Monica Ashley free essay sample

Why do you think that Monica Ashley was so interested in pushing so hard to implement Project Hippocrates? What made her interested in the project? At first Monica was not interested in leading Project Hippocrates, she intended on moving up in the ranks within her company. However, she was known for intensity and energy when working on a project and figured that she would throw herself at the project and perhaps after one more high-profile success she could move out of program/project management. Also, Monica believed that the President Gary Dorr wanted her to run the Hippocrates project and knew her as a go-getter, who would challenge anyone and analyze extensive data to back up her arguments. It seemed that the leadership she respected entrusted her with this project and she was not going to let them down. Why was Monica driving so hard to meet her self-imposed deadlines? Monica struggled to meet her deadlines because she believed that meeting those deadlines, and presenting factual data would be the way to win over leadership when it came down to making key decisions regarding the data that she was presenting. We will write a custom essay sample on Monica Ashley or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page She wasted no time making political connections, instead focused all her energy on meeting deadlines to achieve the greater goal of garnering senior leadership buy-in behind her and her ideas. Who were the key players that Monica needed to interact with to make Project Hippocrates Successful? How did each of them view the project? Who was supportive of Monica and the project and who was not? What was important to each of the players? The key players were Gary Dorr, President, Ralph Parker, VP of Signal Processor Design, Dan Stella, VP of Maj. Production Line Design, ED Kane, a manager reporting to Ralph Parker. Gary Dorr viewed the project as key to the organization and trusted Monica to achieve success as she had before, but during the project he switched his view drastically as she did not heed his advice regarding her confrontations with Ralph Parker. As President, Gary probably expected Monica to build a relationship with Parker, however she never attempted to, instead confronted and responded directly to Parkers direct confrontations. The project’s success was key to Gary, and his relationships with the customers and with his leaders are also important. Ralph Parker had a different way of getting to the end result, and due to that variation and his attitude which was known to be rough, Monica never approached him to build a relationship prior to running the project. She actually went against his approaches building a case with data, instead of asking his opinion during and prior to key decision points. Ralph never liked Monica’s style or approach, and did not believe that her outsourcing answers were right for the business. He was a barrier to Monica at each meeting and encounter. ED Kane was taking direction from Ralph and of course fighting for his team’s product and his team’s voices to be heard. Monica had taken an approach of exclusion and therefore Kane was not bought in. He was a tough adversary as he was knowledgeable and vocal, and was fighting for his living in the company. Dan Stella, Monica’s boss was passive yet overall supportive of Monica. However his communications to her were interpreted as vague and while he supported her he did not coach Monica on building relationships and garnering buy-in from key parties and stakeholders prior and during the project. Dan was a hands-off leader who would benefit greatly from project success. What were Monica’s strengths and weaknesses in managing Project Hippocrates? What did she do well and where did she go wrong? Monica had many strengths in managing the project. She quickly realized the need for change and wasted no time in analyzing all available data and determining a path. She could multi-task well, was focused, and exuded confidence. She was hard on herself which is a strength but only to a point. Monica’s main weakness was that she did not understand or seem to want to understand the people behind the project. She was so data driven and did not take the time to engage the key players, or build a sense of cohesiveness around her ideas and data. She focused well on the small picture but lacked the big picture focus that was needed for a cross functional project this size. Monica also relied on a few relationships to carry her through the project, a mistake since these relationships would have backed her as they had previously had she gone through the necessary politicking. What could Monica have done differently to make the implementation process for Project Hippocrates less contentious? Monica had great ideas, but she could have instead gathered her staff and Parker’s staff and had a brainstorming session perhaps listing out the pros and cons of each potential project track with all key players in the room. Then everyone could voice their opinions in a non-partial forum. Of course Monica and others could present data, and their beliefs, but whatever decision was made at this lower level, it would at least have more buy-in due to the nature of the discussion. Monica could have spent more time building relationships with key leaders and presented her data in a less aggressive manner. What are the implications for Monica? Should she look for a job with another company? I most likely would look elsewhere. Monica’s reputation is tarnished for the time being. Yet, she is an excellent employee, with great ideas, and has learned the ins and outs of leadership from this experience. Her skills could be highly valued elsewhere and if she spends time building key relationships as well as focusing on data and maintaining her work ethic, she could be invaluable to another organization. She would leave her reputation at Heal, inc. , and move on. It might also be a good time for her to look for a leadership role, whereas Heal, inc. might not jump to put her in such a position.

Social Environment Essays - Aid, Humanitarian Aid, Poverty

Social Environment Essays - Aid, Humanitarian Aid, Poverty Social Environment Social Environment and Its Effect On One's Life Social environment is influenced by one's power and wealth. This, in turn, determines success or failure in peoples' lives. If one were born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he would easily be able to attend a fancy school no matter how intelligent he is or have any luxury he wants just because of power and wealth. On the flip side, if one were born to a poor family in a bad neighborhood infested with violence and drugs, he would have a much smaller chance of succeeding in life, more especially, going to an upper-class school. It is hard for many poor to go to college because of such high tuition costs. Scholarships are available; but, even though one shows financial need, one still has to have a high grade point average and test scores. Even if one has a good mind, trying to study in a gang-ridden neighborhood with constant gunfire isn't easy. With both parents working two jobs, there isn't any parental guidance. Whereas, the affluent, even if busy or working, have the means to insure that their children are supervised and well taken care of. The rich also have the luxury of affording special tutors to help their children while other children are on their own. For example, there are three students, one from a clean, upper-class community, another from a small, middle-class suburb and the other from a graffiti-ridden slum. All three of these students have exceptional GPA's and scored very well on standardized testing. The student from the upper-class community will have the best chance of succeeding. Tuition will never be a problem and chances are that those parents have some pull because of who they are. The middle-class student won't have a great problem but there is still the fact of paying tuition, which would limit the options quite a bit. One may be smart enough to get grants but the family makes too much money. Also, if he sought admission into a prestigious school and it came down to the student or someone richer, the middle-class student would probably lose out. Some of the many reasons for this are that the affluent family will most likely have been an alumni to that particular school. If not, they will have better connections and will have a more impressive letter of recommendation written for the student. However, the lower-class student would have a much rougher time. Even with good grades, he might lack the opportunities that others may have. Tuition is definitely a problem and with an overworked guidance counselor, a problem of a poorer school system, scholarship information might be missing. Most importantly, there would be a decided lack of motivation on the part of the school, family and maybe even the student. I am not saying that social environment is the definitive factor in someone's lifetime accomplishments. It is common knowledge that it is difficult to get out of a bad situation such as growing up without any of the advantages others have, but many have managed. There is a way out, it just takes a strong mind and a strong will to do so. If someone is intelligent enough, they can try to go out and grab the recognition they deserve. Social environment as a determining agent is definitely a human-made force. In society, the poor are regarded with contempt or completely ignored while the rich are seen as having the authority over everything. The poor are seen as undeserving, therefore, not receiving much of an education, if any. In any society, there are always the strong and the weak; and, in this case, the weak are portrayed as the poor by the rest of society. Some feel that the weak in our society should be eliminated because they are no more than mere pests, irritating the rest of society. In my opinion, there isn't much to be done to change the way society thinks. As long as the elite control businesses and schools, they will still have the authority over what the public thinks and does. The best thing to have is a positive outlook on all situations and never stop trying. If one never gives up, one can achieve his goal no matter how unreal it may seem at the time. The most important thing is never to let society get in the way. One must not fall prey to society's evils and give up. If there were to be a solution, it would have to be bringing more

Human Resource Management Compensation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Human Resource Management Compensation - Essay Example All other benefits offered are standard as per our company policy. Since he is currently in Austin, Texas, I have factored him a Relocation Allowance for the move. Designs, develops, and tests all aspects of electrical components, equipment, and machinery. May use computer-assisted engineering and design software and equipment to perform assignments. Applies principles and techniques of electrical engineering to accomplish goals. Requires a bachelor's degree in engineering and 4-6 years of experience in the field or in a related area. Familiar with a variety of the field's concepts, practices, and procedures. Relies on experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals. Performs a variety of complicated tasks. May report to an executive or a manager. A wide degree of creativity and latitude is expected. Performance Bonus is paid in addition to your base salary. The Performance Bonus provides an annual lump sum payment based on yearly business results and individual contributions. By linking earnings to individual, team, and company results, the Performance Bonus "pays for performance." Employee Stock Purchase Plan: Employees have the option of purchasing company stock at a discounted rate of 6% of the market price as on the date of purchase. Stock is purchased through convenient payroll deductions, to a maximum of 10% of an employee's salary. Bi-weekly contributions will be made... Electrical Engineer III Designs, develops, and tests all aspects of electrical components, equipment, and machinery. May use computer-assisted engineering and design software and equipment to perform assignments. Applies principles and techniques of electrical engineering to accomplish goals. Requires a bachelor's degree in engineering and 4-6 years of experience in the field or in a related area. Familiar with a variety of the field's concepts, practices, and procedures. Relies on experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals. Performs a variety of complicated tasks. May report to an executive or a manager. A wide degree of creativity and latitude is expected. Source: Salary.com Compensation package Base Salary: Base salary is the compensation that employees are paid bi-weekly. Your base salary will be $85,460 comparable with industry standards for similar positions. Incentive plan: Merit pay plan: This will provide increases to the base salary based on your performance rating and contributions to the success of the projects undertaken. Performance Bonus: Performance Bonus is paid in addition to your base salary. The Performance Bonus provides an annual lump sum payment based on yearly business results and individual contributions. By linking earnings to individual, team, and company results, the Performance Bonus "pays for performance." Stock Plan: Employee Stock Purchase Plan: Employees have the option of purchasing company stock at a discounted rate of 6% of the market price as on the date of purchase. Stock is purchased through convenient payroll deductions, to a maximum of 10% of an employee's salary. Benefit plan Pension Plan: Bi-weekly contributions will be made to the individual's account based on earnings and years of

