Accounting Information System free essay sample

This article will describe the primary components of an AIS and some of its real-life applications. TUTORIAL: Financial Statements Components of an Accounting Information System Accounting information systems generally consist of six main parts: people, procedures and instructions, data, software, information technology infrastructure and internal controls. Lets look at each component in detail. People The people in an AIS are simply the system users. Professionals who may need to use an organizations AIS include accountants, consultants, business analysts, managers, chief financial officers and auditors. Learn more in What does a chief financial officer Do? ) An AIS helps the different departments within a company work together. For example, management can establish sales goals for which staff can then order the appropriate amount of inventory. The inventory order notifies the accounting department of a new payable. When sales are made, sales people can enter customer orders, accoun ting can invoice customers, the warehouse can assemble the order, the shipping department can send it off, and the accounting department gets notified of a new receivable. We will write a custom essay sample on Accounting Information System or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The customer service department can then track customer shipments and the system can create sales reports for management. Managers can also see inventory costs, shipping costs, manufacturing costs and so on. With a well-designed AIS, everyone within an organization who is authorized to do so can access the same system and get the same information. An AIS also simplifies getting information to people outside of the organization when necessary. For example, consultants might use the information in an AIS to analyze the effectiveness of the companys pricing structure by looking at cost data, sales data and revenue. Also, auditors can use the data to assess a companys internal controls, financial condition and compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). (Find out more on accounting regulations; check out Financial History: The Rise of Modern Accounting. ) The AIS should be designed to meet the needs of the people who will be using it. The system should also be easy to use and should improve, not hinder, efficiency. Procedure and Instructions The procedure and instructions of an AIS are the methods it uses for collecting, storing, retrieving and processing data. These methods will be both manual and automated, and the data can come from both internal sources (e. g. , employees) and external sources (e. g. , customers online orders). Procedures and instructions will be coded into AIS software; they should also be coded into employees through documentation and training. Procedures and instructions must be followed consistently to be effective. The Hottest Penny Stocks! To store information, an AIS must have a database structure such as structured query language (SQL), a computer language commonly used for databases. The AIS will also need various input screens for the different types of system users and different types of data entry, as well as different output formats to meet the needs of different users and different types of information. (Does a job as a financial sleuth sound interesting to you? Learn more in Uncovering A Career In Forensic Accounting. ) Data The data contained in an AIS is all the financial information pertinent to the organizations business practices. Any business data that impacts the companys finances should go into an AIS. The data included in an AIS will depend on the nature of the business, but it may consist of the following: sales orders customer billing statements sales analysis reports purchase requisitions vendor invoices check registers general ledger inventory data payroll information timekeeping tax information This data can then be used to prepare accounting statements and reports such as accounts receivable aging, depreciation/amortization schedules, trial balance, profit and loss, and so on. Having all this data in one place in the AIS facilitates a businesss recordkeeping, reporting, analysis, auditing and decision-making activities. For the data to be useful, it must be complete, correct and relevant. On the other hand, examples of data that would not go into an AIS include memos, correspondence, presentations and manuals. These documents might have a tangential relationship to the companys finances, but excluding the standard footnotes, they are not really part of the companys financial recordkeeping. Software The software component of an AIS is the computer programs used to store, retrieve, process and analyze the companys financial data. Before there were computers, AISs were manual, paper-based systems, but today, most companies are using computer software as the basis of the AIS. Small businesses might use Intuits Quickbooks, Sage Peachtree Accounting, or Microsofts Small Business Accounting but there are many others. Small to mid-sized businesses might use SAPs Business One. Mid-sized and large businesses might use Microsofts Dynamics GP, Sage Groups MAS 90 or MAS 200, Oracles Peoplesoft or Epicor Financial Management. The Hottest Penny Stocks! Quality, reliability and security are key components of effective AIS software. Managers rely on the information it outputs to make decisions for the company, and they need high-quality information to make sound decisions. AIS software programs can be customized to meet the unique needs of different types of businesses. If an existing program does not meet a companys needs, software can also be developed in-house with substantial input from end users or can be developed by a third-party company specifically for the organization. The system could even be outsourced to a specialized company. For publicly traded companies, no matter what software program and customization options the business chooses, Sarbanes-Oxley regulations will dictate the structure of the AIS to some extent. This is because SOX regulations establish internal controls and auditing procedures that public companies must comply with. Information Technology Infrastructure Information technology infrastructure is just a fancy name for the hardware used to operate the accounting information system. Most of these hardware items are things a business would need to have anyway they include personal computers, servers, printers, surge protectors, routers, storage media, and possibly a backup power supply. In addition to cost, factors to consider in selecting hardware include speed, storage capability and whether it can be expanded and upgraded. Thinking about becoming an accountant? Read, Shopping For An Accounting Certification. ) Perhaps most importantly, the hardware selected for an AIS must be compatible with the intended software. Ideally, it would be not just compatible, but optimal, a clunky system will be much less helpful than a speedy one. One way businesses can easily meet hardware and software compatibility requirements is by purchasing a turnkey system that includes both the hardware and the software that the business needs. Purchasing a turnkey system means, theoretically, that the business will get an optimal combination of hardware and software for its AIS. A good AIS should also include a plan for maintaining, servicing, replacing and upgrading components of the hardware system, as well as a plan for the disposal of broken and outdated hardware so that sensitive data is completely destroyed. Internal Controls The internal controls of an AIS are the security measures it contains to protect sensitive data. These can be as simple as passwords or as complex as biometric identification. An AIS must have internal controls to protect against unauthorized computer access and to limit access to authorized users which includes some users inside the company. It must also prevent unauthorized file access by individuals who are allowed to access only select parts of the system. (For more on personal safety, check out Protecting Your Financial Documents From Disaster. ) An AIS contains confidential information belonging not just to the company but also to its employees and customers. This data may include Social Security numbers, salary information, credit card numbers, and so on. All of the data in an AIS should be encrypted, and access to the system should be logged and surveilled. System activity should be traceable as well. An AIS also needs internal controls that protect it from computer viruses, hackers and other internal and external threats to network security[PC4] . Furthermore, it must be protected from natural disasters and power surges that can cause data loss. (Learn how you can get a job in this field, read A Guide To Careers In Accounting Information Systems. ) AISs In Real Life Weve seen how a well-designed AIS allows a business to run smoothly on a day-to-day basis or hinders its operation if the system is poorly designed. A third use for an AIS is that when a business is in trouble, the data in its AIS can be used to uncover the story of what went wrong. The cases of WorldCom and Lehman Brothers provide two examples. In 2002, WorldCom internal auditors Eugene Morse and Cynthia Cooper used the companys AIS to uncover $4 billion in fraudulent expense allocations and other accounting entries. Their investigation led to the termination of CFO Scott Sullivan as well as new legislation. (section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which regulates companies internal financial controls and procedures. (Does a job as a financial sleuth sound interesting to you? Learn more in Uncovering A Career In Forensic Accounting. ) When investigating the causes of Lehmans collapse, a review of its AIS and other data systems was a key component, along with document collection and review and witness interviews. The search for the causes of the companys failure required an extensive investigation and review of Lehmans operating, trading, valuation, financial, accounting and other data systems, according to the 2,200-page, nine-volume examiners report. Lehmans systems provide an example of how an AIS should not be structured. Examiner Anton R. Valukass report states, At the time of its bankruptcy filing, Lehman maintained a patchwork of over 2,600 software systems and applications Many of Lehmans systems were arcane, outdated or non-standard. The examiner decided to focus his efforts on the 96 systems that appeared most relevant, and the examination required training, study and trial and error just to learn how to use the systems. (Also check out Case Study: The Collapse of Lehman Brothers, and An Inside Look At Internal Auditors. ) Valukass report also noted, Lehmans systems were highly interdependent, but their relationships were difficult to decipher and not well documented. It took extraordinary effort to untangle these systems to obtain the necessary information. Conclusion The six components of an AIS all work together to help key employees collect, store, manage, process, retrieve, and report their financial data. Having a well-developed and maintained accounting information system that is efficient and accurate is an indispensable component of a successful business. Read more: http://www. investopedia. com/articles/professionaleducation/11/accounting-information-systems. asp#ixzz29ToJ0OEX

Video Games Impact on Peoples Lives

