Thursday, November 28, 2019

The Scavenger Hunt That Boosts Your Resume

For many students, part of the college experience is being on a tight budget: scavenging for free food and events. One of the ways to get around that is by getting job. However, most on campus jobs are mind-numbingly boring, sucking up your precious free time for minimum wage. Thankfully there’s a new way to get paid while having fun and doing what you love. Campus Pursuit is a marketing company that uses scavenger hunts to create brand interactions with college students. You’ve likely seen Campus Pursuit users in action - feverishly digging behind couches and fighting for the winning prize. They weren’t crazy, they were on a mission. Through the app, students get push notifications about prizes that have been hidden on campus, and have to follow clues and solve riddles to find the location. The adrenaline rush from these scavenger hunts help brands create long lasting relationships with college students. Campus Pursuit was founded in 2013 by Binghamton University roommates Scott Wisotsky and Shachar Avraham to help brands advertise to college students. â€Å"We were inspired by an opportunity to impact the college marketing industry through a unique and interactive way,† explained Shachar. â€Å"Who doesn’t love free stuff?† As a college student, you can get paid for serving as a Campus Pursuit Brand Ambassador. Even if you don’t need the money, it’s a great way to build your resume while having fun and gaining marketing and sales experience. Brand Ambassadors are responsible for closing deals with local businesses, marketing the app to classmates, and hiding prizes once a week in the scavenger hunts (hint: you should probably refer to them as â€Å"on-campus events† when you list it on your resume). No experience necessary. Campus Pursuit trains and guides their ambassadors. Benefits of being a Campus Pursuit Brand Ambassador:Earn $500-600 on any single deal you close with a local businessGet paid for each student you get to download the Campus Pursuit app Receive free product samples and goodies from participating brands Campus Pursuit is active on 14 campuses and is expanding to 50 by fall 2016. Find out how you can join an active school or start your own. Rolling applications means right now is a great time toapply.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Critical NIMS Critical Response

Critical NIMS Critical Response The National Incident Management System (NIMS) is a federal approach to the management of disaster incidents. This system provides a template for disaster management regardless of scale, location, or complexity in the US. The main purpose of NIMS is to ensure that there is a clear approach to the management of disasters and other incidents.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Critical NIMS Critical Response specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The NIMS guidelines encourage multi-agency cooperation in disaster management. The goal of this paper is to explore the application of NIMS guidelines in the management of the disaster emanating from the 2007 collapse of the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Overview of NIMS It is essential to start the discussion on the application of NIMS guidelines by looking at the essential features of NIMS. The four essential elements of NIMS are as follows. First, it is a federal level ap proach to disaster preparedness. NIMS looks at incident management from a universal perspective. It encourages all disaster preparedness and management stakeholders to prepare for incidents as part of a system, rather than in a localized manner. It is not a template for adoption by individual agencies. Rather, the principles enshrouded by NIMS encourage big-picture thinking in incident preparedness from a communal perspective. Secondly, it deals with incidents at various levels. NIMS does not just concentrate on large-scale disasters such as Katrina or the 9/11 bombing. Rather NIMS seeks to create the environment for dealing with incidents that require multi-agency participation. In this sense, managing a domestic fire in a municipality is just as important for NIMS as managing the effects of a hurricane. Thirdly, NIMS guidelines deal with management issues. Disaster management is very critical. The availability of finances, equipment, and community support is not sufficient when ru nning rescue operations after a disaster. The emergency response teams must work in a very clearly articulated manner to leverage on their relative strengths. After the Haitian earthquake, the overwhelming outpouring of sympathy from the international community was not a substitute for proper management of disaster relief operations. The people of Haiti did not enjoy the full benefits of the goodwill of the international community because of disaster management bottlenecks.