Human

Good morning everyone I’am the second speaker of the negative side. The topic for our debate is that ” Is Artificial Intelligence Better Than Human Intelligence”. We, the negative team, believe that the statement is false. We all know that human intelligence is a gift of nature. We cannot create a exact function of human brain. Human beings are highly sensitive and emotional intellectuals.

Humans can see, hear, think, and feel. The thoughts of humans are guided by the feelings. In short the abilities of the human brain cannot be replicated. Artificial intelligence or also known as AI created by humans is a creation of intelligent machines that work and react like humans. According to Stephen Hawking “the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race”. So it means that artificial intelligence or AI is a destruction or it is a threat to humans in general. These artificial intelligence or AI has many disadvantages.

First artificial intelligence are high cost. Artificial intelligence needs a big amount of money since they are a complex machines. AI needs maintenance, repair and the software programs needs to be updated. It needs a huge time and money.

Second artificial intelligence has no improvement for intelligence. Artificial intelligence cannot adopt our changing environments. They are only programmed to do a specific task.

Third artificial intelligence has no original creativity. Artificial intelligence have already programmed in their memory of different designs created by humans. They cannot advise or come up with a new idea because they don’t have the exact functions of brain that humans have.
Fourth artificial intelligence cannot replicate humans. Artificial intelligence do not have moral values and emotions. AI cannot make decisions when they encounter situations unfamiliar to them since they are already programmed. And they lack of human touch and they are not passionate in working like humans do.

In conclusion, this artificial intelligence can harm us humans. And we believe that human intelligence is better than artificial intelligence because we created them and humans control the AI machines. Without the human intelligence or human knowledge their is no artificial intelligence.

These drastic transformations in the planet’s atmosphere have been the impetus of evolution among species and has sparked interest to geologist and paleoanthropologist for years, resulting in a number of hypothesis that “propose that climate-driven environmental changes during the past 7 million years were esponsible for hominin speciation, the morphological shift to bipedality, enlarged cranial capacity, and behavioral adaptability’ (Behrensmeyer 476). For this theory to be properly supported, the antecedent question that needs to be identified is, do species adapt to change?

Naturalist and geologist, Charles Darwin, supported this idea, stating “that living things adapt toa place- a habitat” Ooyce 1). He expressed this theory through the idea that animals and various primates partake in the act of natural selection. In 1997, the National Science Foundation (NSF) supported Darwin’s heory by gathering a research team together and running a serious of studies that demonstrated “that animals can adapt to sudden changes in their environment with surprising speed” (Dybas, Chery 1). Researchers Frank Shaw and Ruth Shaw of the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, and F.

Helen Rodd of the University of California used wild guppies from the West Indies island of Trinidad and found that “fish that were moved from a predator-infested pool to a pool with Just one predator grew larger, lived longer and produced fewer but larger offspring. In the p of seven to 8 generations–between four and 1 1 years–they became more like the native guppies in the relatively predator-free environment” (Dybas, Chery 1). Although studies such as the one above indicates that species do indeed adapt to different environments, there still lies the question of if climate and evolution correlate.

Anthropologist Rick Potts challenged this question. For many years, Potts has been “pushing the idea that climate made us” and that “habitats kept changing because climates kept changing” Ooyce 1). For scientist to gain more knowledge and research n this idea, they need to get a fuller climate history in places where human ancestors lived. Which, in this case, would be in East Africa. The pulsed climate variability hypothesis states that about every 20,000 years ago, “the region vacillated between very dry and very wet periods” (Ferro 1).

These extreme changes may have played a vital role in driving human evolution and researchers like Rick Potts and Mark Maslin dig and gather sediments from East African lakes by drilling into lake bottoms and retrieving tubes of muck that contain millions of years of climate history; anging from “the fossils of the plant pollen and the organisms that lived in the lakes that respond to climate, to the chemistry of the sediments that also can give us very detailed information about changes in temperature and precipitation” Ooyce 1).

By collecting these tubes of muck, scientists can compare climate timelines to the fossil records ot our ancestors to see now climate attected evolution. Mark Maslin, who mainly focused on the findings form an East African Rift Valley, compared all the lakes that were known to have existed in the East African area over the last 5 million ears with climate and human evolution records. Maslin findings were that events such as when humans first migrated out of East Africa, all happened during the wetter periods found on the climate records.

Major events in human history, including when humans first started to migrate out of East Africa, happened during wetter periods. It was found that the appearance of early Homo erectus correlates to when a number of deep freshwater lakes appeared. In a press statement, Maslin explained that our ancestors “had to deal with rapid switching from famine to feast” and back again. This, he says, was what drove the evolution of new species with bigger brains, and later forced them to migrate out of East Africa, moving down toward South Africa and north to Europe and Asia” (Ferro 1).

By having these freshwater lakes that create lush vegetation, early humans would have been practically forced to migrate for the search of food water. Evaluations on lake sediment made it clear that East African lakes did in fact play a major role in the explanation of why and when hominin species migrated out of East Africa but after much speculation, it seems as though “we may have to consider that climate was not lways the underlying cause and that intrinsic social factors and interspecies competition may have play a significant role” (Ferro 1).

231 years ago, a group of Patriots representing a cross-section of state and local politicians, philosophers, small businessmen, and even farmers, created the blueprint for what can truly be called a human experiment. An experiment that had never been tried before in the history of mankind, and one that has changed the course of that history the moment they all affixed their signatures to the document describing it.

