Systematisation of Catalogue Integration

Systematisation of Catalogue Integration ABSTRACT: Catalogue integration is a very essential and difficult job which needs to be carried out by various commercial portals and commerce search engines to built and consolidate the products gathered from various data providers. In this paper we discuss about an automated mechanism for integrating products from various providers and thus the process is considered from both the views of portal catalogue and the vendor providing catalogue. This commercial portal has its own taxonomy for all the products which is named as the master taxonomy and the data provider organizes its products in a different taxonomy called as the taxonomy provider. This methodology is based on the taxonomy-aware processing step that adjusts the results of a text based classification so that the products that are similar to the provider’s catalogue will appear closer in the master catalogue. To the best of our knowledge , this is the first unique approach that uses structure of taxonomies in order to upgrade the catalogue integration. The  proposed algorithm is scalable and can be applied to large data-sets in web. The algorithm is implemented on real- world data and has greater accuracy as it takes into account that the relationships between the product categories. INTRODUCTION: The internet is no longer an academic and research oriented network but it is an open book with endless commercial opportunities. Online shopping has increased in recent times. These shopping websites have separate portals which can manage the sellers of the site where products arrive from multiple sellers. This includes e-commerce search engines such as Flipkart,Amazon , Sanpdeal and many common commercial search engines such as google product search and Bing shopping. Each seller will have a separate catalogue for the product available. Internet marketplace are now faced with new challenges that arises from the need to shamelessly integrate enormous number of product catalogue from different sources. Product categorization is the main task that needs to be carried out in here. Hence, we need some mechanism which combines both the approaches, provides accurate classification of products and also scalable to large volume of dataset that is typical on the web. EXISTING SYSTEM: In the existing system there is a difficulty for the customer or the provider to update the details of a product. The ecommerce website has a master catalogue according to which the provider has to upload his/her catalogue of a product. If this catalogue does not match with the master catalogue, then the product will not be accepted by the e-commerce website. This will create a problem for the providers who are un aware of the master catalogue. Not all the providers are aware of these technological details and restrictions. The existing system has imposed more restrictions for the upload of products, which can create a backlog in the business of that shopping website. PROBLEM DEFINITION: Given a source catalogue Ks=(Ps, S,s) that corresponds to some provider’s catalogue defined over the source taxonomy S=(Cs, Es), and a target (or master) catalogue taxonomy Kt = (Pt,T, t) that corresponds to the catalogue of the commercial portal defined over the target (master) taxonomy T = (Ct, Et). The goal is to learn a cross-catalogue labelling function function l: Ps -> Ct that maps products of the source catalogue to the categories of the target catalogue taxonomy. PROJECT SCOPE: Here it makes use of provider taxonomy information to categorize products coming from data providers to the master taxonomy. This approach is based on taxonomy-aware processing step that adjusts the results of a text-based classifier so that the products that are in near-by categories in the provider taxonomy will be assigned near-by categories in the master taxonomy. TACI is scalable to large volume of datasets and it has linear running time with respect to number of input products. It exploits the full structure of the taxonomy, defining relationships between items that belong to different categories, based on the relationship of the categories in the taxonomy tree. TACI provides accurate results when compared other existing approaches SYSTEM DESIGN: This chapter describes the features and modular design of the proposed algorithm. Unlike existing approaches the proposed algorithm explores the entire taxonomy of the provider and master catalogs to find out a classification of products from providers catalog in master taxonomy. The formulation of the taxonomy-aware catalog integration problem is based on structured prediction problem. The optimized classification of products is achieved by designing the algorithm using metric labelling approach. Thus the proposed algorithm involves calculating two measures: Cost indicating assignment of products to categories Cost indicating strength of relationships among product categories Since the existing approaches considered categories as flat collection of classes, pair-wise relationships are considered and hence suffered scalability issues. The proposed algorithm exploits the taxonomy structure to find out the relationship among the categories and uses them to prune the search space thus making the algorithm scalable. Thus the algorithm has linear running time with respect to the input data and is applicable to larger datasets. FUNCTIONAL STEPS: The Taxonomy Aware Catalog Integration is a 2 step process. Base Classification Step: This step does not consider taxonomy structure and utilizes general text classifier. Finds Assignment Cost. Taxonomy-Aware Processing Step: This step involves exploiting the taxonomy structure of both source and target catalogs. Finds Separation Cost. MODULAR DESIGN: PSEUDO CODE: Input: Source catalog Ks, Target taxonomy T, base classifier b, and parameters