Employee Portfolio Management Plan

As a manager at Riordan Manufacturing I recently had three employees take a series of self-assessments. I did this so that I could help manage them effectively. Now that I have these assessments, I will create an Employee Portfolio for each of the employees as a help guide in developing ways to manage them. The first assessment taken was, how satisfied am I with my job? This basically is your general attitude about the job. The higher the score the more satisfied the employee. Amber scored the highest at 73 points. Amber is a highly motivated employee, but complains very openly when she is upset. Chris scored a 62 on the assessment. He is a positive employee but could be more flexible on his working habits. Last is Taylor, who scored a 58. She is motivated but likes to go out of her way to help others. This has caused a few problems in branch she works in. The second assessment taken was the am I engaged? This scale measures work engagement. The higher the score, the more engaged an employee. Taylor scored the highest on this assessment with a 35. Taylor is determined to do the job right but sometimes gets too detail oriented. This causes her work to be late. Chris scored a 32 on the assessment. Chris is a natural leader but has a tendency to get too involved with some of his surroundings. Last is Amber who scored a 25. Amber is persistent which can result in unnecessary talking. The third assessment is how are you feeling right now? This scale ranges 10 to 50, the higher the score the more positive the emotions. Taylor scored the highest at 39; she is a very upbeat young lady who can be emotionally sensitive at times. Next is Chris with 32, he is a self-confident young man but sometimes is insensitive to the needs of others. Last is Amber who scored 27. Amber is a happy individual but gets easily depressed if something upsetting happens. The next assessment is what’s my affect intensity? This assessment measures the strength of an emotion. Scores range from 10 to 50, the higher the score; the more intense the emotion is felt. You can read also Portfolio Management Quizzes Taylor scored a 35, Amber scored a 28, and Chris scored a 23. My recommendations to the three employees are as follows: Taylor should complete her task in the time allowed and not worry about the small insignificant details. Amber should not get too caught up in non-work related conversations. This takes away from the company and allows for personal problems to take place. My recommendations to Chris are that when in social settings, keep it social. When at work, keep it work related.

The Failure of Gallipoli Was Mainly Caused by Poor Allied Leadership

â€Å"The failure of Gallipoli was mainly caused by poor Allied leadership† Gallipoli is a peninsula in the Dardanelles in eastern Turkey. Gallipoli and the surrounding areas of the Dardanelles were the locations of some of the most contentious battles of the First World War in 1915 and 1916. The military campaign is well known as one of the great disasters of British military history. In 1915 the First World War in northern Europe was deadlocked and ideas were being discussed about opening up new military fronts. One suggestion, in 1915, a decision was made to help Russia who was being threatened by Turkey.An allied plan was made to attack through the Dardanelles in an attempt to take Constantinople (today known as Istanbul) to make a link with Russia. The failure of this attempt was caused by many factors. Much of the military planning was poor. The strength of the Turkish forces was greatly underestimated partly based on poor military intelligence. The initial naval attack was undertaken by older ships that were though inadequate to fight the Germans in the Atlantic but suitable to be used to fight the Turkish.The slow preparation for the naval attack allowed the Turks to fortify the waterway with mines and artillery. Following the failure of the initial naval attacks there were many delays on starting the land campaign allowing the Turks to heavily entrench the peninsula that was already very unsuitable for a military attack. â€Å"The Allies landed against the most heavily defended and best-prepared position in the Ottoman Empire. † Despite this there was evidence that some landing points were almost undefended yet the Allied troops dug in on the beaches and waited for the Turkish troops to arrive.There are many other examples of failures of military planning. Two whole military divisions were landed on the same beach within hours of each other in darkness sustaining massive casualties. Landings were made in the wrong locations, for example, next to heavily defended steep cliffs. Attacks were poorly synchronised following the initial landings, a military stalemate ensued and there were further delays in getting reinforcements although the Turks were able to reinforce continuously.The lack of progress in the campaign led to major political disagreements in Britain and senior military figures resigned followed by a change in government. While many of the problems came from poor political and military leadership and planning, other factors such as bad weather also contributed. As the conflict went on into the summer, conditions for the soldiers became appalling due to the weather and particularly dysentery diseases. More attacks were carried out, but all were ultimately unsuccessful.Probably the greatest miscalculation that was made was not only to underestimate the numbers of the Turkish troops but to also underestimate their military skill and resolve. It was almost as if the Allies felt it was much easier to overcome Tu rkish soldiers than it was to win the war in northern Europe. The Allies were fighting against soldiers who had a very strong sense of national identity. Despite being regarded as a great Allied military disaster, the Turks suffered greater losses in the campaign.Ironically, the only parts of the military campaign that were considered as a success were the troop evacuations. The Gallipoli campaign was ill conceived with disagreement at the political level with a major underestimation of the opposition forces and the military difficulty of the target. Subsequently many bad military decisions were made. While some allowances may be made for adverse weather, difficult geography and climate, most of these problems should have probably been anticipated. Most significantly there was a massive underestimation of the capability of the enemy.

How Can Social Media Sites Be Used To Improve Knowledge Sharing, Build Essay

How Can Social Media Sites Be Used To Improve Knowledge Sharing, Build Social Capital, Support Innovation, And Aid Problem Solving In Multinational Corporations - Essay Example The use of Twitter for professional enhancement is well established now. The educational philosophy of constructivism offers a strong rationale for greater social media integration within the organization. These days, just as the sweep and reach of social media has increased, so have the niche media spaces that facilitate the interaction. Hence, beyond the prominent household names of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, we now have other specialized avenues for interaction like wiki portals and Youtube repositories of learning videos. In today’s competitive business environment, it is imperative for mutli-national companies to adopt social media strategies for external and internal communication. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc can be useful allies for managers in promoting knowledge sharing and team building. If applied selectively and appropriately, these media facilities can be sources of innovation and problem solving within the business corporation. T he term ‘social media’ is a bit misleading and off-putting for managers, as it sounds as an avenue for recreation and time-pass. But when one understands the full scope of possible activities that could be carried out through these sites its utility for managers becomes clear. Another positive aspect of social media sites is their malleability/customizability to specific organizational purposes and goals. Beyond the prominent sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, there are a host of more specialized sites for sharing pictures or bookmarks or applications have cropped up. There are also niche professional blogs and wikis which are seeing steady increase in patronage. (Zielinski, 2012) The objective of this essay is to argue in affirmation of the positive role of social media to improve knowledge sharing, build social capital, support innovation and aid problem solving in multinational corporations. Social media as a tool for innovation and research: A key area where social media sites differ from conventional sites is the content. The former generate their own content, â€Å"collaboratively creating, editing, sharing, tagging, and organizing information, reshaping the contributions of others and engaging in peer-to-peer discussion. These are emergent technologies, meaning that structure and content and even application emerge with use, from the needs and activities of the users.† ("The Revolution Will Be," 2011) And it is in this feature of dynamic and contemporaneous content that best suits knowledge sharing exercises. This feature is as well suited to the organizational task of building social capital. Management thinker James Surowiecki has argued in his book, The Wisdom of Crowds, that by tapping the power of social media and in creating goal-specific discussion forums etc, substantial social capital can be built. In forums such as these, people from diverse backgrounds and opinions can bring to table â€Å"shrewd judgments and cre ative solutions†. The management can play a constructive role in this process by setting up apt mechanisms to collect and assimilate feedbacks, inputs and opinions. Surowiecki’s concept is closely aligned with that of ‘crowd-sourcing’, which is an emerging model of employee participation in the creative processes of business development. And social media outlets have been the backbone of prominent examples of crowd-sourcing. ("The Revolution Will Be," 2011) For a company to excel in innovation, it must allow employees a convenient and

Gnostic Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Ethics Assignment

Gnostic Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Ethics - Assignment Example For the Gnostics, therefore, the first cause of reality is a transcendental pure spirit that is nothing like what we know, it is a transcendental pure spirit that we can’t conceive with our senses. However, for the Gnostics, unlike many monotheistic religions like Christianity, the first cause of reality, the unknown God, is not a personal being; the first cause is an impersonal pure spirit. To account for the multiplicity of reality, especially the material reality, the Gnostics held that God did not create or fashion reality, the way Christianity teaches, but that the cosmos as we know it emanated from the undefined infinite. The Gnostics, therefore, are in some sense pantheistic, for they hold that everything emanated from the unknown God, and therefore everything has a spark of the pure spirit, unknown God. The Gnostics hold that Aeons, which are deific beings who exist between the pure spirit and human beings, are spiritual realities, and not material. One of the Aeons is the Demiurge, and according to the Gnostics, the material reality was created by the Demiurge and not by the undefined pure spirit directly. To account for how the spiritual Demiurge created the material reality, the Gnostics claimed that, the creation of the material world resulted from a flaw or a sin on the Aeon Demiurge. For the Gnostics, therefore, the material reality is flawed because it res ulted from the flaw or sin on the Demiurge (The Gnostic Worldview, web). For this reason, therefore, Gnostic held that nature is dualistic: the spiritual reality and physical reality. A critical look at the Gnostic Metaphysics shows that the main merit in the Gnostic view of reality lies in the Gnostic scholars attempt to account for the material world. The Gnostics, however, did not give a convincing account of the origin of material reality.  

Literary Response 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Literary Response 1 - Essay Example This does not reflect a scary concept or notion, whereas, it even seems like a near to pleasant experience for her. For her, the concept of death was intense, but lines like ‘Safe in their alabaster chambers,’ in the poem The Sleeping (Dickinson, 2005, line 1) and ‘I heard a fly buzz when I died’ (Dickinson, 2005, line 1) in the poem that goes by the same name clearly illustrate that she was fascinated with this subject. The casual tone that she uses for death by referring to it as ‘he’ or by bringing about the reference of a fly is in fact a reflection of how deeply she thought about death. Therefore, one key voice that comes out in Dickinson’s poetry is her obsession with death. Closely related with the voice of death is the tone of morbidity that one can sense in Dickinson’s poetry. Emotions like pain, separation and hunger surface often in her poetry, giving out a strong sense of morbidity (Eberwein, 1998). The line, ‘Pai n has an element of blank; It cannot recollect, When it began’ in the poem ‘Pain’ (Dickinson, 2005, line 1-3), brings about a sensation of overpowering and almost numbing pain that is experienced in extreme situations.

Criminal Judicial System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Criminal Judicial System - Essay Example The criminal courts have also being accused of the wrongful conviction, there have been cases where courts have issued unexpected verdicts, and therefore the morale of the people has diminished. In Canada, there have been instances where the people have lodged strong opposition against the ruling of the criminal courts, as a result, 'judges in some jurisdictions being sent on a three days course on avoiding wrongful convictions' (Felix, 2006). The important factor that has to be addressed is the reasons which have been responsible for the corrupt and manipulated verdicts and the proceedings of the courts. The reasons attributed towards the failure of the criminal court in the dispersion of justice have been the over-confident statements and stands of the witnesses, there have been cases where bogus prosecution experts were hired, and therefore the dispensation of justice was halted. ... The domain of the high profile case includes the involvement and participation of the press and the police. The criminal judicial system is also affected by the public opinion. It has been observed that there have been cases where the prominent figures were accused of crimes, but because those prominent figures enjoyed good public opinion, the courts were bound to respect the public opinion, else serious communal riots could have initiated. In past several religious authorities were accused of crimes, and the evidences were strongly against them, but because the government expected that a retaliation from the local population, therefore the criminal courts were influenced and were forced to acquit the accused religious personnel, therefore there is a need to ensure not only internal transparency, but the role of the external forces should be minimal and only then the performance of the criminal judicial system can improve (Lester, 2005). Discussion The criminal justice system has empowered the prosecutor to deplore and condemn the defense, and has the right to inlfuence the verdict, and identifies the nature and severity of the punishment. The particular problem with reference to the criminal justice system has been the 'historical legacy of assimilation' (Felix, 2006), and traces of which are related 'to the impact of European assimilation'. The economic, social and political life of the aboriginal people experienced silent revolution and silent imposition of command and authority deeply influenced their behavior and practices, and therefore their life style and perspective varied greatly. The criminal justice system has failed to incorporate allowances towards such adjustment, and has undertaken ignorant approach

