Imaging the Shoulder and Upper Extremity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Imaging the Shoulder and Upper Extremity - Essay Example This can occur in people of all ages and can be a result of a severe fall. Standard radiographs may show the fracture but in cases where vascular injuries are present, more scans around the humerus condyles and humerus head need to be done. Distal radial- The part of radius near the wrist is known as the distal part and so the fracture of the radius is known as distal radial fracture .It is also known as wrist fracture. It occurs when there is a fall on outstretched hands or other accidents. Lateral radiographs in some cases not sufficient to identify the fracture and in some cases fractures are not visible, in such cases intense imaging such as CT scans become handy. Scaphoid fracture- Fracture of any of the scaphoid carpal wrist bones is known as scaphoid fracture. It is a result of any fall where the weight is concentrated solely on the palms. Scaphoid fractures are not easily detected and in 50% cases go unnoticed with X-rays until the fracture has advanced. Even with the help of CT scans and MRI fractures are not identifiable and the diagnosis depends on the doctor’s

The Good Teachers Essay Example for Free

The Good Teachers Essay The desire to throw away youth and to grow up in evident also in ‘The Good Teachers’ as the speaker reveals a list of things she used to do as a child in order to make herself appear older and more mature, ‘You roll the waistband/ of your skirt over and over’, the repetition of the latter phrase demonstrating the action itself, ‘all leg, all/ dumb insolence, smoke-rings.’ Through the continued use of the pronoun, ‘you’, we, as the reader can share in Duffy’s adolescent experience as they are actions universal to all teenagers. Both poems deal with the positive aspects of adolescent experiences, but also with the negative ones as well; in ‘Lanarkshire Girls’ the experience begins uneasy and unpleasant as the speakers recalls how ‘Summer annoyed us†¦ Like a boy with a stick through railings’. This simile is very sensory as it strikes an image in the readers’ head of a boy dragging a stick across railings and the sound it makes is prominent. The bus is trying to exit the rural country as the nature is trying to stop it, making the journey initially difficult, ‘We bent whole treetops/ squeezing through as they rained down twigs.’ This symbolises the transition from adolescence into adulthood and how the girls are struggling to make it. However, when they finally make it out of the country, the tone of the poem changes from annoyance and struggling, to admiration for the city and excitement to be in a new stage of their life and for their new found sense of fre edom. The same is true for the speaker in ‘The Good Teachers’ as Duffy uses the metaphor of ‘a wall you climb’ to describe the transition from adolescent into adulthood. Even in the most positive point of the poem where she expresses her passion and love for both her English teacher and the subject itself is tainted. Her adoration is evident through the repetition of, ‘so much’ and through her actions such as remembering ‘The River’s Tale by Rudyard Kipling by heart’ and by ‘making a poem for’ her teacher. The speaker suggests that even this adolescent experience was tainted as her teacher who she admired is not perfect and her ‘cruel blue’ eye demonstrates this. This symbolises how no adolescent experience is perfect. Both poems end on very different tones and therefore have different outlooks on adolescent experiences. ‘Lanarkshire Girls’ ends with a feeling of excitement as the bus, ‘spilled’ the girls out dreaming themselves up. Whereas, ‘The Good Teachers’ ends on a tone of regret as the speakers finds truth in what her teachers told her that, ‘you’ll be sorry one day’ for not working hard enough and for racing to throw away their childhoods.

Detection of Copy Move Forgery

Detection of Copy Move Forgery J.Reethrose B.E., Dr. J. P. Ananth M.E., Ph.D., Abstract—Digital images are easy to manipulate and edit using some editing software. So it is difficult to identify the duplicate images. Copy-move manipulations are common form of local processing, where parts of an image are copied and reinserted into another part of the same image. The problem of detecting the copy-move forgery describes an efficient and reliable detection and detects duplicate image regions. Most detection algorithm focused on pixel basis. In this paper propose a new approach to detect forgery image such scale, rotate, etc. Keywords—copy-move forgery, SIFT, LSH, RANSAC. INTRODUCTION Copy-move forgery is one of image tampering, were a part of the image is copied and pasted on another part of the same image. This copy-move forgery is easily done by some editing software such as Adobe Photoshop. Normally the human eye does not easily find out the copied region. The regions may be scaling or rotation type of manipulations. The goal of copy-move forgery is detecting duplicate image regions. The most common image manipulation techniques involve the following Removal of objects from the image. Addition of objects in the image. Change the objects appearance in the image. The most common of these three manipulations is removal of undesired objects from the image. Digital image forgery detection techniques are classified into active and passive approaches. In active approach, the digital image requires some pre-processing such as watermark embedding or signature generation at the time of creating the image, which would limit of their application in practice. Moreover, there are millions of digital images in internet without digital signature or watermark. In such scenario active approach could not be used to find the authentication of the image. Unlike the watermark-based and signature-based methods; the passive technology does not need any digital signature generated or watermark embedded in advance. Fig 1.1 Classification of Forgery detection techniques GENERAL DETECTION PROCEDURE Copy move manipulations result in duplicate image regions, which practical forensic analyses examine in terms of robust feature representations of parts of the image. Analyzing the image is very important before the preprocessing. After optional preprocessing (e.g., color to grayscale conversion), the image is transformed to the feature space. Feature representation is finding the duplicate region. There are so many methods used to find the duplicate image such as DCT (Discrete Cousine Transform), DWT (Discrete Wavelet Transform), and PCD (Principal Component Analysis). A set of feature vectors represents local image characteristics and is inspected for similarities in a matching procedure. This is achieved either by splitting the image into small blocks, which are then transformed separately, or by finding salient key points and extracting feature vectors based thereon. The matching procedure is finding the similarity of duplicate image blocks. Some of the matching algorithms are k- d tree, Sorting, Nearest Neighbour Search, and Hashing. Similar feature vectors or their corresponding coordinates in the image plane. False positives in the matching procedure are pruned in a final error reduction step. The error reduction step is finding the duplicate image region. Fig 2.1 General copy move detection pipeline PROPOSED SYSTEM Accordingly, digital image forensics has emerged as a new research field that aims to reveal tampering operations in digital images. A common manipulation in tampering with digital images is known