Most of the same signatures were also affixed to a document more than a decade earlier that was essentially akin to their death warrant. Though of diverse backgrounds, all members of this small, extraordinary group had two things in common: they were all unapologetic Patriots who loved their young country, and they were all, as a collective, one of the most prescient groups of humans to ever assemble. Lofty words indeed, and a description that has lost its true impact over the last two centuries.

Volumes have been written about the debates and implications of that fateful period during the summer and fall of 1787, to include the personal first-hand accounts of the framers. To put it as plainly as possible, for the first time in history, the concept that each citizen was entitled to the physical and intellectual fruits of their own labor was declared and codified. Truly, this was earth-changing.

Which brings us to the point of this essay. Please allow me an anecdote. The last tour of my military career culminated in an assignment at the Pentagon. Though the dreadful traffic in and around Washington D.C. is legendary, the cultural and historical sites there should be experienced by all Americans as least once in their lives. Located around the corner and one street back from the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum is the National Archives building.

In the U.S. Constitution on display at the Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC lobby, enshrined behind thick glass and encased in a helium-rich atmosphere sits the Declaration of Independence, the U.S Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. When I first got to the Pentagon, my daughter was about 10 years old.

The first time my wife and I took her on an excursion to see the sites on the National Mall and the Smithsonian Institution museums, I told my daughter there was something we had to see first before we started our sight-seeing day. We climbed the cathedral-like stairs of the Archives building and quietly waited in the hushed reverence of the building’s lobby. When it was our turn, we stood and looked down at the dimly lit original copy of the United States Constitution. In my mind, I had rehearsed many times over what I was going to say to her at this very moment. I leaned over and whispered in her ear.

“I want you to know that I have sworn an oath to protect these words with my life. I didn’t swear to protect our country, or the Flag, or the President, or even you and Mom. I swore to protect this piece of paper and what it means.” Whoah. I’m sure many of you are now thinking that that’s a pretty heavy concept to lay on your 4th grade daughter. But the opposite is true. As a military brat, she understood. I wanted to very clearly convey to her how absolute my conviction was to my oath and to what I believe that document has meant to our family, our country, and as history has proven, the world. I believed that then, and I believe that now.

And that’s the real reason we are here. As members on the U.S. Air Force Academy team, all of us, no matter our positions as Librarians, Research Assistants, IT Technicians, or Service Desk Staff, are mentors to each cadet walking this campus (as a Cadet Sponsor, I include myself as part of that team.) And let me be as direct as I can be: those cadets are being groomed to be Air Force officers with the singular purpose of doing what is required—up to and including sacrificing their lives—to protect the precepts of the United States Constitution.

When these young men and women whom our nation has selected walk into our library, some may see future pilots, navigators, missileers, and every other specialty officer that they will soon become. To me, this is incidental. I see every one of them first and foremost as protectors of the U.S. Constitution. And I see each and every one of you as their guides on this path. I believed that then, and I believe that now.

Introduction

The phenomenon of human trafficking or modern-day slavery has received increased media coverage globally; this is because millions of people around the world suffer in silence under slave-like conditions of forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation from which they cannot free themselves.

Human trafficking not only continues but appears to be on the rise worldwide primarily because most countries are involved in human trafficking to some extent, either as a place of recruitment, transit or the destination for trafficked individuals. This essay addresses the phenomenon of human trafficking as a form of victimisation and will define key concepts, identify and discuss victims of human trafficking and its trends. The discussion will further look in to the causes of vulnerability to trafficking, reasons for trafficking, strategies for recruiting trafficked people and the responses or courses of action to reduce human trafficking.

A case study of recent trafficking issue will also be provided to show the reality of the problem and lastly the conclusion will sum up the discussion in a nutshell. Definition of Key terms; 1 Human trafficking Hodge and Lietz (2007; 163) explain that human trafficking involves the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people, by the use of force, threat or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, and deception. It also includes the abuse of power and position by giving or receiving payments to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.

Exploitation as explained by Hodge and Lietz (2007; 163) include forced prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour and services, servitude and the involuntary removal of organs. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime explain human trafficking as an act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harbouring or receiving a person through a use of force, coercion or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them (UNODC, 2010).

Victim

According to Howley and Dorris (2007; 229) victims are persons who have suffered harm, including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering including grief, economic loss and/or substantial impairment of rights accorded them by the state law through acts or omissions that are in violation of the criminal law operating in the territory. Victims of human trafficking Winterdyk and Reichel (2010; 5) states that human traffickers tend to victimize the most vulnerable of the global community consisting mostly young women and children and to a certain extent men.

According to Winterdyk and Reichel (2010; 5) victims live in desperate, brutal circumstances behind a wall of secrecy and deception and the victims are often sick due to physical and psychological trauma they experience especially when they try to escape. Bales (2004; 56) further elaborates that traffickers instil trauma through a sense of terror and helplessness and by destroying the victims sense of self. Perpetrators also threaten death and serious harm against victims and their families, they also isolate their victims from sources of information and emotional support where they can get help (Bales, 2004; 56).

An explanation by Fichtelberg (2008; 151) clearly states that victims of human trafficking are forced into sex trade industry which includes prostitution, pornography, sex tourism, strip dancing, live-sex shows, servile marriages or illegal labour markets such as sweatshops, farm work, domestic work , industrial work, begging, child soldiers, participating in crime or other activities they did not agree to engage in.

