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Are people becoming a technological zombie?

We live in a world of constant changes and developments, be it the infrastructure, our lifestyle
everything keeps changing. Majorly the changes are because of technology and its impact on
the world. Although majorly the impact is positive but there are some side effects also. Most
of us are constantly emerging into our phones, laptops, or any such gadgets. We shut the
noises from the outside world as we plug our earphones in, we keep scrolling social media
sites like Instagram, Facebook to see what our acquaintances are up to. But the reality is that
we are socially available on these social media sites and but not in reality, which is quite
unhealthy. This is what makes us a technological zombie. Thus, it’s hard to say whether
technology is good for us or bad.

Evolution of smart phones

Ever since smartphones have been introduced in 1992, technology has changed and has
reached everywhere. It’s evident that people have become social from anti-social but only
on social media. We see people glued to their phones while walking, talking, eating, some
even have the habit of taking their phones to toilets. No checking the phone in every 5
minutes makes us anxious, in case of any problem we just try to google instead of looking for
solution to that problem ourselves. The quality time we use to spend with our family is no
longer there. Technology surely has some major benefits like it enhances the productivity in
business by speeding up the work while also taking care of the product or service quality
various new methods of business-like e-commerce has given rise to online shopping which is
a benefit got both the organisation as well as the consumers.

Technological methods have streamlined the production process while also mitigating the
wastage. Things like digital library, free online music, games are created easily and provided
to the consumer. But these all come with inherent disadvantages. Technological up-gradation
has led to loss of direct communication or interaction between two people. Messaging has
become a medium for inviting people to ceremonies or social occasions, instead of visiting
people personally to invite them. It’s surely convenient but it making us lethargic and lazy as
we are now hardly exposed to outdoor activities because of which there are high chances of
falling sick or ill. Basically, technology has become like an addiction for us which control our
ability to think and perform. We are no longer able to think creatively as we depend on
technology, our phones or computers to think for us and find information for us. This trend
has impacted our ability to process information and analyse. It’s time we must think about
this problem and prevent ourselves from being technological zombies.

Influence of mobile phones: pros and cons

Cell phones have become the most popular and essential electronic device for people today.
Day by day these are becoming technologically advanced as the users can now send or take
pictures their phone, they can interact via video call or even conduct a meeting on these
phones, users can listen to music, play games, watch movies and what not, the list is endless.
But with every advantage there is a disadvantage as excessive usage can cause harm to the
user.

Pros

 Cell Phones allow easy access to internet which can help to find solution to various
problems rapidly. This can be used work purpose, for studies or even to look for some
interesting food recipes.
 Cell phones can be used to keep a check on their children to make sure that they are
safe.
 Cell phones allow parents and children to stay in touch with each other, discuss child’s
progress, inform the parents in case of any issue or during emergency situations.
 Cell phones have high level of portability inline the landlines which cannot be carried
everywhere. But call hones can easily be carried wherever required.
 Cell phones are helping to save money because various new features like long distance
calls, free texting, are benefiting the families and friends who stay in different states
or even countries to interact with each other, without paying the extra cost.
 Research indicates that cell phones have saved many lives as it gives easy and quick
function to access the police, hospitals or ambulance to respond to the emergency
situations.

Cons
  Due to cell phones, cheating in schools have become a major issue because students
carry cell phones to school, they text answers to each other during exams. Since their
phones have internet, they can easily google the answers to the question and when
they are caught cheating, they face some serious issues.
 Education for children is quite expensive and on top pf that the expenses of Cell
phones become difficult for the parents to manage.
 Cell phones lead to a high level of danger as most of the road accidents are caused
because the driver is texting while driving or he is talking on the phone while driving.
Even though the cell phones now come with hands-free device or voice navigation
these still cause distraction which leads to an accident.
 Cell phones are making users lazy and lethargic. where there were no cell phones
people use to go out and socialize, meet each other, go for outdoor activities. But now
the same people are more on social media sites, they talk on the phone but not in
person, there is hardly any outdoor activities and all this is also causing health
problems.
 Cell phones have become an addiction and day by day it’s becoming difficult to get rid
of it. It makes people anxious, nervous and obsessed which is not a good thing.

