Gender, Gender And Sex Matters - 904 Words

Gender and Sex Matters This class is all really interesting for me, except the two features I talked above, all the other topics are just too attractive and applaud me. The gender problems totally right, and I believe this happens in every country. When I translated â€Å"Sex† and â€Å"Gender† in the dictionary, it gives us the same meaning: male and female. Thus I ‘m really surprised when I found they have different meanings in class! As referred to by Allen, Sex is a biological classification while gender refers to cultural norms of femininity and masculinity. (Allen, 2011, p. 42) There are lots of boys whose femininity and lots of girls who wear like boys and they want to be boys. I know it cause my high school is a girls school, and many of my friends don’t love dressing and don’t love boys. They even hate their chest, and thinking of getting rid of it all day. However, we don’t have a physiology course talking about this. Talking about them, the next chapter sexuality is really connected. We don’t allow gay marriage in China, and although it does not touch the law, but it will cause a lot of problems in everyday life, it even leads you to death sadly. Five years ago, homosexual people in China were really active, they wants to get their right to happiness in China too, just like here in America and those countries support gay marriage. They start all kinds of activities, they want something like homophile movement (Allen, 2011, p123), which happened in the 1950s, middle-Show MoreRelatedSex And Gender : Today s Society902 Words   |  4 PagesSex and gender are words presented in very controversial topics surrounding the media in today’s society. But how do we know which in which environment to use the different terms? To what extent do you differentiate sex and gender? Until recent years gender and sex were used in the same context. Sex as defined by the dictionary is: â€Å"either of the two forms of individuals tha t occurs in many species and that are distinguished respectively as female or male especially on the basis of their reproductiveRead MoreRelationship Between Sex And Gender Essay1660 Words   |  7 Pagesdistinction of gender from came from the move away from biological determinism and conservative antifeminist politics. The meaning of gender will continue to develop and will continue becoming more fluid with time. Introduction The sex and gender distinction is an idea that has been rethought as recently as the 1970’s, with input from academics such as Ann Oakley and John Money. In this essay I will be discussing how biological determinism assisted in the development of the term gender, and the distinctionRead More Gender Identity Disorder Essay1594 Words   |  7 PagesGender, Sex, Sexuality: Separate and NOT equal. First and foremost, a few key terms to keep in mind while reading this paper. Sex†: refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women.[1] â€Å"Gender†: refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.[2] â€Å"Gender identityâ€Å": an individuals self-conception as being male or female, as distinguished from actual biologicalRead MoreSingle Gender Schools Are Better Than Coed Schools1180 Words   |  5 Pagesif single-gender schools are better than coed schools? Each side has advantages, but there are also disadvantages to them. My thoughts on this subject is coed schools aren’t as supportive and beneficial as single-gender schools. I think this for many reasons, including that single-gender schools improve student collaboration, self-improvement by not worrying about being judged by the breaking down of stereotypes, and teachers can use better teaching techniques when teaching one gender classes.Read MoreSex And Gender Is Not Only A Popular Topic Discussed In1191 Words   |  5 PagesSex and gender is not only a popular topic discussed in class, but also a popular topic discussed in the real world. With all of the politics going on surrounding things such as transgend er bathrooms, women’s marches, and the LGBT movement as a whole it’s no surprise why this is such a hot topic at the moment. Despite this being a current topic, it has been discussed and mentioned earlier than most of us realized. The TV show House first aired on November 16, 2004 and went all the way to May 21,Read MoreNight to his day858 Words   |  4 PagesConstruction of Gender By Judith Lorber Afterreading Judith Lorber article† Night to his day† the social construction of gender, I realized that we have been â€Å"doing gender† every day without us noticing. These â€Å"doing gender†activities have implement into our brain through life experience, parents and social life. In her article, she â€Å"denaturalized† gender into three different categories: â€Å"individual; society; and gender†. First of all, she talks about how we determine gender for each individualRead MoreAnalyzing Kessler-Harris and Scotts Views on Gender Issues1360 Words   |  5 PagesKessler Harris and Scott on Gender Issues Abstract Drawing on Joan Scotts Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis and on Alice Kessler-Harriss Just price, Free Market and the Value of Women, the following questions will be answered, How has the equality of women and men been expressed according to both Scott and Kessler-Harris? Why gender has become a useful category of historical analysis for historians? How different (other) historians view gender? What are Kessler-HarrissRead MoreGender Development: Social or Biological1658 Words   |  7 PagesIn a variety of contexts, the word gender is used to describe the masculinity or femininity of words, persons, characteristics, or non-human organisms (Wikipedia, 2006). More specific to psychology, gender role is a term used to describe the normal behavior associated with a given gender status. Those that do not follow this customary role given to their particular gender are said to have an atypical gender role. A person who has normal male genitalia and identifies himself as a m an will usuallyRead MoreAre Girls And Girls Have Trouble Paying Attention Within The Same Classroom?1325 Words   |  6 Pagessignificant to me because in school, guys and girls have trouble paying attention within the same classroom. I want to know, for educational purposes, if children do learn better in same sex schools without the hormonal distractions. In my opinion, I think we would be better educated in a classroom with the same sex. There are less distractions and more of the same thought processes and maturity output. Guys don’t always put in their all when a woman is present, as an example in poetry or somethingRead MoreSex And Disability : An Open Minded Perspective From Individuals1313 Words   |  6 Pagestopic of sex and disability being discussed. In fact, it is hardly ever addressed because there is an underlying notion which seems to discourage such an open minded perspective from individuals. In fact, the topic of sexual intercourse itself is seemingly discouraged. However, why is that the case? Our society has been conformed to hold such restricted societal values; such that in a way, the desire for sex is shunned upon and confronted with negativity. There is also the implication of gender roles

