Credit Assessment and Consulting in Rating Agencies Research Paper

Credit Assessment and Consulting in Rating Agencies - Research Paper Example nsulting services whereby debt issuers request rating agencies to direct them on the manner to structure their debt issues with the aim of securing a favorable rating (Crockett, Harris, Mishkin & White, 2004). In such circumstances, the credit-rating agencies are in effect auditing their own work. Moreover, credit-rating agencies may deliver favorable ratings so as acquire extra clients for the ancillary consulting business. Much of the challenges associated with Credit Assessment and Consulting in Rating Agencies relate to the reliability and integrity of ratings. Investors utilize credit ratings that mirror the probability of default to ascertain the creditworthiness of certain debt securities (Langohr & Langohr, 2008). Conflict of interest can yield a decrease in the flow of reliable information centering on either concealment of the information, or dissemination of misleading information (Brooks & Dunn, 2010). This has dire consequences on the value of stakeholder’s benefits. The markets can in some instances ameliorate the impacts of conflicts of interest within financial services firms and cannot always contain the incentives to exploit conflicts of interest. Some of the approaches to remedying conflict of interest encompass: â€Å"leaving it to the market† or letting market forces resolve the conflict by penalizing financial firms that exploit conflict of interest and instituting new institutional means to contain conflict of interest (Brooks & Dunn, 2010). The other approaches encompass regulating for transparency through mandatory disclosure and supervisory oversight. Additional approaches towards remedying conflicts of interest within credit rating agencies encompass separation of functions and socialization of information production. In conclusion, there is a need to enhance accountability of Credit Rating Agencies so as to negate the pitfalls associated with conflict of interest (Werther & Chandler, 2006). Reputation remains one of the key

