MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES - Essay Example Expatriation of employees is very expensive due to higher salary requirements and added cost for air-fares, accommodation, allowances, and school fees. However, it is more costly if an expatriation project failed to meet the organizational goal. Since it is very costly on the part of the mother company to financially support the transfer of employees to a foreign country, a lot of HR managers are continuously searching for new ways on how they can cut down the high cost of expatriation by reducing the risk of expatriation failure. Q.2 Which three module topics do you intend to address within your answer to Assignment 2, and why have you chosen these? NB AT LEAST ONE TOPIC MUST BE FROM WEEK 6 OR LATER IN THE SCHEDULE. Aiming to determine how to lower down the cost of expatriation, topics that will be covered for assignment two includes: (1) selection considerations (i.e. financial costs, psychological costs, and ex-pat community); (2) importance of cross-cultural awareness; and (3) im portance of intercultural communication. Examining the list of selection considerations is one way to lower down the initial cost of expatriates. By learning more about the family background, educational attainment, and employee’s acceptance of work flexibility, HR management could narrow down the chances of expatriation failure. Cross-cultural awareness and the ability of expats to communicate with foreigners contribute to the success of expatriation. Therefore, these issues need to be explored in order to increase the chances of a successful expatriation. Q.3 Which academic journal articles will you examine, and why have you chosen these? To address the proposed research topic, journals that discuss the cost of expatriation including the importance of cross-cultural awareness and communication in foreign countries will be examined. Journals Reason for Journal Selection Anderson (2001) This article discussed the importance of the ability of the expatriates to adjust to the l ife and culture of a foreign country in order to increase the success rate of expatriate assignments. It also examined the difference between sending out male and female employees for expatriation assignments. Caligiuri (2000) To increase the success rate of expatriation selection process, the author examined the impact of employee’s personality on cross-cultural adjustment. Kraimer, Wayne and Jaworski (2001) Tackled the importance of top management support in increasing the success rate of expatriation projects. Toh and Denisi (2005) Identified factors that will increase expatriation’s success rate. Grainger and Nankervis (2001) Discussed new HR approaches for expatriation (i.e. flexible payments based on employees’ skills and competencies; recruitment and selection process; etc.) Harvey (1996) Talked about expatriation dilemma related to the implicit costs when an expat manager returns to domestic market, direct cost of training, relocation, and other compensa tion. It also discussed the importance of training, effective selection criteria and compensation programs, and the significance of employees’ spouses and children to the success rate of expatriation projects. Linehan and Walsh (2000) Discussed the importance of a sound family relationship with the work performance of employees. Sinangil and Ones (2003) Discussed the

Financial Aid Appeal Essay Example for Free

Financial Aid Appeal Essay First year of college was very challenging to me yet I was still wasnt ready for the courses that I chose. My goal was to obtain an a degree maybe, i havent decided yet, and then i wanted to transfer to a 4 year institute to obtain a B.A Degree. My educational goal was to be majoring in an unknown field to many. In Fall 2009 I chose courses I have since realized were too difficult for a first-time student and I became overwhelmed. Having had no prior experience with college-level life, courses, and exams. I was not sure what to expect and learned that my study techniques lacking, resulting in poor grades. I also failed to attend the review sessions, did not seek assistance from my professor or tutoring help, and as a result I failed my courses. Due to these circumstances I have been rendered ineligible to receive financial aid. Without financial aid I will be unable to continue my education because I cannot afford the cost of supplies, fees, transportation, and personal expenses. Receiving financial aid will allow me more time to study properly. Without it, I will be forced to take time away from my studies in order to work. My academics are my first priority now and I realize I need to devote all of my time to them in order to be successful in the future I recently evaluated my plans to improve my academic. I have determined the following points to be the keys to my educational success. 1. I will balance the course choices better. 2. I will manage my time wisely on academics. 3. I will seek assistance with my coursework when I have difficulties. 4. I will maintain communication with my professors on a regular basis to ensure success in my courses 5. Complete classes C or better. I understand the expectation better now and I am doing well in my coursework this semester with currently all passing grades. I have made a huge improvement and I am determined to pass every class this semester. Although I have made great improvements, without financial aid I fear I will find myself struggling to succeed once again. I hope those of the financial aid committee who read this will give me a second chance to help me accomplish my goals and reach success for the rest of my time at college. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to explain my financial circumstances. I look forward to hearing about your decision. Sincerely, Any correction/improvement needed? thanks

