Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Special Economic Zones in China

Special Economic Zones in China Since 1979, China’s Special Economic Zones (SEZ) have been beckoning foreign investors to do business in China. Created after Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms were implemented in China in 1979,   Special Economic Zones are areas where market-driven capitalist policies are implemented to entice foreign businesses to invest in China. The Importance of Special Economic Zones At the time of its conception, Special Economic Zones were considered so special because Chinas trade was generally controlled by the nations centralized government. Therefore, the opportunity for foreign investors to do business in China with relatively no government intervention and with the freedom to implement market-driven economics was an exciting new venture. Policies regarding Special Economic Zones were meant to incentivize foreign investors by providing low-cost labor, specifically planning Special Economic Zones with ports and airports so that goods and materials could be easily exported, reducing corporate income tax, and even offering tax exemption.   China is now a huge player in the global economy and has made large strides in economic development in a concentrated period of time. Special Economic Zones were instrumental in making Chinas economy the way it is today. Successful foreign investments galvanized capital formation and spurred urban development what with the proliferation of office buildings, banks, and other infrastructures. What Are the Special Economic Zones? The first 4 Special Economic Zones (SEZ) were established in 1979. Shenzhen, Shantou, and Zhuhai are located in Guangdong province, and Xiamen is located in Fujian province.   Shenzhen  became the model for China’s Special Economic Zones when it was transformed from 126-square-miles of villages known for sales of knockoffs to a bustling business metropolis. Located a short bus ride from  Hong Kong  in southern China, Shenzhen is now one of China’s richest cities.   The success of Shenzhen and the other Special Economic Zones encouraged the Chinese government to add 14 cities plus  Hainan Island  to the list of Special Economic Zones in 1986. The 14 cities include Beihai, Dalian, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Lianyungang, Nantong, Ningbo, Qinhuangdao, Qingdao, Shanghai, Tianjin, Wenzhou, Yantai, and Zhanjiang.   New Special Economic Zones have been continually added to encompass a number of border cities, provincial capital cities, and autonomous regions.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Charles Darwin Essays - Charles Darwin, Coleopterists, Free Essays

Charles Darwin Essays - Charles Darwin, Coleopterists, Free Essays Charles Darwin science Charles Darwin Darwin was born in February, 1809. He left the school at Shrewsbury to the University of Edinburgh to study medicine. In 1827 he dropped out of medical school and entered the University of Cambridge, intending to become a clergyman. There he met Adam Sedgwick, a geologist and John Stevens Henslow, a naturalist. Henslow not only helped build Darwin's self-confidence but also taught his student to be an observer of natural phenomena and collector of specimens. After graduating from Cambridge in 1831, the 22-year-old Darwin was taken aboard the English survey ship HMS Beagle, largely on Henslow's recommendation, as an unpaid naturalist on a scientific expedition around the world. Darwin's job as naturalist aboard the Beagle gave him the opportunity to observe the various geological formations found on different continents and islands along the way, as well as a huge variety of fossils and living organisms. In his geological observations, Darwin was most impressed with the effect that natural forces had on shaping the earth's surface. During the voyage Darwin found himself doubting that all creatures had been created individually when he found fossils closely ressembling each other. In the Galapagos Islands, off the coast of Ecuador, he also observed that each island supported its own form of certain animals; the various forms were closely related but differed in structure and eating habits from island to island. Both of his observations raised questions about the links between different species. After returning to England in 1836, Darwin began recording his ideas about changeability of species in his Notebooks on the Transmutation of Species. He wrote a theory about his findings but did not publish it. Darwin's theory was first announced in 1858 in a paper presented at the same time as one by Alfred Russel Wallace, a young naturalist who had come independently to the theory of natural selection. Darwin's complete theory was published in 1859, in On the Origin of Species. The Origin sold out on the first day of publication and after this went through six editions. His ideas were widely critized by scientists and the Church. Darwin spent the rest of his life based around his theory and arguments against it. He was honored by burial in Westminster Abbey after he died in Down, Kent, on April 19, 1882.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

How can computer science help students in school Essay

How can computer science help students in school - Essay Example This sequence must be unambiguous and detailed. It is practiced by engineers, scientists and mathematicians. Through engineering, the building of hardware and software is achieved, while reason and logic are provided through mathematics. It has a strong connection to other specialties like software systems, computer architecture, software engineering, graphics and even artificial intelligence. As such, each of these specialties, having been drawn from Computer Science would mainly focus on particular challenges, and the application and understanding of basically all aspects of Computer Science. Research by the Sheehy shows that only about 21,000 high schools out of about 42,000 public and private high schools in America offered Advanced Placement test in Computer Science in 2011, a 25 per cent drop in the last 5 years. Only 9 states allow Computer Science as a satisfaction to core science or math requirements. Computer Science is considered as a math or science in 41 states. Some of the most influential people in the world like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs all had one thing in common; they all learned Computer Science in high school. ... Thus, computers have become necessary companions to students in various fields to understand the world around them. As Bentley puts it, â€Å"computers are our invisible helpers† (5). Science students use computer-based equipment to make the required observations and to determine the needed facts. For instance, Biologists use it to determine the genetics of given samples. Chemists use it to determine the concentration of chemicals in various samples. Thus, Computer Science provides the capability for students to understand their academic world. Secondly, Computer Science provides the capability of interacting with other students and peers around the world. The Internet gives computers the ability of being tools of communication across the world. Online versions of print publications are always available on the Internet because of the capabilities provided by Computer Science (Straubhaar, LaRose, and Davenport 263). A huge amount of information is stored on the Internet and is always available to the user. An online version of a newspaper will contain a blog section, where readers can contribute their views by leaving their comments, additional links to other sites with related news, multimedia extensions, online forums, and even audio and video files. Academically, they could access information on the advancements in research studies so as to determine the existing knowledge gap. Thus way, students would be able to carry out relevant research studies that would greatly contribute to the existing body of knowledge. Students could use this capability to interact with people from various parts of the world and get to understand what happens in other parts of the world, be it academic or otherwise. Of importance with regards

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

America became a culturally distinct place from England during the Essay

America became a culturally distinct place from England during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Using information about decorative arts, architecture, - Essay Example One of the cultural differences that emerged between England and America was in speech. Americans no longer carry even a hint of a British accent. The Americans created a new unique form of English. Several reasons can explain this phenomenon. First and foremost Americans wanted to show their lack of class. Classes such as nobility, middle, and lower classes had their own accents in England. America wanted everyone to be equal. Thus by speaking slurred English, Americans showed their solidarity with one another (Larkin, 1989: 154). The melting pot of cultures that came to America also contributed to the unique English. Germans, Italians, Irish, African, and many other cultures collided with their accents making the American accent. Americans did not want to create an English Colony, they wanted to create a new country with a new language. American English is also written differently than British English. For example, Americans write center, whereas the British write centre. The British do not write words ending in er, but use re. The lack of reading material in the beginning of the Colonies might have contributed to the misspelling of words, which in turn created this whole new distinctive English (Larkin, 1989: 36). Words for common things also became different. In England, a queue is a line in America. This could be created to the illiterate, which spelled the words wrong, with a new generation adopting them, or a deliberate attempt to leave their English roots behind. The Americans created a new version of English that is still around today. Art in America reflected the culture that the artist came from. Pictures of farmers, landscapes, and hardships started appearing in the seventeenth and eighteenth century (Larkin, 1989: 176). These paintings were exclusively American, since they depicted American life. American Gothic, Old Virginia Home, and The Declaration of

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Three Types of People to Fire Immediately Essay Example for Free

