Research Paper on Americans with Disabilities Act Essay Example for Free

Research Paper on Americans with Disabilities Act Essay Before starting this class and especially the research paper, I knew very little about the ADA. During the period of research and writing the paper I hope to obtain a better grasp on the ADA in general. But I also hope to learn some things that my current place of employment can improve our standards when it comes to those with disabilities. The ADA was signed into law on July 26, 1990 by then President George H. W. Bush. It prohibits discrimination based on disability and only disability. It is fairly similar to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act. Blackwell Publishing. General Discussion Analysis The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) is a civil-rights law that was passed on July 26, 1990 (Acemoglu). Kathryn Moss suggests that the ADA is arguably the most important civil rights law for people with disabilities and the most significant since the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The ADA is a federal legislation that forbids discrimination of various sorts and allows the 43 million Americans with disabilities an equal opportunity for employment and services. It provides fairly similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made discrimination based on race, religion, sex, national origin, and other characteristics illegal. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines being disabled as â€Å"incapacitated by illness or injury; also physically or mentally impaired in a way that substantially limits activity especially in relation to employment or education. The law was written enable people with disabilities to not only enter the job market but to also remain employed. In the late 1980’s, a House of Representatives report came to a conclusion that more than 8. 2 million disabled individuals were unemployed despite their desire to work. Also, those disabled individuals earned 36 to 38 percent less than their counterparts (Faillace). According to Gary Dessler, â€Å"employers with 15 or more workers are prohibited from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities with regard to applications, hiring, discharge, compensation, advancement, training, or other terms, conditions, or privileges of employment. It also says that employers must make ‘reasonable accommodations’ for physical or mental limitations unless doing so imposes an ‘undue hardship’ on the business. † It not only prohibits discrimination in employment but also outlaws most physical barriers in public accommodations, transportation, telecommunications, and government services. Although the ADA does not specifically list any disabilities, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) guidelines state that when an individual has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity then the individual is in fact disabled. It goes on to state that impairments can include any physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one or more of several body systems, or any mental or psychological disorder (Dessler). Among the protected classes are persons with AIDS and substance abusers who are in treatment. Some 50 million current or potential workers are estimated to be covered by the laws provisions (Columbia Encyclopedia). However, the act does list some conditions that are not to be considered as disabilities. These include â€Å"homosexuality, bisexuality, voyeurism, compulsive gambling, pyromania, and certain disorders resulting from the current illegal use of drugs† (Dessler). The act has already been much litigated. In 1999, for instance, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that correctable conditions like eyesight requiring the use of glasses do not qualify as disabilities under the act, and a 2002 decision established that a disability must limit a persons ability to perform tasks of central importance not just in the workplace but in daily life (Fielder). Studies suggest that the number of disabled persons entering the workforce has not improved significantly, and that a contributing factor may be their reluctance to lose other benefits available to them on the basis of their disabilities (DeLiere). Although the President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities reports that the cost of making an accommodation for an employee with a disability averages around $200 per employee with many costing less than $50. But espite this relatively small cost, many employers are still stereotyping disabled individuals and fear that the accommodations may disrupt the workplace (Blanck). Dale Brown states there are several myths regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act. He says the â€Å"ADA does not give you the right to a job because you have a disability. You must be qualified and compete and you may be rejected from a job just like anyone else. It does not give extra points in getting a job, the ADA is not an affirmativ e action statute. That is, its not intended to make up for past discrimination by requiring the employers hire a certain number of people with disabilities or giving them incentives to do so. It also does not allow any special privileges on the job. Although sometimes reasonable accommodation might look like special privileges to other people, you have the same responsibilities and challenges as your fellow employees. † In essence, you still must be as qualified or more qualified than a fellow prospective job applicant in order to receive the position. There will be no punishment for the employer if the disabled applicant is not hired because of the two applicant’s qualifications. TITLE I-Employment Title I of the ADA contains the law’s employment provisions. This is where the law states that private employers (the exact term in the law is covered entity) with 15 or more employees must not discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities. A qualified individual is a person that can perform the essential duties and functions of a job or position with reasonable accommodations. One may see a potential loophole with the act based on those two words â€Å"reasonable accommodations. † The definition of reasonable accommodations along with any other possible complaint against a company is taking on a case by case basis. But such accommodations are required only if making them does not place an undue hardship on the employer (Moss). Title I applies to all aspects of one’s job including application procedures, hiring, promotion and discharge, worker’s compensation, job training, and more (Blanck). Another aspect of the job that is covered under the ADA is if a prospective job applicant is related o or associated with a person who has a disability. For example, if an employer will not hire someone because they may think the prospective applicant would be too consumed with taking care of the disabled person, it would be illegal for the employer to not hire the applicant for that reason (Brown). Cases filed against employers regarding Title I te nd to be not cases about fact but rather about personal and social attitudes because they tend to involve the â€Å"states of mind of the various players in the story† (Krieger). Krieger goes on to state that juries and judges are asked to imagine the state of mind of an employer who was faced with hiring an applicant or not hiring an applicant that is, for example, obese. Or to fire an employee who has â€Å"nonsymptomatic AIDS. † In many cases it comes down to the personality and presentation of the person or persons under trial rather than the facts, because there may not be any facts, just allegations. An employee must perform the essential functions, those activities that are intrinsic to a job. The essential functions are determined individually for each job. However, an employee is still considered as a qualified candidate or employee if it only takes reasonable accommodation to meet the functions of the job. According to Dale Brown, making reasonable accommodations usually means â€Å"removing obstacles from the job, the workplace, or the terms and conditions of employment that would otherwise prevent an otherwise qualified person with a disability from doing the job. † He goes on to give an example of what reasonable accommodation may be. He states that computers and calculators are reasonable accommodations that may help