Case Study Research Essay

Case One: Barsz v. Max Shapiro, Inc. Ind. Ct. App. 600 N.E.2d 151 (1992) Fact: Marjorie Barsz brought negligence action against Shapiro’s Delicatessen Cafeteria to recover for personal injuries sustained when she slipped and fell, breaking her right ankle and left knee cap. Her husband, Carl Barsz brought action against the restaurant for loss of consortium with his wife due to Mrs. Barsz’s injuries. The Circuit Court of Shelby County granted summary judgment for the restaurant, and the plaintiffs appealed. The Court of Appeals of Indiana, First District held that genuine issues of material facts existed and reversed the summary judgment. Issue: Was Shapiro’s Delicatessen Cafeteria negligent in identifying and remedying the condition of the floor in the restaurant, causing Marjorie Barsz’s accident? Rule: GOLBA v. KOHL’S DEPT. STORE, INC. Ind. Ct. App. 585 N.E.2d 14 (1992) Analysis: To avoid summary judgment, Marjorie Barsz had to show that there was a defective condition in the floor of the restaurant which caused her slip and fall, and that the restaurant unreasonably failed to discover and remedy the hazardous condition. Genuine material facts existed which precluded summary judgment for the restaurant. Summary judgment is generally inappropriate in negligence cases. Trial Procedure Rule 56(C) Conclusion: A restaurant cannot be held strictly liable for a fall that occurred before having a reasonable chance to remove a foreign substance from its floor; restaurant as not the absolute guarantor of customer safety. However, summary judgment cannot be granted when a genuine material fact exists. Case Two: Golba v. Kohl’s Dept. Store, Inc. Ind. Ct. App. 585 N.E.2d 14 (1992) Facts: Plaintiff Stella Golba brought negligence action against defendant Kohl’s Department Store stemming from a slip and fall accident. Ms. Golba stepped on a small object on a glossy floor, causing her to trip and fall. The floor had only been swept once on the morning of the accident. The Circuit Court of Starke County granted the store’s motion for summary judgment, and the plaintiff appealed. The Court of Appeals of Indiana, Third District held that material issues of fact existed and reversed the summary judgment. Issue: Was Kohl’s Department Store negligent in maintaining their floors in a safe condition for patrons? Rule: BURRELL v. MEADS Ind. 569 N.E.2d 637 (1991) Analysis: A land owner is subject to liability for physical harm caused to his invitees by a condition on the land if, but only if, he knows or exercising reasonable care would discover the condition, and should realize that it is an unreasonable risk of harm to invitees, and should expect that they will not realize the danger, or will not protect themselves against it, and fails to exercise reasonable care to protect them against the danger. Normally, determining whether the host has exercised reasonable care to make their premises safe for an invitee is a question of fact for a jury. Conclusion: Sweeping of a floor only once in the morning does not constitute exercise of reasonable care to prevent injury to customers from objects left in the floor. The issue of fact as to whether the store had notice of the object in the floor precluded a summary judgment.

Weighted Average Cost of Capital and Midland Energy

Executive Summary: Midland Energy Resources, Inc. is a global energy company with a broad array of products and services. The company operates within three different operations including oil and gas exploration and production (E&P), refining and marketing (R&M), and petrochemicals. Midland has proven to be a very profitable company, with reported operating revenue of $248. 5 billion and operating income of $42. 2 billion. The company has been in business for over 120 years and employed more than 80,000 individuals.Janet Mortensen, the senior vice president of project finance for Midland Energy Resources, has been asked to calculate the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) for the company as a whole, as well as each of its three divisions as part of an annual budgeting process. Midland’s Three Divisions: Exploration & Production Oil exploration and production (E&P) is Midland’s most profitable business, and its net margin over the previous five years was among the hig hest in the industry.With oil prices at historic highs in early 2007, Midland anticipated heavy investment in acquisitions of promising properties, in development of its proved undeveloped reserves, and in expanding production. They also needed to account for competition from areas such as the Middle East, Central Asia, Russia, and West Africa. Refining and Marketing Midland had ownership interests in forty refineries around the world with distillation capacity of five million barrels a day. Measured by revenue, this side of the business was Midland’s largest. The relatively small margin was consistent with a long-term trend in the industry.Margins had declined steadily over the previous twenty years. Petrochemicals Petrochemicals is Midland’s smallest but most promising and undervalued division. Midland owned twenty-five manufacturing facilities and five research centers in eight countries around the world. Capital spending in petrochemicals was expected to grow in th e near term. [Midland Energy Case Analysis] Managerial Finance 1 In order to find the cost of capital for Midland Energy Resources and each of the three divisions within the company, we will need to use the formula or weighted average cost of capital (WACC) which is: ( )( rd= Cost of debt re= Cost of equity D= Market value of debt E= Market value of equity V= D+E= Value of the company (or division) T= Tax rate First, we can calculate â€Å"rd† for each division as it is outlined in the case by adding a premium/spread over US Treasury securities of a similar maturity. In other words: ( The two tables in the case are as follows: Table 1 Business Segment Consolidated E&P R&M Petrochemicals Credit Rating A+ A+ BBB AATable 2 Maturity 1-Year 10-Year 30-Year Rate 4. 54% 4. 66% 4. 8% Debt/Value 42. 2% 46. 0% 31. 0% 40. 0% Spread to Treasury 1. 62% 1. 60% 1. 80% 1. 35% ) ) ( ) *For my calculation, I used the 30-year maturity for E&P, R&M, and Midland as a whole as they take on longer term projects. I used the 1-year for petrochemicals as they tend to take on short term projects. [Midland Energy Case Analysis] Managerial Finance 2 Calculations are as follows: rd for Exploration & Production: rd for Refining & Marketing: rd for Petrochemicals: rd for Midland: Second, we need to calculate â€Å"re† for the three divisions as well as Midland as a whole.To find â€Å"re†, we will use the CAPM model outlined in the case: ( ) In order to solve this equation, we need to find beta for the three divisions. The case already outlines Midland’s overall beta at 1. 25. However, the case does not state the beta for the three divisions. We can calculate this using beta for publicly traded companied outlined in the case. Using the following formula, as well as exhibit 5 in the case, we can calculate beta for the three divisions: * ( ) ( )+ [Midland Energy Case Analysis] Managerial Finance 3 Exhibit 5(from case) Exploration & Production: Jackson Energy, Inc.Wi de Plain Petroleum Corsicana Energy Corp Worthington Petroleum Average Refining & Marketing: Bexar Energy, Inc. Kirk Corp. White Point Energy Petrarch Fuel Services Arkana Petroleum Corp. Beaumont Energy, Inc. Dameron Fuel Services Average Midland Energy Resources Equity Market Value 57,931 46,089 42,263 27,591 Net Debt 6,480 39,375 6,442 13,098 D/E 11. 20% 85. 40% 15. 20% 47. 50% 39. 80% Equity Beta 0. 89 1. 21 1. 11 1. 39 1. 15 LTM Revenue 18,512 17,827 14,505 12,820 LTM Earnings 4,981 8,495 4,467 3,506 60,356 15,567 9,204 2,460 18,363 32,662 48,796 6,200 3,017 1,925 -296 5,931 6,743 24,525 0. 30% 19. 40% 20. 90% 12. 00% 32. 30% 20. 60% 50. 30% 20. 30% 1. 7 0. 94 1. 78 0. 24 1. 25 1. 04 1. 42 1. 2 160,708 67,751 31,682 18,874 49,117 59,989 58,750 9,560 1,713 1,402 112 3,353 1,467 4,646 134,114 79,508 59. 30% 1. 25 251,003 18,888 Again the calculation to find Asset ? is: * Equity ? for Midland= 1. 25 ( ) ( )+ Equity ? for E&P= 0. 93*[1+ (1-39. 73%)*85. 19%] =1. 41 Equity? for R&M= 1. 05*[1+ (1-39. 73%)*44. 93%] = 1. 33 *85. 19% and 44. 93% come from Exhibit 1 in the case In order to get Equity ? for Petrochemicals, we will need to take a weighted average of the three divisions.The equation would be as follows: (w1, w2, w3 are based on the total assets of a division divided by Midland’s total assets). To find this, we will use the numbers from Exhibit 3 in the case: [Midland Energy Case Analysis] Managerial Finance 4 2004 E&P 76,866 R&M 60,688 Petro 19,943 Midland 157,497 2005 125,042 2006 140,100 Avg 114,002. 67 91,629 93,829 82,048. 67 28,000 28,450 25,464. 33 244,671 262,378 221,515. 33 Calculation for w1-3: W1= 114,002. 67/221,515. 33= 0. 51 W2= 82,048. 67/221525. 33= 0. 37 W3= 25,464. 33/221,515. 33= 0. 2 Now we can use the formula from before to find the ? for Petrochemicals: Lastly, we need to find EMRP to find â€Å"re† for Midland and the three divisions. We can find our EMRP number by looking at exhibit 6 in the case: Period 1987-2006 1 967-2006 1926-2006 1900-2006 1872-2006 1798-2006 Average excess return US Equities – T-Bonds 6. 4% 4. 8% 7. 1% 6. 8% 5. 9% 5. 1% Standard Error 3. 7% 2. 6% 2. 2% 1. 9% 1. 6% 1. 2% I will choose to use the average return from the time period of 1798-2006. That is the longest sample size in regards to time, as well as having the lowest standard of error.I will round down to 5% for ease of calculation: [Midland Energy Case Analysis] Managerial Finance 5 ( â€Å"re† for Midland= 4. 98%+5%*1. 25= 11. 23% â€Å"re† for E&P= 4. 98%+5%*1. 41= 12. 03% â€Å"re† for R&M= 4. 98%+5%*1. 33= 11. 63% â€Å"re† for Petrochemicals= 4. 54%+5%*0. 32= 6. 14% ) With this information, we are able to finally calculate the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) for Midland and the 3 divisions of the company. The formula and calculations are as follows: ( )( ) ( ) *D/V are provided in Table 1 for Midland, E&P, R&M, and Petrochemicals. They are 42. 2%, 46. %, 31. 0%, 40. 0 % respectively. WACC-cost of capital we need: WACC for E&P: ( =8. 32% WACC for R&M: ( =9. 29% WACC for Petrochemicals: ( =5. 10% WACC for Midland: ( =9. 17% [Midland Energy Case Analysis] Managerial Finance 6 ) ) ) ) The cost of capital (as shown above) will differ for the three divisions because the business operates in different industries. By being in different industries, the companies have different risk exposure and betas, while also having different credit ratings. All of these components will affect a company’s cost of capital differently.Further Analysis: Mortensen’s estimates were used for many things including performance assessments, mergers and acquisition proposals, stock repurchases, asset appraisals, and financial accounting. As stated in the case, cost of capital is a very important component in WACC calculations. These calculations were being used to evaluate at a divisional level as well as at a corporate level as a whole. In my calculations for the case, I solved for both levels. In regards to Midland’s corporate WACC, Mortensen computed the cost of debt for each division by adding a premium (or â€Å"spread†) over U.S. Treasury securities with an appropriate maturity depending on the division. For Exploration and Production (E&P), Refining and Marketing (R&M), as well as Midland as a corporation, Mortensen used a 30 year maturity TBond assumption as those divisions tended to focus on longer term projects. She decided on a 1 year T-Bond maturity assumption for Petrochemicals as they tended to focus on shorter term projects. Another assumption was that the tax rate (39. 73%) remained constant throughout the case as well as an EMRP of 5%.The EMRP was based on exhibit 6 of the case which examined TBonds during a certain period of time and with a certain standard of error. With a very low standard of error (based on the chart) and advisors, bankers, and investors covering the industry agreeing with 5% as an estimate, I believe the estimate to be appropriate. Analysts on the industry, bankers, and investors tend to have a broader look on companies within an industry as a whole. Lastly, Midland should not use a single corporate hurdle rate for evaluating investment opportunities in all of its divisions because each division is different.Midland is too large of a corporation, with different divisions, each containing its own unique set of risks. Due to the fact that the risk for each division will be different, I believe the corporate hurdle rates for those divisions should also be different to reflect a more accurate corporate assessment. I believe Mortensen did a great job with the information she was presented with in the case and I believe Midland Energy will continue to be a prominent company within the industry. [Midland Energy Case Analysis] Managerial Finance 7

