Ethical sourcing in retail industries and the problem of sweat shop Essay

Ethical sourcing in retail industries and the problem of sweat shop labour - Essay Example Only with the consumer’s strong convictions can this movement be taken ahead and for this communication of ethical issues including their damaging contribution to environment needs to be highlighted. The expansion of civilizations has been largely based on trading practices. Trade and Commerce have been drivers of extension of territorial forays in the past and, in modern days, with the royalty become defunct, even extinct in some cases, the role has been ably taken over by large companies, the Multinationals. The twin objectives of war for territorial gains of the former kingdoms and the present day Multinational remain the same; expansion of markets to cater to larger populations and obtaining cheap labour for work from the new territories. Whereas formerly they made use of slave labour, often not caring about their survival, today they pay subsistence or even less for running their factories and establishments. All the high talk of Human Rights is meant for conference tables and for the populations of the victors and not the vanquished. In the present context the Multinational need to expand their markets and in search for consumers globally they are attracted by the huge populations of the developing or the under-developed world. They take advantage by offering them the goods that they have developed for their own affluent populations. However where they face the possibility of lower sales due to the high prices they tend to manufacture their products locally for local sales at lower prices compared to their home markets. The other angle to the story is that when they face competition from their rivals who are as big and as powerful, they need to lower prices to face such competition. The obvious way out is again to manufacture their products in the underdeveloped or developing markets at lesser cost and consequently be able to lower prices to their home markets. With the demise of colonialism democracy became the chosen form of governance, barring

Music Videos, Sexuality, and Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Music Videos, Sexuality, and Culture - Essay Example In them, women are portrayed as sexual objects to be exploited by skillful males and not as mothers, sisters, and daughters (that is as people). They are simply figures to be gawked at and not humans deserving both respect and dignity. In the world of music videos, men wield all the power and need not care for social or moral customs. This hyper-sexualized reality of easy, submissive women perverts even traditional female gender roles. Women, prior to the 1960’s, often did live in submissive-like situations if they were housewives. They depended on their husbands for their livelihood. The difference is that then they were portrayed as being chaste and virtuous as well. Sex was only for after marriage. In the world of music videos, women are submissive and sexually ‘liberated,’ in that they are free to have sex outside of wedlock. But when they do, it is only to satisfy the needs of men. As such, it could be said that music videos tell the story of a juvenile, freshly pubescent male, despite the fact that they attempt to present their message as being ‘male’ in general. The consequence-free world of the music video allows men to act out their most juvenile desires: disrespecting women, sex with no real relationship, and, perhaps worst of all, the power to defile and even assault wo men whenever they want. The stories these videos do not tell are clearly those of women who have been the victims of violence and sexual assault or rape. These women are the victims of men living in a world which lacks morality and sexual taboos. Sadly, these men can have their desires realized by watching

Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 10

Case Study Example Despite the fact that many retailers even close down during weak economic periods, Wal-Mart manages to maintain high profits due to huge volumes of sales it makes. It has succeeded due to its low cost strategy that attracts an array of consumers (Yang & Linowes, 2009). Significantly, this prompts it t enjoy cost advantage through controlling the market as the cost leaders. Despite its placement, it is therefore necessary to addresses the weaknesses and strengths Wal-Mart possess in order to maintain its position in market, which this case study will analyse the appropriate solutions to the weaknesses and enhancing its strengths. One major threat that Wal-Mart faces are varied pricey lawsuits filed against the company. Many employees and customers have complained of discrimination instances in the company. Due to these, the company has lost a lot of money as they pay off damages to those offended by the same. Approximately 815,000 employees of female gender and most often than not have experienced cases of unfair treatment (Reed, 2013). The unfairness is quite evident for they are sometimes underpaid compared to men whom they work together. It is quite ill-fated that the same females end up jobbing hard and for long to the extent of even surpassing the males but remain unrecognized (Reed, 2013). In addition, these women comprise the majority of employees but still do not get appear anywhere in assuming key positions meant for the enterprise’s managerial roles. As per 2010, most of its managers were men. Being the biggest retail company, this enterprise ought to set a pace for the smaller retail compan ies so that they embrace equality and not injustices. Evident from Duke Vs Wal-Mart case, 5 million females accused the enterprise of discrimination when it came to promotions as well as allocation of certain vital assignments (Reed, 2013). To add on, to date numerous people due to unfair experiences they have ever had are filling case suits with the intention

