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“Why It’s So Hard to Find an Affordable Apartment in New York” by Mihir Zaveri
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“Why It’s So Hard to Find an Affordable Apartment in New York” by Mihir Zaveri
New York’s rental market has surged across the city. The median rent in Manhattan has jumped by 25% within a single year. When the pandemic first emerged in early 2020, people received deals on rents where suddenly one bedroom apartments were affordable, but a year later they were getting huge $2000 rent increase. For the first time in New York’s history, the average rent surged to above$ 5,000 a month. People always view New York as a metropolis city with lots of population and big buildings but they have been lagging in job growth and population growth for years which is contributing to the crisis and affordability.
The inflaming crisis in the affordability of houses in New York is fuelled by a longstanding shortage and constraints in city planning. More than a century ago, city planners had predicted that New York had the potential to develop into a monster city with more than 55 million people (Zaveri, 1). The city recommended a significant overhaul of zoning guidelines to get around this fate in 1961. The move was meant to restrict the size of buildings as well as the number of people that could stay in them. It feels counterintuitive that the biggest city in America faces a housing problem. Construction crews and cranes seem to be in constant motion always developing new residential condos, apartment buildings and tall skyscrapers. However worth noting New York’s housing problem is a reflection of a national issue only that it is fueled by the city’s popularity. The fact remains that the more people desire to live in New York rather than in other cities that they can accommodate, the more the housing prices will skyrocket for the available ones.
Works Cited
Zaveri, Mihir. “Why It’s So Hard to Find an Affordable Apartment in New York.” The New York Times – Breaking News, US News, World News and Videos, 4 Aug. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/08/01/nyregion/nyc-affordable-apartment-rent.html.
“When They Call you a Terrorist” Critical Review
“When They Call you a Terrorist” Critical Review
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“When They Call you a Terrorist” Critical Review“When They Call you a Terrorist,” written by Patrisse Khan-Cullors, coauthored by asha bendele and with a foreword by Angela Davis was first published in 16th January 2018 at The Bibliophage. It is a compelling and inciting chronicle that talks about the black lives matters and what it means to be an African-American woman in the United States. Patrisse Cullors uses her first-hand real-life experiences to postulate how racism persists in the modern American Society and how the blacks are victimized on the government’s hand in the community. In writing her work, Patrisse Cullors has the aim of illustrating social injustice when it comes to law enforcement in the nation as the people of color are indirectly subjected to oppression and prejudice. In enhancing Black Nationalism, Patrisse Cullors played a vital role in founding a movement whose objectives are demanding justice in the nation. Her efforts in curbing social injustice in the community made her movement Black Live Matters, be known as a vital vessel in enhancing unity and equality in the country. How does racism persist in America hence civil rights are granted to all the citizens? It is alarming and disgusting to understand that this degrading menace still exist in the community today.
“When They Call you a Terrorist” is an excellent literature work that depicts the author’s livelihood in America with regards to the persecution she was subjected to as well as her family members. Throughout the book, the plot is developed by the racism and injustice theme regarding the ethnicity bias in the society (Gyarkye, 2018). The blacks in the community are seen as half human in many instances segregated and often locked behind the prison doors for quire and minor mistakes that in a real sense do not deserve the dully. The people of color are associated with drug abuse and peddling making them the typical targets of police officers that are invaded at any time and anyhow with no consideration of the stigma and sense of non-belonging instigated. Regardless of the blacks living in poverty and harsh environmental conditions, they are exceedingly tracked by the local government where their possibility of getting imprisoned is higher than four times than that of the white counterparts.
