International Human Resource Management Essay Example for Free

International Human Resource Management Essay 1.0 Executive Summary The world of international HR management (IHRM) is changing. As companies shift operations abroad, IHRM is moving beyond expatriate programs. Todays IHR managers are charged with scaling and managing overseas HR operations. This shift has not only created new opportunities for IHRM professionals, but also for companies looking to staff operations abroad. Possibly one of the greatest challenges facing the IHRMs is the fact that they are now dealing with not an individual employee but a whole family and their needs as a family in the relocation process. Some IHRMs find it more difficult than others to adjust to the added dimension of having to deal with the spouse and family on a more intimate level than before. After all, they are now relocating them halfway around the world and away from their support structures. They have to be prepared to get a lot more involved in the family as a whole and not just think they have to communicate with the employee only as is often the case when dealing with an employee here at home base. Throughout this assignment, we are examined the implications of differences in national culture for policy and practice in of the following aspects of human resource management: * Performance appraisal * Training and development 2.0 Training and Development Important components of international human resources management include both cross-cultural training and a clear understanding of the overseas assignment as part of a managers development. 2.1 Training Cross-cultural training is necessary for expatriates managers and their families before, during and after foreign assignments. As different countries have different culture, regardless how close of those areas, such as Taiwan and Mainland China, USA and Canada. Maybe they are talking the same language, however, their perception of social values, business practices are different. In Western, especially in USA, people are more individualism. In the contrary, Eastern people, such as Chinese and Japanese, people are more collectivism. The social system also different in Western and Eastern, the former is low power distant and the later is higher power distant. When those expatriates arrive, they are foreigners, not the host population, it is necessary to provide much cultural and practical background. Language training is an essential activity for everyone in the family. Although English is the dominant business language worldwide, relying on English puts the expatriates at a disadvantage. The expatriate will be unable to read trade journals and newspapers, which contain useful business information, and will be reliant on translators, which at best only slow down discussions in the process. Evan if expatriates manager is not fluent, a willingness to try communicating in local language makes a good impression on the business community. Foreign language proficiency is also vital for family members to establish a social network and accomplish the everyday tasks of maintaining a household. But cross-cultural training is much more than just language training. It should provide an appreciation of the new culture, including details of its history and folklore, economy, politics, religion, social climate, and business practices. It is easy to recognize that religion is highly important in daily life in the Middle East, but knowledge of the regions history and an understanding of the specific practices and beliefs is important to avoid inadvertently insulting business associates or social contacts. All this training can be carried out through a variety of techniques. Language skills are often provided through classes and tapes, while cultural training utilizes many different tools. Lectures, reading materials, videotapes, and movies are useful for background information, while cultural sensitivity is more often taught through role playing, simulations and meetings with former expatriates, as well as natives of the countries now living in the parent countries. While all this training in advance of the overseas relocation is important, cultural learning takes place during the assignment as well. After the overseas assignment has ended and the employee has returned, more training is required for the entire family. The employee also must adjust to organization changes, including the inevitable promotions, transfers, and resignations that have taken place during his or her absence. Teenager find reentry particularly difficult, as they are ignorant of the most recent jargon and the latest trends, but often are more sophisticated and mature than their local friends. The employee also must adjust to organizational changes, including the inevitable promotions, transfers and registrations that have taken place during his or her absence. Returnees are anxious to know where to fit in, or if they have been gone for so long that they no longer are on a career path. 2.2 Development In the current global business environment, the overseas assignment should be a vital component in the development of top-executives. It is not only to achieve the advantages for the individual in overseas assignment, but also an organization can gain the competitive advantages from their overseas employee. It is also a chance to provide the host counties employees to broaden their global perspective through a post in the parent-country headquarter, and may make it easier for the organization to recruit and retain better quality managers in the host country. Development is an essential activity to the individual to improve the individuals ability during the assignment and to well perform their jobs. 3.0 Performance appraisal In evaluating employee performance in international environments, other factors come into plays. For instance, the cultural differences between the United States and England are not as great as those between the United Stated and China, for example. Thus, hostility or friendliness of the cultural environment in which one manager should be considered when appraising employee performance. 3.1 The responsibilities of the evaluation There are also issues to consider regarding who will be responsible for the evaluations: the host-country management or the parent country management. Although local management would generally consider a more accurate gauge, it typically evaluates expatriates from its own cultural perspectives and expectations, which may not reflect those of the parent company. For example, in some countries, a participatory style of management is acceptable, while in other countries, hierarchical values make it disgrace to ask employees for ideas (for e.g. in Japan). This could vastly alter a supervisors performance appraisal. Confusion may arise from the use of parent-country evaluation forms if they are misunderstood, either because the form has been improperly translated or not translated at all, or because the evaluator is uncertain what a particular question means. The home-office managements, on the other hand, is often so remote that it may not be fully informed on what is going on in an overseas office. Because they lack access and because one organization may have numerous foreign operations to evaluate, home-office managements often measure performance by quantitative indices, such as profits, market shares, or gross sales. However, simple numbers are often quite complex in their calculations and data are not always comparable. For example, if a company has many operations in Fast East Asia, it must be aware of the accounting practices in each country. Local import tariffs can also distort pricing schedules, which alter gross sales figures, another often compared statistic. Evan when the measurements are comparable, the comparison country will have an affect. For example, factory productivity levels in Vietnam may be below those of similar plants in Thailand. Depending on where the supervisors results are compared, different outcomes may occur. Such issues complicate parent country management performance evaluations by numerical criteria, or indices and can add to the emotional levels in appraisals. 3.2 Evaluation Format Other issues surround the question of selecting the best format to use in performance appraisals, If we have an overseas operation that includes both parent country nationals and host country nationals, we must determine if we will use the same forms for all employee. While most Western countries accept the concept of performance evaluation, some cultures interpret it as a sign of distrust or even an insult to an employee. This complicates a decision to use one instrument like an adjective rating scale for all employees. On the other hand, using different formats for PCNs and HCNs may create a dual track in the subsidiary, in turn creating other problems. The evaluation form presents other problems. If there is universal form for the entire corporation, an organization must determine how it will be translated accurately into the native language of each country. English forms may not be readily understood by local supervisors. For example, clerical and office jobs do not always have identical requirements in all cultures. As a result, some U.S. multinational may be hesitant about evaluating HCNs and TCNs. In some countries, notably those that support the Communist ideology, all workers are rewarded only when the group performs with punishment or discipline being highly limited. For example, in the hotel industry in the Peoples Republic of China. Without the ability to reward good individual performance or to punish poor performance, there is little motivation to have any evaluation at all. Although the subject of international performance appraisal continues to receive research attention, two general recommendations have been suggested as follow: * Modify the normal performance criteria of the evaluation sheet for a particular position to fit the overseas position and site characteristics. Expatriates who have returned from a particular site or same country can provide useful input into revising criteria to reflect the possibilities and constraints of a given location. * Include a current expatriates insights as part of evaluation. This means that non-standardized criteria, which are difficult to measure, will be included, perhaps in different basis for each country. This creates some administrative difficulties at headquarters, but in long run will be a more equitable system. Bibliography 1. Peter J. Dowling, Denice E. Welch and Randall S. Schuler, International Human Resource Management Managing People in a Multinational Context, South Western College Publishing, 3rd Edition 2. Nancy J. Adler, International Dimensions of Organization Behavior, South Western College Publishing, 3rd Edition 3. David A. Decenzo, Stephen P. Robbins, Human Resourc Management, John Wiley Sons Inc., 7th Edition. 4. Ian Breadwell and Len Holden, Human resource management a contemporary approach, FT Prentice Hall, 3rd Edition

