International Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International - Essay Example The strategy of the company is easy and simple to follow that is to allow the continuous growth of the product by continuous revolution and invention at the same time maintain equilibrium between the activities of different region and product lines. The short term performances are more preferred and long term performances are not neglected at the cost of short term performance. Nestle gives priority to providing quality products to everyone, irrespective of their location, needs and throughout their lives. Nestle runs on the decentralized system which means each country is responsible for the sale of products individually and does not depend on the main headquarters The motto of Nestle is to â€Å"Think globally- acting locally† which means that their products are made by keeping the whole world in mind but also interacts with the consumers at regional level (G, 2009). Corporate social responsibility is a concept of management in which companies incorporate societal and environmental apprehension when dealing with stakeholders and the operations of the business. Corporate social responsibility also known as CSR is the method with which the company achieves equilibrium between the environmental and economical sectors, in other words this is known as the Triple Bottom Line Approach. Along with this the company also responds to the stake holders and share holders expectations. If one wishes to promote the CSR within a company it is also important to review the company’s needs and their capacity to incorporate CSR in the company so that it does not affect their economic feasibility. If CSR is properly incorporated within a company then it gives the ability to the company to gain several advantages like increased in flow of investments, higher sales and profit ratio, systematic human resource base, a better and much improved image of the brand a nd development of good reputation, the ability to make good decision

Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Case Study Example Hertz offer fantastic customer experience in providing best cars and comfort as par as the car hire is concern. The combination of great brand value and the potential financial efficiencies made the Hertz one of the most profitable business leaders in the business. Hertz business was matured and profitable enough to be acquired. The initiative from the CD& R financial partners David Wasserman, Micheal Baiarz and Nathan Sleeper on a capital structure which would have lowered the Hertz capital cost was really beneficial for CD&R. The Hertz was a potential investment opportunity as Hertz business was mature and competitive in all the countries where they had their business fleets. The CD&R’s Consortium is well-known as CCM which includes the Carlyle Group and Merrill Lynch Global Private equity; both of them are the most dominating companies in the business scenario. On August 30th the CCM submitted its final bid of five point four billion dollars including a request that Ford make a certain tax election which would step up the tax basis of Hertz asset. However, there were some several companies who had submitted the final bid on the same date and among them one is the private equity consortium, composed of Bain Capital, The Blackstone Group, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Texas pacific

Things Fall Apart Essay Example for Free

Things Fall Apart Essay Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. 50th anniversary edition. New York: Anchor Books, 1959. 211. Print Chinua Achebe was an african man who was raised in the large village of Ogidi in Eastern Nigeria. Things Fall Apart was Chinuas first book. In the year 1944 Chinua attended the Goverment College like other major nigerian writers. He also later attended the University College of Ibadan, where he studied english, history, and theology. Okonkwo strives to be nothing like his father but in the end he is no better. Ikemefuna comes to Umuofia as a human sacrafice from the neighboring clan of Mbaino for the killing of one of the Umuofia women. He lives with Okonkwo for the course of three years, in which he becomes like a son to Okonkwo and his three wives and a older brother and mentor to Nwoye Okonkwos son. Okonkwo gets bad chi because he beats his wife during peace week which was unheard of in his village peace week meant togetherness and happiness After , peace week marks the start of the king of the crop, the yam season which must start with peacfullness. Ikemefuna is then odered to be killed because he called Okonkwo father and Okonkwo called him son which was not supposed to happen. So, Okonkwo tells Ikemefuna that he is going home and on the way he kills him. Okonkwo regrets his choice because he went against the oracle which said he was supposed to have no part in killing the boy. Thus Things begin to fall apart. Chinua wrote the book Things Fall Apart to describe Nigerian culture and the effects of European colonization upon it. It was also written as a response to the Western beliefs that the Africans were uncivilized and barbaric people. Over the course of the book, Okonkwo overcomes obstacles arising from the conflicts of man vs. self, man vs. society, and man vs. estiny, through which he gains inherent morals and life lessons that make the story as a whole a sort of bildungsroman, by depicting the personal growth of its main character.