Introduction The current world has had a great deal of revolution in so many sectors, one of them being the information sector which has been promoted greatly by the invention of computer and other related gadgets. Such inventions have been followed by a number of other technological developments that have come to capture the interest of so many people in the society since these new discoveries have made life so simple as far as the process of handling tasks that were so hard to tackle in the past is concerned.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Video Games Impact on Peoples Lives specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Besides simplifying life, information technology has provided entertainment facilities that have formed the major landmark in the contemporary world of fun. One of the greatest inventions in the entertainment field is the discovery of video games. These games have had a great influence in the minds of people, especially the children who have stopped playing the usual games on the fields to sticking on the computer and television screens playing video games. This research paper will extensively expound on the way the video games are interconnected with information, technology, and society. It begins by offering a brief history of video games industry, which will followed by a discussion on the relationship between video games, technology and society. Brief History of Video Games The term â€Å"Video game† is a generic term that is used to describe any type of electronic device meant for entertainment purposes. The device is handheld and audio-visual. The history of video is known to have emerged from the Cathode Ray Amusement Device. The cathode tubes were missile defense systems that were in use in the late 1940s. Since the tubes were being used for the defense purposes, modifications were being made from time to time. The modification of the defense system meant that the video games were being simplified into a more adaptable and useful products. In the late 1950s and 1960s, numerous computers had been developed, particularly the main frame computers, personal computers and consequently the handheld games (Gunter, 1998). Video Games and Media and Communication The technology behind the video games has drastically evolved with time due to the dynamic characteristic of technology, especially information systems. Video games have a great relationship with media and communication in the sense that they are developed on the same platform of technology due to the fact they all revolve around the information systems that basically involve the computers. The technology behind the video games have emanated from an integration of two types of media, which involves the audiovisual and the graphical games.Advertising Looking for research paper on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More These are designed with great expertise to imitate the real games and actions that are played in the real life situation (Downing, 2010). These games have brought great changes compared to the normal audiovisual entertainment that does not give the audience a chance to participate, but the video games have an interface that offers an opportunity for people to interact with the players in the game. Another major connection between video games and media and communication is the fact both are used in conveying a variety of information to people in different ways. This happens in the sense that these two areas of media offer an interactive format which gives people a virtual arena to learn so many things that are happening in the world. For instance, some games are created to depict common sports hence people learn the tactics used in playing those games in reality. Video games have also come to compliment what the usual media forms used to offer in the past. It is very clear that the usual m edia and communication facilities such as television, magazines, and books did not offer an interactive platform for children to learn new skills (Jozefowicz, 2009). But video games, on the contrary, have improved the way information essential for kids to learn is conveyed, whereby video games have altered the format by offering children or any person an opportunity to interact with the game through participation. Thus, in the course of one playing the game, there is a great impact that is imposed on the person with regards to gaining knowledge. Several skills are learned in the process of playing video games which enables an individual to develop the capacity to handle challenges and maneuver them in a tactical manner. These also inculcates the power of reasoning and fast thinking since most of them involve activities that have challenging tasks that a person is needed to do and possibly win. They also enable an individual to have a pursuing attitude in life due to the fact most of the video games have levels which one goes escalating as he or she maneuver the challenges. This levels and the pursuit of the player to reach the highest level possible makes a person to have mentality of not losing hope in life. Other games are created to convey messages touching on the society such as peace, harmony and environment, which are very important issues in life. The aspect that makes video games to have some commonalities with media and communication especially in the current world of technology is the mode of storage and conveyance.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Video Games Impact on Peoples Lives specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More All these forms of media can be stored in very complex gadgets which are extremely small, convenient and with big capacity such as the compact disks, cartridges, flash disks, micro SD cards and even in the Internet in various ways such as the emails. They can also be moved from one point to another in a very efficient manner by use the same gadgets. Video games have also taken after media and communication in the sense that they are also changing with time. That is, from analogue to digital technology. This has taken over in many areas and at the same time led to the transformation of gadgets from the bulky size to small portable gadgets. This has become a trend in every sector of media and communication tool and also gadgets used for communication such as mobile phones have been installed with video games which are on digital format (Entertainment Software Association, 2011). Video Games and Marketing Perspective In the contemporary world, video games have become a major product for a majority of people, especially the young generation who have become the biggest consumers of these games. According to Holmes (2010), most people in the present world that is flooded with a lot of technological have shifted from the physical outdoor recrea tional activities to indoor less tiring games that are provided through computers and other related gadgets. There are also some recreational places that have made these venture a commercial enterprise where people go to relax as they play games. At the same time there are people who like watching sports such as soccer on the television screens and wish to virtually participate in the game. Such instances have led to the development of video games that involve sports hence they offer such kind of people an opportunity to enjoy playing the game using the players they like and the teams they support. Video games have therefore captured a wide range of consumers thus translating to thee growth of their market. With the invention of video games and their dynamic nature, a wide a range of market has cropped up since the number of consumers has increased considerably. Many business people have started venturing in this industry starting all the way to create video games to retailing them. The increased demand for these games have also made video games developers to research deeply on more advanced technology to integrate in the games so as to remain competitive in the market. For instance, independent game developers are nowadays using the Internet rather than conventional retail channels to reach customers. As computing and graphics power has increased, many firms have also grown to house increasing graphical and programming complexities. The market for video games have also been highly promoted by the association of most of the video games with real activities such as movies and sports that have been set in a graphical manner to be played by people as video games. This development has been accelerated by the fact that most people are fanatics of some of these recreational activities but they only enjoy them by watching on television and cinema screens. For example, FIFA and Sony are the leading organizations in collaborating with developers of soccer video games.A dvertising Looking for research paper on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Therefore, since most of these activities have now been transformed into games, such people become so excited playing them since they can now virtually feel as though they are taking part in the scenes when they are playing the games. This transformation has led to a great rise in the market of video games. Many factors have also played a major role in marketing the video games in various ways hence making this venture to be well known across the world. One of the common way through which video games have been advertised is by use of the Internet which provides a wider view since it covers all over the globe. Video games are therefore displayed on the advertising websites and other sites especially the social networks since they have a big number of viewers (Jacko, 2009). They are marketed by use of word of mouth. For instance, a child can inform another about a news video in the market hence making that kid to insist of having the same. Video game dealers also give promotions to th eir customers which are one of the best ways of attracting more customers and at the same time creating royal consumers. The origin of video games has also become the major player in marketing video games. Video games that are created on the basis of captivating movies or sports do very well in the market since their origin already has a captivating nature. Characters used in the video games can also be another crucial aspect that attracts the attention of customers because many people wish to play games that have their favorite movie star, cartoon star or player in a certain sport. Such characters act as very important tools of marketing the video games. The introduction and commercialization of video games have also contributed a lot to the improvement of the economy in various ways. One of the ways is by acting as an income generating venture to those people who develop the video games. It also acts as a source of employment to many people, starting from those who work at the pro duction level to those who are at the distributing and retailing platform. They also offer a wide range of other job opportunities such that there are people who work as sales and marketing personnel and others who start businesses that involve offering recreational environment by playing games at a fee. The business of video games has also earned countries with revenue in the form of tax. All these forms of revenue generating sectors have influenced positively the economy in general. Historical Development of Video Games As earlier mentioned, video games have undergone a great deal of evolution as far as technology is concerned. The earliest video game made its debut in the business arena back in 1971 and was called the computer space. It made a landmark in the recreational sector during this decade across America and other regions such Europe and Asia (Japan). Nevertheless, this industry was faced by major setbacks in the course of its teething stage since it had not set firm tech nological roots. Various companies that had started making video games were directed to dispose their stock of video games that seemed to be in obsolescence due to poor standards of technology that led to low quality games. These challenges even went to a point of afflicting the American video game industry with worse effects such total closure of the trade. This led to the transfer of the venture from United States of America to Japan, which seemed to have the competence technology wise to improve the gaming discovery and development (Wikipedia, 2011). The gaming market for video games still remained strong despite the fact that the market for video games was negatively affected. But this was not the case in Japan since the development of video games went on as usual and actually grew stronger because this country was working really hard on their technological expertise to ensure that they remain at the top. Various generations of computer games came up following one another in Jap an, but it became very hard for other corporations in places such as USA and Europe to keep with pace and competence of Japan. It was not until the development of the fourth generation of the video games that at least USA and Europe were able to have the required knowledge to facilitate them to have a share in this new generation. But at the same they were not as equipped as Japan hence the latter went on dominating in the industry. This went till the introduction of the sixth generation of video games that had a different company other than only a Japanese affiliated corporation to deal with. All in all, this was just a passing cloud for America since with the introduction of portable gadgets that would be used to play video games, the glory that USA had started basking under began fading away since they had not created a firm technological platform to enable them to compete successfully. Japanese video game companies went on doing very well in the industry especially in the develo pment of portable gadgets that contained games such as mobile phones, PSPs, and other electronic devices. These set Japan at a very favorable position in the gaming market hence making them to dominate in this industry for quite some time. The evolution of video game was so dynamic and seemed perpetual since even to this date there are so many new form of games that are being developed to suite the current generation that has been drowned in the advanced technologies, especially revolving around computer systems and the Internet. Improvements have been made and keep on being done so as to meet the demands of the present customers and at the same time, companies that deal with making video games are working hard to remain competent and create loyal customers for their games. The invention of other technologies such as the Internet has also marked the history of the gaming industry in various ways. The internet has led to the elevation of computer games to activities that can be acces sed, shared and played by people in different locations online. Another historical landmark in the video games venture is the introduction of the 3-D (three dimension) technology which has completely transformed the gaming interfaces to a more realistic, interactive and interesting format. The history of video games therefore becomes longer as time goes