Strategic development of UK retailer Marks and Spencer

Strategic development of UK retailer Marks and Spencer Marks Spencer are one of the UKs largest retailers, with over 21 million people visiting M S stores every week. M S offer stylish, high quality, great value clothing and home products and also excellent quality foods, responsibly sourced from around 2,000 suppliers worldwide. M S employ more than 75,000 people in the UK and outside the UK and have over 700 UK stores, plus and growing international business. M S are the ideal provider of women wear and lingerie in the UK, and are also rapidly raising market share in menswear, kids wear and home, due in part to MS growing online business. Overall, M S clothing and home ware sales account for 49% of our business. The other 51% of M S business is in food, where M S retail everything from fresh produce and groceries, to partly-prepared meals and ready meals. M S also recognized for their green identification as a result of their five-year eco plan, Plan A, which will see M S, with other things, become carbon neutral and also sending no waste to landfill by 2012. Companys Brief History With more than 120 years of heritage, Marks Spencer is one of the well recognized British retailers. The M S has more than 500 stores within the UK and has more than 75,000 employers across the UK. M S also operates in the International Market, where it has a developing business in some places as far as Hong Kong. In recent years, the UKs retailing industry has been characterised by forceful competition. Consumers are more conscious of where and how they feel like to shop. They also know what kind of shopping understanding they require. This has made it much more complicated for retailers to carry on. Corporate Strategic Development History The original firm was a chain of PENNY BAZAARS, founded by Thomas Spencer and Michael Marks. It became a household name thanks to the efforts of Simon Marks and his friend Israel Seiff. M S has branches in approximately 28 countries all over the world. They mostly exist in British Societies and Eastern Europe but this effort to get bigger into Western Europe and in the United States go failed because of their high prices and also of their basic British Vision of the company. M S also was particularly unsuccessful in France and even they were forced to close their stores in France because of the legislation which the French Government set in place to protect their labour force. In 1960s Marks and Spencer opened first store in Central Asia in Kabul, Afghanistan. This store was closed after some time because atmosphere of the city turned usual. In the middle of 1990s MS first ever TV commercial of clothing were broadcast. In 20th Century MS became well reputed in market, when they make a policy of selling only British made goods, mostly focusing on quality than the price to encourage tradition. Introduction of their new clothing range in 2001 named Per Una designed by George Davies accompanied by a reshaping of their underlying business model their profits increased very sharply and MS improved a lot of its market share. Also change in their traditional policies including accepting credit card transactions and opening MS stores on Sundays put stars on their reputation in market. Group Structure Financial Performance Grassroots organisations seem to work well with in a flat structure organisation as freely as likely of Board of Directors and Management. Flat Structure does not mean the elimination of individual responsibilities; even flatness means the end of people with dominant authority over other individuals job. National people groups must avoid the ordinary mistake of including small numbers of people heavily. They should try hard to engage large numbers of individuals lightly. Flat organisations, which highlight parallel connections, seem to be the best thing for linking large numbers of individuals lightly. Regular Based Meetings A circular Dividing everyday Jobs and responsibilities Staff Training Staff Members Gathering A forecast Processing Working interaction with power players and resource companies. Power players are people with the capability or skills to make job done: politicians, owners of key businesses, media, government departments, heads of organization, landlords. The groups performance of the team members for they year 2009 ended at March 31 was very unsatisfactory. The return on equity percentage and the income per share were nil as the organisation revenue was only  £1.3m in this year. The dividend cover was also nil because of the same cause. The company paid all its revenue to the shareholders because the dividend cover was very low last year. Because of this, company had to cut-down the dividend approximately from 12.4p to 8.0p. Company planned for the same dividend even though the company had about zero profit. The set reports outcome of three operational divisions: UK Retail Distribution International Retail Market Financial Resource Division UK Retail Distribution The UK Retail distribution, the biggest of the operating distributions, is itself sub-division into seven business units, each indicating a defined quarter of merchandise: Womens Wear, Mens Wear, Childrens Wear Lingerie, Beauty, Home, Foods. The First Six business units such as Womens, Mens and Childrens Wear, Lingerie, Beauty and Home