Performance compensation management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Execution pay the board - Essay Example For instance, it entreats chiefs to give uncommon consideration to the terms of understanding for trial periods, strategies for tending to lackluster showing and the dangers presented by standard reports for lawful agreements. The article is written in open exposition and is brief in its verbalization. The article sounds an admonition to HR chiefs to make moves to not fall into basic lawful entanglements, which would superfluously burn through the company’s time and assets. This article offers an intriguing option in contrast to how Performance Management is customarily attempted. As opposed to concentrate on assessment and evaluation, the article contends, offering accentuation to worker advancement will undoubtedly prompt positive results. This methodology is to be applied without giving undue thought to the competency levels of workers. The article makes the consistently stable contention that Performance Management has an a lot more extensive degree than Performance Appraisal, in that it factors the accompanying key segments: â€Å"organization’s culture, its way to deal with estimating and remunerating execution, the disposition and abilities of those liable for its usage and organization (regardless of whether this is HR and additionally line supervisors), and the acknowledgment, responsibility and willing investment of the two appraisers and appraisees†. Another legitimacy joined with the article is its comprehensive plan, whereby t op directors, line chiefs, HR work force and different representatives team up to improve by and large effectiveness and execution. At long last, the article underscores the significance of positive brain research in boosting execution. Declaration: Make representative evaluations simple for your administrators with proposed input and improvement remarks, HRDaily, distributed on 13 December 2012 7:05 am recovered from on eleventh January, 2013 This article is basic and to the point. The article is an advertorial, advancing a HRM instrument for helping chiefs recorded as a hard copy

Organizational Change for Case Study of Motors-myassignmenthelp

Question: Talk about theOrganizational Change for Case Study of General Motors. Answer: Presentation: This report manages authoritative change regarding a genuine contextual investigation alongside dissecting the different parts of hierarchical conduct in the given diary article. The principle goal of the article was to feature the effect of authoritative change on the hierarchical conduct of an association. These progressions include changes in the perspectives of the authoritative workers as far as protection from changes and change the board draws near. The article clarifies how changes occurred in General Motors and the techniques required to keep the authoritative workers spurred. Hierarchical conduct and change: As indicated by Khan Hashim (2014), the fast changes in the business condition have made it required for the associations to keep themselves refreshed and bring the fundamental changes inside the association so as to stay in front of the contenders. The adjustments in the advancements particularly in the car business have constrained the vehicle organizations to bring fundamental changes inside the associations. Change the executives is fundamental for achieving supportability over the long haul. Authoritative change may remember changes for the hierarchical culture, representatives, innovation, rules and guidelines, human asset the executives, and so forth. It is important to deal with these adjustments in a successful way to such an extent that the progressions end up being gainful for the association. Despite what might be expected, Cameron (2015) expressed that hierarchical changes are hard to actualize as they face a few sorts of protections. It is important to examine the authoritative conduct before starting any change. Hierarchical conduct is the investigation of the communication between the human conduct and the association. The significant kind of opposition is as representative obstruction. The representatives of an association are typically never for changes. The progressions brought inside an association legitimately influence the representatives of an association. For example, change as another innovation may make the workers dread that the innovation may supplant them and the association may no longer need them. Accordingly, executing change inside an association may make aggravations inside an association. Then again, as per Anderson (2016), the administration of an association must inspire the workers to support the adjustments so as to actualize the progressions inside the association without making any unsettling influences. It is important to change the perspectives of the representatives and cause them to comprehend the advantages they would get from the execution of the changes. Protection from changes and conquering them: As indicated by Pinder (2014), representatives oppose changes because of a few factors, for example, propensity, security, dread and prudent variables. Opposition is the response gotten from the hierarchical individuals when a change is proposed. In this manner, he proposed that an association must actualize a change decently. It is important to pick the authoritative workers, who might invite the change and the individuals who might oppose the change. It is the duty of the administration of an association to appropriately speak with the representatives and clarify them the advantages of the change. It is important to guarantee investment of all the hierarchical individuals so as to execute a change inside an association. It is likewise important to include the authoritative individuals in the dynamic procedure so as to keep them spurred. Despite what might be expected, Miner (2015) referenced that following the Lewins three stage change model is important to guarantee the achievement of a change execution. It is important to set