Key Distinctions Between Positivism And Phenomenology

Key Distinctions Between Positivism And Phenomenology The purpose of research is simple according to Francis Dane (1990: 212) in that it is a means by which we seek to acquire knowledge and understanding by answering questions about the world. Knowledge is a very important concept which is closely related to the concept of epistemology; defined as the study or theory of the origin, nature and limits of knowledge (May, 2001). The theory of Positivism is an epistemological position that concerns the application of the methods of the natural sciences to the study of social reality and beyond (Bryman, 2004). Smith (1998) states that Positivist approaches to the social sciences . . . assume things can be studied as hard facts and the relationship between these facts can be established as scientific laws. For positivists, such laws have the status of truth and social objects can be studied in much the same way as natural objects. The general elements of positivism, adapted from Bond (1989), Easterby-Smith et al (1997), and Hughes (1994) are concerned with methodology, value-freedom, causality, operationalisation, independence and reductionism (cit May, 2001). Basically, all research should be quantitative as it is only such data that can be the basis for valid generalizations and laws. In order for facts to be measured quantitatively, concepts must be operationalised accordingly. The choice of what to study, a nd how to study it, should be determined by objective criteria rather than by human beliefs and interests. Positivism also addresses that the aim of research should be to identify causal explanations and fundamental laws that explain human behavior. Positivists also believe that the role of the researcher should be independent of the subject under examination and also, if problems are reduced to their simplest possible elements then they will be better understood (Bryman, 2004). Positivists therefore most commonly use close ended questionnaires and structured interviews when conducting research as they best suit the requirements embraced within this theory of knowledge. The theory of phenomenology can be used in contrast to Positivism as it concerns the question of how individuals make sense of the world around them. Alfred Schutz (1962) states The world of nature as explored by the natural scientist does not mean anything to molecules, atoms and electrons. But the observational field of the social scientist social reality- has a specific meaning and relevance structure for the beings living, acting, and thinking within it. By a series of common sense constructs they have pre selected and pre interpreted this world which they experience as the reality of the lives. It is these thought objects of theirs which determine their behavior by motivating it. The thought objects constructed by the social scientist, in order to grasp this social reality, have to be founded upon the thought objects constructed by the common sense thinking of men, living their daily life within the social world. (cit Bryman, 2004) This firstly illustrates that there is a fundamental difference between the matter of natural science and social science. It asserts that human action is meaningful and it is thus the job of the social scientist to gain access to peoples thinking and actions to interpret them from the persons point of view. Phenomenology places great importance on Webers concept of verstehen and thus has an empathetic approach towards the research sample (May, 2001). Phenemenologists focus on meaning and understanding and therefore do not generate or test hypotheses (deductivism) as positivists do; nor do they focus on collecting facts that provide laws. An example of a phenomenological study is that carried out by Foster (1995) who used participant observation and semi structured interviews in the Riverside area of London. Official statistics, of which positivists approve, illustrated extremely high levels of crime. Foster however, as a phenomenologist wanted to measure the human attitudes to crime in the area. Her findings can be contrasted to the areas statistics as she found that residents did not perceive the estate to be of a high level crime, nor did they feel insecure or unsafe (Bryman, 2004). Question Two With use of examples distinguish between qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Distinguish between nominal, ordinal and continuous quantitative data and discuss briefly how these might all be used in a research project. Qualitative data emphasizes words rather than quantification in the collection and analysis of data. Qualitative data is mainly carried out by phenomenologists and used for inductive reasoning (Bryman, 2004). It involves collecting written or verbal information of the variables that the researcher is interested in. This data is more descriptive than numbers and can be obtained through questionnaires, focus groups, interviews and discussions (Fulcher and Scott, 2003). As it emphasizes the ways in which individuals interpret their social world, it is rejected by most positivists. Although qualitative research is typically associated with generating theories it can however be employed for testing theories as Adler and Adlers study (1985) on the exploration of educational attainment and sports participation illustrates this (Bryman, 2004). Qualitative data can often be hard to analyze as it involves studying often lengthy and complex documents but overall, it has a deeper richness and me aning than empirical data. In contrast to qualitative data is that of quantitative data. This data describes something in numbers and thus emphasizes quantification in the collection and analysis of data (Bryman, 2004). This numerical data is carried out mainly by positivists and thus embodies the view that social reality is an objective reality. Quantitative data enables information to be easily tested and analyzed in order to provide statistics and facts such as official statistics. Questionnaires and telephone surveys consisting of structured and closed ended questions are ways in which this data is carried out. Although quantitative data enables generalizations to be made and trends to be found, it does however lose the value of meaning as it consists merely of numbers rather than description and explanations. Data can either be nominal, ordinal or continuous. Nominal data consists of a variable with no implicit order such as race, sex or religion. This data therefore can be counted but cannot be ordered or measured (May, 2001). Nominal data can be used in a research project by for example, coding males as zero, females as one or coding the marital status of an individual as Y if they are married or N if they are single. This must however be planned and carried out carefully as confusion and lack of clarity when analyzing the data can occur. Ordinal data however is different to nominal data in that it may counted and ordered but it cannot be measured. Ordinal values can therefore be ranked as they have a natural order; age or level of satisfaction are examples of ordinal variables (Bryman, 2004). For example, if a group of people were asked to taste varieties of biscuit and classify each biscuit on a rating scale of one to five, representing strongly dislike, dislike, neutral and so on, a rating of five indicates more enjoyment than a rating of four, illustrating that such data is ordinal. Continuous data however concerns variables that can take any possible value. This data can be counted, ordered or measured continuous and may include, for example height, weight or temperature. Question Three Discuss the importance of reliability and validity in the operationalisation of concepts in research. Compare a focus group, an individual semi structured interview and survey in terms of the ease with which reliability and validity may be assured. Reliability refers to the extent to which a measurement instrument yields consistent, stable and uniform results over repeated observations or measurements under the same conditions each time (Fulcher, 2003). Validity however refers to the accuracy and truth of the data and findings that are produced. It refers to the concepts that are being investigated, the people or objects that are being studied, the methods by which data are collected and the findings that are produced (May, 2001). A study is valid if and only if it tests what it sets out to test. There are several different types of validity which are face validity, content validity, criterion-related validity, construct validity, internal validity and external validity (Bryman, 2004). Data can be reliable without being valid. Those that support qualitative methods argue that quantitative methods lack validity but are often reliable. Qualitative methods are criticized for being unreliable and unsystematic as there is no way of replicating the study and checking the reliability of the findings. Thus positivists whose concepts need to be operationalised in a way that enables facts to be measured quantitatively, place great importance on the reliability of data as it enables them monitor trends over time and to use them as a future secondary data source. Surveys such as questionnaires are considered as being reliable as there is a much lower risk of subjectivity or bias when compared to, for example, interviews or a focus group. Surveys, whether they consist of closed ended questions or matrix questions, often lack in validity however as the researcher might not have measured exactly what was intended to be measured. For example, if a researcher posted out questionnaires on the perception of crime, applicants might not be able to answer to answer questions fully only by ticking certain boxes. On the other hand however, a semi structured interview would be more valid than a survey as it specifically aims to allow the respondent to voice their opinion and have an equal input into the conversation. Personal interviewing is also better suited for difficult or sensitive issues rather than for example a focus group as an interview is more intimate and provides the respondent with the opportunity to open up. A semi structured interview howe ver can be unreliable as well as unrepresentative as if the interviewer approached another individual to participate in the same interview, their views may be completely different to that of the original interviewees. As there are a multiple people in a focus group, however, the data attained is often therefore more valid than in an interview. An advantage of a focus group is that challenges can be made to contrasting view points which cannot be done in an interview. The validity of a focus group can be challenged however if a number of people dominate the conversation as it does not provide everyone with an equal opportunity to speak. Focus groups are slightly more reliable than a semi structured interview but not as reliable as a survey. Therefore, for research to both reliable and valid many researchers employ more than one method of research such as carrying out surveys and conducting focus groups. This is known as triangulation (Fulcher, 2003). Question Four Select one of the three sets of research case studies presented at the end of the module guide. Critically assess the research presented. Your answer should make reference to validity and reliability of methods; it should detail any additional information you might require, why this may be required and what if any reservations you might have regarding the study. (Please refer to appendix One for the details of case 3) It is evident that case three entitled Do we need to educate people to question authority more carefully given evidence of inappropriate obedience is valid, as it quite simply tests what it was set out to test. The mere fact that ninety percent of subjects were prepared to apply shocks of up to 450 volts because they were asked to do so by a person of authority of which over half (twenty six out of forty) of them did just that confirms the cases validity. Internal validity is prominent in this case as the independent variable that is the distribution of electric shocks, has an effect on the dependent variable that is the subjects. The validity of the study is also increased as the sample is quite large since it consisted of forty subjects. Had it have been a smaller sample, there would have been a high chance that a completely different set of results could have been obtained. Given that the reported data was qualitative as the research method employed was that of observation and thu s that the likelihood of stable or uniform results being produced in a repetition of the experiment is low, it is clearly evident that the study lacks reliability. However, if for example the researcher had asked the subjects to complete a questionnaire after the experiment, then the data would have been classed as being reliable. There is one major ethical concern with this experiment as the subjects were informed that they were required to give electric shocks to other human beings. This is clearly inhumane treatment; therefore the researcher should have altered the experiment in order to avoid this. Another concern with this experiment is that there is no mention of a control group as we are only informed of the experimented group, that being the forty subjects. This is necessary to monitor the effectiveness of the variables in an experiment. Another concern is that although some of the subjects may have been sweating and were nervous this may have been due to the fact that they were being observed in an abnormal environment and not due to the effects of the carrying out of the experiment. Being in such an environment may therefore affect the validity and reliability of the data. Additional information on the comments made by subjects concerning the experiment would be beneficial as would more information o n actually educating people on questioning authority. Overall, the study was a success in that it sought sufficient data in relation to answering the proposal. The reliability of the experiment however was threatened because of factors such as the research method employed (observation). More information could have been disclosed in the data regarding the subjects reactions and comments. The experiment should also have not focused on the unethical issue of giving electric shocks.

