The Lost Generation †Seeking Meaning in Life.

The Lost Generation – Seeking Meaning in Life. Free Online Research Papers The term â€Å"lost generation† was created by American poet Gertrude Stein to describe American literary artists that sought meaning in life, drank excessively, and had love affairs during the 1920s. These artists include Sherwood Anderson, Kay Boyle, Hart Crane, Ford Maddox Ford, and Zelda Fitzgerald. Among the most famous are F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and John Dos Passos. F. Scott Fitzgerald shared many characteristics synonymous with â€Å"The Lost Generation†. He was a heavy drinker and partier, rebellious and questioned traditional values and beliefs, and sought Paris to gain a perspective on himself and his country. (â€Å"What is the Lost Generation?†) On January 16, 1920 the 18th Amendment became law, enforced by the National Prohibition Act. Liquor, beer, and wine were illegal throughout America. However, although alcohol was banned, Americans continued to manufacture and drink it; men and women actually drank more of it. They created new ways of transporting it without getting arrested. One method was using a hip flask; another was hiding it in books and coconut shells, or by filling hot-water bottles and hiding it under their clothing. (â€Å"The Jazz Age – The 20s,† 20-132) Bootlegging became big business. In 1921 federal agents seized 96,000 stills and pieces of distilling equipment; in 1925 they seized 173,000; in 1930 it had reached 282,000. Some bootleggers stole alcohol from manufacturing plants, smuggled it from abroad, or made it themselves. One famous bootlegger, Al Capone, was said to have controlled the entire business from Canada to Florida. (â€Å"The Jazz Age – The 20s,† 20-132) Since saloons became the target of Prohibition enforcers, Americans frequented underground drinking facilities known as speakeasies. In 1925 there is believed to have been 100,000 speakeasies in New York City alone. Speakeasies were â€Å"protected† by bribing federal agents. One of the most famous owners of a speakeasy was Texas Guinan, named â€Å"Queen of the Speakeasies†. Her earnings during a 10-month period totaled $700,000. (â€Å"The Jazz Age – The 20s,† 20-132) Like many Americans during the twenties, F. Scott Fitzgerald was a heavy drinker and partier. Fitzgerald was labeled as a pathetic drunk. He was an alcoholic since college and had problems controlling money and alcohol; most of his money being spent on booze and parties. When drunk, he was insulting to servants and friends. In the summer of 1925, Fitzgerald wrote â€Å"1,000 parties and no work†, which depicted a portrayal of his own life. (Epstein) After World War I, American values began to go sour. The entire nation became self-conscious and unsure of itself. No one wanted to deal with world problems. Americans became frivolous and rebellious, questioning traditional values and beliefs. The saying of the twenties was â€Å"eat, drink, and be merry†, but it had its outcome: â€Å"for tomorrow we die.† Morals underwent a revolution. The youth of the 20’s began to question the authority of elders, girls in particular. It was an era of daring clothes and scandalous dances. F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of the first writers to draw attention to the new postwar era with their youthful love affairs and â€Å"petting parties† in his novel This Side of Paradise. He was labeled as â€Å"a kind of king of our American youth†. Along with Americans, he professed â€Å"to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in men shaken.† (â€Å"The Jazz Age – The 20s,† 20-132) â€Å"it was not a generation of expatriates who found themselves in Paris in those years but a generation whose patria, wherever it may once have been, was now no longer waiting for them anywhere† –Archibald MacLeish In the 1920’s Europe offered an opportunity for freedom. World War I brought many Americans to Europe to encounter history and the failure of their religious and political beliefs. Paris especially seemed to call to the American heart. Americans in Paris ranged from tourists, to artists, to permanent residents. Many also came for humanitarian reasons. In Paris, Americans â€Å"found† America. (Fitch 162-204) Paris had an impact on the second great period of American literature just as it had an impact on the first great period, the â€Å"Renaissance†, which included famous artists as Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Melville, and Hawthorne. Paris is where Americans seem to write best, and it had a particular influence on Fitzgerald’s novel Tender is the Night. In Paris, Fitzgerald was among a large literary community that was challenged, stimulated, reviewed, read, and greatly appreciated. (Fitch 162-204) When I now think of the â€Å"The Lost Generation†, I cannot help but think of a godless society that hopelessly turned to drinking and partying to forget life’s problems; a society that desperately pursued meaning in life after a period of such tragedy and despair. These characteristics so prevalent in the lives of many Americans were clearly present in the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald. (Epstein) Fitzgerald was a master at expressing feelings into his writing. He could write the things that Americans felt but were not able to express: social unease in their own country, yearning for an elegant and orderly life, and inner sense. â€Å"He knew how to do purple in many different, splendid shades. He can put one on the French Riviera in a single sentence.