The Role Of Flexibility In The Work Place Management Essay

The Role Of Flexibility In The Work Place Management Essay Flexibility is a way to help people define how and when work is done, flexibility helps employers and employees work effectively to enable the organisation achieve its objectives. (Simonetta Manfredi, Director, Centre for Diversity Policy Research, Oxford Brookes University.) Flexibility is all about creating a situation where both the employer and employee benefit from the schedule of work, creating a balance between individual needs and delivering of service. (Helen Gibbs, Senior Personnel Adviser, London Borough of Sutton) Flexible working relates to working time, pattern of work and location of work (ACAS PAGE 6). Many employers in united kingdom have introduced a range of flexible working options for their employees. In (2004) the workplace employement relations survey (WERS) discovered that a good number of employees ( over 70 percent) gave some kind of flexible working option to employees and these has increased from the results of the survey carried out by workplace employme nt relations survey in 1998 ( Kersley et al, 2005). These increase in flexible working option by employers was propelled as a result of growing need for work life balance ( Bailyn et al, 2001). In the United Kingdom, legistlative support for parents who have young children that are disabled these would enable them to adapt a more flexible working practise because they offer employees the opportunity to choose where and where they want to work Vlasios Sarantinos (2007). For flexible working practise to work effectively there must be a transparent and accessible process that will be used to manage flexible request made by employees, this enables employees feel that the organisation is treating them fairly and their request for a different type of working arrangement is being looked into. In these essay i am going to be critically reviewing the role that flexibility can play in the work place. Building the culture Theres a clear set of shared values, including the service user comes first, and people mean business. Service users come to the office regularly so that backroom employees can meet them and have a sense of what the service is about. These values underpin the companys approach to flexible working. Employees feel they belong to something and are pushed to achieve their full potential. Management is hands on: managers will not hand work out to their staff unless they are able to do the work themselves. All managers have to do a care shift once a month so they dont lose touch with the needs of service users and employees. Internal communication is reinforced by open days, where the chief executive meets staff informally. Thirty per cent of managers diary time is non-prescribed, so as to leave time for informal contact with their staff. Peoples opinions are listened to. The number of managers has been halved from 24 to 12 and the company aims to recruit its managers from within. Finance Manager Steve Tuck believes that employees are motivated by seeing the improvement in the quality of life of service users. Its not unknown for people to take clients home for a meal. Put in ur own words. There are various forms of flexibility which organisations used to engage employees in an organisation Functional flexibility: These type of flexibility allows employees to make use of their competencies and skills to enable them move freely across the different channels of production. This type of flexibility is likely to be desired when the employee no longer has stable relationship with the organisation and it relies on training across the channels of production. Numerical flexibility: These flexibility depends on the ability of the organisation to increase or decrease its labour number as it chooses by hiring some temporary workers and employing people who will be given fixed contracts. Temporal flexibility: This type of flexibility involves adjustement of working hours to meet demands of production, part time working could be engaged in to handle intense peaks when needed. Financial flexibility: In financial flexibility labour cost is reduced with efforts put in by the organisation to secure profit making. Vlasios Sarantinos (2007) Below are examples of flexible working practise which employees make use of in an organisation: Part-time working: Its a form of work where employees are under a contract to work for less than the full time hours Term-time working: . in this working arrangement a staff remains on his or her permanent contract but can take paid/unpaid leave during school holidays. Job-sharing: This is a type of working arrangement where a job task is shared between two or more employees. Flexitime: in this working arrangements staffs are allowed to choose within a given time frame when they want to begin and end their work. Compressed hours: Compressed hours involve re allocating or reducing the set working hours into fewer and longer blocks during the week. Annual hours: The set time within which full-time staffs must work is defined over a whole year. Working from home on a regular basis: in this working arrangement the employees have a choice to work from home and report outcomes to their supervisor. Mobile working/teleworking: This allows staffs to work all or part of their working week at a location remote from the employers workplace. Career breaks: This are period in which the employee is allowed to go on break, it may be a career break or sabbatical. Chattered institute of personnel and development (2005) Flexibility is seen to be important in workplace to both employers and employees because it gives them an opportunity to organise the way they work in a way that will be comfortable with their personal lives. For employers flexible working can help retain staff who have the required and skill required by the employer, it also widens the talent pool in the job market enabling them to recruits potential workers with more skill and still retain the staffs that are loyal and committed which can lead to an increase in productivity and profitability(Confederation of British Industry 2009). Employers have realised that in order to provide quality services when needed by customers a flexible working system that involves the two parties is needed which makes the workforce flexible enough to adapt to changing business conditions. Recession has had an effect on organisation layout and operations causing a lot of people to loose their job and holding unto whatever they can lay their hands on. Th e effect recession has on flexible working can be viewed as both negative and positive. Negative, because it has led to an increase in the number of people working part time that would love to take up a full time job and positive from the employers perspective because employers respond to more flexibility which indicates that that there is a tendency for organisations to embrace flexible working to have as a new way of working in the organisation. We need increased flexibility in the work place if the economy is to return back to stable and sustained growth, and in order to do this we need to develop all resources available especially man power to help increase productivity and give the economy a competitive advantage. Employers may find it expensive introducing flexible working because of the cost it might incur, the business premises may have to be open for a longer period of time thereby increasing cost of heating and lightning(Confederation of British Industry 2009) . Flexible w orking also plays an important role to employees because it enables them to balance their job at work alongside their responsibilities at home because in the society today both men and women want flexible jobs which involves minimal travel to enable them share the responsibilities of raising a family. Flexible working improves the moral of employees and gives some a feeling of worth, it also reduces absence and lateness to work(The Women and Work Commission 2006) Flexible working has been seen to affect business by playing an important role to make sure that shifts are fully covered and services are maintained flexible working is needed in organisations ( British chambers of commerce, 2007). A flexible human capital practise makes organisations more stable, skilled and enthusiastic free from distractions, flexible working practisces helps organisations to attract talents, with the difference in generation of workers with varying lifestyle and working conditions, companies have to re organise their recruitment efforts, benefits plan, productivity incentives, work processes and