are known as General and footage is in between these six units depending on demand and seasonal factors. The liberty is located due to the biggest single business unit that is Food and is relatively unbendable. Final Financial report in the UK retail defines a drop down in Sales and Operating Profit. Sales And Operating Profit In The End Of Financial Years Sales Operating profit____  ­Ã‚ ­ 2001 2000 2001 2000  £m  £m  £m  £m Group Total 8085.7 8185.5 468.0 542.0 UK Retail 6300.9 6582.7 364.8 445.1 International Continental Europe 288.0 299.3 (55.0) (40.5) European Franchise Businesses 264.3 264.3 25.6 20.7 Brooks Brothers 445.1 395.5 22.2 8.9 Kings Super Markets 317.1 273.7 21.9 12.1 East 119.1 105.2 7.3 (4.2) International Retail Market The International Market of retail Business mainly consists of three broad geographic areas: Europe excluding UK North America East The International Retail Market results consist of those M S franchise businesses which operated 125 franchise stores in 26 countries. The European International Retail Market can be divided into the following: Continental Europe Republic of Ireland European Franchise Businesses The group running two businesses in North America that are: Brooks Brothers Kings Super Markets In March 2001 Kings Super Markets and Brook Brothers operate in 27 and 221 stores respectively. In the end, in Far East the group deals with in 10 stores in Hong Kong. In this year, approximately every company did good business in this division comparatively to last year, with the exemption of Europes M S stores which increased their losses. Financial Resources Division One of the important Commitments of M S in the integrated planning cycle is The Financial Resources Commitment. This commitment describes a number of Financial Resources Division Initiatives: Integrated Planning Cycle Commitment Improving Management of Resources Implementing Improving our Internal Control Environment Enhance Transparency MS is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. After fostering significant growth in recent years, mid-2008 saw share prices plunge to well under half their value of twelve months before, as MS struggled to cope with more conservative shoppers in the credit crunch. Until 1999 MSs financial year ended on 31 March. Since then, the company has changed to reporting for 52 or 53 week periods, ending on variable dates. Year ended Turnover ( £ M) Profit before tax ( £ M) Net profit ( £ M) Basic esp. (p) 28 March 2009 9,062.1 706.2 506.8 32.3 29 March 2008 9,022.0 1,129.1 821.0 49.2 31 March 2007 8,588.1 936.7 659.9 39.1 1 April 2006 7,797.7 745.7 520.6 36.4 2 April 2005 7,490.5 505.1 355.0 29.1 3 April 2004 8,301.5 781.6 452.3 24.2 29 March 2003 8,019.1 677.5 480.5 20.7 30 March 2002 8,135.4 335.9 153.0 5.4 31 March 2001 8,075.7 145.5 2.8 0.0 1 April 2000 8,195.5 417.5 258.7 9.0 31 March 1999 8,224.0 546.1 372.1 13.0 31 March 1998 8,243.3 1,155.0 815.9 28.6 31 March 1997 7,841.9 1,129.1 746.6 26.7 31 March 1996 7,233.7 965.8 652.6 455.8 Strategy Analysis Collectively, the Board Team Members are responsible for the bright and excellence future of the company. In the course of the Chief Executive, the Board delegate to management on the whole performance of the company through building long-term management potential, setting clear goals of the company and ensuring that the business is supervised in conformity according to business values. Marks Spencer Board Structure: COMPANYS CHAIRMAN Chief Executive Executive Director On-Executive Director On-Executive Director On-Executive Director On-Executive Director Competitive Strategy Environment M S operates in a competitive atmosphere. Its competitors are more customers based and more in tune with the needs and the requirements of the customers. Such as on cloths sector, NEXT Debenhams have exploited the requirement for young people and in food sector Tesco and Sainsbury have expands its ranges of ready cooked meals. In UK there are no exit or entry barriers but the market is mature and therefore there is no bounces for a new company or a company from abroadto come and compete in these markets. In contrast M S experienced Exit barriers when under the France law they were not permitted to close their France Stores and make their employees redundant with just a weeks notice. (Ralph, 1996; anon, 2004) New Group Strategy and Structure Subsequently a wide-ranging and comprehensive strategic review of its business, the Board of M S practiced significant changes to the Group strategy and structure in March, 2001. The main basics of this new plan are: Focus on UK Retail Market M S will sell only own brand products so it can guarantee customers the excellent quality, great value and good services. Main theme of the plan is the delivery of considerable improvements in product availability, product value and product appeal thereby regaining the relationships with core customers of M S. Clothing Recovery Plan M S has plans to rebuild the confidence of its customers in the quality And fit of its clothing. It will sharpen pricing by rebalancing the price structure, expansion in the range of entry-price products and also well communicating this to customers. Expansion Food, Home and Beauty Products MS Foods continues to execute well and has rebuild customers trust for providing good quality and convenience. The business is a platform for future expansion and the Company is considering opportunities to get bigger through new locations and business channels. The Home business is increasing strongly, with home furniture and gifts the best growing product areas. Beauty, although