up the workers before the usage of an adjustment so as to guarantee that they feel great both when the execution of the change. This procedure includes unfreezing, executing the change and refreezing. Then again, Greenberg (2013) expressed that it is important to consider the recognitions and perspectives of the hierarchical individuals to know their demeanor towards the change. There are consistently conceivable outcomes that people may have discernment mistakes. Discernment is a progression of mental advances that empower an individual to decipher a data or circumstance. Change the board at General Motors: General Motors is an American vehicle fabricating organization which was found in the year 1908. The organization maintains its business in six mainlands covering in excess of 396 areas. The organization was at one time the biggest vehicle producing organization on the planet yet after the development of Toyota, the organization fell into back foot. As indicated by DuBrin (2013), there were a few inside variables that necessary a radical change so as to stay in front of the contenders. On such issue was the high wages paid to the representatives at General Motors when contrasted with Toyota, which at last expanded the costs of the association. The organization was constrained to complete its exercises with over 80% limit in any event, when it was not required. All these interior elements prompted the destruction of the association. Despite what might be expected, Wagner III Hollenbeck (2014) referenced that the significant change required inside the association was cost-cutting. In any case, this change is never acknowledged by the representatives of an association as it would include bringing down their wages or pay rates. In spite of the protections, the association cut the compensation of the authoritative representatives, which prompted disappointment and demotivation among the workers. Another monstrous change required was the social change. The association got a few changes the structure of the association and in the supervisory crew. This change was started to improve the speed of dynamic procedure. Then again, as per Luthans, Luthans (2015), a few issues excited because of the adjustments in the wages and the hierarchical culture. The top-down methodology followed by the association didn't consider the contribution of the representatives in the dynamic procedures. This caused the workers to feel disappointment and at last prompted work disappointment. The cost-chopping system and the top-down view approach of the administration had a few negative effects on the association. The brought down wages and the cut in the quantity of workers made disappointment among the representatives. The representatives got aware of their employer stability and lower compensation. The development of other car organizations, for example, Toyota turned into a colossal danger for the association as Toyota had kept up a solid hierarchical culture and had been effective in keeping the representatives fulfilled. This turned into an extreme test for General Motors and the organization began enduring trem endous misfortunes. Maslow needs pecking order hypothesis: This hypothesis of inspiration expresses that there are five essential needs of a man. The main need is the physiological needs. This includes necessities, for example, food, water and haven. The following level contains wellbeing need, which includes budgetary security and wellbeing security. The following level includes sentiment of belongingness, wherein an individual builds up a sentiment of being adored. After the fulfillment of all the lower needs, emerges the need of regard. In this stage, an individual grows needs of being regarded by others. The last stage involves self-realization needs wherein the need of accomplishing everything an individual can accomplish rises (Benn, Dunphy Griffiths, 2014). End: General Motors confronted extreme rivalry from Toyota and endured enormous misfortunes before. Nonetheless, the organization had the option to improve its situation by contemplating and executing authoritative conduct hypotheses. The organization has had the option to improve its working conditions and has likewise had the option to keep its representatives fulfilled. Change the board is fundamental for achieving supportability over the long haul. It is important to deal with these adjustments in a viable way to such an extent that the progressions end up being helpful for the association. In any case, the organization is required to consider the observations and mentalities of the hierarchical individuals while starting any change inside the association. Persuaded representatives are a resource for an association and help in improving the profitability of an association. In this manner, it is important to keep the hierarchical individuals all around educated about the authoritative changes and keep them persuaded with the goal that the progressions are executed effectively. References: Anderson, D. L. (2016).Organization turn of events: The way toward driving hierarchical change. Sage Publications. Benn, S., Dunphy, D., Griffiths, A. (2014).Organizational change for corporate maintainability. Routledge. Cameron, E., Green, M. (2015).Making feeling of progress the board: A total manual for the models, instruments and procedures of hierarchical change. Kogan Page Publishers. DuBrin, A. J. (2013).Fundamentals of authoritative conduct: An applied viewpoint. Elsevier. Greenberg, J. (Ed.). (2013).Organizational conduct: The condition of the science. Routledge. Khan, M. A., Hashim, M. (2014). Authoritative Change: Case Study of General Motors. Luthans, F., Luthans, B. C., Luthans, K. W. (2015).Organizational conduct: A proof based methodology. IAP. Digger, J. B. (2015).Organizational conduct 1: Essential hypotheses of inspiration and administration. Routledge. Pinder, C. C. (2014).Work inspiration in hierarchical conduct. Brain science Press. Wagner III, J. A., Hollenbeck, J. R. (2014).Organizational conduct: Securing upper hand. Routledge.