† He will always be held as a great influence on American culture. (Epstein) WORKS CITED Epstein, Joseph. â€Å"Scott Fitzgerald: A Biography.† Commentary 98.n5 (Nov 1994): 52(6). Student Edition. Thomson Gale. Lakeland Library Cooperative. 22 April 2006 . Fitch, Noel Riley. Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation – A History of Literary Paris in the Twenties Thirties. 1st. Toronto: George J. McLeod Limited, 1983. â€Å"The Jazz Age – The 20s.† Time-Life Books. 1998 â€Å"What is the Lost Generation?.† 23 April 2006 http://ok.essortment.com/whatlostgenera_nkj.htm Research Papers on The Lost Generation - Seeking Meaning in Life.19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseWhere Wild and West MeetHip-Hop is ArtQuebec and CanadaAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeGenetic EngineeringHonest Iagos Truth through DeceptionNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This Nice

Case Study of MGM Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Of MGM - Case Study Example The highly competitive nature of the hospitality and gaming industry is considered one of the biggest threats for MGM. The competitors vary considerably in terms of their size, quality of services, financial potency and capabilities, level of facilities and the diversity that exists in terms of geographic location. MGM faces competition from several public and private companies that operate in the hotel, gaming and resort business. In just the short period, that MGM has been in the market, its portfolio has vastly increased. MGM is actively in pursuit of development opportunities in the main regions that show some form of opportunity, both domestically and internationally. However, now MGM seems to be highly reliant on Las Vegas to generate the larger part of its revenue. Secondly, MGM has taken up several initiatives in order to set it apart from its competitors. Building themed hotels came outdated and a clichà © over time, which in turn necessitated the need for MGM to take up on something different and unique. This is relevant in ensuring that the hotel can offer to its customers what the other hotels in the hospitality and gaming industry do not have to offer. Furthermore, in order to get a head start in the changing era of the competitive industry, MGM has collaborated with the digital entertainment party known, as bwin party waiting for the time when gambling shall be made legal. The world is vastly changing to be a digital and customers are everyday hoping to do everything online. Offering online poker is likely to give MGM competitive advantage in the gaming industry. The resource-based model is ideal when venturing into international markets as a way of maintaining competitive advantage and attaining above average returns. Furthermore, MGM should focus on training the employees in order to deliver consistent excellent customer service across all of its

Banking and international banking system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Banking and international banking system - Essay Example Major financial institutions collapsed or near collapsed and credit markets were frozen. Bear Stearns and Sachsen LB (German bank), banks fell in 2007. It was followed by IndyMac Bank in receivership and demise of Lehman Brother in the quarter of 2008 (Drea 2009). After September 2008, panic in the financial global sector escalated and spread to other sectors of the economies. Investors were shocked by losses that they incurred on assets they thought were safe. There was strong evidence that contagion was linked with global financial crisis. This happened through liquidity and risk-premium channels in the financial markets. There was clear evidence informed by research that contagion during subprime crisis was clearly shown by significance of t-statistic for lagged ABX index returns in 2006 (Longstaff, 2010). Cross-market linkages were stronger and significant during subprime crisis indicating that that 2007 subprime crisis resulted in large shifts in trading activity, liquidity and funding in the financial markets across the world. A number of reasons have been advanced concerning the recent global financial crisis. ... The foreign money was savings piling up and owners wanted to invest their monies away from home where they were assured of some returns. The net inflow of foreign savings into the United States in 2006 was about 6 percent of the United States’ output. Instead of investing foreign moneys appropriately, financial institutions in the United States that received the surplus funds from Asia converted the monies to loans that were aggressively given to borrowers, especially homeowners. Mortgage market was attractive to investors because over 80 percent of mortgage market in the United States was securitized and they that their monies would be invest well (Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, 2010). Securitization created the much needed diversification to investors and liquidity for business entities and individuals. Securitization refers to pooling mortgages together as securities. Once pooled as securities, they are sold to investors. However, investors and players in the industry lacked the business acumen to realize that securitization lacked clarity and transparency. Financial institutions also underestimated the risk associated with securitization and sold mortgage backed securities to investors across the world. The investors, which included banks, money markets, pension hedge and mutual funds, purchased the mortgage backed securities thinking they were safe. However, securitization was not able to provide protection against systematic risks. Even, credit rating agencies failed to take into account systematic risks and awarded the mortgage backed securities with AAA rating because it was considered low risk securities. Therefore, credit rating agencies could not price systematic risks into subprime mortgage pools. In

