Salespeople Motivation Essay -- Human Resources

Introduction Salespeople are often internally driven and self-motivated (Srivastava and Rangarajan, 2008), and are increasingly becoming consultants who sell value-added services (Smith and Rupp, 2003). Nowadays more industrial companies employ sales engineers (SE) and therefore they represent an emerging class of knowledge workers on sales (Darr, 2002). I will first discuss my experience in Festo, before briefly addressing some theories about motivation, related to it. Was there a mismatch between theory and business as I knew it? If so, I will try to identify it and to explain why Festo's incentives failed with me. Finally, I will suggest how Festo should have motivated its SE, based on the theory discussed. What is a SE? Although having studied engineering, I have mostly worked as a salesperson. Thus, I can ask: what is a SE? A salesperson with a strong technical knowledge on the field he/she is selling. Furthermore, a SE could be defined as a technical-consultant salesperson or a knowledge worker (Darr, 2002). These ideas somehow extend Lidstone's (1995) definition of a technical salesperson: someone who sells industrial products, equipment or highly engineered components, has a major emphasis is his/her technical know-how but are often worried with technical details and tends to forget his/her job is to sell. SE at Festo Festo Argentina had around 20 SE (2007) nationwide (from a workforce of 120), half of them farther away than 400 miles from main office. Needless to mention, every SE had a different emotional background (psychological characteristics), engineering field (industrial, electronic, mechanical), and socioeconomic situation (some married, some young and single; middle-aged, well-off, working class, etc.... .../2010]. Pritchard, R. and Ashwood, E. (2008). Managing motivation: a manager’s guide to diagnosing and improving motivation. New York: Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Smith, A. and Rupp, W. (2003). An examination of emerging strategy and sales performance: motivation, chaotic change and organizational structure. Marketing & Intelligence Planning, 21/3, pp.156-167. Smyth and Murphy (1969). Compensating and motivating salesmen. New York: American Management Association. Srivastava, R. and Rangarajan, D. (2008). Understanding the salespeople’s â€Å"feedback-satisfaction† linkage: what role does job perceptions play?. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 23/3, pp. 151–160. Steers, R. and Porter, L. (1987). Motivation and work behaviour, 4th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc. Stewart, G. (1994). Successful Sales Management, 3rd edition. London: Pitman Publishing.

Work for Migrant Workers Essay -- Immigration Labor Essays Papers

Work for Migrant Workers Works Cited Not Included In the early 1970’s, by examining profit rates globally, it was determined that a falling rate of profit existed. The chief method to counter this problem was to seek out cheaper labor. Global factories were then created as the solution to this problem of falling profit rates. With the birth of these global factories, came not only transnational corporations but also transnational migrant workers. Therefore, why is there so much debate concerning migration when it was basically conceived and in many cases continues to be, a solution to a problem? Through global economic integration and the birth of global factories, many â€Å"underdeveloped† countries believed that these corporations would resurrect their dying economies by providing jobs to their many unemployed workers. However, these corporations did not hire the unemployed male but women usually between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one who worked approximately ten hours per day in extremely poor working conditions for very low wages. As a result, this left mostly the unemployed male (and/or the unemployed female over twenty-one) in a position to either migrate for work or become a caretaker for their families’ children. As documented by several of the films we’ve watched during class, many of these unemployed workers chose to migrate – sometimes both mother and father leaving behind children to be cared for by extended family members. One such child when asked if he missed his mother and father replied â€Å"No, because I don’t even know them† which truly epitomizes the migrant workers’ sacrifices for their families!! One might ask why do these migrant and/or global factory workers do the things they do? ... ...storical context of differential power and inequality.† (Schiller, Basch & Blanc-Szanton 8). Again, migrant workers exist because of economic circumstances and the innate sense of survival. Therefore, why are there so many beliefs and debates concerning migration? Because some people just don’t get it! What some seem to be missing in these debates is that with global economic integration obviously come transmigrant workers (and in some cases their families too), so why debate whether they should be allowed to cross borders as they are simply the product of globalization. Further, one should not forget that in many instances, these workers were â€Å"solutions† to economic or wartime problems!! Therefore, I strongly feel that migrant workers must be given the right to work regardless of what country they are from or what country they must work in!