Memorandum explaining the discussion of merits of Congress adopting a Term Paper

Memorandum explaining the discussion of merits of Congress adopting a federal Value Added Tax - Term Paper Example The SBT was developed in as early as 1975. The framework of SBT can be scrutinized to understand the practical implementation of the VAT scheme in American context. In the year 2008, SBT was repealed and replaced by another taxation framework called the Michigan Business Tax, which can be regarded as a form of continued VAT implementation. (Roberts, W. D. & Gell, M. B., 2010) At the federal level, the US Congress is trying to institute the VAT scheme since 1982. â€Å"Overall, the options have stressed that a broad-based consumption tax, such as a VAT, could raise large sums less easily than incremental increases in income tax rates, but with less loss of economic efficiency; that excise taxes on selected products could be raised to minor good effect; and that broadening the tax base could raise significant sums and improve economic efficiency.† (Reischauer, R. D., 1994) Current Proposals in Congress for Adoption of a Federal Value-Added Tax The US taxation system is based on a strong historical milieu, and the US Congress is aware of that. The historic Boston Tea Party, which took place prior to the War of American Independence, was related to the unfair tax schemes imposed by the then British rulers. However, the framework of the federal governance of the country remained under scrutiny and criticisms throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Income tax regulations have been a primary federal concern. The framework of the federal taxation system of America has not been without its problems (Adams, T. S., 1921). Too much dependence on income tax revenues may lead to serious economic problems. The Congress thus proposes to impose a value-added or national sales tax. The Congressional Budgetary Office (CBO) has been pointing at the revenue raising potential of a...The policy pros of the VAT scheme entail the reduction of the American economy’s too much dependence on the income tax revenues. In the United States, people with higher income have to pay a heavier income tax, which is regarded as unfair by many conservatives (Edwards, C., 2009). A strong revenue network through federal VAT can compensate the inequalities in the current income tax rates. More and more Democrats and other policy makers are focusing on the policy process in regard of VAT. According to them, VAT will provide the federal government with a reliable instrumentation to handle deficit and pay off the debts. John Podesta (who led President Obama’s transition team) thinks that the only way to stabilize and grip the troublesome debt situation is to reduce the hike in health care expenditures, reduce federal spending, and add new means to increase revenue input. The progressive value-added tax scheme appears to be a boon in this context. The policy cons of VAT scheme are rather numerous and thought provoking. The European experience of implementing the VAT is important. VAT is supposed to lower the taxes on profit and income.

Japanese Internment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Japanese Internment - Essay Example The article provides valuable perceptions and insights about what the Japanese went through during the internment(Flamiano,2000, pp.22). The United States entered into World War II after the Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbour in 1941. According to Dolores the anti Japanese criteria, then gripped the home front. She states that president Franklin signed an executive order which authorized the war department to exclude any group of people from the military areas for the duration of the war. A hundred and ten thousand Japanese immigrants and Americans from the west coast were evacuated at that time. Their lives were disrupted since they had to stop living their normal lives and move to other areas. The Japanese Americans were falsely accused of sending signals to their countries. Dolores states that three priests were arrested and the reporters gave a false report. Dolores explains that the Japanese continued to follow their traditions while still in America. She quotes a California governor saying that it would be impossible to tell whether the Japanese are loyal or not. She states that they faced racism in America w hereby all Asian immigrants were considered aliens in the United States. Internment photography begun in the 1970s as scholarly analysis with a strong focus being on the Manzanar photographs of Asel Adams and Dorothea Lange. Many scholars, however, neglected the magazine photography in order to study the ones in museums or the government archives. Dolores states that Adam’s work that contained eight photographs shared a vision that the camp was tough to live in for people of Manzarin An example, as Dolores explains, was a photo of Collier that portrayed opportunities for people who were ready to work. In 1980 and 2004, Elena Tajima and Sylvia Danovitch noticed that the internment photographs excluded the harshness or inconvenience of the camp’s living conditions. An example is Colliers’s photo of two women with checkered curtains at their

Objectives Project Essay Example for Free

Objectives Project Essay Project termination can happen for many reason some out of control of the project managers. If the project is successful or not successful you have to ensure that many task are complete to terminate the project. Our project is going to be successful and when the project is complete will be sure that all final task will be closed out properly. There will be a proper termination of the project making sure that it ends effectively and efficient. At the ends of the project the following task must be completed the project will be complete, it will be delivered and accepted by the client, a finalized report will be prepared, all bills will have been paid and invoiced to the client, all resources will be returned to the proper places, all documentation for the project will be stored in the proper manner, and the project books will be properly closed. The methods that we are going to use to ensure that the project met its objectives is by using retrospectives. While conducting the retrospectives we will evaluate many sections from the project context and descriptions, the project timelines, and evaluations of what is going right and what went wrong throughout the project and how to prevent those issues in the future. By evaluation where the project had issues and coming up with a solution will better provide us an example of thing to avoid in the future. There are six main criteria that will be reviewed to the fullest to determine the success rate of the project. The first criteria is the schedule, was the project completed in the proper time frame if it was not what was the issues that caused the project to take longer to complete to be successful. The second criteria is going to be cost. Was the project completed under budget, on budget, or over budget and if over budget what was the cause of being over budget. The third criteria would be product, was the product satisfactory and meet the need of the client. The fourth criteria is use, was the project implemented and used for its original purpose and was it function able. Fifth criteria being value, was the project and overall success. The last criteria is going to be learn, what was learned throughout the project, should have there been changes that could have been made to make the project more successful. Reviewing all six of these criteria will ensure that our project was successful on our part and that our client is also satisfied.

Sexual behavior Essay Example for Free

Sexual behavior Essay Many do not know that as a child is growing up they have normal childhood sexual behaviors even as a baby. Today we are going to discuss the different stages of childhood sexual behaviors. Â  The first stage that will be discussed is infancy(0-2). Young infants discover the joys of self- stimulation. Many can see that as they change their baby or maybe washing a baby that when the wash the genital area the baby will either laugh or smile with enjoyment. This is actually very normal to happen. Young babies may also begin to do a pelvis thrust which has been observed with infants of the monkey and ape species and has also been observed in humans. It has been noted that baby boys as young as 5 months can so behaviors that resemble an orgasm and females are able to have behaviors the resemble an orgasm as young as 4 months. It has also been stated that children will begin to masturbate as early has 5 months. The next stage that will be discussed is early childhood (3-8). When it comes to the data on children and their sexual behavior it is mostly all a speculation because not many want to talk about their children and their sexual behavior or just that they may not see certain things as sexual behavior. One study that was done was with question mother of over 1,000 children and question like does your child masturbate was not asked more question such as does you r child does private area when they are home is asked. The study showed that about 42% of boys touch or try to touch breast and for girl the percentage is about 43%. About 60% of boys touch privates when at home and about 43% females. Then about 26% of boys try to look at people when they are either nude or undressing and also about 26% for females. The next stage is preadolescence (9-13). A report that was done around the 1950s by Kinsey and his colleague’s states that masturbation is the main source for sexual orgasm at the preadolescence stage for females and males. The study states that about 51% of males and 15% of females have masturbated by the age of 13. Also this is the stage that sexual education is being learned. Many times when asking one where they have learned information about sex from they would state that it was from their friends or from a media source. The next stage that will be discussed is adolescence. In the stage of adolescence come puberty and with puberty there comes a change of hormones and hormone levels that causes one to want to be more sexual active. Also at this stage one is trying to discover what their sexual orientation is. As growing up we are able to see what sex one is attracted to and what to do more things with. Here is the stage where many will engage in sexual intercourse and the risk of getting STI’s and pregnant becomes greater.