work schedules in order to recruit qualified hands. Technological advancement also require that we think of how we can connect with people more effectively, organise teams and measure employees work performance when they work from home. Focused and talented employees who are on flexible schedules are likely to give out their best and be more committed to the goals and ob jectives of the organisation and deliver great value to customers who when satisfied continue to patronize the organisation thereby improving sales and boosting the companys image. flexibility also helps reduce cost associated with health care, overhead, labor, turn over and legal fees. Cost involved with labor can be reduced and profitability can be increased by using a flexible human capital practise in which you boost the output of one employee and efficiency among groups across the organisation and reduce waste as a result of poor concentration, loss of work time and mistakes.it reduces labor cost for the same output thereby increasing profitability. Flexibility also reduces health care cost because staffs have sufficient resources to meet the demands when they have control of planning their time, these flexible working practise reduces stress and depression faced by most employees which directly reduces health cost of the company. BOOK IMPACT OF FLEXIBILITY ON ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE. To raise morale and job satisfaction: flexible working increases the morale of employers to perform at their utmost best because they feel they are treated as adults who have control of their life and their time and they tend to perform at their utmost best when they are at work. To improve productivity/Quality : the need for producing a good quality product must be of paramount importance because there are cost associated with poor quality which dents the image of the organisation and makes customers unsatisfied, flexible working arrangement ensures fresh and capable hands at the production line at all times. When an employer is worn out down and his her shift is over another employee takes and continues the process of production.It also inspires and increases commitment an loyalty from staffs( Alison and Lou, 2001) Opposing flexibility Traditionally, flexibility has been seen as a characteristic of poor quality jobs (see for example De Witte, 1999; Nolan et al, 2000; Purcell et al, 1999), where employers have sought to achieve organisational flexibility by means of using non-standard working practices, such as part-time work and temporary employment. Reduced absence and employee turnover: Flexible working enables employees to take care of their personal obligations leading to a decrease in frequent absenteeism because they have more options to which their time can be managed and it helps skilled workers remain in the organisation because staffs are more likely to stay in the organisation. (British chambers of commerce, 2007). Reduced training costs : by introducing flexible working organisations retain trained employees there by saving up expenses that would have been used in training new staffs if the trained staffs were to exit. Promoting customer satisfaction: Customer satisfaction can be improved where, customer service hours can be extended or shifted to periods when it is most required, and Workers with different skills can be attracted and retained because of the flexible work system in the organisation to help respond to diverse customer requirements. ( Success with flexible working practices, 1997). Book success with flexible work practise. Flexibility has been seen traditionally to characterise poor quality jobs De witte, 1999, Nolan et al, 2000; Purcell et al, 1999) because employers try to achieve flexible working environment in the organisation by using working practices that are not up to standard, It might have been predicted generally that access to flexible working arrangement would impact job satisfaction positively, it has also been discovered that a higher sense of responsibility and work completion affects job satisfaction positively ( Hyman and Summers, 2004; Igbaria and Guiraraes, 1999), However findings on the effect of remote working on job satisfaction varied, In some studies lack of social interaction has lead to a negative impact on job satisfaction due to feelings of isolation ( igbaria and Guimaraes, 1999), while some people tend to have a higher job satisfaction ( Baruch,2000). Igbaria meant that employees working in remote locations may perform low because they are not satisfied with their job and this may be due the fact that they have no one to interact with however Baruch said that some employees may actually enjoy working in remote locations and it tends to enchance their job performance. Flexible working offers employees choices to help them achieve a work life balance that is satisfactory. Stress which is one of the problems employees face has been linked to flexible working but flexible working does not seem to have an effect on reducing stress levels. Stress and anxiety may also be created by flexible working because an employee that works for a smaller amount of time or hours reduces but still has the same level of workload as someone working full time this tends to put pressure on the employee which might stress him or her out trying to cope with the work load (Dr Claire and Deirdre, 2008) It has been suggested by some researchers that people who spend more time working remotely tend to have lower job stress ( Raghuram and Wiesenfeld, 2004) however (Mann and Holdsworth, 2003) said that people working remotely show more signs of mental ill health than those working in organisational premises. Some evidence was found by Tietze and musson (2005) of some worker who work remotely experiencing stress, they tend to experience stress which was linked with the self organisation required of their work, because it created new demands on them. An analysis linked to stress pointed the fact that flexible working time or flex time affected absenteeism positively, while compressed working practise had no effect Baltes et al, (1999).Baltes was saying that when workers were allowed to work with flexitime that means choosing when to resume and close work within a set time frame that it enabled them to always show up for work because they could adjust their schedule to meet up with the ti me they choose and that compressed working did not affect absenteeism positively or negatively. Remote workers were worried about the lack of opportunities to develop themselves which the employer denied them having including mentoring from senior colleagues and informal learning Cooper and Kurland (2002). Cooper discovered that concerns began to grow among workers working remotely that their absence was not felt by the organisation and they were neglected with no further course or training to further develop their skills, and because of these flexible workers tend to have lower long term career potential Frank and Lowe (2003).Although Mc Closkey and igbaria (2003) brought a contrasting a view saying dat flexible working had no direct or indirect effect on career prospects of employees. Cohen and Single (2001) found that professional staffs who worked reduced working hours were less able to spend time developing their skill which is one of the business factors important for a succes full career(Dr Claire and Deirdre, 2008). Meaning that the less time professional workers spend in their workplace the less opportunity they get to learn new things. Business impact of flexible working The companys policies towards flexible working are reflected in its business outcomes. Since 1997, employment at the company has gone up from 60 to 280 staff and turnover has increased from  £1 million to  £9.5 million. Sickness absence has been reduced to 0.6 days a year, well below that for the care sector as a whole, which produces significant financial savings. The company also sees direct benefits in terms of staff recruitment and retention. Sandwell CCT came second in the Sunday Times 100 best companies to work for list in 2007, and first nationally in the work-life balance category. It also came first in the categories of managers who listen, managers motivating staff to give their best and training making a difference. It believes that this success has boosted the companys image as an employer. Employee turnover at Sandwell CCT is now 4%, compared with 20% or more across the care sector generally. Because staff enjoy their jobs, there is a high level of employee engagemen t and this is reflected in the quality of service and value for money. PUT IN UR OWN WORDS.

