My Scholarship and Life Abraod - 844 Words

Growing up in Japan as a child born into an US Air Force family I felt like life was a field trip. The DODEA schools I attended frequently visited Japanese schools to observe how they learned. It was really different and I loved being able to learn from fellow students of the same age, but from a different culture. When my parents decided to settle down in Colorado during my high school years there was no more visiting museums, going to national parks and doing other field trips to immerse myself educationally and recreationally like I did growing up. A lot of my education in high school was stuck in classrooms reading books and listening to lectures about the world. I felt like my education was going backwards because I did a lot less moving and lot more sitting. Growing up I started in DODEA schools where going on field trips was a common occurrence rather than a seldom event. Presently I am nearing college graduation and have yet to study abroad since leaving Japan and would love a summer aboard in Australia to renew my sense of adventure and curiosity. For personal and education reasons I want this summer internship in Australia to reconcile my stagnation and eventually become a Peace Corps volunteer to once again be in a whole different culture teaching and learning. That is why this is the ideal time for me to do an internship with TEAN during this upcoming summer 2014. Although there are many programs that offer Australia as an option to go abroad, it fit my personal

An Effective Modern Human Resource Management - 2277 Words

From the personnel to Human Resource Management requires re-thinking of traditional approaches of changing nature of work, workers and organizations. Efficiency and productivity and also demand fairness and equity for an organization, Human resource gives their vital contributions and is unique. The overall productivity of an organization can give a blow by equity. In the organization, to give a proper balance an effective modern Human Resource Policies is required. The functioning of the organization can disrupt with any disparity factors like job satisfaction or job description training programme or appraisal system. The performance of employees is the base of the foundation of organization. The best performance can only be given by the employees if they are fully aware of their duties and responsibilities. The organization defines all the duties and responsibilities. Organizations are building to achieve some goals or objectives. And thus, achieving those goals requires efforts of number of people, so they are collective rather than individual. A job is called when the worker and work comes together and the role of worker is played properly. Through job analysis information about jobs are obtained. This helps in forming a sound PMS as job analysis helps in securing all sorts of job data. Through this report the reader will get to know about the organization following old traditions of Human Resource deals with Performance Management System. My Dissertation is aShow MoreRelatedHuman Resource Management And Its Importance1517 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction In the 21st century, human society has undergone tremendous changes, it began to change from the industrial economy to a knowledge economy era. Economic globalization and improve the level of global competition, organizations have had to make full use of all their resources to ensure its survival and development. As an important resource organization human resource organization also attracted more and more attention. Effective human resource management has become a key organizational developmentRead MoreHuman Capital : An Organization1475 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction In the contemporary business world, companies are engrossed towards acquisition of talented human capital. Human capital serves as the backbone of any and every organization. In today’s modern business arena, organizations are aware of the fact that it is essential to satisfy and retain talented workers in order to run business functions smoothly and meet the expectations of ultimate customers. Human capital of the organization is considered the internal customer of the company and it has beenRead MoreIntroducing Modern Management1067 Words   |  5 PagesIntroducing Modern Management Management is what runs everyday life, somewhat smoothly while everyone conducts their every day life. â€Å"Management by definition is the process of reaching organizational goals by working with and through people and other organizational resources.† (Certo, Samuel C, Pg 5). Management in the role of a manager, is to guide their employees toward the corporate goals. Managers are able to complete this task by following the management function, which contains severalRead MoreCase Study : Strategic Human Resource Planning908 Words   |  4 PagesStrategic human resource planning has seen the organization adopt effective tactics to help get the best out of employees (Briscoe, Schuler, Tarique, 2012). Google engineers are given the freedom to innovate and develop their innovations. The management does a little oversight to make sure everything is flowing smoothly. The company’s success has been a result of effective strategic planning, which has seen it beat its main c ompetitors Yahoo and Microsoft. Organizing Organizing comes after planningRead MoreImpact Of Hrm Practices On Employee Performance Essay883 Words   |  4 Pages2015) entitled: Islamic human resource practices and organizational performance: some findings in a developing country. The study showed some significant and positive relationships between Islamic human resource practices and organizational performance. A study by (Azmi , 2015) entitled: â€Å"Human Resource Practices and Organizational Performance:A Preliminary Finding of Islamic Organizations in Malaysia†. This study concluded that there is only one Islamic human resource practice – training andRead MoreStrategic Role Of Human Resource Management1550 Words   |  7 Pagesthe face of increasing competitive environment organisation needs to focus on the value of investing human resources as a major competitive advantage. It is important to set a HRM to meet those advantages to meet company’s objectives with the flexible environment. Schuler (1992) defines strategic human resource management as â€Å"the integration and adaption to ensure (1) human resource management is fully with the strategy and the strategic needs of the firm (2) HR polices cohere both across policyRead MoreHuman Resources : A Fundamental Department Of An Organization913 Words   |  4 PagesHuman Resources is a fundamental department of an organisation; this is because it focuses on the management of the personnel within the company. Human resources has been identified as ‘the source of susta inable competitive advantage and success, this is true when human resources management policies and practices are implemented with the main strategies and objectives set by the company itself. Strategic human resources management emphasises the successfulness of combining policies, strategies andRead MoreClassical and Humanist Management Theories Essay1669 Words   |  7 Pages â€Å"Classical and humanist management theories have had a major influenced on modern theories of leadership. Making effective use of appropriate models and theories critically examine whether this is actually the case.† Civilization is the product of those who came before us. The evolution of today’s modern management thinking has grown and developed since nineteenth century and flourished during twentieth. The twentieth century is just part of revolution management theory which started from classicalRead MoreTesting Of Workgroup Ability, Performance And Job Performance970 Words   |  4 PagesMindflash includes testing of workgroup ability, performance and job performance. With non-ambiguous information, which allows decisive decision making in the task environment and market. Providing effective and efficient information to other organizational groups, such as product and customers. Online training is mindful and sympathetic to time. All organizational groups exhibit time sensitivity, while online platforms can be assessed 24/7 by simple login. Information reliability, updates and otherRead MoreTo What Extent Does Hrm Need to Play a Formal Role in Companies732 Words   |  3 Pagesextent does HRM need to play a formal role in companies? Human Resource Management (HRM) can be traced back to ancient times when primitive man was allocated to different tasks based on skills, experience and cultural tradition (Price cited in Slaght Pallant, 2012, p40). Along with the progress of the time, HRM has long been preserved with its fundamental function of work distribution while its format is fully diversified in modern companies (ibid). This essay will illustrate that HRM is crucial

As mentioned by Ruane and Cerulo in Second Thoughts, harsh...