à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ±,k, and ÃŽ ³ Output: A labeling vector à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã¢â‚¬Å" Fs for all x ц Ps do Ï„*Ï„ ц Ct PÏ„b[Ï„|x] if PÏ„b[Ï„*|x] >= à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ± then à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã¢â‚¬Å"x Fà ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ±Ãƒ ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ± U {x} else Oà ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ± à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ± U {x} Compute TOPk{x} Compute candidate pairs H à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ±,k Initialize hash table ÃŽ ¨ to empty for all (ÏÆ', Ï„) â‚ ¬ H à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ±,k do ÃŽ ¨[(ÏÆ', Ï„)]=h (ÏÆ', Ï„) for all x ц O à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ± do à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã¢â‚¬Å"x Ï„ ц TOP k ( x ) { (1- ÃŽ ³) A COST(x,Ï„)+ ÃŽ ³ ÃŽ ¨[ (sx, Ï„)] } BASE CLASSIFICATION STEPS This step does not consider the structure of both provider and master taxonomies. It uses Naive Bayes text classification result and à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ± value to distinguish between fixed and open products. The fixed products are the set of products in the provider catalog with probability of categories greater than the threshold value and thus, Naive Bayes result is taken as the correct category. TAXONOMY AWARE PROCESSING STEP This step involves exploiting the taxonomy structure to find out the relationships among the categories.This needs to find the similarity measure between two categories in both source and target taxonomies. Pair of products (x,y) assigned to category pair having greater similarity measure in provider taxonomy should be assigned to category pair having greater similarity measure in master taxonomy which is ensured by the penalty function (ÃŽ ´). Absolute difference gives the difference between similarity values obtained for a category pair in both source and target taxonomies. Thus this helps in finding out the cost of separating a pair of products which is given by the separation cost. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORKS: With the proliferation of data sharing applications that involve multiple data providers the development of automated techniques for catalog integration will be crucial to their success. In this paper, we presented an efficient and scalable automated approach to catalog integration that is based on the use of source category and taxonomy structure information. TACI is a pioneer to catalog integration which exploits the structure of taxonomies to enhance catalog integration with greater accuracy. Here, we have explained with product integration in shopping portals. However, this technique can also be applied to many other important domains which deploy the concept of multiple data sources which contains several categories to be integrated to a single place in a unique way. This includes important verticals such as Local, Travel, Entertainment, etc. This technique was carried out as a supervised learning technique. For future work, we would like to explore semisupervised learning techniques to incrementally retrain the base classifier with elements chosen during the taxonomy-aware calibration step.

Casefile Method – Answer to Casefile 1.1

MEMORANDUM 03. 01. 2010 TO: FROM: RE: Daphne Matthews Alex Associate – 4667 Memo Assignment 1: Who Does the Pastry? I. Introduction Collins was hired as Head Chef at the Marrimount Hotel and believed that this job came with the inherent authority to choose his assistant chefs, even though nothing of this was mentioned in the contract for employment. Therefore, when Crest, owner of the Marrimount, attempted to determine Collins's assistants, Collins quit his job and went to work for the Treadwell Center. The contract It may actually be good for Collins to argue that there was no contract between himself and Crest. First, there was no detailed employment agreement, just a letter signifying the contract terms. The letter referred to itself as a contract lasting for â€Å"five years from the signature thereof. † However, presumably it was never signed and therefore never consummated. Secondly, Collins could argue that this is an agreement in violation of the statute of frauds, since it requires more than one year to perform and was not signed. Therefore, if Collins argues that he never signed nor agreed to the contract terms, perhaps he can avoid, altogether, the issues of breach of fiduciary duty and the injunction against working for a competitor. However, it seems evident that both Collins and Crest considered the agreement to be a binding employment contract. This is not merely an oral agreement to be finalized at a later date, as was the case in Tropicana Hotel Corporation v. Speer. Collins demonstrated an immediate intent to be bound by the agreement by moving to New York from Atlanta and performing for a year under the contract. Therefore, since it is likely that the court will find a five-year contract existed and the contract was breached, the question becomes who is liable for the breach? III. Who breached first? The facts are undisputed that Collins left the kitchen upon the hiring of an unacceptable pastry chef. This would likely constitute a breach of Collins’s employment contract absent any other considerations. However, as the Kansas court states: â€Å"A party is not liable for a material failure of performance if it can show that the other party committed a prior material breach of the contract; in such event, the prior breach discharged the first party's own duty to perform. Therefore, if it can be shown that Marrimount breached its contract by preventing Collins from choosing his own assistant chefs, Collins can avoid