Super Bowl Commercial 2014 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Super Bowl Commercial 2014 - Essay Example In less than ten seconds, each scene tells a story of a thousand words. There is no mention of the brand name or image of the Microsoft logo throughout the commercial until the very end of the commercial. I believe the commercial brings out the personality of Microsoft. Microsoft strives to invent and develop amazing computer software that caters for not only ordinary people, but people with specific or special needs also. Technology has made life simpler and better. Technology has made people’s dreams a reality and Microsoft is at the forefront of such initiatives. The Super bowl 2014 Apple Inc commercial a competitor of Microsoft known for its IOS operating systems and OS X computer software did not have such a creative well thought through commercial (O’Grady, 2014). The Apple Inc commercial concentrated on their product iPhone and not a broader perspective of what they are all about. The Microsoft commercial was far more superior in terms of quality and was able to market Microsoft as a brand that cares and not a brand that wants to sell only. My favorite spot in the Microsoft commercial was a scene showing a small girl jumping up and down and screaming from seeing her father probably through Skype. It brings out the aspect of how technology builds relationships. The Super bowl Microsoft Commercial 2014 was

Business model Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business model - Assignment Example The company is one that focuses to make games that are easy to learn and still maintain the fun element. The company has differentiated the way it looks at the gaming market from its competitors. The company is focussing on providing gaming that is fun and easy to children and adults alike. There has also been an effort to incorporate both male and female players into the gaming experience The main point of focus with Nintendo games is in the simplicity of their products. The product’s simplicity can be looked at in two ways. On the one hand you have the devices that have few buttons for their operation, a good example is the Wii console. Despite this they are able to give the customer an experience like no other when it comes to gaming. Secondly the games that they offer to their clients are simple in terms of game play. These are usually easy to play. The company has been able to differentiate itself from the industry norm of only appealing to a few devoted gamers. It has been able to do this through offerings of consoles such as the lately released Wii which has beaten rivals in the gaming console market (Torres, 2013) The company has tried to ensure that it markets and delivers its products in a way that saves both on cost as well as delivery times for the products that they offer. It has therefore taken the approach of using already established retailers to bring their products to market in the different regions of the world. Such retailers include partnerships with the likes of Amazon that guarantee as U.S. wide presence for the company. This leaves the online store that they maintain to service only replacement parts for their products. The one thing that the company has invested heavily in is ensuring that they utilize the feedback that they get from consumers. On the one hand the company has heavily invested in ensuring that this information is shared

Real Estate Reservation System Essay Example for Free

Real Estate Reservation System Essay And helps to easily check the availability status of various properties. The assence of system is really important to be realized by each and every business. Giving importance to it makes a big difference of somehow uplifting of improving the process of the company. Floyd and Allen (2008), In recent years, many economists have recognized that the lack of effective real estate laws can be a significant barrier to investigate in many developing countries. In most societies, rich and poor, a significant fraction of the total wealth is in the form of land and buildings. Real Estate is a piece of land, including the air above, the ground below, and any buildings of structures on it. Real Estate can include business and or residential properties and are generally sold either by a relator or directly by individual who owns property. In the Philippines, one of the growing businesses is Real Estate development. Aside from the development and rising of tall buildings and establishment in the metropolitan area, nearby provinces are now on the stage of land development with its continuous expansion in the provinces such as, Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, Bulacan, Pampanga and Batangas. Some people may benefits from knowing about Real Estate when faced with personal and business decisions relating to housing, investment and other business activities. The researchers chose this topic because it will help the Employed Citizen of †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦City to know the effectiveness of Online Reservation System. Theoretical/Conceptual Framework Roosevelt (2008), Every person who invests in well-selected real estate in a growing section of a prosperous community adopts the surest and safest method of becoming independent, for real estate is the basis of wealth. The researchers chose the paradigm thru Floyd and Allen (2008) words that coordinated with the problems of this study. In order to understand the flow of the study, the researchers prepared a research paradigm. Employed Citizen of †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. City Hall Yr. 2012-2013 Effectiveness Accessibility Availability Uses Investment Housing Business Activities Fig 1. Research Paradigm The purpose of this is to illustrate the effectiveness of Online Reservation System in the Employed Citizen of †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. City Hall. Statement of the Problem This study was aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of Online Reservation System to the Real Estate Company, especially this study is sought to answer the following questions. 