AP Government Essay

527 Organizations- organizations that raise and spend money to advance political causes Blanket Primary- a primary election in which each voter may vote for candidates from both parties Caucus (electoral)- Closed Primary- an election in which voting is limited to already registered party members Coattails- The alleged tendency for candidates to get more votes in the election because their at the top of the ticket. general election- held to choose which candidate will hold office gerrymandering- drawing the boundaries of legislative districts in bizarre or unusual shapes to favor one party incumbent- The person already holding an elective office  independent expenditures- spending by political action committees, corporations, or labor unions that is done to help a party or candidate but is done independently of them malapportionment- drawing the boundaries of legislative districts so that they are unequal in population open primary- a primary election in which voters may choose in which party to vote as they enter the polling place political action committee- set up by a corporation, labor union, or interest group that raises and spends campaign money from voluntary donations reapport ionment- position issue- an issue about which the public is divided and rival candidates or political parties adopt different policy positions primary election- held to choose candidates for office  prospective voting- voting for a candidate because you favor his or her ideas for handling issues retrospective voting- voting for a candidate because you like his or her past actions in office runoff primary- A second primary election held when no candidate wins a majority of the votes in the first primary soft money- funds obtained by political parties are spent on party  activities, but not on a specific candidate sophomore surge- an increase in the votes congressional candidates usually get when they first run for reelection valence issue- An issue about which the public is united and rival candidates or political parties adopt similar positions in hopes that each will be thought to best represent those widely shared beliefs Five differences between congressional and Presidential campaigns are Presidential races are much more competitive A smaller portion of people vote in congressional races during off years than vote for the president. Members of congress can do things for their constituents that a president cannot A candidate for congress can avoid being held accountable for the â€Å"mess in Washington† More voters participate in congressional elections The five tasks that one must complete in order to run for the presidency is Get mentioned as someone who is of presidential caliber -travel around the world making speeches like Ronald Reagan which will put you on the radar. Shoot for over 12 in a day Devote lots of time! -Many candidates devote countless amounts of time, in terms of years. It is especially important to start sooner if you are not already known. However, you must be smart about your spending because you don’t want to go broke before the general elections begin! Try devoting a good four- six year of campaigning like Ronald Reagan. Get Money -You need a certain amount of money in order to get your name on the radar. To be eligible for federal matching grants to pay for primary campaign , you must first raise at least $5,000 in individual contributions of $250 or less in twenty states. Get Organized -You will need to raise a ton of money in order to campaign efficiently, but in order to do that, you will need a support system. Getting organized by hiring lawyers, accountants, a press secretary, travel scheduler, advertising specialist, direct mail company, pollster, volunteers and fundraisers will help the candidate stay on top of their game plan. Pick Strategy and themes -Choose your game plan wisely. Whether or not you are an incumbent should also determine what strategy a candidate chooses to take. You must also consider such factors as what type of tone your campaign will have, whether or not it will have a theme, timing, and what audience you would like to target. Incumbents are reelected to Congress over 90 percent of the time Seats are apportioned in each House of Congress according to Article 1 section 2 in the Constitution District boundaries can profoundly affect the outcome of the election due to problems of malapportionment, which is when one district is significantly bigger than than the other, requiring more votes in order to elect a representative. Gerrymandering was also an issue for it draws boundaries in odd shapes which in turn favors one party over another. The four problems to solve in deciding who gets represented in the House is Establishing the total size of the House Allocating seats in the House among the states Determining the size of congressional districts within states Determining the shape of those districts A candidate wins a party’s nomination by gathering enough voter signatures to get on the ballot in a primary election. They win their party’s nomination by getting more primary votes than the next candidate. Seats are reapportioned every ten years. In 1964, the Court ruled that the constitution requires that districts be drawn so that as nearly as possible, one person’s vote would be worth as much as another. Incumbents have the advantage of reelection in Congressional elections Due to the sophomore surge, members of Congress get 8 to 10 percent more votes than when they were first reelected. Two consequences of how congressmen/women are elected are that it produces legislators who are closely tied to local concerns and second, it ensures that party leaders will have relatively weak influence over them. Local orientation of members of congress has important affects on policy making for example, if you have a representative in a certain committee of Congress, your state has a higher chance of directly benefiting from whatever it is the committee can provide. Delegates tend to value reelection  over anything else and seek out committee assignments and projects that will produce benefits for their districts. On the other hand, trustees will seek out committee assignments that give them a chance to address large questions that may not even affect their districts. What works in a primary election may not work in a general election, and vice versa, in part because different elections or caucuses attracts a different mix of voters. The Iowa caucus is the first real test for candidates, so any slip at this caucus is a major disadvantage to the candidate due to the media attention and contributor interest. Primary voters tend to be more ideologically polarized than the average voter. Position issues are issues that are addressed during a candidates running for office in which he or she must make a stand on. These issues tend to share opposing views for the rival candidates and may also split the voters opinion. For example, in the recent election of Obama and Romney, tax cuts and the Obama medicare plan proved to be position issues. Valence issues do not require one to take a side, rather it i nvolves an issue in which everyone agrees, regardless of party identification. For example, in the Romney and Obama election, stronger education and school systems proved to be a valence issue. Television, Debates, and direct mail may influence campaigns in a variety of ways. Depending on the type of person who is absorbing the spots, visuals, and debates. For example, visuals and television newscasts may give the viewer less information than commercial spots. Visuals in some cases on the other hand, can be a vital part in a campaign because they cost very little and as news they may have greater credibility with the viewer. There are two different kinds of elections: general and primary. Primary elections are held to see who shall be nominated to run in the general election as a candidate, and the general election chooses who will take office. Some are closed while others are open,so one may have to declare in advance that they are registered to vote or you can go to an open primary where you decide which party’s primary you would like to participate right there and then. A presidential primary is used to pick delegates to the nominating conventions of the major parties. Candidates can get around â€Å"slips of the tongue† by relying on stock speeches. Since the 1960’s, television was used as a form of contesting campaigns and used largely to conduct campaigns. The internet made possible sophisticated direct-mail campaigning which in turn makes it  possible for a candidate to address specific appeals to particular voters easily and rapidly solicit campaign contributions Sources of campaign money for members of Congress come from their own pockets, private sources, or is raised from individuals, interest groups, or the political parties. For presidential candidates, money sources comes from private donors and the federal government, whereas Congress candidates rely on themselves or private sources to donate. Major Federal Campaign Finance Rules General -contributions and expenditures reported to FEC -Anything over $100 must be disclosed with name, address, and occupation of contributor -Nothing over $100 -no ceiling on how much candidates may spend out of their own money Individual contributions -can’t give more than $2,000 -no gifts exceeding $95,000 every two years. $37,500 goes to candidates Political Action Committees -each corporation, union, etc may establish one -Must register 6 months in advance, have at least 50 contributors, and give at least 5 candidates Ban on Soft Money -no union or corporation can give away own money from treasury to any national party Independent Expenditures -corps, unions, associations, can’t use own money to fund electioneering communications referring to candidates sixty days before gen. Election and 30 days before primary -PACs can fund electioneering up to their limits Presidential Primaries -Federal matching funds can be given to match individual contributions up to $250 or less -candidate must raise $5,000 in 20 states, with contributions of $250 or less Presidential Election -gov will pay all campaign costs up to legal limits of major party candidates and part of the cost of minor party candidates. The 2004 presidential election was unique because of the following factors: the war in Iraq, Bush running for second term which gave him an up in the electoral votes, Bush and Kerry won the same states that Bush and Gore won in 2000, and also  because of the high voter turnout. Minor-party candidates can get federal campaign money if they have won at least 5 percent of the vote in the last election. This has only happened once in 2000 The 1973 Campaign Finance Law created the problems of independent expenditures and soft money. The three changes to the Campaign Finance reform act was the banishment of soft money, raising the limits of independent contributions from $1,000 to $2,000, and it sharply restricted independent expenditures made by corporations, labor unions, and trade associations by restricting these organizations from using their own money to mention a clearly identified federal candidate in advertisement 60 days prior to the general election and thirty days prior to the primary election A suit formed against this law and stated that restricting an organization from mentioning a candidate prior to general and primary elections was a violation of freedom of speech. The Supreme Court upheld almost all of the law and stated it was not a violation. The NORC analysis states that if the recount of votes in Florida had not been halted by the U.S Supreme Court, Bush still would have won, also if hand counts in only four heavily democratic Florida counties had been was granted, Bush still would have won. However, if the same â€Å"equal protection† standard the U.S Supreme Court wanted to use but said there was not enough time, Al Gore would have won 527 Organizations are allowed to spend their money on politics as long as they don’t coordinate with a candidate or lobby directly with that person During peacetime, the state of the economy, the political party affiliation, and the character of the candidates generally decides who becomes presidential The pocketbook vote is the idea that the party holding the White House during good economic times will do well, however if the economy is not doing so well, neither will the party. It is hard to determine who’s pocketbook the voting does because how a person is doing financially will sway their vote on how they believe the good or bad economy will affect them. Besides money, religion, abortion, political reporting, and the vice-presidential nominee does not make much difference in the outcome of the election It is easier for incumbents to raise money because they are already well known to begin with, they can provide services to their districts, send free mail to their constituents, and can get free publicity by sponsoring legislation or  conducting an investigation The Republicans won nine presidential elections between 1968 and 2000 because democrats are not as committed to their parties as republicans are, Republicans have a higher percentage of independent voters, and there is a higher percentage of Republicans voting in the elections. A citizen does not need to be well informed politically to play an important in elections because despite the lack of knowledge in a certain field of politics, citizens ten to know more about the things that interest them. If it was a requirement for every citizen to be so well informed, citizenship in itself would be an occupation, taking up more time in people’s lives than they would want. A prospective voter is forward thinking. They consider both sides of views, including the opponent, and cast their votes for the person they feel will handle the matters more effectively. Perspective voters might focus on big issues such as abortion, nuclear energy, or school busing. A retrospective voter thinks backwardly, meaning they look to the recent past to determine whether or not the economy is doing well. If the economy is doing well, retrospective voters tend to vote for the party that currently occupies the White House, however if the economy was sour, these voters vote against the party in the White House. A prospective voter would focus greatly on economic issues, such as inflation. Campaigns make a difference in elections by reawakening partisan loyalties of voters, giving voters the chance to see how candidates handles pressure and how they apply it, and campaigns also allows voters to judge the character and values of a candidate. Thematic campaigning, negative ads, and the demands of single issue groups have impacted elections in the decision making process of the â€Å"right† candidate during the primary. A loyal coalition of democrats would be African Americans. In almost every election, two-thirds or more vote democratic A loyal coalition of Republicans would be The most loyal members of political parties does not have the most influence because they typically make up a small portion of the electorate. It is very hard to determine how a policies will be affected by elections is because there are so many offices to be filled and the ability it unite political parties under one policy is weak.