As mentioned by Ruane and Cerulo in Second Thoughts, harsh realities of poverty affect children’s lives in profound ways. Children lack any power in improving their circumstances and depend on adults to gain access to basic necessities. Access to proper healthcare, education, and basic nutrition continues to be an obstacle for children. Poverty impedes children’s aptitude to learn and contributes to poor overall health and mental health. Perhaps most important, poverty becomes a cyclical nature that is difficult to overcome. Children who experience poverty when they are young tend to experience persistent poverty over the course of their entire lives. According to the Child Welfare League of America, the national poverty rate for children†¦show more content†¦All child poverty and federal benefits statistics from the Child Welfare League of America site were collected from 2008 (CWLA, 2010). Since these figures may not include the effects of the 2008 financial crisis, I wanted to find if the crisis might be more severe. Within a year of the economic downturn of 2008 roughly 1.1 million bankruptcy petitions were filed, a 32 percent over the corresponding year. Home foreclosures were up 81 percent and the unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent. The unemployment rate reached its highest level since the early 1980s (Bureau of Labor Statistics). The Census Bureau found that poverty increased in 2011 for the most populous areas in the country. Yet despite a general uptick in those in need of welfare, some states have been less successful in distributing welfare than others. In terms of access to healthcare, 46 states set the income eligibility limit for Medicaid/State CHIP at or above 200% of the federal poverty level for children up to 5. For mothers and children who do qualify, there are oftentimes a waitlist for up to five years. The aforementioned WIC program, developed to improve the nutrition of low-income infants and children, may not be properly publicized to families in need. In 2012, approximatel y seven million infants and toddlers and about two million pregnant women received WIC vouchers. This only represented about one in six of eligible infants and one in ten eligible women (NCCP, 2013). States also haveShow MoreRelatedTaking a Look at AWS Cloud Services728 Words   |  3 PagesAWS provides encryption for the login information of the users. The encryption is provided through Key-Pair. The Public key, Private Key together form a key pair. The public key would be used for encryption (passwords) and the private key would be used for decrypting the data. The creation of Key Pair is well explained in the launching of EC2 instance (Amazon, n.d.) 3.6 AWS services:- AWS offers lot of cloud services for the developers based on their need right from virtual servers to the MongoRead MoreAmazon Web Services ( Aws )809 Words   |  4 Pages Amazon Web Services (AWS),is an on-demandcomputing platform. .Amazon Web Services’ cloud philosophy, increasingly driven by a belief in building architecture that is cost-aware and designed to optimize economies of scale so it can do volume transactions at thin margins.It enable businesses and developers to use web services to build scalable, sophisticated applications.Amazon Web Services provides a highly reliable, scalable, low-cost infrastructure platform in the cloud. WhereasRead MoreNetwork Monitoring With Aws Iot Using Raspberry Pi1013 Words   |  5 PagesTitle of the project: NETWORK MONITORING WITH AWS IOT USING RASPBERRY PI Fundamental Goal of the project The goal is to develop a device that can help to monito the network of personal computers and office computers for 24*7 hours and in addition, to solve the problems of common users, anytime from anyplace in the world. Background of the project Linton (2011, p.44) stated that hacking of network of common users and attacking their personal computers is one of the most threatening problems at presentRead MoreApplication Hosting Using ( Aws ) Amazons Web Service Essay1379 Words   |  6 PagesApplication Hosting Using (AWS) Amazons Web Service Amazon Web Services (AWS) delivers reliable, scalable, and cost-effective computing resources on which to host applications. You can use the following AWS components alone or combined to host application(s) Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). Amazon EC2 provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud. You define the virtual Amazon EC2 environment with the operating system, services, databases, and application platform stack required forRead MoreAmazon Web Services Inc ( Aws ), Pivotal Corp And Datastax Inc.1323 Words   |  6 Pagesthat are using Hadoop technology to improve their business but in this paper I will be talking about only three of them, such as Amazon Web Services Inc (AWS), Pivotal Corp and Datastax Inc. AWS own and maintain the network-connected hardware required for these application services, while you provision and use what you need via a web application. AWS is a provider of cloud computing, which refers to the on-demand delivery of IT resources and appli cations via the Internet with pay-as-you-go pricing.Read MorePersuasive Speech : Aw, You Are A Very Independent Young Lady And I Admire You1314 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"How about, ‘aw, you are a very independent young lady and I admire you for it.’ Something along those lines,† I joked. â€Å"Aw, you are a very independent young lady and I admire that about you,† he mimicked me in an emotionless, screechy tone, while grabbing his third sandwich. â€Å"Are you happy?† Somehow he took what I said and turned it into a mock, which is very rude. â€Å"Sorry, but you really don’t like seeing people cheerful, do you?† â€Å"How do you assume that?† He sat back up, faced my way and smirked;Read MoreSwot Analysis : Iaas On The Cloud Computing Industry1034 Words   |  5 Pagesvendor is AWS as the result of its early entrance. Eyeing the potential market growth in China, AWS entered Chinese cloud computing market with Aliyun competition. Although AWS may face potential threats, such as cutthroat competition, government distrust, limited customer base, and barrier of switching, they have structured strategies to minimize the damage of said threats. Based on the strategies the company applies against the threats in China and its advantage in its home turf, AWS can successfullyRead MoreResearch Questions On Nursing Practice1695 Words   |  7 Pagesrelated to Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome (AWS) complications. There are mild, moderate, and severe symptoms that result from AWS; the first 24 hours from last alcohol consumption has mild symptoms of AWS which include: tremors, anxiety, tachycardia, a nd sweating (Sutton, 2016). Moderate to severe symptoms from AWS are hallucinations, confusion, lack of ability to think clearly, fever, and seizures (Sutton, 2016). Delirium tremens is the most serious complication from AWS which can occur within 2 to 5 daysRead MoreDesign And Implementation Of Modern Home / Office Network Monitoring Project778 Words   |  4 Pagescomponents of this diagram are listed below. 1. AWS-IOT 2. Rule Engine 3. AWS SNS 4. SMS 5. Email 6. Raspberry Publisher 7. AWS Mobile Controller Panel AWS-IOT Project Setup In this project, 6 things are followed for creating network monitoring project. AWS has provided user friendly interface through which below things are created. Step Icon Purpose Create a ting This is a project name to represent the device in the cloud. After creation of the thing, AWS set the name in the registry so that thingsRead MoreAmazon Web Services Essay677 Words   |  3 Pagescenters help Amazon reduce the prices of its AWS offerings. Because of cheaper service provision, there is a flood of new customers for AWS. However, with the advent of new competitors like Google Cloud Engine, there is an increasing stress on Amazon pricing. But, given that any typical business needs both scalable computing and storage, AWS, which offers a complete basket of services is a preferred choice for customers. Furthermore, the investments on AWS improved Amazon’s core business by helping

