Writing Feedback / Working for a large company - training, work exposure & networking opportunities [2]

QUESTION; Some people prefer to work for a large company. Others prefer to work for a small company. Which would you prefer? Use specific reasons and details to support your choice.

My preference is to work for a large company. I believe that a large organization has more to offer to its employees in terms of opportunities, career advancement, job security and recognition in contrast to a small company.

First and foremost, a large organization offers more opportunities to its employees such as training, work exposure and networking opportunities. Suppose you work for a multinational company which has branches world over. Such company may offer you opportunities such as foreign training or overseas work experience. Also if you work for a large company then you would receive a better exposure in contrast to the exposure in a small company. For example, HR department of a large organization has many different units handling different subjects. Therefore, a person would receive a vast exposure and many networking opportunities by working for HR division of a large company. In contrast, many small companies have limited HR activities and manage their HR functions with handful of people who would be deprived of vast exposure and networking opportunities.

Secondly, in a large organization, the chances are more for one to progress in career since their growth rate is higher rate than a small company. For example, when a large company opens hundred branches per year, a small company may not open a single branch within that year. Therefore, its employees would be stagnated in the same position while the employees of the large company can progress in career with frequently generated vacancies.

Thirdly, the job security is higher in a large organization compared to a small company. When the organization is large, they are less volatile to many socio economic turbulences. However, a small company may find it difficult to survive in such environments. For example, hotel industry in my country was very badly affected by the country's civil war until last year. All the small scale hotels were closed down and the employees lost their jobs. However, the big hotels managed to survive because these companies were either diversified companies or multinationals with foreign operations. Therefore they did not retrench their staff and instead this staff was given opportunities to work in different divisions.

Finally, career wise, one would have a better recognition if he or she works for a large company. This is too a very important aspect when a person thinks about changing the current employment. Another company would always prefer to recruit a person who has work experience of a larger organization than a small company. My personal experience is that my tenure at Bank of Ceylon, which is the second largest bank in Sri Lanka, has been the main reason why I was able to be selected out of a stiff competition to work for a reputed foreign bank.

Hence, considering the above reasons I conclude that working for a large organization would be always better than working for a small company.

Writing Feedback / TOEFL; Decisions should be made alone or not [6]

Hi,
I'm thankful if you give me a feedback for my toefl essay;

QUESTION; Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? A person should never make an important decision alone. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

I agree that a person should not make an important decision alone. The reason is that an important decision may have serious implications for one's life if they are not taken after careful thought. I wish to reinforce my argument by the following reasons;

First, the decision taken on collaborative ideas are generally safer because such decisions include careful evaluations of a set of people. If one person takes a decision on his own, there is a possibility that he or she may not see many sides due to his/her biases or preferences. If this person consults those who can provide him or her with good advice prior to taking the decision, then it is very likely that the decision would not have serious consequences in the future. For example, when I wanted to marry my first boy friend, I asked my family for their permission. My parents liked him; however, they advised me not to take that decision because we have very little compatibility between us. Though it was quite painful, I gave lot of consideration to my parent's advice and decided to stop our affair. He married a girl who has lots of resemblance to my character, but they could not survive their marriage for more than two years. The reason was none other than lack of compatibility between them.

Secondly, you would not have to repent later for your adamant behavior, had you consulted others before taking the decision which is very important for your life. For example, one of my friends found a good job while he was an undergraduate. He alone took the decision of quitting the university and did not inform about his decision to his parents or to the friends. Had he disclosed his idea to others, he may have got a different feedback from them. However, today he suffers for his adamant decision because his decision has hindered him from opportunities for his career advancement. He also repents for not consulting others who could have prevented him from taking this decision which negatively impacted on his life.

It is always better to take the important decision in life very carefully. Therefore, in my conclusion, I stress that important decisions in life should not be taken alone.

Writing Feedback / toefl; Internet had negative effects on civilization [5]

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? The invention of the Internet has had negative effects on your civilization. Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

Internet, no doubt, did escalate the convenience, efficiency and quality of human communication. However, I have to agree that it has impacted very negatively on our civilization.

First and foremost, internet too has failed to escape from the ugly hands of commercialization. We all know that internet has the capability of delivering any information in a fraction of a second. Therefore its popularity is unimaginable. This popularity and efficiency are highly abused by business minded people who use it for ill purposes such as pornography, fraud, crime etc. Such people have cleverly tapped the weaknesses of human mind to earn their living and hence impose a great danger on our civilization. For example, even a small child is able to access a web site that promotes pornography.

Secondly, internet has impacted the family lives of people. Since the availability of internet is unlimited and fairly inexpensive, internet connection has become a common feature in many households. However, this has distanced the family members from one another. For example, before internet was available in my country, the people used to sit together after dinner and had lengthy chats. Today, if there are three members in the family, at least one person is always in front of the computer accessing internet. This had not only affected the family lives adversely, but leads our society in the direction of individualism.