The Last Castle

The movie â€Å"The Last Castle† provides examples of good leadership and bad leadership. Colonel Winter, the warden of a military is the example of bad leadership, while General Irwin, a prisoner at Winter’s prison is an example of good leadership. The film illustrates that a leader does not have to have a technical leadership position to gain followers, and how two leaders who have differing viewpoints on leadership cannot exist in the same space without conflict. Henri Nouwen, in his book on leadership â€Å"In the Name of Jesus,† says â€Å"power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love†¦easier to control people than love people. In â€Å"The Last Castle,† we see the contrast of Irwin’s and Winter’s leadership styles in regards to the prisoners. Winter constantly reads the inmates files about the crimes they committed in order to remind himself that they are capable of violence and so he will not ever feel compassion for them. He is hard-nosed and takes no interest into their personal feelings, and he refuses to ever recognize how they could change over time. Irwin, on the other hand, chooses to ignore the inmates’ pasts and focuses on who they are in the present. He recognizes that no matter what they have done, they have a good side as well. In addition, Irwin treats the inmates as men, instead of treating them like stupid children. In the film, Irwin takes interest in a prisoner named Aguilar. Aguilar is not well liked because he is Hispanic. In addition, he has a speech impediment so others think he is dumb. He has no confidence but when Irwin starts treating him like a soldier, and not like a worthless man, he gains his confidence. Irwin recognizes that Aguilar is smart and knows masonry so he puts Aguilar in charge of building the wall. Since Irwin treated Aguilar like a man and a soldier, Aguilar gained confidence and was able to himself become the leader of the wall-building project. In building the wall, the prisoners were building themselves a figurative castle to protect themselves from the unfair practices of Winter. Irwin inspires the men to build the wall to be something that is their own. Irwin suggests that they all work together in order to build a better, stronger wall. Building the wall was something the prisoners did on their own, without the directive of the warden.

