How To Make A Lot Of Money And Generate Cash When You Are Broke
I am proud of you that you decided to read this article. These methods had helped me a lot, especially when I was in college. Many of you have written me and asked me how to make money and how to generate extra cash when you are broke. So many of you are still in school and a lot of employers only want to give you a minimum wage and you can barely survive with the minimum wage. Some of you are working hard daily and live from paycheck to paycheck.
I can relate to what you’re going through right now, so hang in there and be ready to see great and positive changes in your life today after you read this article!
I used to save left over food from the cafeteria where I worked in college, so I could survive, because I didn’t any money to buy food that summer. I had to borrow money to buy my super expensive college text books. So I can understand what you’re going through right now.
Listen carefully to this; you can change your income significantly and your life by changing your daily habits. You must be willing to change! You must be willing work hard for to make the changes.
It doesn’t take a smart people to figure it out why we go broke. It means that our spending is more than what we earn. People go broke because their expenses are higher than their income!
The first thing you want to do when you find yourself broke is to start writing your expenses down on a piece of paper down to every penny of it. It is called, reviewing your net worth. You want to know how much money in your bank accounts and your wallet!
You must write down your expenses, income and this is a must! You can track down what you can not see. Please listen to this, start learning how to keep in track your expenses and income! Have a small book or PDA with you at all time to write down your expenses and income.
You must know how much money have and if you don’t have any right now, you must know how much money you want to have in the future. Make sure you write down a reasonable goal that you can achieve, like by Oct 30, I will have $300 in my savings account, and by Dec 30, I will have $600 in my savings, and so on. Believe me, when you know your goals and destination and you know where you are going, it will give you the motivation to go there!
Now get ready for the life changing methods that may help you get out of your challenges and trials. These are the methods that will help you to change your income level!
1. You must change your daily habit!
I love what the Bible says, “look and observe the ants.” Why would I want to look and observe ants? The reason why you want to be like ants is, ants are not lazy! They work day in and out, they are willing to save up some food for the winter time by working very hard in the summer. Believe it or not, Ants never eat more than they earn. They know how much food to give to their colony; they know how much food they need, so they can have enough food to eat for everybody in their ant colony. The will work hard to get the food their need for the winter time even when they have to sacrifice their life for the life of their colony. That’s why sometimes; ants will frustrate you, because they will keep coming to your house until they are sure that they have enough supply for every ant in their colony. They will stop coming to get your food when they know; they have plenty of food to survive during the winter.
Listen, your time is the most valuable thing that you and I have! We can trade our time for money by solving someone’s problem. Find what you’re good at and use your time, talents and gifts to start making money for you.
I was good in computers, so I charged students and school faculties if they want me to fix their computers.
Wake up early in the morning and use your day wisely to make money. Have you ever noticed that people who sleep too much and people who watch TV and movies too much don’t have much money? The reason why they don’t have much money, because they are not willing to trade their time for the money they need. They waste their time for something that won’t make them rich. Your time is like the energy in a battery, sooner or later, you will run out of it if you don’t know hot to use it wisely.
So get up! Stop being lazy! The rich and the poor both have 24 hours/day, 7 days/week, they rich don’t have more hours than the poor, but what makes a big difference is how they use up their time to generate wealth!
Go to work an hour early and go home an hour late. You must discipline yourself to work harder and smarter than everybody else! Most people love to come late and leave early, that’s why they are poor.
If you own your own business, make sure you give your customers your best for the bucks! It makes them want to do more business with you in the future. The next time you are tempted to waste your time, think twice!
Your daily habits will determine your future and what you do today will decide what’s coming to you in the future.
2. You must learn how to sell!
I used to buy a lot of cheap computer parts on UBID.com and EBAY.com and sold them to students who needed the computer parts. Before I bought them, I asked several students whether they will buy the computer parts from me when I got them. When I had buyers for the products, then I bought them cheap at the auction sites and sell them higher than cost of buying them.
You must be aware of the trend in your school! I remember the day when network T1 connection was popular at our school. I sold network cards like cakes, because back then not every computer had a network card. How about IPOD? Find out how many people own an IPOD and start selling the IPOD case, cover and accessories!
Keep your eyes open toward the latest trend and new things that are going on in your area!
You must learn how to sell. A lot of students got hungry at night, so I stocked up some food in my fridge and sold them to the people who didn’t have a car to go to the store!
Read books and listen to tapes that will teach you how to sell better. Use your mind to think of ways of making money.
Make a DVDs rental in your dorm room! You can buy 100 DVDs on Ebay for $100 and make your own rental place in your dorm room! Charge student $1 for a day to rent the DVD! Make sure they don’t steal your DVD! Keep record of who rents the DVD. 100 students rent your movie, that’s $100/day!
You can even start using the Internet to generate money by selling on Ebay! Ebay is a great money making tool that I am using to these days to generate additional income. Learn how you can make money on the Internet. Invest your time and money to learn more about ways of making money on the Internet.
I don’t care how good in computers, web design or giving make up, but if you can not sell your skills, you won’t be making money out of your skills. You must learn how to sell and market your skills and learn how to be good at selling.
You see, when you use your mind to think, a lot of ways to make money can come up in your mind and you will never be broke ever again in your life! A lot of people are broke because they never use their mind to think!
3. Invest 10% of Your Money In Skills that Can Help You Create More Money!
When I first came to college, I didn’t know how to do web design and how to develop a web site, but I used 10% of my income to buy books that would teach me how to be a web designer and developer! I took my time to develop my skills to become a web developer! Within a year of learning, I started to build web sites for other people on campus and made higher income than the rest of the students in college.
You must invest in other skills that will help you to make more money. If you like to give make up, well you may want to invest books on how to become make up artist! You can charge people to do their make up and hair for them when they want to go to a party and different special events. I know a guy in college who made his money by cutting hair. He charged $8 for a hair cut while Super Cut charged $15. So people came to him to get their hair cut.
I knew also some students who did house painting for other people in the community on the weekends.
There are thousand of ways of making money when you are broke, you just have to find the right kind of skills for you and the willingness to take action and do it.
4. Exercise, Eat Good Food and Keep Yourself Healthy.
Your mind is the most powerful asset that you will ever have in your life time. Your mind can help you create wealth! So listen to me, “STOP ABUSING YOUR MIND AND BODY!” Eat healthy, exercise, and get enough rest.
I learned that when I feel good, I can think well. I can think of ways of making money when I feel good about myself.
How can you think when you have heat pack on your head, thermometer on your mouth and blanket on your body? When you’re sick, you can’t use your mind to think! So make sure you keep yourself healthy and well!
I remember what one of my martial arts teachers told me about drinking alcohol. When you are drunk! You can even fight you defend yourself! So how can you think of ways to make yourself rich when you are drunk! The best way to be ready for a fight is to be sober. The best time for you to think is, when you are sober. If you like to drink a lot of alcohol, you may want to consider quiting your drinking habit.
Take care of yourself and be good to yourself and your body. Keep your body and mind healthy and well, so they can help you to think well.
5. You must believe that today’s circumstances are only temporary, they will change!
High achievers never look at their situation today; they always see themselves as how they can be in the future. Look, you may think that your situation today will never change. When you are going through a financial trials and challenges, you may feel like you are not making any progress in your life, but believe me, it is only temporary. Try to extract wisdom and understanding from the trials and challenges that you are facing right now. When hard times hit us, our mind will be forced to think.
I got my motivation to work hard when I didn’t have food to eat that summer in college, my stomach was hungry, and I had to eat left over food. I didn’t have a car for 6 years, believe me, it was tough when you had to ask your friends to drive you every where when you need to go somewhere.
I vowed to myself that I will work hard to achieve my goals and dreams. I realized that no body else would help me except myself. I was the one who was responsible for my destiny and life. I was the one who could change my life. I vowed to myself that I would work hard, to have the determination, patience and willingness to change my daily habits, so in the future; I don’t have to eat left over food anymore, I can drive any car I want, and have my own place to live.
If you believe in God, it is time for you to really kneel on your knees and spend time with Him. Pray about it, ask God to bring financial wisdom and prosperity into your life! Don’t be afraid to ask the Lord for a blessing! He is God who created you; He is the God who will give you strength, courage and wisdom to go on! Make a special time for you to talk to God and pray every day!
I believe in you’re my friend, I believe in you! As you sit there right now, I want to see yourself as a special person with a special gift and talent that can be used to get you out of trouble! The best days of your life are just ahead of you! You may not be able to see the days ahead of you! But have faith! Have faith! You can do great things in your life! You can make a difference in your life! You have the strength and power to make your life better! I believe in you’re my friend! I believe in you! Stand up, get up and stand tall! You are gifted with a great mind to think! Your mind can help you way different ways to set you free! Get up and stand up my friend!