Looking At The Late Antique World - 963 Words

â€Å"Looking at the Late Antique world,† writes Peter Brown in his seminal work The World of Late Antiquity, â€Å"we are caught between the regretful contemplation of ancient ruins and the excited acclamation of new growth.† Brown’s work covers the years 150-750 AD a period of time too often – and mistakenly – labeled as the â€Å"dark ages.† Brown does not make this mistake. Instead, he challenges what seemed to be a grounded notion that the study of Late Antiquity was one of â€Å"decline and fall.† This was a time of transformation and continuity. Moreover, he moves beyond the narratives of the â€Å"barbarian invasions† that brought about the end of the Roman Empire. There were no barbarian invasions, as they were already gradually becoming Roman. That is, the barbarians had already started to assimilate to Roman culture and, crucially, the Roman Empire did not end with the â€Å"fall of Rome† as its capitol moved East. This is a constant theme running through the works of Brown. Where some historians see decay, he sees growth. Brown was arguing against the works of Mikhail Rostovtzeff and Edward Gibbon. Rostovtzeff evoked a Roman world full of modern economic theory. He used terms such as capitalism and bourgeoisie in his description of the ancient economy (ignoring the fact that they had no conception of these terms, nor did they have a conception of an economy). This led to – and seems to continue today – a debate between â€Å"modernist† and â€Å"primitivist.† While Brown does not deal with thisShow MoreRelatedThe Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne1268 Words   |  6 Pages1630’s many Puritans settled in Boston, Massachusetts, from England. The villages where they settled often included houses, a community garden and a meetinghouse where church services were held. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter utilizes the late 1600’s to reflect on how the church would deal with serious issues including adultery. This raises the question: how does Hawthor ne develop characters to express the corruption of the 1600s and the relationship between church and government? ThroughRead MoreSummary Of The Things : A Story Of The Sixties 1524 Words   |  7 PagesCivilizations 1312 Professor Miller 20 April 2015 Freedom in a Consumer Society â€Å"In a world that was theirs it was almost a regulation always to wish for more than you could have.† Such a world had only just arrived during the early nineteen sixties—with a surge in economic output, an increase in the average income, and the commercialization of mass-produced consumer goods—following the Second World War. This was a time during which France, in particular, transitioned from a class-based, limited-consumptionRead MoreThe Byzantine Empire2040 Words   |  9 Pagesa result of the divide of the Roman Empire into two parts; Eastern and Western. The establishment of the new Rome, the great city of Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) even to this day serves as the invisible border between two parts of the old world. A place were Orthodox Christianity and Islam flourished and a place where Western Culture meet the East. However, was the Byzantine Empire truly a match for the greatness of Rome? The majority of the greatest states had a long heritage and builtRead MoreThe Eastern Slope Of The Mingus Mountain1302 Words   |  6 PagesOn the eastern slope of the Mingus Mountain in central Arizona sits the town of Jerome. Starting its life as a mining town in the late 1800’s, Jerome, at one time, was known as the Wickedest Town in the West. Between its bars, brothels, and gambling establishments, Jerome became one of the one of the most accomplished locales in separating miners from their money. With the dawn of the 1900’s, Jerome became more dignified with the establishment of churches, schools, and businesses catering to itsRead MoreSummary Of Hills Like White Elephants 909 Words   |  4 Pagessurrounding hills resemble white elephants. You may think the comment wasn’t unusual, but it really leads towards her talking about her baby and the abortion with the American. Later the girl remembers that comment she once said about the surrounding hills looking like white elephants. This all symbolizes she may want to keep the baby. The girl even said that the hills only seemed to look like white elephants at first glace, and that they’re actually quite lovely. The girl was comparing the hills to her futureRead MoreCompare And Contrast The Lottery By Shirley Jackson1012 Words   |  5 PagesBreak Nyasia Midgette ENGL 102 October 9, 2017 Thesis Statement: The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthrone stories, Shirley Jackson encourages her readers to question their beliefs, actions, and the world by creating struggle. Page Break Compare and Contrast – Fiction Essay â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† and â€Å"The Lottery† The authors Shirley Jackson, and Nathaniel Hawthrone in The Lottery and The Young Goodman BrownRead More Henry James’ Portrait of a Lady Essay1273 Words   |  6 Pagesthe future. She performed this journey with sightless eyes and took little pleasure in the countries she traversed, decked out though they were in the richest freshness of spring. Her thoughts followed their course through other countries†¹strange-looking, dimly-lighted, pathless lands, in which there was no change of seasons, but only as it seemed, a perpetual dreariness of winter. She had plenty to think about; but it was neither reflexion nor conscious purpose that filled her mind. DisconnectedRead MoreJap An Electronic Wonderland1240 Words   |  5 Pagesnow stands, to prevent future fires from harming the inner city. This temple was named Chinka Jinja and was built on 30,000 square meters of land (â€Å"Akihabara†). Throughout the eighteenth century, and into the nineteenth, Akihabara was know n for its antique and linen shops before electricity came to Tokyo. Although, once electricity was available in Tokyo, Akihabara began to grow as a commercial district with the help of its location between many shopping and business districts (â€Å"Akihabara†). Its commercialRead MoreHow to Say I Am Sorry in English and Vietnamese1487 Words   |  6 Pages | |American |-Combining an expression of apology with an|- A headmaster of a public school is in hurry and| | |ackowledgment of responsibility and an |not looking where he is going. He runs into the | | |offer of repair is the most frequent |janitor, who is carrying a pile of papers. The | | |strategy employed byRead MoreEssay about Enrico Fermi and the Development of the Atomic Bomb1013 Words   |  5 Pageshave offered more consolatory certitude than religion (Poindexter 50). His early aptitude for physics and mathematics was recognized. After his brothers death, the grieving boy browsed through bookstalls at Campo dei Fion in Rome. He found two antique volumes of elementary physics and carried them home#8230; (154). Fermi read them and corrected some of the mathematics. When finished, he discovered something he had not noticed before. They were written in Latin. Due to Fermis excellent achievement

Digital Fortress Chapter 85-87 Free Essays

