1-Month ACT Study Plan How to Raise Your Score Quickly

1-Month ACT Study Plan How to Raise Your Score Quickly SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Only got amonth until the ACT? No worries! In this guide, we offer you our best tips and advice on how to study for the ACT in a month.First, we’ll discuss the feasibility of a one-month ACT prep planand the four critical steps you must take toget started. Then,we’ll provide you with our besthigh-impact tips to help you get the ACT score you need for college. NOTE: This article largely assumes you’ll be studying for the ACT on your own. For additional help, contactour expert ACT tutorsor get started withour customizable online ACT prep course! Can You Study for the ACT in a Month? In short, yes, you can study for the ACT in a month- but how you manage your time will play a big role in how high of a score you ultimately get.Additionally, the feasibility of your planwill depend on how big of a point improvement you want to make, based on your baseline and goal scores (I'll explain both of these in more detail shortly). Generally speaking, how long should you study for the ACT? Below are our estimates for totalpoint improvements on the ACT based on the number of study hours you put in: 0-1 point improvement: 10 hours 1-2 point improvement: 20 hours 2-4 point improvement: 40 hours 4-6 point improvement: 80 hours 6-9 point improvement: 150 hours+ As these numbers indicate, the bigger the point improvement you want to make on the ACT, the more hours you’ll need to dedicate to your studies- and thus the more difficult it’ll be to carry out your ACT study plan within a month. For the most part, though, you should be able to study for the ACT in a month, as long as your score goals are workable. In other words, you shouldn't bespending more than five hours a day cramming for the ACT! So what does all of this mean for you? Basically, you must be prepared to create and follow a reasonable study planif you truly wish tohit your ACT goal score on test day. How to Study for the ACT in a Month: The First 4 Steps Before we give youour expert tips for a successfulmonth-long ACT study plan, let's look atthe four essential steps you'll need to take to get your plan started. Step 1: Find Your Target Score Begin by downloading our free guide to setting an ACT target score. Your ACT target score, or goal score, is the score most likely to get you into at least one of the colleges you’re applying to (excluding anysafety schools). To find your goal score, look up the 25th and 75th percentile scores for allyour schools (or just your most selective school). You can either look at your schools’ official websites or search foryour schools' ACT scores in our database by Googling â€Å"[School Name] ACT PrepScholar.† Our pages offer updated ACT (and SAT) score info for tons of schools. Here’s an example of UNC’s ACT scores and GPA page. Next, take the average of the 75th percentiles for your schools.This average will be your target score and should give you the best shot at getting accepted into at least one of the schools on your list. You can alsoaim for your most selective school’s 75th percentile instead.Compared with the average for your schools, this score will be somewhat harder to get; however, reaching it ensures that you’ll have an excellent shot at getting into allyour schools (instead of just one or a few). Step 2: Get Your Baseline Score Your second step is to figure out your baseline ACT score. A baseline score is the score you start with before beginning any ACT prep,and it’s what you’ll use to calculate how many points you’ll need to improve by in order to hit your goal score from step 1. To find this score, take anofficial ACT practice test. Treat the test as you would the real exam: find a quiet place to take it, time yourself in accordance with the official time limits, and forego extra or longer breaks than those allowed on the actual ACT. Your overarching goal is to recreate the ACT testing environment as closely as possibleso you can get an accurate baseline score. Once you finish the practice test, use your test’s answer guide to calculate your scale ACT scores for each section and theACT as a whole.Your total score (out of 36) will be your baseline ACT score. Step 3: Choose a Study Plan Once youhave your baseline and target scores, take the difference of these two scores to get the total number ofpoints you'll need to hit your goal score. For example, if my target score is 32 and I scored 27 on mypractice test, I'd need to improve my baseline score by a total of 5 points. After, match the difference you get to its corresponding number of study hours: 0-1 point improvement: 10 hours 1-2 point improvement: 20 hours 2-4 point improvement: 40 hours 4-6 point improvement: 80 hours 6-9 point improvement: 150 hours+ You now know the approximate number of hours you'll need to study for the ACT over the course of a month. But how should you spread out these hours each week? Each day? Below, we offer you different study plan optionsbased on the amount ofstudy time you'll need to commit to. But first, a brief reminder: always choose a study plan that’ll work well for you.Don’t opt for a plan that’ll require you to study excessively on weekdays if you know this type of plan will wear you out easily. Consider your commitments, and be realistic about when and how often you’ll actually be able to study. And now, here are our study plans! Light: You Want to Improve Your Score by 0-1 Points This easily manageable plan requires a total of 10 hours in a month, which comes out to about two and a half hours a week. Your best options for this plan are as follows: 2 hours and 30 minutes, once a week 1 hour and 15 minutes, twice a week 30 minutes, five times a week Medium: You Want to Improve Your Score by 1-2 Points This plan is slightly heavier than the Light Plan and requires 20 hours of prep over the course of a month, equalingfive hours a week on average. I recommend trying out the following plans: 2 hours and 30 minutes, twice a week 1 hours and 15 minutes, four times a week 1 hour, five times a week Heavy: You Want to Improve Your Score by 2-4 Points Moving on to the heavier plans now! For this plan, you'll need to study for a total of 40 hoursover the course of a month. Thiscomes out to approximately 10 hours a week, which you can divide as so: 3 hours and 20 minutes, three times a week 2 hours and 30 minutes, four times a week 2 hours, five times a week Heavier: You Want to Improve Your Score by 4-6 Points Not many students will be able to keep up withthis plan, but if you’re set on increasing your baseline score by 4-6 total points, you’ll need to prep for at least80 hours,or about 20 hours a week. Here are your options for prep schedules: 5 hours, four times a week 4 hours, five times a week 3 hours and 20 minutes, six times a week Impossible? You Want to Improve Your Score by 6-9 Points This plan requires 150+ study hours over the course of a month. That's a staggering 40 hours a week! Therefore, I strongly recommend againstundertaking this study plan. If you’re committed to improving your ACT score by as many points as possible, tryopting for the Heavier Plan and thenretake the test at a later date should you still want to improve your score. Step 4: Gather High-Quality Study Materials and Resources Finally, it’s time to gatheryour top choices forACT study materials and resources. Whether you already have a prep book picked out or are completely at a loss as to whatyou'll need for your study plan, let us help guide you with acompilation of our best ACT resources: Ultimate ACT Study Guides: Ourfree guides for the ACT English, Math, Reading, Science, andWritingsections,as well asthe test as a whole, offer a surefire combination ofcontent review and strategy. Complete Official ACT Practice Tests, Free Links:Here, we've collected all the official ACT practice tests available online. These tests are based on real ACTs and offer the most realistic practice questions you can get. Plus, they're completely free to download! Best ACT Prep Books 2018: I strongly recommend purchasing a highly reviewed ACT prep book to use as your primary guide throughout your studies. Our article offers in-depth reviews of the best ACT prep books currently available. Furthermore, all the books on ourlist have been personally reviewed by a perfect ACT scorer,so you can rest assured they'reworth theinvestment! The Best ACT Prep Websites You Should be Using: This handy compilation lists various websites you can use for all sorts of ACT help, including practice questions and strategy guides. The 4 Best ACT Apps (and How to Use Them in Your Prep): If you’re looking for on-the-go, supplementary learning materials, these four ACT apps are certain to lend a boost to your test prep! As a final tip, Isuggest browsingour SAT/ACT blog to learn more about the ACT in general, including how it works, what it tests, and what steps you can take to get the scores you need for college. Once you'vegot your study materials picked out, read onto learn about our top tips on how to study for the ACT in a month! Tjarko Busink/Flickr How to Study for the ACT in a Month: 5 Essential Tips At last, it's time for you to get your study plan off the ground! Here are five tips for making the most of your month-long ACT prep schedule. #1: Learn the ACT Format Inside and Out Before you take the ACT, it's important you know everything there is to know about the structure and content of the exam. This way there will be no surprises for you on test day! For a general overview of the ACT, read our articles on what the ACT tests and how it’s scored. For section-specific info, check outour individual guides: What’s Actually Tested on the ACT English Section? What’s Actually Tested on the ACT Math Section? Concepts, Subjects, and Skills What’s Actually Tested on the ACT Reading Section? Skills You Need What’s Actually Tested on the ACT Science Section? Skills and Topics The New Enhanced ACT Writing Test (2016): Complete Guide #2: Track Your Progress With Official Practice Tests While you study, it's imperative to track your progress using official ACT practice tests. Once again, these tests are the closest you can get to the real exam and will let you see whether you’re on track to hitting your target score. Because you'll only have a month to study for the ACT, try to taketwo to three tests in total.It's best to take oneat the beginning of your study plan (to get your baseline score) and a second one closer to the middle of your study plan, or aroundthe two-week mark. Just make sure you're spacing out your practice tests.Don't takemore than threein a month, and definitely don't take one right before test day- you'll justburn yourself out! #3: Review Basic English, Math, and Science Topics To do well on the ACT, you must familiarize yourself with all of the basic English, math, and science topics most likely to appear on the test. Here, we cover the specific concepts you'll need to have down before test day. For English First, check out our guides to the 14 most important ACT grammar rulesand basicparts of speech. Then, move on toour guides on the following critical concepts: Rhetorical skills (40-55%) Transitions Redundancy and wordiness Word choice/diction Add/delete questions Author technique/intent Organization Main idea Relevance Sentence structure (20-25%) Run-on sentences and fragments Parallel structure Faulty modifiers Punctuation(10-15%) Commas Other punctuation Grammar and usage (10-15%) Subject-verb agreement Verb tenses and forms Pronoun agreement Idioms Relative pronouns For Math We’ve got tons of topic-specific guides for ACT Math, which you can access through our ultimate ACT Math prep guide. Before you delve into higher-level math concepts, though, make sure you read all aboutintegers (we’ve also got an advanced guide to integers). Below is the breakdown of the math topics you'll need to know. I suggest beginningwith the most important sections (pre-algebra and plane geometry) before proceeding to the others. Pre-algebra (20-25%) Fractions, ratios, and proportions Statistics (mean, median, mode, etc.) Probability Sequences Plane geometry (20-25%) Lines and angles Circles Triangles Polygons Elementary algebra (15-20%) Single-variable equations Intermediate algebra (15-20%) Systems of equations Functions Word problems Coordinate geometry (15-20%) Lines and slopes Reflections, rotations, and translations Trigonometry (5-10%) For Science Luckily, you’re not expected to have a ton of background knowledge in biology or chemistry for this section!That said, there will be a handful of scientific concepts you’ll need to be familiar with in order to do well on the test. Read our guide for more info about what these fundamental topicsare and how you should study them. #4: Learn the Most Helpful Math Strategies ACT Math may or may not be your cup of tea, but with these handy strategies, you’ll be getting the Math score you want in no time! First off, always try to re-solve any ACT Math questions you answer incorrectly.This strategy is important because it lets youthink deeply about where you might’ve made a mistake with your calculations and what