Ultimate Frisbee :: sports

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Before you hear about Ultimate Frisbee, you should first know the history of the Frisbee. The Frisbie Pie Company sold their pies all over the East Coast, and it just happened that the pie tins were easy to throw around. At Yale, students began to make up games to play with the tins, and started to call them â€Å"Frisbees†. The name stuck and tossing the tins around became popular at many East Coast colleges. Several years later, an inventor decided to recreate the Frisbee tin. He wanted to make it out of plastic, which was one of the new post-war materials. He shaped his new disk like a U.F.O., complete with little windows. This was the first real Frisbee, and since then, the design hasn’t changed much. People had been tossing Frisbees around for years, but had yet to create a sport using the Frisbee disk. At Columbia High School in New Jersey, students from the school newspaper created a new sport, combining different aspects of soccer, football, basketball, team handball, and hockey, they called it Ultimate Frisbee. These students decided to write an official set of rules for Ultimate Frisbee. At first, it was only played by a few students at Columbia. The sport soon caught on at other colleges and high schools in the area. From then on, Ultimate spread rapidly throughout the United States, and was at first played only in schools. Since then many non-scholastic leagues have formed and many countries have started national teams. Not much has changed since the rules were first published, and since then, Ultimate has spread all over the world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Spirit of the Game is the most important part of Ultimate Frisbee. In most sports, players purposefully foul their opponents. In Ultimate, the philosophy is that no one would ever foul an opposing player on purpose, and if a foul is to occur, it is assumed that the perpetrator fouled by accident. Players call their own fouls, and if the opposing team feels that the call was incorrect, they can contest it. Not having a referee involved means less time wasted. Another part of The Spirit of the Game is showing respect for your teammates and opponents. This â€Å"philosophy† is what makes Ultimate Frisbee different from all other sports.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Once you figure out how to throw the disk, Ultimate’s a pretty easy game to learn. The game starts with both teams lining up on opposite end zones, the home team throws off to the opposing team; that starts the point.