Three Types of People to Fire Immediately Essay The article that I read was â€Å"Three Types of People to Fire Immediately† by Michael Maddock and Raphael Louis Viton from Bloomberg’s Businessweek. The authors of this article discuss how we are taught to be creative and innovative from the beginning when we are children. They also talk about how another key element to be successful is to teach managers how to fire people. Maddock and Viton talk about how letting someone go can be beneficial to your organization because some employees are part of the problem and not part of the solution. They say that the people who are innovative and willing to learn are the ones who will push your organization to the next level and that there are three types of people that will hold your organization back. These three people are the victims, the non-believers, and the know-it-alls. The victims are the people who say things like â€Å"Can you believe what they want us to do now? And of course we have no time to do it. I don’t get paid enough for this. The boss is clueless† (Maddock Viton 2011). They will often see problems as singling them out and punishing them rather than a challenge that they need to overcome and persevere. Victims are usually angry, annoyed, and always complaining about anything that they can. They are the ones at the holiday parties that are very negative and don’t really want to be there but come anyway just to bring everyone else down. Maddock and Viton say that victims are not looking for opportunities but instead look for problems because that is the frame of mind that they are used to seeing things in. The authors say that the non-believers think like this â€Å"Why should we work so hard on this? Even if we come up with a good idea, the boss will probably kill it. If she doesn’t, the market will. I’ve seen this a hundred times before† (Maddock Viton 2011). Maddock and Viton believe that the only difference between a winning team that is innovative and the losing one that comes up short can be attributed to the lack of willpower within the corporate culture. Good managers are those who can find the believers in the organization and promote them while weeding out the non-believers to make the organization stronger. The know-it-alls will say things like â€Å"You people obviously don’t understand the business we are in. The regulations will not allow an idea like this, and our stakeholders won’t embrace it. Don’t even get me started on our IT infrastructure’s inability to support it. And then there is the problem of †¦. † (Maddock Viton 2011). Maddock and Viton believe that the best innovators are those who are willing to learn and not those who think that they know enough to get by. It is management’s job to make and sculpt the culture in the way that they want. If management wants to have an innovative culture then they must convey a learning culture because that is the best way to be innovative. It is also said that the know-it-alls become very keen in using their knowledge to constitute why things are not possible rather than trying to find a way to make it possible. The authors say that managers should try to retrain or teach the Know-it-alls before firing them because they can be valuable if they can break their bad habits. In my opinion I would have to agree with this article for the most part. I do believe that it is necessary to get rid of certain employees such as the â€Å"Victims† and the â€Å"Non-believers†. The Victims and the non-believers will only bring your organization down with their negativity and poor attitudes. Not to mention the fact that they are usually incapable of seeing anything as a positive opportunity rather than a punishment or waste of time. There are a lot of things in the world that were seen as a waste of time or a crazy idea to people but because of the believers and dreamers we have a lot of new technology and innovation to this day. The part that I would have to disagree with is when they talk about the â€Å"Know-it-alls† and how they are not innovative. I believe that the know-it-alls can be very innovative and can solve a lot of organizations problems. However, I also believe that they might be more realistic in their thinking and this could be a good thing in that it could help keep the dreamers from getting their heads too far in the clouds. So in my opinion I do believe that it is necessary to fire people for the good of the organization but you should always evaluate what the employee brings to the table and how they negatively affect the organization before action is taken.

Friday, November 15, 2019

herody Free Essays on Homers Odyssey - Odysseus Is Not A Hero :: Homer Odyssey Essays

Odysseus Is Not A Hero A hero is "a man noted for his special achievements" according to the dictionary, but if you ask most people what a hero is, you will get the same general response. They will probably say "someone who does something for other people out of the goodness of his heart." Odysseus, who is the main character of the book "The Odyssey" written by Homer, would fit the dictionary's definition of a hero; but if you go deeper, looking at what people feel a hero is, he doesn't even come close. In the book, Odysseus does nothing out of the goodness of his heart. Even if Odysseus fought in the Trojan War, he is not a hero because he is self-centered and ignorant to other people's values and needs. There are multiple examples of Odysseus being self-centered, such as not taking people's advice. Odysseus was given advice from Circe that said not to try to fight Scylla even when she takes six of your men, but Odysseus tried to fight her and he lost three more men than the six he already lost. He also neglected to take the advice from his crew member, Eurylochus. Eurylochus told Odysseus not to send men to see what was on Circe's island and because he sent them anyway, they ended up being turned into pigs. Odysseus also neglects other people's lives when he takes action; such as when he tried to fight Scylla after strictly being told not to. Because of this ignorant action, he lost three more men on top of the other six. He also sacrificed men when he waited at the Cyclops' home for "gifts." Odysseus was very self-centered where real heroes are not. Odysseus also lacks the part of the hero profile which includes having a good heart. Odysseus definitely does not have this because he kills people without giving them a chance. Odysseus killed every one of the suitors in cold blood when most of them didn't commit a crime suitable for the death penalty. He also killed all of the maids who were raped by the suitors as if the had a choice in the matter. Odysseus also doesn't care about his crew members.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Legal, Safety, Regulatory Essay

Human resources must abide by legal regulations and safety laws, along with regulations requirements. This is set in place for organizations to avoid litigation. The employee-related regulations have been established by the United States including; Department of Labor, the U. S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Department of Homeland Security. The main focus of these regulations is to prevent any manager from acting biased or irrationally. As a result, common sense and compassion have been replaced by litigation. What managers and employees fear the most is being sued. Managers will make special efforts to prevent such situations from occurring. Some managers will neglect high stress levels of their employees and lack the proper attention to legitimately discontented and unhappy employees. This throws common sense and compassion out the door. Compassion is the workplace amplifies the morale and enthusiasm of the employees along with cooperation where people are actually open to help and not move quickly into suing and organization. Experiencing compassion at work generates positive emotion and, in turn, shapes employees’ long-term attitudes and behaviors. Positive emotions generated by compassion have a cascading effect on employees’ attitudes and behaviors, thereby increasing job satisfaction and lowering job stress, (University of Michigan: Newsroom, 2003). The most recent of the major Equal Employment Opportunity laws is The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 also known as ADA. The law forbidding employment discrimination against people with disabilities who are able to perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2010). This act also provides the definition of what a person with disability truly entails. Managers must be especially careful when it comes to this because these days employees will knit pick and strip down a situation and call it discrimination when without a doubt they were probably not fulfilling the job description. HR managers need to ensure the safety of their employees. To ensure such safety there are two important standard regulations; that is workman’s compensation laws, each slightly differing upon which state the employee is in, and OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Act established since 1970 on the federal level . Workman’s comp is a legally required benefit that provides medical care, income continuation, and rehabilitation expenses for people who sustain job-related injuries or sickness. Also provides income to the survivors of an employee whose death is job related (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2010). That being the case, there are audits held to prevent employee’s from filing fraudulent workman’s comp claims. OSHA has set federal and states laws, employees are to abide by their states OSHA standards to ensure safety in the workplace (Dellpo, 2013). In violation to following such laws can result in employer fines. With compassion and common sense lacking in the workplace a real disgruntled employee could cost and employer tons of money by carelessly contributing to fines. Then when presented with such allegations will then claim discrimination. When dealing with laws that effect HR, these are brought to the EEOC, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Employment decisions should not be based on characteristics such as race, sex, age, or disability (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2010). The EEOC are the ones who investigate claims and situations involving harassment, discrimination, ect. And do take everything seriously. Employers these days definitely abuse the EEOC for simple situations that common sense can be easily applied to, and under those circumstances wasting a lot of time and money for an organization. In the end, after exanimating the effect of legal safety and regulatory requirements on human resource process the main focus of these regulations is to prevent any manager from biasedly and without cause irrationally treating an employee badly. As a result, common sense and compassion have been replaced by litigation. It is unfortunate, but as managers that is why it is important to take actions that develop trust, such as sharing useful information and making good on commitments. Act consistently so that employees are not surprised by unexpected management actions or decisions. Be truthful and avoid white lies and actions designed to manipulate others by giving a certain (false) impression. Demonstrate integrity by keeping confidences and showing concern for others. Meet with employees to discuss and define what is expected of them. Ensure that employees are treated equitably, giving equivalent rewards for similar performance and avoiding actual or apparent special treatment of favorites. Adhere to clear standards that are seen as just and reasonable, for example, neither praising accomplishments nor imposing penalties disproportionately. Demonstrate respect toward employees, showing openly that they care about employees and recognize their strengths and contributions (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2010). By practicing these key points compassion and common sense can be restored in the workplace.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Personnel Management Research in Agribusiness

