Unit 3 Part 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Unit 3 Part 1 - Essay Example Anderson and Bushman (2001), provide a better understanding of such effects on viewers. Their scientific research states that, â€Å"Violent media increase aggression by teaching observers how to aggress, by priming aggressive cognitions (including previously learned aggressive scripts and aggressive perceptual schemata), by increasing arousal, or by creating an aggressive affective state.† The violent video games are not only affecting the social, psychological and physical wellbeing of children but are also affecting their activities including education, family relationships and interating abilities. In this regard, Lynch et al. (2004), provide studies which â€Å"show a fairly consistent negative correlation between recreational video game play and grades.† Children, who are aggressive by nature without any external factor increasing this aggression, are more likely to be affected by such video games. A correlational study conducted by Anderson and Dill (2000) concludes that the relationship between violent video games and aggression are more likely to be devastating for children having aggressive behaviour or showing negative behaviours in their early life. The main result of the study by Baldacci, Pasold, Baumgardner, & Funk (2004) proposed that media exposure directly relates to the desensitization of children from violence. It also leads to lower empathy when it comes to real life violence. The more a child is exposed to violence in media or video games the more he is desensitized to his surroundings. Similarly it was also found through the study the empathy level of the children was also significantly lowered down with the increased exposure to media and games. Hence, we may conclude that the effects of violent video games and exposure of violence on media is affecting children greatly. There is a need to research the effects in depth and analyze the changes that occur in children’s behaviour after getting exposed to media

Problem Solving Action Form Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Problem Solving Action Form - Essay Example The primary goal of this action plan is to reduce the drastic crimes throughout the community against the elderly. Specifically, it aims to achieve a 25% reduction in the incidence of the said street crime. Discussion In order to attain the departmental objective, the Bailey Police Department has laid out their necessary projects or programs for this action plan. The plan includes the increase of the number of field interviews by all officers on the watch in order to check all the crimes against the elderly so that it will be monitored and determined if how such crime occurred, and when the offenders commonly attack. It will also be included in the action plan to monitor crime analysis by each reporting district and location in order to identify the hotspot areas in the community where robbers usually performed their activities. The police department will also initiate a business watch and liaison program with local merchants in order to prevent armed robberies in the area as well as to maintain peace and order within the business vicinity. And this can be achieved by maintaining periodic observation and increasing of police enforcement in the area. The department will also initiate and increase patrol of officers on bikes, cars and foot patrol during the holiday season throughout the community. ... Aside from those, the unit action plan also considered the involvement of the community in solving the issue by formulating a neighborhood watch program. In order to do so, the police department will be conducting a town hall meeting to inform and keep them aware regarding of this issue. The police department will also remind the community to be cooperative and vigilant or alert if ever they see or observe anyone in the area who has suspicious actions and to call 911hotline for emergency assistance and or report to patrol officers. The effective implementation of this action plan lies in the hand of the personnel involved. And these include the chief of police or sheriff, police officers and assigned watch personnel. It is the prime responsibility of the police department chief or head to look over whether the plan is working towards their objective. Likewise, the police officers and watch personnel will be responsible in performing their specific assigned tasks. The involved personn el will also work closely with other units such as the crime prevention unit, investigation unit and the compstats and will be deployed in the community in order to increase police visibility in the hotspot locations to reduce street crimes. Since, the Bailey Police Department is composed of 14 police officers; it will be divided into two squads in order to patrol and monitor the community 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in alternate schedule. In the implementation of the said programs and projects, the department will be utilizing the normal assigned equipment for the police officers such as the service handgun and ammunition, holster, portable radio with carrier, handcuffs, binocular, night vision devices and