Fichtelberg (2008; 152) further elaborates that victims are often “invisible” as they are often isolated from their family members and other members of their ethnic and religious community and therefore unable to speak the local language and unfamiliar with the culture. Victims may not self-identify themselves as victims of human trafficking due to lack of knowledge about the criminal justice system of the host country, fear of retribution against themselves and their families by traffickers, fear of accusation within their families, post traumatic stress disorder and stigma (Fichtelberg, 2008; 152).

Trends in human trafficking According to Hodge & Lietz (2007; 163) determining the number of individuals who are trafficked is difficult due to high levels of secrecy and corruption within the human trafficking industry. Furthermore, victims are often hesitant to share their experiences due to fear of reprisals and as a result estimates of the prevalence of trafficking have varied considerably.

Hodge & Lietz (2007;163) further states that approximately 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders annually, of which 70- 80% are female and approximately 50% are children. Among all females, approximately 70% are trafficked for prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation, while the remaining are males trafficked for forced labour and performing criminal activities for their traffickers (Hodge & Lietz, 2007;163).

Causes of human trafficking

• Poverty and desire for better life of exploited victims

According to Logan, Walker and Hunt (2009; 10) poverty is one most important factor in becoming a target of human trafficking because the poverty that the trafficked immigrants experience in their countries of origin is too extreme that it threatens even basic survival, thus making them vulnerable to any promises of better livelihood.

Logan, Walker and Hunt (2009; 10) further elaborates that vulnerability to trafficking is on the rise due to a mix of poverty and high levels of population density, infant mortality rate, children younger than 14, civil unrest and violence, cultural acceptance of trafficking and lower levels of food security in those poverty stricken nations.

In addition, Logan, Walker and Hunt (2009; 10) explain that impoverished people often want to go to stable and wealthy countries like America for a better life then criminals use their dreams against them and put them into trafficking as they are desperate and willing to accept any opportunity to better their livelihood and help their family members who are also struggling.

• Corruption and the abuse of influence

Surtees (2008;49) explains that corruption of government authorities including politicians, state functionaries, law enforcement officers and immigration officials play a critical role in the operation of human trafficking networks and allows trafficking to continue from, through, and within their countries.

Surtees (2008;49) further elaborates that these corrupt officials supports trafficking in many ways; through document falsification, illegal border crossings, overlooking prostitution venues in identifying victims, compromising criminal investigations, lack of investigation and judges dismissing cases or imposing minimal sanctions against international human trafficking networks. Lehti and Aromaa (2007; 125) also states that some individuals within international organized crime syndicates are current or former officials and use their position and/or experience to support criminal ventures.

Former members of security agencies, for example, are able to combine their security experience (which includes intimidation and torture) with high-level connections to political, professional and law enforcement agencies, allowing them to function with impunity by hiring legal and business experts as intermediaries or brokers through which they recruit people for trafficking (Lehti and Aromaa, 2007; 125).

• High profits and Low risk

According to the U.S Department of State (2004) human trafficking is the third most profitable form of international organised crime after narcotics and arms sales. According to this report the sale of trafficked people is generating massive profits for traffickers because unlike narcotics and arms, which are sold once, people who are sold into prostitution and involuntary servitude earn profits continually, year after year, for their exploiters while victims get minimal wages or basically nothing due to debt bondage imposed to them by traffickers (U. S Department of State, 2004).

In addition to high profits, Hodge & Lietz (2007; 166) explains that the risks associated with trafficking are quite minimal because prostitution is legal in many places like Germany and Netherlands therefore complicating efforts to incarcerate traffickers. Hodge & Lietz (2007; 166) further elaborates that even in countries where prostitution is clearly illegal, traffickers often go unpunished for their crimes because cases regularly fall apart due to lack of protection for witnesses, family involvement in the trafficking activity and fear of deportation.

Furthermore, enforcement efforts usually focus on the women instead of the exploiters, consequently people often attempt to remain unnoticed for fear of being charged, particularly if they are trafficked internationally (Hodge & Lietz, 2007; 166). Recruitment strategies for human trafficking victims A study by Skinner (2008; 131) states that people are trafficked in three main ways which include being born into slavery, use of force i. e. being kidnapped, sold, or physically forced and by fraud or being tricked.

Being born in to slavery

According to Skinner (2008; 131) in some countries families may be permanent servants because they were born into it. This is mainly because their families may have been slaves or in debt bondage literally for generations and when they bear children they are automatically under the same circumstances and may be sold to whoever is involved in the human trafficking business.

Use of force

Skinner (2008; 131) contends that in some countries children are literally sold into slavery out of their will by parents or other caregivers mainly because of the economic situations of the families. Skinner (2008; 131) further states that victims are then raped, beaten, intimidated, tortured and confined so as to control them after they have being sold. Forceful violence as explained by Skinner (2008; 131) is used especially during the early stages of victimisation, known as the ‘seasoning process’, which is used to break the victim’s resistance so as to make them easier to control.

In some cases, Skinner (2008; 131) states that people who are often approached to work in the sex industry often refuse and traffickers may kidnap or abduct such individuals and smuggle them to the country of destination to work as slaves or sold to other traffickers.

Fraud Hyland (2001; 31) states that traffickers use seemingly legitimate organizations to recruit young women and children in to trafficking situations. This often involves the use of false advertisements promising desperate people a better life in another, usually richer, nation that offers jobs to work as waitresses, maids, landscapers and dancers.