different steps you can take to try to get the right answer. As you re-solve the question, use thecorrect answer to guide you- but don’t look at the answer explanation before attemptingtofigure it out on your own! On test day, your two best math strategies are plugging in answers and plugging in numbers. With these strategies, even if you’re unsure how to solve a problem, you can still attempt to work it out, ultimately increasing your chances of choosing the right answer. Both of these strategies work particularly well for algebraic problems that ask you to manipulate or solve variables. #5: Pick a Strategy for Reading Passages It’s passages galore on the ACT English, Reading, and Science sections! But before we dive into possible reading strategies, let's look at thedifferent skillseach section tests: English tests your understanding of grammar, style, and flow. Reading tests your overall reading comprehension and vocab knowledge. Science tests your ability to correctly interpret data and understand scientific concepts and hypotheses. Because these three sections test such unique content, it’ll be best for you to develop separate passage-reading strategies for each section. Here are the best strategies to try out: For English There's only one highly recommended passage-reading method for English, and that's thegraf-by-graf method.With this strategy, you'llread passagesparagraph by paragraph,andanswer questions for one paragraph at a time. This method is ideal for ACT English since it lets you digest the content of the passage while also taking note of anyglaring technical errors. For Reading There are three possible passage-reading strategiesfor the Reading section of the ACT: Read the questions and then skim the passage (highly recommended) Skim the passage and then read the questions Read the passage closely (not recommended) ForScience In this section, yourpassage-reading options are as follows: Skip straight to the questions, answering as many as you can using only the visuals (i.e., graphs, tables, etc.) Skim the passage and then read the questions Read the whole passage first (not recommended) To figure out which reading strategies work best for you, take an official ACT practice test and time yourself on the English, Reading, and Science sections using official time limits. (You don’t need to take these sections back to back- separately is fine!) If possible, take multiple tests so that you can try out a different passage-reading strategy each time. Once you finish, check your answers and score your test. Thepassage-reading method that gives you the highest score on a section should be the one you practice with and use on test day! Rosmarie Voegtli/Flickr 6 Additional ACT Prep Tips for High Achievers If you want to increase your ACT baseline score by a fairly large margin- anywhere in the 4-9 point range- you’ll need to spend as much time as you can mastering allmajor ACT concepts. Our six additional tips below teach you both how to study for the ACT in a month andhow to get a super high ACT score. #6: Closely Analyze Real Questions To truly do well on the ACT, you need to know not onlythe basics of how it’s structured but also what kinds of questions it'll give you on test day and theapproaches you can use tosuccessfully tackle these problems head-on. Official ACT practice tests are your best bets for realistic questions.What you'll want to do is tear apart these questions to ensure that you can identify the ACT question types and readily understand what they’re asking you to do. For example, can you distinguish the Reading section'sinference questions fromfunction and development questions? Can you tell apart the different types of math on ACT Math? Do you understand how to read graphs and tablesso that you're capable of answering questions about scientific data? In the end, you’ll save yourself both time and brainpower if you know ahead of time what kinds of questions you’ll be asked and when they’ll appear on the test. #7: Study ALL Critical Math and English Topics In addition to studying the basics of ACT Math and English, high achievers shouldspend extra time mastering some of the less common (but still important) concepts likely to come up on the test. For Math, this means focusing on mastering trigonometry, the least prominent math topic on the ACT (albeitone that's certain to appear!). Trig accounts for 5-10% of your Math score,orfour to six questions. Although six questions doesn't sound like much, it might very well be the difference between getting a 36 and getting a 32 on Math! You should also spend time memorizing allcritical math formulas. Because the ACT doesn’t give you any formulas on test day like the SAT does, you mustspend time memorizing the ones that are most likely to appear on the exam. As for English, take a look atour complete ACT grammar guide to learn every single ACT grammar rule. You might also want to read up on the less-commonly tested topics of adjectives vs adverbs and formality. #8: Become an Expert at Critical Reading Though ACT Reading questions can be confusing and difficult, there’s a pretty easy trick you should definitely try tomaster. Here it is:there is always one definitively correct answer- meaning all other answer choices mustcontain a clear indication that they are incorrect. You can hone this crucial skill by studyingwithhigh-quality ACT Reading questions. As you practice, pay close attention to answer choices that don’t perfectly answer the question you’re being asked. A wrong answer choice is usually one that has one or more of the following qualities: Irrelevant The opposite of what’s written An inaccurateconflation of information from the passage Plausible but ultimately not supported directly by the passage On Reading, all correct answers will be supported by clearevidence in the passage. So if you come across an answer choice that sounds sort of right but isn’t actually written down or directly supported by the passage, chances are it's wrong! #9: Improve Your Vocab Fortunately, vocab doesn't make up a particularly large part of the ACT English or Reading sections. But if you’re aiming for a high score on test day, I recommend dedicating a little prep time to improving your vocab. Most vocab words on the ACT are of medium difficulty. This meansyou'll predominantly need to studyidioms and lesser-known secondary meanings of common words. To learn ACT vocab words, check outour list of 150 ACT words you should knowandScholastic’s 100-word ACT/SAT vocab list. Want to cover all your bases? You can learn even more wordswithour extensive SAT vocab list of 250+ words. (The vocab on the SAT is extremely similar to that on the ACT.) #10: Strengthen Your Weak Spots During your studies, you’ll likely notice some concepts or areas you struggle with more than you do with others. The best way to strengthen your weak spots is to concentrate more oncontent review andpractice questions. I suggest working with a combination of high-quality prep books, strategy guides, and official ACT questions. As you work on improving your ACT skills, keep track of any question types you’re continually missing.Try to identify why you're missing these questions, and start to think about how you can ultimatelytransform yourmistakes into successes. #: Pace Yourself Our last tipis to learn how to pace yourself. Knowing how to answer ACT questions won’t help you in the end if you’ve got 10 blank questions left because you ran out of time! So always be on your guard and pay attention to how long it takes you to answer specific question types. Here are the average amounts of timeyou should spend per question on each ACT section: English: 36 seconds per question Math: 60 seconds per question Reading: 53 seconds per question Science: 53 seconds per question For more detailed advice on how to pace yourself, check out ourindividual time-management guides for Math, Reading, and Science. Key Takeaways: How to Study for the ACT in a Month Although one month of ACT prep isn'tenough for everyone, it can sufficeif your goal is toimprove your score by no more than 4-6 total points.Students who want to improve their scores by 6-9 points will be better offaiming for a smaller score improvement and then retaking the ACT at a later date. When embarking onyour month-long ACT study plan, you must first set a targetscore, find your baseline score, decide ona study plan, and gather high-quality prep materials. Once you’re ready to begin studying, you can use our high-impact tips above to help you get the most out of your ACT prep. So what's my final tip? Always have the confidence that you can do this. Studying for the ACT in a month is difficult, but it’s certainly not impossible. As long as you know exactly what you'll need to do in order to make your goals a reality, you willbe successful! What’s Next? Need more advice on gearing up for theACT? Then read our in-depth and easy-to-follow guides onhow to prepare for the ACTand when you should start studying. Not a lot of time left before test day? Ourlast-minute ACT strategieswill teach you everything you need to know about strategic guessing, time management, and what you'll need to bring on test day. Only got a month left before your SAT test?Read my other guide on how to study for the SAT in a month to get step-by-step tips and advice. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep classes. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our classes are entirely online, and they're taught by ACT experts. If you liked this article, you'll love our classes. Along with expert-led classes, you'll get personalized homework with thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step, custom program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Try it risk-free today:

McDonalds French Fries Are Still Not Vegetarian

McDonald's French Fries Are Still Not Vegetarian Most animal-rights activists follow a plant-based diet for ethical reasons and avoid places where billions of dead animals are served up every day. Still,  vegetarians or vegans  may be inclined to sneak into McDonalds on occasion for a serving of the famous Golden Arches french fries. If so, they should stop. In spite of numerous protests and even lawsuits, McDonalds french fries are not, and never have been, vegan or vegetarian. But how can that be? you might ask. French fries are made from potatoes and fried in oil, so theres no harm in grabbing a serving for the road. Right? Its All Good in India Sure. If you live in India. In that country, you can consume all the McDonalds French fries your heart desires because they are made of only plant-based ingredients. In fact, McDonalds in India does not serve pork or beef products at all. So if the fast-food giant can respect the fact that, in India, cows are sacred and not for consumption, as well as make veg-friendly fries, then why can’t they do it in the United States? Not in the U.S.A. However, French fries served at American McDonald’s locations are not vegetarian. Thats because for decades McDonald’s cooked its fries in beef fat- its supposedly what gave them their famous flavor. But when they switched to vegetable oil, the fries were no longer as tasty. The solution was to add natural beef flavor to the spuds. Class-Action Lawsuit In 2001, McDonald’s was hit with a class-action lawsuit, led by a group of Hindu customers who felt they were being duped into unwittingly consuming animal products, which is strictly against their religion. Other vegetarians and vegans joined the fight, pointing out that the company gave out misleading information. Customers were being told that the French fries were fried in vegetable oil- the inference being that the fries were no longer cooked in lard and were therefore veg-friendly. Admitting that the fries were coated in beef flavoring, McDonalds settled for $10 million, with $6 million going to vegetarian organizations. Whats in a Fry? But they didn’t change their recipe one bit. Their website still lists the ingredients for all to see. As a representative explained: â€Å"With regard to our French fries, any customer in the U.S. who contacts McDonalds USA to ask if they contain beef flavoring is told yes. The way it works is, McDonalds French fry suppliers add a very small amount of beef flavor to the oil in the par-frying process at the potato processing plant before shipping the spuds to individual outlets. Once at the restaurant, the fries are cooked in vegetable oil. That same representative went on to say that, In addition, we have no plans to change the way we prepare our French fries in the U.S. However, it is important to know that our French fries are prepared differently in other countries.† To vegans and vegetarians, this is insulting. How difficult would it be to just leave out the beef flavoring like they do in India? The likely answer is that because the majority of customers in India are vegetarian or vegan, not accommodating their ethics would mean a loss of billions of dollars. Here in the United States, the opposite is likely to be true. Leave off the beef flavor that has long given the McDonalds French fry its famous flavor, and Americans are likely to just say no to Do you want fries with that?