Employment and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Employment and Society - Essay Example All these factors have a profound influence on the organizational performance of a person; it also affects the psychological contract that a person makes with their employer based on mutual understanding and relationship in a negative manner. An impact on performance and mutual contract can create feelings of alienation and job insecurity as well. These feelings can further augment the stress. A huge responsibility lies on the shoulder of the individual to fight stress so they he/she is able to give the optimum level of efficiency, fulfill the psychological contract as well as fulfilling the family duties (Carole, 2003). There are a number of ways through which these feelings of stress can be curbed; it is the responsibility of the organization as well the individual; the organization can organize stress management seminars and conferences whereas the individual can use stress management techniques as a personal initiative. The duty of care needs to be fulfilled so that they are not called negligent from their responsibilities and become an active member of the corporate as well as the social society. Flexibility while working is of high importance as people from all walks of life need some elasticity towards their work life, timings and atmosphere. For example, for a single mother of two, work time flexibility would mean a peace of mind where she would be able to reach to her kids between normal work times; this will lead to better efficiency on her part as her worries will be less. Therefore, Flexibility is considered one of the biggest attributes that can attract labor towards one’s organization (Kathleen, 2010). Flexibility helps to achieve the goals of both the employee and the employer; flex hours would help the employee by tension free and work according to his/her timings producing quality work which is what the employer wants from the

Rhetorics and Stereotypes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Rhetorics and Stereotypes - Essay Example Rhetoric and stereotyping go well with each other especially that people are using rhetoric to influence and keep stereotyping in practice. Stereotyping is also â€Å"implanted† in the mind from the early age and it is difficult to battle with, especially that the rhetoric acts on the mind as a persuasive tool.   Stereotyping is the concept which binds people with similar traits or attributes in a particular class. Stereotyping has its positive and negative impacts. Most of the people associate it with the discriminatory act against groups. Stereotyping promotes the group evaluation and value rather than individuals. People belonging to one stereotype are presumed to have traits which are attributed to that particular class regardless of the individual identities of people and their traits. Stereotyping, hence, creates difficulties for people who belong to a particular stereotype group but have different traits like politicians who are mostly known as corrupt people regardless of the individual nature and qualities of politicians. Stereotyping and its effects are different on every group. This paper, however, aims to analyze the Politicians, Tattooed persons, feminists and senior citizens as the major discussion in the field of rhetoric and stereotyping. The tattooed individuals are bound together in a single stereotyping group as per their similar practice of tattoos on their body. The similar trait of signing tattoos may differ in design, maxims, slogans, message and size. This stereotyped group is often associated with rockers, punks, criminals etc. In other words we may say that these people are not regarded as reverend as soldiers, older people, teachers etc. the group called feminists represents those who are highly in favor of equality and/or superiority of women over men. The people associated with this group are more concerned about freedom and rights of women in the society. People often consider them to have the feelings of

The Damage Of Theft To A Company Business Essay

The Damage Of Theft To A Company Business Essay Employee theft is always been costly to any business. This is still more appropriate in case of big retail chain organizations. The enhanced security arrangements in the recent times have made this topic more important than ever. This research is conducted to investigate the possible reasons for employee theft in supermarkets in Malaysia. It identifies the relationship between various factors with the employee theft behavior. It aimed to develop a model to help big retail chain organizations to design effective internal control systems to prevent/reduce employee theft. This chapter covers the following sections: 1. Background to the research 2. Malaysian retail industry and retail shrinkage 3. Research problem, issues and objectives 4. Justification for research 5. Whats new in this research? 6. Organization of this thesis 7. Definition of terms and 8. Summary 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH Retailing crime continues to be a challenge for businesses in the USA and elsewhere (National Retail Security Survey, 2003). Retailing crime is financial loss attributable to a combination of various factors like customer theft, employee theft, internal error (administrative or process error) and supplier-vendor frauds. The recent worldwide shrinkage survey revealed 42.4% of the retail shrinkage was due to customer theft, 35.3% due to employee theft, 16.9% due to internal error and 5.4% due to suppliers-vendors frauds. Total global shrinkage in the 42 countries surveyed costs retailers U.S. $107.3 billion ($107,284 million), equivalent to 1.36% of retail sales: a serious threat to retailers bottom lines particularly at a time when many retailers are beginning to feel the pinch of an economic downturn. A key point to be noted is that the cost of shrink is ultimately borne by not only retailers, but also by consumers and society at large. Here Shrinkage or shrink refers to an accountan cy figure, reflecting the difference between the financial revenue the business should have received (based upon inventory and purchases) and the amount actually received. (The Global Retail Theft Barometer, 2010). The Barometer further confirms that retail shrink is a global issue: it is a common problem across all countries, regions and market sectors. The Barometer further points out that In 2010, thieves stole a very wide range of merchandise, but tended to focus on expensive popular branded items including: razor blades/shaving products; cosmetics/face creams and perfumes; smart phones and electrical gadgets; alcohol; fresh meat/expensive foodstuff; electric toothbrushes, electronic monitoring devices; infant formula and coffee; DVDs and electronic games; fashion (especially branded items, leather, handbags and accessories); sports-branded goods and sports shoes; electronic goods; branded sunglasses and watches. The survey tells that over 6.2 million customer and employee thiev es were apprehended last year. Employee theft is second major component of retail shrinkage due to the huge retail space in supermarkets and big size retail organizations. Employee theft can be defined as the theft of anything of value from the retailer by an employee or accomplice. The term anything of value includes cash, merchandise, property, services and information. Employee theft occurs mostly at the checkout area followed by the sales area and the customer desk/courtesy area (Hollinger and Clark, 1983). The theft methods include stealing merchandise, stealing cash, retaining receipts to show stolen items were paid for, voiding a sale or making a no-sale after a customer has paid and pocketing the cash, overcharging, shortchanging, coupon stuffing, credits for nonexistent returns and sliding product through the lane without charging. Other examples include warehouse personnel stealing stocked items, and cleaning and maintenance personnel removing valuables with the trash. Employee theft also takes place at the point-of-receipt of merchandise and includes losses due to payment for goods not received. Employee theft is any use or misuse or stealing of employers assets by the employees without permission to do so (Justice J. Walsh, 2000). Money is the most common asset that is stolen from employers. Theft of time happens when an employee is paid for the time which he/she did not work. Usually this happens by falsifying of time records. Technically, theft of time also includes employees who are not working while on the job, although legally this is very difficult to prove. Theft of supplies is another usual form of employee theft. Examples of this form of theft are office supplies (computers, papers, cabinets, etc.) and restaurant supplies (food, silverware, condiments, etc.). Another example of theft of company property is product displays. Overcharging the customers and subsequently pocketing the extra cash can totally affect a business credibility, because it affects not only the employer but also the customers. If the customers find out that a business is overcharging, it can hu rt that business growth. This is very familiar in restaurants because many restaurants do not keep a close eye on their employees actions. Stealing information is perhaps the most damaging form of theft. Familiar examples of this nature are theft of trade secrets and product designs. A number of studies have been conducted in United States, Canada and in European countries about the employee theft in retail organizations and super markets. The US Chamber of Commerce estimates that US employers lose $20 billion to $40 billion a year due to employee theft. It also states that 30% of all business failures are caused by employee theft (David J Shaffer and Ronald A Schmidt 2006). For every dollar stolen, supermarkets need to sell at least $50 more of goods to make up the loss (George H Condon, 2003). Happy employees steal less in United States (Jennifer Korolishin 2003). Shrink losses due to employee theft can equal the profits in Canada (George H Condon 2003). 1.2 MALAYSIAN RETAIL INDUSTRY AND RETAIL SHRINKAGE Malaysias retail trade touched at RM122.54 billion for the year 2009, up 106.37 per cent from 2005. Growth has averaged 26.59 per cent yearly from 2005 to 2009. Retail sales touched RM59.38 billion during 2005, increased to RM71.69 billion during 2006, gone up to RM95.67 billion in 2007, improved to RM116.10 billion during 2008 and risen to RM122.54 billion in 2009. In the first quarter of 2010, it touched the ever seen highest amount of 32.33 billion (Department of Statistics, Malaysia). From 2006 to 2008, increased urbanization and education saw Malaysians become even more sophisticated and demanding with their shopping experiences. This brought about the development of quality, world-class malls across the country in this period, such as 1Borneo; these malls house a strong array of international brands which are uniquely suited to the discerning needs of consumers. Therefore, new lifestyle retail concepts have become more popular in Malaysia, with retailers offering unique merchan dise to cater to the needs of specific consumers. For instance, Robinsons Malaysia has 50 to 60 exclusive brands for shoppers, whilst Tangs in the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur claims to be the Generation Three Tangs store, a store that encompasses Tangs signature shopping concepts alongside being localized to meet the needs of Malaysian consumers. Store-based Retailing Achieves a Better Performance Inevitably, store-based retailing maintained its dominance from 2006 to 2008, with slightly stronger growth than non-store retailing. The development of shopping malls across the country from 2006 to 2008, especially in secondary towns, such as the opening of The Spring in Sarawak and East Coast Mall in Kuantan, further boosted the performance of store-based retailing. Direct selling continued to dominate non-store retailing, with internet retailing exhibiting the strongest current value growth, albeit from a small base. Interestingly, non-store retailer Dell also opened its first physical counter at Tec Asia in early 2008, representing an increased crossover by non-store retailers in an effort to expand their growth. Employee retail theft in select retail businesses in Malaysia during 2009-2010 The Global