Tell yourself right now out loud as you read this repeat this out loud after me “I am able to change my life! I can go through this trial that I am going through, I will stand tall, and I will not be defeated by these trials and challenges! I am special, I am unique, and I believe that the best days of me are just ahead of me! Everything will be just fine! I vow today that I will give my best to work hard for my future! I will not be lazy! I will form positive daily habits today! I will not lie again to myself, when I say I will do it, I will do it! Tomorrow will be a new day, and I will face with confidence, tomorrow will be a new day for me!”
Tip: How do you make $40/hour? When I was in college I lived in a dorm and I noticed some of the guys were lazy to wash their clothes. Listen to this story carefully. So I asked them whether I could do their laundry for them for $40/hour, believe me or not, some of them were willing to give me $40/hour to do their laundry. Some of you may say, “I don’t want to do someone’s else laundry.” I know that, but while the rest of the campus made only $4.25/hour, while I was making $40/hour. It took nine and half hours for everybody else who was embarassed to wash other people’s laundry to make $40. Can you imagine how much money you have if there are nine people who want you to wash their laundry! 9 people * $40/hour = $360/hour. The point that I am trying to make is, you don’t really need a job to make money! If you only know how to observe other people’s needs around you. You can serve those people’s needs to make a lot of money.
I love each and every one of you and with all my heart; I believe that you can do it and you can start creating your wealth today!
Depletion of Forest Resources
INTRODUCTION
Echo systems around the world help sustain life for millions of species. Echo systems that are mainly forests provide a home for a large majority of the species alive. Therefore the trees in these forests are considered to be the most important species. Although it is true, that most species are not able to sustain without each other.
There are many benefits that we get from our forests. Some of these include cleaner drinking water, a home for plants and animals, economic growth, clean air, recreational opportunities, reassuring future. Another benefit we get from trees is called oxygen. If there were no trees to give us oxygen to breath, we would not be able to live. So if you need one good reason why a forest should exist, staying alive is a pretty good reason.
CAUSES OF THE PROBLEM
Forests have many resources that people can use to raise their living standards. One example is the wood for building houses. Certain wood materials last a long time, they keep the house warm and make it easy to manufacture homes. Unfortunately the world is overpopulating and the demand for a higher standard of living is constantly on the rise. Therefore the demand for more resources is growing to levels that cannot be sustained. Since forests provide a large portion of the world’s resources, many forests are cut down or burned.
The cause for cutting down forests is directly associated with the high demand for wood to manufacture paper products and lumber for other manufacturing. We practically use wood for everything. It is used in home building, marine products, furniture and the list seems like it’s endless. Just look around yourself right now and chances are you will find a product within your reach that is made of wood. Not only is wood a good building material, but it also has great aesthetic qualities. Most people appreciate a nice wooden dining table set or classic wooden rails on a staircase. Unfortunately we don’t always take in to account how many trees need to be cut down so we can have these luxuries in our lives.
Another major direct cause for forest depletion is simply burning forests for farmland. This is more common with countries that are undeveloped and have tropical rainforests. Many poor farmers in these countries burn or cut small portions of tropical forests so they can have room for farming and cattle. But the big scale problem is created when huge corporate farms burn thousands of square acres a year. They need this much room so they can provide farming on a much larger scale to compete in the world market for food. The reason forests are burned for the farmland is due to the rich minerals fertility of the soil.
Unfortunately even the large scale farmers in undeveloped countries are not educated on how they can maximize their results when reusing the soil. Therefore the soil is used up and left as a desert while the farmers burn more forest to make another farm. The Amazon rainforest which is the largest in the world has fallen victim to such deforestations. This forest is located in South America where countries are having tough financial times. Brazil’s market is a third of all the Latin countries included. Yet “Brazil’s foreign debt, except in the most implausible of positive economic circumstances, is simply unsustainable in the years ahead” (CRF.org 2002). Economical pressure on a country is another big cause that will force a country to deforestation such as the case in Brazil. Basic Science and Remote Sensing Initiative (BSRSI) show data that between 1978 to 1988 230,000 square miles, nearly the size of Texas was affected by deforestation (bsrsi.msu.edu). That is 16.5% of the whole rainforest in the Amazon.
The next example shows the cause of deforestation for farming. According to The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), “Between 1990 and 2001 the percentage of Europe’s processed meat imports that came from Brazil rose from 40 to 74 percent” and by 2003 “For the first time ever, the growth in Brazilian cattle production-80 percent of which was in the Amazon-was largely export driven.” As more roads are built to provide access to forests in undeveloped countries more deforestation is evident.
EXTENT OF THE PROBLEM
As mentioned earlier, we get a large portion of our oxygen from vegetation such as trees. Since most trees live in forests it is important to realize the negative impact deforestation may have on our air quality. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a gas that has an impact on the greenhouse effect. There is a cycle between CO2 producers such as cars and CO2 consumers such as plants. Together they create the “Global Carbon Cycle”. The plants and soil of tropical forests hold 460-575 billion metric tons of carbon worldwide (McKane et al. 1995). From 1850 to 1990, deforestation worldwide released 122 billion metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere, with the current rate being between 1.6 billion metric tons per year (Skole et al. 1998). In comparison, all of the fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas) burned during a year release about 6 billion tons per year. Therefore deforestation even when compared to all the other pollution plays a significant role in Global Warming and clean air.
Another extent of the problem with deforestation is a decrease in biodiversity. Biodiversity is important for Ecosystem sustainability, agriculture, medicine, recreation, aesthetic and commercial value. There are about 5 to 80 million species that live on this earth (Lawton and May 1995). Tropical rainforests cover about 7% of the world, but are home to more than half of the species living in the world. After a forest is cut down, many species cannot live without it and possibly go extinct. Since we depend on these species for many resources, their extension will rob us of their benefits. Perhaps we might destroy the next cure for AIDS by deforestation and not know it.
FUTURE
The negative impacts of deforestation are getting noticed internationally. Many countries are taking steps to reduce the problem for a more sustainable earth. Unfortunately financial gain and high competition still exists with deforestation, and for some it’s the only way of survival. Many people are not educated about the long term results their actions may cause. Because of these reasons deforestation is still a reality around the world in many countries.
With more international involvement, countries will take effective steps to bring deforestation to sustainable levels. But there is still a great deal of work to be done. For some forests it is still not too late to bring them back quicker. Other forests that have been clear-cut might take centuries to grow to the original state. Areas where pesticides were used it is possible that the echo system was damaged and may take a long time to grow again. Many forests were replaced by large banana plantations. These plantations use pesticides that kill many species that are vital for an echo system to sustain. Erosion caused by deforestation may bring more water pollution in the future and may affect agriculture in the area. Other reasons for deforestation are simply to provide room for paved roads, residential and commercial development that are caused by urban sprawl. These types of developments permanently destroy forests. Deforestation is a serious threat to life’s future on our planet. It has major effects on our global climate. It leads to the loss of millions of species that are important in sustaining a living earth.
SOLUTIONS
As we discussed the causes for deforestation, we realize how these causes are very different. Because the causes are often controlled by a countries economy, overpopulation and many other social reasons, it is impossible to find one solution to deforestation. Although there are many solutions, it will take time and cooperation of many different groups of people and organizations to make the solutions work.
One popular solution that has been in effect for a few decades is forest conservation. We can work internationally, regionally, and locally with organizations to develop policy and influence industries to help ensure a sustainable future for forests. Conservation helps protect, manage, and restore the world’s most important forests by identifying threats and developing solutions to them.
Decrease the amount of products that are made as a result of deforestation. For example, using materials other than wood to build homes, furniture and other common products made of wood. Encourage recyclable materials so people don’t go back to wood again. Switching from wood to other materials will decrease the demand/supply for wood.
Implement more efficient farming methods to encourage the reuse of land.
Educate people around the world about the negative impacts of deforestation, and what can be done to prevent it. Help finance more educational programs. Help countries make the right economic decisions.
Sign international treaties and make laws/regulations to control annual deforestation.
Import meat and dairy products from markets that do not cause deforestation.
The solution that I believe will be very effective is the second one. As far as cutting down trees, this is a very workable solution. We have too many products that are made of wood today. As economies grow around the world, the middle class will also grow. This middle class will demand more and more products that are made of wood. The American middle class is obsessed with wood products and we don’t even realize it. A large portion of our homes are built from wood, and so is our furniture. Most cabinets alone require so much wood. If we like wood products so will the rest of the world.