as region duplication, where a continuous portion of pixels is copied and pasted to a different location in the same image. To make convincing forgeries, the duplicated regions are often created with geometrical or illumination adjustments. There are various method used in the existing system. DWT (Discrete Wave Transform) used to reduce dimensionality reduction. But it does not find the rotation and scaling. Lexicographic Sorting and Counting Bloom Filters are also used in the existing system. But it cannot find solution of scaling and rotation. It does not remove the noise. The Zernike moment is easy way to find the copy (-rotate-) move forgery. This method is still weak against scaling or the other tempering based on Affine transform. Existing System has the drawback of computational com plexity and does not find accuracy of the duplicate image regions. In recent years, several methods have been proposed to detect region duplication for the purpose of image forensics. These methods are based on finding pixel blocks that are exact copies of each other in an image. Such methods are most effective for the detection of region copy-move, where a region of pixels is pasted without any change to another location in the image. A common form of digital tampering is Copy-Move forgery, in which a part of the image itself is copied and pasted into another part of the same image to conceal an important object. Because the copied part come from the same image, its important properties, such as noise, Shape, color and texture, will be compatible with the rest of the image and thus will be more difficult to distinguish and detect. In the preprocessing stage the RGB image is converted into grayscale image. Apply SIFT algorithm using to find the keypoints. SIFT Algorithm is used to detect the keypoint localization. Good keypoints and features should represent distinct locations in an image, be efficient to compute and robust to local geometrical distortion, noise, illumination variations and other degradations. Here, present SIFT features detection method to find the duplicate. Specifically, to detect the locations, of potential duplicated regions, we first detect SIFT keypoints in an image. The detected keypoints are matched using hashing algorithm. We can use the matched SIFT keypoints to estimate the affine transform parameters, but the obtained results are inaccurate due to the large number of mismatched keypoints. To find out the unreliable keypoints we use Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC) algorithm then use the Affine transform. Finally detect the duplicate region. The following diagram shows the way to find the copy move forgery. Raw image is considered as the forgery image. Normally the raw image is RGB image. That RGB image is converting into gray scale. This is the preprocessing stage. Noise removal also includes the preprocessing stage. The steps involved in proposed method as follows. First step to find out the keypoints using SIFT (Scale Invariant Feature Transform). Find the keypoints then perform the matching keypoints procedure. Matching keypoints is using the Locality Sensitive Hashing (LSH). Matching is easy to find out the hash buckets. This hash is found the similar values or keypoints. Duplicate region is detected after matching. Find the duplicate region using the RANSAC (RANdom SAMple Consensus) algorithm. Fig 3.1 Block diagram of forgery detection A. Finding keypoints In the preprocessing stage the RGB image is converted into grayscale image. Apply SIFT algorithm for finding the keypoints. SIFT algorithm consist of the following stages: Scale-space extrema detection Keypoint localization Orientation assignment Generation of keypoint descriptors Good keypoints and features should represent distinct locations in an image, be efficient to compute and robust to local geometrical distortion, illumination variations, noise and other degradations. Here, to present a new region duplication detection methods based on the image SIFT features. Specifically, to detect the locations, of potential duplicated regions, first detect SIFT keypoints in an image. And compute the SIFT features for such keypoints. To ensure the obtained feature vector invariant to rotation and scaling, the size of the neighborhood is determined by the dominant scale of the keypoint, and all gradients within are aligned with the keypoints dominant orientation dominant orientation. B. Matching keypoints The similar keypoints can be found out using Locality Sensitive Hashing (LSH) technique. Previous year a k-d tree algorithm used to detect the keypoint. This is taken more time search to compute the similar values. Locality Sensitive Hashing easy to detect the similar values. Locality-sensitive hashing(LSH) is a method of performing probabilisticdimension reductionof high-dimensional data. The basic idea is tohashthe input items so that similar items are mapped to the same buckets with high probability (the number of buckets being much smaller than the universe of possible input items). This is different from the conventional hash functions, such as those used incryptographyas in this case the goal is to maximize probability of collision of similar items rather than avoid collisions. C. Duplicate Region RANSAC algorithm used to detect the error. This means SIFT produce the keypoints then Locality Sensitive Hashing used to find the similar keypoints. Locality Sensitive Hashing has the bucket. Each bucket contains the index that index contain the values of keypoints. RANSAC algorithm reduces the error. Instead of RANSAC using the Affine transformation. So it will easily to find out the error of scale, rotation and transformation of copy move forgery detection. CONCLUSION In particular the human eye does not easily find out the copied region. The regions may be scaling or rotation type of manipulations. The goal of copy-move forgery is detecting duplicate image regions. Copy move forgery is difficult to identify the duplicate image region. SIFT is used to detect the keypoints of given image. SIFT is Scale Invariant Feature Transform. So it focused to detect the Scale and transformation. Good keypoints and features should represent distinct locations in an image, be efficient to compute and robust to local geometrical distortion, illumination variations, noise and other degradations. Here, we present a new region duplication detection method based on the image SIFT features. Locality Sensitive Hashing detects the similar keypoints. Finally RANSAC algorithm used to find the duplicate image region. REFERENCE [1] Rohini. R. Maind, Alka Khade, D. K. Chitre â€Å"Robust Image Copy move Forgery Detection† International Journal of Advanced and Innovative Research (IJAIR) ISSN: 2278-7844, Vol. 2, Issue 8, 2013. [2] Yanjun Cao, Tiegang Gao , Li Fan , Qunting Yang â€Å"A robust detection algorithm for copy-move forgery in digital images† Forensic Science International 214 (2012). [3] Reza Oji â€Å"An Automatic Algorithm for Object Recognition and Detection Based On ASIFT Keypoints† Signal Image Processing: An International Journal (SIPIJ) Vol.3, No.5, October 2012. [4] Pradyumna Deshpande, Prashasti Kanikar, â€Å"Pixel Based Digital Image Forgery Detection Techniques† International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications (IJERA) Vol-2, Issue 3, May-June 2012. [5] B.L.Shivakumar, Dr. S.Santhosh Baboo, â€Å"Automated Forensic Method for Copy-Move Forgery Detection based on Harris Interest Points and SIFT Descriptors† International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887) Volume 