by because there are so many changes that are being made as result of the need to keep at par with the dynamic nature of technology and the needs of society (Jacko, 2010). Future Implications of Video games on Society There are number of influences that the video games will have in the future, whereby some will be positive while others will be negative. Positive implications may include a number of factors that endorse the fact that these games really have some benefits to the consumer. Video games have depicted some positive aspects that can be advantage if put into use. For instance, some companies and national departments in Ameri ca have adopted the trend of using g certain games to employ and orient people to the tasks they are going to handle in the job place. This has been discovered to be a much efficient way of recruiting and training new employees since these games are consistent and do not have any partiality. At the same time they can always be updated depending on the amendments that have cropped up. The use of video games in recruiting new employees is also very economical since it does not require a panel of professional trainers to undertake this task as it has always been in the past or else in the areas that have not integrated such kind of mechanism in their system. This technology is also advantageous since it can be used by a chain of companies since it has a conventional nature. Video games have also been proved to be used in learning new skills in various activities such as in sports, whereby children have adopted the system of playing video games with the aim of learning how to play real games such as soccer (Raise Smart Kids, 2011). Other people also play some games that are based on the idea of racing cars to learn more skills of driving. Gaming has also been used by the military personnel to teach themselves new skills of defense. Video games, besides being used as a learning tool are also used as a recreational facility, in which people relax at home or in their offices after a hard day’s work and play these games to relief them the stresses of the day and work. This trend is deemed to continue in future. Children also play video games at home after school to keep them occupied and give them an opportunity to relax and interact with each other. Video games have added the number of recreational activities in the leisure places which has created a diversified the pleasures of such places. Parents who go with their kids to places of recreation do not have any worry since they know their kids will also have a good time playing video games with other children. Gaming has also been used as a method of lowering a person’s depression caused by sad situations that a person meets in life. It has also been proven that people who frequently play video games have a better ability to handle tough tasks in their job places than those who rarely or do not play at all. This is a clear indication that video games sharpen a person’s expertise since most of them subject a person to very difficult virtual tasks (Jacko, 2009). With reference to the preceding facts, one can realize that the current generation which has been entrenched in video games will have a higher ability of maneuvering in many ways as far as solving tasks and doing sports is concerned. Video games also enables people to utilize their skills virtually which could be very difficult to do or attain in real life since some of the real life activities are very hard to access or very expensive to set up. For instance, a person might be yearning to have an experience of partic ipating in a certain movie or sport but cannot do that in reality. That person is able to have an experience closer to what he or she wished to have by playing a video game. Gaming will also decrease the number of social misdemeanors that are perpetrated due to idleness because most of the young generations are preoccupying their minds by playing video games hence avoiding them from staying idle (Jozefowicz, 2009). Actually this is making them to develop a creative mind since these games jog their minds. However, video games will also have some terrible negative effects to the present generation in future in many ways. Some games have violent themes which if played may induce a nature of violence in the minds of the players. Gunter (1998) outlines that children tend to become so vulnerable to violent aggressions with one another as they try to imitate what is done on the computer games. Some kids also develop a tendency of wanting to experiment what they are doing in such games and since some of the video games are based on very abstract or complicated theories, they end up falling victims of very perilous encounters. Violent video games have also led to drug abuse and alcoholism which at the end have resulted to serious crimes. Video games will also pose great danger to the health of many people due to the fact that they are less physical hence making such people to develop health conditions such as obesity, diabetes and heart diseases due to lack of proper exercise (Downing, 2010). Video Games and Human Needs The objective of video games is not only entertainment, but also providing psychological needs, at least in a short period. The more a player succeeds in playing the game, the more he or she keeps playing it. It helps people to reduce stress as it improves the player’s hearing and touching senses. In addition, successful individuals are deemed to gain vitality after playing such games because of the challenges encountered in different stages of p lay (JS, 2007). However, too much gaming can also predispose people to mental problems such as being so aggressive, withdrawal behavior, in which a person does not want to socialize with people, and acute insanity due to being brainwashed by the scenes in the games. Playing video games can also become addictive which if not checked early might make people to stop working so as to play games. Such instances can cause gross problems in the work places between the staff and the executive since the employees do not work as expected due to the fact they use the working hour playing games on their computer and mobile phones. Video games have led to poor performance of students in schools since most of them dedicate all their time to playing video games hence lacking time to study (Raise Smart Kids, 2009). Conclusion In a nut shell, it can be concluded that video games era has had a great impact on peoples’ lives especially the computer literate generation. Video games have changed so many things in the society in a diversified manner. Some effects have posed the society with positive implications while others have subjected people to very adverse situations. The discovery of video games have also changed so many things and at the same time made life so easy since activities that could only be done on the actual set up can now be efficiently and interestingly be done on the screens of television, computers or displays of some electronic gadgets. The introduction of video games has also made electronic companies to be on their toes so as to remain competitive in the gaming market. This has led to the formation of very sophisticated gadgets that have state- of- art video games as one of the applications to compliment these gadgets such as the mobile phones, iPods and iPads. References Downing, S. (2010). Online Gaming and the Social Construction of Virtual Victimization. Journal for Computer Game Culture, 4(2): 277-285. Entertainment Software Association. (2011) . Video Game Marketing Research. Web. Gunter, B. (1998).The Effects of Video Games on Children: The Myth Unmasked. Chicago: Continuum International Publishing Group. Holmes, E.G. (2010). Strange reality: On Glitches and Uncanny Play. Journal for Computer Game Culture, 4(2): 255-275. Wikipedia. (2011). History of Video Games. Web. Jozefowicz, C. (2009). Video Games, Ultimate 10, the Ultimate 10: Entertainment Series. New York: Gareth Stevens Publishing. Jacko, A. (2009). Human-Computer Interaction. Interacting in Various Applications Domains: 13th International Conference, HCI International 2009. San Diego, CA, USA, 2009. Proceedings. Chicago: Springer. JS, Yahoo! Contributor Network. (2007). Video Game Playing May Fulfill Innate Human Need: Study. Web. Raise Smart Kid. (2011). The Good and Bad Effects of Video Games. Web. This research paper on Video Games Impact on Peoples Lives was written and submitted by user Bristol Woodward to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Buddhism Attitude of Mind and the Teachings of Buddha Research Paper Example

Buddhism Attitude of Mind and the Teachings of Buddha Research Paper Example Buddhism Attitude of Mind and the Teachings of Buddha Paper Buddhism Attitude of Mind and the Teachings of Buddha Paper Both Rahula’s Buddhist Attitude of Mind and the Theravada teachings given in Rahula specify we are capable of achieving Nirvana, if one follows the Middle Path. According to the Buddha, Nirvana is the cessation of ‘thirst -is human covet leading to devotion of various kinds. Thus, the Buddhist preach and try to give up earthly desires and fixation to things that make us suffer (Rahula 109). Inthis essay I will compare the similarities such as, toleranceand wisdom between the Buddhist Attitude of Mind, and the Theravada teachings of the Buddha. First, both resources consider wisdom a key virtue. Gayatso claims, â€Å"If our love and compassion is supported by wisdom, our hearts will not shake of understanding impermanence and emptiness†( Gayatso 12). In the Four Noble Truth, according to Buddhism, â€Å"For a man to be perfect there are two qualities that he should develop equally: compassionon one side, and wisdomon the other† (Rahula 46). The similarity between two statements is highlighted by the intellectual side of wisdom, that fulfills the emptiness. One cannot exist without the other, thus, perfection cannot be achieved without wisdom, that calms the mind of useless thoughts, and equals the equality of perfection. Secondly, both Rahula’s Ten Duties of the King and the Buddhist Attitude of Mind consider tolerance a quality every human being, and kings should possess. That is why there is not a single example of persecution or the shedding of a drop of blood in converting people to Buddhism, or in its propagation. This point is well known through the Edict of Emperor Asoka, who honored and supported all other religions, by doing so ones own religion benefits and so do the other religions (Rahula 4). Compared to all other religions, Buddhists can tolerate the practices of other religious, and yet at the same time they can express their views freely regarding those practices and beliefs without harboring hatred or pre

Green IT Strategies and Applications Research Paper

Green IT Strategies and Applications - Research Paper Example An audit was carried out taking into consideration various factors of carbon efficiency, waste management, resources distribution and IT advancement. It was found that plenty of room is available for improvement in controlling environmental hazards produced by the super store. Carbon footprints are obvious from the reports. After the audit, a Chief Green Officer has been appointed to take steps in transforming Hyper Star into a Green IT complex. He, along with his team, will carry out initial diagnosis and survey of hyper star in light of reports of audit. They will suggest the changes required for the transformation. After Green IT transformation, Hyper Star will be able to influence its partner super stores working in the state of New Jersey. It is required to use resources in an intelligent manner for overall benefit of the employees of Hyper Star and for enhanced environmental care. The issue is raising the efficiency in the manner to utilize minimum resources, minimum waste and maximum performance and results. The return on investment (ROI) by stake holders is beyond just reducing the environmental impact; its about optimizing the resources for the best efficiency. Preliminary Investigation by Green IT Team The higher authorities and stake holders of Hyper Star demanded the Peer review to be conducted by a Green IT team to analyze their store in the light of environmental compliance. An audit team was established comprising CGO, IT experts, managers of different section of Hyper Star and some members from stores inside Hyper Star. The audit was focused on four factors. Input in the form of economical factors Socio-cultural norms and attitude of employees Business Infrastructure Technical Development Following findings were published in their report. Carbon emissions are large enough to threaten the environment regarding global warming. Hyper star is doing an extensive business in New Jersey and can be quite helpful by creating network with Partner Organiza tions. The waste management is not proper. Plenty of items are being wasted without taking any care of them. The items for sale and complementary products for use by the employees are quite large in number. Considering IT items only, the store contains 200 laptops, 100 desktop machines, 250 Printer machines for tracking records of items purchases by customer, 10 membership card identification modules and 20 tag identification modules for recognizing prices on various items. All these things create significant amount of carbon emissions into the environment i.e. nearly 70 kilo tons of carbon in a month. The equipments used by the staff is aging and contributing more towards carbon emissions, Moreover, the computers which keep record of the items purchased has a huge database that itself is a big burden on environment in terms of carbon footprints. Proper tagging of items is not ensured leading towards use of papers and other small stickers by the staff to tag the prices. As a result, more stuff is produced contributing towards the ultimate waste. Scheduling the billing of each customer is not automated. People have to wait in line for their turn. Also cash counters are not enough to deal with a large number of customers. Reforms are required in this regard. A huge data server is required to be set up that keeps a centralized record of each and every activity in the store. Proper videos will have to be made to minimize the risk of items being