Retail Theft Barometer was released in October, 2010 for the period between July, 2009 and June, 2010. In Malaysia, 19 retailers with a combined sale of US$1.974 billion participated in the survey. The findings of the survey reveal that as a percentage of total sales, retail shrinkage in Malaysia was 1.53 per cent. In this, the customer theft amounts to 51.6% (US$132.10 million) This was followed by employee theft at 22.3 % (US$57.09 million) and supplier or vendor theft at 5.9% (US$15.19 million). The remaining 20.2% of financial loss amounting to US$51.71 million was due to administrative errors. As per the findings of The Global Retail Theft Barometer, the methods of employee retail theft in select Malaysian retail businesses are as follows: Table 1.1 Main methods of employee retail theft in select retail businesses in Malaysia: Cash, coupons and vouchers 18.6% Merchandise 38.3% Refund fraud, false markdown 27.3% Large financial frauds 6.9% Collusion 8.9% Total 100 Source: The Global Retail Theft Barometer, 2008 RESEARCH PROBLEM, ISSUES AND OBJECTIVES It is a difficult job to correctly approximate the amount of revenue lost through employees theft by way of cash, goods, and services because much of these activities remain undetected, unnoticed or unpublicized. It has been estimated that as much as 75% of losses attributable to employee theft is undetected because of the difficulty in separating inventory shrinkage into its major internal (theft) and external (shoplifting) component parts (Green, 1997). Like the Global Retail Theft Barometer, many other studies have also made an attempt to identify the base rate for employee theft (see Ash, 1988; Brooks and Arnold, 1989; Jones et aL, 1990; Slora, 1989; Wimbush and Dalton, 1997). The results have shown a wide-range of estimates ranging from 3 to 62 percent. Thus it could be seen that employee theft is an expensive problem for an organization; it has been reported as 10 times as costly as Americas street crime (Greenberg, 1997). The amount of property theft alone has been estimated to be $40 billion per year (Shapiro, Trevino, Victor, 1995), and about one third of employees admit that they steal from their employers (Kamp Brooks, 1991). Researches on antecedents and other correlates of employee theft have focused on two broad categories of factors: individual (personality) factors and situational factors. Both of these factors are important and have practical implications for businesses. Individual factors are variables that employers mostly cannot control; employers may only be able to respond to them. Situational factors such strong policies about theft, safeguards, etc., are much more under the control of employers. The central objective of this research is to investigate the key research problem: What are the factors contributing to workplace theft behavior of the employees of retail floor of super markets in Malaysia and how the internal control systems help to prevent/reduce the workplace theft behavior in case of the employees of Supermarkets in Malaysia. The following are the research objectives to investigate this key research problem: Objectives: a) General objective: To study the various factors contributing to the intention to steal in the supermarkets in Malaysia and also to study the relationship between the internal control systems and workplace theft behavior in the supermarkets in Malaysia. b) Specific objectives: 1) To identify the possible reasons leading to the intention to steal by the employees in supermarkets in Malaysia. 2) To find out the relationship between the individual factors and the intention to steal in supermarkets in Malaysia. 3) To find out the relationship between the organizational factors and the intention to steal in supermarkets in Malaysia. 4) To find out the relationship between the intention to steal and the workplace theft behavior of the employees of supermarkets in Malaysia. 5) To determine the moderating effects of internal control systems between the intention to steal and workplace theft behavior of the employees in supermarkets in Malaysia. 6) To identify the effective internal control systems to prevent/reduce employee theft in supermarkets in Malaysia. The research issues and related objectives to investigate the research problem are described in Table 1.2 Table 1.2 Research Issues and Objectives Research issue Research objective 1. What are the reasons contributing intention to steal by the employees in retail floor of supermarkets in Malaysia? To identify the possible reasons leading to the intention to steal by the employees in supermarkets in Malaysia. 2. What is the relationship between theindividual factors and the intention to steal in supermarkets in Malaysia? To find out the relationship between the individual factors and the intention to steal in supermarkets in Malaysia. 3. What is the relationship between theorganizational factors and the intention to steal in supermarkets in Malaysia? To find out the relationship between the organizational factors and the intention to steal in supermarkets in Malaysia. 4. What is the relationship between the intention to steal and the workplace theft behavior of the employees of supermarkets in Malaysia? To find out the relationship between the intention to steal and the workplace theft behavior of the employees of supermarkets in Malaysia. 5. What are the moderating effects of internal control systems between the intention to steal and workplace theft behavior of the employees in supermarkets in Malaysia? To determine the moderating effects of internal control systems between the intention to steal and workplace theft behavior of the employees in supermarkets in Malaysia. 6. What are the effective internal control systems to prevent/reduce employee theft in supermarkets in Malaysia? To identify the effective internal control systems to prevent/reduce employee theft in supermarkets in Malaysia. Employee theft in a retail organization can be defined as the theft of anything of value from the retailer by an employee or accomplice. The term anything of value includes cash, merchandise, property, services and information. In retail organizations employee theft occurs mostly at the checkout area followed by the sales area and the customer desk/courtesy area (Hollinger and Clark, 1983). Methods include stealing merchandise, stealing cash, retaining receipts to show stolen items were paid for, voiding a sale or making a no-sale after a customer has paid and pocketing the cash, overcharging, shortchanging, coupon stuffing, credits for nonexistent returns and sliding product through the lane without charging. Other examples include warehouse personnel stealing stocked items, and cleaning and maintenance personnel removing valuables with the trash. Employee theft also takes place at the point-of-receipt of merchandise and includes losses due to payment for goods not received. US reta ilers have recognized for years that employee theft is a huge and growing problem (Mathews, 1997). These losses were, on average, 1.72 percent of retail sales, comparable in magnitude to retail profit margins as a percentage of sales. Surveys by UKs Center for Retail Research (2001) and the Retail Council of Canada (2001) broadly corroborate these figures and demonstrate that concern about retail shrinkage is not restricted to US retailers alone. Together, with the amounts stolen, the cost of preventing theft imposes a substantial burden on retailers. Employee theft has been cited as a primary factor in 30 percent or more of all business failures (Snyder et al., 1991). Theft from retailers can result in bankruptcy or near closure. It results in lost raises and bonuses if not layoffs for employees, and higher prices for customers as the following quote argues: A store operating at 3 percent profit on sales would have to sell $1,216.66 worth of merchandise a year to make up for the da ily loss of a ten-cent candy bar. Just to cover a yearly loss of $1,000 in thefts, a retailer would have to sell each day over 900 candy bars, or 130 packs of cigarettes, or 380 cans of soup. Faced with such unreasonable selling volumes most small business people are forced instead to raise their prices and lower their ability to compete (Verril, 1999). Researchers and employers appear to agree generally on how to define employee theft. Researchers studying this phenomenon have defined employee theft broadly as an employees unauthorized taking, control, or transfer of money, goods, and/or services of an employer committed during the normal course of work activity (Merriam, 1977). Organizations create policies that fit this general definition and further identify the specific types of behavior considered to be theft in their particular context. By enacting such policies, organizations seek to shape the employee perceptions of inappropriate behavior. However, these policies often fail to generate a common perception among employees as to the types of behavior considered employee theft. While most employees agree that some types of behaviors (such as stealing cash) are theft, other types of behaviors are seen by employees as more ambiguous. For example, the unauthorized taking of food by restaurant workers would be included in the above definition of theft, but some employees may consider such stealing a perk of the job. Indeed, researchers suggest that employees are unlikely to share common definitions of employee theft (J. Greenberg, 1998; L. Greenberg Barling, 1996; J. Greenberg Scott, 1996; Hollinger Clark, 1983; Tatham, 1974). Hollinger and Clark (1983) found that several types of employee theft occur in organizations and that social norm consensus did not exist among the employees they interviewed with respect to acceptable and unacceptable (theft) behavior. Social norm consensus represents the amount of agreement among coworkers as to whether a specific type of behavior constitutes theft. This research also is consistent with Mischels (1973) work on cognitive social learning, which suggests that situations vary in the degree to which they determine and limit individuals attitudes and behavior. That is, situations with a high degree of social norm consensus serve to limit individuals to specific thoughts and actions. Social norm consensus is likely to play an important role in labeling an ob served behavior as theft. Although some theoretical work (J. Greenberg, 1998) indicates that lack of agreement among organizational members as to what is considered theft and non-theft is likely to affect whether a particular individual defines a specific incident as employee theft, this has not been empirically demonstrated. There has been some previous research on the matter of retail employee theft, although in recent times there seems to have been a dearth of interest in this topic. For example, Tatham (1974) conducted a survey of retail employees to determine their perceptions of theft from their employers. They classified the respondents into two groups: non-takers, that is, those who do not steal from their employers; and takers, those who engage in stealing. An interesting finding was that, though non-takers were less reluctant than takers to report fellow employees who engaged in stealing, in general, there was much reluctance by employees to report fellow employees who stole. Tatham also found that there was little effect of the value of the item taken on the employees admission to stealing. Hair et al., (1976) conducted a survey of some 254 retail employers to assess their perceptions of, and responses to, employee theft. They found that employers were likely to underestimate the level of emplo yee theft. As did Tatham (1974), they also found that the value of the item taken by the employees had little effect on the employees admission of stealing; however, it had a substantial influence on the employers perceptions of what constituted stealing. While Tatham (1974) found that some 50 percent of employees reported stealing from their employers, about 80 percent of retailers in the Hair et al.,(1976) study believed that employee theft accounted for less than 2 percent of their total shrinkage and that no more than 2 percent of their employees stole. Other researchers engaged in this stream of research have looked at such issues as: personnel selection and its contribution to reduction of employee theft (Brown and Pardue, 1985; Jones et al., 1990); the impact of product identification and posting of losses from shrinkage on employee theft rates (Carter et al., 1988); and the use of internal control procedures to stem employee theft (Kennish, 1985; Snyder et al., 1989). In more recent work, Oliphant and Oliphant (2001) used a behavior-based method in an effort to determine the level of shrinkage in a drug store outlet in the USA, and to assess reliability of the employers estimates of the level of shrinkage. Rather than posting shrinkage information on individual targeted items in the employee break and lunch area, the researchers posted the total dollar amount of shrinkage and the number of items missing due to shrinkage. During the eight-week