27– No.3, August 2011 [6] Xunyu Pan and Siwei Lyu,† Detecting Image Region Duplication Using Sift Features† IEEE, ICASSP, Dallas, USA 2010. [7] Seung-Jin Ryu, Min-Jeong Lee, and Heung-Kyu Lee, â€Å"Detection of Copy-Rotate Move Forgery Using Zernike Moments† International Conference on Information Hiding 2010. [8] Saiqa Khan, Arun Kulkarni, â€Å"Reduced Time Complexity for Detection of Copy-Move Forgery Using Discrete Wavelet Transform† International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887) Volume 6– No.7, September 2010. [9] Sevinc Bayram, Husrev Taha Sencar, Nasir Memon, â€Å"An Efficient and Robust Method for Detecting Copy-Move Forgery† International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing – 2009. [10] Tehseen Shahid, Atif Bin Mansoor â€Å"Copy-Move Forgery Detection Algorithm for Digital Images and a New Accuracy Metric† International Journal of Recent Trends in Engineering, Vol 2, No. 2, November 2009. [11] Aristides gionis, piote indyk, Rajeev motwani â€Å"Similarity search in high dimension via hashing 1999. [12] Prof. Unmukh Datta, Chetna Sharma â€Å"Analysis of Copy-Move Image Forgery Detection† International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering (IJARCSEE) Volume 2, Issue 8, August 2013 [13] Frank Y. Shih and Yuan Yuan â€Å"A Comparison Study on Copy-Cover Image Forgery Detection† The Open Artificial Intelligence Journal, 2010, 4, 49-54 49

Overview Of The Human Resource Activities Management Essay

Overview Of The Human Resource Activities Management Essay This essay gives an overview of the Human Resource activities in Goldman Sachs Group with particular concern to the challenges faced at the senior management level. In Goldman Sachs, Human resource management is referred to as Human Capital management and during my investigation it was revealed that the Groups HR managers employ the SOFT approach that emphasis the need to gain commitment of employees through involvement and communication. The challenges faced by this division are as a result of the rapid changes occurring in the external business environment and some internal re-structuring adopted regularly to tackle short and long-term un-foreseen circumstances. The Goldman Sachs Group is a global investment banking and securities firm which engages in investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients. Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869 and is headquartered at 200 West Street in the Lower Manhattan area of New York City, with additional offices in major international financial centre. The firm provides mergers and acquisitions advice, underwriting services, asset management, and prime brokerage to its clients, which include corporations, governments and individuals. The firm also engages in proprietary trading and private equity deals, and is a primary dealer in the United States Treasury security market (Goldman Sachs, 2010). According to Leif Edvinsson (2002), the only essential value an enterprise has is the experience, skills, innovativeness and insights of its people; Goldman Sachs believes human resource management plays a critical role in managing the firms most important asset, the people. People are our most valuable asset is a truism which no member of the senior management team would disagree with. The HR division serves the firm globally from locations in the Americas, Europe, India and Asia, and is responsible for a broad range of activities that relates to that outlined by Henry Fayol (1841-1925). Question 1: Business environment is rapidly changing and bringing new challenges to the workplace. What are the challenges face by the HR Manager in your chosen organization and suggest how these can be overcome by effective HR strategies. There is a dynamic shift in the global business environment today and more dramatic change is expected in the next decades especially at senior level (CIPD, 2010). As a result, HR managers at Goldman Sachs must play special roles in dealing with these changes and must develop specific competencies to tackle the effect. These changes include Workplace Diversity, Pay structure, the transfer of work abroad, either to outsourced providers or on a global in-sourcing basis; the e-enablement of many HR process; greater sophistication in the HR information technology, new structures for international HR functions; greater competition for talented staff at all levels of organization; more protracted and strategic talent pipelines. Stuart (2009) wrote in an article that If HR is not yet sufficiently respected in financial services, especially in the Investment banking industry, and then such an important issue, affecting both corporate image and the compensation of senior executives, is unlikely to be delegated to them. I strongly concur with this logic, implying that other senior executives will make the decisions, while HR is left to handle the vast amount of day-to-day paperwork: This is not the case in Goldman Sachs Group. After a careful research into the Human resource activities in Goldman Sachs, this report revealed that there is a well-structured strategy tailored specifically for senior level employees. This is because of their strong concern for long term leadership scheme required for the sustainability of their cooperate strategy. They accept as true that Human Capital management has been the bed-rock of the Organizations success so far (GS leadership Summit, 2009). There is a direct link between the corporate strategy and the HR strategies in Goldman Sachs. As a result, the HR managers in various locations continually strive to hit a balance in the way and manner they deal with executives in the top level (Goldman Sachs, 2010). The HR managers have long wanted to get away from the old reputation of telling line managers what they cannot do, by concentrating on business partnering, change management, leadership development and of course Financial Directors that are also seldom turned on by reconciliations and Internal Audit, but they do it while still remaining strategically relevant (Taylor, 2009). In Goldman Sachs, the HR function is viewed differently according to the organizations sub-divisions; however, the financial crisis has given rise to four key issues that provide HR managers in Goldman Sachs with the chance to demonstrate the value of its expertise and elevate its image and status within the Investment banking industry. These issues are: Leadership selection and development, pay structure, Workplace Diversity, intelligent and efficient downsizing, and the need for new ways to manage, engage and retain staff for higher management positions. Spencer (2009) in a research discovered that these issues are key factor that could affect the future of any organization in the long term hence the need for critical response by the HR managers in Goldman Sachs. Leadership selection and development Establishing a strong pipeline of potential leaders is important for Goldman Sachs future success (Goldman Sachs, 2008). In the financial services industry, organizations have often felt compelled to reward high revenue-generating employees with promotion to management positions, the results have been mixed indeed, it could be argued that the inappropriate selection of managers contributed to the recent crisis. The Goldman Sachs group as a whole is still grappling with this issue, thinking of effective ways to integrate star performers within the management structure without compromising standards. A good retention plan as well as training and development programs for senior executives (as illustrated in the later