Shouldice Hospital case study explained

Shouldice hospital case study

   Shouldice Hospital Case Study Solved by Abhishek Mall on Scribd

Benefits and challenges a diverse workforce brings to an organization

Benefits and challenges a diverse workforce brings to an organization

Introduction

Definition of diversity can be taken as people from varied background working together in an organization to make it successful. These differences in individuals could be religious and political beliefs, gender, ethnicity, education, socioeconomic background, sexual orientation and geographic location. The idea behind implementing diversity in an organization could be any but the output is one single conclusion: To bring different thoughts in a discussion before taking a final decision which may help the organization to become more profitable. Diversity is one of the top agendas for fortune 500 companies, as they realize that through diversity they would be able to tap talent from an international arena and would also gain place in world wide survey on best places to work. Making sure we have enough percentage of people from all backgrounds also makes sure that we are approaching an overall wholesome growth. Companies are lining up to consultants to make sure their diversity index is in place and healthy as it is also an index of valuation of the company.  

Benefits and challenges a diverse workforce brings to an organization

As a first look it may seem like a win-win situation but on hindsight sometime having diversity in an organization can backfire. It has been noticed in a few countries and organizations that having a diverse set of people leads to an abeyance of any crucial decision. The final call is taken by the CEO and therefore having a diverse set of people in the top management can only add to time consumption. CEO may get influence by his diverse counsellors, but this may only add more to his confusion.

 Gender Diversity

To manage diversity, we need very firm company policies in place. Let’s start by taking examples where diversity has been a boon to the organization. Marketing earlier considered to be stronghold of men. But what the world was missing was a touch of creativity and empathy in all the marketing commercials. Customers more often are women who also have a major say in products that are designed for men. For example, aftershave and deodorants. Once women came in to the field of marketing, the most important aspect that was missing suddenly started to appear. Women bought the desirability factor in the commercials. Prior to women being a part of the marketing team, commercials were meat to publicize the function or feature of the products. Its only when women came on to the decision table that the desirability factor was brought into commercials. Now most of the commercials do not focus on the features of the product but now showcase what would be the result if you use the product. This tough of creativity was brought when women entrepreneurs came in the board rooms.

Regional diversity

Another advantage of diversity is that the talent pool increase. Diversity can also include employees from different countries.  So if we are running short of talent on IT or any other software technology, we can also float applications in other countries where we can find the required talent pool. Diversity makes the pipeline for talent literally endless. We can hire the right talent not just from different regions in the country but also from different continents.

Diversity can have a negative impact on the organization. Some crucial decisions may be left unanswered only because the board is diverse, and all have opposing views on a particular topic. Let’s take the current example of guns being banned from the United States. Since the decision makers are all from diverse backgrounds it become very difficult to come up with a law. Some say guns are essential since they are primary source of self defense for women who are alone at home. Some are against guns since we have seen an alarming number of students bringing guns to schools.

One more issue doing rounds nowadays is whether to legitimize same sex marriage. People who are firm believers in Pope do not sanction such marriages as they think they are against nature. On the other hand, another diverse set of people who empathize with LGBT believe it is only one way of expressing themselves and every person has the right to do so. Therefore, we see that having a diverse set of people brings in diverse set of ides with them which can lead to hours of discussion but not coming to any conclusion.

On the other hand, when we see successful corporations like Apple and Dell, we figure that these organizations were run by one single force and everyone complied to their thoughts. There was no room for diverse ideas in these organizations and we can safely say that since everyone was aligned to one single thought the organization was the benefactor. The top management did not waste precious time in arguing on the pros and cons of an idea but mutually helped each other to reach fulfillment of the CEOs diktat.

Recruitment can have a major impact on diversity

Diversity can be effective for an organization only if it is routed through the right channels and can be controlled. One of the best ways to bring diversity in an organization is through recruitment. The top management once it has decided to bring in fresh talent from diverse source should hand over the baton to the Talent Acquisition team. This is one of the best controlled ways since we can limit or increase the intake of any specific group. Secondly the Training and Development vertical becomes very crucial since the T&D department can train employees on diversity training and make the employees more sensitive towards the need of their fellow employees. One such example of these intervention is to make women feel safe in the office environs and training all employees on prevention of sexual harassment for either sex. If training not done properly can have very bad and far reaching consequences which can also make an organization loose it existence.

