Human Resource Information Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Human Resource Information Systems - Essay Example The HR departments came under pressure with routine work trying to cope with administration and providing more services online, that they could not provide value-added services such as knowledge management, culture management, and strategic direction and renewal. Gradually the focus shifted from playing a purely technical administrative role to being actively involved in the strategic planning and management of an organization. It became essential to add value to enhance competitive advantage. The second perceived need was to incorporate IT in HRM practices. HR functions were transferred to digital formats and even though technology is underutilized, it is increasingly being used in functions such as recruitment, selection, training, promoting, terminating and in complying with legal requirements. IT systems led to the introduction of e-HRM which saves time and costs particularly with online recruitment and training systems. While HRIS can bring substantial savings to an organization , it is necessary that the managers and employees understand the benefits of the new system and are actually ready to use it. Getting the system to adapt to a new system is the greatest difficulty according to Beulen (2009). E-HRM can increase the amount of information provided to people as they obtain online access to HRM policy and practice handbooks. Online notification of holidays and other events facilitate strategic processes while people can even register for training courses online (Paauwe & Farndale, 2004, p11). E-HRM enables help people be constantly ready for change while encouraging online training and learning activities. It also facilitates collaboration between individuals through discussion groups and video-conferencing. It is also known to enhance employee interaction, work-life balance as they can deal with certain personal tasks while at work. In addition to improved accuracy, timely and

Business Planning and Feasibility Assessment Essay

Business Planning and Feasibility Assessment - Essay Example The primary target market of the clothing store will be the tourists of Dammam city. As Dammam is a prime tourist spot and many tourists from across the world come to Dammam to visit or for business purposes, thus it will prove to be a large customer base for clothing store.The secondary target customers will be the residents of Dammam. The population in Dammam city is growing rapidly and the people tend to follow the western culture and fashion. Therefore, soon there will be much demand for fashionable clothes in Dammam city. As there is limited number of clothing store in Dammam, it will be easy to attract large number of customers. In the first operating year, it is estimated that the growth of clothing store will be moderate and cash in hand/bank will be positive. The clothing store will not sell on credit rather it will accept cash and all kinds of cheques and credit cards. The initial investment will be 150000000 SR (Saudi Riyal). The cost of land and building is estimated as 9 0000000 SR and Machinery will be bought about 30000000 SR. The estimated cost of Furniture is 15000000 SR. Depreciation will be charged on machinery and furniture to 8% and 2% per annum. In the first operating year it is estimated that the forecasted sales is 30000000 SR. The Gross Margin is accounted as 30% of the total sales. The cost of insurance is estimated as 9% of total gross margin and the selling & distribution expenses are calculated as 70000 SR (estimated figure). According to Saudi Arabia’s tax rate the income tax is charged as 20% on revenue. Fig: 1 Shows Estimated Income Statement of the Clothing Store Income Income (SR) Expenditure (SR) Sales 30000000 Gross Margin (30% of Sales) 9000000 Expenditure Payroll (9 ? 10000 ? 12) 1080000 Insurance (9% of Gross Margin) 810000 Depreciation on Machinery (8%) 2400000 Depreciation on Furniture (2%) 300000 Selling & Distribution Expenses 70000 Profit Before Tax 4640000 Income tax (20%) 928000 Profit After Tax/Net Profit 371 2000 Fig: 2 Shows Estimated Financial Statement of One Year of the Clothing Store Liabilities Asset Capital Investment 150000000 Land & Building

From the Concert of Europe to the Cause of the First World War Essay Example for Free