relatively small, is also growing rapidly. These two areas offer promising opportunities for progress and will be expanded. Store Renewal Programme M S will go faster the rollout of the successful elements of its new idea format under a plan to renovate more stores sooner and at lower cost. Closer To The Customer As a company we should be in touch with our customers all the time in order to develop an awareness of what our customers think about the company, how they perceive the company and what they expect from the company. This awareness in turn enables us to constantly strive to meet our customers demands and also secure an organizations long-term survival and profitability In order to be more customers based, some of M S stores in big cities will be opened 24 hours a day. On other hand, 125 stores in the UK will be modernised to create a easy-to-shop environment and more attractive for customers. Corporate-Level Strategy (BCG matrix) BCG Matrix is used to conceive the balance of the portfolio of the businesses in terms of relationship between market share and market growth. It is a company in a market that has slow growth and its market share is continuously shrinking. The industry in which M S operates is mature and market is likely to be stable so it is more difficult to gain market share. Its assumed that M S is a decline phase organisation (Stockport,2000). PESTEL And SWOT Analysis Political, Economic, Social, Technology, Environmental and Legal (PESTEL-Analysis) Political Long term decisions are based on stable political surrounding. UK is also a member of European Union, as a result of which the government has to operate to live up to the standards of European Unions structure, hence, ensuring M S a greater scope of economic executions . The open transfer of goods products is another advantage of European Union making the sales operations of M S easier in European counties as there are no barriers to trade to aggravate its sales revenues. Economic British pound is still stronger as compared to the Euro which is why foreign investments for M S are relatively cheaper but expensive for the other foreign organizations willing to initiate in the UK. This is also a reason that several countries are not willing to trade. Social Presently, the population in UK is 61.11 million which after 15 years from today is expected to reach to 65 million. This brings in good news to M S Company as many more customers will be added to its current list, however the population is ageing. (True Knowledge) Secondly there is a dramatic change in the social structure. Medical services progress awareness of living increases life expectancy. Sex educations development increase in the number of professional or working women has led to a decrease in the rate of Birth which are the factors that have been accounting for falling revenues for an experienced company such as M S. Technological New Medias reception an age old internet bring in an evaluated potential opportunity to M S to grow its profits. Some U.S. based organizations are offering online orders where in people can mention their demands preferences which are sent to the production facilities after 2 or 3 working days customers receive their orders. This was simply another example of possibilities by the use of which firms can actually respond to the ever changing preferences in new era. Environmental Products produced by supplier has affect on the atmosphere on how these produce is used and disposed by customers. Merchandisers use a vast range of raw materials to manufacture their products. Because of this, it is critical to handle the usage of these materials with sensitivity and pay proper regard to how they have an effect on natural habitats and bio-diversity. Legal This is related to the legal environment in which firms work. In past years in the UK there have been a lot considerable legal changes that have affected firms behaviour such as M S. SWOT-Analysis Strengths The Brand of M S is an asset to it in terms of Quality, Style Value for money. The reason for its success and excellent reputation is that M S sell only own brand products. M S identify the changes in customer preferences behaviour under extensive market overview as they are one of the largest retailers in the UK. The self production labelling enables M S to frequently adapt to the unpredictable market conditions which in turn also allows it to save time. Time saving Adaptability is really necessary for a firm to succeed in such fast moving market where time plays a key role. Weaknesses The incomplete product range of M S, unfortunately, sometimes affects its regular customers who then happen to purchase from its competitors. An example of that would be that M S doesnt sell sportswear which consequently forces its customers to buy them from those who sell them. This adds to the disadvantage of M S. An added disadvantage could be mentioned as an example i.e. A customer interested to buy M S sportswear ( if they had it ) might have been interested in buying some gift at the same time because of the presence of sufficient variety, which could have made it extra revenues . However as they dont have sportswear, they are losing on a good opportunity for revenue. Opportunities In order to make profit, M S consider social rethinking as majority of people are getting conscious for natures significance nowadays. TO aim for Long Term success, M S could earn a reputation as a socially conscious firm by producing with the use of environment friendly raw materials natural fibres. The key to success is uniqueness or individuality. According