Diversity led cartelization

Another major disadvantage of diversity is cartelization among the employees. A strong idea which favors a set of employees can be heavily defended by them and the minority group opposing it may become isolated with no support. Individual differences may become magnified and disagreements may turn into ugly altercations. This can lead to certain set of people never discussing their thoughts and ideas with others. These ideas could be worth million dollars but when a certain set of people see their ides continuously being rejected by the greater group they may stop giving their valuable inputs.

Diversity can have its own challenges in terms of compensation of employees also. Suppose there is a job for an Executive Assistant to the CEO and the salary is 10,000 dollars a month. If the company recruits a person from a different country where the compensation is not so steep and hires the diverse talent at half the compensation that was budgeted. After some time, the EA to CEO figures out that the salary for EA to COO is twice that of her, she would not be motivated on knowing this. Compensation for a diverse company becomes a major challenge for HR in an organization. We have also recently come across many incidents from film industry where the women are paid significantly lesser than their men counterparts. This has raise a huge hue and cry from the across the world. This is also one of the classic cases where diversity if not managed well can lead to a detrimental effect in the organization. Also, we have seen that employees who are not from a country are not paid at par with the employees of that country. This has a high demeaning effect on the organization. Not just being bad mouthed but being debarred from countries for recruiting.

If senior management is looking or diversity among them, then they need to be even more careful about the selection and should approach a structured way to do so. Generally, it is noticed that diversity leads to lot of critical issues going through multiple rounds of brainstorming which can lead to unnecessary delays. Also, what has been researched is that some issues may lead to cartelization among the members of the deciding committee and they may try to isolate people of opposing views. This could result in altercations and indefinite abeyance of critical decisions

Conclusion

To summarize all our learning from the research that we did on diversity, it can be clearly stated that there is nothing in black and white. There are a lot of grey areas where we are not very confident if diversity is a boon or a bane. One important aspect to notice is that diversity needs to be oriented properly in any company. If left unattended then it can lead to serious repercussions. Its also critical for organizations that do not push for diversity, since knowingly or unknowingly they might be heading for a diverse set of people in their organization given the alarming rate of digital networking. The crux of the matter is that each company should have proper metrics in place for its diversity. Whether they are planning for diversity or not, the metrics should be in place.

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How to solve a Rubik's Cube

Bottom layer solve yourself to get all edges correctly


To solve the Second layer

To solve the second layer align the center piece with the bottom layer

The center piece is the middle cell in the second row

Then align the same color with the top most center column so that you have an inverted "T" of the same color

You need to make sure that the top most cell (the color on the "U" side oy Upper side ) needs to be moved to the right or the left so that the second layer is solved for that adjacent side to face. So if your inverted T is of Orange color. You might have a Yellow or White on the Upper face of the cell of inverted "T"

You need to move the yellow topmost cell to the left and if it is white then to the right.

 

To move the top middle side to the correct side

Left move

Ui Li    U L    U F    Ui Fi

Right move

U R  Ui Ri   Ui Fi   UF

Second layer solved


To solve the top layer Search for "Mirror image of L" on the top left corner


F R U Ri Ui Fi

Then get an vertical Blue I, Make it horizontal by turning the cube

Do again

F R U Ri Ui Fi


Aim is to get a cross Blue on the top if your bottom face is green

Do the below to get the cross with correct cells on the face side

R U Ri U R U U Ri

Now to bring the remaning 4 edges with the correct color of cells even tjough not oriented properly keep doing below

Right Corner 3 sides to be correct position - To bring 3 sides of the edges to the correct position

U R Ui Li U Ri Ui L

Now once we have all edges with right colored cells even though not oriented properly we will try to complete the cube

Keep on your right top side the cell that needs to be reoriented correctly in the cube top layer, do not worry about the rest.
Once it comes in the right place by doing