Philosophy of Nursing Free Essays

Person/ Family Person is the recipient of nursing care, the main center focus of the nursing practice. Person is all the aspects that create an individual from their family structure and their role in that structure to their life knowledge and their beliefs in all the aspects of their world. Person is not only how someone lives, its how they adapt and adjust to changes in their life, their self concept and their view and interpretation of the world around them. We will write a custom essay sample on Philosophy of Nursing or any similar topic only for you Order Now Person is individualized and unique to the individual. It is my belief that defining person is the first step that nurses should implement when deciding the individualized and patient specified care of a patient. Person defines what is real and to the client and how they see themselves and the world. Health Health is ultimate blending of person and environment. It is the result of who you are and how your environment adjusts to your Person. There are all stages of health and even in a dying patient or chronically ill patient there are various stages of health. Health is not necessarily the absence of illness, but it is the potential wellness of and individual. The definition of health for an 18 year old disease free client is not the same as the definition of an 80 year old chronically ill patient. Health is the optimal potential of a client to be the best they can be for the person and condition that they are in. I believe that health can also be determined by an individual and their particular needs as a person and their application to their role in society. Environment Environment is everything around a person that affects who they are and how  they react to situations and changes. Environment defines the potential for change and is sometimes the sole factor in determining the potential of an individual and their health. If a person has a great support system, a positive self perception and is in good health they still can become a victim to their environment. An example would be an elderly person who has been independent their whole life, but has to go into a nursing home due to their decreased mobility related to osteoarthritis. If they are not place in a correct nursing facility then the patient is not going to be in a environment that promotes and accepts their independence and special situation. The definition of Person could be missed in a situation like this and the patient could be placed in an environment that doesn’t promote what is healthy and acceptable to that person. It is my belief that Environment is the blending of person and health and all of the internal and external factors that affect a patient and their overall concept of these factors. Nursing The central reason for the existence of nursing is to help those who are in need. Weather that need be physical, emotional or medical is irrelevant; the need of the individual in nursing is determined by the patient and their unique situation. The recipient of nursing care is all people whom are influenced by the nursing process. The ultimate goal of professional nursing care is to promote specialized, patient specific care that is outcome based and measurable in terms of client benefits that promote health and well being at various stages of illness and wellness. The practice of nursing is very different from other health care professionals because nursing looks at the whole person, their environment and their individual needs as a specialized living system. Nursing is patient focused not condition focused. It is my belief that the nursing process promotes greater health and healing of the individual and the family with interventions and a holistic approach that is client/family specific to their unique situation and value system. How to cite Philosophy of Nursing, Papers Philosophy of Nursing Free Essays Personal Values and Philosophy of Nursing A nurse has to be able to integrate multiple aspects of care in order to build a healthy atmosphere fit for their patients. In order to do this, a nurse must have a strong understanding of their personal philosophy of nursing will all metaparadigm components of person, environment, health and nursing. Without one of these, I believe a nurse will not be able to give their very best to their patient. We will write a custom essay sample on Philosophy of Nursing or any similar topic only for you Order Now According to EdD Anne Bishop (1997), nursing is â€Å"at all times an artful practice and applied science that are integrally woven into the fabric of the practice of caring† (p. ). This statement about the components of nursing I agree with. I believe that nursing is not singly a science, practice or art, but it is a combination of all three. Nursing is part of the medical field; its science is knowledge that’s attained through research, development and analysis. With regards to art, nurses must be creative with their knowledge of caring for patients. Every patient’s case is different and not always â€Å"a text book case† so nurses have to be ready and resourceful with thinking of solutions. The main focus of a nurse’s practice is caring. It involves concern and empathy, and a commitment to the client’s lived experience of human health and the relationships among wellness, illness, and disease (Mitchell, 2000). I believe that one day when I become a nurse, to do my job and duties for my patients I must efficiently combine practice, art and science of nursing. Health is a very broad topic involving many different aspects of nursing. Health is defined as a state of wellbeing, in which, one has the ability to function and take care of themselves independently while free from stress and illness (McEwen, 2010). This statement is very important because it is the whole reason why a nurse has their job. If there were no sick people then there would be no need for nurses. Nurses deal with patients that have some sort of an illness; it can be acute or chronic. Patients trust nurses in their time of need. All the sick patient wants is to get better, whether it is a virus or a deadly disease. The nurse is there to help improve the quality of life of their patients, which could be completely healing them or even just getting rid of the pain. As nurses we must keep in mind the degrees of health can vary from patient to patient and we must always be good supporters no matter what the circumstances. Having a healthy work environment is vital in the medical field and working as a nurse. It is imperative for the health of, not only the patient, but also the nurse and the recruitment and retention of new nurses. Mark Alderson (2006), a nurse from University of New Hampshire, states that â€Å"the environment is both internal and external† (p. 1). This concept I feel to be very true. The internal environment incorporates factors like biological, spiritual, physiological and cultural. This part of the environment helps construct the person’s beliefs and views on the world that assists in making decisions. This can go for the patient and the nurse. When looking at the psychological aspects of treating patients, the nurse must be aware of the environment because it can alter behavior, responses and healing. On the other hand, the external environment includes social, cultural and community circumstances. An example for this is how the nurse is responsible for treating all patients the same. No matter what background the patient comes from, the nurse has a responsibility to create an environment that is the same for every person they come across. Persons are not only the individuals that are being treated for an illness but also the families and communities. I believe that the patients are strongly tied to their family and people that surround them. A lot of the time patients need the support and love of the people around them in order to get through whatever they are going through. As a nurse, you may need to coach a parent on how to help their child get through a traumatic injury. Yes the patient is your main concern, but you are also there for the entire network of support. For me I do not know exactly what area I want to specialize in, all I know is I want to be a nurse. I want to help people when they are most vulnerable. I value the relationship a nurse has with a patient, how trust is put on the nurse and it is the nurse’s responsibility to honor that trust and help them to their best of their abilities. I do know I want to start in the emergency room because this is when people need direct care for an immediate injury or concern. I would be able to be there for the patient in their time of need. References Alderson, M. (2006). Nursing Metaparadigm. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from http://msrn. wordpress. com/nursing-metaparadigm/ Bishop, A. H. (1997). Nursing as a Practice Rather Than an Art or a Science. McEwen, M. (2010). Nursing Philosophy. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from http://kweller99. wordpress. com/nursing-philosophy/ Mitchell, S. (2000). Metaparadigm Concepts. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from http://nursing. pages. tcnj. edu/about/mission-philosophy/metaparadigm-concepts/ How to cite Philosophy of Nursing, Essay examples Philosophy of Nursing Free Essays Every nurse holds her own personal views and beliefs about nursing. These views and beliefs encompass the nurse’s personal nursing philosophy. The nurse may find that her philosophy changes as her practice continues to grow over time. We will write a custom essay sample on Philosophy of Nursing or any similar topic only for you Order Now My philosophy as a new graduate nurse twelve years ago is much different from my philosophy today. I attribute this life experiences and to the growth I have experienced as both a person and a nurse. My personal definition of nursing is based on the nurse being a loving, compassionate, dependable, competent, responsible, comforting and passionate person. A nurse not only cares for her patient’s physical ailments but cares for the whole person and family unit. Nurses promote both physical and emotional well-being. Nurses should be able to recognize cultural differences and advocate for patients in a non-judgmental manner. Nursing is centered on health both good and bad. Nurses often find patients in poor health and work to assist them back to their normal health state. Often times, it is not realistic for patients to be able to return to their previous state of health. In this case nurses help patients adapt to their illness and lead productive lives despite managing chronic illness. Nursing not only consists of health promotion but also of illness prevention. Health promotion includes prevention of illness and also improving patient’s overall well-being. Nola Pender is a pioneer in health promotion and as a nurse I use her Health Promotion Model as a guide in my current nursing practice. To consider one’s philosophy of nursing, one inevitably considers our beliefs about man. I believe man exists as a unique and holistic individual within a culturally diverse society. In my culture, man is expected to be self-reliant and responsible for himself and his family. Self-reliance is attained by the ability to provide self-care. Self-care is the ability to provide for one’s own basic needs. If self-care is not maintained, illness/death may occur. My culture, like many others, considers the sick worthy of assistance. As nurses, it is our responsibility to offer assistance in bringing people back to their normal state of health if possible. Nurses do this by intervening in a manner that is acceptable to patients while also recognizing that patients have certain rights to refuse the care offered to them. It is important for nurses to recognize the many different reasons patients may not accept the care they are offering. Nurses should be non-judgmental and recognize cultural differences so that they may provide culturally competent care How to cite Philosophy of Nursing, Papers

Robert Frost Introduction Essay Example For Students

Robert Frost Introduction Essay The last two lines of the poem, Long sleep, as I describe its coming on, Or Just some human sleep shows that the speaker may be referring to the Idea of natural human sleep, but the use of the word long plants the Idea that it could also represent something more than Just a deep human sleep, possibly a permanent sleep, death. The fact that it is winter, shown through the words Essence of winter sleep, could also be a part of the concept of death, as winter is often associated with cold, hard things and even death. The act of apple picking or harvest could represent any human effort; whether It Is studying, Rick laying, running a shop or any other form of work. Also, the sense of incompleteness comes from the line A barrel that I didnt fill as it shows his lack of efforts and that the speaker did not work to his full potential. Although the act of apple plucking could be seen In negative light as shown above, It could also be seen In a positive way too. Satisfaction can be detected as Frost states, two or three apples only remain. This shoes that the speaker has done all that was possibly within his power; all that is left is the result of minor, inevitable human imperfection, a more universal concept. In Frosts poem Mending Wall, the wall Is being built out of tradition, Like one of the only reasons the two neighbors keep up the game of rebuilding the wall is because they know no different. The speaker says l have come after them and made repair, showing that he is continually working on the wall. They show persistence In continually repairing the wall. The term segregation Is defined as the action or state of setting someone or something apart from other people or things or being set apart. The wall is obviously setting the two neighbors part from one another, showing a strong sense of segregation between the two households. Community and its necessity could be derived from the line Something there Is that does not love a wall. The Idea of a community Is a strong concept, often considered to be a strong theme throughout society. A community is defined as A group of people living together in one place, esp.. One practicing common ownership on dictionary. Com, which proves that the idea or concept of (a) community is a highly well known and sought after universal concept. Loneliness and the desire for privacy re shown through various metaphors used throughout Mending Wall. The neighbor in the poem states Good fences make good neighbors, showing that he does not feel the need for there to be much contact with the speaker in the poem, he enjoys his sequestration. On the other hand, the speaker establishes a good case opposing to the wall by expressing Ideas such ad Why do they make good neighbors in response to the neighbors want for the wall and Something there is 1 OFF strong dislike toward the wall. Barriers, in the poems case, the wall, confine, but for mom people they also encourage the idea of freedom and productivity by offering challenging frameworks within which to work. So the wall in Mending Wall may actually be a strong metaphor contributing towards these ideas. Frost seems to find ways to easily interweave metaphors throughout his poems, often giving the poem two or more meanings and causes the audience to strongly consider the true meaning. He states many universal concepts through the use of metaphor in After Apple Picking and Mending Wall such as death, human effort, segregation, community and freedom.