many people whom have learning disabilities or dyslexia with routine arithmetic and proofreading functions. Also, in order for an employer to make these reasonable accommodations to the workplace, they must have knowledge of the disability of the applicant or employee. If the employer is not made aware of the disability they may not be held responsible for any discrimination. The discrimination can not take place until the disability is actually disclosed. Even then, the employer is legally allowed to ask for medical documentation and evaluate it before they determine whether or not the request is appropriate (West). Meaning, the burden of proof that the disability substantially limits a major life role lies on the applicant or employee along with their health provider. Not only must the health care provider and applicant or employee prove that a disability is present, but must also prove that the requested accommodation is a necessity to perform their job. If the employer will not make the accommodations, the applicant or employee can pay for the accommodation out of their own pocket. Ruth Colker states that if an applicant or employee offers to pay for the accommodation, the employer can not say no unless it is disruptive. So again, it is up to the jury or judge to determine what is and what is not disruptive. This is again why each ADA case or complaint is handled differently and there is no real precedent in these cases. TITLE II-Public Services Title II has two different sections. One that covers public entities and the other is specific to public transportation provided by public entities. The section that covers public agencies includes local, county, state government and their departments and agencies. Title II covers all activities, services, and programs of the public entities (Americans). The first section includes entities like schools, city governments, and fire stations. Accessibility means that each program is readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities. Program accessibility is necessary not only for individuals with mobility impairments, but also for individuals with vision and hearing impairments (Americans). Meaning leaders of the entities need to consider not only physical obstructions such as doors and restrooms but also visual and hearing barriers such as accessible building signage, public telephones and alarms with visible signals. The second section, which covers the public transportation of the aforementioned public entities, includes services operated by state and local government by regulations of the Department of Transportation. It also includes facilities used for the public transportation systems such as bus stations, railway stations and airports along with vehicles used in public transportation (Americans). Again, the basis for this title is that no qualified individual with a disability will be subjected to any sort of discrimination by a public entity. It also states that the individual not be deprived of any benefits of services or activities of the public entity due to the disability as well. Any sort of accessibility or service that is lacking from any of the public entities can be considered discrimination regardless of who it actually affects. TITLE III- Public Accommodations Title III of the ADA is the title that applies to private entities such as hotels, stores, gas stations, etc. It is very similar to Title II just in regards to the different type of business entity that it covers. It prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by public accommodations and also in commercial facilities (Brown). It also prohibits the discrimination on the basis of disability by any person who owns or operates a place of public accommodation. However, entities that are controlled by religious organizations, including places of worship, and private clubs are both not covered by Title III. Although private clubs are not covered, their facilities are made available to customers of a place of public accommodation (West). The public accommodations must also provide auxiliary aids and services when they are necessary to ensure effective communication with those with hearing, vision, speech, or similar impairments. TITLE IV- Telecommunications Title IV of the ADA requires that all United States based local or long distance telephone services must provide a relay service for those individuals that are deaf or hard of hearing along with those with speech impediments. Also, people with TDD’s (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf ) and TTY’s (Teletypewriter) who are calling those with out TDD’s or TTY’s and vice versa can make a call through a relay service. The relay service will transmit the call using TDD/TTY or voice depending on the need (Joffee). Today, there are multiple sources of TDD’s and TTY’s available through the internet using broadband connections. TITLE V-Miscellaneous Provisions Title V includes miscellaneous provisions that relate to the application of the ADA. Some of the more notable provisions are: †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"The ADA shall not be construed to apply a lesser standard than that already in existence under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 or to invalidate any state or local laws which have stricter provisions. †¢The ADA will not prohibit an insurance company from using sound actuarial data to administer risks, even if the effect is that people with disabilities will be charged more or denied coverage, but it must not be used as a subterfuge to deny coverage. †¢The ADA shall not be construed to require a person to accept an accommodation† (Acemoglu). Conclusion The ADA was instituted to help even the playing field for those with disabilities. But in some ways it has actually discouraged employers from hiring candidates with disabilities due to the perceived extra cost and effort it would take to hire a disabled person. Another reason for criticism is that many lawyers have made a living out of suing non-compliant businesses. There has also been research that concludes the number of disabled employed has actually declined significantly since the passage of the ADA. So while the ADA was instituted for all the right reasons, maybe the plan hasn’t been perfected and it is lacking some effectiveness to date.

Descartes’ Discourse on the Method Essay Example for Free

Descartes’ Discourse on the Method Essay None of the proposed philosophical theories is exact, not even a combination of two or more theories (Sayre, 2011). However, Descartes has unique way of metaphysical argument concerning existence of God. Descartes’ Discourse on the Method (Part IV) ends surprisingly with a claim of God’s existence, which can be deduced from the interrelationship between mind, soul and our existence. Descartes began the fourth section by discussing about himself. The reading up to the point where he gives credit to a supreme being, God, could only suggest that Descartes was discussing about his philosophical thought about his being as a man. However, the discourse twist came when he inferred, â€Å"something indeed having every perfection of which I could have any idea, that is—to explain myself in one word—by God† (Bennett, 2007, p. 16). After this inference, the discourse changed to one that discussed the existence of God. It was at this point that it became clear that the ending would be more of God’s existence rather than a conclusion of Descartes as a human being. The change of discourse from exploration of self to a proof of God’s existence through personal evaluation was indeed an ingenious thought. Most of the times we try to prove existence of God or lack thereof by evaluating what are outside us. However, Descartes made a self-evaluation on intrinsic values of himself as a human being. By deconstructing his strengths and limitations, he was able to realize a fair conclusion about the existence of a supreme being, which we refer to as God. Therefore, the ending was different but offered a concise conclusion on God’s existence despite starting on a different discourse. References Bennett, J. (2007). Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting one’s Reason and Seeking Truth in the Sciences. Retrieved from http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/descdisc.pdf Sayre, H. (2011). The Humanities Culture, Continuity, and Change: New York: Pearson College Div.