Note - To get Di you need to face the down of the cube and see when it turns anticlockwise

Ri Di R D

Move only the Top face to get the other edge with correct colors but not oriented properly , keep that edge cell on the top right corner and repeat

Ri Di R D

Keep moving only the top "U" face to get the edge that is not oriented properly to show correct colors by doing

Ri Di R D

Reading between the lines in an Interview

We have designed a special role for you

It means

We have absolutely no idea what we are going to do with you

This is a challenging role

It means

You have to challenge authorities to know what they want from you

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity

It means

The job will be so arduous that you may not live long enough to see another opportunity

You will be directly reporting to the head

It means

In our organization people do not have access to the business heads. You are lucky

We expect you to be well read in your area

It means

I have no questions to ask

Types of Interviews

Human Resource is one of the most strategic partners for any organization. One of the most essential areas of Human Resources is the recruitment. From attraction, selection to retention, recruitment is critical for all 3 divisions. To make sure that we have the right candidate we need to take a couple of steps to assess the candidate.

Selection can be based on Competency Based Interview or Situation Based Interviews. Also the management can come to a consensus to take Assessment Centers for senior positions or go for Live Projects when it comes to recruiting key talent for the company. Many companies assess the abilities of candidates through case studies, aptitude tests and also psychometric tests.

The best evaluation instrument in the hands of the recruiter is the Competency Based Interviews or Situation Based Interviews. In a Competency Based Interview also known as Behavior Based Interview the interviewer tries to extract competencies from an informal discussion on the past experiences of the candidate. The interview can also be a structured one, in which all the questions are predefined and competencies are extracted from what the candidate has done in the past.
The technique used is called STAR viz. Situation, Tasks, Actions and Results. You need to ask questions regarding a past Situation and how did the incumbent tackle the situation. What “tasks” he did. What “Actions” those tasks included. And finally what were the results of those activities. During the entire discussion on STAR you would come to know on the competencies of the candidate.

Another interviewing techniques the Situation Based interview in which competencies are arrived through answers of questions which are on a hypothetical situations. For example you are leading a post of 5 army men on a task and you realize that two have fled the post, one is sick and two others do not like each other. You are stuck in a no man’s land and have to send a message urgently to your regiment which is some 5 kilometers away. How would you do it? While answering the candidate would display signs of competencies which you are looking for. The interviewer needs to carefully assess each of his answers and arrive at a conclusion whether the candidate has the competencies they are looking for.

Similarities between driving and life

I was driving my car to office and when I learnt the 3 biggest lessons of my life. It was uncanny how driving had a striking similarity with life. Driving teaches us many lessons which we would not have learnt if it was not for driving.

Why is the rear view mirror smaller than the windshield? It is so because it reminds us that we need to keep our past memories and undue worries in a very small part of our perspective. The major part should be to have a vision and look ahead at the present and the imminent and the future.

Also while we drive we only view the broad road, the small pebbles and potholes can be ignored since if we kept trying to avoid them we would end up spending more fuel on going zig-zag rather than straight forward. Similarly in life we need to ignore or just bear the small problems keeping the bigger vision in sight. If we keep solving all the small problems in life, we would be spending significant time and energy on those small issues and would be diverted from our greater goal in life to enjoy the presents that God has bestowed upon us. We need to be alert and awake for a bigger goal and a greater vision than to be bothered about the small potholes and pebbles on the way.

A striking resemblance is driving and in life is on the speed of your driving. The person behind you will not honk you till the time you are giving him space to move and he is aware that he cannot drive any faster than what he is currently doing. The moment he sees a stretch of empty road in front of him he pushes the paddle hard enough. Similarly in life, in work place, when you see your boss moving above the corporate ladder in a steady pace you are not upset since you know he would be making space for you. The moment you are hit by an incompetent boss who you know will not move from him current position you start feeling asphyxiated since if he doesn’t move; he wouldn’t let you move too.