Habeas Corpus

In this essay the subject of Habeas Corpus and what events that take place to have Habeas Corpus to he suspended by executive orders from the President’s of the United States. The circumstances, that transpired that empower certain presidents to have such authority gave down by Congress, to implement the extreme acts to protect our Nation. The two most important issues for our country are to keep National Security and Public Safety.But in the time war or an act of aggression on United State soil, Presidents have to use his commander and chief obligations without a lot diplomatic procedures. The objective of this essay is to give three of the most historical suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 handed down from England, and to give what action were taken and how the writ of Habeas Corpus was re-instated by congress. On the final explanation, how right of Habeas Corpus and why inmates use this as the final resources to petition for re-investigate cases and the courts do n ot wrongfully imprison innocent people.Habeas Corpus and Why It Can Be Suspended From Detainees Habeas Corpus is a writ that was formed as Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 and is used to keep and individual from being unlawfully imprisoned. It is not to established guilt or innocence. In the history of Habeas Corpus, in the United States, Presidents had used their war-time executive order power to suspend Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 and/or declared martial law in some of the cases researched. Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and George W. Bush are the most prominent names in concerning suspension of Habeas Corpus.In civilian courts, the U. S. Supreme overseer’s petitions for Habeas Corpus, but most cases are for prisoner’s death role or prisoners that are serving life sentence for murder, rare, or three-strike offenders. In all of this, suspension of Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, decisions were made carried out, and supported by legislative and judiciary branches of government to keep threat of National Security or public Safety, those said right to Habeas Corpus, should be suspended for those being detained. President Abraham Lincoln, in his first hours of his Presidency, was already responding with the start of the U.S. Civil War. Maryland was leading towards siding with the confederacy. Since Washington D. C. is encircled in the States, it was most important to have the state of Maryland, to be loyal to the union. Without this, Union troop movement, in Maryland, to defend the White House, would be impossible. The war would have gone in a Confederate victory. With all that, President Lincoln was facing to protect National Security; He issued an order to military commanders suspending Habeas corpus during the Civil War, which allowed the military to arrest and detain persons without trail for an indefinite time.Congress later passes a law suspending Habeas Corpus, (2005). After the Civil War was over, one detainee named Lambdin P. Milligan , who was charged with conspiracy, and sentenced to be hung. He appealed his case and the U. S. Supreme condemned President Lincoln’s order having military jurisdiction over civilian outside the war zone (1999). President Franklin D. Roosevelt, after Japans’ surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and the Declaration of War on Japan, exercised his executive authority. In the beginning of the U. S. ngagement in World War II, President Roosevelt was concerned with Japanese people residing in the United States. Because of the way Japan orchestrated the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and then a U. S. Territory, the threat of National Security was everywhere (1999). President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued orders authorizing the establishment of â€Å"military areas† from which dangerous persons could be expelled or excluded. This order was issued to designate the West Coast, a military area and to remove and imprison one hundred-twenty-thousand Japanese Americans in â€Å"relocati on location centers† for the duration.With the seriousness, then of national Security, of danger the U. S. Supreme Court upheld the order of relocation, during the war. In more modern times, on September 11, 2001, terrorists’ attacked the United States at New York City (World Trade Center) and Washington D. C. (Pentagon). Upon those attacks, congress authorized President George W. Bush authority to use force to fight a war on terrorism. President Bush issued orders, in October and November 2001, to mobilize National Guard and Army Reserve Units and ordered the detention Enemy Combat Personnel.President Bush held military trials for suspected terrorists. Many of these prisoners would be detained for an indefinite time. Even after President Bush presidency was over, most of his anti-terror policies are still being enforced, â€Å"because, well, they seem to have prevented further attacks. † In closing, Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 is essential to the due process of a trial, at a certain date, certain place, and certain time, for a court to examine the charges or release of custody from a detention center.In cases of extreme circumstances of a felony charges, which is a threat National Security and Public Safety the writ of Habeas Corpus should be suspended. When the authority of such punitive action is exercised, dangerous persons are out of harm’s way of the innocent by-stander. But for the wrongfully accused, it is their last chance to petition to the U. S. Supreme Court to review their case and possibly re-trial to prove detainees innocence. Habeas Corpus Habeas Corpus. The name of this play is quite strange, it made me think of death (corpse), maybe a hideous corpse. My first impressions when I heard that we were going to see the play were very confused. Written by Alan Bennett, Habeas Corpus was a play written by a playwright I had never heard of before, so I had no real expectations. The impressions I did have were completely different from the play I was presented with at the Theatre by the Lake. The theatre is in an idealistic setting in the heart of the Lake District, which is a main tourist area in the U.K., so this means that the majority of audiences will be mainly tourists on holiday and so will be from a wide range of backgrounds and a lot of different age groups. The venue was useful in the setting of the play. The set used a holiday theme and this was very effective and fitted in well with the plot of the play too. I didn't know anything about the director, so I couldn't think what sort of drama forms he might use. The performance spanned April to November, so I don't think that the time of year it was presented in is important, as it would be for example a pantomime at Christmas, but it just so happened to be on in the busiest time of the tourist season, so the holiday theme was appropriate here too. The play was performed on an end-on stage, of average size with a proscenium arch and a large apron, which was used effectively throughout the performance to help the actors communicate directly to the audience. The set was arranged around an acting area painted in white upon the stage, this was so the entire audience could see the whole play without missing any action on the extremities of the stage. However this meant that when an actor made his/her entrance they had to reach the area before they could deliver their line and move on and off with speed. In the middle of the area, there was the main piece of furniture, a white psychiatrists' chair that doubled up as a bench, bed, sofa and part of the pier. This was achieved by painting the bottom with a wood planking design, same as the stage to create an easily adaptable but bland stage not to detract from the actors' performance. The backcloth was a board surrounded with different colored lights, the purpose of which I will explain later. The main reason was to make a postcard/cartoon effect in the middle was a picture of the sea with stuffed seagulls mounted on the front, to add to the surrealist feel. To portray the doctors house, there were three cartoon pictures came down from the ceiling one a skeleton, to remind the characters that death is always looming, a typical old man to remind them that we are all getting older and closer to death and a busty young woman with an hourglass figure to remind them to seize the moment. The plot was very complicated and I feel the best way to explain it briefly is to name the main characters and their role in ‘life'. Dennis- a confused, sexually deprived, geeky young man who is a typical hypochondriac and thinks he is going to die, but is desperate for love (mainly sex) before he does. He falls in love with the voluptuously beautiful Felicity a rich young woman whom wants to use Dennis by marriage before he dies to annoy her mother, also sex mad. Dr Wicksteed is Dennis' father and a perverted doctor who likes nothing more than slyly touching up young rich paying patients, namely Felicity and is desperate for love before he dies. His wife Mrs. Wicksteed is in love with the head doctor Sir Percy Shorter, who doesn't love her any more but finds lust in Felicity who turns out to be his daughter. There are also extra characters like Connie Dennis's Aunt who is very pathetic (until she gets her wonderbra). She is engaged to The Perverted Vicar who preferred her when she looked like a boy. He also stared up the skirt of Felicity's Mother on the train, she had a war time affair with Sir Percy. Connie fal ls in love with the Wonderbra salesperson that is chased by Mrs. Wicksteed. Finally, there is the Suicide fanatic, a non-paying patient who is always trying to end his life via hanging throughout the play but finds no sympathy. The narrator is the Wicksteeds' family cleaner Mrs. Swabb, who guides us through this otherwise confusing play with humour. Not surprisingly, the main theme in this play was sex and relationships. There were also: – marriage – love – death – promiscuity as main themes. The play was set in the early 1970's when the promiscuous society was just becoming accepted. It was also very obviously a farce and a comedy even though it touched upon serious themes. The costumes reflected the characters that wore them. For example Dennis wore orange checked flares and a jumper too small for him, this symbolizes his inexperience and how he is still very much a youth, underneath he wore a dull red flowery shirt that went well with a purple jacket he used for the wedding. His make up was just spots all over his face and gel in his hair to make him appear greasy and unclean. All the characters wore colorful clothes, which stood out against the bland background apart from Connie who in the beginning wore brown unexciting clothes. This made her appear the same age as Dennis even though she was meant to be his Aunt. In the end though, she appeared in a spangled mini dress with fur and high heels, this showed that since she found love with the salesperson she had ‘come out of her shell'. Lighting was a main feature of the performance. For most of the time, there was just a main spotlight focusing on the acting area. . For special effects the lights I mentioned earlier, surrounding the backdrop were very important. In love scenes (e.g.-Where Connie and Sir Percy dance the Tango) the lights illuminated the stage in a soft red glow and when there was a game show section in the performance where they flashed on and off in different colors like a fairground. I found this very effective and it added variety to the performance. Sound was used very little in the production. One very effective use of sound and motion was when Connie opened her Wonderbra. Because it was made from the same material as the Apollo space crafts the music came on as the Apollo Mission Theme Tune and the actors ‘swooped' down to see the content of the box in very slow motion. This was both comical and made it interesting. The only other music was to dance to and a heartbeat in the quiz. Also there were bombing sounds to resemble the blitz when Felicity's mother was telling the story of how her and Sir Percy met. It gave the impression that you were there in the action as it was happening like when you were a child watching a good film. The rest of the actors were very still so they did not detract any attention from the story. Some of the drama forms used were subtle but worked well. Here is my favorite: -Still imaging- they made photographic poses around the centre of attention to focus our attention to the person and so we could see everyone in a way that was pleasing to the eye, colorful and interesting also this is related to the postcard theme of the set design. All the actors were very believable but not in a normal way. You know that they were too stereotypical to be true and that it was a farce but they still came through as real people. All the characters stood out to me in their own special way, and you could relate to all of them in some way so this made them interesting to watch. If you think about it, the farce comes out of laughing at your own faults and how stereotypical we are as much as we want to think we aren't. This was the most important thing in the play, the way they looked at society was original. I really enjoyed Habeas Corpus, it was thought provoking and made you look at yourself in a different light. It made me laugh and delivered a serious message at the same time- don't waste your life and seize every opportunity you get. Habeas Corpus Habeas Corpus. The name of this play is quite strange, it made me think of death (corpse), maybe a hideous corpse. My first impressions when I heard that we were going to see the play were very confused. Written by Alan Bennett, Habeas Corpus was a play written by a playwright I had never heard of before, so I had no real expectations. The impressions I did have were completely different from the play I was presented with at the Theatre by the Lake. The theatre is in an idealistic setting in the heart of the Lake District, which is a main tourist area in the U.K., so this means that the majority of audiences will be mainly tourists on holiday and so will be from a wide range of backgrounds and a lot of different age groups. The venue was useful in the setting of the play. The set used a holiday theme and this was very effective and fitted in well with the plot of the play too. I didn't know anything about the director, so I couldn't think what sort of drama forms he might use. The performance spanned April to November, so I don't think that the time of year it was presented in is important, as it would be for example a pantomime at Christmas, but it just so happened to be on in the busiest time of the tourist season, so the holiday theme was appropriate here too. The play was performed on an end-on stage, of average size with a proscenium arch and a large apron, which was used effectively throughout the performance to help the actors communicate directly to the audience. The set was arranged around an acting area painted in white upon the stage, this was so the entire audience could see the whole play without missing any action on the extremities of the stage. However this meant that when an actor made his/her entrance they had to reach the area before they could deliver their line and move on and off with speed. In the middle of the area, there was the main piece of furniture, a white psychiatrists' chair that doubled up as a bench, bed, sofa and part of the pier. This was achieved by painting the bottom with a wood planking design, same as the stage to create an easily adaptable but bland stage not to detract from the actors' performance. The backcloth was a board surrounded with different colored lights, the purpose of which I will explain later. The main reason was to make a postcard/cartoon effect in the middle was a picture of the sea with stuffed seagulls mounted on the front, to add to the surrealist feel. To portray the doctors house, there were three cartoon pictures came down from the ceiling one a skeleton, to remind the characters that death is always looming, a typical old man to remind them that we are all getting older and closer to death and a busty young woman with an hourglass figure to remind them to seize the moment. The plot was very complicated and I feel the best way to explain it briefly is to name the main characters and their role in ‘life'. Dennis- a confused, sexually deprived, geeky young man who is a typical hypochondriac and thinks he is going to die, but is desperate for love (mainly sex) before he does. He falls in love with the voluptuously beautiful Felicity a rich young woman whom wants to use Dennis by marriage before he dies to annoy her mother, also sex mad. Dr Wicksteed is Dennis' father and a perverted doctor who likes nothing more than slyly touching up young rich paying patients, namely Felicity and is desperate for love before he dies. His wife Mrs. Wicksteed is in love with the head doctor Sir Percy Shorter, who doesn't love her any more but finds lust in Felicity who turns out to be his daughter. There are also extra characters like Connie Dennis's Aunt who is very pathetic (until she gets her wonderbra). She is engaged to The Perverted Vicar who preferred her when she looked like a boy. He also stared up the skirt of Felicity's Mother on the train, she had a war time affair with Sir Percy. Connie fal ls in love with the Wonderbra salesperson that is chased by Mrs. Wicksteed. Finally, there is the Suicide fanatic, a non-paying patient who is always trying to end his life via hanging throughout the play but finds no sympathy. The narrator is the Wicksteeds' family cleaner Mrs. Swabb, who guides us through this otherwise confusing play with humour. Not surprisingly, the main theme in this play was sex and relationships. There were also: – marriage – love – death – promiscuity as main themes. The play was set in the early 1970's when the promiscuous society was just becoming accepted. It was also very obviously a farce and a comedy even though it touched upon serious themes. The costumes reflected the characters that wore them. For example Dennis wore orange checked flares and a jumper too small for him, this symbolizes his inexperience and how he is still very much a youth, underneath he wore a dull red flowery shirt that went well with a purple jacket he used for the wedding. His make up was just spots all over his face and gel in his hair to make him appear greasy and unclean. All the characters wore colorful clothes, which stood out against the bland background apart from Connie who in the beginning wore brown unexciting clothes. This made her appear the same age as Dennis even though she was meant to be his Aunt. In the end though, she appeared in a spangled mini dress with fur and high heels, this showed that since she found love with the salesperson she had ‘come out of her shell'. Lighting was a main feature of the performance. For most of the time, there was just a main spotlight focusing on the acting area. . For special effects the lights I mentioned earlier, surrounding the backdrop were very important. In love scenes (e.g.-Where Connie and Sir Percy dance the Tango) the lights illuminated the stage in a soft red glow and when there was a game show section in the performance where they flashed on and off in different colors like a fairground. I found this very effective and it added variety to the performance. Sound was used very little in the production. One very effective use of sound and motion was when Connie opened her Wonderbra. Because it was made from the same material as the Apollo space crafts the music came on as the Apollo Mission Theme Tune and the actors ‘swooped' down to see the content of the box in very slow motion. This was both comical and made it interesting. The only other music was to dance to and a heartbeat in the quiz. Also there were bombing sounds to resemble the blitz when Felicity's mother was telling the story of how her and Sir Percy met. It gave the impression that you were there in the action as it was happening like when you were a child watching a good film. The rest of the actors were very still so they did not detract any attention from the story. Some of the drama forms used were subtle but worked well. Here is my favorite: -Still imaging- they made photographic poses around the centre of attention to focus our attention to the person and so we could see everyone in a way that was pleasing to the eye, colorful and interesting also this is related to the postcard theme of the set design. All the actors were very believable but not in a normal way. You know that they were too stereotypical to be true and that it was a farce but they still came through as real people. All the characters stood out to me in their own special way, and you could relate to all of them in some way so this made them interesting to watch. If you think about it, the farce comes out of laughing at your own faults and how stereotypical we are as much as we want to think we aren't. This was the most important thing in the play, the way they looked at society was original. I really enjoyed Habeas Corpus, it was thought provoking and made you look at yourself in a different light. It made me laugh and delivered a serious message at the same time- don't waste your life and seize every opportunity you get.

