What Is Human Capital Definition and Examples

In its most basic sense, â€Å"human capital† refers to the group of people who work for or are qualified to work for an organization—the â€Å"workforce.† In a larger sense, the various elements needed to create an adequate supply of available labor form the basis of human capital theory and are critical to the economic and social health of the world’s nations. Key Takeaways: Human Capital Human capital is the sum of knowledge, skills, experience and social qualities that contribute to a person’s ability to perform work in a manner that produces economic valueBoth employers and employees make substantial investments in the development of human capitalHuman capital theory is an effort to quantify the true value of an investment in human capital and is closely related to the field of human resourcesEducation and health are key qualities that improve human capital and also directly contribute to economic growthThe concept of human capital can be traced back to the 18th-century writings of Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith Human Capital Definition In economics, â€Å"capital† refers to all of the assets a business needs to produce the goods and services it sells. In this sense, capital includes equipment, land, buildings, money, and, of course, people—human capital. In a deeper sense, however, human capital is more than simply the physical labor of the people who work for an organization. It is the entire set of intangible qualities those people bring to the organization that might help it succeed. A few of these include education, skill, experience, creativity, personality, good health, and moral character. In the long run, when employers and employees make a shared investment in the development of human capital, not only do organizations, their employees, and clientele benefit, but so does society at large. For example, few undereducated societies thrive in the new global economy. For employers, investing in human capital involves commitments like worker training, apprenticeship programs, educational bonuses and benefits, family assistance, and funding college scholarships. For employees, obtaining an education is the most obvious investment in human capital. Neither employers nor employees have any assurances that their investments in human capital will pay off. For example, even people with college degrees struggle to get jobs during an economic depression, and employers might train employees, only to see them hired away by another company. Ultimately, the level of investment in human capital is directly related to both economic and societal health. Human Capital Theory Human capital theory holds that it is possible to quantify the value of these investments to employees, employers, and society as a whole. According to human capital theory, an adequate investment in people will result in a growing economy. For example, some countries offer their people a free college education out of a realization that a more highly educated populace tends to earn more and spend more, thus stimulating the economy. In the field of business administration, human capital theory is an extension of human resources management. The idea of human capital theory is often credited to the â€Å"founding father of economics† Adam Smith, who in 1776, called it â€Å"the acquired and useful abilities of all the inhabitants or members of the society.† Smith suggested that differences in wages paid were based on the relative ease or difficulty of doing the jobs involved.   Marxist Theory In 1859, Prussian philosopher Karl Marx, calling it â€Å"labor power,† suggested the idea of human capital by asserting that in capitalist systems, people sell their labor power—human capital—in return for income. In contrast to Smith and other earlier economists, Marx pointed to â€Å"two disagreeably frustrating facts† about human capital theory: Workers must actually work—apply their minds and bodies—in order to earn income. The mere ability to do a job is not the same as actually doing it.Workers cannot â€Å"sell† their human capital as they might sell their homes or land. Instead, they enter into mutually beneficial contracts with employers to use their skills in return for wages, much in the same way farmers sell their crops. Marx further argued that in order for this human capital contract to work, employers must realize a net profit. In other words, workers must do work at a level above-and-beyond that needed to simply maintain their potential labor power. When, for example, labor costs exceed revenue, the human capital contract is failing. In addition, Marx explained the difference between human capital and slavery. Unlike that of free workers, the human capital of slaves can be sold, although they do not earn incomes themselves. Modern Theory Today, human capital theory is often further dissected in order to quantify components known as â€Å"intangibles† such as cultural capital, social capital, and intellectual capital. Cultural Capital Cultural capital is the combination of knowledge and intellectual skills that enhance a person’s ability to achieve a higher social status or to do economically useful work. In an economic sense, advanced education, job-specific training, and innate talents are typical ways in which people build cultural capital in anticipation of earning higher wages.