Social Media As A Tool For Protest

Social Media As A Tool For Protest The revolution in social media has made it easier for likeminded people to gather and voice their opinion on a particular subject of common interest, the revolution has accelerated the rate at which relationships develop, information is communicated and influence is transmitted. Social media is like community places in past: a place where aggravated people can get together to discuss and raise protests. Facebook has played a large role in this revolution since it has taught users a new way to create groups, spread information all over the globe and voice their opinion unanimously. Social media has had a profound effect on society, commoners now has a chance of having their voice heard, there is a sense of hope, as every issue has the ability to be widespread, empowering citizens of all nations with the power of being heard. A recent example is the rape crime currently committed in India, the news and protests have spread throughout the globe from India to the United States and people are signing petitions on Facebook condemning this act and asking for a death penalty for the abusers. In this case governments face increasing pressure because of the power of the crowd, and due to the Arab spring, the power of the crowd should not be underestimated. In recent proceedings like the Tunisian uprising, the Egyptian protests and, the most common, the student protests, social media has acted as tool to get people altogether and carry out the protests and uprising. It is important to note that social media in its entirety should not be blamed for the uprising as it is merely a tool to disseminate information quickly and on a broader level. There are many other elements to consider when carrying out a protest for revolutionary change such as funding, organisation and proper leadership. The key to creating a proper protest movement is to motivate and convince people about a certain cause, and to inspire them to leave the comfort of their own homes and face the chaos and gravity of the streets, to be prepared to face the police and other irregularities of the open street. Social Medias role in this revolutionary period is allowing the revolutionists to broadcast information at a cheaper cost, participants do not have to attend regular meetings, workshops or rallies. So in order to make a social media led revolution into reality it is necessary for it to be translated into street action. But in some countries the government directly controls the media profoundly; social media are one of the reliable sources of news for citizens. They are somehow the voice of the natives. Bloggers take over the position of journalists and correspondents to bring the news that would otherwise be suppressed and masked by the government. Hence this shows that social media is not directly responsible for revolution, in Egypt when the government blocked internet access, the revolutionaries distributed information through handing out pamphlets with their tactics and they used fax and telephone lines for communication, something which was done in Iran in 2009. In fact social media are not accountable for the protests; they may be a tool to organize them. The channel for the Tunisian uprising was the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi. This event set off people to protest against the said Tunisian government. The social media coverage of this event made the protests spread and helped to organize protests on a broad scale eventually. Only 21% of the Egyptian population use internet and only 33.4% of the Tunisians. (Internet World Stats, 2012) these figures are unlikely to launch an entire national movement, but are enough to get it initiated. Though the government shut down all that from the internet but the protests still kept on growing and made up to The March of many Millions. Social media is not only used for physical protests, but are being used for digital protests. One can join even a Face book group to express his support, opinion and comment if he cannot make it to the physical protest. In this regard Twitter is also used, when there is a live protest happening. The use of said social media will definitely expand in future years and perhaps 2013 will be the year of the social protests. Influence and power of media global contestation Social media alone does not work for revolutions alone; they are the tools that allow revolutionary groups to groom well. It lowers the overall cost of participation, recruitment, training and organization. And inherent weaknesses, strengths along with their effectiveness depends how influentially leaders use them, how it is easily accessible to the general category of people. The Iranian green revolution in 2009 was upraised mostly by the western media through YouTube and twitter that follows later Moldovas revolution 2009 that is twitter revolution. Revolution always required an organization, mass appeal and funding. Sometimes they appear vulnerable to the governments counter protest strategies. To motivate individuals up to that required standard that is required, joining the chaos of the streets, mention their protest, and record their point of views instead of sitting at their houses. Social media presently has become important tool for social networking and most importantly the content sharing among the community. The content is generated from the websites that are up to date and remains largely untapped. Social media demonstrate how social media content can be used to predict real-world outcomes in this age of fast communication. Particular, we can use the chatter from public sharing sites like Twitter to forecast the upcoming situations. The tweets extracted from Twitter may be further utilized to improve the forecasting power of social media. The information spread like fire in the forest and the community is driven by the social media. SOCIAL MEDIA AS A TOOL FOR POLITICAL PROTEST: The participation of social media in political protests could be anticipated since the birth of social media. It plays a vital role in awareness and revolutionary impacts around this global village. But we can say a boost influence was made after the introduction of Facebook In 2003, Youtube In 2005 And Twitter In 2006 and such type of other social networking sites. An Article posted in (TheAge,2012) is an example of a social networking site used in a political protest in which it is written that Facebook was used to rally the protesters who gathered in Sydneys CBD to demonstrate against an anti-Islam film but the rally was hijacked by extremists, says Muslim community. In the same article Ms Abdel-Fattah said Facebook updates from friends at the protest depicted a demonstration that had started peacefully until a minority of extremists hijacked it. However one of the famous protest made in 2011 in Egypt covered quite a role of social media, (taken from an article by Anne Alexander on 9th February 2011 in BBC NEWS) The events of 28 January are particularly important, because they contain crucial clues to understanding the broader relationship between the media both new and old and the mass movement for change which has developed in Egypt over the past few weeks. The Social media is creating very difficult for the some authoritarian leaders to maintain an authoritarian rule. Media is making it difficult even for tough autocracies such as Iran and Myanmar. Firstly, the fact that an internet and mobile phone blockade failed shows clearly that this movement is not based on the web. In fact, the movement which erupted on 25 January has brought together many groups who have taken to the streets over the past 10 years. They are varied socially and politically, ranging from workers to bloggers and democracy campaigners, to senior judges, to members of the Muslim Brotherhood and Coptic Christians. This is the first time they have all demonstrated together, and the first time they have been joined by millions of their fellow citizens. But it is important to understand that this movement builds on a legacy of protest by many different activist networks, most of which are not primarily organized online. Secondly, it is clear that the protesters use a range of different media to communicate with each other and to get their message across. I was in Tahrir Square on Sunday: everywhere you look there are mobile phones, hand-written placards, messages picked out in stones and plastic tea cups, graffiti, newspapers and leaflets, not to mention al-Jazeeras TV cameras which broadcast hours of live footage from the square every day. When one channel of communication is blocked, people try another. Every mass movement needs spaces where political alternatives can be debated and organization can take place. In the 1940s, the last time that Egypt saw mass protests on a similar scale, radical bookshops, underground newspapers and illegal trade union meetings played this role. For the current generation some of these spaces have been online. I asked Ahmed, a socialist activist in Tahrir Square, what role he thought the internet was playing in mobilizing protest. Online organizing is very important because activists have been able to discuss and take decisions without having to organize a meeting which could be broken up by the police, he said. We can also witness social media as warfare in the Gaza Battle, as NBC News brings in our knowledge that Israeli and Hamas military forces tired to fight the conflicts in GAZA by using social media. But the Israeli Defense Forces broadcasting of the details of its attacks against Gaza via Twitter, YouTube, and its own blog (IDFblog.com) is more organized and pointed-and its viral qualities have made it perfect fodder for protesters. Soon after the IDFs first tweet of an attack last Wednesday, protesters across the globe took to the streets to rally against the bloodshed and show their support for Gaza-and for Israel as well posted by Cara Maresca (MSNBC, 2012) SOCIAL MEDIA AND ACTIVISM: Activism can be defined as the vigorous or revolutionary actions, protests, demonstrations etc taken in order to implement or achieve goals. However social media is one of the main orbit around which activism revolves. Its main influence could be seen majorly in youth. Many NGOs and other organizations lay down platforms for activists. An example of rising activism through social media can be given from the article Global activist network involving Asia: global continuation an evolution in Japan written by Takuro Higuchi (inter-Asia cultural studies, volume 13, number 3, 14th June 2012) Since Seattle 1999, plenty of summit protests around WTO, G8/20, IMF, WB, COP, and so on happened in each of the different summit sites in the last decade. Such incidents were amazingly accepted because of their mass actions and widespread networks of activists sustaining a series of mass actions. As some researchers argue, those of generating networks are based on horizontality and autonomy, and they have already prefigured a powerful model for (re)organizing society. However, on the other hand, some researchers also argue the major shortcomings. In theory, the Global Activist Network has been constructed since Seattle, although in practice there has still been a serious spatial gap between the Western part of the world and the other side of the world. Actually, the global activist network has excluded Asia. However, in 2008, the G8 summit was held in Japan. This paper, thus, aims to show that the global activist network since Seattle, which was limited to Europe and North America, has expanded to involve Asia through the 2008 G8 summit in Japan. The 2000 G8 in Japan was right after the Seattle in 1999, yet, due to its single-issue and national character of the movements, globally expanding networks didnt reach Japan. However, movements around the 2003 anti-Iraq war brought in the autonomous character of the alter-globalization movement and referred to the legacy of autonomous activisms. During the 2008 G8, some autonomous activists in Japan took over the diversity of tactics and networks of activists inherited since PGA, DAN and Dissent!' Another great definition of social network relating activism can be read under the heading of GLOBAL ACTIVISM NETWORK: When scholars and activists conceptualize social movements, increasingly, they emphasize the role of networks in activist organizations and coalitions. There is accumulating evidence that activist issue campaigns are strengthened and broadened by their network-based organizational strategies. These networks are often transnational or global in their reach thanks, in large part, to the enabling qualities of the Internet. The following links present papers and websites that provide resources for better understanding the strategies, strengths and limitations of activist networks. (Govcom, 2012) features work by Richard Rogers and his colleagues at the University of Amsterdam. Using social network analysis methods, these researchers explore innovative techniques for measuring networks and tracing their dynamics over time. They are able to create remarkable sociograms or maps of activist networks. Richard Rogers has also developed typologies for hyperlinks and networks. Bennet (1998) Globalization has changed societies and the ways in which people think about and communicate politics. This paper explores properties of global activist communication and examines their implications for political organization and change according to (Global Activists Network, 2011) However social media turned out to be very helpful for the disable activists as well. Written by Patric Butler while there are fears that traditional methods of disability activism are on the wane, a new campaigning spirit is been forged using the social media revolution he also wrote Galvanized by the governments draconian welfare reform agenda, the new activism arguably is helping to renew a disability movement thought by some to have lost its way in recent years. The staggering Twitter-driven success of the We Are Spartacus campaign in January announced the emergence of this new wave. This carefully planned viral campaign steered by a tiny band of activists almost single-handedly put the previously arcane issue of cuts in disability on the public agenda Awareness of social media and activism is also given to the young generation, as they are the upcoming leaders of tomorrow, events and programs are organized for their knowledge an example of such act is an event organized in Glasgow by the name KIDS, SOCIAL MEDIA AND ACTIVISM on September 24th 2012. However, a book GLOBAL ACTIVISM, GLOBAL MEDIA written by Wilma de Jong, Martin Shaw, Neil Stammers ties up much of the activism related with social media. INTERNET EMPOWERMENT: Though social media is actually web based media and it refers to accessible online technologies where people share, publish, comment, and communicate etc across the global village. Starting from the local communities, we see a great internet empowerment around Social media has the capacity to alter traditional power dynamics. Consumers can influence the buying decisions of others by sharing their experiences of purchasing products or services online. Major industries find themselves disrupted by file sharing and citizen journalism, while governments have been challenged by citizens mobilized with the help of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The Young Foundation wanted to test whether social media could empower local, geographical communities. So we set to work with several community groups in Huddersfield, Kings Lynn and north Kensington. Across these areas we supported residents who wanted to use social media to develop relationships between neighbors, increase awareness of local news and events, and ultimately encourage more people to get involved in community action says Mandeep Hothi in a community action blog. Walking towards the professional approach the Blow Fish Agency tells us much about the social internet media empowerment Both social media marketing and advanced web communication are important approaches to business that are rapidly expanding. One significant trend, appearing with greater frequency, is the necessity for not only brand value, but extreme brand transparency. It is clear that various diverse companies are investing more in social media and web optimization and less in print media and the like. Consumers, in the last decade, have begun spending increasing time on the Internet and less time reading magazines and listening to public radio. The old trends in advertising are quickly becoming obsolete and in order to stay abreast and maintain market share, businesses are taking great measures to keep up with consumers and are gravitating towards web-based marketing. Although the mastery of social media tools does not, by any means, guarantee market domination or any concrete increase in profits, it does allow businesses to stay competitive in an ever-changing marketplace. Blowfish is well awar e of the weight that web communication carries with it and strives, on a daily basis, to optimize that communication of its clients. The internet empowerment and its anticipations can be understood from the book Network Empowerment edited by Oliver B Popov. This book is based on workshops on network technologies, internet services, control, security, access efficiency etc. However, events for future internet or social media empowerment awareness are carried out by variety of organizations around the globe. One of the active organizations in Glasgow is a good example for arranging such events. Making Waves Social Media, Empowerment and Wellbeing is an example of an event organized in Glasgow. Can social media approaches help empower communities to be more engaged in shaping their own health and wellbeing? Can they contribute to the creation of richer forms of dialogue between health-related agencies and service users? What partners, skills and resources can help? What pitfalls should be avoided? What kinds of approaches to dialogue, sharing news and telling stories are most productive? These were the few main motives of this event. Amsterdam privacy conference 2012 is another example of such event under the heading of USER EMPOWERMENT IN A SOCIAL MEDIA CULTURE where ideas were presented and exchanged regarding people under the influence of internet empowerment and the presence common culture of social media around the globe. Computer revolution has a strong bonding between media and internet; however social media and internet are blended in the same category. Furthermore increase in empowerments could be anticipated through the past, present and future web technologies advancement. Defying Social Media Social Media does have its drawbacks, with the low cost of communication, there is also the cost of low operational security, and messages on Facebook are accessible by almost everyone. Social media is being used as an intelligence collecting tool, and users have become more cautious in giving out more personal information. Therefore the reliability of the information and the information disseminator is questionable, increasing the risks of getting involved into something which is illegal and falling into the wrong hands. Prior to gaining access to a country, Social Networking sites need to get approval of the governments of the locality, and getting approval usually involves giving the government unlimited access to the data of the users registered in their own country. This in turn increases the risks of the people participating in the revolutionary movement, because if this revolutionary movement fails, then the government has full access to the data of those who were involved and who planned this movement, this information can land them in jail and cause a lot of trouble for them and their families. This is one of the tradeoffs these revolutionaries must think about before deciding to use Social Media as their tool to broadcast their purpose. Conclusion In fact, the protests only grew bigger more and more as websites or social media were shut down and the Internet was turned off as in Egypt. If the right situation exists than a historic revolution can occur. Just because an Internet-based group exists does not make it popular or a threat. There are several Face book groups, many YouTube videos and hundreds of Twitter posts about everything, but that can never make them popular only if the concentration of the community is more towards the basic urges and needs. Due to problems like inflation, food shortages, corruption , population must be motivated to mobilize and protest with good zeal and zest. The popularity of the social media, one of many consequence of the Internet, may actually be separated from International media observation. In real time we can now easily watch protest developments and most modern situations. Western perceptions about the said issue are often easily persuaded by English-speaking, media-savvy. This is now further exaggerated in Authoritarian countries of modern age. Western media is now having the same challenge and have no choice but to turn the social media like Twitter and YouTube on to report on the crisis of the present, thus ultimately increasing the apparent importance of social communal media. In the Middle East, where the Internet diffusion is below 35% if any movement or protest grows large enough to effect the change it will join through the word of mouth, not through the social networking. This is not an insuperable challenge, as shown in china, but even in this case there is Increasing anxiety about the capability of Internet users to escape controls and spread illegal and forbidden information. Social media can represent only one contrivance among many for an resistance group to employ. Protest Movements are hardly ever successful if started from somebodys basement in a virtual arena. Their leaders should behave, just like leaders of any other organization and should organize and gather people and convince them to leave their homes and join a movement which may jeopardize their lives and also the lives of their families Any revolutionary group cannot rely only on its most tech-savvy significant leaders to commence a successful protest or revolution, this is in fact a fraction of the overall policy, and it cannot be the sole strategy to launch a movement . The real story of social media working for the betterment and developing the nations is one of entity Empowerment. Social media connects deprived nations to the whole world and provides the power to figure the Internet in such a way that it become significant to their peoples lives, the command to organize in scale, and the influence to speak. Social media can be used positively, to make others hear of social injustices that occur and are un heard of in the convention media channels. Social media has given hope to a number of people and has helped spread the word of many oppressed people, hence when used positively social media can have a revolutionary impact on the users lives. These are the feature that makes social media an implausible tool that may be embraced by everyone with an eye towards significant development.