Critical Elements of User Experience Design

Critical Elements of User Experience Design Prof. Michael Weyrich, Tobias Jung, Zeller Christian Zange Hossain Mohammad Faysal Ebna Hossain Critical Elements of User Experience Design as a Success Factor for Virtual Working Spaces in the Digital Enterprise Basis    Thesis No: Type: Class of Process Model: Student: Supervisor: Begin: End: 2843 MT Model for Conceptional Projects Hossain Jg/Ze 20.09.2016 20.03.2017 Document: Version: Author: Date: Status: Basis 1.0 Hossain 16.03.17 submitted File Name: Pages: Print Date: Template: co-basis-v10 31 co-basis.dotm (Program of study: INFOTECH) Document Version Management Version Author QA Date Status Changes 0.1 Hossain Jg 11.11.2016 in progress Creation 1.0 Hossain Jg 22.02.2017 submitted Initial Submission 1.1 Introduction An Enterprise Network is the backbone of communications within an enterprise or organization that that enables the employees and stakeholders communicate with each other in an efficient and effective manner. A digital enterprise workplace is where technology, processes, people, and the Enterprise organization converge to enhance agility, engagement, and productivity. It is a virtual platform where employees and stakeholders can get the technology tools they require to do their tasks effortlessly. [UBMC15] .Here we are talking about the underlying professional and personal network. It enhances internal and external enterprise communication superintendence. The interactive characteristics on the Internet, Wiki and blogosphere have become essential nowadays. With two-thirds of the worlds Internet population are visiting a social networking or blogging site, and the amount of time spent on these platforms are increasing at more than three times the rate of overall Internet growth [UNiel09]. The Enterprise network has also been changing over past years. Social technologies have been added to the Enterprise network to increase productivity to and communication. Social technologies have apprehended the thought of consumers, business leaders, and political leaders. Millions of people have adopted new practices: conveying social interactions online, developing connections, and building and sharing content. Social technologies can be described as digital technologies utilized by people to communicate socially and collectively to build, improve, and exchange contents. Social technologies possess three major characteristics: Figure 1: Characteristics of Social Technologies [McK12] People can communicate socially (e.g., chat, share personal news, send greetings), social technologies enable anybody inside a community or organization to create, add, or modify content and communications. This involves combining or deleting content such as a document or a link, contributing to content supplemented by others, endorsing (e.g., liking a piece of content), or executing an action that an individual knows will be shared. The way of knowledge sharing and communication has been dramatically changed or improved as a side effect of using social technologies. Social technologies can perform a central role in how information is gathered, sourced, analyzed, and disseminated among interested person. 1.2 Applications incorporating Social Technologies and digital workplace    Social technologies incorporate a wide range of applications for both Customers and Enterprises. The figure below has been taken from the report published by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) that includes applications used for social technologies: Figure 2: Wide range of applications for social technologies [McK12] Social network: A Social structure comprised of a collection of social actors (for example organizations or individuals), a collection of dyadic ties, and other social interactions among social actors are known as the Social Network. This perspective provides an assemblage of methods for analyzing the structure of all social entities. [Was94] Blogs/Microblogs: A blog is a conversation or informational web platform published on the World Wide Web comprising of discrete and usually informal diary-style text entries (called posts). Posts are usually arranged in reverse sequential order, so that the very recent post appears first, at the top of the web page. [UBlog17]. Microblogging is a service that facilitates its users to send and announce small notes, normally just text and typically react to queries. The blog is generally a personal reflection. Rating and reviews: Rating and review provide a way that enables users or readers to rank the content socially. It also allows users to reveal their feelings about the content (usually through emoticons). Social commerce: Social commerce is basically a subset of electronic commerce. It involves online social   media that promotes social interaction, and user participation to support online purchasing and selling of goods and services.[USoCo13] Wiki: A wiki is a web-based platform that implements collaborative modification of its content and composition right away from the web browser. In a conventional wiki, the words are written using a simplified markup language (known as wiki markup) and usually edited with the aid of a rich-text editor. [EnBr08]. The wiki the jointly edited content where approved users can jointly edit and publish the content. Discussion Forum: An Internet forum is an online discussion platform where users can hold discussions in the form of posted messages. The posted messages are usually longer than one line of text and are often archived. Additionally, the forum set-up in such a way that a posted message may need to be validated by a moderator before it becomes published. [UWiFo08]. The core idea of the Forum is the exchange of ideas or topics. Shared workspaces: The shared workspace is an interrelated ecosystem in which all users in separated areas can reach and interact with each other. The ecosystem maintained by electronic communications which facilitate users to overcome location and time differentials. The environment is facilitated by a shared rational paradigm, general information, and a common perception by all of the members despite physical position. Crowdsourcing: Crowdsourcing is a specific sourcing model in which individuals or organizations use contributions from Internet users to obtain needed services or ideas. Crowdsourcing was coined in 2005 as a portmanteau of crowd and outsourcing. [Mat11] Social gaming: A social network game is a type of online game that is played through social networks.[Jarv09] They typically feature multiplayer and asynchronous gameplay mechanics. Social network games are most often implemented as browser games, but can also be implemented on other platforms such as mobile devices.[Kim11] Media and file sharing: Media and files sharing among the members have a significant impact on knowledge and information sharing. It provides flexibility and alternative means to work collaboratively with the members. 2.1 Introduction User experience design is the method of improving user satisfaction with a product by enhancing the usability, accessibility, and pleasure rendered in the interaction with the product. This section begins with regular usability evaluation and why it has become progressively critical to focus on the user experience (UX). 2.2 What is Usability Usability is a quality attribute that determines how usable is a system or product by its user. The term Usability also points to methods for enhancing ease-of-use throughout the design or development process. Nielsen Norman group mentioned five quality components that defines the term Usability: [UNiel12] Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they encounter the design? Efficiency: Once users have learned the design, how quickly can they perform tasks? Memorability: When users return to the design after a period of not using it, how easily can they reestablish proficiency? Errors: How many errors do users make, how severe are these errors, and how easily can they recover from the errors? Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design? In brief, Usability determines how easy pleasant a product/system to use. 2.3 Importance of Usability It is very much crucial to make a system where users should not have to think too hard while they are using the system. The user should not have to refer to help sections, and they should not be constrained to feel stupid. By observing the user, finding the usability issues and resolving them in an appropriate manner these situations can be avoided. System developers usually forget that they are not typical users. There may be aspects of the system that seem apparent to the developer that might, in fact, be entirely confusing to the users. It is therefore essential to take a step back once in a while and make sure that the users are not left behind. Usability Testing is an indispensable aspect of the User-Centred method that establishes the user, at the heart of the development process rather than the system. Embracing such an approach pushes that the user should be foremost in the design determinations. According to the International Standards Organization (ISO 9241-11: Guidance on Usability) Usability is the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use. These three factors are very much important to attain business goals. An effective website An efficient website A satisfied user allows customers (users) to achieve their goals provides answers quickly achieves their goal has a high conversion rate follows a logical sequence enjoys their experience meets business objectives doesnt waste resources tells others delivers a positive brand image requires less content management time comes back again Table 1: Why Usability parameters are important [URed11] Usability testing lets the design and development teams recognize problems before roll out of the system. The earlier flows are identified and fixed; the less costly the fixes will be concerning both resource time and possible influence to the schedule.   During a usability test: Investigate the activities of the participants to see whether it meets usability objectives Identify how satisfied users are with the system or product Discover if users can accomplish specified tasks as intended Experience how long it takes to accomplish specified tasks Determine adjustments needed to enhance user performance and satisfaction 2.4 Usability Evaluation Conventionally evaluating the usability of a product does not come into play until the system development is completed or nearly completed. Once completed, users would be requested to accomplish certain tasks on the system. Their performance would then be measured, often using the five usability attributes of Nielsen: Learnability, Efficiency, Memorability, Errors and Satisfaction.[UNiel12] This way of usability testing does not include users until very late in the project and concentrates on the system rather than how the user experiences the System. Racing toward launch without looking back might have seemed like a good idea back when the launch date was set, but the result is likely to be a product that meets all the technical requirements for the project but does not work for your users. Even worse, by tackling user experience evaluation on at the end, you might end up launching a product that you know is broken but have no opportunity (or money left) to fix. [Garret10] This means of usability evaluation is often named user acceptance testing. The term accepting is important here, symbolizing that the focus lies on whether the user accepts the system, rather than whether he/she can use the system as intended 2.5 User Experience Focus Technological improvements in ubiquitous computing have created an opportunity for Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) to be a massive part of our day-to-day life. This has effected a shift from traditional usability engineering to so-called User Experience, where the emotions and motivations of the end-user are provided a principal role than traditional usability metrics such as efficiency and effectiveness. There have been studies about defining User Experience amongst UX professionals that have demonstrated inconclusive [Law09] and these are within the field of Human-Computer Interaction. One could dispute that the principles following UX could be applied to any production process. The nearest we can get to a definition is addressed in the ISO 9241-210 standard on the Ergonomics of Human System Interaction Part 210: Human-Centred Design for interactive systems (ISO, 2008): A persons perceptions and responses that result from the use or anticipated use of a product, system or service Above statement highlights the experience the user has while using or anticipates using a particular product. The notion of anticipated use grants the idea that UX can play a crucial role in the early development stages of system development mentioning that thinking UX before an actual working system is ready can produce invaluable input. User experience specialists strive to make the system User-Centered. It indicates that while the development of the system the user is constantly the principal focus point and drives the evolution process. According to the ISO standard, six postulates assure the product is User-Centered:[UUCD17] 1. The design is based upon an explicit understanding of users, tasks and environments. 2. Users are involved throughout design and development. 3. The design is driven and refined by user-centered evaluation. 4. The process is iterative. 5. The design addresses the whole user experience. 6. The design team includes multidisciplinary skills and perspectives. Second Principle (Users are involved throughout design and development) entails that UX teams should include users in all design stages: not just by operating a focus group at the beginning of design or by administering a survey at the end of the project. 3.1 Introduction Usability testing involves watching representative users working with the system so that development team can make improvements based on what participants do with the system. Usability testing provides invaluable feedback about how the users behave with the system. Knowing how users behave helps to create a much more suitable Platform or application. Rather than just guessing about what people might like on these, it is possible to see their reactions first hand, and then make sure that the system contains just the right features. Learning about issues early in the process saves development time and money. Rather than spending time developing the wrong thing, a quick usability test will tell the developer whether they are on the right track or not. Getting the data directly from the users is a much better way of doing design work than arguing about features among the team. In fact, usability testing is a great way of stopping arguments. Rather than spending time on fighting over whose idea is best, put the concepts in front of real users to see how well they can work with them. There is nothing quite like real user feedback that helps to determine the best way forward. The thing that separates usability testing from many other methods is that with usability testing, it is possible to see real behaviors, what people do rather than just asking what people think. Often watching people do something is the only way to really understand where the issues lie and how to fix the problems you see. Ease of use doesnt originate from wishful thinking. It comes from conveying methodical usability engineering activities throughout the project lifecycle. This is a real effort and sacrifices real money, though not as much as some people worry. It is possible to conduct simple forms of user testing in a few days and obtain vast insights into both user behavior and recommended design enhancements. 3.2 Usability Costs To estimate the total cost of usability (as opposed to the price of a single test), Nielsen Norman Group collected data from 863 design projects that incorporated Usability Testing. Depending on how they have calculated it, usability costs were within 8% and 13% of the projects budget. Based on these findings from other surveys, they have concluded that current best practices call for dedicating about 10% of a projects budget to usability. [UNiel03] In reality, the cost of usability doesnt extend linearly with project size, since many usability testing cost about the same, notwithstanding of how big the project is. A project thats ten times larger, for example, usually requires only four times more usability spending. 3.3 Reduce Development Cost Accurate planning at the start of a Systems design process will save time, money and effort in the long run. A study by Smith Reinersten found that the critical system-design decisions made during the first 10% of a products design process can determine 90% of the products cost and performance. This is an outstanding illustration of how a little investment at an initial stage can have a tremendous positive impact on the final product. [UWilson14] The more money will organization invest in usability at an initial design stage the greater will have the end product. A tiny amount of cash spent on usability design and testing will save the organization from costly design fixes or redesigns later in the cycle. 3.4 Reduced Support Costs An enormous gain of financing in usability is diminished support costs. Just put, a System with better usability will reduce potential customer support concerns and eventually reduce customer support costs. An excellent way to enhance the websites usability, while decreasing support costs is by giving online guidance to the users. Another illustration of how financing in usability at the early stage of the design process will save the money at a later stage. A study by Pressman found that 80% of costs during a softwares lifecycle come from the maintenance phase. The study also found that greatest part of these costs rises out of unmet or unforeseen user requirements. [UWilson14] Figure 3: Reduced call and support costs minimizes maintenance cost Spending in usability helps to resolve these issues during the design stage, where they can be dispensed with at a much lower price. All redundant second that the support staff uses responding to a customer support issue (time when paying for their wages) is the cost of poor usability investment. 3.5 Increased Sales Its not a big leap in logic to claim that improved usability for customers will make them more likely to execute a purchase or to extend their purchase volume. A study by Creative Good discovered that giving a better experience for the customers will prolong the quantity of purchasers by 40%. [UWilson14] Another study by UI Engineering observed that by giving sufficient product information to your customers at the right time you can increase sales on your site by up to 225%. [UWilson14] Improved usability makes for satisfied clients who are more likely to purchase, eventually expanding the businesss profits. 3.6 Usability Benefits The Nielsen Norman Group have analyzed data from 42 cases where usability metrics were available for website redesigns. Averaged across the 42 pairs of measures they had found, usability increased by 135% when they omitted five outliers with especially significant usability improvements. (If they include these outliers, the average improvement jumps to 202%.) [UNiel03] The improvement in usability metrics differed depending on the metric, as the following table shows: Table 2: The improvement in usability metrics differed depending on the metric [UNiel03] The current study of Nielsen Norman Group does not incorporate intranet redesign projects. However, based on their studies of intranet design potential, Jakob Nielsen consider that the average improvement in intranet usability metrics is a bit below 100%. [UNiel03] 3.6.1 Co-Creation Certainly, the very common metric of ROI is financial, and a tested-to-breaking-point product, including a user-centric UI, will assure the user experience is a pleasurable one, promoting more exchanges, and, in turn, increased revenue. 3.6.2 Trust If the organization is providing the users a great user experience, the organization will also be strengthening trust in the brand. A user is more reasonably to retain with a website or platform that theyve earlier had a trouble-free experience of, than one thats showed something of a usability nightmare. How many customers are using the system, and how many are yielding to use again, can be tracked via analytics software. 3.6.3 Productivity Profits can also be gained through an increase in productivity of any employee. Systems need rigorous testing to assure the design and UI are helpful to an experience that cuts the time it needs to accomplish a task, enabling the employee to gain more. 4.1 Introduction The scope of this user experience and usability testing of the platform is for the pilot of GIZs enterprise portal which is focused on GIZs communities of practice. For this instance, it is very much important to understand the community business processes and the specific use cases for GIZs communities of practice (CoP). A community is a group of experts / development practitioners that share knowledge on common development topics and challenges as well as work collaboratively on effective, efficient, innovative, sustainable solutions based on their own experiences and expertise. A community is a collection of people with shared values, behaviors and artifacts. 4.2 Communities of practice Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. [UWen15] Shared domain: It has an identity defined by a shared domain of interest. Website à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚   community. Sense of community: In pursuing their interest in their domain, members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information. Shared practice: Members of a community of practice are practitioners. They develop a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems-in short a shared practice. This takes time and sustained interaction. Communities of practice have a great impact on organizational value chain and knowledge management including knowledge sharing. The infusing factors based on the effectiveness of the communities on practice has been explained by W.M.H. Oosting in 2009 which has shown below: Figure 4: Influencing elements of the effectiveness of a CoP [Oosting09] The core is the proper connection between purpose, content, content, conversations and connections where the purpose is at the center and everything is linked bi-directionally with it. From the figure we can express wrathfully that setting up the purpose has a great impact on the success of CoP. 4.3 Community Management Framework For the business case of GIZ, we have clustered questions which lead to the Community Management Framework. These clusters lead to the business needs of GIZs Communities. Factor Questions Purpose and incentives What is in for me? What benefits do we hope to get? Strategic relevance of the common topic? Outcomes What useful (preliminary) outcomes do we want to achieve? Stakeholders /actors Who should be a member? What is their social glue/shared practice? Have key roles been defined? Negotiations What ground rules and milestones do we need for internal cooperation and management? Orientation What common vision have we agreed upon? Resources Budget for the community? Are members given enough resources by their business units/organizations? Strategy Strategy for planning and implementation by the community? Growth Plan/concept for increasing the number of members? How to turn new members into returning members? Content and moderation Who is/are the community manager/s? Do they have enough resources (time, opportunities and ability to build bridges) and the necessary status? What content is to be created and edited? What content can members be asked to input?