CRISP methodology

CRISP methodology Well we got 2 data sets to analysis using SPSS PASW 1) Wine Quality Data Set and 2) The Poker Hand Data Set. We can do this using CRISP methodology. Let us look what is CRISP by wikipedia CRISP-DM stands for Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining It is a data mining process model that describes commonly used approaches that expert data miners use to tackle problems. PASW Modeler is a data mining workbench that enables you to quickly develop predictive models using business expertise and deploy them into business operations to improve decision making. Designed around the industry-standard CRISP-DM model, IBM SPSS PASW Modeler supports the entire data mining process, from data to better business results. CRISP DM, Clementines own lightweight methodology of 5 stages Business Understanding, Data Understanding, Data Preparation Modelling, Evaluation and Deployment. CRISP Methodology Business Understanding: Understanding the project requirements objectives from a business perspective, and then converting this knowledge into a data mining problem definition Data understanding In this step following activities are going on, Data understanding, Collecting Initial Data then describing Data, Exploring Data and lastly verifying Data Quality The data preparation phase Tasks include table, record, and attribute selection as well as transformation and cleaning of data for modeling tools.Cleaning Data using appropriate cleaning and cleansing strategies then Integrating Data into a single point. Modeling: Selection and application of various modeling techniques done in this phase, and their parameters are adjusted to optimal values. Basically, there are more than one technique for the same data mining problem type. Some techniques have specific requirements on the form of data. Therefore, stepping back to the data preparation phase is often needed. Steps consist of Generating a Test Design, Building the Models assessing the Model Evaluation Building of model (or models) takes place in this phase. Before proceeding to final deployment of the model, it is important to more thoroughly evaluate the model, and review the steps executed to construct the model. Deployment In the final stage Knowledge gained is organized presented so that an end user can easily use it. As per the requirements this can be a report or a complex data mining process. Normally Customers carry out the deployment step Wine quality data set Wine quality is modeled under classification and regression approaches, which preserves the order of the grades. Explanatory knowledge is given in terms of a sensitivity analysis, which measures the response changes when a given input variable is varied through its domain The red wine data set contains 1600 samples out of which I have selected 200 random samples and doing the analysis(Data mining cannot discover patterns that may be present in the larger body of data if those patterns are not present in the sample being mined ) .So I selected the data set bearing in mind. The data set I have selected has high confidence. With measurements of 13 chemical constituents (e.g. alcohol, Mg) and the goal is to find the quality of red and white wine. Input variables 1 fixed acidity 2 volatile acidity 3 citric acid 4 residual sugar 5 chlorides 6 free sulphur dioxide 7 total sulfur dioxide 8 density 9 pH 10 sulphates 11 alcohol Output variable is quality (score between 0 and 10) CRISP methodology has been followed through out the phase .By checking the web site and resources learned about the wine domain .the next step was to check whether incorrect, missing or abnormal values in the data set end ensure the data quality. Data quality of the data set is very good. PASW Data stream classification of red and white wines Classification for Red and White wine 2 data sets red wine and white wine have been imported using variable file nodes Use of type node here is to describe the characteristics of data. . The Classification and Regression (CR) Tree node is a tree-based classification and prediction method. Similar to C5.0, this method uses recursive partitioning to split the training records into segments with similar output field values. The CR Tree node starts by examining the input fields to find the best split, measured by the reduction in an impurity index that results from the split. The split defines two subgroups, each of which is subsequently split into two more subgroups, and so on, until one of the stopping criteria is triggered. All splits are binary (only two subgroups) Red Wines variable importance White wine variable importance From variable importance diagram we can say that important attribute to determine Red wine quality is pH. The variable importance is in the order pH, citric acid, chloride as shown in the figure1. But for determining White wines quality the most contributing attribute is chloride and 2nd attribute is Alcohol. Analysis and conclusion The above generated tree consists of nodes and its children. The top node represent the total number of wine samples and how many number belongs to different categories(1 to 9).The first split is on chloride. This implies that most of the wine belongs to chloride level0.041.We see that good quality wine has chloride level It has been found from count Vs Quality graph that how many belongs to good quality categories. Alcoholic concentration of white wine samples is more than that of red wine sample. Good wines normally have high concentration. So we can conclude that White wine samples are good. In the white wine chloride level is normally high that implies it has got good Aroma. Where as in red wine the citric level is between particular levels that shows the red wine is very tasty!! PASW has got a number of 2-D and 3-D charts like bar, pie, histogram, scatter etc for time being I am using linear graph and 3-d scatter graph. You can use any of the graph as per the requirements. Some graphs are easy to interpret .Let us consider a 2-D graph between most contributing variable pH and quality from the graph it is clear that the relation ship between pH and quality is in such a way that if pH is in between 3.23 and 3.27 quality is good. Quality is very low for 3.38 and 3.50.We can plot similar graph between quality and citric acid or towards what ever contributing variable then find out the relation ship between them Let us plot a graph between chloride and Quality for the white wine. In the below figure it shows the quality is very good when chloride level below 0.036.And quality in the range 5 to 6 when chloride level is above .048. Like this if plot a graph between quality and alcohol we will see the quality is too good if alcoholic concentration in between 12.5 and 13(as per the sample I have analyzed) 3D graph which shows the relation ship between alcohol, quality and chloride level of white wine from the 2d analysis it was shown how the quality is being affected by single variable. If the one variable does not tell about how quality being related we can check relation ship between 3 variables using a 3d graph. It is having 3 axes. How Regression is useful In this multiple regression ,Predictors such as (Constant), alcohol, fixed acidity, residual sugar, chlorides, volatile acidity, free sulfur dioxide, sulphates, pH, total sulfur dioxide, citric acid, density determine the value of quality. Below gave a Pasw stream for regression. Each by changing the independent variables value we can get value of dependent variable quality. With the help of a hypothesis we need to understand and build a relation ship among the variables. To predict the mean quality value for a given independent variable (say volatile acidity) we need a line which passes between the mean value of both quality and volatile acidity and which minimize the sum of distance between each of the points and predictive line. This fits into a line. The Poker Hand Data Set Each record is an example of a hand consisting of five playing cards drawn from a standard deck of 52. Each card is described using two attributes (suit and rank), for a total of 10 predictive attributes. There is one Class attribute that describes the Poker Hand. The order of cards is important and there are 480 possible Royal Flush hands. Below discussing about how to determine poker hands using data mining. I am considering classification only. If we consider clustering/Regression it does not make any sense PASW MODEL CLASSIFICATION USING CRT ALGORITHAM We got training and testing data set .First applying a model on training data set. Source file is a Comma separated file (CSV) with 1 million rows. It is difficult to do analyse on this input data set so selected sample data set and doing the analysis. Problem faced The given source data was not in a meaning full format so I have given meaningful attribute name and Values by using Vlookup function in MS excel, now the data has become more meaning full and it looks like below. Data cleansing is very important and comes under data preparation phase of the methodology Accuracy of predictive model The accuracy of predictive model is checked by analysis node. It has been found that accuracy is 90%. Using the Algorithm need to predict any of these: 0: Nothing in hand; 1: One pair;2: Two pairs;3: Three of a kind;4: Straight;5: Flush; 6: Full house;7: Four of a kind;8: Straight flush;9: Royal flush; Let me say what did I understood from the diagram. Rank2 (rank of card2) is most contributing variable to predict poker hands. It is clear that Rank of 1st, 4th and 2nd cards are more contributing than suit of those cards. The different section of pie chart represents number of cards in a particular poker category. Blue represents No Poker; Red represents ONE PAIR, Green represent Royal flesh How Pasw helps to do classification Pasw has got number tree constructing algorithms(CR, c5.0) to do classification. I considered Classification and Regression (CR) though this is not a time efficient algorithm time complexity is more when compared to c5.0)I selected CR.The data set I have got is simple one and I am not considering the deep analysis all I need to do is to predict poker hands