period of their study, the store achieved an 82 percent decrease in the number of items stolen each week and a 74 percent decrease in monetary loss. Working in conjunction with the retail store, these researchers were able to assist with identification of and reduction in theft of store merchandise by employees. Bamfield (2004) surveyed 476 major European retailers regarding shrinkage and found variations in the shrinkage rates across countries. European retailers ranked employee theft second among the sources of shrinkage (29 percent), in contrast to the USA, where employee theft was perceived by retailers to be the leading source of shrinkage (47 percent). Though retail employee theft can take many forms (for example, giving of unauthorized discounts, theft of cash, theft of merchandise, time theft, violation of sick leave and time-off policies, and so on), the theft of cash and merchandise is most profound, and, so, is the focus of our attention. Retailers continue to struggle with this issue and continue to use a number of different policies in an effort to avert, or minimize, the problem. Among the policies are: pre-employment screening; policy and procedure manuals; loss prevention awareness programs; human resources programs, including decent retail wages and employee incentives; as w ell as various detection procedures (National Retail Security Survey, 2003). In spite of these factors, retail employee theft still continues to be the factor that contributes most to retail shrinkage in the USA. Hence, there should be focus on efforts to understand retail employee theft. The idea of employees stealing is such a difficult concept for many managers to comprehend that they do not use the words, theft or stealing, to describe the deviant actions of employees. Euphemistic or politically correct words such as inventory shrinkage, spoilage, pilferage, shortage, unaccounted loss, or defalcation are more commonly used to describe employee theft, which reflects an attitude of denial and avoids the image of criminal activity. Because an employee is considered part of the family, it is hard to accept that someone you hired and worked with would steal from you. When caught, employees are often treated less harshly than someone not employed who steals from the firm (Kennish, 1985). Many employers consider employee theft as an unpreventable, unpleasant situation which is just part of doing business (Kennish, 1985). They expect employees to steal. The problem of employee theft is further exasperated by what constitutes employee misconduct. Some employers believe a pencil here and there, use of the copier for personal use, or five dollars worth of long distance calls per month on the office phone are acceptable. When employers exhibit such an attitude, it establishes an organizational atmosphere that management condones employee theft (Kamp and Brooks, 1991). Thus, employees view stealing from the company as an acceptable and justifiable behavior. It also makes it difficult to prosecute stealing, since it is difficult to determine what level of stealing is unacceptable. Employers face the prospects of going out of-business if they cannot control the costs of lost services, cash, and products. Statistics provided by the US Chamber of Commerce indicate that 50 percent of all small business failures in the first year of business can be attributed to employee theft (Business Strategy, 1995). Insurance companies estimate one-third of all business failures can be attributed to employee theft (Miner and Capps, 1996; Snyder and Blair, 1989; Snyder et aL, 1989; Bourke, 1992). The alternative is to develop anti-theft measures (i.e. honesty tests, surveillance devices) to prevent employees from stealing which then add costs to doing business. The employer must decide which costs are greater; to catch a thief, or to accept it as the inevitable (Taylor, 1986) and pass these costs on to the consumer by raising the prices. However, to determine a cost benefit analysis, one must know the amount of employee theft being conducted. As stated earlier, it is difficult to determine the amount of business losses attributed to employee theft. For example, in the retail sector, shrinkage losses are attributed to shoplifting, employee theft, administrative error, and vendor fraud. Distinction among these categories is difficult to calculate. Most companies cannot measure the amount of employee theft accurately and the amounts that are calculated are at best, informed guesses (Baker and Westin, 1987). Robinson and Bennett (1995) used a broad category of deviant workplace behaviors within which theft may be investigated. Two dimensions of deviance, ranging from minor (m) to serious (s) and organizational (o) to interpersonal (i), can be combined to form four counterproductive behavior categories: property deviance (s, o), production deviance (m, o), political deviance (m, i), and personal aggression (s, i). In this study, they focused on the model dimensions of serious and minor incidents of organizational deviance, or production deviance and property deviance. These categories subsume specific behaviors of time theft (production deviance) and physical theft (property deviance). Property deviance includes employee behaviors that involve the unauthorized taking, control, or transfer of money or property of the formal work organization by an employee, either for the employees own use or for sale to another, during the course of occupational activity (Greenberg, 1997; Hollinger Clark, 1983b). It includes behaviors such as misuse of employee discounts; taking merchandise, supplies, or information for personal use or sale; filching money or production materials; and falsifying time records. The boundaries of employee theft as defined here do not include theft of coworker property. Production deviance includes what has been referred to as work withdrawal behavior. These behaviors can take the form of reduced productivity, increased absenteeism and tardiness, low job involvement, and low organizational commitment (Hanisch, Hulin, Roznowski, 1998). The production deviance construct also includes behaviors such as leaving work early and taking unauthorized breaks (Blau, 1998). Individuals engage in these behaviors to maximize or maintain social and organizational roles. When these motives conflict with formal job responsibilities or when employees are dissatisfied, individuals minimize time spent on formal job tasks (Hanisch Hulin, 1991). Production deviance behaviors that result in the reduction of time working (e.g. tardiness, absenteeism, abuse of sick time, unauthorized breaks, socializing, loitering) are considered to be time theft. Many researchers use attitudes such as dissatisfaction to predict deviant employee behavior (Bolin Heatherly, 2001). According to Murphy (1993), satisfied individuals tend to exhibit pro-social behaviors, whereas unsatisfied individuals tend to commit acts of property and production deviance. Hanisch and Hulins (1991) definition of work withdrawal assumes that dissatisfaction is the catalyst for behaviors such as time theft. Individuals involved in employee theft also are often involved in other deviant behaviors (Murphy). Hollinger and Clark (1983b) found relations between job dissatisfaction and property deviance among samples of retail and hospital employees, but not manufacturing employees. They also found a significant relation between job dissatisfaction and production deviance (i.e., work withdrawal or time theft) in all three industries. Differences between the strength of relation between satisfaction and property deviance and satisfaction and production deviance could occur because of perceived differences in organizational sanctions for these behaviors. Johns (1998) suggested that work context may constrain the exhibition of one withdrawal behavior while allowing the expression of another theoretically related behavior. Hanisch et al. (1998) suggested that the set of withdrawal behaviors that manifests as a result of negative job attitudes is a function of the situation and job constraints. These sanctions and constraints would be communicated by an organizations climate for theft. According to Murphy (1993), many researchers have acknowledged the importance of situational factors to employee deviance, but few have examined this relationship. Boye and Jones (1997) suggested that the effect of specific aspects of climate for theft should be examined. Climate for theft includes the opportunity to steal and the perceived and communicated norms of the organization, management, and work group. Included in these norms is the attitude toward theft, perceived extent of coworker and management theft, perceived certainty of sanctions for theft, and perceived severity of sanctions for theft. Hollinger and Clark (1983a) examined the conditions under which employees commit theft. They found that the perception of certainty and severity of organizational sanctions were related to employee theft. The perceived certainty of sanctions had a stronger relation with theft than did the perceived severity of sanctions. The least theft occurred in situations in which sanctions were p erceived as severe and certain. Greenberg (1997) suggested that norms, unwritten rules that guide behavior and contribute to an organizations climate, often condone or encourage employee theft. For example, managers who engage in theft may establish a norm that such behavior is tolerated. Managers also may encourage theft by allowing employees to use equipment and materials for personal use or rewarding extra behaviors with free or highly discounted products (Greenberg). If steal-friendly norms have been established and the organizational climate is perceived as permissive to such actions, employees may steal to fit in or get along with their coworkers. Consistent with this climate-based influence, Hollinger and Clark (1983b) found that the influence of coworker attitudes on theft behavior was stronger than that of management sanctions or employee fear of reprisal. Thus a number of studies are availa

Death and Humor in Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essa

Death and Humor in Huckleberry Finn      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Huckleberry Finn can be read as a boy's adventure novel, as a work of serious literature, as a humorous historical account, as biting social satire . . . I'm sure I could go on.   This is a book that has delighted generations of readers - it's rollingly funny, rife with adventure - and hopelessly morbid.   That's right.   I read Huckleberry Finn and it made me think of death.   The novel has a strange way of dealing with death.   There's a pretty high body count, yet each individual demise becomes an opportunity for high comedy.   We laugh, and the novel will laugh with us.   But it won't cry.   Perhaps this was a nod to time and place.   As far as the poetry of the time suggests, life in America in the late nineteenth century was not exactly cheerful.  Ã‚   Take this poem, published less than a year before Huckleberry Finn, as just one example:    When I am gone - Say!   Will the glad wind wander, wander on;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Stooping with tenderest touches, yet   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With frolic care beset, Lifting the long gray rushes, where the Stream   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   And I so idly dream?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I feel its soft caress; The toying of its wild-wood tenderness   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   On brow and lips and eyes and hair,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As if through love aware   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   That days must come when no fond wind shall creep   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Down where my heart's asleep! Hast thou a sympathy, A soul, O wandering Wind, that thou dost sigh? Or is't the heart within us still That aches for good or ill, And deems that Nature whispers, when alone Our inner Self makes moan? "Longing", by Wi... ...ems, amongst others, by Walter Blair's Mark Twain and Huck Finn.   (California: University of California Press, 1960). [5] Mark Twain.   Following the Equator.   England: Dover Publications, 1988. [6] Julia A. Moore.   Mortal Refrains: The Complete Collected Poetry, Prose, and Songs of Julia A. Moore, The Sweet Singer of Michigan.   Thomas J. Riedlinger, Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1998 (5). [7] Mark Twain.   The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, London: W.W. Norton and Company, 1999 (124).   [8] Mark Twain.  Ã‚   "Post-Mortem Poetry", The Complete Humorous Sketches and Tales of Mark Twain, ed. Charles Neider.   New York: Doubleday, 1961 (156). [9] Mark Twain.   The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, London: W.W. Norton and Company, 1999 (295). [10] Mark Twain.   The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, London: W.W. Norton and Company, 1999 (194).   