Bringing People With You Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Bringing People With You - Research Paper Example A leader with better communication abilities can easily influence his audience and make them focused on the firm’s mission. By doing so, the leader can ensure integrated efforts from the part of his followers to achieve the firm’s short term as well as long term goals. Similarly, the paper maintains that a leader has to influence and persuade his audience so as to find the success quickly. Primarily, the leader should make certain that his followers (workers) hold a positive view of the organization, because employee perceptions about the firm determine the firm’s worksite culture. Hence, the leader should specifically try to convince his subordinates that the organization is particularly obliged to ensure its employees’ wellbeing. In addition, the leader has to influence other stakeholders including shareholders, investors, creditors and banks. The leader must make certain that those stakeholders are actively involving in the firm’s business activi ties. By influencing the audience thoughtfully, a leader can keep his organization’s stakeholder groups well coordinated in order to reach the business goal(s). Introduction For an organization of any size, active support and participation of employees and other key stakeholders are necessary to achieve long term goals and objectives. Communication is the most important factor that assists a leader to get his people focused on the firm’s mission. Hence, leadership communication plays a notable role in promoting business growth and changing the way the organization operates. In order to be a successful leader, one should influence perception, habits, and values of his audience. This paper will identify the most major factor that will enhance an organization’s growth. In addition, the paper will also explore the key stakeholders and their actions influencing the long term sustainability of a business. Leadership Communication Although a wide variety of factors pla y a crucial role in growing a business, communication is the most important element that greatly influences an organization’s market share growth. This element is also essential to bring meaningful changes to the organization’s day to day business activities. In order to influence his audience effectively, a leader should possess better communication skills and capabilities. Therefore, the conventional management concept of leadership communication is of considerable importance still in modern days. â€Å"Leadership communication is an interactive process in which a leader intentionally influences, and is influenced by, followers employing a range of verbal strategies and a variety of non-linguistic models† (Charteris-Black, 2007). Some old studies point out that a leader spends nearly 70 to 90 percent of their working time on communication activities every day. If the same studies are conducted today, the result would be much higher than this because nowadays l eaders (or managers) widely use modern communication channels like e-mail and text messaging. A leader may adopt different communication strategies such as active listening and managing the conversation so as to identify his audience’s problems and thereby pass information to them on time. The active listening communication strategy maximizes the effectiveness of communication. Under this

The Development of Soft Skill Training in the Workplace

The Development of Soft Skill Training in the Workplace Introduction Since the beginning of the twentieth century and especially after World War II, training programs have become widespread among organizations in the United States, involving more and more employees and also expanding in content. In the 1910s, only a few large companies such as Westinghouse, General Electric, and International Harvester had factory schools that focused on training technical skills for entry-level workers. By the 1990s, forty percent of the Fortune 500 firms have had a corporate university or learning center. In recent decades, as the U.S. companies are confronted with technological changes, domestic social problems and global economic competition, training programs in organizations have received even more attention, touted as almost a panacea for organizational problem. The enormous expansion in the content of training programs over time has now largely been taken for granted. Now people would rarely question the necessity of training in conversational skills. However, back to the 1920s, the idea that organizations should devote resources to training employees in such skills would have been regarded as absurd. Such skills clearly were not part of the exact knowledge and methods that the employee will use on his particular job or the job just ahead of him. Nevertheless, seventy years later, eleven percent of U.S. organizations deem communications skills as the most important on their priority lists of training, and many more regard it as highly important. More than three hundred training organizations specialize in communications training (Training and Development Organizations Directory, 1994). Previous studies on training have largely focused on the incidence of formal training and the total amount of training offered. This study, however, draws attention to the enormous expansion in the content of training with an emphasis on the rise of personal development training (or popularly known as the soft skills training, such as leadership, teamwork, creativity, conversational skills and time management training). Personal development training can be defined as training programs that aim at improving ones cognitive and behavioral skills in dealing with one self and others. It is intended to develop ones personal potential and is not immediately related to the technical aspects of ones job tasks. Monahan, Meyer and Scott (1994) describe the spread of personal development training programs based on their survey of and interviews with more than one hundred organizations in Northern California. Training programs became more elaborate; they incorporated, in addition to technical tra ining for workers and human relations training for supervisors and managers, a widening array of developmental, personal growth, and self-management courses. Courses of this nature include office professionalism, time management, individual contributor programs, entrepreneur, transacting with people, and applying intelligence in the workplace, career management, and structured problem solving. Courses are also offered on health and personal well-being, including safe diets, exercise, mental health, injury prevention, holiday health, stress and nutrition. Training Excuses Training is one element many corporations consider when looking to advance people and offer promotions. Although many employees recognize the high value those in management place on training and development, some employees are still reluctant to be trained. It is not uncommon to hear excuses regarding why someone has not received training. Some people are just comfortable in what they are doing. Some fail to see the value of training because they really believe that they already know it all. And while that might be true, the knowledge value of training and development is not the only perk. Training and development offers more than just increased knowledge. It offers the added advantage of networking and drawing from others experiences. When you attend a seminar or event with others who have jobs that are much like yours, you have the added benefit of sharing from life experience. The seminar notes or the conference leader might not give you the key nugget you take back and implement in the workplace. Your best piece of advice for the day might come from the peer sitting beside you. Another common excuse is that there is not enough money budgeted to pay for training. Who said that training always carries a heavy enrollment fee? Training can be free. You can set up meetings with peers who are in similar positions and ask how they are doing their jobs. Follow someone for a day to see how he organizes or manages his work and time. The cost to you is a day out of your normal routine, so the only drawback may be working a little harder on an assignment to catch up from a day out of the office. You usually dont think twice about taking a day of vacation, so why should a day of training be any different? Time is another often-heard excuse when training and development is mentioned. Have you considered that training and development might actually give you more time? Often the procedures, ideas, short cuts, and timesaving hints learned in training and development sessions equal more time in the long run. Have you heard the old saying that you have to spend money to make money? Well, in a sense, the same is true for training and development. You have to devote some time to training and development to make you more productive in the long run. What is Training in terms of organization? Transferring information and knowledge to employers and equipping employers to translate that information and knowledge into practice with a view to enhancing organization effectiveness and productivity, and the quality of the management of people. It also means that in organizational development, the related field of training and development (T D) deals with the design and delivery of workplace learning to improve performance. Difference between Training and Learning There is a big difference: Training implies putting skills into people, when actually we should be developing people from the inside out, beyond skills, i.e., facilitating learning. So focus on facilitating learning, not imposing training. Emotional maturity, integrity, and compassion are more important than skills and processes. If you are in any doubt, analyze the root causes of your organizations successes and your failures they will never be skills and processes. Enable and encourage the development of the person in any way that you can. Give people choice we all learn in different ways, and we all have our own strengths and potential, waiting to be fulfilled. Talk about learning, not training. Focus on the person, from the inside out, not the outside in; and offer opportunities for people to develop as people in as many ways you can. A Brief Critique of Previous Approaches to Employee Training It is a classic question in the training field, first raised by human capital theorists, that why firms train their employees. Many attempts have been made to address this question, but the question of why firms provide general-skill training has not been fully understood. There have been two main theoretical approaches towards employee training, namely, the human capital approach and the technology-based approach. The human capital approach regards training as investment in human capital. Training is provided only when the benefit from productivity gains is greater than the cost of training. The technology-based approach regards training as a skill formation process. According to this approach, the expanded training in the contemporary period is driven by the rapidly changing technologies and work reorganization. These two approaches are popular in academic and policy discussions. What they have in common is that they assume an instrumental logic and technical rationality behind tra ining decisions. Training is provided because it satisfies the functional needs of an organization. Studies with these approaches have largely overlooked the content of employee training, as if all kinds of training programs equally contribute to human capital accumulation or skill formation. Moreover, personal development training becomes a puzzle if viewed from these approaches, because it does not seem to follow from an instrumental logic or technical rationality. The Puzzle about Personal Development Training The puzzle about personal development training comes in the following four ways. First, it is not innately or immediately related to the technical aspects of specific job tasks. Second, prior need analysis is rarely conducted for such training, despite suggestions to do so in many training handbooks. Third, organizations and trainers seldom conduct evaluations of behavior or outcome changes brought out by such training. Evaluation, when