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Finally, NIMS is a system. It defines relationships between state and private actors. It also addresses resource management issues. The disaster response initiative of any country or state depends on the ability of these parties to use their resources in the most efficient manner. In this sense, NIMS is a system composed of various actors and the resources they c ontrol. Summary of Events The focus of this paper is the effect of NIMS guidelines in the management of the 2007 disaster in Minneapolis. The main events that took place on that fateful day were as follows. First, the I-35W Bridge collapsed over the Mississippi river in the evening of August 1, 2007. The Bridge was forty years old, and was due for decommissioning in 2020. The bridge collapsed during the rush hour. At the time of the collapse, there were about 120 vehicles carrying 160 people on the bridge. The immediate disaster priorities were as follows. First, there was need to rescue people who were trapped in their vehicles. As the bridge collapsed, some car doors became jammed thereby trapping the occupants. Secondly, some people fell into the water necessitating aquatic rescue operations. The third disaster priority was fighting fire . Some cars burst into flames during the collapse. The fourth disaster priority was conducting triage on injured people to determine their medic al needs. These competing and concurrent priories demanded the attention of rescue workers. In addition, the situation was complicated by the jurisdictional complexities of the disaster site. The federal government owned the bridge while the state of Minnesota operated it. The river was under jurisdiction of the Hennepin County Sheriff Office and the river banks were under city of Minneapolis. Application of NIMS The first issue regarding the application of NIMS principles in the disaster management operations was the setting up of a single command center. The Office of Emergency Preparedness (OEP) housed at the basement of the city hall soon became the primary coordination center for disaster response. NIMS advocates for the establishment of a single command center whenever there is a large-scale disaster. The second important aspect of the response in relation to NIMS was that each response unit opened an Emergency Operating Center (OEC) immediately after the disaster. Most of the se centers started operations within twenty minutes of the incident.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Critical NIMS Critical Response specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The Minneapolis OEC provided leadership for the other OECs. It managed the Multiagency Coordinating (MAC) group. The role of the lead OEC was to coordinate response activities and to ensure that all OECs had a common understanding of the evolving situation. There was good participation of both state and non-state actors in the disaster response. This is another important aspect of NIMS guidelines. During an emergency, there is usually need to coordinate emergency response services to ensure the resources made available to the rescue and recovery operations are channeled to areas of need. These resources are best utilized when there is central coordination of disaster operations. Most of the OEC leaders knew each other well because that had already work ed resolved smaller disasters together. The importance of developing working relationships before the occurrence of a major disaster is that there is need to ensure that interpersonal issues do not hamper disaster relief operations. Since the OEC leaders knew each other based on common training programs and working on smaller disasters together, the operations of the OEC took off very smoothly. Deviation from NIMS While the overall verdict given to the level of disaster preparedness in Minneapolis was very good, there were some significant shortcomings in the management of the disaster based on NIMS guidelines during this incident. The first issue of concern is that OEC room was too small to house all the teams that had the statutory rights under NIMS to be present. This made it difficult for some of the stakeholders to participate in the critical components of the disaster operations within the operational framework of NIMS. NIMS guidelines require all the disaster response teams t o be represented in the OEC. The second major shortcoming based on NIMS guidelines is that there were no safety officers to ensure that all the activities of the response teams were safe. One area with serious safety concerns was the OEC room, because of its size. A safety officer would have raised the issue in order to find alternative ways of dealing with the situation.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The disaster site also did not have a safety officer. This exposed responders to safety risks especially when the responders failed to observe safety guidelines during the rescue operations. A safety officer on site would have enforces safety guidelines for responders. A lapse in the management of information during the disaster arose because of the absence of the Public Information Officer (PIO). Initial delays in reaching the PIO) threatened to hamper adherence to NIMS guidelines regarding the establishment of a Joint Information Center (JIC). However, after the PIO arrived on the scene, the management of the press took place very effectively. Press management is a critical component of disaster management. The OEC manager directed that press briefing be held at predetermined times throughout the day. This helped to manage the large volume of requests for press briefings. One of the serious shortcomings in the communication processes was that the Minneapolis Department of Public W orks (DPW) did not have the 800 HZ radios, which all the other disaster response parties used. The DPW also operated from a separate location hampering their ability to see the big picture at all times. This situation arose because the DPW was not included in the initial distribution of the communication equipment. However, the DPW provided support to the other responders in a commendable manner. Its inclusion in the disaster preparedness systems of the city of Minneapolis will add to the capacity of the city to respond to disasters. There were incidents of freelancing by some responders. Freelancing refers to the impulse to respond to an incident by a responder without clear orders. This is against NIMS rules. In the disaster situation under review, many of the responders waited for orders. The city should work towards achieving full compliance to this rule. DHS. National Incident Management System. Washington DC: US Department of Homeland Security, 2008. Print. Stambaugh, Hollis and Harold Cohen. I-35W Bridge Collapse and Response. Washington DC: FEMA, 2007. Print.