1. What are the uses of Real Estate Online Reservation System in terms of: 1. 1 Investment; 1. 2 Housing; 1. 3 Business activities? 2. Does the effectiveness of the study corresponds with the following: 2. 1 Accessibility; 2. 2 Availability? 3. Is there an effectiveness in using Online Reservation system the Employed Citizen of †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. City Hall? Hypothesis

The Issue Of Heavy Metals Contamination Environmental Sciences Essay

The Issue Of Heavy Metals Contamination Environmental Sciences Essay Rapid urbanization and industrialization has led to increase disposal of heavy metals and radionuclide into the environment. Heavy metals contamination problem increase rapidly is due to the increasing of the industrialization. The key property of heavy metal is the non-biodegradable properties of the heavy metal ions. As metal ion persistent in nature it will remain in the environment and poses environmental-disposal problems (Leità £o, 2009). Among the pollution of water sources, contaminations of heavy metal ions in water are the problem that reaching a dangerous level (Regine and Volesky, 2000). The main sources of heavy metal ions contamination include the urban industrial aerosols, solid wastes from animals, mining activities, industrial and also agricultural activities (KarnikaAlluri et al,. 2007). Heavy metal is defined as element with high weight, which has the properties of a metallic substance at room temperature and is toxic or poisonous at low concentrations. Heavy metal ions of concern include chromium, lead, mercury, silver, gold, zinc, arsenic, nickel, cadmium, uranium, selenium and mercury (Ahalya et al, 2003). Heavy metal ions can enter a water sources by industrial and consumer waste, or even from acidic rain breaking down soils and releasing heavy metals into streams, lakes, rivers, and groundwater (Lenntech, 2009). These heavy metals have high toxicity and impact as they can cause human major health problem (Leità £o, 2009). Heavy metal ions are dangerous because it tend to bioaccumulation. Bioaccumulation defines as an increase in the concentration of a chemical in a biological organism over time, compared to the chemicals concentration in the environment. Compounds accumulate in living things any time they are taken up and stored faster than they are broken down (metabolized) or excreted (Lenntech, 2009). This is because these heavy metals can be carried into food web as a result of leaching from water dumps or other polluted water sources. These metals then will increase the metals concentration at every level of food chain and cause affect human health (Paknikar et al, 2003). Even at low concentration, heavy metals can also causing human health problem. It can cause toxicity to humans and other forms of life. 1.1 Aquatic and water sources pollutants One of the main causes of aqueous heavy metal pollution is the release of the heavy metal ion containing industrial waste into water sources. This usually as a direct result of inefficiency treatment of the heavy metal removal processes. Occurrence of aquatic pollutants (such as heavy metals) has been correlated to alterations in the fish immune system and the incidence of infectious diseases. Water bodies are being overwhelmed with pollutant and waste matter such as heavy metal. Among all the toxic substances reaching hazardous levels are heavy metals (Regine and Volesky, 2000). Even very low level of certain heavy metals can have profound effects upon the structure or even the functions of the immune system that could be almost as harmful as direct toxic doses (Saxena et al, 2009). The main threats to human health from heavy metals are associated with exposure to lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic. Cadmium compounds are the by-product that used in re-chargeable nickel-cadmium batteries. Cadmium will accumulate in living organisms and can cause several health problems in humans (Benguella and Benaissa, 2002). Cadmium emissions have increase dramatically during the 20th century, one reason being that cadmium-containing products are rarely re-cycled, but often dumped together with household waste. Therefore, measures should be taken to reduce cadmium exposure in the general population in order to minimize the risk of adverse health effects. The other metal ion that should be concern is copper. Unlike cadmium, copper is not toxic as cadmium, however extensive of copper used in industry and increasing the copper levels in the environment was a reason for concern. Besides, the general population is primarily exposed to mercury through food, fish being a major source of methyl mercury exposure because of the major food source. The adverse effects of heavy metals on human health show in Table 1.0 (Hima et al., 2007). The best accepted option is to avoid the possibility of