so CR can do it. Below shows the constructed tree using CR (Ashort description of tree already given above) Analysis Data has been classified into Training set and Testing set .Here most of the data set into a training set and small portion of data is used for testing.After a model has been processed by using the Training set, we can test the model by making predictions against the Test set. Since the data in the training set already contains known values for the attribute that you want to predict. Below giving the portion of training set being used. Abstract Now-a-days Using the high power computing and information technology enables to collect store and process complex Marketing data. Data mining is used to extract knowledge from this marketing data. This report discuss about Data mining process, short discussion about different mining techniques such as classification tree, neural network, Regression and their application in marketing domain. My report Also cover different type of analyzes and tasks being used Introduction From the given topics I have selected the topic Data mining and Knowledge discovery for marketing since my cup of tea is Business and computing. I would always like to do research in Business analytics .Well let us look at what is data mining Data mining is the process of discovery of interesting, meaningful and actionable patterns hidden in large amounts of data . This is one of the tools to transform data into information. It is widely used in almost all fields of science and business profiling practice such as marketing, fraud detection, and scientific discovery. The technique to uncover pattern on data can also apply on sample data .so the sample data should be so the sample should be a good representative of larger data set. data mining can not find out the pattern which may be present in larger body of data and not contains in the small sub set of data. So this is very useful when sufficiently represented data are collected Most well known branches of data mining is knowledge discovery or KDD It derives knowledge from input data .This knowledge which have got from the process will become additional data and can be used for further discovery in related field normally an analyst can analysis and predict it.DM can generate thousands of pattern but all these patterns are not interested and useful. In this I am considering Data mining in a marketing field prospective. The data coming from different sources like transactions, loyalty cards, and discount coupons; customer complaint calls public life style studies using this data we can make Target marketing like n to identify appropriate customer segments for new marketing initiatives n determine customer purchasing pattern over time n associations/co-relations between product sales, predict based on such association I mean cross market analysis n what type of customer buys what type of product that is customer profilin n Predict likelihood of customer churn and target those likely to leave with retention campaigns n Customer requirement analysis like Identify the best products for different groups of customers and Predict what factors will attract new customers n Provision of summary information such as Multidimensional summary reports and Statistical summary information (data central tendency and variation) Another question is why can not we go for a traditional data analysis instead of data mining? Answer is the field like marketing has tremendous Amount of data and it has multi dimension and complexity.A Marketing firm would likely to segment their customers into similar groups or clusters in order to better understand consumer behavior and more effectively market their products. In the past for a small business initiatives did not have trouble to understand their customers. They knew what they have to do once a customer approach them .Todays business is more competitive, more customer oriented, more products oriented so it is very difficult to understand the customer behavior, wants, needs the hidden relation ship between the data and preferences. With the help of data mining an analyst can deliver timely, personalized promotional offers. Normally in the huge DWH data mining environment data coming from various sources integrated and put it in data warehousing. Various data mining soft wares like teradata intelligent miners are used to mine Tera bytes of data and find market prediction. As I mentioned the DM is a Tools for developing predictive and descriptive models. Some are statistical method such as regression. Other use non statistical method like neural networks, classification trees. Here I considered some important tools then their How Classification trees are being used in marketing data mining Classification tree partition the data to maximize the difference in the dependent variable. it is also called a decision tree. Aim of classification tree is to classify the data into distinct groups or branches that create the strongest separation in the values of the dependent variables.The tree can identify segments. This can be helpful when a company is trying to understand what is driving market behavior. It detects nonlinear relationship. The tree growth is through series of steps and rules .say for example sales pieces were mailed to 100000 names and yielded a response rate of 2.6%.the first split is on gender. This indicates that greatest difference between responders and non responders is gender. We see that males are much more responsive than females. We would consider males the better target group If we stop after one split. Our goal is to find out group with in both genders that discriminates between responders and non responders. In the next level split male and female groups are considered separately The second level split from the male node is on income, this implies that the income level varies in most between responders and non responders among the males. For female greatest difference is among the age group .It is very easy to identify the group with the highest response rate. Lets say that management decides to mail only to groups where the response rate is more than 3.5%.the offers would be directed to males who makes more than  £30000 a year and female over age 40 Some typical Classification tree Algorithms are 1) C4.5: Quinlan, J. R. C4.5: Programs for Machine Learning. Morgan Kaufmann., 1993. 2) CART: L. Breiman, J. Friedman, R. Olshen, and C. Stone. Classification and Regression Trees. Wadsworth, 1984 Linear regression and its applicability in marketing Knowledge of deviation from normal is very important for a marketer. In the past such deviations were very difficult to detect. Now-a-days data mining tools give great flexibility to detect and classify these changes. It is a statistical technique that quantifies the relationship between dependent variable and the independent variable, these are continuous. Consider the below equation, it shows a relation ship between sales and advertising along the regression equation .Our goal is to predict the sales based on the amount spend on advt. Plot a graph sales vs. advt that would be linear. A key measure of the strength of the relationship is the R-square. It measures the amount of overall variation in data that explained by the model. More than 70% Of the variation in sales can be explained by variation in advertising. Some times the relationship between sales and Advt is non linear (may be curvilinear) .By using the square root of advertising we are able to find better fit for the data. When building targeting models for marketing, risk and CRM, it is common to have much predictive variable. Using multiple predictive or independent continuous variables to predict a single continuous variable is called multiple linear regression .Targeting model created using linear regression is generally very robust. In marketing they can be used alone or in combination with other model. Neural Networks and its applicability in marketing Neural network does not follow any statistical distribution (Neural network is very vast topic a complete discussion is beyond the scope of this report) .it is modeled after the function of the human brain. The process is one of pattern recognition and error minimization. we can say it as nodes that are arranged in layers. The figure tells simple neural network with one hidden layer. Data has been classified into training and testing set (before the process).Then weight or input is assigned to each of the nodes in the first layer. During each iteration ,the input are processed through the system and compared to the actual value .the error is measured and fed back through the system to adjust the weights. The weights get better at predicting the actual results. A error limit is defined and it check with the error limit the process finishes when the minimum error limit reached One specific type of neural network commonly used in marketing uses sigmoidal functions to fit each node. This technique is very powerful in fitting a binary or twoilevel outcome such as response to an offer or a default on a loan Neural network not only pick linear data but also do a good pick up with non linear relation ship in the data. So this allows fitting data which is not possible to fit using regression. One disadvantage we can say that the result of neural net work is some what difficult to interpret A brief description on how Clustering can applicable in data mining Cluster analysis Cluster analysis group respondents with similar behaviors, preferences, or characteristics into segments. By doing so we can understand important similarities and differences between the respondents. Analyst can use this information to develop targeted marketing strategies, or to provide subgroups for analysis. In market survey data, clustering enables market researchers to group respondents who provide similar responses on several questions. In Clustering we use more than one variable that analyzes responses to several questions in order to find similar respondents. Clustering is based on the concept of creating groups based on their proximity to, or distance from, each other. Respondents within a cluster, therefore, are