A Literary Analysis of Robert Cormiers The Chocolate War Essay

A Literary Analysis of Robert Cormier's "The Chocolate War" The Chocolate War is a story which takes place in New England in the 1970's. Most of the events happen in a Catholic school. Since this school was exclusively for boys, they were constantly trying to prove their power over each other. The story is told in third person omniscient. The story's mood is suspenseful. With each page turn one wonders if Jerry will take or refuse his chocolates. The protagonist of this story is Jerry Renault and the antagonist in Archie Costello. Jerry is a very quiet fifteen year old boy. He is also the quarterback for the Trinity High junior varsity football team. He is a very troubled individual due to his mother's death. He appears to be angry toward the whole world. Jerry is very ordinary and wants more change in his life instead of the same old thing. Archie Costello is 17 year old boy who is a member of the high school's very prestigious club called The Vigils. Archie is the "assignment giver". He gives assignments to the younger class men to do very mischievous things; for example, loosening all screws on desk chairs and chalkboards so that they will fall apart when students and teachers touch them. Archie is very clever and conniving. Many other characters contribute to the excitement of this story. Obie, another member of The Vigils, is Archie's sidekick. He helps Archie carry out all of his assignments. Obie has hostile feelings towards Archie because Archie gets all the glory while Obie does all the hard work. Obie is very soft spoken; he will not speak out against Archie about his anger. Brother Leon is the assistant headmaster of Trinity High School. He is very evil and... ... his groin but tries to defend himself. This is against the rules. After this a "free for all" begins. The lights are turned off by Brother Jacques, who is trying to stop all the madness. The story ends as Jerry is lying almost unconscious in his friend Goober's arms. Archie is taking pleasure in the whole scene, and Brother Leon is standing alone, watching this whole production as the ambulance draws near. The theme of The Chocolate War would have to be, being a nonconformist can make you an outcast by most people, and it can sometimes even bring harm to you. But if you are being a nonconformist with good reason, then you have to be willing to take the abuse. In Jerry's case it almost got him killed, and he still could not understand everyone's cruelty; but he knew that what he was doing was right in his heart.

Meaning of Apathy

Apathy involves people either being content with their current status and the world around them, or being ignorant to those same surroundings. Apathetic citizens of any nation can cause the foundations of society to crumble because these people think everything is well on the surface, when in actuality, it is not. A society can go from having economic success one day, to being in a depression or even revolution as a result of apathy. The way to combat apathy in society is for the authorities to educate people on what their political system and its policies are. If people knew more about their politicians and their specific policies, they would want to get involved in changing society in order to benefit themselves. They would realize that whoever is elected to office, whichever it might be, affects their lives both indirectly and directly. As a result of the entire population getting involved in the political system of his or her nation, society would be able to continually change so that it could maintain economic success, low unemployment rates, and equality. Change is necessary for a society to stay healthy, and as Goldstone said in his essay â€Å"Revolution†, â€Å"Social and political change is not a problem. Social change is an ongoing in most societies†¦ A society that is stagnant often suffers from a social order that is ‘too stable†. Without change, a change society cannot make progress or solve social problems such as poverty and extreme inequality† (Primis 181). If society does remain stagnant, then economic success can lead to an apathetic population, and this can lead to repression, and eventually to revolution. The best way to study and analyze the apathy in society is to look at the voting rates from year to year. By investigating voting, one can see through percentages and numbers precisely how involved people are in politics. When the economy is doing well, as it is today in the United States, voting numbers usually decrease because people become apathetic, and they are less concerned about changes that might affect them. Due to the fact that some people are much better off financially than they ever have, they become less interested in politics and more interested in spending their well-earned money. It is when people begin to suffer economically that they become more involved with politics because they feel that a change in the status quo is necessary for them to escape whatever economic recession they are in. Sometimes people get sick with all the lies and promises that come out of politician†s mouths that they become apathetic towards voting. Rather than give one of these politicians who are only seen as â€Å"the better of two evils† a vote, they choose not to vote at all. Their frustration with their choices results in them becoming apathetic and in his essay â€Å"Toward A Theory of Revolution†, Davies says that revolutions â€Å"need both a period of rising expectations and a succeeding period in which there are frustrated qualities (Primis 205). Thus, a period of economic success, followed by the population being frustrated with its† political figures, can ultimately lead to a collapse in society. This apathy then results in people becoming too content with their current status and they then ask fewer questions, and this can cause foundations to crumble. The cycle then continues, with apathy leading to ignorance, and this can result in people blindly following the status quo, rather than examining the issues. Then, before these non-voting citizens know it, there will be revolutionary ideals floating about society. As long as the country continues to be economically successful, and the people view one candidate as too similar to the opposition, then people will continue to be apathetic because they feel the choices are not really choices at all. Apathy not only results from contentment and frustration, but also from ignorance. Democracy is something everyone learns as early as kindergarten. When the teacher asks if it will be kickball or dodge ball at recess, the majority usually wins. It is an