polluting the water sources. Thus, the treatments of heavy metals contaminated water become more important issues in this endeavour. To avoid health hazards is essential to remove all these toxic heavy metals from wastewater before its disposal. Table 1.0: Types of heavy metals and their effect on human health. (Hima et al., 2007) 1.2 Method for heavy metal removal Recently, the efficient method of removal heavy metals has become important and concern for industry (Malik, 2004). They are various industrial processes for elimination of heavy metals. These industrial wastewater treatments is due to the process of chemical precipitation, membrane technologies, solvent extraction, reverse osmosis, electrochemical treatment, ion exchange, evaporation recovery and also chemical oxidation-reduction (Leità £o, 2009). Physiochemical processes also use in heavy metals removal of water sources before the influents into natural water system (Nars and Garima, 2004). However, all this methods have a major disadvantage which is difficult to handle and expensive processes. Besides, these methods frequently result in the release of toxic products and thus cause of secondary sources of environmental pollution problem (Leità £o, 2009). Most of the physiochemical process become less effective and more expensive when he metal concentration are in range of 1 to 10 0 mg/L (Nars and Garima, 2004). Another major problem is the ability for removal of heavy metals in low concentrations and is inefficiency. It also produces other waste products that require careful disposal (Ahalya et al., 2003). Thus, a need for a cost effective alternative technologies are important. In this case, microbial biomass has the high efficiency and option for developing an economic and eco-friendly waste water treatment process. Bioremediation can be defined as a biological process or treatment that used to clean up of hazardous chemicals. Bioremediation processes involve the use of microorganisms or even enzyme to return the environment back to its original condition. In recent years, rapid urbanization and industrialization has led the increase of heavy metals into environment. Hence, due to the environmental protection and economical constrain the need of bioremediation in removing and recycling of metal ions from industrial wastewater become more important. Bioremediation can be an effective method that can alter the ecosystem pollution. There are certain main advantages to bioremediation, in which other process cannot be reach easily. One simple case that can be view is the contamination of gasoline in underground water. By injection of the right microorganism, it may reduce the pollution concentrations after a period of time. The bioremediation is less expensive compared to other chemical cleaning processes. In recent years, certain new method was discovered in removing heavy metals from the water sources. It was found that fungus biomass would be an effective method in removing heavy metal ions in wastewater. This is because the ability of fungi in absorbing metal ions would be more efficiency when it grow some condition or reach certain situation. Certain condition or pre-treatment can be use on to the fungal biomass to increase the efficiency in order to speed up the bioremediation process. In other words, the biosorption procedure are said to be easy to handle, safer, rapid process, and inexpensive for the pretreatment and trace metals separation in aqueous solutions (Say, 2003). However, many of these methods are ineffective. This resulting in low levels of heavy metal ion removal and can also be economically inefficiency (Ghimire et al., 2003). Figure 1.0: Schematic representation of biosorption procedure. (Hima et al., 2007) 1.3 Biomass of Fungus To overcome the entire metal ion pollution problem, all the removal of heavy metals from waste water must be highly effective. Thus the use of biomass was selected. The biomass has several advantages as heavy metal ion adsorbent over the commonly method and more efficient adsorbents and is a renewable source (Ghimire et al., 2002). Biomass often as the waste product from the industry processes. It is cheap and easily available product. Thus, according to the industrial perspective, heavy metal removal systems that are renewable and inexpensive are highly preferred by industry and achieve the environmental perspective. A filamentous fungus is a member of large group of eukaryotic organisms which are variable in form, behavior and life cycle patterns that are classified as a kingdom that is separated from plants, animals and bacteria (Geeta Sumbali, 2005). There is the possibility that fungus has the ability to remove heavy metal ions to meet the discharge standards required by federal regulations. Fungi can remove heavy metals and radio nuclides from the aqueous solution. Fungi can accumulate heavy metal and radionuclide species by physico-chemical and biological mechanisms. These methods include extracellular binding by metabolites and biopolymers, binding to specific polypeptides and metabolism-dependent accumulation (Tobin, 1994). The transfer of metals from environment into the cell maybe accomplished by active transport associated with metabolic activities, but it is also a passive process metal uptake by the cell across the cell wall. The cell-wall fraction of biomass plays an important role in the sorption of heavy metals. The potential of fungal biomass as biosorbent has been recognized for the removal of heavy metals from