Entrapment and Confinement :: essays research papers

Individuals experience limitations and restrictions every day: entryways, dividers, doors. The most often utilized and strenuous are those that are immaterial, be it in a vocation or public activity, regardless of whether physical or passionate, exacting or metaphorical. Both the unmistakable and immaterial are found in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† and John Steinbeck’s â€Å"The Crysanthemums†. In spite of the fact that composed by individuals from the other gender, the two creators can catch the sentiments of physical and enthusiastic detainment that causes a continuous mental breakdown. â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† follows the treatment of a lady who dives from melancholy to franticness in the male-forced mental control of her room, while the spouse, Elisa, in â€Å"The Crysanthemums†, mirrors an inside battle with herself to discover her place in a universe of positive sex jobs. The circumstances of the two ladies are comparable: gifts and dreams, expectations and wants, disregarded by the spouses and times of the ladies, which prompts panic; however comparable, the ladies to act ways radically not the same as each other, which decides if the ladies lose their rational soundness.      The storyteller in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† and Elisa Allen of â€Å"The Crysanthemums† both have spouses who extravagant realizing what their wives need and need. With such mentalities and convictions, these men add to the sentiment of restriction that at last prompts the loss of rational soundness of their spouses. The narrator’s spouse additionally expect that he comprehends what is best for his significant other. He figures seclusion and restriction will fix her â€Å"nervous depression.† Nevertheless, this â€Å"cure† makes her feeble; it changes her into a lady gone distraught. While in transit to supper, Elisa gets some information about the battles and his quick answer is, â€Å"We can go on the off chance that you need, yet I don’t figure you might want them much.† He can't understand the possibility that she may really appreciate this non-ladylike occasion.      The two ladies follow the example of those going frantic: in the long run, they start to see things and structure associations with the pictures that live just in their brains. The storyteller surrenders to the inventions of her creative mind and starts to transform this â€Å"thing† she envisions behind the backdrop as a stimulating picture of herself. This â€Å"woman† turns into a destructive blend: closest companion and most exceedingly awful adversary. She sees the lady as caught, and, so as to liberate herself from this non-satisfying life, she should free the lady. Elisa likewise gets an excluded visitor, a tinker who she sees as the ideal seal of opportunity.

Opportunity Analysis for Knowledge and Awareness -myassignmenthelp

Question: Talk about theOpportunity Analysis for Knowledge and Awareness. Answer: Idea and Visions (10%) The subject of this report is to introduce an open door for building up a vehicle carport in Abu Dhabi. The spot has been related to a deficiency of the vehicle leaving offices. The carport will give stopping, fixing and occasions holding administrations. The open door is promising since the market rivalry is low as there is just one carport in the market square. In any case, prevailing upon the clients confidence the previously existing square carport may represent a test. The overall revenue may likewise be low toward the beginning of the business which may require contributing increasingly money to keep up the administrations. The capacity to keep up serious edge in the market empowers an organization improves manageability, development, and advancement. A solid situation in the market causes an organization to understand its objective of improving productivity. Producing Knowledge and Awareness (10%) Investing in a carport came up through a conceptualizing procedure which started me to think about the business. I likewise did an overview of the market whereby I understood that there exist intense congested driving conditions in the market as the vehicles line up to get a parking spot in the Plaza carport. This drove me to converse with some potential clients who in the wake of offering my plan to them demonstrated an enthusiasm for having an elective carport office (In Allen-Meares, 2017). Some said that having a carport close to the shopping centers will be profitable. They additionally indicated enthusiasm for having a carport that will offer the fixing administrations. Creating Ideas (10%) The conceptualizing method was an extraordinary way to deal with defining the idea. I concocted a few thoughts which when I examined them, put the carport setting thought on the highest priority on the rundown (Coyne, 2011). I additionally recognized the need to fill the hole in the carport offices in the market. The square carport alone was not adequate to encourage the carport administrations considering the numerous vehicles in the UAE showcase. The expanding number of vehicles introduced the leaving issue which gave me the plan to get such a chance. The car influxes brought about by the inaccessibility of other leaving offices hindered the business tasks in the market and this gave me the business opportunity. Way to deal with Innovation (10%) I will build up the parking spot and get the vehicle overhauling machines. I foresee to diminish roads turned parking lots and furthermore over-burdening of the vehicles in the current court leaving. I will utilize the problematic advancement whereby the business will make another market with different offices (Keeley, 2013). This will represent a test to the current business. Constraints (10%) In spite of being an extraordinary chance to contribute, the business may have a few restrictions, for example, confronting solid rivalry from the