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Definitions of Green Engineering Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Definitions of Green Engineering - Essay Example Green engineering is basically an attempt to find a why between complex engineering processes and the need of securing the environment. It can also be used a pedagogical tool by incorporating broader environmental issues into scientific analyses (Shonnard, Allen, Nguyen, Austin, and Hesketh 5453). Considering the importance of green engineering for environmental sustainability, most of the educational institutes have also started to incorporate a combination of green engineering principles and scientific training into engineering education. The aim is to make students and future engineers able to save the environment by adopting the concept of green engineering based on effective mathematic techniques and unique scientific principles. This paper describes three main conceptual frameworks of green engineering in detail to know the similarities and differences between them. The aim is to come up with a proper definition of green engineering based on which engineers can base their engin eering designs and plans. The thesis statement for the paper is, ‘Whatever conceptual framework is adopted for green engineering design, the underlying aim in all of them is to cater to the needs of the sustainable environment and those of the community’. ... To me, McDonough and Braungart, in Cradle to Cradle, seem to be emphasizing on the production of such products that are less harmful for the environment upon becoming useless for people. They speak for the concept of ‘upcycling’ and suggest designers to keep in mind the ecological compatibility, as well as the environmental consequences of products. However, designers need to put a great effort to meet all demands of the Cradle to Cradle framework. The reason is that, at present, there is not much emphasis on redesigning or restructuring the design and development processes and in order to go with the Cradle to Cradle framework, designers need to transform all processes of product design and development completely to make them compatible with the needs of sustainable environment. I would say that the aim of McDonough and Braungart in Cradle to Cradle is obviously to create and maintain the natural environment by minimizing the effects of industrial products when they bec ome useless. They have focused on the need to change the current system because it can produce disastrous effects for the ecosystem. Obviously, the aim of zero waste cannot be achieved under current system not only because of changing human needs and demands regarding products but also because of industrial processes of product development that produce waste some way or other. However, manufacturing of products in such a way that they can be recycled upon reaching maximum life can be a substitute for the aim of achieving zero waste (McDonough and Braungart 42). Therefore, engineers should adopt such methods of manufacturing that should make the products recyclable and eco-friendly. Anastas and Zimmerman, on the

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Advertising Shape Social Trends Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Advertising Shape Social Trends - Essay Example The essay "Advertising Shape Social Trends" discusses how the technological development playing a role in the continuous development of advertising and promotional activities of companies across various sectors. From a general perspective, advertising is not only important to promote the offering of any company in front of their customer, but at the same time it is important for the organizations to established reasons in the mind of the customers regarding why their own product of services is better than that of the competitors. Another key point associated with the importance of the advertising is it â€Å"Sell the Sizzle, Not the Steak†. It is an old thought associated with the advertising industry, but it still stands true. The most common goal of any advertising campaign is to sell the added benefits associated with any product or service. One can easily understand this concept associated with the advertising. Any individual can choose or purchase a number of soaps for them as there are many brands in this industry. To make any brand stand high above the rest in terms of attracting people’s eye organization need to focus on attractive as well as out of the box promotional activity. One such example is of Irish Spring. In their advertisement, they â€Å"claim not only freshness and cleanliness, but according to the woman from the ad, it's Manly, yes, but I like it, too, so it’s for both sexes. A company selling something knows you can probably get that something anywhere and you can get many versions of it".