Men's Health Interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Men's Health Interview - Essay Example I felt like I had to continually up the stakes each time because I could never get the same thrill otherwise. I would say that the problem peaked during the first year or two of my marriage because I needed an outlet to relieve stress. The problem affected my life in many ways, but most of all I would say that it changed my personality and how I acted around other people. I became so uptight because I saw everything as a chance to win rather than just enjoying life. Looking back on it now I can say that I was really unhappy during that time. At first there was not a great effect on my finances. I only gambled away small amounts of money, and I tended to win back almost the same amount. The time when it really became an issue on my finances was when I got married because for the first time in my life my money was not my own. The problem did affect many other areas of my life because I could not afford regular things such as trips away or new furniture. Yes, my relationships did suffer greatly during that time. From a personal point of view, I lost many friends because I had to borrow from them and then I could not afford to pay them back. In terms of family relationships, I became known as someone who was unreliable. It did cause friction between me and my family, and it was particularly hard on my wife. I decided to seek help because I could see no way out of my struggle. I was ashamed to ask for help, but it could to the point where I really didnt have a choice because I could not see a proper future for myself. Getting help for my gambling problem was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I was given a lot of advice, particularly from my family. They knew that I was going down a bad path, and they wanted to see some change in my life. My wife was always constantly harassing me to seek some help, but it wasnt really until my first child was born that she really put her foot down. It was at that point that I realized I needed some

Terms and Definitions Worksheet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Terms and Definitions Worksheet - Essay Example It believes that diversity is important for nature and the environment to survive. The branch of philosophy that speaks of mans excessive importance to material wealth. In this belief, all other ethics and behavior take a low priority and man and the society is interested only money and wealth and other things that money can buy. This is the branch of philosophy that deals with items out of the reach of the five physical senses. It would attempt to explain the nature of forces that cannot be seen or felt and that are outside the natural world. The concept of philosophy that believes in extending a moral standing to all living things including plants and animals. While the traditional concept is that murder of human beings is wrong, in this branch, even killing of cats, dogs and other living things is considered as immoral. The practice of philosophy in which there is respect for diversity of religion, race, ethnicity, social and culture background. In this type, people from different races or religions and languages are encouraged to participate. In this philosophy, all phenomena and occurrence are explained as due to natural laws and causes. It is assumed that everything operates in the universe as per the laws defined by nature, there is nothing such as miracles, and all occurrences can be examined with scientific studies. The belief that everything such as truth is not absolute but changes with time and per perceptions of different people. All beliefs, morals and behavior from history need to be judged as per the social standards of those times. The belief that an action is valued only by understanding how useful it is. It refers to more the practical use of ideas, objects and inventions rather than a theosophical expectation of what a thing would

Cyberterrorism Essay Example for Free

Cyberterrorism Essay The term cyberterrorism was created in the mid 90’s by combining cyberspace and terrorism. The term has been widely accepted after being embraced by the United State Intelligence Community. Janczewski and Colarik describe cyberterrorism as â€Å"Premeditated, politically motivated attacks by subnational groups, clandestine agents, or individuals against information and computer systems, computer programs, and data that result in violence against non-combat targets† (Janczewski Colarik, 2005, p. 43). Cyberterrorism is a form of terrorism that uses any form of connected source to engage in attacks of information systems, incitement to violence, theft of data, and planning of terrorist attacks (Britz, 2011, p. 197). As an introduction into the topic, the following definition is key to understanding the definition: â€Å"Cyberterrorism is the convergence of terrorism and cyberspace. It is generally understood to mean unlawful attacks and threats of attack against computers, networks, and the information stored therein when done to intimidate or coercer a government or its people in furtherance of political or social objectives. Further, to qualify as cyberterrorism, an attack should result in violence against persons or property, or at least cause enough harm to generate fear. Attacks that lead to death or bodily injury, explosions, plane crashes, water contamination, or severe economic loss would be examples. Serious attacks against critical infrastructures could be acts of cyberterrorism, depending on their impact. Attacks that disrupt nonessential services or that are mainly a costly nuisance would not† (Denning, 2000). Cyberterrorism is considered an act of violence or intimidation using cyberspace. It is more complicated than simply hacking into a system to see what damage can be done; it has to stem from a motivational source such as politics, foreign government, or some other rousing source (Gross, 2003). Enemies of the U. S. are strongly motivated by hate. Hate can be a strong motivator when it comes to cyberterrorism, and just terrorism in general. When hate is the driving factor of actions, the consideration for the targeted group is very minimal, and the results of hate crimes are usually violent and gruesome acts. The FBI’s definition isn’t that far off from Denning’s. They have published three different distinct definitions of cyberterrorism: â€Å"Terrorism that†¦initiates attacks on information† – â€Å"the use of Cyber tools† – and â€Å"a criminal act perpetrated by the use of computers (Baranetsky, 2009). Most government agencies that have a response program for cyberterrorism have their own published definition of cyberterrorism. The question rises ‘why does cyberterrorism occur? ’ The answer is that the terrorist want cause specific damage to the target. There are three factors that are considered when this question is asked, the first being the fear factor. It is the most common denominator of the majority of terrorist attacks. The attackers want to create as sense of fear in individuals, groups, or societies – whomever they are targeting (Janczewski Colarik, 2005, p. 45). Perhaps a cyber example of this could be the attack of IT installations. Then there is the spectacular factor. Spectacular means that the attacks are aimed at creating direct losses or resulting in a lot of negative publicity (Janczewski Colarik, 2005, p. 45). An example of the spectacular factor at work was in 1999 when Amazon. com was closed because of a Denial of Service (DOS) attack. They suffered losses from the attack, but the worse affect was the publicity that that was received (Taylor, Calabresi, Krantz, Pascual, Ressner, 2000). The last factor is the vulnerability factor. This is simply when vulnerability of an organization is exposed (Janczewski Colarik, 2005). An example of this could be the vandalism of an organizations webpage. The importance and significance of cyberterrorism is a very debatable topic. Kim Taipale, founder and executive director for the Stilwell Center for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology Policy believes â€Å"cyberterrorism, whatever it is, is a useless term. Taipale believes that, â€Å"terrorists will use any strategic tool they can† so â€Å"cyber† terrorism is no more important then other forms (Baranetsky, 2009). The statements by Taipale are strong, and arguments could be made supporting her, and arguments could be made that go against her beliefs. It is true that terrorism is growing all over the world, and terrorists are beginning to use various outlets to threaten nations, groups, and individuals. So the case could be made stating that cyberterrorism is just an accessible outlet terrorists have, because of the access that is granted to an individual on cyberspace. In conflict with that argument is the argument that cyberspace is not monitored and policed enough, and has little to no restrictions as to what can be done in cyberspace. This is an ongoing debate that will not be discussed in this paper. Different Forms of Cyber Attacks Various types of cyber attacks are used within the terrorist aspect of cyberspace. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, cyberterrorism is â€Å"the use of computer networks to shut down critical infrastructure (such as energy, transportation, government operations) or to coerce or intimidate a government or civilian population† (Lewis, 2002, p. ). The most commonly used tactics used to neutralize critical infrastructure are attacks known as the Trojan horse, viruses, phishing, Denial of Service (DoS), and Direct Denial of Service attacks. The first of the types of the cyber attacks to be discussed is the Trojan horse. A Trojan horse is a computer program that conceals a harmful code. Relating to the well know tale of the Trojan horse, it allows you into a system, and then leaves an outlet that allows you to get back into the system. In essence, it is software that appears to perform one action while actually performing another (Gohring, 2009, p. 6). A Trojan horse is a program that appears harmless but hides malicious functions. The most common Trojan horse of today’s day and age is NetBus, which was used for illegally breaking into computer systems and, in particular, used to plant child pornography on computers of people of integrity. Viruses are another form of cyber attack. Viruses are programs that â€Å"infect computer files, usually executable programs, by inserting a copy of itself into the file. These copies are usually executed when the infected file is loaded into memory, allowing the virus to affect other files. A virus requires human involvement to spread† (Kuehl, 2012). Virus writers write programs that infect the systems of certain users, but needs direct involvement by the creator or another human source to spread the virus. Very similar to a virus is a worm. The worm works just like a virus, implemented into a system by a creator. The difference between a worm and a virus is the fact that a worm doesn’t need the hands-on human involvement. Back in 2003, SQL Slammer worm spread throughout the cyber world. This was a worm that exploited a buffer overflow vulnerability of Microsoft’s SQL Server. Six months prior to the launch of the worm, the vulnerability was taken notice of and a patch was developed to strengthen the vulnerability. The worm worked by generating random IP addresses, and if belonged to an SQL Server that was not covered by the patch, it was infected and immediately began sending out more copies of the worm to more random IP addresses (Leyden, 2003). There was no human involvement after the worm was created initiated by the creator. It spread itself to random IP addresses, which categorizes it as a worm. Phishing is a form of deception used in cyberspace. Phishing attempts to trick users into giving out their personal data. The techniques used in phishing attempts are emails and websites that are designed to look like legitimate agency websites asking for an individual’s bank and financial account information and passwords (Kuehl, 2012). This method is not used so much by cyberterrorists, but the possibility is there. A more serious cyber attack comes in the form of a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. DoS attacks deny system access to users by overwhelming the target source with messages and blocking legitimate traffic (Kuehl, 2012). It causes a system overload, and can block the ability to exchange data between systems using the Internet. DoS attacks usually target banks, and earlier this year in September, several major banks were attacked using DoS. The websites of Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, U. S. Bank, and PNC Bank all were victims of a DoS attack (Goldman, 2012). The websites were overloaded with traffic directed at them causing them to crash. Most of the time while the cyberterrorists use these attacks to steal information from bank customers, but in this case the motivation was simply to temporarily take down the banks’ public-facing websites, putting them under extreme heat from the public and potentially tarnishing their reputations. There are three levels of cyber capability that need to be taken into thought when considering types of cyberterrorism attacks. The first is simple-unstructured capability. This allows a cyberterrorist to conduct basic hacks against individual systems using tools created by someone else. The organization possesses little target analysis, command and control, or learning capability (Denning, 2000). This level is sometimes not considered to be cyberterrorism, because