 2011, p.390). For example, According to Gallagher and Andrew (n.d, p.595), Purchasing Power Parity Theory (hereafter referred to as PPP) postulates that it is the relative price of products prevailing between two countries that determine the exchange rate between these two countries. This means that a particular currency must have an equal purchasing power across different countries (Mankiw, 2011, p. 390). There are two main forms of PPP. These include: Absolute PPP Relative PPP Absolute form of PPP postulates that in the absence of international barriers, consumers will prefer sourcing their products from markets with the lowest prices (Buckley, 2004, p. 117). On the other hand, relative form of PPP stipulates that changes in the relative price of a particular basket of commodities between two or more countries determine the corresponding adjustment in the exchange rate.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on The Practical Value of Purchasing Power Parity Theory specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Understand ing the PPP theory enhances the effectiveness with which managers of MNCs make various operational decisions. For example, the relative form of PPP theory postulates that the consumers’ purchasing power vary due to existence of various types of market imperfections. These imperfections may arise from imposition of quotas, tariffs, and high transportation cost (Madura, 2010, p.234). To improve the demand of their products in the international market, managers of MNCs have to develop a comprehensive understanding of the exchange rate movement. This improves the effectiveness with which the firms adjust the price of their products so as to ensure uniformity with the consumer’s purchasing power between the domestic and the foreign market. Lack of uniformity in the consumers’ purchasing power may result into consumers shifting to the competitors products. The resultant effect is that the multinational corporation may experience a decline in its sales revenue (Madura, 2010, p.235). Therefore, the theory of PPP is important to managers of MNCs in making adjustment to the price of their products. The theory of PPP is also of great value to managers of MNCs in that it enables them to project how the exchange rate will respond to changes in the rate of inflation in the domestic and the foreign market. The theory asserts that the relationship between the exchange rate and the price of commodities in the foreign market is direct. On the other hand, the relationship is indirect with regard to price level in the domestic market (Ignatiuk, 2009, p.5). If the domestic country experiences an increment in the price level (inflation), the exchange rate of the domestic country relative to the foreign country will depreciate proportionately so as to reinstate the purchasing power parity between the two countries (Ignatiuk, 2009, p.5). Illustration 1 The exchange rate of country X’s currency which was initially stable experiences an increment in the rate of inflation with a margin of 5%. Similarly, the exchange rate in country Y’s currency experiences an increment in the rate of inflation with a margin of 3%. According to PPP theory, inflation in the domestic and foreign market will affect the rate of exchange between these two countries. The formula below illustrates the corresponding change in the exchange rate between the two countries. ef= [1+ Ih/ 1+ If]-1Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More = [1+0.05/1+0.03]-1 =0.0194 or 1.94%. As a result of the high inflation in the domestic market compared to the foreign market, the exchange rate in the home country will appreciate with a rate of 1.94%. The resultant effect is that the price index in the foreign market will increase similar to the domestic market. Therefore, the domestic and foreign consumers will experience an increment in the price of commodities (Madura, 2010, p.236). The above illustration shows that the price level of commodities in the home and the foreign country will increase with 5%. This means that purchasing power parity between the two countries will be restored. Illustration 2 If the rate of inflation in the foreign country is higher than the domestic market, the foreign currency will depreciate. For example, if country Y’s inflation is 7% while that of country X is 4%, the foreign currency will depreciate with 2.8% compared to the domestic currency as illustrated below. ef = [1+Ih/1+If]-1 = [1+. 04/1+0.7] -1 = -0.28 =-2.8%. Depreciation in the foreign currency as a result of the high rate of inflation will result into decline in the price of foreign commodities according to the domestic consumers’ perception (Madura, 2010, p. 236). The differential in the rate of inflation between the two countries will result into an increment in the price of commodities in the two countries with a margin of 4% (Madura, 2010, p.236). From the above illustrations, it is evident that the theory of PPP is important to managers of MNCs in that it enables them to understand how the exchange rate will be affected by inflation. The resultant effect is that managers of MNCs can be able to project their firms’ future cash flows. The PPP theory enables managers of MNCs to determine the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on its future cost and revenues (Papaioannou, 2006, p. 236). The PPP theory can also enable a firm to formulate effective risk management strategies (Madura, 2010, p. 236). For example, the firm can be able to hedge against economic risks such as exchange rate fluctuations. Additionally, understanding how inflation rate differentials between countries impact the exchange rate can enable managers of multinational companies to make effective expansion decisions. The resultant effect will be improvement in the competitiveness of the company (Papaioannou, 2006, p. 135). The expectation hypothesis There are various financial instruments that investors can consider when investing in the foreign exchange market. Some of these instruments relate to investment in transactions of currencies (Buckley, 2004, p. 83). Examples of currency transactions include forward and spot transaction According to Wesso (1999, p.13), there are a number of hypothesis which have been formulated in an effort to explain the relationship between forward rates and spot rates. One of these theories is the expectations hypothesis asserts that the forward rate of exchange fully ref lects the future spot rate (Wesso, 1999, p. 13). For example, the hypothesis suggests that a 90-day GBP / EUR Forward Rate is a valid predictor of the GBP / EUR Spot Rate in 90 days’ time. Choudhry (2004, p.61) emphasizes on the assertion that the forward rate is a valid predictor of the future spot rate. In their investment decisions, investors expect the spot rate will in the future. However, the hypothesis has been criticized by a number of authors. For example, Buckley (2004, p.125) asserts that the forward rate of is not always equal to the future spot rate. The forward rate tends to be higher than the future spot rate. This means that the forward rate over-estimates the spot-rate which means that the forward rate is not a valid predictor of the future spot rate (Choudhry, 2004, p. 62). It is also difficult for investors to project the future spot rate that will be applicable after a long period for example 30 years. Buckley (2004, p. 125) asserts that a study conducted on a number of currencies (Swiss Franc, US dollar, the Swiss Franc and the Deutschmark) with regard to the forward and spot rate revealed that the forward rate is only a valid predictor of the future spot rate if the period to maturity is 30 days and not 90 days. This illustrates that the accuracy of the forward rate as an estimator of the spot rate diminishes as the period to maturity increases (Choudhry, 2004, p.62). The criticism of expectations hypothesis is also emphasized by the fact that the future spot rate is determined by movement in forces of demand and supply in the exchange market. Investors cannot accurately predict how the market will change thus making it difficult to estimate the future spot rate on the basis of the forward rate. A study conducted by Kaserman on the validity of the expectation hypotheses revealed that forward rate result into undervaluation of the spot rate. This phenomenon is mainly experienced if the forward rate is on an upward trajectory. The hy pothesis assumes that investors are risk neutral in their investment. However, investors are risk averse in their investment process (Hallwood MacDonald, 2000, p. 35). Manzur (1993, p.18) assert that the risk averse nature of investors makes them to demand a premium in order to invest in the foreign exchange market. Therefore, a risk premium has to be included in the forward contract which means that the forward rate is not a valid predictor of the future spot rate (Manzur, 1993, p. 18). According to Buckley (2004, p. 125), the prevailing spot rate is a more effective predictor of the future spot rate compared to the forward rate. Conclusion From the above analysis, it is evident that the theory of PPP is very important to managers of MNCs. By incorporating the theory of PPP in their strategic management practices, managers of MNCs are able to understand how the exchange rates are affected by inflation. The resultant effect is that they are able to formulate effective strategies to deal with economic risks arising from exchange rate fluctuation. Effective risk management in the international market is vital in improving the value of multinational corporations. The theory also enables managers of MNCs to understand the exchange rate fluctuations and hence how their future cash flows will be affected. The theory also enables managers of MNCs to develop a comprehensive understanding of the effect of inflation rate differentials between the domestic and the foreign country. The resultant effect is that the firm is able to make optimal international expansion decisions. The report has also illustrated the criticisms that have been advanced with regard to the expectation hypothesis. The report has outlined various illustrations which show that the forward rate is a biased predictor of the future spot rate. For example, the validity of the forward rate as an estimator of the future spot rate is only applicable in the short term but not in the long term. Additionally , using the forward rate to estimate the future spot rate may result into over-estimation or under-estimation of the spot rate. Recommendations To be effective in executing their duties, managers of MNCs should consider the following. Incorporating the theory of Purchasing Power Parity so as to understand how the exchange rate is determined and how it fluctuates due to variations in the rate of inflation. To be effective in estimating the future spot rate, investors and managers should not only rely on the forward rate. However, they should take into consideration the market changes. This is due to the fact that the information provided by the forward rate is usually inefficient. Reference List Bartram, S., Dufey, G., Frenkel, M., 2010. A primer on the exposure of nonfinancial corporations to foreign exchange rate risk. Journal of Multinational Financial Management. Vol. 15, issue 4, pp. 394-413. Buckley, A., 2004. Multinational finance. New York: FT Prentice –Hall. Choud hry, M., 2004. Corporate bonds and structured financial products. Amsterdam: Elsevier Butterworth. Gallagher, N., Andrew, S., n.d. Financial management: Principles and practice. New York: Freeload Press Inc. Hallwood, C., MacDonald, R., 2000. International money and finance. Malden: Blackwell. Ignatiuk, A., 2009. The principle, practice and problems of purchasing power parity theory. Munchen, Germany: Munchen GRIN Verlag. Kim, S., 2006. Global corporate finance. Malden: Blackwell. Madura, J., 2010. Financial markets and institutions. Mason: Cengage. Madura, J., 2010. International financial management. Australia: Cengage. Mankiw, G., 2011. Principles of macroeconomics. New York: Cengage Learning. Manzur, M., 1993. Exchange rate, prices, and world trade: New methods, evidence and implications. New York: Routledge. Papaioannou, M., 2006. Exchange rate risk measurement and management: Issues and approaches for firms. South Eastern Europe Journal of Economics. Vol. 2, pp. 129-146. Ne w York: International Monetary Fund. Wesso, G., 1999. The forward rate as an optimal predicator of the future spot rate in South Africa: An econometric analysis. Web. 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Visual Content on Social Media How to Use It to Improve Engagement