Conspiracy Theories about Princess Diana’s Death Essay

Introduction Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales. She was an eminent celebrity of the late 20th century well known for her fund-raising work for international charities (http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/The%20House%20of%20Windsor%20from%201952/DianaPrincessofWales.aspx [henceforth HoTM]). Sadly, she was famous not only due to her good deeds, but mostly because of her divorce with Prince Charles and later on, controversial relationship with the son of Egyptian billionaire – Dodi Al Fayed. Princess Diana was constantly surrounded by paparazzi who accompanied her in almost every minute of her life and who tried to photograph her. Unfortunately this unhealthy interest of paparazzi in Diana’s private life ended tragically. Princess Diana and her partner Dodi Al Fayed died in a car accident on Sunday 31th August 1997 in Paris, France (HoTM). At around 12:20 am that day, Diana and Fayed left the Ritz hotel to return to the apartment in Rue Arsà ¨ne Houssaye, they got into the car driven by Henri Paul, the Acting Head of Security at the Ritz Hotel also Trevor Rees-Jones, a member of the Fayed family’s personal protection team, was in the front passenger seat (HoTM). Their car was followed by paparazzi. The driver, who wanted to run away from them, suddenly lost control over the car and collided head-on with the 13th pillar supporting the roof of a tunnel at an estimated speed of 105 km/h (King 2001: 10). Although the French investigation concluded that the accident was caused by a drunken driver, there are still conspiracy theories surrounding Princess Diana’s death. They assume that firstly, the accident was staged to get rid of the paparazzi, secondly The British Secret Service planned the accident and finally it was the Royal Family who assassinated Princess of Wales. Diana Spencer was one of the most famous woman in the world, the pre-eminent female celebrity of her generation: a fashion icon, an image of feminine beauty, admired for her involvement in AIDS issues and the international campaign against landmines (http://www.biography.com/people/princess-diana-9273782). During her lifetime, she was often referred to as the most photographed person in the world. (http://www.biography.com/people/princess-diana-9273782). Considering her life and her popularity it should come as no surprise that people from all over the world were interested in the mystery of her death. Loss of such  an iconic person always forces people, especially the most faithful fans to think about it more deeply. That is why all the speculations and conspiracy theories about the ‘real’ cause of Princess Diana’s death are born. Conspiracy theories – definition As Christopher Hodapp (2008: 9) explains, â€Å"[a] conspiracy theory is the idea that someone, or a group of someones, acts secretly, with a goal of achieving power, wealth, influence or other benefit†. Christopher Hitchens represents conspiracy theories as the â€Å"exhaust fumes of democracy, the unavoidable result of a large amount of information circulating among a large number of people† (Hodapp 2008: 25). Although conspiracy theories are viewed with skepticism by scholars because they are rarely supported by any conclusive evidence, they create a lot of controversy and due to that fact many people believe them. Together with wars, secret assassinations and terrorist attacks taking place in nowadays world, people’s trust in their governments and politicians constantly decreases (Burnett 2005:9). Many people believe that they work in very secretive ways and various facts about well-known historical and current events are hidden (Burnett 2005: 9). In order to reveal the truth, amateur investigators started to create their own deductions about various events on The Internet (Burnett 2005: 9). They have also formed different conclusions about Princess Diana’s death, which later on have grown up and gained the status of conspiracy theories. As we talk about conspiracy theories, we have to answer two questions: What are the attributes of conspiracy theory? How theories about Diana’s death meet the criteria of conspiracy theory? According to Keely (1999: 117), â€Å"Central to any CT is an official story that the conspiracy theory must undermine and cast doubt upon.† This can be related to the official cause of Princess Diana’s death given by the police. Secondly as Keely (1999: 117) claims, â€Å"[t]he true intentions behind the conspiracy are invariably nefarious†, in Diana’s case, those true intentions can be understood as a willingness to kill her. Finally, the last criterion states that the main tool of the conspiracy theorist is data which if true would tend to contradict official version (Keely 1999: 118). These data, concerning Diana’s death theories, could be all the information which put the blame on the Royal Family. Having ensured that theories about Diana’s death meet the criteria of conspiracy  theories, we can examine some of them. Staged accident theory From among dozens of conspiracy theories about Princess Diana’s death circulating on the Internet, the one stating that Diana Spencer did not die, but she arranged her death in order to get rid of paparazzi, because she was tired of constant intrusions into her private life, is the least probable. Conspirators claim that she wanted to disappear from the public life so she staged the accident and that now she leads a normal life, somewhere in a hidden place with a different identity (http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/historical/a/princess_diana_2.html). Although this may seem ridiculous for most people, conspirators claim that they have evidence. They support their theory saying that the bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, who was also taking part in this car accident still lives, but Mercedes auto experts after deep examination of a smashed car revealed that it would have been almost impossible for anyone to have survived such a dramatic accident (http://theunexplainedmysteries.com/di ana.html). Another piece of evidence that conspirators believe supports their theory is that just six hours before the accident Princess Diana talked to Daily Mail reporter Richard Kay and told him that she was about to withdraw completely from public life (http://www.public-interest.co.uk/diana/dipress.html). Although those presented pieces of evidence are believed to be facts by the conspirators, they can be easily discredited. One simple, although significant piece of evidence that confirms the death of Princess Diana is the fact that Dr Robert Chapman carried out Diana’s post-mortem examination the day after her death. This proves that at that time she could not have been alive (http://dianaremembered.wordpress.com/). The truth is that the conspiracy theory mentioned above is present only on the Internet, one cannot read about it in a book, that is the reason why it appears to be the least probable scenario. However, there are some theories which make people think about them as they seem to be more probable. M16 theory The second conspiracy theory about Princess Diana’s death stirs up the  greatest controversy as it states that The British Secret Service -the M16- planned the accident. They believed that Diana was a threat to the British throne and therefore the stability of the state. Another motive was to protect the new world order from the princess with inconvenient ideas, such as banning land mines as conspirators claim (Burnett 2005: 273). John King in his book Princess Diana: the hidden evidence (2001: 45) states that M16 mission was to â€Å"[e]liminate one of the most prominent figures on the world stage†. King (2001: 10) points out that Diana was seated directly behind the passenger side-front seat, which according to Professor Murray of Birmingham University, whom the author interviewed, should have been the safest seat in the car, â€Å"the most survivable.† According to King (2001: 11) seconds after the accident M16 agents showed up at the place of the accident and after making sure that Princess Diana’s condition is fatal, injected the driver – Henri Paul with cocktail of alcohol and drugs and then they disappeared as quickly as they showed up. There can be a lot of different reasons why such important British agency planned to kill Princess Diana. Noel Botham (2004: 94) comments that â€Å"some rogue autonomical cells in British Secret Service claimed that Princess Diana is a threat to the state and they are also suspected of eavesdropping her throughout her years in the Royal limelight.† Another important fact is that the only survivor – bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones – was a former member of the crack Parachute Regiment, one of the toughest in the British Army. Therefore he could also have been an M16 contact (King 2001: 124). It appears that this conspiracy theory is more probable than the previous one, considering the fact that gathered evidence, even though not confirmed, bases on some logical and factual information. The following theory is closely connected with the aforementioned in a sense that some conspiracy theorists claim that the Royal Family planned the accident and used M16 as a tool. The Royal Family theory As we examining various theories about Princess Diana’s death, it is impossible not to mention the Royal Family with whom she related for fifteen years through her marriage to Charles, Prince of Wales. In this theory conspirators claim that it was the Royal Family who planned Princess Diana’s death. The conspiracy theorists support their hypothesis with the  explanation that the House of Windsor was furious about the fact that Princess Diana might marry Dodi Al Fayed, a Muslim, who would became a stepfather to Princess William and Harry, the heirs to the British throne (King 2001: 190). Andrew Golden, the author of the Sunday Mirror’s article entitled Queen To Strip Harrods Of Its Royal Crest wrote that â€Å"[t]he Royal Family may withdraw their seal of approval from Harrods(†¦) as a result of Diana’s affair with owner’s son Dodi Fayed† (King 2001: 189). According to King (2001: 190) after some time a prestigious royal warrant actually was withdrawn from Harrods. Thus, it appears that the Royal Family tried to express their disapproval of Diana’s relationship with Dodi Al Fayed whose father was the owner of Harrods. Later, as King (2001: 191) points out, it was revealed that Prince Phillip in particular was extremely unhappy about the relationship despite the fact that Diana was no longer Prince Charles’ wife. One of the most prominent supporter of the theory that Diana and Dodi were murdered by the Royal Family was Dodi’s father- Mohamed Al Fayed. He claimed that the English Crown wanted to hide the fact that the couple was about to be engaged and that Diana was pregnant with her Egyptian boyfriend’s child – a scandal that the British Royal Family would not be able to put up with (Hodapp 2008: 323). However, later it was revealed that according to tests ran on samples of her blood collected at the scene, information about the pregnancy was untrue (Hoddap 2008: 324). Bearing in mind the two aforementioned conspiracy theories this one appears to be the most reliable as it provides quite strong motive, namely the fact that the Royal Family treated Diana’s relationship with Dodi as a threat to the throne. Conclusion Controversy over Princess Diana’s death has bothered people from around the world for almost twenty six years. As a result, dozens of different conspiracy theories about this tragic event were created. Some of them, for example the one stating that Princess Diana staged her own death are almost improbable while others, like the theory assuming that the Royal Family planned Diana’s accident may seem more reliable. The three theories examined in this paper are still being refreshed and reinvestigated by different authors who try to find new evidence and confirm the theory that the death