to the recent researches people are on an average are getting heavier taller. What now can convince people to realize the presence of mind of M S is its Adaptability. Threats The big supermarkets or Discounters, despite of not being present in the same market are potential threat to M S as they sell similar products. These products are offered by them for short duration i.e. at a really cheap price for a couple of weeks. Many people advertently buy these low priced products instead of going for a good quality. This strategy of Hit Run adversely affects the businesses of companies like M S. Michael Porter Five Forces Model Porters five forces is a framework for the industry analysis and business strategy development developed by Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School in 1979. It draws upon Industrial Organization (IO) economics to derive five forces that determine the competitive intensity and therefore attractiveness of a market. Attractiveness in this context refers to the overall industry profitability. An unattractive industry is one in which the combination of these five forces acts to drive down overall profitability. A very unattractive industry would be one approaching pure competition, in which available profits for all firms are driven down to zero. Three of Porters five forces refer to competition from external sources. The remainder are internal threats. It is useful to use Porters five forces in conjunction with SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). Threat of New Entrants Entering into a New Market needs huge finances to purchase necessary raw machineries, develop new products , hire staves , selling-rooms to build an organized systematic network . Organisations such as Jhon Lewis, Tesco Sainsbury can very easily enter into new markets as the monetary risk for banks are very elevated to assist smaller firms also that they do not have the potential to respond to the defensive attacks of existing firms. Brand Loyalty is no more a threat to new firms, presently, thus making it a threat to M S. Customers use advanced technology to evaluate compare several offers during a short span of time are willing to purchase the cheapest possible product. These Generation X or technology savvy people have been a huge segment targeted by M S, which can be alarming for it. Threat of Substitutes Product substitution Replacement of Firm need to be distinguished while discussing substitution. The decision of a customer to purchase an item then a change in his decision to have another is referred to as Substitution of Product, i.e. A customer might probably buy a jumper if he merely does not like the design of a M S jacket. However, this had no impact to the revenue of M S. Substitution of M S for its competitor is referred to as company replacement. In the example mentioned previously the customer would have bought a new jacket from the competitors of M S. Now this affects the firm revenues. The Bargaining power of the buyers There are several factors on which the power of buyer depends. Unlimited demand is met by countless suppliers in the U.K Retail market. Therefore if the customers are not satisfied they can switch from one company to the other. Because of advanced technical knowledge their age group, the segments of people targeted by M S have adequate earning power. To specify changing demand buyer trends their pattern of spending should be carefully analysed. The customers of M S are mainly based in Britain. If M S turns unsuccessful in the British Market, it cannot compensate it by the revenues in the other markets Marks Spencers Geographical Revenue Region Revenue United Kingdom $ 1,488.6 m Rest of Europe $ 29.6 m North America $ 0.0 Australia $ 4.8 m Middle East $ 8.8 m Asia $ 3.1 m TOTAL $ 1534.9 m Bargaining power of Suppliers Labour costs are high for UK in comparison with that in Eastern Europe, Asia North Africa which is why that several firms have decided to outsource. Therefore there is a pressure on M S to produce high quality products without cutting its costs, however getting the production outsourced can be of great help as cheap labour can be appointed. . Competitive Rivalry An increasing number of foreign retail chains zero in on UK as a starting point to make it big in Europe. Example Giordano , a Hong Kong based clothing retailer is very successful plans to open operate stores in UK for its European expansion . Marks Spencer has been facing the counter-attack by Tesco Sainsbury in the recent past. Debenhams Marks Spencer have spent a lot of money for the development of their online operations. Every possible measure to earn profits should be seemed in an Industry as this where so many firms produce the name products are only identified by their marked labels. Future   Strategic Direction As mentioned earlier we know that M S has a very wide market especially in the UK. It has been successful since decades. The only weakness it has is lack of variety of product offerings in its current market. Using Product Development as its strategic choice will enable M S to produce additional products to cover a wider segment from its existing market. As M S is reputed Brand, the additional products like sportswear will be equally popular. Acceptability or the outcomes of Product Development strategy is another aspect that needs to be measured. If M S adopts the strategy of Product development it will be avoiding the risk of losing its market share . This will increase the value of shareholders assets. Feasibility, now we need to evaluate the relativity of Product Development strategy with the