Women forced into prostitution Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Women forced into prostitution - Research Paper Example Research in many parts of the world has shown that women are most usually tricked into a life of prostitution and servitude. It is a life no one wants, for it brings shame, disrespect and dishonor not only to the woman concerned but also her family (Troubnikoff, 27). In fact, few self respecting individuals would want to associate with her. Not only does prostitution affect her physically, but women are also shown to have mental and psychological effects from these experiences. She cannot and usually does not marry, and in fact carries in her heart a lifelong hatred and disregard for men, especially those who have enticed or tricked her into this sordid way of life. Discussion History calls prostitution one of the oldest professions known to women. But how did women come to know the effect that their beauty had on men? Most likely it was the man who was enticed by her beauty and wanted to sleep with her. Scientists have maintained that men and women are attracted to very different th ings when it comes to love. For the man, it is almost always the physical attributes of a woman that are more attractive. For the woman, they say that she is more captivated by the nature of a man. This shows that men can be attracted in an instant, while women only after getting to know the nature of the person they prefer. Love poems and songs that speak of a woman’s smile, hair, eyes, smoothness of skin and body etc are almost always written by the male sex. In fact the whole cosmetic and fashion industry are based on this premise (Perkins, 12). The world loves both handsome men and beautiful women. They are the stuff of dreams and everyone wants to possess them or be close to them. A woman can be forced into prostitution for many reasons. Chief among them are economic reasons. If despite her education and upbringing, she cannot get a job to make ends meet or enough to support her parents and other siblings, then she may be forced to get into prostitution, especially if sh e is poor. However in places like Thailand and India, the truth is often worse. We find people who can entice even parents to part with one of their daughters under the guise of gainful employment in the city (Lim, 15). Unbeknown to them, once she is under his control, she is usually shipped off to the red light areas in busy cities and forced to please men and satisfy their sexual desires and perversions (Flowers, 80). She cannot communicate with her parents. Usually someone else even begins sending false letters to her family back home saying that she is doing fine. Then the letters stop under the pretext of finding another job etc. In this way she becomes a money-making machine for her paramour, pimp and madam, doing all the work while earning nothing in exchange. To avoid suspicion sometimes, human traffickers even send home some money in the beginning just to placate her family. Later on this is stopped as well as the communication (Cundiff, 2). We also have cases where playboy types get a girl to love them and then reveal their true identity as pimps after she has given up her body to them. It can start with the boy, lead to his friends, and finally when she is used to the money and the lifestyle, she is forced to join the sex industry by such created circumstances. At this point usually she has nowhere else to go and cannot tell anyone because of the shame she feels. As she gets used to this life and its demands, she learns to please and entice men. It becomes a game and a profession for her, just like any other (Carpenter, 18). Research has indicated that prostitution has a deep and lasting impact on women, especially those who have been tricked into this profession. They cannot

If you could change one thing to make the world a better place, what Essay

If you could change one thing to make the world a better place, what would it be - Essay Example Today, the inner world of the man is in shambles. Accumulating more and more wealth is not the solution to find peace within. Spirituality is not the domain of any particular religion. It is all-embracing, and concerns each and every individual. It is about reforming the evil tendencies by changing one’s thought processes. When the thoughts are changed, the mind is changed; when the mind is changed, the man is changed; when the man is changed, the society is changed; when the society is changed, the nation is changed. When the nations change for the better, one can claim that world peace is attainable. Turn the pages of human history, one finds that systems of political philosophies have failed to deliver permanent peace for humanity. An individual is the unit of the society. Changing the individual is the safest and surest of the options for total change. The suggested steps to take spirituality within the reach of the common man are: a) Spiritual education should be made compulsory at the primary school level. It is the wrong notion that spirituality is an after-retirement project and one should take to path of spirituality when one has nothing else to do. b) It should be taught at the higher grades and universities. c) Periodical interactive sessions must be held at all levels to enable the students to have a good grasp of the spiritual truths.

