Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Human Resource Management The Ritz

Human Resource Management The Ritz Recommendations Having considered numerous problems, connected with the human resource management in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, a number of recommendations may be given to cope with them.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Human Resource Management: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Even though all the separate disadvantages of human resource management do not create any troubles for the company functioning, if to unite those, it becomes problematic for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company to function properly. Here are some specific recommendations the human resource manager should take into account while organizing such procedures as recruitment, induction and retention. One of the main mistakes the human resource managers make in the Ritz-Carlton Hotels is the attraction of too many candidates at the time of recruitment. Thus, there are too many people in the company who should perform the same functions. This leads to the problem that some employees who have been working in the company for many years remain unoccupied. The main purpose of recruitment is â€Å"not just to attract any candidates – it is to recruit the right candidates (and hopefully put off the wrong sort of candidates)† (Yeung 2008, p. 66). Moreover, the attraction of too many candidates at one and the same time is also a bad idea as it is rather time consuming and costly to sort out applications. It is also unreasonable to advise the organisation to attract too few candidates as this leads to choice limitation (McKenna Beech 2008). Thus, due to the fact that the company got used to work with the professionals, it pays much attention to human resources (Sucher McManus 2001). So, it may be recommended to attract as many candidates as possible but to recruit them by means of small groups. This will help the organization to consider as many people as possible and to choose the candidate which perfectly fits the company requirements without rush (Billsberry 2007). It is important to recommend the company to reduce the turnover of employees as this process negatively influences the services in the Ritz-Carlton Hotels and is rather costly (Jackson, Schuler Werner 2008). At the same time, it is important to understand that turnover is an inevitable and crucial process in the company.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Functional turnover is vital for the Ritz-Carlton Hotels as it gives an opportunity for poor performers to leave their workplace. Such turnover is really useful for the company as the Hotel requires only the best performers (Sturman, Trevor Boudreau 2003). Each new employer should be trained. Such procedures cost too much. At the same time, the company fails to train new employees properly that may be the main reason for the high turnover. New workers are unable to learn how to perform their tasks that leads to misunderstanding in the staff and people do not want to work anymore due to the inability to provide their tasks in a proper way. Employee turnover influences productivity greatly, so one of the main purposes of the Ritz-Carlton Hotels should be an attempt to reduce the turnover to minimum. Moreover, there it is obvious that the reduction of turnover of the employees can result in â€Å"significant savings to an organization† (Bohlander Snell 2009, p. 94). Having considered the situation in the Ritz-Carlton Hotels, it was noticed that the company cares of their staff and always tries to show its appreciation. This appreciation is sees via some gifts which are given from the whole company. An employee does not have a person he/she can turn to. The induction of the employees at the workplace is considered to be impersonal. Such policy in behaviour is wrong as having been trained for a short period of time, e mployees do not have an opportunity to get all the necessary information. New employees do not have an opportunity to get used to the atmosphere at the workplace. A specific person who can help them in this process is extremely important. Bratton and Gold (2003) are sure that new employees should feel welcome from time to time, but, still, it is also important to see a concrete person. Thus, our recommendations for the increase of the company production at the workplace may be reduced to the following. First, there should be a concrete person to whom people can turn to if some problems appear. Second, it is important to reduce the turnover of the employees not by means of attracting too few candidates but by searching for an appropriate candidate.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Human Resource Management: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The recruiting policy should be also changed as well as the change of the very procedure of induction (the employees are offered too little time for training and obtaining skills necessary for work in the Ritz-Carlton Hotels). Having considered these recommendations directed at the change of the system of the human resource management in the Ritz-Carlton Hotels, it is possible to state the following solutions the company should consider. Solutions One of the main problems the company faces is the employees’ recruitment. The company needs more employees but the methods it uses for recruitment are poor. Attracting too many candidates, the company is unable to cope with them and it leads to numerous problems discussed above. One of the ways to cope with the problem is to use the website as the means for advertising and candidates’ selection. This will help the