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Social Capital Social capital refers to beneficial social relationships developed over time such as a company’s goodwill and brand recognition, key elements of sensory psychological marketing. Social capital is distinct from human assets like fame or charisma, which cannot be taught or transferred to others in the way skills and knowledge can. Intellectual Capital Intellectual capital is the highly intangible value of the sum of everything everybody in a business knows that gives the business a competitive advantage. One common example is the intellectual property—creations of the workers’ minds, like inventions, and works of art and literature. Unlike the human capital assets of skill and education, intellectual capital remains with the company even after the workers have left, typically protected by patent and copyright laws and non-disclosure agreements signed by employees. Human Capital in Todays World Economy As history and experience have shown, economic progress is the key to raising the standard of living and dignity of people worldwide, especially for people living in impoverished and developing countries. The qualities that contribute to human capital, particularly education and health—also directly contribute to economic growth. Countries that suffer from limited or unequal access to health or educational resources also suffer from depressed economies. As in the United States, the countries with the most successful economies have continued to increase their investments in higher education, while still seeing a steady increase in the starting salary of college graduates. Indeed, the first step most developing countries take to advance is to improve the health and education of their people. Since the end of World War II, the Asian nations of Japan, South Korea, and China have used this strategy to eliminate poverty and become some of the world’s most powerful players in the global economy.   Hoping to emphasize the importance of education and health resources, the World Bank publishes an annual Human Capital Index Map demonstrating how access to education and health resources affect the productivity, prosperity, and quality of life in nations worldwide. In October 2018, Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank, warned, â€Å"In countries with the lowest human capital investments today, our analysis suggests that the workforce of the future will only be one-third to one-half as productive as it could be if people enjoyed full health and received a high-quality education.† Sources and References Goldin, Claudia (2014). Human Capital, Department of Economics, Harvard University and National Bureau of Economic Research.Smith, Adam (1776). An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Copyright 2007 MetaLibre.Marx, Karl. The Buying and Selling of Labour-Power: Chapter 6. marxists.orgWorld Development Report 2019: The Changing Nature of Work. World Bank

empowerment is essential to increase productivity among employee - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1765 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? 1.Preliminary title: Empowerment is essential to increase productivity among employee. 2.Research purpose: The out come of employee empowerment in service industry can bring long-term success. The purpose of this research is to analysis and achieves depth knowledge and understanding on employee empowerment in the context of service industry by comparing the perspective of manager and employee. And provide suggestions to service industry how to gain more productively through empower the employee. This result will be obtained by testing the efficiency of the employee empowerment variables. The earlier discussion on employee empowerment in the service industry has lead to the main research question. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "empowerment is essential to increase productivity among employee" essay for you Create order How employee can be empowered for increasing productivity? What competitive advantage employee empowerment can bring for the company? 3.Rational On this era, the arrival of an information-based, knowledge-intensive, service driven economy has forced a massive of change on companies worldwide, most dramatically in the way they must redefine their relationship with their employees (Bartlett 2002). Hill and Huq (2004) argued that specifically, it emanated from the realization that traditional hierarchical command and control organizations were struggling to meet the growing demands for flexibility and demands for flexibility and quality. The employees respond most excellent and creatively not when management does tightly control them, placed in narrowly defined job and treated like unwelcoming necessity. But instead, when they are given broader responsibilities, and encouraged to contribute and help to take satisfaction in their jobs (Walton 1985). Thats why now a day, employee of organization and how management manages them are becoming more important because many other source of competitive success is less powerful