Indian Hotel Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Indian Hotel Industry - Essay Example According to the Ministry of Tourism of India, there is a scarcity of 150,000 hotel rooms in the country. The increased demand of hotels in the country has appeared due to the high demand for hotels in the country has emerged mainly because of the brisk expansion in the tourism business which comprises of 75% of the overall tourism industry in India. According to the estimates provided by Ministry of Tourism and Industry, the occupancy rates of hotels in Bangalore shot up from 64% to 79% between 2001 and 2005, whereas in Bombay and New Delhi it increased from 52% to 74% and from 53% to 80% respectively. Eyeing the great potential in the Indian Market, world's renowned hotel chains viz. ITC, Accor and Hilton and are penetrating on a broad scale in the Indian hotel industry whereas, Eastern Mandarin, Golden Tulip and Four Seasons are exploring a variety of growth prospects in the country. Accor has recently publicized the formation of two joint-ventures in India where the first is in corporation with Emaar Mfg and entails construction of 100 hotels up to 2015. These hotels will be working under the brand name of 'Formule1' with a per room tariff of USD 20- USD 30 per night. The second joint-venture is with Interglobe where Accor will be holding 40% of the stake while the remaining 60% will be held by Interglobe. This joint venture, under the brand name of 'ibis', will be constructing 25 hotels in India by 2010. The reason for the influx of Big Hotel groups to enter into the emerging market like India is that the US market is somewhat reaching the level of saturation for them and mark ets like India with enormous tourism and demand/supply disparity in the hotel industry would provide a boost as it is a cost effective tourist destination. HILTON GROUP OF HOTELS IN INDIA After a great success worldwide, the Hilton group remained the key player in exploiting the opportunities in Indian Hotel Industry which is still in a nascent stage by coming up with a joint-venture with the Indian group DLF to open 75 hotels in the country (DLF holds 75% of the stake) in five to seven years time. Before discussing about this deal and Hilton's penetration in the Indian market, we should see the current standing of both the companies in their own particular aspects. HILTON HOTEL'S CORPORATION The Hilton Chain of Hotels hold fast to its founder Conrad Hilton's philosophy whjo said that, "It has been, and continues to be, our responsibility to fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality." This viewpoint is shared by all Hilton brands. Pre-February 2006, Hilton Hotels Corp. had run Hilton hotels in the USA, plus other hotels in the US & globally. In February 2006, Hilton Hotels Corp. bought all of Hilton Group's Hilton hotel operations outside the US. Hilton Hotels Corporation is the top international hospitality company, with more than 3,000 hotels in 76 countries and territories worldwide. The company holds, administers or franchises a portfolio of world's renowned and highly regarded brands, including Hilton, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hilton Grand Vacations, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Homewood Suites by

Organizations draw specific and directive plans that are aligned to Essay

Organizations draw specific and directive plans that are aligned to specific and strategic objectives and goals - Essay Example An overall organizational analysis will yield substantial information that will help in understanding the strategies and their effectiveness in deriving the desired results. Hence, an analysis and evaluation of these strategies at various levels will be conducted. These would include an industry analysis, analysis of competitors and competition, analysis of strategic capabilities including resources, skills abilities etc, an analysis of Starbucks market position and its products’ success rates. These analyses will be carried out on the basis of established tools and techniques. Industry perspective: Despite its immense success and rigorous growth, Starbucks is experiencing increased pressure from various external forces. Through PESTEL analysis, the impact of these external forces namely, political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legislative entities can be assessed. Competition perspective: Competition always remains a rapidly growing threat for any busine ss. Hence, business owners need to be aware of the nature of these threats in order to remain sustainable in the market. Porter’s five force model helps in assessing the nature of competition. This model considers five forces namely, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of entry of new competitors and degree of rivalry between existing competitors. An analysis based on this model will give a comprehensive idea of the position of Starbucks and the direction and/or steps it needs to take in order to remain competitive. Capabilities perspective To sustain competitive position and grow, businesses require certain prerequisite attributes in their resources that are valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable. These attributes together are referred to as the VRIN, and provide value-creating strategies. An assessment of the resources and capabilities of Starbucks on this model will provide a clear picture of its strengths and weaknesses. Market perspective: An organization that produces diversified products and services needs to be constantly assessed and evaluated for its products and services in comparison with the market. Such an analysis can be accomplished using the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix in which businesses/product lines are categorized into four categories namely, question mark, star, cash cow, and dog. This tool shows products’ performance in terms of market share and market growth; thereby, it assists in managing specific business components in a manner that minimizes loss and maximizes profits. Recommendations and conclusions: Based on the analysis, recommendations for products/services that should be offered by Starbucks and the markets they should target will be proposed. Probable References Porter, M.E. 1979. How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy. Harvard Business Review. Hill, C and Jones, G. 2009. Strategic Management Theory: An Integrated Approach. 9th ed. OH: Cengage Learning. Kotler, P and Armstrong, G. 2003. Principles of Marketing. London: Prentice Hall. Silver, D. 2009. The Social Network Business Plan: 18 Strategies That Will Create Great Wealth. NJ: John Wiley and Sons. Zhang, W-B. 2010. Economic Growth and Gender Division of Labour with Creativity, Knowledge Utilization, and Capital Accumulation. In Rodrigues, S.

The Transformation Change in British Airways Case Study

The Transformation Change in British Airways - Case Study Example Divisional al differences were very evident taking into consideration that there were two chairmen, different set of executives, and detached marketing strategies.  Divisional differences were very evident taking into consideration that there were two chairmen, different set of executives, and detached marketing strategies.   2. These were the issues faced by BA in order to survive and to be a competitive player in the airline industry.   In terms of the change order, it can be inferred that the second-order change was implemented as evidenced by their significant reengineering of business focus and strategic direction. Previously, BA was very product-oriented and their main concern was â€Å"flying the British flag†. Their initiative was more on engineering,  and increasing plane routes in Europe. They forgot the critical importance of customers in the equation hence customer dissatisfaction became synonymous with the name BA. In contrast, the new direction taken by L ord John King and Mr. Collin Marshall gave more emphasis on the human aspect of business embodied in the universal term called customer service and satisfaction. These efforts fundamentally altered the way of thinking and doing business in BA.   3. Culture and people played the major levers used to effect the new direction. On the side, systems lever was also re-engineered to put more emphasis on service marketing and reward systems. The important first step was to break the previous product-oriented culture and to infuse the value of customer service as the new way of doing business. Several programs were implemented and very notable was PPF or Putting People First wherein employees were trained to gauge customer service in different perspectives and different settings. This helped employees to be emphatic in implementing the customer service efforts initiated by BA. As an offshoot of this program, several agenda like MPF (Managing People First), A Day in the Life, Brainwaves, To Be the Best, and Awards for Excellence were introduced with the objective of enforcing the significance of customer satisfaction and rewarding those who implement the programs religiously.

Different phases of the project life cycle require a flexible approach Essay

Different phases of the project life cycle require a flexible approach in leadership style and skills - Essay Example Whenever we talk about the methods implicated in the project management we in general refer those methods towards the management of people as well as resources. The management of people is the management of workers. Management of people guides us about the roles and duties that a worker can perform in a project for making a project successful. It also guides management what type of staff should reserve for a specific project (Kerzner, 2003). A project manager or leader plays an important role in the success and failure of a project. This paper explains different leadership tactics and qualities during the different life cycle stages of the project. This paper explains the contemporary leadership traits, skills, and behaviors principles, comprising interesting developing views in the changing project life cycle stages, It has placed the gap between extant theory and leadership in technology projects lacks practitioner reflection-in-action, in that existing literature does not prove wh at effective global project managers actually do within the dynamic situational context of multiple competing demands. First of all we will discuss the qualities of a leader, the important point to mention is that: this section will discuss the project’s manger or leader’s project handling qualities, tests and important abilities that he must have in the changing environment. Then next section explains the different qualities and project management styles those are necessary for the project in the each life cycle stages of the project. The last section contains the conclusion and references. Suggested different project management approaches are correct for different stages of project (Kenneth, 1998). This would suggest that different project management styles, and thus different competency profiles and leadership styles for the project manager would be appropriate for different phases of project. Why we emphasis the leadership or its qualities, the

Manac Plc. Models and concepts affecting the pricing decisions taken Essay

Manac Plc. Models and concepts affecting the pricing decisions taken by organizations, critically reflecting upon their usefulness - Essay Example The pricing policy of a firm is affected by a number of factors which contains the variable and fixed costs of the firm and the ecological factors which contains competitor analysis and legal analysis. Pricing models can be utilized to explain, forecast or explain pricing circumstances, or to prescribe pricing decisions. Irrespective of their planned use, however, models are basically abstractions of actuality. Even though they are less difficult than the real world, models should have relevant possessions of the realism they are calculated to represent. A number of more particular criteria served as the foundation for evaluating the pricing models are reviewed. Two criteria are valid to the assumptions on which the form is based. Such assumptions must be stated openly so that the user is cognizant of their existence and so able to assess their relevance and importance. Secondly, the assumptions must be realistic. â€Å"The pricing decision is a critical one for most marketers, yet the amount of attention given to this key area is often much less than is given to other marketing decisions. One reason for the lack of attention is that many believe price setting is a mechanical process requiring the marketer to utilize financial tools, such as spreadsheets, to build their case for setting price levels† (Pricing Decisions 1998). ... However, pricing decisions have vital consequences for the marketing organization and the concentration given by the dealer to pricing is just as significant as the concentration given to extra identifiable marketing actions. Some significant causes affect pricing include: Most Flexible Marketing Mix Variable: For dealers, price is the large amount variable of all marketing choices. Unlike distribution and product decisions, which can take years or months to change or several forms of promotion which may be time consuming to change, price can be changed very quickly. The elasticity of pricing choices is chiefly significant in times when the dealer seeks to rapidly stimulate demand or respond to contestant value actions. For instance, a marketer can get on a field salesperson’s request to lesser cost for a possible vision throughout a phone discussion. Similarly, a dealer in charge of online processes can raise costs on hot selling products with the click of a few website butto ns. Setting the Right Price: Pricing decisions made quickly without adequate research, analysis and planned evaluation can lead a losing income to the marketing organization. Prices set also may signify that the company is missing out on extra profits that could be earned if the target market is eager to spend extra to obtain the product. Furthermore, efforts to raise an originally low priced product to a higher cost can be met by consumer resistance as they can feel that the dealer is effecting to take benefit of their consumers. Setting of high prices can also impact on income as it prevents interested consumers from purchasing the manufactured goods. For setting the right price, substantial market knowledge is important and mostly, with new products testing of different