part of this paper) can help Goldman HR managers tackle this challenge. Pay structure The financial crisis has brought the compensation structure within all divisions in Goldman Sachs back to the drawing board (FT, 2009). There is a widespread feeling that short-term pay deals encouraged risk-taking behavior which, at least in part, contributed to the crisis. As a result, growing pressure from government, media and the general public has resulted in many investment banks rethinking the way they pay their front-line staff. The need for greater transparency, a remodeled financial incentive for risk-taking, and more precise measurement of individual performance is a topic of much debate within Goldman Sachs. At the very least, HR can anticipate heavy involvement in ensuring compliance with newly introduced and very detailed legal and regulatory requirements on pay. Workplace Diversity The future success of Goldman Sachs relies on the ability to manage a diverse body of talent that can bring innovative ideas, perspectives and views to their work. The challenge and problems faced of workplace diversity can be turned into a strategic asset if Goldman Sachs is able to capitalize on this melting pot of diverse talents. With the blend of talents of diverse cultural backgrounds, genders, ages and lifestyles, they can react to business opportunities more rapidly and creatively, especially in the global investment banking industry. Alison (2008) confirmed that this fact must be one of the important corporate goals to accomplish for greater success. More importantly, if Goldman Sachs internal working environment does not support diversity broadly, they risk losing talent to competitors. In order to effectively manage workplace diversity especially at senior level, Cox (1993) suggests that HR Managers at Goldman Sachs needs to change from an ethnocentric view (our way is the best way) to a culturally relative perspective (lets take the best of a variety of ways). This shift in philosophy has to be deep-rooted in the managerial framework of the HR Management in her planning, organizing, leading and controlling of the Groups valued asset Our People. Since pay is no longer a necessarily key motivator, other ways to attract, engage and retain staff need to be emphasized or discovered for long-term benefits. Intelligent downsizing A harsher economic climate has resulted in several Investment banks downsizing their staff level considerably. Goldman Sachs HR managers most consider reshaping the organization so that it can ride the downturn with morale intact, while ensuring that it is prepared to capitalize when the economy recovers, this will present a clear opportunity for HR managers at Goldman Sachs to prove their commercial value. However, at their annual stakeholders conference (2009), doubts were expressed about whether HR has so far managed to stamp its authority on this process. Question 2: Comment on how HR activities contribute to the success of your chosen organization. Use any 2 HRM Models to explain your answer. A number of studies have noted significance of human resource activities in the success or failure of an organization (Terpstra Olson, 1993). Human resource factors form one of the most important areas for success for Goldman Sachs (Castanias Helfat, 1991; Spender, 1993; Lei Hitt, 1995; Conner Prahalad, 1996). Carter, et al. (1994), as well as Nucci (1999) wrote that business continued existence and success is associated to human resource as well as the financial factors at the early start-up phase. A study of new businesses by Bamford, Dean, McDougall (1996) acknowledged acquiring competent human resources was critical for any Business success or failure because HR management (also called Human capital management in Goldman Sachs) influence and may determine how well success can be achieved in a highly competitive global market environment. HR managers at Goldman Sachs employ a model synonymous to the Harvard analytic framework which focuses on the different stakeholders interest that impact on employee behavior and performance. All the successful internal operational activities have been shaped by their Human Resource strategic choices (Goldman Sachs, 2009). Like the Harvard analytical framework, HRM policies at Goldman Sachs are derived from Stakeholders interest and the outcomes which are in-line with the HRM policies produces corresponding Long-term consequences (Organizational effectiveness). These consequently have a direct effect on the Stakeholders interest and several situational factors (Workforce, Business strategies, Management Structure and Culture). Stake holder Interests Shareholders Management Employee Groups HRM policy HR outcomes Long-Term Government choices Consequences Community Employee Commitment Individual Unions influence Compliance well-being Human resource Congruence Organizational flow Cost effectiveness effectiveness Rewards systems Societal well- Work Systems being Situational Factors Workforce Characteristics Business Strategy and conditions Management Philosophy Labor Market Unions Task Technology Law and Societal values Figure 1: Harvard analytical framework adapted from Beer et al (1984) Guest strategic Human Resource management model best summarize the strategies and contributions of Human Resources managers at Goldman Sachs. The model draws a link from the HRM policies (concerning Organizational design, management of change, Recruitment, selection, development and reward systems) to the Human Resource outcomes (strategic integration, commitment and quality) produced by such policies and onto the corresponding Organizational outcomes (High job performance, innovation, Cost effectiveness and competitive advantage). HRM Policies Human Resource Outcomes Organizational Outcomes High Organizational design Job performance Management of change Strategic Integration High Problem-solving Change Recruitment Commitment Innovation selection socialization Appraisal training Flexibility High development Cost Effectiveness Reward systems Quality Low Turnover Absence Grievances Leadership/ Culture/Strategy Figure 2: SHRM model Adapted from Guest (1989) The degree of the overall HR performance at Goldman Sachs is positively associated with success and growth as explained by Fombrun et al (1984). The approaches to employee recruitment and selection are many. The firm often has greater resources to filter potential workers, yet the HR managers have greater insight regarding a potential recruit at the individual level. Regardless of the types of recruitment, tests, interviews, and measures of potential performance, recruitment and selection of the right people for company positions affects the probability of success. Effective recruitment and selection is positively associated with success and growth. Designing and implementing adequate work environments, reward systems, benefits packages (among others) are part of HR function at Goldman Sachs. These are often critical to retain the highest performing quality employees. At Goldman Sachs, difficulties sometimes arise in keeping their best people from accepting posts that are more attractive. This is particularly true in the Investment banking sectors of high demand for particular human capital. Retention of quality employees is positively associated with success and growth. In the same way, Employee Satisfaction is positively associated with success and growth. The Group recorded an increase in profit from 15.6% as of November 28, 2008 to 16.0% In March 27, 2009 and this was linked to the effectiveness of her HR managers with