Negative Effects of Computer Usage on Eye Sight

Although the computer has crucial importance in our lives but still it has some negative effects upon our health. It effects the eyesight of an individual if there is maximum exposure to the computer screen. It might develop the long or the short sightedness if the frquency of the use is high. It may results in headache relatively for the larger time span and in turns effect the brain cells of the human being.It incorporates a wide variety of the knowledge in itself and when the viewer come across the new phrases and techniques,it definitely demands and requires time and thus in turn result in the stress condition which is not good for the health of the human being. Distance of the screen of the computer from the eye also have the negative symptoms as the particular level being defined by the doctor is not been followed.In children it is flourishing more day by day as they are more exposed to the entertainment side of the computer and that is games which are being installed in the co mputer. Eyes of the children gets affected when they put a load on their eyes while focussing on a particular task and it may effect their eye sight. It is necessary not to work constantly on the computer.It is important to take the short breaks so that the effect of continously looking at the screen could get minimized. It is quite important to preserve the vision by taking different eye exercises. Continous and the frequent use of the computer sometimes results in the vision that is blur and the things doesnot look as they are in real. In short while using the computer it is necessary to follow the instructions of the doctor and have regular check ups of the eyes.

coordination essays

coordination essays The Red Badge of Courage Setting: Many battle fields from the Civil War. Summary: The story is about a young man who in rolls into the northern army during the Civil War. Summary: The story is about a young man named Henry who enrolls him self in the Civil War. When he leaves for the war he is a little scared and a little anxious. When he gets to his regiment. He fells a little uncomfortable and he doesnt like all the rules. Then he meats his two friends a old man named Jimmy and a man about his age named Wilson he becomes good friends with both of them. As his army gets near the south he and all the other men start to get anxious. As the army breaks up into their regiments the men become even more anxious finally a man tells Henry that the army is down the river a ways. Henry spreads the word. The army crosses the river and starts to walk. After a few days the regiment starts getting tired and they want to start to fight. The next morning a man man comes back to their campsite and tells them that the army is right across the river. The men get ready for battle. As the men start to come closer they are spotted they fall into position and they start f iring. After a few minutes Henry is scared to death. He runs like a coward into the woods like many other men. Around a hour later he sees his friend jimmy he runs over to him but he was shot and was on the verg of death he illusioning things then he runs away. After that a group of men running by Henry. He tries to stop them but the one who he talks to hits him in the face with a rifle and knocks him out. Hours later during the night he waits up and walks a few miles then finds a campsite and to his luck it is his regiment he finds his friends Wilson and shows him the bump. Then Wilson thinks that Henry got hit during the battle. The next morning that regiment is again in battle after ...

Mining in Canada essays

Mining in Canada essays The importance of mining is definitely significant to Canada. Mining, is an important industry, and Canadians are very advanced in their mining technology, but during the mining process, there is certain level of pollution produced. The Canadian government and the mining companies have very good plans and controls toward this problem, while ensuring the smooth running of the industries, and also helping to create strong economy and The world of today could not exist without mineral products. Canada produces about 60 minerals and ranks first among producing countries1. As well, Canada is the largest exporter of minerals, with more than 20 per cent of production shipped to world markets2. In a typical year, the mining industry is responsible for almost 20 per cent of Canada's total export earnings3 (See Appendix A). As for the employment rate, over 70 per cent of the mines are owned by Canadians and approximately 108,000 Canadians are directly employed in the mining industry4. Mining is very important in Canadian life. Not only do the products power the family car and heat the family home, the manufacturing sector, the high tech industries and even the better known resource industries are all dependent, in some way, on the mining industry. The mining industry will continue to be an important Mining is taking full advantage of the quick expansion of computers and microelectronics. These technologies are found in nearly every aspect of mineral development activity - from exploration methods, through production, mineral processing and even marketing. Computers and related equipment now have a lot of different applications in geophysical logging, geochemistry, geological mapping and surface contouring5. At the mine planning stage, the job of designing a mine is now greatly simplified by automation. Through the use of advanced software, geological models can be produced ...

How to Write a Perfect Retail Resume (Examples Included)

How to Write a Perfect Retail Resume (Examples Included) Retail might not be the most glamorous career around- complete with aching feet and a perma-smile that hides your suspicion that the customer is not always right- but if you’ve ever been on those front lines, you know how essential your services are. We’re a society of consumers, and retail professionals are the ones who keep that cycle going. If you’re an experienced retail sales associate or someone just starting out, we’ve got you covered. We at TheJobNetwork have put together a guide accompanied by resume templates on creating the perfect retail resume. Let’s look at three different retail professionals: One entry level, one seeking seasonal retail employment, and an experienced sales associate looking to become a manager.1.Entry Level  Retail Sales Associate Resume2.Seasonal Retail Sales Resume3.Retail Sales Manager ResumeFirst up: Bella, who’s seeking her first job in the retail world.Download This Resume in MS WordBella opts for a fu nctional, or skills-based resume, because she doesn’t have a lot of retail-specific experience to showcase (yet). So she puts her best qualities and her skills up front, to underline her summary statement: that she’s looking to take the skills and work ethic she already has and turn that into a retail job/career. She also presents herself as a recent grad, which can let the reader know up front that she probably doesn’t have years and years of experience behind her. Bella prioritizes her strongest skills (her responsibility/dependability, her ability to work with the public, and her familiarity with handling transactions), then her awards/certifications (which emphasize her reliability and her professional successes), then her experience, and finally, her education.Bella’s experience is mostly in food service, and includes part-time jobs. She includes the part-time jobs because those helped develop skills she listed above, like customer service and an out going personality. Bella’s high school experience is important to note, because she has completed her diploma, but unless her school experience is directly relevant to the job she’s applying for (in this case it’s not), she wisely just lists the school and the diploma.Let’s look at Marty, who has more experience, but is seeking a seasonal retail position (back-to-school, holiday season, etc.) rather than a full-time gig.Download This Resume in MS WordMarty puts his cards on the table up front: he’s a student, he has retail experience, and he’s not looking to put a ring on it- he just wants to find a gig for the upcoming holiday season. He opens with a detailed summary, with a brief statement and then a handful of bullets outlining his deal. An important point in his bullets: that he’s available to work a variety of shifts, which is key for a store looking to hire someone to come in and get their hands dirty even when others are at hom e eating leftover turkey.Next, he lists his experience, to show that he’s a pro at the seasonal holiday game. He may have other jobs along the way, but he’s not looking for a career here- he focuses on the seasonal retail experience he already has, so that the reader doesn’t have to cut through a bunch of information that isn’t necessarily relevant to the immediate goal of hiring for a brief period.Our final retail resume-writer is Erica, who’s got a lot of retail associate experience behind her, but wants to jump up a level in the store management food chain.Download This Resume in MS WordErica’s resume shows an accomplished retail professional. But what she needs, if she wants to apply for higher-level retail jobs and not associate-level jobs, is to show that she has demonstrated leadership. Thus, the first skill she lists is rallying team members (check) to increase sales (check-plus) in her experience. The remainder of her skill bullets are used to show the breadth of her retail experience. This format, the skills-based resume, is helpful for someone like Erica, who wants to emphasize that she has what it takes to step into a bigger role, not just the kind of job she’s already had. Even though she’s not changing career paths, she’s trying to change up her career within that path, and this format can be useful when you want to show what you can be, in addition to what you’ve already done.Erica also provides as much detail as possible, without crowding her resume. The overall sales of her current store, with some concrete stats on how she’s helped increase sales, are very impressive, and don’t take up much space in the resume. Erica is letting results do the talking for her. An interview is a great chance to provide more context than resume bullets allow, but whenever you have specific numbers and information you can include, that will likely catch the attention of the reader and help get you into the next round. Erica also goes out of her way to include various awards, which show she’s been a superstar at her current job. Overall, the picture here is of someone who has been successful, and has the drive to keep going and improving sales.