The solution is to take the majority of the wood products and find alternative materials to them. This of course is not as easy as it sounds, but it is very doable. Once it is done, it will extremely decrease the demand for wood, therefore reducing deforestation. With such high advances in technology we can travel in space and replace hearts. Therefore it is possible to make materials that are safe for the environment and replace wood. Maybe even make materials that share most of the properties that wood has. We can even invent materials that imitate wood like the “burled wood” in our cars today. This “burled wood” in most cars isn’t even wood anymore, it is some kind of a plastic and a pattern to imitate the look of the wood. Speaking of the auto industry, I can’t believe how advanced our cars have become. These are cars that we drive everyday. Yet we live in new houses that were built with an ancient method of wood and nails. I think that is ridiculous. Perhaps the solution to replace wood with alternative materials will also lead to more efficient assembly methods and a safer environment. And most importantly the first solution is changing our attitude to help prevent deforestation.
The Depletion of Forest Resources is a huge problem with challenging solutions, let us work as a team around the world to help solve these issues.
What is e-Commerce – Advantages and Drawbacks!
Electronic Commerce or e-commerce is the trade of products and services by means of the Internet or other computer networks. E-commerce follows the same basic principles as traditional commerce that is, buyers and sellers come together to swap commodities for money. But rather than conducting business in the traditional way in shopping stores or through mail order catalogs and telephone operators — in e-commerce buyers and sellers transact business over networked computers.
E-commerce offers buyers maximum convenience. They can visit the web sites of multiple vendors round the clock a day to compare prices and make purchases, without having to leave their homes or offices from around the globe. In some cases, consumers can immediately obtain a product or service, such as an electronic book, a music file, or computer software, by downloading it over the Internet.
For sellers, e-commerce offers a way to cut costs and expand their markets. They do not need to build, staff, or maintain a physical store or print and distribute mail order catalogs. Automated order tracking and billing systems cut additional labor costs, and if the product or service can be downloaded then e-commerce firms have no distribution costs involved. Because the products can be sold sell over the global Internet, sellers have the potential to market their products or services globally and are not limited by the physical location of a store. Internet technologies also permit sellers to track the interests and preferences of their customers with the customer’s permission and then use this information to build an ongoing relationship with the customer by customizing products and services to meet the customer’s needs.
E-commerce however has some drawbacks. Consumers are hesitant to buy some products online. Online furniture businesses, for example, have failed for the most part because customers want to test the comfort of an expensive item such as a sofa before they purchase it. Many people also consider shopping a social experience. For instance, they may enjoy going to a store or a shopping mall with friends or family, an experience that they cannot duplicate online. Consumers also need to be reassured that credit card transactions are secure and that their privacy is respected.
In the existence of these few disadvantages e-commerce has opened new horizons to versatile the modern age. It puts away time, energies, labor and money.
Repo Semi Trucks For Sale
Sales of repossed trucks increased by an estimated 7%. For the first quarter of this year an estimated 23 thousand commercial trucks were sold, which is 7% more than a year earlier.
This sales growth is observed in virtually all manufacturers of trucks including Peterbilt, Freightliner, Kenworth and Volvo. However it has been calculated that full restoration of the commercial truck market will not be for at least another three years.
Heavy duty truck sales in the first quarter of this year began to rise slowly. Light commercial trucks of up to 6 tons sold about 21,062 untis, which is 6% more than a year earlier. At the same time three leading players crept up closely.
Sales of commercial trucks for Hyundai grew almost 4.7 times, up to 922 pieces and rising from 10th place in the beginning of last year. Toyota was not as lucky, sales collapsed by 90%, a total of eight trucks compared to 78 units from last year.
Repo semi trucks in the 16 ton range were able to catch up. Overall sales in the segment grew by 87%, up to 1995 trucks. We are pleased to see such a positive trend. This applies particularly to the segment of heavy trucks. To judge the restoration of growth can only be based on sales of the second quarter, according to the head unit to provide services to the automotive industry Ernst & Young. According to the deputy chairman of the committee commercial vehicle manufacturers market recovery in the cargo segment is expected no earlier than three or four years.
Human Resource Information System – HRIS
Human Resource Information Systems
The purpose of this paper is to identify other companies who have faced similar human resources issues in regards to information technology. Through benchmarking different companies we can learn how other companies have handled certain human resources issues related to information technology, information systems, new technology, and data security. An overall analysis has been completed using research on IBM Europe, Ameriprise Financial, Terasen Pipelines, Shaw’s Supermarkets, CS Stars LLC, IBM, WORKSource Inc., and Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. This paper also includes eight synopses of companies facing similar issue to those in the reading.
New Technology
With the changing world and constant new technology that is available, managers need to be aware of the technology that will increase effectiveness in their company. Human resource information systems (HRIS) have increasingly transformed since it was first introduced at General Electric in the 1950s. HRIS has gone from a basic process to convert manual information keeping systems into computerized systems, to the HRIS systems that are used today. Human resource professionals began to see the possibility of new applications for the computer. The idea was to integrate many of the different human resource functions. The result was the third generation of the computerized HRIS, a feature-rich, broad-based, self-contained HRIS. The third generation took systems far beyond being mere data repositories and created tools with which human resource professionals could do much more (Byars, 2004).
Many companies have seen a need to transform the way Human Resource operations are performed in order to keep up with new technology and increasing numbers of employees. Terasen Pipelines moved its headquarters from Vancouver to Calgary to be closer to the oil and realized a major growth in employees. In the past recording keeping was done on paper and with spreadsheets. Mangers at Terasen realized that there was a need to change to a more computerized system and looked into different HRIS vendors. By making the move to a HRIS system, Terasen is able to keep more accurate records as well as better prepare for future growth. Another company that saw the benefits of keeping up with new technology is WORKSource Inc. To meet the challenge of handling 100 new employees, WORKSource Inc. acquired Web-based technology programs from GHG Corp. like electronic pay stub, electronic timesheet software, time-off system, and human resource information system (“Tips,” 2006). By adapting these new programs, WORKSource was able to reduce waste and cost.
The Internet is an increasingly popular way to recruit applicants, research technologies and perform other essential functions in business. Delivering human resource services online (eHR) supports more efficient collection, storage, distribution, and exchange of data (Friesen, 2003). An intranet is a type of network used by companies to share information to people within the organization. An intranet connects people to people and people to information and knowledge within the organization; it serves as an “information hub” for the entire organization. Most organizations set up intranets primarily for employees, but they can extend to business partners and even customers with appropriate security clearance (Byars & Rue, 2004).
Applications of HRIS
The efficiency of HRIS, the systems are able to produce more effective and faster outcomes than can be done on paper. Some of the many applications of HRIS are: Clerical applications, applicant search expenditures, risk management, training management, training experiences, financial planning, turnover analysis, succession planning, flexible-benefits administration, compliance with government regulations, attendance reporting and analysis, human resource planning, accident reporting and prevention and strategic planning. With the many different applications of HRIS, it is difficult to understand how the programs benefit companies without looking at companies that have already benefited from such programs.
One such company is IBM. IBM has a paperless online enrollment plan for all of its employees. Not only has the online enrollment saved the company 1.2 million per year on printing and mailing costs, the employees enjoy working with the online plan. “Since we began offering online enrollment, we’ve learned that employees want web access,” Donnelly [Senior Communications Specialist] says, so they can log on at home rather than through the company intranet. So the company has been working to put in place a web-based enrollment system that employees and retirees can access from anywhere (Huering, 2003). By utilizing the flexible-benefits application HRIS has to offer, IBM was able to cut costs and give employees the freedom to discover their benefits on their own time and pace.
Another company that has taken advantage of HRIS applications is Shaw’s Supermarkets. In order for Shaw’s to better manage its workforce, the company decided it was time to centralize the HR operations. After looking at different options, Shaw’s decided to implement an Employee Self Service (ESS) system. The use of self-service applications creates a positive situation for HR. ESS gives HR more time to focus on strategic issues, such as workforce management, succession planning, and compensation management, while at the same time improving service to employees and managers, and ensuring that their data is accurate. With this solution, employees have online access to forms, training material, benefits information and other payroll related information (Koven, 2002). By giving employees access to their personal information and the ability to update or change their information as needed, HR was given more time to focus on other issues. Understanding the different applications HRIS has to offer will give companies the chance to increase employee efficiency and reduce costs.
Measuring the Effectiveness of HRIS
The evaluation should determine whether or not the HRIS has performed up to its expectations and if the HRIS is being used to its full advantage (Byars & Rue, 2004). One of the most significant challenges faced by public personnel executives today is measuring the performance of their human resources information system (HRIS) In order to justify the value-added contribution of the HRIS to accomplishing the organization’s mission (Hagood & Friedman, 2002). Implementing an HRIS program may seem a necessary stem for a company, but unless it will be an effective tool for HR operations, it will not help increase efficiency and may hinder it instead.