Crest’s allegations of breach of fiduciary duty and the injunction against working for a competitor since Crest breached the contract first. II. a. Argument that Crest breached first i. Define â€Å"head chef† to determine duties The Supreme Court of Virginia stated in Neely v. White, â€Å"Before partial failure of perfor mance of one party will excuse the other from performing his contract or give him a right of rescission, the act failed to be performed must go to the root of the contract. Therefore, Collins must show that the overruling of his choice for pastry chef and the hiring of an unacceptable assistant chef constitutes a material breach of contract. The chief dispute is over what duties are included in a position of Head Chef. The written agreement merely states that Collins will â€Å"assume the duties of head chef,† without stating what those duties are. It might be helpful to point out that the general rule with ambiguities in a contract is that the contract will be construed against the drafter, in this case, Crest. Additionally, it is helpful that Collins states in his deposition that it is â€Å"industry standard† for a head chef to select his own assistants, much like a basketball coach selects the starting lineup, not the athletic director who hired him. Typically, â€Å"when evidence of custom and usage of the trade is used to interpret a contract and the issue is disputed, summary judgment is inappropriate†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Nadherny v. Roseland Property Company, Inc. ). It is also helpful to our case that Mrs. Stein states in her deposition, â€Å"the head chef runs the dining room. † While not acknowledging the specific ability to hire, Mrs. Stein is definitely associating Collins’s role as more managerial than Crest is claiming he had. Further, Collins was able to hire his own dessert chef without interference, creating a presumption that the hiring of his team was within his authority. More logically, this is a big hotel that was seeking Collins out because he was known for preparing gourmet meals for large groups. A Head Chef is more than a cook. They are in charge of the dining room, carefully selecting staff that can help prepare these large meals that would not be possible to create with just one person. This was a managerial or executive position as much as it was a cooking one. Crest was not just looking for a cook when they hired Collins; they were looking for a Head Chef. By taking away Collins’s ability to hire and fire his â€Å"team† they materially breached the contract to employ Collins as the Head Chef. A court will likely find such an argument persuasive and deem that Crest materially breached the contract first. ii. Reduction in duties or rank is a breach of contract Collins will want to argue that this case is analogous to Rudman v. Cowles Communications, Inc. , which is controlling authority in New York. In Rudman, an editor was hired to manage and oversee the publication of his series of books. The employer then began changing Rudman’s books without approval and took away his managerial role and oversight. The court found a breach of contract and explained, If an employee†¦is engaged to fill a particular position, any material change in his duties, or significant reduction in rank, may constitute a breach of his employment agreement. † Here, Crest will argue that the employment agreement was far clearer in Rudman, and the employer agreed upon Rudman’s authoritative role, although not expressly in the contract. Collins will want to rebut this argument by comparing an editor to a chef and looking at industry standards. Just as the court in Rudman stated that Rudman could not â€Å"be reduced to being only a productive writer,† neither can Collins, the head chef, be reduced to being only another cook. And finally, the court states: â€Å"an independent entrepreneur like Rudman would not expect and probably would not accept a subordinate scrivener’s role. † If an editor would not accept a subordinate role as a writer, then the court will likely find that an esteemed head chef like Collins would definitely not accept a subordinate role either. iii. Crest’s rebuttal Crest will point to cases like Tropicana Hotel Corporation v. Speer in an attempt to compare Collins to Speer. Crest will argue that there was nothing in the employment agreement that gave Collins the sole right to hire assistant chefs. In Tropicana the court found that Speer was not constructively discharged and Crest will argue for the same outcome. Additionally, Crest will argue that this case is more like Handicapped Children’s Education Board of Sheboygan County v. Lukaszewski. There, a speech therapist claimed health reasons for breaching her contract and leaving one job to take on another position closer to home. The court held that the danger to Lukaszewski’s health was selfinduced and that Lukaszewski did not resign for health reasons, but to take a better job. Crest will compare Collins’s actions to Lukaszewski’s, claiming there was no breach by Crest, only a breach by Collins in walking out and taking a better position where he would have managerial authority over his assistant chefs. iv. Likely outcome It is likely that the court will find that Crest breached the employment contract with Collins by hiring an unapproved member to his team of chefs, effectively converting Collins from a top-tier chef into just another cook in the kitchen. If however, the court determines that Crest did not breach the contract, then Crest will push forward with their claim for breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty of loyalty. b. Argument that Collins breached first i. Breach by quitting before 5-year contract terminated Crest’s first argument will be that Collins breached his contract when he quit coming into work after the Hispanic chef was hired. Nothing in the contract