there is one, is often about how one feels about the training or what one has learned. The evaluation questionnaire is often called a smile sheet, as trainees often respond happily to the questions. But the impact of the training remains uncertain. Fourth, the rapid expansion of personal development training has taken place in the absence of scientific evidence of any link between such training and improvement in organizational bottom lines. Core Argument So, why have organizations increasingly engaged in personal development training? It is because that the rise of the participatory citizenship model of organization over time has driven the expansion of personal development training in organizations. This argument is based on an institutional perspective towards organizations. It is distinct from previous approaches to training in two ways. First, it recognizes that training is not only provided to satisfy functional needs of firms, but is also shaped by the shared understanding about individuals and organizations, which is called organizational model in this study and is independent of the functional needs. Second, training decisions are not only affected by the internal conditions of an organization, but are also affected by the dominant ideologies and practices in the organizational field. Importance of Developing a Role in Training Developing a national role in training is important for an employers organization for several reasons. First, it enables the organization to contribute to the development of a countrys human capital, through its influence on education policies and systems and training by public training institutions, to better serve business needs. It also enables it to influence employers in regard to the need for them to invest more in training and employee development which employers should recognize as one key to their competitiveness in the future. Second, it provides an important service to members, especially in industrial relations in respect of which sources of training for employers in developing countries are few. Third, it is an important source of income provided the organization can deliver relevant quality training. Fourth, it compels its own staff to improve their knowledge without which they cannot offer training to enterprises through their own staff. Fifth, the knowledge required for training increases the quality of other services provided by the organization policy lobbying, advisory and representation services. Sixth, it contributes to better human relations at the enterprise level and therefore to better enterprise performance, by matching corporate goals and people management policies. Finally, it improves the overall image of the organization and invests it with a degree of professionalism, which can lead to increased membership and influence. Many entrepreneurs seem to view employee training and developmen t as more optional than essentiala viewpoint that can be costly to both short-term profits and long-term progress. The primary reason training is considered optional by so many business owners is because its viewed more as an expense than an investment. This is completely understandable when you realize that in many companies, training and development arent focused on producing a targeted result for the business. As a result, business owners frequently send their people to training courses that seem right and sound good without knowing what to expect in return. But without measurable results, its almost impossible to view training as anything more than an expense. Now contrast that approach to one where trainings viewed as a capital investment with thoughtful consideration as to how youre going to obtain an acceptable rate of return on your investment. And a good place to start your thoughtful consideration is with a needs analysis. As it relates to training and development, needs analysis is really an outcome analysiswhat do you want out of this training? Ask yourself, Whats going to change in my business or in the behavior or performance of my employees as a result of this training thats going to help my company? Be forewarned: This exercise requires you to take time to think it through and focus more on your processes than your products. As you go through this analysis, consider the strengths and weaknesses in your company and try to identify the deficiencies that, when corrected, represent a potential for upside gain in your business. Common areas for improvement in many companies is helping supervisors better manage for performance. Many people are promoted into managerial positions because theyre technically good at their jobs, but they arent trained as managers to help their subordinates achieve peak performance. Determining your training and development needs based on targeted results is only the beginning. The next step is to establish a learning dynamic for your company. In todays economy, if your business isnt learning, then youre going to fall behind. And a business learns as its people learn. Your employees are the ones that produce, refine, protect, deliver and manage your products or services every day, year in, year out. With the rapid pace and international reach of the 21st century marketplace, continu al learning is critical to your businesss continued success. To create a learning culture in your business, begin by clearly communicating your expectation that employees should take the steps necessary to hone their skills to stay on top of their professions or fields of work. Make sure you support their efforts in this area by supplying the resources they need to accomplish this goal. Second, communicate to your employees the specific training needs and targeted results youve established as a result of your needs analysis. Third, provide a sound introduction and orientation to your companys culture, including your learning culture, to any new employees you hire. This orientation should introduce employees to your company, and provide them with proper training in the successful procedures your companys developed and learned over time. Every successful training and development program also includes a component that addresses your current and future leadership needs. At its core, this component must provide for the systematic identification and development of your managers in terms of the leadership style that drives your business and makes it unique and profitable. Have you spent time thoughtfully examining the style of leadership thats most successful in your environment and that you want to promote? What steps are you taking to develop those important leadership traits in your people? Financial considerations related to training can be perplexing, but in most cases, the true budgetary impact depends on how well you manage the first three components (needs analysis, learning and leadership). If your training is targeted to specific business results, then youre more likely to be happy with what you spend on training. But if the training budget isnt related to specific outcomes, then money is more likely to be spent on courses that have no positive impact on the company. In many organizations, training budgets are solely a function of whether the company is enjoying an economic upswing or enduring a downturn. In good times, companies tend to spend money on training thats not significant to the organization, and in bad times, the pendulum swings to the other extreme and training is eliminated altogether. In any economic environment, the training expense should be determined by the targeted business results you want, not other budget-related factors. To help counter this tendency, sit down and assess your training and development needs once or twice a year to identify your needs and brainstorm how to achieve your desired results effectively and efficiently. Your employees are your principle business asset. Invest in them thoughtfully and strategically, and youll reap rewards that pay off now and for years to come. Beyond Training: Training and Development Training is generally defined as change in behavior yet, how many trainers and managers forget that, using the term training only as applicable to skills training? What about the human element? What about those very same people we want to train? What about their individual beliefs, backgrounds, ideas, needs and aspirations? In order to achieve long-term results through training, we must broaden our vision to include people development as part of our strategic planning. Although training covers a broad range of subjects under the three main categories (skills, attitude, knowledge), using the term training without linking it to development narrows our concept of the training function and leads us to failure. When we limit our thinking, we fall into the trap of: Classifying people into lots and categories Thinking of trainees as robots expected to perform a job function Dismissing the individual characteristics of people and the roles they play Focusing only on what needs to be done without adequately preparing the trainees involved to accept and internalize what is being taught. We are dealing with human thoughts, feelings and reactions which must be given equal attention than to the skill itself. We thus create a double-focus: people development and skills training. These two simultaneous objectives will give us the right balance and guide our actions to reach our goal. To clarify our training and development objectives, and identify our criteria for success, we must ask ourselves a few questions: Do we expect an automatic, faultless job performance? Does attitude count? Does goodwill count? Do loyalty and dedication count? Does goal-sharing count? Does motivation count? Do general knowledge and know-how count? Do people-skills count? Does an inquisitive mind count? Does initiative count? Does a learning attitude count? Does a sense of responsibility count? Do team efforts count? Do good work relations count? Does creative input count? Do we want employees to feel proud of their role and contribution? How can we expect such qualities and behavior if we consider and treat our personnel as skills performers? However, we could achieve the desired results if we address the personal development needs of the employees involved. When we plan for both training and development, we achieve a proper balance between the needs of the company and those of the trainees. The synergy created takes us to new levels, to a continuing trend of company growth. Our consideration of the people involved results in work motivation, goal-sharing, and a sense of partnership. Not only do the employee-trainees perform at the desired levels, but they offer to the company and its customers their hidden individual gifts and talents, and this reflects itself in the quality of service. Customers feel and recognize efficient performance, motivation and team-work. They become loyal customers. We can learn from the case of a small restaurant operator who had become desperate at the negligent attitude of his servers, resulting in customer complaints. He decided to seek professional expertise to help him replace his employees with motivated, trained people fresh out of a waiters training school. Following some probing questions it came to light that, besides hourly pay, he did not offer much to attract and retain loyal and dedicated employees. Through professional consultation, he came to realize that even if he paid higher wages to new trained employees, the problem would persist because employees want more than wages from their work place. They want: Organization and professional management Information regarding the business and its customers Recognition for their role in the companys success Acknowledgement of their individual capacities and contributions Positive discipline / fairness A say in the way the business is run. The restaurant operator realized that until then he had treated his employees as plate carriers and this is exactly how they had behaved and performed. He was ready to change his mode of operation: he diverted his focus to the needs of his employees, re-structured his organisation, planned new operational strategies, a human resources strategy, training and development guidelines, disciplinary rules and regulations. He communicated and shared these in a meeting with his employees and handed out the employee handbook prepared for that purpose. He also reminded them of their responsibilities towards the business, the customers, and themselves (taking charge of their own training, development, and work performance). They were more than pleased when he asked them to express their opinions, make comments and suggestions. He was surprised at the immediate transformation that took place. He began receiving excellent reviews from his customers, the employees worked as a team, their motivation sky-rocketed and he never had to replace them! All this was accomplished by extending the previous concept of training to that of training and people development. Training and Development represents a complete whole that triggers the mind, emotions and employees best work performance. It is not only business managers and owners who must do this shift in thinking, but Human Resources Directors and Training Managers (whose title should be Training and Development Managers). By their