Langston Hughes Essay Example for Free

Langston Hughes Essay Of the major black writers who first made their appearance during the exciting period of the 1920s commonly referred to as â€Å"the Harlem Renaissance,† Langston Hughes was the most prolific and the most successful. As the Harlem Renaissance gave way to the Depression, Hughes determined to sustain his career as a poet by bringing his poetry to the people. At the suggestion of Mary McLeod Bethune, he launched his career as a public speaker by embarking on an extensive lecture tour of the South. As he wrote in his autobiography: â€Å"Propelled by the backwash of the â€Å"Harlem Renaissance† of the early twenties, I had been drifting along pleasantly on the delightful rewards of my poems which seemed to please the fancy of kindhearted New York ladies with money to help young writers. . . . There was one other dilemmahow to make a living from the kind of writing I wanted to do. . . . I wanted to write seriously and as well as I knew how about the Negro people, and make that kind of writing earn me a livin† (Hughes, 1964:31). Alain Locke, the leading exponent of â€Å"The New Negro,† announced that the black masses had found their voice: A true peoples poet has their balladry in his veins; and to me many of these poems seem based on rhythms as seasoned as folksongs and on moods as deep-seated as folk-ballads. Dunbar is supposed to have expressed the peasant heart of the people. But Dunbar was the showman of the Negro masses; here is their spokesman (Killens ed. 1960:41). Though much of the poetry Hughes was to write in the thirties and afterward was to differ markedly in terms of social content from the poetry he was producing in the twenties, a careful examination of his early work will reveal, in germinal form, the basic themes which were to preoccupy him throughout his career. Hughes’s evolution as a poet cannot be seen apart from the circumstances of his life which thrust him into the role of poet. Indeed, it was Hughes’s awareness of what he personally regarded as a rather unique childhood which determined him in his drive to express, through poetry, the feelings of the black masses and their questions of identity. In â€Å"The Weary Blues†, Hughes presented the problem of dual consciousness quite cleverly by placing two parenthetical statements of identity as the opening and closing poems, and titling them Proem and Epilogue. Their opening lines suggest the polarities of consciousness between which the poet located his own persona: â€Å"I Am a Negro† and â€Å"I, Too, Sing America. † Within each of these poems, Hughes suggests the interrelatedness of the two identities: the line â€Å"I am a Negro† is echoed as â€Å"I am the darker brother† in the closing poem. Between the American and the Negro, a third identity is suggested: that of the poet or â€Å"singer. † It is this latter persona which Hughes had assumed for himself in his attempt to resolve the dilemma of divided consciousness. Thus, within the confines of these two poems revolving around identity, Hughes is presenting his poetry as a kind of salvation. If one looks more closely at Hughes’s organization of poems in the book, one finds that his true opening and closing poems are concerned not with identity but with patterns of cyclical time. The Weary Blues (the first poem) is about a black piano man who plays deep into the night until at last he falls into sleep like a rock or a man thats dead. The last poem, on the other hand, suggests a rebirth, an awakening, after the long night of weary blues: â€Å"We have tomorrow/ Bright before us/Like a flame† (Hughes 1926:109). Hughes viewed the poet’s role as one of responsibility: the poet must strive to maintain his objectivity and artistic distance, while at the same time speaking with passion through the medium he has selected for himself. In a speech given before the American Society of African Culture in 1960, Hughes urged his fellow black writers to cultivate objectivity in dealing with blackness: â€Å"Advice to Negro writers: Step outside yourself, then look back and you will see how human, yet how beautiful and black you are. How very black even when you’re integrated† (Killens ed. 1960:44). In another part of the speech, Hughes stressed art over race: â€Å"In the great sense of the word, anytime, any place, good art transcends land, race, or nationality, and color drops away. If you are a good writer, in the end neither blackness nor whiteness makes a difference to readers† (Killens ed. 1960:47). This philosophy of artistic distance was integral to Hughes’s argument in the much earlier essay The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, which became a rallying call to young black writers of the twenties concerned with reconciling artistic freedom with racial expression: â€Å"It is the duty of the younger Negro artist if he accepts any duties at all from outsiders, to change through the force of his art that old whispering I want to be white hidden in the aspirations of his people, to Why should I want to be white? I am a Negro and beautiful! ’† In this greatly thought-out manifesto, Hughes attempted to integrate the two facets of double consciousness (the American and the Negro) into a single vision-that of the poet. His poetry had reflected this idea from the beginning, when he published The Negro