In other cases, Hyland (2001; 31) explain that women who work in nightclubs may be approached and promised much higher earnings for doing similar work in wealthier nations only to find that they will be forced in to prostitution and sex related exploitations. According to Hyland (2001; 31) some victims may be made to sign false contracts to make the whole experience seem even more legitimate, and sometimes psychologically binding them even more to the trafficker to erase any suspicions from the victim.

Hyland (2001; 32) further states that in some instances, victims are approached by individuals known to their families in their home countries who invite them to come along with them for a job offer but only misleading them into trafficking situations where are often subjected to debt-bondage, usually in the context of paying off transportation fees into the destination countries.

Coercion

According to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (2000), traffickers often make representations to their victims that physical harm may occur to them or others should the victim escape or attempt to escape.

Such representations can have coercive effects on victims as direct threats to inflict such harm may cause victims to live in fear and become hopeless and hence easy to control. Coercion as explained by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (2000) means threats of serious harm to or physical restraint of any person, it also includes any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to make a person to believe that failure to perform an act would result in serious harm to or physical restraint against any person; or the abuse or threatened abuse of the legal process

Severe forms of trafficking in persons

According to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (2000), severe forms of trafficking in persons’’ involves sex trafficking in which a commercial sex work is imposed on someone by the use of force, fraud, or coercion. It also includes recruitment, harbouring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labour or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. Sex Trafficking According to Hodge & Lietz (2007; 165) sex trafficking means the recruitment, harbouring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex. Hodge & Lietz (2007; 165) further states that sex trafficking is no longer primarily localized in one geographic region but has increasingly become a transnational and a global problem. For example, a young girl may be recruited in Botswana, sold and “trained” in Italy, with the United States being the ultimate destination.

Moreover, Hodge & Lietz (2007; 165) states that traffickers primarily target young women and girls, who are disproportionately affected by poverty, the lack of access to education, chronic unemployment, discrimination, and the lack of economic opportunities in countries of origin. According to Hodge & Lietz (2007; 165) most trafficking victims originate in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and to a lesser extent, Latin America while destination countries tend to be wealthy nations like America in which large sex industries like pornography exist or where prostitution is legalized or broadly tolerated as in the case of Germany and Netherlands.

Prevention of trafficking in humans

Economic alternatives to prevent and deter trafficking According to Beyrer (2001; 547) states that initiatives to enhance economic opportunities for potential victims of trafficking can be used as a method to deter trafficking since the traffickers often target people who live in poverty in the promise for better livelihood. Such initiatives may include microcredit lending programs, training in business development, skills training, and job counselling.

Other alternatives as stated by Beyrer (2001; 547) are the provision of grants to nongovernmental organizations that can help to accelerate and advance the political, economic, social, and educational roles and capacities of women in their countries. Furthermore, countries should initiate programs that promote women’s participation in economic decision which can help to empower women economically as they appear to be the primary target and most vulnerable to human trafficking (Beyrer, 2001; 547).

Public awareness and information

Beyrer (2001; 548) states that countries should establish and carry out programs to increase public awareness on human trafficking particularly among potential victims about the dangers of trafficking and the protections that are available for them. Beyrer (2001; 548) further elaborates that governments should initiate programs to keep children, especially girls, in schools to reduce vulnerability at an early age and to educate persons who have been victims of trafficking. Moreover the development of educational curricula covering issues of human trafficking can also help to create awareness at an early stage Beyrer (2001; 548).

Protection and assistance for victims of trafficking

According to Beyrer (2001; 549) victim protection begins when a victim is rescued and reunited with their family and continues when they are assisted to rebuild their lives. It may include keeping victims safe from threat, violence and abuse, counselling, help with income generation, education and vocational training. Beyrer (2001; 549) further states that prosecution of traffickers ensures the victim receives full justice, including meaningful prosecution of the perpetrator.

It requires vigorous law enforcement, fighting corruption, identifying and monitoring trafficking routes, and cross-border coordination. Moreover, Beyrer (2001; 549) further states that protection and assistance of victims can be achieved through policies or framework including government and NGO guiding principles, plans and strategies, which support all of the anti-trafficking initiatives that assist victims. Case study 9 held for human trafficking – News 24 Ermelo – Nine Nigerian men arrested for alleged human trafficking have appeared in the Ermelo Magistrate’s Court, Mpumalanga police said on Tuesday.

Captain Leonard Hlathi said the men appeared in court on Friday, and their case was postponed to April 16 for a bail application. He said it was alleged that the men forcefully took a number of women from around the country to Ermelo, where they were forced into prostitution. They were given R30 a day for food, and from time to time they were forced to take drugs to ensure they remained addicts. The 12 women, between the ages of 18 and 30, told the police the men took all their earnings and they were not paid for the jobs that they were doing. Home affairs officials confirmed that the suspects applied for asylum in South Africa, and according to the information in their application forms, they do not qualify for asylum. ” He said they were being charged under the Sexual Offences Act and for kidnapping. “These men can consider themselves a bit lucky as human trafficking laws are in the process of being legislated. These acts of the suspects were exactly equivalent to human trafficking. ” Source; news24. com The above case study reflects on the reality of the problem of human trafficking in South Africa as it the case in all countries around the world.

According to the case study it is evident that traffickers target mostly young women who are more vulnerable and defenceless. As already discussed trafficking is a sustained by huge profits due to exploitation of the victims, the case study further support that statement as it states that the victims were given only a little amount enough to buy food and the profit they make from forced prostitution goes to the perpetrators. Conclusion In conclusion, women, children and people in general are not property to be bought and sold, used and discarded.