particular concern on the way and manner they managed issues relating to recruitment and selection of the Groups senior executives, established successful retention of quality employees (created high number of high ranked staffs renowned in the investment banking industry), and excellent succession planning strategies. Rewards Selection Performance Appraisal Training Figure 3: Human Resource circle adapted from Fombrun et al (1984) HR managers at Goldman Sachs provide enhancement of human capital by education, training, mentoring and other programs as a means to improving business outcomes. These programs not only increase the skills of employees, but also motivate them and inspire new ideas. There are positive effects in the interrelation between knowledge-structures (such as development and training) with the corporate goal. Employee training and development is positively associated with success and growth. Question 3: What role HR planning plays in your chosen organization? Describe any 3 HR planning Methods that has been used to achieve organizational objectives. In March 27, 2009 Goldman Sachs improved her balance sheet, reporting a Tier 1 ratio of 16.0% (an increase from 15.6% as of November 28, 2008); credit was given to the effectiveness and proactive strategies of her HR managers for successful planning across all divisions of the group (GS summit, 2009). Goldman Sachs HR managers believe that a good planning requires an assessment of present and future needs of the organization compared with present resources and future predicted resources. Effective HR planning has anticipated and mapped out the cost and benefit of their business strategy on the effectiveness of their Human resources (Bott, 2010). These plans have enabled them anticipate the future needs of their Human resource management, and indentify practices that will help them meet those needs. Although, Goldman Sachs corporate strategy guides the HR strategies, their HR plans are highly congruent with their Business strategy (vertical integration). In like manner, the HR strateg ies are cohesive and mutually supportive to all functional departments and divisions across the Group (Horizontal integration). HR planning has contributed immensely to the emulating succession planning at Goldman Sachs (Goldman Sachs, 2009), it has helped to anticipate and prevent chaos within the organization (Smoke detectors), help to resolve employees challenges especially at the senior level, enable an effective Retention plan, and several developmental programs to ensure staff competency (Goldman Sachs treasured asset). It has also helped the group to answer question like; where will the next generation of our managers come from, how they can retain their highly skilled staffs, and what number of staffs they should employ. Several HR planning methods has been employed by HR managers at Goldman Sachs to achieve success in these areas. Some of such planning methods are; Bench Strength Plan; this planning method is more of a targeted succession planning at Goldman Sachs. It emphasizes on the Human capital on reserve that are capable of succeeding a senior executive when they leave. It is currently the least automated talent management procedure within the Group but has also provided the senior executives with global visibility into the talent pipeline and overall bench strength by leveraging dynamic talent pools and advanced analysis of capable staffs that would take over if a senior executive leaves (softscape, 2009). Goldman Sachs Succession planning systems have helped to identify, prepare, and track high potential employees for promotion and advancement. This planning method further reaffirms the fact that the key success factor as stated in the Groups Values is Our People (Goldman Sachs, 2010). Practically, Goldman Sachs examines the capabilities of her employees and follows up their performance and effectiveness from basic roles to leadership qualities. Senior executives are encouraged to select at least three employee of their choice who would be monitored and later given more responsibilities within a division by way of heading smaller departments (see figure 4). These selected employees would then be observed and scrutinized considering several behavioral and professional factors. After a specified period, one out of the three would be groomed specifically for the proposed senior position. Figure 4: Succession planning adapted from Goldman Sachs (2010) Retention Plan; this planning method enables the Goldman Sachs HR managers to identify competent employees who are of great value to the organization and have the capabilities of stepping into senior positions. This category of employees are then developed and mentored through a planned procedure to equip them with the classified ethics of the Group (GS annual conference, 2009). Goldman HR managers also use tools like competitive pay rate, quality training, and continuous development programs as a retention strategy for senior executives. Although Goldman Sachs keeps all vital information regarding their senior executives classified. Effective Retention planning has helped Goldmans HR managers to anticipate unforeseen circumstances that may occur if an employee under grooming decides to leave (Lloyd, 2008). Horizontal Progression plan; as a result of the recent economy down-turn Goldman Sachs has integrated many job positions to shrink cost (FT, 2008). The effect of this change created an un-safe environment for their employees and resulted to under performance across all divisions. As part of the strategic intervention by the HR managers, Horizontal progression plan was introduced to enable job rotation and staffs transfer across the Group (Goldman Sachs, 2009). This created a boost in their employees morale and there was a recorded Tier 1 ratio of 16.0% increase in Balance sheet (an increase from 15.6% as of November 28, 2008). Question 4: Recruitment Selection strategies ensure the deployment of a new human capital in the organization. What Recruitment and Selection strategies are taken in your chosen organization to recruit select senior management staff to enhance organizational performance? Goldman Sachs global business reputation and success begin from the recruitment and selection of competent and talented employees (Lloyd, 2009); this statement forms the bedrock on which GS HR managers build recruitment and selection strategies for senior executives. Fletcher (1996) started that an organizations workforce should match her corporate vision; hence the HR policies for recruitment and selection of senior executives at Goldman Sachs have been tailored to best fit their business goals. There is a clear definition of who is needed and a well defined role and responsibilities of any selected senior executive at all division. A recent report by KPMG (2009) started that in the USA 20 percent of the entire workforce will retire in 2011, in London 60 percent of skilled employers are facing skill shortage already, and the average cost of recruitment and selection process runs into an excess of about  £4800. Recruiting senior staff members is a critical procedure for HR managers at Goldman Sachs, unlike the general recruitment process; Brains are not just enough, there are several stages to determine whether a prospective candidate meet the Goldman Sachs intellectual standards. Prospective employees are identified, assessed and selected on the bases of their work experience and professional recognition within the financial trading, asset management and investment banking industry. Some of the