Speaks of Rivers at the age of nineteen. Arna Bontemps, in a retrospective glance at the Harlem Renaissance from the distance of almost fifty years, was referring to The Negro Speaks of Rivers when he commented: â€Å"And almost the first utterance of the revival struck a note that disturbed poetic tradition. † (Addison ed. 1988:83). In Hughes’s poetry, the central element of importance is the affirmation of blackness. Everything that distinguished Hughes’s poetry from the white poets of the twenties revolved around this important affirmation. Musical idioms, jazz rhythms, Hughes’s special brand of â€Å"black-white† irony, and dialect were all dependent on the priority of black selfhood: â€Å"I am a Negro/Black as the night is black/Black like the depths of my Africa† (Hughes 1926:108). Hughes wrote in his autobiography: My best poems were all written when I felt the worst. When I was happy, I didnt write anything (Hughes 1991:54). When he first began writing poetry, he felt his lyrics were too personal to reveal to others: Poems came to me now spontaneously, from somewhere inside. . . . I put the poems down quickly on anything I had a hand when they came into my head, and later I copied them into a notebook. But I began to be afraid to show my poems to anybody, because they had become very serious and very much a part of me. And I was afraid other people might not like them or understand them (Hughes: 34). These two statements regarding his poetry suggest deep underlying emotional tensions as being the source of his creativity. And yet the personal element in Hughes’s poetry is almost entirely submerged beneath the persona of the Negro Poet Laureate. If, as Hughes suggested, personal unhappiness was the cornerstone of his best work, it then follows that, in order to maintain the singleness of purpose and devotion to his art, he would be required to sacrifice some degree of emotional stability. The persona of the poet was the role Hughes adopted in his very first published poem, as the Negro in The Negro Speaks of Rivers. It was a persona to which he would remain faithful throughout his lengthy career. The link between his personal experiences and his poetry has been always evident. References Addison Gayle, Jr. , ed. (1988). â€Å"Negro Poets, Then and Now,† in Black Expression: Essays by and About Black Americans in the Creative Arts, New York: Weybright Talley Langston Hughes (1964). I Wonder As I Wander, New York: Hill Wang Langston Hughes (1926). The Weary Blues, New York: Alfred A. Knopf Publishing, reprinted, 1982 Langston Hughes (1991). The Big Sea: An Autobiography. 1940. New York: Hill Wang Killens, John O. ,ed. (1960). â€Å"Writers: Black and White†, The American Negro Writer and His Roots: Selected Papers from the First Conference of Negro Writers, March. New York: American Society of African Culture

Managing Workplace Diversity And Gender Discrimination Social Work Essay

Managing Workplace Diversity And Gender Discrimination Social Work Essay Introduction Most women and men are at a disadvantage in areas of job and trainings, wages and salaries, and are constrained to certain occupations based on their age, colour, disability, sex, ethnicity, without reference to their capabilities and skills. Today, in some developed countries for example, women workers still earn up less than male colleagues performing the same work. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity law, workers have the fundamental human right to be free from discrimination, can choose their employment freely without bias and have the ability to develop their potentials to the fullest. Workers benefit from equality policies through training, equal wages, and overall quality of the workforce. The aim of this essay is to explore the multifaceted problems of unequal treatment of workers as a result of diversity and gender discrimination between men and women at work (the labour market). The study will also attempt to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of diversity and equal opportunity at work, and also proffer solutions for the reduction and subsequent eradication of gender discrimination. To the society at large, bringing equality to the workplace has major financial benefits, and if employers practise equality they would have access to a pool of well organised and diverse workforce. ILO (International Labour Organisation) practices equality as a tool to eliminate discrimination at work and in the society, they also apply gender mainstreaming strategies in the field of labour. Benefits of workplace diversity Employees from diverse backgrounds bring individual talents and experiences into the application of work. A diverse workforce of skills, experiences, languages, cultural understanding allows a company to operate globally in providing service to customers and having a variety of viewpoints, and also improving an organizations success and competitiveness as well as increased efficiency and effectiveness (Sharron and Maeve, 2007, p.157). Diversity and equality are linked to HR practices, therefore HR professionals have a key role in the implementing of fair and favourable working conditions for employees, and this indeed is a key challenge. Managing diversity helps to control differences by creating a productive working environment in which everyone, feels valued (Tom and Adrian, 2009, p.346), talents are fully utilised and organisational goals are met. The CIPD definition of diversity is, valuing everyone as an individual, valuing people as employees, customers and clients (CIPD, 2007). However, it is also applied to social groups thereby raising awareness of ethnic and cultural diversity. We live in a multi-cultural society where contributions from different cultures are made to society and culture. Diversity should focus on the positive rather than the negative. Equality opportunity and gender mainstreaming Equality can be defined as combined efforts, equal participation and shared responsibilities involving both sexes in decision making, implementation of policies aimed at maximizing potential production of goods and services. The fruits of these efforts should also be shared equally and both sexes should be given opportunities to exercise their rights. Equal opportunity approaches are aimed only at the disadvantaged and therefore potentially create problems in organisations by constantly targeting the disadvantaged rather than making efforts to ensure that the organisation naturally encourages equality of opportunity for all and sundry. There are six social groups listed in the Equality and Human Rights Commission Literature, the body that regulates and monitors the UKs equality legislation, which are gender, age, disability, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation. These social groups are protected by law, therefore staff and customers have the legal right to be treated fairly and equally (Kirton, G and Greene, A, 2005). Article VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, bans any type of discrimination based on any social group. In addition, 1963 Equal Pay Act prohibits organizations from formulating gender-based pay discrimination regarding workers who perform same work under similar conditions. Article VII of the 1964 Civil Rights as well set up the USA Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the commission started working in 1965 and has a duty of enforcing the federal acts which disallows workplace discrimination. The focus of Employment Opportunity is underpinned by the notion of social justice or the right to be treated fairly. The following are selected relevant ILO instruments on Equality: Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) This fundamental convention requires equal remuneration for all workers (men and women) for equal measure of work in ratifying countries. Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No.111) This fundamental convention requires ratifying nations to declare and pursue practices of equality of opportunity and treatment in respect of employment and occupation, with a view to eliminating any distinction, exclusion or preference made on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin. Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. 156) The convention requires ratifying states to make it a goal of national policy to enable working men and women with family responsibilities to exercise their right without being subject to discrimination and, as much as possible, without conflict between their employment and family responsibilities. The convention also requires governments to take into account of the needs of the workers in community planning and to develop or promote community services, public or private, such as childcare and family services and facilities. Diversity in the workplace is responsible for and sensitive to the different types of individual who make up an organisation (Sharron and Maeve, 2007, p.159). Organisations need to study the cultures, people and societies they work in, so they can understand and provide for the diverse needs of their customers/consumers. When organisations manage diversity properly, they get excellent results from employees and meet the varying needs of their customers, which is recognised as a factor in business excellence. International Business Machines (IBM) has a long-standing commitment to equality to ensure everyone is allowed to compete on an equal basis. Workforce diversity at IBM excludes no one and serves as the bridge between the workplace and the marketplace. The main issue for diversity management is that managers need to empower all staff to realize their full potential. Companies like Microsoft have had as much as 90% of their market value represented by intellectual capital, human talent, reputation, and leadership. The ability to attract and retain diverse talented people rates more highly, therefore the Government is driving initiatives to encourage diversity and persuade business that there are real advantages to be gained from embracing diversity in the workplace. Diversity focuses on improving opportunities for all staff, respecting and valuing people as they are, rather than expecting them to conform to a stereotype. The global nature of business markets can be seen as a driving force for diversity initiatives. If a companys business is international, its staff must be able to work across cultures, speak the customers language and address any barriers that might exist. A Companys reason for adopting diversity policies are; 1. It is the right thing to do, 2. It is in compliance with equal opportunities and anti antidiscrimination laws and 3. It generates