Patrisse Cullors tells her story starting with the victimization and segregation she underwent when back in school at her tender age. It was at the era of “war on drugs” which one can conclude to be battle of oppressing and segregating the people of color in the American States. As usual, she was at school in Van Nuys, California when a police officer emerged in front of the class and called out her name. She was arrested in the presence of all the other colleagues and taken to the headmaster’s office where all her belongings were searched. It is unbelievable that even such a tender girl striving to get an education have to be instigated to dehumanization by the local government and the people at higher levels without consideration of her dignity. In her book, Patrisse Cullors also depicts the lives of her brothers who were victims of the same kind of persecution. They were tracked and trained ending up in the juvenile detention at their young age. On their release, they could be seen as human testimony of the suffering and injustice of imprisonment for minor things that did not deserve such sentences.
The theme of racism and injustice develops the major conflict of the story where Patrisse Cullors’s mother is mistreated in front of her parents by the officers as well as her brother being imprisoned and oppressed to the extent of developing schizophrenia disorder. During the 1980s the case is the same when the war on Gang is declared, and surveillance is put in place the offenders who in many instances appeared to the black. Patrisse Cullors uses personal scenarios and experience to portray the injustice menace where the black children grow in the unconducive environment their lives being endangered by the local government just because of their skin color. Towards the end of the story the author talks of her deceased biological father Gabriel, who struggled to overcome drug addiction with the intervention of more than ten counselors. Being a Negro and a drug addict, he served a wide variety of imprisonment. In his burial, Patrisse Cullors states that he demised of a broken heart living in a country of unrevealed promises.
African diaspora communities in the nation experience lots of challenges even today in the society. The fact can be justified by the Patrisse Cullors’s book “When They Call you a Terrorist” regarding how the blacks are mistreated by the local government indirectly in the name of enforcing law and order. It depicts that the granting for civil rights after a great struggle did not mark the end of racism but indeed maneuvered it differently. During the early decades, oppression could be done on the face to the Negros and other minorities where they could not have access to the education facilities, healthcare as well as other white social amenities. A number of civil rights such as the right to vote were also not granted with no plead o the injustice and inconvenience being subjected to the people of color. In the modern society, Black Nationalism gave way to civil rights which are constitutional to all people regardless of their color and ethnicity (Williams, 2017). However, various indirect oppressions and victimization raise the alarm when it comes to the enhancement of civil justice to the blacks.
The barbaric police are all around in the African-American residence as well as in other streets mistreating the Natives in the name of fighting drug abuse and other social violence, but in the real sense discriminating against the minorities. Patrisse Cullors gives an illustration of how she was harassed by the police officer in front of other students as well as the headmaster and teachers who did not even questioned for the act. It is right that there were no drugs found after the search and all that, but the author puts it clear that the primary focus was a violation and stripping as a way of way of subjugating the minority. The head of school, as well as the police officer, do not mind the stigma and guilt the girl will face in her education line as she interacts with her classmates and colleagues who at many times will tend to victimize her and make jokes of her experience as an African-American.
The action of Patrisse Cullors forming the Black Lives Matters depicts Pan Africanism. It is through her experience as a black woman in America since her tender age when she was starting her schooling to her life as a mother and wife of an immigrant that stimulated her as an advocacy leader. Social prejudice is a devastating threat that leads to degradation of cultural development. Patrisse Cullors remains steadfast in her advocacy towards Black Nationalism as she could not intend her children and other minority groups to go through the same oppression in the community. Consider a society where innocent children have put custody and tend to be the testimonies of how life in prison is terrible, just because of their ethnicity and skin color. They will grow in anxiety that in future will lead to psychological disorders as it was the case with Patrisse’s brother. Monte Cullors was arrested and taken to the Los Angeles County Prison at the age of twelve years where he was significantly harassed and end up developing a schizoaffective disorder.
In consideration of the author’s perception in writing the book, racial discrimination is present in the 21st century even though indirectly and it takes a lot of effort in curbing the issue. Dealing with the black matters have become extra challenging because the racial injustice menace has been widely spread at the government level where those in mandate victimize the Negros in the process of enforcing the law. The police officers are used to oppress the black inhabitants as they have the power of maintaining security in the nation. For instance, consider the case of the officer who intruded Patrisse’s home and carried out a thorough search in all the resident rooms. He was cruel and did not show respect to the narrator’s mother in front of her children. Even if he was under the call of duty, there have to be some sense of humanity as we live in a civilized nation.