Rpo Challenges and Opportunities Essay Example

Rpo Challenges and Opportunities Essay A research report prepared by HCI Research Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities A Research Study Conducted by the Human Capital Institute for Futurestep Human Capital Institute | Futurestep | January 2009 Futurestep Futurestep, a Korn/Ferry Company, is the industry leader in strategic talent acquisition, offering fully customized, flexible solutions to help organizations meet specific workforce needs. Strategic RPO from Futurestep combines talent acquisition strategy, global recruiting resources, competency-based methodologies and a flexible service delivery model that enable clients to identify, attract and retain top talent. In addition to Strategic RPO, the company provides a full-spectrum portfolio of services, including: Project-Based Recruitment, Mid-Level Recruitment, Interim Professionals and Consulting Services. With locations on four continents and a record of success in securing top talent around the world, Futurestep provides the experience and global reach to help companies turn talent acquisition into a competitive advantage. In 2008, Futurestep was named as part of the annual Baker’s Dozen list of top RPO providers by HRO Today Magazine. To learn more about Futurestep and its complete array of Strategic Talent Acquisition solutions, visit futurestep. com. Human Capital Institute The Human Capital Institute (HCI) is a catalyst for innovative new thinking in talent acquisition, development, deployment and new economy leadership. Through research and collaboration, our global network of more than 130,000 members develops and promotes creativity, best and next practices, and actionable solutions in strategic talent management. We will write a custom essay sample on Rpo Challenges and Opportunities specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Rpo Challenges and Opportunities specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Rpo Challenges and Opportunities specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Executives, practitioners, and thought leaders representing organizations of all sizes, across public, charitable and government sectors, utilize HCI communities, education, events and research to foster talent advantages to ensure organizational change for competitive results. In tandem with these initiatives, HCI’s Human Capital Strategist professional certifications and designations set the bar for expertise in talent strategy, acquisition, development and measurement. www. humancapitalinstitute. org Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities By Dr. Ross Jones, Senior Researcher/Analyst, Human Capital Institute Executive Summary Organizations outsource recruitment and hiring practices for many reasons. Some may lack the internal resources to address their talent acquisition needs. Others may want to focus on core competencies, or to look for a competitive advantage in competing for talent. Whatever the reasons, Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is a growing practice. Despite this growth, limited information exists on the trends in RPO use, the specific recruitment practices it includes, and how well it is being carried out. Survey To gain a better understanding of today’s RPO practices, we surveyed 381 business professionals who have insight about their companies’ approaches to RPO. In the survey, we explored current or planned use of RPO, the prevailing definitions of RPO, recruiting practices and employee levels covered by RPO, the business case and drivers, Return on Investment (ROI), and recruiting practices that create the most effective RPO. Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities Findings The survey results reveal several trends about the adoption of RPO today, the definition and scope of the practice, and current and future ROI opportunities. Adoption: More than half of companies utilize RPO. 59 percent of organizations sur veyed currently outsource some or all of their recruiting processes. 50 percent say they will use RPO in the next five years. Another 20 percent are unsure. Scope: The majority of current RPO deals cover selective practices for tactical needs. Among users, the most common definition of RPO is the outsourcing of some recruiting activities for some levels of employees, with 36 percent of respondents choosing that specific definition. More generally, 73 percent of respondents accept an RPO definition that includes some form of selected outsourcing of recruiting services for selected levels of employees. The recruiting service considered most important to organizations’ talent acquisition goals, Active Recruiting, is the second most likely service to be outsourced. However, RPO practices that focus on strategic talent needs (for example, talent strategy development/consulting) are outsourced less frequently. ROI: Strategic emphasis correlates with increased RPO value among respondents. Only 39 percent of organizations rate the ROI for their current RPO program as good or excellent. In contrast, organizations that use an RPO approach to encompass longer-term strategic needs, such as workforce planning, employment branding and competency management, are significantly more likely to report excellent ROI for their recruitment outsourcing. An Opportunity for Competitive Advantage The results of our study indicate a widespread use of RPO to focus on tactical recruiting practices. However, they also demonstrate that those organizations using RPO as a talent acquisition approach to address strategic needs are much more likely to capture the full value of RPO, as evidenced by their significantly greater ROI. The underutilization of this strategic approach today means that there is an immediate opportunity for organizations to adopt RPO to achieve a holistic talent acquisition strategy, increase ROI, and improve competitiveness in today’s marketplace. organizations typically begin using RPO by outsourcing tactical practices first and, with growing maturity of the process, will outsource strategic practices later. Survey results show that those organizations that do move toward a more strategic approach to RPO will reap rewards for their efforts. 2 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recr uitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities RPO in Today’s Economic Environment As of late November 2008, the economic climate is changing on a daily basis. To gauge how the ongoing economic crisis will affect RPO over the next two years, we conducted a short follow-up survey of 86 talent acquisition experts working for a wide range of organizations. We asked them the following three questions: 1. Given the current economic downturn, what trend do you predict for the outsourcing of recruiting practices in your organization over the next two years? 2. Assuming that your overall recruiting budget will decrease over the next one to two years, what will be the trend for your spending on Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)? 3. Would your organization outsource strategic recruiting practices (e. . , talent strategy development, employer branding, recruitment planning) IF it resulted in an increased Return on Investment (ROI) for your talent acquisition process? The responses to the first question point to the uncertainty gripping businesses today — both because of the range of responses and by the fact that the largest group of respon dents is the uncertain one. 17 percent believe that their outsourcing of recruiting practices will decrease. 30 percent will not outsource recruiting practices. 14 percent believe that their outsourcing will remain unchanged. 6 percent believe that their outsourcing will increase. 3 percent are unsure about future trends. However, many organizations are open to the possibility that RPO, particularly if focused on strategic business needs, can be a tool to compete during difficult economic times. The first indication of this comes out of the answers to the second question above — namely that 44 percent of respondents are open to the possibility that, even if their overall recruitment budget declines, their organization’s investment in RPO may increase. Specifically, while only four percent believe that their RPO budget will increase, 40 percent are unsure about the future of their organization. Again, while highlighting the current uncertainty about what can and will be done in the future, this result points out that many organizations remain open to the possibility of increasing their RPO budget in the future. 3 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities Finally, as the figure below shows, the answers to the third question indicate that strategic RPO may be the answer for many organizations looking to optimize their investment in talent acquisition. In fact, 78 percent of our respondents are either using a strategically focused RPO effort now, would definitely use it in the future, or, at least, have not ruled it out. The fact that 52 percent of respondents are unsure if their organizations would move to a strategic RPO, even if it might increase their ROI, again points to the uncertainty of today’s economic environment. However, it also highlights a silver lining — that a vast majority of businesses will remain open to the idea of increasing investment in RPO in general, and strategic RPO in particular, if it helps them compete in the complex environmental climate of the future. Would you outsource strategic recruiting practices if it increased your talent acquisition ROI? Unsure Yes Already use strategic RPO No 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 4 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities I. Talent Acquisition and RPO — The Current State Facing increasing competition for talent and the current economic downturn, many organizations are focusing limited resources on core business needs. As a result, they are outsourcing many key recruiting processes (see Figure 1), fueling the growing trend for services and solutions in the market known as Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO). During August and September 2008, we surveyed and interviewed a wide range of HR professionals, from many types of organizations, to determine: The current state and successes of RPO Figure 1. Does your organization outsource some of its recruiting process? The challenges and opportunities facing RPO The best practices and solutions for implementing a winning RPO program 5% Yes No Unsure/Dont Know 50% 75% n 220 147 8 percent 59% 39% 2% n=375 Defining RPO What talent acquisition activities are organizations referring to when they say they use RPO? Our study found a general consensus that RPO is the selective outsourcing of some recruiting activities. Results reveal that 73 percent of responding organizations believe that RPO is the outsourcing of some or most recruiting processes, while only 1 6 percent define RPO as the outsourcing of all recruiting activities for, at least, some levels of employees1 (see Figure 2). Clearly, there is no consensus on the scope of RPO, but the widespread application of RPO on a limited basis suggests a current emphasis on tactical considerations, even though many of our write-in responses suggest a need for a more holistic strategic approach. 5 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities Figure 2. What best describes your understanding of RPO? 5% Outsourcing ALL aspects of the recruiting process for ALL levels of employees Outsourcing ALL aspects of the recruiting process for MOST levels of employees Outsourcing ALL aspects of the recruiting process for SOME levels of employees Outsourcing MOST aspects of the recruiting process for ALL levels of employees Outsourcing MOST aspects of the recruiting process for MOST levels of employees Outsourcing MOST aspects of the recruiting process for SOME levels of employees Outsourcing SOME aspects of the recruiting process for ALL levels of employees Outsourcing SOME aspects of the recruiting process for MOST levels of employees Outsourcing SOME aspects of the recruiting process for SOME levels of employees Other n=371 50% 75% n 29 15 15 24 44 28 20 24 134 38 percent 8% 4% 4% 6% 12% 8% =73% % 6% 36% 10% What are some other definitions of RPO? (From the 10 percent that chose â€Å"Other†) â€Å"Outsourcing ANY aspect of the recruiting process for ANY level of employees† â€Å"RPO can be an end-to-end solution for all positions, or a service to take over part of the recruitment process, or be confined to just a certain title-type, such as a highvolume title. RPO can be as flexible as it needs to be for what the client wants. † â€Å"Outsource according to current needs of firm — could be any one of the above at different times or economic conditions. Ability to recruit for needed hires varies, depending on the current workload for in-house recruiters. â€Å"RPO can mean any or all of the above options based on business need. Some organizations choose to keep recruiting higher-level positions within the organization, while outsourcing the candidate sourcing, screening and administrative support up to and some including onboarding (full life cycle). † 6 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities Why Use RPO? Now that we know how users define RPO, the next question is: Why do they use RPO? It is unlikely that the decision to turn over parts of such a key talent management process (recruiting) to a third-party service provider is taken lightly. To understand the reasons for this decision, we asked respondents to tell us which of the following were their organizations’ reason(s) for turning to RPO: 1. The existence of pressing staffing needs that they cannot meet themselves 2. The desire to concentrate on their core competencies 3. A lack of internal HR resources 4. The high cost of attracting and recruiting new talent themselves 5. Lack of satisfaction in the new hires they recruited themselves While many organizations chose more than one reason for using RPO, Figure 3 shows that three stand out: 1) Pressing staffing needs that they cannot meet, 2) Desire to concentrate on core business functions, and 3) Lack of sufficient internal HR resources to do the job. The fact that â€Å"the existence of pressing staffing needs† is the most important reason for choosing RPO shows that short-term business necessities can be a powerful motivator for action. This is particularly true if those same organizations also lack the internal HR resources needed to deal with staffing needs themselves — another major reason to outsource. The other main reason to use RPO, â€Å"the desire to concentrate on core competencies,† is one example of a driver that is influenced by the organization’s long-term business strategy rather than immediate responses to staffing needs. It is certainly likely that many of the organizations that initially choose to use RPO to meet short-term goals will, eventually, embrace it for its ability to solve long-term strategic problems. However, our results show that many organizations are already making business strategy a main reason for using RPO. Later in this report, we will show how those organizations may also be generating greater benefits as a result of this decision. 