court carport which has just settled itself subsequently winning the clients interests might be troublesome. The clients are likewise used to the court stopping and it might require some investment for them to become acclimated to the private one and its patterns and this will mean misfortunes to the business (Girotra Netessine, 2014). The guidelines for renting may likewise be convoluted which may cost the thought a lot of cash and time before it gets executed. The business may likewise hazard having the duties raised for the business territory. Market Analysis. (10%) The business thought tends to the vehicle division of and the market is appealing since the quantity of vehicles entering the market is expanding which encourages the requirement for more carport offices. Enhancing around here will likewise facilitate the general business activities in the market since stopping offices will be made quicker consequently clearing automobile overloads. An exploration on the circumstances and end results of the automobile overloads on the business activities should be possible to relate this market need. Just a single industry court carport has been offering carport administrations to the market in the previous three years. The business foresees to receive the client focused methodology and increment benefit by reexamining the business targets. Having an expanding number of vehicles with just one carport industry shows the business opportunity. The business is regarded to gain an extensive piece of the overall industry of about 80% as it has less good wa ys from the shopping centers. Clients and Customer Development. (10%) The greater part of the customers present a requirement for fix benefits so that as they leave and go for different exercises, they discover their vehicles astoundingly back to save money on schedule. The less good ways from the shopping centers will likewise be useful particularly on the off chance that they need to convey some shopping to the vehicle. The clients utilize the court stopping which is the main carport available. The clients are eager to utilize the offices since it will tackle a large portion of the carport issues. I will utilize publicizing approaches, for example, utilizing the announcements to connect with clients. Moving toward the clients as they drive gradually in the jams is additionally another approach to contact them. The utilization of appropriate language when managing clients makes them structure a longing to the buy the item discounted. Rivalry and Positioning. (10%) Square carport offers these types of assistance as of now and VIP vehicle leaving suppliers may enhance in this business later on. They have a decent open picture which fills in as a bit of leeway to them. Be that as it may, the significant distance from the shopping centers presents a test to them. Court carport serves about 70% of the market while the VIP vehicle leaving serves 20% of the market. The deals of the contenders are consistent and the likelihood of having the property lease contract disregarded may turn into a boundary to the passage of my business. Different contenders might be banned from entering the market by the expanded assessments of the business zones (Boynton et al, 2011). My partners may help me through spreading the data of the new carport to others in order to win more clients. Plan of action and Lean Startup Philosophy. (10%) I will start by gaining the important licenses for my business and build up the office. By offering quick and proficient administrations to win the clients trust will be my approach to win cash. Moving toward singular clients to test my administrations will likewise gain me cash. The endeavor may begin winning benefits following picking up the clients trust over the contenders. Making misfortunes toward the start is the best test that I should manage. Further, the procurement of licensed innovation rights will be basic with the goal that no contender can utilize our administrations for their advantage. Learning and Adaptation (10%) So as to think of a practical business thought, there is a need to do an exhaustive statistical surveying and do a SWOT examination. A few difficulties may present concerning the thought, however having a conceptualizing and solid inventive aptitudes will beat the apprehensions. Innovating in the carport business is a genuine chance. An appropriate SWOT examination guarantees that the business is working with exact affectability available factors so as to upgrade development. Through SWOT, the dangers a business is presented to are followed and the advancement of the correct procedures to check the equivalent accomplished subsequently improved execution by a business. References Arevalo, J. A., Mitchell, S. F., Edward Elgar Publishing. (2017).Handbook of manageability in the executives instruction: looking for a multidisciplinary, imaginative and incorporated methodology. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited. Press. Boynton, A. C., Fischer, B., Bole, W. (2011).The thought tracker: How to locate the best thoughts and get them going. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Press. Coyne, K. P., Coyne, S. T. (2011).Brainsteering: A superior way to deal with advancement thoughts. New York: Harper Business. Press. Girotra, K., Netessine, S. (2014).The hazard driven plan of action: Four inquiries that will characterize your organization. Press. In Allen-Meares, P. (2017).A twenty-first century way to deal with network change: Partnering to improve life results for youth and families in under-served neighborhoods. Press. Keeley, L. (2013).Ten kinds of development: The control of building forward leaps. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Press. Sirgy, M. J. (2011).Handbook of Quality-of-Life Research: An Ethical Marketing Perspective. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. Press. Vinod, K. T. M. (2017).E-Democracy for Smart Cities. Press.