string(79) " an NSA back door again would make Greg Hale famous beyond his wildest dreams\." Chapter 85 Greg Hale lay curled on the Node 3 floor. Strathmore and Susan had just dragged him across Crypto and bound his hands and feet with twelve-gauge printer cable from the Node 3 laser-printers. Susan couldn’t get over the artful maneuver the commander had just executed. We will write a custom essay sample on Digital Fortress Chapter 85-87 or any similar topic only for you Order Now He faked the call! Somehow Strathmore had captured Hale, saved Susan, and bought himself the time needed to rewrite Digital Fortress. Susan eyed the bound cryptographer uneasily. Hale was breathing heavily. Strathmore sat on the couch with the Berretta propped awkwardly in his lap. Susan returned her attention to Hale’s terminal and continued her random-string search. Her fourth string search ran its course and came up empty. â€Å"Still no luck.† She sighed. â€Å"We may need to wait for David to find Tankado’s copy.† Strathmore gave her a disapproving look. â€Å"If David fails, and Tankado’s key falls into the wrong hands†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Strathmore didn’t need to finish. Susan understood. Until the Digital Fortress file on the Internet had been replaced with Strathmore’s modified version, Tankado’s pass-key was dangerous. â€Å"After we make the switch,† Strathmore added, â€Å"I don’t care how many pass-keys are floating around; the more the merrier.† He motioned for her to continue searching. â€Å"But until then, we’re playing beat-the-clock.† Susan opened her mouth to acknowledge, but her words were drowned out by a sudden deafening blare. The silence of Crypto was shattered by a warning horn from the sublevels. Susan and Strathmore exchanged startled looks. â€Å"What’s that?† Susan yelled, timing her question between the intermittent bursts. â€Å"TRANSLTR!† Strathmore called back, looking troubled. â€Å"It’s too hot! Maybe Hale was right about the aux power not pulling enough freon.† â€Å"What about the auto-abort?† Strathmore thought a moment, then yelled, â€Å"Something must have shorted.† A yellow siren light spun above the Crypto floor and swept a pulsating glare across his face. â€Å"You better abort!† Susan called. Strathmore nodded. There was no telling what would happen if three million silicon processors overheated and decided to ignite. Strathmore needed to get upstairs to his terminal and abort the Digital Fortress run-particularly before anyone outside of Crypto noticed the trouble and decided to send in the cavalry. Strathmore shot a glance at the still-unconscious Hale. He laid the Berretta on a table near Susan and yelled over the sirens, â€Å"Be right back!† As he disappeared through the hole in the Node 3 wall, Strathmore called over his shoulder, â€Å"And find me that pass-key!† Susan eyed the results of her unproductive pass-key search and hoped Strathmore would hurry up and abort. The noise and lights in Crypto felt like a missile launch. On the floor, Hale began to stir. With each blast of the horn, he winced. Susan surprised herself by grabbing the Berretta. Hale opened his eyes to Susan Fletcher standing over him with the gun leveled at his crotch. â€Å"Where’s the pass-key?† Susan demanded. Hale was having trouble getting his bearings. â€Å"Wh-what happened?† â€Å"You blew it, that’s what happened. Now, where’s the passkey?† Hale tried to move his arms but realized he was tied. His face became taut with panic. â€Å"Let me go!† â€Å"I need the pass-key,† Susan repeated. â€Å"I don’t have it! Let me go!† Hale tried to getup. He could barely roll over. Susan yelled between blasts of the horn. â€Å"You’re North Dakota, and Ensei Tankado gave you a copy of his key. I need it now!† â€Å"You’re crazy!† Hale gasped. â€Å"I’m not North Dakota!† He struggled unsuccessfully to free himself. Susan charged angrily. â€Å"Don’t lie to me. Why the hell is all of North Dakota’s mail in your account?† â€Å"I told you before!† Hale pleaded as the horns blared on. â€Å"I snooped Strathmore! That E-mail in my account was mail I copied out of Strathmore’s account-E-mail COMINT stole from Tankado!† â€Å"Bull! You could never snoop the commander’s account!† â€Å"You don’t understand!† Hale yelled. â€Å"There was already a tap on Strathmore’s account!† Hale delivered his words in short bursts between the sirens. â€Å"Someone else put the tap there. I think it was Director Fontaine! I just piggybacked! You’ve got to believe me! That’s how I found out about his plan to rewrite Digital Fortress! I’ve been reading Strathmore’s brainstorms!† Brain Storms? Susan paused. Strathmore had undoubtedly outlined his plans for Digital Fortress using his BrainStorm software. If anyone had snooped the commander’s account, all the information would have been available†¦ â€Å"Rewriting Digital Fortress is sick!† Hale cried. â€Å"You know damn well what it implies-total NSA access!† The sirens blasted, drowning him out, but Hale was possessed. â€Å"You think we’re ready for that responsibility? You think anyone is? It’s fucking shortsighted! You say our government has the people’s best interests at heart? Great! But what happens when some future government doesn’t have our best interests at heart! This technology is forever!† Susan could barely hear him; the noise in Crypto was deafening. Hale struggled to get free. He looked Susan in the eye and kept yelling. â€Å"How the hell do civilians defend themselves against a police state when the guy at the top has access to all their lines of communication? How do they plan a revolt?† Susan had heard this argument many times. The future-governments argument was a stock EFF complaint. â€Å"Strathmore had to be stopped!† Hale screamed as the sirens blasted. â€Å"I swore I’d do it. That’s what I’ve been doing here all day-watching his account, waiting for him to make his move so I could record the switch in progress. I needed proof-evidence that he’d written in a back door. That’s why I copied all his E-mail into my account. It was evidence that he’d been watching Digital Fortress. I planned to go to the press with the information.† Susan’s heart skipped. Had she heard correctly? Suddenly this did sound like Greg Hale. Was it possible? If Hale had known about Strathmore’s plan to release a tainted version of Digital Fortress, he could wait until the whole world was using it and then drop his bombshell-complete with proof! Susan imagined the headlines: Cryptographer Greg Hale unveils secret U.S. plan to control global information! Was it Skipjack all over? Uncovering an NSA back door again would make Greg Hale famous beyond his wildest dreams. You read "Digital Fortress Chapter 85-87" in category "Essay examples" It would also sink the NSA. She suddenly found herself wondering if maybe Hale was telling the truth. No! she decided. Of course not! Hale continued to plead. â€Å"I aborted your tracer because I thought you were looking for me! I thought you suspected Strathmore was being snooped! I didn’t want you to find the leak and trace it back to me!† It was plausible but unlikely. â€Å"Then why’d you kill Chartrukian?† Susan snapped. â€Å"I didn’t!† Hale screamed over the noise. â€Å"Strathmore was the one who pushed him! I saw the whole thing from downstairs! Chartrukian was about to call the Sys-Secs and ruin Strathmore’s plans for the back door!† Hale’s good, Susan thought. He’s got an angle for everything. â€Å"Let me go!† Hale begged. â€Å"I didn’t do anything!† â€Å"Didn’t do anything?† Susan shouted, wondering what was taking Strathmore so long. â€Å"You and Tankado were holding the NSA hostage. At least until you double-crossed him. Tell me,† she pressed, â€Å"did Tankado really die of a heart attack, or did you have one of your buddies take him out?† â€Å"You’re so blind!† Hale yelled. â€Å"Can’t you see I’m not involved? Untie me! Before Security gets here!† â€Å"Security’s not coming,† she snapped flatly. Hale turned white. â€Å"What?† â€Å"Strathmore faked the phone call.† Hale’s eyes went wide. He seemed momentarily paralyzed. Then he began writhing fiercely. â€Å"Strathmore’ll kill me! I know he will! I know too much!† â€Å"Easy, Greg.† The sirens blared as Hale yelled out, â€Å"But I’m innocent!† â€Å"You’re lying! And I have proof!† Susan strode around the ring of terminals. â€Å"Remember that tracer you aborted?† she asked, arriving at her own terminal. â€Å"I sent it again! Shall we see if it’s back yet?