Personnel Management Research in Agribusiness Vera Bitsch Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics Michigan State University, 306 Agriculture Hall, East Lansing, Michigan, 48824 Tel: +517-353-9192, Fax: +517-432-1800, [email  protected] edu Paper presented at the 19th Annual World Forum and Symposium of the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, Budapest, Hungary, June 20-23, 2009 Acknowledgements This study was supported by the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, Hatch project #0191628. The author would also like to thank the Elton R.Smith Chair in Food & Agricultural Policy at Michigan State University for supporting the participation at the IFAMA World Forum and Symposium. Copyright 2009 by Vera Bitsch. All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies. Personnel Management Research in Agr ibusiness (Executive Summary) One of the challenges faced by agribusinesses in the 21st century is the attraction, motivation, and retention of sufficient and qualified labor.However, personnel management research has mostly focused on other industries. Accordingly, agribusiness managers have little to rely on, when developing personnel policies and procedures. Once a business has grown beyond the labor capacity of the immediate family, personnel management becomes an issue and practices developed for large corporations do not always scale down well to smaller businesses or may not fit the agribusiness environment. This paper reviews the foci and results of personnel management research in the United States and in Canada, but results are likely applicable beyond these two countries.The analysis concentrates on publications analyzing personnel management publications, largely excluding labor market, immigration, and similar analyses. The unit of analysis is the business, not the mark et, society, or other institution. The review covers agribusiness and agricultural economics journals, and also animal science and horticultural science journals. Research reports and conference papers are included when accessible. With few exceptions, personnel management was virtually absent from agribusiness and agricultural economics research before 1990.Since then research methods cover the full range from in-depth, unstructured interviews and group discussions, through interview or moderator guide based approaches, up to fully structured surveys. Several broadly based results are emerging. First, many agribusiness managers perceive their personnel management competencies as a weakness, in particular during periods of organizational growth. Second, experienced managers typically have an adequate conceptual frame of the personnel management functions, but with respect to the details gaps and misconceptions persist.Third, the peculiar circumstances of agribusiness and farm work r equire specific skill sets and beginning managers could benefit from targeted training. Fourth, although compensation is important, employees’ job satisfaction and retention can be increased with inexpensive measures, such as feedback and appreciation. Fifth, the relationship between personnel management practices and financial success measures is complicated and difficult to assess. Few personnel management studies have been able to provide evidence of a substantial relationship between any particular personnel management practice and profit, or even productivity. Personnel Management Research in Agribusiness Problem Statement One of the challenges faced by many agribusinesses and farms in the 21st century is the attraction, motivation, and retention of sufficient and qualified labor. Although this problem is more pronounced in industrialized and developed economies, growing and transitional economies, including China, also face a lack of interest in agricultural work. In ad dition, personnel management research has mostly focused on other industries, neglecting agribusiness.Accordingly, agribusiness managers have little to rely on, when developing personnel policies and procedures for a growing business. Once a business has grown beyond the labor capacity of the immediate family, personnel management becomes an issue and practices developed for large corporations often times do not scale down well to smaller businesses or may not fit the agricultural or agribusiness environment. Farm Labor in the U. S. In 2007, U. S. hired farm labor comprised $21. 9 billion or 9. 1% of total production expenses. That was an increase in monetary expenses of $3. billion, compared to $18. 6 billion in 2002, but a decrease in percentage of expenses. In addition, contract labor amounted to $4. 5 billion in expenses or 1. 9% of total production expenses, up $1. 1 billion from 2002. Custom work and custom hauling, which includes machinery costs was up by $0. 8 billion at $4. 1 billion; 1. 7% of total production expenses (2007 Census of Agriculture). Hired labor was the third largest expense group behind purchased feed and purchased livestock and poultry. But farm labor expenses are not equally distributed regionally.According to Kandel, total farm labor expenses amounted to 22. 3% of the cash receipts in California, but only to 2. 5% in Iowa in 2006. The top five states in terms of payroll expenses were California, Florida, Texas, Washington, and Oregon. They account for 42. 8% of the expenditure on hired labor in the U. S. Runyan reported that 1910-19 the share of family labor of total farm employment was 75%; 1990-99 this share had declined to 64%. While total farm employment is declining, the role of hired workers is increasing with increasing farm sizes.However, farm wages rank near the bottom of all occupational groups, second only to private household work (Runyan). This fact may be ameliorated, at least in part, by lower cost of living expenses in rural communities (Gisser and Davila). By agricultural specialization, hired labor is most important for horticultural 3 operations (tree nurseries, ornamentals, fruit, and vegetables) and in dairy farming, followed by livestock and poultry farming; hired labor is least important in field crops.Objectives This paper reviews the foci and results of personnel management research in agriculture and agribusiness in the United States and in Canada, but results are likely applicable beyond these two countries. The goal of the review is to extract the lessons learned and derive guidance for both agribusiness management practice and future research. The specific objectives are to (1) analyze the state of the art of personnel management research in agribusiness, in particular agricultural production, including an analysis of research methods; (2) determine the ain themes with respect to (a) research questions and (b) empirical fields; and (3) summarize empirical results to (a) provide a f oundation for manager training and decision support and (b) serve as a roadmap to future research projects. Procedures Geographically, this paper focuses on the United States and Canada and the review is limited to publications in English. The analysis concentrates on publications analyzing personnel management questions, largely excluding labor market, migration, immigration, and similar analyses.Labor market, migration, and immigration studies are important to understanding the agricultural labor problem and a considerable amount of work has been done on these questions (see, e. g. , Devadoss and Luckstead; Ise and Perloff; Martin and Taylor; Taylor; Tran and Perloff; Walters, Emerson, and Iwai). Less work has been published on personnel management functions and the use of different management practices in agribusiness. Personnel management functions include practices to recruit, train, manage, organize, evaluate, compensate, discipline, and terminate employees, as well as, questi ons of job satisfaction, motivation, and retention.Therefore, the unit of analysis is the agribusiness or farm, not the market, society, or other macro institution. The review covers agribusiness and management journals, agricultural economics journals, and also animal science and horticultural science journals. In addition, research reports and conference papers (gray publications) are included when accessible and relevant. 4 Articles reporting on empirical research, as well as, review articles were content analyzed with respect to the objectives outlined above.A qualitative analysis method was used to determine the personnel management questions addressed, the research methods, the empirical field, the specific results with respect to the questions addressed, and the broader implications of each article. Only articles meeting the criteria summarized above are included in the discussion of the main themes and in the summary tables. Furthermore, although this paper is based on a com prehensive review, it cannot claim to include every study in this field. State of the Art Before 1990, personnel management was virtually absent from agribusiness and gricultural economics research (Howard and McEwan; Rosenberg and Cowen), with very few exceptions (e. g. , Adams, How, and Larson). For the agricultural field, personnel management research basically began in the early 1990ies, but many of these studies are difficult to access, because they have been published as conference or working papers, or in trade magazines, not in peer reviewed journals. Until the end of the 1990ies, studies remain few and common themes are yet to develop, with the possible exception of job attitudes, which appear as an early focus (e. . , Adams, How, and Larson). Additional themes emerging later include managers’ conceptualization of the personnel management functions, managers’ personnel management competencies and practices, and the relationship between personnel management pra ctices and organizational outcomes. Few studies focus on one particular personnel management function; more studies encompass a broad array of functions and the related management practices. Exceptions are studies of the management and preferences of migrant workers and of compensation (table 1).Compensation studies in agribusiness frequently are limited to a description of actual wages and their distribution, sometimes not including benefits, and not relating compensation to organizational outcome variables (see, e. g. , studies cited in Maloney and Milligan). Examples of compensation studies, which transcend this limitation, are a pay method and performance study (Billikopf and Norton), a study of the effect of compensation and working conditions on retention (Gabbard and Perloff), and studies of the relationship between wage, production technologies, and farm size (Hurley, Kliebenstein, and Orazem; Yu et al. . Gabbard and Perloff found that for the same monetary investment employ ee benefits increase the probability of retaining good workers more 5 than higher wages. Strochlic et al. also found benefits to increase retention. No relationship between wages and retention rates was found by Miklavcic, as well as Strochlic et al. Considering that, regardless of the personnel management model used (see Delery and Doty for the universalistic, contingency, and configuration models), specific management practices cannot e considered to function in isolation and independent of other practices. Conclusions based on such studies of singular practices would be limited. Therefore, even researchers interested in a particular personnel management function and in comparing relevant practices for this function, would have to take a more integrative approach and describe other practices to provide context. Empirical evidence for the relevance of the integrative approach in agriculture and agribusiness was provided in Adams, How, and Larson; Chacko, Wacker, and Asar; and Muger a and Bitsch.Despite many commonalities between different branches of agricultural production, the type and conditions of work vary, as does the dependency on weather and growth cycles, e. g. , comparing vegetable production to swine production. Both researchers and practitioners therefore will primarily look at the research matching their current undertaking most closely. Studies vary in their empirical coverage, with respect to the scope of farming specializations included, from studies focused on a single specialization (e. g. , floriculture) to studies including multiple specializations (e. . , horticulture, including