BOSCH GmbH- Human Resource Management Essay

In our work the foreign dispatch process is examined, how far the global requirements on the resource staff are met by Bosch. The measures, Bosch developed for the choice, preparation, moving and reintegration of its employees has been examined and set against the common practice of other enterprises. The work starts with a representation of the enterprise Bosch. The main part is a detailed representation of the measures of Bosch with respect to the four phases of the foreign dispatch. These are judged with the theory from technical literature and compared with the common practice of other enterprises. Subsequently the question is followed whether the expansion plans in the direction of the China require a customization of the staff management. Finally we draw a conclusion whether the measures of Bosch are suitable to fulfill the requirements or must be changed. 2. Bosch2.1 Historical developmentThe enterprise Bosch was set up under the name â€Å"workshop for precision engineering and electrical engineering† in Stuttgart in the year 1886 by the engineer Robert Bosch. The international orientation already started early. In 1898 they founded the first branch office in England (London). One year later they opened a dependance in France (Paris). The first branch office followed in the USA in 1906. The international development has continued until today. In 2003 75% of the manufacturing sites are outside Germany. With daughter and associated companies Bosch is present in more than 50 countries worldwide. Bosch is one of the biggest industrial enterprises in Germany today and is a global player especially in the automobile industry. Bosch has convinced with its innovations since their foundation and has a high position in the market. In 1897 Bosch developed the first low voltage magneto ignition which firstly made the use of internal combustion engines possible. The innovation strength has remained until today; so Bosch was the first component supplier bringing innovations like ESP the anti-lock braking system anti-lock braking system, the navigation system under the names â€Å"Travelpilot† and the electronic stability system on the market. Bosch recognized the significance of its employees for the innovation and market success early, too. In 1906 Bosch introduced the â€Å"eight hour day† when celebrating the delivery of the 100,000 sten magnet igniter. With the delivery of the 500,000 sten igniter they introduced work free Saturday afternoons. 2.2 The Bosch, group todayToday enterprise Bosch consists of the motor vehicle technology, industry technology and use and goods technology. Their core competence and most important unit is still the vehicle technology. This can be proved by regarding the sales volume. The share of this division was 65.4% in the year 2003. The sales development and its foreign share is displayed in graphic 1. Bosch doubled the sales volume within only 10 years, from approx. 16 billion  to 36 billion euros. However, the foreign share of the sales volume increased proportionally faster. From 49% in 1993 it rose up to 71% in 2003. These data underline again the strong international orientation of the company. According to this Bosch has employees all over the world. In 2003 Bosch employed 230,000 people worldwide with a share of 54% outside of Germany. 2.3 The corporate cultureThe idea of the corporate culture is interpreted differently in the literature. Berthel defines corporate culture as follows: Corporate culture is â€Å"the sum of the moral concepts, carried a business together of the employees norms and behavior patterns this one has taken shape in the course of the time†. The philosophy of Robert Bosch stamps the corporate culture since the foundation. So he wrote in 1919: â€Å"It has always been an unbearable thought to me that someone could inspect one of my products and find it inferior . I have therefore always tried to ensure that only look for work goes out that is superior into all respects â€Å". In the year 2001 this culture was strengthened by the new model â€Å"Be Better Be Bosch† and the values were formulated in a written form for the first time. They initiated a modernization project called â€Å"Be QIK†. This model functions as action framework for the after stored aims and strategies:†¢Be QIK, Quality, innovation and Customer oriented†¢Be Better — improve against previous years and gain the competitive edge,†¢Be Bosch, committed to our vision, our tradition and of the spirit of a the company and the legacy of our founder Robert Bosch. The enterprise therefore tries to create a global behaviorial framework, which takes over the orientation function, identification function, coordination and integration function and helps to manage the challenges of the future. 3. Foreign dispatch process at Bosch3.1 Aims of the foreign dispatchBy the assignment of highly qualified employees Bosch aims at a compensation of a lack of know-how in the respective host country. Furthermore Bosch wants to rise the cross culturel skills of their executives in order to improve the  cooperation with foreign departments. Additionally it is possible for the ambitious employees to request for a dispatch in order to enhance their motivation. An important aim of foreign dispatches is finally the implementation of a worldwide corporate culture through which the communication and cooperation within the Bosch group is made easier. 3.2 Dispatch formsBosch distinguishes three dispatch forms. The business trip, the delegation as well as the transfer. The business trip with a duration of up to three months serves to establish contacts or also to conclude business on the spot. With the delegation Bosch distinguishes between the dispatch for the fulfillment of a project task or the dispatch in the context of trainee programs. The expatriate is abroad for a duration between three months and a year. If it is necessary to cover a lack of manpower a transfer is carried out. In this case the duration of the stay abroad is between one and five years. Bosch averagely dispatches their employees for three years. 3.3 Foreign dispatch processA carefully structured dispatch process is very important for Bosch to ensure the success of the foreign dispatch. To this, at first the occupation order is prepared which contains the necessary qualifications of the employee with regard to the vacant job. The choice of a suitable candidate, the dispatch conversation and the information journey to the possible country are the next steps of the process. After this journey the employee finally decides whether he accepts the position abroad. If he agrees, the employee is prepared comprehensively for the stay abroad. Then the moving to the foreign country takes place. After the job completion the employee is reintegrated. The individual phases of the foreign dispatch process are explained in the following more precisely. 3.3.1 Choice3.3.1.1 Theoretical bases and enterprise practiceThe best liability for a success of foreign dispatch can still be seen in the right choice of the employees to be sent. This should include technical criteria, behavior-related criteria, intercultural environment-related criteria as  well as personal criteria. When choosing a suitable dispatch candidate enterprises often orientate at technical performances. However, empirical examinations show, that competences or-related behavior and-related intercultural environment abilities for the cultural customization have a greater influence on the success of the foreign activity. Other surveys from the 1990s confirm that individual performance features are in the foreground at the choice. In addition, they show that the family is hardly co-included in the decision. An interview under Expatriates points, that the well-being plays the family an important role for the professional success. 3.3.1.2 Choice at BoschBosch has recognized the importance of extra-technical criteria for the choice of a suitable dispatch candidate. Besides the career potential, which are investigated by the employee development instruments (see chapter 2.2), features like team and communication ability or representation of the Bosch culture are co-included in the decision. The latter has a great importance for the support of the implementation of a worldwide corporate culture, one of the aims of the foreign dispatch. 3.3.2 Preparation3.3.2.1 Theoretical bases and enterprise practiceInstitutes specialized in further education and intercultural management distinguish between a country specific and country general as well as intellectual and experience obtained preparation. The respective confrontation of these preparation methods shows the following classifications:†¢Intellectual country specific preparationPrimarily general information about the host country is mediated and language courses carried out here. Culture games are, such as the cultural assimilator training. †¢Experience-related country specific preparationThe political, economic and socio-cultural conditions of the host country shall be given to the expatriate a better understanding. With the help of case studies and role plays as well as information journeys the expatriates are prepared for country and culture specifics. †¢Intellectual preparationThe cultural self awareness model plays an important  role in this preparation class. It assumes that it is important to remind the participant of his own stereotyped and behaviors in order to develop a sensibility for the foreign maybe strange looking cultural aspects. †¢Experience-related country general preparationThis preparation method which shall enlarge the intercultural competence of the expatriates (on The job by Outdoor training, intercultural simulation games) consists of the cooperation on international teams as well as of an intercultural action training. â€Å"Source of the success of foreign dispatches is the degree to which an expat is able to establish contacts and manages to overcome culture barriers and to find the way in the strange culture†. The chief attention of the preparation in German and American companies lies in the technical education, the execution of a language training as well as the arrangement of general country information, though. An experience-related preparation seldom takes place. The external execution of the preparation measures is in general preferred opposite the internal one. The family moreover is only seldomly included in the preparations although family problems belong to the most frequent reasons for the failure of foreign dispatches. After a study of the auditing company PriceWaterhouseCoopers 40% of all Expatriates return home ahead of schedule. 96% of these on impulses of the family which often doesn’t cope with the surroundings. The final conclusion is that the size of the preparation is very small in the entrepreneurial practice. 3.3.2.2 Preparation at BoschBosch practices comprehensive preparations for both its employees and their families to ensure the success of their foreign dispatch. At the beginning of the preparation Bosch offers a information journey which is designed for employees who go abroad for longer than 12 months. Before the definite decision, Bosch gives its employees the  opportunity to go to the host country with the companion of their partner. The stay lasts for two to three days, within Europe outside Europe’s approximately one week. By this â€Å"look and sea trip† the employee and his companions can get a better idea of the future place of residence. That shall prevent them from forming unrealistic expectations. If the employee decides to accept the job offered abroad, the real preparation starts. The central HR department is responsible for the execution of the preparation transfers (ZM2). It builds a preparation plan with measures which are coordinated with the needs of the respective employee. The aim of the preparation with Bosch is the arrangement of intercultural competence. This consists of country specific knowledge, linguistic proficiency as well as cultural sensibility of the three elements together. Country specific knowledgeThe arrangement of country specific knowledge contains information about the framework conditions of the host country. Formalities which are connected with a stay abroad are given to the Expatriates and their companions traveling along in a so-called â€Å"Bosch foreign preparation seminar†. So-called â€Å"mentors†, employees already returned home, convey information e.g. to the contract of employment or for tax regulations. By the use of mentors Bosch guarantees that experiences collected abroad are passed on and therefore used for new dispatches effectively. Linguistic proficiencyThe knowledge of the respective national language is prerequisite for a dispatch, because it is very important for an integration in private and in working life. Bosch employees have to learn the foreign language until they reach a level that enables them to come along in working life without any problems. If they want to learn more, they also have the possibility of attaining comprehensive knowledge. The family is tied to ensure that it can find the way in daily life. The language education takes place externally and Bosch takes on the costs both for the employee and for the family. The company attaches importance to the fact that the education starts early so that the required knowledge is reached before the dispatch. Cultural sensibilityThe cultural sensibility of the employees shall be promoted by two measures: the intercultural preparation training as well as the intercultural management training. The intercultural preparation training has the aim of sensitizing the employee to the think and behavior patterns of the host country to make the integration into the strange cultural environment easier for him. If the training is carried out internally, so-called country teams are responsible for it. These teams consist of employees who have made experiences in the respective host country or even are from this country themselves. This five-day intercultural preparation training is