Mockingbird Book Gets a Sequel

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee occupies a special place in the history of American literature. Published out of the blue, written by a previously unknown author, it became an instant classic, was adapted into film in 1962, translated into more than 40 languages, sold more than 40 million copies and continues to sell about a million copies a year even now. It would have been amazing even by itself, but one fact makes it even more fascinating: Harper Lee retired to her native town of Monroeville, Ala immediately after the book’s release and never wrote again. And yet, now it seems that there will be another Mockingbird book, set for release this July. Or rather, it has been in existence this entire time. The second novel by Harper Lee, titled Go Set a Watchman, is set twenty years after the events of To Kill a Mockingbird and features a number of the same characters, but it is not a sequel per se. According to Harper Lee herself, it is a ‘parent’ to what so far was her first and only novel. Harper Lee wrote Go Set a Watchman in the mid-1950s, before To Kill a Mockingbird. In this book, Scout, the main heroine and protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird, comes back to her native town to visit her aged father, Atticus Finch. Similarly to the first book, this work is mostly dedicated to depiction of racial tensions in a rural Southern town and father-daughter relationships. But it is not a follow-up – it is rather what To Kill a Mockingbird could have been. It was Harper Lee’s first novel, and it was rejected by the publisher; who, however, was fascinated with the flashbacks to Scout’s childhood and suggested that Ms. Lee should write a full-fledged novel about them. Thus was born To Kill a Mockingbird. But why now? Where has this book been for more than half a century? As it turns out, Harper Lee for a long time thought that the original manuscript was either lost or accidentally destroyed, and it was only recently rediscovered by Tonja Carter, her friend and lawyer. Ms. Lee reportedly wasn’t eager to publish the novel now, but was later persuaded by a small circle of friends that it was worthy of it. There is, however, a number of people who are skeptical about the quality of the book. Charles J. Shields, the author of biography of Harper Lee, believes that what we are going to get is a novel written by Ms. Lee without an editor’s participation when she was, for all practical purposes, an amateur. Another ethical consideration arises in concern of Ms. Lee’s involvement in the book’s publishing. She suffered a stroke in 2007 and has been living in an assisted-living facility ever since. Her sister Alice Lee who protected her from unwanted publicity for all these years, died last autumn. Ms. Lee didn’t make any public announcements concerning the new book personally. All this makes the sudden appearance of this manuscript right now look a little bit too convenient.

