The Use of Mixed Narrative in Anthills of the Savannah

Explore the uses and effects of mixed narrative in Anthills of the Savannah By Emmanuel Sunil Anthills of the Savannah is set in the fictitious West African country of Kangan, a country which has been overrun with political instability ever since becoming an independent state from British rule. The novel centers on the lives of three civil servants, Christopher Oriko, Ikem Osodi and Beatrice Naynibuife, and all three serve three separate narrative voices in the novel, each sharing his or her own point of view. This provides the reader with a 360 degree picture of the situation by offering multiple points of view as well as enabling the reader to make judgments for him/ herself rather than relying on a narrator or a single character to supply descriptions of people and events. In this essay I shall consider detail the narrative roles of all three characters of the novel. Christopher Oriko is the Commissioner of Information in the cabinet of His Excellency, Sam. His duties bring him to close proximity to Sam and thus we obtain an insiders account of the political situation in Kangan. Chris informs us in the very first chapter of Sam’s frequent mood swings. In fact he goes as far as to say that â€Å"days are good or bad for us now according to how His Excellency gets out of bed in the morning†. Here, Chris indicates the dictatorial nature of Sam thus setting a stage for the instability in the government. Chris also has a very realistic opinion of the situation and he is careful in pushing for reform than his close friend Ikem, who he thinks is far too sensitive to the danger of angering Sam. A topic which is often considered in Chris’ narrative is the futility of Ikems editorials which makes Sam consider him as treacherous. Chris often defends Ikem; however he is getting â€Å"tired â€Å"of doing so. This difference in opinion and the fact that Ikem has more freedom leaves Chris with growing resentment towards Ikem, and the two seem to be drifting further apart as the novel progresses: â€Å"I can’t talk to Ikem any more. I am tired. And drained of all stamina†, says Chris in chapter eight. Ikem Osodi , who has replaced Chris as the editor of the state controlled National Gazette, feels that â€Å"the situation in Kangan can only be improved hrough reform†. The editor often writes sharp and editorials full of criticism towards the government, giving insights to the problems in Kangan (for example public executions). Ikem states that the best weapon against ineffective government is passion: â€Å"Passion is our hope and strength†, so mething that he feels immensely strong about and also reflects in his work, for example â€Å" Hymn to the Sun†, where Sam is compared to the sun as a metaphor to something that is immensely powerful yet equally destructive. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, His editorials often put him in conflict with Chris, who is now Ikem’s boss, however Ikem refuses any interference towards his work: â€Å"as long as I remain the editor, I shall not seek anybody’s permission to what I write†, however he still acknowledges that â€Å"there is a big danger doing this†. Despite the fact that he is an extremist, Ikem also adds humor through sarcasm ( â€Å"following a leader who follows his leader would be quite a circus†), and thus making the novel quite amusing at times. Beatrice Naynibuife is Chris’ girlfriend and also works in the government (in the ministry of finance). She has been intimate with Ikem, Sam and Chris at some point in her life and even though she is engaged in a relationship with Chris, she still gives us an unbiased outsider’s opinion about the situation between the three of them. For example in chapter five, she claims that â€Å"all three of you, are incredibly conceited. The story of this country, as far as you are concerned, is the story of the three of you. Although much of her narrative concerns her own past, she also tries to bridge the ever developing gap between Chris and Ikem; in chapter eight she tries to persuade Chris to talk to Ikem and work together to solve the mounting crisis of Sam’s power hunger ( trying controlling power similar to Idemili). Apart form these three; an unknown narrator also exists in the novel. While he does not give us any personal opinions like the other narrators, he give s details into African traditions such the story of the goddess Idemili. The different narrators of the novel give us different opinions about the same events that occur, and this as stated in the introduction gives a full and accurate picture of the current situation in the country. It is surprising that despite the novel being about the political instability and the unfortunate condition of the people; it is only the upper class that has a voice in the novel; a kind of metaphor indicating the division in the society and proving that it is only the upper class that has the power to bring about reform. Also, the mixed narratives do not follow a chronological pattern, which could symbolize the general state of confusion in the country. Achebe's use of multiple narrative voices indicates that history is more than a set of events in the past to be told; it is also the feelings and ideas that different people have about the events and at the same time focuses on the community rather than on the individual

Does Modern Technology Make Life More Convenient, or Was Life Better When Technology Was Simpler?

Does modern technology make life more convenient, or was life better when technology was simpler? As a matter of fact, nowadays, technology plays an important role in people's life, to extent they cannot imagine their lives without role of technology, simply, because they live in the speed time. I mention bellow how technology makes life more convenient. First and foremost, today's generation is not like old generation. For instance, in the past people did face many difficulties when they perform their duties, especially when they clean their clothes, whereas, today everybody cleans her or his clothes by washing-machine which makes their life more comfortable. moreover, it protects their hands from chemical elements which is in the soap of washing clothes, so, washing-machine is so important and required. Secondly, students are the most people who need technology in their life, especially the Internet, today’s students are more open for the world rather than before, for instance, in the past students just used the books to do their search because their subjects were easy, simple and short, whereas, nowadays students are more development, advance and independence. Therefore, they need something which helps them to perform their search such as Computer with Internet because their searches are wide and include many information which cannot find them easily from books, thus, they use internet to find these information. In this way, they overcome the difficulties which students were face them before. In conclusion, I believe that technology makes our modern life more convenient, although, there are advantages and disadvantages of the effect of the technology on ourselves but the advantages are more than disadvantages, especially, when we back to home in the summer, we need something cold to during from the refrigerator or cold weather from the AC. there is not argument the life before was simple and quite but there was difficulties in performing the duties.

“Of mice and men is a novel that presents both the barbarity and the beauty of human nature” Essay

I agree with this because Steinbeck shows barbarity in the characters. One example of this is when Lennie kills Curley’s wife by accident. I know this because it says â€Å"he quickly becomes excited and holds on too tight, frightening her†¦ Lennie panics and clamps his strong hands over her mouth to silence her† This is effective because Lennie doesn’t realise that he’s killed Curley’s wife by stroking her hair but it shows that his actions were cruel and his chances of his American dream has been ruined. The words â€Å"holds on too tight† shows that Lennie had got over excited while touching/stroking one of his favourite things and he doesn’t realise that he’s held on tight and can’t restrain himself from letting go of her hair. The word â€Å"panics† shows that Lennie didn’t know what to do as soon as he heard her screaming so he couldn’t help but keep holding on to her. We can tell that Lennie doesn’t choose to be barbaric towards people but due to his simple mind he just can’t help it. Another way we know Lennie is barbaric is because of his animalistic side, Steinbeck uses the deaths of the small animals to show that despite loving to stroke nice things, he ends up killing them. Steinbeck also shows the beauty of human nature in the Novel. Examples of this is when Lennie constantly gets compared to animals with his actions. I know this because it says â€Å"He walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, way a bear drags his paws. His arms did not swing at his sides, but hung loosely.† This is effective because Lennie is being compared to an animal, a bear. A massive, sometimes violent creature. The word ‘hung loosely’ shows that he was simple minded in everything he did so he didn’t really think about the things he did. Another word ‘the way a bear drags his paws’ shows that he was compared to a bear because of his strength and movement. Another quote would be â€Å"His huge companion dropped his blankets and flung himself down and drank from the surface of the green pool; drank with long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse. The small man stepped nervously beside him† Lennie being compared to an animal b ut this time, a horse who has to be kept from drinking too much water. It at least shows that he has some responsibility to control the natural world. Another way Steinbeck shows barbarity is with the character Crooks. He gives Crooks’ character a hatred towards the men in the ranch. I know this because it says â€Å"Crooks said sharply, â€Å"You got no right to come in my room. This here’s my room. Nobody got any right in here but me† This is effective because it shows that Crooks didn’t like the other men because of the way they treated him so he has to be barbaric to them. The word ‘sharply’ shows that Crooks actually meant what he said although Lennie was being nice, it could also demonstrate that he wanted to take out his anger to Lennie because he realised Lennie wouldn’t understand what Crooks was actually saying to him. The word ‘nobody got any right in here’ shows that he wanted treat them the exact same way they treated him in the ranch. Crooks is barbaric because he was treated that way so he might aswell treat the others the way they’ve been treating him. In conclusion I think Of mice and men does present the barbarity and beauty of human nature because the characters always had two sides to them whether they were happy or not so it did make the novel very interesting to read.

Whole Foods Market Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Whole Foods Market - Case Study Example WFM’s mission is: â€Å"Whole Foods – Whole People – Whole Planet,† aiming â€Å"to promote the vitality and well-being of all individuals by supplying the highest quality, most wholesome foods available† (WFM Form 10-K, 2013, p. 1) – thus the reference to Whole Foods. It follows, however, that the purity of the food provided WFM’s customers is directly determined by the quality of the environment, therefore the reference to Whole Planet. Finally, the provision of good, healthy food and maintenance of the environment can only be achieved by dedicated individuals working towards a common objective; therefore the reference to Whole People. This analysis explores WFM’s business and control strategies, adopting the paradigms of Porter’s generic strategies and the organisational theory by Coase/Williamson, respectively. It discusses the approach of WFM to substantial changes in terms of technology, products and services, and o rganisational structure, strategy and culture, and explains how change policies have evolved in WFM. Finally, discussion is focused on WFM’s virtual and self-managed teams which are the fundamental organisational units of the firm and the source of its competitive advantage. WFM’s Business and Control Strategies Business strategy of WFM A business strategy, in its simplest definition, is the means by which a business organisation identifies and attains its goals (Porter, 1996). Devising a strategy for business begins with identifying the firm’s goal, and then systematically formulating a plan by which the goal may be achieved. WFM’s purpose is embodied in its mission and core values. Its strategy goes well beyond merely providing fresh foods. The vision emphasises that â€Å"whole people† are as important as â€Å"whole foods† – that is, developing their human component to their fullest potential, allowing them the freedom to create a nd innovate, and the power to decide on matters that affect their sphere of work. Generic strategies based on Porter’s typology (Parnell, 2013, p 184) Emphasis on Entire Market or Niche Emphasis on Low Costs Emphasis on Differentiation Emphasis on Low Costs and Differentiation Entire Market Low-cost strategy Differentiation strategy Low cost differentiation strategy Niche Focus low cost strategy Focus differentiation strategy Focus low cost differentiation strategy WFM’s business strategy emphasises creativity and innovation which create a difference in the stores’ choice of product offerings and the quality of their service delivery, for the entire market. This is the differentiation approach. This is the strategy that is ideal in markets dominated by large market leaders – in this case, Wal-Mart which overshadows all other competitors in the grocery industry. Rather than going head-to-head with Wal-Mart and inevitably lose in the process, WFM could achi eve greater business success if it distinguishes itself along key strategic points. These key attributes are those competitive factors that the smaller grocer can develop but which Wal-Mart cannot easily duplicate, such as less hectic stores, superior selection of certain food products, or greater convenience to the customer (Parnell, 2013). WFM’s favourable employee policies that develop a sense of engagement and ownership among its workers are evidenced by its annual inclusion in Fortune Magazine’

Business Ethics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business Ethics - Research Paper Example An exemplification of this structure exists with respect to the way in which joint oversight is shared between teams and continual peer review is practiced. Essentially, David Pinder established this organizational structure as a means of ensuring that a certain individual or group of individuals did not have total and complete oversight with respect to the way in which projects were accomplished and work was performed (XIAOJUN 383). By diversifying the overall level of the review and overview process, he was able to effectively ensure that a further level of ethical standard was implemented within the firm and individuals were held accountable for all decisions that were made. Additionally, even though this structure is of course evident, other business leaders would have been satisfied with the ethical norms and standards that have thus far been put forward. However, in David’s case, he was specifically interested in promoting an even further level of ethics by ensuring that he maintained an open door policy that would allow stakeholders to discuss pertinent issues with him at any time; should they feel they are relevant to the continued success of the firm or their continued happiness as an employee. In terms of the actual steps that David Pinder has taken in order to ensure that an ethical culture is established, it should be understood by the reader that the immediate establishment of vision and philosophy, as well as ground rules and expectations for how employees understood their roles and responsibilities with the central element of establishing the steps that ensured this ethical culture. Essentially, the priorities that were established prior to any work being performed were concentric upon respect, dignity, happiness, and engagement (Li et al. 830). As can be noted, none of these are concentric on profit. The establishment of vision and

Multiaxial Diagnosis of Joseph Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Multiaxial Diagnosis of Joseph - Case Study Example This is a sign of delusion where inpatient assume that people are reading their thoughts and trying to harm them in some way. In psychotic disorder, at times people can look calm and may not project themselves to be a patient. They behave like a normal person and only when they converse about their experience clinician can identify the problem. Joseph had been reported saying that his upstairs neighbors read his thoughts and left negative comments like â€Å"You are no good!† and â€Å"Lisa wants nothing to do with you!† "Why don't you just leave!".  According to DSM people suffering from the psychotic disorder can suffer from delusion and feel like people are saying things related to him and they also feel to have supernatural powers. Joseph is reported to feel like have telepathic powers which are a sign of delusion and hallucination. .â€Å" Delusions are false beliefs that significantly hinder a persons ability to function.   For example, believing that people are trying to hurt you when there is no evidence of this, or believing that you are somebody else, such as Jesus Christ or Cleopatra.   Hallucinations are false perceptions.   They can be visual, auditory, olfactory or tactile†(Heffner, 2002). According to DSM people with psychotic disorder suffer from abnormal thinking and perceptions. Joseph thinks that the people on the street could read his mind and understand the plans he had made for himself. He specifies that when he was in the kitchen and planning the dinner menu, the person on the street already shouted the menu. When people suffer from psychotic problems they lose touch with the real world and assume things which are imaginary and delusive. Joseph had a past occurrence of the psychological problem in college days where he received counseling for the same. This shows that he was susceptible to mental disorder and the major stress of unemployment triggered a psychotic situation in him.

Academic Goals and Interest in Public Administration Personal Statement

Academic Goals and Interest in Public Administration - Personal Statement Example I have observed older family members who have chosen this path, and I can see that those who study hard are able to make a much bigger contribution to their organization. I would like to be an employee who makes a difference, and not just one who puts in regular hours and takes a salary without adding much to the lives of others. I also like teamwork, and this is another reason why Public Administration is a good choice for me. I am looking forward to learning more about the theories that have been devised to explain the way that organizations should be run and I have a particular interest in human resource management (HRM). As a person, I am very concerned about the need for people to be treated fairly, whether they are employees or clients. I know that it is difficult to balance operational and human needs and this something that I think our country needs to improve. Everyone should have the same right to assistance with official processes when they need it, and our public organizations are there to make this happen. If I were to be accepted to study Public Administration then I hope that in about ten years’ time I will be an office manager with a happy team of workers who deliver excellent services to the public. I realize that I have a long way to go before I reach this goal, but I am hard working and committed to achieving this long term personal goal.

Reading response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Reading response - Essay Example For instance, the word chair – we only of the word chair as the object itself but we cannot make any other significance to the word beyond its own definition â€Å"unless† we combine it with other parts of speech: This chair is mine. Now it makes a lot of sense. In a nutshell, and as a student, it is not enough to simply learn the words of a language but to know the context in which they can be spoken, written or used in any other way possible. Chapter 9 is probably the most crucial and interesting one considering that at the end of day, the purpose of having a language is to send message and express meaning. The central point of this chapter is the duality of an English expression: (1) the sentence construction; (2) the meaning of the sentence construction (132). As mentioned earlier, words do not make any other sense aside from their individual significance in a language unless combined with other parts of speech to create a complete thought and a whole new meaning. I n the same way, in expressing meaning, words should be chosen based on which king of meaning we intend to express: command, request or question. By having this knowledge as a student, I am always being reminded to not only focus on words but on meaning too to ensure clarity of expression. In the initial passages of chapter 10 entitled â€Å"The Link between Language and Culture†, a very strong point has been brought across: â€Å"acquiring the ability to understand the social meaning of an utterance is an important part of learning a language† (175). This is particularly true, most especially for cultures that are heavily rooted from extreme conservatism. Significantly, there is a certain degree of interlocked relationship between language and culture considering that language is basically moulded from the dynamics and general consensus of a particular community. For instance, accent variations tell a lot about a person’s nationality or regional affiliation such that New York residents pronounce the word car differently from residents of Michigan or Boston area for that matter (175). Furthermore, in the context of religious conservatism, there are countries that are very strict when it comes to using certain terminologies such as the world â€Å"Allah† – Muslim for â€Å"God† – which is prevalently agreed to be used only by Muslims. As a student, having knowledge of the social and cultural significance of a certain language will help establish smooth and amicable communication with people of different nationalities, language or culture; it encourages dynamism and flexibility. Chapter 10 and Chapter 11 make tessellated points in so far as the importance of understanding the context in which a language is being spoken and used is concerned. Politeness is substantial for the language learner because the standards of certain virtues like politeness are â€Å"determined by a given culture based on assumptions about what it means to be polite in that society† (194). This point provides a great deal of learning: it allows the language learner to understand the array of differences in which the essence of politeness in a certain language can be carried out or manifested. As a student, this will surely help in ensuring that language

Industrial Espionage in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Industrial Espionage in America - Essay Example d nations and businesses vulnerable as information can be stolen from electronic storage media and transmitted in seconds without even physically removing the data. The paper attempts to examine and understand the challenge of espionage to industries and businesses in America. However, in doing so, it shall also look at the historical development of espionage and examines how the advances in technology in the recent years have facilitated the act of espionage, and also the measures that may prove useful in controlling industrial espionage. As a prelude to the research, it may be worthwhile to understand how industrial espionage is defined, its nature and implications. The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines industrial espionage as â€Å"an individual or private business entity sponsorship or coordination of intelligence activity conducted for the purpose of enhancing their advantage in the marketplace.† [Cited Boni and Kovacich, 2000; p. 48] While the definition may imply industrial espionage to be more or less the same as business or competitive intelligence, John F Quinn explains the essential difference between the two – while business intelligence is generally under private sponsorship using an â€Å"open† methodology, espionage may be either government or privately sponsored and clandestine. [Cited Boni and Kovacich, 2000; p. 47] In the highly competitive and globalized business environment, proprietary intellectual property and economic information is considered the most valuable commodity by all nations, particularly the advanced ones. Businesses and/or governments involve in espionage activities for the purpose of unlawfully or clandestinely obtaining sensitive financial, trade or economic policy information, proprietary/sensitive economic information; or critical technologies including but not limited to data, plans, tools, mechanisms, compounds, designs, formulae, processes, procedures, programs, codes or commercial strategies, whether tangible or

Need to write my biography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Need to write my biography - Essay Example I enjoy travelling and camping – reveling in the sheer beauty and serenity of nature while sampling the diversity of people and cultures from across the expanse of the globe. Anyone close to me can attest that I was indeed born to become a nurse, and a dedicated one at it. Being a highly motivated and inspired individual, I am one of those characters who are ever willing to help others especially those reeling in sickness. It was this desire to dedicate my life’s effort towards the sick that led me into the nobleness of nursing. My aspirations for nursing date back into my childhood and teenage years and being the focused and relentless person that I am, I have currently been in the field of medicine for over a staggering 30 years. And my ambitions do not halt there by any means. I was lucky to graduate early from high school and immediately after my graduation I dived deep into nursing classes. I am presently the supervisor in the orthopedic unit at a reputable medical center in Arlington with further plans to advance my education and obtain a bachelor’s then a master’s degree in nursing. After relocating from Rock Island to Arlington, Texas, in 1996, I have been immensely blessed with a stable family of my own, a husband and three lovely children. Presently an active member of the COGIC in Arlington, Texas, the sky is the limit for me who with all these achievements tucked safe under my belt still feels like life is yet about to take off in

Personality Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Personality Theory - Essay Example Nevertheless, as adults, the parents were responsible for their son’s death. Parental Abuse Resulting in Child Suicide: The Personality of Both the Parents and Child which Results in Suicide The case of the child being abused by violent parents is not uncommon. It can happen anytime as long as there are children with suicidal tendencies and parents who are predisposed to behave in a way that they would hurt their children. Based on the details of the case, the child committed suicide because he must have been a typical case of Borderline Personality Disorder and his parents as well, and this must have unconsciously made them cause their own child’s death. Definition of the Case and Important Things to Consider The case study involving the child who killed himself and the parents who abused him must be investigated in such a way that the roles of the child and the parents in bringing about the act of suicide are defined. Moreover, one needs to consider the reasons why th e child could have decided to kill himself and why the parents themselves were abusive. Understanding the underlying cause of their actions and decisions would shed more light into why the suicide took place. The Possibility of Borderline Personality Disorder The child who killed himself may have been suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder, or BPD, because he displayed a similar set of symptoms as a typical case, and it was the parents’ fault that the degree of their abuse towards him made him decide to kill himself. BPD is a psychological problem which is most commonly associated with â€Å"self destructive† behavior, which in turn is the most likely cause of the suicide (Paris, 2011). Moreover, someone with BPD is also most likely to be â€Å"highly unstable emotionally† and thus develops several mood swings especially as a rather automatic response to highly stressful events (Paris, 2011). These highly unstable emotions and unpredictable mood swings m ay have reached their peak at the time of suicide and thus may have triggered the act itself. Coupled with a preexisting self destructive behavior, the sudden surge of depressive or angry emotions in the child may have been directed towards himself. Parental abuse may have triggered the depression and anger in the child, but since the child may have felt powerless, he did not choose to retaliate and instead decided to kill himself in order to end the extremely uncomfortable feeling of abuse, loss of personal value and loss of self-esteem. Moreover, since BPD is characterized by â€Å"repetitive suicide attempts,† then it is obvious that the child was suffering from this or a similar disorder at the moment of suicide (Paris, 2011). The child may have therefore attempted suicide a number of times but perhaps during that time that he killed himself, there must have been too much anger in him that could not be contained anymore. There could also have been a lot of anger that had piled up and perhaps the last cruel thing his parents did to him somehow served as the last straw that eventually made him decide to end his life. Furthermore, there might not have been anyone else in the house who could have at least stopped the child from committing suicide, or perhaps there was but this person might have also been powerless and helpless against the child’