From the Concert of Europe to the Cause of the First World War Essay After the fall of Napoleon there was a need to create a balance of power that would preserve the peace between European monarchies. Also to redraw the map of Europe and to restore the countries in crisis after their defeat of Napoleon. The main goal of the Concert was to contain France and prevent another ascend of authority such as Napoleon Bonaparte. The origins of The Concert of Europe begin from the international conference called by the victorious allied nations in Vienna – The Congress of Vienna. It took place in September 1814 to June 1815 and is mostly considered as the precursor to today’s United Nations. The Congress was highly successful in achieving its goal, as there were no wars between European countries for almost 40 years. One could say that the Concert of Europe is still continuous, but with different players, goals and name. Thus The Concert of Vienna was first of its kind and in addition Europe had not seen such cooperation between major powers before, it nonetheless made numerous decisions that shaped Europe to its historic course. For instance France was deprived from lands Napoleon had conquered. Britain got several strategic colonial territories, also gaining control of the seas. France and Spain were restored under rightful bloodlines. However the numerous decisions and outcomes were pompous, concentrating on the needs and wants of four main powers Austria, Russia, Prussia, and Great Britain. The Concerts main accomplishment was the securing of independence for Greece (ironic) by sending fleets to fight against invading Ottoman-Egyptian armies. Thanks to three great powers, Russia, The United Kingdom and France, Greece was finally recognized as an independent nation that it is today. In Belgian revolution the Great Powers recognized Belgium as an independent state. After that the signs of collapse of the alliance started to appear. The goal of the Concert of Europe was to keep a balance of power between leading countries in Europe, but if the balance starts to change to someone’s favour then the conflicts begin to arise. The sudden development of Egypt and their successful war against Ottomans brought about fear in European powers. A collapse of Ottoman Empire could have had a destabilizing effect to every country especially to the United Kingdom. England was not only worried for loosing economic benefits and militarily strong state in Mediterranean, but also about Egypt’s close ties to France. Britain preferred a weakened but intact Ottoman Empire that would give it the strategic and commercial advantages it needed to maintain its influence in the region. This all lead to what was called the Oriental Crisis of 1840 where United Kingdom, Austrian Empire, The Kingdom of Prussia and the Russian Empire backed Ottoman Empire against Egypt. France did not accept with the terms The Concert of Europe offered to Egypt, not siding with any of the rivals, but stayed ‘neutral’. Eventually after numerous military conflicts Egypt accepted the terms and Ottoman Empire got back all its lost fleets and territories. The significant downfall of The Concert of Europe was Crimean War in 1853 when Russian Empire started its expansion, which was against the main idea of the Congress of Vienna. It was all powered by the weakening Ottoman Empire and religious disputes till Russia made its move on Constantinople which was owned by the Turks. Afterwards European powers joined in to prevent Russia from growing too powerful. Followed three years of hostilities on five theatres till Russian Empire was eventually stopped. Being the first major armed conflict in Europe after the settlement at the Congress of Vienna, Crimean War signified the downfall of the Concert of Europe. At the Treaty of Paris, signed on March 30, 1856, the real looser was Austria. Having chosen to defy the Russians in the Balkans, Austria lost main ally, and over the next few years it appeared that Britain and France were not interesting in cooperation. Moreover, the Crimean War was the collapse of the Vienna Settlement, the system that had enabled Austria, Britain, France, Prussia and Russia to cooperate and maintain peace for three decades. The Crimean War placed the basis for two powerful new nation states Italy and Germany. The new six-power European system demonstrated to be less stable than its forefather, while the expectation that political and diplomatic aims could be satisfied by war led these states to adopt ever closer alliances. The Crimean War was a turning point in European history, marking the end of the Vienna settlement, and the beginning of a new system. In spite of all, the Great Powers finally returned to war in 1914, almost hundred years after the Congress of Vienna. Alliances and common pacts all end in the course of time, lead by human needs and personal gains, sooner or later. (And the outcome is war ofc) The First World War begun with a simple murder of Austrian-Hungarian royalty, at least that is the simplified reason. In reality it only triggered the war; the actual roots of the war are much deeper and more complicated than a simple bullet in the Archdukes neck. Rise of nationalism and its movements in Europe created such secret societies that used terrorist methods to promote their views. Slavic people in Bosnia and Herzegovina wanted no longer to be a part of Austria-Hungary, but instead be to be a part of Serbia. Viewing it in this way, it could be said that nationalism led Slavic people to rebel against their occupiers that ended with the First World War Increased military and naval rivalry led not only to the belief that war was close and increase in military control of the civilian government also there was an increased cooperation between allied countries. For example United Kingdom, France and Russia held secret military talks. The British and the French naval authorities agreed that the French navy should be concentrated in the Mediterranean and the British in the North Sea. Germany and Austria also had military agreements. When the First World War began, it was to be fought by all powers because they were locked into the conflict from the beginning by contracts and alliances. European powers had formed themselves into two rival groups called the Triple Entente versus the Triple Alliance and the interests of these groups clashed in many parts of the world before 1914. Whenever a clash arose, the two groups seemed to be on the edge of war. Believably, on some level, it eventually led to hatred of each other. Contributing fact was that after 1870, the European nations began to acquire colonies in Asia, Africa and the Pacific. Their imperialistic activities led to another clash of interests. It could be said that the underlying causes for war are the same as for everything else in life. One decision affects the other to ad nauseam. It was possible that politicians knew that war was at their doorstep, but I am sure they did not know that over 15 million people will have to pay for it with their lives. Could the First World War be avoided is doubtful, because of the tense relations, rivalry and complicated alliance systems. It was a small scale war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia that transformed into world war. The same could easily happen today when China or USA supports North or South Korea over the conflict. History repeats itself and we need to learn from it. Poking your nose into other people’s business is not the smartest plan when both sides have powerful ‘’brothers’’ positioned farther back.