stated that Collins’s duties included the sole ability to hire chefs, but not coming into work is most definitely a violation of the â€Å"duties of head chef† that he did possess. Thus, if Collins can’t show that Crest breached the contract first by hiring the chef without his approval, he is in trouble. ii. Breach of fiduciary duty of loyalty In Collins’s deposition, he states that he was in discussions with the Treadwell center, but not until after Crest’s hired an assistant chef and breached the contract. Thus, if Collins cannot show that Crest breached the contract first, he is also going to have to defend a claim for breach of fiduciary duty. Crest claims that Collins convinced the Casketmaker’s Convention to leave the Marrimount and relocate to the Treadwell Center. If they can prove this, they will have a claim for breach of fiduciary duty of loyalty. In Orkin Exterminating Co. v. Rathje, the court stated, â€Å"[A]n executive employee is barred from actively competing with his employer during the tenure of his employment, even in the absence of an express covenant so providing. † iii. Collins’s Rebuttal In response to Crest’s claim that Collins breached the contract by quitting, Collins should point to Tropicana. The argument is that by breaching its contractual duty to Collins, Crest constructively discharged Collins. Unlike Tropicana, in which the plaintiff failed to show constructive termination, here there is a contract that was agreed upon. Additionally, Collins is dealing with more than just trusted subordinates. Rather, Collins requires a team of chefs to prepare meals for these large groups, and it is industry standard for a head chef to control his assistant chefs. Additionally, Collins should argue lack of causation in responding to the breach of fiduciary duty claim. In Orkin, the plaintiffs could not show that defendant’s actions caused damage to the corporation. Similarly, Collins did no damage to the Marrimount because there were no statements made in competition with Marrimount. The only proof is Collins’s deposition, which states that he informed his old friend at a school reunion that he was leaving the Marrimount. There is no proof of a secret business arrangement with Treadwell and no proof that Collins desired to convince the Casketmakers Convention to relocate to the Treadwell. If Collins can show that business just followed his decision to leave, then there will not be a claim for a breach of fiduciary duty of loyalty. v. Likely outcome If the court finds that Crest did not breach the employment contract, then it will obviously find that Collins did breach by leaving the Marrimount. However, I believe it is unlikely that the court would find a breach of fiduciary duty of loyalty. There is simply too little evidence to survive a motion for summary judgment. While it is likely that the Casketmakers Convention changed venues to obtain Collins as the chef, it does not follow that Collins breached any fiduciary relationship. Remedies available to the parties a. Salary Collins would like to recover withheld salary that he earned from working in the kitchen prior to his termination. If Collins can show that he did not breach the contract or breach a fiduciary duty of loyalty, then he will obviously have no problems recovering his salary. Even if the court finds there was a breach of contract, Collins will still likely recover his salary, as the court in Prete v. Madison states, â€Å"It does not follow from the fact that a breach is material that the breacher can recover nothing for his performance. In an appropriate case, the courts have allowed a party who did not substantially perform to recover in restitution. † If, however, the court finds there was a breach of the fiduciary duty of loyalty, then Crest has a good argument to withhold earnings. In Orkin the court stated that one remedy for breach of this kind is â€Å"forfeiture of compensation by the employee during the period of breach of fiduciary duty. † Collins could still argue that he should get his salary from the period of time that he worked and was not yet in breach of his fiduciary duty. . Bonuses Whether or not Collins may recover his bonuses will be determined depending on if the court finds that Collins had a contractual entitlement to the percentage or a mere expectation. Crest will argue under Nadherny that Collins is not entitled to any bonuses after he left the kitchen, and possibly attempt to withhold bonuses from the time when he was working in the kitchen as well. It is my opinion that Coll ins would be better off not fighting for the bonuses after he left. Like many contracts, there was nothing clear in the language that dealt with a failed relationship and pursuing this claim could distract the court from focusing on salary and bonuses for time worked. Plus, it makes our client seem like he is fighting to be made whole, not just get something for nothing. IV. c. Restitution for increased salary Crest will argue under Lukaszewski that Collins will owe them the difference in salary that they will be forced to pay in order to procure a head chef to replace Collins. The court stated, â€Å"Thus damages for breach of an employment contract include the cost of obtaining other services equivalent to that promised but not performed, plus any foreseeable consequential damages. † In Lukaszewski the pay rates for teachers were set, and the school hired someone with more experience and the court still didn’t give the teacher any room to avoid paying for the increased expenses the school was faced with. It is likely that if the court finds that Collins breached his duty, he will be responsible for these damages. Collins can, however, argue that he does not owe as much as 25%. Collins’s salary was to be increased 12% each year. Thus, the additional 12% is money that the Marrimount was going to pay their head chef anyway and