Monday, November 18, 2019

Critical report to chief executive officer Essay

Critical report to chief executive officer - Essay Example source management, in the simplest sense can be defined as â€Å"getting things done through people.† This function of management has been in place throughout the history of mankind yet it is irrefutable that this function has evolved to incorporate significant developments. With these revolutions the focus shifted from how â€Å"get things done through people† to â€Å"getting people do things† for the company’s utmost benefit. This signals an alteration of the management perception of the human resource. Nowadays, there is a global recognition of the crucial role played by employees in attaining the goals of an organization as well as responsibility of management to harness the full potential of its workforce. This suggests the increasing role of the human resource department of becoming more involved and participating in the strategy making of the firm. The importance of human resource can never be overstated. John Purcell further highlighted the importance of employees in his research which emphasized the huge role played by the company’s workforce as â€Å"strategic partners.† This research strongly supports the highly economist viewpoint of Grant (2002: 219) of â€Å"aligning employees with organizational goals.† Schuler and Jackson (1987) gave a more precise description on how management should â€Å"align† their workforce to support the company crafted strategy. Their conclusion was: If management chooses a competitive strategy of differentiation through product innovation, this would call for high levels of creative, risk-orientated and cooperative behaviour. The company’s HR practices would therefore need to emphasise †¦ â€Å"selecting highly skilled individuals, giving employees more discretion, using minimal controls, making greater investment in human resources, providing more resources for experimentation, allowing and even rewarding failure and appraising performance for its long run implications† – on the other hand if management wants to

Friday, November 15, 2019

Importance of Employer Branding

Importance of Employer Branding Employer Branding 1.0 Introduction: Employer Branding is the most critical people management topic in todays flattened global business environment. The economic downturn has further brought attention to the importance of people in delivering the brand promise. Increasingly the shareholder value of a company rests in its intangible assets e.g. its people, reputation and culture. Organizations spend millions on their corporate brand. But how much do they invest in their Employer Brand? Employer branding plays an important role in attracting and retaining talent in the face of a shrinking talent pool. HR professionals are considered primarily responsible for employer branding initiatives, with most of the companies reporting HR as one of the key stakeholders in employer brand management. While employer branding is predominantly seen as the domain of HR, marketing also plays an important role 2.0 Literature review: 2.1 What is Branding? It is a way to package information about functional attributes, economic value, and psychological benefits so its easily understood and absorbed by the target audience. Marketers today engage in two different types of branding namely external branding and employer (internal) branding. The latter yet to pick up in full speed, has tremendous potential in this increasingly competitive scenario. 2.2 External Branding Defining External Branding: The image that an organization projects to consumers, suppliers, investors, and the public. An external brand gives information on the attributes of the goods or services to current and potential buyers. It answers questions such as: 2.3 Internal Branding Defining Employer Branding: The image that employees have about what what type of employer an organization is. Whether the brand is explicit or implicit- and even if it has not been deliberately developed- every organization has an internal brand. An Employer Brand (or Internal Brand) gives current and potential employees information about the employment experience and what is expected of them. It answers questions such as: Employer branding can be defined as â€Å"a form of the corporate branding by which companies establish an image of services they provide, in order to attract or motivate employees† (Bates, 2001).The below provides an overview of the different types of branding. Product branding focuses on communication to customers about the companys products. Corporate branding communicates the companys financial results to the stakeholders. In the marketing literature, the importance of reconciling perceptions of the firms internal and external image in managing the congruence of all brand messages has been recognized (Dukerich and Carter 2000; Duncan and Moriarty 1998). Not only does this positively influence the perceptions of these messages among employees, potential employees, and customers, but it also ensures that employees are ‘properly aligned with the brand and what it represents (Keller 2002). This allows employees to ‘live the brand and reinforces corporate values and expectations of performance among new and existing employees (Ind 2001). Ind also recognizes that some companies have de facto employer brands without a formalized marketing approach. However, at a time when the financial markets are increasingly recognizing human capital as a source of value for firms and shareholders (Cairncross 2000); Michaels et al. (2001) propose the explicit development and communication of the Employee Value P roposition (EVP) to attract and retain talented employees. Clearly, there are a number of different marketing inputs that contribute towards the formation of the employer brand, from the development of an EVP to recruitment marketing plans, and outputs which may require advertising, press coverage, sponsorship, word-of-mouth endorsement and contacts with employees (Kennedy 1977; Dowling 1994 