It is astonishing, considering that Patrisse Cullors is talking about racism and social injustice in the 21st century. Take the incident of the George Zimmerman acquisition after the murder of Trayvon Martin who was only seventeen years old back in the year 2012. Being an activist and freedom fighter, Khan-Cullors was touched by this issue remembering her life story and the shame as well as oppression she faced during her schooling (Tefera, et al. 2018). The act of no law action being taken towards the murderer postulates racial injustice in the community where the black’s rights are assumed. It is clear that Kha- Cullors is a victim of segregation in modern society as illuminated in her book depicting that there is more to be done regarding Black Nationalism in America.
From Patrisse Cullors’s story, it is convincing that the act of the blacks being called terrorists and Burroughs in the modern society is racial biased. Some of the officers and other leaders in the American community tends to oppress the people of color indirectly with the victimization of drug abuse, trafficking, and violence among other minor illegalities. In her book as well as the foundation regarding black lives matters portrays Kha- Cullors’s patriotism and how disgusting it is to be under racial chauvinism. The book is practical to the study of students African diaspora, Black Nationalism or Pan Africanism course as it forms the foundation in understanding the detrimental impacts of racial injustice as well as the necessity of national cohesion. Therefore, people have to eradicate the racial menace as it is a threat to social-economic and political development in the society. Also, the government has to implement appropriate policies of enhancing civil rights to all citizens as well as educating the public on the matters regarding social equality and racial injustice.
References
American Library Association. (2017). Cognotes-2018 Midwinter Meeting-December Preview.
Gyarkye, L. (2018). WHEN THEY CALL YOU A TERRORIST A Black Lives Matter Memoir.
Tefera, Adai A., Jeanne M. Powers, and Gustavo E. Fischman. “Intersectionality in Education: A Conceptual Aspiration and Research Imperative.” (2018): vii-xvii.
Williams, A. (2017). When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir.
Human Resource Management and Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Human Resource Management and Sustainable Competitive Advantage
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Abstract
People have been cited as the key source of sustainable competitive advantage in organizations. People may refer to an organization’s customer base or the organization’s workforce and human capital. As the theories of competitive advantage demand, for resources to be considered as sources of sustainable competitive advantage, they must be valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable (Barney, 2007). Because an organization’s customer base may not meet this criterion for sustainable competitive advantage, this paper assumes human resources as the key sources of sustainable competitive advantage. Research studies illustrate that human resources are valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable, this making them a source of sustainable competitive advantage for organizations. Human resources are considered as valuable sources because they are closely linked with increased financial quality for organizations. Human resources are also considered as rare because.. in addition to this, human resources are inimitable owing to their uniqueness in their respective organizations and non-substitutable because substitution is only applicable to other resources other than human capital.
Key Words: Sustainable Competitive Advantage, Human Resources, Value, Rareness,
Inimitability, Non-substitutable
Introduction
One of the keys to the survival of any business organization is gaining competitive advantage. The term competitive advantage refers to the processes and procedures through which businesses set themselves as leaders in the market. It is whereby organizations develop differentiation strategies from their competitors; thus, granting these organizations a business advantage over their competitors (Barney, 2007). Building on the concept of competitive advantage, sustainable competitive advantage refers to the protracted benefit of employing all inimitable value-creating strategies based on a distinctive combination of organizational resources and capabilities. Current studies on the issues are aimed at identifying the different sources of superior performance of firms in their respective competitive markets. Accordingly, these studies have identified various sources of sustainable competitive advantage ranging from technology, human resource management, and capital equipment among other things.