How ICT requirements are met in an organisation Essay Example for Free

How ICT requirements are met in an organisation Essay Report B: How ICT requirements are met in an organisation Before Haden was introduced ICT, everything was done by hand. This took longer and was not a reliable method of processing information. Haden has many departments and altogether they have many computers. I am going to only analyse one of those departments because doing the whole building with the number of computers will be ridiculous. The department I will be analysing is the Fraud department. This department deals with all the people committing benefit fraud. They work with the police to get those people in court. The Fraud department found it hard to cope without computers. When the computers were introduced everything was easy. Everything needed ICT. In the Fraud department there are 45 computers. Here are the specifications of the hardware. Hardware Input devices Keyboard- There is 40 standard QWERTY keyboards and 5 ergonomic keyboards. Ergonomic keyboards are QWERTY but the layout is different. The keyboards connect by PS/2 port. Mice- There is 45 standard mice. These come as default on all the computers. The mice connect also connect through PS/2 port. Digital Cameras- These cameras are devices that can take photos or moving images (films) and transfer them on to a PC. The images are JPEG, GIF, UGA, UFO or PSO. There are a total of 4 cameras in the department. The digital cameras connect to the via USB port. Scanners- There is 2 scanners in the department and they also transfer images to the computer. They work like photocopier but can transfer the images to a PC. This device also connects through USB port. Web Cams- The web cams are used to project moving images on to the internet. Only 7 computers have these and they are only used for handling confidential documents. The web cams connect to the computers by the USB port. The web cams are used for personal use. Well, thats what I think! An input device is something that transfers raw data into a computer for it to be processed. These can include images and evidence from fraud suspects. Output devices Monitors- There is 45 monitors. 5 flat screen monitors, also know as LCD (liquid crystal display) screens and the rest are standard default monitors which are CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors. The monitors connect through the serial port. Colour printer- The colour printers are used to print documents with Hadens header on them. The colour makes it more professional. The printers connect through the LPT or parallel port. These are the main output devices. They take raw information/data and give it back to us processed. Every computer has many different specifications inside and outside. The computers are all the same so it will be easy to describe them. Below are the specifications. Compaq Deskpro 40 GB Hard drive CD/CD-RW Drive Floppy Drive Zip Drive 512 mb DDR RAM 64 mb DDR Geforce 4 graphics card Creative soundcard Ethernet Card Modem port 4 USB 2. 0 ports 2 serial ports 2 LPT/parallel ports 2 Fire wire ports 2 PS/2 ports 1 game pad port 1 Network port The hard drives are big so that a lot of data can be stored. But there is a downfall to that. It is easier for files to get lost and the file security is not great. The RAM is a ridiculously large. It seems like the computers are made to play games and not do work. This also applies for the graphics card. It also has a large card memory. Most of it is wasted because it is not being used. The department can save a lot of money they had computers which are a bit lower on the specifications. (RAM, Graphics card etc) As all the computers are same, it is easy for me to describe only one of the computers specifications because they have the same specifications like the other computers in the department. There is a large server for the department. The server is very fast and quick. Below are the server specifications. Intel Pentium 4 M 3. 0 GHz processor memory 1024 mb DDR RAM 120 GB Hard drive Tape drive CD/CD-RW Drive Floppy Drive All the computers are Compaq brand. They are reliable and safe to use. Software The computers have different software installed on their hard drives. The computers are new. They have Microsoft Office 2002 installed on their hard drive. They also have other programs like anti-virus. Microsoft Word- This is the default word processing application. It is easy to use and it has many features like recording macros and inserting pictures. Microsoft Excel- This application is installed on the system but it is not used often. It may be used to do calculations for wages and salaries. I am not very sure what it is used for in this department. Microsoft Access- This application is not used. Database- Haden have there own database. It is very complicated to use their database. It comes up as a black screen with white writing. Almost like MS-DOS on old computers. The database holds information of people that have benefits and that commit fraud. You have to be trained to use the database because it is so complicated. This is what I think are in the databases: Name, address, post code, county, age, gender, contact details, national insurance number etc. Outlook Express- Easy to use and is fast for sending and receiving information. The e-mail is not for personal use. The companies boss can other employees can read the personal e-mails. Information is not confidential so it is a great and fast method of transferring data. Internet Explorer is used to surf the web for web related fraud. The internet has a special tracking device that seeks out people using other peoples insurance numbers and other details to get money. Intranet- All the computers are linked to an intranet. The intranet is a small network that only the company personnel can enter. No one from the outside, like me, can enter the intranet. Some of the files are password protected and only those who have the password can enter. Others are common files that everyone linked to the intranet can access. All personnel have their own password. They also have a card key that is used to enter the PC otherwise they do not have access. Norton System works is an antivirus application. All the computers have this software to protect against viruses. There is however a disadvantage. There is no internet firewall. Although one will be installed soon, the security is at risk and therefore hackers can enter easily. Evidence Eliminator is an application that is used to destroy unwanted fraud evidence from the Fraud departments computers. The evidence will no longer be available for hackers. Evaluation Hadens use of ICT is excellent. They are faster now than before computers were introduced. The department of Fraud has found that using ICT is a must for them. Most of it is writing up databases. They have improved in using their own database that has outstanding security due to it being hard to use. There are several advantages and disadvantages. The main one is that the computers can get out of date and will require fixing all the time. Another disadvantage is in the Fraud computers the security is not that good. Hackers can attack it easily. The evidence eliminator application will have to be used several times because there is no firewall and hacker can attack any time. The Fraud department has to step up its security to insure that it is safe to transfer files through the networks. Overall, the organisation has improved in keeping things up to date. The security has to improve for the internet, other than that; the company is sophisticated and well improved.

Positioning Of The New Product Marketing Essay

Positioning Of The New Product Marketing Essay Starbucks is the leading roaster, retailer, and marketer of speciality coffee in the world, It also has the world famous Frappuccino Blended Beverages, which include Green Tea and Chai Tea beverages. Currently, Starbucks is planning to introduce bubble tea products into New Zealand. Bubble tea is a tea base drink blended with fruit flavour and chewing balls. It is a popular drink in Asian countries, and has been accepted and loved by the people around the world. This bubble tea product line will be branded as Bubblecino. This marketing plan analysed the current market environment and situations, and will be used for the introduction of Bubblecino into New Zealand market. According to the analysis, Bubblecino is going to be the premium bubble tea in the market which offers premium quality with best service and outstanding store environment. The main target market for Bubblecino is younger people and people who are concerning healthy drinks. This marketing plan also identified the mark eting objectives in the following two years, including achieving NZ$1 million on Bubblecino sales. This marketing plan then suggested the products design, pricing of Bubblecino, distribution decisions, and promotion mix, which includes internet advertisements, outdoor display, bus signs, sampling and use of coupons. Lastly, the coordination and control of the marketing plan was also covered in this report. Markets Size It is difficult to analysis the market size for bubble tea as it is still a brand new market in the most of western nations. However, New Zealand has the culture of drinking traditional English tea, and New Zealanders should have a decent market foundation for the tea based beverages. Another way to analyse New Zealand market is to look at the other countries that have similar culture and other social characteristics. One of example is London, UK. DailyMail reported Bubbleology, which is Londons foremost purveyor of bubble tea had a forecast sale of  £4.5 million for 2013 (Arthurs, 2012). Considering the population of London is around 8 million currently which is two times of New Zealand population, it would be reasonable to estimate the market size of bubble tea in New Zealand would be around NZ$2 million per year. It is a decent size of market for Starbucks, who made a sale of NZD26.5 million last year (Starbuck, 2012). In additional, based on the last years sales figure and assu mption of average spending of NZ$8 per person, Starbuck accommodates around 3 million customers every year. Although it is too unrealistic to estimate all 3 million customers to buy a bubble tea product, this customer base provides a market potential for Starbuck to promote its bubble tea products. Markets Needs and Trends The market trend within the recent decade on drinking industry is people in western countries are more open and starting to fall in love with the tea based drinks. Iced tea products, such as ready-to-drink Lipton Iced teas can be seen in every supermarkets and shops in New Zealand. The fast developing of Lipton helps bubble teas to unlock the preconceived notions about the tea. People nowadays are more accepting the new tea based products, such as bubble teas. In addition, more and more people appreciate and understand the benefit of drinking tea. It is scientifically proven that drinking tea could reduce the chance of heart diseases and several cancers (Harvard Womens Health Watch, 2004). The current market trend in beverage is people are more concern about the health issues and would prefer a healthier drink (Theodore, 2005), and there is a expecting continuingly grow on the demand of tea related products. This trend is recognised by the Starbucks. Recently, Starbucks is offering t o buy Teavana Holding Inc, which sells high-end loose leaf tea in 300 shopping malls in US (The New Zealand Hearld, 2012). Starbucks already owns Tazo tea brand since 1999, and this purchase offer shows Starbucks growing interest in tea, and its willingness to expand its tea related products. Competitors The current competitors for Starbucks on bubble teas are other bubble tea shops. Most of these bubble tea shops are located in the Chinese or Asian restaurants, food courts, or the place where there is a big Chinese customer flow. The bubble tea was firstly introduced into New Zealand by these bubble tea shops. They have the advantage of being well known by the Asians and bubble tea lovers. Other advantages of these bubble tea shops are lower price and shops are offering other Asian cuisines. It is very common for people to order a cup of bubble tea while they having their lunch in Chinese or Asian restaurants or food courts. However, these bubble tea shops have their disadvantages. There are operating individually, and there is a lack of brand awareness for these bubble tea shops. For those who are unfamiliar with Asian cuisines, it is possible that they have never heard about bubble tea before. There is no domain brand in the bubble tea market at this moment, and most bubble tea shops are in small size. Lastly, the shop environment of these bubble shops is not very decent. Most of these shops have the similar store decoration level as fish and chips stores. Internal Environmental Factors Strength The internal environmental factors facing by Starbuck if it wants to promote bubble tea include its strong brand awareness across New Zealand. Starbucks is the leading retailer in coffee and other blended beverages. It is most welcomed by the young people and white-collars. It is well known on its modern in-store design and great customer services. There are 35 stores across the nation in New Zealand currently. Most of stores locate in CBDs or big shopping malls. This is a great platform and store chain to promote the bubble tea. In addition, Starbucks have well trained staffs in every store, which means Starbucks requires less training time on staff. Weaknesses However, Starbucks has its disadvantages. For some people, Starbucks has been considered as a fast food brand from the US, and the products Starbucks offered are nothing but fast food from mass production line. This will create a bad image for Starbuck if it wants to promote the health benefit of drinking tea based products. Another weakness of Starbucks is the requirement on machine upgrade and staff training as bubble tea is a brand new product for Starbucks. Lastly, although Starbucks has already offered tea based products, such as Green tea and Chai Tea beverages for years, the society still link Starbucks with coffee. This innate ideas from society will require Starbucks to spend time and money on convert such ideas during the promotion of bubble teas. External Environmental Factors Opportunities The opportunities facing by Starbucks for promoting bubble teas include the market trend of that more people are concerning the health issues and how their beverage could influence their health. Tea has been recognised as a healthier drink, and it could be expected there is a increasing demand on the tea related products. Another opportunity for Starbucks is the fact that although bubble tea market has many market players, there is no domain brand in the market. Starbucks has capital and brand advantages, with lower level of competition in the market, Starbucks could gain a big market share if it decides to introduce bubble tea in New Zealand. Threats However, because the barrier to enter the market is low, and there is really nothing to stop others to step into the market, the competition in bubble tea market could increase if other big brands, such as Coca cola or Pepsi decided to introduce their bubble tea products. Market Segmentation, Profile of the Target Market and Positioning of the Product Segmentation Factors The current New Zealand market could be divided into different segments based on demographic, geographic, psychographic, or behavioural. Demographic segmentation factors divide the population by age, income, gender, and education. There is a need to conduct a market research to better understanding the correlation between individuals demographic characters and their preference on bubble teas. However, it could be expected that young people and female might like bubble tea more. People who have a higher education level may also more concern about their health. This high level of health might lead them to drink more tea based products. Geographic segmentation factors divide the population into different geographic areas. However, New Zealand is a small country, and there is no big difference between people live in different cities, or live in rural or urban areas. Therefore, the geographic segmentation might be irrelevant in this case. Psychographic segmentation factor will divide the population by lifestyle and their interest to the Asian foods. As discussed previously, people who have a healthier lifestyle would like to have a health tea based drink. People who interested in Asian or Asian foods would have heard or tried bubble tea before. They are existing customers of bubble teas. It also means this group of people are more open to accept new taste and like to try something new. Lastly, behavioural segmentation factors divide the population by their loyalty status. There is not much difference between bubble tea offered by Starbucks and bubble tea from other bubble tea shops. The indifference on bubble tea products means Starbuck needs to focus on the customers who have a strong or absolute loyalty on the bubble teas offered by the Starbucks. Description of the Target market Based on the above discussion on the segmentation factors, this business plan could describe the target market for Starbucks. The target market of Starbucks bubble tea is those young people who have a higher education level, have a healthier lifestyle, who are interested in Asian or Asian foods, and who have a higher level of royalty to brands. Positioning of the New Product The position of bubble tea offered by Starbucks is a premium bubble tea offered by Starbucks. It is fashion, cute, and fulfilled the needs of younger people who like something sweet, health, and fun to drink. It is a bubble tea with a higher price compared to other bubble tea shops, but it is also a bubble tea offered in the great in-store environment with high quality services. It is also a bubble tea which served in the classics Starbucks clear plastic package with Starbucks famous two tails mermaid logo on the package. Measurable Marketing Objectives Starbucks is considering introducing bubble tea into New Zealand. It is going to branded as Bubblecino, and it will be introduced to public in all 35 stores across the nation. The objectives of the business plan for bubble tea in the next two years are: To increase the public brand awareness on Bubblecino, especially the public awareness about the health benefit of drinking tea based beverage and the fun and tasty of drinking Bubblecino Start with the most popular flavour and mixing formulas, Bubblecino will introduce a new flavours and mixture every months to gather the responds from the public and determine the best sellers To achieve NZ$1 million on the sales of bubble tea, which is the 50% of the estimated New Zealand market share, if there is no major competitors appeared during the next two years period Marketing Strategies Product Decisions The Bubblecino is going to make in store as other beverage in Starbucks. The Bubblecino is served in the half-round top, clear plastic cup which is also used for Green tea Frappuccino, and Tazo Chia. The reason to use clear plastic cup is that customers and other could see the colourful of beverage (depends on the flavours customers choose), and the chewing pearls at the bottom of cup. The reason to use half-round top is the customers could have the option of adding cream on top of their bubble teas. The straw will be slightly different to the straw used for Frappuccino. The straw will bigger so the chewing pearls could be easily sucked out. The straw will still be the classic Starbucks green. The package will help to differentiate the Bubblecino from other bubble teas, and help people to be aware that it is a cup of Bubblecino from Starbucks. The waiting time for bubble tea should be similar to the waiting time for other coffee products, which is normally no more than one minutes if the store is not very busy. When making the orders, customers have the choice of different fruit flavours, such as honeydew, watermelon, strawberry, bananas and other common fruit flavours. As discussed in previous section, Bubblecino will introduce new flavours every month to gather responds from customers about the taste of such flavours, and if such flavour is welcomed, it will stay on the menu. During the early marketing stage, a research is also needed to determine what mixture formulas and which flavours are most suitable and accepted by New Zealanders. There are three size of cups available, tall, grande, or venti (which represent small, median, or large respectively). Lastly, customers also have the options of adding cream on top of their bubble tea, upgrade to double chewing balls, or adding Nata (which is coconut gel and it is also c hewing). Pricing Decisions When deciding the pricing of Bubblecino, this marketing plan considers both internal factors and external factors. The first consideration is the cost of goods sold. The raw materials for Bubblecino include tea, milk, fruit flavours, chewing balls, cream (if customers order it), Nata (if customers order it) and package. According to Boba Tea Direct.com (n.d.), the approximate cost for materials was USD $0.75, which was about NZD $1.00. The cost of cream and nata is difficult to determine at this stage and there are extras customers could add on, so this business plan will focus on the cost of making a regular bubble tea at this stage. The cost of package is around NZ$ 0.10 as there are similar plastic cups on sale on the internet for less than US$ 0.05 each. The labour cost of making a cup of Bubblecino will determine by the time required to make one. Assuming the labour cost is NZ$ 15.00 per hour and it would take around 2 minutes (1 minute to order and 1 minute to make), the labour cost of making a cup of Bubblecino is NZ$0.50. The cost of overhead is difficult to determine, with lack of information on the total overhead cost. Therefore, in this marketing plan, the overhead cost will be assumed as NZ$1.00 per cup. From above assumptions, the cost of making a cup of Bubblecino is around NZ$2.60. This cost gives Starbucks enough margins to set their prices. The external factors include the prices offered by competitors and customers expectations. Other bubble tea shops sell their regular bubble tea at NZ$5.00 per cup. However, customers should happy to pay more if the service they received is great and the in-store environment is great, as they understand Starbuck will have a higher level of overhead costs. In addition, Starbucks is selling their coffee and other beverage at around NZ$6 per cup. Therefore, it is reasonable and acceptable by the market to set a cup of Bubblecino at NZ$6.00 per tall cup, NZ$6.50 per grande cup, and NZ$7 per venti cup. Customers need to pay NZ50c more if they want double the chewing pearls, or add cream, or add Nata. At this selling price, every tall cup of regular bubble tea will give Starbucks a NZ$3.40 operating profit. This higher profit margin will help Starbucks to continuingly improve the quality of products and services, and become the premium retailers of bubble teas. Place (Distribution) Decisions The direct retail in 35 Starbucks stores across New Zealand will be the distribution channel for Bubblecino. Bubblecino will be offered in these stores as coffee or other beverages. These 35 stores are either located in CBDs or big shopping malls. Because the target market of Bubblecino is young people and white collars, these stores are the great distribution channel. There is a huge amount of customers flow past the store every day, especially during the weekend and holiday. This creates a good platform for Starbucks to distribute Bubblecino. Promotional Decisions The promotional decisions for Bubblecino include advertisement through the internet, outdoor displays, and signs at the back of buses. Internet advertisement includes advertising the introduction of new Bubblecino on Trademe, and other most frequent visiting websites in New Zealand. Facebook is also an efficiency way to promote new products, and it is a very common practice in food and beverage industry. Currently Starbucks New Zealand does not have a Facebook account. The marketing manager might consider opening an account for Bubblecino and using it to promote new products and new events. The outdoor displays outside of the stores will also help to advertise the new product as most of stores are located in the busy place where there are thousands of people walk past every day. The outdoor display is a low cost and very efficiency way to promote the new products. The signs at the back of buses have the similar effect as outdoor display do, but buses signs could reach beyond the CBDs or shopping malls. Because buses travelled to different places, including residential areas and industrial areas, it has a wider coverage to promote the new products. This advertisement mix has the advantage of lower cost but efficient to spread the awareness of new Bubblecino. Starbucks should also use sales promotions, such as sampling and coupons are also effective to promote new Bubblecino. Starbucks, and other food and beverages like to use sampling taste to promote their new products. It is quite often to see in the supermarket, malls, or on the street that staffs are offering taste samples to people who walk past. This will help customers to have a direct perceive about know how good and tasty their products are. The sampling will work better if the coupons are also used during the new product promotion. Marketing managers could consider to offer the coupons, such as two cups at price of one on group buy websites, such as GrabOne and TreatMe. It is a very efficiency way to quickly generate big amount of sales for new products, and start to build its customers base. It also attracts customers who have seen the products, but was not bother to try. Coordination and Control The success of a market plan is also determined by its coordination and control. One of the most important coordination is ensuring the flow of the feedback and information among different departments in the Starbucks. The stores need to report the sales and responds from customers to marketing department to help them decide the appropriate marketing decisions. The marketing department needs to inform the store about any special or coupons they are going to advertise so the stores could prepare themselves well for the possible increase demand and sales. Another important factor is the review. There is no marketing plan which will work forever. Through the time and change of situations, the marketing department needs to review its market plan according the external and internal environments, such as change of market share, or new competitors entering the market. The review will also help marketing department to determine and evaluate the success of a marketing plan and whether and how such marketing plan need to adjust.