best fit recruitment strategies employed by Goldman Sachs HR managers includes; Employers Branding, In-house search, Head hunters, Employee referral schemes, Professional social networks like LinkedIn (Crawford, 2010) a nd sometimes newspaper advert. Employers Branding Minchington (2005) defines employer brand as the image of an organization as a great place to work in the mind of existing employees and key stakeholders. Simon and Tim (1996) defined it as the package of functional, economic and psychological benefits provided by employment. HR managers at Goldman Sachs use their employer brand in the form of series of messages and images about the company to communicate its culture and value- from the employees point of view during the pre-recruitment phase. They employ this strategy as a strong tool to attract and recruit talented senior executives across the investment banking industry as well as retention strategy for existing senior employees (Goldman, 2009). In-House Exploration Goldman HR managers identify existing employees who have the capabilities and can possibly fill in a vacant senior position when the need arise (Goldman Sachs Tactical recruitment option, 2009). The advantage of this option is that it reduces the cost of going through the rigorous recruitment and selection process for fresh candidates. However, the disadvantage of this strategy is that when a junior employee is identified to fill up a senior position, the position of that employee becomes vacant thereby creating the need for the recruitment of another junior employee to fill in such gap. Head Hunters Traditionally, Headhunter is the industry term for a third-party recruiter, who seeks out possible candidates. Goldman Sachs has got in-house Headhunters who have been employed to network, cultivate relationships with various companies, maintain large databases, purchase company directories or candidate lists, and cold call prospective recruits (GS, 2009). This category of employees is part of the Goldman Sachs HR team and their sole responsibility is to source for possible candidates to fill any senior job role vacancy. Employee referral schemes This is the case where existing Goldman Sachs senior employees suggest potential candidates drawn from their own networks and connections. Goldman Sachs HR managers adopt this strategy very often considering the quality of these existing senior employees and their contribution to the success and standard of the Goldman Sachs Group. Latest CIPD Recruitment and Retention survey  ¬Ã‚ ndings indicates that the percentage of organizations that attract applicants by this method has increased from 38% in 2005 to over 47% in 2010 (CIPD, 2010). Purcell et al (2003) started that the willingness of existing employees to recommend their organization to others is used as a measure of organizational commitment in high performing workplaces. The advantage of employee referral schemes includes reduced recruitment costs, as well as enabling applicants to achieve a more realistic job preview. Professional social network (LinkedIn) Goldman Sachs has a network on LinkedIn a social networking site that is career focused and has got a tremendous reach across geographies. Goldman Sachs HR managers use LinkedIn to post job vacancies especially for senior management roles. Sometimes, the use of LinkedIn search prompts which has a sophisticated algorithm to job match possible candidates may become handy (Goldman, 2010). This strategy is often adopted when the need for a candidate to fill up a vacant role arise rather impromptu. However, the tendency for such situation to arise is slim due to the proactive nature of HR managers at Goldman Sachs. The right selection strategy is as important as any recruitment strategy employed by Goldman Sachs HR managers. The aim is to ensure that candidates are employed based on realistic competency rather than an acclaimed quality usually presented in resumes (Milner, 2009). Goldman selection process aim to quickly, accurately, and efficiently identify the best potential candidate for a vacant position. As a result, Goldman Sachs selects potential senior employee by means of direct telephone interview, board-room presentation and on rare occasions, face-to-face interview. Goldman Sachs HR managers adopt this medium considering the necessity for a fast, efficient and cost effective selection process for any prospective candidate who has been deemed fit for a senior position. Interviewing is the most widely used selection process in Goldman Sachs; where first and second interviews are conducted. Interviews are normally conducted between business hours, which are from 8:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Interviews are ideally scheduled one week in advance, but may not always be possible, therefore negotiation between GS HR representative and prospective senior employee may be necessary. Behavioral interviewing is a common practice at during Goldman selection process, alongside with reference checks and psychometric assessments. It is advised that a combination of these selection methods be utilized to guarantee that the best candidates are screened and to benefit from a reduction in future costs associated with hiring and training, even at the fundamental entry level positions. It is also important to consider compensation and benefits packages in order to retain and attract the best candidates. Question 5: HRD interventions help organization to develop highly competent staff and teams. Describe the use of at least 3 HR training Development methods taken to enhance the competence of the senior management staff in your chosen organization. To a large extent, models of strategic HRD presupposes a rational and linear model of strategy formulation and implementation of process involving objective settings, the analysis of environmental trends and available resources, evaluation of options, and ending with a careful planning of the strategys implementation (Storey, 1991). Hendry (1995) suggested that the ideal HRD strategy should be the one that best fit Goldman Sachs business goals not actually the best practice. Beer and Spector (1989) added that strategic HRD can be viewed as a proactive system-wide intervention which is linked to strategic and cultural changes. Goldman Sachs Business objective Goals and strategies Departmental strategies Finance,Marketing,HRD,HRM,Operations HRD policies HRD plans HRD procedures HRD practices Evaluation Figure 5: Strategy and HRD adapted from (Wilson, 1999) Figure 5 illustrates the contribution of strategic HRD interventions to the training and development of Goldman Sachs human capital at every stage of the organizations strategy breakdown structure. HRD is an essential factor that affects employees capability and performance. It shows that HR development in policies, plans, working procedures, and practices would lead to staff competency. Human resource development focuses on the development of people, enhancing their skills, knowledge, attitudes so that they create value (human capital) for Goldman Sachs business needs. HRD seeks to optimize the human potential readily available across all Goldmans divisions (Shames, 2010). Goldman Sachs believes that human resource development interventions should be proactive rather that reactive (Lloyd, 2009). Employees are frequently groomed to become efficient in their core competency. Like the Japanese Kaizen, training and development is a continuous process in Goldman Sachs; the quality and standard of employees reflects the effectiveness of the HRD strategies employed by HR