than they o nce were. Traditional sources of success- technology, protected or regulated market, access to financial resource and economies of scale can still provide competitive advantage, but to a lesser degree now than in the past, leaving organizational culture and capabilities, derived from how people are managed, as comparatively more vital (Henry and Maryle, 2002). As, organizations sustainable competitive advantage is its people that why management need to engage all the human resource to active companys long time success. In the modern world Empowerment is one of the key tools, which a manager can use frequently to involve and manage organizations people to achieve competitive advantage. As Campbell (2009,p8) pointed out that People are your most valuable asset. To get the most out of employees, empower is essential. 4.Literature review: 4.1.What is employee empowerment? The aim of Empowerment to create a culture where employee have freedom to express themselves and have the liberty to make decisions about how they work, where there is always the opportunity to give constructive feedback, and where everyone is equal and approachable (Beaven 2009). So Empowerment implies give up central control, which will encourage speed, flexibility and determination of the employee. According to Campbell (2009), main meaning of empower employees is to give up some aspects of control. In return for giving up that control, managers will have more scope and time to look at the big picture and engage in strategic thinking. Styhre (2001) illustrated that empowermentis depicted by its proponents as the common denominator for recent managerial techniques and activities that acknowledge the individual employee as an intelligent, accountable, creative being, and therefore a productive resource for the company. Lashley (1997) argued that it is intended that through empowerme nt employees will be more committed to successful service encounters and will have the necessary discretion and autonomy to do whatever is needed to satisfy the customer. 4.2 .How to apply empowerment to increase productivity among employee? Different organizations choose to empower their employees to different degrees; at the lowest level empowerment the employee has no autonomy to take decision. On the other hand, at the highest level the employee is given decision-making authority and can control their own performances( Daft ,2001). All these employees are often able to affect organizational goals, structure, as well as reward systems. In order to empower employees, four different factors are Important. Those different factor work as an element to empower employee. Which will give the employees space to act more independently in accomplishing their jobs. According to Daft (2000) those are: information, knowledge, power and rewards. Information: In any organizations where the employees are fully empowered, no information about the company is held secret for employee. Thats why employees must receive every information about the performance of the company. 2.Knowledge: Before and after empowering employees every company need to give training for increasing knowledge and skills of employee. Which build up their problem solving decision-making capability. As by having power of knowledge and skills, an employee can be able to contribute to the goals of the company. Power: To make substantial decisions, employees must have the power. Which will increase employee involvement, confidante. Rewarding: The employees need to get rewarded on the basis their performances and companys performance. The employees can be more committed towards the company by having true appreciation through psychologically and physically. 4.3.Advantages: According to the literature, empowerment bring many positive result for the company like, quicker response to customer, communication and teamwork, employee satisfaction and increase their working value, reduce costs and economic profits, involvement, customer satisfaction/ recovery, increased employee efficiency, customer loyalty and new innovative idea for the organization (Campbell, 2009; Beaven, 2009; Bowen Lawler, 2002; Styhre ,2001; Lashley, 1997). Empowered employee is more productive, psychologically and physically healthy, proactive and innovative, persistent in the work place, trustworthy, interpersonally efficient, intrinsically motivated, and have higher morale and commitment than employee who are not empowered (Whitten , 2007). Earlier literature review has illustrated that empowerment can play a very vital rule in order to increases productivity among employees. Research need to be taken in order to gain better understanding this phenomenon on the context of present service industry. Now, research method need to chosen in order to complete the research successfully. 