Singapore officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, lying 137 kilometres  (85 mi) north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia’s Riau Islands. At 710.2 km2 (274.2 sq mi) Singapore is a microstate and the smallest nation in Southeast Asia. It is substantially larger than Monaco and Vatican City, the only other surviving sovereign city-states.
Before European settlement, the island now known as Singapore was the site of a Malay fishing village at the mouth of the Singapore River. Several hundred indigenous Orang Laut people also lived along the nearby coast, rivers and on smaller islands. In 1819, the British East India Company, led by Sir Stamford Raffles, established a trading post on the island, which was used as a port along the spice route. Singapore became one of the most important commercial and military centres of the British Empire, and the hub of British power in Southeast Asia.
During the Second World War, the British colony was occupied by the Japanese after the Battle of Singapore, which Winston Churchill called “Britain’s greatest defeat”. Singapore reverted to British rule in 1945, immediately after the war. Eighteen years later, in 1963, the city, having achieved independence from Britain, merged with Malaya, Sabah, and Sarawak to form Malaysia. However, the merger proved unsuccessful, and, less than two years later, it seceded from the federation and became an independent republic within the Commonwealth of Nations on August 9, 1965. Singapore was admitted to the United Nations on September 21 of that year.
Since independence, Singapore’s standard of living has risen dramatically. Foreign direct investment and a state-led drive to industrialization based on plans drawn up by the Dutch economist Albert Winsemius have created a modern economy focused on industry, education and urban planning. Singapore is the 5th wealthiest country in the world in terms of GDP (PPP) per capita.   In December 2008, the foreign exchange reserves of this small island nation stood at around US$174.2billion. The Singapore government, with approval from the President, announced in March 2009 that it would tap into its official reserves for the first time ever and withdraw some S$4.9 billion. The funds were then used as part of the US$20.5 billion resilience package unveiled by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on 5 February 2009. As of January 2009, Singapore’s official reserves stands at US$170.3 billion.
In 2009, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Singapore the tenth most expensive city in the world in which to live—the third in Asia, after Tokyo and Osaka.  The 2009 Cost of Living survey, by consultancy firm Mercer, has ranked Singapore similarly as the tenth most expensive city for expatriates to live in.
The population of Singapore including non-residents is approximately 4.99 million. Singapore is highly cosmopolitan and diverse with Chinese people forming an ethnic majority with large populations of Malay, Indian and other people. English, Malay, Tamil, and Chinese are the official languages.
Singapore is a parliamentary republic, and the Constitution of Singapore establishes representative democracy as the nation’s political system. The People’s Action Party (PAP) dominates the political process and has won control of Parliament in every election since self-government in 1959.
Two people came to mind when I am writing this article on colorectal cancer. Let me relate their stories.
Story 1:
Mat (not real name) is a 45-year old professional who was diagnosed with Duke’s C rectum cancer. Eight of 16 lymph nodes were involved. He had an operation and subsequently underwent chemotherapy with 5-FU + leucovorin. The first chemo-treatment made his life miserable due to severe side effects. He decided to opt out of chemotherapy and came to us for help. He was started on herbs and felt real good after that.
Mat has a good friend who is a medical doctor. When his doctor-friend came to know that he had abandoned chemotherapy, he became agitated and came to see Mat and pleaded with him to continue with his chemo-treatment. According to this doctor-friend, what Mat did was wrong and he would not want to see his dearest friend die for nothing. He must go through the “proven path” of treatment. After all, to a medical doctor, herbal therapy is not definitive or scientifically proven.
Taken by his friend’s sincere concern for him, Mat relented and resumed his chemotherapy. The second treatment caused just as severe side effects as before. He felt like dying. Then, he came to a realization and asked himself: “What am I doing to myself? I suffered so much undergoing a treatment which I was not sure would even help me. Why, oh why am I “killing” myself? Am I doing this to please my doctor-friend or am I doing this for myself?” Mat was awakened to this fact and decided that he would please himself over all others. He decided to stop further chemotherapy.