Rather, they are human beings with certain fundamental human rights that prevent them from being sold into slavery. People should therefore know their rights and exercise them and countries should unite and cooperate in the war against human trafficking because it is a very complicated problem that cannot be solved by one country as it is a multinational crime involving highly organised crime syndicates. Citizens should also assist in the war against human trafficking by avoiding flashy job opportunities which often offer unrealistic rewards. At last people should also report suspicious cases of trafficking as this victims often work in public places including restaurants, hotels and massage parlours.

References

1. Bales, K. , (2004). Disposable people: New slavery in the global economy. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press
2. Beyrer, C. (2001). Shan women and girls and the sex industry in Southeast Asia: Political causes and human rights implications. Journal of Social Science and Medicine. Vol. 53. (6). Pp. 543–550.
3. Fichtelberg, A. (2008). Crime without borders: An introduction to international criminal justice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
4. Hodge . R. & Lietz . C. A (2007). The International Sexual Trafficking of Women and Children . Journal of Women and Social Work. Vol. 22 (2). Pp. 163-174.
5. Howley, S. , & Dorris, C. (2007). Legal rights for crime victims in the criminal justice system. (3rd ed. , Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
6. Hyland, K. (2001). Protecting human victims of trafficking: An American framework. Berkeley Women’s Law Journal. Vol. 16 (3). Pp. 29-71.
7. Lehti, M. , & Aromaa, K. (2007). Trafficking in humans for sexual exploitation in Europe. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice. vol. 31 (7). Pp. 123–45.
8. Logan. T. K. , Walker . R. & Hunt . G. (2009). Understanding Human Trafficking in the United States. Trauma Violence Abuse. vol. 10. (1). Pp. 3-30
9. Skinner, E. B. (2008). A crime so monstrous: Face-to-face with modern-day slavery. New York: Free Press
10. Trafficking Victims Protection Act (2000), Human trafficking. (URL accessed 21 march 2010); http://www. state. gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2007/86205. html
11. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2010). Human trafficking. URL (accessed 20 March 2010): http://www. unodc. org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking. html

Introduction Our research topic is to analyze the relationship between human capital and economic growth. Economic growths important determinant are physical capital, labor and human capital. But from the recent trend of world economic growth, we found that human capital is playing a key role by taking the place of material capital and labor. Human capital is intimately related to growth as it increases the nation’s capacity to produce goods and services. It also creates more Job opportunities and lifts the living standards of a country through increase in income levels.

Human apital deals with individuals who learn special skills and knowledge trough education at school, training and experience in the labor market (Barro et al, 2000). However, Economic growth refers to the increase in the amount of the goods and services produced by an economy over time Cones, 1996). As a result of their skills and education, productivity level would increase because educated workers would work at a faster pace than less educated workers Human capital refers to the knowledge and skills embodied in people.

It is widely recognized that some types of human capital are obtained through experience or nteractions with others and with formal education. Human capital is intimately related to the economic growth. Masses believe that capital means a bank account, stock or factory plants in the industrial area. These are also a type of capital that they are assets that increase income and other useful outputs over long periods of time. But such tangible forms of capital are not the only type of capital.

There is another very important type of capital known as human capital. It implies to Schooling, a computer training course, expenditures on medical care, and lectures on the virtues f punctuality, expertise and honesty. It is because these factors are also contributing to raise earnings, improve health, or over all increasing the economic growth rate. Therefore, economists regard spending on training, medical care, education and so on as investments in human capital.

They are called human capital because people cannot be separated from their knowledge, skills, health, or values in the way they can be separated from their financial and physical assets. The notion of human capital arose out of the awareness that physical capital alone was not enough to explain long term growth. Many social indicators such as educational enrolments and life expectancy became combined in a common term: human capital. Often, human capital is implicitly referred to as formal and informal education.

Yet, it can also contain factors such as the costs of raising children, health costs, and ability. Significance Economic gr n depends on many tactors such as the quantity and quality ot education, how education can impact on fertility rate, government policies to sustain incentives for human capital, a reduction in the cost of technology adoption and increase expenditure on education. Education and other aspects of human capital is important to economic growth because more educated individuals tend to have higher employment rate and earnings and produce more output relative to those who are less educated.

Education is considered as a positive investment that allows individuals to be equipped with knowledge and skills that can improve their employability and productive capacities that would lead to higher earnings in the future and hence, economic growth. Moreover, it has shown that it is not only the amount of formal education that matters, but also that the type of knowledge ossessed by labor in a region also plays a key role in determining the level of economic activity.

There are various type of education having there own effect on the economic growth such as skilled based education primary education specialized education higher education and education to develop entrepreneur skills, the more the entrepreneurs are in a country, more the business will flourish in that country. As a result, the countrys economy will rapidly grow. The continuing growth in per capita incomes of many countries during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is partly due to the expansion of scientific and echnical knowledge that raises the productivity of labor and other inputs in production.

And the increasing reliance of industry on sophisticated knowledge greatly enhances the value of education, technical schooling, on-the-Job training, and other human capital. New technological advances clearly are of little value to countries that have very few skilled workers who know how to use them. Investment in human capital is long term as compare to the investment on physical capital. It is also a continuous process unlike investment on physical capital. But the outcome of human capital is much greater than other investment. In past decades the healthy human capital countries grew faster than the one where these factors were missing.