Staff Development and Performance Appraisal in a Brazilian Research Centre

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www. emeraldinsight. com/1460-1060. htm Staff development and performance appraisal in a Brazilian research centre Cristina Lourenco Ubeda and Fernando Cesar Almada Santos ? Staff development and appraisal 109 ? ? University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil Abstract Purpose – The aim of this paper is to analyse the staff development and performance appraisal in a Brazilian research centre.Design/methodology/approach – The key issues of this case study are: the main organisational changes which have taken place over the last decades; the aspects of the organisational structure that have either contributed to or hindered competence-based management; the development of necessary researchers’ competences related to main projects and processes and the way of appraising the development of their competences.The analysis of this paper was carried out considering the following phases: strategic plannin g, speci? cations of projects and processes, competence-based management and performance appraisal of researchers. Findings – Although integration was found between the performance measurement and strategic plans de? ned by the research centre, competence-based management is still centred on individuals and based on their tasks. The link between researchers’ competences and their social context is not considered.Originality/value – Feedback from the results of research projects and recycling of organisational processes would allow the studied organisation not only to identify the individual competences necessary for each activity, but also to improve the relationship between professional growth and innovation brought about by competitive strategies of companies. Keywords Competences, Innovation, Human resource management, Performance appraisal, Research organizations, Brazil Paper type Case study IntroductionCurrent competitive markets are highly in? uenced by t he markets being globalised, technological innovation and stiff competition. Competence-based management appears in this scenario as an approach to human resource management which provides interaction between human resource systems and a company’s strategy (Santos, 2000; Schuler and Jackson, 1995; Meshoulam and Baird, 1987). Technological changes require companies to develop human competences as an important factor to achieve success and have competitive advantage (Drejer and Riis, 1999).The main objective of developing competences is to enable people to assimilate the skills, knowledge and attitudes necessary for their jobs (Sandberg, 2000). Strategic human resource management has attempted to link its practices to innovation strategies of companies which deal with changing, unpredictable and demanding markets (Hagan, 1996; Huselid et al. , 1997; Mills et al. , 1998; Jayaram et al. , 1999; Drejer, 2000a; Ray et al. , 2004). Human resource management consists of systems such as selection, staff’s performance appraisal, career management, compensation and motivation practices.European Journal of Innovation Management Vol. 10 No. 1, 2007 pp. 109-125 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1460-1060 DOI 10. 1108/14601060710720573 EJIM 10,1 110 All these systems may favour or hinder the development of competences which are necessary for a company’s strategy (Sandberg, 2000). The systems in human resources may help a company to increase its competitiveness by implementing competence-based management. Models for competence-based management have been widely used in order to align individual abilities with core competences of a company.A structure of competences is basically understood as a link between people’s development and a company’s strategy. Competence-based management uses a structure of competences to align its strategic objectives with its key processes in human resource management (Le Deist and Winterton, 2005). The aim of thi s paper is to analyse a Brazilian research centre by reinforcing the main challenges of implementing competence-based management in this centre which deals with innovation.Its mission is to develop solutions for sustainable development of Brazilian agribusinesses by creating, adapting and transferring knowledge and technology to bene? t society (Ubeda, 2003, p. 50). This research is relevant because: . it highlights the production and transfer of technology as a distinct factor in terms of innovation which allows companies to achieve a leading position in international markets (Fleury and Fleury, 2004); and . the development of competences which is directly linked to market demands is analysed (Mans? ld, 2004; Schroeder et al. , 2002; Hagan, 1996; Drejer, 2000a; Drejer and Riis, 1999). As a consequence, this analysis is based on a theoretical proposal concerning the development of individual competences which reinforces performance appraisal as a tool to identify and monitor staffâ €™s competences, as well as taking into account a company’s core competence and external demands. The paper is based on three relevant topics: (1) Working competitively involves placing high value on people, considering their experiences, ideas and preferences.Their participation in organisations is necessary because employees and managers have to discuss a company’s objectives together. (2) Encouraging employees’ participation means creating opportunities to offer people a collective perspective concerning the signi? cance of their professional practice and a way of being part of the future. (3) It is fundamental to consider not only the staff’s speci? c quali? cations needed for the positions in the organisational structure, but also their knowledge, experiences, skills and results for future innovations. Individual competences which are identi? d by performance appraisal in all the hierarchical levels of an organisation are important aspects concer ning the success of a company’s competitive strategy. Once the company is aware of the individual competences needed for each process, it can identify new ways of developing its human resources by changing the focus of its human resource systems. An integrated model for human resource management with a business-oriented strategy uses individual competences as a reference for the systems in human resource management, such as selection, training and development, compensation and career management.Taking this into account, Dutra (2001, p. 27) says that: . . . organisations and people, side by side, create a continuous process of competence exchange. A company transfers its assets to the people, enriching and preparing them to face new professional and personal situations, inside or outside of the organisation. Its staff, in turn, while developing their individual abilities, transfer their learning to the organisation, providing it conditions to cope with new challenges. Competen ce-based management Competence-based management has a direct effect on the future performance of its human resources (employees, managers and directors).It also considers attitudes, values, personal characteristics and relationships in teams which are necessary for innovation and not only the knowledge and skills required for completing their jobs (Conde, 2001). Therefore, competence-based management is a strategic practice which aims at increasing the global performance of a corporation by increasing the individual performance of its employees (Hagan, 1996). It is necessary to identify factors which produce differences between individuals according to the results of their jobs and experiences (Moore et al. , 2002; Drejer, 2000b).For this reason, every company which strives for competitiveness in its market recognises that competence-based management and performance appraisal are strategic functions, as this has brought about innovation by recycling companies’ processes and i ndividuals’ activities (Bitencourt, 2004; Drejer and Riis, 1999; Houtzagers, 1999; Baker et al. , 1997). Competence-based management creates opportunities for effective strategic human resource management. However, without performance appraisals, both for individuals and teams, a company can neither monitor its own development nor the progress of its staff’s performance.As a consequence, it cannot develop or manage its individual competences (Ritter et al. , 2002; Robotham and Jubb, 1996). Therefore, the main objectives of competence-based management are: . to guide managerial decisions related to providing employees with the resources necessary for them to carry out their work satisfactorily, as well as to meet their training needs; . to plan staff’s activities and identify the work conditions that in? uence their performance; . to guide the company’s human resource policies and guidelines; and . to reward, promote and even punish, warn or ? e employees. Development of individual competences When considering social interaction between people and objectives, competitive strategy makes use of a formal structure to exchange information and human resource management that provides guidelines for selection, job design and evaluation, performance appraisal and rewards (Devanna et al. , 1984). A competitive strategy formulation must be based on the strongest competences of a company. Constant progress of competences creates opportunities for systematic Staff development and appraisal 111 EJIM 10,1 112 re? ement and reformulation of competitive strategy and, by doing so, new ways can be identi? ed to develop competences (Fleury and Fleury, 2004). Developing individual competences is cyclical. According to environmental demands, companies de? ne their competitive strategy and core competences in order to channel their energy into their speci? c characteristics and, consequently, to adopt human resource systems that support the identi? cation and management of their individual competences. In this paper, development of individual competences is considered as a way of supplying information to other systems and processes.First of all, the company must: . establish what the strategy and organisational competences are; . de? ne the speci? cations of products and processes; . study the perspectives of necessary individual competences for each speci? c process; and . plan and carry out performance appraisal (Figure 1). When competence-based management is integrated into a company’s strategy, one can observe the relationship between identifying personal competences and main human resource systems: selection, training and development, compensation and career management.Companies which integrate competence-based management into strategic planning become able to make use of some tools, such as a balanced scorecard in order to measure the organisational performance in four balanced perspectives: ? nance, customers, internal processes and staff’s learning and growth. Kaplan and Norton (1997) highlight the importance of creating a strategic feedback system to test, validate and modify the hypotheses which are incorporated into strategic business units. When cause and effect relations are incorporated into the balanced scorecard, they allow executives to establish short term goals which re? ct their best expectations in de? ciencies and impacts and consequently affect performance measurements. From the feedback obtained by performance appraisal, supervisors and employees can identify what the necessary skills and knowledge are for activities to be