polluted water sources. Due to the negative charge from the different functional group, fungal cell walls can act as a cation exchanger (Fomina, 2007). The examples are phosphate, carboxylic, sulfhydryl or amine that was found in different wall compo nents such as hemicelluloses, pectin and lignin (Fomina, 2007). The reason that makes fungi biosorption become attractive is due to the possibility of obtaining large quantities of product without causing disposal problem and low cost. One example is the Rhizopus arrhizus, which are common for industrial exploitation due to its strong metal-sorbent properties. The amino groups of chitin were found to be a major site of thorium uptake in Rhizopus arrhizus. The cell wall of fungi typically containing long chain of chitin polymer, cellulose or contain both chitin and cellulose. Fungi cell walls are rich in glycoproteins and polysaccharides, for example the glucans, chitin, mannans and phospho-mannans. The chemical structure of a part of cell wall fungi was show in figure 1.0. Chitin polymers layer provide the abundant sources of metal ion binding ligands. The amino groups of chitin were found to be a major site of thorium uptake in Rhizopus arrhizus. The main chemical groups in a biomass which are able to uptake metal ions are the electronegative groups such as hydroxyl, sulfhydryl groups and amino groups. This is the main factor that causes the fungi biomasses have the ability to accumulate metal ion. The level of heavy metals absorption capacity by various fungal species was show in table 1.1. Figure 1.1: Schematic diagram representation of the outer cell layer of fungi. (Leità £o, 2009) Figure 1.2: Chemical structure for a part of chitin polymer. (Boya Volesky, 1999) Table 1.1: Heavy metals absorption capacity by various fungal species. (Narsi and Garima, 2005) 1.4 Objective of this thesis The main objective of this review is to present report of investigations related to the ability of fungal species as a suitable model organism to use in the process of eliminating heavy metal ions from contaminated water sources. In this review the removal of heavy metal ions such chromium, cadmium and copper from synthetic wastewater by a fungus biomass is presented. The design of an effective bioreactor for the removal of copper in aqueous solution is presented. The reactor was based on an aqueous system containing metal ions in solution. These reviews also include a report on the investigation of the effect that would affect the efficiency of fungal biomass in absorption metal ions. A study of factors that affect the efficiency of fungal biomass will provide a good industrial reference for the use of fungus in the removal of metal ion as a mean of protecting the environment from heavy metal pollution.

Shipping and the Great Barrier Reef Essay -- Trade Nature Conservation

Shipping and the Great Barrier Reef Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is an unparalleled marine ecosystem that holds rank as one of the world’s most valuable natural wonders. The abundance of sea life offers both intrinsic and physical benefits, but unfortunately this extraordinary habitat is now threatened from several different angles. One of the greatest threats to the GBR is the presence of popular shipping routes which surround and penetrate the reef. These ships naturally pollute the GBR, but the severest danger lies in the possibility of wrecks spilling oil or other hazardous cargos. History offers many examples of shipwrecks with outcomes that could have been devastating although there has not yet been a major disaster. These events have helped to inspire various regulations aiming to curb the risk of any major incident. Nevertheless, there still remains more room for protective measures in order to insure the safety of such an irreplaceable treasure. The Great Barrier Reef The GBR formed about 9,000 years ago during the last interglacial period. As with other coral reefs, it is based upon the structure of billions of coral polyps, and the GBR is the longest coral reef system ever to exist. It is consequently the largest structure created by living creatures and so massive that it can be viewed from outer space (Guynup p.22). The GBR includes 2,900 separate reefs and hundreds various islands and cays. The GBR stretches over 2,000 kilometers up the coast of Queensland. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP), established in 1975, includes nearly 350,000 square kilometers, which is over half the area covered by all of the protected areas in mainland Australia (Chadwick and Storrie p.1, CRC p.1).... ...w.gbrmpa.gov.au/ Guynup, Sharon. 2000. â€Å"Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.† Science World, 57(1): 22-23. Johns, Gary. 2002. â€Å"The Four Corners of the Reef: Investigative Journalism or Environmental Activism.† Institute of Public Affairs, 54(2): 10-11. Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Protection of the Great Barrier Reef: Report of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Environment and Conservation, November 1985. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra: 1985. Queensland Transport – News: â€Å"Maritime Safety Legislation Passed by Parliament,† 31 July 2002. Queensland Transport & the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, â€Å"Oil Spill Risk Assessment for the Coastal Waters of Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park†: August 2000. Wright, Judith, The Coral Battleground. Thomas Nelson, Melbourne: 1977.