of the simplicity of the attack. There is slight to no attention focused on the target, which does not reveal any sort of motivation. Referring back to the definition of cyberterrorism, it has to stem from a motivational source to be considered cyberterrorism (Gross, 2003). The simple-unstructured capable individuals are basically the ones who hack into systems just to see what kind of damage they can cause. The second level of capability is the advance-structured level. This is the competence to conduct more sophisticated attacks against multiple systems or networks and possibly, to modify or create basic hacking tools. The organization possesses a straightforward and uncomplicated target analysis, command control, and learning capability (Denning, 2000). These organizations have motivations, but they are not strong enough to cause serious damage to the identified target. The last capability is the complex-coordinated capability. This is the ability for coordinated attacks capable of causing mass-disruption against integrated, heterogeneous defenses. They have the capacity to create sophisticated hacking tools. There is a highly capable target analysis, command control, and organization learning capability (Denning, 2000). Organizations with this type of capability are highly sophisticated with dangerous motivations. These dangerous organizations are the ones that can cause millions of dollars of damage, and also tons of negative publicity, two of the main objectives of cyberterrorist. There are cases when terrorists actually run other forms of terrorisms, such as bombings, with the use of cyberspace. The anonymity and global reach of the Internet has helped facilitate terrorism (Cole Glasser, 2009). â€Å"They put up websites to spread their messages and recruit supporters, and they use the Internet to communicate and coordinate action. However, there are few indications that they are pursuing in cyberterrorism, either alone or in conjunction with acts of violence† (Denning, 2000). There is an example of this from the late 90’s. In February 1998, Clark Staten, executive director of the Emergency Response and Research Institute in Chicago, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee that it was believed that â€Å"members of some Islamic extremist organizations have been trying to develop a network of hackers to support their computer activities in offensive information warfare attacks in the future† (Denning, Cyberterrorism, 2000). It is the perfect way to recruit, because of the anonymity that is granted to the individual. â€Å"The Internet is the ideal medium for terrorism today: anonymous but pervasive† (Cole Glasser, 2009, p. 95).

Sex Education in Schools: Abstinence-Only Programs Essay -- argumentati

Sex Education in Schools: Abstinence-Only Programs Teenage sexual activity is a major problem confronting the nation and has led to a rising incidence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and teenage pregnancy. The existence of HIV/AIDS has given a sense of urgency to the topic of sex education. The issue of sex education in schools especially in the formative years has been a subject of intense debate among parents, school officials, health scientists and religious authorities worldwide for a considerable period of time. The debate centers on comprehensive sex education versus abstinence-only sex education in school. Abstinence only sex education is a sex education model that focuses on the virtue of abstinence from sexual activities; therefore, encouraging sexual abstinence until marriage. This form of sexual education completely ignores all other elements of comprehensive sexual education like safe sex and reproductive health education issues like the use of contraceptives and birth control methods. Comprehensive sex tea ching encourages promiscuous sexual activity as â€Å"a natural part of life.† Proponents of abstinence only education activists cite several reasons why this type of education is the best. It focuses on the upholding of moral virtues. They also claim that sex outside marriage hat is â€Å"encouraged† by the comprehensive sex education which as a result, has some emotional and physical downfall especially when done at a very young age. They blame the comprehensive sex education for failing to discourage premarital sex especially at this time when the HIV pandemic is busy devouring young people in various parts of the world (Deborah 2). In fairness, both programs were designed to decrease the incidence of STDs... ...u, Denmark, Durban: Macmillan, 2004. Print. Miller, Becky. â€Å"Sex Education: Why Teach Abstinence Only?† Opinion and Editorial, AC, 21 June 2006. Web. 29 Nov 2009. Roger, J. R. Sexuality education: what adolescents' rights require. North Carolina: Levesque. 2003. Print. Robert T. F.et al. Sexuality in America: understanding our sexual values and behavior.‎ New York: Willey, 1999. Print. The Abstinence Clearinghouse. â€Å"Most parents Advocate Abstinence Education for Their Children.† At Issue: Sex Education. Ed. Kristen Bailey. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Baltimore County Public Library. Web. 11 Nov 2009 Zanis, D. A. â€Å"Use of sexual abstinence only curriculum with sexually active youths.† Children & Schools 27.1 (2005): 59-63. Print.

The Image of Nursing

The Image of Nursing Dawn Davis Texas A&M University-Texarkana The Image of Nursing Following is a discussion of the image of nursing and professional identity. Factors contributing to nursing image and the effects of nursing image are included. The Image of Nursing What is the professional identity, or the image of nursing? How does the public view this hardworking profession? Do they understand what a nurse does? Do they understand the thought processes involved in caring for patients. Do they understand the knowledge involved in critical thinking?Do they have any idea that we formulate plans of care and that we put together nursing diagnosis with treatment plans, nursing interventions, expected outcomes? Do they understand that we are their advocates? Do they understand that all care is channeled through nursing and that we are their main defense for patient safety? Are we professionals in the eyes of the public, and in our own eyes? For my own research on this paper, I randomly q uizzed ten people that I met in public, not people that knew me personally. I asked them what they thought of nurses, and asked them to give me some adjectives to describe nurses in general.Some of the positive responses that I received were; kind, caring, cool, they help the doctors, they take care of patients, outstanding, knew what they were doing, they saved my life, and excellent. I also received some negatives. One person told me that they knew one nurse that was totally uncaring, unprofessional, and mean. Another individual told me that many years ago her son, who passed away, was HIV positive and she felt that the nurses neglected him because of his diagnosis. I was appalled at the negative answers, and somewhat disappointed with the positives.While the positives that I received were all fantastic traits, not one person mentioned traits such as educated or professional. My very limited random research was completely in line with the findings in our text book, Professional Is sues in Nursing. So, it would seem that, in general, the public doesn’t completely understand the wide scope of nursing. They understand some of the basic functions of nursing. The few random individuals that I spoke with based their perceptions mainly on personal past experiences with nurses. Nursing Image What is Nursing Image?This is a concept that needs more clarification and study to increase nurse’s awareness of factors that affect public perception. â€Å"Understanding the moral values in today’s nursing practice will help nurses to work together with a common comprehension of their aims. This should also allow greater appreciation of the practice of nursing highlighting the equal importance of both fundamental basic nursing care and the advanced clinical roles† (Horton, Tschudin, & Forget, 2007) Nursing image also affects the decision to enter nursing as a profession, to remain in nursing, and to encourage others to become a nurse.A broad definiti on is â€Å"Nursing Image is a multidimensional, all-inclusive, paradoxical, dynamic, and complex concept. † (Rezaei-Adaryani, Salsali, & Mohammadi, 2012) To further define: * All-inclusive and paradoxical refers to both stereotypical and professional image. * Dynamic includes the changing view of nursing as a profession. * Complex, because many factors influence the formation of the image. Factors affecting Nursing Image Many factors combine to influence the image of nursing as a profession.Some of The factors include media, poor communication and visibility, clothing style, the nurses’ behaviors, gender issues, and professional organizations. (Rezaei-Adaryani, Salsali, & Mohammadi, 2012) * Media- Historically media has not painted a very professional image of nursing, although, recently this has improved to portray a more capable, independent, strong, intelligent individual. * Poor communication and invisibility- Nursing is an invisible profession and this is a major threat to nursing’s social status and perceived value.It is believed that since nursing is mostly female, that there is poor communication with media and reporters. Nurses also somewhat reluctant to share knowledge, experience, expertise, competence, and intelligence to change portrayal in the media. (Rezaei-Adaryani, Salsali, & Mohammadi, 2012) * Clothing style- Appearance is the first thing a person notices. A professional uniform that also defines them from other disciplines increases professionalism. * Nurses’ behaviors- Some believe that the nurse is not identified as professional individual, we refer to the physician as Dr. ___, and the nurse is known by the first name. Different levels of nursing education do the same job; this may devalue nursing as an intellectual profession. Nurses with negative image of nursing may also project that to others. â€Å"Self-image shapes behavior and performance in the workplace and affects how we think and act. † (Fletc her, 2007) * Gender issues- Generally nursing is viewed as a female dominated profession. Men are normally viewed as having positions of power. Women are thought of as caring, more emotional and less aggressive than men.This gender stereotype tends to limit the number of males recruited and retained in nursing. (Rezaei-Adaryani, Salsali, & Mohammadi, 2012) * Professional organizations-Globally, there are 14 million nurses. Nurses are the largest group of health professionals in the world. Unfortunately, there is limited unity. Involvement in professional organizations, and standing together on issues is important in changing nursing image and increasing professional identity. (Rezaei-Adaryani, Salsali, & Mohammadi, 2012) Effects of Nursing Image on NursingOne very important effect of public misunderstanding of the profession of nursing and the knowledge and skill required is a limited number of potential candidates for the future of nursing. Thirty years ago a significant number of young people would have chosen to be a nurse when they grow up, less than 5% of students responded so in a 2004 study. (Huston, Professional Issues in Nursing, 2010) Another important factor is that inaccurate nursing stereotypes may have a negative effect on the self-esteem f nursing as a whole. Both of these factors combined lead to increase in nursing shortage, short-staffing, heavy workload, job dissatisfaction, and burn-out. This can lead to current nurses leaving the profession. In general, nurses’ image of nursing tends to be better than that of the public. This is related to the fact that nurses are educated about the profession. I also asked several Registered Nurses to give adjectives to describe nursing.I received responses such as; educated, professional, critical thinkers, overworked, advocates, compassionate, unappreciated, caring, researchers, knowledgeable, multitasker, empathetic, thorough, supportive, educators, and leaders. Many changes need to be made to c hange the image of nursing in public view. Nurses must be heard in the media. Nurses must speak positively about their profession. The public needs to be educated about the profession of nursing. Nurses should act, perform, and dress like professionals. Nurses should actively encourage bright individuals to join the profession.Current nurses should positively socialize nursing students, and new nurses, acting as optimistic and confident mentors, sharing their expertise. Nurses should join and be active in professional organizations, to increase unity, and be active in the political processes. Imagine the strength and respect nursing would command if half of the nurses joined. In summary, the image of nursing needs to be changed for the better. Change starts with the profession itself. Every nurse should take accountability to make these positive changes through action, involvement, education, and behavior.Bibliography Fletcher, K. (2007). Image: changing how women nurses think about themselves. The Author, 207-215. Horton, K. , Tschudin, V. , & Forget, A. (2007). The Value of Nursing: A Literature Review. Sage Publication. Huston, C. J. (2010). Professional Issues in Nursing (second ed. ). (H. Surrena, Ed. ) Philadelphia, PA, USA: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Rezaei-Adaryani, M. , Salsali, M. , & Mohammadi, E. (2012, December). Nursing Image: An Evolutionary Concept Analysis. Contemporary Nurse, 81-89.