Ritz-Carlton Hotels to reduce the costs on employees’ selection and will help to choose the most appropriate candidates. Beardwell and Claydon (2007) offer tests which may be implemented at the company website and this is going to be one of the main measures which help understand whether the candidate is exactly what the company needs or not. They say that testing â€Å"is essentially an attempt to achieve objectivity, or, to put it more accurately, to reduce subjectivity in selection decision-making† (Beardwell Claydon 2007, p. 209). The main idea of these tests should be the understanding of a candidate background and checking of his/her knowledge in the sphere. The results of the tests may be analysed by the special software which will filter the candidates’ portfolios by experience, qualifications and aptitude (Beardwell Claydon 2007). The absence of this strategy in the company has created the problem of high turnover in the staff. To reduce the turnover in the company is possible in a number of different ways. Taylor (2006) offers the company to implement employees’ job security at the workplace. One of the main reasons of the turnover may be uncertainty of the candidate in their future. Being unsure whether they will be offered this specific job, they still continue to search for other vacancies and if they feel that another offer is more convenient and gives more assurance in the future employment on the constant basis they go there.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Thus, to solve this problem the human resource managers should train only people who perfectly fit the position and have a great desire to work in the company. It is obvious that it is impossible to eliminate turnover absolutely, but this may help to reduce it. If the managers of the Ritz-Carlton Hotels show a new employee that his/her work is really important for the organization and it is satisfied with the productivity new employee can offer, this may also reduce the turnover in the company (Garvey 2001). Phillips and Connell (2003) offer to create a good team which can improve the atmosphere at the workplace. There are a lot different methods aimed at teambuilding, and many scholars consider those strategies as the most effective for reducing retention failures. When people have good relations with other employees, they feel happy in the company and they may have no desire to leave. Training is one more problem which requires solution. As it has been mentioned above, one month i s established in the company as the period between recruitment and commencing. Some employees consider this as a too long period, still, if to use this time to advantage in the employee training, this my solve another problem the company has – too short period for training, just one week. Thus, if the employee was trained while the period when he/she was recruited but was not commenced to work, so the problem with training would be solved as well (Simms 2005). Having accepted a position, a new employee has to attend a week training course. The background knowledge he/she has already accepted may be a good background. A week training courses may be more productive if the employee is already aware of the main processes in the organization and has already acquired some simplest skills (Hollinshead 2009). One of the main problems which the Ritz-Carlton Hotels as well as others organizations have is the consideration of training as the afterthought process. That is why the level o f performance of new employees is too low, as well as the productivity that leads to employee turnover. Lawson (2006) is sure that in spite of the fact that â€Å"an effective new employee orientation takes time and effort† (p. 2), it is considered to be the well-worth instrument. The well-planned and perfectly structured program may help an employee to understand his/her role in the company better, to get more knowledge and to be ready for the working conditions in the company (Lawson 2006; Boudreau Ramstad 2007). Thus, it may be concluded that the Ritz-Carlton Hotels has a number of problems which may be solved in complex, as increasing the company productivity by means of the new employees, the company should increase the training of the candidates and change the recruitment procedure that, in its turn, will result in the reduction of turnover in case the necessary activities are provided. If the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company attempts to provide all the changes and follow th e recommendations to problems solution mentioned in the paper, it will be able to increase its productivity and the number of clients who will desire to stay at the hotel with high level of serving provided by highly trained and experienced staff. Reference List Beardwell, J Claydon, T 2007, Human resource management: a contemporary approach, Pearson Education, Oxford. Billsberry, J 2007, Experiencing Recruitment and Selection, John Wiley and Sons, New York. Bohlander, G Snell, S 2009 Managing Human Resources, Cengage Learning, Stamford. Boudreau, J Ramstad, P 2007, Beyond HR: The New Science of Human Capital, Human Resource Development International, Oxford. Bratton, J Gold, J 2003, Human Resource Management Theory and Practice, Palgrave McMillan, Basingstoke. Garvey, C 2001, ‘The Whirlwind of a New Job’, HR Magazine, June. Hollinshead, G 2009, International and Comparative Human Resource Management, McGraw Publishing, London. Jackson , P, Schuler, RS Werner, S 20 08 Managing Human Resources, Cengage Learning, Stamford. Lawson, K 2006, New Employee Orientation Training, Elsevier, Oxford. McKenna, E Beech, N 2008, Human Resource Management: A Concise Analysis, Pearson Education, London. Phillips, JJ Connell, AO 2003, Managing employee retention: a strategic accountability approach, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Simms, H 2005, Human Resource Planning, Select Knowledge Limited, Boston. Sturman, MC, Trevor, CO, Boudreau, JW Barry, G 2003, ‘Is it worth it to win the talent war? Evaluating the utility of performance-based pay’, Personnel Psychology, vol. 56, iss. 4, p. 997. Sucher, S McManus, S 2001 The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston. Taylor, S 2006, ‘Are you keeping your employees happy?’ The HR Director, vol. 28, pp 8-13. Yeung, R 2008, Successful Interviewing and Recruitment, Kogan Page Publishers, New York.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