Pythagorean Philosophy and its influence on Musical :: essays research papers

Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics. New York: Dover Publications Ferrara, Lawrence (1991). Philosophy and the Analysis of Music. New York: Greenwood Press. Johnston, Ian (1989). Measured Tones. New York: IOP Publishing. Rowell, Lewis (1983). Thinking About Music. Amhurst: The University of Massachusetts Press. "Music is the harmonization of opposites, the unification of disparate things, and the conciliation of warring elements...Music is the basis of agreement among things in nature and of the best government in the universe. As a rule it assumes the guise of harmony in the universe, of lawful government in a state, and of a sensible way of life in the home. It brings together and unites." - The Pythagoreans Every school student will recognize his name as the originator of that theorem which offers many cheerful facts about the square on the hypotenuse. Many European philosophers will call him the father of philosophy. Many scientists will call him the father of science. To musicians, nonetheless, Pythagoras is the father of music. According to Johnston, it was a much told story that one day the young Pythagoras was passing a blacksmith’s shop and his ear was caught by the regular intervals of sounds from the anvil. When he discovered that the hammers were of different weights, it occured to him that the intervals might be related to those weights. Pythagoras was correct. Pythagorean philosophy maintained that all things are numbers. Based on the belief that numbers were the building blocks of everything, Pythagoras began linking numbers and music. Revolutionizing music, Pythagoras’ findings generated theorems and standards for musical scales, relationships, instruments, and creative formation. Musical scales became defined, and taught. Instrument makers began a precision approach to device construction. Composers developed new attitudes of composition that encompassed a foundation of numeric value in addition to melody. All three approaches were based on Pythagorean philosophy. Thus, Pythagoras’ relationship between numbers and music had a profound influence on future musical education, instrumentation, and composition. The intrinsic discovery made by Pythagoras was the potential order to the chaos of music. Pythagoras began subdividing different intervals and pitches into distinct notes. Mathematically he divided intervals into wholes, thirds, and halves. "Four distinct musical ratios were discovered: the tone, its fourth, its fifth, and its octave." (Johnston, 1989). From these ratios the Pythagorean scale was introduced. This scale revolutionized music. Pythagorean relationships of ratios held true for any initial pitch. This discovery, in turn, reformed musical education. "With the standardization of music, musical creativity could be recorded, taught, and reproduced." (Rowell, 1983). Modern day finger exercises, such as the Hanons, are neither based on melody or creativity. They are simply based on the Pythagorean scale, and are executed from various initial pitches. Creating a foundation for musical representation, works