A Big Fat Indian Wedding

If you have been to India and missed on attend any one of the big fat Indian weddings then you surely missed a lot. India is the melting pot for all traditions and rituals. What any Indian woman has dreamt from her childhood is, how grand would her wedding be and how she would look like a doll in her wedding dress.

The preparations for an average Indian wedding starts as far as a year before the wedding date. Most hectic are the final two months before the wedding, the last mile is the most chaotic. The dust settles only a week after a week-long marriage is completed. 

There is also a long tradition of matching the stars of the bride and the groom before they actually meet. India is more focused on the compatibility of the stars in the heaven then with the compatibility of the boy and the girl. Arrange marriages are a big preference in India. 

The Indian marriages are getting expensive day on day. The amount of money spent on a single wedding can reach to an obscene figure of crores in the Indian market. The jewelry has to be exquisite the clothes have to be unique and in vogue. The gifts need to be lavish. The attendees of the auspicious occasion need to come in different attire for every ritual and the rituals end for a couple of days and sometimes stretching to weeks.

The Indian weeding is a resemblance of the celebrations that an average household in India attaches to the occasion of marriage. All relatives need to be flown in to attend the wedding and shower their blessings on the bride and the groom. 

Indian Marriages are a series of events best summarized in five days. The first day of celebration is called the “Mehndi Night”. On that day the relatives put Henna, a kind of tattoo, on the palms of the bride and themselves.

The second day is called the “Mangal Snan” – The holy bath in which relatives help the bride and the groom put Haldi (Turmeric) on the hands and legs of the bride and the groom. This is done to ward off any evil sights from them and also to give their body strength to endure the week long events in front of them.

The third day is the night of marriage when the groom walks up to the brides place and marries her.

The fourth day is when the groom carries the bride back to his house and the girl leaves the house of her parents.

The fifth day is the Wedding Reception day when the Grooms family members invite all their relatives and neighbors to announce that the marriage has culminated.

Lick into shape

Meaning
To transform a faulty object or venture into something that works effectively.

Amazing Websites

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NameServerLookup.net

http://checkdomainage.com

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http://www.caroline-middlebrook.com/blog/do-follow-social-bookmarking-sites/

Boorkmarking website

http://submitterbot.com

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http://www.mailchimp.com/

The way back machine

Quotes

I don't measure a man's success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom.

-George S. Patton

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.

-Bill Cosby

A man may fall many times, but he won't be a failure until he says that someone pushed him.

-Elmer G. Letterman.

If you believe you can, you probably can. If you believe you won't, you most assuredly won't. Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad.

-Denis Waitley

Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.

-Groucho Marx

There are no great people in this world, only great challenges which ordinary people rise to meet.

-William Frederick Halsy, Jr.

Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.

-Warren Buffett

The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.

-Benjamin Mays

Size isn't everything. The whale is endangered, while the ant continues to do just fine.

-Bill Vaughan

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

-Thomas A. Edison

Johnny and his dad

Johnny’s dad: Hey Johnny why you do not go out and play

Johnny is busy on his computer, doesn’t care to look at his dad

Johnny: I am playing dad

Johnny’s dad: I don’t mean those stupid games, I mean go and play with your real friends on a real ground

Johnny: I won’t find them there

Johnny’s dad: Why?

Johnny: They are already playing with me here

Johnny’s dad: Oh God what the world has come to

Johnny: Dad aren’t you proud I am the strongest player in the team

Johnny’s dad (frowns): You certainly do not look like, Hey why do you not have something to eat

Johnny: I had just now an online sandwich and a full glass of milk at the virutalbreakfast.com

Johnny’s dad: But you do not like milk at home

Johnny: Yes dad, this milk gives me 200 extra bonus points so I can kick ass

Johnny’s dad: What about your school

Johnny: Yes dad I will be there in the next 15 minutes

Johnny’s dad: But your school is a good half an hour away

Johnny: Dad my school is also online

Johnny’s dad: And what about your teachers

Johnny: Yes they are online too. Mr Jacob, our chemistry teacher, is visiting a ladies club now and Mrs Allyson, our gym instructor, is sharing her pictures, I must say she is something