relatively homogenous. Most widely used Algorithms are 1)K-Means: MacQueen, J. B., Some methods for classification and analysis of multivariate observations, in Proc. 5th Berkeley Symp. Mathematical Statistics and Probability, 1967 2) BIRCH: Zhang, T., Ramakrishna, R., and Livny, M. 1996. BIRCH: an efficient data clustering method for very large databases. In SIGMOD 96 Let us look at some more major areas of application of data mining in the marketing like Customer profiling, Deviation analysis and Trend analysis. The pattern which formed after mining the data helps in analytics.M Customer profiling This help to predict several marketing decision. A customer profile is a model of customer based on this marketer decides on the right strategies and tactics to meet the needs of that customer .The data mining task used in customer profiling can be dependency analysis, class identification and concept description. Below giving set of transaction that can help marketer to construct useful customer profiles. Frequency of purchases Marketing firm can build targeted promotion offer such as frequent buyer programs by looking how often their customer purchases product from their shop. Rcency of purchases The meaning of term is How long has it been since this customer last placed an order? Suppose a customer frequently visit the shop.It has been found that the specific customer or customer group not visiting the firm over long period of time .Market investigate the reason. By knowing this they can take appropriate offer or action. Size of purchases It tells, on a particular transaction how much he or she spends. This information helps to give resources to those customer groups. Identifying typical customer groups It gives characteristics of each group .For example a profile indicating that the customer has purchased a WINDOWS 7 SOFTWARE CD may hold to the marketer offering a special deal for MICROSOFT OFFICE SOFTWARE CD. Prospecting Customer profiles like buying patterns, give clues to the marketer on prospective customers. Say for example, consider the pattern Purchase of Norton Anti Virus package with one year validity is followed by purchase of Norton Up gradation version /or new version within 11 months about 85% of the time by high income customers discovered by data mining. Analyst who analysis pattern can identify the prospective customers for Upgraded/new version based on first time purchase details and tailor the mail catalog accordingly, thus, increasing the prospect of sales. 2 Deviation analysis Deviation analysis is one of the important analysis for example a higher than normal credit purchase on a credit card can be a fraud anomaly or a genuine purchase by the customer changes.Once a deviation has been discovered as a fraud, the marketer takes appropriate steps to prevent such frauds and initiates corrective action.If the deviation has been discovered as a change, further information collection is necessary. For example, a change can be that a customer got a new job and moved to a new house. In this case, the marketer has to update the knowledge about the customer. 3) Trend analysis Trends are patterns that persist over a period of time. Trends could be short-term trends like the immediate increase and subsequent slow decrease of sales following a sales campaign. Or, trends could be long-term, like the slow flattening of sales of a product over a few years. Data mining tools, such as visualization, help us detect trends, sometimes very subtle and hidden in the database, which would have been missed using traditional analysis tools like scatter plots. In marketing decisions, trends can be used for evaluating marketing programs or to forecast future sales. The market basket analysis gives the relationship between different product purchased by a customer .Using this techniques we can develop marketing strategy for promoting product that have dependency relationship in customers mind. Class identification It groups customers into classes which are defined in advance. Mathematical taxonomy and clustering are being used for class identification task. What the first one does is it maximizes the similarity with in classes but minimize similarity between classes. In clustering approach it determine the clustering according to attribute similarity as well as conceptual cohesiveness as defined by domain knowledge (describe above). A company doing business over the net, based on the session log data of internet users, the firm can classify the web users into email only users Surfers or Just for fun Surfer etc This kind of softwares allows the market research team or concerned people to view complex 3-D and 2-D patterns. They also provide drill down drill up slice facilities. In the KDD (knowledge discovery from data base) process, data visualization is used in association with other tasks such as dependency analysis, class identification, deviation detection and clustering. IBM SPSS PASW has got good data visualization techniques. Some of them are explained in Part 1 of the report. Conclusion Report discussed about Data mining process, short discussion about different mining techniques such as classification tree, neural network, Regression and their application in marketing domain. My report Also cover different type of analyzes and tasks being used. Most of the big firms in the UK already implemented data mining environment for their business analytics. Some disadvantages may be difficulty to find out data mining expert and building the environment is costly. With regards to data mining privacy is another issue organization are most concerned about.

Nuclear Weapons are a Threat To World Peace :: Atomic Bombs

It is a well-known fact that the dropping of the two atomic bombs near the end of World War II in 1945 ushered in the dawn of the Atomic Age. For the first time in human history, the world was introduced to the awesome power of nuclear weapons. Since that time, there have been several different nuclear threats to the world, and one of those threats can be found along the Pacific Rim, in the country of North Korea. Like the dropping of the atomic bombs, it is also known that the North Korean government has admitted to possessing nuclear weapons, and in doing so, it stands as a silent, potential nuclear danger to the rest of the world. To understand this situation more fully, one must be given some background, starting in the early 1950s. Due to the harsh differences between the peoples of Korea, and especially due to the onset of Communism, the Korean War erupted and the nation split in half, with the Communist-supported Democratic People’s Republic in the north and those who favored democracy in the Korean Republic of the south (Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2000). The two separate countries of North Korea and South Korea went their opposite ways, and each has experienced different fortunes in the past half-century. The South Koreans managed to recover from the turmoil of the 1950s and 1960s to become an economic power and a democracy supporter. On the other hand, North Korea can be viewed as a retro country, based first on a Communist ideology, laid down by leader Kim Il Sung and inherited by his son, the current dictator Kim Jong Il, then evolving into a totalitarian state (Pacific Rim: East Asia at the Dawn of a New Century). Today North Korea holds the distinction of being one of the very few remaining countries to be truly cut off from the rest of the world. Author Helie Lee describes this in her novel In the Absence of Sun: â€Å"An eerie fear crawled through my flesh as I stood on the Chinese side of the Yalu River, gazing across the murky water into one of the most closed-off and isolated countries in the world.† (1)

A Comparison of Honor in Beowulf and Parzival :: comparison compare contrast essays

Honor in Beowulf and Parzival  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Throughout literary history authors have created and restored figures from all times that seem to represent what is honorable and chivalrous. The two literary legends compared in this paper are Beowulf and Parzival. These two figures in their own way find within them what is virtuous. At first impression it seems as though Beowulf is the warrior who contains the honor within himself, but as the two characters are compared in depth, it becomes obvious that Parzival's journey through manhood brings him to a much more noble and honorable place. Beowulf and Parzival's journey's began on the same path, each fatherless, they strove to search out what they saw as adventure. They jumped to whet their desires for the unknown and the chance to be a hero. A young Beowulf, we learn, challenges a peer to a match of strength. Unferth tells this tale of "when for pride the pair of [them] proved the seas and for a trite boast entrusted [their] lives to the deep waters, undissuadable by effort of friend or foe whatsoever from that swimming on the sea,"(Beowulf,65). Beowulf's stubborn pride lead him even at a young age to challenge what may have seemed beyond his reach for glory. Later on, Beowulf hearing the horrific tales of the monster Grendel that had been reeking havoc at Heorot, abruptly left his homeland to prove his gallantry. "The wiser sought to dissuade him from voyaging hardly or not at all," but the strong-headed Beowulf refused to listen to reason. Unlike Beowulf, Parzival was actually hidden from all opportunities of adventure by his mother. She fled to a place where she believed she could escape all traces of knighthood, which she believed to be evil. She was not successful though, and as soon as Parzival laid his eyes on the god-like knight, he made up his mind to leave his mother and all that he knew to seek adventure. The absence of her son drove her to an early grave. This action is one that Parzival was later deemed "unhonorable" for and one he deeply regretted. These boys both started out young and refused to listen to the reason of their elders. Against the wishes of the people who were wiser and more experienced, they let their pride and ambition overtake them. This did not show to be a promising beginning for either of them.