actions, they should offer a personal example, coaching and guiding all the people in an organisation to think beyond training and invest efforts in people: Professional development Personal development. Contrary to what some managers think, people do not quit a place of work as soon as they have grown personally and professionally through training and development programs at least they do not do so for a long while. They become loyal to their employer and help him/her grows business-wise, which offers them more opportunities. They chart their own course for career advancement within the broader framework of organizational growth. Do we not call employees our human resources asset? Whatever their positions, each expect to be treated as such; when they are, they give more than their physical presence at work. Training Evaluation Training Improving business performance is a journey, not a destination. Business performance rises and falls with the ebb and flow of human performances. HR professionals lead the search for ways to enhance the effectiveness of employees in their jobs today and prepare them for tomorrow. Over the years, training programmes have grown into corporate with these goals in mind. Training programmes should enhance performance and enrich the contributions of the workforce. The ultimate goal of training is to develop appropriate talent in the workforce internally. In India, training as an activity has been going on as a distinct field with its own roles, structures and budgets, but it is still young. This field is however; expanding fast but controversy seems to envelop any attempts to find benefits commensurate with the escalating costs of training. Training has made significant contributions to development of all kinds. Training is essential; doubts arise over its contribution in practice. Complaints are growing over its ineffectiveness and waste. The training apparatus and costs have multiplied but not its benefits. Dissatisfaction persists and is growing at the working level where the benefits of training should show up most clearly. This disillusionment shows in many ways reluctance to send the most promising people for training, inadequate use of personnel after training etc. With disillusionment mounting in the midst of expansion, training has entered a dangerous phase in its development. Training is neither a panacea for all ills nor is it a waste of time. What is required is an insight into what training can or cannot do and skill in designing and carrying out training effectively and economically. The searchlight of inquiry may make the task and challenges stand out too starkly, too simply. Using experience with training in India and other rapidly developing countries has this advantage at similar risk. The contribution that training can make to development is needed acutely and obviously. At the same time, the limited resources available in these countries make this contribution hard to come by. These lines are sharply drawn; on the one hand, no promise can be ignored; on the other, no waste is permissible. Much of the training provided today proceeds as if knowledge and action were directly related. This assumption is itself a striking illustration of the wide gulf that separates the two. On a continuum with personal maturation and growth at one end and improvement in performance of predetermined tasks at the other, education lies near the former, and training near the later. Focusing training on skill in action makes the task wide and complex. Training embraces an understanding of the complex processes by which various factors that make up a situation interact. For every training strategy, no matter which, the proper focus right from the very outset is on one or more people on-the-job-in-the-organization this whole amalgam. Wherever the focus moves during the training programme, the starting point becomes the focus again at the end. The difference lies in what people have learned that they now apply. That difference, in terms of more effective behavior is the measure of the efficacy of training. The training process is made up of three phases: Phase 1: Pre-training. This may also be called the preparation phase. The process starts with an understanding of the situation requiring more effective behavior. An organizations concerns before training lie mainly in four areas: Clarifying the precise objectives of training and the use the organization expects to make of the participants after training; selection of suitable participants; building favorable expectations and motivation in the participants prior to the training; and planning for any changes that improved task performance will require in addition to training. Phase 2: Training. During the course of the training, participants focus their attention on the new impressions that seem useful, stimulating and engaging. There is no guarantee that the participants will in fact learn what they have chosen. But the main purpose remains: participants explore in a training situation what interests them, and a training institutions basic task is to provide the necessary opportunities. Having explored, participants try out some new behavior. If they find the new behavior useful, they try it again, check it for effectiveness and satisfaction, try it repeatedly and improve it. Finally, they incorporate this new facet into their habitual behavior in the training situation. If they do not find it useful, they discard it, try some variant, or discontinue learning in this direction. The intricate process of selection and testing is continuous and more or less conscious. It is important that work organizations meanwhile prepare the conditions for improved performance by their participants upon their return. Phase 3: Post-training. This may be called the follow up phase. When, training per se concludes, the situation changes. When the participants return back to work from the training, a process of adjustment begins for everyone involved. The newly learned skills undergo modification to fit the work situation. Participants may find their organizations offering encouragement to use the training and also support for continuing contact with the training institution. On the other hand, they may step into a quagmire of negativity. More effective behavior of people on the job in the organization is the primary objective of the training process as a whole. In the simplest training process, improvement is a dependent variable, and participants and organizations independent variables. The training process has the following major objectives: Improvement in Performance Training will be an important aid to managers for developing themselves as well as their subordinates. It is not a substitute for development on the job, which comes from doing, experiencing, observing, giving and receiving feedback and coaching. Research has shown that 80% of a persons development takes place on the job. However, training can contribute the vital 20% that makes the difference. Training can bring about an improvement in a persons: Knowledge Skills Attitude Thereby raising his potential to perform better on the job. Growth Training is also directed towards developing people for higher levels of responsibility thereby reducing the need for recruiting people from outside. This would have the effect of improving the morale of the existing employees. Organizational Effectiveness In company training provides a means for bringing about organizational development. It can be used for strengthening values, building teams, improving inter-group relations and quality of work life. The ultimate objective of training in the long run is to improve the companys performance through people performing better. Benefits of Training Evaluation Evaluation has three main purposes: Feedback to help trainers understand the extent to which objectives are being met and the effectiveness of particular learning activities as an aid to continuous improvement Control to make sure training policy and practice are aligned with organizational goals and delivering cost-effective solutions to organizational issues Intervention to raise awareness of key issues such as pre-course and post-course briefing and the selection of delegates Evaluation is itself a learning process. Training which has been planned and delivered is reflected on. Views on how to do it better are formulated and tested .The outcome may be to: Abandon the training Redesign the training new sequence, new methods, new content, new trainer Redesign the preparation/pre-work new briefing material, new pre-course work Rethink the timing of the training earlier or later in peoples career, earlier or later in the training programme, earlier or later in the company calendar Leave well alone The following are the clear benefits of evaluation: Improved quality of training activities Improved The Development of Soft Skill Training in the Workplace The Development of Soft Skill Training in the Workplace Introduction Since the beginning of the twentieth century and especially after World War II, training programs have become widespread among organizations in the United States, involving more and more employees and also expanding in content. In the 1910s, only a few large companies such as Westinghouse, General Electric, and International Harvester had factory schools that focused on training technical skills for entry-level workers. By the 1990s, forty percent of the Fortune 500 firms have had a corporate university or learning center. In recent decades, as the U.S. companies are confronted with technological changes, domestic social problems and global economic competition, training programs in organizations have received even more attention, touted as almost a panacea for organizational problem. The enormous expansion in the content of training programs over time has now largely been taken for granted. Now people would rarely question the necessity of training in conversational skills. However, back to the 1920s, the idea that organizations should devote resources to training employees in such skills would have been regarded as absurd. Such skills clearly were not part of the exact knowledge and methods that the employee will use on his particular job or the job just ahead of him. Nevertheless, seventy years later, eleven percent of U.S. organizations deem communications skills as the most important on their priority lists of training, and many more regard it as highly important. More than three hundred training organizations specialize in communications training (Training and Development Organizations Directory, 1994). Previous studies on training have largely focused on the incidence of formal training and the total amount of training offered. This study, however, draws attention to the enormous expansion in the content of training with an emphasis on the rise of personal development training (or popularly known as the soft skills training, such as leadership, teamwork, creativity, conversational skills and time management training). Personal development training can be defined as training programs that aim at improving ones cognitive and behavioral skills in dealing with one self and others. It is intended to develop ones personal potential and is not immediately related to the technical aspects of ones job tasks. Monahan, Meyer and Scott (1994) describe the spread of personal development training programs based on their survey of and interviews with more than one hundred organizations in Northern California. Training programs became more elaborate; they incorporated, in addition to technical tra ining for workers and human relations training for supervisors and managers, a widening array of developmental, personal growth, and self-management courses. Courses of this nature include office professionalism, time management, individual contributor programs, entrepreneur, transacting with people, and applying intelligence in the workplace, career management, and structured problem solving. Courses are also offered on health and personal well-being, including safe diets, exercise, mental health, injury prevention, holiday health, stress and nutrition. Training Excuses Training is one element many corporations consider when looking to advance people and offer promotions. Although many employees recognize the high value those in management place on training and development, some employees are still reluctant to be trained. It is not uncommon to hear excuses regarding why someone has not received training. Some people are just comfortable in what they are doing. Some fail to see the value of training because they really believe that they already know it all. And while that might be true, the knowledge value of training and development is not the only perk. Training and development offers more than just increased knowledge. It offers the added advantage of networking and drawing from others experiences. When you attend a seminar or event with others who have jobs that are much like yours, you have the added benefit of sharing from life experience. The seminar notes or the conference leader might not give you the key nugget you take back and implement in the workplace. Your best piece of advice for the day might come from the peer sitting beside you. Another common excuse is that there is not enough money