Fantasy and Dream work in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Essay -- Cabinet

Fantasy and Dream work in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari The silent expressionist film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari exposes psychological guilt and insanity through the main character's fantasies and delusions. This character, Francis, brings the viewer into a nightmarish world through his story-telling. He recounts the story of the mad Dr. Caligari and the somnambulist Cesare who is under his control. The doctor's arrival in Francis' hometown results in a string of murders, the death of his best friend Alan and the kidnapping of his beloved fiancà ©e Jane. Francis tells this story as if it were true, but in the end he is revealed as a patient in a mental hospital. The film does not confirm whether Francis' story is reality, but Freudian theory suggests that this story is a wish fulfillment. Francis' neurotic mind created and mistook this fantasy for reality in order to displace the guilt over his friend's death by means of dream work and displacing his guilt onto the somnambulist Cesare. Neurosis is characterized by a retreat into ones imagination and alienation from reality. According to Freudian theory, this is also typified by believing a fantasy to be the truth. "Neurotics turn away from reality because they find it unbearable; the most extreme type of this turning away from reality is shown by certain cases of hallucinatory psychosis which seek to deny the particular event that occasioned the outbreak of their insanity" (Freud, 301). In this passage, Freud describes the psychological techniques that a neurotic mind uses in order to cope with a traumatic event. Instead of coming to terms with their trauma, the mind will alter the events and shape them around a delusion in order to produce a more pleasing conc... ...ing fantasy. In addition, Dr. Caligari and Cesare are not real people; they are fragments of Francis' psyche and serve the purpose of objects onto which the blame is displaced. The filmÕs ambiguous ending leaves the validity of Francis' story unknown because his illness is not explicitly confirmed. However, Freudian theory clarifies this uncertainty by showing that Francis has fantasized the entire story to satisfy his guilty mind. Bibliography The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Dir. Robert Wiene. Perf. Werner Krauss, Friedrich Feher, and Condrad Veidt. Decla-Bioscop AD, 1920. Freud, Sigmund. The Freud Reader. Ed. Peter Gay. New York: W.W. & Norton. ---. Writings on Art and Literature. Ed. Niel Harz. Janowitz, Hans, and Mayer, Carl. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. (1920). http://www.cs.nyu.edu/kandathi/scr/caligari.txt