Consensus Ad Idem

EROSION OF CONSENSUS AD IDEM This work is to discuss about the erosion of â€Å"consensus ad idem† or called as â€Å"meeting of the minds†, to get to know about this we have to know about â€Å"Contract† where in which the â€Å"consensus ad idem† plays a very important role. Meaning and Definition of Contract: The word contract is derived from the Latin â€Å"contractum†, meaning â€Å"drawn together†. It, therefore, denotes a drawing together of two or more minds to form a common intention giving rise to an agreement which is intended to be enforceable by law and which may have elements in writing, though contracts can be made orally.Section 2(h) of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 defines a contract as an agreement enforceable by law. Section 2(e) defines agreement as â€Å"every promise and every set of promises forming consideration for each other. † Section 2(b) defines promise in these words: â€Å"When the person to whom the pro posal is made signifies his assent thereto, the proposal is said to be accepted. Essentials of Contract: Every contract is said to have the following elements:- ? Offer ? Acceptance ? Consideration ? Meeting of the minds [consensus ad idem] ? Competency of parties & Legality or Lawful Object These six elements are said to be the essentials of a valid contract, absence of even one of these would result in non-enforceability or a contract which is not legally enforceable. Two or more persons can enter into a contract and there should be offer or proposal from any of the party to the other and the offer can be of any form i. e. , express, implied or general offer, also the offer should be certain and definite. An offer is synonymous with proposal. The offeror or proposer expresses his willingness â€Å"to do† or â€Å"not to do† (i. . , abstain from doing) something with a view to obtain acceptance of the other party to such act or abstinence. Thus, there may be â€Å"po sitive† or â€Å"negative† acts which the proposer is willing to do. When an agreement is placed and which is said to be legally enforceable, consideration on both sides is a must. Each party to the agreement must give or promise something and receive something or a promise in return. Consideration is the price for which the promise of the other is sought. However, this price need not be in terms of money.In case the promise is not supported by consideration, the promise will be nudum pactum (a bare promise) and is not enforceable at law. Moreover, the consideration must be real and lawful. ? Meeting of Minds [consensus ad idem]: â€Å"Consensus ad idem [Latin: agreement on the same thing / Meeting of the minds]. The agreement by contracting parties to identical terms that is necessary for the formation for the formation of a legally binding contract. In particular it refers to the situation where there is a common understanding in the formation of the contract.This co ndition or element is often considered a necessary requirement to the formation of contract. It is understood that a contract cannot be formed or may not be considered as legally enforceable when there is no common understanding between the parties to the contact. They may not be expressly implied in a contract but the conduct of the parties and their understanding towards performing an act is enough to show that there is consent between both the parties. ? Competency of parties: The parties to a contract should be competent to enter into a contract.According to Section 11, every person is competent to contract if he (i) is of the age of majority, (ii) is of sound mind, and (iii) is not disqualified from contracting by any law to which he is subject. Thus, there may be a flaw in capacity of parties to the contract. The flaw in capacity may be due to minority, lunacy, idiocy, drunkenness or status. If a party to a contract suffers from any of these flaws, the contract is unenforceabl e except in certain exceptional circumstances. ? Legality or lawful object:The object of the agreement which was entered between the parties must be lawful and not one which the law disapproves. If in case, the said object is to be unlawful then the agreement would become void. All these above elements combined together forms a contract which is legally enforceable. ? Erosion of â€Å"Consensus ad idem† : The idea of expounding a contract based on meeting of minds at early stages was made by Sir Frederick Pollock. There were also persons like Oliver Wendell Holmes who criticized the concept of meeting of minds as ‘fiction’.This concept has been accepted and had been put into use even until now, but there had been some leaps and bounds in early stages of evolution of contract. In  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Household Fire and Carriage Accident Insurance Co Ltd v Grant  Ã¢â‚¬Å"(1879) 4 Ex D 216, Thesiger LJ said, â€Å"Now, whatever in abstract discussion may be said as to the le gal notion of its being necessary, in order to the effecting of a valid and binding contract, that the minds of the parties should be brought together at one and the same moment, that notion is practically the foundation of  English law  upon the subject of the formation of contracts†. In â€Å"Carlill v.Carbolic Smoke Ball Company†Ã‚  [1893] 1 QB 256, Bowen LJ said, â€Å"One cannot doubt that, as an ordinary rule of law, an acceptance of an offer made ought to be notified to the person who makes the offer, in order that the two minds may come together. Unless this is done the two minds may be apart, and there is not that consensus which is necessary according to the English law – I say nothing about the laws of other countries – to make a contract. † Here in our country, Section 2(e) of Indian contract Act 1872 defines agreement as â€Å"every promise and every set of promises, forming the consideration for each other,† i. e. there shou ld be meeting of minds to constitute a contract. There are also several case laws in which the importance of â€Å"consensus ad idem† has been upheld. In â€Å"M/S Richa Industries Ltd & Ors vs. ICICI Bank Limited & Another†, on 14 October, 2011 Delhi High Court upheld that, â€Å"Contract Act, 1872 being contracts which are beyond the law and this court can draw inference by looking into the illegality in the said contracts and their purpose. The plaintiff states that the agreement or the transactions are not valid that the defendant was never authorized to do the derivative transactions on behalf of the plaintiff.It is submitted on behalf of the plaintiff that the defendant has got some template contracts signed from the plaintiff whereof entered into the transactions on its behalf without proper information and guidance. It is argued that there was no consensus  ad  idem  to enter into any such contract of authorizing the defendant to enter into derivative tr ansaction and the same is vitiated by the  consensus  ad  idem  and consent of the plaintiff. The said consent must be taken from the plaintiff by way of informed consent and not by just getting the documents signed without informing the purpose for which they are taken from the plaintiff.The plaintiff is also aggrieved by the fact that the defendant is seeking to declare the plaintiff as willful defaulter. The plaintiff challenges the defendant's letter dated 28. 02. 2011, whereby show cause was issued†. In this context, all the countries dealing with contracts has accepted the usage of â€Å"consensus ad idem† as it is said to be the key element of contract and also according to the Indian Contract Act 1872. Erosion of this concept was only at early stage of it and now it has been a clear view of that without consent of both parties to the contract it cannot be considered legally acceptable.The basic principles of contract have been substantially abrogated due to privatization and liberalization. Even then, â€Å"consensus ad idem† i. e. , meeting of minds or mutual agreement is a hard nut to crack as without this element there can be no existence of agreement, and it would result in void agreements or at times it becomes voidable. Reference: †¢ Halsbury’s Law on India – Volume II, Butterworths – Lexis Nexis – New Delhi, 2002 †¢ M. Krishna Nair- The Law of Contracts – 5th Edition- Orient Longman Publication – Chennai, 1997, Reprint 1998. Pollock & Mulla- Indian Contract Act & Specific Relief Act – 13th Edition – By Dr. RG – Padia – Lexis Nexis – Butterworth’s Publication, New Delhi, 2006. †¢ Anson – Law of Contract – 28th Edition – Revised by J. Beakson – Oxford University Press Publication – London, 2010. †¢ Cheshire, Fifoot & Frumston – Law of Contract – 13th Edition – M. P. Furmston – Butterworth’s Publication, London, 1996. †¢ Contract – www. wikipedia. org/wiki/Contract †¢ www. indiankanoon. org †¢ www. wisegeek. com †¢ Blog. SilverDane. com