floriculture, fruit and vegetable production), and the scope of personnel management functions analyzed, from single function studies (e. g. , compensation; see above) to studies including selected or multiple functions (table 1). Dairy farming stands out as the specialization most likely to be researched. Given that hired labor plays an even larger role in horticu ltural production than in dairy farming, the reasons for the higher interest in personnel management in dairy research are not obvious.The Journal of Dairy Science published papers of a Symposium: Dairy Personnel Management as early as 1993. In addition to the dairy studies reported in table 1 that address personnel management specifically other studies of dairy farming included personnel management questions in broader studies of farm expansion (Bewley, Palmer, and Jackson-Smith; Hadley, Harsh, and Wolf; Stahl et al. ). These studies found that personnel management competencies are most important for the success of farm expansion, but these competencies are also most challenging for farm managers.After an expansion, managers are more likely to use formal practices with respect to all major personnel management functions (Stahl et al. ), but some 6 problems, such as communication, persist (Hadley et al. ), although managers spend more time on personnel management. Also, personnel ma nagement education for large dairy farms has been emphasized as an opportunity for extension programming (Brasier et al. ).A relatively new arena of research, which cuts across different agricultural specializations, is the interface of personal management and sustainable or organic production. The questions being asked include whether sustainable and organic agriculture are inherently beneficial to employees, whether the commitment to sustainability does or should include a social component, and whether a fair labor certification approach would be beneficial to producers (e. g. Shreck, Getz, and Feenstra; Strochlic and Hamerschlag; Strochlic et al. ). Although a majority of certified organic farmers in California believe that organic agriculture is more socially sustainable than conventional agriculture, there is little support to include criteria on working conditions in the organic certification (Shreck, Getz, and Feenstra). On the other hand, Strochlic et al. found considerable interest in a fair labor certification (59% of respondents).Research Methods of Empirical Studies Considering the early stage of personnel management research in agribusiness, research methods were expected to be mostly exploratory and qualitative (Bitsch 2000 and 2005). However, research methods cover the full range from in-depth, unstructured interviews and group discussions, through interview or moderator guide based approaches, up to fully structured surveys administered at the business site or off-site one-on-one or in a group setting, over the phone, or mailed questionnaires (table 2).Fornaciari and Dean found a similar phenomenon in the study of religion, spirituality, and management, where research methods also include many quantitative approaches, despite the early stage of the research field. Reasons for the seemingly early venture into highly structured and quantitative research approaches are more likely to be caused by expectations set up in the qualification process of researchers, professional pressures regarding publication outlets, and differing prestige of certain research approaches in researchers’ professional fields than by research considerations.Although, this review of studies of personnel management in production agriculture and agribusiness cannot claim completeness, the number of studies employing unstructured or moderately structured methods (first two columns in table 2) appears lower than the number of studies employing highly or very highly structured methods (last two columns in table 2). 7However, even many of the quantitative, highly structured studies did not attempt (or accomplish) representative sampling and, therefore, their generalizability can only be judged based on their descriptions of the research approaches and the methods used, and the comparison of results across studies. As a result, researchers and practitioners planning to use studies of either research approach may need to analyze the original sources a nd pay close attention to details, before evaluating the applicability of their results to a different context.Most studies rely on a single method for data collection and multi-method studies are rare. An exception is the case study approach of best management practices by Strochlic and Hamerschlag that employed a variety of methods including semi-structured interviews with farm managers, focus groups with employees, and informal interviews with key informants. Multimethod approaches are likely to yield more valid results, due to the method triangulation involved.The method used most often by personnel management researchers in production agriculture and agribusiness is a survey questionnaire (table 2). Questionnaires are administered in a variety of ways, most frequently in person, which is more likely to garner to reliable results than mailed questionnaires, given the sensitivity of many personnel management questions, but also requires more resources. The number of studies using a mailed questionnaire is surprisingly high, considering the difficulty of developing a questionnaire that is fully understood by potential research participants.Other methods used frequently are moderately structured interviews either in an individual setting or set up as group discussions. Although resource intensive, these latter approaches are more likely to gather reliable data and allow for in-depth study of research questions than the more highly structured approaches, given the early stage of the field, the lack of common understanding of personnel management terms of potential research participants and researchers, and the multitude of interactions etween personnel management practices. Managers’ Conceptualization of Personnel Management Functions As early as 1967, Adams, How, and Larson observed that some farmers seem to have much fewer difficulties in finding and keeping the workforce they needed than other farmers in a comparable situation. Their research showed that this difference was not a chance occurrence, but that these farmers had invested considerably in the relationships with their workforce and carefully developed their personnel management practices.Similarly, Rosenberg and Cowen 8 found dairy managers’ assumptions about their workforce to correlate with their milk output, and suggest that those assumptions guide the choice of organizational structure and the management practices. Hence, it may be concluded that managers’ perception of which personnel management functions need to be given attention and which practices are available to them, will be the determinants of their management choices.After 2000, a renewed effort to delineate the field of agricultural personnel management resulted in three studies using focus group discussions to identify management practices in different areas of agricultural production and services, to describe their advantages and drawbacks from managers’ perspective and to critica lly review these practices. As a research method, focus group discussions are useful to integrate research and extension goals.The interaction between research participants and between research participants and the researchers triggers learning processes. In addition, relationships are developed and reinforced, which not only increase openness during the research process, but encourage participation in educational programs. During the research process, knowledge deficits can be diagnosed (Bitsch 2004). Bitsch und Harsh convened five focus groups with managers and owners of greenhouses, tree nursery operations, and landscape operations in Michigan.The study showed that horticultural managers conceptualize personnel management and its challenges and opportunities along the management process: recruiting and selection, training and development, performance appraisal and discipline, careers and relationships, and compensation. For the research participants, hiring immigrants and labor l egislation were also important HRM topics. In addition, Bitsch et al. convened four focus groups with dairy farmers and managers.Their perceptions of personnel management functions were similar to the horticultural study, and differences were mostly due to the more seasonal character of labor needs in the earlier study. Discipline was more important in dairy farming, because the continuous availability of work creates the need for terminating and replacing some employees who do not perform at the expected level. Seasonal operations often deal with these employees by providing less work to them, laying them off before the end of the season, and not recalling them for the following season.While horticultural managers considered working conditions mostly as an image problem in recruiting, to dairy managers working conditions were a permanent stress on employees. 9 Labor laws and regulations were less important in dairy farming, because few operations had their practices audited by gove rnment agencies at the time of the study. Finally, Bitsch and Olynk (2008) convened six focus groups with owners and managers of pork farms in Kansas and Michigan and reanalyzed the transcripts of the second study.Results of this study served to refine the framework of agricultural personnel management developed based on the first two studies. The most significant extension is an additional set of personnel management practices regarding the performance management function. Performance management describes the daily, informal interaction between managers and employees, including informal feedback, task-related communication, setting priorities, and dealing with problems. Although these practices are important in the day-to-day management processes, there has been little discussion about them in the literature.Also, working conditions were extended to include the organizational structure, and the social environment at work was established as another arena to be monitored and consciou sly managed. The resulting framework of agricultural personnel management includes eleven management functions: recruiting, selection, hiring immigrant employees, training, working conditions and organizational structure, social environment, performance management, discipline, performance appraisal, compensation, and labor law and regulation.Managers’ Personnel Management Competencies and Practices In a recent study, Stup, Holden, and Hyde identified competencies in different management areas on the senior and the middle management level of dairy farms through group discussions and then surveyed different managers about their comfort level with respect to these competencies. While managers were generally confident about their competencies, senior managers were least confident about their personnel management competencies (4. 95 on a 7-point Likert scale, 1=very low, 7=very high, n=41). Middle mangers ranked themselves second lowest in personnel management competencies (4. 1, n=22) and lowest in community service and public relations (4. 