THe importance of the notion of the ideal body in contemporary culture Essay

THe importance of the notion of the ideal body in contemporary culture - Essay Example Art is believed to depict the events of its time and also anticipate the future events. Thus, art is viewed as a concept rather than a mere object portraying beauty. Capturing the complexity and beauty of the human body in forms of art, such as paintings, sculptures, or even in poems, has been the most interesting and sought after objective for artists from the known historical times. This is said to have attained its peak during the middle ages, including the Early and the High Renaissance, as evidenced by different types of portrayal of an ideal human body in various paintings and sculptures of ancient time. The most famous artists, both painters and sculptors, of this time known today are Giotto, Masaccio, Donatello, Leonardo Da Vinci, Giovanni Bellini, Christus Rex, and others. This period has evidenced rebirth of art and literature, rise of knowledge and intellect in many aspects. Artists during the Renaissance period had acquired technical knowledge of study of anatomy and had achieved new heights in sketching portrait, landscape, and mythological and religious paintings. While these explain the notion of ideal body in ancient art, the same has quite drastically transformed in contemporary art. Research and study on contemporary art are based on various media such as the magazines, television, video and photography besides paintings and sculptures. The base of contemporary art also seems to have changed to a great extent. The notion of ideal body and beauty in contemporary is that of outwardly beauty that incites sexuality and trend of fashion, unlike values or ethos of ancient art. In general, the Renaissance artists depicted joy in human beauty and pleasures of life in their paintings. They also tried to show different perspectives of things that they wanted to portray, which seemed to have descended from Giotto’s work. This art had much more meaning than beauty. Art informs life and produces

The Value of a University Education Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Value of a University Education - Assignment Example Studies consistently demonstrate that graduates have higher levels of earnings than high school graduates. According to the US Census Bureau, the median earnings of bachelor’s degree recipients working full-time year-round in 2008 were $55,700 - $21,900 more than the median earnings of high school graduates. Individuals with higher levels of education are more likely to have earnings and more likely to work full-time year round. Eighty percent of college graduates ages 25 or older had earnings in 2008 and 60% worked full-time year-round. In comparison, only sixty-three percent of high school graduates ages 25 or older had earnings, and only 44% worked full-time year-round. When lifetime earnings are computed, the typical bachelor’s degree recipient can expect to earn about 66% more during a 40-year working life than the typical high school graduate earns over the same period. After the fall in employment rates at the start of the economic recession in early 2008, it was four-year college graduates whose employment levels first recovered in 2010, with a 2% increase. Individuals with higher levels of education report greater job satisfaction and derive a sense of fulfillment from their work. Finally, the unemployment rate for university graduates â€Å"is consistently about half the unemployment rate for high school graduates† (Baum, Ma and Payea, 2010). Higher education also confers non-monetary benefits to individuals. These include health benefits and an improved sense of self-esteem. As the medical consensus on the adverse health effects of smoking became more emphatic, the smoking rates for college graduates showed a much more rapid rate of decline than that for high school graduates. By 2008, only 9% of college graduates smoked,... This paper comes to the conclusion that it is clear that university education imparts value to the individual, the local community and society at large. Individual benefits are both monetary and non-monetary. Monetary benefits include increased income and consistently high employment rates. Non-monetary advantages range from to better health and healthy lifestyles to a greater sense of well-being and better care of children. In the context of the local community, universities develop the skills of the local community by enlisting and training local students, generate employment opportunities on the campus, participate in community activities, give local community access to university facilities, address the issue of social disadvantage in the locality and raise the prestige and visibility of the region. Society at large benefits in several ways from higher education, with graduates showing greater political participation, decreased crime and incarceration rates, more racial and relig ious tolerance and less dependence on public welfare programs. This paper approves that the higher wages of college graduates obviously translates into a higher national income, which leads to a healthier population and a better functioning society. The benefits of a university education are indisputable. As it is evident that the benefits of higher education are not confined to the individual alone, but also spill over into the local community and society at large, public investment in higher education is a step in the right direction. University education is the best way to ensure that the well-being of all citizens is enhanced and that the nation retains its competitiveness in the knowledge economy of the contemporary world.