The Traumatic Stress Disorder ( Ptsd ) Essay - 1310 Words

Introduction As humans, our bodies are only designed to take so much before we reach a point where we become damaged. Psychologically, if we experience more then we can handle the results of it are what’s called Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder. Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, effects a part of the brain that controls stress and nerves, which consists of the Prefrontal Cortex, the Hippocampus, and the Amygdala. Enduring traumatic stress can result in lasting changes to these parts of the brain. Damaging these parts of the brain not only effect the body physically, but can also damage an individual emotionally which effects their personal and social life. The cause for PTSD is witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event. Because everyone sees events differently, specific events cause different levels of trauma. The first case known of an individual suffering from this disorder was after experiencing and living through a Saber Tooth Tiger attack. Not all cases are brou ght on by something as bazar as this. Most individuals suffering for Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder are victims of abuse and discharged war veterans. The things these two classes of people have seen and lived through are beyond imaginable, and are the biggest causes of trauma known. After many more cases started to appear of individuals suffering from past trauma, this disorder was introduced to the American Psychiatric Association during the 1980’s. The American Psychiatric Association containsShow MoreRelatedTraumatic Stress Disorder ( Ptsd )1331 Words   |  6 PagesPTSD Develops from Suicide Attempts Attempted suicide is a highly emotional event. A large portion of the population has to live with the after-effects of their decision on attempting suicide. Even though the general public doesn t realize, failed suicide attempts can often be as traumatic as violent personal attacks that lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. 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