easy lesson for a 5-year-old to learn, as is raising your hand for what you want. However, one of the most simple and necessary elements of a democracy is the reliance on active participation in the government by a majority of the population. If the participants are not influenced to be active, the system fails. By educating students and the public about the value of the system, the education system could help combat apathy. The tradition that college graduates are looked upon with more respect than the less educated has ended. How can the so-called higher educated members of society gain any respect when most graduates are unable or unwilling to participate in a ritual of our nation? The problem is that traditional education, that included more intensive study of government, has been replaced by a system that increasingly focuses on technology and skills training but may be failing in educating good citizens. A higher education should be more than job preparation; it should be a continuing desire to improve and guarantee the quality of life for generations to come. With a lack of knowledge in politics and democracy comes the myth that one vote does not make a difference. Many young adults have no faith in the system, therefore they do not vote due to the feeling of disappointment that their vote does not matter. How often do you hear young adults say, â€Å"I did not vote because I don't feel as if my vote would count. † Others are disenchanted with the political system because voting in the past never produced results. However, young people today need to realize that one voice does make a difference. In addition, if more young adults took an interest, politicians would be forced to listen. For example, financial aid is one of many issues at hand in recent political campaigns. If politicians continue to cut student aid, some young people may not have a chance for a college education. Thus, young adults must have faith in the system and increase the number of young voters. Otherwise, politicians will continue to cater only to the needs of the older generation that is voting them into office. The two largest voting publics in the United States are senior citizens and the college aged groups (Gherry 328). Ironically, it is the senior citizens who are the more politically informed, and who vote in the greatest numbers. These statistics support the contention that the youth of America are becoming less informed about the process and necessity of voting, and are also more apathetic about the true significance of voting. As Americans, we must do something about voter apathy because not only does voting allow us to be active in the political process, it enables us to fulfill our civic duty and exert our political influence. Contrary to public opinion, every vote makes a difference in this process and it may not seem like it, but if more people began to vote, they would definitely get noticed. Ironically, the last presidential election should have supported the idea of voter significance, yet served to create more apathy because of the post-election mess that occurred. Many people now feel the popular vote did not reign supreme, and that the voting system itself was shown to have more problems than was previously thought. To let our representatives know what we want, we must also exert our political influence by being politically active. How can we do this? We can vote in state, local, and national elections, lobby to persuade our representatives to vote a certain way, and write letters to our representatives about policy issues. Of course, there are other ways of being politically active; to me, these are the most effective. One thing needs to take place, and that is educational awareness of the political system and its impact, pure and simple. A good way to start getting votes out would be to have the majority rules method of voting. If you could just see that your vote made a difference in the election of the president of your nation, it would make you want to vote again. If the nation would listen to the educated people of the country instead of listening to the media, then the nation would be a whole lot better in terms of economics, welfare, war, and our society in general. In my opinion, we the people of this nation do not care about these campaigns that are putting the other candidates down, we just want to hear the good things about what they can do to better our nation. There is not anything that Americans hate more than liars and back stabbers. By â€Å"getting the vote out,† we voice our opinions on important issues. By participating in the political process, we fulfill our civic duty. By exerting our political power, we shape our government policies. The best way to get involved in our political process is to vote, so people have to get out there, get registered, and go vote in the next election. Voter apathy has lead to a dangerous situation in American politics. People have not listened to the issues and have therefore been left with candidates who seem to be all the same, only with different rhetoric and different levels of charisma. Most people when questioned about their vote related that they were more against Gore and the Clinton administration than they were for Bush, and the reasons were more over moral behavior than policy making. The simple fact that during the past four years the country has experienced unprecedented economic growth, yet the incumbent administration was narrowly voted out, signals a public more concerned with the behavior of its leaders in the bedroom than their political policies. Bush represents the status-quo as much as Gore does, and the recent election really only revealed a public split between two candidates whose only difference seemed to be that one was aligned with his predecessor who had fallen from public moral grace. In order to have more clear-cut choices in candidates and over issues, there must be a movement in the United States to bring political education back into the classroom. An uninformed, politically uneducated public is a dangerous one because that public easily becomes apathetic. Yet, it is the public that has allowed candidates steeped in rhetoric rather than issues to continue to hold office. This cycle is one that needs to be broken, and it is not going to be broken by those currently in office because they naturally want to keep the status quo going. It is the future voters, and voters from ages 18 to 30 who must start taking an active interest in our political system, become aware of the issues and the process, and care enough to see that voting intelligently can and will make a difference in our country†s future.