How We Launched 4 Features in 4 Weeks with a Culture of Shipping

How We Launched 4 Features in 4 Weeks with a Culture of Shipping Here at , we just completed a major sprint to launch four major new features in less than 6 weeks. Whew. It was a lot of fun. Were leaving 2016 BIGLY so that you can consolidate your toolset in 2017! Welcome our 4th NEW feature in 6 weeks: #Instagram Scheduling https://t.co/srhEwtJpin Garrett Moon (@garrett_moon) November 29, 2016 In case you missed it, here’s what we launched. If you only want to learn how we did it, feel free to skip ahead. Four Features In Under Six Weeks: ReQueue is the most intelligent way to automate your social media. This is one of my favorite features ever, because it helps you make the most of the hard work you put into social media schedule. Now, will help you reuse to best social messages again when it sees a gap in your schedule. It’s the perfect social companion for the busiest of marketers. Instagram has quickly become one of the most important social networks for marketers and now you can schedule Instagram messages right from , along side the rest of your marketing strategy. Instagram publishing really makes the one-stop tools for your entire marketing strategy. Content UX included a major update to how content is managed on the calendar. While it included a massive design refresh, it also added a lot of functional changes around usability and user experience that make easier to use and collaborate with you team. Social Media Analytics helps our users prove the ROI of the work they do by eliminate the tedious process of gathering, analyzing, and reporting on your analytics. Now you can do it from one place with ’s social message analytics and Social Engagement Reports. Long story short, that’s a lot of code to ship in short amount of time. So, how did we do it? How A Culture Of Shipping Drives Our Work EthicI call it a culture of shipping. Its one of our core values: Bias for Action. We know that ideas don’t matter unless they become action. We always err on the side of shipping, failing fast, and getting better as we go along. But before we get too far, I want to let you in on our dirty little secret. We don’t launch 100% of our features all at once. Don’t get me wrong, these were great features, but they were the 1.0 version. This means that for every aspect of the feature we actually launched, there are between 3 and 4 major improvements that were left on the to do list. In general, I believe that the common concept of a â€Å"launch† is very misleading. Most of the time, we think of a launch as a singular event. We slave away for months in hiding while building something brand new. When it finally comes time to make it public we launch, and make a big splash. There are blog posts, tweets, press releases, and sometimes fanfare. And then it’s over. We move on to the next project and look forward to another â€Å"big launch.† But, that’s not really how things work. Your audience will never absorb your launch the way you expect them to. They’re busy and distracted. You’re probably going to have to tell them about feature XYZ three or four times before they actually pay attention. In short, launches shouldn’t be a singular event. They are just the beginning. They should really be just one singular step in an overall process of iteration. Launches should be one singular step in an overall process of iterationIteration is really at the heart of what makes for a great â€Å"culture of shipping.† Everything is iterative, including your skills and abilities, your marketing efforts, and your feature launches. A process of getting something out there and then making slow and steady improvements over time is what defines ’s culture. It isn’t sexy, but dang it if it doesn’t work. So, let’s get practical. What can you do to make sure your team builds a culture of shipping? Here are a few of the things we do every day to keep the shipping alive. 1. Wins Make for More Wins When planning something new you are bound to develop big visions of excellence and grander. Take it easy cowboy/girl. Rather than trying to build the biggest and best right out of the gate, break your project into pieces. Think of it as a series of â€Å"launches† rather than one massive unveiling. Breaking projects down into tiny launch-able pieces will give you and your team some early wins. Wins can easily turn into momentum and momentum is exactly what fuels a culture of shipping. Around here, we like to break feature development into a series of 1-2 week projects- each one ending with a launch of some kind. We try not to focus on the whole enchilada. Rather, we focus on the smaller iterative goals that will need to be met in order to succeed. This ultra simple framework keeps us focused and motivated, and ultimately leads to the big win. Wins make for more wins.2. We Assume that Our Customers Know More Than Us When planning a new feature or launch, it can be easy to assume that you are the smartest person