Socrates: The Greek Philosopher :: essays research papers

The life of the Greek philosopher Socrates (469-399 BC) marks such a critical point in Western thought that standard histories divide Greek philosophy into pre-Socratic and post-Socratic periods. Socrates left no writings of his own, and his work has inspired almost as many different interpretations as there have been interpreters. He remains one of the most important and one of the most enigmatic figures in Western philosophy. As a young man Socrates became fascinated with the new scientific ideas that Anaxagoras and the latter's associate Archelaus had introduced to Athens. He seems for a time to have been the leader of an Athenian research circle--which would explain why the first appearance of Socrates in literature is as a villainous, atheistic scientist in The Clouds of Aristophanes. Young Socrates also knew the Sophists and listened to their debates and ceremonial orations. Socrates and the Sophists Neither science nor Sophistry, however, could answer a new philosophic questio n that struck him. The earlier Greek thinkers had been concerned almost wholly with physics and cosmology until the Sophists suggested that what should be done instead was to teach young men skills to satisfy their natural self-interest. Instead, Socrates wondered: "What is a 'self'?" Although "Know Thyself!" was one of three sayings carved on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, the directive proved difficult to carry out. The so-called scientific views of the time, particularly that of atomism, defined the self as a physical organ that responded to environmental pressure. Socrates felt, however, that the Sophists, for all their talk of self-interest, had little curiosity about the status of a self; they assumed that it was merely an isolated center constantly greedy for more pleasure, prestige, and power. The Sophists further thought that the values that people advocated were all conventional, varying from one culture to another, and that no one would ever act again st his or her own interest, regardless of how many people talked as though they would. This complex of ideas offered little to explain human nature and excellence. Socrates' Later Life and Thought Socrates, setting about his search for the self, was convinced of the importance of his quest. Until educators and teachers knew what human excellence was, he thought, they were engaging in false pretenses by claiming that they knew how to improve students or societies. Socrates believed that objective patterns, or "forms," exist that define human excellence, that these are neither culturally relative nor subjective, and that philosophic inquiry could discover them.

Essay --

On Friday November 15, 2013, I attended a concert that I found very interesting. It took place at 7:30 pm at the First Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. The group performing was the Erie Chamber Orchestra but as a special the Slippery Rock University Concert Choir was also there. During the performance I attended, two pieces were performed. The first was a Mozart piece by the name of Symphony No. 41 or Jupiter. The second and final was the Lord Nelson Mass composed by Joseph Haydn. In this concert, the two performances differed greatly unlike the last performance that I went to. The previous one that I attended had music that all sounded very similar to me. That could just be my lack of experience with American music, especially music that was composed hundreds of years ago. This time, there was vocal accompaniment with the second piece which clearly made it much different than the other works that I listened to. The Lord Nelson Mass was one that I enjoyed more and I feel that is because of the choir that performed. Although it is not the type of music that I usually listen to, it is still has some more similarities than the symphony by Mozart. The Lord Nelson Mass composed by Haydn was my favorite performance of the evening. The choir immediately captured my attention and seemed to do the same for everyone else in the audience. I was very impressed by the fact that the choir was made up entirely of college students. It was also stated that some of them sing in the choir just for fun as they are not music majors. There seemed to be an appeal in the fact that the singers were mostly very young. The piece as a whole was also very enjoyable. There was a lot of contrast which I really enjoyed. The music would be very loud and then... ...orgettable. Overall, I was very impressed by the concert and I feel that the rest of the audience was also. The expectations for the members of the Chamber Orchestra are high and those were met but I feel that the expectations for the choral group were not as high. My expectations for the choir were not very high and they were immensely exceeded. The level of talent in that group was something that I was really not expecting at all. Emotionally, I was brought in by The Lord Nelson Mass and it was an interesting experience. Technically, I feel that everyone was flawless though I do not have a lot of experience in music. The type of music performed will never be my favorite; however, it is something that I can really appreciate. The concert that I attended last Friday was an interesting one where I got to have some new experiences and learn about classical music. â€Æ'

Leadership qualities of harry s. truman

Harry S. Truman became President of the United States with the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 12, 1945. During his nearly eight years in office, Truman confronted enormous challenges in both foreign and domestic affairs. The leadership paradigm of the Truman years represented a blend of 19th century principles and postwar austerity. He was admired for his ability to maintain his Midwestern demure while being one of the world’s most prominent leaders as President of the United States. Truman was a compromise candidate for vice president, almost an accidental president after Roosevelt’s death 12 weeks into his second term. Truman’s stunning come-from-behind victory in the 1948 election showed how ordinary Americans, perhaps, appreciated his personal qualities of integrity and straightforwardness as McCullough notes, because he was one himself. Most Americans in the 1950s did not expect that Harry Truman would become one of their most highly regarded presidents. Truman's assets were his firm personal principles, his honesty, humility, intellectual integrity, and homespun character, and his ability to speak plain truths. Regardless of his lack of preparation, these qualities enabled him to face the challenges of the cold war, make portentous decisions, and retain the respect of the electorate, who accepted him as one of them. He could be magnanimous, as in his gesture of consulting with former President Herbert Hoover, long barred from the Roosevelt White House. He could be intrepid, as in his determination to remove General Douglas MacArthur from command in Korea, in order to preserve the superiority of the civilian government over the military. In 1948 Truman won the most unexpected election upset of the century. He ultimately prevailed. Truman succeeded Franklin D. Roosevelt as president before the end of World War II. He responded quickly to new challenges. Impulsive, he proved willing to make quick decisions when necessary. Additionally, he took responsibility for his decisions. His slogan, â€Å"The Buck Stops Here†, is famous in American politics. Intellectual integrity is another area in which Truman’s values are evident. A chief strength of his was the ability to admit the need for help.   By incorporating the strengths of his staff, Truman was able to make educated and well thought out decisions. He attempted to galvanize himself as a knowledgeable and effective leader. Acheson never ceased to be impressed that Truman had no trace of imperiousness about him and never let his ego to come between him and his job. Truman’s handling of Palestine is another example of his effective leadership. The issue of whether or not to create a unified Jewish state was divisive and risky. Although he left the presidency in 1953 at low ebb in his popularity, his standing rose again over the years. After his death on December 26, 1972, he achieved the status of folk hero. Songs proclaimed: â€Å"America Needs You Harry Truman.† A Broadway play, â€Å"Give ‘Em Hell, Harry† was based on his life story, and biographies of him became best sellers. Truman’s legacy has become clearer and more impressive in the years since he left office. Most scholars admit that the President faced enormous challenges domestically, internationally, and politically. While he occasionally failed to measure accurately the nation’s political tenor and committed some significant policy blunders, Truman achieved notable successes. Domestically, he took important first steps in civil rights, protected many of the New Deal’s gains, and presided over an economy that would enjoy nearly two decades of unprecedented growth. In foreign affairs, the President and his advisers established many of the basic foundations of America foreign policy, especially in American-Soviet relations, that would guide the nation in the decades ahead. On the whole, Truman is currently celebrated by the public, politicians, and scholars alike. REFERENCE McCullough, D. (1992). Truman. New York: Simon & Schuster.            

Life and Travels of Ibn Battuta, World Explorer and Writer

Life and Travels of Ibn Battuta, World Explorer and Writer Ibn Battuta (1304–1368) was a scholar, theologian, adventurer, and traveler who, like Marco Polo fifty years earlier, wandered the world and wrote about it. Battuta sailed, rode camels and horses, and walked his way to 44 different modern countries, traveling an estimated 75,000 miles during a 29 year period. He journeyed from North Africa to the Middle East and Western Asia, Africa, India and Southeast Asia. Fast Facts: Ibn Battuta Name: Ibn BattutaKnown For: His travel writing, which described the 75,000-mile journey he took during his rilha.Born: February 24, 1304, Tangier, MoroccoDied: 1368 in Morocco  Education: Schooled in the Maliki tradition of Islamic lawPublished Works: A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling or The Travels (1368 Early Years Ibn Battuta (sometimes spelled Batuta, Batouta, or Battutah) was born in Tangier, Morocco on February 24, 1304. He was from a fairly well-to-do family of Islamic legal scholars descended from Berbers, an ethnic group indigenous to Morocco. A Sunni Muslim trained in the Maliki tradition of Islamic law, Ibn Battuta left his home at the age of 22 to begin his rihla, or voyage. Rihla is one of four forms of travel encouraged by Islam, the best known of which is Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. The term rihla refers to both the travel and the genre of literature that describes the journey. The purpose of rihla is to enlighten and entertain readers with detailed descriptions of pious institutions, public monuments and religious personalities of Islam. Ibn Battutas travelogue was written after he returned, and in it he stretched the conventions of the genre, including autobiography as well as some fictional elements from the adjaib or marvels traditions of Islamic literature.   The first seven years of Ibn Battutas Travels took him to Alexandria, Mecca, Medina, and Kilwa Kiswani.   Wikipedia Users Setting Off Ibn Battutas journey began from Tangier on June 14, 1325. Originally intending to make a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, by the time he reached Alexandria in Egypt, where the lighthouse was still standing, he found himself entranced by the people and cultures of Islam.   He headed for Iraq, Western Persia, then Yemen and the Swahili coast of East Africa. By 1332 he reached Syria and Asia Minor, crossed the Black Sea and reached the territory of the Golden Horde. He visited the steppe region along the Silk Road and arrived at the oasis of Khwarizm in western central Asia.   Then he traveled through Transoxania and Afghanistan, arriving in the Indus Valley by 1335. He stayed in Delhi until 1342 and then visited Sumatra and (perhaps- the record is unclear) China before heading home. His return trip took him back through Sumatra, the Persian Gulf, Baghdad, Syria, Egypt, and Tunis. He reached Damascus in 1348, just in time for the arrival of the plague, and returned home to Tangier safe and sound in 1349. Afterwards, he made minor excursions to Granada and the Sahara, as well as to the West African kingdom of Mali. A Few Adventures Ibn Battuta was mostly interested in people. He met and talked with pearl divers and camel drivers and brigands. His traveling companions were pilgrims, merchants, and ambassadors. He visited countless courts. Ibn Battuta lived on donations from his patrons, mostly elite members of Muslim society he met along the way. But he was not just a traveler- he was an active participant, often employed as a judge (qadi), administrator, and/or ambassador during his stops. Battuta took a number of well-placed wives, generally daughters and sisters of the sultans, none of whom are named in the text.   Ibn Battuta is thought to have reached Asia.   Wikimedia Users Visiting Royalty Battuta met countless royals and elites. He was in Cairo during the reign of the Mamluk Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun. He visited Shiraz when it was an intellectual haven for Iranians fleeing the Mongol invasion. He stayed in the Armenian capital of Staryj Krym with his host, the governor Tuluktumur. He detoured to Constantinople to visit Andronicus III in the company of the Byzantine emperor Ozbek Khans daughter. He visited the Yuan emperor in China, and he visited Mansa Musa (r. 1307–1337) in West Africa.   