Economic growth closely depends on the synergies between new knowledge and human capital, which is why large increases in education and training have accompanied major advances in technological knowledge in all countries that have achieved significant economic growth. The outstanding economic records of Japan, Taiwan, and other Asian economies in recent decades dramatically illustrate the importance of human capital to growth. We are going to support the positive orrelation of human capital and economic development by reference on some previous conducted researches.

Maudos, Pastor and Serrano aimed to find the role of human capital in the productivity gains of OECD countries form 1965-1990. There research supports the correlation of human capital and economic growth. Their findings suggest a positive the link between human capital and economic development. They concluded that human capital not only is an additional input in the production formula but also is a catalyst for technical change. Thus, the estimation of a stochastic translog production unction shows a statistically significant product elasticity of human capital, and non- parametric techniques confirm its significance as input.

Xu, Qi came to conclusion in the research conducted in 2008 that human capital is contributing towards Total factor production (TFP), which is contributes directly to economic development. They concluded that human capital had lower impact in technologically strong provinces compared technologically backward provinces. We have seen that human capital have an impact on the growth rate. But there is various composition of human capital. Various composition of human capital has different impact on the economic growth.

Violence or education as forms of oppression carried out by political groups in Latin America is a reoccurring theme as seen in Argentina and Cuba from earlier essays. Government sponsored “cloaks of fear” take over the nation and keep the common citizen subdued as seen in Argentina. The process of educating the common person so that he/she would not only understand, but be able to participate in political affairs was a major force in the Cuban revolution. In the 1980’s, Central America saw both violence and education used as political devices to promote or prevent political change.

The most common and horrific form of oppression in Central America is violence. Violence can be used to eliminate political competition as seen in El. Salvador “In November 1980 Alvarez and five top associates were killed by government forces, an act hat eliminated an entire cadre of reformist politicians” (Skidmore & Smith: 350). Another example of eliminating a potential threat to the government can be seen in the movie “Men With Guns”. In this movie a religious leader (Bishop Romero) with some control of people and their political thoughts was considered dangerous by the El. Salvadorian government. Therefore he was assassinated by the military in an attempt to silence his voice and maybe even spread fear throughout the country as others feared what would become of them if they spoke out against the government.

This imposement of fear, was another method of using violence to prevent political change. Argentina is the most dominant example of government created ‘fear’ as a weapon against the voice of the people. The acting government or Junta, randomly kidnapped citizens and offered no reason for their actions. In many cases the kidnapped (disappeared) were tortured and killed, their bodies and explanations for what happened never found. The actions of the Guatemalan government during its politically unstable period are a clear example of using violence and fear to repress change as seen in Skidmore and Smith (1997: 357)

“One feature of this entire period… was the frightful abuse of human rights. Paramilitary death squads most notoriously Mano Blanca and Ojo por Ojo, carried on a murderous campaign against political dissenters. No fewer then 80,000 people were killed or “disappeared between the 1960’s and 1990”.

Because people feared that if they spoke out against the government they would face death/torture, many would-be activists sat quietly as the government did whatever it wanted.

The only weapon against this ‘cloak of fear’ was to bring in the help of outside nations and expose the atrocities being committed. For example this is what the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo were famous for. They petitioned at a time nobody else would leave their house and they brought the attention of the United Nations and other human rights groups to the current situation in Argentina. However in the case of Guatemala, the government continues their oppression until they see fit to stop it themselves as illustrated by Skidmore & Smith (1997: 357-358):

“The government bore at least indirect responsibility for these killings, but world wide protests did not bring much respite…By the mid-1980s the Guatemalan military judged their campaign against the Marxist Guerrillas successful enough to allow the election of a civilian president… Under a patina of electoral democracy, the military force continues to predominate in Guatemala”.

Violence does not have to be only used as a form of oppression. Violence is sometimes used as a form of combating represent by groups of revolutionary solders. These groups of indigenous (local) solders combine to fight for their political and social rights are called Guerillas. Guerillas and guerilla tactics are spattered all throughout the history of Central America. They live in the mountains or jungles and rely on the locals for food, recruits, and information. Guerillas typically share the same ethnic background and social class, these are the chains that link them together. They use violence and military strategy to combat the unjustness or oppressing governments.

Another form of oppression in Central America is education and lack of it. Much of Central America is poverty-stricken and underdeveloped (Skidmore & Smith: 1997), this leads to a lack of literacy. By not having the ability to read and understand what is going on politically in their country, the common citizen lacks the knowledge necessary to participate in political affairs. Domineering governments do little to educate the common citizen because doing so would/could make them a dangerous adversary as seen in Hammond (1998: 15)

“To acquire knowledge is to acquire power, or at least it is a necessary first step. Popular education fosters specific skills, personal growth, and critical consciousness among the poor and oppressed. Learning empowers poor people because they prove they can do something they were always told was beyond them”.

Education can also be used as a weapon against oppression, as discussed in the book Fighting to Learn. Hammond (1998: 61) describes meetings between solders and their leaders where they discussed political issues and current events. Another issue often stressed in these meetings was the need to spread propaganda and knowledge into civilian communities. Educating the common people can produce many effects, all useful in combating an oppressive government regime.

Knowledge and education expose people to multiple views of common issues, therefore allowing them to decide for themselves what is right and wrong. This creates a sense of political and social awareness that combined with the desire for change and the willingness to use violence can be an explosive combination in the fight against oppression.