One company that implemented a HRIS system is Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. (TAMS). TAMS put all employee benefits information online and created an open enrollment option when TAMS changed healthcare providers. Almost immediately upon rolling out the UltiPro portal [new HRIS technology] to employees, TAMS began seeing improvements, with an estimated 70% increase in open enrollment efficiency (Wojcik, 2004). By determining the efficiency of the new program, TAMS was able to realize the benefits of the new HRIS system.
Security of HRIS
The privacy of employee information has become a major issue in recent years. With identity theft becoming a common problem, employees are becoming more sensitive about who sees their personal information, and the security it is kept in. By making sure employee information that is kept in the HRIS is relevant to the company and making sure there is limited access (password protection) to such information, companies can make its employees more secure with the safety of their information. Whether electronic or paper, employee files deserve to be treated with great care. Establishing security and end-user privileges calls for a balance of incorporating, HR policy, system knowledge and day-to-day operations (O’Connell, 1994).
One company that faced a major security issue was CS Stars, LLC. CS Stars lost track of one of its computers that contained personal information that included names, addresses and social security numbers of workers compensation benefits. The bigger problem was that CS Stars failed to notify the affected consumers and employees about the missing computer. Though the computer was retrieved and no information seemed to have been harmed, many employees lost their sense of security with the company. New York’s Information Security Breach and Notification Law, effective in December 2005, requires businesses that maintain computerized data which includes private information to notify the owner of the information of any breach of the security of the system immediately following discovery, if the private information was, or is reasonably believed to have been, acquired by a person without valid authorization (Cadrain, 2007).
Another company that experienced a breach in security is Ameriprise Financial. In late 2005, a computer that contained personal information on clients and employees was stolen. Because many of the employees at Ameriprise take their computers between work and home, the company determined there was a need to put more security into those computers. Ameriprise made sure all employees had the new security suite installed on their computers. By responding quickly to the need for more security, Ameriprise made sure all information is being kept secure. Making sure employees information is kept as secure as possible there will be more trust in the company and the HR employees working with that information.
Conclusion
IBM, Terasen Pipeline, CS Stars LCC, and Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. are good examples of companies facing issues similar to human resources information technology and human resources information systems. All of these companies know the importance of new technology, human resources information systems, and data security. The remainder of this paper provides synopses of more companies facing human resources issues, how the company responded to the issues, and the outcomes of the company’s responses.
Companies Benchmarked
IBM Europe
The Situation:
IBM is a global organization offering research, software, hardware, IT consulting, business and management consulting, ring and financing. It employs around 340,000 people, speaking 165 languages across 75 countries, and serving clients in 174 countries. In January 2007, IBM established a separate “new media” function within its corporate communication department. IBM main goal is to educate, support, and promote programs that utilize social media. IBM Europe decided to expand internal communication by blogging guidelines. The recognition was that blogging was already happening among IBMers, just in an unregulated way. In a similar way, institutionalizing a function to deal specifically with new media is not a corporate move, or establishing from scratch. It’s a response to the issues already emerging in the company. Now that those technologies are here, people are using them, they’re growing and there here to stay-we’re just going to put some structure around them so that we can try to optimize their use.” The users decide what technologies they want to use and how they want to use them. That main idea is that IBM understands that they must remember to respect the fact that social media are social. IBM had the need to connect its 340,000 global employees more effectively.
The Response:
IBM’s intent around social media has now been officially formalized. From January 22 2007, the company established a separate “new media” function within its corporate communication department. “Its remit: To act as expert consultants inside and outside IBM on issues relating to blogs, wikis, RSS and other social media applications. The main idea is to educate, support and promote programs that utilize these tools. IBM has a history of being a t the forefront of technology based corporate communication. From the multimedia brainstorming “WorldJam” that made news headlines back in 2001 in which 50,000 employees worldwide joined a real time, online idea-sharing session about the company’s direction. IMB has always prepared itself to use breakthrough technologies to establish a two-way dialogue with its employees. The need for social media was necessary and could no longer wait.
The Outcome:
In the last few years IBM has been recognized as being the vanguard of social-media use: IBM was on of the first Fortune 500 companies to get behind collaborative wikis, published internal blogging guidelines as far back as 2003, and is now moving fast beyond RSS and podcasts into videocasting and “virtual world” technologies like Second Life. The intranet search facility extends to all areas of the site, including new media aspects. When an employee logs onto their portal an executes a key word search, the results they get back not only come from the main intranet pages, but include results from IBM forums, wikis, blogs and podcast/videocasts tags. IMB has an understanding that employees are no longer staying in a company their entire lives. It’s just not like that any more. In Belgium for example over 50 percent of 2,300 employees have been there fewer than five years. The company has come to the conclusion that with an increasingly young and mobile workforce, the likelihood is that an employee population full of a younger generation, for whom these tools are part and parcel of life, is not that far away. In years to come IBM will have to deal with employee base for which blogging is just the natural way to interact over a web platform. IBM has created centralized platforms for most tools that fall under its remit, which includes wikis. For Philippe Borremans, new media lead Europe for IBM, has the potential business applications of a wiki cover two broad benefits: Collaborating and knowledge sharing. IBM has scored some notable successes on both fronts in the near 5000 wiki pages now up and running in the organization. The company has been a huge pick-up in interest in podcasting over the last 18 months writing can seem such a technical skill, whereas people feel they can talk more freely than they can write. One of the most consistently popular IBM podcasts, with over 20,000 downloads a week.
Ameriprise Financial
The Situation:
The Department of Justice survey estimates that 3.6 million U.S. households were victims of identity theft in 2004. Trafficking in personal date goes beyond U.S. borders: the New York Times reports that stolen financial information is often distributed among participants of online trading boards, and the buyers are frequently located in Russia, Ukraine, and the Middle East. One reason clients are concerned about data security is the widespread publicity generated by breaches at financial services firm. In late December 2205, an Ameriprise Financial employee’s laptop that contained unencrypted data on approximately 230,000 customers and advisors was stolen from a car. Other financial services firm, including Citigroup and Bank of America, also acknowledge large-scale customer data losses in 2005. President of NCS, Rita Dew, a compliance consulting firm in Delray Beach, Florida, says that the Securities and Exchange Commission requires investment advisors to have policies and procedures that address the administrative, technical, and physical safeguards related to client records and information.
The Response:
Ameriprise Financial had to fight back and had to implement “layers of protection.” It is important for employees who their primary business computer, and employees regularly transport the computer between home, office, and meeting sites. The vulnerability of this arrangement and the need for a safety software program is much needed.
The Outcome:
Employees who are transporting lab tops should install the Steganos Security Suite on their computer. This software allows employees to create an encrypted virtual drive on the laptop that serves as data storage safe. Employees stores all client related data and tax preparation software database on the encrypted drive, which employees has set up with one gigabyte of storage space. The best thing is that when an employee turns off the computer the information is stored “safe”, the software automatically encrypts the virtual drive’s data. The software also generates encrypted backup files, which employees store on CDs in a fireproof safe. This should keep the data secure if any employee’s laptop is stolen or if the drive is removed from the laptop. Other financial advisors are relying on encryption both in and out of the office. Other programs that are being used to protect client’s information are RAID Level 1 system to store data on the drives that are encrypted with WinMagic’s SecureDocs software. Encryption ensures that anyone who steals the computer will be absolutely unable to read the data, even by connecting it to another computer as a “slave drive. This has given many financial advisors the greatest peace of mind.
Terasen Pipelines
The Situation:
Terasen Pipelines is a subsidiary of Terasen Inc. located in Vancouver, Canada and is located in several provinces and U.S. states. In 2001 the company changed its headquarters to Calgary to be closer to the oil. With the big move, the company went through a growth spurt. With the company in many different locations and the growing numbers of employees, the HR department saw a need to find a new system to keep more accurate records.
The Response:
In the past Terasen had kept records on paper and with spreadsheets and with the growth of the company, this system does not work as well as in the past. In order to compensate for future growth, Terasen began to look into HRIS companies to help with the HR operations. After researching different companies, Hewitt’s application service provider model with eCyborg was found to be the right fit.
The Outcome:
Although there was difficulty adapting to a new way of recordkeeping, Terasen was able to find a system that will help support the current and future growth of the company. Fortunately, some of the HR staff had experience working with an HRIS and were able to help their colleagues imagine new processes, as aided by a system. One theme often voiced throughout this process was: “You guys don’t know how hard we’re working when we can make it so much easier with a system that could do a lot of this for us. You don’t always have to run to the cabinet for the employee file just to get basic information. It can all be at your fingertips.” (Vu, 2005). In order to help Terasen ease the HR burden of implementing a new HR system, the management of Terasen was convinced to look for a vendor to help implement and maintain a HRIS system. This system has helped Terasen better prepare for current and future growth.