offered both for the employee and for the family since this is confronted with the same integration or understanding difficulties concerning the strange culture. This has particularly to be taken into account when thinking of the growing importance of multicultural cooperations, e.g. in the context of joint ventures or international project work. 3.3.3 MovingAt Bosch receives the Expatriate supports for the carrying out of the necessary formalities by the so-called Bosch foreign preparation seminar. When the employee finally starts his stay abroad he usually feels like on holiday. Everything is new to him and he is fascinated by his new task at the company and the new country itself. But this positive feeling often changes after a few months when the first serious problems occur. He feels helpless because he can not manage the situation in the new surrounding. This is called cultural shock. To keep the cultural shock as low as possible, Bosch looks after his employees during their stay and helps them when problems appear. The cultural shock can never completely prevented especially if the difference between the cultures is very large. Nevertheless Bosch tries to prepare their employees by showing general culture differences so that they can deal with problems easyierly. Furthermore Bosch offers his expatriate an intensive coaching. The employee has a mentor in the native country who is two hierarchical orders higher than himself. They meet at least once a year to talk about problems abroad or about further plans of the employee after his return to germany. In addition, a strengths-/ weaknesses analysis is carried out to be able to comprehend the development of the employee and not lose the summary of the knowledge and abilities. An examination of Schroll-Machl shows that the support of the Expatriates is often insufficient in the practice. Many Expatriates have the impression that their enterprise leaves them alone and it doesn’t support at problems. They must manage various difficulties at the same time. Family problems moreover aren’t taken into account in the context of the support in the practice. However, wife and children are especially confronted with greater customization difficulties than the staff member because they have more frequent contacts to the strange culture. 3.3.4. Reintegration3.3.4.1 Theoretical bases and enterprise practiceAfter the expiry of the delegation period the Expatriate returns back to the parent company. A successful reintegration of the employee is both of high entrepreneurial and financial importance. A negative signal starts out from a failed reintegration for other parent company members. The readiness to accept an offer for a foreign activity sinks. Furthermore the financial dimension of the complete dispatch process including the return has to be taken into account. American studies value the total costs of the foreign assignment of an employee at up to 1 millions $. In connection with this, it is surprising that only few enterprises care for the repatriation of their employees professionally. A KPMG examination from the year 2000 showed that 67% of all interviewed people who were delegated abroad said that there is need for improvement at the reintegration process of their enterprise. This criticism has to be taken  seriously since problems with the reintegration have serious consequences for the Expatriate and the enterprise like e.g. a low work motivation or even the cancellation and the change to another enterprise. According to an examination of Black (1992) the share of the returnees who cancel their job within one year after their return due to integration problems is about 25%. The causes of these reintegration diffic ulties are multilayered. You can subdivide them into operational and private difficulties. Operational levelThe search for a suitable position often turns out to be difficult since the HR departments can assess hardly the qualification development of the returnee during his stay abroad. In addition returnees often have exaggerated expectations and therefore are disappointed of the offered job in their home company. They often have the impression that their new skills especially about the country they spent a lot of time in are not appreciated. A study of Wirth from the year 1992 has shown that merely 30% of all enterprises evaluate the experiences of its employees after a stay abroad. Another aspect of the reintegration is the cessation of foreign raises and other privileges. Private LevelProblems frequently appear also in the private area of the Expatriates. During their stay abroad the often only keep the positive aspects of their life in Germany in mind, the negative everyday problems appear only after the return and the first euphoria. The culture of one’s own seems alienated and it comes to the double cultural shock. Particularly the children have to suffer from the new surroundings and from the change since they have accepted the strange culture more strongly, had to leave friends and don’t cope with the German school system any more. For the expatriates and their partners it is difficult to abstain from grown fond privileges like e.g. chauffeur, domestics for themselves or a swimming pool. 3.3.4.2 Reintegration with BoschAs a company with strong international orientation Bosch has recognized the meaning of a successful reintegration of returnees and supports the reintegration of its employees with numerous measures at an operational and private level to put a positive and encouraging signal for future dispatches. 3.3.4.2.1 Measures of the operational reintegrationBosch offers a very comprehensive and strategic personnel policy which takes into account the personal ambitions of the dispatched employees and the future need for highly qualified managers. This prevents Bosch from the problem frequently appearing that no adequate place can be offered to the returnee. Due to its size Bosch is moreover able to offer alternatives in the case of an abrupted dispatch process, like e.g. early return or dissatisfaction with the return position. As already explained different studies have shown that exaggerated experiences on the part of the returnees is the main reason for dissatisfaction with the position after the reintegration. To counteract this, Bosch regularly looks after the expatriate by a hierarchy higher mentor of the parent company. By this he keeps informed about all important developments in the company and furthermore he has contact person for career questions. Due to this permanent communication Bosch is able to get an exact idea about the situation and processes in the foreign business. Another important aspect which fundamentally contributes to the satisfaction of the returning employee is the appreciation and the use of the abroad acquired knowledge. Bosch evaluates the foreign experiences of its expatriates very comprehensively and endeavours suggestions for improvement. Furthermore the HR department tries to find a position in which the returnee can use his new won abilities optimally. This could be e.g. a position in the sales department of the region in which the expatriate was active. Furthermore the returnees have the opportunity to study further in order to work as an expert for the country they stayed in and prepare other employees for future dispatches. The â€Å"BeQIK† corporate culture, introduced in 2001, plays an important role for a successful reintegration. Since all subsidiary firm shall work according to the given behavioral framework, the cultural distance turns out a little bit smaller between host country and native country. Since the practical putting into action of the behavior guidelines is always subject to cultural influences, the degree of the relief should be assessed rather carefully. 3.3.4.2.2 Measures of the private reintegrationTo make the reintegration  easier for the returning expatriate and his family, Bosch offers comprehensive help. They support their employees when they search for an apartment and takes on arising extra tuition costs for the children to make the integration into the German school system easier. Furthermore other Bosch employees who returned from stays abroad in the past can give advice in so called â€Å"returnee seminars† where other persons affected talk about its experiences. 4. Asia, challenge and chance†Rapidly arising markets in the Far East and Bosch takes part †¦ â€Å"This statement of Bosch Bohr, the chairman of the area of motor vehicle technology, shows the meaning of company leaders, which will be attached to Asian and especially to the Chinese market. After a turnover growth obtained already 2003 in China of over 20%, Bosch wants to improve his presence further in the empire of the middle. In the following sections will be analysed, which changes or requirements to the Bosch foreign dispatch will bring the future in the Asian market. 4.2 requirements on German executives in China4.2.1 The intercultural difficultiesThe clashing of different cultures, values and particularly the different styles of management and philosophies leads very frequently to difficulties in the subsidiary firms. To notice which one is the most frequent and greatest problem that the Chinese executives have in the cooperation with German executives and vice versa, the results of a study from the year 1999 shall be illustrated, which Chinese and German manager were working in German enterprises in China. Among the problems, which the Chinese managers have with the colleges from abroad, the most important are the communication problems, like is described in the chart above. The culture, communication, mutual understanding and language are connected closely with each other belong to this category: due to the different culture and the language barrier no satisfactory communication takes place  and therefore it doesn’t come to a mutual understanding. In this connection the bad English knowledge of German managers and their lack of understanding of the Chinese culture will be especially found fault by Chinese colleges. 10% of the mentioning are allotted to problems of the human relations. It disturbs the Chinese executives most, that they are treated differently in comparison with the Expatriates and they don’t have much confidence in Chinese colleges. This is the reason in their opinion that it doesn’t come to friendships between foreign and Chinese executives who are very welcome on a Chinese. The arrogance and haughtiness of the foreigners are also criticized and the lack of interest in the Chinese population. The professional requirements are high: inside the Chinese employees are hungrily to learn the new specialized knowledge of the foreign executive and they notice very fast, weather the German executives aren’t not ready or capable in the expected scale, to give this knowledge further. In connection with this, it is criticized that German executives prefer to work alone, they aren’t cooperative. In the Chinese working world one comes upon, however, the Explanation the Help and Assistance to each other. By the cessation of the in the past (before the open-door policy of China) usual lifelong job in the same enterprise and the fact that one can be discontinued because of a bad performance a considerable pressure is triggered to do well the work and this can have discouraging influence on the employees. There is the high burden of work which lets few leisure time as well as time for the own family. General Manager have variously and very far scattered breadth of the answers without the number of the mentioning being different from each other fundamentally on the part of the foreign ones. Any problem is emerging as  dominate. Problems are most frequently mentioned are in the areas of communication, labour organization, qualification and management. The general managers from abroad find some problems with their Chinese executives not only in the area of the communication. For example they don’t seem to be able to solve their problems with a better communication. However the understanding stands for the Chinese executives, at first place and the lack of communication is also becoming responsibly for many difficulties in the company. 4.2.2 Cultural distinction and integrationThe culture isn’t reflected only in politics and in the everyday life, (i.e. in the social and consume behaviour) but it also influences the business methods, the management behaviour and the relations of employees and employers. In the following section are discussed certain general Asian culture features and their implications for the staff management . Group identity versus individual identityTian xia Wei gong: â€Å"Everything serves the community under the sky†. So there is a Chinese proverb from the old days which has validity today certainly too. The individual never was in the foreground but always, the community within the particular represents a tiny member. This specific and deeply rooted feature has important implications for the staff management: So the individual recognition (punishment) should be carried out in private, the team’s recognition should be carried out barefaced. Conflict avoidanceMost cultures of Asia avoid systematically the open conflict holding. The avoidance of open conflicts is in a close connection with the Confucianism. Straight criticism and open contradiction are accompanied by the danger to lose face and fall to the social trifle. Keeping faceMost Asian societies are settled by the principle of the disgrace (the public humiliation) not by the principle of guiltiness (feeling of individual responsibility, conscience). The concept of the saving face is comprehensively valid, characterizes every human relation and is very important for the staff management since it forbids the public humiliation of employees. Respect opposite to higher-ranking and oldRespect, restraint and modesty are part of the etiquette in the Asian culture room generally. Hierarchies have a more important role (often according to old, rank and sex) than in Germany. The formal authority isn’t called into question; this is part of the harmony commandment. However, one shouldn’t put the Asian respect before the authority absolutely. A bad supervisor is also criticized in Asia and will be corrected though indirect: by pressure on third party, anonymous letters, passive behaviour and resistance, which are disguised with excuses or by frequent illness or really irrational behaviours, like panic bouts. The re-registration is frequently encoded. So the western manager must learn how indirect signals of the discontent should be decoded or interpreted. The respect of the age is one of the basic concepts of a Confucian intellect. The Age doesn’t make only wise but gives a natural authority. Seniority and hierarchy thinking still established tightly in the heads of the Chinese managers. Foreign companies are smitten with the distinguishing between respect of certain hierarchies and the necessity of the support managers who render the corresponding service but don’t have the right age yet. In order to be accepted a younger manager must be more competent than an old one. GuanxiGuanxi has to be translated by the following expression â€Å"personal relations and connections†. It plays a large role in China in all areas of the life; it works as â€Å"sesame-open you† when required because clear and codified jurisdiction doesn’t have any tradition, relations are solution key  for all problems. Western Managers should pay more attention to â€Å"Guanxi† if they want to succeed in china. 