7 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities Figure 3: Reasons why organizations turn to RPO Percent that agree/strongly agree 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Pressing staffing Desire to Lack internal needs could not concentrate HR resources on core be met competencies Cost of recruiting is too high Not satisfied with our recruits 55% 50% 43% 25% 16% What Recruiting Practices Drive RPO Today? Before determining the specific recruiting practices included in most RPO programs today, we sought to discover which practices organizations viewed as most critical. Figure 4 clearly shows that most organizations agree or strongly agree that all of the major practices presented are important. Even the lowest-ranked practice — permanent hiring services — was viewed by most respondents as a critical part of their talent acquisition program. However, our results do indicate that two specific practices, active recruiting and talent strategy development/consulting, are particularly critical to most organizations’ talent acquisition processes — see Figures 6 and 7. These two practices represent the tactical and strategic aspects of recruiting practices, respectively, and they represent the prime components of an effective RPO program. 8 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities Figure 4: The following activities are critical to achieving your organization’s talent acquisition goals. Strongly Disagree —— Strongly Agree 1 2 3 4 5 Active recruiting Talent strategy development/consulting Employer branding Measuring success of recruitment process (metrics) Onboarding Skills assessment Applicant tracking management Skills training Talent research (trends, demographics, etc. ) Passive recruiting Employee offboarding Temporary and contingent staffing services Permanent hiring services Some Other Critical Activities Related to Organizational Talent Acquisition Goals As noted by our Survey Respondents â€Å"Alignment with corporate objectives and business strategy† â€Å"Adopting and maintaining a model of continuous sourcing is not only best practice but critical in achieving effective proactive talent acquisition. † â€Å"Employee referrals—good source of applicants† â€Å"Ensuring our Applicant Tracking System is best in class and competitive† â€Å"Market tracking and employment forecasting† 9 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities Figure 5: Recruitment practices most likely to be outsourced (ranking of importance in talent acquisition in parenthesis — from Figure 4) 25% Temporary and contingent staffing services (12) Active and passive recruiting (1) Applicant tracking management (7) Permanent hiring services (13) Skills training and assessment (6, 8) Talent research (trends, demographics, etc. ) (9) Employer branding (3) Measuring success of recruitment process (metrics) (4) Talent strategy development/consulting (2) Employee offboarding (11) Onboarding (5) n=273 50% 75% n 166 135 84 67 51 51 50 29 26 24 19 percent 61% 49% 31% 25% 19% 19% 18% 11% 10% 9% 7% In Figure 5, the talent acquisition practice that ranks second in its likelihood of being outsourced, active and passive recruiting, was deemed most critical to the success of a talent acquisition program (see Figures 4 and 6). The practice that ranks third in its likelihood to be outsourced, applicant tracking management, is also one of the three practices (along with active and passive recruiting) that makes up the Tactical Recruiting group of practices identified by our analysis (see next page: Linking Strategic Priorities and Recruiting Practices). Finally, the practice that is most likely to be outsourced, temporary and contingent staffing services, is also another type of tactical recruiting practice. These results highlight the important fact that RPO today is focused mostly on outsourcing a range of tactical practices, some of which are considered critical components of talent acquisition. 10 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities Figure 6: Tactical Practice — Active Recruiting 90 percent of respondents agree/strongly agree that this practice is critical to their organization’s talent acquisition process. 25% Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree Unable to Rate n=371 50% 75% n 195 139 25 5 5 5 percent 53% 37% 25% 1% 1% 1% Figure 7: Strategic Practice — Talent Strategy Development/Consulting 89 percent of respondents cite this practice as critical to their organization’s talent acquisition process. 25% Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree Unable to Rate n=371 50% 75% n 189 141 26 4 7 4 percent 51% 38% 7% 1% 2% 1% 11 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities Linking Strategic Priorities and Recruiting Practices Not surprisingly, our analysis showed a high degree of correlation in the value placed on similar types of recruiting practices. For example, organizations that believe talent strategy development/consulting is very critical also tend to choose employer branding as a very critical recruiting practice. To determine if the 13 recruiting practices could be reduced to a smaller number of key â€Å"practice types,† we used a statistical method called factor analysis to assess the pattern of responses from multiple respondents (organizations) to combine various responses into natural groups or components2. The analysis showed that the 13 recruiting practices belong to the following groups: Strategy Analysis: Talent strategy development/consulting, employer branding, talent research, and measuring success of recruitment process (metrics) Tactical Recruiting: Active recruiting, passive recruiting, and applicant tracking management Skill training and skill assessment Permanent hiring services and temporary and contingent staffing services Onboarding is part of both the Strategy Analysis and Skill-based groups, while offboarding is unrelated to the other practices. Most organizations treat it independently from the more recruitment-focused practices. Skill-based: Staffing Services: Miscellaneous: See Appendix 2 for a complete description of the factor analysis method and results. 2 As our definitions in Figure 2 describe, most organizations view RPO not only as a selective process when it comes to which recruiting practices to outsource, but also when it comes to which level of employees to include in an RPO program. Similarly, as with critical recruiting practices, an initial goal of our research was to determine if the recruitment of certain levels of 12 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities Figure 8: Which levels of employees will be most critical to your organization’s talent acquisition effort over the next year? mployees is considered more critical in order to understand how well RPO is meeting the needs of organizations today. As Figure 8 shows, 59 percent of respondents say that recruitment of upper and middle managers is a very important part of their talen t acquisition process — closely followed by executive recruitment (56 percent). Clearly, if an RPO program is to be fully integrated into the talent acquisition process, it needs to be used in the recruitment of these critical employee levels. Very Important Unimportant Important Irrelevant Neutral Irrelevant —Very Important 2 Upper and middle management 3 4 6 7 29 101 207 (59%) Executive 11 16 48 71 192 (56%) 133 (39%) 99 (28%) 93 (27%) 31 (9%) Exempt 22 19 1 122 Entry-level managers 22 21 73 134 Hourly 30 36 72 116 Contract labor 36 58 101 107 Contingent labor 69 56 97 76 35 (11%) 59 percent of respondents = 207 out of 381 total respondents calling â€Å"Upper and middle management† very important to talent acquisition efforts. 56 percent = 192 out of 381 total respondents calling the â€Å"Execuitve† level very important to talent acquisition efforts. 13 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities II. RPO — Challenges and Opportunities Results from the survey point to key challenges in the use of RPO in the future. The first challenge is the need to address strategic, rather than tactical, priorities with RPO. Three recruiting practices that comprise the core of a strategic approach to talent acquisition — talent strategy development/consulting, employer branding, and measuring success of recruitment process (metrics) — currently are the least likely practices to be outsourced. For most organizations, the strategic side of talent acquisition remains in-house. This may simply be an artifact of the still-early stages of RPO implementation: organizations typically begin using RPO by outsourcing tactical practices first and, with growing maturity of the process, will outsource strategic practices later. Our survey results show that those organizations that do move toward a more strategic approach to RPO will reap rewards for their efforts. A second major challenge facing RPO is the apparent uncertainty about how to use and benefit from it in the future. This uncertainty is evident in the responses we received when we asked people to tell us if their organizations would be using RPO in the next five years. As Figure 9 shows, 30 percent of respondents told us that their organizations will not be using RPO in the future, and another 20 percent are unsure. This last number, in particular, points to some uncertainty — as well as potential opportunity — for the future of RPO. Figure 9. Does your organization plan to outsource some of your recruiting process within the next 5 years? 25% 50% 75% n 188 111 74 percent 50% 30% 20% n=373 Yes No Unsure/Dont know Why this uncertainty about the future use of RPO? The main reasons for this reluctance are highlighted in Figure 10. It is important to note that these particular results combine both current users and non-users of RPO who say they will not be using RPO in the future. Therefore, most of the 39 percent of organizations that are not using RPO now (see Figure 1) presumably chose 14 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities the â€Å"No need to† reason for why they won’t in the future. However, two other reasons — â€Å"too expensive† and â€Å"we have not found a company that can provide us with the services we need† — are likely to be key reasons why some potential users of RPO may remain wary. Figure 10. Why will your organization not consider outsourcing some or all of its recruiting processes in the next five years? Results only include the respondents who state that their organizations will not be using RPO in the next five years. At the same time, it is important to note that 50 percent of respondents say they will use RPO in the future — indicating that many companies are satisfied with their current RPO services. At the end of this report, we will identify the â€Å"best practices† that create satisfaction and value between organizations and their RPO service providers. When it comes to turning those â€Å"unsure† organizations into RPO users, the challenge, for RPO providers, will be to provide them with those best practices in a cost-effective manner. 25% 50% 75% n 95 26 9 14 percent 66% 18% 6% 10% No need to — we do a good job of recruiting Too expensive to outsource We dont know which parts of the recruiting process should be outsourced We have not found a company that can provide us with the services we need n=144 The third challenge for RPO is one of focus and priority. Organizations consider upper and middle managers, as well as executives, as the levels for which recruiting is most important — see Figure 8. While executive recruitment is the second most likely employee level to be outsourced, turning to a third-party provider for the recruitment of upper and middle managers occurs less frequently than does the outsourcing of contingent and contract workers — two levels of employees for which recruitment is considered a relatively low priority (see Figure 11). These results indicate that RPO today tends to be used most for the recruitment of employees on two opposite ends of the spectrum — temporary workers and executives. The final RPO challenge may also be the greatest opportunity — maximizing the Return on Investment (ROI). As with every other business decision, the success of RPO can be measured by its ROI. While organizations use various payment models to invest in their RPO programs, the â€Å"fee per hire† model 15 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities Figure 11: How often do you outsource the recruiting of each level of employee? Most recruiting is outsourced Always Sometimes (but we do most) Infrequently Never Never — Usually 2 Contract labor 3 4 86 47 70 86 41 Executive 92 46 79 87 32 Contingent labor 104 51 49 71 43 Upper and middle management 102 58 112 61 14 Exempt 108 85 99 21 9 Entry-level managers 130 81 91 27 7 Hourly 142 82 63 39 9 dominates (see Figure 12). This is not surprising given the fact that RPO is largely viewed by our survey respondents as a solution to address pressing staffing needs (Figure 3). Organizations that are initially turning to RPO to deal with immediate recruiting problems will likely look for a short-term payment model, given the uncertainty of their future RPO needs. However, as those same organizations become aware of the long-term value of RPO (in other tactical and strategic recruiting areas), they will likely move towards longer-term contractual arrangements with RPO service providers, or a combination of payment models (see Figure 12). 16 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities Figure 12. What payment model does your organization use when recruiting is outsourced? Note: the majority of respondents who chose â€Å"Other and/or combination of the above† indicated that they used a combination of fee per hire and short- or long-term contracts for specific levels of employees (e. g. , Contingent and/or Executives). 