Is Your Body Clear :: essays research papers

 ¡Ã‚ §Is Your Body Clear? ¡Ã‚ ¨   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   We, as Americans, are immersed in a society of products for sale. With so many items available how do manufacturers entice us to purchase their product over another one? They do this through advertising, or a way of promoting and marketing merchandise. Advertising is a very large industry, and many people spend their entire lives developing advertisements that the average consumer will see, and hopefully will believe. An advertisement is an example of a rhetorical situation. In this rhetorical situation, the advertisers use the concepts of logos, pathos, and ethos to draw the audience in and get their message across to the individual reader. They want the consumers to trust and believe them. Most of all, they want them to buy whatever they have to sell. Companies must rely on advertising a great deal, especially when a new product becomes available. It is crucial that their audience learns of the product and realizes the benefits of the new invention. Companies that already have other products for sale have a better chance of obtaining the consumers interest, especially if the company has a good reputation. One such company is Neutrogena. They have numerous products for sale for the face, hair, and body. One of their newest products is called Body Clear„ § Body Wash. I found this particular ad in a magazine strategically placed toward the front between two different articles. This magazine, YM, is typically intended for young females between the ages of 13 to 19. The target audience for the body wash would therefore have to be intended for these teenage girls. Before we can examine the ethos, pathos, and logos of the ad, we must visualize it. The center of the page has a large picture of the body wash with bubbles dripping over the side and the word NEW printed in black letters across the top of the bottle. Standing next to the bottle of wash in just a towel is the famous Neutrogena girl, Jennifer Love Hewitt. At the top of the page in big, bold, red letters appear the words,  ¡Ã‚ §Clear skin from head to toe. ¡Ã‚ ¨ Underneath this slogan is the caption that introduces the new body wash,  ¡Ã‚ §Neutrogena„ ¥ Body Clear„ § Body Wash treats, even prevents body breakouts. ¡Ã‚ ¨ To the side of the oversized bottle of wash are three bullets, and although very small are still very important. They tell us that the body wash contains an acne fighting ingredient which  ¡Ã‚ §dermatologists recommend.

The Blackfoot Indians :: essays research papers

The Blackfoot Indians The wind blows across the lone prairie, causing the golden heads of grass to sway in a synchronized motion. On the horizon stands a herd of buffalo with bowed heads silhouetted by the slowly sinking sun. In the east stands an Indian war party mounted on horseback, each individual in different multicolored attire, all with either bows or spears in hand. As they move in for the attack, the mystical scene slowly fades from vision.... This dreamlike scene was once everyday life to the American Indian before they were robbed of all that made their life real. The Indians originally came over to North America via the Bering Strait at a time when the ice age caused the gap to freeze over. They came from Asia by following herds and in search of more. During their travels, some decided to stop and settle down, hence the many different tribes. The Blackfoot occupied the region of modern day Alberta in Canada, and Montana in the U.S. The Blackfoot consisted of three main tribes: the Northern Blackfoot(Siksika), the Piegan(Pikuni), and the Blood(Kainah). The tribes differed little in their speech, but were politically independent. Blackfoot population varied, but was less affected by the arrival of the white man than some tribes due to their location. "In 1855, there were approximately 2,400 Northern Blackfoot, 2,000 Blood, and 3,200 Piegan. The total population of Blackfoot varied as follows: 15,000(1780), 9,000(1801), 7,600(1855), and 4,600(1932)" ( ). The decline of population was most likely due to the white man's diseases and the annihilation of the buffalo. In 1781, the Blackfoot had their first serious attack of smallpox. An epidemic of smallpox again occurred in 1838, 1845 1857, and 1864. In the winter of 1864, the tribe was struck with measles and about 780 died. In the winter of 1883 to 1884, more than 1/4 the Piegan population died of starvation (600). This was mainly the result of official stupidity and the disappearance of the buffalo. The Blackfoot were typically large-game hunters and were mainly dependant on the buffalo for their diet, clothing, and receptacles. They also hunted such animals as the elk, deer, and antelope. There were four main methods of hunting, one of which was the "surround". This method required the use of horses and was done by surrounding the herd, after which they were shot down. Another method was accomplished by driving the game down a cliff, in which the fall would injure the animal enough to hinder their escape. A third method used was impounding, which resembled modern day cow herding. The hunting party would build fences into which they would herd the animals.

Ethics, Morals, or Values Essay

My ethical judgment was put to a severe test only once in the past. However, when it happened, it completely overwhelmed me that I could never be certain until now whether I made the right decision. It involved my 90-year-old great-aunt whom I loved dearly and who had no other living relative besides me. She was rushed to the hospital in a comatose condition, no blood pressure reading, and no pulse. She was later diagnosed with sepsis secondary to infection from her bed sores after being bedridden for more than a year. She was finally transferred to a private room with a blood pressure reading of 60/40 and a rather weak pulse but stable, according to her attending physician, considering the circumstances. However, days and weeks later, her condition did not improve. She was still comatose, and antibiotics did not seem to be taking any effect. Later, she developed pneumonia. I was informed by the hospital staff that it was expected in her situation. After all, they told me, she was a weakened, 90-year-old woman in coma. One day her doctor talked to me about her condition. He informed me that there was nothing wrong with her heart – she had a very healthy heart. What worried him, he said, were her lungs because they were ready to collapse. The moment her lungs collapse, my aunt would immediately stop breathing and die in spite of a healthy heart. There was only one thing they could do if I wanted her to keep on breathing and stay alive – technically alive, at least. They could insert a breathing tube that would reach her lungs and pump air into her using a breathing bag. However, he wanted me to understand that the procedure would be very painful for my aunt – a painful procedure that would not even help my aunt recover consciousness. But first, he wanted to get my consent to perform the procedure on my aunt when the need arose. I could not answer him instantly. I knew what he was asking me. I heard some nurses talking about â€Å"heroics† in connection with dying patients. My aunt’s doctor wanted to know if I would ask him to write the words â€Å"no heroics† on my aunt’s card so that they could allow her to die – I could leave her to die – as soon as her lungs collapsed. I was the next of kin. Since my aunt could no longer decide for herself, the decision was up to me. I was staring at euthanasia in the face! I asked the doctor if I could give him my answer the following day. He said yes, but reminded me not to delay or it might be too late. I spent the whole evening thinking about it – asking myself some questions. What would my aunt have wanted me to do? My aunt was a devout Catholic. Would she want me to decide as one? The following morning I told her doctor: â€Å"Please do everything for her! †

Unprofessional Conduct

In 2005 I started working for a school system and right from the start I could see that there was some unprofessionalism in some of the employees there. To me unprofessional means not acting as if you were at you place of business or acting as though you are at home or out with your friends. That is how the persons I worked with acted; however, to me Mrs. Petit did nothing of the sort. She was not at her place of work; she did not harm any students so I see now unprofessionalism. What she was doing was having a life outside of work which I thought we were all as citizens entitled to do. When I think of the word immoral in the context of the teaching profession I think of teachers like the ones I worked with walking around the school building talking badly about the elementary and middle school students they were teaching during school hours. I do think that Mr. or Mrs.  Petit acted immorally in the eyes of the society around them even though they were just living their own lives for which this country was founded, but not to the extent that any harm should have come to them. Was she teaching the children right from wrong? Well yes and no, she taught the children with this mishap that it was right to follow your feelings and to be a leader in society not a follower not to go with the norm, but she also showed that she had no disregard for the laws of the state she lived in by breaking the law for sexual misconduct. I can not even count on my fingers how many teachers I would deem unfit to teach and Mrs. Petit is not one of them. To me being unfit to teach is a person that thinks that yelling at children is a good thing, or a teacher that is willing to put their hands on someone’s child to discipline them, or most of the so called teachers now who believe that teaching the children to past a test is preparing them for life. What Mrs. Petit did can not be deemed as a person who is unfit to teach, she was proven to be an outstanding teacher and never harmed a student, they were very well educated and that is because of her. In this case the board was justified due to the fact that she was arrested for breaking the law which would cause a problem for the community whom would of course be outraged by this. I personally believe that they had no just cause in terminating her employment because there was no harm to the children and she had learned her lesson which she could have used as a basis to discourage not only her students but persons in general from doing things that are illegal. I do not think that what one does in there personal lives as long as it does not in any way transfer into their professional lives should not be the basis for being deemed unfit for their profession or unprofessional in anyway. For example if Mr.  Carter was a teacher and he never did anything to harm his students or co-workers and he went to a club on a Friday night, while at this club he saw a beautiful woman but did not see her face and he walked up behind her and said something like hey beautiful you are looking fine in that dress, the woman turned around at it was a co-worker of his she gets him fired because he made a pass at her while not at work how is this right? What is this teaching the children? It tells them never to try to get a date because it could cost you your job. This example and the story of Mrs. Petit teach children to never have a life outside of work or never get a job that is all it does the rules need to change. The difference between the two cases was that she got arrested and the other person did not. Do I think that it was consistent absolutely not? To me the courts had not taken into consideration that the board did not prove that she was an unfit teacher they just proved that she had been arrested for being an individual having fun. She did not harm any of her students, she did not hurt any of her co-workers, she was not on school property and she did not violate the rules of her contract as a teacher unless those rules state that you can not have a life outside of work and if you are married it must be monogamous. I think that the courts should have stated that the only true reason they could fire her was because she now had a criminal record and even that should have a fine line because she again did not harm anyone not even her husband because he was there and approved. I think that these so called morals in this country are dumb because everyone has their own mind and should be able to decide what is moral and immoral to them without having to live by a standard of anyone else. The only time I think an employer should know what is going on with an employee’s off the job conduct is when it can directly affect their job or bring harm to other people. If the person has committed a real crime such as murder, child abuse, child molestation, rape, if they are being abused themselves, or involved in other illegal dealings. I think that it is high time society got off of their high horses and stop thinking that they can decide how the person next to them lives their lives. People need to stop worrying about what religion other people practice, who marries whom, who is eating what and worry about real issues like why are so many of our children are going to bed hungry, why our children are out here committing crimes instead of getting an education, and why there are so many people in the streets because they can not get a job. Those are real issues and until people realize that everyone is created equal and that our forefathers came to this country to get away from all of the bull crap that was going on elsewhere society will never change it will only get worse. Things will never get better until we as a people better ourselves. No one should be ridiculed for not being as smart as another, for not eating like someone else, for not having the same religion as another, for not being attracted to the sex you think they should be attracted to, or for having an open marriage we were given these minds to think for ourselves not to think like everyone else. The world is not black and white it is a rainbow made up of browns, reds, greens, yellows and every other color so I think everyone should be free to do like my religions states â€Å"harm none, and do what ye will† meaning do what you want as long as you do not harm anyone else. Unprofessional Conduct UNPROFESSIONAL CONDUCT Introduction Andre Hamilton had spent eight years in the United States Air Force. While in the service, he learned how to conduct himself in a professional manner, and he learned to respect others. He wanted to become a manager so he completed a bachelor’s degree in organizational management at the University of LaVerne. After graduating from school, his confidence soared to a point where he felt he was in a position of great demand by potential employers. In 1996, while looking through Sunday’s Press Enterprise newspaper, he saw an ad for a job fair.Thinking of the companies that would be present at the job fair, he decided to attent. The day of the job fair arrived. His interviews came down to two companies, G. M. A. C. and The Office Supply Store. Both interviews went extremely well. On Friday, September 27, 1996, Andre was interviewed by Mrs. Jane Apple from G. M. A. C. , a mortgage company. At the interview, she explained to him the responsib ilities of a loan officer, the position he had applied for. She also asked him questions about what he thought about the company. Mrs.Apple informing him that although the position only paid commisions. Mrs. Apple looked at Andre and said, ‘’You have the job if you want it. ’’ He tried to hard to contain his happiness. He told her he would accept her offer and thanked her for giving him an opportunity. On Monday, September 30, 1996, when he arrived at work, he was greeted and introduced to the staff members and shown around the office. Mrs. Apple told him to relax. Andre began to feel that he had accomplished his goal of becoming a career person with a good job.Everyone was very friendly and seemed happy to be employed at that company. What he enjoyed the most about this organization was the team style of leadership displayed by Mrs. Apple. On Tuesday, October 1, 1996, he had second interview with The Office Supply Store. He was interviewed by Mr. Smith, d istrict manager, and Maria Smith, human resources director. They were very pleasant and energetic and he got the impression that the work environment at The Office Supply Store was the same as at G. M. A. C.After the interview, he was told he had the position and would receive a letter in the mail telling him the information and the store where he would be working. He decided to accept the job offered from The Office Supply Store, because he wanted to move into management. Also at G. M. A. C. , his only income is commision, while at The Office Supply Store, he would have a steady salary. He also likes the close location to his home. The Office Supply Store would train him to manage his own store. On Wednesday, he returned to G. M. A. C. and informed Mrs.Apple that he had been made an offer by The Office Supply Store and he felt it would be a beter opportunity for him. She listened to him and sounded sincere when she informed him that she understood why he had come to his decision. E nding the conversation, she told him that if it didn’t work out at The Office Supply Store, he should call her and she would gladly give him another opportunity. After receiving the letter telling him where to report the work, he arrived at his training store. Andre was to meet with Mrs. Richards, the general manager, who was also his new boss.When he reached the general manager’s office, he introduced himself and informed her that he was sent to this store by district manager to begin his management training. Her face begin to flush. She just stared at him and ‘’Why are you here? You are supposed to be at the orientation meeting’’ she said sharply. He informed her that according to the letter he received from the district manager and gave it to her. She asked him to have a seat in the break area next to her office, while she straightened out the situation over the phone. He began to get angry at the nasty language she was using.He felt this showed a total lack of professionalism. The more he thought about his reception, the angier he became. He even thought about punching her in face or engaging her with some profanity of his own. In looking at possible options he had in this situation, his first option was definitely to punch her in the face, but he knew that would result in trouble with the police. Another option was just the walk out the door, but he took the attitude that he would overcome this and proceeded to convince himself that this was an isolated event.He felt this was the Standard ‘’grin and bear it’’ method of maintaining a job. After he had calmed down, he viewed the situation from a more practical perspective. He told himself that he should probably just start looking for a new job. He decided he should remain silent on this issue, because he had continuously heard people say throughout the years ‘’don’t rock the boat. ’’Finally, the last optio n he thought of was to talk with the district manager about his experience, but the district manager’s natural reaction would be to defend Mrs.Richard’s behaviour, and label him with an attitude problem. So he did nothing. Over the next few weeks, the general manager continued to display the same level of behaviour. Andre even tried to communicate with her as two mature adults. To his disappointment, he felt that she appeared uncaring and uncooperative. The problem which is emphasized in this topic can be explained with main components of attitudes and major job attitudes, responses to dissatisfaction, job rotation, fundamental attribution error, emotional intelligence, and Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory.