developed, and what type of training is necessary to improve project management. Competence and human performance Individual competence associates explicit knowledge, personal skills and experiences with individuals’ results and judgement of organisational values which are obtained in ? their social context (Hipolito, 2001, p. 1; Fleury and Fleury , 2000; Zari? an, 2001; Sveiby, 1998). It considers the production and handing in of results which are linked to employees’ mobilisation, that is to say, it incorporates the value added by them to business, as shown in Figure 2. Ubeda (2003) emphasises that competence involves the individuals working closely in a team by doing practical activities, as well as their daily routine which results in a constant â€Å"know how to learn†. The individuals must be apt to take the initiative and assume responsibilities to cope with professional situations which they come across.This responsibility is undoubtedly the counterpart of decentralising decision making. Individuals will not give orders anymore, but they will individually assume the Staff development and appraisal INNOVATION 113 STRATEGY F F Mission Objectives E E E CORE COMPETENCES D B D SPECIFICATIONS OF PRODUCT AND PROCESSES A C E B A INDIVIDUAL COMPETENCES K C K PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL Figure 1. The competence developm ent process Source: Ubeda (2003, p. 50) responsibility for evaluating a situation, the required initiative and the effects that will inevitably arise from this situation.Therefore, a person or a team (when accepting responsibilities) accepts to be judged and be appraised for the achieved results in terms of performance for which they are responsible. They commit themselves to producing and handing in results of their activities. Thus, it is not possible to consider competence without presenting the logic behind human performance, as performance appraisal guides the development of individual competences according to business needs (Moore et al. , 2002; Lawler, 1995). The use of competences means rethinking the procedures of staff’s appraisal because: . . each individual becomes aware of which result must be reached and how it can be achieved. The competences form the basis of the language used to de? ne the expected behaviour which enables performance and improvement to be car ried out (Conde, 2001, p. 80). EJIM 10,1 114 INDIVIDUAL COMPETENCE SKILL Know how to do something PRODUCTION AND DELIVERY Results ATTITUDE Intend to do something POTENTIAL Knowledge Figure 2. The individual competence concept Source: Hipolito (2001, p. 81) According to Dutra (2001, p. 33), one of the most dif? ult issues concerning people management is to de? ne and appraise performance in terms of the results to be handed in by a determined person, company or business. Performance appraisal makes it possible to identify three individual aspects that interact between themselves: development, effort and behaviour (Figure 3): Each aspect must be dealt with in a different way, concerning not only the way to appraise, but also the actions which follow the appraisal. In general, companies mix these three aspects and emphasise effort and behaviour.At the current moment, staff’s professional growth is the most important aspect of performance and it is worthy of special attention (Du tra, 2001, p. 35). Dejours (1997, p. 54) highlights performance appraisal as evaluating a job that can take place in two ways: evaluating usefulness and social relationships. Evaluating the technical, social or economic usefulness of the individual is linked to the workplace and the person who does it is generally in a hierarchical position (boss, manager or organiser) to appraise the usefulness.Evaluating social relationships is related to the alignment of the job and production with standards which have been socially established by peers in the same hierarchical level which enables the individual to belong to a collective group. This evaluation is related to the job and its activities. What is appraised and evaluated is the job and not the individual. From the perspective of the human factor theory proposed by Dejours (1997, p. 55), this is an essential point because an individual’s contribution to the job effectiveness makes recognition and compensation possible.PERFORMANC E APPRAISAL BEHAVIOUR DEVELOPMENT EFFORT Figure 3. The three aspects of performance appraisal Source: Dutra (2001, p. 35) Recent studies point out models of performance appraisal based on behaviour and attitudes, but not only the ones focused on the analysis of functional features of each job (Moore et al. , 2002). They reinforce the increasing in? uence of technology, functional requisites and organisational learning in terms of developing competences (Drejer and Riis, 1999). According to Zari? an (2001, p. 121), nobody can compel individuals to be competent.A company can only create favourable conditions for their development. Thus, motivation becomes a key element in terms of developing competences. It is necessary for the employees to feel useful and be able to assume responsibilities. The individuals will be more motivated as they consider that the practice of their competences also contributes to the development of their projects and perspectives. Performance appraisal as an i nstrument to identify employees’ competences Competence-based management is supported by organisational competences that directly in? ence an individual’s competences, which are necessary for carrying out tasks and processes and, then are considered in performance appraisals. Consequently, the feedback concerning the data from these appraisals enables the whole organisation to recycle strategies and competences. Many authors highlight the dif? culty of measuring the impact of developing competences regarding a company’s performance (Mans? eld, 2004; Moore et al. , 2002; Ritter et al. , 2002; Drejer, 2000a; Sandberg, 2000; Hagan, 1996). This situation is worsened if the individual metrics of each work process are thought to be measured.Becker et al. (2001) emphasise that performance appraisal systems are incoherent in terms of what is measured and what is important. When implementing a company’s strategy, human resource managers have to be able to understa nd exactly how people contribute to a company’s results by being valuable and how to measure this contribution. This situation only takes place if these managers really participate in the development of a company’s strategy. These authors state that satisfactory performance appraisal produces two types of results: 1) it improves the decision-making processes of the sector responsible for human resource management by focusing its activities on the aspects of the organisation that contribute to the development of a company’s strategy; and (2) it provides a better allocation of resources, de? ning direct relations between human resource investments and strategic assets of a company. Developing competences in a research centre Aiming at evaluating competence-based management in practice, a case study in a research centre located in Brazil was carried out.This organisation is a unit of a Federal public research corporation which consists of 37 research centres, three national service centres and 11 central unit of? ces and is present in almost all the States of the Brazilian Federation. This corporation has invested in training and quali? cations of its staff since it was founded. In 2003, there were a total number of 8,619 employees. Out of 2,221 researchers who work in this corporation, 45 per cent have a master’s degree and 53 per cent a PhD. Staff development and appraisal 115 EJIM 10,1 16 The studied research centre is responsible for developing new technology which can facilitate the life of producers and agricultural workers in the country. The organisation was chosen because it has implemented a performance appraisal system which aligns the development of its products and processes with human resource management. Methodology An empirical study was undertaken from February to November, 2003 using the following data collection instruments: interviews with opportunities for participants’ comments and analysis of documents.Sev en professionals from this research centre were interviewed: four employees of the human resource area, the associate head of the research centre and two researchers. The participative observation of the researchers, the interviewees’ comments and the documental analysis provided a personal and close contact with the organisation identifying institutional materials, norms, routines and programs developed by the professionals. The key questions of this case study focus on: . the main organisational changes which have taken place over the last decades; . he aspects of the organisational structure that have either contributed to or hindered competence-based management; . the development of necessary researchers’ competences related to main projects and processes; and . the way of appraising the development of researchers’ competences. The case study The studied research corporation experienced some organisational changes over time that had clearly de? ned its busin ess-oriented strategy. There is a real concern about integrating this strategy with human resource management, however, the performance appraisal system shows an irregular historical background.The investigated corporation was founded in the 1970s, a period of outstanding economic growth in Brazil. Moreover, the Brazilian government supported the training of experts in research in public organs and in the agricultural sector (Ubeda, 2003). At that time, the corporation did not experience either ? nancial or human resource problems because the objective of the Federal government was to form a vanguard institution in its ? eld. The research guidelines of research were de? ned by the corporation’s headquarters and then followed by the research centres.The corporation’s concern about integrating strategies with human resource management increased from the 1990s onwards, as well as plans to implement a structured performance appraisal system (Table I). The research centres were regionally located according to product lines and were set up to solve local problems. These units followed and carried out nationwide policies, as well as guidelines de? ned by the corporation’s headquarters. At this moment, there was no concern about performance appraisal.From 1988 onwards, due to the current Federal Constitution being approved, public institutions became more concerned about the strategic management of the appraisal of processes and results, not only of the organisation but also of the individuals. Period Institution’s organisational scenario 1970s Development and consolidation of the studied corporation Employment and development of human resources Availability of ? nancial resources for project development Modernisation of management Application of strategic planning Focus on resultsAnalysis of global scenarios Rede? nition of the research centre’s mission and vision Formulation of a global policy for the organisation consisting of res earch policy, businesses’ policy, and business communication policy Focus on the customers Organisational re-structuring of processes and projects 1988-1992 1994-1998 1999-2003 Source: Ubeda (2003, p. 69) Aiming to follow these changes of organisational and technological paradigms, the studied organisation started to adopt strategic planning