5.Research Methodology 5.1.Research approach Rossman and Rallis (2003) stated that there are two different research methods that are frequently used when researchers are about to conduct research: the qualitative and the quantitative method. A quantitative method is mostly concern with measurements and to generalize the result.This means that qualitative research mostly humanistic research, which makes it possible to interpret as well as understand a phenomenon. The purpose of this research is to analysis and achieves depth knowledge and understanding on employee empowerment in the context of service industry by comparing the perspective of manager and employee. And provide suggestions to service industry to gain more productively through empower the employee. As this is a humanistic research qualitative approach will be very effective to do in-depth investigation. 5.2.Sampling The researcher will select two service-oriented company to carry on sampling process. The reason for exploring different venues is to gather valuable data from different source. The method of contact to manager of relevant company for arranging interview session with manager and employee will through face-to-face, phone, or e-mail. 5.3.Data collection method According to Silverman (2001), there are four main methods used in qualitative research are: Observation Analyzing texts and documents Interviews Recordings and transcribing. The data will be conducted for the research in two distinct stages by the researcher to carry on this research. A short period of observation there will be done in the first stage. Marshall and Rossman (1999) demonstrated that observation entails the systematic nothing and recording of events, behaviours and artifact (objects) in the social setting chose for the study. At the second stage of the data collection will be involved a series of semi-structured, in-depth face to face interview with employee and manager with in selected organization. 5.4.Data analysis procedures: Marshall and Rossman (1999) suggest that data analysis is the process of bringing order, structure and interpretation to the mass of collected data. Miles (1994) have demonstrated two models for analysis. The first one is researcher can analyze a separate case (within-case analysis). Then presents results by creating tables, checklists and matrix around collected, qualitative data by comparing the theory with empirical data in these tables and checklists. It will be easy to see similarities and differences on this model. At The second model, the researcher compares the results from different cases in a cross-case analysis. Researcher will follow the first model where comparison will be made between literature and empirical data which be collected from manager and employee. The comparison will be done in order to identify patterns that would similar or different from the theory or literature. 5.5.Data capture At the time of depth face-to-face interviews with interviewees, research will use voice recorder that he can give more attention on interview. Then researcher will transcribe date fordata analysis procedure, it has probable that the result would bring more accuracy. 5.6.Reliability and validity To ensure reliability and validity, every face-to-face interview will be recorded and transcribed. Silverman, D (2001) argued that the quality of recording and transcripts has important implications on the reliability of conversation analytical research. For this reason, every transcription will be coded. 5.7.Proposed time schedule Assuming 12 weeks of period has allocated for conducting this masters research. Following this a proposed time schedule would be as follow: Period Activity 1st 2 week Initial literature review Next 2 week Complete participant observation Next 4 week Arrange and conduct interviews; transcribe and analyse interview data Next 2 Literature and further analysis of data Rest of the week Write up and submit completed thesis Reference: Bartlett, Christopher A., Ghoshal and Sumantra (2002). BuildingCompetitiveAdvantage ThroughPeople. MIT Sloan Management Review. Vol. 43 Issue 2.pp.34-41. Beaven, D.2009. People make the difference.Logistics Transport Focus. Vol. 11 Issue 6, pp45-47. Bowen, D.E. and Lawler, E.E. 2002. The empowerment of service workers: What, why, how and when. In: Henry. J and Mayle.D.ed. Managing innovation and change, Open University Business School, in association with sage, pp.243-273. Campbell, G.2009.Employee Empowerment. Quality.Vol.48 Issue 4, p 8. Daft, R. 2001. Organization Theory and Design, 7th Edition. South-Western College. Thompson Learning. Henry, J., Mayle, D.2002. Managing innovation and change. Open University Business School, in association with SAGE.pp61-73. Hill, F., Huq, R.2004. Employee Empowerment: Conceptualizations, Aims and Outcomes. Total Quality Management and Business Excellence, Vol. 15 Issue 8, pp1025-1041. Lashley, C.1999.Empowering service excellence in service. London: Cassell Publications. Miles, M.1994.Qualitative data analysis: an expanded sourcebook / Matthew B Miles. : Sage Publications, Inc. Marshall, C. and Rossman, G.B .1999. Designing Qualitative Research. 3rd Ed.London; Sage Publications. Rossman, B. G. Rallis F. S. 2003. Learning in the Field: An Introduction to Qualitative Research.2nd ed. California: Sage Publications, Inc. Silverman, D .2001. Interpreting Qualitative data, Methods for Analyzing talk text and Interaction. 2nd Ed.sage London, p.14. Walton, Richard E.1985. Fromcontroltocommitmentintheworkplace. Harvard Business Review, Vol. 63 Issue 2. pp77-84. Whetten, David A and Cameron, Kim S.2008. Developing management skills. 7th edition, Prentice hall.