What is a good tax Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

What is a good tax - Essay Example The people in the state do not see the need as to why the government should reduce its expenditure but expenditure should be sufficient to meet the needs of the people. Most of the former politicians in Illinois State have faced significant challenges in their effort to come up with a good tax. One of the former Governors of the state by the name Scott Walker worked hard to cut the rights of the public employees to participate in collective bargaining. Deputy Director of the local council of the American Federation State said that the governor had an obsession of destroying the unions belonging to the public employees. The same director said that Mr. Rauner was trying to stir up the bitterness of the public employees who include teachers, firefighters, and police officers. The unions in Illinois State are always against a leader who tries to change the tax system of the state. Mr. Rauner may have a good idea of increasing the tax income of the state and improve economy of the state in the end. Most unions do not understand that when the economy is stable, having low unemployment rates will increase the tax income and government expenditure too. There is need for the citizens in the state to give the politicians independence to come up with a good tax system that will benefit both the employed and unemployed. A good tax is one that will enable the unemployed to venture into small-scale businesses and earn a living out of it. Davy portrays a good tax as one that is sufficient enough to avoid cutting of the benefits of the retirees because they have saved enough to rely on and survive on during their retirement period. However, Mr. Rauner said that the only problem he had was with the union leaders in the public sector who donated to political leaders. He claims that the government union has power to influence politicians in contracts negotiations about pensions, scales of payments,

Black Nationalism Essay Example for Free

Black Nationalism Essay Black Nationalism is defined by Karenga, as the political belief and practice of African Americans as a distinct people with a distinct historical personality who politically should develop structures to define, defend, and develop the interests of Blacks as a people. Black Nationalism can be traced back to the 18th century, back to William Edward Burghardt DuBois, the most prominent black intellectual of all time. Black Nationalism is the response of African Americans to the continual racism and oppression they experience. It came about because of two reasons; the racism that they faced daily, and being exploited economically by white supremacy. Black Nationalism seeks a solution to the problems that African Americans face on a daily basis After the Civil War, the situation of the black people was not good; it was a semi-free, semi-slave situation. An example of this is tenancy, where the Blacks have control of the work process and work schedule but ultimately had to give up the fruits of their hard work because they were not the landowners. This kept the Blacks under White dominance, and living in poverty. Another factor in the economical status of the Black people was the introduction of mass production, new methods and machinery. This caused the loss of many of the jobs being held by the Black men, Negroes are now restricted more and more to common labor and domestic service of the lowest paid and worst kind. The already bad situation became worse when the Depression arrived. Although everyone was affected by the Depression, the Black people were hit the hardest, as DuBois states in the case of the Negro worker, everything has been worse? the loss has been greater and more permanent. ( DuBois, 564) In addition, Black people have always experienced racism. DuBois communicates this problem in the essay A Negro Nation within the Nation, Negro children are systematically denied education;? Once or twice a month Negroes convicted of no crime are openly and publicly lynched, and even burned?. When a man with every qualification is refused a position simply because his great-grandfather was black there is not a ripple of comment or protest( DuBois, 563) To survive these conditions, and defend themselves against racism, exploitation and oppression, Black people formed social relationships within their community, which centered mainly around the church. They fought back with Black unity, the belief that Blacks should come together to fight against their exploitation, oppression, and discrimination. DuBoiss nationalism circulates around three main ideas: First, the belief that all people of African descent shared common goals, and that they should work together in their struggle for equality. Second, he emphasized a cultural nationalism; being the editor of the crisis magazine he encouraged the development of black literature and art, publishing the work of many of the most talented black writers and poets, encouraging his readers to see the beauty in black. Finally, he believed that Blacks should develop a separate group economy of producers and consumers, and cooperate as a weapon for fighting economic discrimination and black poverty. DuBois created Talented Tenth, the idea of using the intellectual elite to fight against racism. He believed the only way to fight racism and oppression was to attack the economic power of the white people. The thinking colored people of the United States, he wrote, must stop being stampeded by the word segregation. . . . There should never be an opposition to segregation pure and simple unless that segregation does involve discrimination. (DuBois, 557. ) He believed that some forms of segregation were beneficial to the Black people. This statement from DuBois spurred a lot of controversy and resulted in his resignation form the NAACP, which was primarily made of integrationist, those who refused to see themselves as people of African descent and opposed any form of institutional segregation based on race. Nationalists, on the other hand such a DuBois, saw themselves as descendents of Africa, they emphasized that Black people should create their own economical, cultural and educational institutions. The Conclusion: Black Nationalism was created as a result of the struggles of the Black people in America, it was necessary for their cultural and economical survival. Some may say that being a nationalist is being a racist; this is true in some cases. Black Nationalism is similar to Kurdish Nationalism, or Armenian Nationalism, the nationalism of oppressed people, struggling for freedom and equality. On the other hand White Nationalism can be compared with Arab or Turkish Nationalism, which includes racism, race superiority, and oppression of minorities and different ethnic groups. I believe that Black Nationalism is pragmatic, Black people are now proud of their heritage and ancestors, aware of their rich cultural history, and not the image of a lower class, dark-skinned savage inferior to the white supremacy painted by White America. Works Citied DuBois, W. E. B. A Negro Nation within The Nation. W. E. B. DuBois A Reader. Ed. David Levering Lewis. New York, Ny: Henry Holt and Company 1995. 563-570. DuBois, W. E. B. Segregation. W. E. B. DuBois A Reader. Ed. David Levering Lewis. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company 1995. 557-558.