Dance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Dance - Essay Example It is followed by stretching exercises that prepare the body for the intense movements. The third part involves isolation exercises. At this stage, the dancers are taught how to move different parts of their bodies separately. This stage is particularly important as a lesson on creativity because it enables the dancer to master their movements before dancing with others. Creativity involves the use of imagination made possible by understanding oneself first. The last step is a routine where parts of the choreography are taught and then put together to form a short routine that is accompanied by music and dance. The creativity process involves collaboration where ideas are shared and tested. The inventions inspired by hip hop have had a profound impact on pop music. All creative efforts have an impact on the people involved. It has influenced the attitudes of the youth around the world (Watkins, 2005). Hip hop is a very vigorous aapproach to dancing. One of the most common hip hop dancing styles is break dancing. It consists of acts conducted near the ground that are called downrock or while standing up. It requires a lot of personal space. Downrock involves the dancer spinning quickly on their head or hands. The creative aspect of this dance style is emphasized by the fact that it allows dancers to perform freely. It allows people to add their individual personalities to the dance. The other styles are popping, locking, Boogaloo, freestyle, electric boogie moves and social dance. Freestyle allows dancers to improvise individual dance moves. The genre started in the 1970s (Watkins 2005). The period followed a period of urban renewal and capital flight that resulted in a wide gap between the inner cities populated by black people and the suburbs populated by the more affluent whites (Watkins 2005). One of its inspirations was to contribute towards black empowerment. It was hoped that the energy, loyalty and passion that defined gang life could

Australian aboriginal perspectives in the classroom Assignment

Australian aboriginal perspectives in the classroom - Assignment Example Aboriginal people were hunters and gatherers where they hunted and foraged for food in their lands. Australian Aborigines had a shared responsibility where women would go to the field to gather bellies, nuts and other wild foods. Additionally, they were nomadic as they moved from one area to another in search of food due to the changing seasons (Kanu, 2011). British colonization of Australia caused various problems to the Aboriginal people as the first epidemic that faced them was diseases such as Measles, smallpox and tuberculosis that killed people. Additionally, the British settlement appropriated their land and water resources. In that, today a major issue that the aboriginals face is proving land ownership. The Aboriginal people lack of trust of white society as they think of them as oppressors and bad people. This is because they introduced alcohol and poisoned aboriginal people with diseases that they were not immune to as well as, raping their women and killing their children (Broome, 2010). To the Aboriginal people colonization meant genocide and oppression because they were denied the right to live their lives under their rule, customs and policies. For that reason, the Aboriginal people lost trust on the white, however, today they have become accepting as the laws have changed, and their children have been given the right to education, work and freedom of expression among other things. There is cultural diversity in the Aboriginal people, for example, before the arrival of Europeans there were more than 250 languages that were spoken by indigenous. Today there are only 15 languages that are spoken by all age groups. The belief system of the Aboriginal people is not definite although most people are said to be affiliated with the Christian denomination while a few of the Aborigines are affiliated with Islam. Aboriginals believed in