Shaw’s Supermarkets
The Situation:
Shaw’s Supermarkets is the second largest supermarket chain in New England. With a workforce of 30,000 located at 180 stores throughout six states, Shaw’s HR staff is responsible for managing employees’ personal data. Their employee mix includes approximately 70 percent part-time employees, consisting of students, senior citizens, second-job part-timers, and career part-timers. One third of the workforce is made up of union associates, and Shaw’s staff oversees the company’s involvement with three unions and six separate contracts (Koven, 2002). In order to help manage the workforce, the HR staff became interested in centralizing its HR operations.
The Response:
In order to centralize HR operations Shaw’s decided to implement an ESS (employee self-service) solution. The use of self-service applications creates a positive situation for HR. ESS gives HR more time to focus on strategic issues, such as workforce management, succession planning, and compensation management, while at the same time improving service to employees and managers, and ensuring that their data is accurate. With this solution, employees have online access to forms, training material, benefits information and other payroll related information.
The Outcome:
Shaw’s has had positive feedback since implementing the ESS solution. “The reaction from our employees has been extremely positive,” Penney, VP of Compensation and Benefits, says. “We even had a significant increase in our medical coverage costs, and it was almost a non-issue because the online enrollment featured the plan choices, the employee cost, and the company subsidy. An employee self-service application makes it very easy for them to understand their contributions and coverage options. I received several e-mails from employees saying this was a great change and how easy ESS was, which the case is not often when employees are selecting their benefit options.” (Koven, 2002). By giving the employees more access to their information they are able to see the benefit choices available to them. Employees are also able to update their information online, which helps reduce the paperwork of the past. Shaw’s has also seen improvement in productivity because employees are updating information at home, not during work hours.
CS Stars, LLC
The Situation:
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has announced that New York State has reached its first settlement with a company charged with failing to notify consumers and others that their personal data had gone missing. Cuomo’s office, which enforces the state’s 2005 Information Security Breach and Notification Law, charged CS STARS LLC, a Chicago-based claims management company, with failing to give notice that it had lost track of a computer containing data on 540,000 New Yorkers’ workers’ comp claims.
The Response:
The owner of the lost data, which had been in the custody of CS STARS, was the New York Special Funds Conservation Committee, an organization that assists in providing workers’ comp benefits under the state’s workers’ comp law. On May 9, 2006, a CS STARS employee noticed that a computer was missing that held personal information, including the names, addresses, and Social Security numbers of recipients of workers’ compensation benefits. But CS Stars waited until June 29, 2006, to notify Special Funds and the FBI of the security breach. Because the FBI declared that notice to consumers might impede its investigation, CS STARS waited until July 8, 2006, to send notices to the 540,000 New Yorkers affected by the breach. On July 25, 2006, the FBI determined an employee, of a cleaning contractor, had stolen the computer, and the missing computer was located and recovered. In addition, the FBI found that the data on the missing computer had not been improperly accessed.
The Outcome:
New York’s Information Security Breach and Notification Law, effective in December 2005, requires businesses that maintain computerized data which includes private information to notify the owner of the information of any breach of the security of the system immediately following discovery, if the private information was, or is reasonably believed to have been, acquired by a person without valid authorization. The law affects not only businesses in their dealings with their customers, but employers in their role as custodians of employees’ personal data. (Cadrain)
Without admitting to any violation of law, CS STARS agreed to comply with the law and ensure that proper notifications will be made in the event of any future breach. The company also agreed to implement more extensive practices relating to the security of private information. CS STARS will pay the Attorney General’s office $60,000 for costs related to this investigation. (Cadrain)
IBM
The Situation:
IBM’s paperless online enrollment system, introduced in 1999, has proved to be a winner for both the company’s 135,000 active U.S. employees and the company, according to Cathleen Donnelly, senior communications specialist at company headquarters in Armonk, N.Y. The company saves $1.2 million per year on printing and mailing costs alone, Donnelly says, and the employees’ can take advantage of a variety of technologies to learn about issues, research program information and access decision support tools from their desktop computers. (Heuring, 2002)
The Response:
One of those tools, a personal medical cost estimator, enables employees to calculate potential out-of-pocket health care expenses under each of the plan options available to them, Donnelly says. Employees log in personally and are greeted by name and with important information regarding their benefits enrollment, such as the deadlines and when changes take effect. They automatically get access to health plans that are available to them, and the calculator lets them compare estimated benefit amounts for each plan.
“Employees can select the health care services they expect to use in a particular year, estimate expected frequency of use, and calculate potential costs under each plan option,” Donnelly says. “The feedback that we’ve received from employees tells us that this tool has really helped them to make a comparison between plans based on how they consume medical services.” The calculator shows both IBM’s costs and the employee’s. (Heuring, 2002)
The Outcome:
“Since we began offering online enrollment, we’ve learned that employees want web access,” Donnelly says, so they can log on at home rather than through the company intranet. So the company has been working to put in place a web-based enrollment system that employees and retirees can access from anywhere.
Employees can get summary information on the plans, drill down into very specific details and follow links to the health care providers for research. Donnelly says the system has received high marks for convenience because employees can “get in and out quickly.”
WORKSource Inc.
The Situation:
To meet the challenge of handling 100 new employees, WORKSource Inc. acquired Web-based technology programs from GHG Corp. like electronic paystub, electronic timesheet software, time-off system, and human resource information system (“Tips,” 2006). These tools enabled CEO Judith Hahn to handling payroll procedures efficiently and effectively.
The Response:
WORKSource has eight workforce centers, with approximately 108 employees, located throughout a six-county region. Previously, payroll, benefits, and human resources for those employees were processed and managed by a Professional Employer Organization. The company also has 52 administrative staff in its headquarters office. When the contract with the PEO terminated on June 30, 2006, those 108 employees were immediately moved to the payroll of WORKSource, which meant Hahn’s workload more than doubled effective July 2006 (“Tips,” 2006).
Hahn, in an interview with PMR, said she relied on LEAN to help get a handle on what needed to change for her to manage the increased workload. Two years earlier, Hahn’s CEO had introduced her to LEAN, a Japanese management concept of eliminating wasteful steps and motion when completing processes. “I began to read as much as possible about LEAN and joined an HR LEAN focus group” (“Tips,” 2006).
The Outcome:
Mastering the concepts of LEAN led Hahn to develop and apply her own acronym of “REASON” to her department’s payroll and HR processes. Review the process: map payroll tasks from start to finish. Eliminate waste: determine how to complete a payroll task most efficiently without unnecessary steps. Analyze alternatives: research and evaluate the applicability of new technology. Sell innovations to management: document the return on investment of each innovation. Open the lines of communication: communicate openly—and often—with all stakeholders, including employees and top management. Never allow negativity: make change simple and fun. Give employees plenty of encouragement and time to learn (“Tips,” 2006). Judith Hahn was able to implement the right human resource functions using information systems.
Toshiba America Medical Systems Inc.
The Situation:
Lynda Morvik, director of benefits and human resources information systems at Tustin, California-based Toshiba America Medical Systems Inc. (TAMS), thought it would make sense to add a benefits communication component to it. By having all the benefit information online, the TAMS employee handbook would also be a living document, enabling Morvik to make changes when necessary. Such was the case halfway through the project, when TAMS changed health care plans from Aetna Inc. to United Health Group Inc (Wojcik, 2004).
The Response:
TAMS, an independent group company of Toshiba Corporation and a global leading provider of diagnostic medical imaging systems and comprehensive medical solutions, such as CT, X-ray, ultrasound, nuclear medicine, MRI, and information systems, had been using a payroll service bureau and an in-house solution for HR that didn’t include easy-to-use consolidated reporting or an employee portal. After evaluating UltiPro alongside several enterprise resource vendors, TAMS selected Ultimate Software’s offering and went live in September 2002 after an on-time and on-budget implementation. Almost immediately upon rolling out the UltiPro portal to employees, TAMS began seeing improvements, with an estimated 70% increase in open enrollment efficiency (Wojcik, 2004).
The Outcome:
In an effort to expand the usage of the Web beyond the benefits enrollment process, TAMS has posted a library of documents and forms on its HR portal, including the benefits handbook, which garnered a 2004 Apex Award for publication excellence. That same year, Business Insurance magazine also gave TAMS the Electronic Benefit Communication (EBC) award for outstanding achievement in communicating employee benefits programs over the Web. To continue elevating its use of Ultimate Software’s HRMS/payroll solution, TAMS modified the UltiPro portal to meet the imaging company’s unique needs (Wojcik, 2004). It was completely integrated with several proprietary applications created to address compensation and performance management issues so that TAMS employees have a central location for comprehensive workforce and payroll information from a Web browser that they can access with a single sign-on (Wojcik, 2004).
References
Byars, Lloyd L. & Rue, Leslie W. (2004). Human Resource Management, 7e. The McGraw-Hill Companies.