Dissertation on Career Planning

The study of career needs, career development programmes and job satisfaction levels of R&D personnel: the case of Taiwan Tser-Yieth Chen, Pao-Long Chang and Ching-Wen Yeh Abstract This study sets out to explore the relative gap between career development programmes and career needs, and its subsequent causal effect on job satisfaction levels among research and development (R&D) personnel. The study reveals that R&D personnel have diverse career needs at various stages of their career, and that job satisfaction levels among this group are particularly affected by the gap between career needs and career development programmes depending upon which stage of their career they have reached. It is also clear, for R&D personnel in particular, that not only is the gap between career development programmes and career needs an important determinant of job satisfaction, but that there are considerably higher turnover levels among researchers in the high-tech industry in Taiwan than the average level for industry as a whole. Thus, from a pragmatic perspective, it is of particular importance to propose effective career development programmes aimed at satisfying the career needs of R&D personnel in order to improve the level of job satisfaction in this group. Keywords Career needs; career development programmes; job satisfaction. Introduction It was highlighted in the empirical study by Garden (1990) that research and development (R&D) personnel demonstrated significantly higher turnover levels than the general industry average; furthermore, one of the findings of the study was that career development opportunities were a key factor. Leavitt (1996) recognized that, even without offering high salaries, those companies which adopted suitable career development programmes were capable of enhancing internal job satisfaction levels. In Schein’s (1978) study, it was argued that career development programmes help to raise productivity, creativity and long-term organizational effectiveness. Indeed, a truly effective career development programme will allow staff to explore developmental opportunities according to their own abilities, leading to considerable personal satisfaction that their abilities are being fully utilized at a personal level. Tser-Yieth Chen, Professor, Institute of Management Science, Ming-chuan University, No. 250, Chung-shan North Road, Section 5, Taipei, 111, Taiwan, ROC (tel: ? 886 2 2882 4564 ext. 2401; fax: ? 886 2 2880 9764; e-mail: [email  protected] edu. tw). Pao-Long Chang, Professor, Department of Business Administration, Feng Chia University. Ching-Wen Yeh, Institute of Management Science, Ming-chuan University. The International Journal of Human Resource Management ISSN 0958-5192 print/ISSN 1466-4399 online q 2003 Taylor & Francis Ltd http://www. tandf. co. k/journals DOI: 10. 1080/0958519032000106182 1002 The International Journal of Human Resource Management From an alternative perspective, career development programmes can also help to reduce the very significant costs that are directly incurred through high turnover levels while helping to prevent the deterioration of staff capabilities as a whole. Throughout the process of an individual’s ongoing career development, personal de velopment influences the choice of profession, the acceptance of that choice and its subsequent implementation. Hence, personal needs will differ at different stages of a career and in response to changes in living circumstances, while the degree of importance and motivation assigned to such needs will also change according to the person, the circumstances and the time (Schein, 1980). It is clear, therefore, that individuals have unique needs at various stages of their career, and, as such, organizations have to begin to appreciate the needs of their staff at different career stages, providing them with opportunities to satisfy their expectations and creating the optimal symbiosis between personal needs and organizational goals. In this way, an organization can succeed in enhancing job satisfaction levels and raising organizational performance. According to research by the Directorate General of Budget Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS), Executive Yuan, ROC (2001), the administration in Taiwan has placed significant emphasis on the development of the island’s high-tech industries, leading to continual growth in exports of electronic and telecommunications products. Therefore, under the government’s official programme of cultivating high-tech industries, the effective recruitment and retention of experienced managers and R&D professionals has been recognized as a key issue. However, retention is a growing problem for human resources managers, certainly within the high-tech industry, and particularly at the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (HSIP) where the current high turnover of staff is a major concern (Ma, 1998). The lack of career development opportunities is one dominant factor in the high turnover of R&D personnel (Leavitt, 1996; Garden, 1990; Dalton et al. , 1986). Adequate career development programmes can help personnel to meet their career expectations, nurture their ideals and aspirations, and enhance independent R&D knowledge. Personnel are thereby motivated to prepare themselves for the next career development opportunity, enhancing their productivity and increasing job satisfaction. Hence, from a pragmatic perspective, it is of particular importance to propose effective career development programmes aimed at satisfying the career needs of R&D personnel in order to improve the level of job satisfaction among this particular group. Literature review and hypothesis development Career needs and career development programmes Research and development (R&D) activities are widely recognized as an important means of creating a sustainable competitive advantage in the global marketplace; indeed, expenditure on R&D activities is invariably used these days as a measure of an organization’s attempts to stay ahead of the competition. As organizations become more dependent on technology, the ability to attract and retain competent R&D professionals becomes increasingly important, as does the pursuit of the effective management of these highly valued employees (Aryee and Leong, 1991; Petroni, 2000). Arguably, therefore, greater effort should be placed into satisfying the needs of this particular group of professionals since they represent the organization’s future potential competitive advantage, and, if organizations are to gain an understanding of the factors influencing the performance and work attitudes of these employees, then the design of an effective career management system capable of satisfying their career values and aspirations is Chen et al. : Career needs, career development programmes and job satisfaction1003 clearly an important element of their management (Aryee and Leong, 1991; Greenhaus and Callanan, 1994). Within most organizations nowadays, but particularly those that are heavily involved in R&D activities, effective human resource management strategies are specifically targeted at fostering innovative and creative capabilities in four major directions: human resource planning, performance appraisal, reward systems and career management (Gupta and Singhal, 1993). Of these specific requirements, the need for appropriate career management systems for industrial researchers has been much debated in both industrial and academic circles (e. . Allen and Katz, 1986; Aryee and Leong, 1991; Bailyn, 1991; Tampoe, 1993). Discussion of the findings of these scholars provides the starting point for the research reported in this paper. This study sets out to examine the career needs and appropriate career development programmes for R&D professionals, since we recognize that there have been few studies which have focused specifically on identifying the career needs of this particular group of employ ees during the different stages of their careers. In an exploratory attempt to develop this area of research, this study examines empirically the career needs of R&D personnel in Taiwan, hypothesizing that a causal relationship exists between such career needs, at different career stages, and overall job satisfaction levels. Various needs of a personal nature will change with each developmental stage of a person’s career and, at given stages of their careers, in addition to distinctive psychological needs, individuals will have unique areer concerns, developmental tasks that need to be undertaken and personal challenges that will need to be overcome (Schein, 1980; Cron, 1984). At certain career stages, each individual will undoubtedly have diverse career developmental ‘duties’ and ‘goals’, depending upon the specific function that they perform (Schein, 1987), but we argue that, in Taiwan in particular, it is necessary to identify not only the career goals of R&D professionals, but also the inherent v alue systems and needs structures of these employees (Kim and Cha, 2000). We believe that this research is of particular importance to Taiwan because we recognize that organizational development here has yet to move to a stage where employees feel sufficiently confident to voice these needs directly to line managers, and as such, there is still a significant lack of understanding of what it is that ‘drives’ R&D professionals in Taiwan. Organizations everywhere have to be able to respond more effectively to the career development needs of all their employees because, through innovation, they are able to differentiate themselves from their competitors; however, the knowledge capital necessary for such innovation resides with their employees, not with the organization itself (Hoon, 2000; Petroni, 2000). Although individuals are initially engaged by a company ostensibly to enrich the potential of the company, they nevertheless enter with their own distinctive career plans in mind, and, as such, can be attracted to a company, and retained within it, on the basis of whether or not the company adopts specific practices capable of satisfying their individual career needs (Chang, 1999). This implies that personal career attitudes can affect the overall attitudes of individuals towards a company, and we can extrapolate from this that any company which places effort into satisfying the personal career needs of individuals will in turn reduce its staff turnover levels. We believe, therefore, that it is important, indeed crucial, for companies to address the issue of individual career needs. As a result of employees’ changing attitudes towards their own careers, there is a need to focus attention on their perceptions of the career management practices offered by their organizations, with such perceptions arguably being more relevant to individual career outcomes than the actual career management practices themselves (Crabtree, 1999). 1004 The International Journal of Human Resource Management Organizations will have to begin to realize that career development programmes that are eminently suited to one particular group of R&D professionals may be inappropriate, or even irrelevant, to another group. We argue, therefore, that human resource managers must recognize that there are a number of diverse groups within the R&D profession, and hence the career development programmes that are developed for these employees must be flexible enough to accommodate this diversity. Our proposed concept is based on the following setting: in line with the changes in roles and job content at different stages of their careers, the psychological needs of this particular group of employees will also change (Cron, 1984). What is regarded as an ‘appropriate’ adjustment will naturally vary according to the career development programmes adopted by different organizations, and they will therefore have varying levels of influence on the level of satisfaction that employees have with such programmes. Given the changes that will inevitably take place from a career ‘start point’ and through the various career stages, along with the personnel maturation of an individual, various career needs will subsequently begin to emerge and further evolve. We contend that R&D personnel will inevitably encounter career planning problems at various stages of their careers and argue that their respective career needs will come as a result of their own self-understanding, personal interests, values, professional roles and responsibilities and, moreover, the greater responsibilities that are a hallmark of the particular stage of their career that they have reached. If we fail to consider the specific needs of R&D personnel at various career stages, then there is an increasing likelihood that the design of career development programmes will be inappropriate, and hence unlikely to have the desired effect of attracting and retaining the most valuable R&D personnel. Thus, it would be clearly inappropriate for an organization to adopt the same programmes in the hope that they will effectively satisfy the needs of all R&D personnel at different stages of their careers, since it is also clear that different career development programmes will be necessary to meet these different career needs. Our study attempts to bridge the current gap by examining such career needs and the career development programmes currently being adopted to meet them. Based on the preceding discussion, we first of all examine the career needs of R&D personnel pursuing the following hypothesis: Hypothesis 1: R&D personnel have different perspectives on the nature of career needs, and of their significance, at different stages of their careers. Within this study, career needs are generally defined as the changing career goals, tasks and challenges that arise due to shifts in personal career stages. A career goal may be a particular landmark to be achieved during a career, which provides the necessary direction and motivation for advancement. The motivational goals involve the determination of the main career tasks to be completed and, during the implementation of these career tasks, opportunities are continually evaluated for future potential career development, bottlenecks or challenges. We propose that ‘career goals’ will generally focus on existing career needs and the determination of the direction of an individual’s current efforts, while ‘career tasks’ are more pertinent to those career needs that emerge in pursuit of the achievement of these overall career goals. We also contend that ‘career challenges’ relate to the future career needs that arise from subsequent opportunities for career development. We examine these three career needs dimensions at various stages of the careers of R&D personnel, and then consider suitable career development programmes capable of catering to such needs. Chen et al. : Career needs, career development programmes and job satisfaction1005 Career goal needs In the ‘exploration’ stage of a researcher’s career, the central focus is on establishing a suitable professional field and, through self-assessment, gaining an understanding of their own interests and ability in that field. Thus, they will evaluate their own level of interest, and then seek information on the working environment to determine the roles and responsibilities that an