budgeted to pay for training. Who said that training always carries a heavy enrollment fee? Training can be free. You can set up meetings with peers who are in similar positions and ask how they are doing their jobs. Follow someone for a day to see how he organizes or manages his work and time. The cost to you is a day out of your normal routine, so the only drawback may be working a little harder on an assignment to catch up from a day out of the office. You usually dont think twice about taking a day of vacation, so why should a day of training be any different? Time is another often-heard excuse when training and development is mentioned. Have you considered that training and development might actually give you more time? Often the procedures, ideas, short cuts, and timesaving hints learned in training and development sessions equal more time in the long run. Have you heard the old saying that you have to spend money to make money? Well, in a sense, the same is true for training and development. You have to devote some time to training and development to make you more productive in the long run. What is Training in terms of organization? Transferring information and knowledge to employers and equipping employers to translate that information and knowledge into practice with a view to enhancing organization effectiveness and productivity, and the quality of the management of people. It also means that in organizational development, the related field of training and development (T D) deals with the design and delivery of workplace learning to improve performance. Difference between Training and Learning There is a big difference: Training implies putting skills into people, when actually we should be developing people from the inside out, beyond skills, i.e., facilitating learning. So focus on facilitating learning, not imposing training. Emotional maturity, integrity, and compassion are more important than skills and processes. If you are in any doubt, analyze the root causes of your organizations successes and your failures they will never be skills and processes. Enable and encourage the development of the person in any way that you can. Give people choice we all learn in different ways, and we all have our own strengths and potential, waiting to be fulfilled. Talk about learning, not training. Focus on the person, from the inside out, not the outside in; and offer opportunities for people to develop as people in as many ways you can. A Brief Critique of Previous Approaches to Employee Training It is a classic question in the training field, first raised by human capital theorists, that why firms train their employees. Many attempts have been made to address this question, but the question of why firms provide general-skill training has not been fully understood. There have been two main theoretical approaches towards employee training, namely, the human capital approach and the technology-based approach. The human capital approach regards training as investment in human capital. Training is provided only when the benefit from productivity gains is greater than the cost of training. The technology-based approach regards training as a skill formation process. According to this approach, the expanded training in the contemporary period is driven by the rapidly changing technologies and work reorganization. These two approaches are popular in academic and policy discussions. What they have in common is that they assume an instrumental logic and technical rationality behind tra ining decisions. Training is provided because it satisfies the functional needs of an organization. Studies with these approaches have largely overlooked the content of employee training, as if all kinds of training programs equally contribute to human capital accumulation or skill formation. Moreover, personal development training becomes a puzzle if viewed from these approaches, because it does not seem to follow from an instrumental logic or technical rationality. The Puzzle about Personal Development Training The puzzle about personal development training comes in the following four ways. First, it is not innately or immediately related to the technical aspects of specific job tasks. Second, prior need analysis is rarely conducted for such training, despite suggestions to do so in many training handbooks. Third, organizations and trainers seldom conduct evaluations of behavior or outcome changes brought out by such training. Evaluation, when there is one, is often about how one feels about the training or what one has learned. The evaluation questionnaire is often called a smile sheet, as trainees often respond happily to the questions. But the impact of the training remains uncertain. Fourth, the rapid expansion of personal development training has taken place in the absence of scientific evidence of any link between such training and improvement in organizational bottom lines. Core Argument So, why have organizations increasingly engaged in personal development training? It is because that the rise of the participatory citizenship model of organization over time has driven the expansion of personal development training in organizations. This argument is based on an institutional perspective towards organizations. It is distinct from previous approaches to training in two ways. First, it recognizes that training is not only provided to satisfy functional needs of firms, but is also shaped by the shared understanding about individuals and organizations, which is called organizational model in this study and is independent of the functional needs. Second, training decisions are not only affected by the internal conditions of an organization, but are also affected by the dominant ideologies and practices in the organizational field. Importance of Developing a Role in Training Developing a national role in training is important for an employers organization for several reasons. First, it enables the organization to contribute to the development of a countrys human capital, through its influence on education policies and systems and training by public training institutions, to better serve business needs. It also enables it to influence employers in regard to the need for them to invest more in training and employee development which employers should recognize as one key to their competitiveness in the future. Second, it provides an important service to members, especially in industrial relations in respect of which sources of training for employers in developing countries are few. Third, it is an important source of income provided the organization can deliver relevant quality training. Fourth, it compels its own staff to improve their knowledge without which they cannot offer training to enterprises through their own staff. Fifth, the knowledge required for training increases the quality of other services provided by the organization policy lobbying, advisory and representation services. Sixth, it contributes to better human relations at the enterprise level and therefore to better enterprise performance, by matching corporate goals and people management policies. Finally, it improves the overall image of the organization and invests it with a degree of professionalism, which can lead to increased membership and influence. Many entrepreneurs seem to view employee training and developmen t as more optional than essentiala viewpoint that can be costly to both short-term profits and long-term progress. The primary reason training is considered optional by so many business owners is because its viewed more as an expense than an investment. This is completely understandable when you realize that in many companies, training and development arent focused on producing a targeted result for the business. As a result, business owners frequently send their people to training courses that seem right and sound good without knowing what to expect in return. But without measurable results, its almost impossible to view training as anything more than an expense. Now contrast that approach to one where trainings viewed as a capital investment with thoughtful consideration as to how youre going to obtain an acceptable rate of return on your investment. And a good place to start your thoughtful consideration is with a needs analysis. As it relates to training and development, needs analysis is really an outcome analysiswhat do you want out of this training? Ask yourself, Whats going to change in my business or in the behavior or performance of my employees as a result of this training thats going to help my company? Be forewarned: This exercise requires you to take time to think it through and focus more on your processes than your products. As you go through this analysis, consider the strengths and weaknesses in your company and try to identify the deficiencies that, when corrected, represent a potential for upside gain in your business. Common areas for improvement in many companies is helping supervisors better manage for performance. Many people are promoted into managerial positions because theyre technically good at their jobs, but they arent trained as managers to help their subordinates achieve peak performance. Determining your training and development needs based on targeted results is only the beginning. The next step is to establish a learning dynamic for your company. In todays economy, if your business isnt learning, then youre going to fall behind. And a business learns as its people learn. Your employees are the ones that produce, refine, protect, deliver and manage your products or services every day, year in, year out. With the rapid pace and international reach of the 21st century marketplace, continu al learning is critical to your businesss continued success. To create a learning culture in your business, begin by clearly communicating your expectation that employees should take the steps necessary to hone their skills to stay on top of their professions or fields of work. Make sure you support their efforts in this area by supplying the resources they need to accomplish this goal. Second, communicate to your employees the specific training needs and targeted results youve established as a result of your needs analysis. Third, provide a sound introduction and orientation to your companys culture, including your learning culture, to any new employees you hire. This orientation should introduce employees to your company, and provide them with proper training in the successful procedures your companys developed and learned over time. Every successful training and development program also includes a component that addresses your current and future leadership needs. At its core, this component must provide for the systematic identification and development of your managers in terms of the leadership style that drives your business and makes it unique and profitable. Have you spent time thoughtfully examining the style of leadership thats most successful in your environment and that you want to promote? What steps are you taking to develop those important leadership traits in your people? Financial considerations related to training can be perplexing, but in most cases, the true budgetary impact depends on how well you manage the first three components (needs analysis, learning and leadership). If your training is targeted to specific business results, then youre more likely to be happy with what you spend on training. But if the training budget isnt related to specific outcomes, then money is more likely to be spent on courses that have no positive impact on the company. In many organizations, training budgets are solely a function of whether the company is enjoying an economic upswing or enduring a downturn. In good times, companies tend to spend money on training thats not significant to the organization, and in bad times, the pendulum swings to the other extreme and training is eliminated altogether. In any economic environment, the training expense should be determined by the targeted business results you want, not other budget-related factors. To help counter this tendency, sit down and assess your training and development needs once or twice a year to identify your needs and brainstorm how to achieve your desired results effectively and efficiently. Your employees are your principle business asset. Invest in them thoughtfully and strategically, and youll reap rewards that pay off now and for years to come. Beyond Training: Training and Development Training is generally defined as change in behavior yet, how many trainers and managers forget that, using the term training only as applicable to skills training? What about the human element? What about those very same people we want to train? What about their individual beliefs, backgrounds, ideas, needs and aspirations? In order to achieve long-term results through training, we must broaden our vision to include people development as part of our strategic planning. Although training covers a broad range of subjects under the three main categories (skills, attitude, knowledge), using the term training without linking it to development narrows our concept of the training function and leads us to failure. When we limit our thinking, we fall into the trap of: Classifying people into lots and categories Thinking of trainees as robots