† Sure enough, on Susan’s screen, a blinking icon alerted her that her tracer had returned. She palmed her mouse and opened the message. This data will seal Hale’s fate, she thought. Hale is North Dakota. The databox opened. Hale is – Susan stopped. The tracer materialized, and Susan stood in stunned silence. There had to be some mistake; the tracer had fingered someone else-a most unlikely person. Susan steadied herself on the terminal and reread the databox before her. It was the same information Strathmore said he’d received when he ran the tracer! Susan had figured Strathmore had made a mistake, but she knew she’d configured the tracer perfectly. And yet the information on the screen was unthinkable: NDAKOTA = [email protected] â€Å"ET?† Susan demanded, her head swimming. â€Å"Ensei Tankado is North Dakota?† It was inconceivable. If the data was correct, Tankado and his partner were the same person. Susan’s thoughts were suddenly disconnected. She wished the blaring horn would stop. Why doesn’t Strathmore turn that damn thing off? Hale twisted on the floor, straining to see Susan. â€Å"What does it say? Tell me!† Susan blocked out Hale and the chaos around her. Ensei Tankado is North Dakota†¦. She reshuffled the pieces trying to make them fit. If Tankado was North Dakota, then he was sending E-mail to himself†¦ which meant North Dakota didn’t exist. Tankado’s partner was a hoax. North Dakota is a ghost, she said to herself. Smoke and mirrors. The ploy was a brilliant one. Apparently Strathmore had been watching only one side of a tennis match. Since the ball kept coming back, he assumed there was someone on the other side of the net. But Tankado had been playing against a wall. He had been proclaiming the virtues of Digital Fortress in E-mail he’d sent to himself. He had written letters, sent them to an anonymous remailer, and a few hours later, the remailer had sent them right back to him. Now, Susan realized, it was all so obvious. Tankado had wanted the commander to snoop him†¦ he’d wanted him to read the E-mail. Ensei Tankado had created an imaginary insurance policy without ever having to trust another soul with his pass-key. Of course, to make the whole farce seem authentic, Tankado had used a secret account†¦ just secret enough to allay any suspicions that the whole thing was a setup. Tankado was his own partner. North Dakota did not exist. Ensei Tankado was a one-man show. A one-man show. A terrifying thought gripped Susan. Tankado could have used his fake correspondence to convince Strathmore of just about anything. She remembered her first reaction when Strathmore told her about the unbreakable algorithm. She’d sworn it was impossible. The unsettling potential of the situation settled hard in Susan’s stomach. What proof did they actually have that Tankado had really created Digital Fortress? Only a lot of hype in his E-mail. And of course†¦ TRANSLTR. The computer had been locked in an endless loop for almost twenty hours. Susan knew, however, that there were other programs that could keep TRANSLTR busy that long, programs far easier to create than an unbreakable algorithm. Viruses. The chill swept across her body. But how could a virus get into TRANSLTR? Like a voice from the grave, Phil Chartrukian gave the answer. Strathmore bypassed Gauntlet! In a sickening revelation, Susan grasped the truth. Strathmore had downloaded Tankado’s Digital Fortress file and tried to send it into TRANSLTR to break it. But Gauntlet had rejected the file because it contained dangerous mutation strings. Normally Strathmore would have been concerned, but he had seen Tankado’s E-mail-Mutation strings are the trick! Convinced Digital Fortress was safe to load, Strathmore bypassed Gauntlet’s filters and sent the file into TRANSLTR. Susan could barely speak. â€Å"There is no Digital Fortress,† she choked as the sirens blared on. Slowly, weakly, she leaned against her terminal. Tankado had gone fishing for fools†¦ and the NSA had taken the bait. Then, from upstairs, came a long cry of anguish. It was Strathmore. Chapter 86 Trevor Strathmore was hunched at his desk when Susan arrived breathless at his door. His head was down, his sweaty head glistening in the light of his monitor. The horns on the sublevels blared. Susan raced over to his desk. â€Å"Commander?† Strathmore didn’t move. â€Å"Commander! We’ve got to shut down TRANSLTR! We’ve got a-â€Å" â€Å"He got us,† Strathmore said without looking up. â€Å"Tankado fooled us all†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She could tell by the tone of his voice he understood. All of Tankado’s hype about the unbreakable algorithm†¦ auctioning off the pass-key-it was all an act, a charade. Tankado had tricked the NSA into snooping his mail, tricked them into believing he had a partner, and tricked them into downloading a very dangerous file. â€Å"The mutation strings-† Strathmore faltered. â€Å"I know.† The commander looked up slowly. â€Å"The file I downloaded off the Internet†¦ it was a†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Susan tried to stay calm. All the pieces in the game had shifted. There had never been any unbreakable algorithm-never any Digital Fortress. The file Tankado had posted on the Internet was an encrypted virus, probably sealed with some generic, mass-market encryption algorithm, strong enough to keep everyone out of harm’s way-everyone except the NSA. TRANSLTR had cracked the protective seal and released the virus. â€Å"The mutation strings,† the commander croaked. â€Å"Tankado said they were just part of the algorithm.† Strathmore collapsed back onto his desk. Susan understood the commander’s pain. He had been completely taken in. Tankado had never intended to let any computer company buy his algorithm. There was no algorithm. The whole thing was a charade. Digital Fortress was a ghost, a farce, a piece of bait created to tempt the NSA. Every move Strathmore had made, Tankado had been behind the scenes, pulling the strings. â€Å"I bypassed Gauntlet.† The commander groaned. â€Å"You didn’t know.† Strathmore pounded his fist on his desk. â€Å"I should have known! His screen name, for Christ’s sake! NDAKOTA! Look at it!† â€Å"What do you mean?† â€Å"He’s laughing at us! It’s a goddamn anagram!† Susan puzzled a moment. NDAKOTA is an anagram? She pictured the letters and began reshuffling them in her mind. Ndakota†¦ Kadotan†¦ Oktadan†¦ Tandoka†¦ Her knees went weak. Strathmore was right. It was as plain as day. How could they have missed it? North Dakota wasn’t a reference to the U.S. state at all-it was Tankado rubbing salt in the wound! He’d even sent the NSA a warning, a blatant clue that he himself was NDAKOTA. The letters spelled TANKADO. But the best code-breakers in the world had missed it, just as he had planned. â€Å"Tankado was mocking us,† Strathmore said. â€Å"You’ve got to abort TRANSLTR,† Susan declared. Strathmore stared blankly at the wall. â€Å"Commander. Shut it down! God only knows what’s going on in there!† â€Å"I tried,† Strathmore whispered, sounding as faint as she’d ever heard him. â€Å"What do you mean you tried?† Strathmore rotated his screen toward her. His monitor had dimmed to a strange shade of maroon. At the bottom, the dialogue box showed numerous attempts to shut down TRANSLTR. They were all followed by the same response: SORRY. UNABLE TO ABORT. SORRY. UNABLE TO ABORT. SORRY. UNABLE TO ABORT. Susan felt a chill. Unable to abort? But why? She feared she already knew the answer. So this is Tankado’s revenge? Destroying TRANSLTR! For years Ensei Tankado had wanted the world to know about TRANSLTR, but no one had believed him. So he’d decided to destroy the great beast himself. He’d fought to the death for what he believed-the individual’s right to privacy. Downstairs the sirens blared. â€Å"We’ve got to kill all power,† Susan demanded. â€Å"Now!† Susan knew that if they hurried, they could save the great parallel processing machine. Every computer in the world-from Radio Shack PCs to NASA’s satellite control systems-had a built-in fail-safe for situations like this. It wasn’t a glamorous fix, but it always worked. It was known as â€Å"pulling the plug.