HR Strategies for Employees Commitment and Engagement Essay

HR Strategies for Employees Commitment and Engagement - Essay Example In this quest, it has been an observation that besides external factors such as market environment, social and cultural influences etc, human resource management (Brewster, 2003, pp. 16-27) has become an imperative tool for employers to ensure their survival and more importantly, their organisational success in the market. In this regard, human resource managers are now having a greater responsibility of ensuring higher productivity and better performance of employees in the organisation. Moreover, a huge number of researchers and experts have carried out studies to understand the role and impact of HR management and strategies on employees’ productivity and performance. Such studies have indicated that various factors play a crucial role in increasing productivity and enhancing performance of the workers, and particularly, employees’ commitment and engagement dominate the list of factors. As the result, recent developments (Brewster, 2003, pp. 16-27) in the field of HR M are now looking towards different human resource strategies that can facilitate organisations in gaining commitment and engagement of their employees. ... On the other hand, employee commitment also falls in the psychological state of an individual; however, the level of commitment determines connection (Guirdham, 2002, pp. 339-345) of the worker with a particular job/task besides his/her presence during it. Experts (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2002, pp. 192-199) have indicated that besides engagement, commitment provides a psychological environment to the employees to acquire an identity in relation to the organisation without which the engagement remains temporary and does not transform into commitment that is essential for organisational success. The paper will now include discussion on various strategies that the human resource managers can employ to ensure both engagement and commitment of employees in their organisation. DISCUSSION Goal-setting It is an observation that organisations always expect maximum performance from the employees; however, they overlook the importance of goal setting and alignment in this process. Experts (Csikszen tmihalyi, 1997, pp. 29-35) have shown that it becomes very challenging for individuals to ensure their engagement to a task if they are unable to match their skills with the task. In this regard, the foremost HR strategy should be identification of an achievable and unambiguous goal since HR departments often forget to focus on these two characteristics of a job, which results in anxiety and subsequently, lack of motivation and engagement with the task. Beliefs and values play a significant role in every society, and therefore, during the setting and alignment of a goal, it is imperative for HR department to ensure sharing of beliefs and values of the organisation with the job task. HR managers often perform this step after selection of the employees; however,

HR and Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

HR and Leadership - Essay Example The paper tells that leadership can be defined as the way process is influenced by an organization by leaders who have visions and is determined to achieve the organizations set objectives at any cost. Management makes the programmed decision affecting organization day to day activities and is concerned with administrative duties rather than decision making. For HR to be leading the department should employ effective strategy and solution to resourcing and ensuring there are talent planning and development, service delivery is at its best with well-coordinated systems of communication which involves employee engagement and relations. Thus leading HR should be determined in performance and must reward employees for good work done. Above all the human resource management should be of credible personality, driven to deliver, decisive thinkers, role model and should have the courage to challenge actions in the organization. An organization is important to ensure delivery of services and attainment of objectives if structural changes are effectively managed. The organizational structure of any firms matters a lot as if it’s well organized it will be easy to effect changes because of the values, believes and attitudes set by an organization so there is well spelled out a procedure on how everything is coordinated in the organization including, communication systems and responds to the environment. Strategic human resource management relies mostly on the resource-based view of the firm which suggests human resource practices leads to high performance and sustained in the competitive environment. Top management should ensure high technology is employed in firms to enable HR practices to build up mentoring, give incentives to performing workers and also enable performance appraisal which encourages the development of working relationship.