organization will want and allow them to take. Employees will generally wish to devote themselves to a particular field of interest, but will also wish to interact with their superiors and peers to satisfy their social support needs (Hall, 1976). If career development programmes are to be effective at meeting the career goal needs of R&D personnel, we propose that at the ‘exploration’ stage of their careers, these programmes should include helping employees to understand their professional interests, providing appropriate job descriptions for each position, adequate support from their more experienced colleagues and discussions between employees and superiors with regard to job content. During the ‘establishment’ stage, employees are keen to experience success and the respect of their co-workers; they are ambitious and industrious, eager to improve their knowledge and very open about their pursuit of professional goals. Since they will place significant value on their on-the-job performance and promotion, they will also be keen to keep track of their personal performance status, as well as external opportunities and threats, to determine their distinct competitive advantage. Self-directed learning and external learning are also essential elements of career development at this stage. At the ‘establishment’ stage of their careers, if such programmes are to continue to meet the career goal needs of R&D personnel, they should include the adoption of project assignments as a means of facilitating on-the-job training, encouraging personnel to participate in seminars where they can present their project findings and offering tuition fee assistance for continuing professional development. During the ‘maintenance’ stage of their careers, the career concerns of R&D personnel are retention of their earlier accomplishments and re-evaluation of their career direction. At this stage, they should already have achieved a certain level of on-the-job status and will be keen to retain this status while re-evaluating their future career prospects, building on their earlier achievements and seeking out motivators to encourage even greater efforts. They should also have gained a considerable level of knowledge, and have become rich in job experience, so they should be adequately qualified to direct others. Organizations should be looking to these R&D workers to take the less experienced ersonnel within their core team ‘under their wing’ and thus help to consolidate the organization. In order to meet the career goal needs of R&D personnel at the ‘maintenance’ stage, we suggest that appropriate career development programmes should include careful consideration of employees’ career paths within the organization, the possibility of offering dual-career programmes, which would enable personnel to select their own future career d irection without jeopardizing their promotion prospects, and cultivating personnel to become professional consultants or specialized lecturers. Employees at the ‘disengagement’ stage will be concerned only with successful completion of their career (Cron, 1984). We assert that, as R&D personnel come close to retirement, they place less emphasis on their current job and focus instead on other roles, in order to adapt to increasing age and waning vigour. They will be hoping to round off their professional life and arranging activities with greater relevance to retirement. At the same time, their roles will be changing, from accepting and training themselves, to handing over the job, providing direction and consultation and passing on their experience to less experienced personnel. Their major hope at this stage will be to have 1006 The International Journal of Human Resource Management gained a reputation within their field, and their only real desire will be that their loyalty will be compensated admirably by a good pension package. They will have accumulated extensive experience and research knowledge, with a wealth of experience in research direction and counselling. In order to meet the career goal needs of R&D personnel at the ‘disengagement’ stage, we suggest that appropriate career development programmes should include establishing succession planning, the training of replacements, providing retirement planning and counselling and consideration of establishing honorary consultancy positions for those who merit such positions. Career task needs During the ‘exploration’ stage, employees need continually to upgrade their skills and knowledge according to the requirements of the job and so gain a complete understanding of what is required of them; thus career tasks involve obtaining the necessary knowledge to enable successful job performance. Employees must know how to perform a specific job, and how to create a meaningful link between their own personal perspective and the overall output of the organization, ensuring that their personal job performance achieves the standards of excellence required to make an effective contribution to the company (Kerry, 1998). In order to meet the career task needs of R&D personnel at the ‘exploration’ stage of their careers, appropriate career development programmes should include the provision of on-the-job training and implementation of professional development training. During the ‘establishment’ stage, career development tasks will involve raising professional knowledge and the level of autonomy to boost job performance, creative development and innovative skills. R&D personnel can continue to develop their professional ability to innovate, to become more intellectually mature, gain wider job experience and become much more willing to take on additional responsibilities; one of their greatest desires will be that their superiors will fully empower them, thus allowing them greater levels of autonomy. At the ‘establishment’ stage of their careers, if such programmes are to continue to meet the career task needs of R&D personnel, they should include individual assignments involving periods of engagement in foreign training, the introduction of job rotation in order expand fields of expertise and the provision of opportunities for job enrichment. During the ‘maintenance’ stage, an important personal task is to ensure that the previously established ground is retained (Super, 1984). A personal development task will be to seek out wider job and organizational perspectives while maintaining current performance (Cron, 1984). Promotional opportunities will be limited, since a certain status will have already been achieved within the company and, thus, effort must be placed into their decision-planning and directive roles. During this phase, employees should be adopting parallel, cross-functional means to integrate their work and widening their professional horizons in order continually to make work more interesting. The more zealous R&D personnel within an organization, those not content with limited promotional prospects, ill attempt to extend their reach outside the company, extending their career channels and attempting to scale higher career peaks. In order to meet the career task needs of R&D personnel at the ‘maintenance’ stage of their careers, appropriate career development programmes should include setting up objective performance appraisals as a means of assessing overall management performance and future development, encouraging personnel to learn additional interpersonal skills, c ounselling skills and so on and assisting employees to jointly formulate a development plan that would involve more demanding roles. Chen et al. : Career needs, career development programmes and job satisfaction1007 During the ‘disengagement’ stage, as retirement age nears and responsibilities begin to decline, most employees will choose to maintain acceptable levels of performance while preparing for retirement (Cron, 1984). An important developmental task at this stage is to maintain an acceptable level of performance while building a stronger sense of self-identity outside work and attempting to adjust schedules in order to shift time and energy towards other pursuits (such as family life, friendships, religion and so on). In order to meet the career task needs of R&D personnel at the ‘disengagement’ stage, we suggest that appropriate career development programmes should include providing employees with the means of undertaking self-assessment in order both to maintain their current level of performance and to strive for continuous improvement, setting basic job standards and encouraging participation in professional associations. Career challenge needs At the ‘exploration’ stage, the major career challenge is continually to acquire professional knowledge and participate in self-improvement activities related to enhancing professional knowledge and skills. A more personal challenge is to establish a good initial professional self-concept (Cron, 1984) in order to strive to live up to recognized professional behavioural standards and criteria for professional elationships, which represent additional challenges to be met. Workers must also try continually to employ professional knowledge within an organization, to enjoy a measure of recognition and attention from superiors and co-workers regarding their professional calibre within a certain field and thereby secure more challenging work. In order to meet the career challenge needs of R&D personnel at the ‘exploration’ stage of their careers, appropriate career development programmes should include the provision of specifically targeted training to fully realize the potential of each employee, the provision of guidance aimed at helping employees to improve their job performance and clarification by superiors of the continuing requirements for the job in terms of characteristics, content and qualifications. At the ‘establishment’ stage, the major career challenges for R&D personnel are the desire to continue to perform well, to gain promotion and to balance the requirements of the job with family responsibilities. Hence, they will seek promotional opportunities by demonstrating superior performance in their role, leading to the receipt of various rewards (not limited solely to material enrichment), and secure a role with greater autonomy. Employees at this stage are keen to receive early promotion and will tend to place a great deal of effort into their work. They are likely to be spending more of their time at work in order to create an impact on their superiors; however this can be to the detriment of their family lives because of the imbalance created between their professional and private lives. At the ‘establishment’ stage of their careers, if such programmes are to continue to meet the career challenge needs of R&D personnel, they should include performance evaluation so as to help employees to adjust their efforts accordingly and to provide them with an understanding of promotional prospects and routes and assisting employees to find the appropriate balance between their jobs and their family life. At the ‘maintenance’ stage, R&D personnel need to retain their established organizational status, prioritize work functions and maintain motivation, professionalism and competitiveness, with career tasks involving broadening their job horizons and extending their professional reach. There may also be a growing threat of challenges from newcomers; thus, the need for continuous innovation is paramount. R&D personnel will have reached their professional peaks and will be seeking to retain their status, with 1008 The International Journal of Human Resource Management he hope of permanent job assurances and benefits being provided by their employers. When faced with potential threats, the reaction may be somewhat intense, leading to protective walls being built around their domain. Those already high up in the organizational hierarchy have fewer promotional opportunities; this can inevitably lead to a greater orientation towards the present, which will often manifest itself i n an increasing desire for immediate monetary rewards (Hall, 1986; Cron, 1984; Rabinowitz and Hall, 1981). In order to meet the career challenge needs of R&D personnel at the ‘exploration’ stage of their careers, appropriate career development programmes should include the design of appropriate (material) rewards and motivational systems; subsidizing external educational activities; and providing interpersonal relationship counselling and guidance, according to specific needs. During the ‘disengagement’ stage, retirement can be a problem in itself. Being accustomed to a business career, employees will have now reached a stage where they must give it up and adapt to a more non-productive lifestyle, staying at home to face the strange experience of being idle, with no specific duties. Some people can find self- affirmation and the maintenance of a belief in their own worth to be a formidable challenge (Dessler, 1996). Hence, R&D employees will be retrospectively examining their careers, and pondering how they intend to while away their future. In seeking out another crossroad in life, they will be adjusting their roles and lifestyles, and accepting and developing a new self-identity. These retirees also face the prospect of spending more time with their families, and of how they will handle it. Examining a passing career produces a need to accept achievements and to adjust one’s self-identity, leading to problems of psychological adaptation. Thus, businesses must offer career counselling at this stage in order to help their R&D staff to develop a positive attitude, and to avoid at all costs a pessimistic or negative outlook. Retiring employees should be counselled to encourage their participation in social and leisure activities, and family life, while roviding guidance to help these employees to plan their life as a retiree, and thereby maintain a positive and optimistic attitude. According to Hoon (2000), managers generally consider the provision of career planning, management and development for their employees as key human resource management functions that will increase employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment; indeed, the ongoing caree r development of employees is frequently cited as a positive investment by corporations, capable of creating a more positive job attitude (London, 1988). Nevertheless, the disappointment for many professional workers is that current management practices and policies fail to incorporate an adequate understanding of their needs and expectations as professionals (Petroni, 2000). Thus, irrespective of the amount of career development practices that an organization provides and actively pursues, the whole process will prove to be totally ineffective if employees perceive this developmental effort as unproductive, non-utilitarian or, indeed, non-existent (Crabtree, 1999). Organizations must therefore pay particular attention to the career aspirations of each individual and be aware of their attitudes towards the organization’s career management practices. Cordero et al. (1994a, 1994b) noted that development opportunities that were capable of satisfying the expectations of technological personnel would lead to enhancement of their overall job satisfaction levels, and, in a study of professional engineers, Petroni (2000) found a strong association