The Big Dogz on Business: Many different factors can make job exciting

Motivation is personal. Following the management principle of customization, the effective manager customizes the motivation factors for each individual. For some people, the job itself is a motivating factor. This motivation factor is known as job enrichment.

What is job enrichment?

Job enrichment is the process of expanding the task that an individual performs at work. It includes structuring a job so that it is more stimulating through variety of actions, visibility of results to both the person and others, decision-making opportunities and feedback.

Does job enrichment really work?

Yes. In some situations, it works as well as any other motivation factor. In job-enrichment studies, the results are mixed. I believe a key factor in the results is how important job enrichment is to a particular individual.



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Comment: Re-thinking the Iranian threat —Robert Skidelsky

Would it be a great disaster if Iran had nuclear weapons? As a habitual contrarian, I pose the question because almost everyone seems to believe that it would, and that it must be prevented at all costs. But is that true?

John Bolton, the former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, said in April that if the choice is [Iran] continuing [towards a nuclear bomb] or the use of force, I think you're at a Hitler marching into the Rhineland point. Bush, too, has compared Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Hitler.

But these so-called statesmen never consider what might have happened had Germany and Britain both had nuclear weapons in 1939. Would Hitler, wicked as he was, have gone to war had he faced an assured threat of total destruction? Have we forgotten all about the theory of deterrence?

Of course, the world would be safer if Iran did not have nuclear weapons, not because it is a rogue state, but because any spread of nuclear weapons is likely to make the world more dangerous.




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Staff motivation: Holding deeper conversations can help drive

After a year-long programme, Skandia has tracked and measured a 50% average increase in motivation in those teams where managers have focused specifically on building relationships with their people. For those who are always looking for proof that investment in the soft stuff makes any difference, this is pretty compelling data.

So what has Skandia been doing that has made such a difference? The answer is that it has been training managers to have very different sorts of conversations with their staff. The defining characteristic of such conversations is that managers don't start by focusing on the result that is required but rather on how the team member concerned can be switched on so that they take pride in their job and feel inspired about their work.

Of course, most managers know that successful business depends to a great extent on the motivation of their staff to perform, and what this approach supplies is a framework that helps them tap into people's engagement.



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Spritual As Criminal?

It need be told that apart from the 'magnum opus' of the founder of SS and HJS, Jayant Athavale which is called "Science of Spirituality' - which is book of 21 volumes - and other texts about 'Divine Kingdom', 'Arts for God Realisation' and 'Spiritual Experiences of Seekers' etc. a very important text in the training of the seekers is Texts on Defence where seekers of divine kingdom are also imparted training with air rifles ( Vol 3 H - Self Defence Training, Chapter 6, Page 108-109)
It would be opportune to discuss a portion from this text which trains the seeker in 'Firing' . In 7 a. it trains the seeker in standing stance (kada pavitra) [shooting in the standing posture] in section 7

b. it discusses Sitting Stance (baitha pavitra) [shooting in the sitting stance]. It also shows the photograph of Vinay Panvalkar wearing a hat showing the different positions.


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EDITORIAL: Upcountry basketball teams need motivation

BASKETBALL fans in Dar es Salaam and the rest of the country had every reason to feel proud of the regional team, popularly known as ’Dream Team’, as it won the East African Inter-cities tournament held at the National Indoor Stadium in the city at the end of last month.

The week-long tournament also involved teams from other East African cities including Arusha, Mbeya, Mwanza, Kampala and Mombasa, some of which featured both men and women squads.

The absence of top sides like Nairobi, who were the tournament’s defending champions, was not really felt as participants put up impressive performances that made the event worth attending.

Dar es Salaam truly need a pat on the back for their achievement in the tournament after suffering a series of heart breaks in past competitions.



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Facing the reality of your HIV test results

Even after hospital authorities had told him to go and look for Nevirapine, a drug that is administered to children who are born to HIV positive mothers, because it was out of stock at the hospital then, it did not cross his mind that his wife was HIV positive, probably because he didn't know what the drug was used for. He went to a number of pharmacies to buy this restricted drug all the while unaware that he was buying it to save his child from contracting the HIV virus.

Hospital staff did abide by the confidentiality clause that they are governed by in the medical code of conduct. The lady had told them never to inform her husband that she was HIV positive and why he was looking for the drug. Disclosing a person's HIV status can be a breach of one's rights to confidentiality but medical personnel can encourage someone to disclose their status to their partner or have someone encourage their partner to go for testing.



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We Have Sexy Bodies and Brains .Why Not Sexy Culture and Sexy

It is a terrible intrusion into the rights of the individual and his freedom of religion and freedom of inner spirituality to tell him how to think intuitively, develop wisdom, and find an ultimate purpose in his life.-

What we worship and how we worship is our own personal business. And men and women are both capable of this to a large degree, even if women are a bit better at it. Furthermore the soul is said to be androgynous or double-sexed and great soul-power can easily transcend a mere biological apparatus like a body. There have always been both men and women who can see past their biological programming.-

I was brought up to be a Catholic. Catholicism is probably the most patriarchal of all religions. It dates back to the time when the Roman Empire fused with Christianity to form the Holy Roman Empire.


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