2002; Stuart 1999). In this way, the formation of the employer brand image is closely associated with the firm in its role as an employer. In the recruitment literature, Gatewood et al. (1993) find that the employer brand image is a particularly significant predictor of early decisions made by new recruits about their employers. Turban et al (1998) find that employer brand image positively influences both applicant perceptions of recruiter behaviors and post-interview job and organizational attributes. As to how potential recruits form images of a particular organization, the phenomenon of signaling has been investigated and found to have an influence on employer brand image, particularly in the early stages of the recruitment process (Taylor Bergmann, 1987). That is, recruitment experiences are taken as ‘signals of unknown organisational characteristics (Barber, 1998; Rynes, Bretz and Gerhart 1991). For example, job applicants may infer employer brand values based on their recruitment materials e.g. an organization that emphasizes promotion and salary may be perceived as valuing dedication to career (Honeycutt Rosen 1997). Also, Goltz and Giannantonio (1995) found that recruits infer more positive characteristics about an organization when exposed to a friendly recruiter than an unfriendly one. Moreover, Rynes, Bretz and Gerhart (1991) find that line employees have a bigger signaling impact than staff recruiters and that both are conditioned by the feedback of applicants regarding their impressions of the employer brand image. Very often employer branding is thought to be restricted to recruitment communications and only be concerned with the attraction of employees. In reality however, this is not the case. An employer brand explains how the organisation has been communicating and engaging with all of its stake holders be it current, prospective or past employees. Another critical thing to be noticed is that unlike other branding initiatives, an employer brand is not a true brand in its own right. It is not something envisioned and executed by recruitment and advertising agencies that stands alone and separate. An employer brand will be successful only if it operates in conjunction with the organisations corporate and consumer brands. It therefore becomes pertinent to find a connect between employer brand and the existing brands and reflect the behaviours exhibited throughout the organisation, to investors and consumers. It should be able to bring out the real and the aspirational truth about working in an organisation and mirror the values that are exhibited through the external corporate and consumer brands. If there is a disconnect between the two, the ‘brand promise that is given to new employees will vanish as the reality of working in a very different organisation to the one promised. The roots of the concept of employer branding stretch back to the 1990s. However, due to uncomfortable market conditions and a grim recession, the concept could not flourish completely and it has only been in the last five years that employer branding has become a major force. In 1996, Simon Barrow and Tim Ambler gave this definition: We define the Employer Brand as the package of functional, economic and psychological Benefits provided by employment and identified with the employing company. The most significant role of employer branding is to provide a comprehensive framework for management to be able to define priorities, increase productivity and improve recruitment, retention and commitment. Employer branding may seem superficial from a certain point of view, since it is not directly helping in increasing the sales s and thus impacting bottom lines but it is definitely here to stay. Organisations have realised that its people provide one of the few distinct competitive differentiators in todays world. Good talent management makes sense and employer branding is an important part of an organisations armoury from now on. In order to be able to create a successful employer brand, there are three critical stakeholders who must be involved. Senior management: to give insight into the vision, strategic intent, core objectives, competition landscape and understanding of consumers attitudes towards the organisation. Key employee groups: in order to give opinions on the activities that take place on the work floor, benefits, management and communication within the organisation. Relevant external labour pools: to highlight their understanding of an organisation, any roadblocks to success and perception of the organisation in the market. Like all other kinds of branding exercises, employer branding does and will pay off. Following are some benefits to a good employer branding exercise: True differentiation in campuses from where recruitment is done Enthusiastic and aspirational set of messages to be sent out to potential as well as existing employees Mainting a brand consistency through the candidate/new starter journey A better understanding of how the organization is perceived externally Higher engagement levels for the existing employees Financial returns can also be observed in the long run through efficient employer branding practices. If the right kind of employer branding exercise is done, it will lead to a reduction in the amount of money needed to invest to bring good people into the business. The Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is an important outcome of employer brand. It essentially comprises of the promise that the organization makes to current, future and potential employees. In the process of defining an employer brand, the organizations EVP is automatically created. For example, on a recent employer branding project for HSBC, it was found that the central tenet of the organisation was the investment in, and development of, their employees. The organisation invests hugely in its people, there are opportunities to work locally, nationally and internationally. Because of these reasons the EVP that was developed for HSBC was ‘Here you can. As mentioned earlier, Employer