Thirdly, the children are increasingly becoming addicted to internet. Of course, there are many benefits offered to children by internet in respect of enhancing their knowledge. However, they hardly use internet for such productive purposes. My niece, who is now eleven years, spends most of the day by chatting to her friends through face-book. She wastes her valuable time for studies which significantly contributes to her future. My niece is no exception to the other children of her age. The parents today have become helpless in front of this social dilemma.

Although internet has many merits in its favor, the above reasons have led me to conclude it has adversely affected our civilization.

Writing Feedback / The employees would not stay in one job for various reasons. It's inappropriate. [4]

QUESTION: Business should hire employees for their entire career lives. Do you agree or disagree? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

It is true that having employees for a very long period in an organization would help build a strong organizational culture, avoid issues related to high staff turn-over and achieve a high level of employee commitment and loyalty. However, despite these benefits, I do not agree with the idea that a business should hire employees for their entire career lives for the following reasons;

The employees would not stay in one job for various reasons even if the business wishes so. These reasons can vary from personal to many other complicated issues. For example, suppose that the spouse of a female employee gets a permanent overseas assignment. If this spouse is the main bread winner of the family, it is very unlikely that this female employee would decide to continue her job rather than leaving the job to join her spouse. Therefore, it is not realistic for the business to expect that employees would stay with them for long period mainly due to their commitment and loyalty towards the company.

Further, the business should response effectively to the socio economic environmental changes for its own survival and growth. Therefore it may have to change its business model or business processes in order to respond to such changes. In such events the business would require people with new skills and competencies. Keeping old employees are not in a position to contribute towards success of the business due to lack of new skills and competencies would be a major overhead for the business. In such events the business can get rid of them easily without incurring large costs on paying compensation if its employees have signed short term contracts. Therefore hiring employees for long periods can have adverse effects when the business requires new skills.

In addition to that, although the organizational culture becomes stronger and powerful with one set of employees, the same culture may impose dangerous threats to the organization in situations that demand an organizational change. Many management studies have shown that established organizational cultures are hard to change and they resist heavily to organizational changes. However, in today's competition the businesses have become more dynamic and the ones that effectively handle organizational changes can outperform its competitors. If the business hires people on short term basis, then such employees cannot strongly influence the organizational culture. With such employees, the business is able to have smooth transitions when they need to change.

Although hiring people for a long period has its own merits such as long term commitment , low staff turn-over rates, strong organizational culture etc., the above reasons have led me to conclude that hiring employees for their entire career life is inappropriate for today's businesses.

Writing Feedback / Why do people enagage in dangerous actions? mental and physical characteristics [4]

QUESTION; Why do you think some people are attracted to dangerous sports or other dangerous activities? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

Humans are the most diverse group of species in the animal kingdom who greatly differ from one another in respect of their physical and psychological characteristics. I believe this is the main reason why some people are attracted towards dangerous sports or activities while others abstain from engaging in such things. In my view, those who have a strong liking towards this phenomenon, display certain physical and mental characteristics. These characteristics include superior physical strength, self confidence and low degree of risk averseness. Although I believe these are the most prominent aspects that promote one to be attracted towards dangerous activities or sports, there may be other reasons too, such as optimism, religious beliefs, misconceptions, irrational thinking etc.

To begin with, humans differ in their physical strengths. Just think why hand fights are a common sight in many boys' schools. It is because the boys who possess strong physiques love to display their strength in front of others. This is the same phenomenon that applies to the adult sportsmen who engage in dangerous sports such as boxing, rugby, wrestling etc. For these sportsmen with superior physical strength, it is the satisfaction they derive from engaging in these sports what matters more, in contrast to the risks that these sports would impose on themselves. On the contrary, someone with much weaker physique would not dare to think of engaging in such dangerous sports.

In addition, the level of confidence too is a significant factor that promotes people to engage in dangerous activities. For example, a diver would not perform a summersault if he or she is not confident of doing it. If this diver makes a mistake in his/her movement, he or she may bang on the diving board which may cause serious injuries to the diver. However, the same diver may have trembled in his or her first attempt of making this summersault since the diver did not have any confidence of making a perfect dive at that point. Therefore, confidence too plays a very vital role in eliminating one's fears and ambiguities and promotes them to involve in dangerous activities.

More over, the level of risk averseness of an individual is an important aspect in this regard. When a person is less risk averse, he would be ready to take high risks without giving much thought about the negative impacts they may cause later. However, the people who are more risk averse tend to be careful about their actions. For example, people who engage in dangerous activities such as drug trafficking and robbery, do not realize the danger that they are going to put themselves in. The reason is they do not mind taking such high risks.

In summery, the differences between individuals in terms of their mental and physical characteristics cause some people to be attracted towards performing dangerous sports and other activities. The physical strength, confidence and the risk averseness are among the prominent aspects that lead to this phenomenon.