The Characters of Women in The Handmaids Tale and The Bell Jar Essay

Women in The Handmaid's Tale and The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath's renowned autobiographical legend "The Bell Jar" and Margaret Atwood's fictional masterpiece "The handmaid's tale" are the two emotional feminist stories, which basically involve the women's struggle. Narrated with a touching tone and filled with an intense feminist voice, both novels explore the conflict of their respective protagonists in a male dominated society. In spite of several extraordinary similarities in terms of influential characterization and emotive themes, both novels are diverse as far as their respective style, structure and setting is concerned. While Plath's preference of frequent flashback is admirable and absorbing, Atwood's choice of presenting her novel in terms of headed chapters that alternate between her peaceful past and chaotic present is, indeed, fascinating. On the contrary, although Atwood's symbolic style enriched with biblical metaphors is ironical and inspiring, Plath's touching use of meaningful motifs and descriptive imag ery suits its admiration as one of the best autobiographical fiction. "The Bell Jar" penned by Sylvia Plath, is a tragic tale of Esther Greenwood, her depressing experiences of life and social relationship and her eventual mental breakdown resulting with her attempts of committing suicide. On the other hand, Margaret Atwood's award winning novel "The Handmaid's Tale" depicts the haunting experiences of Gilead, where sexual repression and religious extremism was not uncommon. Both novels have female protagonist, who are victims of rape and sexual violence. Marco, a guy on a blind date with Esther, calls her a "slut" and tries to rape her, and Esther's struggle can be reveal... ...w did I know that someday . . . the bell jar, with its stifling distortions, wouldn't descend again?" (The Bell Jar, p.296). Conversely, the title of "The Handmaid's Tale" is straightforward which gives an initiative to the reader that it is a story of a handmaid struggling to survive in the midst of the cruelty. From the literary analysis of the novels it is evident that, both stories have similar themes and both authors used female characters to convey their feelings about feminist issues, especially in terms of loneliness and isolation. However, there are many diversities between these two stories, especially in terms of structure and style. In a nutshell, "The Bell Jar" and "The Handmaid's tale", are indeed, literary gems in the field of feminist literature that would definitely satisfy the literary thirst of their aspiring readers. The Characters of Women in The Handmaid's Tale and The Bell Jar Essay Women in The Handmaid's Tale and The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath's renowned autobiographical legend "The Bell Jar" and Margaret Atwood's fictional masterpiece "The handmaid's tale" are the two emotional feminist stories, which basically involve the women's struggle. Narrated with a touching tone and filled with an intense feminist voice, both novels explore the conflict of their respective protagonists in a male dominated society. In spite of several extraordinary similarities in terms of influential characterization and emotive themes, both novels are diverse as far as their respective style, structure and setting is concerned. While Plath's preference of frequent flashback is admirable and absorbing, Atwood's choice of presenting her novel in terms of headed chapters that alternate between her peaceful past and chaotic present is, indeed, fascinating. On the contrary, although Atwood's symbolic style enriched with biblical metaphors is ironical and inspiring, Plath's touching use of meaningful motifs and descriptive imag ery suits its admiration as one of the best autobiographical fiction. "The Bell Jar" penned by Sylvia Plath, is a tragic tale of Esther Greenwood, her depressing experiences of life and social relationship and her eventual mental breakdown resulting with her attempts of committing suicide. On the other hand, Margaret Atwood's award winning novel "The Handmaid's Tale" depicts the haunting experiences of Gilead, where sexual repression and religious extremism was not uncommon. Both novels have female protagonist, who are victims of rape and sexual violence. Marco, a guy on a blind date with Esther, calls her a "slut" and tries to rape her, and Esther's struggle can be reveal... ...w did I know that someday . . . the bell jar, with its stifling distortions, wouldn't descend again?" (The Bell Jar, p.296). Conversely, the title of "The Handmaid's Tale" is straightforward which gives an initiative to the reader that it is a story of a handmaid struggling to survive in the midst of the cruelty. From the literary analysis of the novels it is evident that, both stories have similar themes and both authors used female characters to convey their feelings about feminist issues, especially in terms of loneliness and isolation. However, there are many diversities between these two stories, especially in terms of structure and style. In a nutshell, "The Bell Jar" and "The Handmaid's tale", are indeed, literary gems in the field of feminist literature that would definitely satisfy the literary thirst of their aspiring readers.