The decision Mat made weighed heavily on me. When he came to me, I made it explicitly clear that the decision to undergo chemotherapy or not must be entirely his own decision. I cannot make that decision for him. So, he probably had made his decision based on his own guts feeling and we have to respect that. It has been some years now and Mat is still doing alright. One might want to ask: “Would Mat survive the six or eight cycles of chemotherapy, given the fact that even the first two cycles already caused severe reactions?”
It is a standard practice or golden rule so to say, that after surgery, patients are asked to undergo chemotherapy for colorectal cancer. Sometime, when the doctor does not think chemotherapy is indicated, the patients themselves do not feel safe.
Story 2:
It was on 29 July 2001, 9.30 p.m. I was on the phone talking to a lady from England. Her Malaysian-born sister had colon cancer sometime in March 1999. She underwent an operation. The doctor in UK said that since the cancer was at its early stage (Duke’s 2), there was no need for her to do any chemotherapy. Not satisfied, she came to Singapore to see another oncologist. Since she was still young (46 years old) the oncologist recommended chemotherapy. This would be “safer” for her – preventive or insurance against possible problems later. So she underwent six cycles of chemotherapy in Singapore.
March 2000 — a scan showed a 3 cm mass in her liver. She again came to Singapore. Further investigations by doctors in Singapore showed that there was also a 1 cm mass in the lung. The doctors recommended surgery for the liver and /or the lung. However, when the doctors opened up the abdomen, they saw numerous nodules in the peritoneum. The removal of the liver-lung was abandoned. The abdomen was closed back. She underwent another eight cycles of chemotherapy.
After the fourth chemotherapy the tumours decreased in size but subsequent chemotherapy did not show any further improvements. In short, chemotherapy did not achieve its intended purpose. She felt hopeless and decided to quit and returned to England.
She started on Gerson Therapy in Liverpool for five months. During that period the tumours had grown to twice their sizes. She then opted to participate in a clinical trial at one of London’s top hospitals. She was again subjected to another eight cycles of chemotherapy.
29 July 2001 — The purpose of the sister calling was to seek my help since there seems to be no other avenues left for her. Sometimes she was in pain, and she required sleeping pill.
This is the perception the world of today has with regards to cancer treatment. Chemotherapy is the answer and it must be done, otherwise you die from not doing it. With due respect, Mat’s doctor-friend believed that chemotherapy is the only key to Mat’s survival. Other ways are suspect and unreliable for lack of proof. So, Mat must go for chemotherapy or he will die. The truth is, Mat is still alive! But the lady from London, she was “emotionally a wreck ” and died not long after her sister talked to me.
If you are planning to sell your condo and are dreading getting it ready for the market – relax! It couldn’t be easier than it is now! More than ever before, the vogue in interior decorating is favoring simplicity.
Every room can be painted white or cream or beige with silver gray or dark beige detailing. The use of this color scheme will let your prospective buyer know that your place has been decorated very recently.
This type of decor is perfect for a condo, as it automatically adds spaciousness to a fairly compact area. In order to prolong the spacious feel, do not change the color of the paintwork from the dining area to the living area or hallway. Paint all open areas in the same tone, unless you have a narrow wall that you wish to use as an accent.
Only change the color, if you want to, when you reach a room that is totally separate, e.g., the bathroom or bedrooms. If you do change it, you should still opt for the neutral white, cream or gray natural shades as color is strictly passe at the moment.
Experts recommend that any pictures you put on the walls should be in frames that actually match the paintwork, which is a new concept. In order not to break up the uninterrupted flow of the paint color, it is suggested that drapes or blinds are also in the same color.
The type of drapes that lend themselves best to this new look are the gossamer sheer voiles; with blinds at the same window you can keep the sheers open and be assured of complete privacy.
A paint job is not very expensive, but it can make a very large difference to the appearance of your condo. What of your floors? Are they carpet or are they wooden or tile flooring? Is the color of them one of the shades that will tone with the gray or beige detailing?