principles in its institutional culture and drew up its ? st corporate plan for 1988-1992. In 1991, the corporation initiated a process of organisational change, using strategic planning techniques, focusing on their operations and processes in the market, guiding research projects towards solving social problems, and not only exclusively towards the progress of pure science, attempting to ? nd an increase in ef? ciency and effectiveness to continue being competitive and to guarantee its sustainability (Nader et al. , 1998).From 1994 onwards, a new system to appraise individual job performance was created and integrated with both strategi c planning and the institutional management system of the whole corporation, as well as with the operational plan of each research centre. To remain competitive and to guarantee sustainability, the corporation adopted a process of organisational change based on a management model drawn on results and customers’ requirements, as well as having been supported by the balanced scorecard methodology (Kaplan and Norton, 1997).From 1997 to 1999, the institution started implementing a new strategic management model in order to provide guidelines which really showed what was de? ned by the corporation. Therefore, the entire organisation’s staff would work in favour of the de? ned goals (Sentanin, 2003). Within its job structure, the institution manages its human resources by linking the achievement of the proposed goals of its annual operational plan to negotiating the proposed activities for each employee in the performance appraisal system.The performance appraisal system, be sides being an instrument to recognise achieved results, is also used to identify human competences, which are important for research, and is a basis for selection, training and compensation practices in research centres. Concerned about meeting the needs of its customers, the corporation de? nes its strategic objectives and conveys them to its research centres that incorporate them into the annual operational plan. These units establish important processes to ful? the proposed goals in the performance appraisal systems of researchers, and consequently, researchers develop new practices and technology (Figure 4). Staff development and appraisal 117 Table I. Organisational scenario of the studied corporation EJIM 10,1 118 Corporate Strategic Plan Plan of Each Unit Annual Operational Plan Figure 4. Performance strategic management process in the organisation studied Performance Measurement Strategic Planning F E E D B A C K Strategic Management Model Based on Processes Performance App raisal Source: Ubeda (2003, p. 82)In each research centre, there is an internal technical committee which co-ordinates research regarding themes and developed projects. This committee analyses pre-proposals and proposals of projects and processes of its unit with technical, operational and ? nancial criteria. Thus, each new project undergoes evaluation and approval of the committee. Once a project is approved, it can be developed, and after it is concluded, it is evaluated once again to re? ect on the results, assuring both the commitment of its staff and the quality of its technical projects and processes.The units’ type of structure is ad hocratic, according to Mintzberg’s (1983) terminology, because it consists of teams which develop the approved projects, as well as them being concerned with innovation and always centred on the development of new products and processes. The head of research of each unit co-ordinates and appraises the performance of the projects whi ch are carried out. The structure of this centre is the re? ection of its strategies, since it attempts to create an integration of specialties using its project teams with the aim of competitiveness and customer satisfaction.As for the job structure, there are two functional careers: research and support for research. Data analysis, results and implication of this research Research on competence-based management was focused on performance appraisal because it is an important instrument to identify human competences based on the innovation strategy of the studied centre. In this performance appraisal system there is explicit planning of the following activities: . what the results of the jobs are expected to be; . ow the product should be presented and what the standard of performance is expected to be; . . when the deadline for the product to be presented is; and feedback of the results of the jobs. However, since 1994 when it was implemented, the performance appraisal system has u ndergone modi? cations to improve its methodology, attempting to make its participants aware of the need for periodic dialogue and monitoring the activities, as well as for the impartial and speci? c appraisal of the activities planned in relation to the availability of means to carry out these activities.The planning of employees’ activities must be made according to the goals of its unit, area or sector, and to the projects under the responsibility of the studied research centre (Ubeda, 2003, p. 82). Performance appraisal must consider the employee’s individual competences and the results of the job which were de? ned in strategic planning. Competence-based management aims at guiding managerial decisions, the processes of professional development, as well as planning the human resource systems.An analysis of the development of competences in the Brazilian research centre was carried out by comparing the main theoretical issues of the literature with practices of the organisation which was studied (Figure 5). Firstly, the strategic objectives (item 1 of Figure 5) of the studied organisation were formulated according to the corporation and unit’s missions and the corporation’s objectives. A synthesis of the theoretical issues concerning organisational competences (item 2 of Figure 5) is presented as follows: . eveloping organisational competences is based on the internal abilities of companies (Wernerfelt, 1984); . these competences consist of skills, abilities and technology which enable a company to meet the speci? c needs of its customers, that is to say, to achieve a competitive advantage superior to competitors (Hamel and Prahalad, 1994); Staff development and appraisal 119 FORMULATION OF STRATEGY (1) Objectives are defined according to the corporation and unit’s missions and the corporation’s objectives PRACTICES OF THE STUDIED ORGANISATION OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMPETENCES (3) ISSUES OF LITERATURE ONORGANIZATIONAL C OMPETENCES (2) ISSUES OF LITERATURE ON INDIVIDUAL COMPETENCES (4) ISSUES OF LITERATURE ON PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL (6) F E E D B A C K PRACTICES OF INDIVIDUAL COMPETENCES OF THE STUDIED ORGANISATION (5) ITEMS OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL IN THE STUDIED ORGANISATION (7) Core of this analysis: researchers Focus of the performance appraisal: researchers’university degree qualifications Figure 5. Analysis of the development of competences in the research centre EJIM 10,1 . . 120 they require an understanding of competitive advantage mechanisms which may be used over time.When competitive strategies are being developed, companies have to make the best use of their speci? c features (Grant, 1991); and a competence can be de? ned by considering four elements and their relationships: technology, people, organisational structure and organisational context (Drejer and Riis, 1999). The main features of organisational competences practised in the researched company (item 3 of Figure 5) were: . focus on the internal ability of research in agriculture and breeding; . support for competitive agribusinesses development in the global economy; . ncouraging the development of agribusinesses with the sustainability of economical activities and environmental balance; . diminishing environmental imbalanced aspects of agribusinesses; and . supplying raw materials and food which encourage the population’s health, improving the nutritional level and quality of life. Individual competence issues in the literature (item 4 of Figure 5) may be summarised as follows: . individual competence links explicit knowledge, skills and experiences of individuals to the results and judgements of value built within their social ? etwork (Hipolito, 2001; Fleury and Fleury, 2000; Zari? an, 2001; Sveiby, 1998); . individual competence can be explained altogether by the skills (to know how to do something), attitudes (to intend to do something), knowledge (to understand why to do something and sea rch for solutions) and results (to produce and come ? up with the solution) (Hipolito, 2001); and . in order to develop complex competences, complex systems involve not only many people in different areas of the organisation, but also interlocking technology.It is very dif? cult to understand and imitate them because they are very dependent on people and technology (Drejer and Riis, 1999). To develop individual competences in the research centre (item 5 of Figure 5), the following initiatives were carried out: . stimulating and rewarding creativity; . seeking effectiveness, developing actions with a focus on the achievement of results and solutions with compatible and competitive costs; . planning the company for the future by strategically positioning its resources and abilities; . eing committed to honesty and ethical posture by placing high value on human beings and dealing with all groups of society with respect; . attempting to meet the particularities of customers’ dema nds by following the principles of total quality; . stimulating leadership when creating, adapting and transferring knowledge, products, services and technology; . . . . encouraging partnerships with other organisations and individuals; developing partnerships in terms of science and technology in agribusinesses; striving for scienti? c rigour, using scienti? methods in research, caring about the exactness and precision of procedures in all the phases of the process, and not tolerating bias in results; and supporting teams which deal with problems in a systemic way in order to attain the ? nal objectives of their jobs. With regards to the issues presented in the literature on performance appraisal (item 6 of Figure 5): . the three main aspects of performance appraisal are people’s development, effort and behaviour (Dutra, 2001); . models for performance appraisal are based on behaviour and attitudes, and not only on the speci? functional analysis of each job (Moore et al. , 2 002); and . technology, functional requisites and organisational learning in? uence the development of competences (Drejer and Riis, 1999). However, the main items of performance appraisal in the studied organisation (item 7 of Figure 5) are limited to: . researchers’ ability of monitoring the projects being carried out; . researchers’ scienti? c publications, such as articles, proceedings of congresses and scienti? c journals, books and chapters of books; . production and transfer of technology; and . publicising the research centre’s image.Although there is integration between performance appraisal and strategic plans de? ned by the research centre, competence-based management is still centred on the individuals, and it is also based on their tasks and not on the individuals linked to their social context, as previously pointed out by Moore et al. (2002), Zari? an (2001), Drejer and Riis (1999) and Dejours (1997). The previous fact is also a result of the dif? culty in measuring innovation and the degree of the development of a research project. Until the moment the research project does not achieve the proposed objective, it is dif? ult to quantify how much this research has progressed over time. All the risks are assumed and the decisions are centralised by researchers who coordinate the project teams. These facts took place because of the studied organisation which did not manage to deal with complex competences in a decentralised way. Although this research centre is a reference in Brazil, the competence notion of this institution recognises only the scope of skills (to know how to do it) and knowledge (information and experiences), not considering the scope of the attitudes (to intend to do it).The organisation only recognises competences based on a university degree quali? cation, and does not include the initiative and the responsibilities necessary to cope with complex situations. It does not centre the development of individual competences either on speci? c projects or on integration and team work. Staff development and appraisal 121 EJIM 10,1 122 Project management and performance appraisal are centred on the main researchers’ skills and knowledge, minimising the importance of the competences of the other members of the research project team.However, it is important to mention that the quantitative criteria of performance appraisal do not only re? ect the concern about customers’ satisfaction, but also guide the distribution of resources and the human resource policies of the studied institution. Performance appraisal does not consider either the team aspect or the concept of feedback structured by 360 degrees appraisal in which all the staff appraise and are appraised by their superiors, subordinates and colleagues (Borman, 1997). Employees are appraised by their superiors in the studied centre.The results of the performance appraisal system contribute to strategic planning, however, the o rganisation and superiors are not appraised by the employees. In addition, an investigation into the organisational atmosphere was not made. There is not a channel for the feedback of performance appraisals which could result in both the development of researchers’ competences and the innovation process of this centre. The processes in which technology is transferred and research is carried out are not de? ned according to the guidelines and parameters of this research centre, but they are de? ed by the corporation. Regarding cultural aspects, there is a great resistance and incredulity of the performance appraisal systems and the development of competences, despite the employees being already familiar with the appraisal systems of the research projects. Considering this incredulity, the appraisers do not take the role of planning and monitoring individual jobs. â€Å"There is always something more important and more urgent to do than ‘to sit down with somebody to plan actions related to the individuals’ job and his/her respective performance† (Nader et al. 1998, p. 17). In Table II some theoretical references are compared with the investigated institution’s practice. This is an approach combining the presence of the aspects of: competence (skills, attitudes, knowledge, production and handing in), Competence-based management elements in the studied organisation Table II. Elements of competence-based management in the organisation studied Performance appraisal integrated with strategic planning Performance appraisal integrated with human resource systems Development of skillsDevelopment of knowledge Development of attitudes Consideration of the social context of project teams Development of competences according to production and delivery Performance appraisal based on results Use of balanced scorecard to establish and rede? ne goals Participation of all members of a research project team in the performance appraisal through 36 0 degrees performance appraisal Concern about employees and researchers’ professional growth considering all the elements of competenceFeedback of appraisals in terms of attitudes, opportunities of professional growth and social context to develop new strategies Source: Adapted from Ubeda (2003, p. 95) Present Absent X X X X X X X X X X X X the performance appraisal model, and the strategic integration of processes with human resource management. Conclusions When dealing with current competitive markets and needs for technological innovation, as well as stiff competition for new market niches, competence-based management is really a strategic practice adopted by companies to attain competitive advantage in order to serve the customers quickly and ef? iently. As a consequence, the alignment of human resource management practices and business strategies is of fundamental importance to company’s competitiveness, and it emphasises people as a distinct resource for success. Thus, competence and human performance help the development of projects and internal processes. Competence-based management is carried out based on identifying individual competences, using performance appraisal of results from an individual’s job.It is based not only on the competitive strategy and the organisational structure, but also on processes and projects of a company. It is also a reference for managers’ decisions concerning the selection, training and compensation policies of a company’s staff. To implement a consistent performance appraisal system which is capable of appraising the competences of each employee, it is necessary to check which knowledge, skills and attitudes should be developed in order to improve the internal processes of the organisation, without remaining focused only on jobs and tasks.In this case, the research centre is basically just concerned with its operational plans whose main reference is striving for productivity. However, it was observed in practice that the development of individual competences does not link the performance appraisal system to the collective and social approach of competence-based management, and it also does not include the scope of attitudes in order to integrate strategic planning, its monitoring, performance appraisal, the feedback of results of a research project and the improvement of processes.It is exactly this feedback, if well managed, that makes a difference, not only when identifying individual competences necessary for each activity, but also in the possibility of sharing professional growth concurrently with innovation and competitive strategy of companies. Feedback linked to the organisation’s strategy could increase the integration between all its organisational units and levels possible. New research to obtain greater understanding of the relationship between competence-based management and performance appraisal is necessary because the existing literature do es not speci? ally examine the development of individual competences. The main contribution of this paper is to present not only the dif? culty of managing human competences, but also a vision of the process of developing competences in a research centre by analysing its particularities and limitations. References Baker, J. C. , Mapes, J. , New, C. C. and Szwejczewski, N. (1997), â€Å"A hierarchical model of business competence†, Integrated Manufacturing Systems, Vol. 8 No. 5, pp. 265-72. ? ? Becker, B. E. , Huselid, M. A. and Ulrich, D. (2001), Gestao estrategica de pessoas com scorecard: ? nterligando pessoas, estrategia e performance, Campus, Rio de janeiro. ? ? Bitencourt, C. C. 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(2000a), â€Å"Organizational learning and competence development†, The Learning Organization, Vol. 7 No. , pp. 206-20. Drejer, A. (2000b), â€Å"How can we de? ne and understand competencies and their development? †, Technovation, Vol. 21 No. 3, pp. 135-46. Dr ejer, A. and Riis, J. O. (1999), â€Å"Competence development and technology: how learning and technology can be meaningfully integrated†, Technovation, Vol. 19 No. 10, pp. 631-44. ? ? ? ? Dutra, J. S. (2001), â€Å"Gestao de pessoas com base em competencias†, Gestao por competencias, ? Gente, Sao Paulo, in Dutra, J. S. (Coord. ). ? ? Fleury, A. and Fleury, M. T. L. (2000), Estrategias empresariais e formacao de competencias, Atlas, ?Sao Paulo. Fleury, M. T. L. and Fleury, A. (2004), â€Å"Competitive strategies and core competencies: perspective for the internationalisation of industry in Brazil†, Integrated Manufacturing Systems, Vol. 14 No. 1, pp. 16-25. Grant, R. M. (1991), â€Å"The resource-based theory of competitive advantage: implications for strategy formulation†, California Management Review, Vol. 33 No. 3, pp. 114-35. Hagan, C. M. (1996), â€Å"The core competence organization: implications for human resource practices†, Human Resource s Management Review, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 147-64. Hamel, G. and Prahalad, C. K. 1994), Competing for the Future, Havard Business School, Boston, MA. ? ? ? ? Hipolito, J. A. M. (2001), â€Å"Tendencias No. campo da remuneracao para o novo milenio†, Gestao por ? ? competencias, Gente, Sao Paulo, in Dutra, J. S. (Coord. ). Houtzagers, G. (1999), â€Å"Empowerment, using skills and competence management†, Participation & Empowerment: An International Journal, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 27-32. Huselid, M. A. , Jackson, S. E. and Schuler, R. S. (1997), â€Å"Technical and strategic human resource management effectiveness as determinants of ? rm performance†, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 40 No. , pp. 171-88. Jayaram, J. , Droge, C. and Vickery, S. K. (1999), â€Å"The impact of human resource management practices on manufacturing performance†, Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 1-20. ? Kaplan, R. S. and Norton, D. (1997), A estrategia em acao: bala nced scorecard, Campus, Rio de Janeiro. Lawler, E. E. III (1995), â€Å"From job-based to competency-based organizations†, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 15, pp. 3-15. Le Deist, F. D. and Winterton, J. (2005), â€Å"What is competence? †, Human Resource Development International Journal, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 27-46. Mans? eld, B. 2004), â€Å"Competence in transition†, Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 28 Nos 2/3/4, pp. 296-309. Meshoulam, I. and Baird, L. (1987), â€Å"Proactive human resource management†, Human Resource Management, Vol. 26 No. 4, pp. 483-502. Mills, J. , Neely, A. , Platts, K. , Richards, H. and Gregory, M. (1998), â€Å"The manufacturing strategy process: incorporating a learning perspective†, Integrated Manufacturing Systems, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 148-55. Mintzberg, H. (1983), Structure in Fives: Designing Effective Organizations, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Moore, D. R. , Cheng, M. and Dainty, A. R. F. 2002), â€Å"Competence, competency and competencies: performance assessment in organizations†, Work Study, Vol. 51 No. 6, pp. 314-9. ? ? Nader, R. M. , Guimaraes, T. A. and Ramagem, S. P. (1998), Da avaliacao para a gestao do desempenho individual: a implantacao de uma metodologia baseada no planejamento ? ? empresarial, Escola Nacional de Administracao Publica, Bras? lia. Ray, G. , Barney, J. B. and Muhanna, W. A. (2004), â€Å"Capabilities, business process, and competitive advantage: choosing the dependent variable in empirical tests of the