Point of View Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Point of View Paper - Essay Example The Confederate soldier would tell Farquhar that the Owl Creek Bridge had been taken, but if someone lit old driftwood on fire it would burn like tow. However, the Confederate soldier would warn Farquhar of the Union decree of death by hanging for anyone tampering with the railroad or bridges. Farquhar would not reply, but give a smug smile at the news. Then I would film Farquhar sliding off a plank and the rope snapping, with him plunging in the water. This scene should have a watch ticking in the background right before Farquhar slides off, and then snap back to actual sound when he hits the water. Shock should be filmed on the Union soldiers faces, with their fumbling for their guns. The next scenes shot would be Farquhar underwater. Lethargic at first, Farquhar would sink, and then come alive. He would slip out the ropes binding his arms, flinging off his noose, and come out of the water with a piercing shriek. The two soldiers on the bridge would be aiming and shooting at him. Since it takes a moment to reload, Farquhar would reach the sanding bank as the cannon fires a volley into the ground before him. Farquhar would reach the woods and flee. Then a couple of scenes of Farquhar running in the woods at night should be shot. One should show him running in fright, the next walking tiredly. Finally in the morning light, Farquhar should be shot walking with his eyes shut up a long driveway towards a two story home with six columns on the porch. He opens his eyes to run toward a woman dressed in a brown hoopskirt. As soon as he reaches her, the whole scene fades. The final shot should be of Farquhar’s swinging body on the bridge. It should not be of him falling, this would already been seen when the rope broke. Just his swinging body should be shot. A close up taken of the actor’s face might show a slight smile at the thought of being home. This would represent Farquhar’s peace at going home through death. To

Free

Free trade Blessing in Disguise Essay Antagonists of government intervention envisage a liberalized or free trading arena. While international trade has been present throughout much of history , its economic, social, and political importance has only recently become apparent. Walter Block sees free trade as the only philosophy compatible with international peace and prosperity. Free trade involves the eradication of current trade barriers so as to encourage countries to specialize in production. Society thrives on trade simply because trade makes specialization possible. (Blinder p. 1). The basis of the free trade argument is an economic theory known as comparative advantage and was devised by David Ricardo in the late 19th Century. The Ricardian model is perhaps the most important concept in international trade theory. In a Ricardian model, countries specialise in producing what they produce best. Unlike other models, the Ricardian framework predicts that countries will specialise solely instead of producing a broad array of goods. Ricardo argues that trade will not affect . Take for example the situation of the Lawyer and the secretary. Some lawyers are better typists than their secretaries. Should such a lawyer therefore fire his secretary on these grounds, and do his own typing? Not likely. Though the lawyer may be better at both typing and presenting cases, he will fare better if concentrating his energies on arguing cases and leaving the typing for his secretary. Specialization not only aids in making the economy more efficient, it also leaves the lawyer and secretary with productive work to do. Nations act in much the same way. Countries are said to hone their skills on a particular good or service and trade with others that have done the same. Through peoples desire to acquire new skills and knowledge, coupled with the yearning for a greater range of products growing, the call for countries to abandon protectionist policies is imminent. Conclusion In conclusion protectionist policies should be abandoned in order to make way for the freer flow of goods. As discussed protectionist policies are detrimental to the overall economic success of a nation. Through such policies as subsidies, producers are less likely to better their products due to the absence of international competition. The implementation of freer trade promotes specialization of production and aids in consumers receiving better quality goods at a reduced price. In order for greater consumer choice and freedom protectionist policies should be re-evaluated. Reference List Blinder, A 1992, Free Trade, Liberty Fund Inc, Princeton, USA Bigelow, B Peterson, B (ed.) 2002, Rethinking Globalization: Teaching For Justice In An Unjust World, Rethinking Schools Press, Wisconsin, USA. Dunning, H 1993, The Globalization of Business, Routledge, London Dunning, H 2000, Regions, Globalization and the Knowledge-Based Economy, Oxford, New York Economic Planning Advisory Council 1994, Regional Trading Agreements, Australia, August 1994, background paper no. 40, Canberra. Hill, Charles W.L. 2006, Global Business Today, Mcgraw-Hill Irwin, New York. International Monetary Fund 1988, Issues and Developments in International Trade Policy, December 1988, Occasional Paper no. 63, Washington.

Japanese Airlines (JAL) Human Resource Management Practices

Japanese Airlines (JAL) Human Resource Management Practices The world we live in is constantly faced with many new challenges that must overcome to survive in which business world is one of them. Changes in the world have affected many companies and industrial activities to develop and able to adapt in various kind of nature (Kearns, 2010). The most effectively modified to profit in the business world would be the approaching to human resource sector. For the past decades, human work force have been using like an operating machines, working hard and harsh. But in the present world, human work force can be call the most valuable assets for the business world, presenting as a company core competency and the force that would drive an organization to archives goals (Pate Beaumont, 2006). Management in human resource currently have create and issues within the corporations, also as for the activating the service sector, in which the quality of interaction between costumers and service providers is very important for the success in the business ac tivity. Airline companies have increase on the human resource strategies and policies to make use of them in the company values (Heracleous Wirtz, 2009). This essay presents the most relevant human resource management practices to be adopted by JAL to cope up with the various problems. According to Kearns (2010), For most of the 20th century, the number of tasks and levels in large organizations grew incrementally, with new job and career opportunities to full-time employees. Opening the phase of 21st century have been about fundamental changes as because of many factors include global developments on technological and economical, also in labor market trends as well as the need of flexibility (Holbeche, 2009). As such, organizations have to temporary cancel some of their operations or closing the facilities. Need for cost reduction, plus speed and flexibility have made an organization to decrease a full-time employees result in temporary employment. Global labor market trend is constantly facing an extensive transformation in which cause difficulty in recruiting an employee and to maintain quality workers (Hunter, 2006). Hence, private and public organizations are becoming reliant on alternative employee work patterns. The first step to be taken at JAL is to realis tically analyze the current state of all HR-related matters and to develop a concept for its future development. This will revolve around the issues of market changes in coming years and the companys skills and core competences. The management of people in the airline company is complicated by the pro-cyclical nature of the industry and the proportion and malleability of labor costs (Boswell, Bingham Colvin, 2006). These factors have combined to necessitate cost cutting and to insure that those cuts are often focused on the labor. Competent management of people in airline is extremely important. Pilots occupy a position of considerable bargaining power and have not been averse to exercising that power. Flight crew is also an extremely valuable commodity for airlines due to their extensive training and their scarcity (Harvey Turnbull, 2006). It is imperative, then, management generates a committed and satisfied flight crew community. As per Kearns (2010), The business plan should include a description of organizational structure, including management and human resources capabilities, philosophy and needs, the number of employees intended to hire, how to manage them and the estimated personnel costs. The objective of the HR action plan at JAL should be to build JALs institutional capacity, productivity, and efficiency by effectively managing its most important asset, its staff. At the core of the HR action plan are measures to enhance and update HR management to attract, motivate and retain high-quality staff with the technical skills, behaviors and values needed to implement Strategy. This can be achieved by recruiting and developing staff with full commitment to JALs mission and the proactive attitudes essential for adapting to a changing environment; providing stable and clear mid- and long-term employment with more clearly defined career expectations; and offering an enabling environment in which staff can ful ly realize their potential to produce high-quality products and services (Ruefli, 2007). Given this relatively long-term employment model and the dynamic region in which JAL operates, the knowledge and skills sets of JAL staff need to be relevant and up to date. Recognizing the importance of keeping staffs technical skills sets current, JAL must in turn provide more learning