Human Resources Issues in Mining

Human Resource Strategies 660 Monday, Trimester 1 2011, 18th April Assignment 3 HR Case Analysis at Workplace Word Count:2500 I. Introduction The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008 affected lots of industries including the miners. Employment in mining is particularly vulnerable to a cycle of rapid expansion and contraction, as changing economic circumstances cause demand and prices for certain commodities to rise or fall. Eventually the GFC resulted in lots of labour cutbacks in the resource industry (Australian Government, 2009).The key human resources (HR) challenges facing the West Australian mining industry for the next few years are considered to be: replacing retirees; the retention of key talent; growing the talent pool training and development; and keeping staff motivated (Dickie and Dwyer, 2010). On the other hand the WA Chamber of Minerals & Energy (CME, 2006) identified a number of HR strategic issues for the WA resource sector like; skills shortage, employee attraction and retention, flexible workplace practices, indigenous employment opportunities and community-regional services.The company I work for decided to go through downsizing in order to reduce the operating costs during GFC. This article aims to delineate several HR issues as a result of global downsizing process in the organisation. The main focus will be sudden redundancies, decrease in motivation, labour shortage, health and safety issues and recruitment of new employees. Since several HR issues are interrelated to each other, with the purpose of this article, the main focus will be mainly on downsizing policy and its short and long term effects in the organisation. II. The Downsizing Policy and Its EffectsOrganizational downsizing is a prevalent strategy designed to improve organizational performance while selectively decreasing costs. It refers to â€Å"an organizational decision to reduce the workforce in order to improve organizational performance† (Kozlowski et al. , 1993 ). Therefore stemming from the desire to become more efficient and effective, firms in both the private and the public sectors has adopted downsizing strategies (Cameron, 1987). Furthermore, the increasingly dynamic and competitive workplace and the trend toward globalization have prompted many firms to downsize (Appelbaum et. l, 1999). The GFC created considerable uncertainty, in the mining industry. In addition to the recruitment and retention issues, organisations were faced with trying to keep staff motivated at a time when more job losses were predicted and budgets became getting tighter (Dickie and Dwyer,2010). My current employer decided to go through global downsizing as a response to GFC. Fifty percent of the employees were made redundant and number of the projects was tremendously decreased due to the limited budget. The HR department played an active role in that period to manage the downsizing process.One of the strengths during this process was keeping good communicatio n between HR and the upper level managers. The process was completed with collaborative work between HR and management. The professional assist received from consultants involved improvement the employees’ self awareness levels, increase their motivation and confidence as well as creating effective CVs. However during downsizing process several HR related issues started to rise in the company. The employees who remained in the company lost their trust and motivation.Besides due to loss of skilled labour the productivity decreased and the incident numbers dramatically increased. The turn-over rates were high and the team dynamics were damaged. Eventually the sudden decision given by upper managerial level due to economical downturn resulted serious HR issues in the company. The downsizing process and its long and short term influences for this case study is summarised in Figure 1 below. Global Downsizing Global Financial Crisis HR Issues Redundancies Survival syndrome in remai ning employees Increased turn-over records Skills Shortage Increase number of injuries in the companyManagement of HR Issues Aggressive recruitment policy (overseas transfers, secondments , graduates) Employee Engagement Survey Re-evaluation of salary packages and staff benefits Job Analysis and Talent Assessment Improved Graduate Development Program Maintaining trainings and developments Improvement in Health and Safety System Figure 1. The HR Issues of company. II. A. Survival Syndrome Since company mainly focused on those who lost their jobs; the employees who remained in the company suffered more after redundancies. Employee resentment and concern, loss of morale was high among the remaining employees.The labour shortage created several issues for employees like job burnouts, working longer hours, increased pressure, and role overload and decrease morale. Unfortunately the bad influence of downsizing on the psychology of remaining employees was not well managed by HR department of the company. Brockner (1992) defines ‘the survivor syndrome’ as impact of downsizing on the remaining employees. There is considerable evidence that remaining employees feel shocked, embittered towards management, fearful about their future and guilty about still having a job whilst colleagues have been laid off.Such employees are more likely to have lower morale and increased stress levels, be less productive, and less loyal with increased quit levels. According to study 70 percent of senior managers who remained in downsized firms reported that morale, trust, and productivity declined after downsizing those who