Cadrain, Diane (2007). New York: Company Settles Data Breach Charges. Retrieved June 3, 2007 from [http://www.shrm.org/law/states/CMS_021505.asp#P-8_0]
Clarifying IBM’s Strategic mission for social media (2007). Strategic Communication
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Friesen, G. Bruce (2003). Is your client ready for eHR? Consulting to Management, 14(3), 27. Retrieved June 3, 2007 from ProQuest Database.
Hagood, Wesley O. & Friedman, Lee ( 2002). Using the balanced scorecard to measure the performance of your HR information system. Public Personnel Management, 31(4), 543-58. Retrieved June 3, 2007 from ProQuest Database.
Heuring, Linda (2003). IBM: Laying Outing Enrollment Options. Retrieved June 2, 2007 from [http://www.shrm.org/hrmagazine/articles/0803/0803heuring_paperless.asp]
Koven, Jeff (2002). Streamlining benefit process with employee self-service applications: A case study. Compensation & Benefits Management, 18(3), 18-23. Retrieved June 2, 2007 from ProQuest Database.
O’Connell, Sandra (1994). Security for HR records – human resources. HR Magazine. Retrieved June 3, 2007 from [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m349] 5/is_n9_v39/ai_16309018
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Tips on Using Technology to Streamline Payroll Processes – and Cut Costs (2006). Payroll Managers Report, 6(10), 1-9. Retrieved June 2, 2007 from EBSCOhost Database.
Vu, Uyen (2005). Contracting out HRIS easy call at Terasen Pipelines. Canadian HR Reporter, 18(4), 5-9. Retrieved June 2, 2007 from ProQuest Database.
Wojcik, J. (2004). Toshiba Employee Handbook Goes Online. Business Insurance, 38(49), 18.
Retrieved June 2, 2007 from EBSCOhost Database.
Silver Certificates – What is the Value of a 1935 Silver Certificate?
The 1935 Silver Certificate is one of the most popular notes among currency collectors. The history of these fascinating bills extends back to the 1800′s. It was the Congressional Acts of 1878 and 1886 that authorized the printing of Silver Certificates – for a very specific reason.
In those days, the supply of silver coins was far less than the demand. Thus, the government came up with the idea of creating a paper certificate in order to create a more efficient method of silver exchange. The certificates were redeemable on demand, for an equal amount of silver bullion and coins. The amount that was redeemable depended upon the denomination of the note.
Silver Certificates were issued in both small and large-sizes. The 1935 series was one of the series of small-size notes. These small-size notes were issued in denominations of $1.00, $5.00 and $10.00. The 1935 series included only the $1.00 denomination and either ‘F’ or ‘G’ series (with no motto). In 1934, the obligation on the note was changed to read that it was redeemable for “One Dollar in Silver,” not “One Silver Dollar,” as had been the case since the printing of the 1928 series silver certificate.
The value of a silver certificate is determined by several factors. These include the denomination of the note, the date or series, the serial number, and of course, the overall condition of the certificate, itself.
1935G Series – in circulated condition, it’s probably valued at around $1.50 to $2.00. In uncirculated condition, the value would be a bit higher at around $7.00 to $8.00.
1935F Series – in circulated condition, it’s probably valued at around $1.25. In uncirculated condition, an unfolded, crisp note would be valued at around $5.00.
The 1935 silver certificate was one of the more common series of certificates that were printed. Thus, collectors seeking to add this particular note to their collection should be able to easily find it at various coin shows, online auctions, and estate sales. Before buying any silver certificates online, it is important that you take the time to learn about paper money in general.
5 Stages of Committed Relationships
Have you ever wondered: Why is our relationship so hard? Things were so perfect when we first met – what happened? Most likely, the answer is that you’ve left the first stage of your relationship, and have moved into another. But could it really be that easy?
Yes! Most people understand that relationships grow and change over time… but what many people don’t know is that they tend to evolve in the same way. There are specific, defined stages of long-term relationships, which offer new feelings, new challenges to overcome, and new opportunities for growth. And if you want your relationship to evolve into one of mutual respect, love and intimacy, it’s likely that you’ll have to experience all of the following relationship stages at some point or another. Take a look at the description of each phase – do any of this sound familiar?
Before we get started, you should know that most people experience these stages in this order, and will need to resolve the challenges in each stage before they can move successfully on to the next. Of course there are always exceptions to this rule. But for the most part, you can’t get out of experiencing all of these stages if you want a healthy and fulfilling relationship. Every couple will move through these stages at different speeds, and most people will experience each stage more than once – it is common to fluctuate from one stage to another.*
Okay, now that I’ve given you the basic info, let’s dig a little deeper….
Stage 1 – The Romance Stage
This is also known as the Courtship Phase or the Fantasy Stage, and can last anywhere from 2 months to 2 years. This is when you and your partner have just met, and everything is absolutely amazing. You can’t get enough of each other. Neither of you can do any wrong in the eyes of the other… mainly because you’re both still on your best behavior. The focus in this stage is on commonalities – you have so many common interests, you could practically be the same person! You show your partner your absolute best self, and you try to please each other as much as possible. Conflict is seen as “bad” in this stage, and is avoided at all costs. You can’t imagine living without this person, so you begin spending as much time together as possible. This is the stage when our defenses are down the most, which allows you to be open to and fall in love. You and your partner are building an important foundation in this stage, so your relationship can grow. There are biological effects as well. When you’re in this stage, your body is producing enormous amounts of endorphins, which makes you feel unusually happy, positive and excited about everything in your life (this is that “head over heels in love” feeling!). This is the stage most often portrayed in movies and romantic novels, for obvious reasons. Bottom line – you are happier than you’ve ever been, and can’t imagine ever feeling any differently.
Stage 2 – The Disillusionment Stage
This stage is also known as the Familiarization Stage, or the Adjusting to Reality Phase. This is where you begin to realize that your partner is actually a human being (horror of horrors!). You get to know each other more and more, and as a result you start recognizing their various flaws and shortcomings. You see your partner in relaxed situations, and you become more relaxed as well. Since your body cannot possibly continue to produce the same levels of endorphins that it was in the beginning, those feelings of being on top of the world start to decline. Your partner’s little habits aren’t quite as cute as they used to be, but there is still enough goodwill from the Romance Stage that you’re willing to overlook them. This stage can start to trickle into your relationship slowly, as you begin to see your partner for who s/he really is. Or sometimes it happens all of a sudden, when there has been some sort of dishonesty or deceit. This phase can be confusing and discouraging, since you’ve just experienced so much openness and connection in the Romance Stage. However, at this stage, your main job is to learn how to communicate and resolve conflict with this person effectively, which is an important skill if you want your relationship to continue.
Stage 3 – The Power Struggle Stage
This stage is also known as the Disappointment Phase or Distress Stage. As the characteristics from the Disillusionment Phase intensify, they become harder and harder to deal with. You will most likely begin to pull away from each other in this stage. At this point, you both still believe that conflict is a “bad” thing, but you are increasingly aware of your many differences. You fight to draw boundaries in the relationship, and as a result even small annoyances become big issues. This is the stage where you define unacceptable behavior, and most couples have occasional or frequent thoughts of leaving the relationship. More and more often, you start to feel like your partner is self-centered or un-caring, or even worse, that they simply can’t be trusted. Deep resentments begin to build if you’re unable to resolve your issues in a respectful and mutually agreeable way. Many couples get stuck in this stage, because this way of interacting becomes normal in their relationship. This is when it is absolutely necessary to learn to manage your differences effectively – to communicate and work together as a team, even though it’s tempting to believe that your partner’s sole purpose on Earth is to make your life difficult. Not surprisingly, this is the stage most couples are in when they decide to break up or file for divorce. However, if they are able to negotiate all of the landmines during this phase, they’ll move on to….
Stage 4 – The Stability Stage
This is a restful and peaceful time, compared to the last stage. This stage is also known as the Friendship Phase or Reconciliation Stage. Some couples never make it to this stage, but the ones who do find that they have deeper feelings of love, connection and trust with their partner. You now have history together, and most people begin to rely on the predictability of the relationship. As you enter this stage, you begin to realize that your partner isn’t perfect, but your personal differences aren’t quite as threatening as they used to be. You’re able to resolve most of your differences, at least to some extent, and you become more confident in the relationship. Some people feel a sense of loss in this stage as they learn to accept their partner for who they truly are, since this means they have to let go of the fantasy that was established early on in the relationship. But for the most part, the deepening sense of friendship and commitment is a good trade-off for those early feelings of butterflies and excitement. This is also when you begin to re-establish your own outside interests and friendships, which were given up in the Romance Phase. There is some danger that you may begin to drift apart from or become bored with your partner in this phase, so you should try to maintain the connection that was created in the Romance Phase. Overall, this is the stage when you finally begin to feel comfortable and happy with your deepening relationship.