organizational capabilities its resources. Using its present capabilities all M S is supposed to do is to increase its line of products from its production houses. Current capabilities resources will serve he purpose. For future, the aforementioned strategic choice has to be evaluated analysed in terms of suitability, acceptability feasibility. Suitability specifies whether or not the strategy of product development will suffice M S strategic situation. M S being an experienced player can easily access the broad market overview and adapt to the changes in consumer behaviour preferences. This can be a method to add to the benefits of M S in the short long run. To cut costs M S can rely more more steps towards outsourcing its production in underdeveloped or developing Nations without compromising on the Quality of its products. Online participation of M S on a large scale will add advantage to it over its competitors as a huge segment of customers served by M S is technology savvy. The promotion of Quality of M S through Internet can make a difference when it comes to saving its revenues being lost to the mail discounters or cheap supermarket clothing. UKs membership in the European Union is an advantage to M S as it provides an easy format of operation for European companies.

The Key to A Successful E-commerce Site Essay -- Consumerism Business

The Key to A Successful E-commerce Site Despite the rapid growth of E-commerce sites, 43 percent of the them fails, and the difference between the success and the failure is consumer experience, according to Ecommercetimes.com. The Dotcom Survival Guide reported there is still one resource left untapped that can save dotcoms from failure. It's the one resource that historically is most ignored in favor of ads, press, and flashy features yet it's the one resource that can lead dotcoms to survival. That resource is customers. Customers can provide the revenues needed to attain profitability. Customers can give the word-of-mouth marketing to drive traffic. Customers can give the feedback needed to continually improve the website. Customers are a dotcom's most important resource. To survive, dotcoms must improve their customer experience. WHAT IS CONSUMER EXPERIENCE? The customer experience is the combination of everything that the customer sees, clicks, reads, feels or interacts with on a site. Part of this is certainly the usability but so are other components: the site's business goals, its merchandising, the wording and messaging on the site, the use of graphics and color, the flow of pages in core processes, the choice of features to offer or not, and the dot-com's own team and its processes to create and refine the site. The customer experience includes everything from the home page, to the shopping and buying process, to the fulfillment of products. It is the key to a E-commerce site’s survival. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A GOOD CONSUMER EXPERIENCE? The sites that generate the best customer experiences get more "sticky" traffic, higher revenues, and a stronger brand. In contrast, the sites with bad cust... ...ors have a good experience on a site, they'll return as loyal customers and encourage others to do the same. In other words, creating a good customer experience will create a good online brand. CONCLUSION The good customer experience is the key to an E-commerce site’s survive. Companies who learn how to create a good customer experience online will lead, indeed dominate, their respective markets. Good customer experience will help customers experience less frustration, more productivity, and more compassion from the industry; good customer experience will help E-tailers enjoy higher revenues, increase productivity, maintain strong brand, and encourage customer acquisition and retention. REFERENCES www.verticalnet.com www.ecommercetimes.com www.istrategy.com www.creativegood.com www.goodexpereince.com www.visualinsights.ocm

Advantages of Boarding School

Good evening, parents and students, and welcome to our school. I understand that many of you are considering joining our school and I would like to share my personal experience of studying at a boarding school. I spent six years studying at a non-residential school and the last three years at the boarding school. I have gained much from my days at a boarding school and I would like to share with you the advantages of studying at such a school. Boarding schools help students to learn to be independent. They learn to understand that they themselves are responsible for many thing that other students take for granted, such as waking up on time and finishing homework within a certain time frame. Boarding school also save time which is spent on travelling to and back from school, not to mention transport expenses. Students also benefit from having regular and nutritious meals provided to them. Staying at the school also makes it possible to have more times for extra-curricular activities. These activities are done on daily basic as opposed to non-residential schools where they are done twice or three times a week. Another benefit is that students have ample time to discuss their homework with their classmates and teachers during the common study periods. There is, therefore, no need to spend money on private tuition. Students and teachers enjoy a closer bond as a result of spending more time together. Teachers provide support and guidance so that students can derive maximum benefit from their schooling experience. I hope that you will join our big family here at this boarding school. Thank you for your time and attention.