National Bank of Pakistan

PRINCIPLE OF MANAGEMENT SEMESTER FALL ‘10 FINAL REPORT RESEARCH LOCATION: NATIONAL BANK OF PAKISTAN – HEADOFFICE TOPIC: MANAGEMENT PREPARED BY: Nash Jinia – 4456 Sarosh Ejaz – 5050 Irfan Ali – 5129 Jehanzaib – 4591 SUBMITTED TO: MAM AMBER RAZA COURSE ID: 10108 DATED: 14th NOVEMBER,2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS S. NO| PARTICULARS| PAGE NO. | 1| Acknowledgments| 2| 2| An Introduction – NBP| 3| 3| Vision and Mission| 4| 4| Management and Strategic Values| 5| 5| NBP Organizational Structure & Leadership| 7| 6| SWOT Analysis| 10| 7| Questions and Answers| 12| 8| Our Findings| 17| 9| Why work at NBP? | 24| 0| Conclusion| 25| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We start with the name of Allah, the most beneficent, the most merciful. We thank Him for giving us the strength and resources to complete this task as He gives all. We would like to thank Mr. Jamil Akhtar (AVP Logistics Wing) who kindly referred us to different departments. We would also like to thank all the s taff members of the National Bank of Pakistan (Head office), who gave us some of their valuable time to answer all the questions we had regarding their job and working of the HR department and also for providing us with such accurate knowledge of their system especially Mr.Mohib-ur-Rehman (Manager Employee Communication). We would also like to thank our teacher and guide, Mam Amber Raza for giving us the research topics as our final term report, which gave us the opportunity to move forward and explore the real world scenarios and the working of the system in the public sector which benefitted us all the more; us being BBA students, and, with whose guidance we were able to put together all the information necessary in forming this report.AN INTRODUCTION – NBP National Bank of Pakistan is the largest commercial bank operating in Pakistan. Its balance sheet size surpasses that of any of the other banks functioning locally. It has redefined its role and has moved from a public s ector organization into a modern commercial bank. The Bank's services are available to individuals, corporate entities and government.While it continues to act as trustee of public funds and as the agent to the State Bank of Pakistan (in places where SBP does not have a presence) it has diversified its business portfolio and is today a major lead player in the debt equity market, corporate investment banking, retail and consumer banking, agricultural financing, treasury services and is showing growing interest in promoting and developing the country's small and medium enterprises and at the same time fulfilling its social responsibilities, as corporate citizen. In today's competitive business environment, NBP needed to redefine its role and shed the public sector bank image, for a modern commercial bank. It is now listed in the Karachi Stock Exchange. National Bank of Pakistan is today a progressive, efficient, and customer focused institution. It has developed a wide range of consu mer products, to enhance business and cater to the different segments of society. Some schemes have been specifically designed for the low to middle income segments of the population.These include NBP Karobar, NBP Advance Salary, NBP Saiban, NBP Kisan Dost, NBP Cash n Gold. A number of initiatives have been taken, in terms of institutional restructuring, changes in the field structure, in policies and procedures, in internal control systems with special emphasis on corporate governance, adoption of Capital Adequacy Standards under Basel II framework, in the up gradation of the IT infrastructure and developing the human resources.National Bank of Pakistan has built an extensive branch network with 1250 branches in Pakistan and operates in major business centre abroad. National Bank has earned recognition and numerous awards internationally. It has been the recipient of The Bank of the Year 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005 Award by The Banker Magazine, the Best Foreign Exchange Bank – – Pakistan for 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, Global Finance, Best Emerging Market Bank from Pakistan for the year 2005, Global Finance, Kissan Time Awards – 2005 for NBP's services in the agriculture field.It is listed amongst the Region's largest banks and also amongst the largest banks in South Asia 2005, The Asian Banker. It has also been presented a Recognition Award –– 2004 for having a Gender Sensitive Management by WEBCOP AASHA besides other awards. Year 2007 has yet been another outstanding year with the bank recording the highest profit in its history. NBP’s wide range of product offerings, large branch network and committed workforce are some of our fundamental strengths that enabled NBP to achieve exceptional results in a very competitive market. VISION AND MISSIONTo be recognized as a leader and a brand synonymous with trust, highest standards of service quality, international best practices and social responsibility. NBP will aspire to th e values that make NBP truly the Nation’s Bank by: †¢ Institutionalizing a merit and performance culture †¢ Creating a distinctive brand identity by providing the highest standards of services †¢ Adopting the best international management practices †¢ Maximizing stakeholders value †¢ Discharging our responsibility as a good corporate citizen of Pakistan and in countries where we operate. MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGIC VALUES As told by Dr. Mirza Abrar Baig, Senior Executive Vice President ; Group Chief, HR ; Administration) The management team as a whole, and each member of it, has clearly defined responsibilities and the necessary authority to manage the insurer in a manner consistent with the strategic direction approved by the supervisory board. All members of the management team are required to perform their duties with due care and diligence, and for the purpose of maintaining the insurer’s capacity to meet its obligations to all counterparties and constituencies at all times.Members are free of material conflicts of interest that could unduly influence their judgment. Where management is constituted as a management board, no non-executives should be part of the management board. The NBP team found that the management teams of the insurance companies are professional, with clearly defined responsibilities and adequate authorities to fulfill their duties. Boards of directors (i. e. the management boards) consisted only of executives. Management have sufficient skills and experience in relation to insurance, finance and other disciplines relevant to the management of an insurer.All members of the management team have access to sufficient resources and receive sufficient training to assist them in the performance of their roles. The management of the major NBP bank appears to be highly professional and demonstrates sufficient skills to fulfill their duties. The NBP team did not review the management of the small locally-owned banks that are not members of the banking association. NBP is continuously transforming its image and customer perception as a modern bank through branch renovation and relocation to more convenient and accessible sites.The team at Operations Group commits itself to change the face of the Bank by way of improving its physical outlook, effective implementation of its systems ; controls and the quality of service provided to its customers. Improving operational efficiency is getting more focus given the challenges being faced by the industry. With opening of customer facilitation centers for the collection of utility bills and making payments to pensioners, the bank expects to reduce its counter traffic at branches thereby focusing more on its customer’s business needs.Customer care is a key area of the bank and various training programs have been conducted for employees to improve customer handling and interaction. Special Assets Management Group is primarily responsible for monitoring and settlement of non performing loans (NPLs) portfolio. With NPL coverage of more than 76% we believe that non performing loans can contribute substantially in the bank’s profitability through recoveries and settlements. Rising non-performing loans has been an industry wide phenomenon and due to adverse economic factors, NPLs increased by 26% or Rs. 4. 5 billion. We believe that most of the NPLs are the result of business cycle / circumstantial defaults and with the economy picking up and reduction in interest rates; the quantum of non-performing loans is expected to decline. We are keeping our staunch focus on recovery and reduction in non performing loans is the area of greatest attention. The bank truly values its staff and the vital role they play in successful organizations. The bank gives special attention to attracting, developing and retaining good quality human resource.Our new hiring of top class MBAs as Management Trainees Officers (MTOs) and search for talent within the Bank have helped in preparing second and third tier leadership lines. ‘Female Empowerment’ was launched to empower female employees and impact communities by championing the cause of women’s empowerment in the society. Today, NBP is determined in pursuing the policy of placing females on responsible and challenging position as Branch Managers, Branch Operations Managers and Customer Facilitation Officers. A number of female MTOs have been selected, trained and posted as branch managers.Currently, 60 branches are being headed by females. HR initiatives and strategy is amid at competitive employee compensation, training need assessment and succession planning. NBP is striving to become an employer of choice through improved HR policies and competitive remuneration. NBP ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE Organization Structure of the National Bank of Pakistan Main Offices Main Offices of the National Bank of Pakistan are of three types : * Head Office * Reg ional Offices * Branch Office Head Office Head office of the National Bank of Pakistan is located in Karachi.Head office controls and monitors all the activities of the bank. The President of the National Bank of Pakistan seats the head office. A secretariat is established to assist the president in the head office. The head office is divided into twelve Departments. A Group Chief controls a Group. President All Groups/Departments are headed by Group/Department Chiefs. President is the head of all Group Chiefs. All strategic matters are discussed and approved by the president and Group Chiefs. In Head Office following are the Group/Department Chiefs: * Operations Group Chief * Corporate ; Invest.Group Chief * Special Assets ; Remedial Mgt. Group Chief * Strategic Planning ; Economic Research Group Chief * Treasury Mgt Group Chief * Risk Mgt. Group Chief * Commercial ; Retail Banking Group Chief * Audit ; Inspection Group Chief * I. T. Planning Dept. ; Implementation Group Chief * HR M Dept. Chief * Org. Development ; Training Dept Chief * Over-seas Operations Chief NBP HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT â€Å"To provide more talented human resource in relation to competition in all NBP functional areas, creating a motivating environment and maintain industrial harmony†.As evidenced from the Mission Statement, key element of strengthening the HR base of the bank includes the following: * Provision of talented human resource * Employee motivation * Industrial harmony Additionally, all the HR initiative implemented at NBP is in line with the above objectives. VALUES They believe that; * People make the organization * People collectively yield results * People have ambitions and aspirations to be distinguished and rewarded * People form the human capital to be developed and invested in.LEADING POLICIES OF NBP Basically lending policies are governed by SBP lending policies; however, NBP has some discounter powers in respect of lending policies. The advances made by th e NBP have increased so much and are involved in creating a great amount of return for the bank. Deposits and the Advances are the two important functions of any bank. NBP takes deposits from the customers and lend them to the others for earning a profit. The difference between the deposit rate and the lending rate will be the benefit of the bank.Civil line branch of NBP is playing the most important role in this category because it has a separate department to deal with the peoples those who want to have money. Civil line branch is dealing with the corporate sector as well. Working Capital and Short Term Loans: NBP specializes in providing Project Finance – Export Refinance to exporters – Pre-shipment and Post-shipment financing to exporters – Running finance – Cash Finance – Small Finance – Discounting ; Bills Purchased – Export Bills Purchased / Pre-shipment / Post Shipment Agricultural Production Loans Medium term loans and Capita l Expenditure Financing:NBP provides financing for its clients’ capital expenditure and other long-term investment needs. By sharing the risk associated with such long-term investments, NBP expedites clients’ attempt to upgrade and expand their operation thereby making possible the fulfillment of our clients’ vision. This type of long term financing proves the bank’s belief in its client's capabilities, and its commitment to the country. Loan Structuring and Syndication: National Bank’s leadership in loan syndicating stems from ability to forge strong relationships not only with borrowers but also with bank investors.Because we understand our syndicate partners’ asset criteria, we help borrowers meet substantial financing needs by enabling them to reach the banks most interested in lending to their particular industry, geographic location and structure through syndicated debt offerings. Our syndication capabilities are complemented by our ow n capital strength and by industry teams, who bring specialized knowledge to the structure of a transaction. Cash Management Services:With National Bank’s Cash Management Services (in process of being set up), the customer’s sales collection will be channeled through vast network of NBP branched spread across the country. This will enable the customer to manage their company’s total financial position right from your desktop computer. They will also be able to take advantage of our outstanding range of payment, ejection, liquidity and investment services. In fact, with NBP, you’ll be provided everything, which takes to manage your cash flow more accurately. Generally Leading Policies Include: * Clean Credit Report. * Compliance with maximum exposure by the bank. Compliance with maximum exposure that can be allowed to a single party. * Funded = 4 times of equity of the firm. * Non-Funded = 10 times of equity of the firm. SWOT ANALYSIS A SWOT analysis is an effective tool, which can be used to examine the issue that will directly affect the success of alternative delivery mechanism. The emerging banking environment is becoming more competitive with the advancement of new technology. The banks are striving to provide their customers with prominent and efficient services at lower cost in order to get the competitive advantage upon other banks.During the internship program a SWOT analysis was also conducted which is as follow: Strengths * Deposit security that is guaranteed by Government of Pakistan. * Largest contribution toward Government & semi-Government requirements. * Agent to the SBP for handling Treasury/ Currency Chest Functions. * Collaboration with Federal/ Provincial Government organizations for receipts of taxes & other revenues. * Largest network of domestic & overseas branches. * More secured jobs of employees as compared to other commercial banks (Job Security). Sale & Purchase of prize bonds, NIT units, National Defense Saving Certificates (NDSCs) and other government securities. * Heavy project financing, Agriculture, Industrial as well as small loans. * Key role in country’s economic development. * Easy and shortened documented procedure. * Guidance and help of experienced people. Weaknesses * Under utilization of the new technology equipment & procedures of banking. * More formal organizational setup. * Bureaucratic style prevails in the National Bank of Pakistan. Lack of highly skilled, trained and professional personnel. * Fixed deposit rates not compatible with the competitors. * Foreign currency accounts governing rules more restricted & not customer oriented. * Bank staff not highly cooperative among themselves as well as with the customers. * Overall employees’ poor attitude towards work. Opportunities * The ability to obtain a larger customer base. * Global expansion. This is an enormous market, which will be a great opportunity in the future. * The ability to take advantage of the growing popularity of internet banking. Providing