How to Go From a 48 to 51 in GMAT Quant - Part VI

Today’s post the next part in our â€Å"How to Go From 48 to 51 in Quant† series. Again, we will learn a technique that can be employed by the test-taker at an advanced stage of preparation   requiring  one to understand the situations in which one can use this simplifying technique. (Before you continue reading, be sure to check out parts I, II, III, IV, and V of this series.) We all love to use the plug-in method on GMAT Quant questions. We have an equation given, and if the answer choices are the possible values of x, we just plug in these values to find the one  that satisfies the equation. But what if the answer choices are all complicated values? What if it seems that five times the calculation (in the worst case) will be far more time consuming than actually solving the given equation? Then one is torn between using the favorite plug-in method and using algebra. Let’s take an example to review the methods we can use to solve the question and learn how to simplify the plug-in process by approximating the five available options: If |4x−4|=|2x+30|, which of the following could be a value of x? (A) –35/3 (B) −21/2 (C) −13/3 (D) 11/5   (E) 47/5 This question is an ideal candidate for the â€Å"plug-in† method. Here, you have the absolute value equation with the potential values of x given in the answer choices. The problem is that the values of x given are fractional. Of course, if we do plan to solve the equation rather than plug-in, we can still solve it using our holistic approach rather than pure algebra. Let’s take a look at that now, and later we will discuss the trick to making the answer choices easier for us to plug in. Method 1: |4x 4| = |2x + 30| 4 * |x 1| = 2 * |x + 15| 2 * |x 1| = |x + 15| This is how we rephrase the equation in our words: twice the distance of x from 1 should be equal to the distance of x from -15. ——————(-15) —————————————————(0)——(1)—————— There are two ways to find the value of x: Case 1: x could be between -15 and 1 such that the distance between them is split in the ratio 2:1. or Case 2: x could be to the right of 1 such that the distance between x and -15 is twice the distance between x and 1. Lets examine both of these cases in further detail: Case 1:  The distance from -15 to 1 is of 16 units   this can be split into  3 sections of 16/3 units each. So, the distance of x from 1 should be 16/3, which would make the distance of x from -15 two times 16/3, i.e. 32/3. So, x should be at a point 16/3 away from 1 toward the left. x = 1 16/3 = -13/3 This is one of our answer choices  and, hence, the correct answer. Normally, we would just move on to the next question at this point, but had we not found -13/3 in the answer options, we would have moved on to  Case 2: Case 2:  The distance between -15 and 1 is 16 units. x should be an additional 16 units to the right of 1, so the distance between x and 1 is 16 and the distance between x and -15 is two times 16, i.e. 32. This means that x should be 16 units to the right of 1, i.e. x = 17.  If you would not have found -13/3 in the answer choices, then you would have found 17. Now let’s move on to see how we can make the plug-in method work for us in this case by examining each answer choice we are given: Method 2: |4x 4| = |2x + 30| 2 * |x 1| = |x + 15| (A) -35/3 It is difficult to solve for x = -35/3 to see if both sides match. Instead, let’s solve for the closest integer, -12. 2 * |-12 1| = |-12 + 15| On the left-hand side, you will get 26, but on the right-hand side, you will get 3. These values are far away from each other, so x cannot be -35/3.   As the value of x approaches the point where the equation holds i.e. where the two sides are equal to each other the gap between the value of the two sides keeps reducing. With such a huge gap between the value of the two sides in this case, it is unlikely that a small adjustment of -35/3 from -12 will bring the two sides to be equal. (B) -21/2 For this answer choice, lets solve for the nearest integer, x = -10. 2 * |-10 1| = |-10 + 15| On the left-hand side, you will get 22; on the right-hand side, you will  get 5. Once again, these values are far away from each other and, hence, x will not be -21/2. (C) -13/3 For this answer choice, lets solve for x = -4. 2 * |-4 -1| = |-4 + 15| On the left-hand side, you will get 10; on the right-hand side, you will get 11. Here, there is a possibility that x can equal -13/3, as the two sides are so close to one another plug in the actual value of -13/3 and you will see that  the left-hand side of the equation does, in fact, equal the right-hand side. Therefore, C is the correct answer. Basically, we approximated the answer choices we were given  and shortlisted the one that gave us very close values. We checked for that and found that it is the answer. We can also solve this question using pure algebra (taking positive and negative signs of absolute values) but in my opinion, the holistic Method 1 is almost always better than that. Out of the two methods discussed above, you can pick the one you like better, but note that Method 2 does have  limited applications only if you are given the actual values of x, can you use  it. Method 1 is far more generic for absolute value questions. Getting ready to take the GMAT? We have  free online GMAT seminars  running all the time. And, be sure to follow us on  Facebook,  YouTube,  Google+, and  Twitter! Karishma, a Computer Engineer with a keen interest in alternative Mathematical approaches, has mentored students in the continents of Asia, Europe and North America. She teaches the  GMAT  for Veritas Prep and regularly participates in content development projects such as this blog!