Quality Circle Activities at Hindustan Zinc Lilmited

Quality Circle Activities at Hindustan Zinc Lilmited A PROJECT ON VALIDATING â€Å"COMPETENCY MAPPING† FOR ATTAINING THE BEST â€Å"QUALITY CIRCLE PRACTICES† AT HZL Executive Summary Successful quality circles offer a wide variety of benefits for businesses. They talk about the perceptions as well as employees awareness, increase managements awareness of employee ideas, as well as employee awareness of the need for innovation within the company. Adding on, quality circles can improve a businesss competitiveness by reducing costs, improving quality, and promoting innovation.HZL with the above motives, implemented the Quality Circles. The Quality Circles lead t self development, mutual development, quality improvement , cost reduction, waste reduction, productivity improvement, improvement in safety, job satisfaction , problem solving opportunities, people involvement and participation in team building. But, at present the Quality Circles are not able reciprocate the same. Therefore the present study aims at two basic objectives Phase I: To understand the Quality Circle activities at Hindustan Zinc Lilmited. To understand the perceptions of the Quality Circles facilitators and leaders in respect to the formation of the of the Quality Circles So the quality circles being not up to the mark ,the project aims to streamline the Quality Circle activities at Debari and to provide impetus so that the members get onto self-motivated mode. Further, to facilitate the environment for the activities and conduct appropriate guidance structures at Hindustan Zinc Limited .There must be support based on the respect of humanity, aiming at participation by everybody .Also, to develop capabilities and capacities of the Quality Circle members and to make the work place full of vitality. Phase II: The second phase explored Competency Mapping of the employees.Competency plays an important role in shaping up the perceptions of the employees.It is basically a measure to avoid making the mistake of hiring a round peg for a square hole. One of the underlying principles of Competency Mapping is finding the right person for the right job (specially the Facilitators of the quality circles). After the detailed study on reasons behind the non effectiveness of Quality Circles, Competency Mapping Study was taken up. The facilitators competencies were taken into account for the same. An effort was taken up to relate the individual competencies to the competencies required for the best Quality Circle Practices at HZL. Identifying, assessing and linking people competency with the Quality Circle competency from the core mapping. Competency Mapping is a process of identifying key competencies for a particular position in an organization. Therefore, the executives opinion about the competencies required for the Quality Circles was taken into account. The relevance and role of HR Managers is going through a flux. The new generation HR Manager attempts to link their individual competency with those set of competencies, which make them successful in their leadership role. In the present study, executives from various departments were selected randomly and were included in the sample. Questionnaires were filled by only those executives who had a free will. The find outcome of this project is in the development of a suggested framework to unable them to bridge the gap between the prevalent and required set of competencies. Hindustan Zinc Smelter (Debari) at present is not making use of the Competency Mappi ng tool. Therefore the executives were made aware of this tool of HR and to make them know the benefits of Competency Mapping as a tool to help their growth in an organization. Various formats to get the Quality Circles get streamlined are also suggested which include Evaluation Criteria, Format for the meetings and the minutes ,Introduction for of the commandments of QCs, relating awards and recognition to the same. As a result the company organized a Quality Circle gathering with a lunch in which a briefing for the Quality Circles was again given ,besides bags to all the quality circle members were given so as to give them recognition by differentiating them from the non members. Certificate From Industry Guide Certificate From Faculty Guide This is to certify that, Ms Arushi Chauhan from MBA (HR) class of 2009 is a Bonafide student of Amity Business School, Amity University Uttar Pradesh and is presently pursuing a Post Graduate Programme in Management. Under my guidance, she has submitted her project titled â€Å"Validating Competency Mapping for Attaining Best Quality Circle Practices at HZL†, in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the summer internship project from Hindustan Zinc Limited, Udaipur, from May 1, 2008 to June 30, 2008 during the Post Graduate Programme in Management. This report has not been previously submitted as part of another degree or diploma of another business school or university. (Date July 24, 2008) Dr. R. Sujatha Senior Faculty (HR) Amity Business School CHAPTER: 1 INTRODUCTION Company Profile Introduction to Quality Circles Competency Mapping Objective Rationale COMPANY PROFILE VEDANTA GROUP Welcome To The Vedanta Group Vedanta an over US $ 8.2 billion, Vedanta Resources plc (â€Å"Vedanta†) is a London listed FTSE 100 diversified metals and mining major. The group produces aluminium, copper, zinc, lead and iron ore and also commercial energy. Vedanta has operations in India, Zambia and Australia and a strong organic growth pipeline of projects. With an empowered talent pool of 30,000 employees globally, Vedanta places strong emphasis on partnering with all its stakeholders based on the core values of entrepreneurship, excellence, trust, inclusiveness and growth. Chairman Mr. Anil Agarwal Deputy Chairman Mr. Navin Agarwal Chief Executive Officer Mr. Kuldeep Kumar Kaura Vedanta Group is a well established name in the corporate world. Vedanta has a strong track record in managing operations and improving costs and output. Its zinc and copper operations rank in the top quartile of global cost efficiency. Its principal operations are located in India, where they have a major market share in each of their main metals: aluminum, copper, zinc and lead. There are also substantial copper operations in Zambia and a copper mine in Australia. Vedanta Resources plc was listed in London in December 2003. At the time of listing, Vedanta set out a carefully structured strategy, to which the board and management remain committed. The group comprises three major businesses: Aluminium comprising bauxite mining, alumina refining aluminium smelting operations in India. Copper comprising smelting refining operations in India, copper ore mining in Australia, an integrated copper production in Zambia. Zinc comprising zinc-lead mining smelting operations in India. Sterlite Industries is an important segment of Vedanta Group. Sterlite Industries (India) Limited was  acquired in 1986, bringing together several metal related activities managed by the Agarwal family.   In 2001 it acquired a 26% stake in Hindustan Zinc Ltd., an integrated zinc and lead producer, from the Government of India and a further 20% through a compulsory open market offer. Vedanta is successfully operating in India in collaboration with Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL). The Zinc business of Vedanta is managed within Hindustan Zinc Limited.   HZL is Indias only integrated Zinc Company, operating from mine to finished metal and supplied around 80% of Indias zinc requirements in 2007-08. Vedanta Resources Plc A Snapshot National presence Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL) Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd (SIIL) Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (BALCO) The Madras Aluminium Company Ltd (MALCO) Vedanta Aluminium Ltd. (VAL) Lanjigarh Sesa Goa Limited Sterlite Energy Limited 2) Global presence Copper Mines of Tasmania, Tasmania Konkola Copper Mines, Zambia 3) Sterlite Group has also strong presence in Optical cables business through Sterlite Optical Technologies Ltd. (a non Vedanta Company) 4) A leading producer of key commodities in India FY2007-08 Group turnover : US $ 8,203 million FY2007-08 Group EBITDA : US $ 3,010 million $7.5 billion investment programme. First phase of $2.2 billion completed on time and within budget. The next phase of $5.3 billion under implementation and on schedule. STERLITE INDUSTRIES Sterlite Energy Limited (SEL) is a part of Vedanta Resources plc , a London listed metals and mining major with Aluminium, Copper, Zinc and Iron ore operations in India, Australia and Zambia, and a subsidiary of Vedanta group flagship company, Sterlite Industries (India) Limited. SEL was established to develop, construct and operate power plants and seeks to become one of Indias leading commercial power generation companies. SEL is well positioned to capitalize on Indias economic growth, power deficit and large coal reserves to develop a commercial power generation business. It shall benefit from Vedanta groups experienced and focused management with strong project execution skills, experience in building and operating captive power plants, substantial experience in mining activities and the capacity to finance world-class projects. Various objectives of Sterlite group regarding HZL are: To make Chanderiya Smelter, Rampura Agucha mines known for its world class operations. To make Zawar mines, RDM, ZSP and ZSV internationally competitive HINDUSTAN ZINC LTD. PROFILE Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL) is one of Indias leading Zinc-lead producers and exceptional in its extent of its technology coupled with vertical integration in other non-ferrous metals. Hindustan Zinc Limited was incorporated from the erstwhile Metal Corporation of India on 10th January 1966 as a Public Sector Undertaking. Hindustan Zinc is a vertically integrated company with mining and smelting operations located mainly in the State of Rajasthan and in the State of Andhra Pradesh. Hindustan Zinc is Indias only integrated producer of Zinc and Lead and is among the worlds leading integrated Zinc and Lead producers. Its metal production capacity is currently 754000 tones per annum. The smelters are situated at Chanderia, Debari and Visakhapatnam .The mines are situated at Zawar, Dariba and Rampura Agucha VISION OF HZL To be a world-class zinc company, creating value, leveraging mineral resources and related core competencies. MISSION OF HZL Be a lowest cost zinc producer on a global scale, maintaining market leadership One million tones zinc-lead metal capacity by 2010 Be innovative, customer oriented and eco-friendly, maximizing stake-holder value Introduction to Quality Circle A Quality Circle is a small group in which people who work in the first line work place, continually improve and maintain the quality of products, services, job. This small group promotes the activity in such a way as to autonomously administer it, utilize the QC concept and technique and others, display creativity and make self development and mutual development. This activity intent to: †¢Develop workers capability; perform the self-actualization for QC Circle members, make the work place full of brightness and vitality. †¢Enhance customer satisfaction and make a social contribution. The executives and the mangers in order to make QC Circle activities successful, contribute to improving the enterprises, constitute and implement company wide TQM or similar one by themselves. Facilitate the environment for the activity and continually, conduct appropriate guidance and support based on the respect for humanity, aiming at the participation by everybody and positioning the activity as important for human resources development and work place utilization Quality Circles Functioning: A typical quality circle consists of 5 to 10 members from the same working area. A leader is either elected by the members or the senior most people assumes the leaders role. The quality circle meets once every week, usually outside working hours. The meeting lasts for half hour to one hour. The quality circle is assisted by a facilitator or a coordinator, who is from the executive cadre. The facilitator helps in ensuring that the requirements for the quality circle meetings are met. He also is the contact between the quality circles and the senior management. In many cases, the facilitator helps the team in case they face difficult in solving a problem. MANAGEMENT ACTION FOR SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTAION OF QUALITY CIRCLE CONCEPT FORMATION OF APEX LEVEL STEERING COMMITTEE. ABOVE COMMITTEE WILL DECIDE TO FORM ZONE WISE STEERING COMMITTEE (TWO TO FIVE SUCH COMMITTEES MAY BE FORMED DEPENDING UPON ORGANISATIONAL SET UP). NOMINATE ZONE CHAIRPERSON FOR EACH ZONE. ZONE CO-ORDINATOR AND OVER ALL CHIEF CO-ORDINATOR. DECIDE DATE/DAY OF MONTHLY AREA STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING. APEX LEVEL STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING MAY BE HELD BI-MONTHLY. PROPOSED AGENDA MAY BE: ADOPTION/FOLLOW-UP OF PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES. IN APEX LEVEL STEERING COMMITTEE CHAIRED BY HEAD OF PLANT, CHAIRMEN OF AREA STEERING COMMITTEE WILL PRESENT THE STATUS OF QUALITY CIRCLES STATUS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE AREAS. STATUS OF CIRCLE ACTIVITIES IN EACH ZONE FOLLOWED BY IMPLEMENTATION STATUS OF APPROVED PROJECTS. TRAINING PROGRAMME/REFRESHER PROGRAMME STATUS. PROJECT FOR APPROVAL ANY OTHER POINTS IN CASE OF â€Å"PROJECTS FOR APPROVAL† CIRCLE WILL PRESENT ONE BY ONE. THEY WILL SIMPLY EXLAIN THE PROJECT TAKEN, HOW THEY HAVE SOLVED AND GAINS (WITH IN 5 TO 7 MINUTES). A GROUP OF NOMINATED EXECUTIVES WILL AUDIT THE SAME AT WORK PLACE. THEY WILL ASK FEW QUESTIONS TO THE EMPLOYEES OF THAT AREA TO ENCOURAGE THEM. PROJECT MAY BE APPROVED AFTER SEEING THE IMPLEMENTATION STATUS, IF NO FURTHER MODIFICATION IS REQUIRED. IF PROJECT IS APPROVED, THIS SHOULD BE PRESENTED IN PROPER WAY. A TOKEN GIFT MAY BE GIVEN TO EACH MEMBER INCLUDING FACILITATOR/ DY. FACILITATOR. THIS GIFT MAY BE RESTRICTED TO THOSE WHO HAVE ATTENDED 