Information Technology loans to the students and educational institutions in order to foster the Computer and Management studies. * Providing the personalized services to the customers. * Offering high deposit rates and cutting down the high lending rates. * Financing the educational institutions and general public welfare projects in order to create a good image in general public. Threats * Continual changing technology. * Uncertainty of the banking industry. * Competition from â€Å"lower price† operations. * Possible failure of product due to non-acceptance of customer. General competitiveness of the banking industry. QUESTIONS & ANSWERS In addition to all the theoretical evidences we found which includes many conversations with people involved at NBP as listed in our findings, we luckily got the opportunity to meet the two senior executives in the HR department who gave accurate answers to our several questions. Th e HR function that we were most interested to find about was â€Å"RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION† but we also met with the personnel division head and found out about how HR at NBP handles grievances and compensates its employees.Being students of business administration and on our way to graduation getting into the most eligible organizations remains top priority and of course†¦National Bank of Pakistan remains top of the list. Obviously getting the group chief of HR, Dr. Mirza Abrar Baig, to talk to us still remains a big deal so we remained short of meeting him; instead we got an interview with Mohib-ur-Rehman Khan who is the manager-employee communication of Human resource management and administration group and, we might add, sits right ext to the Group chief who also told us as mentioned earlier what the group chief had to say regarding our research. Here are mentioned some of the questions we asked and his answers. Q: Sir, please tell us what type of hiring takes plac e at NBP? A: Certainly. NBP hires in two different ways. One is Contractual hiring and the other is hiring of the main management trainees. Contractual hiring is when we employ someone for three years and then when the contract is about to end we reconsider and sign a new contract. Main management trainees comprise 50% of the attraction for our pool of candidates.These are the employees to receive proper management training for higher posts. Q: Your external and internal sources for recruiting? A: Currently we don’t consider rehiring but we do focus on employee referrals and if the person who is retiring is valuable to us and no equal has been found out yet to take that place then we often stop the retiree†¦other than this, as I said earlier, reemployment on contract does take place of that person is hired on contract initially. If and when internal candidates are recruited they are applied to the position of MTOs for future top posts.External sources include media adver tising but not through internet. We advertise in the â€Å"National† and â€Å"Daily† newspaper once or twice. But we do college recruiting and have been done so quite successfully in the past. Q: So what is the actual recruitment and selection process? A: It is very simple but often tedious and costly. We publish our criteria in the newspaper. Through various sources of which are mentioned above, applicants fill out application forms and submit it to us. Once the applications are accepted there are written tests which are held by IBP (Institute of Bankers Pakistan).These written tests are both a mix of personality, aptitude and skill tests based on the person’s analytical and communication skills. These are based on the GMAT/GRE format. After the applicants are selected through these tests they are passed through group discussions and panel interviews. These interviews are structured and judged on equal basis. For both types of hiring, first interview consists of a panel of 3 IBP and 1 NBP member and then for the second interview a panel of 2 IBP and 2 NBP members sits. Q: What is NBP’s educational criterion for hiring?A: NBP requires an MBA degree (Masters in Business Administration) with a minimum 3. 0 CGPA. Q: What do you look for when recruiting personnel? A: We like to hire applicants who are team players with excellent interpersonal skills, have knowledge and use of information technology, have strong analytical and problem solving skills and have excellent written and verbal communication skills in English. So when they tell you in graduation school to emphasize on English, they are not wrong. Q: What happens after selection? A: After selection on-the-job training starts.These include simulations and video simulated training. They have 27 weeks training with IBP, then 27 weeks training with NBP staff colleagues, then 54 weeks training on job and then they are on their own aboard. All the while during training they are paid t heir salary. After this they are designated to posts in small cities and sent there for a period of three years and then if a proper appraisal comes in welcomed to work at the head-office. Once they get out of training groups of executives and officers are decided according to their skills and achievement of objectives.Thus NBP follows competency based job analysis. Q: What about EEO laws? A: We follow all rules. Equal employment opportunity is not violated by NBP. We have set the hiring quota for the disabled up to 2%. Recently we hired a blind lady in the telecommunication department. We do hire blind, deaf or applicants who are ill due to polio. Q: What can you tell us about negligent hiring? What does the bank do if it comes across a person who has had, let’s say, a bad record? A: As I said, NBP follows all the rules.As the recruitment and selection is both costly and time consuming we don’t want negligent hiring on our hands. Thus we make sure proper guidelines ar e followed. All the background checks regarding certificates and other educational documents and reference calls are handled by the IBP. Once the salary pay check comes in, first rounds are made and police report is requested from the police department while on the other hand the person for whom verification is being performed is notified of it all. After the police verification report comes in then only the salary is paid.If there is someone who is identified with a criminal background or false referrals he is told so and asked to withdraw. His information is kept secret (need for privacy). Targeted firing has not been started yet or else the employees go to court. Q: How is appraisal linked with recruitment? A: When appraisal comes in, promotions happen. Seats are vacated and we get the number to employ. This was all we discussed here from Mr. Mohib. While wandering about and reading the HR mission statement and vision we tried to look on into other departments but with little suc cess.At around late after lunch we got some little time blessed upon us and ultimately met the AVP/Head of Personnel Administration, Mr. S. Hasan Akber Zaidi, of the Personnel and Industrial Relations Division. We grabbed the opportunity to ask some questions about how the HR at NBP handles the various grievances that come in. Q: Sir, please tell us what actually does the personnel department do? A: We basically look into promotions, leave and absences, whether any mishap occurs and also keep record that all due liabilities of the employees are cleared. Q: Promotions would mean that you also look into appraisal reports (ACRs)?A: We basically have a policy department that makes all the policies for promoting and appraisals and also a separate department who handles appraisals but, yes, we do look into appraisals to know whose being promoted to what extent and how much an increase in salary takes place and how the others would be affected by it. In 1984, when I got hired there was no such thing as a union but now there is and so we keep check as to whether no biasness occurs. Q: Tell us something about the Industrial Relation Department? A: They are the people concerned with the laws of the union.They make sure that no mishap occurs and in the case of employees going to court they keep check that all lawful procedures are followed in. Q: what about the compensation procedures? A: compensations are handled by the compensation committee. There is no concept of overtime here. We tend to provide a whole lot of facilities according to the posts the employees have and that can include medical, logistics other membership facilities. We also provide loans on land and property as well as other technological things but keep a proper balance of these liabilities.Q: What happens if an employee fails for some reason in paying his liabilities or disappears? A: All employees have accounts. In situations like these, or when a fraud occurs, we seize and freeze the accounts of th ose employees. The matter comes into our hand then and until and unless the reasons will be cleared we don’t let any kind of transaction occur. Q: What happens when you catch some one doing a fraud or someone disappears? What if they do not notify you of the absences? A: There is no concept of rehiring. We decide at the time we catch the fraud what to do with the person and he is notified of our intentions.Most of the time frauds are not tolerated because NBP has a lot on its hands to protect itself from. But there are exceptional cases where we have had some dilemmas and looking into the matter deep has often resulted in a better solution. For example there was a case at Gujranwala where decision making was not easy. An employee of ours didn’t notify us that he was going to take leave, didn’t approve it and stopped coming to work. He was arrested by the police and the bank faced the problem as to let him back or not. The unauthorized absence and an FIR was a da ngerous match. But the personnel department looked into it.Since the police arrest was made on the basis of a family quarrel and had nothing to do with any criminal offence, the bank allowed him back on the job. Such decisions require our foresight and logical reasoning. Again sometimes, retaining an employee is difficult and his grievances have to be handled in a different way and at other times a golden handshake has to be offered in order to let other people take someone else’s place. Q: What about promotions? A: There is a continuous planning going on. Aren’t we all looking for the same things? A raise in salary†¦a better position. It’s a mad race that we are running.Constantly we keep an eye on whose going to replace whom and with how much. Sometimes it’s just not the work that lets you through. It’s the connections as well but then these things happen. The important part is that you have to keep an eye open and know everyone. If your col leagues like you†¦then you are the head of the list. Q: How efficiently does HR keep all these records? A: We have been upgrading and are still in the process of doing so. Everything will become computerized. In all total three hubs will be performed. Q: Are any HR events held? A: Yes a lot of them actually†¦We have conferences and female empowerment workshops.Also many dialogue sessions and quiz programs. With many thanks to the two executives who gave us much to think about we left their departments and headed towards the refreshments. OUR FINDINGS The bank has taken a number of HR initiatives to develop its workforce. Today banks have to survive in a highly competitive environment, where the demand for banking services is highly diversified and growing and changing rapidly. To meet the competitive challenges, NBP felt that it had to enhance the knowledge and skill level of its employees so as to gain a sustainable edge over other banks.Importance is being placed on upgr ading the quality of human resource for higher and better performance and to meet the demand of growing competition. Not only are the employees being provided with the job related training to develop a talented human resource base at the bank, but qualified management trainees have been inducted, professionals have been hired to fill the skill gap, a talent pool has been created by identifying talented employees from within the bank throughout the country and placing them in important positions in all functional areas of the bank.All this was done with one purpose – to develop a talented human resource base at the bank. In addition, the bank has gone a step further and has made concerted efforts to reduce the gender gap. The last four to five years, a change has been witnessed in the employment pattern, where more women have been employed at more responsible managerial positions, like those of female branch managers and female operation managers. While recruiting and selectin g Management Trainee Officers, the bank management ensures that young and qualified females are offered equal employment opportunity. * TALENT MANAGEMENTThe highest emphasis was laid on talent management as it is now globally recognized that talent is the critical driver of corporate performance and that an organization’s ability to attract, develop, motivate and retain talent results in a major competitive advantage. Organizations that do better job for attracting, developing, motivating and retaining their talent boost their performance dramatically. * MANAGEMENT TRAINEE SCHEME Recruitment in the permanent cadre of the bank was kept in abeyance since 1995 and there was induction in the bank for nearly a decade in this category.To fill the skill gap the bank management obtained special permission from GOP for restricted recruitment in the permanent cadre on an annual basis till 2010. About 700 management trainees have been inducted till end 2007 from the start in year 2003. After a vigorous scholastic and on job training the management trainee officers were placed at responsible in high value branches all over the country. Their contributions in furtherance of culture change, infusion of contemporary work practices and overall growth in bank’s performance is noteworthy.The Management Trainee Officers have been placed in the fields of General Banking, HR, Compliance, Risk Management, Treasury, IT and Audit. The Management Trainee Scheme of the bank has thus, proved highly successful and is being emulated by other financial institutions in the country. * TALENT POOL SCHEME There was realization by the bank’s management that there are many existing employees within the bank who had the necessary qualification, experience, skill and talent but due to one reason or the other; their career growth had become stunted.Such employees were dispersed throughout the country and were required to be identified for proper placement. In line with the glob al corporate strategy of leading Fortune 500 Companies that the best people should be placed in responsible and key positions, the implementation of the NBP Talent Pool Scheme has proved to be pioneering efforts in this direction in the Pakistan banking industry. Consequently, the first place over 200 employees were identified on merit through written test and interview and interview for selection in the NBP Talent Pool Scheme and posted in positions of higher responsibility.The implementation of the second phrase is in process and it is envisaged that other batch of about 300 existing bank employees will be available under the scheme for placement in high value branches of the bank. * FEMALE BRANCH MANAGERS The demographics of Pakistan are slightly skewed reflecting a higher female population which to a great extent is underutilized and their contribution to the economic sectors of the country in thus less than optimum level.Currently there is very high scope of including this fema le population in economic activities as many of them are academically qualified to take up challenging job opportunities. In line with the Government’s policy and vision of the bank’s President, NBP implemented a plan to empower the existing female employees of the bank and post them as managers in 10% of the bank’s branches. Around 30 female branch managers were selected from the existing female workforce of the bank while 30 others were recruited for external source.These 60 female managers have been posted at branches after intensive training and initial performance results indicate that they have shown remarkable performance. NBP employees excelling in banking examination of the Institution of Bankers, Pakistan: About four years ago the performance of NBP employees in banking examinations was quite dismal and it was the lowest in the banking sector. On account of the creation if an enabling environment with the management’s encouragement and support f or such academic pursuits besides various incentives, NBP employees today obtain the No. position in the country when compared to any other financial institution in terms of maximum number of NBP employees qualifying in such