Lockheed Martin Corporation Essay Essay Example

Lockheed Martin Corporation Essay Essay Example Lockheed Martin Corporation Essay Essay Lockheed Martin Corporation Essay Essay Lockheed Martin is an American aerospace multinational that besides specializes in defence. security and advanced engineering industries. The corporation was instituted in 1995 following the amalgamation between Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta ( Yenne. 2000 ) . The corporation is based in Bethesda in Maryland with planetary centres that specialize in different facets of the corporation’s many operations. Presently. the corporation employs over 120. 000 employees scattered across the universe. Soon. Lockheed is one of the largest defence contractors in the universe and enjoys about limitless orders across the universe. The operations of the corporation are divided into different sections consisting electronic systems ( 27 % ) . astronauticss ( 27 % ) . information systems and planetary solutions ( 27 % ) and infinite systems ( 19 % ) . Today. US authorities contracts account for much of the corporation’s gross while foreign authorities contracts besides make up a significant portion of the gross. On the other manus. orders from commercial clients merely make up a mere 2 % of the entire gross the corporation cyberspaces in a twelvemonth. In 1996. the corporation finalized the programs to get Lorad Corporation which later became portion of the corporation at a cost of $ 9. 1 billion. Like any other planetary corporation prosecuting 1000s of employees across the universe. Lockheed is surely faced with a myriad of challenges that usually define concern operations in the present universe. One of the greatest challenges confronting the corporation is the demand to turn to employee concerns and efficaciously undertake the facets of employee and industrial dealingss without many jobs like is ever the instance. On certain cases the corporation has had to confront the challenge of striking workers and travel slow as employees complained about assorted facets associating to their operations in the organisation ( Terris. 2010 ) . In that respect. the facet of covering with these employee concerns has been one of the greatest employee challenges impacting the organisation. Like most workers in the industry. most of Lockheed’s workers are unionized under the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace workers and are ever portion and package of the activities steered by the association. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers is a worker organisation. which draws its beginning in 1888 when a group of 19 mechanics came together and formed the Order of the United Machinists and Mechanical Engineers. With clip. the little organisation grew in rank and adopted the present name. The organisation has had a disruptive history characterized by the growing of labour motions in the 20th century. The growing of the brotherhood went in tandem with the development of the conveyance industry throughout the old ages as more and more workers became employed in the industry. During its formation. the organisation was by and large a secret matter given that employers of the clip were really critical and hostile toward organized labour motions. However. the Order quickly spread beyond its formation zone of Georgia and was shortly a recognized matter in the United States. Much of the growing in the rank of the brotherhood was largely evidenced during the World Wars when workers in the conveyance industry increased owing to the increased demand of vehicles and aeroplanes ( Cimini. 1994 ) . In the class of the seventiess. the brotherhood was segmented into several divisions covering with specific issues impacting the members. These included civil rights. forming. older workers and retired workers and adult females. At a convection held in 1984 in Seattle. Washington. the delegates voted and decided to utilize the Placid Harbor Education Center in order to develop and educate the members of the brotherhood. In 1998. the centre was renamed to the Winpisinger Education and Technology Center in order to acknowledge and honour the late president of the brotherhood. Throughout history. the brotherhood has ever addressed the issues impacting the workers and negotiated with the relevant employers on specific facets associating to the public assistance of the employees Contract Management. 2010 ) . Over 3000 workers of Lockheed Corporation are unionized under the IAM and are ever in path with the labour brotherhood. The brotherhood has ever negotiated in several cases sing the public assistance of the workers of Lockheed. In 2009. IAM came under much dialogue with the direction of Lockheed at Fort Worth where the corporation manufactures jets. The issues at drama in that instance were healthcare costs and pensions where the workers were over 3. 900 people in entire resistance with the direction of the corporation. At an reference to the workers on 19th April. 2009. IAM President promised the workers that the brotherhood would keenly negotiate for a just and merely contract between the members and the direction of Lockheed ( Julian A ; Denver. 