lose their jobs may seem the most affected by downsizing, it is more likely that the employees who remain suffer the more negative effects (Appelbaum et. al, 1999). Eventually the HR was not able to create good strategy to keep the remaining employees’ motivation high during downsizing process.Shook and Roth (2010) explained that failure to identify e mployee issues in the pre-downsizing due diligence phase creates a chaotic workplace atmosphere and increases employee fears and stress levels. These change events affect career uncertainty, fear, and stress in employees. Employees have long-term memories of their old comfortable culture and they fight to keep it. Employee resistance includes a variety of passive as well as aggressive techniques. Culture change may take years to complete and can be difficult to manage, even when HR is fully engaged and supported.These transitions are more difficult to manage when HR is not involved. In fact, culture change may never be fully realized without HR support because of the human resistance (Szabla, 2007). Furthermore due to limited professionals the remaining staff started to have difficulty to maintain the work and life balance. The consequences of imbalance between work and personal or family life were visible at the workplace. The emotional exhaustion, cynicism and burnouts were common . Unfortunately The HR department was not fully aware of the situation until the employee turnovers increased and also effectiveness decreased.With shortages of professionals and an active economy the pressures on existing employees looks set to rise and therefore this is an area which needs to be benchmarked and revisited with a view to adopting best practice throughout the sector (Wilkinson, 2008). II. B. Skills Shortage On the other hand downsizing affects employees’ affective commitment to the organization both directly and indirectly. However, its indirect impact is much stronger (Lee and Corbett, 2005). Apart form the short term sudden effects the long term effects of the downsizing started in the organisation.Working with less force resulted in company to have inadequate supply of talent, increasing number of health and safety incidents at workplace and delays in production due to limited talented labour force. Especially after the recent mining boom, the company decid ed to increase the number of production activities in spite of limited skilled labour. It is a big challenge nowadays to find the specialised professionals in the mining industry. Apparently the HR division and management team chosen to concentrate on short-term needs rather than the organisation’s long term eeds during GFC. Sheaffer et. al (2009) claim that whereas downsizing affects the short-term performance of larger and established companies positively, it generally affects long-term performance inversely. A common mistake for HR managers is to concentrate on short-term replacement needs rather than on the organisation’s long-range HR requirements. Such a non-strategic approach causes management to be caught unawareness by changes in employee availability and quality of labour, creates a series of short-term dilemmas.Stone also adds that of the right numbers of qualified and skilled employees are not available, an organisation may not be able to meet its strategic business objectives (Stone, 2010). The mining companies are now beginning to acknowledge that the current supply shortage is already impacting the productivity, efficiency and profitability of their operations. The shortage of skilled workers in combination with high turn-over rates are among the top factors impacting industry growth, either by stopping or delaying projects that would otherwise proceed, or by significantly adding to the cost of new projects (Schultz and Grimm, 2008).During boom times, mining companies find it difficult to attract staff, even though huge salaries are on offer. This highlights a challenge quite unique to mining; namely, attracting highly skilled people to the remote location of most mine sites (Ednie, 2004). Eventually the skills shortage is still one of the biggest issues in the organisation. Since most of the experienced (high-cost) employees were made redundant company faces challenges in finding the experienced professionals. The HR department st arted the recruitment process however the mining market is still sparse of skilled professionals in specific roles.This is one of the biggest challenges for the HR department. II. C. Health and Safety Issues Poor occupational health and safety (OHS) performance equates with poor human resource management (HRM), and poor ethical, legal and social responsibility (Stone, 2010). Since the mining boom hit the market recently the mining organisations increased their production activities in order to compete among the resource market. However the number of the staff stayed same while the number of projects was tremendously increasing. This lead to enhance health and safety related incidents at work place.Specifically in this case during the downsizing process most experienced staff with extensive safety culture made redundant. This created a big gap in management of health and safety issues in the company. When employees leave, they take valuable process knowledge, customer and supplier re lationships and a host of organizational know-how with them (Schultz and Grimm, 2008). The inexperienced new employees (i. e graduates, overseas staff) have difficulty in implementing the high quality safety standards due to their sparse knowledge about the safety system of the organisation.Therefore increased emphasis on HR