opportunities. This will also support one of the thrusts of Strategy; enhancing JALs knowledge products and services. A key element in providing such an enabling environment will be for JAL to adopt best HR management practices so its staff and stakeholders recognize that HR is being managed properly and in full support of Strategy. These will include offering attractive and competitive conditions that are in line with those at comparator organizations; implementing HR actions based on performance and merit that are fair, reasonable, transparent and consistently practiced; and providing career development and learning opportunities to enable staff to develop and continually upgrade their skills in an evolving environment (Miles Mangold, 2005). Collectively, these measures are expected to address most of the issues highlighted by staff. These included career development and progression, performance management, staff development, salary and benefits, work-life balance. More effective communication with staff to manage the change is essential for JAL to achieve the intended impact for all actions. In order to define a framework for development, SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) and PESTLIED (political, economic, social, technological, legal, international, environmental and demographic changes) analyses are helpful for JAL (Hamill, 2006). Customer and employee surveys can provide important information about the various stakeholders interests. Analyses of competitors indicate current market position. But how does the company want to position itself on the market in the future? A vision helps the company define its aims and objectives (Doherty, 2005). This way, JAL can decide whether it wants to focus on price, innovation or customer relations. When the company has developed visions and aims based on upcoming challenges, they can check what skills already exist. They can then compare the current situation with future requirements using such tools as a qualifications matrix or a dynamic training requirement analysis (Holbeche, 2009). FAQs at such a time for JAL are: What should our employees do differently in the future, and Why are not they doing this already? But one also asks, what distinguishes a good employee from a bad one? At JAL, the human resource functions need to be called as the People Department. Recognizing that the people are the competitive advantage, there is a need to deliver the resources and services to prepare the people to be winners, to support the growth and profitability of the company, while preserving the values and special culture of JAL. The importance of HR should be reflected in every human resource function. Recruitment, selection, training, performance management, compensation, benefits and labor relations all should be supportive to JALs business strategy (Heracleous Wirtz, 2009). As a manager of a human resources department, diversity initiatives, team building, and leadership development would be very important parts of the strategy (Pate Beaumont, 2006). There are several reasons for this. The goal is to keep the best and most energetic people with the company. Develop leadership can work along with personal goals with corporate goal and improve the trust to the organization. It also shows a sincere effort to improve the individual. Team building helps improve a sense of belonging and loyalty to the company. Many people who are known to each other and have common interest tend to work better together (Miles Mangold, 2005). This will make an environment in JAL where it is pleasant to work and where employees are more inclined to help each other, especially during a crisis. Safe and happy workplace make employees feel good to be there. Each individual is given importance and provide security that give them motivation to stay on. This usually can be achieved by surveys to be able to find out the satisfied level of the employees (Hamill, 2006). Open Management Employees dislike the feeling of not knowing the state of what happening in the company. They would feel more motivated when they have part in discussion of company policies, sales, clients, contracts, and objectives (Ruefli, 2007). This encourages participative management. Ask the employees for ideas on how to improve would make them think more creative. Being open about everything related to company, will help building trust and motivated the employees in JAL. Open management policy and be use and practice using several tools. Good performance should be reward, such as bonuses or giving other compensation for well done job. With this reward system organization would not be struggle to keep up with attrition rate (Ruefli, 2007). Even if it is employees job, completion in an appropriate and acceptable manner would create a more profitable profit, and this also can boost up the staff morality (Hunter, 2006). These incentive can be use at JAL, individual or at team level, this have been observe that this works, getting the best out of employees. Still the reward should not be given without reason unless it is for annual bonuses. Doing so would reduce the perceived value of bonuses (Kearns, 2010). It is a well known for HR managers that hiring managers would try to begin the hiring process for a candidate that only have little idea of what exactly they are looking for (Boswell, Bingham Colvin, 2006). Even when job