The Mentally Ill in Jail Essay -- essays research papers

The Mentally Ill in Jail The articles inform that more mentally ill people are in jail than in hospitals. According to statistics 159,000 of mentally ill are presently incarcerated in jails and prisons, mostly of crimes committed because they were not being treated. Some of them become violent and may terrorize their families and neighborhoods. Tragically, most of those instances of incarceration are unnecessary. We know what to do, but for economic, legal and ideological reasons, we fail to do it. The deinstitutionalisation of the severely mentally ill in the 60ties qualifies a as one of the largest social experiments in American history. In 1995, there were 558,239 severely mentally ill patients in the nations public psychiatric hospitals. In 1995, the number has been reduced to...

International Human Resources

It is the biggest challenge of companies today to maintain and attract best employees thus the realization in holding trainings and conferences for top executives to level officers is exceedingly in demand. Initiating strategies and solutions regarding employee retention and human resource management keep on going to minimize costs and money. There are many promising solutions in going through a lot of obstacles in human resource recruitment. We may start on some questions that would spark a new beginning: are the employees are given the chance to speak?Are new ideas accepted? Are benefits really beneficial to employees? Does the employees’ opinion count? Are works valued, evaluated and rewarded on their performance? This are simple questions that has an impact to the existing problems in many companies, regardless of size, incorporating other issues like repatriation, better opportunities, poor treatment, differences in culture and disagreement on the direction of the company , lack of recognition, indefinite growth prospects and poor relationship among co-workers.Keeping people and maintaining them for a longer period of time is the most difficult and challenging tasks for all human resources managers nowadays, hopefully, we will answer possible keys and solutions to these burning questions throughout the discussion. Why are people leaving from one company to another?A wide variety of reasons why are people leaving their jobs to find new companies includes: expectations were not satisfactorily fulfilled, unsuitable for the role, do not fit with the company’s culture, insufficient opportunities for growth and development, inadequate acknowledgment and admiration, problems with a manager or supervisor, not satisfied with the compensation, stress, lack of work and life balance, and lack of confidence in the company and leadership (Meyers). According to Susan Heathfield (Heathfield, 2007), most employees are leaving their work for reasons of searchin g new opportunities with other companies.Three top reasons were identified by Heathfield: fifty three percent of employees look for better rewards and benefits, thirty five percent were discontented with prospects of career growth and development, and thirty two percent were ready for a new experience and new environment. The motivating factors that can enhance the continuous stay of employees were examined by Bob Losyk on his article, here are the different factors that he stated: dignity and respect, involvement and participation, pay above the industry average, showcase superior workers, and by showing support to employees (Losyk).Giving dignity and respect is one of the most important key elements in satisfying the employees, harsh words, shouting, insults, and abuse of power will only result to demoralization, low morale, increase possibilities of absenteeism, and in turn resignation. Losyk added that employers should be treated with high respect, worth and goodness, let them r elax, be independent and empowered. Do not crash on people who make mistakes instead make it more constructive and let them learn from it.Involvement and participation is also a significant factor in dealing with employees’ motivation to stay in the company, by listening to their suggestions, aspirations, and ideas can make them more involved and active much as with belongingness and partnership. Paying above the industry average will surely and literally compensate the best employee thus giving and making more money for you. Great employees should be compensated for what they gave back to the company and it should not be as simple as paying back but to reward and constantly recognize their efforts.For sure, companies who have the best employees will have more satisfied clients because of the excellent services they receive and in return a greater chance of repeat business will likely to come. Another tip from Losyk is to highlight and draw attention to outstanding employees by giving awards, certificates, extra remuneration, dinners as well as posting their photos on bulletin boards or company newsletters. To share and show support, to listen and know their personal and family problems can be a key factor for lasting relationship with employees.It will create a positive and motivating atmosphere resulting to a more productive and high-quality employees (Losyk). Human Resource Retaining Strategies: The Training Delivery / Communication Options The training delivery to be used is participative which simulates real scenarios (Schein, 1987). This will be a workshop type of training. Experiential learning should be employed in the training components of the human resources planning program aimed at maintaining work effectiveness, retaining employees and create organizational success where employee development is critical.The communication option to be used in the delivery of training should be simple yet effective. This type of training program will fit the workforce of the Belfarm Hotel to refine their training skills. Also, this training program will provide comprehensive information and techniques to develop critical competencies. Training activities will focus on the design and approach to facilitate effective delivery of functions and responsibilities. The training materials to be used should assist trainers in enhancing their training presentations with materials that are professionally designed and written.Group facilitation skills of the trainers should be maximized to effect intervention strategies needed to maintain effective group relationships and direct groups towards productive goals. Aside from the evaluation of the Human Resources Directors from available data and observations, a Training Needs Assessment and Evaluation conducted prior to the actual training proper help trainers understand and use selected needs assessment and evaluation tools as part of the design and delivery of training. Human Resource Issues and Ch allenges to Consider – Including Suggested SolutionsThe challenge to have a trained and skilled workforce is the ultimate competitive advantage for any organization (Cowling & Mailer, 1998). The rapidly expanding base of new information and technologies affects every one of us, from factory floor to business office. No matter how capable or successful an organization is, if staff training and continuing education is overlooked, there will be problems in the organization. The challenge is to get the best value for the training dollars spent by choosing training that suits the needs of the company and least impacts the bottom line (Storey & Sisson, 1993).In order to meet the challenge, comprehensive approach to employee development can be adopted. Set goals and reach them, identifying the needs, developing the right intervention, and delivering a practical, results-oriented solution. Interactive training is designed for the adult learner, requiring involvement in the learning p rocess. Handle specialized workplace challenges with customized group training. Handle challenges specific to the organization. A good approach is to maximize training dollars spent by tailoring content to the organization’s explicit situation to produce the results needed.The NL&C should source top-notch trainers who can combine their experiences with the latest in learning techniques for interactive sessions that emphasize skill development and application (RBA Training, 2006). Workforce Retention and Motivation Motivating an employee to do his or her best for the company and making him to stay long with the organization is one of the major concerns of HR. A group who specialize in management of labor in IT organization has observed that the average stay of most IT professionals in a company is less than three years.It has been observed also that companies, who are on a constant search and use of new technologies, send their employees to seminars and trainings to acquire ne w knowledge and exposing their people in a challenging environment are better ways to retain people than giving of higher salaries. Although, some HR managers believe that salary and career satisfaction are the