Stage 5 – The Commitment Stage
This stage is also known as the Acceptance Phase, the Transformation Stage, or the Real Love Phase. It is estimated that fewer than 5% of couples actually make it to this stage, according to The Relationship Institute. This is the stage when both couples have a clear notion of who their partner is, faults, foibles and weaknesses galore… yet they make a conscious choice to be with this person in spite of all of those things (and in some cases, because of those things). You are no longer with your partner because you need them, but because you’ve chosen them, which means the level of resentment you felt in the Power Struggle Phase has decreased, if not disappeared. If you’ve made it to this stage, you and your partner are a team. You genuinely love your partner, and you look out for their best interests just as much as you look out for your own. Your partner is your best friend. There are few surprises about your partner’s habits or character in this phase. You’ve collaborated to overcome many challenges together, and have grown to accept and support each other without restriction. Your vision for your relationship is in congruence with who you are and what you both truly want. You have discussed your future together – you have similar life goals, and you feel encouraged to define your relationship further. Many couples decide to make a formal or public commitment to each other in this stage (such as marriage) to demonstrate their intention to continue their relationship. This is the stage in which your relationship becomes a true partnership.
How to Journal – Where to Begin
The keeping of a personal journal has been a pursuit of human society for many hundreds of years. In times past men and women of learning, studiously kept a record of their days, their achievements and their dreams. We owe a great debt of gratitude to each one of them as we have gleaned much insight into the lives of those in times past from many of those journal entries.
For some people, the keeping of a journal is a natural extension of their everyday lives. How many of us have lifted the family Bible to discover small snippets cut from the newspaper, flowers pressed between the pages, envelopes with letters or pictures tucked away safely for future generations to discover? I certainly have found such treasures in the most ‘ordinary’ of books on the shelves of secondhand book shops and at garage sales. It always comes as a surprise and delight to discover them and then I feel a certain sadness that somehow these treasures have ended up in the hands of a stranger.
The unexpected gift of these objects has been a richer understanding of our desire to record and keep important memories and items and while tucking these treasures into the pages of a book isn’t exactly journaling, it is a component of this amazingly creative and satisfying pass-time.
There are a few basic skills when learning how to journal, some of them are:
Make the time and space to do it on a regular basis. Whether you are keeping a dream journal, a garden journal, a baby journal, travel journal or a personal journal of any kind, this one step will make or break your experience. If you have to go so far as to make a ‘date’ with yourself – do it. At the very least, spend some time once a week to look through your calendar or diary and record the highlights or low lights of your week. Even after many years, I’m an irregular writer in my journal, but when I do write and commune with my wonderful companion, the value I receive from this is immense. It is always well worth the effort.
Begin with something you are passionate about. This makes it so much easier to write regularly, the words and ideas can seem to flow without effort and you will enjoy reading back through the pages of you journal entries. I have more than one journal because I like to keep my gardening knowledge (successes and failures) separate from my personal and spiritual growth conversations. I’m sure you will develop a process and style that works for you.
Use materials that Inspire and Motivate you: My journals are ALWAYS beautiful to look at and to use. Likewise my writing implement. I have a preference for a certain type of pen, a certain colour and a certain texture to the paper, This adds greatly to my enjoyment of the writing process and when looking back I can remember what it was about that particular book or pen that attracted me. Layers of enjoyment will build a strong relationship to your journaling process. Find out what you like, experiment with different things until you find the right combination of elements for you.
Learn from others: So many times at the beginning of my journaling adventure I longed to peek inside the pages of other peoples journals. What did they do? How did they do it? I was fortunate that some of my friends were willing to share some of their pages with me and I was introduced to the idea of drawing and painting and collage and colour and doodles in addition to the words which I was writing. This immediately reminded me of the newspaper cuttings, pressed flowers and pictures I have always found inside the pages of old books and this idea of adding such visual texture to my journal was so enticing I began right away. I am so grateful to my dear friends for opening my eyes to these new possibilities.
There are many reasons to keep a journal. There are many ways to keep a journal. If you really are concerned that you don’t know how to journal, there are many sources of inspiration and motivation is only you will open your eyes and your heart to them. I have recently discovered many books on the subject as well as a number of inspiring examples that have been posted in the Internet. Use these resources if you feel stuck or lacking inspiration and I’m sure it won’t be very long before you are enjoying keeping a journal of your days, your dreams, successes and triumphs.
Green Campaign – Its Role in Creating Awareness Among Malaysian to Protect the Environment
Nowadays green campaign is one of the hot topics among the Malaysian. The main objective of green campaign is to create awareness among the public to protect our environment. Green campaign not only popular in Malaysia, is also very famous in foreign country. In Malaysia there are a lot of organization organizing green campaign such as Environmental Protection Society Malaysia (EPSM), Malaysia Environment NGOs (MENGO) and Treat Every Environment Special Sdn. Bhd. (TRESS). Furthermore, from the researcher research, there also few business company supporting on green campaign such as Panasonic, TESCO, and Nippon weather paint company.
EPSM was founded on 11 January 1974 at University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. The society founded by a group of Malaysian who concerned about protecting the environment. EPSM is non-profit organization it runs by an elected executive committee on an entirely voluntary. The main objective of EPSM is to control the activities that will cause harm to the environment. In EPSM organization, public relations (PR) roles help to do publicity for the organization and at the same times help the create awareness among the public.
MENGO was formed under Danish International Development Assistance in November 2001. MENGO was an active society’s, it can give impact on the decision making at the levels of Malaysia society. The organization gives support to the Government of Malaysia on environment policies. The mission of MENGO is to protect the environment and maintain the agenda level same as local, national and international. The organization had organized a campaign on 19 April 2009 in Penang Bosch Hall to discuss plastic bags should be ban or not to ban.
TREES is a local non-profit environment organization. The organization founded in February 1995. The main purpose of TREES is to educate public the important of protect our environment and reduce negative impact for our environment. TREES organizations had organized two successfully programs in this year. On 14th February 2009 they had organized Valentine’s Pledge for Mother Earth, the program use to encourage the public send a photograph with a caption that how you protect the environment so that can share with each others. Furthermore, on 13th March the organization organized community recycling campaign at Ampang, this activity help to reduce the air pollution. There are a lot of people participated in these two events. The events are very meaningful and bring benefit to our environment.
Panasonic Sdn. Bhd. is one of the electronic company’s had designed out an eco-refrigerator to support green campaign and the product have successfully launched in Malaysia. It’s able to be self adjusting electricity regulator that reduces the wastage. Compare with other brand of refrigerator the Panasonic refrigerator able to save 40% of the electricity. It helps fight global warming and save money all the time. Panasonic electronic company in United State America also concerns for environmental protection and sustainability. The company’s practices prudent, sustainable use of the earth’s natural resources and the protection of the environment. Together with many benefits associated with the use and enjoyment of new technologies comes with responsibility that do not take lightly. The company hopes that this commitment able to protecting the environment continues to earn public trust and support.
Besides that, TESCO hypermarket had designed an eco-friendly recycle bag. The purpose is to encourage the consumer to use the recycle bag instead of using the plastic bag. Those consumers who using the recycle bag when purchase the goods can gain extra point for the member card. Furthermore, all the Tesco in Penang have applied the same rules that set by the Penang state government. Tesco hypermarket in Penang state not give out plastic bag for the consumer on every Monday. In foreign country, Tesco is the most environmentally friendly supermarket. Tesco had wins a award for being the best big company for corporate environmental strategy, has invested £115m in energy-saving technology for its stores in the past two years and is working hard to create the zero carbon supermarket of the future.
Malaysia Government also supporting green campaign. On 28th March 2009 the government encouraged whole Malaysian to switch off their lights from 8.00pm until 9.00pm. KL tower and 8TV is one of the company’s supporting this program. In this program, PR practitioners help the government to spread out all the information and do publicity on the activities. Besides, to support green campaign Penang state had already ban the consumer using plastic bag on every Monday. The purpose of this program is to encourage the consumer use recycle bag for those consumers who require for a plastic bag on Monday need to pay 20sen for it.
Thus, University Sains Malaysia (USM) an university in Malaysia shows support on green campaign. USM have organized a lot of campaign encourage the student to take care of our environment. Besides that, USM also joined with Tupperware Company to support the green campaign. Tupperware Company provided each student who studies in USM a plastic container for daily use. When student need to packing the food can use plastic container instate of using plastic bag. This help to save one plastic bag for our mother earth.