Plato, Aristotle and Descartes Essay

â€Å"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light†, Plato said. Studying knowledge is something philosophers have been doing for as long as philosophy has been around. People always see just a part of things around the world. They need an open mind to understand more deep and wise into the world. It’s one of those perennial topics that philosophy has been refining since before the time of Plato. The discipline is known as epistemology which comes from two Greek words episteme which means knowledge and logos which means a word or reason. Epistemology literally means to reason about knowledge. Epistemologists study what makes up knowledge, what kinds of things can we know, what are the limits to what we can know, and even if it’s possible to actually know anything at all. In fact, people always see just a part of things around the world. They need an open mind to understand more deep and wise into the world. Plato becomes increasingly discourage by both the â€Å"mob† and the â€Å"elite†. The mob, represented by the jury at Socrates’ trial, was irrational and dangerous; it was swayed by sophistic appeals to emotion, not by reason. Plato concluded that most people are unfit by training and ability to make the difficult and necessary decision that would result in a just society. The average person lacks wisdom and self-restraint. As Plato saw things, most people make emotional responses based on desire and sentiment, rather than on rational consideration stemming from an objective view of what is genuinely good for the individual society. Socrates’s death, the revolt of the Thirty, sophistic abuses, and other factors convinced Plato that a corrupt state produces corrupt citizens. He thus attempted to develop a theory of knowledge that could refute sophistic skepticism and moral relativism. Plato believed that if he could identify and articulate the difference between mere opinion and genuine knowledge, it would then be possible to identify the structure of an ideal state based on knowledge and truth rather than the mere appearance of truth and personal whim. The allegory of the cave is an example for this from Plato. The prisoners (unable to turn their heads) would know nothing else but the shadows, and perceive this as their own reality. This is an important development to the story because it shows us that what we perceive as real from birth is completely false based on our imperfect interpretations of reality and Goodness. Plato expresses another of his favorite ideas: that education is not a process of putting knowledge into empty minds, but of making people realize that which they already know. This notion that truth is somehow embedded in our minds was also powerfully influential for many centuries. In Plato’s world, reality is not conceived through the senses, but rather intelligible truths of reality in the forms of ideas and figures, as opposed to the visible world. In The Allegory of the Cave, Plato describes the physical world as a â€Å"dark place† in which humans can only perceive objects through the senses. Plato referred to these objects as phenomena, or weak forms of reality. Thus, the physical world is not a realm where humans can obtain knowledge of true reality. Plato describes the process of acquiring knowledge from darkness to the light. In this journey, humans are able to see the essence of truth, or in other words, they are able to gain an understanding of what is actually real. This process, though painful and distressing, will at the end offer freedom and enlightenment to those who have acquire knowledge. Happiness is achieved by gaining an understanding of what is actually real. Because the philosopher has knowledge, his task is to descend to the cave to help as many people as possible to gain knowledge, or in other words, to learn the truth. This doesn’t convince me because science involves the pursuit of knowledge of general truths by using observation and systematic experimentation. However, Plato did not think a philosopher should use observation or empirical investigation in order to find truth. He believed only abstract thinking could lead to true knowledge. Plato said that the very essence of knowledge is unchanging. What is true is always true and he thought that knowledge is innate I agree about there are some absolute truth but I think we learn knowledge by experience not only by innate knowledge. Along with his teacher Plato, Aristotle is generally regarded as one of the most Influential ancient thinkers in a number of philosophical fields, including political theory. What Plato believed about reality was very different from Aristotle’s ideology. Aristotle objected to Plato’s view, arguing that one cannot know the type of interaction which is occurring between the two Forms. If the â€Å"real or ideal forms† are eternal, pure and unchanging then how do they relate to the material objections or Forms on earth with all their physical imperfections? This participation or imitation link between the real and the imaginary (which Plato claimed existed) is erroneous thinking as no one can has established such a link – real or otherwise. And even if a link is established it fails to explain all the Forms in the material world. At some point Plato fails to explain how this greater Form was controlled- how can Form control things? Was there energy in â€Å"Forms†? Aristotle argued that form can be distinguished from content only in thought and never in fact. Aristotle warned that we must take care not to mistake â€Å"intellectual analysis† for â€Å"ontological status†. Aristotle accused Plato of doing just that by imputing actual existence to the Forms. For Aristotle, form exists within the natural order embedded in particular things and cannot exist independently. How does this criticism support Aristotle’s own metaphysics? Aristotle brings to full maturity a second major expression of the search for the good life: attempting to acquire facts without bias and then using that information to make this a better world. Aristotle stands alone as an archetype of the philosophical naturalist. Basically Naturalism is the belief that reality consists of natural world. The Naturalist’s universe is ordered in that everything in it follows consistent and discoverable laws of nature; everything can be understood in terms of those fundamental laws. Nothing exists outside of space and time. Nature always acts with a purpose, and the key to understand anything lies in determining its essential purpose. Philosophical naturalist deny the existence of a separate supernatural order of reality. They believe that human beings, although special, are part of the natural order and behave according to fixed laws and principles. Thus a clear understanding of nature is necessary to any clear conception