Visual Content on Social Media How to Use It to Improve Engagement Social media marketing is increasingly becoming a struggle to capture audience’ attention. It’s not enough that social networks are forcibly suppressing your content from the newsfeeds of your fans, but those fans are more fickle than ever. Visual content helps brands get their message across in a precise and engaging fashion. For this reason, visual content has gone from a â€Å"nice-to-have† to a must-have  vehicle for marketing messages. Here we look at the reasons why brands should spend their time, money and effort creating visual content, the different types of visual content they can create are and how these can contribute to your overall social media strategy. How to Boost #Engagement on Social Media with Visual ContentGet Some Free Resources to Create Better Visual Social Media Content Whats good advice without the right tools to put it into practice? Not much, thats what. Before we get too much farther along, here are some free goodies to help you create better social media content: 128 free photos, optimized for each social media network. Pinterest and Instagram Visual Marketing Infographic packed with useful tips and stats. Social Media Image Size infographic with all the size dimension information you need for every network. Why Create Visual Content? In social media circles, everybody knows that visual content performs better than plain text. If you still need convincing, we looked at data from the Facebook Pages  of the top 100 brands according to the Interbrand list. In 2016, 80.20% of all the Posts published were photos and videos. These were responsible for 92.15% of all interactions that these brands received on Facebook. On Facebook, there has been a steady increase in the amount of visual content being published. There was even an upward trend in the volume of visual content from one-quarter to the next in 2016. One of the main reasons why social media marketers favor visual content is the advantage it offers in terms of engagement. Showing is always better than telling. Look at the graph below that shows the average number of interactions that visual content received compared to other forms in 2016. Especially when you present facts and other information, it will be easier for your audience to assimilate visually represented content as opposed to a wall of text. Recommended Reading: How to Make the Best Social Media Images the Easy Way (+84 Free Images) How to Create Visual Social Media Content One of the best things about social media marketing is that there is something for everybody. Visual content creation on social media works along the same lines. You do not need a multi-million dollar social media budget to create visual content. The possibilities that are available to your brand may differ willing on the resources you have (talent, time, money). Yet, there are many things that brands can do even with a shoestring budget. As we have seen above, the kind of engagement that visual content can bring you makes a strong case for posting more photos and videos. Even if you do not have a full-time designer or an agency to handle social media content creation, you can create some stunning visual content. There are many free tools that are available online for creating various types of visual content. A basic starter kit for any brand would just be a willingness to play around with some free tools  like: Pablo Canva Infogr.am Piktochart Most of these are simple to use and are designed with a lay person (and not a designer) in mind. Recommended Reading: How to Be More Successful With the Right Content Marketing Tools These can help you create highly shareable visual content (A more detailed discussion on these tools follows on the next page). Remember, before you set about creating visual content, have a clear picture of why you want to do visual content. Are you looking to boost engagement, do you want more audience interaction or do you want to establish your brand as a thought-leader in your industry? The different types of visual content that you can take up can help you achieve these different goals. Look at this post that Innocent drinks  published that cracked me up (as they always do): Today is Penguin Awareness Day. We're doing our bit. Are you? Posted by innocent on  Friday, January 20, 2017 Or this highly engaging video by Dr. Pepper: Dr Pepper College Football – Grocery Run :15The carry-the-groceries-in-one-trip play – it’s not for the faint of heart. Here’s to those who push through, pick up the Dr Pepper, and take it to the house. Posted by Dr Pepper on Tuesday, November 22, 2016 These brands enjoy great engagement on Facebook usually. They do not need  engagement or interactions. It is hard to establish beyond doubt if someone would pick up an Innocent smoothie or a couple of cans of Dr. Pepper. Yet these do play a significant role in building brand personality on social media and help mold the way people feel about brands. If you look at some of the brands that publish outstanding visual content, you will see that they are very distinctive. This is the case with Starbucks, Dr. Pepper, GoPro, and so forth. While most of Starbuck’s content sports their trademark cups and their unmistakable logos, they also have a very recognizable indie vibe. Charm bracelets, woolen scarfs, freshly mown grass, fall leaves, knitted sweaters all feature regularly in Starbucks’ posts. In addition to reminding social media audiences about the brand, these posts make them crave for the warmth and coziness of a cafe or to start their day with the indie chill. Their content has become so iconic that their red cups have almost become synonymous with the holiday cheer. Ok, here's a hint: they're red. (Coming 11/10) Posted by Starbucks on  Saturday, November 5, 2016 GoPro, on the other hand, rarely uses their logo on any of their visual content. The photos themselves yell GoPro. The brand regularly puts up stunning visuals set in adventurous locations that makes these Posts identifiable as GoPro’s. There is no better way of establishing yourself as a brand that brings together amazing picture clarity and the spirit of exploration. The position that they hold within the community of travel and photography enthusiasts is further bolstered when they share user-generated content like the one below: Photo of the Day! Ryan Chan discovered that some of Hong Kong's best views are straight up! Posted by GoPro on  Monday, December 12, 2016 Here are some types of visual content that you can try your hand at and some free tools that will help you create them: Here are some types of visual content you can create (+ the free tools you'll need)Infographics Infographics are the best medium for marketers to use when they want to make their data tell a story. If you think that your eyes glaze over when you see a cramped table or a complicated graph, you are not alone. Infographics allow content creators to present data in an easily digestible and aesthetically pleasing way. Infogr.am  and Venngage  are among some of the free infographic-makers that are available online. With the templates they offer, you really don’t need a designer to dedicate their hard-pressed time for creating an infographic. Most of the infographic creation tools come with a  predesigned template. Each template is designed for a specific type of infographic. The type of infographic depends on what you are using it for – is it to convey some information or statistic, a how-to or a comparison. In addition to these templates, they also offer different elements, such as charts, text formats, symbols etc. The first thing you should have when you start out with an infographic is a story. The first thing you should have when you start out with an infographic is a story.Are you going to show your audiences how your company has grown in the past 5 years or are you doing to explain what the benefits of using your product is, or do you want to teach them how to use your product? Once you have that answer, choose the template that best suits your need. Make the necessary edits such as choosing the chart types you need, inputting the data that you have collected and customizing other design elements. Here’s an infographic  created using Venngage that was published in Adweek: Take a look at an infographic  that we did back in 2015 that got us a lot of traction: One of the things that we were able to do using this format is to do creative things with the data that we have. If you thought that only data nuts like us use infographics, see this Washington Redskins’ infographic that doubles as a 360 photo: Take our #PHIvsWAS postgame infographic for a spin. #HTTR Posted by Washington Redskins on  Sunday, October 16, 2016 Images Did you know that Facebook Posts with images get 2.3 times more engagement  than those without? There are a million different things you can do with images on social media. These can be professionally taken product shots, or just stock images with an interesting caption that accompanies your Post. If you have an extremely talented and resourceful photographer in your team, nothing should stop you from leveraging professionally captured images of your product on your website as well as on your social media handles. While most businesses will get a photographer (or someone with a DSLR) to get shots taken for websites or for important events and press releases, it is not always the case with more regular content needs. For instance, it is common knowledge now that text-only updates do not perform nearly as well as when they do with a photo accompanying them. For needs like that, you can always take the help of some of the free tools and stock photos available on the internet. Unsplash  and Pixabay  are excellent repositories of stock photos. It is easy to search and find beautiful photos for your search terms. Another tool that will be a boon for your social media manager is Pablo by Buffer. Here is a short snapshot of Pablo in action: What I like best about Pablo is that I do not need to go elsewhere searching for stock photos. Plus, I can add in a header, caption or lines of text or use a pre-existing template. The built-in editor lets me add simple, yet attractive filters. I can also customize the size of the picture depending on where I plan to post it – Pinterest, Instagram or Facebook. There isn’t a lot of room for customization but you can be done creating a beautiful graphic in under 5 minutes. Canva  is another one of my favorites which is a bit more dynamic. They offer more diverse templates and design elements create a photo to accompany my Facebook post or even create an infographic. Watch this video by Canvas  that takes you around the platform and explains what you can do with it in under 4 minutes. Recommended Reading: What 20 Studies Say About the Best Times to Post on Social Media 360 Photos and Videos In addition to these tools, you can also try your hand at some of the new visual content creation features offered by Facebook. 360 videos and photos were some such features that gained a lot of popularity last year. It is fairly simple to create 360 Photos. All you need to do is take a panoramic shot using your smartphone or your iPhone. For 360 videos, you need a 360 camera. Read this article  for a detailed how-to. Even if you think you are in a boring industry, 360 photos have the ability to go viral (with a little paid push of course). Take this 360 photo from German pharmaceutical and chemicals company Bayer. Today we’re taking you up onto the roof. Here you can see the illuminated Bayer Cross close up. Take a look around. Have a great weekend. Posted by Bayer on  Friday, August 5, 2016 It was their most shared piece of content in 2016 with 3,431 shares. If it didn’t resonate with people, then it wouldn’t have been shared so many times. Look at the level of detail Getty Images  achieved using this format: Happy National Color Day! Celebrate with this stunning Facebook 360 from the Nasir al-Mulk Mosque, also known as the Pink Mosque, in Shiraz, Iran. 