25% Fee per hire Monthly retainer/management fee Short-term service contract based on services provided, not number of hires recruited Long-term service contract Other and/or combination of the above n=323 50% 75% n 169 23 39 25 67 ercent 52% 7% 12% 8% 21% Regardless of how recruiting is financed, measuring the success of the process is critical to determining ROI — whether for in-house or outsourced recruiting programs. Sixty-four percent of respondents say that they know that their organizations measure some aspects of recruiting success (another 10 percent are unsure). Figure 13 summarizes the results for RPO effectiveness, broken down by specific recruiting metrics. Overall, the results display a moderate level of satisfaction with RPO. The vast majority rank their process as â€Å"average† or â€Å"above average† for each metric, with only a few citing â€Å"poor† or â€Å"below average† satisfaction. However, it is also true that relatively few organizations believe that their RPO is doing an outstanding job as measured by any metric. This means that there are definite opportunities for improving RPO effectiveness. 17 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities Figure 13. How effective is your organization’s current RPO for each of the following measures of recruitment success? Above average Below average Outstanding Average Never — Usually 1 Offer acceptance ratio Quality of hire Percent of jobs filled New hire retention rate Staffing efficiency ratio Candidate diversity Time to submission Time to fill Cost per hire 2 3 As a bottom-line question, we asked respondents to rate RPO impact: is there positive ROI, or is RPO a drain on the organization? As Figure 14 highlights, the current level of satisfaction with RPO programs leaves room for improvement. In fact, almost two-thirds of all organizations (61 percent) rank their current RPO program as being only break-even or worse. In contrast, only 39 percent of organizations currently using RPO think their program is providing a good or excellent ROI. Poor 5 8 4 4 4 7 5 5 6 7 6 18 16 19 29 17 33 30 65 70 73 73 69 81 86 93 90 85 101 82 89 44 62 55 60 58 37 32 39 23 19 26 17 24 19 18 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities Figure 14. How would you rank the current Return on Investment for your organization’s RPO? Note — only results from organizations currently using RPO. 25% 50% 75% n 13 60 82 80 19 percent 5% 24% 32% 31% 8% Poor — the quality of hires and services does not justify the cost of the process Fair — We want the quality and/or cost of the services to improve to continue with RPO provider Neutral — it is a break-even process at the current time Good — RPO has measurably increased the quality of hires and cost effectiveness of recruiting Excellent — RPO is a critical factor in our organizations current and future success n=254 However, to end the story, we took a deeper look at specific organizations that are experiencing the greatest ROI from their Recruitment Process Outsourcing program. To do this, we differentiated between those organizations that are currently using an RPO approach that outsources talent strategy development/consulting practices (along with other practices that our analysis identified as strategic recruiting practices) and those that aren’t — and looked for how their ROIs differ. The results are striking — see Figure 15. Clearly, those organizations that apply RPO to addressing strategic needs in their talent acquisition process are the organizations that are capturing the full value of RPO. with Excellent ROI Figure 15. Organizations that apply RPO to addressing strategic needs are significantly more likely to achieve an â€Å"Excellent† ROI from outsourced recruiting practices. RPO with Strategic Focus 22% RPO with Tactical Focus 4% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 19 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities III. Conclusion Our study confirms the findings of other recent reports on RPO. For most organizations, RPO means the outsourcing of selected recruiting activities for selected levels of employees — the definition used by 73 percent of our survey’s respondents. Given that definition, we found that RPO is an important component of most talent acquisition processes today, with 59 percent of organizations currently outsourcing some or all of their recruiting services. We identified several important reasons for using RPO. However, the two major ones are distinguishable by their focus on tactical goals — the need to meet pressing staffing needs — and on strategic goals — the desire to focus on core competencies. Clearly, most organizations using RPO today are using it for tactical reasons. However, equally evident is the fact that those organizations that have adopted a strategic RPO approach are the ones that are capturing the most value from the process. With 50 percent of our respondents saying that they will use RPO in the future and another 20 percent open to the idea, the future of RPO is positive. For those organizations that want to leverage the full potential of RPO to improve the talent acquisition process, and their overall business strategy, it is critical that they consider making RPO a larger part of their talent management strategy. Then, they may be able to join that group of respondents who manage to more fully benefit from RPO — see RPO Best Practices. What our respondents have to say about RPO Best Practices â€Å"Any organization moving to an RPO should expect to invest its own time in ensuring hiring managers are adequately trained on how to best work with a new system, process, recruiter, etc. in order to make the relationship work effectively. — Manager in a mid-size retail company â€Å"Knowledge and experience in our industry [are important] because we are so niched. Standard approaches just don’t work for us. Our providers must exhibit competence in many different industries †¦Ã¢â‚¬  — HR Director for a large healthcare co mpany with offices in seven countries â€Å"I can buy supplemental recruitment services a la carte to supplement my internal team’s capabilities. RPOs give me an alternative to the traditional outsource contingency and temporary staffing firms. † — Vice President of HR of a mid-size Financial Services company â€Å"[A best-practice RPO provides] good utilization of HR and company resources, good-quality hiring processes, and good metrics on a timely basis. Consistency in processes is important. — Vice President of HR for a large automotive company â€Å"My providers have an understanding of my specific needs and qualifications †¦ [and the] more personality- and attitude-driven qualities that I would like to see in employees. Will the employee fit in with our corporate atmosphere? My providers can key in to attributes that they have learned from doing business with me for so long. † — HR Director for a small high-tech company â€Å"Gre at communication! † — Recruiter for a mid-size bank holding company 20 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. A report by Dr. Ross Jones, Senior Researcher/Analyst, Human Capital Institute Appendix 1: Methodology and Demographics Methodology We surveyed 381 people, of which more than 50 percent are Director/Vice President or higher, and over 75 percent work in some area of HR or talent management — see demographic breakdown below. The online survey consisted of 33 questions concerning issues related to RPO use, definition, practices outsourced, payment models used, and overall (and practice-specific) effectiveness. The survey took respondents, on average, about 15 to 20 minutes to complete. The 33 questions on talent branding were divided into six main parts: 1. Current or planned use of Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) 2. User definition of RPO 3. Recruiting practices and employee levels included in RPO services 4. Drivers for organizations to use RPO 5. The Return on Investment for RPO 6. Best/worst practices in RPO For part 6 above, we also conducted nine in-depth telephone interviews with selected survey respondents to gain more information on the success and failure of specific RPO practices. A two-step analysis of all quantitative data was carried out: 1) Standard descriptive statistical methods were used to determine the frequencies and/or means (and standard errors) of the current state and future trends in RPO, as well as variation among organizations in RPO practices, payment models and program effectiveness. 2) Various inferential statistical methods (i. e. ANOVA and z-tests) were used to determine whether there are statistically significant differences in the responses for the various groups of respondents, as identified by the demographic shown on the next pages3. The only significant findings in this part of the analysis were the not surprising results that larger organizations wer e more likely to use RPO, as well as the fact that larger organizations place more emphasis on certain recruitment practices—e. g. , employer branding. 3 21 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities Demographic Information Industry % 17% 8% 6% Automotive 3% 2% 3% Banking Chemicals Petroleum Consumer Packaged Goods Education Electronics/Technology 5% 3% Financial Markets Government Healthcare Industrial Products 10% Insurance Media Entertainment 4% 1% 3% 1% Pharmaceuticals Professional Services Retail Telecommunications Transportation Logistics Trade Tourism Utilities Other 2% 1% 5% 3% 2% 20% 15% 17% Position 37% Board/C-Level/Principal Director/Vice President 30% Supervisor/Manager Practioner/Other 22 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. A report by Dr. Ross Jones, Senior Researcher/Analyst, Human Capital Institute Functional Area 23% 21% Recru itment General HR or Talent Management Training Development Leadership Succession Workforce Planning Other Human Resources Non-HR 8% 3% 3% 5% 37% 1% 3% 1% 1% 1% 2% 4% 4% 2% Country United States Canada India Australia United Kingdom 7% Brazil Malaysia Other—Europe Other—Asia 72% Other—Central/South America Other 9% 15% 47% Organization Size 1,000 employees 1,001 – 10,000 employees 10,001 – 50,000 employees 29% 50,000 employees 23 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Today’s Challenges and Opportunities Appendix 2: Factor Analysis of Critical Talent Acquisition Practices As discussed in the main text, we performed a factor analysis of the 13 talent acquisition practices in order to determine: 1. If the practices could be grouped into logical functional groups 2. Which groups are most used by RPO today, as well as which groups are underutilized and provide the most opportunity for the future of RPO These factor components are a very powerful method to shrink the number of variables to a more manageable level and provide insights unavailable with the analysis of individual variables (e. g. , specific talent acquisition practices). More importantly, these groupings often allow us to see patterns in the results that are obscured by the sheer number of original variables. In other words, they allow us to identify new, previously unnamed variables that underlie and drive the variables in our survey. We were able to group all 13 of the original questions into one of five factors (groups) that explained 70. 8 percent of the variation in responses — a very high level of explanation. The results are summarized in Table 2, Appendix Two, which shows how much the original questions contribute to each of the groups. The results of the factor analysis are striking: 1) Factor 1 is made up of all the talent acquisition practices associated with talent strategy, metrics and analysis (numbers in red) that are major parts of a strategic RPO. In addition, onboarding is partially included in this group, indicating that onboarding programs play a role in talent strategy, although not as great as the four practices in red. The clear implication is that there is an underlying variable focusing on talent strategy and analysis, of which the four specific practices are parts. 2) Factor 2 is made up primarily of the two skill-based practices—skills training and skills assessment (numbers in green), with a significant contribution from onboarding. This should not come as a surprise ince while onboarding includes other important purposes, skill training for new recruits is certainly a major one. 3) Factor 3 covers the general recruitment practices. They include the major parts of any tactically driven RPO program and consist of the active and passive recruiting practices, as well as the associated applicant tracking management practice (numbers in blue). 4) Factor 4 includes the two specific hiring services—permanent hiring and temporary/contingent staffing (numbers in pink). This provides evidence that organizations tend to deal with their permanent and temporary hiring needs in a coordinated fashion—a positive approach to take! ) Factor 5 consists entirely of the employee offboarding practice (in orange) and indicates that most organizations do not integrate this practice with their more recruiting-specific practices. 24 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. A report by Dr. Ross Jones, Senior Researcher/Analyst, Human Capital Institute Appendix 2: Table 1. Factor Analysis of 13 talent acquisition practices to determine recruitment practice groups. The larger the absolute value of the number in each box (the closer it is to 1 or -1), the mo re important it is to the creation of each group. Factor 1 Talent strategy development/consulting Employer branding Talent research (trends, demographics, etc. Measuring success of recruitment process (metrics) Skills training Skills assessment Onboarding Active recruiting Passive recruiting Applicant tracking management Permanent hiring services Temporary and contingent staffing services Employee offboarding Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization a. Rotation converged in six iterations . 753 . 736 . 770 . 641 . 220 . 254 . 446 . 208 . 165 . 228 . 225 -. 073 . 071 2 . 241 . 172 . 139 . 244 . 858 . 868 . 513 . 190 -. 072 . 240 . 002 . 051 . 147 3 . 138 . 185 . 167 . 350 . 107 . 088 . 195 . 743 . 811 . 661 . 011 . 141 . 092 4 -. 015 . 003 . 197 . 052 . 003 . 062 . 021 . 133 -. 016 . 118 . 804 . 850 . 152 5 -. 095 . 189 -. 023 . 224 . 174 -. 017 .316 -. 051 . 048 . 224 . 154 . 016 . 916 25 Copyright  © 2009 Human Capital Ins titute. All rights reserved.