The Legendary Invention of Silk

Is the fabric known as silk 7000 years old? Did people wear it from as long ago as 5000 B.C. -- before civilization began at Sumer and before Egyptians built the Great Pyramid? If silkworm cultivation or sericulture is as much as seven millennia old -- as the Silk Road Foundation says it may be -- the chances are poor that we will ever know exactly who invented it. What we can learn is what the descendants of the people who discovered silk wrote about it and what their legends say about the origins of processing silk. Although there are other stories and variations, the basic legend credits an early Chinese empress. She is said to have: 1. Cultivated the silk-producing caterpillar (Bombyx mori).2. Fed the silkworm the mulberry leaf that was discovered to be the best food -- at least for those interested in producing the best silk.3. Invented the loom to weave the fiber. Raising Silk On its own, the silkworm larva produces a single, several hundred-yard-strand of silk, which it breaks as it emerges as a moth from its cocoon, leaving residue all over the trees. In preference to gathering the tangled silk caught in the trees, the Chinese learned to raise the silkworms on a fattening diet of the leaves of carefully cultivated mulberry trees. They also learned to watch the development of the cocoons so they could kill the chrysalis by plunging it in boiling water just before its time. This method ensures the full length of silk strands. The boiling water also softens the sticky protein holding together the silk [Grotenhuis]. (The process of pulling out the strand of silk from the water and cocoon in known as reeling.) The thread is then woven into beautiful clothing.   Who Was the Lady Hsi-ling? The main source for this article is Dieter Kuhn, Professor, and Chair of Chinese Studies, University of Wà ¼rzburg. He wrote Tracing a Chinese Legend: In Search of the Identity of the First Sericulturalist for Toung Pao, an international journal of sinology. In this article, Kuhn looks at what the Chinese sources say about the legend of the invention of silk and describes the presentation of silk manufactures invention across the dynasties. He makes note of the contribution of the lady of Hsi-ling in particular. She was the principal wife of Huangdi, who is better known as the Yellow Emperor. The Yellow Emperor (Huangdi or Huang-ti, where Huang is the same word we translate as Yellow when used in connection with the great Chinese Yellow River, and ti is the name of an important god that is used in the names of kings, conventionally translated emperor) is a legendary Neolithic era ruler and ancestor of the Chinese people, with almost godlike proportions. Huangdi is said to have lived in the third millennium B.C. for 100-118 years, during which he is credited with giving numerous gifts to the Chinese people, including the magnetic compass, and sometimes including silk. The principal wife of the Yellow Emperor, the lady of Hsi-ling (also known as Xi Ling-Shi, Lei-Tsu, or Xilingshi), is, like her husband, credited with discovering silk. The lady of Hsi-ling is also credited with figuring out how to reel silk and inventing what people needed to make clothing from the silk -- the loom, according to the Shih-Chi Record of the Historian. Ultimately, the confusion seems to remain, but the upper hand is given the empress. The Yellow Emperor, who was honored as the First Sericulturalist during the Northern Chi Period (c. A.D. 550 - c. 580), may be the male figure depicted in later art as a patron saint of sericulture. The lady Hsi-ling is more often called the First Sericulturalist. Although she had been worshiped and held a position in the Chinese pantheon since the Northern Chou Dynasty (557-581), her official position as the personification of the First Sericulturalist with a divine seat and altar only came in 1742. Silk Clothing Altered the Chinese Division of Labor One could speculate, as Kuhn does, that the job of making fabric was womens work and that therefore the associations were made with the empress, rather than her husband, even if he had been the first sericulturalist. The Yellow Emperor may have invented the methods of producing silk, while the lady Hsi-ling was responsible for the discovery of silk itself. This legendary discovery, reminiscent of the story of the discovery of actual tea in China, involves falling into an anachronistic cup of tea.   