Personality and Values

CHAPTER 4 Personality and Values LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this chapter, students should be able to: 1. Define personality, describe how it is measured, and explain the factors that determine an individual’s personality. 2. Describe the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality framework and assess its strengths and weaknesses. 3. Identify the key traits in the Big Five personality model. 4. Demonstrate how the Big Five traits predict behavior at work. 5. Identify other personality traits relevant to OB. . Define values, demonstrate the importance of values, and contrast terminal and instrumental values. 7. Compare generational differences in values and identify the dominant values in today’s workforce. 8. Identify Hofstede’s five value dimensions of national culture. Summary and Implications for Managers Personality – What value, if any, does the Big Five model provide to managers? From the early 1900s through the mid-1980s, researchers sought to f ind a link between personality and job performance. The outcome of those 80-plus years of research was that personality and job performance were not meaningfully related across traits or situations. †[i] However, the past 20 years have been more promising, largely due to the findings surrounding the Big Five. Screening candidates for jobs who score high on conscientiousness—as well as the other Big Five traits, depending on the criteria an organization finds most important—should pay dividends. Each of the Big Five traits has numerous implications for important OB criteria.Of course, managers still need to take situational factors into consideration. [ii] Factors such as job demands, the degree of required interaction with others, and the organization’s culture are examples of situational variables that moderate the personality–job performance relationship. You need to evaluate the job, the work group, and the organization to determine the optimal p ersonality fit. Other traits, such as core self-evaluation or narcissism, may be relevant in certain situations, too. Although the MBTI has been widely criticized, it may have a place in organizations.In training and development, it can help employees to better understand themselves and it can help team members to better understand each other. And it can open up communication in work groups and possibly reduce conflicts. Values -Why is it important to know an individual’s values? Values often underlie and explain attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions. So knowledge of an individual’s value system can provide insight into what â€Å"makes the person tick. † Employees’ performance and satisfaction are likely to be higher if their values fit well with the organization.For instance, the person who places great importance on imagination, independence, and freedom is likely to be poorly matched with an organization that seeks conformity from its employees. Manag ers are more likely to appreciate, evaluate positively, and allocate rewards to employees who â€Å"fit in,† and employees are more likely to be satisfied if they perceive that they do fit in. This argues for management to strive during the selection of new employees to find job candidates who have not only the ability, experience, and motivation to perform but also a value system that is compatible with the organization’s.The chapter opens by introducing Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of the Blackstone Group. He profited to the tune of $7. 75 billion when his company went public. His combative style has not hindered his success as Fortune called him the â€Å"King of Wall Street. † Using military terms like war and he would rather kill off his rival; Blackstone has thrived under his leadership and has become one of the most profitable and feared investment groups on Wall Street. Schwarzman is not the easiest to work for. One executive was purportedly fired for the sou nd his nose made when he breathed.He may be a huge success but would you be willing to work for him? Brief Chapter Outline I. Personality A. What Is Personality? (PPT. 4–2) †¢ A dynamic concept †¢ Defined: the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others B. Personality Determinants (PPT 4-3) 1. Introduction †¢ Early arguments suggest heredity and environment. Current literature suggests three factors: heredity, environment, and situation. 2. Heredity 3. Environment C. Personality Traits (PPT 4-4) 1. Introduction 2.Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) (PPTs 4–5 – 4 – 6) †¢ Widely used in practice by major companies. 3. The Big Five Model (PPT 4–7) †¢ Five Basic Dimensions: o Extraversion o Agreeableness o Conscientiousness o Emotional stability o Openness to experience †¢ Research indicates relationships between these personality dimensions and job performance. D. How Do the Big Five Traits Pr edict Behavior? (PPT 4–8) †¢ Research has shown this to be a better framework. †¢ Certain traits have been shown to strongly relate to higher job performance E.Other Personality Traits Relevant to OB (PPT 4–9) 1. Core Self-Evaluation (Self-perspective) (PPT 4–9) †¢ Locus of Control o Internals o Externals †¢ Self-esteem †¢ Directly related to expectations for success 2. Machiavellianism (PPT 4–9) †¢ Individuals high on this dimension—pragmatic, emotional distance, and belief that the ends justify the means 3. Narcissism (PPT 4–9) †¢ Narcissists tend to be selfish and exploitive. 4. Self-Monitoring (PPT 4–10) †¢ Ability to adjust behavior to external, situational factors 5. Risk Taking (PPT 4–10) Managers in large organizations tend toward risk aversiveness. 6. Type A Personality (PPT. 4–11) †¢ A Type A personality is characterized as constant motion, impatient, obsessed with m easuring self-performance; whereas a Type B Personality (PPT 4–11) is more relaxed; does not suffer from a sense of time urgency. 7. Proactive Personality (PPT 4–11) †¢ Create positive change in their environments. †¢ More likely seen as leaders and change agents F. Personality and National Culture †¢ High amount of agreement among individuals in a country †¢ No common personality types for a country I.Values A. Introduction †¢ Values represent basic convictions: (PPT 4–12) o There is a judgmental element of what is right, good, or desirable. o Values have both content and intensity attributes. o Values are not generally fluid and flexible. ? They tend to be relatively stable and enduring. ? A significant portion of the values we hold is established in our early years—from parents, teachers, friends, and others. B. Importance of Values (PPT 4–13) †¢ Values lay the foundation for the understanding of attitudes and motiv ation. †¢ Values generally influence attitudes and behavior. C.Types of Values 1. Rokeach Value Survey (PPTs 4–14 to 4–16) (Exhibit 4–3) †¢ Two sets of values, each set had 18 individual value items: o Terminal values—refer to desirable end-states of existence, the goals that a person would like to achieve during his/her lifetime o Instrumental values—refer to preferable modes of behavior, or means of achieving the terminal values †¢ Several studies confirm that the RVS values vary among groups. o People in the same occupations or categories tend to hold similar values. Although there may be overlap among groups, there are some significant differences as well. (Exhibit 4–4) 2. Contemporary Work Cohorts †¢ Different generations hold different work values. o Veterans—entered the workforce from the early 1940s through the early 1960s. o Boomers—entered the workforce during the 1960s through the mid-1980s. o Xer s—began to enter the workforce from the mid-1980s. o Nexters—most recent entrants into the workforce. D. Values, Loyalty, and Ethical Behavior (PPT 4–17) †¢ Many people think there has been a decline in business ethics since the late 1970s.The four-stage model of work cohort values might explain this perception. (Exhibit 4–5) †¢ Managers consistently report the action of bosses as the most important factor influencing ethical and unethical behavior in the organization. II. Linking an Individual’s Personality and Values to the Workplace A. Person-Job Fit †¢ Personality-job fit theory (PPTs 4–18 to 4–21) (Exhibit 4–6) o Each personality type has a congruent occupational environment. B. The Person-Organization Fit †¢ People leave organizations that are not compatible with their personalities. Organizational Culture Profile (OCP) o Match individual values to organization’s values. IV. Global Implications A. Personality . B. Values Across Cultures 1. Introduction †¢ Values differ across cultures. 2. Hofstede’s Framework for Assessing Cultures (PPTs 4-22 – 4-28) †¢ One of the most widely referenced approaches for analyzing variations among cultures has been done by Geert Hofstede. o Power distance o Individualism versus collectivism o Masculinity versus femininity o Uncertainty avoidance Long-term versus short-term orientation 3. The GLOBE Framework for Assessing Cultures (Exhibit 4–8) †¢ In 1993, the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) began updating this research with data from 825 organizations and 62 countries. †¢ Nine dimensions on which national cultures differ: o Assertiveness o Future orientation o Gender differentiation o Uncertainty avoidance o Power distance o Individualism/collectivism o In-group collectivism o Performance orientation o Humane orientation 4. Implications for OBV. SUMMARY AND IMPLICATI ONS FOR MANAGERS (PPT 4-30) A. Personality ? Conscientiousness is often a major factor for successful employees ? The MBTI can be used to better understand each other ? Managers use the Big Five to view employee personality B. Values ? Values influence attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors ? Values can be measured using the Rokeach Values Survey ? It is important that the values of the employee and the organization match Expanded Chapter Outline Personality A. What Is Personality? Personality is a dynamic concept describing the growth and development of a person’s whole psychological system; it looks at some aggregate whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. †¢ Gordon Allport coined the most frequent used definition: o â€Å"The dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment† †¢ The text defines personality as the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others. †¢ It is most often described in terms of measurable traits that a person exhibits.B. Personality Determinants 1. Introduction †¢ An early argument centered on whether or not personality was the result of heredity or of environment. o Personality appears to be a result of both influences. o Today, we recognize a third factor—the situation. 4 Situation: 5 Influences the effects of heredity and environment on personality 6 The different demands of different situations call forth different aspects of one’s personality. 7 There is no classification scheme that tells the impact of various types of situations. 8 Situations seem to differ substantially in the constraints they impose on behavior. . Heredity †¢ Heredity refers to those factors that were determined at conception. †¢ The heredity approach argues that the ultimate explanation of an individual’s personality is the molecular structure of the genes, located in the ch romosomes. †¢ Three different streams of research lend some credibility to the heredity argument: o The genetic underpinnings of human behavior and temperament among young children. Evidence demonstrates that traits such as shyness, fear, and distress are most likely caused by inherited genetic characteristics. One hundred sets of identical twins that were separated at birth were studied. Genetics accounts for about 50 percent of the variation in personality differences and over 30 percent of occupational and leisure interest variation. o Individual job satisfaction is remarkably stable over time. This indicates that satisfaction is determined by something inherent in the person rather than by external environmental factors. †¢ Personality characteristics are not completely dictated by heredity. If they were, they would be fixed at birth and no amount of experience could alter them. . Environment †¢ Factors that exert pressures on our personality formation: o The cult ure in which we are raised o Early conditioning o Norms among our family o Friends and social groups †¢ The environment we are exposed to plays a substantial role in shaping our personalities. †¢ Culture establishes the norms, attitudes, and values passed from one generation to the next and create consistencies over time. †¢ The arguments for heredity or environment as the primary determinant of personality are both important. Heredity sets the parameters or outer limits, but an individual’s full potential will be determined by how well he or she adjusts to the demands and requirements of the environment. C. Personality Traits 1. Introduction †¢ Early work revolved around attempts to identify and label enduring characteristics. o Popular characteristics include shy, aggressive, submissive, lazy, ambitious, loyal, and timid. These are personality traits. o The more consistent the characteristic, the more frequently it occurs, the more important it is. Resea rchers believe that personality traits can help in employee selection, job fit, and career development. 2. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator †¢ One of the most widely used personality frameworks is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). †¢ It is a 100-question personality test that asks people how they usually feel or act in particular situations. †¢ Individuals are classified as: o Extroverted or introverted (E or I). o Sensing or intuitive (S or N). o Thinking or feeling (T or F). o Perceiving or judging (P or J). †¢ These classifications are then combined into sixteen personality types.For example: o INTJs are visionaries. They usually have original minds and great drive for their own ideas and purposes. They are characterized as skeptical, critical, independent, determined, and often stubborn. o ESTJs are organizers. They are realistic, logical, analytical, decisive, and have a natural head for business or mechanics. o The ENTP type is a conceptualizer. He or she is innovative, individualistic, versatile, and attracted to entrepreneurial ideas. This person tends to be resourceful in solving challenging problems but may neglect routine assignments. MBTI is widely used in practice. Some organizations using it include Apple Computer, AT&T, Citigroup, GE, 3M Co. and others. 