Employee performance appraisal theories and techniques

Employee performance appraisal theories and techniques Performance appraisal is to assess and evaluate the performance of employees towards the objectives of the organisation. Performance appraisal has now become a very important part of human resource management. Performance appraisal is the basis for other personnel programs in many of the organisations like counselling, salary administration, or personnel planning. With the decline of careers in organisation, HRM techniques such as performance appraisal has become more important in motivating and controlling the workforce. Appraisal is now seen by some commentators as being much more significant in maintaining employee loyalty and commitment than in directly managing performance (Bowles and Coates, 1993). Use of performance appraisal gives the manager opportunity to change corporate values which are important instrument in control process. Thus we find a growing use of appraisal systems for non-managerial employees that are based on social, attitudinal and trait attributes (Townley, 1 989). Employees are now being appraised not only on objective measures such as attendance, productivity and quality but also on subjective measures such as flexibility, loyalty etc. performance appraisal helps in increasing the efficiency of workforce which in turn helps in achieving the objectives set by an organisation. Performance appraisal is one of the most important components in the systematic approach of Human Resource Management. Performance appraisal is the process of assessing and evaluating the performance of employees according to the objectives of the organisation. Performance appraisal is defined as a procedure which involves the regular use of recorded assessment of an individualà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s performance and potential (Phil Long (1986). Performance Appraisal Revisited. 2nd ed. London: IPM Information and Advisory Services. 5.). A primary aim of the performance appraisal is to measure the performance of an individual against the given objectives. Performance appraisal includes the employees, management, supervisors and the units those are most responsible in the organisation. Manual staffs such as skilled employees and employees with technical duties are also subject to appraisal. Many organisations use performance appraisal even for other personnel programs, like counselling, sal ary administration, promotions or personnel planning etc. It acts as a means of communication between the boss and the sub ordinates required by the company or organisation. There are many possible uses of performance appraisal, but a wise user of the technique will choose among the possibilities and confine performance appraisal to those activities that will meet limited, specific goals (Patricia King (1984). Performance Planning and Appraisal. New York: McGraw-Hill. 7.). Performance appraisal system helps in measuring the performance of individuals against the set objectives of the organisation and the tasks provided to an individual, and rewarding them accordingly. It is also the basis for recruiting the new people, provide feed back, increase motivation, identify potential, study the skills of the employees, training to be provided according to the objectives and the work given and let people know that what is expected from them against the organisation and solve the job problem s. A change in payment systems has also helped in growth and development of performance appraisal. Reward systems and increased use of merit and performance have been associated with the development of performance appraisal. It would be clear that performance appraisal practices those are operating from past ten years or so may be effective in many organisations today. New developments has reduced the role of performance appraisal, they now are being used as a measure to achieve organisational objectives, considerable experimentation and innovation. In fact performance appraisal has become more wide spread. New forms of appraisals have also been developed. Development of performance appraisal: Informal system of performance appraisal exists as long as people work together; evaluation of employees at work is the universal tendency. The history of formal system of performance appraisal is short. With the new developments performance appraisal has become an important element of human resource management. Wide ranges of methods are used to conduct the performance appraisals such as from ranking schemes and competency based systems to complex behaviourally anchored rating schemes. Performance appraisalà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s nature is mostly based on the objectives of management and the available resources for commitment. Simpler ranking and rating schemes are adopted by the small organisations with limited HR expertise, where as schemes such as competency based and 360o appraisal are adopted by the larger organisations. Most of the managements use only one type of appraisal system. Some organisations provide the choice for employees about methods in how they should be appraised. F ew organisations adopt multiple systems to separate reward and non reward aspects of appraisal and different systems to different occupational groups and different parts of the organisation. Appraisal Systems: Appraisal system formulates the review part of the performance cycle. Appraisal systems are designed on a central basis by personnel function, each manager evaluate the performance of their staff on an annual, six-monthly or even quarterly basis. Traditionally appraisal system has been applicable to the staff those are in higher management and supervisory positions, but with new developments it has also applicable even to the clerical staff and secretarial staff. Appraisal systems are been applicable in all the parts of the organisation for the better performance of the employees. It tends to assess the performance of the employees and reward them accordingly. Appraisal system can be used to identify the problems and improve current performance, provide feedback. It also can be used to set the organisation objectives, provide information to the HR personnel, selection process and as a reward or punishments. Appraisal can be divided into three categories, reward reviews, potential reviews, and performance reviews, and the appraisal system should satisfy at least one of those. Manager should be very careful in reviewing the primary purpose of the appraisal system. Source: www.rose.edu/faculty/bperryman/f6.pdf Performance Appraisal Methods and Techniques: The techniques to evaluate the performance appraisal can be grouped into three categories: Comparative, Absolute and Outcome or Result-oriented. Comparative Methods: These techniques help in evaluation the performance of the employees in a work group. Three main procedures which are used in performance judgements are paired comparisons, raking and forced distribution. Paired comparisons: In this method appraiser compares the pair of individuals, rating which employee is better. This could be based on the overall performance of the job or one specific trait. A rank order is obtained from the number of times each individual is selected as the better of a pair (Phil Long (1986). Performance Appraisal Revisited. 2nd ed. London: IPM Information and Advisory Services). Ranking: Rater requires listing the group of individuals and ranking them according to the merit from best to worst. In this procedure a single performance trait is used to evaluate the overall performance of employees towards the objectives. Forced distribution: This procedure combines both paired comparisons and ranking methods. Individuals receive a rating and also assigned to categories according to predetermined distribution. Absolute Methods: This method evaluates the performance of an individual by reference to standards of performance. Techniques include narrative approach, graphic or trait rating scales, critical incidents and behavioural anchored rating scales. Narrative Approach: This method describes the individualà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s work performance and behaviour in the words of appraiser. The appraiser describes the strengths, weaknesses and potential of an individual and also suggest for improvements that are required. Appraiser can explain in the form of essay or written report. Narrative procedures have the benefit that they can explain and provide information regarding the individualà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s performance. Trait Rating Scales: This is highly structured scale which consists of a list of personality traits. The appraiser should indicate the performance of an individual on a numerical scale for which individual is being appraised have these traits. A variation of this is the graphic rating scale which requires the rater to evaluate the individual on each of several defined qualities along a line containing a variety of objectives from very high to very low (Phil Long (1986). Performance Appraisal Revisited. 2nd ed. London: IPM Information and Advisory Services). Critical incident techniques: In this method rater explains the positive and negative behavioural events which have been observed within a review period. It is more suitable for performance feedback discussions. Behavioural Anchored Rating Scales (BARS): BARS is one of the prominent behaviour scaling techniques which determine the behaviour ratings and actually constitute job performance. This methodology is carried out using typical BARS instruments which constitute of series of vertical scales. Each scale determines performance dimension based on job requirements and past observations. The behaviour anchors observed determines the work performance of the individual. Results-oriented Methods: These methods are mostly based on specific accomplishments and outcomes of job performance rather than behaviours. Assessment is based on how the objectives have been achieved. Objectives being jointly agreed between the superior and subordinate and standards are set by discussion and negotiation. As the standards are known the procedure can be corrected as they develop. To study the role of performance appraisal, different appraisal systems, models and how are these helpful in evaluation of employee performance in order to achieve the organisational objectives. To study about performance appraisal systems, methods and techniques. How the appraisal systems are developed and implemented in the real context to achieve the objectives. To study the advantages and disadvantages of different performance appraisal methods. This data has already been published and while using this data the researcher should be very careful about the validity and reliability. Researcher should get the data which has been recently published as it will be more applicable to the present scenario. The data used by researcher in this report is mostly from books, electronic journals, and websites and research journals. Secondary includes both quantitative and qualitative data, and they can be used in both descriptive and explanatory research. Types of secondary data: Documentary data, Survey-based data, and those compiled from multiple sources. Documentary secondary data includes written documents and non written documents. Written documents include books, journals, magazine articles, newspaper and internet. Non-written documents such as pictures, drawings, television programme. Multiple-source secondary data can be based entirely on documentary or any survey data, or can combination of the two. Data collected will be analysed with the help of diagrams, graphs, pie charts and etc. Qualitative data collected from all the possible sources will help in achieving the objectives of dissertation. Saunders et al (2003) claims that there is no standard approach to analyzing qualitative data but discuss one technique where the data are disaggregated into meaningful categories that are subsequently rearranged and analyzed for related data and key themes. The dissertation will be presented in written form meeting the requirements laid down in the Individual Research Dissertation Handbook. And soft copies will be provided in the desirable standard format. Dissertation Time Plan (what are the key times) Meet the appointed lecturer and start with dissertation Finish the introduction and literature review Analyze Data and Interpret data using different data analysis tools and techniques Update Literature Review Complete dissertation by drawing conclusion Submit Dissertation Phil Long (1986). Performance Appraisal Revisited. 2nd ed. London: IPM Information and Advisory Services Patricia King (1984). Performance Planning and Appraisal. New York: McGraw-Hill. Tom Redman, Adrian Wilkinson (2001). Contemporary Human Resource Management. London: Prentice Hall. 57-95. Derek Torrington and Laura Hall (1995). Personal Management. 3rd ed. London: Prentice Hall. 316-331. Stephen Pilbeam and Marjorie Corbridge (2002). People Resourcing HRM in Practice. 2nd ed. London: FT Prentice Hall. 258-283. John P Wilson (1999). Human Resource Development. London: Kogan Page. 153-162. http://www.businessballs.com/performanceappraisals.htm www.rose.edu/faculty/bperryman/f6.pdf

What are the Four Policy Issues in the Pay Model?