expected to perform a job function Dismissing the individual characteristics of people and the roles they play Focusing only on what needs to be done without adequately preparing the trainees involved to accept and internalize what is being taught. We are dealing with human thoughts, feelings and reactions which must be given equal attention than to the skill itself. We thus create a double-focus: people development and skills training. These two simultaneous objectives will give us the right balance and guide our actions to reach our goal. To clarify our training and development objectives, and identify our criteria for success, we must ask ourselves a few questions: Do we expect an automatic, faultless job performance? Does attitude count? Does goodwill count? Do loyalty and dedication count? Does goal-sharing count? Does motivation count? Do general knowledge and know-how count? Do people-skills count? Does an inquisitive mind count? Does initiative count? Does a learning attitude count? Does a sense of responsibility count? Do team efforts count? Do good work relations count? Does creative input count? Do we want employees to feel proud of their role and contribution? How can we expect such qualities and behavior if we consider and treat our personnel as skills performers? However, we could achieve the desired results if we address the personal development needs of the employees involved. When we plan for both training and development, we achieve a proper balance between the needs of the company and those of the trainees. The synergy created takes us to new levels, to a continuing trend of company growth. Our consideration of the people involved results in work motivation, goal-sharing, and a sense of partnership. Not only do the employee-trainees perform at the desired levels, but they offer to the company and its customers their hidden individual gifts and talents, and this reflects itself in the quality of service. Customers feel and recognize efficient performance, motivation and team-work. They become loyal customers. We can learn from the case of a small restaurant operator who had become desperate at the negligent attitude of his servers, resulting in customer complaints. He decided to seek professional expertise to help him replace his employees with motivated, trained people fresh out of a waiters training school. Following some probing questions it came to light that, besides hourly pay, he did not offer much to attract and retain loyal and dedicated employees. Through professional consultation, he came to realize that even if he paid higher wages to new trained employees, the problem would persist because employees want more than wages from their work place. They want: Organization and professional management Information regarding the business and its customers Recognition for their role in the companys success Acknowledgement of their individual capacities and contributions Positive discipline / fairness A say in the way the business is run. The restaurant operator realized that until then he had treated his employees as plate carriers and this is exactly how they had behaved and performed. He was ready to change his mode of operation: he diverted his focus to the needs of his employees, re-structured his organisation, planned new operational strategies, a human resources strategy, training and development guidelines, disciplinary rules and regulations. He communicated and shared these in a meeting with his employees and handed out the employee handbook prepared for that purpose. He also reminded them of their responsibilities towards the business, the customers, and themselves (taking charge of their own training, development, and work performance). They were more than pleased when he asked them to express their opinions, make comments and suggestions. He was surprised at the immediate transformation that took place. He began receiving excellent reviews from his customers, the employees worked as a team, their motivation sky-rocketed and he never had to replace them! All this was accomplished by extending the previous concept of training to that of training and people development. Training and Development represents a complete whole that triggers the mind, emotions and employees best work performance. It is not only business managers and owners who must do this shift in thinking, but Human Resources Directors and Training Managers (whose title should be Training and Development Managers). By their actions, they should offer a personal example, coaching and guiding all the people in an organisation to think beyond training and invest efforts in people: Professional development Personal development. Contrary to what some managers think, people do not quit a place of work as soon as they have grown personally and professionally through training and development programs at least they do not do so for a long while. They become loyal to their employer and help him/her grows business-wise, which offers them more opportunities. They chart their own course for career advancement within the broader framework of organizational growth. Do we not call employees our human resources asset? Whatever their positions, each expect to be treated as such; when they are, they give more than their physical presence at work. Training Evaluation Training Improving business performance is a journey, not a destination. Business performance rises and falls with the ebb and flow of human performances. HR professionals lead the search for ways to enhance the effectiveness of employees in their jobs today and prepare them for tomorrow. Over the years, training programmes have grown into corporate with these goals in mind. Training programmes should enhance performance and enrich the contributions of the workforce. The ultimate goal of training is to develop appropriate talent in the workforce internally. In India, training as an activity has been going on as a distinct field with its own roles, structures and budgets, but it is still young. This field is however; expanding fast but controversy seems to envelop any attempts to find benefits commensurate with the escalating costs of training. Training has made significant contributions to development of all kinds. Training is essential; doubts arise over its contribution in practice. Complaints are growing over its ineffectiveness and waste. The training apparatus and costs have multiplied but not its benefits. Dissatisfaction persists and is growing at the working level where the benefits of training should show up most clearly. This disillusionment shows in many ways reluctance to send the most promising people for training, inadequate use of personnel after training etc. With disillusionment mounting in the midst of expansion, training has entered a dangerous phase in its development. Training is neither a panacea for all ills nor is it a waste of time. What is required is an insight into what training can or cannot do and skill in designing and carrying out training effectively and economically. The searchlight of inquiry may make the task and challenges stand out too starkly, too simply. Using experience with training in India and other rapidly developing countries has this advantage at similar risk. The contribution that training can make to development is needed acutely and obviously. At the same time, the limited resources available in these countries make this contribution hard to come by. These lines are sharply drawn; on the one hand, no promise can be ignored; on the other, no waste is permissible. Much of the training provided today proceeds as if knowledge and action were directly related. This assumption is itself a striking illustration of the wide gulf that separates the two. On a continuum with personal maturation and growth at one end and improvement in performance of predetermined tasks at the other, education lies near the former, and training near the later. Focusing training on skill in action makes the task wide and complex. Training embraces an understanding of the complex processes by which various factors that make up a situation interact. For every training strategy, no matter which, the proper focus right from the very outset is on one or more people on-the-job-in-the-organization this whole amalgam. Wherever the focus moves during the training programme, the starting point becomes the focus again at the end. The difference lies in what people have learned that they now apply. That difference, in terms of more effective behavior is the measure of the efficacy of training. The training process is made up of three phases: Phase 1: Pre-training. This may also be called the preparation phase. The process starts with an understanding of the situation requiring more effective behavior. An organizations concerns before training lie mainly in four areas: Clarifying the precise objectives of training and the use the organization expects to make of the participants after training; selection of suitable participants; building favorable expectations and motivation in the participants prior to the training; and planning for any changes that improved task performance will require in addition to training. Phase 2: Training. During the course of the training, participants focus their attention on the new impressions that seem useful, stimulating and engaging. There is no guarantee that the participants will in fact learn what they have chosen. But the main purpose remains: participants explore in a training situation what interests them, and a training institutions basic task is to provide the necessary opportunities. Having explored, participants try out some new behavior. If they find the new behavior useful, they try it again, check it for effectiveness and satisfaction, try it repeatedly and improve it. Finally, they incorporate this new facet into their habitual behavior in the training situation. If they do not find it useful, they discard it, try some variant, or discontinue learning in this direction. The intricate process of selection and testing is continuous and more or less conscious. It is important that work organizations meanwhile prepare the conditions for improved performance by their participants upon their return. Phase 3: Post-training. This may be called the follow up phase. When, training per se concludes, the situation changes. When the participants return back to work from the training, a process of adjustment begins for everyone involved. The newly learned skills undergo modification to fit the work situation. Participants may find their organizations offering encouragement to use the training and also support for continuing contact with the training institution. On the other hand, they may step into a quagmire of negativity. More effective behavior of people on the job in the organization is the primary objective of the training process as a whole. In the simplest training process, improvement is a dependent variable, and participants and organizations independent variables. The training process has the following major objectives: Improvement in Performance Training will be an important aid to managers for developing themselves as well as their subordinates. It is not a substitute for development on the job, which comes from doing, experiencing, observing, giving and receiving feedback and coaching. Research has shown that 80% of a persons development takes place on the job. However, training can contribute the vital 20% that makes the difference. Training can bring about an improvement in a persons: Knowledge Skills Attitude Thereby raising his potential to perform better on the job. Growth Training is also directed towards developing people for higher levels of responsibility thereby reducing the need for recruiting people from outside. This would have the effect of improving the morale of the existing employees. Organizational Effectiveness In company training provides a means for bringing about organizational development. It can be used for strengthening values, building teams, improving inter-group relations and quality of work life. The ultimate objective of training in the long run is to improve the companys performance through people performing better. Benefits of Training Evaluation Evaluation has three main purposes: Feedback to help trainers understand the extent to which objectives are being met and the effectiveness of particular learning activities as an aid to continuous improvement Control to make sure training policy and practice are aligned with organizational goals and delivering cost-effective solutions to organizational issues Intervention to raise awareness of key issues such as pre-course and post-course briefing and the selection of delegates Evaluation is itself a learning process. Training which has been planned and delivered is reflected on. Views on how to do it better are formulated and tested .The outcome may be to: Abandon the training Redesign the training new sequence, new methods, new content, new trainer Redesign the preparation/pre-work new briefing material, new pre-course work Rethink the timing of the training earlier or later in peoples career, earlier or later in the training programme, earlier or later in the company calendar Leave well alone The following are the clear benefits of evaluation: Improved quality of training activities Improved