financial benefits that exceed implementation costs (Rebecca, 2005). British Telecoms (BT) recognises that it is crucial for its staff to reflect the diversity of its customers and is able to meet their ever-changing needs. It has introduced a number of initiatives to ensure that more women are recruited and progress in their careers with the company. Diversity policies are used by companies to gain access to talent. BT reports that equal opportunities and diversity policies have resulted in the company attracting 37% of female graduate applicants. By creating a working environment where all employees feel included, valued and rewarded on the basis of their talents and skills, companies increase employee morale leading to improvement in the quality and motivation of the workforce which in turn leads to an improved company performance. Effects of gender discrimination in the work place Learning about sex-roles takes place among men and women during the early phases of their lives, and this can translate itself into an attitude that creates difficulties later in work life, (Larwood and Wood, 1979). A lot of people would concur that these issues and discrimination of women is improper and unlawful and should not be tolerated. Nonetheless, many women have continued to be discriminated in their workplace. As rational people, employers seek to put the right person for the right jobs e.g. when the work demands public relations, appearing on advertisements, employers prefer attractive women as marketers to sell their products. For technical, manual and production work however; they prefer to hire a man, (Tom and Adrian, 2009, p.351). Some employers believe that the cost of employing women is higher and that the productivity of female workers is low due to truncated and intermittent breaks for child bearing and rearing. Women for example are questioned if the family responsibilities could hamper their performance at work and at times questioned about their competency. These beliefs pose particular challenges in decision to employ women at work. The choice of an individual to accept work in a particular occupation or an employers choice to employ either mainly men or mainly women, are decisions influenced by learned cultural and social values that often discriminate against women (and some times against men). The preference is largely determined by learned, gender-related factors which stereotype occupations as male and female. Occupational segregation by sex and Stereotyping The resultant segregation of occupations by sex places a limitation on what jobs male and female can do. The early stereotyping of certain occupations as male and female is one factor that influences the subject choices of children and adults (Archer, 1992). Miller and Hayward (1992) examined childrens perceptions of who should, and who actually does, perform a range of jobs. Both Miller and Budd (1999) and Miller and Hayward (1992) found that individuals preferences remained largely restricted to those jobs that were viewed as gender-congruent (i.e. in keeping with stereotypes about the jobs that are appropriate for their own sex). Boys gave significantly higher preference ratings than girls for nine masculine occupations (airplane pilot, air traffic controller, architect, carpenter, fire fighter, lorry driver, police-officer, scientist and TV repairer). Conversely, girls gave higher preference ratings for seven feminine occupations (dancer, hairdresser, librarian, nursery school te acher, secretary, school teacher and shop assistant). In the UK, research conducted for the Department for Education and Skills (DFES) indicated that parental attitude was one factor which influenced the decisions of young people regarding whether to remain in education or training, or to leave (Payne, 1998). In the USA, Farmer, Wardrop, Anderson and Risinger (1995) have identified parental support as a key factor influencing subject choice. Firstly, the mothers attitude is a key factor in developing the childs own view of the importance of the subject itself; this then influences the development of favourable attitudes towards the occupational area. Secondly, the childs perception of the extent to which their mother believes in the importance of doing well has a positive influence on the childs belief that their success is dependent upon their own efforts, which in turn impacts on their achievement and thereafter on their attitudes (Miller, Lietz and Kotte, 2002). Parental aspirations are usually viewed as an important influence on car eer decisions in general (Erikson and Jonsson, 1996). Schoon and Parsons (2002), also using a path modelling approach has shown that high parental aspirations are strongly correlated with high aspirations in their children and with good academic achievement. Stereotyping against women at work is either due to employers attitude or to what women bring into the labour market in terms of qualification, family demands and feminine differentials. Cultural restrictions Cultural restrictions contribute to the establishment of what is acceptable work and how some countries signify sexual differences for certain occupations. In Moslem countries, Purdah (kirton, G and Greene, A, 2005) effectively forbids women interacting with unknown men in public, as a result, many Muslim women are strongly discouraged