If you have a bright floor and you feel that to change the floor is too extravagant and labor intensive, think of buying a large rug. Think of this before you pick the color scheme because it is usually easier to buy a rug in cream than in gray. A large off white area rug will go a long way toward the simple look that you are aiming for.
However, if your floor will tone with the decor, resist the urge to throw a small area rug under the coffee table. An uninterrupted expanse of floor space will increase the feeling of roominess.
One of the acknowledged problems of condo living is the lack of storage space. First time condo buyers who want to move a three bedroomed house into your one bedroomed condo will be checking to see if your place looks spacious. You do not want to emphasize the perceived lack of storage by having a load of your own clutter lying about.
If you have not already rented one, then I thoroughly recommend that you rent a storage unit now. It will also help you to move. Use it wisely and pack all your best ornaments and china up in boxes and cart them off to storage.(The more ornaments you pack away the better – think ‘clear spaces’!) Pack up all your out-of-season clothes and shoes and all your sports gear that is unseasonal and cart that load off to the storage.
Already your condo is looking very spacious! How about all the photos, baby’s first pair of shoes and the kids’ grade 3 painting of Grandma? What else can you do without until you unpack it in your new home?
If you have a balcony and you keep a few things stored on it – think of moving them into storage. However, if you have summer rattan furniture packed away then get it out now and arrange it on your balcony. Try to keep the furniture to each side, so that you can still look out the screen doors and see the view.
Buy some tall palms if you have none, and put one each side of the patio doors on the balcony. It looks very effective if you stand the same size plants inside your patio doors as well, in exactly the same position.
If you have a narrow wall, and can afford a wall to wall mirror, it really does enlarge your room! It also reflects extra sunlight, so choose a wall that catches the sun, if you can. If you do decide to go with this idea, do not place a large piece of furniture right in front of it.
Sometimes a narrow wall encloses the front entrance, in which case a small console is adequate space to drop your keys and bag. It is functional to keep the front entrance as roomy as possible as you may often be welcoming four people at one time, especially when selling.
If you are moving into a different condo, here are some tips for you to consider: buy two-seater love seats as no-one ever sits in the middle of a three seater anyway; buy an old sea chest to convert into a coffee table (loads of storage inside!); buy a car locker to attach to the wall of your parking spot for lots of extra safe storage.
The word condominium refers to a building or residential complex, wherein the units of property, such as apartments, are owned by individuals, and the common areas of the property, like the hallways, grounds, other public amenities and the building itself, are jointly owned and maintained by the unit owners.
Florida is known as the Sunshine State, and is a preffered vacation destination by US and international tourists. The state has a lot of great cities, towns and urban enclaves,which offer home buyers a wide array of choices. According to real estate marketing veterans, there are many aspects to consider when choosing the right condominium unit here, as different properties are right for different personal preferences or budgets, and the factors to be discussed in this article generally applies to almost any area in the US as well.
Selecting The Right Area Goes In Tandem With The Way You Intend To Use The Condo
It’s important that one needs to look at the nature of a locale, or area, a sin this state, there are both residential and seasonal condominium areas. A lot of the locations here could be be one or the other. Choosing the appropriate location also goes hand in hand with the manner in which you intend to use the condo you buy, as well as if you are buying one as a second home or for permanent residency purposes.
Figure Out How You Will Use The Property
In properly figuring out just why you need a property, and how you intend to use it now and in the future, must be done prior to seriously deciding on a purchase. You need to find out the basic classification of use, whether the unit or building is for residential or second home use, for long-tern rentals, or a residential or second home that could be rented out during peak periods.
Understand the Local Real Estate Market
Getting a much deeper and better understanding of local real estate markets may be a bit tricky process, since you often need to have all the info required about a specific area or location. These tend to be -markets within a market- and have relative security levels, and you need to know that you will be a participant in the local housing market once you own and the same should you need to sell it someday.