A Degree In Mechanical Engineering - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1469 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2019/08/08 Category Engineering Essay Level High school Tags: Mechanical Engineering Essay Did you like this example? Mechanical engineering is by far the broadest of the engineering disciplines. Which helps explain why it is the most enrolled discipline at Auburn University, with a total of 957 students currently in the college of mechanical engineering (Auburn.edu). So. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "A Degree In Mechanical Engineering" essay for you Create order with it being the most popular branch of engineering at Auburn, and the most broad, one might wonder what mechanical engineers do that is pulling all these future engineers to it. Mechanical engineers, shockingly, work and design to manufacture small components of mechanical machinery, and also that of large systems (What is Mechanical Engineering?). However, mechanical engineers are much more than a car mechanic, what some might think of when they hear mechanical engineering, rather they are much more than that; while mechanical engineers can work on cars and engineers, much like a car mechanic, the bigger role they play is taking an idea or product from the drawing board and bringing it to life for commercial production (What is Mechanical Engineering?).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Systems that mechanical engineers might touch are those that typically deal with: motion, structures, force dynamics, energy and thermal systems, and even material structures (Introduction to Mechanical Engineering at Auburn University); although, mechanical engineers are not limited to those work areas or fields of study. In general, those who obtain a degree in mechanical engineering, work to design machines that produce power. These machines vary, but are not limited to, electric generators, internal and external combustion enginesthis includes the work done by steam or gas-powered turbinesalong with machines that consume power, such as households appliances and elevators (Mechanical Engineers).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A degree in engineering is very lucrative if you are in it for the money, although that should not be the main reason one might seek a career in engineering. Mechanical engineers can expect to have a starting salary of around 40 thousand dollars, and in due time, they can look at making about 115 thousand dollars a year (Mechanical Engineer Salary). The average person graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering is looking at earning about 78 thousand dollars a year (Mechanical Engineer Salary). While this mechanical engineering is not the highest paid engineering discipline, petroleum engineers is the most lucrative discipline with a starting salary of 75 thousand dollars, they are the second largest branch of engineering that is currently employed in the united states (The Most In-Demand Engineering Jobs).   So, if one is looking for a job straight out of college, and using that as a determinant in which discipline they choose, mechanical engine ering can make that happen. With there are currently being around 264,000 mechanical engineers employed, as of 2014 (The Most In-Demand Engineering Jobs).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   While pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering from Auburn University, there are a multitude of interest and areas of focus inside the major. Areas of focus and interest include, but are not limited, are design and manufacturing, measurements: fluid mechanics, stresses and strains, motion and deformation, controlsGAVLAB, and HVACheating, ventilation, and air conditioning (Intro to Mech). In order to pursue these areas of interest inside Auburns Mechanical Engineering major, one must make their way to Auburns Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, and more specifically the Shelby Center for Engineering Technology and Wiggins Hall (Auburn.edu). The Shelby Center and Wiggins hall is where the Mechanical Engineering program at Auburn is centered, and where most of your classes inside the major will be held, not including pre-mechanical. Undergraduate teaching labs and facilitates can be found at Auburns Advanced Engineering Research Lab (Auburn.edu). The stud ent to faculty ratio of Auburns Mechanical Engineering program is around 3 to 1, students to faculty (Auburn.edu). There is a total of 50 faculty members in the college, with 33 tenured staff, 31 full time teaching (Auburn.edu). With such a great ratio of students to faculty, once in the college of Mechanical Engineering, students can expect hands on instruction with plenty of opportunities to work with faculty one on one. This allows for faculty to really get to know the undergraduates and thus creating a more personable and encouraging work environment. Being able to work with faculty so closely while studying undergraduate, opens the door for multiple opportunities to conduct research with such faculty members. The research conducted inside the college of Mechanical Engineering is centered around four