resource-based view†, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 23-37. Ritter, T. , Wilkinson, I. F. and Johnston, W. J. (2002), â€Å"Measuring network competence: some internacional evidence†, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 17 Nos 2/3, pp. 119-38. Robotham, D. and Jubb, R. (1996), â€Å"Competence: measuring the unmeasurable†, Management Development Review, Vol. 9 No. 5, pp. 25-9. Sandb erg, J. (2000), â€Å"Understanding human competence at work: an interpretative approach†, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 43 No. 1, pp. 9-25. Santos, F. C. A. 2000), â€Å"Integration of human resource management and competitive priorities of manufacturing strategy†, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 20 No. 5, pp. 610-28. Schroeder, R. G. , Bates, K. A. and Juntilla, M. A. (2002), â€Å"A resource-based view of manufacturing strategy and the relationship to manufacturing performance†, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 105-17. Schuler, R. S. and Jackson, S. E. (1995), â€Å"Linking competitive strategies with human resource management†, Advances in the Practice, Theory and Research of Strategic Human Resource Management, Harper Collins, New York, NY, in Miner, J.B. and Crane, D. P. (Coords. ). ? ? Sentanin, F. S. (2003), â€Å"A gestao por processos dentro do planejamento estrategico de uma empresa de P& D†, XXI Encontro Nacional de Engenharia de Producao, Proceedings, Ouro Preto. ? Sveiby, K. E. (1998), A nova riqueza das organizacoes: gerenciando e avaliando patrimonios de conhecimento, Campus, Rio de Janeiro. ? ? Ubeda, C. L. (2003), â€Å"A gestao de competencias em uma empresa de pesquisa e desenvolvimento: ? um estudo de caso†, masters thesis, Engineering School of Sao Carlos, University of ? Sao Paulo, Sao Carlos. Wernerfelt, B. (1984), â€Å"A resource-based view of the ? rm†, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 171-80. ? ? ? Zari? an, P. (2001), Objetivo competencia: por uma nova logica, Atlas, Sao Paulo. Corresponding author Cristina Lourenco Ubeda can be contacted at: [email  protected] com. br ? To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: [email  protected] com Or visit our web site for further details: www. emeraldinsight. com/reprints Staff development and appraisal 125

Bp Oil Spill - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1477 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2017/09/20 Category Business Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? BP oil spill is ranked as the largest environmental disaster in the world history. As the oil from BP spill washes ashore, people on Gulf Coast are suffering huge damages they have never met before. The U. S. government estimates that up to 60,000 barrels of oil a day are spewing out from the damaged BP drilling rig to Gulf of Mexico. It has ruined the shoreline, killed animal and sea life, threaten the ecosystem and harmed the tourism and fishing in Louisiana. After the spilling happened, US government and BP has been struggling for plugging the hole deep under the water which is known as Top-kill, but failed. Right after the leak happened, the Obama administration has claimed that BP alone has to take the whole responsibility of the oil spill. However, as the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico continues to grow day by day, some people are starting to ask if President Obama will be blamed for the damage that will result on the shoreline of the Gulf coast? He failed to protec t US waters and people who depend on them. Also, his administration had failed to adequately reform the Minerals Management Service, the scandal-ridden federal agency that for years had essentially allowed the oil industry to do what it planed under self-regulation. There have been people who said that the Obama Administration did not react fast enough and slack in fixing the crisis. BP definitely bears the responsibility of the deep water disaster, but is it the only entity involved in the largest off shore oil spill in US history? In this paper, I shall argue that it is not just BP that bears responsibility for spill, Obama administration is responsible too. BP:   Surely they have to pay all of the damages suffered around Gulf Coast since they have violated the morality in many ways. Firstly, the deepwater disaster is partly due to the company’s own shortage in engineering testing. According to due care theory, manufactures’ responsibility would extend to thr ee areas including design, production and information. The key problem caused leaking is that BP has not exercised enough due care on production area. â€Å"The production manager should control the manufacturing processes so as to eliminate any defective items, identify any weakness that become apparent during production. †(Manuel 2006). BP failed to follow safety regulations as a matter of fact. Right after the spill happened, BP’s diplomat has claimed that there was no one to blame, even the people who worked in the pipe line, their jobs were normally done. If you look for mistakes, you will find some. It was just a freak accident that was not expected from the situation. However, as the investigation went further, more and more evidence has been shown that it was not an accident but negligence. They didn’t do proper testing, for example, BP halted tests on the well lining five days before the explosion and kept oilfield testing firm Schlumberger on standb y, according to NOLA. It had no plans to conduct a cement bond log test, which uses Sonics to identify weaknesses in the cement, known as a gold standard test. Also, Oil rig worker Mike Mason told Huffington Post he observed cheating on blowout preventer tests at least 100 times, including on wells owned by BP. In many cases, Mason says, BP employees were present while subcontractors faked the tests. Obviously, the systems failed and failed badly. BP violated the duty of exercising adequate quality controls over high-tech materials which caused the leaking happened. In addition, BP continually disregards safety and morality for profits. They are against Common sense morality by harming lives around Gulf Coast, for instance, shrimpers and small hotel owner loss their jobs for surviving; a large number of species’ live are threatened. According to Kant theory about â€Å"respect for person† , BP did morally wrong since they did not put human beings in the first , i nstead, what they are looking for is only the profits. BP has a duty to defend the environment they are working with. Referred to Kantian theory, humans have a correlative duty to respect and promote the development of another’s capacity to freely and rationally choose for him. For BP, when they tried to save the cost on drilling, it destroyed the development of others. What they have done is a violation of people’s negative right because people are forced to ruin their career and their normal life. Referred to The Social Cost View, Manufacturer should pay the costs of all injuries caused by defect in a product even if exercised due care. Thus, BP should pay for all of the damages suffered in Golf area. However, it is argued that offshore oil drilling is inherently dirty and dangerous, and the government must establish a permanent moratorium on it in order to protect the citizens living around. But government did not do their job enough. BP should pay for the bil l for its recklessness, while Obama government should take some responsibility at the same time. Obama Administration First, According to Bradford (2010), Obama’s original decision to pursue drilling made the drill more likely to happen. Back to 2008, Democrats had a serious oil problem, gas price were soaring toward $4 per gallon. Pressure had been put on President Obama to respond. In August, he announced he would support new offshore exploration as part of a broader mix of climate and cleaning energy policy. He nominated Ken Salazar to take in charge of this program. And in March of this year, the administration announced a plan to expand offshore oil production. It was intended to get away from the rising gas price this summer and avoid repeat insanity in 2008 summer. Soon after, BP oil spill exploded and millions of gallons of crude started spewing out of Gulf of Mexico. Secondly, Obama administration failed to crack down on the corruption of Bush years-and let the wo rld’s most dangerous oil company get away with murder. Referred to Bradford (2010), the scandal at Minerals Management Service (MMS) is lurid, for example, Employees in the Royalty-collecting wing has been taking thousands of dollars worth of gifts from the oil company they are supposed to oversee. As a result, company has been getting offshore –drilling permits with little scrutiny. For instance, in April of last year, less than a month after BP submitted its application, MMS gave the oil giant the drilling permitting in the Gulf without a comprehensive environmental review. The one-page approval put no restrictions on BP, issuing only a mild suggestion that would prove prescient: Exercise caution while drilling due to indications of shallow gas. Government should not get away from being negligence. Based on Kantian theory, human being should be treated as ends and never used merely as means. It means that each individual has a moral right to be treated as a fr ee person equal to any other person. MMS scandal violates this principle. BP, for example, they will more easily get drilling go-ahead than others due to being an oil giant or offering those managers with high value gift. If it spread, it will definitely slow down US economy. What we have seen so far is the huge disaster from oil spilling. What’s more, Dickson (2010) stated that the administration failed to ensure that BP was well prepared in case some unexpected accident happened. On the surface, a lack of ships and equipment has left more than 100 miles of the coast-including vast stretches of fragile marshlands — covered in crude. Obama has been putting so much trust on oil giants; he said â€Å"I was wrong in my belief that the oil companies had their act together when it came to worst-case scenarios. (Dickson 2010) Thus, his administration should bear the responsibility due to regulation failure. In addition, someone has argued that BP and other oil companies use tier wealth and power to influence government and their policies regarding alternate food, so the blame should be put on BP. I shall argue that the influence and misleading happened is because the government is lack of oil knowledge and experience. In conclusion, it is not fair to let BP alone take the responsibility. In the today’s world, government becomes stronger; they are involved in everything that crucial to the society. As the power gets bigger, their responsibility has expanded at the same time. Also, it is not the first time US has experienced the energy crisis, but there is nothing the administration is doing to end the nation’s thirst for foreign oil. Thus, the responsibility has to be broken down for both Oil Company and government. Bibliography Bradford, Plumer. â€Å"Morning-After Drill† The New Republic 241 Jul. 2010: 8-10 Dickson, Kim. â€Å"The Spill, the Scandal and the President Rolling Stone 1107 Jun 2010:54-63 Manuel G. Velasquez. B usiness Ethics. Toronto : Pearson, 2006 BP oil spill Student number: 3929403 Student name: Jian Yan Seminar: Fri. 3-4 Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Bp Oil Spill" essay for you Create order