Organizations that are classified as having a competitive advantage are those that have the ability to identify value creating sources and strategies and implementing these strategies in their operations (Barney, 2007). More specifically, human resource management has been cited as the most important asset for an organization’s attainment of sustainable competitive advantage. This is because human resource management concerns the provision of workforce for the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. Human resources involves the management of human capital which is a necessary tool for the achievement of sustainable competitive advantage for firms and organizations.
This paper examines human resources as a source of sustainable competitive advantage. The paper explains why people are the key source of sustained competitive advantage for organizations in relation to the socio-economic and business context of human resource management. The paper provides an analysis of human resources as a source of sustainable competitive advantage based on value, rareness, inimitability, and substitution.
Human Resources as a source of Sustainable Competitive Advantage
As mentioned earlier, people, who refer to the human resources of any organization, are one of the sources of sustainable competitive advantage in organizations and firms. As the concepts of sustainable competitive advantage explain, for a resource to be considered a source of sustainable competitive advantage, it should have the ability to add value to the organization, be rare and inimitable, as well as, lack substitutes (Barney, 2007). Researchers argue that in order to understand how human resources are sources of sustainable competitive advantage, individuals need to analyze human resources based on these four facets of sustainable competitive advantage. Accordingly, the analysis needs to include both human resource functions and activities in the organization for proper comprehension of how human resources are a source of sustainable competitive advantage.
Value of Human Resources
Just as other sources of sustained competitive advantage, the people who make up the workforce in the organization are valuable to the organization. This is because, these people provide the organization with an array of skills and capabilities that are necessary for the organization to attain sustainable competitive advantage. As Dyer explains, employees are unique to the organization, and the skills and capabilities of a particular employee are different in each organization (Dyer, 1993). This means that employees contribute differently in the organization, thus implying a sense of value addition by each unique employee. Understanding the value of human resources in the organization is a complex and multifaceted process that requires a measurement of the demand and supply of people or labor in the organization (Hatch & Dyer, 2004). The demand for human resources in the organization refers to the ability for substitution of employees. Put simply, it is whereby employees have similar skills and for that reason can be substituted for each other in the organization. Supply, on the other hand, refers to the productive capacity of the employees in the organization. This refers to the contribution of each employee in the organization for the achievement of organizational goals and objectives.
According to the human capital theory, when the demand and supply of human resources is homogenous, meaning the organization has similar jobs that require similar skills, the organization experiences no variance in individual contribution of employees in the organization (Wright et al., 1994). In such a case, human resources can be considered as having no value to the organization. However, if the demand and supply of human resources in the organization is heterogeneous, meaning that organizations have different jobs requiring different skills and capabilities, then human resources can be considered as valuable to the organization. In most organizations today, the latter is the most notable characteristic of human resources, thus implying a sense of value addition by human resources in the organization. Building on this idea, human resources has been linked with financial value in terms of employee remuneration and company profits. Put simply, the amount of money spent on employees, and the amount of money made by these employees through their performance. Researchers argue that high quality human resource management equals high financial value for organizations (Pfeffer, 1996). Therefore, if an organization invests in their human resources, there is the possibility that the organization will increase its financial value.
Rareness of Human Resources
The second requirement of sustainable competitive advantage is that sources need to be rare, meaning that it should be infrequent and exceptional. Arguably, the rareness of human resources is not based on numbers but the skills and capabilities that each employee in the organization possesses. All competing organizations have access to a wide workforce both within the organization and without. The key to having human resources as rare commodities lies in the recruitment and selection of the employees joining the workforce in an organization. In this particular case, skills and capabilities go beyond educational and technical skills, and instead they are highly focused on the employees’ cognitive skills and capabilities (Hatch & Dyer, 2004). In human resource management, cognitive skills refer to employees’ unique mental abilities that allow them to carry out their duties and responsibilities effectively and efficiently. Unlike the job-specific skills and capabilities, which may be similar in competing organizations, cognitive skills are unique to each organization. This is because the development of cognitive skills and abilities is dependent on the training and development provided by the human resource department.
