Human Resource Management take home exam (various topics) Essay

Human Resource Management take home exam (various topics) - Essay Example In IT industry, the human element plays a major part in the overall success of the industry. "There must be effective management of human resources - there must be an effective personnel function" (Ulrich, Lake, 1990). HRM systems can be the source of organizational capabilities that allow firms to learn and capitalize on new opportunities especially in IT industry which operates in rapidly changing environment. While innovations in high technology often receive the greatest publicity, advances have been made in many fields and at many levels of Information Technology. Some theorists argue that HRM is used to exploit workers in order to achieve strategic goals. It is possible to agree and disagree with this view because much depends upon the conception employed by the researchers. Speaking about IT industry it is possible to say that HRM can be identified as an element or support concept of the industry. In many organizations, including IT sector, human resources is very much part of the productive process and will be a task function. For example, in the IT industry many members of the workforce are seen as being involved in achieving the objectives of the organization creating a new product or service. In this case, people are part of the finished product for which the customer is paying. Customer satisfaction is likely to be affected as much by the courtesy, helpfulness and personal qualities of the staff as by the standard of services provided. This places particular importance on the managerial function which manipulates workforce to achieve o rganizational tasks (Tyson, 1997). Training, as investment in people, is also a form of manipulation. Training requires the co-operation of managers, adequate finance and resources, time, skilled staff and a supporting appraisal system: from top management and throughout all levels of the organization. Most programs of IT development are designed in accordance with the culture and specific requirements of the particular segment of IT industry or department, and the demands of particular managerial jobs. There should be a clear development policy together with regular reviews of individual performance and a program of career progression. All the forms mentioned above explain manipulation of HR through HRM systems as the inevitable part of management. The overall purpose of HRM can be seen as manipulation as well as it aims to ensure that the organization is able to achieve success through people. "HRM systems can be the source of organizational capabilities that allow firms to learn and capitalize on new opportunities" (Campbell, 1997). On the other hand, it is possible to say that training of IT personnel for its own sake achieves little. Training must be real and rewarding. The rationale for strategic HRM within IT industry is also built on the idea of manipulation which means that people and organizations engage in basically consistent, value-maximizing calculations or adaptations within certain constraints and competitive advantage. The rational model works as follows: an employee has goals or objectives and has a payoff, utility, or preference function that permits that person to rank all possible alternative actions by the action's contribution to the desired goals. The IT organization is presented with and understands alternative courses of action. Each

Second Language Acquisition Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Second Language Acquisition - Term Paper Example The common argument has been that the acquisition of second language skills is difficult, especially for non-native speakers (Jordens and Lalleman, 7). However, this argument has been disputed by another argument holding that acquiring second language skills is not difficult. Rather, it is the poor formulation of teaching curriculum and inappropriate design of instructional methods that create the perception that the acquisition of proficiency in the second language for non-native learners is difficult (Rutherford, 47). Second Language Acquisition is akin to the process of children acquiring their speech, meaning that it requires meaningful interaction between the subject and the target language, most especially related to natural communication (Sanz, 14). My thesis, then, aims to argue that several factors affect the effective acquisition of a second language. Just as the case is with children acquiring their early speech communication skills, Second Language Acquisition entails the speakers having little concern for the utterances, and more emphasis on the delivery of the intended messages, and how the message will be interpreted (Sanz, 21). In this respect, Second Language Acquisition mostly has to do with what the learners of the second language do in the process of acquiring the skills of communicating using the second language. Nevertheless, the manner in which the second language is taught to the learners has a great influence on how well the learners will understand and acquire the skills of a second language. Therefore, while teaching a second language, it is essential that the teacher adopts a holistic approach (Gruber-Miller, n.p.). The learners of a second language have to go through different stages before they can eventually become proficient in the second language.