Know A Condo’s Use Before Buying One
As each condo development in this state, and other area, has an acceptable use according to the way it was developed, and the intention of the owners who have bought into it. There are also documents that are filed with the local city or town that outline these terms, which would be generally be reviewed or read by you prior to the purchase.
Look At Your Present And Future Needs
By analyzing your your present needs, like do you need to use rental income to pay the mortgage for right now until you sell your house and permanently relocate?. Helps to properly dictate what type of purchase you will be making. You may want a house or condom, and you may not need to rent it at all and wish to choose a totally residential area where rentals are not conducted. In addition, you may wish to get a condo unit that you can use for a vacation, to one that allows aggressive rentals that you feel will increase rapidly in terms of equity, and then resell it later and buy a more residential property in the same area someday.
As a reminder, you’ll be given a chance to analyze the items from the condo before you purchase it, and you also will have access to important items like building rules and regulations, along with other policies like allowing or banning pets or prohibiting commercial vehicles. Before you purchase one, you will also be able to review budgets for operation of the common property and its financial statements as well.
This is crucial, because you agree to pay your portion of expenses for the common property according to your level, or percentage of ownership. Lastly, you need to remember that you should treat each property as a separate business being operated that you are buying into, as you will also be paying a maintenance fee according to the operating budget, condition and funding for future items in the structure, so you need to be comfortable with those aspects.
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Saintdenis Hotel Artport Thailand
Introduction
The role of the Human Resource Manager is evolving with the change in competitive market environment and the realization that Human Resource Management must play a more strategic role in the success of an organization. Organizations that do not put their emphasis on attracting and retaining talents may find themselves in dire consequences, as their competitors may be outplaying them in the strategic employment of their human resources.
With the increase in competition, locally or globally, organizations must become more adaptable, resilient, agile, and customer-focused to succeed. And within this change in environment, the HR professional has to evolve to become a strategic partner, an employee sponsor or advocate, and a change mentor within the organization. In order to succeed, HR must be a business driven function with a thorough understanding of the organization’s big picture and be able to influence key decisions and policies. In general, the focus of today’s HR Manager is on strategic personnel retention and talents development. HR professionals will be coaches, counselors, mentors, and succession planners to help motivate organization’s members and their loyalty. The HR manager will also promote and fight for values, ethics, beliefs, and spirituality within their organizations, especially in the management of workplace diversity.
This paper will highlight on how a HR manager can meet the challenges of workplace diversity, how to motivate employees through gain-sharing and executive information system through proper planning, organizing, leading and controlling their human resources.
Workplace Diversity
According to Thomas (1992), dimensions of workplace diversity include, but are not limited to: age, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, physical abilities/qualities, race, sexual orientation, educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, military experience, religious beliefs, parental status, and work experience.
The Challenges of Workplace Diversity
The future success of any organizations relies on the ability to manage a diverse body of talent that can bring innovative ideas, perspectives and views to their work. The challenge and problems faced of workplace diversity can be turned into a strategic organizational asset if an organization is able to capitalize on this melting pot of diverse talents. With the mixture of talents of diverse cultural backgrounds, genders, ages and lifestyles, an organization can respond to business opportunities more rapidly and creatively, especially in the global arena (Cox, 1993), which must be one of the important organisational goals to be attained. More importantly, if the organizational environment does not support diversity broadly, one risks losing talent to competitors.
This is especially true for multinational companies (MNCs) who have operations on a global scale and employ people of different countries, ethical and cultural backgrounds. Thus, a HR manager needs to be mindful and may employ a ‘Think Global, Act Local’ approach in most circumstances. The challenge of workplace diversity is also prevalent amongst Singapore’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). With a population of only four million people and the nation’s strive towards high technology and knowledge-based economy; foreign talents are lured to share their expertise in these areas. Thus, many local HR managers have to undergo cultural-based Human Resource Management training to further their abilities to motivate a group of professional that are highly qualified but culturally diverse. Furthermore, the HR professional must assure the local professionals that these foreign talents are not a threat to their career advancement (Toh, 1993). In many ways, the effectiveness of workplace diversity management is dependent on the skilful balancing act of the HR manager.