main technical topics: Thermal Sciences, Design and Manufacturing, System Dynamics and Controls, and Mechanics (Research and Outreach). Students often apply for positions to conduct research with faculty, but with the student to faculty ratio being what it is, faculty can often ask students to help them in their research, since they get to know the students so well in classes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The curriculum for any discipline of engineering at Auburn is quite tough and rigorous. Before entering the college of ones choose, they must first complete all the perquisite coursesfocused on math and science. In order to enter Auburns Mechanical Engineering school, one must pass multiple math classes- including all three calculuss, linear differential equations, and topics in linear algebra- and multiple science classesincluding Engineering Physics 1 and 2 and Fundamentals of Chemistry (Curriculum in Mechanical Engineering). Once one has completed all their prerequisite classes, they are then able to move into the college of Mechanical Engineering. Once in the college, they will take classes such as: Statics and Dynamics, Kinematics and Dynamics of Machines, Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics, System Dynamics and Controls, and many more (Curriculum). Undergraduate students are also required to complete a senior design sequence in which four cross-discipli nary teams must work together to design and create vehicles that compete in endurance and speed-based races (Ongoing Student Projects). One senior design team of Auburns is the SOL solar car team, every year this team participates in cross-country races against students from other schools (Ongoing). The senior design sequence consists of student teams that work to develop industry-sponsored design solutions to problems engineers are facing in the real world today (Samuel Ginn Mechanical Engineering).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The student engagement in the college of Mechanical Engineering is very high and comes with a multitude of options to choose from. With the mechanical engineering department focusing its research on Thermal Sciences, Design and Manufacturing, System Dynamics and Controls, and Mechanicsthere are plenty of opportunities for students to engage and help conduct research with its faculty (Research and Outreach). If a student is seeking to conduct research with a faculty member, one can often ask them if there is any research they are working on at the time, or they can go to Faculty Directory on Aubrn.edu for more information about current research performed by Mechanical Engineering faculty (Research and Outreach). There is also the possibility that faculty might ask students directly to help them with research, as mentioned before.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Auburns Mechanical Engineering major also hosts a number of student teams that compete on the regional, national and international scale (Ongoing). One of these student teams is the SOL solar car team, as mentioned before, as well as two SAE Mini Baja all-terrain vehicle teams. The SAE Mini Baja teams work to design and build an off-road racing car each year, in an attempt to find the perfect balance of strength, speed and endurance (Welcome to Auburn Off Road). Every year the SAE Mini Baja team builds a car, capable of maneuvering over rough terrain and even water, and takes it to competition where their builds are tested for adaptability, skill, stamina, and the engineering ability of the team (Welcome to). These off road vehicles are designed by students, built by students -with help from corporate partners and private citizens- and raced at competitions by students (Welcome to). Auburns Mechanical Engineering students also have a Formula SAE team, whi ch is much like the SAE Mini Baja team, where students design and build cars similar to that of Formula 1 and IndyCars and race them at competitions nationwide (Auburn University Formula SAE).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Mechanical Engineering Department at Auburn has many study areas and computer labs opened to students in the college. There are currently eight computer labs that can be used by students, staff and faculty from every engineering discipline (Computer Labs). These computer labs are open all hours of the day, every day of the week that classes are in session. In addition to the eight computer labs, there are 20 department labs that house workstations for students within that particular department (Computer Labs). Students in Auburns Mechanical Engineering major are advised by Dr. Sushil Bhavnanu (Academic Advising). Prior to entering the college of Mechanical Engineering, students will be advised by Belinda Marable who deals with pre-mechanical engineering students (Meet Our Staff).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Auburns Mechanical Engineering departments hosts a number of professional societies and clubs inside the major. The professional societies include: American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE), and the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) (Introduction to).