Child Beauty Pageants Should Be Banned Essay Example

Child Beauty Pageants Should Be Banned Essay Example Child Beauty Pageants Should Be Banned Essay Child Beauty Pageants Should Be Banned Essay Child beauty pageants should be banned Child beauty pageants should be banned because they cause children, especially little girls, to use artificial means to boost their self esteem. People were not born with makeup, spray tans, big hair, and false teeth. Beauty pageants set false rules on beauty. They make children believe they have to wear make-up, jewelry, wigs, fake nails, and other acessories to be beautiful. Every child is beautiful in their own way. Their beauty is natural and they shouldnt have to have anyones opinion on the way they look. Beauty pageants can also cause serious mental and health issues. They can lead to depression, anorexia, suicide, and many other serious issues. Children might starve themselves to lose which could lead to eating disorders. Beauty pageants can cause depression, and depression may later lead to a suicide Children shouldnt be forced to be in pageants. Mothers try to live their dream through their children. Children shouldnt get their lives taken away from them. They only get one childhood, they dont get it back after its over. Any parent placing their child in these types of pageants, based solely on looks, is giving their child the attitude that appearance can get you anywhere in life. It is wrong to teach children that looks are the most important asset to possess. I am not stating that children shouldnt be encouraged to develop a talent or skill, and compete with that talent or skill, I am stating that competing over looks is sending the wrong message to children.

Case Study

Case Analysis # 4Elaine Decides to Try Her Hand at Investing Elaine Tolbert is a 28-year-old management trainee at a large chemical company. She is single and has no plans for marriage. Her annual salary is $34,000 (placing her in the 15 percent tax bracket), and her monthly expenditures come to approximately $1,500. During the past year or so, Elaine has managed to save around $8,000, and she expects to continue saving at least that amount each year for the foreseeable future. Her company pays the premium on her $35,000 life insurance policy. Because Elaine’s entire education was financed by scholarships, she was able to save money from the summer and part-time jobs she held as a student. Altogether, she has a nest egg of nearly $18,000, out of which she’d like to invest about $15,000. She’ll keep the remaining $3,000 in a bank CD that pays 3 percent interest and will use this money only in an emergency. Elaine can afford to take more risks than someone with family obligations can, but she doesn’t wish to be a speculator; she simply wants to earn an attractive rate of return on her investments. Critical Thinking Questions 1. What investment options are open to Elaine? 2. What chance does she have of earning a satisfactory return if she invests her $15,000 in (a) blue-chip stocks, (b) growth stocks, (c) speculative stocks, (d) corporate bonds, or (e) municipal bonds? 3. Discuss the factors you would consider when analyzing these alternate investment vehicles. 4. What recommendation would you make to Elaine regarding her available investment alternatives? Explain.

Computer and Video Games Industry - Nintendo Essay

Computer and Video Games Industry - Nintendo - Essay Example This industry posses a different dynamic situation and a new and unique business environment in which very few players tend to dominate both in software as well as hardware industry. Sony is supposed to be leading in the hardware industry through its Play Stations whereas Microsoft is a late entry into the hardware market through its own gaming console to rival Sony and other players. Based on such aggressive competition in the industry it can safely be assumed that this industry is not only growing but also pose a great challenge to the industry players to be more innovative and creative in presenting new and unique gaming themes to gain competitive advantages in the industry. This study will explore the dynamics in the video industry and how it behaved in the past and what is its key drivers in the 2000s and how the industry develops into short to long-term with special emphasis on the software as well as hardware. As outlined above that the video gaming industry is expected to generate a revenue target of more than $50 Billion in the current year, the expectations are that the industry will grow at least in the short run. A close look at that industry will suggest that it’s most avid users i.e. consumers are not just children but also include adults with the average age of the users ranges in 30 years pointing towards the diverse and vast customer base the industry is catering to. However, the key driver in the industry has always remained the innovation whether in the past or in the current 21st-century consumer market for the video games. As the industry has now emerged as a parallel entertainment industry to the Hollywood, therefore, it is now being more and more structured and sophisticated as far as the production and development of these games concerned. This innovation and creativity further become complicated especially within the domain of the software when the developers of the games face hardware constraints such as faced by the Sony when its Play Station 2 Console restricted it to embark on the more creative and innovative software games to launch.  