examination. * AGRICULTURE FIELD OFFICERS The agricultural sector of Pakistan contributes the highest to the GDP of the country. National bank of Pakistan enjoys the greatest strength in term of branch network which is concentrated in the rural areas of the country. The bank was therefore adequately poised to provide a full range of specialized financial services at the doorstep of the farmer.In line with the government policy to boost the agricultural sector with its large untapped potential for growth, NBP the initiative of the of developing adequate HR base in the agriculture dominated regions of the country consequently, 100 agriculture officers were appointed having necessary agriculture based qualifications to guide, facilitate and provide financial access to the farmer for enhancing their agricultural produce. * CASH OFFICERS Counter service to the costumers has been given top priority by the bank in order to improve the promptness in delivery of basic banking service.To improve customer services, 300 cash officers have been posted through internal sources by promoting staff of clerical cadre. This also provided for employee empowerment and motivation; in the past; promotions in clerical cadre took over 10 years. Upon encouraging results of such initiative, we have, once again internally advertised the position to induct another batch of cash officers which is going to be finalized shortly. * HIRING OF PROFESSIONALS Counter service to the costumers has been given top priority by the bank in order to improve the promptness in delivery of basic banking service.To improve customer services, 300 cash officers have been posted through internal sources by promoting staff of clerical cadre. This also provided for employee empowerment and m otivation; in the past; promotions in clerical cadre took over 10 years. Upon encouraging results of such initiative, they have, once again internally advertised the position to induct another batch of cash officers which is going to be finalized shortly. * EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION Human motives are based on conscious and subconscious need filled in individualistic, hierarchical order.Generally, motivation includes the entire class of drives, desire, needs and wishes, all of which are different for different individuals and further differ in their importance at various times for the same individual. Managing employee motivation is always an extremely complex task. To continuously enhance the level of performance of the employees and attain the optimum level for ensuring the growth of the organization, it is the primary responsibility of all HR practitioners to continuously maintain employee satisfaction and high motivation levels.NBP utilized all HRM tools for enhancing employees’ motivation thereby, contributing to the bank’s record growth. Promotion and Career Progression: During the last five years, 98% of the bank have been promoted at least once while, 45% of this total strength have received two promotions. This is a major step towards ensuring employee motivation and high morale. Promotions of employee who perform well are made strictly on merit basis and in the most transparent manner. Such promotions have been made a regular feature so that high performing employees are rewarded and their efforts in the growth of the bank are recognized.Employee Compensation: Pay Packages 2004, 2006 and 2008 were negotiated and implemented to the complete satisfaction of the employees and n the best interest of the bank. This was a major accomplishment in view of the highly charged intra-union and inter-union rivalries compounded by the transaction of HR responsibilities. During last five years increase in pay was a 100% for almost all NBP employees. The ensu re compensation levels of bank employees in relation to the market, salary surveys have been conducted and salary adjustments are being made wherever required. THE BANK’S INTERNAL CUSTOMER In order to provide maximum satisfaction to internal customers, which is vital for motivation and innovation each employee of HR has been given specific responsibility with the agreed upon standard time for each activity. The performance of the individual in then continuously monitored for the actual time taken for each activity against the set standard, to measure the HR performance. This quantification and measurement of each HR activity has resulted in substantial improvement in internal efficiency thereby, contributing to employee satisfaction and motivation. ACHIEVEMENT AND SPOT AWARDS A merit based culture has been established in the bank through implementation of achievement and spot awards for individual employees showing exemplary performance during the year or in an assigned task. The achievement award policy of the bank is a transparent system for rewarding high performing employees through achievement awards to 10% of the total employee strength every year. The policy of spot award is basically for recognizing individual employees their one-off excellent performance.Performance appraisal system has been revised to replace the traditional subjective ACR to provide more objectively in evaluation and recognizing merit. This system has been implemented with effect from January 2007 for all executives and contractual employees. Further; PAS will also be applicable to over 9000 regular officers w. e. f. 01. 01. 2009. Based on the evaluation of individual employees as per their performance appraisal, a system of pay for performance is being implemented to properly compensate relatively high performing employees thereby, strengthening the merit based culture. * EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATIONCommunication channels within an organization play a very important role in involv ing the employees’ participation in the implementation of policies. Through involvement in the implementation process, employees feel motivated to perform and establish their contribution in the overall growth of the organization. The 1st phase of ECP has been completed by 20 regions and about 8000 employees are already covered under the program. With a view to establish top-down and bottom-up communication, dialogue sessions with field functionaries of high value branches with the President have been held and constructive suggestion incorporated.Further to make the employee communication more effective regular bi-monthly publication of NBP Newsline and monthly publication of the Management Brief have also been introduced. * LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT After the reorganization of the bank’s field structure and decentralization of power, Regional Management Teams (RMT) were formed at all 29 Regional Offices. These leadership positions were filled through a systematic selecti on of RMT Member on merit, in the most transparent manner and after qualifying through a rigorous selection process involving written tests, group discussions and interviews.The empowerment of Regional Management Teams and managers of branches through enhanced discretionary powers for prompts decision making and assumption of higher responsibilities has motivated them to ensure high performance levels. Further, the bank intends to launch a â€Å"NBP Management & Leadership Development Scheme† for internal skilled and qualified employees of the bank for placement in middle and higher management level position in the future. * INDUSTRIAL HARMONYThe implementation of all HR policies depends to a great extent, on continuously maintaining industrial harmony within the organization. This has to be ensured through developing a mutual respect between the management and employee representatives. Mutual respect between the management and the CBAs as well as Officers representatives at NBP has been strengthened through trust building measure. These trust building measures included maintaining a continuous dialogue process with CBAs and Officers representatives.Industrial Relations Conferences were held to build better understanding of IROs and management policies, to ensure a ongoing harmonious environment. Industrial Relations Conferences are planned at Karachi & Islamabad for 2008. Additionally, the Employees Communication Program involving meeting at regional offices for staff are planned to create better awareness of management policies and the bank’s tradition of employee care. WHY WORK AT NBP? * NBP maintains its position as Pakistan’s Premier Bank with a huge network abroad as well. The Bank currently has an employee has of over 15,000 employees worldwide. The various departments include: Consumer Banking – Corporate Finance – Investment Banking – Agricultural Banking – Transactional Banking – Operations â₠¬â€œ Software Development and Automation – Financial Control – Treasury – Internal Audit – Risk Management & Credit – Economic & Business research – Training & Development – Strategic Planning – Human Resources * NBP has started several new programs to train its employees further to be prepared for the dynamic aspect of their job and to meet the challenges ahead. Besides a competitive financial package, NBP offers excellent working conditions, job satisfaction, superior leadership, and a conducive environment for growth. CONCLUSION It seemed impressive with the new HR department at NBP – a major public sector bank, decked out in wood and glass, with people in and out trying to devise plans of how to boost up the morale of each and every working person there and how to recruit the best ones out of a whole lot. The steps taken for the strengthening of the HR base in NBP have been instrumental in achieving record performanc e. This has been empirically proved through KPIs received from the field.Nevertheless, to remain competitive they cannot be complacent and should adequately prepare their human resource for meeting the challenge of competition in the future. A goal setting meeting was held in December 3 and 4, 2007 and a complete road map has been prepared for the year 2008. The goals and objective for the year 2008 were firmed up with a view to identifying the right kind of people socializing them in the right direction, training them; assigning tasks and roles that bring out their best, motivating them to put extra effort and creating conditions whereby the employees have a sense of fulfillment.This highly motivated effort will serve to retain NBP’s positions as the â€Å"Employer of Choice†. In recent times ,under the leadership of president Syed Ali Raza ,the banking has become conscious in promoting empowerment of women within the organization which not only requires a significant change in attitude but also immense modification in working culture. In view of this realization, national bank has accepted the abilities of women as component workers, and has started making the most of these potentials by assigning them managerial responsibilities.Currently, 63 branches are being headed by the females. The management under its female empowerment programme is committed to have 10 percent of NBP branches to be headed by the females. The management also considered the request for transfer of married and unmarried female employees to their desired place of posting which is close to their parents and spouse. The bank management envisaged that a strong human resource injection is essential for the success on a sustained basis .The management trainee's scheme was introduced management for attracting talent from all over the country having professional qualification particularly in the field of business management and commerce having proficiency in computer operation. T he first batch of management trainees joined NBP in July 2003 to translate the idea. Up till now a total of eight batches have been inducted and of them have been posted to region and groups. In view of all these improvements that have been done we still remain controversial on the subject of getting employment in NBP.It is true that all gender biasness has been removed and extensive training has been organized keeping in view that talent needs to be recognized and appreciated. We also remain highly appreciative of the fact that since the development of the HR department and its focus on the issues of recruitment, selection, gender biasness, appraisals, compensation, EEO compliance, grievances and training, the fact that we would not have been able to gain so much cooperation of the people we interviewed at the bank without our own personal source speaks for itself for the kind of resources that still work in the public sectors.HR needs to finish it or maybe it is on its way. We may gather from the data we received that many positive changes have come and are yet to come but are not negligent of the fact how and where what kind of biasness and sincerity is at work. While sitting in any organization you learn to come out of the theoretical meaning of appraisals and learn in real terms. We all saw the positive changes and the zealous way in which the department was at work in NBP and know that strategically it’s trying to achieve the better part of the system, competing against the system in its own way.For the bank itself, the need of HR is being fulfilled which keeps its employees more focused and well looked after. Here are some tips for being better employees than others that during our case study we have gathered: Educate yourself Many people promoted to new, senior position think that they can learn on the job, without any need for education in the new tasks. Yet, if you wanted to indulge in a new hobby, for example if you want to learn how to play a guitar, you would expect to take classes.The same principle applies to taking up a new position or moving to new company. Your natural ability needs reinforcement by learning both general and specifics ways, how to do the work. Many companies fail to insist on this reinforcement. If the employer will not provide the learning, take steps to get it yourself. Master computers However you obtain access to computing power, it is an indispensable extension of your own brain and capabilities. You must quickly master a word processing programme, email and a spreadsheet.Productivity aids like desk diaries and personal databases. Computer in many organizations now provide access to company files, colleges, message, customer, suppliers, collaborative, working and the internet. Strive for excellence The pursuit of the highest possible standards automatically points you towards achieving excellence. It you have achieve perfection in any activity, you must be the best, which is the proper objec tive in any context. In practice, aiming to improve skills means performing significantly better than your present standards, which are always imperfect.Remember that refusal to tolerate imperfection is a powerful force for success. Raise your standards However good you are at something, you can always improve. Similarly, however high the standards you have set for yourself and others, they can always higher. Apply to the total quality principle of continuous improvement to everything that you do. In a new position you may feel daunted by new demands and doubt your ability to tackle the tasks successfully. However, after the few weeks in the new role you will be performing well without difficulty.People tend to underestimate their power, which achieves the opposite of maximizing potential. It is better to overshoot and miss than never to try for the best of which you are capable. Learn a language Mastering other language makes a difference in negotiations and business relationships. It is also a valuable exercise for the mind. Cassettes and videos are effective learning tools but the best learning is interactive. You can sign up for the classes or use interactive media. Then take every chance to improve your skill.It will impress everybody, including your foreign business contacts. Share your knowledge Make sure that any courses you plan to attend are relevant to your work. Then do all you can to apply what you have learnt. Do not be deterred by less enlightened colleagues who may pour scorn on what you have been taught. You can only discover whether those lessons have real value by putting them into practice in your day-to-day work. Pass on your new knowledge to colleagues, and make them your allies. Be the bestJust like runners, managers and organizations needs opponents, or at least pace-setters, to produce their best performance. The process known as benchmarking measure comparable performance to set targets that they seek to exceed. The defect in this app roach is that the benchmarks may themselves be too low. You want to be the best at what you do. That means looking at the performance of the others to see not just what they do well. Being the best means setting new ways, this drive for reform can be very demanding, but also highly rewarding.