It is the role of the human resource department to establish training and development programs for their employees. This not only keeps the employees updated in the current trends in the industry, it also allows them to develop various skills that promote sustainable competitive advantage for the organization (Pfeffer, 1996). The rationale behind this is explained by Jackson et al. in their study, who states that organizational employees are in constant competition with each other. He continues on to state that the human resource department is responsible for this competition as it provides incentives for good performance and productivity (Jackson et al., 2003). Organizational employees devise various ways in which they can outdo each other so as to receive benefits. One of these ways may be through the development of smart business skills for the attainment of sustainable competitive advantage for the company. Cognitive ability is said to have a strong and positive association with individual job performance in the workplace. Organizations that manage to have a strong workforce with strong cognitive skills and abilities is likely to demonstrate an increased economic value for the firm. Cognitive ability is a necessary tool for organizations because it assures the organization of adaptability and flexibility to future problems and threats from competitors. In his argument on the topic, Boxall Explains that cognitive ability is distinctively distributed in the population, which implies that organizations that have high cognitive ability levels are, therefore, rare (Boxall, 1998).
Because employee cognitive abilities are not guaranteed for all organizations, and for that reason are hard to come by, the organization that successfully manages to have a combination of employees with diverse cognitive abilities is said to be rare. Not all human resource departments have the capacity to ensure that their organization’s workforce is well equipped with the necessary combination of employees with cognitive abilities. Accordingly, those organizations that have this are said to be rare, thus gain a competitive advantage over their competitors in the industry (Wright et al., 1994). This, therefore, illustrates how human resources can be sources of sustainable competitive advantage through being rare.
Inimitability of Human Resources
For a resource to be considered a source of sustainable competitive advantage, it should also be inimitable, meaning that it cannot be copied by other organizations. Inimitability of human resources is examined on the basis of the organization’s unique human resource practices and strategies. This includes the remuneration and benefits offered for employees, as well as, all other human resource practices that involve the preservation of employees in the organization. These activities may or may not be imitable but in essence should not be. Competitors to an organization should not have the ability to imitate the human resource practices in a particular organization, if this organization is to be considered as having attained a sustainable competitive advantage. However, as Pfeffer explains, there are three main ways through which human resources may be examined to determine their inimitability. These include organizational history, elemental indistinctness, and socio-economic complexity (Pfeffer, 1996). In terms of organizational history refers to the activities and practices of an organization’s human resources that date back to when the charter of the organization in the industry. It refers to the human resource activities that have been practiced over time in the organization, hence becoming part of the organizational culture. Having a unique history in human resources assures organizations of attaining sustainable competitive advantage because this history cannot be imitated by organizations in the same industry. Elemental indistinctness exists when an organization’s resources and capabilities and the organization’s competitive advantage over its competitors cannot be easily understood (Wright et al., 1994). Put simply, competing firms should not have the ability to understand an organization’s human resources as being a source of sustainable competitive advantage.
If competing firms are unable to identify how an organization utilizes its human resources for competitive advantage, then it will be impossible for them to imitate human resources for their organizations (Hatch & Dyer, 2004). Lastly, social complexity of human resources describes the complexity of the social aspects of human resources that make them impossible to, systematically, manage or influence. Social complexity may be brought about through the combination of a diverse workforce with each employee originating from a different background hence providing different capabilities for the organization. Further, inimitability of human resources is analyzed based on ability and behavior of the employees in the workplace. Although employees may have the ability to perform certain tasks in the organization, this does not guarantee that they will behave in accordance with the organization’s requirement. Inimitability comes in when an organization can successfully boast of having a workforce that can perform as opposed to one that has the ability to perform. Ensuring performance in human resources is key to reducing the possibility of imitation by competitors, as they cannot imitate employee performance for sustainable competitive advantage (Wright et al., 1994). Each organization has its own unique human resource culture and practice that is responsible for employee performance. This human resource culture has been identified as one of the hardest to imitate owing to its long-term nature and the uniqueness across all organizations. This, in turn, illustrates how human resources can be sources of sustained competitive advantage through their inability to be imitated.