2011 ) . The nucleus of the affair in this respect emerged out of the determination by Lockheed’s direction to denote that it would extinguish pension plans for new hires and would besides increase health care costs for all the workers at the corporation’s Fort Worth works. The IAM Negotiating Committee promised that it would efficaciously turn to the issue with the parties and warned Lockheed against its incorrect moves. There were besides allegations that the company was be aftering to present really expensive health care programs if the workers rejected the thought of riddance of the so present health care program ( Sears. 2006 ) . In the class of the dialogue. the brotherhood thwarted the attempts by the company to maintain the proceedings off from the workers. They sporadically informed the workers on whatever was transpirating between them and the direction. Much of this attempt was complemented when the brotherhood created a web site from where information associating to the predating negotiations was posted and the workers could easy follow. The brotherhood organized a series of commissions to manage the assorted logistics of the work stoppage and to maintain the employees every bit good as the populace good informed of the proceedings. Several commissions came into formation. including the work stoppage commission. communicating. community service. movie crew and kitchen ( 2010 ) . These commissions were fundamentally helping the brotherhood functionaries in turn toing the challenge of the negotiations given that the populace and the authorities had really particular involvement in the whole state of affairs. In the class of the dialogues. the brotherhood functionaries presented the direction of the corporation with an economic counter proposal. The direction was supposed to travel over the proposal and respond to the assorted inquiries that were thereby addressed. After traveling through the contents of the proposal. the functionaries of the organisation invited the brotherhood functionaries to the bargaining tabular array. In their statements. the direction enunciated that their program to cut off the pension for the new hires was merely appropriate and was fundamentally a procedure of turn toing the challenges the organisation was confronting at that clip. In the procedure. it appeared that the direction of the corporation was really inexorable and did non desire to yield land on the bargaining tabular array. While the direction claimed that they really paid their workers good and they could therefore afford the new proposal it was seting frontward. the brotherhood members wholly rejected the impression as giving through one manus and pickings by the other which was fundamentally unethical in concern pattern. As portion of the initial dialogues. the direction of Lockheed confirmed that it had given the brotherhood the option of accepting a 3 per centum pay rise addition for the contract workers who were confronting the challenge of the health care program ( Boyne. 2010 ) . Furthermore. extra subscribing fillip of $ 3. 000 was besides offered per worker as portion of the trade. This was to be supplemented by $ 800 to cover the one-year addition in the cost of life in the United States. Harmonizing to the direction. this was fundamentally to be a eventuality program in order to turn to the cardinal issue at manus and enable the workers to return to their work. In the same procedure. Lockheed was confronting similar force per unit area from Pentagon and was earnestly in a hole to accept the proposals of the brotherhood. It was. nevertheless. a blow for the company when the brotherhood functionaries wholly rejected the eventuality programs on the history that they had neer been successful in the yesteryear and that the company had ever non honored such duties ( Anderson. 2009 ) . In revenge. Lockheed created the position that it could efficaciously go on its operations without much respect to the nonionized workers who were seeking a alteration of the health care programs. The corporation announced that the mployed workers would efficaciously replace the nonionized workers in the class of the operations ( ( IAMAW. 2012 ) . For a piece. amid the dialogue negotiations. it appeared that the work stoppage was really an ageless matter given that most operations in the corporation had began restarting despite the dramatic nonionized members. It was surely a blow and a great challenge to the dialogue procedure and it created the demand for farther negotiations and steps to turn to the state of affairs. The emerging state of affairs presented the brotherhood functionaries with a batch of challenges and they opted to seek for alternate steps of operations while go oning with the dialogue procedure. Corporate bargaining was efficaciously used in the dialogue between the brotherhood functionaries and the direction of the corporation. For a piece. it appeared that much of the attempts of the brotherhood and the workers would non tire any fruit given the adamance of the direction in seeking to revoke the initial programs. However. visible radiation was seen at the terminal of the tunnel when eventually the direction of Lockheed agreed to give their presentation sing a new pension program that they had opted to follow alternatively of their earlier proposal. However. the brotherhood was really acute on accepting the proposal and several more dialogues were farther made before an amicable solution was reached. In any instance. corporate bargaining had been the most applicable scheme in the dialogue procedure and it surely appeared that most of the challenges of the workers at that clip had been resolved at least for a piece. The unit that was involved in the corporate bargaining procedure was drawn from the members of the brotherhood and besides