Not only Malaysia had green campaign there are a lot of green campaign in the foreign. Such as Disney land from foreign country had set up a Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) found that Walt Disney World uses more than 80 extremely toxic cleaners, as opposed to just 12 that are non-toxic and which are used in the animal park out of safety concerns for the animals. Disney land is for children to pay visit in the park. At the same time it also can let the children “bathe, eat and play.” CHEJ and community groups in Florida are urging Disney to use safer cleaning products for the sake of the children.
The main objective of the researcher is to create awareness among the public to be more concern about our environment and to let the public knows that protect our environment is our responsible.
There are few journals collected by the researcher for references purpose. From the researcher research, a campaign use to organize a series of activities to try to achieve something. A purpose of a campaign is use to get attention from the public and to promote a new product, or launch a new product. For a PR campaign mostly use to do publicity and create awareness among the public.
According to Singh (2007), nowadays our environment facing a lot of problem and it became more serious. Hopefully the committee can influence all the Malaysia society care about the environment and the problem can be solves easily. Toward EPSM the public able to understand what is green campaign.
As a parent needs to educate their children how to take care our environment. Reading about environment is not boring it is very helpful to everyone. Know about environment issues help to enlarge personal knowledge about something new. Do not let media to confuse us, as a responsible Malaysian we should use simple way to show others public what to do. (Wahid,2009).
Ohana (2007) define that environment education is very important. This education will influence the future individual human beings, the nation, and the whole world. The world environment will be affect depends on how human use science and technology in future. So that, science education must be prepare for the student. This because most of the decisions makes by the student will be revolves around issues of the environment in future.
Adebobola (2004) argue that the environmental problem become more serious this because the industrial growth very fast. Although some regions were virtually untouched by the inhabitants but there still got large areas been affected. This cause the organization Environment department of Africa concern in the major coexisting issues in the world.
Penang government had come out a new rules stated that start from 1st July no plastic bag on every Monday. There are a lot of people disagree with the rules. This because they say is not convenience when the purchase foods and goods make them feel so inconvenient. According to Yu (2009) mostly consumer using plastic bag for a rubbish bag if really want to apply the rules, Penang government need support form media. According to Yeap (2009), he claimed that every people should follow the rules and at the same time can educate and encourage others to recycle.
From the researcher research, there are two theories can be applied in the research. There are Interaction Theory and Klapper’s Reinforcement Theory.
Interaction theory means influence a medium has over its audience is proportional to the amount of effort involved in consuming it. According to Ken Spencer humans remember only 10 percent of what they read, 20 percent of what they hear, and 30 percent of what they see. However, memory improves to 50 percent for those who see and hear something, and 90 percent if the person is actively involved in the process or event instead of merely observing it. This theory can be illustrated by considering the results of staged events involving audience participation. So, to encourage the public to take in green campaign, the organization needs to encourage the public to participate in the activities.
Klapper’s Reinforcement Theory maintains the media cannot create opinions from scratch, but can be effective in reinforcing existing beliefs and attitudes or bringing latent beliefs and attitudes to the surface and encouraging individuals to act on them. In this theory, shows that even media not that powerful can influence people thinking but at least can lead the public to concern about the environment issues.
Qualitative research is a field of inquiry applicable to many disciplines and subject matters. Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such behavior. The qualitative method investigates the why and how of decision making. Hence, smaller but focused samples are more often needed, rather than large random samples
Quantitative research means the variable under consideration should be measured. It is an element of precision, as it uses numbers to quantify result. The process of measurement is central to quantitative research because it provides the fundamental connection between empirical observation and mathematical expression of quantitative relationships. The term quantitative research is most often used in the social sciences in contrast to qualitative research.
The researcher use both quantitative and qualitative research method in this study. In which includes the survey questionnaire and intensive interview to the relevant people so that the researcher can get more detail information.
There will be 11 questions for the survey questionnaire. Inside the questionnaire include, 5 dichotomous response questions, 3 multiple-choice questions and 3 open-ended questions. All the survey questions will be set based on the relevant to green campaign.
There are 100 copies questionnaire will be distributed to UTAR and KTAR student in Perak campus. Both UTAR and KTAR will be distributed 50 copies of questionnaire, from 50 set of questionnaire will be divided to half that mean 25 set, for both male and female. The reason that the researcher choose UTAR Perak campus because it is the biggest campus in whole Malaysia compare to other campus. Besides that, the researcher also had chosen KTAR Perak campus to distribute the questionnaire it is because the Perak campus is second largest and newest campus in Malaysia. Thus, the researcher choose UTAR and KTAR student as target audience, is because compare to other university UTAR and KTAR have more student and it can represent the majority of teenagers.
The researcher set target audience as college and university student the age range is around 18 to 23. It is because college and university student will become new generation in future of the society. So, their perception of green campaign is very important for the research.
Besides that, an intensive interview will be conducted with ESPM Manager Gurmit Singh to understand the view of him and why he form up ESPM organization. He is the advisor and founder president of ESPM. Another interview will conducted with the Panasonic product marketing general manager Cheng Chee Chung to understand why Panasonic need to came up the eco-refrigerator.
Both interviews will take around one hour. The researcher had set up 2 set of different interview questions for the EPSM president and Panasonic marketing general manager because both of them have their own perception toward green campaign.
5 Tips on Turning a Negative into a Positive
I thought this was fitting sense I just experienced a huge negative in my life and choose to focus on the positive in the situation. For instance, when I was unable to sign into this program to get to my list of subscribers, I could have taken it in the real negative manner and given up. But instead, I choose to see the positive. And, because I choose to see the positive, I was able to think clearer and was able to enter into my subscription base on another level. But, because of this
negative experience, I have decided to take it as a sign for me to move on to something better, where I have more control over my newsletter.
So, I’ve decided to share 5 tips that will help you focus on the positive in a negative situation.
Tip #1. Don’t look for the negative when it isn’t present. A lot of us always enter a situation “looking” for the negative. Woman–this is for you. Ever entered into a relationship with the belief that “all men are dogs?” So, you half expect your partner/spouse to cheat on you because you have the belief, that all men are dogs. Even though there is no evidence of him cheating, you search his pockets for phone numbers, follow him in an unmarked cars to see what he is doing when he claims to
be out with “the boyz.”
Or, you might hear there is going to be lay-offs on your job. You automatically believe that you are on the list of “pink slips.” You spend your day, watching your boss out the corner of your eye. S/he goes behind closed doors and you are convinced they are plotting to get rid of you.
Or, you walk in a room of your “friends” and they stop talking. You automatically assume they were talking about you, because why else would they stop talking.
STOP! Don’t look for the negative when it isn’t a definite fact, because when you seek the negative, you often find it more than not.
Tip #2. Look for the positive. No matter what the situation is, there is always a negative and a positive side of it. Sometimes, the positive may not be easy to see right off the bat, but if you look deep enough it is there.
Let’s say, for instance, you are terminated from your job. At first glance, there may not be anything positive you can see in this. But, was this job the best job you’ve ever had. Was this job “your purposeful career?” Most likely not. Because, generally, when you are working on a career that supports your purpose, you will be so good at it, that you will never be terminated.
So, since the job wasn’t “the be all to end all” look on the positive side. This is an opportunity for you to find your purpose, an opportunity to make more money, a job closer to your home, a job that gets you excited. Now, due to your termination from that other job, you have your days free to spend time focused on creating the best life of your life.
Tip #3. Stop negative thoughts in their tracks. Whenever you hear yourself “thinking” a negative thought–STOP and replace it with a positive thought. Instead of saying to yourself, “I’m no good at this.” Stop yourself and say, “I am getting better, each and every day.”
Tip #4. Change the company you keep. If you find that most of your friends are negative people, find new friends. Birds of a feather flock together. So, if, right now, you are a negative person, chances are most of your friends will be negative too. If you find most of your conversations are gossiping about others, kicking other people’s back’s in, looking and discussing the negative about every subject, not sharing
in the happiness and good fortune of others, then change your friends.
Have you ever noticed that when you hear of someone that you know who is doing good, you automatically look for the negative? “Girl, did you hear that so-and-so just bought a million dollar home out there in Short Hills?” “Oh, yeah, what does her husband do? He’s probably a drug dealer or something?” Or if you hear that so-and-so got a promotion and is now
making $350,000 a year. The first thing you say is, “I know she slept her way to the top. She was as dumb as a box of rocks when we were in school.” Then, you are a negative person and need to find new friends. Because if you and your friends are positive people, these thoughts would never come up in your conversations.
Tip #5. Pray. Pray to God to remove the negative thinking from your life. Pray that you always see the positive in every situation. Pray that you become more positive each and every day. Then, thank God, in advance, for taking away your negative thinking. Thank Him for the positive that is entering into your life. Thank God for the flow of posiitive things that is happening for you. Thank God for the goodness and positive things that happen to others as well.
Now, make the decision to be a positive person and work at it each and every day, until it becomes so much of a habit, that you won’t even have to think about it again.