The Heart Of Road Construction Workers - 1606 Words

The Heart of Road Construction Workers We all have driven by a construction zone or been a passenger. Before you drive into a road construction zone you will see warning signs indicating that you are approaching a specific work zone. Typically, these signs will say â€Å"Three miles ahead work zone, speed limit 55 and any injury to a worker you will be fined 10,000 dollars.† Next, you will see men and women working and others supervising. One of the construction workers will be holding a sign to indicate to slow down, right on the side of the road saying slow down. Once you pass the worker holding a sign to slow down, hopefully you can see others following the directions. All you have to do is drive slow for a few miles and you will reach your†¦show more content†¦The Hubbard’s road construction company is the construction company I chose to observe and it is designed to keep their hard working men and women safe, heathy, and their employee’s happy. Each employer of Hubbard team must watch a nd embrace a Zero Accident video. This video contains all the knowledge you need to be safe while working on the construction site. Also what surprised me the most about this video was the 30 minute section pertaining to sexual harassment prevention in the work area. According to Frederick, the newest employee of Hubbard Road Construction Company, you must really pay attention to the video and make the video apart of your life, and support prevention as a way of life. Frederick explained that they are all responsible for each other’s lives and making sure that they are all safe. Frederick continued to explain that each month they have to watch the Zero Accident safety video as a group. Hubbard’s road construction company remains trying to prevent accidents and also forcing their employees to take safety and sexual harassment seriously. They are also currently trying to improve their Zero Accidents video according to the manger Kimberly Rose. After watching the Zero Accident video I wondered why half of the video focused on sexual harassment. So I decided to research sexual harassment in the construction industry and I found a lot of shocking information. According to

Students Are Not College And Career Ready Nationally

Section 1: Introduction to the Study Students are not college and career ready nationally and this is more than likely attributed to low reading abilities. This is an on-going problem that needs immediate attention. It is not a new problem but because of the advance changes and the technology driven mind of the 21st century we have a gap in our educational system. Introduction The probablilty of students struggling to become fluent readers is evident as early as prek which gives an insight on which students will be on grade level by third grade. According to Paul (2012), â€Å"Third grade is the year that students move from learning to read — decoding words using their knowledge of the alphabet — to reading to learn†. In the Spring of 2015, the State Department of Education in South Carolina began an effort to ensure that all students were career and college ready upon graduating form high school. This was an exertion that stakeholders would pull their load in making sure that all students in the state of South Carolina would foster the ability to become proficient readers. Early years are the emphasis for the prevention of reading complications and research ‘conducted over the past two decades has produced wide-ranging results signifying that children who get off to a poor start in reading seldom catch up. A specific research based approach used in helping struggling readers is that of guided reading. Iaquinta (2006), stated that guided reading, is an importantShow MoreRelatedI Believe Vision And College Alumni Into Accelerating Career Pathways That Promote Autonomy, Innovation, And Leadership Expressed759 Words   |  4 Pagespromotes and excels college alumni into accelerating career pathways that promote autonomy, innovation, and leadership expressed independently and as a team. 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For years now college athletes have gone out and performed on national television, working hard to make it to the next level. They have given it there all, and not only that, the athletes bring in about $11 billion in annual revenue from college sports. Now days, sports is a business, and college sports are the same. Division 1 college sports provide a lot of income for the universities. Many athletes

Sky High Free Essays

Good morning teacher and fellow students. The idea that we continue on as we are: unchanged, unchanging is unbelievably illogical. In a time and world where things are constantly changing, it is impossible to be in existence without being affected by the process of change. We will write a custom essay sample on Sky High or any similar topic only for you Order Now Changes are inevitable, and they are happening everywhere around us. In our stimulus booklet, it is evident that changes are a major part in everyone’s lives, this is best portrayed in the story â€Å"Sky High†. This story is filled with strong imagery, based on the clothesline in the author’s childhood memories. The author mesmerize her childhood memories of the clothesline, and how she used to pretend what it is, how the clothes are like signal flags and also how much fun she used to have with it. As the author matures in her perspective, her views about the past starts to change and she no longer sees the clothes line through a child’s naive, imaginative view, but now sees it as a memory, and just a tool which she her self uses. The author is able to perceive the two different perspectives and compare them. As we can now see, change is a part of growing up, of maturing and going forward, just like Hannah Robert, the author of â€Å"Sky High†. The prescribed text I’m here to present you with is â€Å"The Great Gatsby†. Nick Caraway the narrator in the story is the one who we are focusing on the change which he goes through. Nick in the beginning wants to chase after the â€Å"great American dream† like everyone else. He then realizes, how low