key to retention, money is a prime motivator only for ‘starters’. Those who have gone to three or more jobs know the importance of being in a position highly valued by the company (Gupta 2006).We will focus on different ideas, tips and strategies that can help companies cope up with the up-and-coming problem in the human resources industry. As much as we know that many current employees are getting out of their jobs voluntarily not because that they were fired by their superiors but because they want to meet their expectations and good opportunities with other companies locally or overseas. Despite the fact that the most mentioned reason for leaving is financial, other important aspect is a factor that motivates them to gave up their jobs to look for other jobs e lsewhere (IOMA, 2005). According to Paul J.Sarvadi (Sarvadi, 2005), the reality behind why employees gave up their jobs lies not only to monetary issues but goes deeper into the human consciousness that their actions and characters concerning work will be appreciated and makes them feel secured and successful. He suggested that sound retention strategies should be focused to four key elements – performance, communication, loyalty and competitive advantage. Let us start on the first key element which is performance, most companies undergo evaluations and performance metrics that will likely sum up their overall accomplishment either annually, quarterly or monthly.It is important that it must not rely solely on quantitative evaluation or assessment but most of all the qualitative measurement should also be considered. The intense craving for an attention to speak their opinions and make it a part of the company’s objectives is a very significant factor that is fulfilling to human beings, when they felt that their actions, talents and capabilities are brought into play that makes a difference to the company or organization, a sense of belonging and the feeling of they are at home is beginning to develop.The subconscious of human beings is attached to the emotions that they feel that’s why they are happy when they are in the process of achieving a goal and making valuable contributions (Sarvadi, 2005). He added that communication process with employees is an essential part of developing a relationship with them. Not just a simple communication that involves deadlines, submissions and technical aspects but they must use a two-way transmission of ideas and opinions.It is better to hold regular meetings to properly channel all comments and suggestions, give feedbacks and share what the company has been going through the years, and listen to what they aspire and suggestions. Surveys are good indicators of assessing the performance of the company t hough not dependable, it can contribute insights from the employees on what is giving them motivation and morale.On the other hand, loyalty is a great tool in winning employee retention strategy, it is measured in terms of how committed and loyal the employee is, it is not an imposed requirement but an earned reaction to the trust, respect and commitment shown to the individuals in a company (Sarvadi, 2005). The success of an employee – growth and development, and their contributions to the company’s wellness is an essential part of commitment and loyalty and both should work together.The last element of Sarvadi’s strategy is competitive advantage, people in the workplace is expecting excitement, new adventures, and competitions. Winning and losing are the key words for competitive advantage, employees wanted to know unique competitive products in the marketplace and they wanted to be part of these exciting race. Everyone wants to be a champion, it is healthy to inform your employees about the competitive advantage of your company so as to keep them motivated to join the winning team.To attract and retain top performers, employers should focus on recognizing and rewarding employees frequently and taking them for granted is not an answer to a successful relationship, and most importantly, know what the enemy does according to Cheryl Cran, a human resources consultant, an art of war, a strategy to win the best performers, know and discover what the enemy offer and ensure that you can target and extend beyond the limits of the expectations of the employees (Cran).To save expenses from the personnel turnover and increase output and productivity as well, another top retention tips to retain key personnel are the following (Mason): 1. Deal fairly with employees like you deal with your most valuable clients. 2. Let your employees adore and care for your company. 3. Powerful retention strategies turn into powerful recruiting advantages. 4. Preserv ation and maintenance is much more successful when you put the right person into the right job. 5. Monetary reason is important but it is not the sole basis of people who stay with an organization. 6.Creation of committees for the employees can help expand retention strategies as well as developing an effective strategy. 7. Leadership must extremely devote in retention. 8. Different forms of expressing recognition and appreciation is a strong and powerful retention strategy. 9. Always keep in mind that the â€Å"Fun Factor† is very significant to many employees. 10. Be familiar with the drifts and developments in benefit packages. Give the best to tender the ones your employees want (Mason). In addition to the strategies above, in Ghana a capacity project has been carried out to health sectors that could also be beneficial to other employees.Five key stakeholders were interviewed for this topic. Other keys are additional duty hours allowance, car and housing loans, post gradu ate training opportunities, relaxed criteria for promotion, and flexible contracts, public-private partnership. To understand the strategies, the table below indicates the key retention strategies: Table 1. Key retention strategies (Perry, 2006) Incentive type Brief description Financial Incentive Initiate added duty allowance particularly for doctors (Perry, 2006). Non financial incentive Proposal for a car and housing loan under negotiation for professionals who are assigned in the rural community. Perry, 2006). Career advancement opportunities Initiate and suggest schemes for more prospects for two year post graduate training program (Perry, 2006). Rest and recreation eligibility criteria for advancement (Perry, 2006). Creative contracting arrangements Give way to pharmacists in the public sector to perform duties for the private sector (Perry, 2006). Attracting the Best Talent In a business with cut-throat competition, urgently looking for the same kind or professionals is a nor mal activity of HR managers. In their search for the right people, they try their best to convince IT professionals to work with the company.In such a competitive market, IT organizations are trying to find ways how to attract the cream of the crop. Best talent means people who possess both the technical and managerial skills. They have the complete knowledge of the business, have the ability to think of new ideas, can communicate effectively, have the mind for analytical and logical thinking; possess leadership ability, team players, creative and innovative. People like them are rare commodities and being able to bring them in the organization is a key HR challenge (Gupta 2006). Compensation and RewardLaw of supply and demand also applies to the hiring of best talents. Thus attractive compensation package is very significant in luring those great minds. This results into management doing away with the usual eight hours per day work schedule as basis for compensation. Salaries and i ncentives are now given commensurate to the applicants’ knowledge and performance. Employers also give emphasis on profit sharing or performing employees can opt for company shares of stocks. This encourages bright and talented people to stay long with the organization.Skills, competencies and commitment are now preferred over loyalty, hard work and length of service. Although, salary is not the number one motivator in the industry today, HR is also faced with the challenge of devising optimized compensation package to attract best people into the organization. Integrating HR strategy with Business Strategy HR direction should be in conformity with the business direction. HR plans are just a part of the overall business strategy with the purpose of attaining the business objectives. Everyone should row in a single direction.Other departments depend on HR in recruitment, retention, motivation and rewarding of valuable personnel. HR is also tasked to manage change, anticipate f uture personnel requirements, organizational effectiveness, team building and employees’ training and development. (Gupta 2006). ‘Encouraging quality and customer focus’ should be a concern of all employees in all departments. It is HR’s duty to orient people on this topic and emphasize its importance in the overall business operation. A culture