Technology and education

Technology has expanded access to education. Earlier there was hardly any access to the
internet for books or articles but there are unlimited opportunities for students to research
and this is because of advancement in technology. Massive amount of information is available
online today in the form of books, podcasts, articles, images, videos, etc. Not only there is
unlimited access to information online but there are various opportunities for collaboration
and communication because of technology. until now collaboration and communication were
limited to classroom learning or tuitions but now a student in India can be taught by a tutor
in New York, this is what technology done for the students. Technological development has
not only enhanced the living standard of the user but also enhanced education. Technology
has become a major tool in terms of resources and to connect with each other, for instance:
  Technology helps to attain the learning material easily – Technology is not just
informative but also interactive. It allows the students to research, find evidence, and
learn things that they are passionate about. for instance, students these days study
geography google maps, instead of looking at a globe or a paper map.
 Helps to deal with real world issues – Students can research on real world issues
instantly to understand the concepts or real-life problems or even real people that
they are taught about in class.
 Models and Stimulation – There are some activities which are just impossible without
technology like modelling and stimulation. Creating models with the help of
technology show how a tornado develops, how the planet moves, how dinosaurs lived
etc. Instead of static models the students will get to see the dynamic models.
 Debate and forums- Internet tools and various software’s help in creating online
groups, communities and web pages that connects the students with teachers around
the world. They can ask question to these teachers, take suggestions and feedback
from them. This helps the students to refine their thinking leading to better
understanding of the concepts.
 Online coaching – The role of a teacher is not just to teach students but they also have
to support and guide the students towards their career path. This coaching or
mentoring can be provided to the students online via internet. the teachers can teach
the students from the comfort of their home as per their convivence.

Technology is one such powerful tool that is supporting and transforming the education in
various ways. It has made life a lot more convenient for the students and also for the teachers
by providing instructional materials to helping the people to learn, collaborate and work
together. It’s totally up to the students and the teachers how they make use of technology,
they should be efficient enough to take advantage and grab the opportunities provided to
them because of technological upgradation.

Animal experimentation for any reason is wrong.

Animals are being used for various experiments related to medicines, skincare etc. Using
animals for such experiments is not only cruel but its ineffective and unethical also. Animals
are tested for medicine related to various human diseases like cancer, heart disease, HIV,
Parkinson which even the animals do not suffer from. This means that the first the disease is
induced artificially in animals and then treated with the medicines developed in the form of
experiments. This way neither the right treatment is developed for human beings and major
harm is caused to animals. Research indicates that more than 85% of drugs fail in human trial
in spite of promising results on animal’s test. Poisoning the animals, giving them shocks, killing
them, burning them is what organisations do for testing their products. These atrocious acts
are committed outside the laboratories. When it comes to human beings they are always
asked if they want to participate, whether they agree to the terms and conditions before they
take, they experiment. But when it comes to life-threatening experiments there is no system
of informed consent for animals. They are used for various experiments because they are not
knowledgeable as human beings.

Experiments conducted on animals are mostly unsuccessful

One of the major diseases is caused due to smoking is lung cancer. Its really funny how animals
are used to test the medicines for lung cancer. Have any of us ever seen an animal smoking?
Then how can animals used to find a cure for this human disease. Research indicates that only
5% to 15% of tests on animals are successful rest 80-95% lead to various side effects on
animals due to which most of the animals die.

It’s time that experts and professionals should understand that cure for human should be
tested on humans only because that is what makes sense. Some of the organisations like
Epiderm, Skinethic have developed human like systems that can be used for testing the
chemical reactions. The outcome of these experiments is 90% accurate which is a far better
option than using animals for testing. According to PETA, “Animals are infected with diseases
that they would never normally contract, tiny mice grew tumours as large as their own bodies,
kittens are purposely blinded, rats are made to suffer seizures, and primates’ skulls are cut
open and electrodes are implanted in them. Experimenters force-feed chemicals to animals,
conduct repeated surgeries on them, implant wires in their brains, crush their spines, and
much more.”

Thus it’s important that each one of us should understand and abide by is that animals never
gave us the permission to experiment in them, the outcome of the experiments conducted
on animals will not be same on the humans. Non animal testing methods should be adopted
as that is what logical as well as ethical at the same time

Understanding the role of human resource management in

organisations.

Human resource management is an essential component of a successful business or an

organisation. It is considered as the backbone of any organisation. Human resource
management is the management of people, the employment practices and policies so the
organisation can function efficiently. Effective human resource management is crucial for any
organisation as its purpose to hold the staff members while also managing the risks related
to staff.

Strategic Role of Human resource management

The human resource management professionals develop strategies to manage the team and
how can they act as a resource for the organisations or the business. Their role is to recruit
the employees, selecting the right candidates for the right position as per the skills.
Coordination employee benefits and also developing strategies for employee training. The
experts emphasize on training for employees so that they can attain the company objectives
and goals.