managers at all divisions of the Group. The training and development methods adopted are; Job rotation: Flexibility within working environment is a breeding-ground for development (Frederic, 2006). Senior executives are obligated to perform different job roles on regular bases as part of Goldman Sachs continuous development plan. This is a proactive strategy that does not only increase employees competency but also ensures that all senior employees can play several roles within the organization to reduce cost. It also creates an avenue for the HR managers to identify who best fit certain roles for efficiency and productivity. Coaching: Although rarely employed at senior level, Coaching at Goldman Sachs explains the development process where a more experienced senior executive (trainer) ensure that the senior employee under development (trainee) is monitored and guided through a well structured on-the-job training program. Usually, the trainer commits the trainee to undertake certain un-familiar responsibilities while he looks out for errors. These errors would be corrected in a manner that wouldnt tarnish the morale of the senior employee under development else the aim for the program would be ruined. This method ensures a close working relationship between the trainer and the trainee. Self-development and Learning: During the GS annual conference in March, 2008, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein stated We cannot recruit an employee who doesnt have value for self development. Self development is enhanced by continuous learning and development in a broader perspective increases competency. Goldman Sachs encourages its senior management staffs to improve by constantly challenging them with greater job responsibilities as well as a regular review of working standards. Figure 5 illustrates the model of Goldmans employees continuous learning where they engage in learning opportunities to maintain, or improve, their employability. Figure 6: GS continuous learning structure adapted from (eBusiness Community Model, 2010) Question 6: What role Performance Management plays in achieving higher performance in your chosen organization? M

Mercury :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As you may already know Mercury is the first planet . Which makes it the closest to the sun. It is 57,900,000km ( 36,000,000mi.) Because Mercury is so close to the sun it has extreme temperature differences. Mercury’s surface temperatures range from -180*C to 450*C (-290*F to 840*F). Temperatures that hot can melt iron, and other metals. The dramatic temperature difference on Mercury are not only because it is so close to the sun but, also by Mercury’s surface features. The places that are the coldest on Mercury and at the bottom of the craters and basins. The hottest are the places closest to the sun. The temperature of the side that is farthest away from the sun is allot warmer than scientists thought it would be. Not a whole side but parts of Mercury have never been in sunlight before. This is why scientists thought it would be colder than it really was.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mercury’s surface is much like the moon, they are very colse to being the same size. It has many craters, high multiple ring basins, and many lava flows. They have their similarities and differences. Mercury’s diameter is 4,900 miles wide. Mercury’s largest feature is the Caloris Basin. The Caloris basin is 1,300 Km (800 MI). in diameter. The Caloris Basins floor is full of cliffs and ridges. As you progress to the bottom the cliffs and ledges increase in size. The Caloris Basin was created when it was bombarded with meteorites. The Caloris basin was created by a meteorite that could of been up to 100 km. When the large meteorite hit Mercury it sent shocks through it which produced jumbled hills on the opposite side of Mercury. This process as known as The Caloris Impact. The lava flowed into craters and basins which filled holes and cracks that smoothed out their floors.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Like Earth, Mercury has 3 main layers. The Earth’s being the crust, mantle, and core. Earth’s core is made up of molten rock AKA lava. Liquid cores create a magnetic field. Mercury’s three layers are a rocky silicate crust, solid rocky silicate mantle, and a hot liquid iorn-nickle core. The core makes up 75% of its diameter. Scientists did not think that is was possible for the core to be liquid because over the years mercury’s rotation has slowed down dramatically. They thought that it would of been hardened by now. Planets that have a magnetic field that are generated by the rotation of a conductive molten core such as that of Earth and mercury are known as â€Å"The Dynamo Effect†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mercury’s rotation period is 59 earth days long. Mercury :: essays research papers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As you may already know Mercury is the first planet . Which makes it the closest to the sun. It is 57,900,000km ( 36,000,000mi.) Because Mercury is so close to the sun it has extreme temperature differences. Mercury’s surface temperatures range from -180*C to 450*C (-290*F to 840*F). Temperatures that hot can melt iron, and other metals. The dramatic temperature difference on Mercury are not only because it is so close to the sun but, also by Mercury’s surface features. The places that are the coldest on Mercury and at the bottom of the craters and basins. The hottest are the places closest to the sun. The temperature of the side that is farthest away from the sun is allot warmer than scientists thought it would be. Not a whole side but parts of Mercury have never been in sunlight before. This is why scientists thought it would be colder than it really was.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mercury’s surface is much like the moon, they are very colse to being the same size. It has many craters, high multiple ring basins, and many lava flows. They have their similarities and differences. Mercury’s diameter is 4,900 miles wide. Mercury’s largest feature is the Caloris Basin. The Caloris basin is 1,300 Km (800 MI). in diameter. The Caloris Basins floor is full of cliffs and ridges. As you progress to the bottom the cliffs and ledges increase in size. The Caloris Basin was created when it was bombarded with meteorites. The Caloris basin was created by a meteorite that could of been up to 100 km. When the large meteorite hit Mercury it sent shocks through it which produced jumbled hills on the opposite side of Mercury. This process as known as The Caloris Impact. The lava flowed into craters and basins which filled holes and cracks that smoothed out their floors.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Like Earth, Mercury has 3 main layers. The Earth’s being the crust, mantle, and core. Earth’s core is made up of molten rock AKA lava. Liquid cores create a magnetic field. Mercury’s three layers are a rocky silicate crust, solid rocky silicate mantle, and a hot liquid iorn-nickle core. The core makes up 75% of its diameter. Scientists did not think that is was possible for the core to be liquid because over the years mercury’s rotation has slowed down dramatically. They thought that it would of been hardened by now. Planets that have a magnetic field that are generated by the rotation of a conductive molten core such as that of Earth and mercury are known as â€Å"The Dynamo Effect†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mercury’s rotation period is 59 earth days long.