4.2.3 Recruitment and motivation of local workersThe recruitment of highly qualified staff and the tie of won workers with the enterprise are a big problem area with which many foreign businesses are confronted in China. These phenomena shall be represented here only briefly since a detailed description would blow up the frame of this work. Recruitment of local workersThe absence of qualified personal is responsibly for the high fluctuation. More and more enterprises try to find Chinese university graduates who are trained in Germany for the business in china. Motivation of local workersIf one has found local executives, one must be able to keep it because the high fluctuation is connected to high costs. Different instruments can contribute to soothe or to overcome the staff bottleneck. These are e.g. the image-building (charitable events), the training (further education possibilities have a high place value) as well as a solid and long-term career promotion strategy. For young highly qualified stuff, a good salary and promotion chances are decisive for staying in the enterprise. 4.3 Optimization/customization of the dispatch process for/to ChinaIf one carries now out an optimization of the foreign dispatch process with Bosch to the employee-employer relationships in China against the background of the executed Asian culture features and criticisms of the Chinese Manager of their German colleagues and colleagues, then the following implications are the result:As a rule, an intercultural preparation takes place. No reason is seen for preparations for the Chinese executives in most enterprises. It will hold the assumption that the Chinese executives must adapt to the western behaviour patterns and methods of working. A common intercultural training is, however, absolutely essential in China for the following reasons:The great difficulties which arise from the lack of mutual understanding, are in a close connection with the knowledge about the respecting other culture, the action sample and moral concepts, but also its enterprise philosophies and styles of management. An intercultural seminar can make considerably, behind certain behaviour which explanations and which roots suit to an executive. It doesn’t prevent the appearance of problems but it offers to possibilities of reacting specifically and developing common action strategies. Furthermore a Chinese executive can for example be made familiar with the German culture as follows: by consignments to the German parent company, international stays, participation in international management courses of Chinese universities or in business Schools. Also for partner and children problems arise in the context of a longer stay abroad. Acceptable solutions must therefore be found also for the family. It is often impossible just in the pacific space to solve the language problems satisfactorily what a far-reaching isolation of the marriage partner and the children can cause with negative family consequences. Therefore the language standard should correspond to that one of the Expatriate which enjoys an education on the standard of the easy communication in the work everyday life. Despite good preparations for marriage partner and if necessary children problems often arise of the cultural integration and problems at school. For the better integration contacts to partners of other Expatriates should be organized. The possibility of working abroad is very important for the partner who accompanies the Expatriate abroad. An intensive cooperation with other enterprises on the spot would be necessary to realize the professional way of expatriate’s wife in China. If no place can be found, the possibility  should be offered for a further training for the meaningful use of the â€Å"timeout† such as a master course of studies. 4.4 Bosch measures for ChinaAll preparatory training is evacuated to the IFIM, the institute for intercultural management in Bad Honnef, since Bosch internal country speakers are specialized in European countries till now. The information journey which shall convey an impression to the Expatriate over its potential future place of work can be extended by max. two days. Another prolongation isn’t granted since the employees/inside activities are used at home and every longer stay also more costs for Bosch meant for hers. The language education is carried out in a 5-week language course at the national language institute NRW in Bochum for which the future Expatriate is put by its work activity completely freely. In the 2 annual cycle the personnel officer the ZM2 accompanies a potential Expatriate on an information journey and this one checks life and employee-employer relationships on the spot. Although Bosch mediates e.g. alone for the partner, however give up many arrangements, not at the job search because of the language requirements. As a rule, Bosch can arrange a job for 5% of the partners. To subsume it, this yields no big changes in the dispatch process especially for China. Professional external help is used regarding the training, one otherwise orientates himself at the worldwide valid dispatch process. 5. ConclusionThe Bosch group is a worldwide active enterprise that on the international markets, special it would like to be present on the Asian market in future. This strategy makes high demands on the staff since intercultural understanding is increasingly important besides technical qualities. International employee use represents a central instrument of the staff development. According to the high importance the dispatch process is organized very professionally by Bosch in all four phases (choice,  preparation, moving, and repatriation). This enormous effort beats itself in very low withdrawal rate, these are only 1-2 % in Bosch and lie under the reference values of other enterprises thus considerably. A possible disadvantage of the time intensive preparatory phase which lasts for at least 10 weeks is the lack of flexibility. Short-term manpower requirements due to problems, like e.g. demolition of a stay abroad or illness of a manager cannot be covered with the usual staff practice in Bosch. The preparation measures of Bosch seem very well suitable also for the dispatch to China, a stronger focus on the language education of the family and the social should be put as well as professional integration of the partner. In order to make an improved cooperation possible of the Expatriates on the spot, a common intercultural training is advisable with the Chinese colleagues. Bibliography Bosch (2004A:) The â€Å"Objectives and Principles† of Employee Development, order enterprise booklet at at all Bosch’s personnel departments as well as Central division employee development and executives (ZM3). Bosch (2004 B): Bosch Australia † — regional corner clays of The Bosch Group â€Å"orders: www.bosch.com.au/downloads/Home/RBAU.pdf (12.04.2004). Bosch (2003A): â€Å"Business report† 2003, order:www.bosch.com/de/download/GB2003_DE.pdf (11.04.2004). Bosch (2003B): â€Å"Bosch today†, order on:www.bosch.com/de/download/Boschheute2003_DE.pdf (10.04.2004). Bosch (2003/2004 ): Worldwide responsibility † — environmental report 2003/2004 â€Å",order: www.bosch.com/de/download/UWB_de.pdf (01.05.2004.)Kuan, Y.-C./Hà ¤ring-Kuan, P. (2001): Journey guest in China, 1st edition, Dormagen. Nickut, J. (2003:) â€Å"Subject and leadership potential recognize and systematicpromotes † to order under : www.mwteam.de/products/Perspek/archives/01-2003/interview HrNickut-RobertBosch.pdf (01.05.2004). Nickut, J./Loose, H., (2000): â€Å"A step to the global player — international choice- AC of Robert Bosch GmbH â€Å". In: Staff, exercise book 7/2000, S.360, 363. Redding, dear/Ng, M. (1982): The Role of ‘Face’ in The Organizational Perceptions of Chinese manager, in: Organization study, 3rd year, no. 3, S.201-219. Welge, K.-M./Holtbrà ¼gge, D. (2003): International management, 3rd edition, Stuttgart. List of the Internet sources:http://www.boschrexroth.com/corporate/de/jobs_und_karriere/personalpolitik/index.jsp (14.05.2004). http://www.bosch-career.de/de/company/aims.htm (14.05.2004). http://www.relojournal.com/nov2000/kpmgsurvey.htm (13.05.2004)http://www.workforce.com/section/09/23/26/42/index.html (13.05.2004)

Basic Counseling

A married woman had a conflict with her best friend because of money. She needed so much in putting up her business and for its permits. As she waited until the business grows up, she needed more for the benefit of her family. Her husband was sick and had no capacity of providing for the whole family. She had no choice, but to borrow money and take the risk of being a first time business woman.The friend lent her so much with incurring interests of almost 25 percent of the total debts. The woman was not able to pay on time because of the problems that came her way the past few months.Due to that, a feud arose. The situation of her husband became worse that required her to spend much and work a little harder. Because of working and too much thinking, she developed insomnia that led to her body losing weight. One of her children had to stop studying because she could not longer subsidize his needs. There were many speculations spreading in their place. There were a lot of stories made out of the problem that they were having. Some even exaggerated the issue that put the married woman and her family in a very humiliating situation. All eyes were on them that made them feel really bad.The family members, especially the mother did not wan to go out anymore to socialize and came to the point of just lying down in the bed and doing nothing. She feared even the mere fact of opening their gate when someone visits and was scared of facing their relatives due to unwanted questioning. She stopped functioning well even in the house that led to some misunderstandings between her and her husband and the children themselves. She even heard from her sister that her son did not want to admit to his classmates how they are related, because he never wanted to be asked and be treated unequally by others.Instead of talking to the friend that she owed from, she opted to cut the communication between them by not answering her calls and hiding every time she comes to their house. That made the feud worse. Because the friend thought she really never wanted to pay, she tried asking legal advices to sue the married woman. The woman never cared at all. It seemed like her financial problem let her identity change. She was never the same woman again. One day, as she was sleeping in the couch, she heard people talking outside. Mush to her realization, they were the police in their place trying to look for her.She went out and was brought by the police in heir office for some interrogation. Although very much ashamed of the neighbors watching them, she never tried hiding her face, because as much as she wanted to, the people around her would still know that it was her. So she believed there was no chance of escaping from embarrassment. Her friend, together with the police, asked her so many things about their issue and asked her to sign in a contract saying she would pay in months time together with the incurred interests. She was very much ashamed of what happened. She always cried.Her family sympathized so much with her. They were findings way to help her in paying and cheered her up for her to forget her problem even in a little while. Soon they discovered it was futile doing that. What they did was invite relatives to visit her who were all telling her that everything would turn out right. To their disappointment, it did not help too much. Even being obedient to her did not do too good in the problem. Although everyone noticed that she was needing help, nobody succeeded in making their part. She cried more and slept less. Her physical appearance talked much about what she was suffering then.She never talked about the debt and chose to walk away from the situation as much as possible. Because it seemed like it was helping, the family never mentioned about it anymore. But time went by, the due date was coming. And there, the problem started again. The same scenarios were seen regarding her behavior. I believe that the situation is not just a shal low one. It talks about money; therefore it needs to be dealing with some more legal and psychological advices. The family members, as noted, never bothered asking how the problem started and were the money was used.Nobody even asked the history of the feud and the reason why the woman was so much affected with the issue. It is just stated that they found ways to cheer her up and to help her, without even knowing the proper way of