📠·: Omid Jafarnezhad /360cities.net Posted by Getty Images on  Saturday, October 22, 2016 Both 360 videos and photos make your audiences feel as if they are immersed in the experience of the visual content that you publish. This contributes to greater engagement. If you are looking for some inspiration on creating 360 videos, take a look at this roundup that we did of top brands that use 360 videos on Facebook. GIFs It’s a meme-crazy world. GIFs are gaining traction among social media marketers as a staple content type. Some brands, like Nissan  below, are integrating this format into their contests and giveaways: The first 40 years- How many different Nissan GT-Rs can you spot? Answer in the comments for a chance to win $100 and a Gif-TR prize pack. http://rul.es/iqbvt9 Posted by Nissan on  Friday, March 25, 2016 Especially if your target audience includes the 9gag generation, GIFs are a low-cost, easy to create content type that can be part of your social media content strategy. GIPHY  now lets you create GIFs. You need only upload videos or supply YouTube links. You can take a regular video or use an existing video. Once you upload this or input the Youtube link, GIPHY allows you to specify which portion of the video you want to create a GIF of. You can then add in text and specify other settings. The final GIF can be shared on social networks directly. Videos Videos are becoming a vital part of every brand’s Facebook strategy. With the changes to the Newsfeed algorithm that gives an edge to video content, they gain better reach than other kinds of content. Brands often post video advertisements and product features that are professionally captured. Yet this does not mean that posting a video on Facebook needs to be a resource-intensive endeavor. Brands can do a variety of low-budget (and often free) videos on Facebook that can get them great engagement and reach. Recommended Reading: How to Do Facebook Video Marketing the Right Way How to Get Started With Twitter Video Marketing Live Videos Live videos, even though it was rolled out globally only by April 2016, have been enthusiastically taken up by many brands. The key advantage offered by live videos is that it makes the video format more interactive. It does not hurt that live videos gives a  huge boost to the engagement and reach that brands get. Facebook users can pose questions to the brand on what is being broadcasted on the live video and the presenters can address them then and there. This adds to the brand’s credibility. Also, the brand gets a keener insight into the pain points of potential consumers. Here’s how the cosmetics brand Mary Kay used live video  to win engagement: We’re LIVE with Mary Kay Global Beauty Ambassador Luis Casco makeup! He’s creating gorgeous eye looks for your holiday festivities and will also be answering your questions after the video wraps. Want more beauty tips tricks? Visit http://bit.ly/2g7FM3r! Posted by MARY KAY on Tuesday, December 6, 2016 How to Integrate Visual Content Into Your Social Media Strategy I have mentioned several studies (and our own data) to underline why brands should create more visual content. But your decision to create visual content should be guided by your larger social media goals. Only then will you be able to judge what kind of visual content will work best for you and where it fits in within your overall social media strategy. For instance, if you are on Facebook to let more people know about your product, videos might be the way to go. They get better reach and can get the word out about your product to a wider audience. Based on what your social media budget is like, consider roping in an influencer  to do the video. Based on data on your past performance and industry trends, arrive at an optimum frequency at which you should post to Facebook. If you are going to post 15 times a month, split this up into different categories based on your budget. You can allocate these 15 to lead to a major event around which you can create more content and get more people to participate. You can do a few resource-intensive videos or other visual content that needs time and specialized effort. For the other posts, the social media manager can do simpler, easier to make content and focus more on getting social media audiences to engage with it. A video with heavy production costs cannot stand alone as the only thing that you post on Facebook. It has to be part of a larger video marketing campaign. Contests and giveaways get brands more engagement and participation. This way, even if you do not promote, your future content will get better reach and visibility on Facebook. Especially with live videos you need to announce them in advance and build excitement around the event in order to get more people to participate. Recommended Reading: How to Increase Visibility With Social Media Optimization How to Ensure That Your Visual Content Gets the Attention it Deserves Now that you have a clear idea of why you should create visual content and how it fits in with your larger social media objectives, here are some measures that you can adopt to ensure that your visual content does not go unnoticed. While it is almost impossible to know with absolute certainty what content will succeed on social media, it is also a source of rich data. Using the record of how your past content has performed, you can glean insights on what is most relevant and appealing to your audience. It is essential that marketers constantly measure and monitor their social media activity. This coupled with an awareness of the industry landscape and trends there is key to pinning down a concrete strategy. With organic reach plummeting with each passing day, brands cannot always trust creative copy  and stunning visuals to do well on their own. In 2016, the top 100 brands promoted 18.65% of all their Posts. Over 78% of all the Posts promoted bore some visual content. Recommended Reading: How to Write for Social Media to Create the Best Posts The Non-Designer's Guide to Creating Better Blog Graphics It makes sense to promote at least some portion of the content that you publish to get good reach. This is extremely important when you have spent a lot of time, money and energy on making videos, or other resource-heavy visual content. Marketers should look at past data and industry trends to choose which content to promote. Marketers should look at past data and industry trends to choose which content to promote.An important thing for social media marketers to note is that the Facebook algorithm favors native videos  over those hosted elsewhere. Even if you do not record the video directly on your Facebook app, as long as it is uploaded directly to Facebook your video will get better reach than if you shared a link to your the video that you posted on YouTube. The algorithm gives preference to live videos  too. This makes a very strong case for brands to try their hand at this new format. Getting an influencer on board to help broadcast your message is a clever Facebook Reach hack. When you get a celebrity or an expert in your industry to create a video in collaboration with you, you can tap into their follower base. This helps broadcast your message to the people who follow that person. The best thing about this approach is that  the influencer’s followers are usually people who make up the target audience for your brand. Similarly, make full use of the options that Facebook offers you to target your messages to people who fall within certain geographical locations and interest groups. This ensures that the audience who get to see your post find it extremely relevant and that your efforts reach your targets rather than fall off the mark. From the data that we have discussed, it is possible to say without doubt that all brands that aspire to getting engagement on Facebook, need to create visual content. Visual content ups the relevance factor of a piece of content by presenting those aspects most relevant to the consumer. Marketers should strive to retain relevance as the hallmark of visual content creation by guiding creative decisions with data. Visual Content on Social Media How to Use It to Improve Engagement Social media marketing is increasingly becoming a struggle to capture audience’ attention. It’s not enough that social networks are forcibly suppressing your content from the newsfeeds of your fans, but those fans are more fickle than ever. Visual content helps brands get their message across in a precise and engaging fashion. For this reason, visual content has gone from a â€Å"nice-to-have† to a must-have  vehicle for marketing messages. Here we look at the reasons why brands should spend their time, money and effort creating visual content, the different types of visual content they can create are and how these can contribute to your overall social media strategy. How to Boost #Engagement on Social Media with Visual ContentGet Some Free Resources to Create Better Visual Social Media Content Whats good advice without the right tools to put it into practice? Not much, thats what. Before we get too much farther along, here are some free goodies to help you create better social media content: 128 free photos, optimized for each social media network. Pinterest and Instagram Visual Marketing Infographic packed with useful tips and stats. Social Media Image Size infographic with all the size dimension information you need for every network. Why Create Visual Content? In social media circles, everybody knows that visual content performs better than plain text. If you still need convincing, we looked at data from the Facebook Pages  of the top 100 brands according to the Interbrand list. In 2016, 80.20% of all the Posts published were photos and videos. These were responsible for 92.15% of all interactions that these brands received on Facebook. On Facebook, there has been a steady increase in the amount of visual content being published. There was even an upward trend in the volume of visual content from one-quarter to the next in 2016. One of the main reasons why social media marketers favor visual content is the advantage it offers in terms of engagement. Showing is always better than telling. Look at the graph below that shows the average number of interactions that visual content received compared to other forms in 2016. Especially when you present facts and other information, it will be easier for your audience to assimilate visually represented content as opposed to a wall of text. Recommended Reading: How to Make the Best Social Media Images the Easy Way (+84 Free Images) How to Create Visual Social Media Content One of the best things about social media marketing is that there is something for everybody. Visual content creation on social media works along the same lines. You do not need a multi-million dollar social media budget to create visual content. The possibilities that are available to your brand may differ willing on the resources you have (talent, time, money). Yet, there are many things that brands can do even with a shoestring budget. As we have seen above, the kind of engagement that visual content can bring you makes a strong case for posting more photos and videos. Even if you do not have a full-time designer or an agency to handle social media content creation, you can create some stunning visual content. There are many free tools that are available online for creating various types of visual content. A basic starter kit for any brand would just be a willingness to play around with some free tools  like: Pablo Canva Infogr.am Piktochart Most of these are simple to use and are designed with a lay person (and not a designer) in mind. Recommended Reading: How to Be More Successful With the Right Content Marketing Tools These can help you create highly shareable visual content (A more detailed discussion on these tools follows on the next page). Remember, before you set about creating visual content, have a clear picture of why you want to do visual content. Are you looking to boost engagement, do you want more audience interaction or do you want to establish your brand as a thought-leader in your industry? The different types of visual content that you can take up can help you achieve these different goals. Look at this post that Innocent drinks  published that cracked me up (as they always do): Today is Penguin Awareness Day. We're doing our bit. Are you? Posted by innocent on  Friday, January 20, 2017 Or this highly engaging video by Dr. Pepper: Dr Pepper College Football – Grocery Run :15The carry-the-groceries-in-one-trip play – it’s not for the faint of heart. Here’s to those who push through, pick up the Dr Pepper, and take it to the house. Posted by Dr Pepper on Tuesday, November 22, 2016 These brands enjoy great engagement on Facebook usually. They do not need  engagement or interactions. It is hard to establish beyond doubt if someone would pick up an Innocent smoothie or a couple of cans of Dr. Pepper. Yet these do play a significant role in building brand personality on social media and help mold the way people feel about brands. If you look at some of the brands that publish outstanding visual content, you will see that they are very distinctive. This is the case with Starbucks, Dr. Pepper, GoPro, and so forth. While most of Starbuck’s content sports their trademark cups and their unmistakable logos, they also have a very recognizable indie vibe. Charm bracelets, woolen scarfs, freshly mown grass, fall leaves, knitted sweaters all feature regularly in Starbucks’ posts. In addition to reminding social media audiences about the brand, these posts make them crave for the warmth and coziness of a cafe or to start their day with the indie chill. Their content has become so iconic that their red cups have almost become synonymous with the holiday cheer. Ok, here's a hint: they're red. (Coming 11/10) Posted by Starbucks on  Saturday, November 5, 2016 GoPro, on the other hand, rarely uses their logo on any of their visual content. The photos themselves yell GoPro. The brand regularly puts up stunning visuals set in adventurous locations that makes these Posts identifiable as GoPro’s. There is no better way of establishing yourself as a brand that brings together amazing picture clarity and the spirit of exploration. The position that they hold within the community of travel and photography enthusiasts is further bolstered when they share user-generated content like the one below: Photo of the Day! Ryan Chan discovered that some of Hong Kong's best views are straight up! Posted by GoPro on  Monday, December 12, 2016 Here are some types of visual content that you can try your hand at and some free tools that will help you create them: Here are some types of visual content you can create (+ the free tools you'll need)Infographics Infographics are the best medium for marketers to use when they want to make their data tell a story. If you think that your eyes glaze over when you see a cramped table or a complicated graph, you are not alone. Infographics