Improvising Skills

Every department of an organisation includes managers and HR professionals who work

together to develop and train the employees skills to that their performance can be
enhanced. When the performance of the employees is enhanced it impacts the function of
the organisation positively leading to growth and profitability. For instance, the HR experts in
an organisation may supervise the employees for different roles and responsibilities in an
organisation.
Loyalty and Commitment

The human resource specialists and experts recommend various strategies that can help to
enhance employee commitment towards the organisation. This starts during the recruitment
process by placing the candidates for as per their skills and qualifications. Once the employees
are hired, they should be committed towards their work. The aim is to attain competitive
advantage which revolves around the services and products offered by the company. To build
effective human resources the organisations should hunt for talented employees and also
implement strategies to retain them in the organisation. The game is not to hire the
candidates but to keep those candidates so that they can stay committed and grow in the
organisation.

Staying Competitive

Effective human resource management requires strategic planning while also adapting to the
changing needs of the business and the employer to sustain in the competitive market. To
stay competitive its important to retain the talented workforce for which its essential to
provide competitive packages to employees so that they are not taken by the rivals company
by offering them better packages Not only financial benefits but the employees should also
be offered with other perks and benefits like flexible working hours , retirement plans ,
insurance plan etc . Keeping the employees satisfied is important to decrease the turnover
rate. The HR professionals try to engage with the employees to make them more productive.
For this the professionals try to share every news and decision made by the management with
the employees, take suggestions and feedback from them so that they feel valued.

Organizational Emergence: Business Start-Up Issues

Starting a business can, he quite exhausting but also fulfilling. It has some complications that
one can never imagine. Knowing the upcoming challenges and risks in advance can be of great
help as it prepares the person for future to avoid the common pitfalls. Today the start-ups are
exploding in every part of the world. the enthusiastic millennials are motivated to constantly
think and bring up something new with the help of innovation and technology. In spite of so
much effort and commitment towards the work, most of the start-ups fail in the first place.
Let’s see why: -
  Financial issues - Most of the start-up business don’t do well because of lack of finance
and other resources. Reason being that the owners borrow money based on their
ideas of successful business and not for the worst-case scenario. It’s good that the
start-up owners are confident and optimistic about their work but they should be
prepared for the worst scenario also. Without adequate finance or low sales, the
business can end before it even starts to grow.
 Ineffective marketing- Another problem for business start-ups is that the owners are
in hurry to start and elaborate the business because of which they use marketing
techniques that are no longer effective like print media, or radio commercials. The
cost related to these marketing and advertising techniques is high and it goes in vain
as people these days prefer internet to check about the details of new products and
services. Before promoting or advertising about the product it’s important to be aware
of the target market and accordingly chose the mode of advertisement with the
appropriate content or information that should reach the target market.
 It’s not a one man’s job – one common problem with start-up owners is that they think
that they can manage doing everything all by themselves and that they don’t need
anyone in the initial phase. This surely will sound cost effective but this is not a wise
decision. There may not be a requirement for full time employees but it’s a good idea
to at least hire two efficient team mates for decision making, a lawyer and an
accountant for accounting related work and other documentation along. Some
experienced and reliable assistance is necessary to avoid common business mistakes.
 Ineffective pricing strategy – It’s important to understand that there are various other
rival companies in the market who may be better than us, who may be providing
better quality products at lower prices. But pricing the products too low can delay the
process of turning the expenses into profit. It’s important to keep competitive price
but not low pricing.

Language Issues in Multinational Management

A multinational organisation is a large firm headquartered in one country but has its
operations in several countries. The degree of multinationalism depends on the number and
size of foreign subsidiaries, the proportion of assets and revenue, range of activities that are
responsible for sales, marketing and production. In today’s world of globalization most of the
firms are operating internationally. This means that their business is spread across borders
and people working in such companies are confronted with different language and difference
in culture. Culture and language are both related to each other. When a person tries to learn
foreign language, he also attains an understanding of approaching a new culture which is like
a challenge.

Speaking English is just not enough

Its commonly argued that those from English background can easily survive in a multinational
management. English language has become a necessity for business but just knowing and
speaking in English does not solve the problem of language issues in multinational
management. The wide use of English language has not yet rendered the corporate world
monolingual. Research indicates that the employees in multinational corporations
communicate between several languages which also includes their home country language.
Most of the organisations adopt English as their common corporate language but it’s not
necessary that this language will work for every country. For instance, in India, people try to
use English but no matter how hard they try English always goes parallel with the home
country’s language like Hindi.

Bridging the language gap in multinational management

It’s clear from the research that large organisations face cultural and ethnic differences
because of which they face challenges related to language also. The relationships in
multinational management depend on largely depends on the communication level and
communication depends on language and other skills. Difference in language can impact the
relationship negatively and thus it’s important to bridge this gap. The idea is to choose one
common corporate language which should be given priority for internal communication.
When the top management starts using this common language then eventually all the internal
staff members will also abide by it. This will make communication easier and more effective.
Global competency is no longer a choice because of increasing level of competition and
globalization. Having a common language will ease, the work as the employees will not
struggle with the language problem and they will invest more time to enhance their
performance. Another strategy to bridge the language gap is to firstly bridge the cultural gap
by understanding the culture of the team members. Just translating words to the other
person's language won’t help as it will not sound as it should. For example, while taking to
the target consumers it’s important to understand their culture rather than just conveying
about the product in marketing language. Bridging language barriers will of great benefit not
only to the business or the organisation but also to the employees.