had representation from the nonionized members. The commissions that were established had really been drawn from the corporation’s workers. The dialogue procedure fundamentally consisted of the brotherhood functionaries and the direction of Lockheed who were largely represented by the top functionaries at the corporation. The corporation being the largest defence contractor in the United States and beyond meant that the authorities has a batch of involvement in its operations. Pentagon. therefore. played a great function in the dialogue procedure by its advice on the direction to earnestly see the specific facets that were under consideration in order to avoid any break of the production procedure. At the terminal. it was realized that the basic issues of wellness attention and pension programs that had really affected the workers were resolved rather amicably and the whole episode ended efficaciously. The direction of Lockheed is surely faced with a myriad of challenges. which usually affect the operational procedure. In any instance. the corporation has ever continued to turn to the issues impacting the employees in the most effectual mode that reciprocally benefits all the parties in the negotiating tabular array. ( Rubenstein. 2007 ) In decision. it has to be stressed that the facets of employee dealingss is a cardinal issue that affect big and little corporations likewise. The most of import concern is. nevertheless. the demand to supply effectual working environment and turn to the challenges confronting the employees in the most effectual manner possible. The function of the labour brotherhoods in this respect can non be overemphasized given their imperative function in stand foring the demands of the workers. In the corporate bargaining procedure as a manner of seeking to get at amicable solution with respect to the issues impacting the organisation. it is realized that common apprehension on each portion of the deal squad is surely an of import consideration in the procedure. Whichever the instance. dialogues can ever assist turn to the issues so long as the parties approach such dialogues with the earnestness they surely deserve.

Origins and Use of Amaranth in Prehistoric America

Origins and Use of Amaranth in Prehistoric America Amaranth is a grain with high nutrition value, comparable to those of maize and rice. Amaranth has been a staple in Mesoamerica for thousands of years, first collected as a wild food, and then domesticated at least as early as 4000 BC. The edible parts are the seeds, which are consumed whole toasted or milled into flour. Other uses of amaranth include dye, forage and ornamental purposes. Amaranth is a plant of the family of Amaranthaceae. About 60 species are native to the Americas, whereas less numerous are the species originally from Europe, Africa, and Asia. The most widespread species are native to North, Central and South America, and these are A. Cruentus, A. caudatus, and A. hypochondriacus. Amaranthus cruentus, and A. hypochondriacus are native of Mexico and Guatemala. The first one is used in Mexico to produce typical sweets called alegrà ­a, in which the amaranth grains are toasted and mixed with honey or chocolate. Amaranthus caudatus is a widely distributed staple food both in South America and in India. This species originated as one of the staple foods for the ancient inhabitants of the Andean region. Amaranth Domestication Amaranth was probably widely used among hunter-gatherers in both North and South America. The wild seeds, even if small in size, are produced in abundance by the plant and are easy to collect. Evidence of domesticated amaranth seeds comes from the Coxcatlan cave in the Tehuacan valley of Mexico and dates as early as 4000 BC. Later evidence, like caches with charred amaranth seeds, has been found throughout the US Southwest and the Hopewell culture of the US Midwest. Domesticated species are usually larger and have shorter and weaker leaves which make the collection of the grains simpler. As other grains, seeds are collected through rubbing the inflorescences between the hands. Use of Amaranth in ancient Mesoamerica In ancient Mesoamerica, amaranth seeds were commonly used. The Aztec/Mexica cultivated large quantities of amaranth and it was also used as a  form of tribute payment. Its name in Nahuatl was huauhtli. Among the Aztecs, amaranth flour was used to make baked images of their patron deity, Huitzilopochtli, especially during the festival called Panquetzaliztli, which means â€Å"raising banners†. During these ceremonies, amaranth dough figurines of Huitzilopochtli were carried around in processions and then divided up among the population. The Mixtecs of Oaxaca also recognized a great importance to this plant. The precious Postclassic turquoise mosaic covering the skull encountered within Tomb 7 at Monte Alban was actually kept together by a sticky amaranth paste. Cultivation of amaranth decreased and almost disappeared in Colonial times, under the Spanish rule. The Spanish banished the crop because of its religious importance and use in ceremonies that the newcomers were trying to extirpate. Sources Mapes, Christina and Eduardo Espitia, 2001, Amaranth, in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, vol. 1, edited by David Carrasco, Oxford University Press. pp: 13-14 Sauer, Jonathan D., 1967, The Grain Amaranths and Their Relatives: A Revised Taxonomic and Geographic, Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Vol. 54, No. 2, pp. 103-137