One of the main reasons for ineffective workplace diversity management is the predisposition to pigeonhole employees, placing them in a different silo based on their diversity profile (Thomas, 1992). In the real world, diversity cannot be easily categorized and those organizations that respond to human complexity by leveraging the talents of a broad workforce will be the most effective in growing their businesses and their customer base.
The Management of Workplace Diversity
In order to effectively manage workplace diversity, Cox (1993) suggests that a HR Manager needs to change from an ethnocentric view (”our way is the best way”) to a culturally relative perspective (”let’s take the best of a variety of ways”). This shift in philosophy has to be ingrained in the managerial framework of the HR Manager in his/her planning, organizing, leading and controlling of organizational resources.
As suggested by Thomas (1992) and Cox (1993), there are several best practices that a HR manager can adopt in ensuring effective management of workplace diversity in order to attain organizational goals. They are:
Planning a Mentoring Program-
One of the best ways to handle workplace diversity issues is through initiating a Diversity Mentoring Program. This could entail involving different departmental managers in a mentoring program to coach and provide feedback to employees who are different from them. In order for the program to run successfully, it is wise to provide practical training for these managers or seek help from consultants and experts in this field. Usually, such a program will encourage organization’s members to air their opinions and learn how to resolve conflicts due to their diversity. More importantly, the purpose of a Diversity Mentoring Program seeks to encourage members to move beyond their own cultural frame of reference to recognize and take full advantage of the productivity potential inherent in a diverse population.
Organizing Talents Strategically-
Many companies are now realizing the advantages of a diverse workplace. As more and more companies are going global in their market expansions either physically or virtually (for example, E-commerce-related companies), there is a necessity to employ diverse talents to understand the various niches of the market. For example, when China was opening up its markets and exporting their products globally in the late 1980s, the Chinese companies (such as China’s electronic giants such as Haier) were seeking the marketing expertise of Singaporeans. This is because Singapore’s marketing talents were able to understand the local China markets relatively well (almost 75% of Singaporeans are of Chinese descent) and as well as being attuned to the markets in the West due to Singapore’s open economic policies and English language abilities. (Toh, R, 1993)
With this trend in place, a HR Manager must be able to organize the pool of diverse talents strategically for the organization. He/She must consider how a diverse workforce can enable the company to attain new markets and other organizational goals in order to harness the full potential of workplace diversity.
An organization that sees the existence of a diverse workforce as an organizational asset rather than a liability would indirectly help the organization to positively take in its stride some of the less positive aspects of workforce diversity.
Leading the Talk-
A HR Manager needs to advocate a diverse workforce by making diversity evident at all organizational levels. Otherwise, some employees will quickly conclude that there is no future for them in the company. As the HR Manager, it is pertinent to show respect for diversity issues and promote clear and positive responses to them. He/She must also show a high level of commitment and be able to resolve issues of workplace diversity in an ethical and responsible manner.
Control and Measure Results-
A HR Manager must conduct regular organizational assessments on issues like pay, benefits, work environment, management and promotional opportunities to assess the progress over the long term. There is also a need to develop appropriate measuring tools to measure the impact of diversity initiatives at the organization through organization-wide feedback surveys and other methods. Without proper control and evaluation, some of these diversity initiatives may just fizzle out, without resolving any real problems that may surface due to workplace diversity.
Motivational Approaches
Workplace motivation can be defined as the influence that makes us do things to achieve organizational goals: this is a result of our individual needs being satisfied (or met) so that we are motivated to complete organizational tasks effectively. As these needs vary from person to person, an organization must be able to utilize different motivational tools to encourage their employees to put in the required effort and increase productivity for the company.
Why do we need motivated employees? The answer is survival (Smith, 1994). In our changing workplace and competitive market environments, motivated employees and their contributions are the necessary currency for an organization’s survival and success. Motivational factors in an organizational context include working environment, job characteristics, appropriate organizational reward system and so on.