the people were in achieving that goal, this could be seen when Jordan was cheating while playing golf. He also saw the carelessness these people have in doing things. They are only skin deep in who they are, like the main person described in the story, Gatsby, who is only known for his money and by his name, but not by who he really is. At the end, Nick realizes all this and changes his views on the Great American Dream, and realizes that it is only an expression of materialism. This took him a step further in life, as he changed his views, and helped him grow as a person. The last text I want to present to you with is â€Å"Looking for Alibrandi†. We noticed a number of changes that occurred in the story, which affected the lives of the Alibrandis within the 3 generations. We see a strong bond between Josie and Christina in the story because she was raised by a single parent. Josie was greatly influenced by her mother for decision-making and had a biased opinion about her father. But soon after she had personal contact with him, she comes to realization that he wasn’t so bad after all. The relationship between the 3 generations was also a disaster. Josie was often irritated by her grandmother, Katia at the beginning of the story but as she journeys through and discovers the real Nonna with the great sacrifices she made for them, Josie learnt to respect her and at the same time changed her perspective about her. As we can all see, changes are inevitable and unavoidable, they are constantly taking place in our lives no matter whether they have a good or bad impact upon us and there is no denying in its existence. Changes can be seen with our own eyes, as it occurs, we change physically all the time with our appearances, the way we look, the way we dress, and to keep up to date with the fashion and change with the crowd that is ever evolving so we are not a left over. We can change mentally, as we go through life, because of all the emotions that are constantly rushing through us, which also effects and changes our mood as well as our way of socializing with other people. If we say that we will continue on as we are, unchanged and unchanging, it is also like saying that we are frozen in a space of time and everything else around it, because changes comes with time, and if there is no change, then time would no longer exist. How to cite Sky High, Papers

Strategic Human Resource Management and Resource Planning

Question: Discuss about the Strategic Human Resource Management and Resource Planning. Answer: Introduction In this assignment, we would study about one of the most interesting and important approaches in the business world i.e. human resource management. The assignment provides a brief introduction to the approach and discussed its importance in the modern day world. The assignment further discusses the concept of strategic human resource development in details and the benefits that it can have for an organisation. In the end, the assignment discusses some of the most important activities that the human resource managers of every business organisation have to perform. Human Resource Management Human resource management is an approach that aims at assisting business organisations in managing their human resources and optimising their performance by improving the work conditions for them. Human resource management uses concepts, such as performance management, training and development, career development, etc. In the past few decades, business organisations have come to realize that it is not possible for them to achieve market competencies using operations or technology as they can be easily replicated by the competitors within no time. The only source that the business organisations have, which can help them in achieving market competencies and can contribute towards the achievement of organisational goals and objectives, is the human resource. Thus, human resource is now considered to be the most important resource for any business organisation and companies are spending millions of dollars every year to properly manage their workforces and become leaders in the market by optimising their performance. Strategic Human Resource Management A strategic approach that aims at attracting, developing, rewarding and retaining employees for the well-being of the organisation as well as of the employees is known as strategic human resource management (Study.com, 2016). The department that is concerned with strategic human resource management never operates alone. Such departments always work in co-ordination with all the other departments of an organisation so that they can understand the goals and objectives of each department and help them in achieving them through strategic management of human resource. Therefore, the goals and objectives of the strategic human resource department reflect the goals and objectives of the organisation on the whole. On the whole, the main objective of the strategic human resource management department is to assist the human resource department in making all the departments of an organisation more strong and effective. Let us now discuss some benefits of strategic human resource management: Strategic human resource management allows the organisation in the identification, prioritization and exploitation of opportunities related to the human resource It helps in providing an objective view of the problems related to the human resources of a company It helps in establishing a better co-ordination amongst the various departments of an organisation It helps in minimising the effects of unwanted or adverse conditions and changes It helps in proper and timely allocation of resources to the opportunities that can help the organisation and its human resources in becoming more effective Helps in bringing the individual efforts together and using them to achieve something bigger It helps in fostering a workplace environment where changes are easily accepted It helps in improving the discipline in the organisation and allocated fewer resources and lesser time towards correcting the wrong decisions that the organisation has taken. Activities Performed By Human Resource Managers