Human Resource Management Essay

Abstract Throughout the time of the course, Human Resource Management, we have been able to learn and use HR practices in everyday life. This paper has been put together using two case studies and eight chapters from the book, Managing Human Resources. The two case studies are based on Lincoln Electric Company and Southwest Airlines, the eight chapters include chapters 1 and 3 then chapters 7 through 12. As a group we have worked together to prepare each different chapter and we have used the cases to help develop our own Human Resource skills. This paper will demonstrate how as a group we were able to relate the case studies to different aspects that the Human Resource field covers. Chapter 1: Managing Human Resources Read the two cases at the end of this book regarding Lincoln Electric and Southwest Airlines. Then using Exhibit 1.1 as a guide, make an illustration that identifies the stakeholders of each company and shows the relative importance of each stakeholder to each company. To complete this assignment, you can gather your information materials in this chapter, the cases at end of the text, and from other sources, including newspapers, magazines, the internet, and your own experience. If you are unable to obtain information you feel is relevant, make assumptions based on your best judgment. Note any major assumptions you make. Southwest Airlines Lets elaborate on each stakeholder in more detail. First is suppliers which are Boeing Aircraft, airport, and the fuel companies. Boeing supplies the  airplane that they us which is the Boeing 737, the airport gates provide income for the company, and the fuel company of course supplies fuel. With all the different suppliers Southwest has to keep them in line with what they are trying to accomplish which is offer the best prices to its customers. Competitors are all the airplines at the airport. Southwest has to figure out a way to maintain a profit and still offer lower or same prices at the other airlines. They should always know what the competition is doing or offering. Customers are stakeholders in that they are the Shante’ Johnson  people who are buying the product and without them there is no business. Employees are important because they add value to the company. Employees are resources because they provide labor and help with production. Finally the enivornment/communtiy is a stakeholder because Southwest has plans in motion to help protect the resources they have and give back to the community. Southwest prides itself on being socially responsible and has done so by charity programs, recyling, and going green. They feel that if the community is on their side and supportive of them then they can prosper and be a household name. The Lincoln Electric Company Corporations like The Lincoln Electric Company are dependent on their customers. If they do not improve their relationship and offer the best for their guest the businesses might not be as successful. The customer makes it likely to for a company to attain its goals. LEC views it employees as being of importance because they are the heart of the company. They maintain production and their performance Shante’ Johnson  affects the company. LEC feels that it will do what is needed to make their employees happy so that they can keep producing results. Lastly I feel that LEC values the environment as a stakeholder in that it wants to come up with practice that will keep the environment safe and clean. They want to maintain a healthy environment for the community. They want to support communities in which they are located. Chapter 3: Ensuring Fair Treatment and Legal Compliance A. What evidence exists to demonstrate that each company manages employees fairly and legally? Southwest Airlines When reading about Southwest I feel that they treat their employees fairly and follow the legal procedures in obtaining their employees. Southwest like most companies value their employees and the work they do for the company. I found it interesting that Southwest renamed its HR department the People department. By changing the name of the HR department shows that they see the significance in people and the relationships that are involved with that. The article also says that Southwest puts time into hiring and interviewing applicants. I view that as they only want the best for their company and will use the resources needed to get the best. If that means interviewing 100 people for one job then so be it. If I was applying and knew that they only want the best and have measures in place that shows their support and care for employees I would want to work for them. Lincoln Electric At first when reading about LEC I thought they value their employees because they know their employees are the main reason they are able to be successful. Lincoln Electric recognizes that money is an incentive to employees and knows that by offering an incentive they can get the workers to be more productive. They understand that there was to be an honest relationship between employees and managers. There has to be a level of respect for each other. Lincoln Electric has HR Objectives that pertain to its employee; I am going to list three out of four of the objectives first is â€Å"to maintain and Shante’ Johnson  expand the Lincoln Incentive Management Philosophy, to recognize people as the company’s most valuable asset, and to promote training, education, and development that broaden employee skills† (Jackson, Schuler, Werner pg 563). I do not know many companies that have objectives written down for their employees. Having objectives in place to be followed by HR personnel is reassuring that they Lincoln Electric cares about its employees. As I continued to read about the company I found out they have a low turnover rate, but they keep their workers busy and focused on the task at hand. They also have no leisure time and many do not receive a break. I do not believe  that to be fair because if you are working a certain amount of hours a day you need a break. Also not having time to socialize with others I can picture the workplace being full of robots. People clocking in and doing their jobs and then clocking out and going home. B. Are there company practices at Southwest Airlines and/or Lincoln Electric that you would consider to be unfair? If so, which ones? Why? Southwest Airlines I will be honest is was hard finding a practice that was unfair but after much thought I find it unfair that when an applicant is being consider they may be asked to speak in front of a large group of people. If I am interviewing for a basic job that does not involved a lot of interaction with people why should speaking in front of a large group be a part of my applicant process. I also find it strange that Southwest will red flag an applicant that is flying in. I understand the idea of seeing how they behavior around others and handle certain situations, but they should also be notified that they may be watched. I also do not find it fair to judge an applicant before you even get to meet them. You cannot always take the opinion of others when making important decisions that can affect your company. I do like having others opinions and having them way in, but I do not want them to spy on an applicant. Lincoln Electric Shante’ Johnson Lincoln Electric included a dialogue of a few interviews they held and it immediately stood out to me that they were asking questions that are unfair and illegal. I do not find it professional to ask how much money did you make last year, what did you do with that money, and how do you feel about joining a union (just to name a few). Employers can get into trouble asking those questions because if someone is rejected they can sue based on the questions they were asked. I also do not think it is fair for management to have the authority to cut hours without any notice. Some employees’ livelihood depends on their job. If their hours are suddenly cut it does not give them time to put other plans into motion. I also feel that it makes the company look bad and can bring down employee morale. Chapter 7: Selecting Employees to Fit the Job and the Organization Describe,  evaluate, and compare the selection procedures used at these two companies. In preparing your answer, consider the following issues: A. The objectives of the selection process. Each company has a different selection process for job applicants and how the company selects its applicants is unique. Some companies may not have an intricate selection process; instead they just want to fill the absent position. However, this is not the case when Southwest Airlines or Lincoln Electric selects employees. Southwest Airlines believes that investing in recruiting should be a top priority for their company, and so it has become the goal to select applicants who will fit into the culture that Southwest has created instead of just filling a vacant position. Southwest wants to make sure they are hiring people who will be beneficial to the company instead of hiring someone quickly then the new employee not fit into the mold Southwest has created. In the case of Lincoln Electric, they do their selection process a little differently. Instead of going out and recruiting for all the open positions within the company Lincoln Electric instead only uses external recruitment in cases of entry level positions. Lincoln Electric has decided to fill all other open job positions internally, with those employees who have already been a part of the company. Since Lincoln is filling most job openings with people already employed within the company it shows that the company believes in the employees it has, and wants to help them grow individually as the company grows as well. B. The criteria used The criteria used in the selection process of new employees for Southwest Airlines and Lincoln Electric differ greatly between the two companies. The major criterion used for Southwest Airlines is attitude. Southwest’s selection process has strong roots in the attitudes of the job applicants. The company has selected five key predictors to see if the applicant’s attitude would blend well within Southwest. The predictors are: blend of energy, humor, team spirit, and self-confidence. It makes sense that Southwest wants to hire employees who would fit into the company culturethat way they can ensure positive and team work oriented attitude is kept within the company. The major criterion used for Lincoln Electric for filling positions is based on in house hiring, except for entry level positions. By giving employees notice of the open positions it can help keep the company culture the same, and is beneficial to keep employees and teach them new skills. When the company is able to teach employees new skills it helps build the different competencies they possess; different competencies can help make an employee more attractive to the organization instead of just one specific job title. This employee then becomes multi-functional. C. The techniques used to assess the competencies of job applicants. Southwest Airlines and Lincoln Electric have specific hiring techniques to assess the competencies of potential employees. Southwest uses three distinctive techniques to help figure out who will best fit the dynamic of the company. The first technique used is the personality test. The personality test helps â€Å"The People Department† get to know job applicants values and what type of personality he or she has. There are seven traits used: cheerfulness, optimism, decision making skills, team spirit, communication, self-confidence, and self-starter skills. The person being interviewed needs to receive a three or higher, on a scale from one to five, to move on to the next stage of the interview process. The next technique used would be the actual interview. Southwest looks to find people with great people skills, matching work experience, and people who are team players. Hiring people without these qualities would be a waste of time, considering that many of the jobs Southwest provides have to do with teamwork, helping people have a pleasant experience, and experience. The last technique is the most interesting, Southwest wants to make sure they hire people with a great attitude so they have managers jot down anything memorable about the applicant, good or bad, they give applicants special tickets on their flights so employees will know to observe them and their behavior, and they are also asked to speak in front of groups of people. However, the audience is also being evaluated along with the speaker; Southwest wants to see if the audience members are attentive and paying attention to who is speaking. Southwest wants to find people whose attitudes  fit in with current employees and the culture they’ve built together. Therefore their selection techniques are quite focused on the job applicant’s attitude and values. Lincoln Electric has kept a constant theme throughout