05, n=20). Bitsch and Olynk (2007) developed a typology of required personnel management skills for successful management in animal agriculture based on ten focus groups with dairy and pork farmers and managers. The typology consists of five skill sets: motivator, housekeeper, model employee, counselor, and change agent. This typology shows a number of commonalities with 10 the Competing Values Framework, used in general management education (Faerman, Quinn, and Thompson), but also industry specific differences.The motivator with the ability to train and motivate others, and to provide constructive feedback and the housekeeper with the ability to control, to lead, and to discipline others build the core of agricultural personnel management skills and also likely other production enterprises. In addition, the ability and willingness to be a model employee plays a surprisingly large role in agriculture. The function of the counselor, to support employees with their personal problems at work and beyond, was discussed less frequently by the research participants, but is necessary to prevent problems and to sustain employee productivity.The change agent initiates or implements innovations in the production process and was mentioned mostly by managers of larger farms. The authors point out that to be successful managers need to command a complete repertoire of skills including skills from each of the five types and not limit themselves to skills from only one type, for example, out of familiarity with certain behaviors (Hutt and Hutt). The role and the functions of middle management are a field of agricultural personnel management with few studies, but increasing importance.Not only did the share and impact of hired labor increase with increasing farm sizes, and personnel management became more important, but supervisors and middle managers are also playing a larger role. Billikopf (2001) interviewed far m supervisors in California and found them to struggle with personnel management tasks. Bitsch and Yakura employed a case study approach to develop a grounded theory of agricultural middle management (see Bitsch 2005, on grounded theory applications in agribusiness; see Glaser and Strauss on the foundations of grounded theory).The participating middle managers described an unexpectedly large number of different personnel management practices. Bitsch and Yakura suggested that these practices can be clustered into two basic types: traditional practices and participative practices. Traditional practices include reprimanding employees, orienting and training employees, monitoring and controlling employees, and dealing with conflict. Participative practices include accommodating employees (e. g. flexibility in schedules, task and team assignments), managing relationships with employees, providing information and goal setting, listening to employees, providing appreciation and feedback, r ewarding employees (non monetary), modeling work behavior, peer control, manager-induced team building, and training by coworkers. 11 Although this typology shows similarities with McGregor’s Theory X and Y, Bitsch and Yakura underline a significant difference. For the participating middle managers, using traditional or participative practices was not correlated with individuals.Each manager used both traditional, as well as, participative practices. The authors suggest that management success corresponds rather with the number of practices individual managers command than with the type of practices they use more frequently. McGregor had assumed that participative managers would be more successful. Bitsch and Yakura pointed out that some managers did use few practices, whereas others were using the full breadth of the described practices. Given that day-to-day management consists of many different management situations, anagers with a more complete repertoire are more likely to choose suitable practices. Employees’ Job Attitudes and Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction is considered both a goal in itself, as well as, a means to reduce turnover and increase motivation and performance. Although meta-studies found a smaller relationship between job satisfaction and these correlates than expected, several studies of job satisfaction in agriculture have been conducted during the past 50 years (see Bitsch and Hogberg). One of the more frequently applied models is the empirically grounded two-factor model by Herzberg et al.This model is particularly suited to structure the analysis of job attitudes and their context. Empirical evidence that indeed job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are caused differently as predicted by the Herzberg et al. model is scant (Bitsch 2007). Independent of the theoretical models and the research methods several common results emerge from studies of job attitudes in agriculture. Porter pointed out that half of the dairy far m employees surveyed in New Hampshire saw appreciation of their work as the most important factor for their performance.In addition, they mentioned open communication with their supervisor, good records, and control of the work situation; Porter concluded that financial incentives are less important. Adams, How, and Larson found financial incentives to be important for a satisfactory employer-employee relationships, but stressed the importance of consideration for workers as human beings, taking into account personal problems of workers and helping to find solutions, and getting the right fit of worker and job (see previous section for middle managers’ practices for a similar finding).Bitsch (1996) in a study of tree nursery apprentices in Germany found that a large majority did desire higher wages, but almost half also 12 desired increased appreciation, more training, and more responsibility for their tasks. More training was also requested by Spanish speaking dairy farm emp loyees surveyed by Maloney and Grusenmeyer in New York. Surveying New York dairy farms, Fogleman et al. found that employees were least satisfied with the factor managers had most control over, that is performance feedback.Billikopf (2001) had found supervisors in all branches of agriculture to be mostly satisfied with their jobs. More detailed case studies with horticultural operations found for employees without supervisory responsibilities (Bitsch and Hogberg) and also for supervisors (Bitsch 2007) that the same factors seem to contribute to job satisfaction, as well as, to dissatisfaction, depending on their availability and characteristics.For both groups of employees, job security, achievement, technical competency of the superior, and personal relationships at the workplace were more likely to be perceived as positive. The work itself and organizational procedures and policies were perceived as ambiguous, contributing to both satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Compensation was perceived rather negative, more negative by employees without supervisory responsibilities than by supervisors; the latter are likely to be higher paid and more likely to receive benefits.Employees without supervisory responsibility perceived their work/life balance more positive than supervisors; the latter are also less satisfied with their working conditions. Mainly, this was due to the fact that employees with supervisory responsibilities were expected to be available for work whenever required, whereas employees without supervisory responsibilities were given more flexibility. An earlier study in Germany, also had found that horticultural employees value flexible scheduling and benefit arrangements (Bitsch, Bromm, and Schalich).Relationships between Personnel Management Practices and Organizational Outcomes Relationships between personnel management practices and various organizational outcomes, such as productivity (Rosenberg and Cowen), profit (Adams, How, and Larson), or co mpetitiveness (Chacko, Walker, and Asar; Mugera and Bitsch) have often been assumed, but infrequently been empirically researched. Owners and managers of agricultural operations also testify to a relationship between personnel management practices and farm level outcomes (Bitsch et al. Strochlic and Hamerschlag). The few studies attempting the empirical description and measurement of these relationships in production agriculture and agribusiness have found limited evidence. 13 Rosenberg and Cowen tested several personnel management practices’ and management assumptions’ impact on dairy farm productivity, including prevalence of Theory Y assumptions (McGregor), upward and downward responsibility diffusion, employee selection procedure, employee assessment criteria, and employee performance feedback, along with record use and herd size.In addition to record use, the authors found that Theory Y assumptions and the amount of feedback provided to employees impacted producti vity. Feedback has also been found to be important in employees’ job satisfaction (Bitsch 1996; Fogleman et al. ). Although management assumptions are likely to guide organizational structure, personnel management practice choice, and managers’ communication and interaction with employees, the study did not provide evidence of the relationship between assumptions and particular practices.Stup, Hyde, and Holden analyzed several personnel management practices of successful dairy farms in Pennsylvania, including milk quality incentives, performance reviews, employment of Spanish-speaking employees, use of standard operating procedures for milking, feeding, and reproduction tasks, continuing training, and use of job descriptions. Except for continuous training of employees, farm success did not differ significantly for farms using compared to farms not using these practices.While differences in definitions between Stup, Hyde, and Holden, and Rosenberg and Cowen and little overlap regarding the management practices researched, make it difficult to compare both studies, it should be noted that Stup, Hyde, and Holden did not find performance reviews to be significant. Chacko, Wacker, and Asar compared perceptions of agribusiness managers with respect to the contributions of different technological and personnel management practices to their competitiveness. In general, managers ranked technological practices higher than personnel management practices.However, job security and measures of training and development were among the top ranked management practices. Job security has also been emphasized in job satisfaction studies (Bitsch and Hogberg; Bitsch 2007). Training has been found to stand out in Stup, Hyde, and Holden and has also been emphasized in job attitude studies (Bitsch 1996; Maloney and Grusenmeyer). Based on managers’ perception of particular technological and personnel management practices, Chacko, Wacker, and Asar also aggregated pr actices in a factor analysis and regressed these factors on perceived competitiveness.The regression analysis showed personnel management 14 factors to contribute to a higher extent to different measures of competiveness than technological measures. The employee commitment factor (job security, sharing of profits and gains) stood out as contributing to most competitiveness measures. Mugera and Bitsch used a resource based perspective to analyze whether personnel management practices and the personnel itself constitute a competitive advantage for dairy farms (see Wright et al. for a general discussion of the application of the resource based theory to personnel management).The authors conducted case studies with dairy farms to analyze the integration of personnel management practices with each other (e. g. , practices regarding recruitment, selection, training, and compensation) and their outcomes (e. g. , voluntary turnover and termination). The case studies provided empirical examp les of the applicability of the resource based theory and evidence of the use of personnel management practices as a competitive advantage. The authors emphasize that studies of isolated management practices may lead to misleading results, due to the importance of the integration of practices with each other.Therefore, they recommend an integrative approach to researching and changing personnel management functions. Strochlic et al. surveyed 300 organic farms of various agricultural specializations with respect to their personnel management practices and organizational outcomes. They found significant relationships between an overall labor conditions score and 5- and 10-year retention rates, several occupational safety related practices and person-days lost due to accidents and injuries. No relationship was found between the surveyed management practices and supervisory costs or access to sufficient labor.Conclusions Personnel management research in agribusiness has increased over t he past 20 years, but the field is in an early stage of its development. Although agribusiness managers and organizations are demanding more decision support and training in personnel management, a rapid increase in research volume cannot be expected. The number of researchers giving this field more than cursory attention is relatively small compared to other agribusiness fields. Research funding is limited or unavailable for many agribusiness related personnel management questions. Peer reviewed articles are rare, because ublication outlets lack sensible reviewers for this field and many editors do not perceive it as a priority. 