of human behavior. Ethics and political (social) science must be based on the actual facts of life, carefully observed and collected by a scientific method – not on speculative, otherworldly, rationalistic schemes. Aristotle based his philosophical positions on scrutiny of particular, actual things, not on the isolated contemplation of mathematical laws or pure ideas. Aristotle brings to full maturity a second major approach to the study of the good life: collecting facts and using factual information to make this a better world. Naturalism is the belief that reality consists of the natural world and that the universe is ordered. Everything follows consistent and discoverable laws of nature and can be described in terms of fundamental laws. Aristotle has a variety of views that range from nature to ethics and has unforgettable take on mathematics. He gives me the impression that the laws of nature are the boundaries in which we live and our meaning of life evolves around this boundary. I believe, there are some sort of absolute truths or knowledge but when we get knowledge we get most of knowledge through our experience. Descartes suggests the viewpoint that the human body and the human mind are two completely different things with different functions. The viewpoint is called Dualism, and holds that both the physical world and the immaterial world exist. Dualism is based on two substances, which are mind and matter. Descartes explained that these two does not necessarily need one another to exist. Descartes doubts everything he was taught to believe because it is human tendency to believe what is false. In the first, he claims that most of what he believes is from his senses and that those senses are sometimes deceived. He wasn’t uncomfortable with the idea that there isn’t universal knowledge. He was the first to argue that the mind is a non-material entity which is distinct and separate from the brain. He also identified the mind with concepts such as self-awareness and self-consciousness. He emphasized the sharp division between the mind and the body as the most basic fact of our human existence. In Descartes’ Dualism, the body is considered to be a material substance, and the mind is considered to be an immaterial one. He suggests that although these two things combine to make a human being, but these two parts exist in two separate worlds. The body exists in the physical world, where all the objects that we can see and touch exist. While the mind exists in a different world, an immaterial one, where we are not able to see or feel. Descartes establishes the Conceivability argument to support his viewpoint. â€Å"I think therefore I am,† the well-known quote of Rene Descartes, is the basis of his theory known as dualism. The intermingling of mind and body or extended substance and thinking substance display Descartes’ ideas of a â€Å"genuine human being†. Descartes’ idea of the body being totally independent of the mind is known as the mechanistic view. Descartes’s interest in the â€Å"thinking thing itself† was the first major step in a shift in emphasis in modern philosophy from metaphysics to epistemology. He recognized the need for orderly thinking, which he called method. He employed methodic doubt in his effort to find one absolute certain and undoubtable idea. Having found an undoubtable truth, Descartes tried to build a reliable foundation for knowledge on the innate idea of God. For Plato and Descartes mathematics becomes the blueprint for all knowledge. Mathematical knowledge remains true regardless of time, place and circumstances. This is unlike inductive knowledge or matters of fact whose truth depends on time, place and circumstances. On this basis Plato and Descartes reject our sense of sight, smell and touch as providing any source of reliable knowledge. Both Descartes and Plato would agree that true knowledge is a priori. Basically this means that knowledge is innate and therefore prior to experience. If we take this innate knowledge we can build or expand on it to discover what Plato and Descartes could classify as ‘ultimate’ truths. Knowledge is a root of many challenges we face in a given day. Once you get past basic survival (though even things as basic as finding enough food and shelter involves challenges related to knowledge), we’re confronted with knowledge issues on almost every front. Knowledge questions range from larger, more weighty questions like figuring out who our real friends are, what to do with our career, or how to spend our time, what politician to vote for, how to spend or invest our money, should we be religious or not, to more mundane ones like which gear to buy for our hobby, how to solve a dispute between the kids, where to go for dinner, or which book to read in your free time. We make knowledge decisions all day, every day and some of those decisions deeply impact our lives and the lives of those around us. I think I learned much more by these theory, do not say you know all the world, using our intelligent to understanding more about the world, and then do not stop doubting get make ourselves much more better in future. The knowledge is unlimited, so we could learn a lot every day, then using it for our own good and pass it out for our next generation because knowledge is never old or too much, it could use time by time and always work. People could say that some of the knowledge is too old for the present and they have been use times by times, and always work even though it from centuries. I think the world is big, get to know it will help us have a better look about everything. It is amazing that we could use our own sense to organize everything about our life and get experience by it. Doubting is as same as giving us a chance to understanding more about the world we are living in, than we have a courage to know about it much more better. Gaining more knowledge is never too much, getting it from our teacher; your friend is some of the simple ways to understanding more about our life in specific and the world in general. Work Cited . â€Å"Aristotle . † Internaet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. IEP , 21 2005. Web. 3 Nov 2012. Gill, N. S.. â€Å"Plato – Greek Philosopher. † Ancient / Classical History. About. com. Web. 3 Nov 2012. . â€Å"Greek Philosopher Plato. † AllAboutPhilosophy. org. AllAboutPhilosophy. org. Web. 3 Nov 2012 . â€Å"Plato. † Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Richard Kraut. Web. 3 Nov 2012. . â€Å"Plato. † Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Richard Kraut , 16 2011. Web. 3 Nov 2012. . â€Å"Plato. † Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. IEP, 9 2009. Web. 3 Nov 2012. Shields, Christopher. â€Å"Aristotle. † Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Christopher Shields, 25 2008. Web. 3 Nov 2012.