between the inadequate understanding of their expectations and their general level of dissatisfaction with their overall career direction. This suggests that there may be a widespread need to develop career management systems, particularly among groups of professionals, which are congruent with the career aspirations of each individual. Such efforts at matching programmes with aspirations will Chen et al. : Career needs, career development programmes and job satisfaction1009 learly have an influence on overall satisfaction levels and on decisions about whether to remain within an organization or whether to seek alternative employment (Granrose and Portwood, 1987; Aryee and Leong, 1991). Based on our proposals for career development programmes, we further examine the career development status of individuals in order to determine whether any gaps exist between their career needs and the career development programmes provided. If such a gap does exist, it would be of interest to establish whether or not the gap differs noticeably at various career stages. If the gap between the career needs of R&D personnel and the available career development programmes becomes excessive, their inner needs will not be met and, in accordance with motivational process theory, these unsatisfied needs will subsequently produce nervousness and stress among workers, ultimately impacting on job satisfaction (Robbin, 1998). If this gap is controllable, we can further argue that job satisfaction levels can be reasonably predicted, since organizations have the ability to boost job satisfaction levels through the provision of appropriate career development programmes capable of satisfying unfulfilled career needs. Based upon this discussion, we can propose the following hypothesis: Hypothesis 2: The gap between career development programmes and career needs has a negative correlation with job satisfaction. We can also argue that this influence on job satisfaction from the gap between career needs and career development programmes will vary with different career stages because R&D workers at the ‘establishment’ stage are keen to forge ahead and focus on the level of compatibility between their career needs and career development programmes; this compatibility level therefore has a strong influence on their overall level of job satisfaction. In contrast, those at the ‘exploration’, ‘maintenance’ and ‘disengagement’ stages of their careers are either total newcomers, those maintaining their earlier achieved status or those preparing themselves for retirement, and therefore less likely to place so much emphasis on compatibility between their career needs and career development programmes (Super, 1957; Cron, 1984; Weeks et al. , 1999). The gap between career development programmes and career needs is therefore likely to have less impact on the job satisfaction of workers in all but the ‘establishment’ stage of their careers. Based on this well-founded supposition, we propose the following hypothesis: Hypothesis 3: Career stages may moderate the negative effect on job satisfaction from the gap between career development programmes and career needs. Method Data source The sample in this study was drawn from R&D personnel in the high-tech industry in the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (HSIP). A pre-tested questionnaire was used with proportionate stratified sampling being carried out according to both the year 2000 manpower monthly report issued by the HSIP management and the ratio of R&D personnel within certain sectors to the total R&D personnel within HSIP. The sample data were collected by mail. A total of 1,300 questionnaires were distributed, of which 385 were returned, giving a response rate of 29. 6 per cent; eighteen questionnaires were invalid, leaving a total of 367 valid questionnaires as the sample; thus, the overall return rate of valid questionnaires was 28. 2 per cent. Since a total of only eleven R&D workers were currently in a stage of ‘disengagement’, it was not possible to undertake any statistical analysis of this group that could claim to have any real validity. 010 The International Journal of Human Resource Management Measures Career stages There are a number of reasons for using age as a proxy for career stages, as follows: First of all, there is no consistent, widely accepted means of measuring employee career stages and, as demonstrated in a general review of the extant research, a wide variety of approaches has been adopted in an effort to carry out an appropriate and acceptable assessment (Mehta et al. , 2000). Second, alternative operational definitions of career stages have been used in multiple research investigations. These include Super’s (1957) adult form, which comprise four career stages; Gottfredson’s (1981) complex theory of occupational circumscription and compromise, within which there are several recursive career stages based on childhood and adolescent processes; tenure (Stumpf and Rabinowitz, 1981); Levinson’s (1986) career stage groupings based on four life eras; and indeed, age (e. . Cron, 1984; Hafer, 1986; Dalrymple and Strahle, 1990; Kao et al. , 1997; Weeks et al. , 1999). These studies also attracted a general recognition of the discordant way in which career stages have been operationalized across studies (Swanson, 1992). Third, our study uses age to represent career stages in similar fashion to the way in which many others have done when testing Super’s (1957) model (e. g. Gould, 1979; Slocum and Cron, 1985; Weeks and Kahle, 1990). Fourth, Weeks et al. 1999) also argued that ‘since age can be measured quite accurately, it can be argued that this measure has adequate reliability and objectivity when compared to the reliability and objectivity of other measures of career stages’. Finally, we must also concede that all research is confronted by the practical realities of costs and deadlines (Cooper and Schindler, 1998), and this was evident in our study in terms of the depth of our questionnaire, costs, time and the rate of response. Career stage categorization in this study is therefore similar to that used in many previous studies (Cron, 1984; Weeks et al. 1999), and we regard the age of R&D personnel as an indication of their professional ability and job experience, which usually increases with age, and which moves forward with the career stage of these employees. Thus, we adopt age to measure career stages, but we also concede that it represents one of the limitations of our study; that is to say, in or der to clarify different career needs at various stages, we do not consider that some of the R&D personnel included within the study may be in a period of transition from one career stage to another. In this study, therefore, career stage is also represented by age. The sample was broken down for analysis into four age groups corresponding to the Cron (1984) career stage categories, with respondents in the ‘exploration’ stage being equal to or less than 30 years of age, respondents in the ‘establishment’ stage being aged between 30 and 45 years, respondents in the ‘maintenance’ stage being aged between 46 and 65 years and respondents in the ‘disengagement’ stage, being those of 66 years of age or above. Career needs Career needs are defined as the personal needs of goals, tasks and challenges in a person’s career, and it is recognized that career needs change with the various career stages. This study proposes various primary career needs for the various career stages, constructing a thirty-two-item scale to measure these career needs. In order to indicate their needs, participants were provided with a 5-point Likert-type response scale, ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’. The details of the career needs scale is attached as an appendix. The internal consistency reliability (alpha coefficient) of the measure of career needs was 0. 737. Career development programmes Based on the career needs of R&D personnel, this study proposes three general categories of response in the form of career development programmes: career goals-oriented development programmes, career tasks-oriented Chen et al. : Career needs, career development programmes and job satisfaction1011 development programmes and career challenges-oriented development programmes. This study refers to Ivancevich and Glueck (1989), adjusting and revising the itemized issues and some of the detailed assessment indices, with the aim of associating these with career needs while also taking into account the status of career development in Taiwan’s high-tech industry. Thereafter, a thirty-three-item scale was developed to measure the perceived career development programmes. Participants were provided with a 5-point Likert-type response scale ranging from ‘very dissatisfied’ to ‘very satisfied’. Details of the contents of the career development programmes are attached as an appendix. The internal consistency reliability (alpha coefficient) of the career development programme measures was 0. 856. The gap between career development programmes and career needs The gap between career development programmes and career needs is determined as ‘the discrepancy between the career needs of R&D personnel and their awareness level of the career development programmes currently in use by their companies’. We use such gaps to evaluate whether the career needs of this group are being satisfied by their companies’ career development programmes. Such gaps are measured by subtracting the average awareness values of career development programmes from average career needs values. Job satisfaction Job satisfaction was defined by Gregson (1987) as the positive emotional state resulting form the appraisal of one’s job or experience. The measurement of job satisfaction within this study was undertaken using a composite of five sub-scales (satisfaction with: pay, promotion, supervisors, co-workers and work). These five items are from the original thirty-item Job Descriptive Index scale of Smith et al. (1969) and we have chosen (and occasionally modified) these items to ensure the best fit with the situation in the firm being studied. This is an approach which has been used effectively in previous sales force studies (Teas, 1983; Johnston et al. , 1990). We include one additional item, which asks participants to indicate their overall level of satisfaction with the job. Participants were provided with a 5-point Likert-type response scale ranging from ‘very dissatisfied’ to ‘very satisfied’ to indicate their level of satisfaction with the following aspects of their present job: (1) job content; (2) supervision; (3) co-worker relations; (4) opportunities for promotion; (5) pay; and (6) their overall level of satisfaction with their organization. The sample items included: ‘The amount of challenge you have in your job’, ‘Your chances for promotion’ and ‘The recognition you get for good work (your job, overall)’. A summed averaged of the six items was produced to form the job satisfaction score (Cronbach’s alpha coefficient ? 0:920). In addition, MANOVA data analysis was carried out to test whether, at different stages of their careers, R&D personnel had differing viewpoints on their career needs. Regression analyses were conducted to examine the effects on job satisfaction from the gap between career development programmes and career needs, the moderating effects of career stages on the relationships between the gap and job satisfaction. Empirical results The empirical results of this study, providing the means of the three types of career needs – career goal needs, career task needs and career challenge needs – of R&D personnel at different stages of their careers, are presented in Table 1a. In addition, the results of the ANOVA analysis of the repeated measures are presented in Table 1b. The overall mean for career goal needs was 4. 31, of which the ‘establishment’ stage (4. 39) was larger than the ‘exploration’ stage (4. 32), ‘disengagement’ stage (4. 18) and ‘maintenance’ stage (3. 6). As Table 1b shows, there are statistically significant 1012 The International Journal of Human Resource Management Table 1a The means of career needs of R&D personnel at different career stages Career needsCareer stages | |Exploration |Establishment |Maintenance |Disengagement |Mean | |Goals |4. 32 |4. 39 |3. 96 |4. 18 |4. 31 | |Tasks |4. 57 |4. 49 |4. 15 |4. 36 |4. 8 | |Challenges |4 . 30 |4. 35 |3. 76 |4. 00 |4. 26 | Table 1b ANOVA of career needs of R&D personnel at different career stages |Source of variation |Sum of squares |Degrees of |Mean square |F-value |p-value | | | |freedom | | | | |(1) The repeated measures ANOVA | |Career stages |21. 1 |3 |7. 136 |14. 27*** |0. 001 | |Career needs |5. 22 |2 |2. 61 |19*** |0. 001 | |Interaction |1. 92 |6 |0. 32 |2. 33* |0. 031 | (2) The simple main effects on career stages |Career goal needs |6. 15 |3 |2. 05 |8. 2*** |0. 001 | |Career task needs |5. 36 |3 |1. 79 |7. 51*** |0. 01 | |Career challenge needs |11. 83 |3 |3. 94 |13. 74*** |0. 001 | (3) The simple main effects on career needs |Exploration |5. 69 |2 |2. 84 |30. 98*** |0. 001 | |Establishment |1. 92 |2 |0. 96 |6. 14** |0. 002 | |Maintenance |2. 83 |2 |1. 42 |7. 11** |0. 001 | |Disengagement |0. 73 |2 |0. 36 |2. 3 |0. 083 | Notes ***p , :001; **p , 01; *p , :05: differences between the various career stages (F ? 14:27; p ? 0:001) and also between various caree r needs (F ? 19; p ? 0:001). Moreover, the interaction between career needs and career stages also produces significant levels (F ? 2:33; p ? 0:031), that is to say, at different stages of their careers, R&D personnel do display different career needs. Since the interactions were significant, it was clear that a test of the simple main effects should be further conducted. First of all, from the test of the simple main effects on career stages, the results indicated that, at different stages of their careers, R&D personnel showed significantly different viewpoints on the significance of their career goal needs (F ? 8:2; p ? 0:001). Furthermore, the mean values showed that for those members of this group at the ‘establishment’ stage, career goal needs had reached a higher level of importance than they had for those at the ‘exploration’ and ‘maintenance’ stages of their careers ? 4:39 . :32 . 3:96? : Second, at different career stages, R&D personnel demonstrated significantly different viewpoints on the significance of their career task needs (F ? 7:51; p ? 0:001). In addition, the means also showed that, for those members of this group at the ‘exploration’ stage of their careers, career task needs had reached a higher level of importance than they had for those at the ‘establishment’ and C hen et al. : Career needs, career development programmes and job satisfaction1013 maintenance’ stages of their careers ? 4:57 . 4:49 . 4:15? : Third, at different career stages, R&D personnel demonstrated significantly different viewpoints on the significance of their career challenge needs (F ? 13:74; p ? 0:001). The means also showed that, for those members of this group at the ‘establishment’ stage of their careers, career challenge needs had reached a slightly higher level of importance than they had for those at the ‘exploration’ stage ? 4:35 . 4:30? but a much higher level than they had for those at the ‘maintenance’ stage ? 