Managing for Competitive Advantage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Managing for Competitive Advantage - Essay Example They introduce only two fabric and two garments innovations per year (2003, p8). A growth of .7% means nothing in the industry. They wanted to change many things at once in an effort to regain the lost market but in the process, they ended up losing core customers. The new team, M&R, believed in a selected range, high quality merchandise at reasonable prices with high value (2005, p4). They cut down the product line in clothing as well as in food sector. According to them, too many sub-brands had diluted the main brand. Your M&S helped to draw the brand together. They removed the slow lines and simplified the range (2005, p5). Their concentration was product, service and store environment (2005, p4). Reducing product line enhances the shopping experience they felt. V&H widened the price band by lowering the opening prices in some product lines and believed that they offered best value for money. They wanted to appeal to everyone so had all price ranges and catered to all ages. They wanted to attract the under 35 while M&R felt their core customers belonged to the 35-55 age group (2005, p4). M&R had sharper, very competitive opening prices (2005, p4) while V&H had inconsistent price architecture (2005, p4). V&H used press advertising to appeal to the younger customers. They introduced samples in stores and felt this boosted sales. They changed their products too often, and their designs were complicated (2004, part3, p9), which according to the new team, made the customer feel confused (2006, p5). It was also difficult to find the product they were looking for. M&R thus de-cluttered and simplified the store layouts while V&H constantly tried to change the displays at stores (2005, p5). V&R was not quick to recognize shift in customer demand and could not move fast enough to meet aspirations (2004, part3, p6). This could possibly be due to wide

Hispanic students Essay Example for Free

Hispanic students Essay Learning is one of the vital needs of a growing child. However, because of some social issues, the education outside the house is unfairly provided to students of an educational institute, which revolves in a culturally diverse community. As seen by many educational and child development experts, this is one of the main problems that the educational institutions face today. The issues that are connoted to be in connection with the racial inequalities in the society, which are also present in the educational institutions of America. In this regard, the author of this paper hopes to discover the reasons behind the said educational issue especially concerning the impact it has on teaching children who have learning disabilities. As known to many, public schools in the United States are catering to both bright children as well as children who are suffering from learning difficulties who belong to the lower economic sector of the society. Because of this, the government of the said country provides certain assistance such as healthcare facilities to support the needs of the said children. However, because of racial differences, the administration of some public school institutions is rather encouraged to treat children differently. This means that there exists an unequal treatment especially between the White American children and the ones belonging to the minorities. How Race Plays a Great Role in the Public School Setting page 2 In the public school system, White students with developmental disabilities have more emphasis put on their success than their African American and Hispanic counterpart. The public school administration makes every service that is possible available to White students, while at the same time withholding this information from African American and Hispanic students and their families. As a fact, it has been observed that administrations catering to children who are suffering from developmental or emotional disabilities makes it sure that the White children are aware and have an ample access to the services of the school that are available for them to have especially regarding healthcare and counseling assistance. On the contrary, they are leaving the minorities unaware of the said services. Hence, most often than not, African American students who have disabilities lack their needs because of the stigma that plagues their race, which was unfortunately applied to them by the society. Purpose of the Study The author of this paper aims to examine the wide differences that occur between multiculturalized populations in the public educational institutions present in the American society. Aside from this, the author also hopes to come up with better institutional systems, which could be applied in public school administrations, which are catering to students who have learning disabilities. Hence, by doing so, this study would then be able to cater to the needs of both the White students as well as the minorities to have an ample and equal share of the services provided by the administration for them. Consequently, the author too, expects that at the How Race Plays a Great Role in the Public School completion of this research, several foundations of change could be established to set the priorities of the public school administration straight back to giving fair service to all the students that they cater to regardless of from what race or minority group they come form. Importance of the Study As mentioned earlier, the issue of service provision to children belonging to the minor races who are present in the American society concerns a large portion of the population of public school institutions. This way, by knowing the realities behind the actual situation that are happening in the said educational establishments, this study would enlighten every reader about the need to be informed and be well serviced by the administration where they enroll their children into. This study should also awaken the less-caring administrations to finally realize that the very reason of their existence is to give fine and fair service to their stakeholders and the includes all the students who are enrolled in their institutions. Hence, as a result, it is expected to convince administrative officers to provide information to everyone else who is enrolled in their schools about the best possible services that they could avail from the school provisions. This could include both therapies and counseling sessions that could help the children get over their learning difficulties free of charge. In this manner, it would not only be the White students who would have access and benefit from the administration’s provisions, but the minorities as well.

Euthanasia Essay: Moral Considerations in the Debate :: Euthanasia Physician Assisted Suicide

Moral Considerations in the Euthanasia Debate      Ã‚   The Judeo-Christian moral tradition celebrates life as the gift of a loving God, and respects the life of each human being because each is made in the image and likeness of God. As Christians we also believe we are redeemed by Christ and called to share eternal life with Him. Our Church views life as a sacred trust, a gift over which we are given stewardship and not absolute dominion. The Church thus opposes all direct attacks on innocent life. As conscientious stewards we have a duty to preserve life, while recognizing certain limits to that duty:    Because human life is the foundation for all other human goods, it has a special value and significance. Life is "the first right of the human person" and "the condition of all the others."[1]    All crimes against life, including "euthanasia or willful suicide," must be opposed.[2] Euthanasia is "an action or an omission which of itself or by intention causes death, in order that all suffering may in this way be eliminated." Its terms of reference are to be found "in the intention of the will and in the methods used."[3] Thus defined, euthanasia is an attack on life which no one has a right to make or request, and which no government or other human authority can legitimately recommend or permit. Although individual guilt may be reduced or absent because of suffering or emotional factors that cloud the conscience, this does not change the objective wrongfulness of the act. It should also be recognized that an apparent plea for death may really be a plea for help and love.    Suffering is a fact of human life, and has special significance for the Christian as an opportunity to share in Christ's redemptive suffering. Nevertheless there is nothing wrong in trying to relieve someone's suffering; in fact it is a positive good to do so, as long as one does not intentionally cause death or interfere with other moral and religious duties.[4]    Everyone has the duty to care for his or her own life and health and to seek necessary medical care from others, but this does not mean that all possible remedies must be used in all circumstances. One is not obliged to use either "extraordinary" means or "disproportionate" means of preserving life -- that is, means which are understood as offering no reasonable hope of benefit or as involving excessive burdens.