What are the Four Policy Issues in the Pay Model? In the Pay Model, there are four polices that have been used for determining for paying the employee the organization such as internal alignment, external competitiveness, employee contributions and of the pay system but two most important pay model polices are internal alignment and external competitiveness. This is because in internal alignment look how job and skills related to importance to achieve organization objectives. In another way, we look also other method pay model, which is external competitiveness, which indicates of pay comparisons to with the competitor. Not only basic salary or wages are concerned but also what method of payment should be using the organization use for paying their employee of such as base, incentives, stock, benefits are used by these competitors use to compared to the pay mix we use to compete with other organization to stay remain competitive than competitor pay scheme. Compensation also related directly influence key outcomes like job satisfaction, attraction, retention, performance, flexibility, cooperation, skill acquisition and so forth. However, its influence may also be indirect by facilitating or constraining the effectiveness of other human resource activities (Gerhart and Milkovich, 1991). Compensation is only one part of the policies and programs organizations use to manage employee relations. Decisions regarding employment security, development and training, career opportunities, employee assistance programs are important to decide before proceed what method and how it can be done in compensating employee (Milkovich and Broderick, 1989). In this article not the only definition of external competitive and internal alignment are discussed but also why these elements are important to the organization to stay competitive and retain high qualified employee with skills and knowledge need by organization to focus on to achieve goals and objective of the organization that operates around the world that has been studied by many researchers before. We also see why external competitive element plays so many roles in determining the success of the organization rather than internal alignment in the organization. Definition of internal alignment and external competitiveness Internal alignment or internal equity is refers to comparisons among jobs or skill levels inside a single organisations (Milkovich and Newman, 2008). Jobs and peoples skills are compared in terms of their relative contributions to the organisations business objectives. In Internal alignment also focus on why pay relationships that motivating employees to choose increased training and greater responsibility in dealing with customers, internal pay relationships indirectly affect the capabilities of the workforce and hence the efficiency of the entire organization. This also agree by report Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) Report, 2008) that defines internal alignment is the set of commitments, strategies, policies, procedures, systems and behaviours that support integrated customer decision making based on suppliers commercial and ethical commitment and performance. This is translated into practice by the basic techniques of reward management, job analysis, job evaluation, and performance appraisal. The focus is on comparing jobs and individuals in terms of their relative contributions to the organizations objectives (Bratton and Gold, 2001). Pay relationships within the organization affect all three compensation objectives in internal alignment. This method also affect employee decisions which to stay with the organization or leave the organization. Then the organization must motivating employees to attend training and seek greater responsibility in dealing with customers, internal pay relationships indirectly affect the capabilities of the workforce and hence the efficiency of the entire organization. Fairness is affected through employees comparisons of their pay to the pay of others in the organization. If the internal alignment is refers in single organization but either way external competitiveness which refers to pay comparisons with competitors. This basically involves when implementing in organization which are, to be a pay leader, to match the market rate, or to lag behind what competitive organizations are paying (Bratton and Gold, 1999). Basically when practicing external competitiveness two ways first by setting pay level that is above, below or equal to that of competitor secondly, determining of pay mix relative to those of competitors. In both of pay level and pay mix focuses in two objectives which are control cost and attract and retain employee (Milkovich and Newman, 2008). External competitiveness refers to comparisons of the organizations pay relative to the pay of competitive organizations (Bratton and Gold, 2001). Objective of determining external competitiveness decisions in terms of both how much and what forms are (Milkovich and Newman, 2008); To ensure that the pay is sufficient to attract and retain employees if employees do not perceive their pay as competitive in comparison to what other organizations are offering for similar work, they may be more likely to leave To control labour costs so that the organizations prices of products or services can remain competitive in a global economy. Overall the internal alignment and external competitiveness are essential to compensation includes any direct or indirect payments to employees, such as wages, bonuses, stock, and benefits. So external competitiveness directly affects both efficiency and fairness and it must do so in an ethical way that complies with relevant legislation and internal alignment seek that where organizations internal drivers, include vision and mission as well as general goals, are aligned with their words and actions. Factors in internal alignment and external competitiveness In internal alignment factors are divided into three which are External Factors, Organizational Factors and Internal and External Factors combine (Milkovich and Newman, 2008). In external factors divided into several categories which are economic pressures, government policies, laws, and regulations, external stakeholders, cultures and customs. Then in organizational factors also divided into strategy technology, human capital, HR (Human Resource) policy, employee acceptance and cost implications. All these factors can be explained in diagram 1 below; Source: Milkovich and Newman (2008) In external factors, there is economic pressure which has been studied before by Adam Smith and Karl Marx, which also determine marginal productivity that what need of an input (factor of production) the extra is output that can be produced by one using more units of the input and then supply and demand needed for paid wages and purchasing products. In government policies, laws and regulations are which every organization must follow to stay operational in certain country they business on. Finally on culture and customs according G. Hoefstede (1980) is the mental programming for processing information that the people share in common. This also translate into organization culture that help organizational values to develop organizational norms, guidelines, or expectations that prescribe appropriate kinds of behaviour by employees in particular situations and control the behaviour of organizational members towards one another. Organization factors also play crucial part of the determining compensation in internal alignment. First strategy of any compensation method must alignment with organization goals and mission to make sure that any compensation that given to workers is paid back by workers fulfills goals and mission of organization they work for. Technology is the usage and knowledge of tools, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem. Then Human capital refers to the stock of competences, knowledge and personality attributes embodied in the ability to perform labor so as to produce economic value1. After that HR (Human Resource) policy are the mechanisms that handling risk by staying up to date with current trends in employment standards and legislation. The policies must be stated in proper manner to ensure that companies vision the human resource helping the company to achieve it or work towards it are at all levels benefited and at the same time not deviat ed from their main objective. Then only that worker can have of career progress to ensure that employee can give the best productivity towards organization. Finally when all organization factors has been determined the organization must calculate the cost to sure that is beyond the budget to stay in operation of the company. In internal structure is refers array of pay rates for different work or skills within a single organization. The number of levels, the differentials in pay between the levels, and the criteria used to determine those differences describe the structure. In determining external competitiveness this question should be ask what level of pay base, benefits, incentive, and perquisites should be offered relative to competitors? What mix of these forms should be offered either by fix salary, flexible benefits, stock options, cash bonuses, and stock appreciation rights, etc.? What should the proportion of guaranteed compensation (base or benefits) relative to riskier returns (incentives) be? It is also determined by labour market that determine supply and demand that usually employers or organization always seek to maximize profits, then people are homogeneous and therefore interchangeable, after that pay rates reflect all costs associated with employment and finally markets faced by employers are competitive to other organizations. Product market and labor market competition may provide on the part of employers in choosing a pay level (Gerhart Milkovich, 1990). Product market comparisons are critical, more resources need to be devoted to measuring compensation (or better, unit labor costs) paid by such organizations. In contrast, if labor market comparisons are important, it is necessary to devote resources to find out to which organizations applicants and employees are being lost (Gerhart and Milkovich, 1991). In organization factors that will create competitiveness that influenced by pay level and pay mix either in industry, strategy, size and individual manager. Pay mix and pay level decisions focus on first controlling costs and attracting and secondly retaining employees (Milkovich and Newman, 2008). Equation of pay level is shown below; Pay level =((base + bonuses + benefits + value of stocks))/(number of employees) All factors in external competitiveness are showed in table 1 below; Labour Markets Nature of Supply Level of Product Demand Individual Manager Similarities in internal alignment and external competitiveness In determining internal alignment or external competitiveness or both used for designing the compensation package for an employee in an organization, there are similarities between them, which are efficiency, fairness and compliance. First, efficiency that can help imply the future return can encourage employees to remain within the organization, increasing experience and training, cooperate with workers and seek greater responsibility for the sake of organization they work for. This will diminish shirking among workers and permit hiring best qualified employees (Milkovich and Newman, 2008). Second, fairness also shows that organization must be fair to ensure that good employee dont retire and sustain organization productivity and trust among employees. Even though not everyone is paid equal but at least must be fair according to job, skills and knowledge a certain employee had so what happen when that is perceived as too large? Fortune (1989), for example asserts that this differential is seen by employees as unfair, resulting in a trust gap which suggests that such differentials are necessary to provide incentives for expending effort and taking on added responsibilities and risks to the organization which resulted in higher turnover and dissatisfaction among an employee who work for the organization. Finally, in compliance which compensation either in internal alignment or external alignment must be complied either in terms of policy, rules, acts and regulations that have been set up by government? Other than that this to ensure t all necessary governance requirements can be met without the unnecessary organization manipulation when operates certain countries. Why is external competitiveness so important rather than internal alignment? External competitiveness is established by reference to job advertisements in the press, or by more systematic labour market surveys. This information is then used to construct a pay structure within the organization rather than internal alignment which more in structure of pay in based only knowledge, skills and ability that certain individual had to offer within a single organization. So that why in determining pay structure and compensation method must have external competitiveness to focus and to maintain competitive to another organization. There are several reasons why external competitiveness important rather than internal alignment like following below; Reduce negative perception of employee towards organization. Pay onlywhat be supposed to the organization should be paid towards workers. Get better view what the other organization does to compensate the workers to make workers motivate and minimized turnover among them. Internal alignment is very completed process and hard to implement in organization. External competitiveness is more strategic rather than internal alignment. Reduce negative perception of employee towards organization. While employees negative feelings concerning internal pay equity might be removed by an effective job evaluation scheme, employees will still compare their pay with those in other organizations and industries (Bratton and Gold, 2001). It so is better having combined internal and external to the same to fulfil employee needs and reduce turnover at the same time. These as well agreed by (Milkovich and Broderick, 1989) which choices about the competitive position besides communicating to both prospective and incumbent employees. Savvy employees, for example, can discern the organizations ability and willingness to recognize their needs based on the flexibility and tax protection offered in benefit plans or the opportunity to share in the organization success through stock- and performance-based plans. Even that not all internal alignment structure can be a success one like in General Electric Co.s in 1980s plastics division adopted an exempt pay structure with only four levels: executive, director, leadership, and technical and professional. Managers believe that it provides greater flexibility to move employees without requiring pay changes. It also communicates to employees a relatively egalitarian philosophy about the value (base pay) of different skill groups. However, to be successful, the increased flexibility must be managed effectively. Inconsistencies within levels can result in anarchy and quickly will lead to employee dissatisfaction and distrust (Milkovich and Broderick, 1989). According to Spence (1973) which has studied case of sales jobs, if there is not a large incentive component in which individual effort is important, and one or more of the following three consequences is likely to happen: The right people will not be attracted, They are attracted, but leave when they discover that their efforts are under rewarded, The right people are attracted and retained, but because they are not rewarded for high performance, their performance declines. Rynes (1987) also supported of Spence (1973) idea that compensation systems are capable of attracting (or