How To Overcome Makeshift Marketing With New Marketing Superpowers

How To Overcome Makeshift Marketing With New Marketing Superpowers It’s hard to be productive when you don’t realize the forces working against you. It’s even tougher when habits you viewed as assets are actually liabilities. In modern marketing, this is the game we’re all playing. And there’s a lot riding on us to get results. When we fail, our companies don’t grow. When we’re ineffective, our brand suffers. Not to mention we’re unhappy with ourselves when we underperform. The good news is these unseen forces actually have a face, a name, and are easy to spot once unveiled. Better still, they have a single source we can outpace if we focus in the right place. In this post, I will share with you: The most common cause of poor productivity  in modern marketing, Exactly how it harms our personal and team results by 40% or more, And how to acquire the superpower you need to beat it. To begin, let’s further dissect the problem of Makeshift Marketing I introduced in this post. How To Overcome Makeshift Marketing With New Marketing Superpowers via @The Many Faces Of Makeshift Marketing In marketing, we need to move quickly. We need to launch campaigns with speed†¦ Run effective ads the first time around Publish content that produces results And do this all to the tune of providing real business value. However, our overwhelming tide of tools and demands presses hard against our mission. The modern marketing stack makes staying organized hard. The reality is that today’s marketing landscape is flooded with single-function tools. You’ve got your planning tools, social stack, tools for content marketing, and then productivity tools to manage your team. Problem is, none of them play well together. This makes your life more difficult and actually costs you  results. Around here, we call it Makeshift Marketing, and what we mean is many of the teams we talk to end up adopting a variety of tools just to get their work done†¦ They’ll use one tool for social, and another for task management, and then before they know it they end up adding a spreadsheet to the mix to TRY and tie it all together†¦ How You’re Losing Productivity + Results So let’s talk about why this actually costs us marketers so much. One of makeshift marketing’s worst effects is called context switching. It’s a way of describing the productivity tax of changing from one activity to another. Psychologically, it involves two stages: goal shifting and rule activation. Stage one is goal shifting, which is a function of choosing a new task to focus on. Stage two is rule activation, which means your brain is turning off the rules of the old task and turning on the rules for the new one. For example, let’s say you’re in a meeting about an upcoming marketing campaign. Your team is walking through the launch brief, everyone’s roles, and those all-important deadlines. However, while Fred is talking about the the key metrics you’ll be measuring, your phone buzzes with an email notification. Your habit of immediately responding  nudges you to check it on the sly beneath the conference table. (C’mon, we’ve all done it. It’s NOT like you’re driving.) The email is from your boss, and it’s in reply to an email from her boss asking about the status of a project. The simple question she asked is: â€Å"Where are we at on this?† #ugh Is she mad? Does she think the delay is your fault, even though you’re waiting on another team? You reply with: â€Å"Have it on my radar for today. Will follow up ASAP.† Then quickly open your todo app and add that to your ever-growing list. You were going to do this later this afternoon anyways, but unfortunately she beat you to it. This project is a killer. And you’re the only conduit of communication between your boss, external stakeholders, internal teams, and of course your own team. Why? Because there is no central version of truth for everyone to check and keep on the same page. But that’s another project for another day You lock your phone and you’re back to Fred. However, not only did you miss a few details, you’re trying to catch up to the entire thrust of what he was saying to begin with. In fact, you probably forgot all about Fred while reading this little email episode. What Really Happened While Fred Was Talking In this not-so-imaginary example,  it wasn’t simple distraction that took place. When you turned your attention from the meeting to read your email, your mind entered goal-shift mode, expending energy to focus on a new task. While you thought you could listen to Fred and email at the same time, your biological