their selection process. During the selection process, Lincoln Electric uses current employees to fill open positions; and they are able to find out if employees can take on a new position through the interview process. Lincoln does not use aptitude or psychological interviews; instead they focus on the personal aspects of the employees. There is a committee that is made up of supervisors and different vice presidents whom interview the different job applicants. Since the interviews are on a more personal level, the committee is looking for the correctperson who can perform the specified tasks and fit in with the new department. Although Lincoln Electric uses the committee to perform the interview process, the final selection is left up to the supervisor who is in charge of the department where the job opening is. D. The appar ent effectiveness of the selection process. The effectiveness of both companies selection process has been extremely effective. In the case of Southwest Airlines because of the friendly culture close to 90,000 people applied in the past few years. This many applicants can be overwhelming, but since the HR department is committed to only hiring those applicants who can fit into the company culture, they only hired 831 people. Due to the specific selection process and the use of different employees from the HR department, managers, and employees the turnover rate for Southwest is less than five percent. The employees of the company enjoy their jobs and the culture that they are involved with on a daily basis that the employees continue to work for Southwest for the long-term. Lincoln Electric’s selection process is as similarly successful as that of Southwest Airlines. Since Lincoln Electric fills openings in-house the company doesn’t experience a high turnover rate. Employees average around 18 years working with the company, and due to the in-house hiring process employees become more satisfied with their work because they are able to develop and move up in their career path. Putting faith in current employees to help build the  company from the ground level to top level, put trust in employees and thus employees trust Lincoln more and want to stay with the company longer. E. The roles and responsibilities of line managers, HR professionals, and other employees in each company. Each company has their own unique way of selecting the perfect job applicants to fill the needs of the company, and each company has proven to be successful in the selection process. But without the helpof HR professionals, line managers, and other employees the companies may not have had such smooth sailing. Southwest Airlines makes sure to include every level of employees to help choose new employees through their selection process. The HR professionals, or the â€Å"People Department†, work to set up and organize the different interviews and where they will be held, the HR professionals also distinguish what qualities are important to the company culture for job applica nts to be able to fit in. Line managers and employees are also involved, they are able to interact and speak with job applicants. By Southwest involving line managers and employees in the selection process, it shows how important the company culture is to the company. Having the line managers and employees involves also allows them to help select future employees that they will have to interact with on a daily basis. Lincoln Electric also involves HR professionals, line managers, and employees in the selection process. The HR professionals post the job openings on an internal job board and set up the interviews that will be conducted to find the right applicant. Line managers are involved in the selection process through interviews, and they ultimately have the final decision in who is hired to work in their department. Employee involvement is probably the most important part of the selection process. Employees are important because if they are not actively involved in applying for the open positions Lincoln Electric would not be able to fill the open job positions. Having the employees involved with filling the job positions is crucial to keeping the company on task and not having a lot of turnover. Chapter 8 – Training and Developing a Competitive Workforce A. For which company is training and development more important? In the case of Lincoln Electric and Southwest Airlines there is one company who puts more emphasis on training than the other. Southwest deeply involves new employees into the training process  much more than Lincoln Electric. In the production area of Lincoln Electric the employees are given on-the-job training that is over a short time period, and they are then expected to perform their duties  correctly. When it comes to sales jobs they receive on-the-job training at a plant, then they go to a regional sales office and receive more training while they are working. Lincoln Electric does not provide or pay for outside training, unless there is a specific need for the outside training. Even though Lincoln Electric does not spend a great deal of time with training, Southwest does. Southwest places a large emphasis on employees fitting in to their work culture so the company provides ample training in all aspects the employees will be involved in. There are seven different areas that new employees are trained in when entering the Southwest team. The areas include: Freedom-LUV-and You, Leadership 101, Leadership Southwest Style, Next Level Leadership, Power Speak, Successful Performance Appraisals, and Every Customer Matters. Unlike Lincoln, Southwest encourages employees to take full advantage of outside training whenever they can. Not only does Southwest train employees in their own respective fields, but they also train employees on the jobs of other employees who they will be working closely with. This type of training helps employees understand and better relate to those who they will be working with on a regular basis. Southwest provides an enormous amount of training for new employees, but they also continue development and training for existing employees as well. Once a year all employees are required to attend training programs that help reiterate the shared values throughout the company. B. Describe how the training and development activities in both companies are related to other HR activities. The training and development activities at Lincoln Electric also relate to other Human Resource activities that are involved within the company. The main human resource policy that fits well with the training and development of Lincoln Electric employees are the work assignments. The management teams at Lincoln Electric have the power to change or transfer the work assignments of current employees. In order to keep up with the changing of work assignments the training process can not be lengthy. The training that employees receive is on-the-job, so if a work  assignment changes they are able to be taught quickly on what their new responsibilities will be. In a company like Lincoln Electric the needs of consumers may change and having the ability to move workers assignments and provide sufficient on the job training helps the company keep up with the changing external factors the company faces. The training and development activities at Southwest Airlines are in direct correlation with their hiring and selection process. Southwest works particularly hard to find employees who exhibit the right attitude, who will fit in, and demonstrate the qualities that are important to the company culture. Since the time is spent to find the best employees to fit in, the company wants to invest into training them properly to become part of the Southwest team. The training Southwest provides its new employees is an extension of their selection process. Southwest does not hire employees just to fill positions accordingly the company wants to invest in the new hires to expand their abilities and qualities. Not only does Southwest want to connect the selection process to training and development for new employees, but training continues for existing employees too. Existing employees are encouraged to do outside training to improve their skills and knowledge. The company also requires a yearly training session to make sure that everyone is still operating with the same shared values throughout the company. The values in the training are the same values that the employees shared with Southwest Airlines from the time of their selection. Chapter 9 – Conducting Performance Management A. Compare Lincoln Electric and Southwest Airlines with respect to the major purposes of performance measurement and feedback. Which organization seems to be more concerned with traits? With behavior? With results? What uses does performance measurement serve in these two companies? Performance measurements and feedback are vital to the success and knowledge of Lincoln Electric and Southwest Airlines. Each company uses performance measurement tools to help gage the employees’ performance and where there is room for improvement. The performance measurement Lincoln Electric uses is based on a great deal of results and how the employees are performing their jobs and designated tasks. Employees and managers are evaluated on different  terms. Employees are evaluated twice a year, and their performance principles include: quality, dependability, ideas and cooperation, and output. Managers are evaluated on six different competencies: leadership/ownership, decision making and judgment, results orientation, teamwork/commitment, quality and customer focus, and creativity/innovation. When it comes to feedback managers at Lincoln Electric discuss the performance scores with employees and if necessary will provide recommendations. Once a year the company provides feedback based on performance and will also assist in performance improvement and development. Southwest Airlines focuses on results, but their main concern for employees is based on their traits and behavior. Southwest strives to have excellent customer service, as a result employees performance is measured on how well they are performing their jobs and handling the customer service aspect. The performance measures used help with building team cooperation instead of enticing competition between different departments. When managers evaluate employees, especially regarding customer service, they have to provide documentation of the events and how the employee performed. The manager cannot just give an outstanding score without regarding actual events that took place. Southwest Airlines contributes feedback to what they call â€Å"loving feedback†. â€Å"It celebrates successes, it lets people know how they’re doing, but it’s also honest†(Jackson, Schuler, and Werner, 2012). The feedback system for Southwest has two different objectives; first is the metrics level and second is the conversation, people to people level. The performance measurements used for both companies reflect the performance of employees and management. However, Lincoln Electric focuses more on the results that employees receive from their evaluations. Lincoln Electric does use the performance measurements to influence, whether it is an increase or reduction, in merit pay and the decisions of bonuses for employees. Not only do the results of the performance measurement affect if an employee receives merit pay or a bonus, the company uses the evaluations to fix warranty claim problems. In the case of a warrant claim the manager can trace the claim to the exact employee error made. When this happens the employee’s performance score may be reduced, or the worker may be required to repay the cost of  servicing the warranty claim by working without pay (Jackson, Schuler, and Werner, 2012). Southwest Airlines truly uses their performance measurement and feedback system to focus on the traits and behaviors of the employees. They want to show employees they value their work, and give them feedback that helps. Due to how concerned Southwest is to give employees a meaningful experience, employees would rather hear negative feedback and performance ratings than hearing nothing at all. At least by hearing the negative feedback they have something to work towards and improve on to make themselves better. B. For Lincoln Electric, how well do the performance criteria fit the company’s strategic objectives? Identify any potential sources of deficiency and contamination in the company’s performance measures. For the most part Lincoln Electric fulfills two out of the four HR Objectives that the company has deemed to be important. Those two are: to maintain and expand the Lincoln Incentive Management Philosophy and To maintain an affirmative action program, and provide employees with opportunities for advancement commensurate with their abilities and performance regardless of race, religion, national origin, sex, age, or disability (Jackson, Schuler, and