3. The Big Five Model †¢ An impressive body of research supports that five basic dimensions underlie all other personality dimensions. The five basic dimensions are: o Extraversion. Comfort level with relationships. Extroverts tend to be gregarious, assertive, and sociable. Introverts tend to be reserved, timid, and quiet. o Agreeableness. Individual’s propensity to defer to others. High agreeableness people—cooperative, warm, and trusting.Low agreeableness people—cold, disagreeable, and antagonistic. o Conscientiousness. A measure of reliability. A high conscientious person is responsible, organized, dependable, and persistent. Those who score l ow on this dimension are easily distracted, disorganized, and unreliable. o Emotional stability. A person’s ability to withstand stress. People with positive emotional stability tend to be calm, self-confident, and secure. Those with high negative scores tend to be nervous, anxious, depressed, and insecure. o Openness to experience. The range of interests and fascination with novelty.Extremely open people are creative, curious, and artistically sensitive. Those at the other end of the openness category are conventional and find comfort in the familiar. †¢ Research found important relationships between these personality dimensions and job performance. o A broad spectrum of occupations was examined in addition to job performance ratings, training proficiency (performance during training programs), and personnel data such as salary level. o The results showed that conscientiousness predicted job performance for all occupational groups. Individuals who are dependable, reliab le, careful, thorough, able to plan, organized, hardworking, persistent, and achievement-oriented tend to have higher job performance. o Employees higher in conscientiousness develop higher levels of job knowledge. o There is a strong and consistent relationship between conscientiousness and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). o For the other personality dimensions, predictability depended upon both the performance criterion and the occupational group. o Extroversion predicts performance in managerial and sales positions. Openness to experience is important in predicting training proficiency. D. How Do the Big Five Traits Predict Behavior? †¢ Research has shown relationships between these personality dimensions and job performance. †¢ Employees who score higher for example in conscientiousness, develop higher levels of job knowledge †¢ Extraverts tend to be happier in their jobs and do better in jobs that require significant interpersonal interaction probably b ecause they have better social skills. E. Other Personality Traits Relevant to OB 1. Core Self-Evaluation (Self-perspective) People who have a positive core self-evaluation see themselves as effective, capable, and in control. †¢ People who have a negative core self-evaluation tend to dislike themselves. †¢ Locus of control o A person’s perception of the source of his/her fate is termed locus of control. ? There is not a clear relationship between locus of control and turnover because there are opposing forces at work. o Internals: People who believe that they are masters of their own fate ? Internals, facing the same situation, attribute organizational outcomes to their own actions.Internals believe that health is substantially under their own control through proper habits; their incidences of sickness and, hence, their absenteeism, are lower. ? Internals generally perform better on their jobs, but one should consider differences in jobs. ? Internals search more ac tively for information before making a decision, are more motivated to achieve, and make a greater attempt to control their environment, therefore, internals do well on sophisticated tasks. ? Internals are more suited to jobs that require initiative and independence of action. Externals: People who believe they are pawns of fate ? Individuals who rate high in externality are less satisfied with their jobs, have higher absenteeism rates, are more alienated from the work setting, and are less involved on their jobs than are internals. ? Externals are more compliant and willing to follow directions, and do well on jobs that are well structured and routine and in which success depends heavily on complying with the direction of others. †¢ Self-esteem o Self-esteem—the degree to which people like or dislike themselves. (SE) is directly related to expectations for success. o Individuals with high self-esteem will take more risks in job selection and are more likely to choose un conventional jobs than people with low self-esteem. o The most generalizable finding is that low SEs are more susceptible to external influence than are high SEs. Low SEs are dependent on the receipt of positive evaluations from others. o In managerial positions, low SEs will tend to be concerned with pleasing others. o High SEs are more satisfied with their jobs than are low SEs. 2. Machiavellianism Named after Niccolo Machiavelli, who wrote in the sixteenth century on how to gain and use power. †¢ An individual high in Machiavellianism is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes that ends can justify means. †¢ High Machs manipulate more, win more, are persuaded less, and persuade others more. †¢ High Mach outcomes are moderated by situational factors and flourish when they interact face-to-face with others, rather than indirectly, and when the situation has a minimum number of rules and regulations, thus allowing latitude for improvisation. High Machs m ake good employees in jobs that require bargaining skills or that offer substantial rewards for winning. 3. Narcissism †¢ Describes a person who has a grandiose sense of self-importance. †¢ They â€Å"think† they are better leaders. †¢ Often they are selfish and exploitive. 4. Self-Monitoring †¢ This refers to an individual’s ability to adjust his or her behavior to external, situational factors. †¢ Individuals high in self-monitoring show considerable adaptability. They are highly sensitive to external cues, can behave differently in different situations, and are capable of presenting striking contradictions between heir public persona and their private self. †¢ Low self-monitors cannot disguise themselves in that way. They tend to display their true dispositions and attitudes in every situation resulting in a high behavioral consistency between who they are and what they do. †¢ The research on self-monitoring is in its infancy, so p redictions must be guarded. Preliminary evidence suggests: o High self-monitors tend to pay closer attention to the behavior of others. o High self-monitoring managers tend to be more mobile in their careers and receive more promotions. High self-monitor is capable of putting on different â€Å"faces† for different audiences. 5. Risk Taking †¢ The propensity to assume or avoid risk has been shown to have an impact on how long it takes managers to make a decision and how much information they require before making their choice. †¢ High risk-taking managers make more rapid decisions and use less information in making their choices. †¢ Managers in large organizations tend to be risk averse; especially in contrast with growth-oriented entrepreneurs. †¢ Makes sense to consider aligning risk-taking propensity with specific job demands. 6. Type A Personality Type A personality is â€Å"aggressively involved in a chronic, incessant struggle to achieve more and mo re in less and less time, and, if required to do so, against the opposing efforts of other things or other persons. ’’ †¢ They are always moving, walking, and eating rapidly, are impatient with the rate at which most events take place, are doing do two or more things at once and cannot cope with leisure time. †¢ They are obsessed with numbers, measuring their success in terms of how many or how much of everything they acquire. †¢ In contrast to the Type A personality is the Type B Personality. Type B’s never suffer from a sense of time urgency with its accompanying impatience. o Type B’s feel no need to display or discuss either their achievements or accomplishments unless such exposure is demanded by the situation. o Type B’s play for fun and relaxation, rather than exhibit their superiority at any cost. o They can relax without guilt. †¢ Type A personality compared to Type B personality o Type A’s operate under moderate to high levels of stress. They subject themselves to continuous time pressure, are fast workers, quantity over quality, work long hours, and are also rarely creative. Type A’s behavior is easier to predict than that of Type B’s. o Do Type A’s differ from Type B’s in their ability to get hired? ? Type A’s do better in job interviews; are more likely to be judged as having desirable traits such as high drive, competence, and success motivation. 7. Proactive Personality †¢ Actively taking the initiative to improve their current circumstances while others sit by passively †¢ Proactives identify opportunities, show initiative, take action, and persevere. †¢ Create positive change in their environment. More likely to be seen as leaders and change agents †¢ More likely to achieve career success F. Personality and National Culture †¢ The five personality factors identified in the Big Five model are found in almost all cross-cultur al studies. †¢ There are no common personality types for a given country. †¢ There are Type A’s in every country, but they tend to be more found in capitalist countries. Values A. Introduction †¢ Values Represent Basic Convictions o A specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of onduct or end-state of existence. o They have both content and intensity attributes. o An individual’s set of values ranked in terms of intensity is considered the person’s value system. o Values have the tendency to be stable. o Many of our values were established in our early years from parents, teachers, friends, and others. B. Importance of Values †¢ Values lay the foundation for the understanding of attitudes and motivation. †¢ Values generally influence attitudes and behaviors. We can predict reaction based on understanding values. C.Types of Values (Value Classifications) 1. Roke ach Value Survey (Exhibit 4–3) †¢ This instrument contains two sets of values; each set has 18 value items. o Terminal Values—refer to desirable end states of existence. ? The goals that a person would like to achieve during his/her lifetime o Instrumental Values—refer to preferable modes of behavior. ? Means of achieving the terminal values o Several studies confirm that the RVS values vary among groups. o People in the same occupations or categories tend to hold similar values. Although there may be overlap among groups, there are some significant differences as well. 2. Contemporary Work Cohorts †¢ Different generations hold different work values. o Veterans—entered the workforce from the early 1940s through the early 1960s. o Boomers—entered the workforce during the 1960s through the mid-1980s. o Xers—entered the workforce beginning in the mid-1980s. o Nexters—most recent entrants into the workforce. D. Values, Loyalty, and Ethical Behavior †¢ Many people think there has been a decline in business ethics since the late 1970s. †¢ The four-stage model of work cohort alues might explain this perception (Exhibit 4–5). †¢ Managers consistently report the action of bosses as the most important factor influencing ethical and unethical behavior in organizations. III. Linking an Individual’s Personality and Values to the Workplace A. The Person-Job Fit: †¢ This concern is best articulated in John Holland’s personality-job fit theory. o Holland presents six personality types and proposes that satisfaction and the propensity to leave a job depends on the degree to which individuals successfully match their personalities to an occupational environment.The six personality types are: realistic, investigative, social, conventional, enterprising, and artistic o Each one of the six personality types has a congruent occupational environment. o Vocational Preference Inventory questionnaire contains 160 occupational titles. Respondents indicate which of these occupations they like or dislike; their answers are used to form personality profiles. o The theory argues that satisfaction is highest and turnover lowest when personality and occupation are in agreement. B. The Person-Organization Fit Most important for an organization facing a dynamic and changing environment, and requiring employees who are able to readily change tasks and move fluidly between teams †¢ It argues that people leave jobs that are not compatible with their personalities. †¢ Organizational Culture Profile (OCP) o Individuals have to sort their values in terms of importance. o Forced choice rationale—having to make hard choices that one’s true values become apparent o Match personal values to those of the organization.IV. Global Implications 1. Introduction †¢ Do personality frameworks like the Big Five Model transfer across cultures? There is a surprising amount of agreement across industrialized countries that they do. †¢ Values differ across cultures; therefore, understanding these differences helps to explain and to predict behavior of employees from different countries. One of the most widely referenced approaches for analyzing variations among cultures has been done by Geert Hofstede. 2. Hofstede’s Framework for Assessing Cultures Five value dimensions of national culture: o Power distance: The degree to which people in a country accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally. o Individualism versus collectivism: Individualism is the degree to which people in a country prefer to act as individuals rather than as members of groups. Collectivism equals low individualism. o Masculinity versus femininity: Masculinity is the degree to which values such as the acquisition of money and material goods prevail. Femininity is the degree to which people value relationships and show sensitivity and concern for others. Uncertainty avoidance: The degree to which people in a country prefer structured over unstructured situations. o Long-term versus short-term orientation: Long-term orientations look to the future and value thrift and persistence. Short-term orientation values the past and present and emphasizes respect for tradition and fulfilling social obligations. †¢ Hofstede Research Findings: o Asian countries were more collectivist than individualistic. o United States ranked highest on individualism. o German and Hong Kong rated high on masculinity. o Russia and The Netherlands were low on masculinity. China and Hong Kong had a long-term orientation. o France and the United States had short-term orientation. 3. The GLOBE Framework for Assessing Cultures †¢ Hofstede’s work is the basic framework for assessing cultures. However, it is nearly 30 years old. In 1993, the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) began updating this res earch with data from 825 organizations and 62 countries. †¢ GLOBE Framework for Assessing Cultures (Exhibit 4–8): o Assertiveness: The extent to which a society encourages people to be tough, confrontational, assertive, and competitive versus modest and tender. Future orientation: The extent to which a society encourages and rewards future-oriented behaviors such as planning, investing in the future and delaying gratification. o Gender differentiation: The extent to which a society maximized gender role differences. o Uncertainly avoidance: Society’s reliance on social norms and procedures to alleviate the unpredictability of future events. o Power distance: The degree to which members of a society expect power to be unequally shared. o Individualism/collectivism: The degree to which individuals are encouraged by societal institutions to be integrated into groups within organizations and society. In-group collectivism: The extent to which society’s members take pride in membership in small groups such as their families and circles of close friends, and the organizations where they are employed. o Performance orientation: The degree to which society encourages and rewards group members for performance improvement and excellence. o Humane orientation: The degree to which a society encourages and rewards individuals for being fair, altruistic, generous, caring, and kind to others. †¢ GLOBE Research Findings: o The GLOBE study had extended Hofstede’s work rather than replaced it. It confirms Hofstede’s five dimensions are still valid and provides updated measures of where countries are on each dimension. For example, the United States in the 70s led the world in individualism—today, it is in the mid-ranks of countries. 