60% OR MORE MEETINGS HELD FOR THIS PROJECT DURATION. THIS WILL ENCOURAGE THE MEMBER TO ATTEND MAXIMUM NUMBER OF MEETINGS. AFTER APPROVAL OF THE PROJECT, STEERING COMMITTEE OF THAT ZONE WILL ASK THE HOD OF THAT ZONE, TO MAKE TENTATIVE PLANNING OF IMPLEMENTAION OF PROJECTS IN TOTALITY. EVALUATION OF EACH AREA AND BEST CIRCLE IN EACH AREA MAY BE DONE EVERY SIX MONTHS VIZ. JANUARY TO JUNE AND JULY TO DECEMBER OF EACH YEAR AS PER PRE FIXED CRITERIA. A RUNNING SHIELD TO BEST, AREA AND PRIZES TO BEST CIRCLE IN EACH AREA MAY BE GIVEN ON THE BASIS OF SIX MONTHLY EVALUATION ON 15TH AUGUST AND 26TH JANUARY RESPECTIVELY. QC MELA, QUIZ COMPETITION, KAVI SAMMELAN, POSTER/ESSAY/SLOGAN/POEM COMPETITION ETC. MAY BE ORANISED BY QUALITY CIRCLE INITIATIVE TRAINING/ REFRESHER PROGRAMME, FACILITATORS MEET, LEADERS MEET ETC. MAY BE ORGANISED AT REGULAR INTERVAL. TO CREATE QUALITY CIRCLE ENVIRONMENT, TRY TO ENCOURAGE QC IN HOME, COLONY, HOSPITAL, SCHOOL TEACHER, STUDENT ETC. SURRONDING VILLAGES MAY BE TAKEN TO IMPLEMENT QC CONCEPT IN VILLAGES Quality Circle Policy at Hindustan Zinc Limited Introduction: This policy provides objectives of the Companys Quality Circle Program and outlines a broad framework for operations of quality circles in the company for its continuity and consistency amongst the units. It provides the strategic direction for the efforts to achieve sustainable operations of quality circles in the company and qualitative aspects embedded in the companys vision and mission statements. It incorporates the basic approach of quality circles concept appropriately to improve the work culture. Objectives: The quality circles will have the following objectives: To enhance employees job satisfaction and belongingness. To provide an effective platform to the employees to contribute through their ideas knowledge in a healthy environment so as to use their full potential. To promote team work and improve communication at all levels. To develop problem solving analytical approach at shop floor to solve day to day problems. To improve work culture through reduced waste and enhanced quality and productivity. To further expand employee development through education and awareness. The Set Up: QC BASICS Quality circles will have four to eight workmen of same work area involved in doing similar kind of activities as members. They will meet as per schedule preferably at least once in 21 days, and identify, select, prioritise the problems. Analyze the causes of problems after discussions in the meetings and then make recommendations of solutions through discussions a nd /or brif Presentations. The QC members will then work together to implement the approved solutions in their work area would be facilitated by the management wherever necessary. Role of QC Leader The leader of the QC will be chosen from the group by the group members only. QC can have different leaders for different problems. The leaders of the QCs will be given necessary inputs by the shop flor facilitator so the leader becomes competent enough to take responsibility for the operation of the QC and can explain proper uses of QC techniques to the circle members. The leader should ensure that the meetings are held as per schedule and a report of each QC meeting is made covering all aspects. Role of Facilitator An executive of shop floor will facilitate each QC.This executive The Facilitator will be responsible in following ways: Be primarily an advisor to the QC of his department /Section/Sub Section. Be active and helpful to the extent the group wants his involvement and keep him informed through interactions / reports of the QC meetings etc. Constantly promote encourage the circle concept extend all facilities to QCs for organizing meeting as per schedule. These facilities will include meeting place, stationary other material for arranging presentations. Maintain liaison, contacts and provide feedback on requests in a timely manner towards ‘Solutions-implementation. Educate encourage other employees of the area to join the QCs /Form new QC. Role of Convenor For overall coordination facilitating jobs at unit level, the HOD of Unit I.E. Dept. will act as the UNIT convenor (s) to expedite the coordination process. He will be responsible for: Smooth and uninterrupted operations of Unit Quality Circle Program. Education / Training to facilitators, Leaders and Members. Coordinating circle operations by acting as an interface between facilitators /circles and Unit Steering Committee Unit Management. Providing feedback to steering Committee and extend help as and when required by the facilitators/circles. Maintaining records of all QCs of the unit based on QC meeting. Helping facilitators /HODs in evaluation of QC performance. Organizing Units Annual QC Convention preferably in the quality month i.e. November and declaration of the best quality circles of the year. Attending circle meetings occasionally and organizing QC leader meetings periodically. Coordinating with Convenor of Corporate QC Steering Group.(CQCSG) Sending a monthly report to the convenor of CQCSG i.e. HOD of Corporate IE Department Corporate office giving all the details regarding Unit Quality Circle operations .The details will include number of QCs ,their strength ,meeting frequency ,areas identified / approved for analysis, Q.C. Techniques employed, presentations made, No. of improvements effected their brief details ,designation of Sr. Level Officers of the unit who extended visible support ,the evaluation sheets of QCs performance etc. Unit Steering Group (USG) USG will be chaired by Unit Head and will consist of HODs of major functions of the unit viz. production, maintenance, personnel, accounts, stores etc. USG will be responsible in conformance to units operational requirements consistent with broad guidelines of QC Policy. USG shall provide guidance direction to QC program within the unit. USG will also publicize the circle activities /achievements within outside the unit .Their objective will be to promote QCs in all areas of the unit. The members of the group will show their visible support by attending meetings regularly with the facilitators and the circle members for encouragement advises. They will also allocate higher priority for attending presentation of quality circles as when requested. CQCSG: Corporate support to all QC activities in the Units would be extended through a Corporate QC Steering Group. The Operative Framework: The membership of the circles will be open to all workmen on voluntary basis QC members will work in coordinated team manner to accomplish the activities taken on their own initiative by sharing responsibilities among themselves. QC members will identify, select, prioritize and analyze the problems. QC members will participate in all QC activities including presentation set for other fellow workmen to emulate. QC members will be in constant touch with the facilitator. QC members will set up schedules for meetings and presentations within the framework of known company work loads in consultation with the facilitator send minutes of meetings promptly to the Unit Convenor with a copy to the facilitator. The circle will maintain continuous communication amongst all members. QC members will present the identified problems along-with alternative solutions to management for acceptance. QC members will pursue to implement the solutions of the problems as approved by management. QC members will make presentation on the progress of implemented solutions to management. Circles will not address the following subjects: Employees Complaints Personal Grievances Personality related issues Role of Unit Steering Group: USG may participate in circles actions and will address to circles requests. USG will also support all implementation activities. USG may also suggest problems to the quality circles for further exploration. USG will encourage formation of quality circles on other areas of the unit. Performance Evaluation: The performance of each quality circle will be evaluated based on following guidelines: Evaluation Period: 1 Year Parameters Weightage % (a) No. of Meetings (Frequency at least once 15(Maximum 17 in 21 days) meetings in a year) Attendance of members 15 (in percentage) Regular submission of minutes of 10 meetings/reports to Unit Convenor No. of new problems identified and their 10 selection process Analysis ,effective use of QC tools, 10 workload distribution among the members Quality of solved problems with respect to 10 potential of the groups (g) No. of solutions implemented 10 (h) No. of presentations made, quality of 20 presentation, participation of members special features in the presentation. Comparison among circles will be done on the basis of the marks scored by different QCs of the unit. Recognition Facilitations Aspects: The efforts of circles attract non -financial awards only which could be in terms of recognition /publicity and the others as outlined below: i) At the time of formation registration of quality circles: Inauguration of QC by Unit Head. Introduction of QC members to Unit Head in presence of their Departmental Head. Displaying the details of newly formed QC on all notice boards of the Unit. Provision of stationary (writing pad, pen/pencil) to QC members. ii) After 10 meetings or completing at least one useful project whichever is later inviting QC members with spouse on a ‘tea† by HOD. iii) After 1st presentation to HOD of Respective Department, a certificate would be given to all QC members on a tea-get-together of the department. iv) Presentation of selected QCs to Unit Head in presence of all QCS of the unit where certificates shall be awarded to circle members signed by Convenor chairman of USG together. v) Honour at important occasions where QC member could be invited with the spouse. vi) QC page will be included in monthly departmental and unit report giving highlights of implemented solutions. vii) After annual performance review of QCs in the unit publication of details of completed projects by QC members with their photographs for circulation in all the units of HZL. viii) Two best QCs will be selected in the unit convention after 1 year of their operations based on performance criteria will be awarded accordingly (Preferably in quality month i.e. November). ix) Awarding QCFI membership to members of best two circles judged by evaluation committee constituted by Unit Steering Group Subject to eligibility. x) Sending Units best two QCs to other units for presentation on some important occasion of the unit. xi) Recognition to QCs standing 1st or 2nd in Unit consecutively for two years by CQCSG. xii) Best quality circle judged by CQCSG at Corporate level matching with corporate image be considered for sending for participation in national competition organized by QCFI when the opportunity comes. Introduction to Competency Mapping In the modern competitive world, business managers are required to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the business operations. As there are several factors that affect efficiency and effectiveness of operations the improvement is required to be carried out in every factor. These factors are required to bring every factor in synchronization with other factors. To improve synchronization between different elements is an important approach to improve effectiveness and efficiency of the operations. Manpower, technical and managerial abilities are the most important resource of any organization .The most important resource is the most difficult to manage as no two persons are similar. Every person has different Qualities, attitude, motives, personality traits, skills, knowledge etc. which has effect on their performance at work. Organizations in order to facilitate excellence in the performance of the people in the organization are required to identify the right person for every job. This matching between jobs and people is an important avenue for organizational improvement efforts. HR professional are entrusted with the responsibility for selection, training and development, administration deployment support, performance appraisal and performance diagnostics of the employees. The most important part of these responsibilities is assessment of the individuals for their superiority for different functional tasks, and development of their potential to be effective and excel in the assigned tasks. Currently most of the organizations are using personal interview, written tests and group discussion for the purpose of assessment. These approaches were mostly based on personality tests/psychometric tests. These tests have improved assessment of candidates but still the reliability of the results is not adequate to forecast effectiveness of the selected candidate for the job. Research conducted by Industrial and organizational psychologists have found that effectiveness of a person to carry out a job depends not only on single or isolated factors but on set of many different factors. Such set of factors that help the possessor to be effective in a particular job is termed as competency for that particular job is termed as competency for that particular job. HR function entrusted with the responsibility of finding right person for every job and development of the employed person to do the assigned job effectively, have found competency mapping assessment as a very effective tool. Definition: Competency mapping is the process of identification of the competencies required to perform successfully a given job or role or a set of tasks at a given point of time. It consists of breaking a given role or job into its constituent tasks or activities and identifying the competencies (technical, managerial, behavioral, conceptual knowledge, an attitudes, skills, etc.) needed to perform the same successfully. Competency assessment is the assessment of the extent to which a given individual or a set of individuals possess these competencies required by a given role or set of roles or levels of roles. Assessment centers use multiple methods and multiple assessors to assess the competencies of a given individual or a group of individuals. In order to enhance objectivity they use trained assessors and multiple methods including psych