† By shutting off the remaining power in Crypto, they could force TRANSLTR to shut down. They could remove the virus later. It would be a simple matter of reformatting TRANSLTR’s hard drives. Reformatting would completely erase the computer’s memory-data, programming, virus, everything. In most cases, reformatting resulted in the loss of thousands of files, sometimes years of work. But TRANSLTR was different-it could be reformatted with virtually no loss at all. Parallel processing machines were designed to think, not to remember. Nothing was actually stored inside TRANSLTR. Once it broke a code, it sent the results to the NSA’s main databank in order to – Susan froze. In a stark instant of realization, she brought her hand to her mouth and muffled a scream. â€Å"The main databank!† Strathmore stared into the darkness, his voice disembodied. He’d apparently already made this realization. â€Å"Yes, Susan. The main databank†¦.† Susan nodded blankly. Tankado used TRANSLTR to put a virus in our main databank. Strathmore motioned sickly to his monitor. Susan returned her gaze to the screen in front of her and looked beneath the dialogue box. Across the bottom of the screen were the words: TELL THE WORLD ABOUT TRANSLTR ONLY THE TRUTH WILL SAVE YOU NOW†¦ Susan felt cold. The nation’s most classified information was stored at the NSA: military communication protocols, SIGINT confirmation codes, identities of foreign spies, blueprints for advanced weaponry, digitized documents, trade agreements-the list was unending. â€Å"Tankado wouldn’t dare!† she declared. â€Å"Corrupting a country’s classified records?† Susan couldn’t believe even Ensei Tankado would dare attack the NSA databank. She stared at his message. ONLY THE TRUTH WILL SAVE YOU NOW â€Å"The truth?† she asked. â€Å"The truth about what?† Strathmore was breathing heavily. â€Å"TRANSLTR,† he croaked. â€Å"The truth about TRANSLTR.† Susan nodded. It made perfect sense. Tankado was forcing the NSA to tell the world about TRANSLTR. It was blackmail after all. He was giving the NSA a choice-either tell the world about TRANSLTR or lose your databank. She stared in awe at the text before her. At the bottom of the screen, a single line was blinked menacingly. ENTER PASS-KEY Staring at the pulsating words, Susan understood-the virus, the pass-key, Tankado’s ring, the ingenious blackmail plot. The pass-key had nothing to do with unlocking an algorithm; it was an antidote. The pass-key stopped the virus. Susan had read a lot about viruses like this-deadly programs that included a built-in cure, a secret key that could be used to deactivate them. Tankado never planned to destroy the NSA databank-he just wanted us go public with TRANSLTR! Then he would give us the pass-key, so we could stop the virus! It was now clear to Susan that Tankado’s plan had gone terribly wrong. He had not planned on dying. He’d planned on sitting in a Spanish bar and listening to the CNN press conference about America’s top-secret code-breaking computer. Then he’d planned on calling Strathmore, reading the pass-key off the ring, and saving the databank in the nick of time. After a good laugh, he’d disappear into oblivion, an EFF hero. Susan pounded her fist on the desk. â€Å"We need that ring! It’s the only pass-key!† She now understood-there was no North Dakota, no second pass-key. Even if the NSA went public with TRANSLTR, Tankado was no longer around to save the day. Strathmore was silent. The situation was more serious than Susan had ever imagined. The most shocking thing of all was that Tankado had allowed it to go this far. He had obviously known what would happen if the NSA didn’t get the ring-and yet, in his final seconds of life, he’d given the ring away. He had deliberately tried to keep it from them. Then again, Susan realized, what could she expect Tankado to do-save the ring for them, when he thought the NSA had killed him? Still, Susan couldn’t believe that Tankado would have allowed this to happen. He was a pacifist. He didn’t want to wreak destruction; all he wanted was to set the record straight. This was about TRANSLTR. This was about everyone’s right to keep a secret. This was about letting the world know that the NSA was listening. Deleting the NSA’s databank was an act of aggression Susan could not imagine Ensei Tankado committing. The sirens pulled her back to reality. Susan eyed the debilitated commander and knew what he was thinking. Not only were his plans for a back door in Digital Fortress shot, but his carelessness had put the NSA on the brink of what could turn out to be the worst security disaster in U.S. history. â€Å"Commander, this is not your fault!† she insisted over the blare of the horns. â€Å"If Tankado hadn’t died, we’d have bargaining power-we’d have options!† But Commander Strathmore heard nothing. His life was over. He’d spent thirty years serving his country. This was supposed to be his moment of glory, his piece de resistance-aback door in the world encryption standard. But instead, he had sent a virus into the main databank of the National Security Agency. There was no way to stop it-not without killing power and erasing every last one of the billions of bytes of irretrievable data. Only the ring could save them, and if David hadn’t found the ring by now†¦ â€Å"I need to shut down TRANSLTR!† Susan took control. â€Å"I’m going down to the sublevels to throw the circuit breaker.† Strathmore turned slowly to face her. He was a broken man. â€Å"I’ll do it,† he croaked. He stood up, stumbling as he tried to slide out from behind his desk. Susan sat him back down. â€Å"No,† she barked. â€Å"I’m going.† Her tone left no room for debate. Strathmore put his face in his hands. â€Å"Okay. Bottom floor. Beside the freon pumps.† Susan spun and headed for the door. Halfway there, she turned and looked back. â€Å"Commander,† she yelled. â€Å"This is not over. We’re not beaten yet. If David finds the ring in time, we can save the databank!† Strathmore said nothing. â€Å"Call the databank!† Susan ordered. â€Å"Warn them about the virus! You’re the deputy director of the NSA. You’re a survivor!† In slow motion, Strathmore looked up. Like a man making the decision of a lifetime, he gave her a tragic nod. Determined, Susan tore into the darkness. Chapter 87 The Vespa lurched into the slow lane of the Carretera de Huelva. It was almost dawn, but there was plenty of traffic-young Sevillians returning from their all-night beach verbenas. A van of teenagers laid on its horn and flew by. Becker’s motorcycle felt like a toy out there on the freeway. A quarter of a mile back, a demolished taxi swerved out onto the freeway in a shower of sparks. As it accelerated, it sideswiped a Peugeot 504 and sent it careening onto the grassy median. Becker passed a freeway marker: SEVILLA CENTRO-2 KM. If he could just reach the cover of downtown, he knew he might have a chance. His speedometer read 60 kilometers per hour. Two minutes to the exit. He knew he didn’t have that long. Somewhere behind him, the taxi was gaining. Becker gazed out at the nearing lights of downtown Seville and prayed he would reach them alive. He was only halfway to the exit when the sound of scraping metal loomed up behind him. He hunched on his bike, wrenching the throttle as far as it would go. There was a muffled gunshot, and a bullet sailed by. Becker cut left, weaving back and forth across the lanes in hopes of buying more time. It was no use. The exit ramp was still three hundred yards when the taxi roared to within a few car lengths behind him. Becker knew that in a matter of seconds he would be either shot or run down. He scanned ahead for any possible escape, but the highway was bounded on both sides by steep gravel slopes. Another shot rang out. Becker made his decision. In a scream of rubber and sparks, he leaned violently to his right and