1. Implications for OB †¢ Twenty years ago organizational behavior had a strong American bias †¢ Many of the studies were completed with only American samples †¢ Now there has been a n increase in cross-cultural research †¢ OB is a global discipline V. SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGERS A. Personality The Big Five provides a meaningful way for managers to examine personality ? Managers should look for employees high on conscientiousness ? Situational factors should be taken into consideration, they do impact personality-job performance ? The MBTI can be used for teams to better understand each other B. Values ? Values influence a person’s attitudes, perceptions and behaviors ? The Rokeach Values Survey can be used to measure an employee’s values ? Employees are often rewarded more often when their personal values match those of the organizationText Exercises |Myth or | | |Science? |†Entrepreneurs Are a Breed Apart† | This statement is true. A review of 23 studies on the personality of entrepreneurs revealed significant differences between entrepreneurs and managers on four of the Big Five: Entrepreneurs scored significantly hig her on conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience, and they scored significantly lower on agreeableness.Though of course not every entrepreneur achieves these scores, the results clearly suggest that entrepreneurs are different from managers in key ways. A fascinating study of MBA students provides one explanation for how entrepreneurs are different from others. Studying male MBA students with either some or no prior entrepreneurial experience, the authors found that those with prior experience had significantly higher levels of testosterone (measured by taking a saliva swab at the beginning of the study) and also scored higher on risk propensity.The authors of this study concluded that testosterone, because it is associated with social dominance and aggressiveness, energizes individuals to take entrepreneurial risks. Because individual differences in testosterone are 80 percent inherited, this study adds more weight to the conclusion that entrepreneurs are d ifferent from others. What’s the upshot of all this? An individual who is considering a career as an entrepreneur or a business owner might consider how she scores on the Big Five. To the extent that she is high in conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness and low in agreeableness, such a career might be for her.Class Exercise Place the students in teams of five. 1. Have one set of teams brainstorm specific traits essential to being a good professor. 2. Another set of teams should brainstorm job tasks handled by a good professor. 3. Have the teams record their criteria on the board. 4. As a class, create one set of five traits and five tasks for a professorial position. 5. Ask students what questions or teaching artifacts students would ask or review in matching professorial candidates to their jobs. International [pic] A Global PersonalityDetermining which employees will succeed on overseas business assignments is often difficult for an organization’s manag ers because the same qualities that predict success in one culture may not in another. Researchers, however, are naming personality traits that can help managers home in on which employees would be suited for foreign assignments. Organizational psychologist Robert Hogan, for example, states that emotional maturity, remaining composed under pressure, and being comfortable with uncertainty are traits that breed success in most jobs, and these traits may be especially valuable for the overseas employee to possess.In addition, according to the Center for Global Assignments (CGA), successful global executives tend to be open-minded and imaginative, and they also enjoy talking and networking with others. Other traits that have been linked to overseas employment success include curiosity and risk tolerance. Viewed from the perspective of the Big Five, characteristics such as open-mindedness and curiosity are similar to the Big Five trait openness to experience, while characteristics such a s enjoying talking with others and networking resemble the Big Five trait extraversion.For the overseas employee, being more open and extraverted may be particularly helpful in breaching communication barriers and cultivating trust, which in turn promotes cooperation. What is the ultimate upshot for organizations? When it comes to choosing employees for global assignments, personality can make a difference. Source: Based on J. E. Fernandez, â€Å"The Making of a Global Executive,† Journal of Business Strategy 24, no. 5, (2003), pp. 36–38. Class Exercise While the chapter does not contain this element, you may wish to choose from one of the other instructional resources provided for this chapter. [pic] IN THE [pic] Are U.S. Values Different? People in the United States are used to being criticized. After all, it was more than a century ago when the Irish playwright George Barnard Shaw wrote, â€Å"Americans adore me and will go on adoring me until I say something nice about them. † But as a result of the Iraq War and the fact that the United States is the world’s lone remaining superpower, its citizens are taking unprecedented criticism abroad. One critic sneered, â€Å"The American pursuit of wealth, size, and abundance—as material surrogates for happiness—is aesthetically unpleasing and ecologically catastrophic. † And many Europeans think that U. S. dults are obsessed with work. Some have even argued that the United States and Europe are becoming increasingly polarized. Overall, the United States is wealthier than Europe and has higher productivity. But what’s wrong with that? Well, some stats are not very positive. For example, compared to Europe, the United States is much more violent; it has 685 prisons for every 100,000 people, compared to 87 in the European Union. The United States has also increasingly seemed to reward power with money. For example, in 1980, the average CEO in the United States ea rned 40 times the annual income of the average manufacturing employee.Today, that ratio is 475:1! By comparison, the ratios are 24:1 in the U. K. , 15:1 in France, and 13:1 in Sweden. Finally, the United States contains 5 percent of the world’s population, but it is responsible for 25 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas output—which is, many scientists argue, responsible for global warming. Values may account for some of these differences. For example, in a study of people in 14 countries, those in the United States were more likely than others to see natural resources as elements at their disposal. And compared to Europeans, U. S. dults are more likely to believe that war is often necessary, that it is right to kill to defend property, and that physical punishment of children is necessary. Do you think U. S. values are an underlying factor behind some of these social phenomena? Or is this academic U. S. bashing? Based on: T. Judt, â€Å"Europe vs. America,â €  New York Review of Books, February 20, 2005, www. nybooks. com/articles/17726; P. W. Schultz and L. Zelezny, â€Å"Values as Predictors of Environmental Attitudes: Evidence for Consistency Across 14 Countries,† Journal of Environmental Psychology, September 1999, pp. 255–265; and A. McAlister, P. Sandstrom, P.Puska, A. Veijo, R. Chereches, and L. Heidmets, â€Å"Attitudes Towards War, Killing, and Punishment of Children Among Young People in Estonia, Finland, Romania, the Russian Federation, and the USA,† Bulletin of the World Health Organization 79, no. 5 (2001), pp. 382–387. Class Exercise This class exercise can help introduce the concept of â€Å"ethnocentrism† as it relates to value systems. It also may elicit some significant debate concerning the value system of â€Å"Americans† and others in the global economy. It is important to attempt to have students examine the arguments from a global perspective. 1. Have students break in to small groups.In each group have students examine each of the issues raised in the vignette (e. g. work obsession, crime and violence, executive compensation, utilization of natural resources). 2. Have students develop a value-based argument defending the position of the United States in terms of each of the issues. 3. Have students then take the same issues from a different global perspective. For example, you may wish to assign each group as a different â€Å"culture† (e. g. China, Japan, European Union, etc). 4. Have students report to the class. You may have an opportunity to encourage interesting debate of the issues.You should also incorporate Hofstede’s and GLOBE’s cultural analyses in the discussion. Point ( ( Counterpoint Traits Are Powerful Predictors of Behavior[iii] Point The essence of trait approaches in OB is that employees possess stable personality characteristics that significantly influence their attitudes toward, and behavioral reactions to , organizational settings. People with particular traits tend to be relatively consistent in their attitudes and behavior over time and across situations. Of course, trait theorists recognize that all traits are not equally powerful. They tend to put them into one of three categories.Cardinal traits are those so strong and generalized that they influence every act a person performs. Primary traits are generally consistent influences on behavior, but they may not show up in all situations. Finally, secondary traits are attributes that do not form a vital part of the personality but come into play only in particular situations. For the most part, trait theories have focused on the power of primary traits to predict employee behavior. Trait theorists do a fairly good job of meeting the average person’s face-validity test. Think of friends, relatives, and acquaintances you have known for a number of years.Do they have traits that have remained essentially stable over time? Most o f us would answer that question in the affirmative. If Cousin Anne was shy and nervous when we last saw her 10 years ago, we would be surprised to find her outgoing and relaxed now. Managers seem to have a strong belief in the power of traits to predict behavior. If managers believed that situations determined behavior, they would hire people almost at random and structure the situation properly. But the employee selection process in most organizations places a great deal of emphasis on how applicants perform in interviews and on tests.Assume you’re an interviewer and ask yourself: What am I looking for in job candidates? If you answered with terms such as conscientious, hardworking, persistent, confident, and dependable, you’re a trait theorist. Counterpoint Few people would dispute that there are some stable individual attributes that affect reactions to the workplace. But trait theorists go beyond that generality and argue that individual behavior consistencies are widespread and account for much of the differences in behavior among people.There are two important problems with using traits to explain a large proportion of behavior in organizations. First, organizational settings are strong situations that have a large impact on employee behavior. Second, individuals are highly adaptive, and personality traits change in response to organizational situations. It has been well known for some time that the effects of traits are likely to be strongest in relatively weak situations and weakest in relatively strong situations.Organizational settings tend to be strong situations because they have rules and other formal regulations that define acceptable behavior and punish deviant behavior, and they have informal norms that dictate appropriate behaviors. These formal and informal constraints minimize the effects of personality traits. POINT/COUNTERPOINT (Continued) By arguing that employees possess stable traits that lead to cross-situational consiste ncies in behaviors, trait theorists are implying that individuals don’t really adapt to different situations.But there is a growing body of evidence that an individual’s traits are changed by the organizations that individual participates in. If the individual’s personality changes as a result of exposure to organizational settings, in what sense can that individual be said to have traits that persistently and consistently affect his or her reactions to those very settings? Moreover, people typically belong to multiple organizations that often include very different kinds of members. And they adapt to those different situations.Instead of being the prisoners of a rigid and stable personality framework, as trait theorists propose, people regularly adjust their behavior to reflect the requirements of various situations. Class Exercise 1. Divide the class into two groups—one group to take on the issues raised in Point, the other group to take on the issues r aised in Counterpoint. You may want to divide each half into smaller groups to enable all class members to participate in the group’s discussions. 2. Ask the class to act as an organization’s management team.Their job is make a recommendation as to what types of testing they will use in their organization when selecting employees for hire or promotion using the issues assigned by the Point/Counterpoint arguments. Which types of testing will be used and why? (You may want to give students time to do some research—either Internet or Library—on this topic. There are several exercises in the Exploring OB Topics on the World Wide Web section at the end of this chapter. ) 3. Have students present their recommendations to the class and make a decision as to what is the best argument for testing, type of test, etc.What gains do they expect as a result of the testing? 4. Have them list the recommendations and benefits on the board for the class to evaluate during the discussion. 