Instructional Technology Specialist For Cedarburg School...

Curriculum development refers to a process of critical questioning used in framing the activities of teaching and learning in schools. The process of developing a curriculum translates broader statements of intent in actual plans and actions. Curriculum development involves designing and developing integrated plans for teaching and learning, implementation, and the evaluation of the plants if they achieve learning objectives. Accordingly, the intention of curriculum development is to align the planned, delivered, and experienced curriculums. On November 3, I contacted Rachel Yurk to provide some insights on the curriculum development process of Cedarburg School District. Yurk is the Instructional Technology Specialist for Cedarburg School District. As demonstrated by the Cedarburg school district curriculum development process, the primary purpose of curriculum development is to guarantee integrated and coherent learning experiences to enhance personal, academic, and professional dev elopment of students. Yurk studied Bachelor of Science in education at the University of Wisconsin, whitewater before proceeding to Aurora University and Cardinal Stritch University where she earned Masters of Art in teaching and Instructional Technology Coordinator respectively (R. Yurk, personal communication, November 3, 2014). Yurk taught for 18 years (until 2011) at the New Berlin School district before moving to Muskego-Norway School District as a technology integrator and currently asShow MoreRelatedCurriculum Development : Teaching And Learning1606 Words   |  7 PagesCurriculum Development Interview Curriculum development refers to a process of critical questioning used in framing the activities of teaching and learning in schools. The process of developing a curriculum translates broader statements of intent in actual plans and actions. Curriculum development involves designing and developing integrated plans for teaching and learning, implementation, and the evaluation of the plants if they achieve learning objectives. Accordingly, the intention of curriculum

Competency Goal 3 free essay sample

Competency Goal III: To support social and emotional development and to provide positive guidance. Functional Area #1: Self Some very important goals everyday is to support social and emotional development and to provide positive guidance for my preschoolers. I provide a positive relationship with the children through daily routines and interactions. I feel this gives the children and parents a sense of trust. I greet the child and the parent in the morning. I always address the child by his or her name. I get down to the child’s level when I speak to them. I feel that by doing this it makes the child feel special and welcomed in the class. In the morning we have free play where the children can interact with the other children. I believe this helps the children enter into their comfort zone and move and work at their own pace. At circle time I assign classroom helpers. We will write a custom essay sample on Competency Goal 3 or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The children get to be the line leader, door holder, gardener, weather watcher or the teacher’s helper. I feel this helps the children develop a sense of independence and pride. I ALWAYS praise a child’s accomplishments. I even cheer them on when they struggle with a task. Functional Area #2: Social The children in my program are given opportunities to learn cooperation and social interaction. I encourage children to interact socially with each other by helping the child feel accepted in the group. When children choose their centers and I see a child just standing around watching, I will encourage them to join a center. I may say, â€Å"Brandon, I see you watching Steven build would you like to build a castle in the block area†? Teaching a good sense of respect and responsibility is important. I feel this will help them try and make friends. Children’s play develops through stages: Playing alone, playing near others but not playing with them, playing with others but not with them, playing with others but not sharing, playing and sharing, playing with a purpose and organized games. I also encourage them to ask, give and receive help from others. Functional Area #3: Guidance Providing positive guidance is extremely important when it comes to small children. Some of the ways I reach this goal are as followed: I help each child feel secure. I let the children know that I am here to help them. I acknowledge when they have done something kind. For example, â€Å"Collin that was very nice of you to help Lucy clean up the block area. Thank you for being so helpful†. I encourage the children to use their words to express their wants, needs and feelings. I help them deal with conflicts constructively. I give them choices and allow them to make some decisions on their own. I ALWAYS respect their individual preferences for time away from the group, active play, and quiet time. * I also help the children feel good about themselves and to appreciate, respect and care for others.