Trending and predicting movements of economic indicators Dissertation

Trending and predicting movements of economic indicators - Dissertation Example One financial instrument that is normally used by governments is the issuance of treasury bills or government bonds wherein the earning interest rates will generally be followed by the banks of that country. By using the interest rates that will define the treasury-bill holder’s earnings will slowly influence the financial market to adjust its interest rates. In the absence of other economic indicators, the treasury-bill interest rates will not only be adopted by the banks in their own financial transactions but it will also be used as the bench mark for the amount of money that will be available to borrowers. In theory, if the interest rates are low more people will borrow money from the banks. If the interest rates are high, the theory sustains that little to no borrower will loan money from the banks and most economic activity will be financed from in-house sources. Other instruments or means of conducting monetary policy includes making the government as the lender of last resort wherein the government will be the source of funds that will be available to borrowers normally a function provided by banks and other financial institutions. Another means of conducting monetary policy includes changing the reserve requirements in banks in order for them to operate. Another is where the government announces its intent to reduce or control inflation or by simply indicating the interest rates it wants for the money it intends to loan out. And last but not the least is moral suasions.... One financial instrument that is normally used by governments is the issuance of treasury bills or government bonds wherein the earning interest rates will generally be followed by the banks of that country. By using the interest rates that will define the treasury-bill holder’s earnings will slowly influence the financial market to adjust its interest rates. In the absence of other economic indicators the treasury-bill interest rates will not only be adopted by the banks in their own financial transactions but it will also be used as the bench mark for the amount of money that will be available to borrowers. In theory, if the interest rates are low more people will borrow money from the banks. If the interest rates are high the theory sustains that little no borrower will loan money from the banks and most economic activity will be financed from in-house sources. Other instruments or means of conducting monetary policy includes making the government as the lender of last reso rt wherein the government will be the source of funds that will be available to borrowers normally banks and other financial institutions. Another means of conducting monetary policy includes changing the reserve requirements in banks in order for them to operate. Another is where the government announces its intent to reduce or control inflation or by simply indicating the interest rates it wants for the money it intends to loan out. And last but not the least is moral suasions or influencing financial institutions about their operating onuses. This paper was primarily completed using secondary sources and some data made available by the professor. The support and anchor of this paper rests on the theories propounded in the literature review. Literature Review This research is

