How does a team-based suggestion system work? First, teams are formed in order to gather suggestions from employees on ways to improve, (in other words, suggestions on how to work "smarter"). To avoid unnecessary bureaucracy, most companies ask managers/supervisors to lead departmental teams whose goals mesh with the overall objectives of a company’s Gainsharing plan. The teams are permanent groups. The teams meet on a regular basis to discuss the ideas and suggestions. They make decisions on approving or declining the ideas. Also the teams are given limited spending authority to approve and implement the suggestions. Suggestions that are approved by a team, but are beyond their spending authority, are advanced to a higher level in the organization for final approval. Unlike a traditional suggestion system, a team-based system does not provide individual monetary rewards. This is because everyone works together and shares in the gain together. Gainsharing is not an individual incentive plan.
In terms of the calculation, a Gainsharing plan may have from one to six key performance measures. The most effective Gainsharing plans have relatively few performance goals because employee understanding of them is necessary for success. Examples of measures include productivity, quality, waste, spending, and customer service which are all factors employees can control. The gains (savings) from each measure are calculated separately. Then gains and losses from each measure are added to determine the total gain. A portion of the total gain goes to the company and a portion is shared with all employees. Generally, from 10% to 50% of the gain is shared with employees. The percent of the gain shared with employees depends on employee controllability and importance of the measure to the organization. The pool is distributed to all participants, typically on a monthly or quarterly frequency. The frequency of payouts depends on the employee line-of-sight (employees’ ability to identify what they do today to earn a payout at the end of the Gainsharing period). Companies with unskilled and semi-skilled employees typically have plans calling for payouts at shorter intervals than those with highly skilled workers.
It is very important to note that the development and implementation of a Gainsharing plan involves employees and that its goals are within employee control. An employee committee called the "Design Team" helps to make policy decisions on issues such as the plan's measures, employee eligibility, frequency of payout, and method of communication. Next the design team gets upper management approval before implementation. After approval, the Design Team is responsible for conducting meetings with all employees to communicate the details of the plan. Follow-up training should also take place.
The following summarizes many of the elements of a Gainsharing plan which have been discussed.
The keys to successful implementation are simplicity and employee involvement
In summary companies with successful Gainsharing plans view Gainsharing as much more than a bonus or incentive system. Instead, they see the system as an important part of their business strategy and a method to drive organization change. When properly designed and implemented, Gainsharing gradually grows into a company's core communications and compensation program. Gainsharing can be a powerful tool if installed and managed by a company that truly believes in its people.
T.A.T.u
t.A.T.u., or known in Russian as Тату, was a Russian pop music duo, made up of Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova. The group was formed in 1999 in Moscow. Their albums include "200 Russian "200 Po Vstrechnoy", "200 km/h in the wrong lane", "Lyudi Invalidy", "Dangerous and moving" and "Waste management". They split in 2011.
t.A.T.u. released their first single "All the Things She Said" in 2002. It reached number one in the United Kingdom. The song is about a relationship between two girls. In the music video Lena and Yulia kiss each other. ITV banned it from their show CD:UK. In 2003 t.A.T.U performed "Ne Ver', Ne Boysia" at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest for their country Russia. They came third.
t.A.T.u performed at the Sochi Winter Olympics.
Oracle bone
Oracle Bones were bones that the Chinese would carve or scratch their questions on. Then the priests would burn the oracle bone until it would crack. Then the priest read these cracks to the Chinese people for their answer. The Chinese people believed their answer to be from the gods. This was also known as the first stages of Chinese writing. These were very important to the Chinese.
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a book that Latter Day Saints believe is the word of God along with the Bible.
The original English version of the Book of Mormon was published in March 1830 by a man named Joseph Smith, Jr. who claimed to be a prophet like the ones in the Old Testament.
Joseph Smith said that he translated the book into English from gold plates given to him by an angel. The book claims that the language it was first written in was made from "the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians."
The story contained in the Book of Mormon is a shortened version written by a man named Mormon of the record of two groups of people called the Nephites and the Lamanites. Their ancestors left Jerusalem with their father Lehi about 600 years before the birth of Christ, sailed across a very big ocean, and settled in the New World. It gives an account of their families, cities, wars, systems of government, spiritual experiences and religious beliefs among other things. The main purpose of the Book of Mormon is to teach about Jesus Christ.
It also contains the Book of Ether (a very old book discovered by the Nephites) which told the story of another people (called the Jaredites) who had lived in some of the same areas shortly after the time of the Tower of Babel, but died out because of wars.
Usually, Book of Mormon stories show the Nephites as the more righteous, industrious and peaceful people and the Lamanites as wicked, lazy and warlike. Wars happen all the time between the two groups. But, near the end of the book, the Nephites become more wicked than the Lamanites, and all the Nephites die in their last war, except for one named Moroni who was directed by God to bury the Book of Mormon in a hill so that Joseph Smith Jr. could find it.
The central theme of the book revolves around Jesus Christ visiting the people described, performing miracles and showing them the right way to live.
Demilitarized zone
A demilitarized zone is an area of land that has no military forces in it. This is usually to stop armies from fighting.
The most famous demilitarized zone is the Korean Demilitarized Zone on the land between North Korea and South Korea. No one can go into the Demilitarized Zone, so the wildlife is well preserved. There are thousands of soldiers and weapons on each side of the Demilitarized Zone, including to this day a massive American presence.
The Rhineland was also demilitarized from the end of World War I until 1936, when Adolf Hitler remilitarized it.
Cúcuta
Cúcuta (pron. IPA koo`koo-tä), or San Jose de Cúcuta, is the capital of the Norte de Santander Department, in Colombia. Cúcuta is an important city in northeastern Colombia because of where it is; on the border with Venezuela. People from Cúcuta are called "cucuteños".
The area has grown fast since the 1960s, especially the suburbs of Villa del Rosario and Los Patios.