15 Notwithstanding the early stage of personnel management research in agribusiness, several broadly based results are emerging. First, many managers on different hierarchical levels perceive their personnel management skills as an area of weakness. This weakness becomes more visible during organizational growth, when additional employees are needed and tas ks change from production orientation to management, including management of more personnel. Growth processes have been researched mainly in dairy farming.Despite managers’ perception of a lack of personnel management competencies, participation rates in educational programs targeting such skills are not very high. Second, experienced managers typically have an adequate conceptual frame of the personnel management functions, and potential challenges and risks, at least regarding the big picture. They acknowledge all textbook personnel management functions (recruiting, selection, training, performance appraisal, compensation, discipline, and labor law and regulation), although they do not necessarily practice conscientious management with respect to all of these functions.For example, performance evaluation and discipline are rarely practiced. Also, gaps and misconceptions persist with respect to the details of each practice and potential alternative practices, and typically t he details decide the success of these practices. On the other hand, managers perceive a need for additional practices, rarely discussed in the literature, with respect to performance management, the social environment at the workplace, working conditions and organizational structure, as well as, hiring immigrant employees.Third, not only are the personnel management tasks outlined above numerous and often times difficult to balance, but they also result in challenging requirements with respect to the breadth and depth of management competencies and practices. Due to the peculiar circumstances of agricultural work, including long hours and family relationships, requirements of managers are not less stringent, but rather more demanding than in other sectors. Various new and unexpected tasks need to be mastered by newly promoted individuals who normally are not prepared to deal with these tasks.Learning management in agriculture is often limited to imitating the supervisor (Hutt and H utt) and training in many cases consists of â€Å"sink or swim† (Bitsch and Yakura). Many farms could improve their HRM practices through preparatory and accompanying training of their supervisors and managers. On the other hand, given their lack of training, managers have acquired and are using a surprisingly large number of traditional, as well as non traditional, HRM practices. 16 Fourth, compensation is important, as can be expected, considering the low level of agricultural wages compared to other occupational groups.However, incentive systems are not necessarily preferred by employees (Porter; Strochlic and Hamerschlag). In many cases, job satisfaction can be increased with inexpensive measures, such as providing more feedback and appreciation for tasks well done. Similarly, many farms could use training and employee responsibility for task performance to increase productivity and job satisfaction. On the other hand, in general, employees seem satisfied with their work and specifically with its context.Flexibility, especially for employees without supervisory responsibility, and positive personal relationships at work, particularly with superiors, contribute primarily to job satisfaction. As Adam, How, and Larson stated, â€Å"Such relationships seem to be the end result of a combination of policies and practices on the part of farmers and of a genuine liking of farm work and their employers on the part of employees† (p. 60). Fifth, the relationship between personnel management practices and financial measures of organizational success is complex and difficult to assess.Few personnel management studies in production agriculture and agribusiness have been able to provide evidence of a substantial relationship between any particular personnel management practice and profit, or even productivity. In particular, isolated practices do not usually show a statistical relationship with financial measures or even intermediate measures, such as produ ctivity, retention, or supervision costs. Although this is to be expected according to the integrative model of personnel management, it hinders the development of manageable research projects that can be analyzed and described in a standard form.Additional problems stem from the lack of data availability and changing conditions and actors who also continuously develop new practices and strategies. Compared to twenty years ago, when Howard and McEwan declared the absence of personnel management research in the agribusiness field, managers and researchers have more to build on today. A suitable framework of personnel management functions in production agriculture has been developed (Bitsch and Olynk 2008), on which manager training and future research can build.This framework must be broadened to encompass the agribusiness value chain as a whole. Groundwork has been done to describe and conceptualize what managers do in their day-to-day practice to motivate and lead employees, and wh ich competencies they need to acquire to be or become successful managers of personnel. In addition, a lot more is known about how 17 agricultural employees perceive their work and its context and where they see improvement needs. Nevertheless, differences and commonalities between production agriculture and the broader agribusiness environment need to be explored further.Also, future research will have to develop methods to establish the relationship between personnel management practices and organizational outcomes and to analyze specific practices in their organizational context more indepth. Education and training of production agriculture and agribusiness managers, both in the classroom and beyond, can and has started to build on a growing body of empirical research, instead of solely relying on results from other industries and large organizations, which may or may not be applicable in the industry settings.Specific results from many of the studies discussed have been used to develop personnel management programs for managers in production agriculture, both in terms of determining educational needs, as well as developing and organizing program content tailored to managers’ experience and understanding. 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Working Paper 730, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, 1994.Runyan, J. L. â€Å"Hired F armworkers’ Earnings Increased in 2001 But Still Trail Most Occupations. † Rural America 17 (Fall 2002):66-73. Shreck, A. , C. Getz, and G. Feenstra. â€Å"Social Sustainability, Farm Labor, and Organic Agriculture: Findings from an Exploratory Analysis. † Agriculture and Human Values 23 (2006):439-49. Stahl, T. J. , B. J. Conlin, A. J. Seykora and G. R. Steuernagel. â€Å"Characteristics of Minnesota Dairy Farms That Significantly Increased Milk Production From 1989-1993. † Journal of Dairy Science 82 (1999):45-51. 21 Strochlic, R. and K. Hamerschlag.Best Labor Management Practices on Twelve California Farms: Toward a More Sustainable Food System. California Institute for Rural Studies (December 2005). Strochlic, R. , C. Wirth, A. F. Besada, and C. Getz. Farm Labor Conditions on Organic Farms in California. California Institute for Rural Studies (June 2008). Stup, R. E. , L. A. Holden and J. Hyde. â€Å"Case Study: Profiles of Management Competencies Ide ntified by Successful Dairy Managers. † The Professional Animal Scientist 23 (2007):728-37. Stup, R. E. , J. Hyde and L. A. Holden. â€Å"Relationships Between Selected Human Resource Management Practices and Dairy Farm Performance. Journal of Dairy Science 89 (2006):1116-20. Stup, R. E. and T. R. Maloney. Managing Hispanic Workers: Perceptions of Agricultural Managers. College of Agricultural Science, Cooperative Extension, Pennsylvania State University, 2003. Taylor, J. E. â€Å"Earnings and Mobility of Legal and Illegal Immigrant Workers in Agriculture. † American Journal of Agricultural Economics 74 (November 1992):889-96. Tran, L. H. and J. M. Perloff. â€Å"Turnover in U. S. Agricultural Labor Markets. † American Journal of Agricultural Economics 84 (May 2002):427-37. Walters, L. M. , R. D. Emerson, and N. Iwai. Proposed Immigration Policy Reform and Farm Labor Market Outcomes. † Selected Paper, American Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meet ing, Orlando, Florida, 2008. Wright, P. M. , M. C. Gary and M. Abagail. â€Å"Human Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage: A Resource-based Perspective. † International Journal of Human Resource Management 5 (1994):301-26. Yu, L. , T. M. Hurley, J. B. Kliebenstein, and P. F. Orazem. â€Å"Firm Size, Technical Change and Wages: Evidence from the Pork Sector from 1990-2005. Selected Paper, American Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, Portland, Oregon, 2007. 2 Table 1. Scope of Personnel Management Studies and Personnel Management Functions Analyzed in Production Agriculture and Agribusiness Studies Focused on One Farm Specialization Studies Focused on One or Few Personnel Management Function(s) Dairy Immigrant employees Harrison et al. ; Maloney; Maloney and Grusenmeyer; Stup and Maloney Floriculture Recruiting and selection Maloney, Milligan, and Petracek Swine Compensation Hurley, Kliebenstein, and Orazem; Yu et al. Vineyards Compensation Billikopf and Norton Studies Encompassing Selected or Many Personnel Management FunctionsDairy Bitsch et al. ; Fogleman et al. ; Hutt; Hutt and Hutt; Mugera und Bitsch; Porter; Rosenberg and Cowen; Stup, Holden, and Hyde; Stup, Hyde, and Holden Swine Howard et al. Floriculture/Greenhouse Bitsch, Bromm, and Schalich Maloney and Milligan Horticulturea) Bitsch (2004); Bitsch (2007); Bitsch and Harsh; Bitsch and Hogberg; Bitsch and Yakura; Miklavcic; Strochlic and Hamerschlag Livestockb) Bitsch and Olynk (2007 and 2008) Studies Encompassing Multiple Farm Specializations Horticulturea) Compensation Billikopf (1995 and 1996) Compensation and working conditions Dunn; Gabbard and PerloffAgriculturec) Adams, How, and Larson; Billikopf (2001); Chacko, Tree nursery production Wacker, and Asar; Howard; Bitsch (1996) Rosenberg, Perloff, and Pradhan; Strochlic et al. a) Horticulture indicates two of more of the following specializations: floriculture and greenhouse, fruit, nuts, vegetable, and vineyard produc tion. b) Livestock indicates two of more of the following specializations: dairy, beef, swine, and poultry production. c) Agriculture includes at least one horticultural and one livestock specialization, as well as agribusiness. 23 Table 2.Degree of Structure of Research Approaches and Methods Used in Personnel Management Research in Production Agriculture and Agribusiness Unstructured or Little Structure Individual Methods Examples Unstructured interviewing Billikopf (2001)a); Hutta); Hutt and Hutta); Strochlic and Hamerschlag Moderately Structured Interview schedule Adams, How, and Larson; Bitsch (2007); Bitsch and Hogberg; Bitsch and Yakura; Howard; Mugera and Bitsch; Porter; Strochlic and Hamerschlag Highly Structured Administered questionnaires At the work site: Billikopf (1995 and 1996); Bitsch, Bromm, and Schalich; Fogleman et al. Howard et al. ; Maloney and Grusenmeyer; Rosenberg and Cowen; Stup, Hyde, and Holden At a housing site: Dunn Over the phone: Billikopf (1996); Malo ney; Maloney and Milligan; Maloney, Milligan, and Petracek; Strochlic et al. Group Methods Examples Unmoderated group discussion Stup and Maloney Moderated group discussion Very Highly Structured Mailed questionnaire Billikopf and Norton; Chacko, Wacker, and Asar; Hurley, Kliebenstein, and Orazem; Miklavcic; Rosenberg, Perloff, and Pradhan; Stup, Holden, and Hyde; Yu et al.Secondary data analysis: Gabbard and Perloff Questionnaire administered to individuals in a group setting Bitsch (2004); At school sites: Bitsch and Harsh; Bitsch (1996) Bitsch and Olynk (2007 and 2008); Bitsch et al. ; Harrison et al. ; Howard; Stup, Holden, and Hyde; Strochlic and Hamerschlag a) Studies where the method was not described sufficiently to categorize by the level of structure were categorized as unstructured. 24