Letters

For the longest time I have felt abandoned and deserted in this world. I see the world move fast   around, feeling dizzy of the haste and hurry of each day and yet in spite of the all the color and life of the world I still felt like I’m in a desert, alone and far from anything alive. Reading this book has opened my eyes and has led me to see God in my everyday life. In my life where I have felt alone and deserted for the longest time, it seems like a miracle that when you try and open your eyes and arms to embrace God’s presence you realize that he is indeed here with us. This book has taught me to open my heart to God and keep him welcome to stay and guide me. I believe that I felt that way for the longest time because I failed to recognize that everyday God is with me. That every achievement is a gift from God even the down times are gifts from God. You emphasized in your book that god is always with us, in the flesh of our brethren as Jesus has said in the bible that whatever we have done unto our brothers we have done unto him. Everyday God touches our lives through our fellowmen. I remember last Christmas, as I was walking home from the sweetshop, lonesome as I was, a young boy gave me a lollipop and it brightened my day. But back then I failed to recognize that it was God telling me that he is always with me, watching me and intending for me to be happy always. As I look back now I see that the emptiness that I felt is because I failed to recognize God’s presence in my life and my failure to offer back to his glory everything that I do in my life. It is more fulfilling to offer back to God everything that we do and to return to him all the praise and glory that we can give. There is no meaning in working for ourselves alone, but there is meaning in working for God and his people. Finally, I learned about forgiveness. I learned to forgive myself and other people as well by recognizing how forgiving God is with our trespasses. That no matter what we do, how much we have sinned, He always welcomes us with open arms and with his eternal love. This book is a call to return to God’s embrace. The Lord has used Elephant to call back his flock to return unto him. One chapter captures the great message of returning to God, the one which deals with Jesus, and who Jesus is. Indeed Jesus is the greatest love of all, he is God’s love for us all. He gave us Jesus his only son to save us from eternal damnation. As it is said in the Bible in John 3:16, â€Å"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever shall believe in Him, will not perish, but will receive eternal life.† All the discussion about life,Who is God, God’s presence, Marriage, who the devil is, and others are all to me suppletory to the renewal of our faith in God. Elephant has aptly summed in a single chapter the greatest reason to believe and return to God and his embrace. To know the sacrifice that God has made in order to save us and give us the eternal life which he intended for us in the beginning as can be seen in Exodus 20:3-7â€Å"I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves. Worship no other god but me. Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth. Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the Lord your God and tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation. But I show my love to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my laws.†Ã‚   Is enough reason for us to believe and believe firmly in God’s presence in our life. The small manifestations of his presence through our brethren should serve only to strengthen what he has proven when he gave us Jesus for our salvation. His greatest message of all, which God has conveyed through you, is that he, is here with us, he has always been here, and will always be here for us. There is no room for our faith to flicker because he is real and each of us is a living proof. I have angered God. In a lot of ways I have failed God. I have failed to render help to those who needed my help. I have failed to receive God when he needed shelter. I have failed to live a life that is pleasing to him. I have failed to be the child of God. I recognize all my failures but now I realize that I am wrong, I may have done all these but I have never angered God. God who has eternal love and a fountain of mercy and forgiveness. God who has given his son to save me from the fires of hell. I may be a sinner, but God has not given up on sinners like me. All throughout the bible, sinners are always given the chance to repent for their sins and God has always made a way for them to return back to him. I have realized, by reading this book that no matter how much you have sinned, if you receive God in your heart he will forgive you and receive you. If man comes with sincerity and bow before God, then God’s grace will forgive, and ultimately, save him Because God is love and love flows from him. I have long kept a fear that God hates me because I have angered him greatly through all my sins and wrongdoings but you have proven me wrong. I now know that His grace is eternal and unending. And I am no longer afraid of the end of my days because I know that God is with me and will always be with me, forgiving and loving until the end of time.