branding is not just about reaching potential employees but also about the existing ones. It is about an employer promise which is consistently carried through all stages of employees experiences of that organisation through recruitment processes, into employment and then even after having left the organization. There is a strong correlation between the engagement and commitment levels and the different stages in the lifecyle of the tenure in an organization. An employee who joins an organisation with an exemplary EVP will exhibit high levels of commitment compared to if he were joining the organization with a poor EVP. After a year, if the EVP is correctly managed, commitment will fall but not as low as the commitment level in organisations with a poor EVP. 2.4 Current Scenario A lot of work has been done on employer branding, its importance, characteristics etc. Firms from diverse industry sectors have formally defined, and are strategically managing, their employer brands. There is no doubt that many practitioners view having a successful employer brand as desirable but there has not been much progress on measuring the effectiveness of employer branding. Quantifying employer branding is very critical from new talent point of view as an â€Å"index† is psychologically better conceived and also making a comparison among organizations. Currently analytics companies such as Hewitt Associates and Mercer conduct surveys for the best employer brands once every year based on certain parameters. However, these surveys are valid only for a certain period of time and there is no mechanism to compute the value of an employer brand at any other point of time. 2.5 Absence of Measurement of Effectiveness of Employer Branding: Sixty-two percent of respondents to a recent survey said they support employer brand initiatives, but only 24% have metrics in place to measure these initiatives. The research was conducted by the Bernard Hodes Global Network. Not surprisingly, â€Å"The study reveals that a key driver for employer brand development is the need to acquire talent in a competitive global market,† said Alan Schwartz, president and CEO. Other findings of the research include: The most frequently cited key expectations of employer branding were â€Å"ease in attracting candidates† (84%) and â€Å"recognition as employer of choice†(82%). Ninety-four percent of respondents use their corporate Web sites more than other channels, such as printed materials, to promote the employer brand. Seventy-nine percent of respondents reported that HR is one of the key stakeholders in managing the employee brand. 3.0 Research Objective The objective of the research is to develop a quantitative frame work on employer branding of organizations. As a first phase of this work, I would first identify key metrics to measure employer branding. The second phase of the study would develop a generic framework which would help new talent and/or organization to calculate the index of a brand as an employer. 4.0 Rationale Such a mathematical framework would help to estimate and compare the value of an employer brand at any point of time that would benefit all the stakeholders including current employees, potential recruits, competitors etc. It would enable organizations to understand if their efforts are in the right direction and how they stand vis-a-vis their competitors 5.0 Hypothesis All organizations make efforts to establish themselves as sought after employer brands. However, the perception of the employer brand varies from person to person be it a new talent or an existing employee. 6.0 Research Questions Identifying key attributes that employees/ new talent consider important when looking at an organization as an employer brand. Relative weightages given to the attributes identified above Developing an index to calculate comparable values for various employer brands across industries Research Methodology Research Design The study was divided in two phases. First phase was focussed on conducting an in depth secondary research along with qualitative primary research to identify wide range of attributes or metrics which impact employer branding of an organization. This was followed by the designing of questionnaire targeted at final year students at various post graduate colleges. The second phase of the study further analyzes the collected data to build up a mathematical relationship between these set of attributes and index of employer branding. The index would be a guide for new recruits to quantify the employer brand and also help them to compare employer branding of different employers. A total of 3 focus group discussions were conducted, which had respondents who were in their final year of graduation and could also be looked at as potential employment seekers. The participants in the FGD were students from management institutes like MICA, Lal Bahadur Shastri (Delhi) and Fore School (Delhi). Each group lasted for about approximately 90 minutes. The discussion guide contained questions about the respondents ‘ideal workplaces, naming the organizations that they would like to work for and the reasons for it, the attributes considered while considering potential employers, employers that they would least be interested in along with the reasons for it. The discussion finally concluded with the means and methods by which the students finally go about for seeking employment. The main objective of conducting focus group discussions was to come up with a set of attributes that capture all important aspects of employer branding. Through these focus group discussions I was able to arrive at a set of 48 attributes, all of which seemed extremely important from an ideal work place point of view. The following are the attributes that emerged from the various FGDs.: A friendly and informal working environment An attractive overall compensation package (Basic, HRA, LTA) (fixed component) Application of knowledge Bonuses (Variable Component) Brand name of the organization Customer-orientation Emotional attachment with organization