Human resource managers are those people in an organisation who are given the responsibility of managing the human resources in the best possible manner, keep them motivated, deal with their problems and optimise their performance by improving the work conditions for them. Human resource managers have a number of roles duties to perform in an organisation and an effective human resource manager can always help an organisation in achieving a competitive pool of talent and achieving organisational goals and objectives by optimising their performances. Let us now discuss three important activities that a human resource manager must perform in an organisation: Staffing and recruiting each and every human resource manager in an organisation has to perform the activity of staffing and recruiting new employees. It is the duty of a human resource manager to carefully forecast the human resource needs of an organisation, considering various factors that can have an impact on the staffing requirements, and then designing ways and techniques that would be used to fulfil the human resource demands of the company. Staffing and recruiting also means that the human resource manager will have to prepare job descriptions, job specifications and will have to analyse whether the demand can be fulfilled internally i.e. by promotions, transfers, job rotations, etc. (Wright, 1998). or by external methods, such as campus recruitments, job portals, calling in new invites, etc. An example of staffing and recruitment activity is when a human resource manager identifies a vacancy in the organisation that would likely occur in the coming few months. The manager would then prepare a job description and specification for the vacancy and would plan to fulfil the vacancy either internally or externally. If the manager decides to fulfil the vacancy internally he can desing a performance appraisal program where the start performer would be promoted to the higher job. On the other hand, if the manager decides to fulfil the vacancy externally, he can invite applications through job portals and can design various interviews and tests to choose the best candidate out of all. (Smallbusiness.chron.com, 2016). Training and development One of the most important activities that every human resource manager has to perform is to design training and development programs for the employees. The various tasks that are covered under this activity is the identification of training development needs of the employees, conducting a training need assessment, designing a training and development program, higher experts to conduct the training and development sessions, ensure transfer of training at the workplace, gather feedback from the employees and the trainers and then finally introducing the desired changes in the programs for the future (Harvey, Speier, Novicevic, 2000). Training and development of employees is a continuous requirement and should be performed very carefully because no company would want to waste its important resources in training and developing the employees for acquiring skills that are not required or are already present in the workplace. Therefore, designing and conducting training and development pr ogram is another important activity that every human resource manager has to perform. An example of training and development activity is when a human resource manager identifies that the employees need a training session that would improve their knowledge about Microsoft Excel. The manager would then identify the employees who lack the knowledge or skills required to operate Microsoft excel efficiently. Once the employees are identified, the manager would then design either an Off-the-job training session or an on-the-job training session for them and would also formulate training goals and objectives that the employees would be required to achieve during their training period (Study.com, 2016). Compensation and benefits the activities performed by human resource managers are all very important as they all are related to the workforce, which is the most important resource and these activities are the ones which can help in optimising the performances of the employees. One such important activity that the human resource managers have to perform is the design of compensation and benefits for the workforce. We are living in an era where the business organisations are competing on a global scale and the market competition is so fierce that it has become very difficult to retain employees. Companies are always on a hunt for new employees and can easily lure them by offering them handsome and better salaries than their previous companies (Kirk, 1991). As a result, it is important that the compensation and benefits of the employees are so adjusted that they would neither make them feel that they are being paid lesser than the market trends nor make them feel that they are being pa id too much for doing too little. An example of compensation and benefit activity is when a human resource manager decides the compensation and benefits for a particular post, let us say a production engineer. The manager would then conduct a market analysis of the compensation trends for that post and would fix a basic pay scale that would be competitive in the market. The manager would then decide additional benefits that would be offered to the employees working on that specific post. The benefits that a manager has to decide can be in the form of medical leaves, medical allowance, telephone allowance, travel allowance, etc. Conclusion Human resource management, at present, is one of the key concepts that is helping business organisations in achieving market success. In such a scenario, it is important that the human resource managers of companies are efficient and effective in forming human resource management strategies so that they can optimise the performance of the employees and achieve the desired results. References (2016). Smallbusiness.chron.com. Retrieved 17 August 2016, from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/primary-responsibilities-human-resource-manager-10957.html (2016). 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