from taking sales jobs except in shops where the customers are all women. Women are usually stereotyped to their traditional and cultural roles of child bearing, rearing and home-keepers and are usually disadvantaged in preferences for occupations and promotion. In societies where women are at a disadvantage by sex segregation, parents tend to give their daughters less education than the male thereby adversely affecting the future generation of women and limiting them to the traditional female Occupations (teaching, child-care, nursing, catering). Until recently, Nigerian parents believed that it was a waste to invest in the girl-child because they would eventually end up in the kitchen and were therefore not given formal education but were groomed to attract suitors. Several women are constrained to female jobs in certain sectors either through custom or through the prejudice and discrimination of employers. Some other factors like early marriages affect the education of the female, the role of the woman as helper and not the breadwinner also impedes thei r aspiration for higher challenges. Many women are unable to improve themselves educationally after marriage and childbearing. Glass ceiling Masculine stereotype play a role in determining the occupations which become typically male occupations (engineer, police officer, construction worker, security guard) and of course the breadwinner. There are fewer men in female occupations and when men move into typically female areas of work, there is no equivalent glass ceiling in fact, the opposite almost seems to apply. Examples of areas in which women constitute the majority of the workforce are education and health. In secondary schools, women hold the majority of teaching positions in schools, yet men constitute the majority of head teachers (68 per cent) Source: Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2003e), Statistics of Education: School Workforce in England. Male nurses were found to have poorer qualifications at both pre-registration and post-registration levels, yet to advance more quickly into senior posts, the average time for male nurse to reach a senior post was 8.4 years, compared with 14.5 years for a female nurse who took no career breaks (Davies and Rosser, 1986). Similarly, male nurses were twice as likely to be found in higher grade nursing posts, although females had better post-basic qualifications (Finlayson and Nazroo, 1998). Women also feel there is relatively poor career progression in male dominated occupations, in terms of pay and status but UBS Investment Bank has a group called Raising the Bar which looks at the glass ceiling and whether women are treated differently and how they progress in their careers. Women find it difficult to break through this ceiling because of the ways in which they are viewed by the society and the individual organization (Stephen Linstead, Liz fulop and Simon Lilley, 2004) as being emotional, irrational, less committed, under-educated and not strong enough to earn top managerial positions. This creates vertical segregation where men predominate in top ranked positions of the organisations. Also because women sometimes prefer to work part time with flexible working conditions, it is therefore difficult to reach senior management positions. However, the role of women in society is radically changing in most countries and even in Nigeria. Vast numbers of women are beginning to work full-time and to aspire to climb the same organisational ladders as their male counterparts (Davidson and Cooper, 1984). Women are attaining higher levels of education and they are competing favourably with the men especially in occupations which were formerly reserved for the men. Female Male pay differentials Income inequalities between men and women from all backgrounds still persists, despite the equal opportunities legislation as womens annual salaries are 25 per cent lower than mens even when overtime and bonuses are taken into account (Sharon and Maeve, 2007, p.163). Women are making progress, but it is still relatively slow, Sean O Grady (2007), states that women working part-time earn 38 per cent less than their men counterparts working part-time as well. Even full-time female employees earn 17 per cent less than men. Hence, it makes it difficult to find women at the top of any business, political career or even the law. It is true that the pay gap among women and men is becoming much smaller than it used to be, even though there are still restrictions for women in top managerial positions and politics. Women are more confident because they are enlightened and have role models like Margaret Beckett who became the first U.K female foreign minister, Dora Bakoyannis the first women ever appointed to a senior cabinet position in Greece, Nigerias Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala the finance minister to foreign affairs. More women are willing to stand up to the law, even if men are still reluctant to give up power to women as a result of the Masculine perception (its a mans world). Child bearing and family responsibilities The debate on work and family life still tends to be focused on working mothers (Esther and Katherine, 1988). Mothers make significant changes to their working lives to accommodate their family and just a small minority of fathers