Encouragement for new initiatives Feel good factor with the organization Financial Health of Company Flexible working schedule Frequency of appraisal cycle Gaining career-enhancing experience Global alignment of the organization (MNC) Good relationship with colleagues Good relationship with superiors Growth opportunities Humanitarian organisation gives back to society Impression formed by recruiters of the organization Industry in which company operates Innovative employer novel work practices Innovative products and services Internationally diverse mix of colleagues Job Content Job content and satisfaction Job security within the organization Knowledge sharing opportunities Knowledgeable supervisor Leadership style of supervisor Non-monitory benefits (medical check-ups, insurance at work place, club memberships, maternity/ paternity leave) Opportunities for overseas exposure Positive feedback from current or previous employees Products (essentials, luxury etc) Quality of Top Management Reputation of the organization Rewards recognition Scope for creativity Scope for lateral movement Stock Options Stress-free working environment Supportive and encouraging colleagues Supportive supervisor Synchronization between corporate goals and employee future plans Training and development of its employees Vision of Leadership Website of the organization Working hours/ week Working in shifts All these attributes were tested in the survey instrument to arrive at the final set of metrices for measuring the value of employer branding. Employer Branding in Times of Recession There are various points of views on how recession has impacted employer branding. On one hand, the thought process says that recession has increased the human resources because of widespread layoffs and thus made employer branding relatively less important. During the recession periods, one of the primary objectives in all the organizations was to increase the top lines while managing to reduce the bottom lines. And this was made possible by showing a number of employees the way out. Another point of view towards the impact of recession claims that it is at these times that an organizations behaviour towards its employees goes through a litmus test. This is the time for organizations to ensure not to spoil their employer brand by large scale termination of employment or general misbehaviour with its existing employees. Infact this is the time to step in and make efforts towards strengthening the employer brand along with being able to retain the talent in the organization. As has been noted by many HR experts, it always easier to retain an existing and trained employee rather than to get a new one. Thus, to conclude according to this second school of thought, employer branding becomes all the more critical in times of recession, making it even more important to retain existing talent. Data Collection Respondents: 102 respondents from Delhi and Ahmedabad, all in the final year of graduation from management institutes. Section 1: Demographics The demographics include variables such as gender, age, total number of years of work experience, monthly household income, area of management specialization. DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLE: GENDER What is your gender? Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 1. Male 64 62.7 62.7 62.7 2. Female 38 37.3 37.3 100.0 Total 102 100.0 100.0 DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLE: AGE What is your age? Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 1. Under 20 years 7 6.9 6.9 6.9 2. 20-24 years 68 66.7 66.7 73.5 3. 25-34 years 3 2.9 2.9 76.5 4. 35-44 years 23 22.5 22.5 99.0 5. 45 years and above 1 1.0 1.0 100.0 Total 102 100.0 100.0 DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLE: TOTAL NUMBER OF YEARS OF WORK EXPERIENCE What is your total number of years of work experience? Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 1. No experience 29 28.4 28.4 28.4 2. Less than a year 35 34.3 34.3 62.7 3. 1-2 years 30 29.4 29.4 92.2 4. 2-3 years 5 4.9 4.9 97.1 5. More than 3 years 3 2.9 2.9 100.0 Total 102 100.0 100.0 DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLE: MONTHLY HOUSEHOLD INCOME What is your monthly household income? Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 1. less than Rs. 25,000 8 7.8 7.8 7.8 2. Rs. 25,000- Rs. 50,000 18 17.6 17.6 25.5 3. Rs. 50,000- Rs. 1,00,000 59 57.8 57.8 83.3 4. More than Rs. 1,00,000 17 16.7 16.7 100.0 Total 102 100.0 100.0 DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLE: AREA OF SPECIALIZATION What is your area of specialization? Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 1. Marketing 36 35.3 35.3 35.3 2. Media 20 19.6 19.6 54.9 3. Market Research/ Analytics 10 9.8 9.8 64.7 4. Finance 30 29.4 29.4 94.1 5. HR 5 4.9 4.9 99.0 6. Operations 1 1.0 1.0 100.0 Total 102 100.0 100.0 DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLE: ASPIRED INDUSTRY Which industry do you aspire to work in? Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 1. Consulting 43 42.2 42.2 42.2 2. Manufacturing 17 16.7 16.7 58.8 3. Media 14 13.7 13.7 72.5 4. IT 3 2.9 2.9 75.5 5. Finance 18 17.6 17.6 93.1 6. Others 7 6.9 6.9 100.0 Total 102 100.0 100.0 Section 2: Information Sought This section includes the data collected to understand the sources of information used by students to know more about a potential employer and the nature of information that is sought while developing an understanding about the potential employer. SOURCES OF INFORMATION TO KNOW ABOUT A GIVEN COMPANY What are your sources of information to know about a given company?1. Peers Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 1 70 68.6 100.0 100.0 Missing System 32 31.4 Total 102 100.0 What are your sources of information to know about a given company?2. Colleagues Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 1 41 40.2 100.0 100.0 Missing System 61 59.8 Total 102 100.0 What are your sources of information to know about a given company?3. Family members Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 