5. You may want them to research the cost of implementing these tests in an organization. Does testing cost of testing offset the benefits? Questions for Review 1. What is personality? How do we typically measure it? What factors determine personality? Answer: Personality is the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others, the measurable traits a person exhibits. It is typically measured using self-reporting surveys.Observer-ratings surveys that provide an independent assessment of personality is often better predictors. Personality seems to be the result of both hereditary and environmental factors. Heredity refers to factors determined at conception: physical stature, facial attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle composition and reflexes, energy level, and bio-rhythms 2. What is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), and what does it measure? Answer: The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), is the most widely used instrument in th e world to determine personality attributes.Participants are classified on four axes to determine one of 16 possible personality types. It measures – extroverted/introverted; sensing/intuitive; thinking/feeling; and judging/perceiving attributes. 3. What are the Big Five personality traits? Answer: Extroversion – Sociable, gregarious, and assertive Agreeableness – Good-natured, cooperative and trusting Conscientiousness – responsible, dependable and organized Emotional Stability – calm, self-confident versus negative and depressed Openness to experience – Curious, imaginative 4. How do the Big Five traits predict work behavior?Answer: Certain traits have been shown to strongly relate to higher job performance: For example, highly conscientious people develop more job knowledge, exert greater effort, and have better performance. Other Big Five Traits also have implications for work. Emotional stability is related to job satisfaction. Extrover ts tend to be happier in their jobs and have good social skills. Open people are more creative and can be good leaders. Agreeable people are good in social settings. 5. Besides the Big Five, what other personality traits are relevant to OB?Answer: Core Self-Evaluation – The degree to which people like or dislike themselves – Positive self-evaluation leads to higher job performance Machiavellianism – A pragmatic, emotionally distant power-player who believes that ends justify the means. High Machs are manipulative, win more often, and persuade more than they are persuaded. They flourish when they have direct interaction, and work with minimal rules and regulations Narcissism – depicted by an arrogant, entitled, self-important person who needs excessive admiration.Predictably, they are less effective in their jobs. Self-monitoring, the ability to adjust behavior and risk-taking, the ability to take chances are traits that are also relevant to OB. 6. What ar e values, why are they important, and what is the difference between terminal and instrumental values? Answer: Values are basic convictions on how to conduct yourself or how to live your life that is personally or socially preferable – â€Å"How To† live life properly.They are important because they provide understanding of the attitudes, motivation, and behavior, they influence our perception of the world around us, they represent interpretations of â€Å"right† and â€Å"wrong† and they Imply that some behaviors or outcomes are preferred over others. The difference between terminal and instrumental values is as follows: Terminal Values are desirable end-states of existence; the goals that a person would like to achieve during his or her lifetime.Instrumental Values are preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving one’s terminal values. 7. Do values differ across generations? How so? Answer: Yes, values differ considerably across generations . Dominant work values for Veterans entering the workforce in the 19502 or early 1960s are hard-working, conservative, conformity and loyalty to the organization. In contrast, the Nexters in the workforce from 2000 to the present are confident, value financial success are self-reliant and loyal to both self and relationships. 8. Do values differ across cultures?How so? Answer: Yes. According to Hofstede and the GLOBE Project, there are a number of values that differ across cultures: Hofstede’s Framework for assessing culture includes five value dimensions: †¢ Power Distance †¢ Individualism vs. Collectivism †¢ Masculinity vs. Femininity †¢ Uncertainty Avoidance †¢ Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation When these variables are measured, countries vary considerably such as the U. S. ranking #1 in individualism while Colombia ranks 49th. Experiential Exercise WHAT ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE DO YOU PREFER?THE ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE PROFILE (OCP) CAN HELP ASSES S WHETHER AN INDIVIDUAL’S VALUES MATCH THE ORGANIZATION’S. THE OCP HELPS INDIVIDUALS SORT THEIR CHARACTERISTICS IN TERMS OF IMPORTANCE, WHICH INDICATES WHAT A PERSON VALUES. 1. Working on your own, complete the OCP below. 2. Your instructor may ask you the following questions individually or as group of three or four students (with a spokesperson appointed to speak to the class for each group): a. What were your most preferred and least preferred values? Do you think your most preferred and least preferred values are similar to those of other class or group members? . Do you think there are generational differences in the most preferred and least preferred values? c. Research has shown that individuals tend to be happier, and perform better, when their OCP values match those of their employer. How important do you think a â€Å"values match† is when you’re deciding where you want to work? Ethical Dilemma Hiring Based on Body Art Leonardo’s Pizza in Gainesville, Florida, regularly employs heavily tattooed workers. Tina Taladge and Meghan Dean, for example, are covered from their shoulders to their ankles in colorful tattoos.So many of the employees at Leonardo’s sport tattoos that body art could almost be a qualification for the job. Many employers, however, are not that open to tattoos. Consider Russell Parrish, 29, who lives near Orlando, Florida, and has dozens of tattoos on his arms, hands, torso, and neck. In searching for a job, Parrish walked into 100 businesses, and in 60 cases, he was refused an application. â€Å"I want a career,† Parrish says, â€Å"I want same the shot as everybody else. † Parrish isn’t alone. Many employers, including Walt Disney World, GEICO, SeaWorld, the U. S.Postal Service, and Wal-Mart, have policies against visible tattoos. A survey of employers revealed that 58 percent indicated that they would be less likely to hire someone with visible tattoos or body piercings . â€Å"Perception is everything when it comes to getting a job,† says Elaine Stover, associate director of career services at Arizona State University. â€Å"Some employers and clients could perceive body art negatively. † However, other employers—such as Bank of America, Allstate, and IBM—allow tattoos. Bank of America goes so far as to have a policy against using tattoos as a factor in hiring decisions.Policies toward tattoos vary because, legally, employers can do as they wish. As long as the rule is applied equally to everyone (it would not be permissible to allow tattoos on men but not on women, for example), policies against tattoos are perfectly legal. Though not hiring people with tattoos is discrimination, â€Å"it's legal discrimination,† said Gary Wilson, a Florida employment lawyer. Thirty-six percent of those aged 18 to 25, and 40 percent of those aged 26 to 40, have at least one tattoo, whereas only 15 percent of those over 40 do, ac cording to a fall 2006 survey by the Pew Research Center.One study in American Demographics suggested that 57 percent of senior citizens viewed visible tattoos as â€Å"freakish. † Clint Womack, like most other people with multiple tattoos, realizes there's a line that is dangerous to cross. While the 33-year-old hospital worker’s arms, legs, and much of his torso are covered with tattoos, his hands, neck, and face are clear. â€Å"Tattoos are a choice you make,† he says, â€Å"and you have to live with your choices. † Questions 1. Why do some employers ban tattoos while others don’t mind them?Answer:Tattoos or body art is a choice for individuals and a choice for organizations as to whether they are acceptable or not. 2. Is it fair for employers to reject applicants who have tattoos? Is it fair to require employees, if hired, to conceal their tattoos? Answer: Yes to both questions. Fairness is determined by and based on the policies of the organiz ation. As long as they are applied consistently, the organization has the right to determine whether or not tattoos, visible or otherwise are allowed. To avoid any discriminatory issues, whatever policy is in place must be administered fairly. . Should it be illegal to allow tattoos to be a factor at all in the hiring process? Answer: No. Many factors contribute to the hiring process including appearance. An organization has the right to determine the image of their respective company. Just as an organization establishes its culture, the employees reflect the reputation of the company. Legislation on tattoos would impair the organizations’ right to choose their own employees. Sources: R. R. Hastings, â€Å"Survey: The Demographics of Tattoos and Piercings,† HRWeek, February 2007, www. shrm. org; and H.Wessel, â€Å"Taboo of Tattoos in the Workplace,† Orlando (Florida) Sentinel, May 28, 2007, www. tmcnet. com/usubmit/2007/05/28/2666555. htm> Case Incident 1 THE R ISE OF THE NICE CEO? If asked to describe the traits of an effective CEO, most people would probably use adjectives such as driven, competitive, and tough. While it’s clear that some hard-nosed CEOs, like Blackstone chief executive Stephen Schwarzman (see the chapter opener), are successful, recently some authors have suggested that being â€Å"nice† is really important in today’s workplace, even in the CEO suite.In a recent book titled The No A–hole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't, Stanford management professor Robert Sutton argues that getting along well with others is important to the successful functioning of organizations. Many companies, such as Google, have developed policies to weed out those who habitually behave in an uncivil manner. Lars Dalgaard, CEO of SuccessFactors, a business software company, identifies himself as a recovering Fortune 500 â€Å"a–hole. † Now, Dalgaard has implemented a stric t â€Å"no a–hole† rule in his company.Job interviews are lengthy and feature probing questions designed to uncover any browbeating tendencies. Last year, Dalgaard took candidates vying for a chief financial officer vacancy to lunch at a local restaurant to see how they treated the wait staff. Some got a free lunch but nothing more. When managers and employees are hired, they get a welcome letter from Dalgaard that spells out 15 corporate values, the last of which is â€Å"I will not be an a–hole. † Although it’s not clear whether they’ve read Sutton’s book, some CEOs of Fortune 500 companies do seem to project the image of a â€Å"kinder, gentler CEO. Let’s consider three examples, all of whom were proteges of Jack Welch when he was CEO of General Electric (GE) and of whom were candidates to be his successor: Bob Nardelli, James McNerney, and Jeff Immelt. Bob Nardelli, former CEO, Home Depot. When Bob Nardelli wasn’t c hosen to be CEO of GE, he demanded to know why. Didn’t he have the best numbers? His bitterness was palpable, say GE insiders. When Nardelli became CEO of Home Depot, in his first few months on the job, he became notorious for his imperious manner and explosive temper.At one meeting, he yelled, â€Å"You guys don’t know how to run a f—ing business. † When Nardelli was fired as CEO in 2006, it was due to a combination of factors, including Home Depot’s lackluster stock price, but his abrasive personality played no small part. BusinessWeek wrote: â€Å"With the stock price recently stuck at just over 40, roughly the same as when Nardelli arrived 6 years ago, he could no longer rely on other sterile metrics to assuage the quivering anger his arrogance provoked within every one of his key constituencies: employees, customers, and shareholders. † James McNerney, CEO, Boeing. These are heady days at Boeing, which commands record levels of new orde rs and dominates its European rival Airbus as never before. Most CEOs would take credit for this success. Not James McNerney, who gives the credit to Boeing’s engineers and employees. â€Å"I view myself as a value-added facilitator here more than as someone who's crashing through the waves on the bridge of a frigate,† he says. A former GE colleague compared Nardelli and McNerney, saying, â€Å"Jim’s problems have been as tough, or tougher, than the ones that Bob had to face. But he has tried to solve them in a much more pleasant way.The guy is loved over there at Boeing. † Jeff Immelt, CEO, General Electric. – Although Jeff Immelt is the first to point out that the nickname â€Å"Neutron Jack† for his predecessor Jack Welch was misleading, and that the differences between him and Welch are not as dramatic as some claim, Immelt is noted for his calm demeanor and trusting approach. In speaking of his approach, he said, â€Å"I want to believ e the best in terms of what people can do. And if you want to make a growth culture, you've got to have a way to nurture people and not make them fight so goddamn hard to get any idea through the door. †Questions 1. Do you think Sutton is wrong and that the contrasting fortunes, and personalities, of Nardelli, McNerney, and Immelt are coincidental? Why or why not? Answer: No, Sutton is correct. Interpersonal skills and the ability to develop relationships with people is increasingly more important in today’s economy. The hard line, command and control style of management is no longer as effective as maybe it once was. Nardelli was fired undoubtedly because of the stock price but also because of his abrasive personality. 2. Do you think the importance of being â€Å"nice† varies by industry or type of job?How so? Answer: No, the importance of being nice is based on personality and philosophy. Treating people with respect and trust is universal across industries an d jobs. â€Å"Nice â€Å" also does not mean that the person is a welcome mat, but rather the person has a belief in the golden rule of treating people appropriately and the results will follow. 3. How comfortable would you be working in a culture like that of SuccessFactors, where a certain level of â€Å"niceness† is part of the job description? Answer: This may vary by student, but companies should have core values by which all employees should abide.Teamwork and building relationships are paramount in successful companies so proper treatment of others should be a given. 4. Do you think being â€Å"nice† is the same as the Big Five trait of agreeableness? If so, do you think companies should screen out those who score low on agreeableness? Answer: Agreeableness can be compliant and conforming. Companies also need free and innovative thinkers. This factor in terms of performance is important when applied to lower levels of deviant behavior. Nice may be defined as a greeable but you can be nice and still disagree in a polite and respectful way.Companies should pay attention to this trait although it should not solely be used as a screening mechanism. 5. Earlier we discussed the