Holistic Approaches to Business Planning

The professionals today work and live in exciting times which are also challenging. Due to
advancement in technology and globalisation the organisation constantly faces changes in
terms of automation, new business models, innovation, service offerings and also changing
consumer expectations. Staying ahead of the curve in today’s business environment has
become quite challenging. The managers are the leaders have to face some daunting tasks of
trying to adopt the changes. They have to consider various questions like, whether they have
chosen the right employees for the right job position, how can the skills of employees be used
strategically, how can the team be prepared to become successful.

Most of the managers have to wait to realize and identify the actual problems in their
employees. Once they identify what the problem is, they use these problems for the purpose
of training. They set the training budget, preparer the plan and amount of time for employee
training every year. After that they wait and analyse whether the training has actually helped
to solve the problems or not, whether the employee performance has been improved or not.
High performing organisations foster a culture of constant learning and development and
consider taking holistic approach to train and develop their people

Learning and development strategy

A holistic approach to learn and develop means establishing a strategy that is well defined
and understood by the employees. The mission and visions should be aligned to the
organisational goals, more time should be spent on different areas of learning and
development, including training, how training will be provided, maintained and
communicated. It’s the leader’s responsibility to cultivate a mindset where their employees
have the strong desire to learn and also share their knowledge and skills with other members
of the organisation. The employees should be educated about the importance of training.
Also, they should be influenced to seek opportunities. Ways to reward the employees should
also be considered because rewards act as incentives which encourage the employees to
perform better.

Talent management.

Talent management should also be well aligned with learning and development. To do this
the managers have to start developing well defined roles, skills and competencies for each
level is important to create career path. This provides a framework related to training classes.
This will include a catalogue for training and development program along with well-defined
learning paths. The process of how the training course will be conducted, how will they be
maintained, steps for new training etc. will be included.

Management technology

One most effective function of learning and development program will be making the best
use of technology for effectively managing the training programs. If the learning and
management program is set correctly with the help of technology then it will become quite
easy for the employees to see their career paths. Technology will also help to monitor the
completion of training courses and the progress made by the employees who took the
training programs.

Conflict Management in Work Teams

What is a conflict?

In a multinational management or even in small medium enterprise the employees are from
different cultural background, different beliefs, values because of which there is difference in
the thinking process and decision-making style. People tend to consider their values and
beliefs while making certain decisions, they have their own way to doing business. This is what
leads to conflict at workplace or between the teams Its not necessary that a conflict always
leads to negative impact, at times it encourages the expression of new suggestions and ideas
which could lead to a better way of conducting business. Conflict becomes negative when the
disagreement between the team members are ignored and when the communication
becomes unprofessional. For a smooth and efficient working of an organisation its important
to manage conflict.
How to manage conflict

Some of the techniques which can be considered are: -

 Firstly, the employees should be trained to resolve conflicts in a professional way

without including the management in it. Every team member should be aware of the
protocol that needs to be followed to resolve conflicts with each other during a
particular situation. For this the team members can consider arranging meetings
between the parties involved., both the parties should share their view point and
solution to the problem. In case the decision is not being made only then the
management should be involved.
 Another way to settle the dispute is by bringing in the parties involved and mediate a
discussion. Both the parties will be given a change to share their problems, a solution
to the problem will be generated by the management after considering the issues
faced but the parties involved and if both the parties agree with the solution then the
decision will be taken accordingly. In this case if one party is found wrong or guilty
then an action will be taken against that party to make sure that no team member
repeats this again.
 Conflicts at workplace should never be avoided. It’s the responsibility of the senior
management to make sure that the conflict is addressed and the employees are
satisfied with the decision. If the conflict is not managed correctly then it will impact
the work environment negatively because of which the employee’s performance will
go down. So the sooner the action is taken the better it is for the employees and the
whole organisation. Left out conflicts or unchecked ones will spread the problem to
the whole team and then to the whole organisation which will spoil the professional
attitude of individuals leading to negative work environment. It’s important that the
managers should keep an eye on employees, the gossip around the office and look out
for signs of negatively in workplace so that it can be controlled.
 Lastly, steps should be creating an open and professional work environment where
there is open communication better the members and the management, the
employees should eb well informed about the comoany decisions, the employees
should eb asked for their suggestions and feedback so that they feel valued. This will
result in less conflicts and a positive work environment leading to better work
efficiency.