Perform a rhetorical analysis of a work of your choosing Essay - 1

Perform a rhetorical analysis of a work of your choosing - Essay Example Some advertisers focus on a particular age group and design the advertisement on their perception about what the people of that age group would like to see (Haase, 1931 pp 67-80). On the other hand, other advertisers use a different approach to target their customers. They make up a plan to target their customers by dividing them in the gender groups. The common theme of those advertisements is the use of texts and visuals to attract the customers. Designing an advertisement campaign for children would require the marketers to use cartoon characters, colourful pictures and creative art work to attract them, whereas, such an advertisement would fail to grab the attention of professional people to sale machinery or equipments (Macleod, 2009 pp. 23-45). Hence, the use of symbols, language and illustrations is of immense importance in targeting audience and increasing sales. The rhetoric analysis is helpful in evaluating the success of advertisements in capturing the attention of consume rs by the use of symbolic and textual information. The symbolic features of an advertisement also give some information about the product. Firstly the advertisement of Camel contains eye-catching pictures and excellent colour contacts to grab the attention of the consumers. The advertisement has made use of different font styles and sizes to make it look more unique. The use of font sizes and styles greatly depend on what the advertiser really wants to tell the customer and what is necessary or obligatory to include but not desired by the advertiser. The main message that the advertiser of Camel cigarette wants to deliver is the different flavours available for the season. This advertising campaign seems to be for a limited season. It states that â€Å"There’s only one season to indulge in both† and further names the season with the flavour it has â€Å""Camel Winter MochaMint, a chilly blast of peppermint and Mocha [or] Camel Warm Winter Toffee, a swirl of sweet indu lgence, cool and minty or warm & toasty.† The Camel advertisement features a female with a good physical appearance. These characters basically point towards the targeted audience. The picture of that female character with slim body and distinct style separating the two flavours of the cigarette by her leg is more likely to attract teenagers and age groups between 20 and 30. Camel’s advertisement is more likely to gather female consumers for the brand. The colour scheme of Camel’s advertisement and the icons used are more motivated to target teenagers. The smile and the way the girl is depicted while smoking seems more like a fashionable and pleasurable practice. Teenagers may want to try it once, especially girls, to look trendy, fashionable and modern. Camel’s advertisement does not weigh equal in visual and textual elements and more emphasis is placed on the use of pictures, colours and symbols. Cigarettes have increasingly become famous in the world to day and to keep the flow of purchases in this world the manufacturers have to advertise their products. The advertisements of cigarettes are hard to make which is only because of the fact that cigarettes are supposed to be harmful to human life. In this case the manufacturers have to be very careful when advertising for their products. Such an example of cigarette advertisement can be viewed in the advertisement of Camel. The manufacturers have been very careful when

Military History Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Military History - Research Paper Example Army professional can draw from military history how areas such as casualty evacuation were managed during the Vietnam War as compared to the Civil war. Moreover, military history also enables army professionals to promote the continuity of this history by learning its value. These incentives reinforce why army professional should study military history. Introduction Winning a war requires a combination of factors, and military history is part these forces. Being in the army calls for a rich understanding of military history, which dates back to hundreds of years (Jessup, Robert, & Coakley, 2005). Today, there are few people who see the value of military history. Instead, many people believe that study of military history has no place in the current world, where war is modernized and fought using sophisticated arms. Needless to say, there are many incentives that military professional can gain through the study of military history. The United States has a collection of chronological records detailing the experiences of soldiers, war events and development of arms that add to the rich history of its military history. Overlooking these resources is not welcome, particularly when military professionals do not take time from their busy schedules to glean from these records. While many military professionals remain deployed in various hot spots, taking the time to study military history has the potential of increasing their success in war. Through the study of military history, army professionals can learn how to make appropriate decisions, manage situations in war, engage threats in war, and promote continuity of military history. Value of Military History Managing war The role of military history in teaching army professionals how to manage wars cannot be underestimated. Professional army personnel must be ready to understand how wars are managed in order to achieve defined objectives. The methodology to manage wars is an essential aspect of military history. This is because those studying military histories can see those gains made by other soldiers and reflect on them. Possibly, these army professionals can gain new insights on how war and surrounding situation can be managed to produce outcomes that align with desired objectives. For instance, there are many aspects of management that army professional can learn from history. During the Vietnam War, the United States army made significant gains by making one of the most lauded evacuation programs in military history. Military history books detail that the United States army used helicopters to conduct aeromedical evacuation that helped save the lives of many soldiers in the war. Army professionals taking military history can study this literature in depth and gain a thorough understanding of how these evacuations were possible. When studying this information, military professionals would appreciate that such services were available during the American Civil war where many solider died of their wounds (Britannica Educational Pub, 2010). Certainly, military professionals who study military history will understand the value casualty management and other facets of war. Decision making Studying military history has the potential of improving the ability of army professional to make correct decisions. Decision-making is an art that requires perfection over time. Nonetheless, reading military histo