make major changes that enable them to be more involved in family life (Suzanne, John and Melissa, 2006). Many employers view pregnant women as someone who is about to leave them hanging for a couple of month, instead of seeing them as professionals who are competent and can perform. Some employers deny pregnant women the opportunity to advance in their careers by assigning them menial jobs since they feel that they cannot handle challenging problems. These are just attitudes which do not have any basis. For example, it is believed that women typically leave their careers following the birth of children often in their thirties, some women may return after a period of maternity leave or after early years of child rearing, many do not return at all. Some reas ons for not returning are work-life balance issues such as, wanting extended maternity leave, part-time working not being possible for some jobs and the cost of children. Organisations have the feeling that the society is fast moving and when maternity break is taken, technology moves on to such an extent that it is difficult for returners to keep up and a lot of re-training would be required when they return. Therefore, when the women return, companies may have progressed and maybe their previous job has changed to such an extent they have to trade places or move out. Some organisations therefore offer flexible working hours for women who indicate that they would like greater flexibility at work. Flexibility has its own loop holes; it could lead to career death in terms of promotional opportunities (Jerry and kathleen, 2004). Women choose such career comfort in order to balance work with their family life responsibilities. Recommendations to curb gender and diversity discrimination in the workplace Gender Discrimination The use of gender equality mainstreaming strategy will enhance the management of gender diversities in the workplace; it will address the specific and often different needs of women and men. Targeted interventions should be taken which is aimed to overcome sex discrimination, empower women in the world of work and advocate equitable sharing of care responsibilities between both sexes. This approach will help to prevent gender-blind interventions that perpetuate inequality, by ensuring that both women and men benefit equally from management policies. The use of good practices as well as ILO strategies and tools such as the Action Plan on Gender Equality are encouraged in promoting gender equality in the workplace. Gender Audits could also be carried out at intervals. Research and publications, training courses on upgrading mainstreaming skills, and mobilizing gender network should be encouraged in the workplace. Women workers should be given assistance in getting organised and being represented in various sectors especially sectors where they form the minority. There should be a Human Resources specialist to oversee and support the Managing Gender Policy. Diversity Discrimination In the area of Diversity, to attract and retain staff from diverse backgrounds, companies may need to revise existing employment contracts, benefits packages and working conditions to accommodate measures, such as flexible working programmes, maternity/paternity benefits and leave, and childcare schemes. Companies should set up some form of monitoring and reporting processes, by warding off change resistance with the inclusion of every employee in formulating and executing diversity initiatives in the workplace. Leaders and managers within organizations must show commitment by introducing diversity policies amongst organisational functions. The overall participation and the cooperation of management as well as training are essential to the success of an organizations plan. Conclusion Gender, Diversity and Equal opportunity In this essay, findings indicate that gender should be managed in organisations in such a way as to minimise any differences between the employment chances available to men and those available to women. Equal opportunity should aim at allowing women the same level of access to and participation within every level and area of the organisation. As employees gain the benefits of increased equal opportunity for men and women in the workplace, all family members gain from an easing of the strain of juggling work and caring responsibilities and some children will gain the social and development benefits of quality childcare facilities. There is also the danger of promoting such case because equality of opportunity may not be seen as a case of social justice but that of organisational self interest. The benefits of diversity in the work place has its challenges which workers have to put up with, such challenges include prejudices, cultural and language barriers that employees bring into the lime light of work. Such challenges need to be overcome for diversity programs to succeed. There are always employees who will refuse to accept change and the fact that the workplace is changing as a result of the diverse nature of workers. The preconception of following the rules outlooks new ideas and hinders progress. The profits of a globalized economy are more fairly distributed in a society with equality, leading to greater social stability and broader public support for further economic development, (ILO, 1996-2010).