Johnny’s dad: Oh no, what are you doing – Do not do that, she is your teacher Johnny

Johnny: Yes dad but I am not visiting her profile as me, I am visiting her profile as you

Johnny’s dad: You naughty little beast

Johnny: No dad she actually wants more of you

Johnny’s dad: (Gulps a swallow): Come move, let me see too (sits next to Johnny)

Johnny’s dad: Do you have a girlfriend

Johnny: Yes dad she is the latest in town

Johnny’s dad: I am proud to hear that, where does she live

Johnny: She lives in the GoGetaGirlfriend.com

Johnny’s dad: Hey those websites you should not visit

Johnny (still focused on his computer): Do not worry dad I do not use your credit card. I still am on my teacher’s credit card. He visits so many sites that I can always sneak in his account and he would never notice

Johnny’s dad: Oh good, so now you are a thief too

Johnny: No dad, its call hacking, thief’s too lame

Johnny’s dad: I want you to get out of your computer world and go enjoy a fulfilling life like I did and make some real friends like I had

Johnny: DAD!!!!!!!!

Johnny’s dad: NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Johnny leaves the room

Johnny’s dad logs in to the computer and you hear “Welcome Johnny’s dad, I had been waiting for you. Mrs Allyson wants more of you”

Love

To love and be loved is everything

To be loved is something

To love is nothing

Brian Moynihan comes with the age old remedy to spruce up operations

The embattled Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) CEO Brian Moynihan is using a  axe  to his expansive monetary business with a strategy declared the other day to reduce 30,000 jobs as the financial institution employer battles to get his financial house in order. The total reductions, that sum to around 10 pct of the behemoth Charlotte, NC banking institutions head count, is part of a larger strategy carried out by Moynihan -- named Project New BAC -- to reduce around $5 billion in expenses.

We do not have to be the largest organization out there - Moynihan informed the market at a Barclays Capital investor's conference, verifying a broadly expected move. We have to be the best. The Bank of America chief is demanding to take apart the financial institution designed by previous CEO Ken Lewis by means of the shotgun purchases of Merrill Lynch and Countrywide Financial in the course of the economic situation.

The lay offs arrive right after couple of traumatic weeks, as worries regarding the bank's mortgage debts have lead in the company hemorrhaging almost 48 pct of its net worth this year -- about 30 percent of it came from last 30 days alone. The work reductions are anticipated to be carried out over the following two years and may happen mainly at its customer banking divisions.

Moynihan also is not ruling out the likelihood that its non performing "Countrywide Financial" company might be put into bankruptcy to assist the organization restructure -- a strategy that a few experts have advised is the finest way with regard to Bank of America  to handle the pile of risky mortgages it was passed down from the mortgage factory. There are choices around all these things that we proceed to work on, he said answering to one question.

Moynihan has recently been working out on a number of methods to secure Bank of America s balance sheet, some of which includes selling 50 percent of its approximately 11 pct position in oriental loan company China Construction Bank for $8.5 billion. Unexpectedly, Moynihans jobs-reducing discussion arrived as President Obama declared a $447 billion jobs-generation bill.

Bank of America is currently trading at 7.05 dollars. It operates in Financial Sector and Money Center Banks industry. For the 2nd quarter ending July 2011, it has a net profit margin of -66%, an Operating margin on -97%. Its total employees stand at around 287, 839 making it one of the biggest organizations in the US.

Running for the future

Did you ever consider why people say we spend one third of our life sleeping?
It’s simple... In 24 hours we spend 8 hours sleeping so in a day we spend 1/3 rd of our time sleeping. So by corollary we understand that 1/3 rd of the life is spent in sleeping.

On the other note and a very different one. We all live in a life of future... by this I mean we always live in a world of I will do this; i will do that and what I need to do for the future. Even great philosophers have said the same thing. Dream, dream big... I do not understand why we need to live in the future. If we strive not to live in the past we need not to strive to live in the future too. May be it’s just a thought. Evolution may mean living in the future, but isn’t it taking our precious present away from us.