swerved off the road. The bike’s tires hit the bottom of the embankment. Becker strained to keep his balance as the Vespa threw up a cloud of gravel and began fish-tailing its way up the slope. The wheels spun wildly, clawing at the loose earth. The little engine whimpered pathetically as it tried to dig in. Becker urged it on, hoping it wouldn’t stall. He didn’t dare look behind him, certain at any moment the taxi would be skidding to a stop, bullets flying. The bullets never came. Becker’s bike broke over the crest of the hill, and he saw it-the centro. The downtown lights spread out before him like a star-filled sky. He gunned his way through some underbrush and out over the curb. His Vespa suddenly felt faster. The Avenue Luis Montoto seemed to race beneath his tires. The soccer stadium zipped past on the left. He was in the clear. It was then that Becker heard the familiar screech of metal on concrete. He looked up. A hundred yards ahead of him, the taxi came roaring up the exit ramp. It skidded out onto Luis Montoto and accelerated directly toward him. Becker knew he should have felt a surge of panic. But he did not. He knew exactly where he was going. He swerved left on Menendez Pelayo and opened the throttle. The bike lurched across a small park and into the cobblestoned corridor of Mateus Gago-the narrow one-way street that led to the portal of Barrio Santa Cruz. Just a little farther, he thought. The taxi followed, thundering closer. It trailed Becker through the gateway of Santa Cruz, ripping off its side mirror on the narrow archway. Becker knew he had won. Santa Cruz was the oldest section of Seville. It had no roads between the buildings, only mazes of narrow walkways built in Roman times. They were only wide enough for pedestrians and the occasional Moped. Becker had once been lost for hours in the narrow caverns. As Becker accelerated down the final stretch of Mateus Gago, Seville’s eleventh-century Gothic cathedral rose like a mountain before him. Directly beside it, the Giralda tower shot 419 feet skyward into the breaking dawn. This was Santa Cruz, home to the second largest cathedral in the world as well as Seville’s oldest, most pious Catholic families. Becker sped across the stone square. There was a single shot, but it was too late. Becker and his motorcycle disappeared down a tiny passageway-Callita de la Virgen. How to cite Digital Fortress Chapter 85-87, Essay examples

Strategic Role Of HR In Mergers & Acquisitions - Myassignmenthelp

Executive Summary In a merger acquisition, role of an HR has emerged as a very critical function. At each stage of merger and acquisition process, HR plays a strategic role. The importance of role of HR part in integration of the merged companies should not be taken lightly and should be handled very carefully and with due planning. At pre acquisition stage, due diligence should be taken before the start of the process and HR must carve out its role in this due diligence stage. Cultural compatibility should also be considered before taking any decision regarding integration of the two companies. HR should analyze the cultural similarities and differences between the two companies. Communication also plays an important role in the integration process. If HR does not give due diligence while deciding the strategy for integration of the merged companies then it might sabotage the entire merger and might result in failure of the merger. Getting Tired of Never-Ending Assignments? Hire an Expert from MyAssignmenthelp and Get the Necessary Assignment Help at a Reasonable Rate. Title Page The report focuses on the strategic role played by HR in a merger and acquisition. In past it has been seen that role of HR has not been given due importance while taking decisions regarding integration of merged companies. This report highlights the strategic role that HR should play in framing strategy for integration of the merged companies. Introduction In the new global economy, as the rules of business are changing, the rate of growth of Merger and Acquisition has acquired a new pace. According to Mergerstat.com for year-to-date of 2002, there have been 4,363 mergers and acquisitions worth over $291.7 billion. The industry breakdown of the top five is as follows (Mergerstat, 2002) Internet 659 deals worth $ 26.06 billion; Healthcare 319 deals worth $75.25 billion; Telecommunications 187 deals worth $11.53 billion; Banking 146 deals worth $11.04 billion; and Semiconductors 47 deals worth $2.4 billion. However the growth in mergers and acquisitions and activity around the world, the volume of capital at stake, and the frequency of merger and acquisitions stand in stand in sharp contrast to the failure rate which is being observed. Literature Review According to study done by KPMG international on mergers and acquisition found that around 75 percent to 83 percent of the mergers fail (PR Newswire, 1999). Here we mean failure as lowered productivity, labour unrest, higher absenteeism, and the l oss of shareholder value. And in some of the cases, it could also be inferred as the well publicized dissolution of combination of the above mentioned factors. As evident from above, human resources could be easily identified as one of the potential factor in MA failure (A Shin, 2004) (Sthal Mendenhall, 2004) (Weber, Shenkar, Raveh, 1996).With the focus towards integration of human capital during merger and acquisitions, human resource (HR) managers are coming more into the picture, and organisations expect them to play a more strategic role, especially so in the case of extensive organisational changes (Bjorkman Soderberg, 2003). Today this requirement becomes more important in the terms that the past decade has been characterized by t he enormous growth in MA. The role of HR becomes more and more complex, as HR needs to integrate its own practices and also provide for two more roles i.e. a strategic role for companywide integration and a support role for business unit transaction (Galpin Herndon, 2000) Every merger and acquisition can be classified into different categories and the issues which become relevant to it are quite dependent on the organisations which are going through the process, and their synergic dependence. According to one of the studies conducted by Mercer Consulting group, some of the key issues which came out to relevance have been explained in the Figure 1 (Harrison). This study analyzed the process of integration on the basis of degree of difficulty and level of importance. Based on this study, the key point which emerges is that addressing the key employee issues become very important, especially so when the mergers are quite large and are strategically very important for maintaining the competitive advantage. A look at the above figure would definitely show the importance and the onus which lies on the HR Department to take the merger and acquisition to a next level of completion. Discussion Every merger and acquisition leads to the integration of the acquired firm to the culture of the new firm, which basically could be divided in the following four stages: Pre Acquisition Foundation Building Rapid Integration Assimilation Every stage of the integration process is the new way forward for HR department to make the acquisition successful. We would take each stage individually and relate it with the strategy to be followed by the HR department. Pre Acquisition In this stage, HR needs to take due diligence before starting of the activity. Beginning at the start of the process, HR must carve out its role in the due diligence process. The concept to be understood is that due diligence is much more than a financial tool. Its a tool for assessing the value of human assets, which are not shown on balance sheet, so as to determine the true value of the deal and its likelihood of the success. First step which needs to be taken is to identify the key peoples and to take immediate steps to keep them engaged