cannot be considered damages attributable to the breach. Additionally, Collins can argue that Crest cannot just go hire the most expensive chef and expect to recover the entire difference from Collins (Lukaszewski). d. Injunction or declaratory judgment The best way to get the declaratory judgment that Collins seeks is to get the court to rule in his favor that Crest breached the contract. If Crest breached the contract, then it cannot enjoin Collins from taking the job with Treadwell. In the unlikely event that the court does not find in favor of Collins, he still has options. Collins can point to the contract and show that there is nothing in there concerning any sort of provision not to compete. Therefore, Crest has no right to enjoin Collins from working where he chooses. V. Conclusion In conclusion, it seems likely that the court will find in favor of Collins on his breach of contract claim. Crest breached the contract by preventing Collins from hiring his own assistant chefs. Regardless of this, however, the court will likely find that Collins is owed salary for his time worked. There is no evidence sufficient to support a claim for breach of fiduciary duty and one cannot withhold salary from someone for a mere breach of contract. The issue of bonuses could go either way, but the argument is not that strong for either party. And finally, regardless of who breached the employment contract, it is likely that Collins will have not have trouble accepting the position of head chef at Treadwell, since there was no covenant to not compete.

Human Resources Practice Essay

1. Introduction The HR Profession Map was developed using the following design principles: †¢ It describes what you need to do, what you need to know and how you need to do it within each professional area at four bands of professional competence. †¢ It covers behaviours as well as the technical elements of professional competence required in the HR profession. †¢ It is organised around areas of professional competence, not organisation structures, job levels or roles. †¢ The scope of the Map will cover the breadth and depth of the HR profession, from small to large organisations, from fundamental to sophisticated practice, local to global, corporate to consulting, charity to public sector, traditional to progressive. †¢ It has the versatility to be used in part, or viewed as a whole, with the core professional areas acting as the key or centre that is relevant to all. 2. Activity 1 Summarise the HRPM The Profession Map captures what successful and effective HR people do and deliver across their specialist profession, and sets out the required activities, behaviours and knowledge. Covering 10 professional areas and eight behaviours, set out in four bands of competence the Map covers every level of the HR profession, from band one at the start of an HR career through to band four for the most senior leaders. The Map has been designed to be relevant and applicable to HR professionals operating anywhere in the world, in all sectors and in organisations of all shapes and sizes. Professional Areas 1. Insights, Strategy and Solutions 2. Leading HR 3. Organisation Design 4. Organisation Development 5. Resource and Talent Planning 6. Learning and Development 7. Performance and Reward 8. Employee Engagement 9. Employee Relations 10. Service, Delivery and Information Behaviours 1. Curious 2. Decisive Thinker 3. Skilled Influencer 4. Personally Credible 5. Collaborative 6. Driven to Deliver 7. Courage to Challenge 8. Role Model (www.cipd.co.uk) 2.1Insights, Strategy and Solutions Human Resources professionals work from a deep business, contextual and organisational understanding to develop actionable insight, and prioritise HR strategies that make the most difference at any given time. You develop insight-led solutions, prioritised and tailored around a good business, contextual and organisation understanding – identifying opportunities and risks and acting on them. Business Vision and strategy of the organisation Products/services and customer profiles Financial and non-financial performance information Contextual Your sector and related regulations/legislation Political, economic, social, technological and environmental issues. Organisation Structure, processes, governance Culture, values, behaviours Key relationships, stakeholders, how decisions get made This understanding – and the resulting insights – allow us to create prioritised and situational HR strategies that make the most difference and build a compelling case for change. Includes these topics: Building a picture Developing actionable insight Delivering situational HR solutions that stick Building capacity and capability -Working with agility Organisation context determines the influence and priority of stakeholder roles and individuals, it also determines how readily new systems/ applications or methods can be adopted, and whether we can get there. If customers / principal stakeholders come from different contexts, this may systematically shape the goals and requirements 2.2 Leading HR Resourcing Band 1 Human Resources Professionals need to have a good knowledge of the principles and procedures for organisations recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits of labour relations and personnel information systems. A sound knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, modelling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources. Motivating, developing, and directing people, as they work, identifying the best people for the job also been able to identify potential for succession planning. . 