Substitution of Human Resources
The last condition for sustainable competitive advantage is that all sources should not be easily substitutable. Put simply, this means that sources of competitive advantage should not provide the opportunity for substitution by competitors. In the search for competitive advantage, it is natural that if a competitor cannot imitate the sources of competitive advantage, then they can provide substitutes to these resources. Though substitution implies a lower quality of resources for the organization, it also suggests some benefits such as reduced costs, and increase in quantity among other things. For that reason, substitution poses a great threat to competitive advantage for firms and organizations (Hatch & Dyer, 2004). Organizations that successfully manage to provide resources that cannot be substituted are, therefore those that attain sustainable competitive advantage in their respective industries. Human resources are considered as sources of competitive advantage owing to the simple fact that unlike other resources, they cannot be substituted. Substitution of human resources for competitive advantage would imply a reduction in the quality of human resource activities in the organization. For example, the substitution of cognitive ability, which may be a source of competitive advantage, would means that the employees in the competing organization cannot enjoy the benefits of cognitive ability for sustainable competitive advantage. As Pfeffer explains, substituting human resource activities, does not inherently, result in gaining sustainable competitive advantage in organizations (Pfeffer, 1996). If competitors to an organization need to attain sustainable competitive advantage, then it would not be a viable approach for them to take on substitution for the achievement of this. However, competitors can substitute other resources such as technology and financial resources. This, therefore, illustrates how human resources can be a source of sustainable competitive advantage owing to the fact that it cannot be substituted.
Conclusion
It is correct to assume that people are the key sources of sustainable competitive advantage in an organization. As the paper explains, people in this case refer to the human resources available for organizations. Human resources provide the necessary human capital for organizations to perform their operations accordingly, for the achievement of the set goals and objectives (Hatch & Dyer, 2004). Because sustainable competitive advantage demands that organizations provide for their customers exclusive high quality products and services. As previously mentioned, human resources meet the criterion for sources of sustainable competitive advantage, and for that reason, they have been cited as the key sources for market leadership. Because human resources are unique to each organization, they are rare, and inimitable, thus qualifying for the first requirements of sustainable competitive advantage. Additionally, human resources cannot be easily imitated or substitutable from organization to organization, hence passing the last two requirements for sustainable competitive advantage. Based on the analysis presented in this paper regarding human resources as a source of market leadership, it is therefore, safe to assume that indeed human resources are sources of sustained competitive advantage.
References
Barney, J. & Clark, D. (2007). Resource-based theory: creating and sustaining competitive
advantage. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Boxall, P. (1998). ‘Achieving competitive advantage through human resource strategy: towards a
theory of industry dynamics’. Human Resource Management Review, 8(3): 265-288.
Dyer, L. (1993). Human resources as a source of competitive advantage. New York: Industrial
Relations Centre, Queen’s University.
Ferligoj, A. et al. (1997). Competitive Advantage and Human Resource Management in SMEs in
a Transitional Economy. Small Business Economics, 9(6): 503-514.
Hatch, N & Dyer J. (2004). Human Capital and Learning as a Source of Sustainable Competitive
Advantage. Strategic Management Journal, 25(12): 1155-1178.
Jackson, S. et al. (2003). Managing knowledge for sustained competitive advantage: designing
strategies for effective human resource management. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Pattanayak, B. (2003). HR Perspective in Sustainable Competitive Development: A Proposed
Model. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 38(3): 335-343.
Peccei, R. & Rosenthal, P. (2001). ‘Delivering customer-oriented behavior through
empowerment: an empirical test of HRM assumptions’. Journal of Management Studies, 38(6): 831-57.
Pfeffer, J. (1996). Competitive advantage through people: unleashing the power of the work
force. United Kingdom: Harvard Business Press.
Wright, P. et al. (1994). ‘Human resources and sustained competitive advantage: a resource
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