in the room. Work on a feature long enough and you’ll believe that no one understands it better than you. Unfortunately, you’ll probably be right. So, what if no one understands it but you? Feedback matters a lot. The world loves to emphasize the myth of the â€Å"lone genius† or the Steve Jobs personality in all of us. WRONG. There isn’t a such things as a lone genius in real life. In real life those geniuses had spouses, colleagues, or competitors that drove them and made them better. For a startup like , those drivers are our users. With every feature we launch, we try to leave a lot of room for customers to influence version 2.0. When a new feature goes live, our list of back burner items becomes irrelevant. From that point forward, customer feedback shapes version 2.0. There isn’t a such things as a lone genius in real life.3. We Focus on Failing Fast Most of us try to avoid making mistakes. If we can’t avoid them, we at least try to make sure no one notices them when they happen. But, this reflex is in itself a mistake. Instead, the better approach is to assume that you will fail and build it right into your process. We call this failing fast. Rather than trying to be perfect, aim to fail as quickly as possible. If you’re building something new, show it to someone else as soon as you can. Even before you’re ready. Get feedback. Figure out what’s wrong The sooner you know what’s wrong, the sooner you can improve it, and that will help you move faster. My background is in graphic design, and this can be a huge problem in that industry. Designers love to â€Å"move pixels† and make things perfect before showing their work to anyone. But, this is a mistake. It makes them slow and oftentimes damages the end result. Don’t assume you know it all. Assume that you will fail, and build it right into your process so that you know to expect it. Assume that you will fail, and build it right into your process so that you know to expect it.4. We Keep Things Simple Complicated features are bad for users (and for you). At , we’ve paid that price before. For example, the first version of ReQueue was overbuilt. Because we didn’t ship soon enough, the feature ended up getting too complicated and messy. When we gave it to a set of beta users and they were confused. They didn’t understand how to make the feature do what we said it could do. We ended up scrapping the entire project and building something different that was much simpler and more iterative. It was a lesson we don’t want to have to learn twice. Over time, we’ve learned to keep things as simple as possible. Sometime complex features are necessary, but it is better to iterate our way into them, rather than building it all at once. Stay iterative. Keep it simple. Ship on time! #aCultureOfShipping #OverheardAt5. Despite What You Believe, Launch Day Doesn’t Really Matter I’ve already mentioned that launch day barely matters, but it bears repeating. Teams routinely put a lot of time into their big unveiling to find out that no one was really paying attention. The true art of the launching comes from realizing that launching is a process, not an event. It’s about the process of shipping, not just launching. From a marketing standpoint this means that we should be talking about new features for week and months after they launch. From a product standpoint this means that we should be building and perfecting a feature for months after they are live. This isn’t a one and done type of scenario. We are so conditioned to believe that launch day is an event. We believe that our marketing is a narrative and that customers read every page, but they don’t. Marketing is messy. Shipping is messy. You’re better off with a process that embraces the mess than one that works against it.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - Research Paper Example Depending on the severity of the problem, professionals choose an appropriate means of treatment of OCD among cognitive-behavioural therapy, pharmacotherapy, and neurosurgery; the latter is regarded as less effective. Overall, obsessive compulsive disorder is often underdiagnosed and undertreated, which means it requires more attention on the part of specialists as well as patients’ families. Obsessive compulsive disorder (abbreviated and usually used as OCD) is an anxiety disorder which is characterized by â€Å"recurrent obsessions and / or compulsions that interfere substantially with daily functioning† (Foa & Franklin, 2001). In this context, obsessions are defined as recurrent and unwanted thoughts, images or impulses which cause great anxiety. Individuals with OCD try to suppress and ignore these thoughts with other actions and / or thoughts, and they recognize the fact that the ideas and thoughts are only products of their mind (Abramowitz, Taylor & McKey, 2009). Among the most wide-spread obsessions are fear to causing harm to other people, fear of contamination, fear of behaving in an inappropriate way, fear of harm coming to self, fear of making a mistake, religious, sexual obsessions etc. (Heyman, Mataix-Cols & Fineberg, 2006). Compulsions are defined as repetitive mental acts or behaviours a person, who suffers from OCD, performs in response to obsessi on with the aim to prevent some daunting event or to reduce distress (Abramowitz, Taylor & McKey, 2009). The most common compulsions as the following ones: cleaning, hoarding, checking, handwashing, ordering and arranging, asking for reassurance (behaviours); ruminations, repeating words silently, counting (mental acts) (Heyman, Mataix-Cols & Fineberg, 2006). In accordance with Yaryura-Tobias and Neziroglu (1997), there are two groups of symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder,