Climate Change Effects on Agriculture

Climate Change Effects on Agriculture Climate change is a change in average weather over certain periods of time. Issues about the climate change have been going on for quite some time now. The main issue is of course whether the Earth is experiencing climate change or not. The respond to this issue is surely positive although countless number of arguments is being highlighted regarding this issue. People usually confuse the climate change with the variations of weather that occurs constantly. This is wrong since the climate change is the change in average weather as being stated in the definition earlier. Climate change is also being observed for a certain period of time usually for a long time period ranges from decades to millions of years. Research that have been done and still going on about this issue offer a scientific assurance and great amount of data that supports the argument that the Earth is experiencing climate change. Various types of data like temperature variations, precipitation and wind patterns are us ed regarding this issue. These data record variations since they are affected by the dynamic processes on Earth such as instability of sunlight intensity and in recent times the human activities. Climate change effect all sort of people around the world and but the main group of people that will be affected the most is the poor population of the world. This is based on the facts that they rely mostly on their natural resource base for instance agriculture, fisheries and tourism activities. These types of industries are known as the climate sensitive industries which contribute to a vital number of national gross domestic products (GDP) (11). Agriculture share in total GDP at world stage is approximately 13% in developing countries and 2% in developed countries (5). Australia reliance on agricultural industry is quite significant although it is a developed country. The agriculture industry only contributes approximately 2% of the national GDP in Australia but around 66.7% of its products are being exported and this contributes approximately 18% of total Australian merchandise exports (8). Australian Governments Department of Climate Change reports that the interdependence between agriculture and economy was observed during the terrible droughts in 2002 to 2003 where the gross value of agricultural production decreased by 19% (approximately $32 billion) which accounts for the reduced of GDP by 1% (1). The relation between climate change and agriculture is a subjective matter and researches have been going on for quite some time now to find out what are the effects of climate change on agriculture and also the effects of agriculture on climate change. Most farmers are aware that they have to grow crops and rear animals depending on the local climate. This is important since the weather plays a very important role in determining the quantity and quality of the crops despite a lot of technological advances being introduced like genetically modified organisms, improved irrigation system and seed variation. This fact is being accentuated by Wall and Smit (2005) (4) who said that the main aspects in the success of agri-food sector are the weather and climate conditions. The climate impacts on agriculture are best being observed at local stage rather than at global stage because the impacts are more related to local climate. A detailed insight on the interrelation between climate change and Australian agriculture will be provided in this paper. This is due to the fact that agriculture plays an important role in Australian economy and is at risk caused by the adverse effects of climate change. The projected changes of climate, effects of climate change on the Australian agriculture, effects of Australian agriculture on climate change, ways to lessen the effects by means of mitigation and adaptation will be discussed in detail later in this paper. Australia is a big country and includes various types of climate. The temperature increase is difference from one region to another. In this case, the temperature average is taken into account where the estimated temperature increase is 1à ¢Ã‚ Ã‚ °C to 5à ¢Ã‚ Ã‚ °C in 2070 contrast to that in 1990 (CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), 2007, Table 1.0 in ABARE 200) (8). In general, the coastal areas of Australia will experience smaller number of temperature increase compared to the inland area of Australia. The changes in precipitation level are also being considered in order to observe the changes of climate. This type of change is less definite compared to the changes in temperature and the precipitation patterns are notably different at regional stage (IPCC 2007) (8). According to the modelling, the warming of Earth will anticipated to increase the precipitation level over Southern and Eastern Australia (7). According to CSIRO and BoM (2007), Australia will be expecting 20% more drought months by 2030, by taking the drought months in 1990 as a comparison (8). This number will be increased by 2070 with 40% more drought months are expected in Eastern Australia while 80% more drought months in South Western Australia (8). There will be also an increase in the number of flood occurrence and soils erosion as a results of the high number of precipitation level and longer drought throughout Australia (CSIRO and BoM 2007) (8). According to Garnaut Climate Change Review, the number of days with extreme fire weather will be increase approximately 5% to 25% in 2013 (6). Climate change can be both beneficial and detrimental to the agriculture industry. Which one plays the main role is still in question and arguments are still going on. The sure thing is that the climate change will certainly affect agriculture industry since this industry depends a lot on the climatic conditions. According to the Garnaut Climate Change Review, crop production is affected directly by the temperature changes, average rainfall rate changes, rainfall distribution over a year and rainfall variability (6). For example, temperature increase and rainfall decrease will results in the smaller amount of wheat yields and land values in all agricultural industries including crops, mixed and livestock by approximately 7% to 16% (10). Changes in the important climate variables in Australia are also results in the loss of agricultural production, decrease in crop yields, pasture growth and livestock production returns and increase in the cost of agricultural production (8). Climate change can also be beneficial to the agricultural industry as being said earlier. The beneficial effect includes the increase rate of photosynthesis that leads to higher crop production in certain plants due to the increasing number of carbon dioxide emissions (6). This is supported by John Houghton, the author of the book titled Global Warming by saying that the carbon dioxide fertilisation effect will leads to higher productivity, C3 plants in particular (9). On the other hand, this relation is complex and could possibly be compensate by the temperature increase and decrease in the water availability (1). Climate change effects on the agricultural are usually depends on the geographical aspect of an area and also the capability to adapt to them. According to a report, in mid to high latitude regions, moderate local temperature increase will results in small beneficial effects on crop yields, despite the fact that the same moderate local temperature increase will results in detrimental effects on yield crop (2). In a book titled Global Warming wrote by John Houghton, the writer states that with detailed knowledge of the conditions required by different species and the expertise in breeding techniques and genetic manipulation available today, there should be little difficulty in matching crops to new climatic conditions over large parts of the world (9). The statement is true but unfortunately it is only applicable to crops that take over a year or two to mature. Agriculture itself has its own effect on the climate change. The main reason is because the massive emissions of greenhouse gases which is one of the contributors to global climate change. According to Australian Governments Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), the Australian agricultural sector is the second highest source for greenhouse gases behind the electricity production, with approximately 18% of the overall national emissions produce by on farm activities (3). The highest amount of emissions (12% of the national greenhouse gas emissions) is methane (CH4), a main greenhouse gas produce by livestock, followed by nitrous oxide (NO2) produce by fertilized soils that contributes 3% of Australias greenhouse gas emissions, and the remaining amount is represented by carbon dioxide (CO2) (3). At world stage, Australias per capita emissions results from agriculture activities contributes to more than six times the world average, more than four times the average Or ganization for Economic CO-operation and Development (OECD) countries emissions and the third highest in OECD (6). It is proven that the Australian agricultural activities are very much vulnerable to the effects of climate change and also the effects of Australian agriculture on global climate change. There are many ways to deal with these two problems. The best ways to deal with this situation are to mitigate to lessen the effects and also to adapt to the foreseeable changes. The effects of agricultural activities on the climate change results in the establishment of international agreement, conventions and conferences as an effort to solve this problem. DAFF has prepared the Action Plan consists of a number of measures focussing on decreasing the CH4 and N2O emissions and discovering further prospect to encourage enhanced efficiency, understanding prospect to decrease the energy use in agriculture, promoting cost efficient alternatives to fossil fuels and developing biosequestration prospect in agriculture (6). Moreover, the emission trading scheme in Australian agriculture industry introduced by the government is also a way to decrease the adverse effects of climate change by making sure that farmers taking appropriate steps to reduce their carbon footprint and at the same increasing the net farm profits (8). Careful and principled approaches have to be taken to make sure that the design of the scheme does not create needless costs on the Australians (6 ). Another method is adaptation. The definition of adaptation is a structure modified to fit a changed environment. In this case, the modification that can be done to face inescapable climate risks. ABARE (2007) reports that the adaptation in agriculture could incorporate altering the species planted to those with more suitable thermal time and vernalisation requirements and with enhanced resistance to heat, frosts or drought; altering application times and quantity of fertiliser or irrigated water to sustain quality and growth; altering pasture rotations and grazing times; and supplying additional feeding to livestock (8). Another step is to increase the efficiency of water delivery which helps in reducing the declines in supply of water for irrigated agriculture due to the climate change (6). The climate change that strike the Earth which results in temperature and precipitation increase plus the greater rate of extreme weather events are understood to have significant effects both beneficial and detrimental on agricultural sector. On the contrary, agriculture industry also contributes to the climate change, mostly owing to the greenhouse gas emissions. Consequently, mitigation and adaptation approaches have to be taken in order to deal with this problem.

Discuss the various ways in which globalisation is affecting the world of work. :: essays research papers

The term globalisation is a particularly elastic concept. Not only does it embrace a wide range of ‘things’, it also straddles the realms of ‘fact’ and ‘value’ of ‘idea’ and ‘reality’, thus to define the word globalisation requires an amalgamation of both moral and material values which may include and encompass events as dynamic as economic, political and social. At its simplest globalisation has tended to denote the idea that societies are becoming increasingly affected by events of other societies, thus the idea of an interconnected world is a central theme for many scholars who have remarked upon the focus of globalisation. It should be noted however that there has been and continues to be schism surrounding what some commentators constitute as being a limitless phenomena as others stand in direct contradiction and consider the globalisation thesis as merely a ‘buzz-word to denote the latest phase of capitali sm.’ The word globalisation is often assumed to be a relatively recent emergence in world history, however although the ancestry and precise timescale of the use of the term is nebulous for ease of analysis many scholars suggest the 1980s to be the era in which the seeds of globalisation were set and subsequently initiated historians and fellow scholars alike to begin to question the existence and effects of globalisation. It is visible that the globalisation thesis is not clear cut therefore in this essay I will not be looking at it in isolation but will also attempt to highlight the issues surrounding globalisation, whilst attempting to find a correlation between the neo-liberal stance of globalisation and how they regard this to be affecting the global domain in regards to employment, before concluding as to if we can conclusively say that globalisation is affecting the world of work in society today. Endeavouring to find a specific definition of globalisation can be onerous as there are a multiplicity of both positive and negative ideas and beliefs of what the term actually implies, however Rosabeth Moss Kanter in ‘Thriving Locally in the Global Ecomony’ (1995) has provided an original explanation of the term, ‘the world is becoming a global shopping mall in which ideas and products are available everywhere at the same time.’ M.Waters has also commented on this issue, but perhaps adopting a less positive stance, ‘a social process in which the constrains of geography on social and cultural arrangements recede and in which people become increasingly aware that they are receding.

Essay --

Income inequality is when income is unevenly distributed in a country. This inequality has reached staggering heights across the world. Even in what we consider developed countries this disparity is only increasing. The causes for income equality can range anywhere from immigration to the policies and politics of a country. However, some critics of income inequality will argue that it will always be present and is necessary to stimulate growth. Nonetheless, the problem is not only that the gap between the poor and the rich is widening but that income inequality is causing devastating market and government failures. We look in particular to the case of the United States. The US is the world’s leading power and hegemon, who also has the world’s highest GDP and GDP per capita. However, in recent years the gap between the rich and the poor has been growing at a fast pace. This prevalence of income inequality in a free market society like the US indicates that inequality is a direct result of a market or government failure. In a free market it is believed that individuals possess an equal opportunity to be successfully, but because of misallocation of resources in a market economy this is not possible. The resources I am referring to here are those that are needed for a person to escape poverty and earn a higher income. This includes merit and public goods that individuals with higher incomes can afford and indulge themselves in while people with lower incomes or suffering from poverty depend on some endowment from the state, such as healthcare, education, and access to employment opportunities and professional networks. It is important to a society that we take care of these market failures to not only help decrease income inequality... ...vity. Furthermore, the bill has the potentially to further increase the income inequality gap. For example, students who can’t afford the cost of higher education but whose parents make too much money to qualify for federal aid will still be forced to take out private loans to fund their education. â€Å"These loans can total anywhere from $50,000 to $60,000 by the time a student graduates, despite attending a public university† (The Student Loan, 2012). This in turn, will cause students to make choices based on the cost of higher education rather than their own which means less skilled works and individuals funding U.S markets and more income inequality. Finally, even though the bill did lower the cost of higher education it does nothing to get rid of the cost fully and unfortunately not really feasible since it was shot down by the Committee of Education and Workforce.

Invisble Man :: essays research papers

Invisible Man – Part II by Ralph Ellison Before being expelled Dr. Beldsoe tries to make a deal with the narrator. He says â€Å"if you can get a well paying job in New York, you can come back to the college†(pg. 101). The narrator agrees to this, and Dr. Bledsoe gives him several letters of recommendation and sends him on his way. When the narrator gets to New York, the son of Mr. Emerson, one of the people Dr. Bledsoe wrote a letter to, tries to tell the narrator about the tyranny that he is being exploited by. But the narrator refuses to listen until he is shown the letter that Dr. Bledsoe wrote. He discovers that all the letters of recommendation are phony and that Dr. Bledsoe never actually intended for him to be able to re-enroll in the college. This realization finally causes the narrator to become at least partially disillusioned. Because of this, he decides to forget about the college and takes a job at a paint factory. At the paint factory he begins working as an assistant to Lucius Brockway, an old black man that works the machines in the basement. Brockway explains to the narrator that it is the people who work the machines, and not the machines themselves that are responsible for the success of the company. He tells him, "We the machines inside the machine." The narrator, however, fails to grasp the broader meaning of this quote. Afterwards, Brockway tells the narrator that a union has been trying to get the employee’s higher wages and that if that happened the paint factory could go under. When Brockway discovers that the narrator went to a union meeting, he attacks the narrator. While they are fighting, the machinery goes haywire and when the narrator tries to fix it, it explodes, knocking him unconscious. The narrator wakes up in the factory hospital. At first he thinks they are going to help him-that they are going to try and relieve his pain and suffering. But again, this i s only a naive illusion. Instead, he becomes a guinea pig for experimental electroshock therapy. The electroshock therapy causes him to forget who he is. This is symbolic of how his continual exploitation has been robbing him of identity. After he recovers from the amnesia and leaves the hospital, he realizes that he is no longer afraid of important men since he no longer expects anything from them.

Digging Essay -- Literary Analysis, Seamus Heaney

"Digging" â€Å"Digging† by Seamus Heaney is the first poem in the first full volume of Heaney’s poems, â€Å"Death of a Naturalist†. â€Å"Death of a Naturalist† is about the transition into adulthood and the loss of innocence. The poem shows how Heaney looked up to his father and grandfather, especially their hard work. Even though Heaney did not follow in their footsteps and become a farm laborer, he respects the work they do, especially their skill at digging. The poem is a free verse poem. It has eight stanzas with two couplets. It rhymes occasionally, but it does not have a patterned rhyme. The first two lines rhyme with â€Å"thumb† and â€Å"gun†, the second stanza also has some rhyming words. The poem is a first person narrative; this is evident from the first line that uses the word â€Å"my† and other lines throughout that use words such as â€Å"I† and â€Å"we†. The title relates to the poem because all three generations mentioned are digging. His father dug potato drills and flowerbeds, his grandpa used to dig peat, and he is digging up the past. Because of this, the title is very fitting. Throughout the poem Seamus Heaney uses shifts in the tense to convey his memories as well as his determination for the future. It starts off in present tense as he sees his father struggling with the flowerbed. The poem then shifts to past in order to recall his grandfather’s work digging peat and his father’s stronger days digging potato drills. The poem returns to present tense during the last two stanzas. The final line is future tense in order to show that Seamus understands that his work is writing. The first stanza of the poem says the pen in his hand fits â€Å"snug as a gun† (line 2. The second stanza is Heaney looking down from is window to s... ...† as they fill the bucket. Another shift occurs in the second stanza when the speaker says they â€Å"hoarded the fresh berries in the byre† (line 17). â€Å"Byre† means a shed, but it can also be a support for a casket or corpse. This foreshadows what is to come. The berries begin to spoil because more were picked than could be eaten in time. The â€Å"rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache† (line 19) got to them. The berries would have lasted longer if they had been left on the bush, but desire and greed overwhelmed the speaker when picking the luscious berries. Because he lost the berries due to rotting, the speaker says, â€Å"I always felt like crying. It wasn’t fair / That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot. / Each year I hoped they’d keep, knew they would not† (lines 22-24). The speaker collects berries every year, more berries than needed, and he always sees them go bad.

The Abortion Arguments of Cider House Rules Essay -- Movie Cider House

The Abortion Arguments of Cider House Rules I am writing this essay on a Saturday evening, not with any real contemplation, or even planning. I am writing this because I was just minutes ago watching the movie Cider House Rules. I won't go into the plot of the movie, but, to explain my motivation for writing this, I will simply describe one portion of the movie. The scene at issue in my mind right now is one where a fourteen-year-old girl comes to the orphanage which is the setting for part of the movie. This girl came to the orphanage because it was known in the region as a place that performed abortions. She had had a crude abortion performed in such a way that she had been severely injured (her uterus was punctured by a crochet hook, and, not being a sterile instrument, this caused an infection of the uterine lining, eventually killing her). The resident doctor is disgusted by this, and uses the girl's injury as an example explaining why he performs abortions. The doctor's argument is fairly simple. If the girl had come to him, rather than the ignorant abortionist she chose, she would likely have survived. In addition, he claims that potential parents have a right to choose to be parents or to not be parents. The doctor, a seeming proponent of utilitarianism, says that this demonstrates a duty to perform abortions. The young man to which the doctor is speaking, Homer, has been in essence an apprentice under the doctor, but has refused to perform abortions. His reasoning is this: those individuals seeking an abortion should have been responsible enough to have not conceived an unwanted child. Their lack of sexual responsibility should not be an excuse to take human life. Homer, while not legally a doctor (having... ...e that die do so in the commission of a wrongful act, and because of this are to be blamed for their own demise. Perhaps this sounds cold and uncaring to you. My intent is not to make some kind of case for the despising of young pregnant women who seek abortions. I feel a real sense a pity for them, but I cannot circumvent what I believe to be a solid refutation of one of the major arguments for abortion legalization. This essay, remember is not meant to be a complete argument against abortion, but rather attempts only to address the argument used in Cider House Rules. There are many other areas of discussion which can have a great effect on the ethics of abortion. The point at which a fetus becomes a person with rights is one such area. The question of whether or not a mother is obligated to carry to term a child who is in fact a full-fledged human is another.

Business Environment Essay

Recruitment and retention The need of recruit- There is been a new position arisen for Customer Service Executive in Buffs Supplies LTD. As now they have a website developed, there is a need of person who can run the website effectively, and make a very good use of the website to help the business to offer a good and improved service for their customers. Job description- is there to provide a clear understanding of the job details for the people who are going to apply. It outlines the things that he/she will do during his/her employment and it outlines the things that employer wants from the employee. So that Job description should include the following: * The job title/type * Position of the employee, who they will report to * The location * A summary of the job’s objectives, * Main purpose/duties/responsibilities * Pay levels, and any potential increase, benefits, uniform/dress code * Hours/ holidays * How to apply and deadline for application I’ve designed a job description document (please see attached document) for Buffs Supplies LTD to assist my manager. Person specification- gives a better understanding of what kind of person that certain company wants for the job, and to identify the knowledge, skills and ability to require to do the job as well as to fit within the company. It should include the following: * Educational/ qualification- it is essential for professional jobs like lawyers, accountants as it is directly connected to their performance as well as they should know what they should/ should be doing. If you don’t know the law you cannot work as a lawyer, simple! * Experience and training- you may need to be experienced to be able to do a good job for your role and it’s likely for employers to specify length of time of experience on their job description. A good thing of being experienced is you may not need a qualification to do certain jobs if you are experienced. * Personal interest/ attributes- it’s helpful for both parties to understand each other as it shows the requirement of people’s character for the job role. Person’s interest may relate to the job role, for example if you are not comfortable with approaching to stranger, you may not be suitable for jobs like sales person who deals with customers face to face as part of their job role, if you enjoy talking to people you might enjoy the work and motivated to be at work, meaning that success will be a closer for you. I’ve designed a personal specification with my job description for customer service executive. (Please see attached sheet) Different methods of advertising a job There are number of method that you can use to advertise your job vacancy arises. It helps the company to reach targeted group of candidate and it might also depend on the people who will be your candidate to choose where you would like advertise the job vacancy. First of all you will need to have a good job description to help the candidate what you’re looking for. I’m going to write about different methods. 1. Internal Advertising- you can employ people within the organisation instead of getting some one from outside. It might be cost efficient as you might not have to pay for recruitment agency to advertise your job, when you can put it on your company’s website, employee’s board, send internal e-mails to everyone and even put it on company’s facebook page. It is useful because if someone wants to climb to the ladder, they can do so by applying for the job vacancy. 2. Online- you can advertise it by online through job website’s such as Monster, Job Centre website etc. Advantage of online advertising is you might be able to reach a lot of people and they can search by location, industry or job titles they wish to apply. 3. Recruitment Agency- you can also advertise it through these agencies with a small charge. They will advertise the job, maybe create the job description according to the company needs and asses the applicants to ensure they meet the minimum requirements. It might be useful for them if the company needs a staff urgently they can quickly find someone to cover as they have a lots of member who are seeking for jobs. they also 4. Newspapers- this is a offline choice you can advertise it on a local newspapers to let the local know about the job vacancy. Importance of staff retention I think recruiting a new staff is an expensive, because you will have to advertise the job, do the search on the applications, interview them individually and also once you got the right candidate you will have to train them from the start pointing every single fire points etc. Instead of going through all these you can try to retain the staffs you already has so that person is already know the company’s style and people so it will be easier for him to work/deal with things. It is good for the company image and reputation to promote people within the organisation. If someone got hired and leaves after a month It will cause a problem, because they will have to do the recruitment process all over again and spend money to recruit the person will be a waste. Existing staff might be overworked so it will lead to unhappy employees and they will not perform their best as they’re tired of long hours and covering for someone else. However, businesses can avoid this situation by retaining staff as if the person stayed within the organisation and got promoted it is likely for the person to stay longer and work more harder as he will feel he is achieved something after working for the company. Ways of improving staff retention rate Businesses calculate to see how long their staffs are tending to stay with the company using the following formula. Number of staff leaving a year 100 Average number of staff employed that year This formula helps them to identify any problem so that Human Recourse can act on it to research what is going on by preparing surveys for staffs to complete or organise an open meeting with their staffs to know exactly what is going on, what is that they are happy and not happy with, so that they can act on it straight away. Reason to have high rate: this is when employees are not happy with the work they do, or the environment they work with, or even the management they are working for. It could be anything to be not happy as human expectation is increasing with the technology. However, employers should provide the right facility with the right motivation to keep the employers happy and juice them effectively. Ways to avoid these situations: to improve the rate you can do all sorts of things like showing them that they (employer) really care about them by listening to what they have to say, support them with their life, or organise some outside work events like weekend bowling competition to help them work closely with each other. Make the work place more challenging by doing competition with a price, a little investment won’t bring down the company, in that way work place might be more interesting and staff will perform better. Motivation is a key thing to get a better out of the staff and keep them within the business as well. b) Describe main employability, interpersonal and personal skills required by the new customer service executive. Organisations often look for people who are skilled or experienced so that it will be easier for both parties, from the employers view it helps them to replace the worker quickly and it may save some money as there might not need of training for example if he is trained as first aider, and the job requires to have a qualification the company does not have to train the staff who already has the qualification for it, from the employees part of view it might be easier for him to do the job and as he is experienced he will have an idea of what he is expected to do, and will be paid as a full employee, I mean some organisations pay lower wage for those who are not experienced enough. Employability skills: this is the basic skills that are needed to get, keep, and do the job. It is necessary for the candidate to have or knowledge these skills as it can be transferable during the employment as they go up the ladder in a modernised environment. It includes the following: 1. Qualification/ Previous experience in similar role and industry You may not need any qualification for some profession, but you will need your GCSE or NVQ qualification for some job roles for example if you are seeking to work as waitress as such, you may even not need any qualification as long as you are experienced enough or maybe your employer will provide a full training to do the job. However, for professions like accountant and lawyer or higher positioned job role which requires specialised skills/ qualification, you will definitely need not only GCSE but at least a Bachelor’s Degree to be considered in your application. According to my study book I’m on the right track to develop and educate myself further. Having an experience in similar role is always a bonus for employers and it is more likely for employers to consider those who are experienced and it is important that you mention it on your CV or letter indicating that you have worked in this role before. However, previous experience in similar industry is very beneficial for the employer, because they can get information about their competitors as well as an idea of how they worked to be more effective so that they can walk in a same level of their crowd. For example when I applied for a job in Harry Ramsden, I’ve put on m CV that I used to work in McDonalds, so I knew that I would definitely be invited for an interview so I did, on my interview they asked me that how McDonalds motivate their workers to stay with the business longer as I worked there for quite long time, I said to the lady that if you hire me I’ll tell you how they did it, and she smiled at me and welcome aboard! It shows that it is useful for the can didates as well as the business. 2. Knowledge of product/services This is one of the must have knowledge. For example you will obviously need to know about your product if you are a sales person, you should have a good knowledge of what you are going to sell. If you don’t know of your product, you can’t possibly persuade to sell it to different person. 3. Effectiveness in meeting personal and team targets As every business work towards achieving their aims and objectives, you must be able to meet targets to do so in the first place. You should clearly indicate if you have met any previous targets during your previous employment and any achievement, improvement you have set as a target for yourself past years, showing that to an employer will help you to get the job and it shows/proves that you are able to meet targets because of your previous achievement. 4. Ability to observe and raise professional standards There is a quote I know from my country it says if you work your hands hard, your mouth will also work hard, which means if you work hard, you will be able to feed yourself, same as that if you work hard and have a great attitude towards you work then you might get a reward/promotion. In business you are a professional, so you have to be professional to people taken be considered seriously and every organisation have a set of standard which you should meet. Personal skills: Everyone have their own character and attitude from their childhood. It might be difficult for some to change that in a day because of the job you are doing, but for some it doesn’t matter as you can learn them from others or on your own. Basically if you have the right attitude that the employer wants, it will attract the employer towards you as you are the right candidate for the job. For example if you are a kind, understanding, a good listener and most importantly patient and calm, then you are suitable for jobs like carer or consultant as the job itself requires you to be calm and a good listener as you will be hearing all kind of things and dealing with the public. A personal skill requires you to have the following: 1. Patient and hard working Patient is a very difficult thing that human being can face in difficult situations. I would consider a person who is very patient is a very calm and collective person. For some jobs you will have to be patient and calm at all times, if you can do that employers are very like to keep them as it is difficult to find these kind of people in our society and I believe making your business successful is hard work and them patient. I mean you work very hard to build your business, and it might not be success as you want it to be, so you will have to be patient to drink the juice of your fruit you plant. 2. Team work Ability to working as a team or a part of a team is essential for you and for your employer. If you are a people’s person/ easy to get along with people you might/can be a good team player as it is all about communicating and understanding each and everyone one of the team players. Employers will always look for a people who can work with the team as if you have a say of different people you can get the work done quickly and more effectively, because the things you don’t know, the other people might know so it is better for more brain than only one. Interpersonal skills: this is the skill that how you approach or deal with people and also how well you communicate with others. Customer Service Executive Employee Skills: Personal Skills: Interpersonal Skills: * Good written and spoken skills * Good IT knowledge * Previous experience in customer focused environment * * A good team player * Problem solving * Hard working * Friendly * Professional * * An excellent communicator * Good with people * c) Assess the importance of employability, interpersonal and personal skills in the recruitment and retention of staff in a selected organisation. I’ve chosen The Manchester College to assess in this task; I think The Manchester College is the largest college in Manchester and in the UK. It is important for the college to consider employability and personal skills when recruiting staff as it is an educational institution, I believe the teachers should be educated as a teacher and also the subject of their own to give their students the best knowledge possible. If the college needs to hire a new staff they should consider to hire experienced staff to save that money to put towards the existing staff training, bonus for those who worked overtime during the recruitment process, so that people get rewarded after the hard work they’ve done for their organisation, in doing that college manages to keep their staff happy, that means it is likely for them to stay within the organisation longer. To work more efficient college can carry out a skill auditing to identify the skill gap within the organisation and decide whether to hire new staff or train their existing staff. Communication is the key skill that college needs to have to be able to understand their student and their needs, so it is essential for their staff to have strong communication skills in written and verbally as it is a large organisation people will need to communicate in writing. Employees of the college should be presented and act in a professional manner, so that student and teachers will be look separately. Employability skills will be required for teachers as they have to be qualified in certain areas, whereas administrator of the college will not need to have a qualification if she/he is experienced enough. Task 2 a) Select an organisation and describe the main physical and technological resources that are involved in the running of your selected business. Physical resources – this is the things that business can use to run their day to day activities includes machinery, buildings and facilities. For my chosen organisation The Manchester College, it is very important for them to use all the resources to run effectively. They are number of main physical resources which needs them to run the business. 1. Building and Facility Building of your business may play an important role as you might not think, it is very important for businesses to have to well presentable building as it is effective in many different way. For example in my country there is a bank called Coin and the building is round and gold coloured. Anyone who saw that building will know it is a bank and will go straight to it as it is located near the airport, foreigners will have to get their money changed before they take a taxi etc. I think the prettiest campus of The Manchester College is Openshaw and it has a lots of facilities that is available for students and staffs to use such as IT suites for multimedia students, an award winning training restaurant, workshop for construction, engineering and electrical students, hair and beauty salons etc. I think the facilities that are available for student and staffs are amazing and it will be very useful for students to use these to improve their knowledge on things that they are studying. 2. Materials and waste The need of materials will depend on the business type as they all use different things. For my chosen organisation they are likely to use papers, computers, printers, pen, pencil, projectors and all sorts of office equipment as they are small teachers’ offices. Businesses should keep a close eye on what they waste, if you do that it will help them to cut costs and work more environmentally friendly. 3. Plant, machinery and equipment Businesses spend thousands of pounds on equipment and machineries to work more quickly and efficient. It is essential for them to have them and an up to date one as it helps the business run smoothly. For example teachers at The Manchester College use projectors to make it more easier for students to read or see what the teacher is teaching, and we have a library with computers which students and staffs can use to do their work. 4. Security, insurance and emergency provision I believe The Manchester College follows the Health and Safety act as I’ve seen the fire exits and there were . Also they must have the policies and provisions if there is an event of fire, there must be a staff who are trained to lead the way or make way for people in that event to keep them calm and put them in the right direction, and the people who have come to study/work to the college should have had a training or at least shown the fire exits or false alarm to see if the fire alarm works and to people know what to do in that event. All the building must have insurance against things like this to ensure the building and the employee/customers are protected, so that in any case of accident the insurance company will pay for the person who is injured or pay money to the person’s family in the event of death. Technological resources- are not only computers and printers which can be treated as physical resources. There are four main areas: 1. Intellectual property This is the right to own ideas and have a right to concerning what happens to them, if the one of the staff has new idea that no one has the business can protect it from others to use it so that business will only benefit from this idea to make more profit or attract more people. For my college if one of the teacher/ advisor got a new idea of having a nursery on site which can be paid by day and any student/employee can give their child it would be a good and new idea as it enables students with children to study/work and easy to bring her child to the place they study/work, and the business protected it, only The Manchester College can use this idea to bring in more students. 2. Accumulated experience and skills This is an experience gained over a number of years when a person has come across lots of different issues to do with the job. There is a good side and not so good side by keeping employers for a very long time. Of course, it will be worth if the employee is the brilliant one, if so the level of experience will grow. Not so good side is if it the experienced staff is not handled carefully, it may result that you will have to pay more for them or give them a special condition whereas you can hire a new staff with the same or higher skills and pay low wages. For my college I think the employees are likely to stay longer and I think teachers are feel privileged when the student comes back to her/him to show what they have got out of their education that is gained from the teacher and college. 3. Software licences, patents and copyright I believe The Manchester College bought a license from Microsoft to use their Microsoft Office Pack as it will cost them cheaper than buying it individually and install them on computers which they have a hundreds and thousands of them. So it is enabling them to use it unlimited with a one off payment. Often it is allowed for businesses to do so, not for single person/public. Patents and copyright has always been tricky to protect or should I say difficult to prove the person who stole it, because people may copy the whole idea and change the name of it to pt it on the market, so apparently it is different as it has a different name and maybe slightly different, but if people see it they won’t even recognise or know the difference. I remember one girl was selling a hoody with the logo of the college without permission from the college back home, so the college found out and they fined her parents as she was not an adult herself. b) Explain how the management of human, physical and technological resources can improve the performance of your selected organisation. Human Resources Every activity is carried put by human at The Manchester College and other businesses, so it is essential for businesses to have the right source of people to work towards their main aims and objectives. They must improve/ update their Human Resources to work effectively. I believe that my college try to manage its human resource at the level of standard as the best to provide the better future and education for us the students, considering the highly professional staff they have in my college, they hire the best possible staffs with ability and interest to care for students, so that staff will have better understanding of what students needs, also they train their staff accordingly with the new technology’s or hire new staffs who have new skill which can be introduced to the other staff. To do those things there is department especially designed to do that job. Their main job role is to manage and control the employees in the college, meaning hiring a new staff, train the existing ones to improve their employer’s ability to have the best source of employees. To manage its staff successfully the college tries to keep the existing staff as it is beneficial for the college as longer the staff stays, college won’t have to advertise jobs and train them which costs money for them to do that, instead of spending money on new person who is starting as an entry level, the company invest in their people who have stayed with them on the long run so that the employee will feel that they belong there and work more harder. Team work is always important for organisations like Manchester College as it is very large organisation and everyone have to work as a whole to get the work done, to improve team performance organisation do things like group activity, staff meeting and staff day out to make them closer so that they work with each other more comfortably, if they work closely the organisation will benefit from the use of full staff performance and things will go quicker and smoother, so that they can move forward to their next objective. Physical Resource If the college have a good facility for students, it can attract more students and people would be looking to work for them as basic standard of facility needs to meet and higher would be an advantage. It also important for them to use these facilities with its full use and keeping them up to date as the things are developing very fast and things are getting out of fashion quickly. For example if the student had learned Microsoft Office 2003 in their IT class by the time they finish their studies and find work would be 2007 and he might struggle if the new employer has the newer version and he doesn’t know how to use it properly even though it is similar to the older version, he will not get the all the benefit that the software is offering. Technological Resource As the college uses a lot of paperwork and papers, it is crucial to save them as they need to be used for hard evidence, however I would like to suggest that teachers can send their assignment brief to student e-mails which college have provided for them it saves the trees and we are going to be use the e-mail which is one of the facility college improved last year and I think we are not making a full use of it and it feels it might be waste of money to have e-mail address and not using it, to motivate students to use their e-mail college can put their names instead of student number which will look more real and nice, and not allow to have an access to any other mail service in the library so that student have no choice but to use it properly. If we can do that we will reduce the use of papers and use the facility which we don’t use. Task 3 a) Describe the sources of internal and external finance, available to Barney’s business. There are two main ways that business can access financial resources: 1. Internal sources ( within the business) This is the money you can get within the business: Owner’s savings- I believe Barney has some money for himself if he is thinking to start a new business, because it’s the owners who are often invest in their company to cover the setting up costs. It might be the only source they available immediately for them as for sole traders like Barney, banks or other financial institution unlikely to offer a loan as there is too much risk involved, and if you have that kind of money it is really good for the business as you will not have to pay it back by monthly or pay an interest. Capital from profit- this will become available after the business set up and operating. Once they have run for certain time, they may make some profit to invest into the business to run or buy more stock or buy new machinery to grow the business 2. External sources (outside the business) There are number of different external sources that business can get money from to help them to set up or invest in. Banks- they can offer loans, overdrafts and business account to businesses but you will have to have a good business plan to get it. Loans are not easy to get and might not be a good option for small business as you must pay it back with interest in certain amount of time and if the company goes down the owner will end up with huge debt. The choice I would suggest is the overdraft for him as it is flexible and you won’t have to pay a penny unless it is used, there are some banks who offer interest free overdraft, if you can get it will be a win! Friends/Family- you can always seek for help from your friends and families and you can even offer them a share for return of their investment or just borrow some money from them to put towards the business if they are nice enough. I would say it is the best option of borrowing money as you don’t pay interest and it is your family they will not give you to court unless you run with their money. Government grants- these are available from the EU, national/local government. A grant is money you can receive as a business man; a good thing about it is that you don’t have to pay it back. If Barney falls under the age group of 18-30 he can get a low interest loan from Prince’s Trust. Task 4 (a) The purpose of budgets, and how they can be used to monitor and control the performance of Barney’s business, including, the monitoring of actual performance against budget and the use of variance analysis. Budget is a written plan with spending which will occur and a revenue that is need in the future to cover these costs. The purpose of it is it gives you clear understanding of what to expect to spend/receive in the future (coming year) to prevent or act any crisis before it happens. It also can be used as a communication between the employees to understand the objectives of the business and work towards it. For owners they can see how well their managers managing the budget plan and performance of them. Budgetary control 1. Set objective for Barney Objective for Barney could look like this * Do a business related course * Get information on government grants * Find any other fund that is available to him 2. Set a plan to how to achieve these objectives He can start of with: * Do a year course in business related or hair styling course to have a better understanding of how business operate * Design business plan to show it to the banks and to apply for government grants * Get advise from people who are in the same business as his to find out what needs to be done orderly * Do an online research on advise and support from government websites to collect necessary documents to apply for government grant * Hire someone to do research on the market things like where to open the salon, and what kind of people lives in the area, and what is the average income for people in that area to help to set a price etc. 3. Prepare the plan You should produce a budget plan to attach it with your business plan to show how much is going to cost what and how you can manage to pay for it etc and you should compare it with the actual figure to analyse the situation of what has gone wrong or right and then you can take some action to prevent it in the future and more experienced on the next budgeting. Task 5 a) Study the contents of the profit and loss account and balance sheet for Wansbeck Motors Ltd and give an account of the worthiness of the business by explaining the purpose of each element. Purpose of balance sheet- is important as it shows the value of the business. * Assets things that business own * Liabilities ( debts a business owns) * Equity (the amount invested in the business) Purpose of profit and loss account- it shows how much money business making and how much money they are losing and you can identify it by looking at the profit and loss account to do something about it.