General Motor Corp , the world largest automaker, has been one of the global leaders from 75 years. Formed in 1908, GM today employs about 327,000 people around the world. GM is also in a diversified automotive business with communications, finance, insurance etc. Its revenues are approximately $180 billion, generating from more than 200 countries. GM has manufacturing operations in over 50 countries and produce almost 15% of the total world’s car and trucks. With such a large workforce and area of operations it can be the most challenging job for GM management to manage properly its diverse workforce and their requirements. GM vision is to be the world leader in transportation products and related services. It wants to earn customer’s trust and enthusiasm through continuous improvement driven by integrity, teamwork and innovation of GM people.

Employment practices: GM relies on its large, motivated, skilled and diverse workforce. GM has people who are really passionate about their work as whatever they do. GM workforce passion to create and develop something new put them way ahead of others. Their strong commitment to leadership in design, innovation in technology, or any other area put GM workforce par excellence. They are equal opportunity employer. GM efforts have always been to employ people who understand the operational, technical and people side of the automotive business. They rely on those employees who can work in a team of professionals and able to diagnose problem, plans and implement solutions and evaluate results. Employee’s success factor depends on its coaching, facilitation, consulting and leadership abilities. These policies of GM, provides them a successful strategy to bring in talent to the workforce and building success. GM employees & performance has been optimized on certain strategies and priorities such as talent, transformation and technology.

Human resource functions: Human resource functions in GM are well defined. HR/Labour processes necessary to grow talented people that strive to exceed the company’s business strategies, goals and objectives with a culture that embrace diversity. The basic function of HR is to optimize the performance of GM employees. HR in GM has developed the human talent that will lead the world’s largest vehicle manufacturer to even greater success. Human relations group performs different functions such as salaried administration, labour relations, OD consultants, Health and Safety and communication. These groups also took up various roles and work for excelling in the areas of business acumen, relationship and partnerships, functional expertise and change management for success. HR team in GM always focuses on people.

Compensation issues and reward policies: GM provides its employees’ the benefits which to go beyond the expected in terms of range. Apart from salaries, GM provides a wide variety of Medical plans, Health saving A/C PPO, Investment options include a saving stock purchase programme, US saving bonds and Personal retirement income plan. Apart from financial benefits GM provides their salaried employees and their managers the work life programme designed to help them and find a reasonable balance between their personal and professional lives. GM also provides its employees and their immediate family members the product discounts.

Labor-management issues and employee support/relations: GM respects the right to all employees to choose union membership. GM has formulated and adopted Global Sullivan Principles and specifically endorsed respect for voluntary freedom of association. GM complies all Laws covering the right of employees to organize for collective bargaining, and encourages employees to support or oppose union membership without fear of coercion or retaliation from GM. GM does not condone involuntary servitude in any form. GM tries to provide better employer-employee environment in its whole organization as a policy not as a compulsion. Due to employee-oriented policies, GM employees feel satisfied with their organization. Continuous training programme, recognition/ rewards, developmental assignments and career opportunities promotes diversity and encourages each team member to make his or her greatest contribution to achieve GM’s goals and objectives. Employees have been provided flexible working arrangement and have options of working from home. This effective arrangements and friendly environment in GM provides employees a better place to work.

International aspects: As we know that GM operates in 200 countries and has plants in almost over 50 countries around the world. Managing its global operations is always remaining a challenge for GM. GM’s one of the goal is to be the world leader in managing diversity in its business. GM’s comprehensive diversity strategy provides a global framework that allows for local customization and address the company’s approach with five stakeholder groups: consumers dealers, suppliers, employees and communities. GM reflects the world in its multicultural workforce who is critical link between the workplace and market place. Diverse pool of talent help GM drive innovation, understand global marketplace.

Global car industry environment: Now before identifying the basis HR issues we will take a look of global car industry. Car industry is experiencing rapid changes with globalization (Carson, 2004). Rapid changes are also altering the industry structure and attractiveness. Basically in the present circumstances where Western Europe & US market is getting saturated and the emerging market like Latin America, China, India and Eastern Europe are growing at a faster pace became the destination for car manufacturers. Corporate strategies in regards to globalization vary depending on the starting point of individual firms. But there seems to be a large measure of convergence towards

• Building vehicles where they are sold,
• Designing vehicles with common ‘global’ under body platforms while retaining the ability to adapt bodies trim level and ride characteristics to a wide range of local conditions (Sturgeon & Florida, 1999).

Car industry is the industry where investment exceeded the potential of the markets. Brazil, china and Indian Markets are the examples of the rush in investment in the car industry (Automotive Emerging Markets, 1999). Apart from other factors, Ecological factors are one of the major factors, which have made an impact on car industry. Different countries have different greenhouse gases and CO2 emission norms (Madhavan, 2000).  Kyoto protocol also made an impact on the industry. In view of the above market situation globally, car manufacturers have to device different strategies for different markets and for different products.

Competitive strategies: Car market in the world becoming more and more competitive. If the companies have to survive they have to analyze the market situations and analyze macro-micro factors, which could potentially affect their profitability. In analyzing the companies existing situation tools like SWOT  (Kotler, 2003) analysis, Porters (1996, 1980) five forces analysis etc. (See Appendix) could prove helpful and determines industry attractiveness and long run industry profitability.

The entry of new competitors is getting lesser and lesser but large numbers of manufacturers are using JV (joint-venture), merger & Acquisition route to strengthen, their market position. Threats of substitutes are looming large on car industry. People preferences are changing very fast and if company does not produce cars according to their needs and preferences customers easily move towards substitutes, which are easily available in the market. The bargaining power of the buyer has increased because car market in buyers markets. Similarly suppliers also forming a group and supplying to as many companies so OEM’s (Original Equipment Manufacturers) bargain their companies hard and demand major share in profit. So competition is car market is becoming fierce and each manufacturers are trying to capture larger market share.