A Study of the Service Cycle of Medical Tourism in India

One of the major practices in healthcare is the process of ‘patient outsourcing’, in the form of medical tourism or ‘Medical travel’.   This form of business protocol is becoming hugely popular in the developed countries of the world, as it has tremendous benefits.Medical tourism is a deliberate effort to combine health issues along with travel for tourism and leisure (Health Base, 2006, Recover Discover, 2007). Several organizations may be involved in the process of medical tourism including:-The governments – They are responsible for framing a policy that would ensure regulated flow of tourists from one part of the globe to another to enable effective healthcare provision.   Besides, it would also ensure that the tourists can obtain valid travel documents easily.Hospital Associations – Associations founded between the hospitals of the tourist and the destination country are required to communicate with each other so as to help in the flow of medical tourists.This is to ensure that all ethical and legal issues are addressed, and an effective marketing communication system can exist.   It would be ideal for the patient to first speak to his/her usual healthcare provider before seeking medical facilities in another nation.   Hospitals in the west can also consider recognizing and providing accreditation for hospitals in developing nations, so that the quality standards pre vailing is well-understood.Travel authorities – They are the authorities who are providing valid travel documents and permission required to enable medical treatment in another nation.   The authorities should understand the need and urgency for medical treatment and hence would have to permit such travel.Travel agencies – They would have to communicate with other parties in the destination to ensure that the health and travel needs of the tourist is meet, keeping in mind quality, cost-effectiveness and hassle-free processes.   The travel agency would have to provide the travelers with customized packages that are cost-effective and seem attractive.   They would also have to market the health packages in the West, to demonstrate clear advantages to the ones existing at home.Ministry of Commerce and trade (Hutchinson, 2005, Heatlhbase, 2006 & American University, 2003).Through the process of globalization, many countries are beginning to closely review their econo mic strengths and risks.   If something is costly in one nation, immediately the resources present in other nations would be approached and utilized.   In medical tourism, the individual would be using cost-effective options in order to fulfill their healthcare needs in areas where the limitations may be less.   These limitations can be several and can be utilized to the advantage of the individual.   Some of the limitations which can be met through medical tourism include:-Going from one nation where certain types of treatment are not available, to another where treatment is available.Going from one country to another, where the quality of treatment is better, improved technology and where expertise in health is available, and innovative options are present   Going from one country to another where treatment is provided in a more cost-effective manner Going from one nation to another where medical treatment including surgery is provided in a more timely manner (to reduce the waiting periods for elective surgeries)Including the family members and seeking treatment away from home where the usual stressful factors would not be felt (Hutchinson, 2005, Heatlhbase, 2006 & American University, 2003)Medical tourisms can take place from one nation to another and from one region of a nation to another region within the same nation. The trend today is that many people from the western or developing nations (which have a very restrictive health setup) are moving to the east, where the practices and policies do favor provision of several benefits in healthcare. There are many unique features of the prospects of medical tourism:-The nations which serve as a market for medical tourisms are providing several attractive policies and practicesThey are using vary attractive marketing strategies to encourage business – An example of this would be to combine medical health visits with holidays to exotic tourist destinations.   Many people from the developed nat ions are finding such packages very attractive and are considering them as they are not only cheaper but also meet their customized needs, conveniently.The developing nations such as Thailand, India, Latin America and China, are offering more holistic kind of treatment and are providing several complementary and alternative treatments that deviate away from allopathic medicine.   Many of these treatments have proven to be effective.   Besides, the treatment facilities are provided in more natural kinds of environment, thus encouraging better healing and recovery (Hutchinson, 2005, Heatlhbase, 2006 & American University, 2003).Medical tourism can be held for various reasons including health and wellness tourism, reproductive purposes, alternative treatment strategies, preventive medical care, spa tourism, surgical tourism, dental tourism, diet and nutrition tourism, transplant tourism, cosmetic tourism, spiritual tourism or even for end-of-life purposes.   Often the individual requiring health treatment would also like to include their family members in the process.

Lord of the Flies Play Essay

Lord of the Flies is a play about a group of evacuees who have had a plane crash. All the adults are dead and the group of boys are now left to survive by themselves on a desert island, that at first seems like paradise. They become split into two different groups. One group has Ralph as their leader and they try to stay civilised and normal, but the other group lead by Jack act like savages and at first they only kill a wild pig that is already on the island. The social influence of class divide on the island was shown well by the Pilot theatre company. It was clear to the audience who had a higher status on the island. They used their spoken language as one of the main differences. For example Piggy was from a lower class background and was therefore inferior to the rest of them. He spoke using very common language and the other boys teased him because of it. He was very much an outcast on the island and his clothes were like rags compared to the Public school boy’s posh outfits. Piggy was never part of the group; he always stood slightly on the outside of the circle. One of the cultural influences on the play was a child’s capacity to murder intentionally. This came out through Jack and his followers. The theatre company showed that like the James Bulgier killers they thought about who and why they were going to kill. Their reasons weren’t good reasons but they were enough for them to decide it had to be done. They used their physical strength and power over others like bully’s do. They decided the way to go and if you didn’t fit in then you would be discarded of. It was rather like the war that was going on in the outside world at the time where if you were a Jew you had to be destroyed. The way Jack lead his gang was from a very Fascist viewpoint. At the beginning they used Democracy to decide who was going to be leader and Ralph was the one who was voted for. Jack was very angry with this, as he wanted to be in control. He wanted total power over the rest of the group and he didn’t like the way Ralph tried to organise everyone. In the play the characters built a fire at the top of a hill on the island. The theatre company used a small real fire on the stage and a small red spot light to give the audience the idea of the fire. When the fire spreads out of control they mostly just use themselves and their acting to show the fire. I thought this was very effective because with the real fire on stage the audience could visualise what it would have looked like. I thought that the fire came to represent hope and survival because it was their only way of signalling to passers by where they were. They used Piggy’s glasses to make the fire and they were the only way they could make a fire so these also represented the boy’s survival. Whoever held the glasses was the most powerful person on the island because of what they symbolised and they were taken from Ralph’s gang by Jack. This showed that he was more powerful and fitter than the others. The theatre company also used levels to show his status. They put his camp higher up on the stage, which demonstrates his domination and superiority. He also had the pig’s head from the pig that he killed on a pole at the entrance to his camp to show off his power but also his bloodthirsty madness. At the beginning the lighting was a bright blue in the background and a bright white in the foreground. The lighting scheme darkened throughout the play as the atmosphere became tenser. It was a shock and a strong dramatic anti-climax at the end when the extremely bright white helicopter lights came down. This symbolised the rescue and the return from darkness. White is a very clean colour which contrasted with the dirty greens and reds used for most of the play. It illustrated to the audience the change from a murderous gloom to normality. It is the realisation of what has happened to them on this island. On the first night that they stay on the island the dark red light in Ralph’s camp signifies the fire and all that is attached to that. They cross-faded the darkness to show the divide between the two gangs. There was a back projection behind the action that reflected the action that was taking place on the stage. They used the lighting to illustrate the storm and their fear by creating a lightning effect in the background. Techno music was used in this play to demonstrate the savage, frantic, mad agitated and ritualistic atmosphere on the island. The most noticeable time that it was used was at the beginning of the play during the plane crash. It created tension, anticipation and a climax at the very beginning to get the audience interested right from the start. They also used choir music as a symbol of who they were, their class and their innocence at the beginning. It contrasted greatly with the more sinister sounds in the second half of the play. There were lots of natural sounds used to show that they were out on their own with nature. The audience could always hear always lots of flies making them think about the title of the play. At the end of the play there was calming chill out music to signify the end of the trauma. They used a female voice because it sounds softer, more angelic and soothing. The whole group started the play off with this frantic, repetitive dance. This symbolised the plane crash. There was always a quick pace during the hunts and their movements were slightly jumpy and alert like they were about to pounce on something. It showed the tension, excitement and nerves they felt while they were out to get something. Jack is quite posh so he uses more sophisticated language compared to Piggy. He also wears a hat to show that he is the leader of the choir. This is another thing that sets him higher than the other characters. In the beginning their voices were quite light and jokey. It was like they weren’t taking their situation seriously, but as the play progressed Jack’s voice became sterner, stronger and slightly hysterical. Ralph’s was determined but got weaker and more helpless. Piggy’s was always whiney and attention seeking. I thought that these were good characterisations and I probably would have done it the same, although I might have made Jack slightly meaner than he was. The choir seems very innocent at the start and they are very proud of their uniforms. They are all wearing similar quite formal things to represent their respect for their heritage and their social status. Ralph’s costume is relaxed and laid-back compared to the rests he seems more genuine and open than the Public school boys. Piggy wears scruffy old clothes. Roger was the most savage of them at the start and he also had the least costume. Their clothes are a symbol of civilisation and culture and they try to use them to get back to reality. They clung on to uniforms for security and structure. The costumes are a strong symbol of class and divide. Jack’s gang cover themselves in war paint, feathers and blood showing their savagery. It also represents their strength power and ruthlessness. The more they lost their clothes, the more they lost sight of civilisation. This is the symbol of them turning to the wild. Jack’s gang lost the most clothes and they also becam e the most savage. This play is very much about the survival of the fittest, which is why Jack came out the best because he was willing to do anything he thought he needed to do in order to survive. The play also shows the audience that we are all savages on the inside and that we need society and rules to guide us the direction of civilisation. At the start of the performance Ralph takes up lots of space to show his confidence, but he gradually became more slumped as the play progressed, until he was a crying ball on the floor unable to speak for himself. Jack stood tall throughout the play, which shows us that he beat Ralph both mentally and physically like a bully. Jack takes Ralph’s space away from him to show his strength and fearlessness. The set design was multifunctional. The plane parts were easily moved by the actors unnoticeably during the play and could be to the audience whatever the actors imagined it to be. The wing came to represent death because it was where they killed Simon and it was tipped to create the cliff where they killed Piggy. The wing was also metallic which showed the reflected sun and the heat. They could also use the set to make noises like during the hunts. They banged it to create atmosphere and tension and they ran through it like it was the maze of the jungle. They could change the angles of the set to show the different parts of the island. Ralph’s camp was under the plane, which makes the audience think that they are hiding from Jack. The way the ripped up plane is always on the stage both ruins paradise and is a constant reminder of why they are there. It is also a symbol of the ugliness of what they have done and it shows the divide between the two groups. The plastic backdrop glittered and rippled to show the sea. I thought the way the set was produced by the theatre company was both effective from the audiences point of view and the actors. This is because of the way it could be changed easily and it made the audience fell like they were there too. The divide between the two gangs represented civilisation v savagery. Ralph’s gang representing civilisation and Jack’s gang representing savagery. They both choose their different paths and out there with no one to take charge brute force won over the democratic ways of civilisation. Overall I thought that the Pilot theatre company’s use of Drama Mediums and the Elements of Drama were very effective in communicating the themes and the social, cultural and historical influences on the play. Not only did they use these very well but I also found the performance enjoyable and interesting.