4:35 . 3:76? : Following the test for simple main effects on different career stages, a further test of the simple main effects was conducted on the three kinds of career needs. The respective F-values on the viewpoint of those R&D personnel in the ‘exploration’, ‘establishment’ and â €˜maintenance’ stages of their careers on the significance of the three kinds of career needs, were 30. 98, 6. 14 and 7. 11, all reaching the significance level ( p-value ? 0. 05). These values indicate that those members of this group at the ‘exploration’, ‘establishment’ and ‘maintenance’ stages of their careers have significantly different viewpoints on the significance of at least two kinds of career needs. The means revealed that, for those members of this group at the ‘exploration’ stage, career task needs reached a higher level of importance than career goal needs and career challenge needs ? 4:57 . 4:32 . 4:30? : Likewise, for those at the ‘establishment’ stage, career task needs again displayed a higher level of importance than career goal needs and career challenge needs ? :49 . 4:39 . 4:35? : Finally, for those at the ‘maintenance’ stage of their careers, career task needs also reached a higher level of importance than career goal needs and career challenge needs ? 4:15 . 3:96 . 3:76? : Thus, hypothesis 1 is supported. According to the figures provided in Table 1a, among th e three kinds of career needs, as far as R&D personnel are concerned, the significance of career task needs is highest, with career goal needs coming next and career challenge needs being the least significant. The reason behind this would seem to be that the needs of the career tasks are a principal demand in the process of R&D, within which these personnel must be experienced in order to achieve their targets. In their efforts during the present stage, to attain the situation of satisfying their career goal needs, R&D personnel would necessarily have stronger career task needs. Once they have achieved their career goals during the present stage, they would then be in a position to assess their chances of developing their future career, and thus achieving a breakthrough, namely, advancement to career challenge needs. For researchers in Taiwan, career challenge needs can often reach a much higher level of importance for their professional recognition, the capabilities required for completing actual research tasks and the performance level actually attained. This is because these factors are perhaps the most visible indicator, and a critical requirement for promotion to higher R&D positions, or for acceptance of a position of lesser importance. It should be noted, however, that, during our survey, Taiwan was unfortunately embroiled in the global economic recession that affected all economies, and which will clearly have led to these R&D personnel being somewhat shortsighted and practical, albeit temporarily, in their career task needs. In order to explore whether there is any significant relationship between the dependent variable (job satisfaction) and the independent variables set (the gap between career development programmes and career needs), a multiple regression analysis was conducted as part of this study. The ‘gap between career development programmes and career needs for goals’, the ‘gap between career development programmes and career needs for tasks’ and the ‘gap between career development programmes and career needs for challenges’ were each entered into the model, and, as Table 2 indicates, all three items had a statistically significant level, with the signs, as expected, being negative. 1014 The International Journal of Human Resource Management Table 2 Regression analysis results of the gap between career development programmes and career needs on job satisfaction Sourceb T-valueR2F-value DR2p-value The gap between career development programmes and career needs for challenges The gap between career development programmes and career needs for goals The gap between career development programmes and career needs for tasks 2 0. 36***2 7. 420. 44291. 090. 440. 001 2 0. 26***2 5. 860. 52196. 330. 080. 001 2 0. 25***2 5. 250. 55149. 620. 030. 001 Note **p , :001: This denotes that the larger the gap, the lower the job satisfaction of R&D personnel. The items predict that job satisfaction levels among R&D personnel will be in the order of ‘the gap between career development programmes and career needs for challenges’, ‘the gap between career development programmes and career needs for goals’ and ‘the gap between career development programmes and career needs for tasks’, which are able jointly to predict 55 per cent of the variance in job satisfaction. As to the level of each individual prediction, the gap between career development programmes and career needs for challenges was highest, explaining 44 per cent of the variance; the gap between career development programmes and career needs for goals was next, with an R2 increment of 8 per cent. Therefore, hypothesis 2 is also supported. This study divided the gap between career development programmes and career needs into three, ‘high’, ‘medium’ and ‘low’, sub-sections according to the mean (plus/minus one) standard deviation in order to explore whether there was any significant difference between these three sub-sections in terms of job satisfaction. Analysis of whether career stages can moderate the negative direct effect on job satisfaction stemming from the gap between career development programmes and career needs has also been undertaken within this study. The results are provided in Table 3a, which reveals that the interaction between career stages and ‘the gap between career development programmes and career needs’ was significant for job satisfaction (F ? 3:59; p ? 0:002). In order to determine the actual influence of the two independent variables on the dependent variables, tests of the simple and main effects were conducted. First of all, a test of the simple and main effects was conducted on the independent variable, i. . the ‘the gap between career development programmes and career needs’. As Table 3a shows, the F-value reached a level of significance ? a ? 0:05? ; indicating that a significant difference does exist between the four career stages of R&D personnel in terms of the influence on job satisfaction of the gap between career development programmes and career needs; the means are provided in Table 3b. Among all of the R&D personnel surveyed, the group with a ‘low’ gap between career development programmes and career needs demonstrated a significantly higher attitude towards job satisfaction than the groups with a ‘medium’ and ‘high’ gap between career development programmes and career needs, while the attitude towards job satisfaction of those in the group with a ‘medium’ gap between career development programmes and career needs was also significantly higher than the group with a ‘high’ gap between career Chen et al. : Career needs, career development programmes and job satisfaction1015 Table 3a MANOVA of the effects on job satisfaction from the gap between career development programmes and career needs at different career stages |Source of variation |Sum of squares |Degrees of |Mean square|F-value |p-value | | | |freedom | | | | |(1) MANOVA | | | | | | |Career stages |1. 63 |3 |0. 54 |1. 62 |0. 185 | The gap between career evelopment programmes and career needs 49. 26224. 6373. 44***0. 001 Interaction7. 2361. 213. 59**0. 002 (2) The simple main effects on the gap between career development |Exploration |39. 99 |2 |19. 99 |67. 58*** |0. 001 | |Establishment |95. 07 |2 |47. 53 |134. 31*** |0. 001 | |Maintenance |12. 24 |2 |6. 12 |14. 08*** |0. 001 | |Disengagement |4. 62 |2 |2. 31 |26. 26*** |0. 001 | 3) The simple main effects on career stages Low gaps between career development programmes and career needs Medium gaps between career development programmes and career needs High gaps between career development programmes and career needs 2. 3330. 782. 720. 052 0. 7330 . 240. 810. 489 5. 9931. 993. 96*0. 012 Notes ***p , :001; **p , :01; *p , :05: Table 3b Mean comparison of job satisfaction Career stages The gaps between career development programmes and career needs | |High (72) |Medium (230) |Low (65) |Mean | |Exploration (128) |2. 4 |3. 47 |4. 57 |3. 65 | |Establishment (190) |2. 24 |3. 44 |4. 33 |3. 34 | |Maintenance (38) |2. 71 |3. 62 |4. 85 |3. 73 | |Disengagement (11) |3. 33 |3. 67 |4. 89 |4. 30 | |Mean |2. 45 |3. 47 |4. 63 |3. 47 | Note Values represent cell means. Number of cases is given in parentheses. development programmes and career needs. This indicates that, along with the increase in the gap between career development programmes and career needs, there is an apparent decline in job satisfaction levels among R&D personnel. We may find that the attitude towards job satisfaction of those R&D personnel at the ‘establishment’ stage of their careers is lower as the gap increases. In addition, as the gap increases, compared to those 1016 The International Journal of Human Resource Management personnel at all other stages (with the exception of the ‘disengagement’ stage), the attitude towards job satisfaction of R&D personnel is highest at the ‘maintenance’ stage. We also find that those at the ‘establishment’ stage are most conscious of the gap between career development programmes and career needs, and that their consciousness of job satisfaction decreases gradually as the gap between career development programmes and career needs increases. Those R&D personnel at the ‘maintenance’ stage are less conscious of the gap between career development programmes and career needs because they have already reached the peak of their careers and often enjoy plentiful resources within their organizations. Therefore, the attitude towards job satisfaction in the group at the ‘maintenance’ stage of their careers, which also indicates a ‘high’ gap between career development programmes and career needs, is higher than at any of the other career stages. In addition, as Table 3a indicates, in the group indicating a ‘high’ gap between career development programmes and career needs, there are significant differences demonstrated between the different career stages. The means show that those R&D personnel at the ‘establishment’ stage of their careers, and also indicating a ‘high’ gap between career development programmmes and career needs, have the lowest level of job satisfaction (2. 24). In the group of R&D personnel indicating a ‘high’ gap between career development programmes and career needs, the respective attitudes towards job satisfaction of those at different stages are: the ‘exploration’ stage (2. 84) . the ‘maintenance’ stage (2. 1) . the ‘establishment’ stage (2. 24). Therefore, hypothesis 3 is also supported. Concluding remarks This study set out with the aim of examining the gap between career development programmes and career needs, and the relationships with job satisfaction. One of the features of this study has been the attempt to define the factors influencing R&D personnel’s job satisfaction levels from a perspective of the gap between career development programmes and career needs. With Taiwan eagerly working towards enhancing its high-tech competitiveness and becoming increasingly involved in high- tech R&D, an investigation into the existing gaps between perceived career development programmes and expected career needs of R&D personnel may improve the job satisfaction of R&D personnel. This study has attempted to provide an understanding of the career needs of R&D personnel, which, it is hoped, will lead to the development of appropriate career development programmes in response to these needs. It has further investigated the relationship between career needs and career development programmes and job satisfaction. The results reveal that, at different stages of their careers, R&D personnel do indeed have distinct career needs. For R&D personnel, of the three types of career needs referred to in this study, career task needs take priority, with career goal needs in second place and career challenge needs demonstrating the lowest priority. An explanation for this is that career task needs are part of the path that has to be travelled to achieve career goals. In order to achieve the current needs for career goals, R&D personnel demonstrate a stronger need for career tasks. Once they do achieve their career goals, they can then evaluate the developmental opportunities for their future career, hence producing the career need for challenges that have yet to be faced and overcome. Furthermore, R&D personnel generally display a high evaluation of the know-how necessary actually to perform their jobs and of their on-the-job performance levels, since these are the most obvious indices, and a key deciding factor in the promotion, or passing over, of R&D personnel. It was clear, when conducting this research – which took place Chen et al. : Career needs, career development programmes and job satisfaction1017 during a period of global recession – that R&D personnel were prone to the pursuit of short-term, pragmatic career task needs at that time. In addition, the results of the stepwise regression reveal that the three kinds of gaps between career development programmes and career needs are significant predictors of job satisfaction (R2 ? 55:3 per cent). Furthermore, this study has also revealed that the widening of the gap between career development programmes and career needs leads to a corresponding lowering of job satisfaction levels among R&D personnel. Finally, this study finds that the interaction between career stages and the ‘gap between career development programmes and career needs’ does in fact influence job satisfaction, that is to say, the influence upon job satisfaction, from the gap between career development programmes and career needs, varies with the different career stages of R&D personnel. As the gap widens (with the exception of those in the ‘disengagement’ stage), those in the ‘establishment’ stage of their careers demonstrate the lowest job satisfaction levels, while those in the ‘maintenance stage’ of their careers demonstrate higher levels of job satisfaction than those in all other career stages. During the ‘establishment’ stage, their awareness of the gaps between career development programmes and career needs is the highest, relative to awareness levels at other career stages, and it is also at this stage that the highest turnover intentions are demonstrated. Perhaps because of higher levels of ambition among R&D personnel in the ‘establishment’ stage, of desire to set up relationships between themselves and the organization, and to get ahead and become valuable professional members of the organization, this group is likely to work particularly hard in the pursuit of success and realization of personal needs. At this time, they will define, on the one hand, the relationship between themselves and the organization and, on the other, their personal needs, as against organizational goals. Personal ambitions are reflected in career needs, making for exaggerated career needs. If, during this time, organizational career development programmes do not satisfy such ambitions, then considerable gaps can develop between career development programmes and career needs. R&