Challenges to existing HR policies:  GM has to perform and its HR policies has to be such that it could face market competitiveness and changing environment. In the present situation GM operations in over 200 countries having more that 50 production locations and having more than 327,000 employees and 25000 global suppliers, HR dept. of the GM has to manage a large network system and it is itself a major challenge to HR managers. Managing such a large multinational corporation tends to be hectic with the logistics of managing processes across many departments spread over many countries. To manage people of such a large and diversified organization needs decentralization of powers and policies and needs multiple HR groups with specific specialization area. These groups are located at various levels from corporate office to each of business units across the corporation. HR groups do not have a central repository of information i.e. no centralize system and therefore lacked coordinated communication infrastructure. Similarly using third parties to manage HR issue in such a large p like recruitments at local levels and other functions of HR create discrepancies and the whole process of HR becomes inefficient and challenging. In general, managing such a large structure HR personnel only emphasis on only administrative issues rather than emphasizing on strategic planning. The market conditions and competitors strategies force GM to lean its process and depend on productivity.

Companies normally depend on Cost cutting efforts like reducing staff rather than reengineering process. Another major issue for GM is to manage its diverse, multicultural workforce. GM has to manage its business objective and core value of individual respect and responsibility by creating work environment of inclusion where everyone can fully contribute to customer satisfaction. GM has to manage different terms and make them understand that early change is the rule to survive. Managing frequent changes, which are taking place in market conditions, buyers need and preferences, regulations especially on environment, technological changes and integration of world market, in fact posing major challenge to HR people in the organization. Another major issue is the managing of complex global supply chain with more than 25000 suppliers needs effective relationship management. This relationship management is also put a challenge to HR people in GM.

Solution: Now to solve these HR issues GM has to take certain steps. HR group has to analyze organizational system and change dynamics. They have to build and share change management approaches within the business. HR department has to assess workforce training and development needs to establish training priorities. They have to help to create a performance driven culture. They have to work closely with union partners to ensure a competitive manufacturing environment and improving of operating efficiency. HR personnel have to make and maintain healthy and safe working environment for all GM employees to perform to their optimum level. They are using Internet to communicate freely the employees within and with management. GM prioritized and brings self-service capabilities to its huge employee base through convenient, easy to use employee portal. This portal provides an effective communication channel between employees and with management. This provides transparent system to its entire employee. This practice should be encouraged and more and more use of communication technologies prove fruitful in building cohesive environment. GM could integrate the whole system and communication so that their policy reaches to its employees more frequently and clearly.

Being the multicultural, equal opportunity employer GM has to comply with state and federal laws of the particular country of operations as well as understand cultural difference. So employee must be adequately trained to work in different cultural environment. Cross-cultural trainings have to be provided to employees more frequently so that expatriation could be easy and successful. Cultural policies must be made available to each and every employee and has to be circulated to each and everyone. GM has to honor local customs, laws throughout its global operation so its policy should be framed accordingly. GM has to encourage teamwork, stimulate external and internal exploration, benchmarking and learning and understand customers, markets and competitors and finally to focus on customers requirements. It has to motivates stimulates and support the efforts of employee to deliver best result to achieve competitive advantage. It has to inspire and lead employees and teams to pursue “Go fast” opportunity. It has to be customer focused and integrate all the functions and processes to address customer needs. By adopting the various strategies discussed above HR department of GM could able to achieve the desired results.

Conclusion: In the present circumstances where car industry is facing new challenges whether environmental or technological, the manpower working in car industry has to change fastly and accordingly. Market conditions are forcing the companies to be customer focused, lean, efficient and cost-effective. In these circumstances the company as large as GM is also facing the heat of the market situation. In the process to build GM as one of the most valuable company in reference to manpower management HR functions of the company should be streamlined. The issues faced by GM is primarily to manage vast network of operations, number of people, diversified culture and environment, global economical developments etc. To manage these challenges HR department of the GM has to focus on people policies and integrate them properly. They have to facilitate effective communication between employees and management.

References

1. Automotive Emerging Markets (1999). Automotive Emerging Markets London, Automotive World Publications, 20 April.
2. Carson, Iain (2004). Perpetual motion, For much of the 20th century, carmaking was the “industry of industries”. Now it has to reinvent itself, The Economist, print edition Sep 2nd.
3. Kotler, P. (2003). A Framework for marketing management, Pearson education     Singapore) pte. Ltd.
4. Madhavan, S. (2000). “Mobility at a price: motor vehicles and the environment in South and South East Asia”, in J. umphrey, Y. Lecler and M Salerno (ed.) Global Strategies, Local Realities: The Auto Industry in Emerging Markets (Basingstoke, Macmillan,), pp.95-121.
5. Porter, M.E., (1996) “ what is strategy?” Harvard Business Review (Nov.-Dec.): 61-78.
6. Porter, M.E., (1980). Competitive Strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors, Free press, New York.
7. Sturgeon, T. and R. Florida (1999). “The world that changed the machine: globalization and jobs in the automotive industry”, final report to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (Cambridge, MA, MIT).
8. All the information of general motors human resources has been retrieved on 15 Apr. 2007 from website < http://www.gm.com>.