Fading Christian Relevancy Exposed by Sallie McFague Essay -- Religion

My first encounter with Sallie McFague’s article was jarring: her eco-feminist metaphorical approach to theology is somewhat unexpected to those unfamiliar with Religious Studies. Yet I suppose I have misjudged much of this field of study by unfairly coming to expect either wholly traditional or wholly radical claims. McFague’s approach, however, seems relatively moderate and reasonable in all its assertions, and its neo-Derridian deconstruction had my inner cultural analyst bursting with excitement. Aching to break away from the patriarchical tyranny of classical Christian theology, she is committed to a drastic reconstruction of traditional Christian dogma. At first I wondered as to her motives: was this deconstruction fueled by a second-wave feminist desire to overthrow patriarchy, or the wishes of a tree-hugging ecologist on a mission to save the natural world (as suggested by her book’s title, Theology for an Ecological, Nuclear Age)? Apparently neither. It is after the first few paragraphs that McFague brings clear relevancy to her writing. She argues that the common interpretation of Jesus’ resurrection serves to negate God’s omnipresence. Traditionally it is understood that the resurrection represents a â€Å"personal, bodily translation into another world† (259) though which one can join the Savior. Thus while awaiting a later holistic reunion with God, one’s earthly, bodily present is in â€Å"between-time†, in limbo, lacking God in space and time. Thus McFague fears such an interpretation for its indirect implications: God, then, is not ‘omnipresent’ – He is only par tially, selectively present. (260) She proposes, then, that the resurrection tale no longer be held as a mythology of transcendence, but rather as a â€Å"promise of G... ...e need for metaphorical theology. The particular appeal of McFague’s style is, then, not necessarily her argument nor her logic: rather it is her open-minded approach to such controversial matters. For as McFague herself would openly admit, â€Å"there are, of course, different understandings on what is ‘better’† (265). Notes: [1] I particular enjoyed McFague’s observation that â€Å"a model is a metaphor with ‘staying power’† (278) as I have often wondered at what point a religious metaphor, such as ‘God as Father’, becomes accepted enough that it becomes used in the vernacular. [2] McFague’s ‘metaphorical theology’ very much reminds me of George Carlin’s attempts to rejuvenate an outdated Jesus in Dogma. McFague, like Carlin’s Cardinal Glick, is trying to ‘re-package’ and ‘sell’ faith (or rather, The â€Å"Buddy Jesus†) by preventing a need, and relevancy, for religion.

I am a part of something Essay -- essays research papers

Have you ever put together a large jigsaw puzzle? When you put away the puzzle, sometimes the pieces get lost or bent. If they do, when you take it back out and try to reassemble it, the puzzle is not complete; the overall picture, however, is still satisfying. In John Donne's "No Man Is an Island," the author similarly says that the inhabitants of the world comprise a team. When the team (the world) loses a player, the team is not complete, but it finds some way to move on without that player. Every player is like a pebble that has been dropped onto a perfectly still pond; the consequence of the impact ripples out from the center. The ripples reach all sides of the pond, in a far-reaching expression of cause and effect. Donne begins his poem by telling the reader that every man is a part of a whole: "No man is an island, entire of its self; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of a main" ("No Man Is An Island" sent. 1). He asserts that no person is entirely by himself. Every person is somehow connected to the world. Regardless of whether he is aware of it, he makes his mark in some way. He sends his own ripples out, his own cause and effect; he is a part of the whole of the world. All beings and all things in the world are to work together as a team for one common goal, such as to co-exist. Every human has some kind of connection with someone or something else. No one is complete with out anything or anyone else, and everyone is a par... I am a part of something Essay -- essays research papers Have you ever put together a large jigsaw puzzle? When you put away the puzzle, sometimes the pieces get lost or bent. If they do, when you take it back out and try to reassemble it, the puzzle is not complete; the overall picture, however, is still satisfying. In John Donne's "No Man Is an Island," the author similarly says that the inhabitants of the world comprise a team. When the team (the world) loses a player, the team is not complete, but it finds some way to move on without that player. Every player is like a pebble that has been dropped onto a perfectly still pond; the consequence of the impact ripples out from the center. The ripples reach all sides of the pond, in a far-reaching expression of cause and effect. Donne begins his poem by telling the reader that every man is a part of a whole: "No man is an island, entire of its self; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of a main" ("No Man Is An Island" sent. 1). He asserts that no person is entirely by himself. Every person is somehow connected to the world. Regardless of whether he is aware of it, he makes his mark in some way. He sends his own ripples out, his own cause and effect; he is a part of the whole of the world. All beings and all things in the world are to work together as a team for one common goal, such as to co-exist. Every human has some kind of connection with someone or something else. No one is complete with out anything or anyone else, and everyone is a par...