allow content creators to present data in an easily digestible and aesthetically pleasing way. Infogr.am  and Venngage  are among some of the free infographic-makers that are available online. With the templates they offer, you really don’t need a designer to dedicate their hard-pressed time for creating an infographic. Most of the infographic creation tools come with a  predesigned template. Each template is designed for a specific type of infographic. The type of infographic depends on what you are using it for – is it to convey some information or statistic, a how-to or a comparison. In addition to these templates, they also offer different elements, such as charts, text formats, symbols etc. The first thing you should have when you start out with an infographic is a story. The first thing you should have when you start out with an infographic is a story.Are you going to show your audiences how your company has grown in the past 5 years or are you doing to explain what the benefits of using your product is, or do you want to teach them how to use your product? Once you have that answer, choose the template that best suits your need. Make the necessary edits such as choosing the chart types you need, inputting the data that you have collected and customizing other design elements. Here’s an infographic  created using Venngage that was published in Adweek: Take a look at an infographic  that we did back in 2015 that got us a lot of traction: One of the things that we were able to do using this format is to do creative things with the data that we have. If you thought that only data nuts like us use infographics, see this Washington Redskins’ infographic that doubles as a 360 photo: Take our #PHIvsWAS postgame infographic for a spin. #HTTR Posted by Washington Redskins on  Sunday, October 16, 2016 Images Did you know that Facebook Posts with images get 2.3 times more engagement  than those without? There are a million different things you can do with images on social media. These can be professionally taken product shots, or just stock images with an interesting caption that accompanies your Post. If you have an extremely talented and resourceful photographer in your team, nothing should stop you from leveraging professionally captured images of your product on your website as well as on your social media handles. While most businesses will get a photographer (or someone with a DSLR) to get shots taken for websites or for important events and press releases, it is not always the case with more regular content needs. For instance, it is common knowledge now that text-only updates do not perform nearly as well as when they do with a photo accompanying them. For needs like that, you can always take the help of some of the free tools and stock photos available on the internet. Unsplash  and Pixabay  are excellent repositories of stock photos. It is easy to search and find beautiful photos for your search terms. Another tool that will be a boon for your social media manager is Pablo by Buffer. Here is a short snapshot of Pablo in action: What I like best about Pablo is that I do not need to go elsewhere searching for stock photos. Plus, I can add in a header, caption or lines of text or use a pre-existing template. The built-in editor lets me add simple, yet attractive filters. I can also customize the size of the picture depending on where I plan to post it – Pinterest, Instagram or Facebook. There isn’t a lot of room for customization but you can be done creating a beautiful graphic in under 5 minutes. Canva  is another one of my favorites which is a bit more dynamic. They offer more diverse templates and design elements create a photo to accompany my Facebook post or even create an infographic. Watch this video by Canvas  that takes you around the platform and explains what you can do with it in under 4 minutes. Recommended Reading: What 20 Studies Say About the Best Times to Post on Social Media 360 Photos and Videos In addition to these tools, you can also try your hand at some of the new visual content creation features offered by Facebook. 360 videos and photos were some such features that gained a lot of popularity last year. It is fairly simple to create 360 Photos. All you need to do is take a panoramic shot using your smartphone or your iPhone. For 360 videos, you need a 360 camera. Read this article  for a detailed how-to. Even if you think you are in a boring industry, 360 photos have the ability to go viral (with a little paid push of course). Take this 360 photo from German pharmaceutical and chemicals company Bayer. Today we’re taking you up onto the roof. Here you can see the illuminated Bayer Cross close up. Take a look around. Have a great weekend. Posted by Bayer on  Friday, August 5, 2016 It was their most shared piece of content in 2016 with 3,431 shares. If it didn’t resonate with people, then it wouldn’t have been shared so many times. Look at the level of detail Getty Images  achieved using this format: Happy National Color Day! Celebrate with this stunning Facebook 360 from the Nasir al-Mulk Mosque, also known as the Pink Mosque, in Shiraz, Iran. 📠·: Omid Jafarnezhad /360cities.net Posted by Getty Images on  Saturday, October 22, 2016 Both 360 videos and photos make your audiences feel as if they are immersed in the experience of the visual content that you publish. This contributes to greater engagement. If you are looking for some inspiration on creating 360 videos, take a look at this roundup that we did of top brands that use 360 videos on Facebook. GIFs It’s a meme-crazy world. GIFs are gaining traction among social media marketers as a staple content type. Some brands, like Nissan  below, are integrating this format into their contests and giveaways: The first 40 years- How many different Nissan GT-Rs can you spot? Answer in the comments for a chance to win $100 and a Gif-TR prize pack. http://rul.es/iqbvt9 Posted by Nissan on  Friday, March 25, 2016 Especially if your target audience includes the 9gag generation, GIFs are a low-cost, easy to create content type that can be part of your social media content strategy. GIPHY  now lets you create GIFs. You need only upload videos or supply YouTube links. You can take a regular video or use an existing video. Once you upload this or input the Youtube link, GIPHY allows you to specify which portion of the video you want to create a GIF of. You can then add in text and specify other settings. The final GIF can be shared on social networks directly. Videos Videos are becoming a vital part of every brand’s Facebook strategy. With the changes to the Newsfeed algorithm that gives an edge to video content, they gain better reach than other kinds of content. Brands often post video advertisements and product features that are professionally captured. Yet this does not mean that posting a video on Facebook needs to be a resource-intensive endeavor. Brands can do a variety of low-budget (and often free) videos on Facebook that can get them great engagement and reach. Recommended Reading: How to Do Facebook Video Marketing the Right Way How to Get Started With Twitter Video Marketing Live Videos Live videos, even though it was rolled out globally only by April 2016, have been enthusiastically taken up by many brands. The key advantage offered by live videos is that it makes the video format more interactive. It does not hurt that live videos gives a  huge boost to the engagement and reach that brands get. Facebook users can pose questions to the brand on what is being broadcasted on the live video and the presenters can address them then and there. This adds to the brand’s credibility. Also, the brand gets a keener insight into the pain points of potential consumers. Here’s how the cosmetics brand Mary Kay used live video  to win engagement: We’re LIVE with Mary Kay Global Beauty Ambassador Luis Casco makeup! He’s creating gorgeous eye looks for your holiday festivities and will also be answering your questions after the video wraps. Want more beauty tips tricks? Visit http://bit.ly/2g7FM3r! Posted by MARY KAY on Tuesday, December 6, 2016 How to Integrate Visual Content Into Your Social Media Strategy I have mentioned several studies (and our own data) to underline why brands should create more visual content. But your decision to create visual content should be guided by your larger social media goals. Only then will you be able to judge what kind of visual content will work best for you and where it fits in within your overall social media strategy. For instance, if you are on Facebook to let more people know about your product, videos might be the way to go. They get better reach and can get the word out about your product to a wider audience. Based on what your social media budget is like, consider roping in an influencer  to do the video. Based on data on your past performance and industry trends, arrive at an optimum frequency at which you should post to Facebook. If you are going to post 15 times a month, split this up into different categories based on your budget. You can allocate these 15 to lead to a major event around which you can create more content and get more people to participate. You can do a few resource-intensive videos or other visual content that needs time and specialized effort. For the other posts, the social media manager can do simpler, easier to make content and focus more on getting social media audiences to engage with it. A video with heavy production costs cannot stand alone as the only thing that you post on Facebook. It has to be part of a larger video marketing campaign. Contests and giveaways get brands more engagement and participation. This way, even if you do not promote, your future content will get better reach and visibility on Facebook. Especially with live videos you need to announce them in advance and build excitement around the event in order to get more people to participate. Recommended Reading: How to Increase Visibility With Social Media Optimization How to Ensure That Your Visual Content Gets the Attention it Deserves Now that you have a clear idea of why you should create visual content and how it fits in with your larger social media objectives, here are some measures that you can adopt to ensure that your visual content does not go unnoticed. While it is almost impossible to know with absolute certainty what content will succeed on social media, it is also a source of rich data. Using the record of how your past content has performed, you can glean insights on what is most relevant and appealing to your audience. It is essential that marketers constantly measure and monitor their social media activity. This coupled with an awareness of the industry landscape and trends there is key to pinning down a concrete strategy. With organic reach plummeting with each passing day, brands cannot always trust creative copy  and stunning visuals to do well on their own. In 2016, the top 100 brands promoted 18.65% of all their Posts. Over 78% of all the Posts promoted bore some visual content. Recommended Reading: How to Write for Social Media to Create the Best Posts The Non-Designer's Guide to Creating Better Blog Graphics It makes sense to promote at least some portion of the content that you publish to get good reach. This is extremely important when you have spent a lot of time, money and energy on making videos, or other resource-heavy visual content. Marketers should look at past data and industry trends to choose which content to promote. Marketers should look at past data and industry trends to choose which content to promote.An important thing for social media marketers to note is that the Facebook algorithm favors native videos  over those hosted elsewhere. Even if you do not record the video directly on your Facebook app, as long as it is uploaded directly to Facebook your video will get better reach than if you shared a link to your the video that you posted on YouTube. The algorithm gives preference to live videos  too. This makes a very strong case for brands to try their hand at this new format. Getting an influencer on board to help broadcast your message is a clever Facebook Reach hack. When you get a celebrity or an expert in your industry to create a video in collaboration with you, you can tap into their follower base. This helps broadcast your message to the people who follow that person. The best thing about this approach is that  the influencer’s followers are usually people who make up the target audience for your brand. Similarly, make full use of the options that Facebook offers you to target your messages to people who fall within certain geographical locations and interest groups. This ensures that the audience who get to see your post find it extremely relevant and that your efforts reach your targets rather than fall off the mark. From the data that we have discussed, it is possible to say without doubt that all brands that aspire to getting engagement on Facebook, need to create visual content. Visual content ups the relevance factor of a piece of content by presenting those aspects most relevant to the consumer. Marketers should strive to retain relevance as the hallmark of visual content creation by guiding creative decisions with data.