Werner, 2012). There are two other objectives that I do not believe Lincoln Electric is taking enough advantage of when using their performance criteria. Two objectives include: recognizing people as the company’s most valuable asset and promoting the training, education, and development to broaden the employee skills. Lincoln Electric only provides on-the-job training and they do not pay for or encourage outside training, unless the need is absolutely necessary. Not only do they only offer on-the-job training, when performance results are released twice a year, the employees only receive coaching and performance improvement development once a year. Lincoln Electric should at least offer the coach and performance improvement directly after each performance evaluation and feedback term. By not investing in the training and education of employees they are not fulfilling that particular objective. Also, when an employee’s performance is bad, management punishes the employee instead of taking the time to find out what went wrong in the making of an item. There might have been something the employee didn’t understand. Not taking the time to discuss and figure the source of the  issues doesn’t show that Lincoln sees people as the company’s most valuable asset. Especially, when a mistake happens, their performance score is reduced and they have to fix the problem without receiving pay. C. Compare the sources of performance information used at Lincoln Electric and Southwest Airlines. Would you recommend that these organizations use 360-degree appraisals? Why or why not? Each company has a different way of evaluating their employees to find out how they performing and if they need any help or training. When looking at the sources of how Southwest evaluates their employees’ performance I do not think they need to use 360-degree appraisals. The company focuses different aspects that affect the employees individually and what teams they are a part of collectively. Southwest’s â€Å"performance management also reflects how we value our employees†(Jackson, Schuler, and Werner, 2012). Southwest effectively measures the performance of employees and the teams they are on, this type of performance measurement promotes cooperation between employees instead of employees  trying to compete to be the best. Southwest prides itself on teamwork, so when something goes wrong it isn’t just one individual’s fault, the company examines what different departments were effected to make this problem, and as a team they fix the problem. When examining the performance measurements of Lincoln Electric, I do believe that the company could benefit from implementing 360-degree appraisal performance measurement. Lincoln Electric employees are evaluated by their department manager, and employees help establish the goals that the managers are performance evaluations are based on. 360-degree appraisals would be able to give employees and managers more evaluations to work with. This type of appraisals uses supervisors, subordinates, peers, and employees to evaluate performance. The people chosen to evaluate the employee or manager are not random either, they are people who work with the employee on a regular basis and who know how well this individual does with his or her job. When Lincoln Electric is only using a manager to evaluate the employees, the manager may be bias and not give each employee a fair evaluation. However, when using 360-degree appraisals it is hard for one individual to sway the evaluation when there are multiple people working to evaluate the employee properly. â€Å"Multiple-source evaluations are perceived as being more fair, reliable, and  valid than single-source approaches†(Jackson, Schuler, and Werner, 2012). The 360-degree appraisal process may benefit Lincoln Electric when fulfilling their HR objective of recognizing people as the company’s most important asset as well. By having more than one person involved with the performance measurements, employees may gain a better since of how important they are to the company overall. Chapter 10: Developing an Approach to Total Compensation The purpose of an organization’s total compensation is to provide sufficient incentive and recognition to attract and retain the right people for the right positions within the organization and for those hired, to remain engaged within the organization and perform at their best ability. It has been proven that by having the right â€Å"employee fit† will improve motivation and productivity, resulting ultimately in a more content workforce and increased retention and tenure. Establishing a solid and competitive total compensation package contributes to employee retention, which happens to be one of the greatest â€Å"concerns of employers today, with 59 percent of those surveyed worried about losing their best employees to competitors and 67 percent concerned about the difficulty of finding skilled labor.† (Taylor, 2013) Total compensation not only refers to an employee’s salary, benefits, and other monetary rewards, it also factors in non-monetary rewards as well. There are four strategic objectives, tied directly to total compensation that should be considered when establishing an organization’s total compensation. These include: 1) Attracting, motivating, and retaining the talent required for a sustainable competitive advantage; 2) Focusing the energy of employees on implementing the organization’s particular competitive strategy; 3) Improving productivity; and 4) Cost containment. (Jackson, Schuler, & Werner, 2012) 1. Compare and contrast the two companies on the following: a. The objectives of their total compensation practices As communicated in Lincoln Electrics Employees’ Handbook (Lincoln Electric Company), as well as in the text case study (Jackson, Schuler, & Werner, 2012), Lincoln Electric’s compensation practice is premium total compensation for premium overall performance. â€Å"The key elements of premium  total compensation are base pay and bonus. Premium performance is your individual performance as well as Lincoln Electric’s performance. When you meet or exceed your goals and the Company meets or exceeds its business goals, the result is premium total compensation for premium overall performance.† (Lincoln Electric Company) The company’s objective is to â€Å"reward employees through recognition, pay for  performance, and by sharing profits with incentive bonus compensation based on extraordinary achievement as a means of motivation.† (Jackson, Schuler, & Werner, 2012) Base pay for Lincoln’s employees is determined by salary surveys comparabl e to the salaries of similar jobs in the Cleveland area, comparing externally as well as internally, through job evaluation and adjusting quarterly to ensure the salaries remain aligned accordingly. Job evaluation and continuous/comparative review is important to the organization’s position alignment and the employees’ total compensation. Base pay can be earned by either piecework pay, hourly pay or salary pay dependent on the type of position and classification of the job within the organization. In addition to the base pay received, Lincoln’s eligible employees have the opportunity to receive a portion of the company’s annual profits as incentive bonuses. These year-end profit sharing bonuses are proportional to the individual’s merit scores. The Board of Directors determines if there will be a bonus payout and dictates the amount to be distributed. It will only be paid out if the company was able to earn a profit for the year. The individual pay outs and employee shares are based on the individuals’ pay and performance during the year. A successful year for the company results in a shared portion of its success with the employees, rewarding them for their part in earning the profit. Southwest Airlines overall objective of their compensation program is â€Å"to promote and reward productivity and dedication to the overall success of the Company and to thereby also support the company’s overarching objective of attaining reasonable profits on a consistent basis and preserving job security. The development of a more performance-oriented compensation structure is intended to support and reinforce the factors management believes are most relevant to the company’s success.† (Commission, 2011) Southwest’s  employees’ total compensation is relatively equivalent to other airlines, given the nature of the type of labor required of the industry. Labor costs account for 35% of Southwest’s overall expenses, with 83% of these positions falling into, and controlled by, collective bargai ning agreements (union positions). Although Southwest’s base pay structure has been at or below the market and operates in an industry where other entities dominate the bargaining power, this low-fare/no-frills airline has maintained a productive workforce through its total compensation offerings of â€Å"numerous opportunities to share in company success through variable pay programs, including profit sharing and a stock purchase plan.† (Jackson, Schuler, & Werner, 2012, p. 579) Given Southwest’s continuous success over the years, these offerings of lucrative buyout plans to highly compensated employees and different variable pay programs, such as profit sharing and stock purchase plans have been extremely attractive to its workforce. Allowing and encouraging their employees to do what is necessary to satisfy the customer, empowers and motivates them, resulting in a greater level of job satisfaction and retention, therefore, increased customer satisfaction and company profits. The profit sharing plan offered by Southwest was the first of its kind in the airline industry and is directly tied to a defined contribution plan, encouraging a long-term employment relationship with its employees. Owning approximately 80% of the company’s stock, employees also recognize the advantages of Southwest’s stock purchase plan, offered to them only at a discounted stock share rate. â€Å"Their monetary gains are closely tied to the company’s financial future.† (Jackson, Schuler, & Werner, 2012, p. 587) In addition to the above stated company’s total compensation offerings, Southwest Airlines also uses recognitions to reward their employees. â€Å"The awards in these programs and others are given to employees who perform at a high level consistent with Southwest’s strategy and culture, and they can come in the form of plaques, monetary payments, photos taken during the awards ceremony, photos of the award winner with the CEO, and m entioned in the company newsletter.† (Jackson, Schuler, & Werner, 2012, p. 587) b. The role of total compensation in achieving a competitive advantage Lincoln achieves a competitive advantage through its piecework pay, shared profits incentive bonuses, as well as job security and guaranteed employment. These elements gave Lincoln employees a sense of ownership in the company. The company’s goal was fulfilling the customer’s needs and therefore, recognized that â€Å"employee performance and productivity are the means by which this goal can best be achieved†. This belief led to the company’s commitment that â€Å"the earnings of each must be in accordance with accomplishment. If money is to be used as an incentive, the program must provide that what is paid to the worker is what he has earned.† (Jackson, Schuler, & Werner, 2012, p. 562) This company attitude and total compensation plan empowered its workforce to work harder and smarter; resulting in little to no employee turnover, employee compensation that is almost twice that of other comparable job families in the same Cleveland area, and a work force that sees themselves as part of an organization with executives and leadership that takes care of its employees. In some ways similar to Lincoln, Southwest Airlines maintains its competitive advantage through its compensation of base salary, profit sharing and stock purchase plans, as well as, short/long term incentives and annual incentive bonuses. As promoted by Southwest’s website â€Å"Our people are our single greatest strength and most enduring long-term competitive advantage.† (Kelly, 2014) In order to have a competitive advantage over its competitors, a firm must have the ability to obtain/sustain profits/benefits that exceed the average for others within its industry. As stated earlier, Southwest was â€Å"the first to introduce a profit sharing plan in the airline industry.† (Jackson, Schuler, & Werner, 2012, p. 586) Another strategic business initiative and example that contributed to the company’s competitive advantage was through the introduction of the 10-year pilot contract agreement of 1995. Specifically, during the first five years, the pilot wages w ould not change, then five years following, the pilots got the stock option of the company and annual salary would increase by 3 %. â€Å"This kind of salary strategy combined economic interests of the pilot with the interests of the shareholders of the company (if share prices rise, both sides would profit), so the company added value. Italso helped southwest airlines to provide tourists frequently and economic flight to tourist, and won the competition advantage. This kind of salary strategy is hard to be imitated by competitors.