description is available for them to refer to, they must be kept on reminded to use it as a reference tool or else they are wasting everybodys time. Hiring managers must review what it is that they are looking for. Each year, requirement and criteria change. It is necessary to post all jobs that is vacant on company website so that everyone knows about it can apply for that some might be qualified (Harvey Turnbull, 2006). Candidate must need to conduct on behavior and technical test first, and then telephone screening, next as for face-to-face interview. The first advantage of testing is that there are no surprises later about their abilities. It make recruiting process tighter and more quality quantified and having constant process make recruiting consistent acros s all departments (Doherty, 2005). JAL should publicly explain almost every detail of the practices to be used to select employees. In theory, any company could attempt to copy the process and claim it as their own, but it would probably fall for a number of reasons. At JAL, much more energy and time should be expanded on the process. To find the right people, they should spend the money up front on the selection process, in the belief that it will become worthwhile over time (Ruefli, 2007). What should managers at JAL look for in the selection process? The approach should place great emphasis on hiring based on attitude. The search should be for something that considers to be elusive and important: a blend of energy, humor, team spirit, and self-confidence. These key predictors should be used at JAL to indicate how well applicants will perform. There should be centralized process that will help the organization as the applicants will have to go to one place and specialists trained in selection techniques can assist in the process of deciding which candidates should be hired and where they ought to be placed. JAL should keep the line managers and other employees involved in the process, and doing so will benefit the company for a number of reasons. Employees who will get the opportunity to contribute in the selection of their team members will become more committed to helping them succeed, and the process will also give them a sense of urgency (Pate Beaumont, 2006). The involvement of all levels of management and employees along with the HR department in the selection and placement process will help in building a strong network of employees. Thus, it will help JAL in providing the right attitude and service to its customers. There should be sound procedures in place for any level of selection, be it in the form of personality tests, interviews, or other assessments (Ruefli, 2007). The selection and placement decisions, however, should be ultimately made by a combined panel of line managers and specialized representatives from the People Department. These decisions will seem to be made with the full participation of present employees in the spirit of true partnership. There should be great emphasis on specialization and training. The training of new hires should be focused on building relational competence as well as functional expertise. Each new hire should receive classroom training and on-the-job training (Boswell, Bingham Colvin, 2006). Orientation should include ample exposure to JALs culture. Training should be broadly focused so that the new employees understand the jobs of other JAL staffers they may have to interact with. This will help employees to understand how their job fits and they can support others, consistent with the team aspect of the culture. At JAL, sharing of information such as contact and financial information with employees is a must so that they would understand the decision that has been made (Doherty, 2005). Passing this process, employees learn about the business, which is more than just a creative subject. This involves making a strategic decision to allow on contracts that are along with business and strategic business models (Hamill, 2006). People have knowledgeable and understand where money comes from and go to. They know what happen at bonus time and why it does or doesnt get paid out. People become more knowledgeable about business and feel more importance about their contribution and impact (Ruefli, 2007). Employees have changed their focus on just their job to the whole company. The importance of labor relation cannot be underestimated in any company (Harvey Turnbull, 2006). As the JAL employees union members and IASCO employees were not have the union less bargaining power. Pay and benefits of all empl oyees should be specified through the collective bargaining. JAL began to hire non-Japanese employees and pay labor wages. All employees should be paid equally at or above-market pay. It should introduce the profit sharing plan. Stock purchase plan should be introduced which will allow employees to purchase stock shares from payroll deductions at a discount (Miles Mangold, 2005). JAL should provide attractive benefits packages. Employees should receive medical insurance, dental insurance, vision coverage, life insurance, long-term disability insurance, dependent care, adoption assistance and mental health assistance (Doherty, 2005). This will let employees to know how much they are valued by helping them in times of need, be it with financial assistance or something else. Moreover, there should be job security. JAL