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Essay -- Essays Papers

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight In the fourteenth century, there was a contemporary of Chaucer; he was an unknown poet. The story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written by this unknown poet. The story deals with the many complicated issues, one of them, involving a test of character for Gawain. He is King Arthur's most noble knight, and one of the most honest, chivalrous, and gallant knights in Camelot. However, he has to face one of the most difficult challenges of life, which is accepting his flaws. Realization of one's imperfection is one of the hardest challenges of life for anyone. The passage that I am going to analyze describes how the king and his guests gather and blissfully celebrate the arrival of the New Year. The passage from lines 60 to 129 begins with the celebration of the New Year. The author discusses the Christmas tradition of the Arthurian legend, describing how the king celebrates his New Year's day. The guests gather in the court at this celebration and receive their food before the majesty arrives. As soon as the king arrives "all chanting in chapel ended, "(Norton 204), which means that all the guests stop talking and then shout out songs of happiness for the New Year. The guests then gather happily and exchange gifts, talking long and busily about the presents. The ritual involved with the exchange of presents is also kissing. All the women are laughing happily, but ironically, the author makes fun of them when he describes them laughin... Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Essay -- Essays Papers Sir Gawain and the Green Knight In the fourteenth century, there was a contemporary of Chaucer; he was an unknown poet. The story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written by this unknown poet. The story deals with the many complicated issues, one of them, involving a test of character for Gawain. He is King Arthur's most noble knight, and one of the most honest, chivalrous, and gallant knights in Camelot. However, he has to face one of the most difficult challenges of life, which is accepting his flaws. Realization of one's imperfection is one of the hardest challenges of life for anyone. The passage that I am going to analyze describes how the king and his guests gather and blissfully celebrate the arrival of the New Year. The passage from lines 60 to 129 begins with the celebration of the New Year. The author discusses the Christmas tradition of the Arthurian legend, describing how the king celebrates his New Year's day. The guests gather in the court at this celebration and receive their food before the majesty arrives. As soon as the king arrives "all chanting in chapel ended, "(Norton 204), which means that all the guests stop talking and then shout out songs of happiness for the New Year. The guests then gather happily and exchange gifts, talking long and busily about the presents. The ritual involved with the exchange of presents is also kissing. All the women are laughing happily, but ironically, the author makes fun of them when he describes them laughin...

Unions :: essays research papers

The union movement of the late 19th century by Eli Hatch During 1870 through 1900 workers joined together; responding to the power of their employers caused by the growth of industrialization. The worker did not always have the luxury of leaving after eight hours of work, the right to representation, or the even the right to work in a safe environment. The working people of nineteenth century America had to unite in struggle to achieve the gains that are often taken selfishly and taken for granted today. There were many successes and failures in organized labor; the successes were often obtained through the loss of the worker, often through lost wages, jobs, or even death. The organization structure of the union during 1870 through 1900 went through different cycles and strategies to achieve what they wanted. One of the first effective regional organized unions was the Knights of Labor formed in 1869. The knights took in not only skilled workers but also any worker that could be trul y classified as a producer. The knights took their peek in 1885 when strikes against Union Pacific, Southwest System, and Wabash railroads attracted public sympathy and succeeded in preventing a reduction in wages, at this time they boasted a membership of 700,000. 1886 was a troubled year for labor relations. There were nearly 1,600 strikes involving 600,000 workers, with the eight-hour day being the important item for all of the strikes. Failure of some of the strikes and internal conflicts between the skilled workers and the unskilled led to a decline in the Knights popularity and influence. Another organization called the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions created a constitution that other unions could adhere to. This constitution met in Pittsburgh on Nov. 15 1881 and was created by representatives of the cigar makers, the printers, the merchant seamen, steel workers, carpenters and local units of the Knights of Labor. One of the most important items in the constitu tion created by the FOTLU recommended that the legal eight-hour work day be an objective for every union to achieve. The FOTLU thus accelerated a strong national push for a shorter work week. The AFL grew from 140,000 in 1886 to nearly on million by 1900. With these strengths in numbers they often preferred striking over political action. The struggle for workers rights, wage increases and protests against wage cuts were often unsuccessful resulting in violence and death.