doing it and the best things that woman needed. She was not asked how much she was needing. They can also ask the help of a professional for her easy recovery on the matter. They might have used the counseling techniques for the subject to easily cope up with the situation. According to a website regarding counseling skills, it is very important to listen and communicate well to make up the major part of good counseling.What these kinds of people actually needs is the assurance that they are accurately heard by their peers and listeners. It is always best to see them calm down after they tell you their insights on the matter. They must also do probing because that is the only way to find out what else they are feeling, other than what is being asked of them. They must have used open-ended questions for them to be able to elaborate on their answers and freely state what they are feeling. Through that, the person’s burden will be lessened and would feel better. It is always good to have your feeling voiced out and revealed in a free manner.Given the freedom of speech, one gets the feeling of relief and loses the tension that she or he is experiencing. Communication is a very useful tool in helping a person feel better after a very depressing experience. In fact, many people who experienced unaccepted death of relatives and other related issues seek the help of professionals for counseling. The counsel must not be very formal in dealing with this. He or she must chose the most comfortable position while talking to the client and must show interest for the client to feel open about the situation and say more of what he or she is undergoing.What they only wanted is for them to be heard. They may use empathetic responses to the clients as they share their stories. Through this, the client would see that the counsel was able to attend well to his or her story and fully understood what she or he is feeling at the moment. They can also use the method of summarizing and paraphrasing the problem of a client. The counsel must ask the client what she or he is feeling and narrate it according to his or her desire. After hearing the client’s side, the counsel will then repeat what the she or he said to clarify issues and make sure he or she heard the client right.The counsel must use his or her own words in repeating the story for them to be ale to see the experience in a different view or perspective. By seeing it that way, the person will recognize new feelings that was not experienced believe and will therefo re be enlightened with everything. The role of the counsel is so vital because it is them who take part in the counseling. Without their proper knowledge on the right way of counseling, the purpose of it will be futile. The aim of helping the person in any manner will be useless because the rules were not executed properly.They must have a wide knowledge on counseling aside from the basics to have a successful one. Knowing the counseling techniques will be a stepping stone to be a very effective counsel that everyone looks for nowadays. In general, listening to the client, probing for further information, asking open ended questions for freedom in answering, giving emphatic responses for affection, summarizing and paraphrasing stories can be useful techniques in counseling. Many people must apply this in real life events. The person being interviewed is a woman with sic children. Four of which are boys and the rest are girls.She was a member of a broken family and had a very traumat izing experience when she was younger. Her education was sponsored by her Aunt who believed so much in her potentials and talents. She had a lot of friends in and out of school. She never bothered approaching people for friendship, instead the other people go to her to introduce themselves. She was a woman with full confidence and courage. She used to join beauty and academic contests where she gained a lot of fame and awards. She was known by everyone, because she has the beauty, the brains and the attitude.Everyone was her friend and all of them were kind to her. She came from a remote area and married a man whom she met in tertiary school. They were a happy couple then. They had all the things that they need, without forcing anyone in working. They both have good jobs that are able to provide for the needs of their family. They were indeed a happy family surrounded with love and care. It just by fate that the husband suffered from arthritis that later turned into the worse versio n of it. Every joint was already infected which made him paralyzed and bed ridden. There were no ways for him to work anymore.That was the start of all the financial problems. The husband needed therapies as the children needed support for their education. The woman did not give up, instead she worked harder and found ways to earn more. The cooperation that they have is the family is one of the strengths that they are so proud of. Their children were cooperative and everyone was industrious. They always make sure that they make their part in the house chores and responsibly do the tasks assigned to them. The woman was brave and was courageous in all the problems and challenges that come her way.She was kind to everyone that made it possible for other people to also treat her well. She is educated and was able to finish her degree with several achievements. She was always doing her best to be on top. She was technically a career woman and a successful one. Her weaknesses include her financial constraints. A lot of things get affected with her problems with money. She had been asking people to lend her some and promised to give it back in a particular day. She lost her word of honor that is why many people do not trust her at all.She had difficulty in building that trust since she did not do what she promised to the people around her. Also, because of working too much and spending a lot of time outside their home, she lost track of her children. Her family, on the other hand, did not know her at all that much. They had difficulty dealing with her because they did not know the approach to use for them to be able to start the conversation the right way. She already lost her identity outside the home and has been opting to choose going out with other people than her family.The problem that she is currently dealing with right now is the treatment and prejudice of other people towards her. A lot of the people around have not been the same anymore. Every relationship that she has with others is very civil. The intimacy of her relationships with others was lost. A lot of things changed. She’s thinking that it has something to do with her recent problem with money. She never wanted to discuss and explain to them the issue, so it ended up losing intimate relationships. Her companions are never the same people again. She also lost her confidence in everything that she does.She never asked about her old friends and just remained as she is now after the incident. Although many people stare at her when she passes by or even if strangers never forget to glance at her when she’s out, she never dared explain. She believed that everything happened for the love that she has for her family. Nowadays, a lot of people are seeking help because of some problems dealing with interpersonal issues, including relationships with other people. It is not always that they get the best solution to their problems or even get the half of the satisfaction that they need when they ask for counseling.The main purpose why they seek help is for them to minimize the emotional burden that they are having every time they think of their problems. Also, they are aiming to lessen its effects on the people near them and their daily activities. It is sometimes very serious that it even causes their dysfunction in the society. Culture is a very big factor that mold every individual and their behavior in the society. That thing makes them. It continuously affect their being as they grow older. They can adopt it even if they move out of the place where it came from.It is already difficult removing what you got in the set of culture that your society got. Every person has differences in cultural background and orientation. Each is brought up differently, thus require different approaches in counseling. According to Broom et. al in the book called Sociology: A Core Text with Adapted Readings, cultures vary in their ways of guiding human behavior. Underst anding the clients cultural background would be a very big help in giving off solutions and in the counseling itself. Knowing one’s orientation and composition will be a very big factor in deciding how to approach a client.The counsel will find it easier dealing with him or her, since she somewhat got the technique in counseling the client well. There will be a very little difficulty. There are clients who are sensitive with words and who may get offended once talked to in a manner that another client needed. Some may never want talking about the family. This may be because the client came from a broken one or had a traumatizing experience inside his or her family. Some may not want dwelling too much on personal issues like the sexual ones. Knowing this will have a great impact on the role of the counsel in active listening.Cultural competence is very much relevant in dealing with this kind of issues since they are dealing with people in cross-cultural contexts. According to a website, â€Å"Cultural competence is a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes and policies and strategies that join in a system, agency, or among professionals and enable them to work effectively to cross-cultural situations both in prevention and treatment contexts† (Cross, Dazron, Dennis and Isaacs, 1989). Cultural competence therefore is the ability to deal with the problems of people and relationships coming from different places with different cultural background.It is important to have that ability because today counseling is in demand. It will be very useful applying that ability in giving the right solutions. It is true that each person who asks for counseling has his or her own story that we must understand both in his or her context and ours. Cultural competence also helped in the relationship between the counsel and the client. It is a pre-requisite to an open relationship, which can lead to honesty and sincerity, which can make the counseling easier and more per sonal. Let us take for example the case that I have mentioned above.The woman lives in a remote are. There are probably very few people there, which means that only a number of persons know her and talk about if ever they do. Her situation now is very much different since she is living in the city where a lot of people see her everyday. Her sensitivity of gossips probably rooted out of that fact. She may not be used to people doing that to her. She is also famous in school. She had a lot of friends. Everyone knew and adored her. But her setting changed into somewhat chaotic when she gained friend whom put her into shame later on.Her trauma might have come from the reality that she is not used of being betrayed and treated in a not so nice manner. She came from a broken family, which might have taught her the values of having a beautiful family. After the family members that she has now gets affected with what she was going through, she already gave up because of the fear of having t he same kind of family again. She had a reputation in the place where she came from. Remember, she had the beauty, the brains and the attitude, so she can’t accept the fact that she became laugh stuff in the place where she is living now.The culture in their place is very much different with the culture that she is witnessing now. Moreover, her experiences in academic and beauty contests were the reasons why she was talked about in that remote area where she came from and not about debts. The counsel must find the most efficient way to hip her by studying her cultural background and be aware of the present differences. The role of the counsel is not basically to listen, but to understand. How more can he understand if he does not even know where the client came from and the cultures that brought him up?If the counsel is able to help her out of this, she may be able to function well again. She can go back to work and provide the needs of her family. She will again understand w hy she works alone and why her friend did that to her. She may go back to her normal life and be confident again with actions. She may even discover that she also sinned by not facing her friend to talk about the matter. And who knows, she may have her lost relationships back. The efficiency of a counsel can be seen on the client. I have presented in this paper that counseling plays an important role in the society.They can help patients change for the better and realize what is wrong with them by just listening and understanding their cases. In the past, counseling is just done to mentally ill patients. But now, even the mere fact that you are sad can already require professional counseling. We can’t deny that one of its purposes is to lessen attempts of suicide and other things that a patient can do due to too much depression. The counsel must be very responsible about this because ending up an interpersonal problem somewhat depends on them. They must find a way to learn wh at must be learned in order for them to be called as such.Their primary roles must given attention to by enhancing their talents in helping people with problems. References Bonjean, C. M. , D. Broom, and L. Broom. 1990. Sociology: A Core Text With Adapted Readings. California: Wadsworth Publishing Company. Cultural Competence and Professional Psychology Training. (2008). Retrieved December 7, 2008, from Goliath Website: http://goliath. ecnext. com/coms2/gi_0199-159598/Cultural-competence-and-professional-psychology. html. Counseling Skills: Basic Counseling Skills for Any Situation. (n. d). Retrieved December 7, 2008, from http://www. askmikethecounselor2. com/counselingskills. html.