Friday, November 8, 2019

Victorian Desalination Project

Victorian Desalination Project Initiating The Victorian State Government initiated Victorian Desalination Project in 2007 due to changes in climatic conditions and declining supply of fresh water in Melbourne and its surrounding.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Victorian Desalination Project specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Objectives The Project objective is to supply 150 GL (gigalitre) of water per annum. It will also have the ability to increase supply based on demands up to 200 GL per year. The Project shall also ensure that the cities get fresh water that meets water standards as set by State water policy. The plant must meet water needs of the population and must optimise its supply network. Scope AquaSure defined the Project scope under the plant, power supply marine, pipeline, and renewable energy. The plant This focused on the quantity and quality of water supplied to Melbourne and its surroundings. The plant uses high standards of techn ology to drive desalination processes based on reverse osmosis technique. The plant is energy-efficient and has a living green roof. Marine The water for the plant comes from the sea. Thus, the Project developer approach aimed at protecting the marine environment through dug inlet and outlet pipes. The Project met specifications of Australian environmental standards. Pipelines The project has underground pipes covering a distance of 84 km. The pipeline uses the two-way system to ensure uninterrupted water supply.Advertising Looking for report on environmental law? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Power supply According to the State Government, the Project shall consume 90MW of power to generate 150 GL of water per year (Victoria State Government, 2012). Power supply will increase if the plan supplies 200 GL per annum. The Project has based its power supply on renewable energy concept to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The Plant also has Renewable Energy Certificate (REC). REC implies that the government shall purchase the energy from the national grid to compensate for power supply. The plant consumes more energy that it can generate from green sources like solar, wind farms, and landfill gas energy. The plant has reliable energy supply. Renewable energy Under REC arrangement, the government shall compensate power supply from the grid. Planning The planning process identified key dates for important events. Planning processes also accounted for the Projects resources, risk, time, and cost management (Lester, 2006). Procurement The State Government used the Public Private Partnership (PPP) method in procurement processes. The State Government argued that it would reduce risks, costs, ensure a quality design and construction from the expertise of the private sector, protect interests of the public and ensure competitive processes to maximise value for money. The State Government used laws an d Acts to guide the process of procurement, which AquaSure won after successful bidding procedures.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Victorian Desalination Project specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The PPP method is effective in achieving life efficiency, improving design quality, protecting the quality of services, and ensuring flexibility in managing the Project so as to achieve value for money. The Project commenced during the recession of 2009 and the subsequent euro crisis. The State Government formulated strategies to combat any changes in the cost of the Project related to financial market activities. Some of these methods included equal sharing of losses with AquaSure, sharing based on specified rates, seeking alternative funding, or termination of the Project and repaying the debts (Kerzner, 2000). Cost Management The PPP method guaranteed the State Government effective cost management right from the bidding process with substantial savings. Under this method, AquaSure shall incur all the additional costs of the Project. Public Sector Comparator (Net present cost) AquaSure’s Winning Bid (Net present cost) saving $6,656 billion $5,720 billion 14.1% Source: Partnerships Victoria Project Summary The Project had a maximum cost of $5.7 billion after 30 years. This would cater for all resources and construction of the Project. Consumers shall pay for the increased water costs so as to fund the Project. The REC also ensured fixed costs of energy for the plant. Risk Management AquaSure and the State Government shared the Project’s risk. This was another reason for using the PPP model. According to the Victorian Desalination Project Summary, risks covered site risks, scope risks, design, construction and commissioning risks, operational risks, industrial relations, asset risks, change in law, and sponsor and finance risk (Victoria State Government, 2012).Advertising Looking for report on environmental law? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More AquaSure would be responsible for water quality and supply for the next 30 years, but the State Government must ensure the water meets safety standards. PPP model also reduced risks associated with the Project delay (Chapman and Ward, 2003). Integration Management The Project integrated all elements of its scope such as the plant, pipelines, power supply, marine, and renewable energy in order to create Victorian Desalination Plant. This process depended on objectives and resources of the Project for water supply by 2012. Communications Management Communication process started when the State Government declared its interest to construct the plant. Communication process was official. It involved the affected landlords, the public and other stakeholders of the Project. These are the people who had interests and power over the project (Project Management Institute, 2008). Communication management also involved updating stakeholders about the Project progress. The Project relied on media communication and press briefings. Executing AquaSure executed the Project in October 2009. The Project commissioned water for reliability test on September 2012. This tests cover water quality and reliability of the plant and its components. Time Management The project started on 2009, and it was to supply fresh water by 2011. The contract for the Project shall end in September 2039. The Project shows effectiveness time management that was possible due to the PPP method. However, there were cases of delay due to weather, slowdown, and technical challenges. AquaSure claimed that cyclonic weather had affected their operation resulting into loss of working hours. The Project also experienced industrial action from protesting workers. There were also reports of about failures involving 99 percent of the water valves resulting into delay (Drill, 2011). This is the Project Milestone on key events. Key Events Date Contract Close 30 July 2009 Financial Close 02 September 2009 Com mercial Acceptance (water delivery) 19 December 2011 Reliability Testing January – June 2012 Contract expiry date 30 September 2039 Source: Victoria Desalination Project Summary (Project Milestone) Monitoring and controlling The State Government monitors water quality and reliability of the plant. AquaSure monitored and controlled the design and construction process. Monitoring and controlling enabled AquaSure to adjust time in order to fit delay from bad weather, unionised workers slowdown, and valves’ failure. Closing process The Project is ongoing. Thus, the closing process has not begun. However, the AquaSure shall review the Projects achievements against its set objectives based on the Project scope. AquaSure shall close the project by February 2013 (Lock, 2007). The Close down Report Victorian Desalination Project is still ongoing until 2039. AquaSure shall prepare the closure report upon the Project completion. However, the plant commissioned water supply on October 2012. The actual work shall end in 2013. Reference List Capital Projects Division 2009, Partnerships Victoria Project Summary: Victorian Desalination Project, Capital Projects Division, Victoria. Chapman, C and Ward, S 2003, Project Risk Management: Processes, Techniques and Insights, 2nd edn, Wiley Sons, Chichester. Drill, S 2011, Wonthaggi desalination plant faces four-month delay, Herald Sun, Melbourne. Kerzner, H 2000, Applied Project Management: Best Practices on Implementation, Wiley, New York. Lester, A 2006, Project Management, Planning and Control, 5th edn, Elsevier Science Technology Books, Loughborough. Lock, D 2007, Project Management, 9th edn, Gower Publishing Limited, Hampshire. Project Management Institute 2008, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge: PMBOK Guide, 4th edn, Project Management Institute Inc, Pennsylvania. Victoria State Government 2012, Government Initiatives, https://www.water.vic.gov.au/