limitations said differently - because multitasking is a myth. Next, upon reading and replying to the email, the next stage took place. It’s called new rule activation, meaning your brain crunched all of the parameters of your relationship with your boss, the project, and its multiple stakeholders. This has to happen so you have the necessary context to make decisions. Your working relationships outside of this meeting operate by different criteria than inside of it. Because there are different expectations, and therefore different rules. Even though your brain can make this context switch with incredible speed, there is still a cost. In this interview with Forbes, productivity expert Todd Herman  explains this cost in a variety of ways. Worse, according to studies by Gloria Mark, an ‘interruption scientist’ at the University of California: â€Å"When people are frequently diverted from one task to another, they work faster, but produce less.† When people are frequently diverted from one task to another, they work faster, but produce less.The True Cost Of Context Switching Does working faster but producing less sound like a familiar trend? Here’s the unveiled cost of context switching. Every time we work on multiple projects, we pay a productivity tax. What About This Superpower? As a marketer, there are myriad factors in beating constant context switching. But the single biggest productivity win you can make is getting organized. While there is a major downside  to interruption and disorganization, there is only upside  to focus and organization. As Herman points out in the video above, if you change the way you work, you can get dramatically different results. But not by working harder - simply by working more efficiently. While it’s not sexy, organization is actually the key superpower to defeat the impact of makeshift marketing, the cost of context switching, and the mental drain it creates. It’s mission critical because marketing today collaborates with nearly every facet of the business spectrum. We work with developers, designers, project managers, sales, customer support, and even our operations folks. Modern marketing becomes an untethered yarn ball if we don’t relentlessly organize our entire program. The path is simple, focus on just one thing: organization. Why should organization be the one thing marketers focus on most?The Superpower Of Focusing On Just One Thing One of my favorite books is The One Thing  by Gary Keller, founder of the largest real-estate company in the world. He sums up the power of focusing on just thing nicely. â€Å"If everyone has the same number of hours in the day, why do some people seem to get so much more done than others? How do they do more, achieve more, earn more, have more? If time is the currency of achievement, then why are some able to cash in their allotment for more chips than others? The answer is they make getting to the heart of things the heart of their approach. They go small. Going small is ignoring all the things you could do and doing what you should do. It’s recognizing that not all things matter equally and finding the things that matter most. It’s a tighter way to connect what you do with what you want. It’s realizing that extraordinary results are directly determined by how narrow you can make your focus.† This works in every arena of life, too. Just ask author and leadership coach Peter Bregman, who attributes  focusing on just one thing to  losing 18 pounds  in just over a month to designing better leadership programs for Fortune 100 companies. From your personal life to working at scale in a global organization, focusing on one impactful thing is the most successful driver of change. Here’s why organization  should immediately become your one thing (and therefore transform into your superpower): The average office employee  spends over one hour each day just looking for things.  Makeshift marketing is a primary driver of stats like this because of endless spreadsheets, single-function tools, and communication channels. Forbes ASAP reports  that they typical executive wastes 150 hours per year searching for lost information.  By having a single source of truth for your entire marketing program, you can gain weeks  of time back†¦ Not simply hours, but weeks! The Wall Street Journal showed  that workers waste an average of 40% of our work days because of poor organizational skills.  As illustrated before, context switching and makeshift marketing alone account for the majority of this time in a marketing context. The truth is, you and your team can stop losing results to the mayhem of makeshift marketing today.