Chinese scholarship from the seventh century A.D. says that before the Yellow Emperor, clothing was made of bird (feathers can protect against water and down is, of course, an insulating material) and animal skin, but the supply of animals didnt keep up with demand. The Yellow Emperor decreed that clothing should be made of silk and hemp. In this version of the legend, it is Huangdi (actually, one of his officials named Po Yu), not the lady of Hsi-ling who invented all fabrics, including silk, and also, according to legend from the Han Dynasty, the loom. Again, if looking for a rationale for the contradiction based on the division of labor and gender roles: hunting would not have been a domestic pursuit, but the province of the men, so when clothing changed from skins to cloth, it made sense that it would have changed the storied gender of the maker. Evidence of 5 Millennia of Silk Not quite the full seven, but five millennia puts it more in line with important major developments elsewhere, so it is more easily believed. Archaeological evidence reveals that silk existed in China as far back as around 2750 B.C., which puts it, coincidentally according to Kuhn, close to the dates of the Yellow Emperor and his wife. Shang Dynasty oracle bones show evidence of silk production. Silk was also in the Indus Valley from the third millennium B.C., according to New Evidence for Silk in the Indus Valley, which says copper-alloy ornaments and steatite beads have yielded silk fibers upon microscopic examination. As an aside, the article says this raises the question of whether China really had exclusive control of silk. A Silken Economy The importance of silk to China probably cant be exaggerated: the exceptionally long and strong filament clothed a vast Chinese population, helped support the bureaucracy by being used as a precursor to paper (2nd century B.C.) [Hoernle] and to pay taxes [Grotenhuis], and led to commerce with the rest of the world. Sumptuary laws regulated the wearing of fancy silks and embroidered, patterned silks became status symbols from the Han to the Northern and Southern Dynasties (2nd century B.C. to 6th century A.D.). How the Secret of Silk Leaked Out The Chinese guarded its secret carefully and successfully for centuries, according to tradition. It was only in the 5th century A.D. that silk eggs and mulberry seeds were, according to legend, smuggled out in an elaborate headdress by a Chinese princess when she went to her groom, the king of Khotan, in Central Asia. A century later they were smuggled by monks into the Byzantine Empire, according to the Byzantine historian Procopius. Silk Worship Patron saints of sericulture were honored with life-size statues and rites; in the Han period, the silkworm goddess was personified, and in Han and Sung periods, the empress performed a silk ceremony. The empress helped with the gathering of the mulberry leaves necessary for the best silk, and the sacrifices of pig and sheep that were made to the First Sericulturalist who may or may not have been the lady of Hsi-ling. By the 3rd century, there was a silkworm palace which the empress supervised. Legends of the Discovery of Silk There is a fanciful legend about the discovery of silk, a love story about a betrayed and murdered magic horse, and his lover, a woman transformed into a silkworm; the threads becoming feelings. Liu recounts a version, recorded by Tsui Pao in his 4th century A.D. Ku Ching Chu (Antiquarian Researches), where the horse is betrayed by the father and his daughter who promised to marry the horse. After the horse was ambushed, killed, and skinned, the hide wrapped up the girl and flew away with her. It was found in a tree and brought home, where some time later the girl had been transformed into a moth. There is also a fairly pedestrian story of how silk was actually discovered -- the cocoon, thought to be fruit, wouldnt soften when boiled, so the would-be diners got their aggression out by beating it with sticks until the filament emerged. Sericulture References: The Silkworm and Chinese Culture, by Gaines K. C. Liu; Osiris, Vol. 10, (1952), pp. 129-194 Tracing a Chinese Legend: In Search of the Identity of the First Sericulturalist, by Dieter Kuhn; Toung Pao Second Series, Vol. 70, Livr. 4/5 (1984), pp. 213-245. Spices and Silk: Aspects of World Trade in the First Seven Centuries of the Christian Era, by Michael Loewe; The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland No. 2 (1971), pp. 166-179. Stories of Silk and Paper, by Elizabeth Ten Grotenhuis; World Literature Today; Vol. 80, No. 4 (Jul. - Aug. 2006), pp. 10-12. Silks and Religions in Eurasia, C. A.D. 600-1200, by Liu Xinru; Journal of World History Vol. 6, No. 1 (Spring, 1995), pp. 25-48. Who Was the Inventor of Rag-Paper? by A. F. Rudolf Hoernle; The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (Oct. 1903), pp. 663-684.