He spent eight years in India as a qadi in the court of Muhammad Tughluq, the Sultan of Delhi. In 1341, Tughluq appointed him to lead a diplomatic mission to the Mongol emperor of China. The expedition was shipwrecked off the coast of India leaving him with neither employment nor resources, so he traveled around southern India, Ceylon and the Maldive islands, where he served as qadi under the local Muslim government. History of the Literary Rilha In 1536, after Ibn Battuta returned home,  the Marinid ruler of Morocco Sultan Abu Ina commissioned a young literary scholar of Andalusian origins named Ibn Juzayy (or Ibn Djuzzayy) to record Ibn Battutas experiences and observations. Over the next two years together, the men wove what would become the Book of Travels, based primarily on Ibn Battutas memories, but also interweaving descriptions from earlier writers.   The manuscript was circulated around different Islamic countries, but not much cited by Muslim scholars. It eventually came to the attention of the west by way of two adventurers of the 18th and 19th centuries, Ulrich Jasper Seetzen (1767–1811) and Johan Ludwig Burckhardt (1784–1817). They had separately purchased abridged copies during their travels throughout the Mideast. The first English language translation of those copies was published in 1829 by Samuel Lee. Five manuscripts were found by the French when they conquered Algeria in 1830. The most complete copy recovered in Algiers was made in 1776, but the oldest fragment was dated 1356. That fragment had the title Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Traveling, and is believed to have been a very early copy indeed if not an original fragment.   The complete text of the travels, with  parallel Arabic and a French translation, first appeared in four volumes between 1853–1858 by Dufrà ©mery and Sanguinetti. The full text was translated first into English by Hamilton A.R. Gibb in 1929. Several subsequent translations are available today.   Criticism of the Travelogue Ibn Battuta recounted tales of his travels throughout his voyage and when he returned home, but it was not until his association with Ibn Jazayy that the stories were committed to formal writing. Battuta took notes during the journey but admitted that he lost some of them along the way. He was accused of lying by some contemporaries, though the veracity of those claims is widely disputed. Modern critics have noted several textual discrepancies which hint at substantial borrowing from older tales.   Much of the criticism of Battutas writing is aimed at the sometimes confusing chronology and plausibility of certain parts of the itinerary. Some critics suggest he may have never reached mainland China, but did get as far as Vietnam and Cambodia. Parts of the story were borrowed from earlier writers, some attributed, others not, such as Ibn Jubary and Abu al-Baqa Khalid al-Balawi. Those borrowed parts include descriptions of Alexandria, Cairo, Medina, and Mecca. Ibn Battuta and Ibn Juzayy acknowledge Ibn Jubayr in the descriptions of Aleppo and Damascus.   He also relied on original sources, relating historical events told to him in the courts of the world, such as the capture of Delhi and the devastations of Genghis Khan. Death and Legacy After his collaboration with Ibn Jazayy ended, Ibn Batuta retired to a judicial post in a small Moroccan provincial town, where he died in 1368. Ibn Battuta has been called the greatest of all travel writers, having traveled farther than Marco Polo. In his work, he provided priceless glimpses of the various people, courts and religious monuments around the world. His travelogue has been the source of countless research projects and historical investigations. Even if some of the stories were borrowed, and some of the tales a bit too marvelous to be believed, Ibn Battutas rilha remains an enlightening and influential work of travel literature to this day. Sources Battuta, Ibn, Ibn Juzayy, and Hamilton A.R. Gibb. Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354. London: Broadway House, 1929. Print.Berman, Nina. Questions of Context: Ibn Battuta and E. W. Bovill on Africa. Research in African Literatures 34.2 (2003): 199-205. Print.Gulati, G. D. Ibn Battuta in Transoxiana. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress 58 (1997): 772-78. Print.Lee, Samuel. The Travels of Ibn Batuta Translated from the Abridged Arabic Manuscript Copies. London: Oriental Translation Committee, 1829. Print.Morgan, D. O. Battuta and the Mongols. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 11.1 (2001): 1-11. Print.Norris, Harry. Ibn Battuta on Muslims and Christians in the Crimean Peninsula. Iran the Caucasus 8.1 (2004): 7-14. Print.Waines, David. The Odyssey of Ibn Battuta: Uncommon Tales of a Medieval Adventurer. London: I.B. Tauris Cp, Ltd, 2010. Print.Zimonyi, Istvn. Ibn Battuta on the First Wife of Ãâ€"zbek Khan. Central Asiatic Journal 49.2 (2005): 303-09. Print.