How Do We Use Stories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

How Do We Use Stories - Essay Example Stories are also powerful. They enchant, delight, recall, touch, teach, motivate, inspire and challenge us. They help us understand certain things by creating pictures in our minds. Our lives revolve around stories, and as such, they move us and make us feel alive. Our appetite for stories is a demonstration of our insatiable desire to understand life patterns, an understanding that in addition to providing an ideal intellectual exercise also provides a personal emotional experience. Thus stories offers a platform through which we can reach out to people, and connect with them emotionally. It is therefore imperative that we understand the various forms and occasions that we use stories, the objectives we want to achieve, and the means we employ in our quest for achieving the said objective. The primary motive of a story is to capture a moment or event and then immortalize it. This is how information regarding various cultures and occurrences that took place way before the advent of writing passed down through generations, until this day we are able to either read them in books, or listen to people narrate them. These stories, whether we hear them or read them, have several aspects that tend to remain unchanged over time. For instance, a good number of stories we hear or read focus on human beings, the people. Be it ancient tales or modern stories delivered in a setting such as in an organization, or a story focusing on the environment or of the times before humans came to be, the central focus remains the people, in the form of characters at play, and by extension, the audience. All stories maintain this focus on the people in order to remain relevant, attract the listener or the readers’ attention, and thus pass the information, which as aforementioned, could b e to educate, or just to preserve facts and ideas about the community. Stories also stir up emotions. The preservation of an event or occurrence

Human resource management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Human resource management - Essay Example a brief introduction provides an overall view on the business model that Banco has adopted. The discussion then goes on to focus on the Human Resource Management processes adopted and their relevance to the business context. The current role of a centralised HR operation is examined and suggestions are provided to alter it and increase its suitability to the need of the business. The major issues relate to the direct application of the HR organisation, policies and procedures as used in the banking sector without considering the distinct features of call centre management. In conclusion it is pointed out that the bank has used a ‘one size fits all’ approach when the need was to understand the very distinct demands of call centre operations. It is recommended that the bank review the organisation of HR services for the call centre to facilitate its value-addition to the business. Context and Problem Key characteristics The call centre sector has been growing at a fast rat e as an increasing number of companies seek to gain a competitive advantage of outsourcing task-based jobs. Call centres utilize sophisticated technology to provide better service to an increasingly demanding client base. The sector allows companies to provide 24-hour service to a global market. Call centre sector may be set up as a shared service to offer specialized routine services to a larger corporate or to the customer base. The sector is an outcome of organizations to provide superior service to compete effectively. Banco, a mid-sized retail bank has set up a call centre to counter competitive offerings by providing 24-hour service to and improve service levels at reduced cost. The bank has faced the challenge of coming up to speed on the technological demands of this business. Banco has chosen to manage the call centre centrally and opted to use resources that have no experience with that aspect of the business. Banco Call Centre is located in a high employment and economica lly developed area with a booming service economy. Strong HR practices are required to retain the employees because of presence of external job options. The call centre has employed 35% of its staff on a part-time basis. The focus on service is demonstrated in the structure and standards set by the call centre. The call centre has a local team to decide policy issues comprising section heads and a centre manager with no experience in call centre operations. HR policy and procedures are centrally determined by Banco and are considered inappropriate to call centre requirements. The environment in which Banco is competing involves the presence of an increasingly technology-savvy customer who is aware of the competitive offerings in the banking sector and will quickly switch to the offer of better quality, speed of service and accuracy. Service quality is the differentiator in the business and is determined by the availability of sophisticated technology and mature processes. Competitor banks have created a gap by