† (Zheng, 2012) c. The pay mix and employee’s reactions to the pay mix As stated earlier, the pay mix for Lincoln Electric consists of base wages (piecework pay, hourly pay and salary pay) and bonuses. The piecework system adopted by Lincoln Electric is based on some fundamental principles including: 1) Rewards employee for what is done rather than for how much time is spent on the job (more productive employees who meet quality standards = greater compensation than those who are less productive); 2) Changes in piecework prices will be made as changes in equipment, method, layout, procedure, tooling, design or materials are made; 3) Group piecework is interdependent, and the cost of the job is limited by the bottleneck or the slowest operation in the line; 4) All Lincoln employees guarantee their quality and workmanship; 5) Pieceworkers are paid only for production that meets Lincoln’s quality standards. Production of scrap or defective parts will be taken into account during merit rating. Hourly and salaried employees’ base pay is determined by means of â€Å"benchmarking†, comparing the base pay for a sampling of jobs at Lincoln to the base pay of similar jobs in other companies of the same industry. â€Å"The bonus plan has been the cornerstone of the Lincoln management system, and recent bonuses have approximated annual wages. Bonuses have averaged about 90 percent of annual wages and the individual bonuses are proportionate to merit rating scores.† (Jackson, Schuler, & Werner, 2012, p. 560 & 570) Lincoln Electric’s employees’ reaction to the pay mix of the company is very supportive and positive. Based on five employee interviews, all five expressed their satisfaction with the compensation received. Each of the employee’s interviewed acknowledged that their salaries exceeded those of employees in similar jobs within the Cleveland area, considering themselves fortunate and better off financially due to their positions with Lincoln Electronic. Most also stated that the greatest advantage of working for  Lincoln was the compensation or the amount of money they can make (base, incentives/bonuses, stock dividends). They mentioned that they â€Å"didn’t  believe they could make this type of money anywhere else†. As mentioned previously, most of the employees in the airline industry are union employees, controlled by bargaining units and union contracts. In addition to the hourly base pay employees (typically at or below market), Southwest’s pay mix also offers opportunities to share in the company through variable pay programs (profit sharing and stock purchase plans). Mentioned previously, this mix has proven attractive by employees, as well as competitors, with attempts of mimicking in the airline industry. Unlike many of its competitors, however, Southwest is a low-fare, no-frill airline. Rewards and/or perks such as cars, club memberships, etc., are not awarded to the company officers at Southwest, maintaining lower costs to the company and ultimately higher profits to be shared. Although this pay mix has maintained attractive for many years, its future is questionable due to the acquisition and future integration of AirTran. I am not certain that this lean airline machine will be able to continue to remain as â€Å"lean† and profitable as they have been given the competitiveness and external threats of this industry. 2. Which approach to compensating employees would you prefer? Why? The compensation structure I find more desirable would be that similar to the pay mix exercised by Lincoln Electronic. Although I believe it is dependent on the type of industry you are in, I prefer a compensation plan or structure with more internal controls. I find the Lincoln pay mix to be one of which there are more â€Å"internal controls† over. As a manager, I believe it also encourages a more team-centric approach to the workforce and empowers employees at all levels to push themselves and to be accountable for the compensation they receive. The Lincoln Elect rics plan allows its employees to be part of the big picture, a more wholesome contribution approach and one of which is always looking at improving the process and making a better product overall. Given the employees level of contribution  and sense of ownership, there seems to also be a higher level of dedication and pride, pushing their capabilities to the limit†¦benefiting everyone in the end. Chapter 11: Using Performance-Based Pay to Achieve Strategic Objectives 1. Compare and contrast the approaches to performance-based pay used by Lincoln Electric and Southwest Airlines. Overall, which plan do you  think is more effective? Why? Lincoln Electric’s compensation approach is predominantly based on employees’ performance. Employees’ rewards are heavily monetary in nature (i.e., annual bonuses/incentives based on piecework). As expressed by many interviewed, the harder and more efficient you work, the greater the pay and/or incentives awarded. Employees’ salaries are directly impacted by their level of performance. Although Southwest Airlines does reward their employees based on their performance, most of the rewards received are non-monet ary and company culture driven. Some of non-monetary rewards identified include luncheons, plaques, photos taken with VPs, making mention of success in the company newsletter, etc. The ultimate objective of Southwest’s performance-based recognition is to â€Å"create a sense of family and mission†. (Jackson, Schuler, & Werner, 2012, p. 582) Based on my review of the successes from each of these companies in their respective industries, I would conclude that each plan is effective, relative to their performance in their industry. To determine which performance-based plan is more effective, I believe consideration needs to be given to the type of industry and employee it is supporting. The effectiveness determined is also affected by how their employees perceive and/or measure their level of job satisfaction. Obviously, Lincoln attracts a compensation-driven workforce (i.e., sales), while Southwest attracts more cohesive and cooperative relationships between employee groups that seek to be recognized publicly and through other means than only monetary sources. 2.Lincoln Electric is gradually moving toward using a more traditional approach to pay, putting less emphasis on earnings at risk. What strategic objectives would lead the company to conclude that a more traditional approach to pay may be more effective than their present practices? A more traditional approach to pay would be more effective for Lincoln Electronic as they continue to become more global and publically owned. As Lincoln’s interest in globalization continues to grow, so does the need for additional funding and profits to support this expansion. This reallocation requirement of profits, currently used to pay bonuses and incentives to employees, therefore supports the changed focus toward global expansion. As the public ownership of Lincoln continues to grow, their focus needs to  expand beyond that of just the employees and begin to include all stakeholders, of which are contributing to the successful expansion of the organization. Chapter 12: Providing Benefits and Services 1. What are the objectives of each company’s approach to benefits and services? Lincoln Electric’s benefit program includes several components to include a retirement annuity program, 401(k) plan, stock purchase plan, flexible benefits program, medical, dental, life & disability programs, as well as flexible spending and health savings accounts. An additional benefit offered by the company includes a paid vacation during the company’s seasonal shutdown, regardless of the employees’ tenure with the company. Based on no layoffs since WWII, as well as comments noted by the interviews in the case study, employees feel a sense of job security, loyalty and satisfaction to Lincoln Electric and the benefits and services the company offers. The objective of their benefits and services is to offer an attractive and beneficial plan to their employees, maintaining competitive advantage and employee retention, resulting in a more experienced and tenured staff. More challenging to that of Lincoln’s approach to benefits and services is the benefits and services offered by Southwest Airlines. Due to their focus to provide a more employee-centric benefits package, continually surveying their employees to determine what their employees value, they have implemented a flexible plan that allows the company to change as frequently as needed to maintain its attractiveness to top applicants in a competitive industry, as well as retain their valuable employees, â€Å"their most valuable asset†. Southwest’s objective in â€Å"hiring the best people and knowing how to find†¦and treat them† (Jackson, Schuler, & Werner, 2012, p. 577) requires a solid, attractive and competitive benefits package, including job security, in an industry that is not typically known to be competitive in this area. 2. How well do the benefits and services packages serve the business objectives and the needs of the employees? Which package would you prefer? Explain why. Although the benefits and services package offered to Lincoln Electric’s employees is satisfactory and competitive to other similar companies, the interviews held expressed the employees’ main reason for job  satisfaction rests with the compensation package, with minimal comments regarding the benefits offered. Southwest employees, however, have experienced and expressed a greater level of satisfaction with the benefits and services offered by their employer. Having a broader, more wide-range of offerings in their benefits package to full-time and part-time employees, it allows the company to meet its objective in attracting the best applicants and caring for their most valuable asset†¦its people. Although both benefits and services packages offered by Lincoln and Southwest provide excellent job security, I would personally prefer the package offered by Lincoln, as opposed to Southwest. Southwest may offer a more employee friendly and focused benefits package, however, its flexibility and potential for change seems more appropriate for a younger workforce that has not yet established loyalty to their employer, with the intention of long-term employment. Therefore, as a middle aged employee myself,   my benefits focus and interest lies with a package that can offer more long-term and stable incentives such as employee stock purchase and pension plans, as well as a promising and reliable retirement plan. 3. Could Southwest Airlines adopt the approach to benefits and services used at Lincoln Electric? If so, what would be the advantages and disadvantages for Southwest Airlines of adopting this approach? Be sure to consider how various stakeholders would be affected by such a change. I would not suggest nor support Southwest Airlines adopting the benefits and services packages used by Lincoln Electric. Southwest gains their competitive advantage in their industry through their benefits package, whereas Lincoln does so through their compensation package. Therefore, my reasons supporting the lack of confidence in Southwest’s adoption of like benefits and services to Lincoln’s is because I don’t feel that Southwest’s compensation package is as strong as Lincoln’s in their respective industries. By adopting a similar benefits and services package as Lincoln’s, Southwest may lose their competitive advantage for attracting top talent. Additionally and as stated earlier, Lincoln’s benefit package is geared toward retention and catered to a tenured workforce, which is not the objective of Southwest Airlines. The need to continually bring young, energetic and new talent  into the firm requires an employee friendly and flexible plan that is focused more on short term advantages and offerings, as opposed to long-term. â€Å"Southwest seeks to reduce labor costs† (Jackson, Schuler, & Werner, 2012, p. 579) and by doing so, implementing a strong, attractive, but flexible benefits and services plan allows them to meet this reduced labor cost objective, while continuing to bring in new talent and maintain their company’s goal to remain a low-fare, no-frill airline. Works Cited Commission, U. S. (2011). Definitive Proxy Statement – Southwest Airlines Co. Washington DC: Southwest Airlines Co. Jackson, S. E., Schuler, R. S., & Werner, S. (2012). Managing Human Resources. Mason, OH: South-Western. Kelly, G. (2014). Southwest.com. Retrieved from About Southwest: https://www.southwest.com/html/about-southwest/ Lincoln Electric Company. (n.d.). Employees’ Handbook. 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