should not have a layoff and it will help the employees to realize that job security is an important benefit provided by JAL. Paying bonuses or having any kind of variable compensation plan can be either an incentive or a distraction, depending on how it is administered and communicated (Pate Beaumont, 2006). Bonuses should be giving out in a way that the employees understand that this payment is due to the company hits a certain level of profitability. Then the criteria of giving out can be base on team success and individual success. It is based on performance, criteria is consistent for everyone, it is related for the employees to the success of the company, brings the necessity profit into reality, creating people to focus more on team (Harvey Turnbull, 2006). JAL should incorporate profit sharing, stock options, other non financial-based incentives, and a great communication plan for when a bonus plan is there. JALs employees evaluations should be based on demonstrating the spirit of outrageous customer service. Managers who will give an employee superior performance ratings must include documentation of actual examples of exemplary customer service that warranty the rating. Performance measures to be used should be cross functional (Kearns, 2010). This will motivate cooperation rather than competition. At most of the airlines, delays are attributed to specific units such as fueling, cleaning or baggage handling. At JAL, delays should be tied to the entire team or process, reducing blame shifting, and encouraging employees to assist other functions when needed (Miles Mangold, 2005). Performance measurement should be used as a performance management tool to foster cooperation, learning, and improvement. This essay is attempting to solve the problems faced by JAL. Eventually, employees form the greatest asset and must be continuously nurtured and developed as company strives to maintain reputation for excellence in the highly competitive global air travel industry. JAL should adopt a multi-faceted approach which incorporates all aspects of HR, which serves its employees from Recruitment to Retirement. There is a need to continuously improve processes and strategies. The people factor should be given top priority across the whole organization. Feedback and inputs from management, other divisions and diverse employee groups should be welcomed, and this will immensely contribute towards improving the standards and quality of output. JAL should have such an environment in which people can work well to the best, including the enjoyment of working that employees can develop, and be able to perform the most out of their ability and talents.

Self-Worth and Moral Knowledge :: Philosophy Morals Traditions Papers

Self-Worth and Moral Knowledge I argue that persons are unlikely to have moral knowledge insofar as they lack certain moral virtues; that persons are commonly deficient in these virtues, and hence that they are regularly unlikely to have adequate moral knowledge. I propose a version of this argument that employs a broad conception of self-worth, a virtue found in a wide range of moral traditions that suppose a person would have an appropriate sense of self-worth in the face of tendencies both to overestimate and underestimate the value of one’s self. I begin by noting some distinctive features of this argument that distinguish it from more common arguments for moral skepticism. This is followed by an elucidation of the virtue of self-worth. I then consider some connections between self-worth and moral knowledge and, more briefly, the extent of self-worth among persons. Finally, I respond to the objection that the argument is incoherent because it presupposes moral knowledge that it later undermines. My aim is to offer a brief defense of an argument for a moderate moral skepticism that is rooted in morality itself as often understood. In general form, the argument is based on the contention that persons are unlikely to have moral knowledge insofar as they lack certain moral virtues; it continues with the claim that persons are commonly deficient in these virtues, and it concludes that they are regularly unlikely to have adequate moral knowledge. I will propose a version of this argument that employs a broad conception of self-worth, a virtue found in a wide range of moral traditions that suppose a person should have an appropriate sense of self-worth in the face of tendencies both to overestimate and underestimate the value of one's self. I begin by noting some distinctive features of this argument that distinguish it from more common arguments for moral skepticism (section I). This is followed by an elucidation of the virtue of self-worth (section II). I then consider some connections between self-worth and moral knowledge (sections III and IV), and, more briefly, the extent of self-worth among persons (section V). Finally, I respond to an objection that may be made against this argument (section VI). I. The argument I defend here is in several respects different than familiar arguments for moral skepticism. First, moral skeptics often purport to show that there is no moral knowledge and sometimes that there can be none. (1) The present argument claims only that persons commonly are likely to be deficient in moral knowledge and hence that there is less moral knowledge among persons than might be thought.