of superior quality should be encouraged.With globalization and technological change running at an incredible speed, companies with inferior quality products cannot cope up with the competition. Building friendly relationship with the customer is also important to insure repeat orders and continuous purchases (Gupta 2006). Upgrading of Skills through Re-training In a highly competitive hotel business environment brought about by the fast-paced, unpredictable technological advancement and increased emphasis on quality of services, software businesses are compelled to look for adaptable and competent personnel in the case of Belfarm Hotel.Software professionals are sent to various venues to attend seminars and trainings to upgrade their skills so they can perform all the functions that are assigned to them by the organization. Highly skilled software professionals are a bit discouraged if they feel that they are being left behind. Once they have gained a new knowledge and have disseminated it to their subordinates, they start to look for yet other new things. That’s what motivates them. And it is another challenge for HR personnel to keep those bright people highly motivated (Gupta 2006).Experts interpret such trends as a significant new problem for businesses which the hotel industry has never experienced. This is the serious lack of workers who possess the skills required by the economy. With longer life expectancy, reduced birthrate and the aging workers now coming to the age of mandatory retirement, the age profile of workers is dramatically changing (hrsolutionstoday 2006). Figure 1 : Re-Training Diagram These changing workforce demographics have serious implications in HR’s quest to attract the best talent.Because of the lack of qualified IT professionals, HR must once again repackage the compensation and reward being offered to make it more attractive. They should strive hard for the retention and motivation of the existing workforce because piracy of talented personnel among IT organization is on the rise. It is suggested that retention of older employees is one way to counter the problem on changing workforce demographics. That suggestion is often overlooked. For more than 20 years, it has been the practice of the corporate world to retire aging employees.To ease out retirees, programs such as retiree medical coverage, early retirement programs and other plans are being designed. They also make way for the entry of younger workers who will receive salary for ‘starters’, thus are less expensive (Gallo 2006). While those who stay in the c ompany for long have higher salaries and benefits than younger workers, the prospect of losing those aging but reliable people can entail more cost to a company than continue paying their salaries and benefits. And they are not really willing and ready to leave their job they have loved for several years.They want to work more and extend their stay in the company for another several years. Some still need the financial reward and the health benefits that employment can give (Gallo 2006). Watson Wyatt’s Strategic Reward Survey said that there are top five items which are important to older workers and they are: benefits, compensation, independence, security and skill development. This prospect of extending the services of older workers is still under study. There are however at least five strategies which can be viable to make retiring employees stay in the company longer thus cushioning the impact of lack of workers problem.Viable options can be phasing retirement, modifying retirement plans, modifying compensation plans, customizing benefits and redesigning the job (Gallo 2006). Technology and globalization drive organizations to be more flexible. A contract relationship is not inexpensive, but it’s more flexible. The use of contingent workforce affords companies to be more competitive. Randy Floyd, program manager of the Office of Contingent Workforce Management said, â€Å"Those that push for the use of contingent workforce may see greater benefits (Contingent Workforce Strategies 2005)†.The use of contingent workforce has positive implication in the technology industry. HR can opt for this kind of workforce while trying their best to look for the best and the brightest. They can adjust their budget as this labor force is less expensive than those people who are directly hired by the company. It is very clear that outsourcing is a success. However, companies are beginning to realize the costs and inherent risks that go with it. Generall y speaking, â€Å"Outsourcing is a very complex process which the benefits that are expected seldom materialize†.There are tradeoffs that go with outsourcing such as cost reduction against growth, quickness against quality, and maintaining company’s culture of working together against knowledge and innovation (Singhatiya 2005). In an article published in the Northeast Human Resources Association paper, Michael Andrew, Principal, Strategic Impact Learning, said that â€Å"It is high time to elevate HR’s role to that of a Chief Development Officer who is bent on increasing the capabilities which are vital to the attainment of company’s goals and objectives.For HR to become a business partner to the executive team, it should speak about the language of business rather than the language of HR. There is a clear call for HR professionals to redefine themselves as business partners by being business person first and HR professional second† (Andrew 2006). Increasing demand for immigrant workforce and opportunities abroad: The increasing demand of hiring cross-cultural workforce is a global necessity to respond the needs internationally.But because of the terms and conditions in hiring immigrants, it is very difficult to establish a worthy and constant employee for a particular business due to numerous alternative employment with other companies. To better understand the recruitment, hiring and retaining the best employees especially the immigrants and ethnic workers, it is important that we should consider the culture, traditions, and beliefs, know the different ethnic lifestyles and values, appreciate the impact that the immigrant workforce is influencing the management, and study the fabrications on recruitment of diverse ethnic groups.In addition to Losyk’s article, he stressed that it is significant that companies must understand the needs and desires most Hispanic and Asian workers want from a workplace, discover how to g ive comment to immigrant employees, determine the critical factors needed to train Asian, Hispanic and other cross-cultural groups, and create management techniques that can work and understand the involvement and recognition with the ethnic groups (Losyk).Further problems encountered by other employers is when their employees who are assigned to work overseas over a period of time will transfer to another companies in a few months to seek greener pastures. These are real and actual happenings in most development organizations when workers or volunteers enter into a contract to gain experience overseas and marked it as a stepping stone to find great opportunities abroad. How can companies and organizations struggle to this concurrent problem? Is this just a cycle to be left out and find new workers to continue the job?Are there any other holistic means that we can manage to surpass this continuing global recruitment problem? Conclusion: The best and the brightest in a company as wel l as entry level employees should be carefully kept, managed and trained. The ultimate strategy that should be considered for employees is to consider the needs, wants, and personal aspirations like career development, recognition and reward and the objectives they want for the organizations. Rewards should be helpful to them like educational opportunities, car and housing incentives, health plan for the employee and their family and good bonuses.Emergency funds if necessary when problems like illness arise in one of the members of the family, and more vacation and/or sick leaves are also a rewarding remuneration to employees. Managers and supervisors who are good listeners to their employees are good signs of good relationship, it is like a father/mother – daughter/son relationship that is always there to listen, understand, and suggest what is best and what is worst, even the most personal things of the employee should also be taken in consideration.Manager’s role is a crucial aspect of retaining best employees because they will serve as a mentor that will guide the employees towards a positive direction. Availability, fair treatment, flexibility and open communication during tough times is a positive message and strong response to employees who are in dire need to seek help, as a result, a healthy environment and workplace is being developed and cultivated. After all, empowerment, sustainability, goal-oriented and development are the most important key words for the success of organizations and individuals.