Intelligences Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Intelligences - Essay Example r all, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division have lots of uses in daily life, if only to figure out how much to pay for fries and burgers and how much change you’re supposed to get back. Arithmetic was easy as 1-2-3. But algebra was not as easy as A-B-C, and I didn’t get it why letters had to substitute for the numbers when numbers were just fine for me. And trigonometry really lost me; its use of Greek symbols spelled Greek to me. But I do think a lot about people. People interest me, and I find them fascinating. It seems to me that people are the same everywhere in the world, despite differences in culture, faith, and ideologies. We nevertheless all agree where it really matters. We all love our children and look after their welfare the best way we can. We all regard our parents with love and respect, even if we show it in different ways. And with the advent of the internet, we are all quickly gravitating towards a single culture. We swoon over the same movie stars and dance to the same music. We share common experiences with each other even if we had never met. That’s why I feel I easily understand people. I am people-intelligent. Also dance-intelligent, so to speak. When dance music plays, feet come to life, hips sway to the beat, arms flail in the air. They say that we gain our sense of rhythm from the beating of our mothers’ hearts as we grew in the womb. Maybe so, in which case there shouldn’t be any reason for people to say they were born with two left feet as an excuse for why they can’t dance. Unless they really had two left feet. Not me. I was born to dance. But most of all, I think that I am best at being a mom. There’s no school that could teach how one can be a good parent; you just are, or you aren’t. All the universities in the world could not teach a mother to understand the different ways her infant cries – that he has a different cry when he’s hungry, or irritated, or wet, or sick; or to

Ethical Principles Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethical Principles Paper - Essay Example In many cases, the values that we as individuals hold include the morals adopted by our society over time. Some of these morals, for better or for worse, shape our behavior. Perhaps it is important to describe some of those moral ideals held by contemporary societies so that we can understand behavior and individual decision-making from an objective perspective. What are the most important morals in our society? It seems the ideal that we lessen the amount of harm suffered by others is one of the most important values of contemporary society, and thus many of us as individuals. This kind of perspective, however, is ancient. The Greek philosopher Aristotle described a system of virtue ethics that tells individuals to do good, not to do harm, to others. This includes corollaries like respecting individual rights, telling the truth, being faithful, and so on. All of these prescriptions are directly related to healthcare, where virtue ethics is an important ethical perspective. Beneficen ce, which is the duty to do good, is an important principle in healthcare work, especially when the healthcare provider has good intentions. Non-maleficence, which is the duty to not do harm, suggests that the healthcare worker should attempt to avoid the worst-case scenario when serving a patient. Autonomy, which is respect for an individual’s right to make decisions, is important when healthcare workers are delivering a service to someone who might have cognitive or behavioral deficiencies. Truthfulness, which is tied to autonomy, tells us that we should always give others all of the information in order to make an informed judgment. Fidelity, which is the virtue of being loyal to a patient in terms of establishing trust, is fundamental to the provider-patient relationship. The Aristotelian system of virtues is best practiced in healthcare because it provides a basis for how a healthcare provider should act in all situations. How does one determine worth and what does one c onsider worth to be? Worth seems to be something that is desirable, useful, or valuable to many people. We might measure something’s desirability in terms of the pain or pleasure that it causes for others. If, for example, a medicine gives a patient a great deal of pleasure (which includes long-term pleasure knowing that his disease has been cured), then we might judge it to be of worth to someone. We might also measure something’s desirability in terms of how it aligns with someone’s values. If, for example, someone values close relationships with others, then the worth of a hospital’s program to connect volunteers with terminally ill patients for one hour each week might be judged in terms of whether the patients might value that experience. What virtuous qualities are most important? Virtues enable people to pursue moral ideals of disposition or character as a means of developing their own potential as human beings. Any given society has many virtues. Some examples include honesty, courage, compassion, generosity, and fidelity. From such a list, individuals or societies can pick and prioritize based on their perceptions of which virtues are most important. One might say that, from this list, generosity is important. In health care in particular, generosity is essential. Generosity leads healthcare providers to give their best service to the community. In healthcare, when we are dealing with people’s lives, commitment to generosity and service is very important because only the very

Analysis of Ha Jin's Waiting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Analysis of Ha Jin's Waiting - Essay Example His novels were meant to highlight the political and social upheavals in the society, which he did by establishing metaphors and characters that demonstrated each and every facet of the society. His works has gone on to achieve high accolades and critical acclaim, as he has not only woven compelling storylines but he is also known to write about tabooed subjects such as the Korean War and the damage that was inflicted on to his country because of communism. Despite the fact that Ha Jin has long left his homeland for a more stable life in the United, he incorporates a major element of Chinese culture in his work; from characters to the phrases that he uses in his stories, he injects a bit of his homeland in all his stories. The aforementioned elements will be evaluated by assessing them in the light of his novel â€Å"Waiting†. Ha Jin is also known to translate many Chinese proverbs into English; for instance, there is one instance in the book where he translated a famous prove rb in the following words: â€Å"With money you can hire the devil to grind grain and cook dinner for you† (1999, p. 172). ... cept, Ha Jin’s novel ‘Waiting’ tells the story of a man, named Lin Kong, who works as a doctor in a government Medical facility in a fictional city in China called Muji City. He defers to his parents wish of marrying an ordinary peasant woman named Shuyu but the main conflict in high life arises when he is o tried hard to extricate himself out of a loveless marriage to marry his colleague; for years he waits. When he finally get to marry the woman he thought he love, he is struck with the realization that he doesn’t love her either and as a result springs back in to the same state that he had been in years. The novel Waiting encompasses intensely dark themes which are further emboldened by the fact that his protagonist is unable to feel actually feel strong emotions like love or passion. This aspect reflects the suppression of the Chinese people in order to help them achieve their communist ideals. Ha Jin further emphasizes the establishment of patriarchy u nder the communist regime that further widened the divide between males and females in the society. Marriage was seen more as a necessity than a union of love that further stunted the society’s emotional growth. His novel waiting sheds great light on to the dynamics of the relationship that drastically changed as a result of the political ideology that it ingrained a sense of ambivalence amongst the people regarding love and passion. In ‘Waiting’, the protagonist’s affections are quickly transferred to a young and intelligent nurse at his medical facility from a wife, who he married only to fulfill his parent’s wishes. He is mostly away from his wife to serve in a government medical facility and often becomes the prime subject of censure for platonic relationship with his nurse; which is not only

The advantages and disadvantages of traditional Absorption costing techniques

The advantages and disadvantages of traditional Absorption costing techniques Introduction Through the years when it comes to planning Managers has developed techniques and methods of forecasting future costs. One of such methods is Absorption costing and activity based costing (ABC) What is Absorption costing? Absorption costing is the traditional method of costing and stock evaluation, having been developed around the 1870s to 1920s is widely used by the manufacturing companies. The idea behind absorption costing to spread all overheads of the manufacturing cost centers as well as the direct cost between the finished products, and treat all non-manufacturing overhead as period costs. CIMA defined Absorption Costing as a method of costing that, in addition to direct costs, assigns all, or a proportion of, production overheads costs to cost units by means of one or more number of absorption rates. What is activity based costing? Is the modern method of cost management having been developed in 1980s. it is the preferred method for the services industry. The CIMA definition for activity based costing is an approach to the costing and monitoring of activities which involves tracing resource consumption and costing final outputs. Resources are assigned to activities, and activities to cost objects based on consumption estimates. The latter utilise cost drivers to attach activity costs to outputs. CIMA Official Terminology, 2005 (http://www.cimaglobal.com/Documents/ImportedDocuments/cid_tg_activity_based_costing_nov08.pdf.pdf) Analysis Why does the company need either absorption costing or ABC? Its very important for managers to have an idea of the actual  cost  of processes, departments, operations or product which is the foundation of their budget. and in order to achieve that they need to have a cost accounting system; such as absorption coting or activity based costing. Here are the advantages of having such systems and their disadvantages The advantages of Absorption Costing: It recognizes the importance of fixed costs in production; is method is accepted by Inland Revenue as  stock  is not undervalued; is method is always used to prepare  financial  accounts; When production remains constant but sales fluctuate absorption costing will show less fluctuation in net profit and The disadvantages of Absorption Costing: As absorption costing emphasized on total cost namely both variable and fixed, it is not so useful for management to use to make decision, planning and control; as the managers emphasis is on total cost, the cost volume profit relationship is ignored. The manager needs to use his intuition to make the decision. The advantages of Activity Based Costing: More accurate  costing of products/services, customers, SKUs, distribution channels. Better understanding  overhead. Easier to  understand  for everyone. Utilizes  unit cost  rather than just total cost. Integrates well with  Six Sigma  and other  continuous improvement programs. Makes visible  waste  and  non-value added activities. Supports  performance management and scorecards Enables costing of  processes, supply chains, and value streams Activity Based Costing  mirrors  way  work  is done Facilitates  benchmarking The disadvantages of activity based costing: It costs a lot to maintain it, it takes a lot of time and resources to collect, check and enter it into the system for the date needed to measure activity based costing. Is not accepted by GAAP (accepted accounting principles) therefor companies need to have a different system when preparing external reports. What are the differences between Absorption costing and ABC? There are many differences between absorption costing and activity based costing. Difference in Approach One of such differences is the way it approached. Absorption costing allocates costs to product units, whereas activity based costing traces the costs of product units. Absorption costing is the traditional cost accounting method that focuses on the product or service when fixing costs. It works under the simple approach of assigning resources to products or services directly. Activity based costing is a modern cost accounting approach that focuses on activities as the fundamental cost. ABC presumes that products or services consume activities, and activities consume resources. It thus, works to convert indirect costs into direct costs. Difference in Methodology Absorption costing divides equally the fixed overhead costs with the number of product units whereas activity based costing identifies the actual proportion of fixed overheads costs incurred by the product unit. Comparing absorption costing and activity based costing, the latter follows a more scientific approach. Price fixation in absorption costing depends on the inventory. The higher the inventory, the lower the product cost and lower the inventory; or the higher per-product cost. Price fixation in activity based costing bases calculations to derive the actual overheads incurred on a unit, and does not vary with change in inventory levels. Activity based costing, however, faces serious challenges in practical application, for appropriating some of the fixed overheads such as the chief executives salary on a per-product usage basis, is next to impossible. Moreover, process of data collection, data entry, and  data analysis required  to divide the fixed overhead costs among units based on usage, requires substantial resources and remains costly to maintain. Absorption costing that divides all fixed overhead costs with the number of units produced is a simple and easy approach and free from such complexities. Legal Validity Absorption costing complies with the  generally accepted accounting principles  (GAAP) whereas the  Financial  Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) do not accept ABC for externally published financial statements. Firms that follow activity based costing, therefore, need to maintain two cost systems and accounting books, one for internal use, and another for external reports, filings, and statutory compliance. Difference in Scope Absorption costing helps ascertain the overall profitability or efficiency of the manufacturing system but fails to provide the real cost of individual product units. Activity based costing mirrors the functioning of the  enterprise  and contributes to strategic decision-making processes. ABC provides the real cost of individual product units and, thereby, helps identify inefficient or non-profitable products that eat into the profitability of other highly profitable products. ABC also helps price products equitably, allowing breaking down of product or service into sub-components or offering top ups based on customer needs. Comparing absorption costing and activity based costing, activity based costing improves the quality of management accounting information, especially in large and multi-product operations where conventional overhead allocation methods such as absorption costing may produce misleading results. Absorption costing, however, remains more suitable for small firms and  enterprises  with homogeneous products or services. Recommendation and implementation I recommend to introduce activity based costing system as its more suitable for the public service industry.

Comparing Grendel and Oedipus Rex :: Comparison Compare Contrast Essays

Parallels between Grendel and Oedipus Rex      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A messenger hurriedly arrives at a palace to tell king Oedipus, that his father, Polybus, the king of another town, has died at an old age of natural causes. The message's receptor and his queen, therefore, assume that Oedipus has escaped his fate as told by the oracle at Delphi that he should murder his father and marry his mother. There is reprieve of worry until it is revealed that the man who died was merely Oedipus' adoptive father and that Oedipus had indeed once killed his father and was married to his mother. Oedipus was not the king of his fate.    "'Pointless accident,' not pattern, governs the world, says Grendel, who, as a consequence, adopts an existentialistic stance," explains Frank Magill in Critical Review of Short Fiction. This point has been expressed in numerous critical papers by various essayists. One may wonder, however, whether this is the only way to interpret an incredibly ambiguous story in which no question is ever clearly answered nor clearly formulated. One may wonder, actually, whether the author meant for his work to be analyzed in this way at all. The author, John Gardner, spins a tale of a monster held viscously to his destiny of an unnatural death. No matter what Grendel does, his death is predetermined. Though he tries to disprove fate to himself by believing in existentialism, the belief that actions create the future, he never validates that point of view. John Gardner's purpose in writing Grendel was to express that the future is completely unavoidable.    Grendel may be paralleled to Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex" which describes the story of Laius and Jocasta, the king and a queen of Thebes, who are told by the oracle at Delphi that the fate of their newborn son is to someday kill his father and marry his mother. They believe that they can change that destiny by killing the child but their plan backfires when, unannounced to them, the child grows up far away and fulfills his destiny by eventually murdering Laius and marrying Jocasta, neither of whom he knows is his parent. "Oedipus Rex" is analogous to Grendel because in both stories the main character has a fate which is exceptionally clear but he simply does not believe it, quite on the contrary, he believes that his actions will create his future, but he is tragically mistaken.

Henry David Thoreau Quotes Essay

â€Å"Things do not change; we change.† It means that items and ideas, even nature itself dosen’t change are perception of it does. A forest can be nice to look at in the daylight then at night all alone it become scary to you. As for a picture you could do a gun where its used by a cop and a criminal.Or a group of people listing to a concert some will like it some will hate it but the music is the same. Perception is reality, and perception can change. â€Å"Go confidently in the direction if your dreams. Live the life you imagined.† The true meaning of life is found only through one’s happiness. Life can have over a million meanings this way, but happiness is the key to your personal answer. By choosing the path that you want to take a walk down in life, you you’re choosing the one that will make you happy. For instance, Thoreau had a lifestyle lived relatively in the forest. It’s what made him happy. Through this, he enjoyed living since he had went down the path that he chose causing him to live the life he imagined. â€Å"Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty; the obedient must be slaves.† Every country has its own sense of liberty. The United States for instance is considered ‘the land of the free, and the home of the brave.’ If that’s true, then why does our country have rules? In the past, slaves had a life full of hard work. They had to be obedient or suffer a beating. In today’s society, you have your choice to be free. You have to follow the law. The choice of liberty is the choice that makes you happy even if it means going against law. Staying within the limits that your friends, parents, or even Obama puts you in just makes you another puppet of society. Choice is freedom. Even if that choice is to disobey.

Gender Theories

Gender theories Sex is biologically given. Some animal species have one sex; others have two, or three. Gender is how nature interprets the apparent biological differences between particular human bodies of different sexual anatomy. The distinctions between bodies observed and imposed by our culture is where sociologists and theorists of gender identity find their theoretical interests aroused, poised for deconstruction action. This essay will visit the various approaches to gender realization under biological, interpersonal, or cultural. The essay will specify the one that I view being most valid, citing two personal experiences and two examples from scholarly sources. Over the years numerous major theories have been projected to explain gender development. Interpersonal-oriented theories tend to emphasize intrapersonal processes governing gender development. In contrast, cultural theories focus on social structural determinants of gender-role development and functioning. According to Biologically-oriented theories, gender differences arising from the disparity biological roles played by males and females in reproduction bring about gender-role maturity and differentiation (Allen, Felluga p. 1-5). Biological theories have been proposed to explain gender development and differentiation. Evolutionary psychology views gender segregation as ancestrally programmed. The ancestral origin of differences in gender roles is analyzed in terms of mate preferences, reproductive strategies, parental investment in offspring, and the aggressive nature of males. From this viewpoint, modern gender differences originated from successful ancestral adaptation to the diverse reproductive anxiety faced by men and women. Men contributed less to their offspring’s likelihood of survival so they required multiple partners and were less selective with whom to mate. In addition, uncertainty of paternity raised the risk of investing resources in children who were not their own. In contrast, women have to carry the fetus and care for their offspring years after their birth. Women adapted to their superior obligatory role in reproduction and parenting by preferring less sexual partners and favoring those who would be good lasting providers of the basic requirements of life for themselves and their offspring. Men, on the other hand, attempted to maximize the chances of paternity by reproducing with numerous young and physically striking females. Because of their size and strength advantage, ales resolved troubles arising from conflicting reproductive interests by exercising aggressive dominance over females. According to evolutionary psychology, many current gender differences, such as the number of sexual mates preferred, criteria for selecting sexual partners, aggression, envy and the roles they fulfill originated from the ancestral sex differentiated reproductive strategies. Evolutionary psychology is projected as a superior option to more socially oriented explanations of gender differentiation. However, this view, which attributes superseding power to biology, does not provide the mechanisms responsible for social patterns of behavior, nor does it specify the nature of the interactional relationship between genetic and environmental influences for disentangling their impact. Other analyses of gender differences from a biological point of view have centered on hormonal influences and estimates of heritability. Hormones influence the organization of the neural substrates of the brain, including lateralization of brain function. It has been reported that females show less lateral brain specialization than do males, but the differences are small and some studies find no such difference. Difference in degree of brain lateralization is assumed to create gender differences in cognitive processing. Though girls generally do better on oral tasks, and boys do better on some types of mathematical tasks, the differences are minute. Moreover, the gender differences have been losing ground over the past decade, which is much too short a time to be genetically determined. However, there are clear and consistent differences in spatial skills favoring males. But this difference has also been diminishing in recent years, most probable as a function of social changes. Although hormones may play a part in spatial ability, the evidence suggests that ecological factors play a central role in the observed differences. In comparison, boys grow up in more spatially complex environments, receive more encouragement for outdoor play, and engage extensively in activities that foster the development of spatial skills. In accord with a social source, gender differences in spatial ability are not found in cultures where women are granted greater freedom of action. (Kay, Albert. p. 6-11, Julia. p. 40-45). Cultural theories focus on understanding gender from a cultural or cross-cultural perspective. Cultural scholars do not dispute biological and interpersonal factors, but they assume that they are qualified by the influence of nature. One of the approaches is nthropology which argues that when confronted with different vales and ways of doing things in a foreign culture, you see the norm of your own society in a clearer light. This holds true of gender. Our views of gender are clarified by considering what it means else where. An example of how cultural attributes vary is from a group village in the Dominican Republic where it is common for males to be born with undescended testes an undeveloped penis but because this condition is common the society doesn’t regard it as abnormal. Instead, boys born with this condition are raise as â€Å"conditional girls†. They wear dresses and are treated as girls. At puberty, a secondary tide of androgens causes the testes to descend, the penis to grow, and muscle and hair typical of males to appear at which point the child is considered a boy and treated as a male. Anthropology holds that whatever genetic influences exist, the society we are socialized with is the one that shapes our genetic endowments. Other human cultures are not the only sources of insight into our own culture’s views of normal and appropriate behavior for men and women. In my view, gender development is determined by the curture upheld in ones area of growth. When I was young, the society around me made me realize my gender by buying me things they said by culture a boy should have. (Julia p. 51-54, Kruger p. 531) Reference list http://www. cla. purdue. edu/English/theory/genderandsex/modules/introduction. html Boston, Lyn Uhl. Kruger, S. F. (July 2002). Gender theories. Journal of the history of sexuality, 11, 530- Retrieved from

Human Resource Management Essays

Human Resource Management Essays Human Resource Management Essay Human Resource Management Essay Knowledge and skills development is vital to the health of organisations. We live in an information age today, and organisations are routinely valued not just on their physical but on their intellectual capital. Training is one of the chief methods of maintaining and improving intellectual capital, so the quality of an organisation’s training affects its value. Untrained or poorly trained employees cost significantly more to support than well-trained employees do. Training affects employee retention and is a valuable commodity that, if viewed as an investment rather than as an expense, can produce high returns.Training is organisational effort aimed at helping employees to acquire the basic skills required for the efficient execution of the functions for which they are hired. Development, on the other hand, deals with activities undertaken to expose employees to perform additional duties and assume positions of importance in the organisational hierarchy . The benefits of training and development to employees and organisations alike are numerous and include (but are not limited to) the following: 1. Workers are helped to focus, and priority is placed on empowering employees. 2.Productivity is increased, positively affecting the bottom line. 3. Employee confidence is built, keeping and developing key performers, enabling team development and contributing to better team/organisation morale. 4. Employees are kept current on new job-related information, thereby contributing significantly to better customer service. 5. Employees are updated on new and enhanced skills, with a view to aligning them to business goals and objectives. 6. After a downsizing, remaining workers are given the technical and management skills to handle increased workloads. . Companies with business problems are given a fresh or unbiased professional opinion or exploration, evaluation, or critique. 8. Job satisfaction, employee motivation and morale are increased, r educing employee turnover. * Processes increase in efficiency, resulting in financial gain. New skills and knowledge can be acquired. * Existing skills and knowledge can be enhanced or updated, enabling people to further improve proven strengths. * Weaknesses can be addressed or mechanisms put in place to compensate. * Improvements in confidence, capability and competence. Employees feel supported and enabled in their work. * Learning is progressed to practice in the workplace. * Learning is used to improve performance at work. * Learning is shared, enhancing team performance. * Wider impact in the organisation through performance improvements and the dissemination of information, ideas and networking. Innovation is increased, bringing new strength to strategies, products and the company’s capacity to adopt new technologies and methods. There are various methods organisations adopt in the training and development of their employees, depending on their needs.They include role playing, job rotation, on-the-job training, vestibule training (where employees are trained off their regular work areas but in an environment closely resembling their work place), public classroom training, onsite training, conferences which allow employees to quickly develop skills on a number of topics, technical seminars which provide employees benefits similar to conferences but with less flexibility because of focused contents, instructor-led online training, mentoring where the skills gap to be bridged is substantial, e-learning modules which allow for employee independent learning and exercises are repeatedly done to reinforce or refresh understanding of content, and embedded learning which helps employees learn through modules built into products or equipment – embedded learning solutions are often customized to fit an organisation’s requirement.We also have reference cards which provide instant access to essential learning, such as Frequently Asked Questions, paper reference cards, web-based cards, etc. ( legalsecretaryjournal. com/? q=employee_training_and_development) A LITERATURE REVIEW ON TRAINING amp; DEVELOPMENT AND QUALITY OF WORK LIFE Ms. Pallavi P. Kulkarni, Assistant Professor, M. E. S. Night College, Aabasaheb Garware Campus, Affiliated to University of Pune, Pune, India ABSTRACT In this competitive world, training plays an important role in the competent and challenging format of business. Training is the nerve that suffices the need of fluent and smooth functioning of work which helps in enhancing the quality of work life of employees and organizational development too.Development is a process that leads to qualitative as well as quantitative advancements in the organization, especially at the managerial level, it is less considered with physical skills and is more concerned with knowledge, values, attitudes and behaviour in addition to specific skills. Hence, development can be said as a continuous process whereas training has specific areas and objectives. So, every organization needs to study the role, importance and advantages of training and its positive impact on development for the growth of the organization. Quality of work life is a process in which the organization recognizes their responsibility for excellence of organizational performance as well as employee skills.Training implies constructive development in such organizational motives for optimum enhancement of quality of work life of the employees. These types of training and development programs help in improving the employee behaviour and attitude towards the job and also uplift their morale. Thus, employee training and development programs are important aspects which are needed to be studied and focused on. This paper focuses and analyses the literature findings on importance of training and development and its relation with the employees’ quality of work life. Keywords: Human Resource Management, Training, Development and Qua lity of work life. researchersworld. com/vol4/issue2/Paper_20. pdf Human Resource Management Essays Human Resource Management Essay Human Resource Management Essay Businesses are more concerned about securing important investment from shareholders and maximize profits. Few considerations are given to employees as analyzed in this paper. Maybe this is a two way traffic. One cannot only blame top management, but each and every stakeholder has their role to play. This research was done solely to analyze to what extent the functions of Human Resource Management can pair up with ethical practices for better stakeholders management, especially employees. Information from various philosophers were gathered and give a dark, not really positive relationship between the Human Resource functions and the ethical practices of businesses and organizations. Taking along the difference between ethical practices and Human Resource functions would have definitely given another type of findings which could have been more positive. The ultimate goal is to make the Human Resource Functions an important process for the achievement of organizational goals but this paper demonstrate that we are far from realizing this management dream because the anomie concept by Disastrous 2006 and the Stakeholder Theory By Edward Freeman 1984 both put accent on individualism. This cannot be seen directly from literally understanding these concepts But the ultimate idea behind these concepts is what is shown to us when we go through them. Introduction Human Resource Management is considered as the lifeblood of organizations. Rapid economic growth has resulted to companies trying fiercely to differentiate its products and services from competitors in order to increase market share (Lecture 5 2006, Samson Daft 2005, p. 441) . In order to be distinctive, human resource management plays an important role as it deals with the workforce (Anthony et al. 2002, p. 749, What Intel is and What it isn’t 2001). This is because, the quality of the workforce would have a huge impact on the quality and the distinction of services or products sold (Samson Daft 2005; Anthony et al. 2001, p. 749, What Intel is and What it isn’t 2001). A good example for this would be Toyota, a renowned car manufacturing giant, famous for its extensive employees benefits, whilst making tremendously high profit each year (The Economist January 29th, 2005). According to an article published in the magazine The Economist, The Car Company in Front (January 29th, 2005) under its human resource management, Toyota allows flexible positive working condition and gives its workers a certain degree of power to attain access to business information, and control the production line to encourage an increase in the production capacity and the company’s performance as a whole. This shows how an effective human resource management robustly affects a company’s performance. Looking more specifically, employee motivation is one area under human resource management. In Harvard Business Review (Kotter 2001) it was clearly stated that ongoing and effective motivation is imperative as it would result to an organization’s ability to overcome hurdles and achieve its missions and visions. This could be explained by looking at the positive effects motivation has on people (Kotter 2001). When a person is hardly motivated, there is little that he or she can do because motivations as well as inspiration energize people (Kotter 2001, Marsh 1998, p. 10-44). Consequently, employee’s skills are underutilized resulting to the underperformance of a company (Kotter 2001, Conlon 2003). In other words, a company could not perform to its greatest potential due to inefficient employees who lacks motivation and support. Another way of explaining the importance of employee motivation is to look at what motivation itself means (Samson Daft 2005, p. 73). According to Samson and Daft (2005) motivation refers to internal as well as external sources that stimulate interest and perseverance to pursue an act. Motivation to employees therefore directly affects productivity (Samson Daft 2005, p. 573). This is why performance management consulting firms like the Guild Associates has reformed their training workshops to focus more on motivating employees as it is believed to match th e new business requirements to increase productivity (McKanic 2005). Now that we have identified the importance of human resource management in general, and employee motivation in particular, it is imperative to understand the challenges faced in these areas before implementing strategies. Human resource management deals with people, and employee motivation is one of them (Lecture 5 2006). Diversification is a huge word in dealing with people as people are diversified and they vary from one person to another (Katz 2003; Gray Roberts 2003). This sets hurdles in implementing motivational strategies that fix the differences to achieve common organizational goals (Lusthaus et al. 999, Samson Daft 2005, Katz 2003). Another problem regarding motivation is that it is subject to changes. People are motivated by different reasons at different times and under different circumstances (Gray Roberts, 2005). An employee may be highly motivated by money this year and start craving for power and recognition the following year. According to Marsh (1999) such extrin sic rewards however, could indirectly kill intrinsic desires people are naturally born with as they tend to become materialistic or get depressed over stiff competition. This sets another hurdle for managers in choosing the right motivational strategy. Since human resource management and employee motivation are critical but challenging, how to build a motivated workforce becomes an interesting question for managers. Human resource management plays a role in creating a motivated workforce. Training to improve performance and performance appraisals to keep track of employees’ performances are two important elements in human resource management to create a motivated workforce (Samson Daft 2005, Lecture 6, 2006). But more importantly is employee’s motivation to ensure an effective and motivated workforce. Motivating strategies depend heavily upon a manager’s personal foundation of what constitutes motivation (Samson Daft 2005, Kotter 2001). The most recent theories however is contemporary approach which outlines three common theories used in deciding approaches to motivate employees. These are content theories, process theories and reinforcement theories (Samson Daft 2005, McCuddy 2005). Content theories highlight the needs that motivate people, while process theories explain how workers choose behaviors to get what they need, and how they determine such choices are successful (Ferguson 2000, Motivation n. d. , Samson Daft 2005). Reinforcement approach simply shows the link between behavior and its consequences( Samson Daft 2005). Under process theories are equity theory and expectancy theory (Ferguson 2000, Samson Daft 2005, Motivation n. d. ). Equity theory is simply the theory which believes that a motivated workforce could be formed if the working environment shows parity and fairness (Ferguson n. d. ). Equality in this case is measured through the inputs-to-outcomes ratio (Samson Daft 2005). For example, if the amount of efforts put to a project leads to an equal pay rise to everyone involved, the workforce as a whole would be motivated to perform better. On the other hand, if the job pay is selective and is not equal, despite equal efforts poured by everyone, the workforce would be dispirited by the inequality and would not perform to their greatest potential. The issue on equality has become even more prominent with the realization of globalization taking place in the economy ( James 1998). According to James (1998), the emergence of multinational companies with turnovers bigger than GNPs in most countries has resulted to ‘geographically spread and racially diverse foreign workforces’. Hence, it is imperative for these companies to practice equity as any inequity may results to chaos which would badly affect the company’s performance (Anthony et al. 2002). An example of a company trying to practice equity in its business is the world’s biggest food chain retailer, McDonald. McDonald continues to ensure equal participation by all members of society in its organization and allow them equal chances to participate in its intensive and recognized training programs. Not only has McDonald been listed as the top companies for minorities to work, it has also received awards for â€Å"fostering leadership development among women† (Anthony et al. 2002, Garnegger Shemmer, 1998). The Equality approach practiced by McDonald motivates employees to perform to their greatest potential regardless of their condition of being a minority, or not. The other contemporary approach in building a motivated workforce is based on the reinforcement theory. Reinforcement theory uses the consequences of an action to instill motivational values in an organization (McCuddy 2005). Under reinforcement theory, there exist four reinforcement tools to achieve desired values among workforce which are positive reinforcement, avoidance learning, punishment as well as extinction (Motivation n. d. ; Ferguson 2000; Samson Daft 2005). Positive reinforcement and avoidance learning are pleasing results and the elimination of unlikable consequences following the employees fine performance or actions (McCuddy 2005). Positive reinforcement includes impromptu praises to punctual workersand pay rise while one scenario of avoidance learning includes when a supervisor stops complaining when an employee’s work tend to consistently improve. Extinction and punishment are the act of withholding positive rewards and the imposition of undesired actions taken on employees following their unfavorable behaviors (Samson Daft 2005, Ferguson 2000). Among the examples of extinction and punishment include withholding raises as well as warning an employee. To create a motivated set of workers, the managers must always recognize their good work, and take rightful actions when employees’ performances deteriorate. A good example of a company which practices the expectancy theory is Intel, a leading technology company whose reward and recognition program is directly based performance and results (Anthony et al. 2002). An article on Intel (2002) revealed that the total compensation is made up of base pay, benefits, and results driven bonuses. An 8-week sabbatical with pay is also rewarded to loyal employees who served the company for more than 7 years (What Intel is and what it isn’t n. d. . In February, Intel would rank and rate each or its employees according to their individual performance. Although this may motivate those who have performed well, critics believe that this could set depression and stress among workers, hence hindering better performance in the future (Marsh 1998). Conclusively, this essay has outlined the i mportance of human resource management and motivating employees especially in improving company’s performance and overcoming obstacles as an organization. The challenges faced in dealing with these two aspects were also highlighted to show hurdles faced by managers to get a motivated workforce. However, effective strategies have been discussed to overcome the challenges and help managers build a dynamic workforce, motivated to achieving their greatest performance. All in all, human resource management, in general, and motivating employees in particular are two important keys towards a holistically better organization. (1788 words) Reference: 1. Samson, Danny Draft, Richard L. (2005) Second Pacific Rim Edition : Management, Thomson, Melbourne 2. The Econonomist (January 29th, 2005), Toyota : The Car Company in Front, Australia 3. Samson, D. (2006) Managing People and Organization Lecture 5, The University of Melbourne, Australia 4. McKanic, Arlene (2005) Maximizing Employee Performance, Vol. 35, Iss. 7; p. 54, Black Enterprise, New York. http://proquest. umi. com. mate. lib. unimelb. edu. au/pqdweb? did=782908361sid=3Fmt=4clientId=1423RQT=309VName=PQD 5. Garmegger, Tim Shemmer, Lynn (1998) Rich in culture, rich in profits, Vol 75, Iss. 10; p. 1, HR Focus, New York http://proquest. umi. com. mate. lib. unimelb. edu. au/pqdweb? did=35174653sid=4Fmt=3clientId=14623RQT=309VName=PQD 6. Anthony, W. Kacmar, K Perrewe, P (2002) Human Resource Management – A strategc approach, Harcourt College Publishers, Philadelphia 7. Kotter, J. P. (2001) What Leaders Really Do, Harvard Business Review, USA. 8. Conlon, Maurice (2003) British Medical Journal, Vol. 327, Iss. 7411; p. 389 http://proquest. umi. com. mate. lib. unimelb. edu. au/pqdweb? did=4295271sid=4Fmt=4clientId=14623RQT=309VName=PQD 9. James, David (1998) Global Reach finds prejudice everywhere, Business Review Weekly, brw. com. au 10. What Intel is and what it isn’t, n. d. 11. Gray, Sky Roberts, Nina (2003) Culture, competency and risk management: where will the three meet? Vol. 76 Iss. 6; p. 50, Martinsville http://proquest. mi. com. mate. lib. unimelb. edu. au/pqdweb? did=535370391sid=3Fmt=4clientId=14623RQT=309VName=PQD 12. Katz, Mia (2003)The current state of diversity training Vol. 55 Iss. 6 pg 26, Kansas City http://proquest. umi. com. mate. lib. unimelb. edu. au/pqdweb? did=482411891sid=3Fmt=4clientId=14623RQT=309VName=PQD 13. Motivation, n. d. acad. polyu. edu. hk/~msklma/OM/motivation. html 14. Mc Cuddy, Michael (2005) Core Conc epts of Organizational Behavior, Valparaiso University 15. Lusthaus, Charles et. Al (2002) Organizational Assessment,