HR Management Essay

Negligent hiring is the potential liability of an employer for actions of an employee who was selected for employment without adequately determining the person’s qualifications for the job. Negligent retention on the other had refers to the prospective liability an employer faces by retaining employees who it knows (or should know) a re not qualified to perform their jobs tasks or have mental or physical conditions or propensities that result in them being hazardous to themselves or others. Discussion  Employers need to do reasonable investigations on the prospective employees work experience, background, character and qualifications to avoid negligent hiring. The doctrine of hiring and retention provides that an employer have a duty to exercise reasonable care in selection and retention of his employees. The employer should be aware of the employee problems that make him or her unfit should avoid negligent retention. The employer should take further action such as investigating, discharge or reassignment. Employers want to be sure their employees are doing a good job, but employees should not have their every sneeze or trip to the water cooler logged. This is where workplace conflict comes to foreplay. Employees are the greatest assets of any company and an employer should put much care in protecting their privacy. Employees should avoid providing all their information to their employers because such information could be used for identity theft as well as carrying out criminal activities such as fraud cases leaving the employee in financial problems. Employers should also ban use of the new technology such as camera phones, digital cameras etc because offensive pictures of workers in private, embarrassing or intimate situations can be taken and sent to the net. Such technology can be used to conduct industrial espionage. In this cue therefore employers do are not obligated under any law to use devices that can intrude on the employees privacy. The employers under the contract terms reserve the blame if the employee get accident or injured during the working term. Under the labor laws the safety of the employees lies on the employer if the employee gets the injury at the point of work. It is the mandate of the Contracting firm to provide safety and health measures at all costs to the working employees who forms the main component assets in the company. WS4DQ1-Merit pay Merit pay is pay compensation given to employee based on his/her productivity. Its based on the assessment of the employee’s productivity. Hoever merit pay is rarely used as most managers use it as a strategy to motivate those indiduals well known to him or her. Merit pay should be given based on competence in work. Hard working employees need to be rewarded; this should base on achieved measurable targets, units. Merit pay should be included as part of organization package for various reasons. One is that merit pay enhances a vibrant competitive workforce and therefore eliminates laggardness in workplace. WS4DQ3-Kenneth Lay Lay was one of the Americas highest paid CEO in America. He was Presidents Bush Treasury secretary . He dumped large amounts of his Enron stock and encouraging his employees to buy more stock. As the highest paid CEO, lay never contributed much to the Organizations success; rather he greatly contributed to its downfall. Thus, he was not entitled to the handsome package he was receiving, as he got filthily involved in scandals that amounted billions of shillings leading to the collapse of Enron. WS5DQ1 Workplace violence can take a heavy toll on a business in terms of liability, lost revenue and employee productivity. Tangible costs-medical bills, Antony fees, lost wages, security cost, rehabilitation and property damage. Intangible costs include; loss of staffs time, staff replacement, company liability, moral issues that affect productivity levels. Preventing work place violence therefore means the management of the human resource should ensure the safety of work place. Work place violence can be prevented by; being always alert-no work place is safe, understanding what the problem is, developing a violence prevention plan and responding to emergency incidents. Such policies as; violence prevention plan should be put in place, the management should be at fore in been alert on any violence incident, developing a good working environment and cultivating on maintaining good teamwork relations. This is because when there is good relation among the workers, there is low chance of violence. WS5DQ2 Federal Osha does not have jurisdiction over those employed by state, county, city or municipal governments. However, several state plans do cover such public sector employment. State with approved state plans and in accordance with section 27-a of the PESH act, New York adopts and enforce occupational safety and health standards in the public sector which are identical to OSHA’s. For instance public schools must comply with same fire protecting standard as private schools, but the standards are promulgated and enforced by the state. The California department of occupational safety and health differs with the federal OSHA agencies in the sense that, states have option to establish regulations for hazards not covered by federal standards or more stringent standards than those promulgated by OSHA, which California does. California state agencies standards cover more ground and stringent than federal OSHA’s. Mainly, California OSHA agencies differ from federal agencies in such areas as; requirement for injury and illness prevention program (IIPP), hazcom standards, permissible exposure limits (PELs) and Ergonomics. OSHA’s has continuously been involved in voluntary protection programs, which has indicated effective management of safety and health protection improvement in employees moral and productivity. WS6DQ3 The involvement of unions in social policy areas and participation in self-governing bodies of national social insurance scheme has been the role of unions in Germany. With the increased importance of private pensions, trade unions have enhanced their collective bargaining role in this area. Besides unions have seized opportunities to enhance their role in collective regulation of state imposed privatization. Trade unions over the recent years have had their membership dwindling ageing of membership and lacking support among young employees. This is because the top management or leaders in the unions have taken it as their platform to pursue their welfare as opposed to the welfare of the members in the collective bargaining. WSDQ3 The NLRB does not include coverage for all workers. These include individuals who are employed as agricultural laborers, domestic servants, parents or spouse, independent contractor, employed as supervisor, employed by an employer subject to railway labor act, employees by federal state or local government and those employed by any other person who is not an employer as defined by NLRB. These employees do not have right to form unions as other workers since they are not within the NLRB jurisdiction. In one case, NLRAB was unsure how to define ‘supervisor’. Individuals who are supervisors would not be included in the bargaining unit potentially represented by unions or allowed to vote in the elections. The court ruled that this NLRB judgment is unfair. The court said there were no statutory basis for excluding ‘’professional or technical judgment’’ from joining unions. The basis of the argument therefore is that each party in work environment has a stake in forming a labor union.

Fast Food Popularity in China Essay

Examine the reasons for the popularity of fast food restaurants in your country. When, why, and how have these restaurants become so popular? (Cause) Demonstrate the impact of this popularity on your country’s culture, i. e. , food, health, economy, lifestyle. (Effect) You will need to do some research on the fast food chains growth, menus, nutritional background, business models, and perhaps more. Your research should include more than one fast food restaurant. Recently, McDonald’s announced their plan to expand outlets from 1300 to 2000 by the end of 2013 in China. It is reported that the main purpose is to compete with KFC, which is the largest quick service restaurant brand in China with over 4,200 restaurants in more than 850 cities across China. The growing huge market and politic strategies taken by restaurants make fast food popular in China; this in turn has a great influence on China’s economy, culture and health. There are several of causes for fast food popular in China. On the first place, the growing market and industry attract plenty of fast food restaurants. China’s fast food market worth over 700 billion yuan in the last year and had a rapid speed–about 12 percent in the past several years. Furthermore, the market is estimated to grow to 1400 billion yuan by 2015. The second main cause of this popularity is some strategies taken by fast food brands especially localization. Take KFC for example, the brand adds many localized product like Beijing Chicken Roll, tomato egg soup and corn salad to meet Chinese consumers demand. The popularity also brings some effects especially for Chinese culture. First, the change reflects on food consumption habits. For example, Yum! China’s menu is dominated by meat-rich food except for breakfast. Furthermore, fast foods are becoming affordable by most people so that the brand opens almost one third of its restaurants in countryside. Second, traditional wedding has been influenced with wedding services provided by some fast food brands. Nowadays, to compare with Chinese traditional, extravagant and tawdry weddings, more and more young people in China prefer smaller, easier and cheaper weddings. Many fast food restaurants contribute to this tendency like McWedding offered by McDonald’s, which is held by restaurant assistants with a more intimate and less costly way. In short, fast food popularity has an effect on Chinese eating habit and wedding tradition. Also, the popularity has an effect on economy. For one thing, it increases the revenues for economy. The revenue of fast food industry in 2011 is $74. 8 billion which benefits the economy in turn. More important thing is that the revenue will keep growing at the rate of 14. -15. 0% in the next five years. For another thing, it influences the agriculture. With the explosive development of fast food industry, many grain farms are out of use. In 2011, there are roughly 700 thousand hectares of arable land are reconstructed to raise livestock or fowl instead of growing grains. As a result, China needs to rely more on importation and increase grain imports. In 2010, China imported 927 (1000 MT) wheat, while in 2012, nearly 3200 (1000 MT) wheat were imported. It is obvious that the popularity benefits China’s revenue while harming the agriculture foundation. Finally, the popularity also carries two problems for people’s health: obesity and diabetes. The number of overweight people has grown from 18 to 100 million in the last 5 years with the rapid development of fast food industry. As a result, many complications like high blood pressure and diabetes become more common in China. Take diabetes for example, there are over 92 million adults suffer from diabetes and the costs of diabetes make up nearly 1. % of GDP. It is undeniable that fast food restaurants make Chinese people cost a lot on their health especially on the treatment of diabetes. In conclusion, the pursue towards maximum profits and proper strategies contribute to the popularity of fast food in China, as a result, China’s culture, economy and Chinese health. In the foreseeable future, the popularity of fast food will last for a lone time and will have long-term effects in china.

English class Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 8

English class - Essay Example In general, it will be shown that 18 years olds are mature enough to make good judgment for themselves. Paragraph 3: The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 will be discussed in this paragraph. It will be shown that the interpretation of this Act does not actually prohibit the 18 years olds from alcohol drinking. Scholarly materials which take similar views will be highlighted. Paragraph 4: In this paragraph it will be shown that underage drinking still takes place and is harmful. Using statistics from various authority bodies, it will be shown that underage drinking is rampant and the current stand that only 21 year olds and above should be allowed to drink alcohol is not very reasonable. It will also be argued that it is because of this stand that underage drinking often leads to unfortunate situations such as binge drinking and consequential road accidents. Paragraph 5: In this paragraph I will show the significance of other decisions that 18 year olds make. The decisions I will talk about include that of voting. I will argue that if 18 year olds are allowed to make important such as choosing leaders, they should equally be allowed to make decisions on whether to drink alcohol or not. I will also talk about cigarette smoking in relation to alcohol. The argument here will be that smoking is more harmful than taking alcohol but yet 18 year olds can smoke but cannot take alcohol. Furthermore, it will also be shown that 18 years often face harder decisions than that of deciding whether to drink alcohol or not – for instance, 18 years olds often take part in military activities some of which may end their lives instantly, for instance, when they are in the battle field. Paragraph 6: To make my argument comprehensive, I will use this paragraph to respond to critics of lowering the drinking age to 18 years. Some of

International marketing management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

International marketing management - Essay Example is report aims at understanding the various definitions that have been set down by the various authors in the past and to analyse whether the statement by Markides (1999) has significance in the true sense. The following section will deal with the various definitions that have been developed over the years. Strategy includes a number of different aspects that it is associated with. Firstly, a strategy is normally long planned. This is in a hierarchical system of goals and objectives. A strategy is a combined effort to create a blend between the external environment, internal resources and the capabilities of the resources within the business (Bernus, et.al, 2003). â€Å"Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long term, which achieves advantage in a changing environment through its configuration of resources and competences with the aim of fulfilling stakeholder expectations† (Johnson, Scholes & Whittington, 2006, p. 9). According to Johnson et.al, (2006), there are six major elements that strategic decisions are made out off. It is essential to understand that strategic decisions are normally long term directions of organisations, which include the scope of the organisation. Also this includes to a great extent gaining advantage over the competitors and addresses the changes that happen within the business environment. Strategies that are developed, try to develop the resources and try to improve the capabilities of the people within the organisation. These strategies are also expected to be based on the values and expectations of the stakeholder. According to George Steiner, strategy has become a part of the management literature as a mode to compare and counter the competitor’s actual or possible moves. He also highlights in his works that there is very little people who agree to the meaning of strategy in the real business world. He uses a few different definitions to explain strategy: According to Henry Mintzberg, strategy can be

Describe and discuss the diverse ways in which the development of Essay

Describe and discuss the diverse ways in which the development of second generation sequencing technologies has extended the fie - Essay Example On the same note, the four components related to barcoding include specimens, laboratory analysis, database and data analysis (CBOL Plant Working Group 2009, p.12794). Since early 90s, DNA sequencing has involved the use of capillary-based and semi-automated techniques related to Sanger biochemistry. The process of DNA sequencing then involved two approaches that include shotgun sequencing and PCR amplification. Shotgun sequencing involves a process of cloning DNA that through a random fragmentation and transformed into high-copy-number plasmid that is used for changing Escherichia coli. PCR amplification, on the other hand involves a process of targeted resequencing where primers are used to flank the target. Following three decades of improvements, the Sanger biochemistry, is now applied to obtain read lengths that average 1000 bp and accuracies in regard to per base raw that average 99.999%(Hutchison 2007, pp.6227-6237). However, the introduction of second generation sequencing te chniques continues to expand the field of DNA barcoding beyond the Sanger sequencing technique. The second-generation technologies have contributed to alternative DNA barcoding strategies and can be grouped in a number of categories. This includes sequencing using hybridization, cyclic-array sequencing, microelectrophoretic techniques and observation of single molecules in real-time (Healy 2007; Shendure 2005; Soni & Meller 2007). Second generation technologies as used in the field of barcoding implies to the different types of sequencing that have been introduced recently, in a commercial product and includes 454 sequencing, Solexa technology, Heliscope technology of single molecule sequencer, the Polonator and the SoLiD platform. These products have improved the diversity of sequencing, and have helped in the application of alternative protocols for purposes of generating jumping libraries related to mate-paired tags that contain controlled distance distributions. Further, these n ew technologies through various approaches, permits the production of amplicons that are clonally clustered, and acts as sequencing features. A common feature among the second-generation technologies in DNA barcoding is that, PCR amplicons emanating from various single library molecules can be spatially clustered on a single site within a planar substrate or on micron-scale bead’s surface. The sequencing process has further improved because of the introduction of alternating cycles related to enzymes-based biochemistry and data acquisition that is based on imaging (Mitra et al. 2003, pp. 55-62). In essence, the benefits of the second-generation technologies in comparison to the Sanger technique in diversifying DNA barcoding includes, the introduction of in vitro construction related to sequencing library. This is followed by cloning amplifications that produce sequencing features and circumvent numerous bottlenecks considered affecting parallelism related to sequencing consid ered as conventional. Second generation technologies compared to Sanger sequencing, have an advantage in terms of introducing array-based sequencing. Because of the existence of an array-based sequencing, the process of DNA barcoding is able to realize a considerable degree of parallelism compared to capillary-based sequencing.

Comparing and contrasting HMO and PPO insurance programs Essay

Comparing and contrasting HMO and PPO insurance programs - Essay Example Whenever a policyholder needs the services of a specialist doctor, the PCP needs to be visited to refer the specialist to be visited by the policyholder, HMO or PPO. Difference between HMO and PPO comes in the PCP aspect. For HMO, there is no choice; the member has to identify a PCP but in PPO, it is not mandatory. It depends on the will of the members to choose a PCP or not. In other words, the PPO members can select a specialist by their own (Daltons, 2007). Personally, I would like to opt for HMO, reason being it suits my needs. I do not need to search for any specialist myself. Whosoever the specialist, I will be referred to by the PCP; it would relieve me from the tension of finding a good specialist. It is cost-effective also, as I will be eligible for coverage or benefits, not available in PPO for getting medical care outside of the private network. I need not pay from my own pocket if I select HMO, as my healthcare insurance provider (Dalton, 2007). It needs to be noted that a PPO member will not pay extra if the chosen doctor is from the preferred providers, but the HMO member can consult only the selected PCP. If there is some emergency, the selected PCP would refer the case to the specialist in the HMO network only. In the case of PPO, advanced permission might be required for costly services, such as MRIs. Even in HMO, procedures and prescription services and copayments for doctor visits are charged. In PPO arrangement, out-of-network charges are only partly paid (Behari, 2010). Role of the PCP is very critical in HMO, as it is the PCP who caters to all healthcare needs of the insurer. A PCP functions as a personal doctor to attend to all needs of the patient. A PCP could either be an internal medicine physician, family physician, and in some HMOs, gynecologists to offer essential healthcare for women. A PCP can be a pediatrician too or a family doctor as well, as per one’s choice for getting treatment for

Advertisement and marketing communication Essay

Advertisement and marketing communication - Essay Example The new economy has brought success to e-bay and other organizations that use technology to apply marketing concepts like customer focus, good value, quality service and efficient exchange mechanisms for satisfying customer needs and wants. Basically marketing deals with identifying and meeting human and social needs. One of the shortest definitions of marketing is "meeting needs profitably (Kotler, 2003). Whether the marketer is Procter & Gamble, which created crest white strips in response to people's desire for whiter teeth; or Monster.com, which developed an online resume databank so job-hunters and employers can find each other more efficiently; or CarMax which invented a new way to sell used cars because people want more certainly when buying such vehicles, all illustrate a drive to turn a private or social need into a profitable business opportunity. Companies must carefully monitor their customers and competitors, continuously improve their value offerings, carefully define t he target market and value proposition, and take a long term view to satisfy customers, stockholders, employees, suppliers and channel partners. Modern marketing calls for more than developing a good product, pricing it attractively, and making it accessible. Companies must also communicate with present and potential stakeholders as well as general public. For companies it is not important to communicate but rather what to say, to whom and how often. The marketing communication mix consists of advertising, sales promotion, public relations and publicity, personal selling and direct marketing (Kolter, 1997). Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, good or service by an identified sponsor. Ads are a cost effective way to disseminate message, whether to build brand preference. In developing an advertisement programme, marketing mangers start by identifying the target market and buyer motives. Then they make 5 critical decisions known as five M's i.e. Mission (objectives) Money, Message, Media & Measurement. An advertising objective is a specifics communication task and achievement level to the accomplished with a specific audience in a specific period. Advertising objectives can be classified according to whether their aim is to inform, persuade, remind or reinforce. The international charity recruiting business school playing the major role through providing students who are voluntarily help small business to grow in the developing market. We are required to show in the advertisement that it conveys goodwill and image of the organization. So this advertisement could be categorized as institutional advertisements, which advocates its act and show its pioneer work. To develop an effective advertisement one has to identify the target audience. Here we have an organization, which has some genuine motives. Our target audience is the people, who are young, willing to be the part of society and work for the betterment of the society, people and organizations. So seeing the target audience of the advertisement we selected red color, which, depicts vibrant, energetic and highly self-motivated nature of youth and this color attracts people immediately. Here picture is showing the two basic domain of people or society that is haves and have-nots. There is a path, which is very difficult, but it can take the people from the category of have-nots towards who have. In between the path there are lots of roadblocks and potholes, which makes journey very difficult but our business school graduates have the capacity to make the transition mu ch easier and he/she is right there to help voluntarily. Specifying the objective of the message plays a crucial role in deciding the nature. Simple and humorous massages which could be able to convey the message effectively will play the trick. It's an advertisement about voluntary service so it must contain some motivating message, which could easily attract

Colonization of Asia and Africa from the 19th Century into the 20th Essay

Colonization of Asia and Africa from the 19th Century into the 20th - Essay Example Colonialism was thus a very important element during the late centuries and in which different nations had been colonized. Having been colonized, there were great chances of having a change of nationalism, and hence it was upon the people of such countries to manage to over the colonialists through their nationalism. In this paper, we will examine how and Western European nations began colonizing Asia and Africa from the 19th century into the 20th. This is achieved through responding to various questions on the subject. There are several steps that Europeans took in order to keep colonized people under control in Africa. History has been able to give a number of developments which have been able to give the steps that Europeans used to keep colonized people under control. From a literal perspective, it is clear that colonialism in the past years was known to take a varied number of forms. These forms included the political aspect, the legal approaches, the cultural structures, the ec onomics, and even the social structures (Pouwels & Adler, 2007).This saw a number of people being influenced by their colonizers. This resulted in a number of issues and differences which saw a great change. The Europeans employed different strategies and policies to maintain colonized people under their control. For instance, the policy of assimilation guaranteed that the colonies were obedient to their masters, thus being able to put them under control. Moreover, the divide and rule strategy ensured that all colonized people remained with no unity, and therefore promoting easy control by the Europeans. Following the Treaty of Versailles, England and France made various claims about colonized people and had a certain plan for eventually giving colonized people their independence. With reference research, the Treaty of Versailles was coiled to create peace between the five countries; that is, the U.S, Germany, France, Australia, and Britain after WWI (Pouwels & Adler, 2007). Buildin g on research, it is clear that France and England made various claims about colonized people. Such claims were that the colonized people deserved acquiring their freedom and restoring their lost glory and resources. Based on the fact that France and England did not focus on obtaining resources from the colonized nations, they decided that giving the colonized people their independence was the most beneficial thing that would define their development. Despite the above point of view, France and England had ideological differences with other colonizers. Such ideological differences defined their stand to fight for freedom for all people regardless of their color, race, and ethnicity. Undeniably, there was an effort that the European made between WWI and WWI to start moving colonies toward eventual independence. The continued oppression and slowly engraving of understanding that their resources and freedom were being compromised saw the great need of coming with movements through whic h they would safeguard their sovereignty and be able to achieve a great deal of freedom which had been greatly suppressed by the colonialist powers (Pouwels & Adler, 2007). In most of the countries that were being colonized, it has been shown that there was a great connection when it came to colonial attributes and the need of fending for the people’s nationalism. In order to be able to restore their once glory and become free once again, majority of the colonists decided to employ diverse means of engagement which would play a big role towards maintaining their freedom and nationalism. However, it is worth noting that all the above was founded on the efforts of the Europeans. The Arabs

Critical Thinking Reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Critical Thinking Reflection - Essay Example Decline in SNAP benefits will translate to the government focusing on other essential economic projects meant to cushion favorable living standards instead of taxing citizens heavily in order to cater for supplementary issues. Mainly, this involves both exploring as well as thinking in such a way the predicament or situation facing a person normally appears different than how it would have had an initial pose. This is encompasses seeking alternatives in a move to obtain solutions after analyzing varied assumptions without hastily resulting to ungrounded judgments. In this case, assumption recognition usually entails lodging adequate scrutiny of varied beliefs, which underlie preferred choices meant to resolve a certain problem. Its application is extremely essential in both practical life and in resolving scholarly matters. Thinking skills such as creative and critical approach usually are helpful in aiding one express idea in a logical manner and contrary to what numerous people may be assuming is the best alternative in resolving a certain issue. Hence, bring about mental inquiry essential in being creative as well as innovative. However, these skills are not bound to one subject or field because one is able to think and solve problems in any way encountered. To ensure my use of critical thinking in future I need to focus on enhancing own critical approach in each aspect without accepting the ordinary way of perceiving situations. Therefore, I must at least get used to working out different problems during the days. Steenland, Sally. Faith in Values: How to Reduce Poverty and Save Taxpayers $4.6 Billion Per Year. Center for American Progress. 19Th March 2014. Web. 21St September 2014.

Business-to-Business Marketing Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Business-to-Business Marketing Report - Essay Example (Zoltners, Sinha & Lorimer 2009: 3). A motivated sales force will usher higher sales as compared to an unmotivated sales force. A well-coached, well-trained sales force ushers more sales than an untrained sales force. 2.1 â€Å" Sales Force Structure â€Å" If a company markets a single product to one industry with customers spreading over many locations and in such an event, it is ideal to employ a territorial sales force structure. On the other hand, if a company sells different products to many varieties of customers, it may either engage a product sales force structure or a customer sale force structure or a mixture of both. Under the territorial sales force setup, an exclusive geographic province is assigned to each sales person to market the company’s whole range of products to all customers in that geographical area. Under this structure, each sales person role and accountability are clearly defined. Company with diversified products engages different kinds of product s sales forces. For instance, Lear Corporation’s employ outstanding 145-sales force that brings many feats to the company. Lear sales force is good at relationship building and to satisfy customer’s needs. (Kotler 2008:423). American Express ,PepsiCo, and the Hartford Financial Services Group. sales personnel comprise one of the company’s most expensive and productive assets and increasing their figures may increase both revenue and costs to the company. (Kotler 2008:423). 2.2 â€Å" Various Sales Promotional Tools† A company’s sales promotion mix includes a mixture of various types of sales promotional tools employed by it to market its products or services. The chief six sales promotional tools are – advertising, personal...About $ 800 billion is being spent by all American companies each year on sales force, which is about 3 times the quantum of dollars spent on advertising. Many past empirical studies have found communication; commitment, trust, social contracts and co-operation are the variables that influence B2B relationships. As per eMarketer, about 88% of the shoppers prefer to do shopping online instead of traditional shopping as they can shop through online 24 hours a day and 365 days during a year. According to DoubleClick research study, about 73% of interviewees answered that they purchased a product through online due to email marketing. This demonstrates that B2C marketing is gaining momentum nowadays. SPSL should maintain adequate sales force and should launch its own website. SPSL should publish some success stories, offer the visitors some plumbing tips on how to keep their plumbing system hassle-free, and there should be a review section where its customers can post their views and recommendations about the SPSL services. SPSL can also introduce e-mail campaigns, pay-per-click campaign, local SEO programs and other online marketing strategies to attract new customers. SPSL should also publish in their websites positive reviews’, blog entries, and forum discussions section, about its past deals and upcoming ones.