3. Activity 2 Timely and Effective Service With any organization, we will typically find the customers HR supports are within recruiting, employee relations, training, etc, all pretty much the same, regardless of department, our customers are anyone who uses the HR services we provide we interact with supervisors, managers, employees, external candidates, and external organizations. The way that HR interacts with each of these groups is different depending on what is being delivered, but in the general sense, our customers are all as important as each other. 3.1 Employees Employees want professional HR support from real people and HR need to be responsive and clear about what services we offer. HR need to be easy to contact and able to respond quickly and effectively. Obviously employees require accurate pay and benefits, on time. They also want to be given the opportunity for training and development. 3.2 Managers Managers want an HR function which understands the workforce and can help management balance employee and business needs. They want a proactive HR function which identifies issues before they happen and works with managers to address them. They would like HR to help them with their most challenging people issues including motivation, change and skills development. An HR function which does not understand the business and the workforce completely loses its value. The needs of both employees and managers are sometimes be conflicting. For example, managers require a higher level of production and sometimes longer working hours whereas employees tend to want more time off and more focus on a work/life balance. A good HR department needs to work with both groups to find the best balance. A way of resolving these conflicts is to focus on the overall needs of the organisation, ensuring that the right employees are recruited and retained will help this. The skills and abilities of all employees need to be aligned to their job role and as HR we need to provide development and training to ensure productivity is reached and to manage turnover of employees. Coaching and counselling employees will also help and providing an effective reward and recognition system. 3.3 Recruitment Agencies HR and recruitment agencies are committed to developing and maintaining closer relationships, the outcomes for both parties are more positive, and from a strategic perspective, it’s the formation of these stronger partnerships that bring mutual business benefits and added value. Good reasons why an organisation would use recruitment agencies Gain access to job-seekers (both active and passive)  source candidates from more specific talent pools and match them to an  organisation’s vacancies reduce the time and in-house resources dedicated to recruitment use a range of specialist skills offered by recruitment experts Access specialist services such as screening, filtering and profiling of candidates Gain flexibility in recruitment to meet cyclical/ market demand Get expert opinion about and knowledge of current recruitment legislation Benchmarking purposes – access to salary data and local market knowledge. However in past experience working with some recruitme nt agencies it can become an expensive option as they tend to charge anywhere from 12.5 percentage of the starting salary upwards and a finders fee if the candidate does become permanent. 3.4 Communication Communication Type Advantages Disadvantages Email Easy to send Fairly quick to send Can send 365 days of the year Can send to a group of people at once Email can get stuck in spam and not received Attachments could contain viruses Internet could go down and may not receive mail for sometime Phone call Calls can be made 24 hours a day 7 days a week Get your message across and gain feedback immediately You cannot see each other’s body language Things could get mis-interpreted Costly Fax Can send exact copies of documents Easy to train how to use No immediate response Could misdial number sending documents to wrong person Poor quality of received document 3.5 Effective Service Delivery An effective HR services for all employees is seen as be supportive, not to dilute the responsibility of people management. Also have the ability to coach line managers, especially around managing performance. 3.6 Delivering Service HR should obtain thorough feedback from internal customers, line managers, senior managers and employees. This should cover both what they need from HR, and their user experience of current services. Such feedback could generate a clear and more effective HR function within the organisation. It can provide fresh insights and help the HR function to focus its efforts in these areas could add value to the business. 3.7 Difficult Customers Assuming that the employee provides value to the company and possesses redeeming qualities, there are ways to deal with difficult employees. Most often, managers will simply ignore problematic staffers. Managers who live by this rule hope the problem will just go away; that these people will somehow turn themselves around or stop being troublesome. Ignoring the situation is the wrong solution to what could likely become a progressive problem. It is important to take action as soon as the negative behavior pattern becomes evident when left untouched, this problem will only escalate. (http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/201950#ixzz2h4AjsnQf) 3.8 Resolving Complaints Employee complaints alert us to potential problems within the business Depending on the type of complaint that comes in you’re going to want to keep relevant portions of your staff appraised of it while simultaneously safeguarding the privacy of the individuals involved. It’s important to be transparent in these situations because â€Å"employees are probably going to know this on the office gossip vine anyway,† says Kelly. â€Å"They want to see that management is aware of it too and that management does take action and demonstrates a commitment to a higher ethical standard.† (http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/04/handle-employee-complaints.html/1)

Scientific Equipment and Instruments