with the organisation, even after the deal has been finalized. This means that each business unit needs to be understood, be it the field organisation of stores or be it the process for sales people. Its very important to keep in mind the importance of the field, which is often overlooked during the integration process. Each key individual should be assessed against a set of clearly defined competencies, which would be based on the needs of the new group. The key areas which emerge for due diligence by HR could be as follows: Culture Employee demographics and Competency Analysis (Based on requirements of new group) Key Talent Analysis Compensation and Benefit structure to be adopted, its measure with the existing company and how does it aligns with the parent company Any legal issues such union contracts, pending employee litigation or workers compensation etc. Methodology Apart from the above mentioned areas, its also important to identify and determine the roles needed and identifying the best people who are most suited for them. Most of the times, pivotal people in the organisation, get lost because staffing decisions are made without any plan, without giving thought to equitable process of assessment, and without taking the future needs of business into consideration. Culture Compatibility An important aspect of the pre acquisition strategy is to understand the similarities and differences between the two companies at the outset, so as to compatibility could be determined at the initial stage itself, and relevant decision regarding merger and acquisition could be taken.A 2006 white paper from the Economist Intelligence Unit revealed that 67 percent of survey respondents pointed to cultural integration as both the most important people issue and the most critical success factor in an MA deal (Bundy Hukins, 2009). More recently, a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit titled MA Beyond Borders: Opportunities and Risk, in conjunction with Mercer, found that organisational culture differences and human capital integration issues ranked as the two most significant challenges faced by respondents in recent transactions. HR could play vital role in this aspect, as its the only function which is equipped enough for determining the compatibility. Some of the key areas whi ch need to be focused during this stage could be as follows: History of the company, its reputation in industry, and its product and services Where does the authority lies within the company, is it bureaucratic or freewheeling etc Emotional element involved i.e. what does the employees think about company, management and future? What employee behaviors are the norm and what values and beliefs are behind those norms? Its imperative to identify the cultural areas of dissonance, so that people can dispel misconceptions and begin creating a culture thats right for the new organisation. If this step is not taken at the onset of the process itself, then its quite possible that it could become major point of conflict at the later stage. Integration Planning Any merger and acquisition would not be able to reach to its goal, unless and until a clear plan and timetable is not assigned to it. The plan needs to be broken down by the different functions: What needs to be done? Whos going to do it? When it will be complete? This means that integration efforts need to be undertaken by a full time dedicated team. There should be fixation of responsibility on an integration project manager, who would be free from all the routine responsibilities. The integration project manager would be requiring a special set of competencies such as program management, broad experience in parent company business, and specific functional expertise relevant to the new business. Hence the primary responsibilities which need to be taken care by HR during this phase would be to: Developing the strategies for retaining people Examining compensation and benefit programs Identifying the barriers to a merged culture Creating and implementing a plan for establishing the communication with the newly merged organisation Findings Based on the above responsibilities, following strategy needs to be adopted by the HR Team during the whole process: The HR team that is in charge of the culture integration must start by building a clear view of the context of change and the rationale behind the MA. It must ensure that all parties have a full and comprehensive understanding of the context of the deal and the outcomes that need to be achieved. Next they need to determine the degree of integration in two parts. First, translate the understanding of the deal in terms of the target operational integration. Second, determine the extent of cultural integration required to achieve that operational integration. Then clarify the specific behaviors required to run the combined business and include a behavioral assessment of each organization and an assessment of their combined future state. Follow this by proposing the culture change hypothesis specifically, what changes in behaviors must take place to successfully run the post-deal business. Next identify the drivers needed to influence those behaviors, design the drivers (initiatives) and then implement those drivers through an effective change management process. Finally set up an appropriate measurement system and reinforce the cultural changes. Communication According to a recent Mercer Transatlantic Study, 75 percent of executives surveyed said that communicating with employees and harmonizing corporate culture were the most important factors for post merger integration. Business leaders recognize that they often fall short in this area (Peterson Voules, 2007). The need to communicate is not only required in the later stages, but must be integrated in the whole process from the outset itself. Most of the times, communication efforts from the companies are fragmented with different information and messages going out to investors, employees, managers and customers. Hence, it becomes must that message to all stakeholders must be well planned and consistent in its approach. One of the communication strategies which could be used during the whole process has been provided by the Mercer Consulting Group, which has been given below: During the whole process of communication, the objective of communication should be not only to inform, but also should be to engage the employees hearts and minds. By envisaging the clear vision of the future and gaining commitment to it, the new company would be able to build the loyalty which is critical for the company. Synergies Usually with the help of mergers and acquisitions, companies try to find two synergies: Growth In this phase, role of HR is to identify the key human resources in the acquired company, setting up retention strategies to retain the critical talent, and to create the development plans for the people to prepare them to achieve the required corporate growth. Other issues which would need consideration would be reward and recognition programs, team development, and integration of compensation and benefit programs, so as to ensure the competitiveness to attract and retain the desirable employee. Economies of Scale Most of the times, it has been linked to firing of people. However, for us, achieving synergy, analyses must be done to understand that what the end-game organisation would look like and which positions are truly needed. Once this stage is completed, assessments must be done to decide who would remain and who would leave the organisation. Conclusion Recommendations With the increase in the mergers and acquisitions with improving of world economy, a whole plethora of opportunity lies before HR function to get properly involved in the activity and earn its long terms dues back from the companies. And to attain it, HR function always need to be proactive, and should take initiative on its own to attain this result.