Quality Circle Activities at Hindustan Zinc Lilmited Quality Circle Activities at Hindustan Zinc Lilmited A PROJECT ON VALIDATING â€Å"COMPETENCY MAPPING† FOR ATTAINING THE BEST â€Å"QUALITY CIRCLE PRACTICES† AT HZL Executive Summary Successful quality circles offer a wide variety of benefits for businesses. They talk about the perceptions as well as employees awareness, increase managements awareness of employee ideas, as well as employee awareness of the need for innovation within the company. Adding on, quality circles can improve a businesss competitiveness by reducing costs, improving quality, and promoting innovation.HZL with the above motives, implemented the Quality Circles. The Quality Circles lead t self development, mutual development, quality improvement , cost reduction, waste reduction, productivity improvement, improvement in safety, job satisfaction , problem solving opportunities, people involvement and participation in team building. But, at present the Quality Circles are not able reciprocate the same. Therefore the present study aims at two basic objectives Phase I: To understand the Quality Circle activities at Hindustan Zinc Lilmited. To understand the perceptions of the Quality Circles facilitators and leaders in respect to the formation of the of the Quality Circles So the quality circles being not up to the mark ,the project aims to streamline the Quality Circle activities at Debari and to provide impetus so that the members get onto self-motivated mode. Further, to facilitate the environment for the activities and conduct appropriate guidance structures at Hindustan Zinc Limited .There must be support based on the respect of humanity, aiming at participation by everybody .Also, to develop capabilities and capacities of the Quality Circle members and to make the work place full of vitality. Phase II: The second phase explored Competency Mapping of the employees.Competency plays an important role in shaping up the perceptions of the employees.It is basically a measure to avoid making the mistake of hiring a round peg for a square hole. One of the underlying principles of Competency Mapping is finding the right person for the right job (specially the Facilitators of the quality circles). After the detailed study on reasons behind the non effectiveness of Quality Circles, Competency Mapping Study was taken up. The facilitators competencies were taken into account for the same. An effort was taken up to relate the individual competencies to the competencies required for the best Quality Circle Practices at HZL. Identifying, assessing and linking people competency with the Quality Circle competency from the core mapping. Competency Mapping is a process of identifying key competencies for a particular position in an organization. Therefore, the executives opinion about the competencies required for the Quality Circles was taken into account. The relevance and role of HR Managers is going through a flux. The new generation HR Manager attempts to link their individual competency with those set of competencies, which make them successful in their leadership role. In the present study, executives from various departments were selected randomly and were included in the sample. Questionnaires were filled by only those executives who had a free will. The find outcome of this project is in the development of a suggested framework to unable them to bridge the gap between the prevalent and required set of competencies. Hindustan Zinc Smelter (Debari) at present is not making use of the Competency Mappi ng tool. Therefore the executives were made aware of this tool of HR and to make them know the benefits of Competency Mapping as a tool to help their growth in an organization. Various formats to get the Quality Circles get streamlined are also suggested which include Evaluation Criteria, Format for the meetings and the minutes ,Introduction for of the commandments of QCs, relating awards and recognition to the same. As a result the company organized a Quality Circle gathering with a lunch in which a briefing for the Quality Circles was again given ,besides bags to all the quality circle members were given so as to give them recognition by differentiating them from the non members. Certificate From Industry Guide Certificate From Faculty Guide This is to certify that, Ms Arushi Chauhan from MBA (HR) class of 2009 is a Bonafide student of Amity Business School, Amity University Uttar Pradesh and is presently pursuing a Post Graduate Programme in Management. Under my guidance, she has submitted her project titled â€Å"Validating Competency Mapping for Attaining Best Quality Circle Practices at HZL†, in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the summer internship project from Hindustan Zinc Limited, Udaipur, from May 1, 2008 to June 30, 2008 during the Post Graduate Programme in Management. This report has not been previously submitted as part of another degree or diploma of another business school or university. (Date July 24, 2008) Dr. R. Sujatha Senior Faculty (HR) Amity Business School CHAPTER: 1 INTRODUCTION Company Profile Introduction to Quality Circles Competency Mapping Objective Rationale COMPANY PROFILE VEDANTA GROUP Welcome To The Vedanta Group Vedanta an over US $ 8.2 billion, Vedanta Resources plc (â€Å"Vedanta†) is a London listed FTSE 100 diversified metals and mining major. The group produces aluminium, copper, zinc, lead and iron ore and also commercial energy. Vedanta has operations in India, Zambia and Australia and a strong organic growth pipeline of projects. With an empowered talent pool of 30,000 employees globally, Vedanta places strong emphasis on partnering with all its stakeholders based on the core values of entrepreneurship, excellence, trust, inclusiveness and growth. Chairman Mr. Anil Agarwal Deputy Chairman Mr. Navin Agarwal Chief Executive Officer Mr. Kuldeep Kumar Kaura Vedanta Group is a well established name in the corporate world. Vedanta has a strong track record in managing operations and improving costs and output. Its zinc and copper operations rank in the top quartile of global cost efficiency. Its principal operations are located in India, where they have a major market share in each of their main metals: aluminum, copper, zinc and lead. There are also substantial copper operations in Zambia and a copper mine in Australia. Vedanta Resources plc was listed in London in December 2003. At the time of listing, Vedanta set out a carefully structured strategy, to which the board and management remain committed. The group comprises three major businesses: Aluminium comprising bauxite mining, alumina refining aluminium smelting operations in India. Copper comprising smelting refining operations in India, copper ore mining in Australia, an integrated copper production in Zambia. Zinc comprising zinc-lead mining smelting operations in India. Sterlite Industries is an important segment of Vedanta Group. Sterlite Industries (India) Limited was  acquired in 1986, bringing together several metal related activities managed by the Agarwal family.   In 2001 it acquired a 26% stake in Hindustan Zinc Ltd., an integrated zinc and lead producer, from the Government of India and a further 20% through a compulsory open market offer. Vedanta is successfully operating in India in collaboration with Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL). The Zinc business of Vedanta is managed within Hindustan Zinc Limited.   HZL is Indias only integrated Zinc Company, operating from mine to finished metal and supplied around 80% of Indias zinc requirements in 2007-08. Vedanta Resources Plc A Snapshot National presence Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL) Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd (SIIL) Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (BALCO) The Madras Aluminium Company Ltd (MALCO) Vedanta Aluminium Ltd. (VAL) Lanjigarh Sesa Goa Limited Sterlite Energy Limited 2) Global presence Copper Mines of Tasmania, Tasmania Konkola Copper Mines, Zambia 3) Sterlite Group has also strong presence in Optical cables business through Sterlite Optical Technologies Ltd. (a non Vedanta Company) 4) A leading producer of key commodities in India FY2007-08 Group turnover : US $ 8,203 million FY2007-08 Group EBITDA : US $ 3,010 million $7.5 billion investment programme. First phase of $2.2 billion completed on time and within budget. The next phase of $5.3 billion under implementation and on schedule. STERLITE INDUSTRIES Sterlite Energy Limited (SEL) is a part of Vedanta Resources plc , a London listed metals and mining major with Aluminium, Copper, Zinc and Iron ore operations in India, Australia and Zambia, and a subsidiary of Vedanta group flagship company, Sterlite Industries (India) Limited. SEL was established to develop, construct and operate power plants and seeks to become one of Indias leading commercial power generation companies. SEL is well positioned to capitalize on Indias economic growth, power deficit and large coal reserves to develop a commercial power generation business. It shall benefit from Vedanta groups experienced and focused management with strong project execution skills, experience in building and operating captive power plants, substantial experience in mining activities and the capacity to finance world-class projects. Various objectives of Sterlite group regarding HZL are: To make Chanderiya Smelter, Rampura Agucha mines known for its world class operations. To make Zawar mines, RDM, ZSP and ZSV internationally competitive HINDUSTAN ZINC LTD. PROFILE Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL) is one of Indias leading Zinc-lead producers and exceptional in its extent of its technology coupled with vertical integration in other non-ferrous metals. Hindustan Zinc Limited was incorporated from the erstwhile Metal Corporation of India on 10th January 1966 as a Public Sector Undertaking. Hindustan Zinc is a vertically integrated company with mining and smelting operations located mainly in the State of Rajasthan and in the State of Andhra Pradesh. Hindustan Zinc is Indias only integrated producer of Zinc and Lead and is among the worlds leading integrated Zinc and Lead producers. Its metal production capacity is currently 754000 tones per annum. The smelters are situated at Chanderia, Debari and Visakhapatnam .The mines are situated at Zawar, Dariba and Rampura Agucha VISION OF HZL To be a world-class zinc company, creating value, leveraging mineral resources and related core competencies. MISSION OF HZL Be a lowest cost zinc producer on a global scale, maintaining market leadership One million tones zinc-lead metal capacity by 2010 Be innovative, customer oriented and eco-friendly, maximizing stake-holder value Introduction to Quality Circle A Quality Circle is a small group in which people who work in the first line work place, continually improve and maintain the quality of products, services, job. This small group promotes the activity in such a way as to autonomously administer it, utilize the QC concept and technique and others, display creativity and make self development and mutual development. This activity intent to: †¢Develop workers capability; perform the self-actualization for QC Circle members, make the work place full of brightness and vitality. †¢Enhance customer satisfaction and make a social contribution. The executives and the mangers in order to make QC Circle activities successful, contribute to improving the enterprises, constitute and implement company wide TQM or similar one by themselves. Facilitate the environment for the activity and continually, conduct appropriate guidance and support based on the respect for humanity, aiming at the participation by everybody and positioning the activity as important for human resources development and work place utilization Quality Circles Functioning: A typical quality circle consists of 5 to 10 members from the same working area. A leader is either elected by the members or the senior most people assumes the leaders role. The quality circle meets once every week, usually outside working hours. The meeting lasts for half hour to one hour. The quality circle is assisted by a facilitator or a coordinator, who is from the executive cadre. The facilitator helps in ensuring that the requirements for the quality circle meetings are met. He also is the contact between the quality circles and the senior management. In many cases, the facilitator helps the team in case they face difficult in solving a problem. MANAGEMENT ACTION FOR SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTAION OF QUALITY CIRCLE CONCEPT FORMATION OF APEX LEVEL STEERING COMMITTEE. ABOVE COMMITTEE WILL DECIDE TO FORM ZONE WISE STEERING COMMITTEE (TWO TO FIVE SUCH COMMITTEES MAY BE FORMED DEPENDING UPON ORGANISATIONAL SET UP). NOMINATE ZONE CHAIRPERSON FOR EACH ZONE. ZONE CO-ORDINATOR AND OVER ALL CHIEF CO-ORDINATOR. DECIDE DATE/DAY OF MONTHLY AREA STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING. APEX LEVEL STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING MAY BE HELD BI-MONTHLY. PROPOSED AGENDA MAY BE: ADOPTION/FOLLOW-UP OF PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES. IN APEX LEVEL STEERING COMMITTEE CHAIRED BY HEAD OF PLANT, CHAIRMEN OF AREA STEERING COMMITTEE WILL PRESENT THE STATUS OF QUALITY CIRCLES STATUS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE AREAS. STATUS OF CIRCLE ACTIVITIES IN EACH ZONE FOLLOWED BY IMPLEMENTATION STATUS OF APPROVED PROJECTS. TRAINING PROGRAMME/REFRESHER PROGRAMME STATUS. PROJECT FOR APPROVAL ANY OTHER POINTS IN CASE OF â€Å"PROJECTS FOR APPROVAL† CIRCLE WILL PRESENT ONE BY ONE. THEY WILL SIMPLY EXLAIN THE PROJECT TAKEN, HOW THEY HAVE SOLVED AND GAINS (WITH IN 5 TO 7 MINUTES). A GROUP OF NOMINATED EXECUTIVES WILL AUDIT THE SAME AT WORK PLACE. THEY WILL ASK FEW QUESTIONS TO THE EMPLOYEES OF THAT AREA TO ENCOURAGE THEM. PROJECT MAY BE APPROVED AFTER SEEING THE IMPLEMENTATION STATUS, IF NO FURTHER MODIFICATION IS REQUIRED. IF PROJECT IS APPROVED, THIS SHOULD BE PRESENTED IN PROPER WAY. A TOKEN GIFT MAY BE GIVEN TO EACH MEMBER INCLUDING FACILITATOR/ DY. FACILITATOR. THIS GIFT MAY BE RESTRICTED TO THOSE WHO HAVE ATTENDED 