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Liminal Is Not a Fancy Word

Liminal Is Not a Fancy Word â€Å"Liminal† Is Not a â€Å"Fancy Word† â€Å"Liminal† Is Not a â€Å"Fancy Word† By Maeve Maddox The other morning I heard someone on NPR use the word liminal. He immediately referred to it apologetically as â€Å"a fancy word.† Granted, liminal is not an everyday word, but it is one that adult readers encounter if they progress very far beyond the Ayres List. (The Extended Ayres List is a list of 1500 of the most common words, ranked by difficulty. It’s widely used as a spelling and vocabulary benchmark in US schools.) A cursory Web search indicates that the NPR announcer is not alone in feeling he must apologize for using the word liminal. The following examples are typical: Liminal  is a  fancy word  for having to do with a boundary. The academics have a  fancy word  for this space; they call it the â€Å"liminal†.   Liminal is a fancy word that means â€Å"1: of or relating to a sensory threshold; 2:  barely perceptible; 3: of, relating to, or being an intermediate state, phase, or condition:  in-between,  transitional.† The noun liminality gets the same treatment: Liminality is a fancy word meaning â€Å"a place of in-between-ness. The adjective liminal and the noun liminality are used with specialized meanings in psychology and cultural anthropology, but the words have found their way into the general vocabulary and have been in frequent use at least since the 1980s. Here are the general-purpose definitions: liminal adjective: characterized by being on a boundary or threshold, especially by being transitional or intermediate between two states or situations. liminality noun: a transitional or indeterminate state between stages of a person’s life; an indeterminate state between different spheres of existence. At least some writers targeting a popular audience are able to use liminal without apology: He’s wrecked, too, by his liminal  ­racial status: His father was an Irishman, his mother was black and he comfortably claims neither.- The NY Times. They [people mistakenly declared dead by government bureaucracy] basically can end up like Tom Hanks in â€Å"The Terminal,† wandering around in terrible liminal state of boredom and frustration, except without Catherine Zeta Jones for company.- The Washington Post film  noir occupies a  liminal  space somewhere between Europe and America, between high modernism and â€Å"blood melodrama,† and between low-budget crime movies and art cinema. More than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts, James Naremore, University of California Press. Knowing the etymology of liminal makes it especially easy to learn. It derives from limen, the Latin word for threshold, the narrow part of a doorway that lies between two rooms or between the outside and the inside of a house. A person standing framed in a doorway is â€Å"in a liminal state† between larger spaces intended to be occupied. Words represent meaning. Some are more common in general usage than others, but any reader can learn any word. I don’t think that liminal is harder to learn than any other word that has entered the general vocabulary from the sciences. I’ve never noticed a speaker or a writer refer to neurotic or psychotic as â€Å"fancy words.† Writers who apologize for using unfamiliar words seem to assume that their readers are ignorant and wish to remain that way. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Compared "to" or Compared "with"?Whenever vs. When EverUsing "May" in a Question

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Airport Security, their loop holes and solution proposal Research Paper

Airport Security, their loop holes and solution proposal - Research Paper Example tly, aviation security remains to be one of the current issues of concern as it is a priority for travelers, crew, countries, airports, cargo owners and the airlines. Moreover, it cannot be dispensed that a significant number of people pass via airports. This makes airports to be vulnerable to terrorism, as well as other forms of criminal activities as people interact (Wiener, 1988). More often than not, terrorists have utilized airplane hijacking as a lethal tool to advance terrorism. In this regard, airport security targets preventing threats or potential dangerous conditions from occurring or befalling a country. If airport security works well, the likelihood of penetration of illegal activities, dangerous situations, illegal drugs or threats into a country, place or aircraft is significantly reduced (Bart, 2007). The security at airports is crucial for various purposes: first, it protects the airports and air craft from potential risks. This way, airport security serves to assure the safety of the travelers. Secondly, in protecting the aircraft from potential risks, the airport security also checks on the security of a country. Needless to say, the purpose of aircraft security can be summarized as to prevent harm on aircrafts, passengers and aircraft crew, as well as, offer support to counter-terrorism policies and national security (Bart, 2007). The first terrorist incident on travelers on board was the Cubana Flight 455 incident that occurred in 1976. The Cubana flight had just left Barbados and was headed for Jamaica when it was brought down by a terrorist attack. In the incident, seventy three civilians lost their lives. The attack was linked to Cuban anti-Castro exiles that had a connection with the Central Intelligence Agency, as well as members secrete police from Venezuela (DISIP), which included Luis Posada Carriles. The deadliest airline tragedy that following failed security at the airport to detect a bomb on onboard occurred in 1985 and involved

Friday, November 1, 2019

Bacterial transmission Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Bacterial transmission - Thesis Example Respiratory bacteria are mainly dispersed in the air through droplets of saliva and mucous produced when one coughs, sneezes, talks or laughs (Shrutz, 2003). According to Rutala et al. (2006), the microbes, which are freely present in the the air, can in most cases be evident on computer keyboards. In this case, their source is likely to be from human contagion. According to Ellis (2006), German researchers evaluated the ability of transmittable organisms to thrive on non-living surfaces. They realized that bacteria that are gram-positive can thrive on dry surfaces for a long time, with the inclusion of vancomycin resistant enterococcus (VRE), methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), as well as Streptococcus pyogenes. The study further indicated that bacteria that are gram-negative bacteria thrive longer than the gram-positive ones. Kramer et al. (2006) stated that, a lot of the nosocomial pathogens could survive on surfaces for months. Further, with respect to the hospital environment, nasocomial pathogens are found to mainly infect the contact areas of hands (Ellis, 2006). These act as the medium for cross-transmission. This clearly shows the introduction of a constant transmission source if no standard measures for disinfection are taken. 1.1. Statement of the problem ... Be it in hospitals or any other public or private facility, the computer keyboard is being used every day to efficiently make service delivery more effective. Keyboards have been proven by researchers to be suitable fomites for bacteria to growth and thrive (Bergstrom, 2012; Hartman, 2004). This is due to the high level of contact increasing contamination, as well as their environment supporting the growth and development of the microbes. According to Anderson and Palombo (2009), research from Swisburne University technology in Australia showed that keyboards used by many people tend to be more contaminated by bacteria than personal ones. Furthermore, research by the University of Arizona as cited in Miller et al (2010) stated that an average PC has 400 times more bacteria than the average toilet seat. This clearly shows how keyboards used in hospitals require measures to counter the effects of the pathogens via strategic and sustainable 1.1. Background information This survey assess ed the presence of nosocomial pathogens and their resistance to drugs. Numerous studies recent past have been initiated with regard to the role played by the healthcare environment in the transmission of diseases (Kramer et al, 2006). A cause behind the transmission has been attributed to the inanimate surfaces that have been clearly described as definitive sources for outbreaks of nosocomial infections (Kramer et al, 2006). According to Rutala et al (2006), Enterococcus species are among the various bacteria that have been proven to be found in the healthcare environment. It has been considered less probable for a patient to contract a Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI) directly from an inanimate