1 33 32.4 100.0 100.0 Missing System 69 67.6 Total 102 100.0 What are your sources of information to know about a given company?4. Online search Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 1 72 70.6 100.0 100.0 Missing System 30 29.4 Total 102 100.0 What are your sources of information to know about a given company?5. Company personnel Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 1 51 50.0 100.0 100.0 Missing System 51 50.0 Total 102 100.0 What are your sources of information to know about a given company?6. Press reports Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 1 30 29.4 100.0 100.0 Missing System 72 70.6 Total 102 100.0 What are your sources of information to know about a given company?7. Others Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 1 22 21.6 100.0 100.0 Missing System 80 78.4 Total 102 100.0 NATURE OF INFORMATION SOUGHT What is the nature of information you look for when applying to a company?1. Type of work Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 1 62 60.8 100.0 100.0 Missing System 40 39.2 Total 102 100.0 What is the nature of information you look for when applying to a company?2. Investor information Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 1 24 23.5 100.0 100.0 Missing System 78 76.5 Total 102 100.0 What is the nature of information you look for when applying to a company?3. Personal experience of employees in that company Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 1 42 41.2 100.0 100.0 Missing System 60 58.8 Total 102 100.0 What is the nature of information you look for when applying to a company?4. Best Employers Survey ranking Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 1 25 24.5 100.0 100.0 Missing System 77 75.5 Total 102 100.0 What is the nature of information you look for when applying to a company?5. Work life balance Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 1 50 49.0 100.0 100.0 Missing System 52 51.0 Total 102 100.0 What is the nature of information you look for when applying to a company?6. Pay packages Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 1 71 69.6 100.0 100.0 Missing System 31 30.4 Total 102 100.0 What is the nature of information you look for when applying to a company?7. Others Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 1 33 32.4 100.0 100.0 Missing System 69 67.6 Total 102 100.0 Section 3: Reliability Analysis This analysis has been done to study the properties of measurement scales and the items that compose the scales. The Reliability Analysis procedure calculates a number of commonly used measures of scale reliability and also provides information about the relationships between individual items in the scale. Alpha (Cronbach) model of reliability has been used to check for internal consistency, based on the average inter-item correlation. Case Processing Summary N % Cases Valid 102 100.0 Excludeda 0 .0 Total 102 100.0 a. Listwise deletion based on all variables in the procedure. Reliability Statistics Cronbachs Alpha Cronbachs Alpha Based on Standardized Items N of Items .874 .892 48 Cut-off criteria. By convention, a lenient cut-off of .60 is common in exploratory research; alpha should be at least .70 or higher to retain an item in an adequate scale; and many researchers require a cut-off of .80 for a good scale. The Cronback Alpha in this case is .874 and thus, the data set is consistent. Section 4: Factor Analysis Principal Component Analysis has been conducted on the collected data in order to establish a relationship between inter-related variables and to represent them through a set of a few underlying factors. It would help in identifying the intrinsic factors thus, examining the inter dependent relationships. The following are the specifics on the factor analysis: 1. Descriptives 1. Initial solution 2. Correlation matrix 1. Coefficients 2. KMO and Bartletts 2. Extraction 1. Analyze Correlation matrix 2. Display Screen plot 3. Extract Eigenvalues over 1 4. Rotation Varimax (uncorrelated factors) 5. Options Sort by size and Suppress values less than .20 Output of Factor Analysis: Total Variance Explained Component Initial Eigenvalues Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings Total % of Variance Cumulative % Total % of Variance Cumulative % dimension0 1 10.001 20.836 20.836 9.357 19.493 19.493 2 7.845 16.344 37.180 6.465 13.468 32.962 3 5.768 12.016 49.196 5.812 12.109 45.071 4 4.211 8.774 57.970 4.503 9.382 54.453 5

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Fifth Business by Robertson Davies Essay -- Essays Papers Davies Fifth

Fifth Business by Robertson Davies In the essay Fifth Business, each of the main character traits is developed more and more clearly throughout their lives. Childhood characteristics are evident in the characters of Dustan Ramsay, Percy Boyd Stauton and Paul Dempster. All paranoia, and memories of the town of Deptford are resurfaced in each of them after they all had left to start lives on their own. It was childhood that scared or marked them as people and the fact that parents often have influence on children so, there is no question that these characters were definitely influenced by the parents in Deptford. Also, it is evident that each character seems to run away due to the insecurities that they faced as children. Dunstan ran from his guilt, Percy for his status and ego and Paul from his challenges as a misfit. Each seemed to wander like nomads throughout their lives, while these insecurities where never faced or challenged so they could change their point of views. It was what seemed to be instilled within them like, the theory that the first five years of childhood shape the personalities of individuals. This is certainly evident in the novel at the beginning to the end. Dunstan ?s childhood was affected deeply through each situation he faced as a young man, to a highly respected professor. He felt he was the center of all bad things, which occurred around him. Mrs. Demster?s accident was the main influence of his guilt because he felt that he was additionally...