60% OR MORE MEETINGS HELD FOR THIS PROJECT DURATION. THIS WILL ENCOURAGE THE MEMBER TO ATTEND MAXIMUM NUMBER OF MEETINGS. AFTER APPROVAL OF THE PROJECT, STEERING COMMITTEE OF THAT ZONE WILL ASK THE HOD OF THAT ZONE, TO MAKE TENTATIVE PLANNING OF IMPLEMENTAION OF PROJECTS IN TOTALITY. EVALUATION OF EACH AREA AND BEST CIRCLE IN EACH AREA MAY BE DONE EVERY SIX MONTHS VIZ. JANUARY TO JUNE AND JULY TO DECEMBER OF EACH YEAR AS PER PRE FIXED CRITERIA. A RUNNING SHIELD TO BEST, AREA AND PRIZES TO BEST CIRCLE IN EACH AREA MAY BE GIVEN ON THE BASIS OF SIX MONTHLY EVALUATION ON 15TH AUGUST AND 26TH JANUARY RESPECTIVELY. QC MELA, QUIZ COMPETITION, KAVI SAMMELAN, POSTER/ESSAY/SLOGAN/POEM COMPETITION ETC. MAY BE ORANISED BY QUALITY CIRCLE INITIATIVE TRAINING/ REFRESHER PROGRAMME, FACILITATORS MEET, LEADERS MEET ETC. MAY BE ORGANISED AT REGULAR INTERVAL. TO CREATE QUALITY CIRCLE ENVIRONMENT, TRY TO ENCOURAGE QC IN HOME, COLONY, HOSPITAL, SCHOOL TEACHER, STUDENT ETC. SURRONDING VILLAGES MAY BE TAKEN TO IMPLEMENT QC CONCEPT IN VILLAGES Quality Circle Policy at Hindustan Zinc Limited Introduction: This policy provides objectives of the Companys Quality Circle Program and outlines a broad framework for operations of quality circles in the company for its continuity and consistency amongst the units. It provides the strategic direction for the efforts to achieve sustainable operations of quality circles in the company and qualitative aspects embedded in the companys vision and mission statements. It incorporates the basic approach of quality circles concept appropriately to improve the work culture. Objectives: The quality circles will have the following objectives: To enhance employees job satisfaction and belongingness. To provide an effective platform to the employees to contribute through their ideas knowledge in a healthy environment so as to use their full potential. To promote team work and improve communication at all levels. To develop problem solving analytical approach at shop floor to solve day to day problems. To improve work culture through reduced waste and enhanced quality and productivity. To further expand employee development through education and awareness. The Set Up: QC BASICS Quality circles will have four to eight workmen of same work area involved in doing similar kind of activities as members. They will meet as per schedule preferably at least once in 21 days, and identify, select, prioritise the problems. Analyze the causes of problems after discussions in the meetings and then make recommendations of solutions through discussions a nd /or brif Presentations. The QC members will then work together to implement the approved solutions in their work area would be facilitated by the management wherever necessary. Role of QC Leader The leader of the QC will be chosen from the group by the group members only. QC can have different leaders for different problems. The leaders of the QCs will be given necessary inputs by the shop flor facilitator so the leader becomes competent enough to take responsibility for the operation of the QC and can explain proper uses of QC techniques to the circle members. The leader should ensure that the meetings are held as per schedule and a report of each QC meeting is made covering all aspects. Role of Facilitator An executive of shop floor will facilitate each QC.This executive The Facilitator will be responsible in following ways: Be primarily an advisor to the QC of his department /Section/Sub Section. Be active and helpful to the extent the group wants his involvement and keep him informed through interactions / reports of the QC meetings etc. Constantly promote encourage the circle concept extend all facilities to QCs for organizing meeting as per schedule. These facilities will include meeting place, stationary other material for arranging presentations. Maintain liaison, contacts and provide feedback on requests in a timely manner towards ‘Solutions-implementation. Educate encourage other employees of the area to join the QCs /Form new QC. Role of Convenor For overall coordination facilitating jobs at unit level, the HOD of Unit I.E. Dept. will act as the UNIT convenor (s) to expedite the coordination process. He will be responsible for: Smooth and uninterrupted operations of Unit Quality Circle Program. Education / Training to facilitators, Leaders and Members. Coordinating circle operations by acting as an interface between facilitators /circles and Unit Steering Committee Unit Management. Providing feedback to steering Committee and extend help as and when required by the facilitators/circles. Maintaining records of all QCs of the unit based on QC meeting. Helping facilitators /HODs in evaluation of QC performance. Organizing Units Annual QC Convention preferably in the quality month i.e. November and declaration of the best quality circles of the year. Attending circle meetings occasionally and organizing QC leader meetings periodically. Coordinating with Convenor of Corporate QC Steering Group.(CQCSG) Sending a monthly report to the convenor of CQCSG i.e. HOD of Corporate IE Department Corporate office giving all the details regarding Unit Quality Circle operations .The details will include number of QCs ,their strength ,meeting frequency ,areas identified / approved for analysis, Q.C. Techniques employed, presentations made, No. of improvements effected their brief details ,designation of Sr. Level Officers of the unit who extended visible support ,the evaluation sheets of QCs performance etc. Unit Steering Group (USG) USG will be chaired by Unit Head and will consist of HODs of major functions of the unit viz. production, maintenance, personnel, accounts, stores etc. USG will be responsible in conformance to units operational requirements consistent with broad guidelines of QC Policy. USG shall provide guidance direction to QC program within the unit. USG will also publicize the circle activities /achievements within outside the unit .Their objective will be to promote QCs in all areas of the unit. The members of the group will show their visible support by attending meetings regularly with the facilitators and the circle members for encouragement advises. They will also allocate higher priority for attending presentation of quality circles as when requested. CQCSG: Corporate support to all QC activities in the Units would be extended through a Corporate QC Steering Group. The Operative Framework: The membership of the circles will be open to all workmen on voluntary basis QC members will work in coordinated team manner to accomplish the activities taken on their own initiative by sharing responsibilities among themselves. QC members will identify, select, prioritize and analyze the problems. QC members will participate in all QC activities including presentation set for other fellow workmen to emulate. QC members will be in constant touch with the facilitator. QC members will set up schedules for meetings and presentations within the framework of known company work loads in consultation with the facilitator send minutes of meetings promptly to the Unit Convenor with a copy to the facilitator. The circle will maintain continuous communication amongst all members. QC members will present the identified problems along-with alternative solutions to management for acceptance. QC members will pursue to implement the solutions of the problems as approved by management. QC members will make presentation on the progress of implemented solutions to management. Circles will not address the following subjects: Employees Complaints Personal Grievances Personality related issues Role of Unit Steering Group: USG may participate in circles actions and will address to circles requests. USG will also support all implementation activities. USG may also suggest problems to the quality circles for further exploration. USG will encourage formation of quality circles on other areas of the unit. Performance Evaluation: The performance of each quality circle will be evaluated based on following guidelines: Evaluation Period: 1 Year Parameters Weightage % (a) No. of Meetings (Frequency at least once 15(Maximum 17 in 21 days) meetings in a year) Attendance of members 15 (in percentage) Regular submission of minutes of 10 meetings/reports to Unit Convenor No. of new problems identified and their 10 selection process Analysis ,effective use of QC tools, 10 workload distribution among the members Quality of solved problems with respect to 10 potential of the groups (g) No. of solutions implemented 10 (h) No. of presentations made, quality of 20 presentation, participation of members special features in the presentation. Comparison among circles will be done on the basis of the marks scored by different QCs of the unit. Recognition Facilitations Aspects: The efforts of circles attract non -financial awards only which could be in terms of recognition /publicity and the others as outlined below: i) At the time of formation registration of quality circles: Inauguration of QC by Unit Head. Introduction of QC members to Unit Head in presence of their Departmental Head. Displaying the details of newly formed QC on all notice boards of the Unit. Provision of stationary (writing pad, pen/pencil) to QC members. ii) After 10 meetings or completing at least one useful project whichever is later inviting QC members with spouse on a ‘tea† by HOD. iii) After 1st presentation to HOD of Respective Department, a certificate would be given to all QC members on a tea-get-together of the department. iv) Presentation of selected QCs to Unit Head in presence of all QCS of the unit where certificates shall be awarded to circle members signed by Convenor chairman of USG together. v) Honour at important occasions where QC member could be invited with the spouse. vi) QC page will be included in monthly departmental and unit report giving highlights of implemented solutions. vii) After annual performance review of QCs in the unit publication of details of completed projects by QC members with their photographs for circulation in all the units of HZL. viii) Two best QCs will be selected in the unit convention after 1 year of their operations based on performance criteria will be awarded accordingly (Preferably in quality month i.e. November). ix) Awarding QCFI membership to members of best two circles judged by evaluation committee constituted by Unit Steering Group Subject to eligibility. x) Sending Units best two QCs to other units for presentation on some important occasion of the unit. xi) Recognition to QCs standing 1st or 2nd in Unit consecutively for two years by CQCSG. xii) Best quality circle judged by CQCSG at Corporate level matching with corporate image be considered for sending for participation in national competition organized by QCFI when the opportunity comes. Introduction to Competency Mapping In the modern competitive world, business managers are required to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the business operations. As there are several factors that affect efficiency and effectiveness of operations the improvement is required to be carried out in every factor. These factors are required to bring every factor in synchronization with other factors. To improve synchronization between different elements is an important approach to improve effectiveness and efficiency of the operations. Manpower, technical and managerial abilities are the most important resource of any organization .The most important resource is the most difficult to manage as no two persons are similar. Every person has different Qualities, attitude, motives, personality traits, skills, knowledge etc. which has effect on their performance at work. Organizations in order to facilitate excellence in the performance of the people in the organization are required to identify the right person for every job. This matching between jobs and people is an important avenue for organizational improvement efforts. HR professional are entrusted with the responsibility for selection, training and development, administration deployment support, performance appraisal and performance diagnostics of the employees. The most important part of these responsibilities is assessment of the individuals for their superiority for different functional tasks, and development of their potential to be effective and excel in the assigned tasks. Currently most of the organizations are using personal interview, written tests and group discussion for the purpose of assessment. These approaches were mostly based on personality tests/psychometric tests. These tests have improved assessment of candidates but still the reliability of the results is not adequate to forecast effectiveness of the selected candidate for the job. Research conducted by Industrial and organizational psychologists have found that effectiveness of a person to carry out a job depends not only on single or isolated factors but on set of many different factors. Such set of factors that help the possessor to be effective in a particular job is termed as competency for that particular job is termed as competency for that particular job. HR function entrusted with the responsibility of finding right person for every job and development of the employed person to do the assigned job effectively, have found competency mapping assessment as a very effective tool. Definition: Competency mapping is the process of identification of the competencies required to perform successfully a given job or role or a set of tasks at a given point of time. It consists of breaking a given role or job into its constituent tasks or activities and identifying the competencies (technical, managerial, behavioral, conceptual knowledge, an attitudes, skills, etc.) needed to perform the same successfully. Competency assessment is the assessment of the extent to which a given individual or a set of individuals possess these competencies required by a given role or set of roles or levels of roles. Assessment centers use multiple methods and multiple assessors to assess the competencies of a given individual or a group of individuals. In order to enhance objectivity they use trained assessors and multiple methods including psych