repelling) the right kinds of people because they communicate so much about an organizations philosophy, values, and practices. Milkovich Bloom (1998) also finds that compensation systems must support organizational goals, foster corporate culture, and help motivate employees to contribute their efforts to further organizational success. Pay onlywhat be supposed to the organization should be paid towards workers. The fact that value to the employee may differ from cost to an employer suggests that, in some cases, fewer costly total compensation packages may actually provide total inducements that are of greater value to employees than those associated with more expensive packages if internal alignment is used for determining paid and compensation for an employee who work for the organization. In many costly benefit options might be the most expensive its value to employees might fall short of the value attached to a compensation package of benefits that is better tailored to employee needs or values. In another study, in which 2000 manufacturing firms were classified into growth, mature, or declining stages, Anderson and Zeithaml (1984) reported that the firms competitiveness (pay level relative to competitors) was greater in each progressive stage. They also reported that the higher relative pay in mature firms adversely affected their return on investment. However, growth firms with higher pay levels relative to competitors reported increased market share of these companies. Therefore, measurement of own and competitors pay levels would ideally include the value to employees of different elements of total compensation. Like study of Gerhart and Milkovich (1991) in Bank of America has eliminated retiree health care coverage for all new hires suggests that organizations believe that different groups of employees (for this, new hires) may differ in the value attached to particular aspects of compensation. Get better view what the other organization does to compensate the workers to make workers motivate and minimized turnover among them. In world of the organization which has paid the works to work not only related in external market without seeing what actually other organization are doing to survive and maintain efficiency of current in the organization. Many organization today organizations do not compete solely in the product market but more refer to market for labour. The classical economics literature suggests that product market and labour market competition may provide relatively little discretion on the part of employers in choosing a pay level (Gerhart Milkovich, 1990). Ford, for example, competes for engineers, lawyers, and human resource managers not only with other automotive companies, but also with companies in the computer, aerospace, electronics, and other industries. Fay (1989) also recognizes that organizations are attempted to gather information about pay practices of competitors through the use of pay surveys. As Rynes and Milkovich (1986) found out, administrative decisions are required about a range of issues including when compensate workers: Which employers are included? Which jobs are included? Which jobs are considered similar enough to use in benchmarking? If multiple surveys are used (fairly typical), how are the multiple rates of pay weighted and combined? Practice in these areas seems to vary across (and probably within) employers. If not following what Rynes and Milkovich (1986) has been done which make the organization make pay level that is too low relative to these competitors could lead to difficulties in attracting and retaining sufficient numbers of quality employees. As such, labour market competition can be seen as placing a lower bound or floor on pay level (Milkovich Newman, 1990). As the importance of a particular comparison increases, so too should the resources devoted to information and measurement. For example, if product market comparisons are critical, more resources need to be devoted to measuring compensation (or better, unit labor costs) paid by such organizations. In contrast, if labor market comparisons are important, it is necessary to devote resources to find out to which organizations applicants and employees are being lost (Gerhart and Milkovich, 1991). Internal alignment is very completed process and hard to implement in organization. Internal alignment is very completed process and hard to implement in the organization even thought validity of conclusions reached through the survey process may depend critically on how the competition is defined, for example, what organizations are chosen for inclusion, little evidence exists on how such choices are made or their implications. Rather, most attention has been focused on potential problems in the job evaluation process, especially in the context of pay equity or comparable worth discussions. Nevertheless, as Schwab (1980) has pointed out, job evaluation is usually validated against some measure of the market rate, meaning that the measure of the pay system is critical. In this manner, many organizations today focus on external competitiveness which is more reliable than internal alignment for determining the compensation scheme for an employee. This has agreed by Lawler (1986) has argued that organizations need to focus greater attention on external competitiveness He believes that an internal focus encourages employees to compare themselves with others within the organization, rather than focusing on the really competition-other organizations. He also suggests that an internal focus result in employees focusing on promotions rather than on performing well on their current job. Moreover, there is some belief that conflicts between external and internal equity may be resolved by increasing the pay of all jobs, not just those were competing in the labour market requires higher pay. Whether true or not, such as organizations would seem to be at a serious labour cost disadvantage in the product market. External competitiveness is more strategic rather than internal alignment. The strategic portfolio model suggests that the notion of compensation system fit may be a messy construct to be done. Generally, strategy refers to the overarching, long-term directions of an organization that are critical to its survival and success. Strategies take advantage of the opportunities and manage the threats in the external environment by marshalling internal resources in some coherent, consistent direction (Dyer, 1985). In from a strategic perspective, organizations and markets are more appropriate units of analysis for understanding changes in international compensation and rewards. The strategic thinking from differences between countries to differences within countries so using internal alignment as medium are unrealistic. Compensation and reward systems are designed to help create and motivate a workforce with the values and capabilities necessary to achieve an organizations unique goals and objectives rather than being designed to meet the national values exhibited by a work force (Bloom, Matt and Milkovich, 1998). Morishimas (1995) study of Japanese companies HR strategies reports differences in compensation approaches associated with organization profitability, size, degree of unionization, capital-labour ratio, and exposure to global competitive forces. For example, Japanese companies operating in protected domestic markets are more likely to use the more traditional nenko system2 than those competing in global and less protected market which reported using more performance and ability-based schemes (Morishima, 1992, 1995; Sano, 1993). Other study related to strategic conditions by Lee, Scarpello, and Rockman (1995) found that factors such as labour market conditions, customer and supplier relations, economic conditions and technology accounted for differences in compensation strategies among Korean chaebols. Pearce, Branyiczki, Bakacsis (1994) study of compensation systems in Hungarian and US companies suggests that political, economic, and institutional forces, rather than national cultures, explain differences in compensation practices. Effective international compensation systems might be those that match internal contingencies for example fit the organizations goals and culture first and then respond to external forces within the constraints of strategic alignment (Bloom, Matt and Milkovich, 1998). Yeung and Wong (1990) assert that organizational goals, political forces, labor market conditions, and demographic factors explain differences in pay and other HRM systems in Japan and the Peoples Republic of China. Recent surveys in Central European countries such as Slovenia and Slovakia also report differences in the use of variable performance based pay schemes, allowances and services, and even in the ratios of top managing directors salaries to the average workforce (Bajzikova, 1996; Zupan, 1995). Although the recent evidence does not suggest national boundaries (national pay systems) can be ignored or overlooked, it does suggest that sufficient discretion for individual organizations exists within these national systems to allow organizations to adopt compensation and reward systems to align them with the organizations business strategies. We believe that The importance of a strategic perspective on compensation rests on three fundamental tenets. The first is that compensation policies and practices differ widely across organizations and across employee groups within organizations. To some students of organizations this may be self evident. But to others, such as economists using human capital models to examine compensation differentials, differences in organizations compensation policies and practices are treated as random noise with little relevance. Anecdotal evidence and sporadic surveys of specific policies or practices report that differences do exist (The Conference Board, 1984; American Productivity Center, 1987). For example, some organizations claim to position their base pay to meet the market, while others follow it; some design incentive schemes to emphasize long-term performance, others short term. Some firms employ individual based incentives while others emphasize group or team based gain-sharing schemes. Some decentra lize the administration of compensation, others do not. Some disclose very specific information about pay to employees, such as ranges and merit guide charts, while others communicate only the broad policies, such as fairness and competitiveness. So a strategy may be intended and formally articulated in some plan or document, or it may emerge through the patterns of decisions shown by the organizations behaviors. Thus, strategies are both plans for the future and patterns from the past to make survival of the organization itself (Mintzberg, 1987). External competitiveness strategies are often expressed as leading, lagging, or matching the market (Milkovich Newman, 2007). In practice, many organizations pursue more than one external competitiveness strategy (Mark, 2008). These organizations may vary their external competitiveness strategies for different groups of jobs. For instance, some organizations may lead for positions deemed critical, whereas for less significant positions th ey may match or lag the market (Milkovich Newman, 2007). What can conclude about this topic? External competitiveness is but one part of an organizations overall compensation strategy. In addition to external competitiveness considerations, issues of internal salary alignment, the design of pay for performance plans, and the administration of the overall pay system are also important. Of these areas, internal salary alignment seems a particularly pertinent area of consideration for those interested in further expanding their knowledge of compensation topics beyond external competitiveness. Internal alignment considers pay relationships between employees inside an organization versus the external relationships considered by external competitiveness. Whereas external competitiveness considers salary comparisons across organizations for employees performing similar work, internal alignment considers salary comparisons inside organizations for employees doing different types of work. Moreover, just as external competitiveness has significant implications for individual and organizational performance, internal alignment has equally important implications. Recommendations The policy on external competitiveness is important if the organization is going to attract, retain, and motivate its employees while achieving the other objectives of controlling labour costs and complying with pay legislation around must be consider due of lack of study about this. To the individual employee, compensation decisions also have important consequences. Salaries and wages represent the main sources of income for most people, and may also be taken as key indicators of a persons social standing or success in life. Benefits, such as health care and pensions, are also important determinants of well being and financial security among employees and their dependents. Not surprisingly then, employees have sought to influence such decisions in a variety of ways, including through unions, supporting government regulation of compensation decisions, and through the courts. Then we must also study more element of strategic involved in determine whatever to attract and retain people in jobs having more unfavourable non-compensation attributes, a compensating differential (for example, higher pay or same pay) is required. Therefore, it is important to understand how individuals are affected by (and react to) different compensation decisions (Gerhart and Milkovich, 1991). Such as what determines variations in patterns of compensation decisions their effects. On the other hand, issues too generally drawn are too time consuming, too ambiguous, too expensive, and often poorly specified. Perhaps a place to begin is to identify compensation decisions that have strategic properties must be included in next study to elaborate more why people attracted to better compensation at organization their work for? Dyer and Theriaults (1976) also mention that in early indication of the potential importance of procedural justice, in addition to distributive justice, in compensation but many researchers has less mention about this manner. Although this particular increment was not large, procedural justice perceptions also explained variance in organizational commitment and trust in supervisor, suggesting that its influence on broader organization attitudes may be greater. Beyond descriptive research, more work is needed to understand both what determines variations in patterns of compensation decisions their effects. A major challenge is to formulate manageable research issues. Issues too narrowly defined suffer from ignoring the multi- dimensionality of compensation and the context in which compensation decisions occur. On the other hand, issues too broadly drawn are too time consuming, too ambiguous, too expensive, and often poorly specified. Perhaps a place to begin is to identify compensation decisions that have strategic properties. For example, do firms within the same industry establish different competitive positions in labour markets? Conventional wisdom is that they do. How do they accomplish thisby different average levels of base pay, by varying the risk-return tradeoffs or the ratio of incentives to total compensation? Do characteristics of organizations vary with their competitive position? These might include some of the determinants di scussed in this paper such as organization strategies, organization characteristics, and external factors. Finally does a firms competitive position have any discernable effect on the size and quality of the applicant pool, on its ability to hire those people it se