management is particularly important to the development of safety culture in the organisation. On the other hand once the crisis in the division was more visible due to increased number of incidents and low quality work the HR department started to take active role in collaboration with upper management. The pro-active recruitment strategy implemented in order to attract more skilled employees. Moreover â€Å"global employee engagement survey† was performed in order to evaluate the current employee’s satisfaction and asses the major HR related issues at that time.This survey added tremendous value to the group to define the major problems in the or ganisation. The HR department in collaboration with upper managers performed well by initiating extensive survey and also by following up the survey results. III. Improvement in HR Strategies Successive HR planning is essential in order to solve any HR issues at the workplace. During the downsizing process HR department has an important role. Chadwick et al. (2004) indicates that downsizing is more likely to be effective in the longer term when accompanied by accompanied by practices that reinforce the contribution of HR to financial success (e. . , extensive communication, respectful treatment of redundant employees and attention to survivors concerns over job security). Levin (2009) identified three broad priorities in Australian businesses: (1) Retention strategies. (2) Downsizing or â€Å"Right sizing† activity will continue. (3) Organisations need to continue to invest in their people. In a downturn economy, HR practitioners need to be emphasising to their organisations that it is necessary to do the right thing for the long-term value and sustainability of the business (Levin,2009).This includes recognising the link between leadership and performance, and hence ensuring that leadership talent is retained, developed and, most importantly, allowed to lead through the tough times (HRL, 2009). Based on the literature survey several strategies are proposed in this section to manage the previously defined critical HR issues: A. Investment in HR systems in the organisation: Especially during the global decisions the HR should be in collaboration with all levels of management.Alignment between the business and human resource management (HRM) strategy is the key factor of success for organisations (Wylie,2005 and Wang and Shyu, 2008). Implementing proactive HRM practices and succession planning programs should be one of the targets. B. Gap Analysis: Clear understanding of the problems is severe in HR practice. In order to manage the ‘survivor syndrom e’ HR should focus on motivation of remaining employees. The department can make detailed gap analysis and survey in order to assess the staff morale and expectations. This should be followed by upper management actions.C. Optimising Human Capital: Mining companies needed to communicate the reasons for staff redundancies and budget cutbacks and engage their staff in decisions going forward in order to generate trust among their remaining workforce so that they could remain competitive once the economy improved. HR should create serious strategies in order to make people connected to the organisation (Dickie and Dwyer, 2010). D. Talent Assessment: The employee talent assessment in collaboration with HR and line managers will address the current skills gap in the organisation.This will also give good understanding about the skills and expectations of the current staff. E. Training and Career Development: Developing a collaborative, cross-industry strategy for training/education al programs and employer-provided training to facilitate the availability of a skilled labour force is one of the retention strategies. Company should actively support and enhance the people skills and relational abilities of all employees through training and development programs (Dickie and Dwyer, 2010).With this perspective well structured graduate and mentoring program also can be attractive especially for the Gen Y workers. F. Focus on improvements in leadership: Training managers to actively manage retention in their areas also adds value. Besides the leadership competencies of the management should be improved ino der to solve the current challenge. Pick et. al (2010) proposes action reflection learning (ARL) methodology as an HR tool to improve the skills of leaders in the organisation. G. Improvement in Health and Safety: The current safety culture should be measured by HR.Sexton et al (2006) describes Safety Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ) as an HR tool which helps to measure the team work climate, job satisfaction, perceptions of management, safety climate, working conditions and stress recognition. Also learning from incidents as well as improved safety system should be managed by HR. On the other hand visible leadership and supervising on sites should be maintained to assist the new employees. H. Growing the Talent Pool: Since it is a big challenge to attract the best employees in the market, employee benefit offerings such as full medical, dental, profit sharing and wellness programs could be effective.Attractive packages in a work culture with a family-oriented atmosphere need to be developed. Recruitment strategies should be improved to persuade the skilled specialists in the market. I. Communication: The mostly effective companies have two-way communication between senior leaders and employees. A good communication plan on how to deliver HR initiatives would be beneficial (Dickie and Dwyer,2010). IV. 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