The development of an appropriate organizational reward system is probably one of the strongest motivational factors. This can influence both job satisfaction and employee motivation. The reward system affects job satisfaction by making the employee more comfortable and contented as a result of the rewards received. The reward system influences motivation primarily through the perceived value of the rewards and their contingency on performance (Hickins, 1998).
To be effective, an organizational reward system should be based on sound understanding of the motivation of people at work. In this paper, I will be touching on the one of the more popular methods of reward systems, gain-sharing.
Gain-sharing:
Gain-sharing programs generally refer to incentive plans that involve employees in a common effort to improve organizational performance, and are based on the concept that the resulting incremental economic gains are shared among employees and the company.
In most cases, workers voluntarily participate in management to accept responsibility for major reforms. This type of pay is based on factors directly under a worker’s control (i.e., productivity or costs). Gains are measured and distributions are made frequently through a predetermined formula. Because this pay is only implemented when gains are achieved, gain-sharing plans do not adversely affect company costs (Paulsen, 1991).
Managing Gain-sharing
In order for a gain-sharing program that meets the minimum requirements for success to be in place, Paulsen (1991) and Boyett (1988) have suggested a few pointers in the effective management of a gain-sharing program. They are as follows:
A HR manager must ensure that the people who will be participating in the plan are influencing the performance measured by the gain-sharing formula in a significant way by changes in their day-to-day behavior. The main idea of the gain sharing is to motivate members to increase productivity through their behavioral changes and working attitudes. If the increase in the performance measurement was due to external factors, then it would have defeated the purpose of having a gain-sharing program.
An effective manager must ensure that the gain-sharing targets are challenging but legitimate and attainable. In addition, the targets should be specific and challenging but reasonable and justifiable given the historical performance, the business strategy and the competitive environment. If the gain-sharing participants perceive the target as an impossibility and are not motivated at all, the whole program will be a disaster.
A manager must provide useful feedback as a guidance to the gain-sharing participants concerning how they need to change their behavior(s) to realize gain-sharing payouts The feedback should be frequent, objective and clearly based on the members’ performance in relation to the gain-sharing target.
A manager must have an effective mechanism in place to allow gain-sharing participants to initiate changes in work procedures and methods and/or requesting new or additional resources such as new technology to improve performance and realize gains. Though a manager must have a tight control of company’s resources, reasonable and justifiable requests for additional resources and/or changes in work methods from gain-sharing participants should be considered.
Executive Information Systems
Executive Information System (EIS) is the most common term used for the unified collections of computer hardware and software that track the essential data of a business’ daily performance and present it to managers as an aid to their planning and decision-making (Choo, 1991). With an EIS in place, a company can track inventory, sales, and receivables, compare today’s data with historical patterns. In addition, an EIS will aid in spotting significant variations from “normal” trends almost as soon as it develops, giving the company the maximum amount of time to make decisions and implement required changes to put your business back on the right track. This would enable EIS to be a useful tool in an organization’s strategic planning, as well as day-to-day management (Laudon, K and Laudon, J, 2003).
Managing EIS
As information is the basis of decision-making in an organization, there lies a great need for effective managerial control. A good control system would ensure the communication of the right information at the right time and relayed to the right people to take prompt actions.
When managing an Executive Information System, a HR manager must first find out exactly what information decision-makers would like to have available in the field of human resource management, and then to include it in the EIS. This is because having people simply use an EIS that lacks critical information is of no value-add to the organization. In addition, the manager must ensure that the use of information technology has to be brought into alignment with strategic business goals (Laudon, K and Laudon, J, 2003).
Conclusion
The role of the HR manager must parallel the needs of the changing organization. Successful organizations are becoming more adaptable, resilient, quick to change directions, and customer-centered. Within this environment, the HR professional must learn how to manage effectively through planning, organizing, leading and controlling the human resource and be knowledgeable of emerging trends in training and employee development.
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