Privatization of Social Security essays

Privatization of Social Security essays Social Security affects almost every American family. Currently, it pays benefits to more than 46 million people, including retired and disabled workers and their families, as well as the survivors of deceased workers. Although, it is believed that number of people receiving benefits is expected to drastically increase up to 68 million by the year 2020. In the State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush has stated that one of Americas most important institutions (social security) is need of reform.# I believe that solving social securitys long term financing problem is more important and complex than simply adding the numbers and structuring designs of future trust funds which President Bush and his administration are proposing. And personally, I do not believe that privatization of social security would be a viable option for solving a problem such as this one. In this short opinionated statement I hope to convince my reader that the reform that Bush administration is proposing is not only risky, but will result in high costs and will not guarantee benefits to future retirees. Over the long term, as the baby boom generation retires, social securitys financing loss presents a major program solvency and sustainability challenge. It is evident that the sooner we take action to solve this problem, it will allow the changes to be introduced so that individuals who are most likely to be affected, mostly younger, students like myself, and future workers, such as every American, will have time to adjust the retirement planning. Either one of the option that we as the Americans in the future choose to take, will result in penalizing those who are currently and in future will be depending on the program. Private accounts, which Bush and his administration believe to give the younger workers a chance to build a nest egg, would not only undermine the meaning of social security as we have kno...

Critique Of The Book Call It Sleep Essays - Call It Sleep

Critique Of The Book Call It Sleep Essays - Call It Sleep Critique of the book "Call It Sleep" written by Henry Roth The book ?Call It Sleep? written by Henry Roth is a literary work that explores immigrant life as they adjust to the new and unfamiliar ways of American life. The book is somewhat of a social commentary on the period of the Eastern European immigration to America at its peak. The novel gives an inside view on how foreigners (primarily Jewish immigrants) fit into main stream society. Throughout the course of the novel, you travel along with the main character David Schearl as he ages from six to eight and grows up in Brownsville on the lower East side of New York. David is torn between the love of his over protective mother and the hatred of his angry and mentally disturbed father in a quest to make sense of his life in contrast with all of the other immigrant children that he comes in contact with. All of the adventures that David encounters and all of the people that he comes in contact with are simply the author?s way of depicting an immigrants inner struggle and deal! ing with the pressures of life as seen through the eyes of a remarkably perceptive and imaginative child. The opening scenes are set in New York harbor in 1907 at a time when the inflow of foreigners is at its peak. A woman and her small child come off of the boat to reunite with her husband that had gone before them to the new world to start a better life than they were used to in their old country. The author has you experience what it is like to come into New York Harbor and see the city skyline and the lights; and also to experience the feeling of hope and promise for a brighter future for the immigrants. However when Albert Schearl shows up late and uncaring to greet a wife and son who don?t recognize him right away, it is hinted to the reader that trouble is in store for the Schearl family. The father Albert Schearl is introduced as a very haughty and proud individual that believes that he should abandon all signs of his former upbringing and conform to the American ways of life. He is a printer by trade however he cannot hold down a job long enough due to his violent and uncontrollable temperament. He thinks that people are constantly watching his every move therefore he cannot give t************************************************************************************* ************************************************************************************** ************************************************************************************** ************************************************************************************** ************************************************************************************** *********************************************************************************** Yiddish and his son is wearing a bonnet that clearly blows their cover in ! their attempts to masquerade as Americans. Later on in the book we learn that Albert?s anger towards his wife and son is brought about by his doubts of David?s paternity due to the fact that his wife had a brief affair with a Gentile in the old country. Thus it can be said that the reason for Albert?s rage and insanity came about by this betrayal. This issue arises again when David receives a rosary from his Polish friend Leo and tells the rabbi a lie about how his mother is really dead and he is half Christian. When the story finds its way back to his father and the rosary is accidentally discovered, Albert is sure of his suspicion about David?s paternity is accurate. Throughout the course of the story Albert is seen almost as the villain that has an iron fist rule over his household thus creating a Freudian mother son bond that cannot be severed. His rage strikes fear into the heart of both his wife and his son thus causing young David to wander the streets of the nei! ghborhood in search of a way to break free from his fathers imprisonment. At the end of the story when David is burned and the thought of actually losing his son become apparent to Albert, this is his moment of catharsis and he exchanges his hatred for his son for that of a concerned parent. Only then is it evident that there is hope for change in Albert and that things will eventually work themselves out. It finally becomes evident to the reader that Albert?s true anger was not directed towards his family but rather

An Explanation of How Play and Activitie

An explanation of how play and stateless are used to support speech, language and communication Play situation can be set up to teach particular vocabulary or language concepts. Play can be structured to reinforce or over learn this language, and then later the children will, hopefully, incorporate the same language in their own play. Play can give the opportunity to relate language to something concrete; something that can be directly experienced. This ensures that language is used meaningfully, which is especially important for children.Play can lead to the exploration and development of reticular manipulative skills, organizational skills, imagination and reading and writing skills. For instance, dressing and undressing dolls helps the children develop their own dressing skills, while role-play can develop a depth of understanding In topic work and allows for reading and writing with a purpose. Play dough with circular cutters- the children will have the opportunity to manipulate the play dough, press the shapes and have the satisfaction of seeing the result of their action. This activity relates to the circle theme and encourages the use of language-e. : round,circular and so on. Nursery rhymes, songs and using musical instrument can help children to listen and take turns, but also to sing and communicate. Some nursery rhymes can help children to practice particular speech sounds. Books can help to increase vocabulary and help children to learn the meanings of words. Some books can help children to participate, for example a book that makes musical sounds when a picture Is pressed. Books can also be made specifically to meet a childs Interests and so encourage the child to point or vocalizes.When children interact with puppets and make them talk and Interact with one another, they are also Involved In dramatic play. This type of play Is excellent for developing language and for expressing feelings. Fantasy play strengthens memory for both narrative information and lists of objects. Language is embedded in play of all kinds and especially in codification play. Children have opportunities to hear others use speech correctly and to increase their vocabulary. In negotiating roles and disputes, children develop linguistic and conversational skills. Children continue to form and modify concepts through play.

Education Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Education Management - Essay Example N., J.J. Van Muijen, and P. Koopman, 2003, 19-34). Therefore, the recent adding of NME raises lawful questions concerning the underlying principle or require for this new field. One strength quarrels that all management is basically the similar and consequently that nonprofit executive should take MBA and other time-tested management amounts. Strategic View of This Activity Strategy Management of manufacturing enterprise engrosses the harmonization of human attempt and fabric resources toward the attainment of organizational objectives. Furthermore, the essential objectives of manufacturing associations in any country are financial in natural world, and in the end reflect the requirements of civilization for useful goods and armed forces (Dalal, N.P., Quible, A., & Wyatt, K, 2002, 607-621). This is true whether the venture is a confidential business attempting to attain a desired height of profitability, or a community entity attempt to fulfill a manufacture plan recognized by condition establishment. In the final psychoanalysis, all manufacturing enterprise are social organization, and their continued existence is in a straight line connected to their aptitude to give useful goods and services, regardless of whether these merchandise and armed forces are inspired by other associations, the administration, or the community at great (Drucker P. F, 2001, 88-93). According to the expert analysis the basic difficulty of engineering management, from society's end of view, is to turn out to be steadily additional efficient over occasion. Growing productive competence is usually careful a desirable goal for executives in most civilizations. No doubt, in fact, rising productive competence may be regard as the basic... From this discussion it is clear that  management of manufacturing enterprise engrosses the harmonization of human attempt and fabric resources toward the attainment of organizational objectives. Furthermore, the essential objectives of manufacturing associations in any country are financial in natural world, and in the end reflect the requirements of civilization for useful goods and armed forces. This is true whether the venture is a confidential business attempting to attain a desired height of profitability, or a community entity attempt to fulfill a manufacture plan recognized by condition establishment. In the final psychoanalysis, all manufacturing enterprise are social organization, and their continued existence is in a straight line connected to their aptitude to give useful goods and services, regardless of whether these merchandise and armed forces are inspired by other associations, the administration, or the community at great.As the paper highlights  some kind of ed ucation passes on some information. But it is the type and deepness of information and skill imparted from side to side teaching and preparation that are vital in connection with the excellence of managerial presentation. In this study we are paying attention not merely in the only quantitative aspect of Soviet teaching and training that narrate to management progress, but also in the excellence and satisfied of them.