How Play Benefits Autistic Children Essay Example for Free

How Play Benefits Autistic Children Essay Autism results in several deficiencies in children that affect their educational and social lives. Autistic children feel difficulty to interact with their peers and they even cannot play individually (Sherratt and Peter p. 34). Relevant behavioral deficiencies are also found in autistic children if they have deficiency to play either individually or in group (Wolfberg, p. 23) and they feel difficult to socialize (Williams, Reddy and Costell p. 67-77). Types of Play There are different types of play in which children are engaged such as soico-dramatic play, symbolic play and functional play. In symbolic play, children use their imaginations to use any object as any other object that is not present. The object used in this type of play does not possess the properties of the object that is imagined to be present in place of the actual object (Libby, Powell, Messer, Jordan, p. 487-497). Children use common things in their symbolic play to represent specific things such as they use sticks and imagine that they are using swords. Where as, in functional play, children do not use imaginary things, rather they use things that are really useful for their play (Libby et al. , p. 487-497). In such a play, children may cook pretend food by using toy kitchen objects such as cooking utensils that are made from plastic for playing purpose. Children play specific roles in socio-dramatic play. They use particular themes to represent specific roles. Most common socio-dramatic themes are playing school, playing hospital and playing house in which each child is given a specific role to perform. Autistic children find it hard to engage in such type of play because they do not feel comfortable in playing roles that require specific social cues, nature of pretending and language. There are different levels of playing. The child does not require any other child to play with in an isolated play. In this type of play a child plays gets involved in a particular activity and plays with an object with out the need of other children (Sherratt and Peter p. 58-74). Children involve in this type of play only when they are engaged with their favorite toy or object. Autistic children play with an object or a toy in a way that is not common to that object or toy (Wolfberg, p. 78). An autistic child with lacking playing skills does not play with a car in a way that normal children do rather that child would prefer to spin the wheels of the car and would not move the car as normal children do. There is another type of play known as common focus or dyadic play. This type of play requires a child to play with another child. This type of play cannot be played in isolation (Sherratt and Peter, p. 76-95). Usually two children get involved in this type of play. When an autistic child gets involved in this type of play, he or she is more likely to be closer to another child while play but he or she will not interact with another child. Three or more children get involved in group play (Mittledorf, Hendricks and Landreth, p. 63-86). Children involved in group playing usually play board games, non-team games that can be played in a playground. An autistic child does not get involved in this type of play as it requires social cues and peer interaction Another example of play is team play in which a common goal is set to achieved and two or more groups compete with each other to achieve their goal (Mittledorf, Hendricks and Landreth, , p. 63-86). This type of play is organized either on a playgroud or in-house such as team tag, baseball, kickball and basketball. This type of play requires social interaction, rules of play to be followed and high level of activity and thus autistic children usually find it difficult to get involved in this type of play. Some Play Strategies to Help Autistic Children Learn More Efficiently Educational decisions should be based on the individual qualities, skills and needs of every child. Autistic children should be considered in the same way. There are several factors that determine which intervention should be implemented by a teacher to teach playing skills to a child. These factors are the determination of the developmental level of the child, the language level of the child and the determination of the type of the play to be taught. Developmental Readiness It is very important to determine the developmental level of the child before considering which intervention will be implemented for the child. This type of determination is very important for the children that are passing through their early childhood phase. Lifter et al. (1993) found out that it is very important to know the developmental level of the autistic child in order to select a play to teach preschool autistic children. When children are involved in play activities that are appropriate according to their developmental level, they get involved in those activities very quickly and they do not spend much time to learn those activities. Children learn developmentally appropriate activities more quickly as compared to activities that are appropriate according to their age because at the same age, different children have different developmental levels that are necessary to know (Lifter et al. , p. 139-159). Different developmental objects are used to identify which activity is developmentally appropriate for a child to learn (e. g. , Broomfield p. 732-745). The present level of functioning of a child determines which developmentally appropriate activity should be chosen regarding of the age appropriateness because the developmental level of every child is different. Some children’s level is more advanced so the activities and skills selected for them are different from those whose developmental level is lower than their age. Same thing goes to the autistic children whose developmental levels differ from child to child. Language Development Stahmer (p. 123-141) observed the autistic children with the typical children when both types of children were involved in symbolic play. It was observed that both the groups were involved to an equal extent when their language abilities were the same. So it is advised to initially find out the language abilities and developmental level of autistic children when plan to teach play skills to such children. Mundy, Sigman, Ungerer, and Sherman (p. 349-364) found that language development is based on play skills. The language abilities of autistic children can be developed during their play with other children. The autistic children learn different aspects of language such as they learn how to take turn, their behavior is related when they request for their turn, and they are involved in joint attention and other social interactions (Baranek et al p. 20-30). Peer Involvement Peer involvement matters a lot. Typically developing children can play a great role in engaging their autistic peers in appropriate play and positive activities (Blanc, et al p. 229-245). There are different ways in which the typically developing children can be encouraged to engage their autistic peers in social activities such as programs for peer tutoring, Circle of Friends etc. Teachers can discuss with typical peers about autism through an informal method. In this method, teachers discuss with typical peers about the ways in which they should initiate their social interactions with their autistic peers and they are also taught that they should accept social initiations if made by their autistic peers. If typical peers do not encourage social interactions in a natural setting then training programs are initiated for them. It is also found that group games with same age-group play an important role in increasing positive social interactions and appropriate play (Baker et al. , p. 300-308). The researchers also pointed out that natural setting plays a great role. So, it is advised in order to get successful generalization, the setting of group games should be kept as natural as possible. There are a number of games that can be played in groups on the playground such as tag, baseball etc (Baker et al. , p. 300-308). Setting and Intervention Method Setting and intervention method are as important to consider as the type of play. Teachers should consider different types of setting when they are to select the settings to teach play skills to autistic children. There is a variety of appropriate setting for such a task including the classroom of autistic children or of typical children to give them general education, a day care setting, the home of a child, playground of the school or a local park or other areas where students can be engaged in playing. Using Peer Trainers and Peer Models Blanc et al found that children usually make other children involve with them while they are playing. Children should be encouraged to play because when they play with each other, they learn social and behavioral skills through interaction. Children who do not feel comfortable in such interactions do not go through experiences that are essential for their development. Autistic children do not prefer to play with their peers and they hesitate to socialize but they also get involved in activities when integrated settings are provided to them. This means that autistic children do not prefer non-integrated settings (Blanc, et al p. 229-245). Integrated classroom is essential when typical children are encouraged to interact with their autistic peers. Integrated classroom is useful only if an intervention is implemented, otherwise typical children would prefer to play with other typical children and they would not preferably interact with their autistic peers (Blanc et al p. 229-245). Goldstein et al. also believed that social interactions among typical and autistic peers should be increased and for that purpose they developed a number of intervention strategies that were purely peer-mediated. The main purpose of those strategies was typically to bring typical and autistic peers closer by increasing social interactions between them. In this intervention strategy, typical children were taught how to initiate social interactions with their autistic peers and how to respond when their autistic peer initiate an interaction. This intervention resulted in an improvement in the social behaviors of autistic peers. Autistic children are encouraged through this strategy to respond to any initiation made by typical peers. The social behavior of autistic children are also strengthened when they get a response from the typical peers (Goldstein et al. , p. 265-280). Group Games. The facilitation of play skills and social interactions can be increased by incorporating typical peers into games and activities with their autistic peers (Baker et al. , p. 300-308). Teachers can use the preferred topics of autistic children in which they can get involved easily to increase their social behaviors. Baker et al. (p. 300-308) suggested that group games should be developed by asking the autistic children about their favorite topics. These groups are usually very common such as tag. Children are usually inspired by movie characters so teaches should ask autistic children about their favorite movie character and they should incorporate that character into the game. In this way, autistic children are motivated and they become interested in engaging with their typical peers through social interactions. In tag game, the target autistic child and typical children are given instructions about the game and then they are encouraged to play the game. Baker et al. , found that social interactions among autistic child and typical children increase because the target autistic child is given more importance as he or she is the who has chosen the topic of the tag game, typical children become involved because they find a lot of fun in the tag game, and the target autistic child, as a result, gets motivated to increase his or her social interactions with his or her peers. Integrated Play Groups Model. Integrated play groups model can be used as another effective method to increase the play interactions among the typical and autistic children. In this type of play, the children are provided with proper guidance, support, environmental arrangements (Wolfberg, p. 52). the setting of the play area is very important to consider. Children should be engaged in activities in places where children normally play. In such a setting majority of the children should be socially competent so that they are able to integrate their autistic peer easily and comfortably. The environment of the play area should encourage play activity. The play area should be of a normal size, the materials should be arranged properly and the children should be able to access and organize the material easily (Wolfberg, p. 52). The play groups should be balanced. Wolfberg (p. 52) explained that all the members of the play groups must be familiar to each other, means that they are children who meet with each other regularly. The play groups may have children of different age groups but they should be socially competent. It is very important to determine the competencies of the target child. This element is very important to consider when developing an integrated play groups model. With the help of this feature it will be easy for the teacher to find out how much and what type of support has to be given to the target child. In order to facilitate the group play, the target child should be given the opportunity to select what type of activity he or she wants to play and this thing will help the teacher to find out the developmental level of the target child. Guided participation is also encouraged in this model. Children are guided by an adult how to involve in a play that will enhance their social behaviors. The adult should provide supportive guidance instead of directive one (Blanc et al pp. 229-245). The principle of immersion should be followed in this model, means that children should be fully immersed in the play. Through immersion, more experienced children help the less experienced children in learning their roles under the supported guidance of an adult facilitator (Blanc et al pp. 229-245). Conclusion As autistic children have to struggle for the development of play and social skills in them, the teachers should be aware of all the necessary methods that are useful to teach the autistic children the required skills. A teacher must be able to determine the developmental level, language level and peer involvement level of the target autistic child and then the teacher should design, select and implement strategies that will enhance the required skills in him or her. The learning ability of autistic children also depends on the type of play and setting in which the activity will be initiated. The researcher can conclude at this point that play is very important in childhood as children learn from each others experiences. Autistic children need to be taught how to socialize in order to make them useful citizens and for this purpose it is very important to implement strategies that are necessary to fulfill this task. Works Cited Baker, M. J. , Koegel, R. L., Koegel, L. K. Increasing the social behavior of young children with autism using their obsessive behaviors. The Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 23 (1998), 300-308. Baranek, G. T. et al Object play in infants with autism: methodological issues in retrospective video analysis. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 59(1) (2005), pp. 20-30. Blanc, R, et al Dysregulation of pretend play and communication development in children with autism. Autism, 9(3) (2005), pp. 229-245.