Management Principles of Pursuit of Happiness Term Paper

Management Principles of Pursuit of Happiness - Term Paper Example In any business, money is the language people speak, even in the business of families. When money is not smooth-flowing, members of a company or family could break apart, leaving broken relationships. This is a common mistake made by the untrained or novice businessman, foreseeing a great future in a business without making careful studies of the feasibility of an enterprise before investing in it. In the case of Gardner, he bought all the machines he could and though he worked hard to sell them compounded with good communication skills, he still lost his wife. However, serendipities could happen when perseverance is present as seen in the life of Gardner when his selling of the machines led him to places which brought him to the success in stockbrokerage. Gardner proved to have keen eyes for success when he looked enviously at a stockbroker’s car and asked him what he did and how he did it, showing qualities that are essential to successful management. He was not only observa nt but he had a way of expressing himself without reservations, he had good communication skills. Honesty was one he could have never thought would be the very key for his having a chance in his dream job as it is shown in his confession to the interviewers that he tried to make up a great story why he went to the interview dressed like a garbage man. Although choosing appropriate clothes is as important as the product in every business, Gardner was able to persuade his interviewers that he could do the job by selling himself first, his abilities and capabilities. Although he was a leader of a basic unit of society, his family; he seemed to be unsuccessful managing it, failing to keep his wife to work with him in their pursuit of the happiness they both longed for. Despite the trials they have been through, he stood to the discipline of never hitting a woman or leaving his son, borne of a desperate need for the father he never knew. This became his personal motivation, to stay with his son and not give him the chance to have a piece of the abuse he experienced in the hands of his stepfather when he was a child, and to work hard to give his son the care he needed as his wife left them for New York. Birthed from such a need, the high-paying job of a stockbroker became to him a challenge and a motivation as he had the opportunity to grab the job, with it not needing a college diploma to qualify as an applicant. Crossing the bridge to take the training as a stockbroker became painfully difficult when he learned that the six-month long training is without pay. Faced with the dilemma of raising his son alone, he had to stand firm, making sacrifices to be able to accomplish every task that was set before him. This is where Gardner’s planning and strategic management skills became evident when he had to work while training and at the same time attending to his parental responsibilities. He managed his time pretty well, studying in the train and working while ta king his leisure time with his son, juggling his various responsibilities and making wise use not only of his time but also of all resources available to him. Moreover, when he was in the training scene, Mr. Witter became one of his motivations, praising him for his wit and hard work, driving him all the more to be productive. He was a natural strategic planner, valuing every tick of the clock so that he even estimated an eight minute productive time he had, from refraining to drink, and hanging in between calls. He was a team-player,

A New Empirical Model for Predicting the Sound Absorption of Polyfelt Article

A New Empirical Model for Predicting the Sound Absorption of Polyfelt Fibrous Materials for Acoustical Applications - Article Example Empirical models do not require detailed knowledge of the internal structure of the material nor are they derived from theoretical considerations. Delany and Bazley [1] showed that the values of the characteristic acoustic impedance and propagation coefficient for a range of fibrous materials, normalized as a function of frequency divided by flow resistivity could be presented as simple power law functions. Model for Impedance The model is based on numerous impedance tube measurements and is good for determining the bulk acoustic properties at frequencies higher than 250 Hz, but not at low frequencies [2,3]. The validity of this model for lower and higher frequencies was further extended by Bies and Hansen [4].Dunn and Davern [5] calculated new regression coefficients between characteristic acoustic impedance and propagation coefficient for low airflow resistivity values of polyurethane foams and multilayer absorbers. To that effect, engineers can obtain the absorption coefficient of sound at normal incidence by using the equation below: ZR = P0 * C0 (1 + C1 ((P0f)/r)-c2) The final model which comes as a derivative of the first model is Zt = (ZR + iZl)[coth(a + iB) * l] Zt = ZIR + iZIl Qunli [6] later extended this work to cover a wider range of flow resistivity values by considering porous plastic open-cell foams.Miki [7, 8] generalized the empirical models developed by Delany and Bazley for the characteristics acoustic impedance and propagation coefficient of porous materials with respect to the porosity, tortuosity, and the pore shape factor ratio. Moreover, he showed that the real part of surface impedance computed by the Delany’s model converges to negative values at low frequencies. Therefore, he modified the model to give it real positive values even in wider frequency ranges. Other empirical models include those of Allard and Champoux [9]. These models are based on the assumption that the thermal effects are dependent on frequency. The models wor k well for low frequencies. The Voronina model [10] is another simple model that is based on the porosity of a material. This model uses the average pore diameter, frequency and porosity of the material for defining the acoustical characteristics of the material. Voronina [11] further extended the empirical model developed for porous materials with rigid frame and high porosity, and compared it with that of Attenborough's theory. A significant agreement was found between their empirical model and Attenborough's theoretical model. Recently, Gardner et al. [12] implemented a specific empirical model using neural networks for polyurethane foams with easily measured airflow resistivity. The algorithm embedded in the neural networks substitutes the usual power-law relations. The phenomenological models are based on the essential physics of acoustic propagation in a porous medium such as their universal features and how these can be captured in a model [13]. Biot [14] established the theo retical explanation of saturated porous materials as equivalent homogeneous materials. His model is believed to be the most accurate and detailed description till now. Among the significant refinement made to Biot theory, Johnson et al. [15] gave an interpolation formula for â€Å"Dynamic tortuosity† of the medium based on limiting behavior at zero and infinite frequency. The dynamic tortuosity employed by Johnson et al. is equivalent to the structure factor introduced by Zwikker and Kosten [16] and therefore

Analyzing a disaster Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Analyzing a disaster - Essay Example ress the various aspects of risk; indicatively, risk theorists have referred to risk as an indication of ‘moral hazard or conflict of interest’ (Roy, 2008, 122); from another point of view, emphasis is given on the emergent character of risk (Guerden, 2003, 78) – in terms that if there is no appropriate plan of action the occurrence of a disaster can lead to severe damages. Current paper focuses on the examination of risk management in banks; a specific part of these businesses’ activities is examined – the management of personal data of customers. It is proved that the risk involved in the management of customers’ data in banks can be significant; however, with the implementation of appropriate policies this risk can be limited – the use of risk management cycle for the control of risk involved in the management of personal data of customers in banks has been proved to be the most appropriate solution for addressing the specific proble m. Relevant literature is also used in order to highlight the various aspects of risk in the specific sector but also to evaluate the effectiveness of risk management cycle in relation with the specific business sector. The management of data in banks is a demanding task; the management of personal data of customers – which is the issue under examination – often fails to meet all the standards set by the principles and rules governing the specific sector. The above failure is usually related with the high cost of systems required for the effective administration of the specific business activity; however, if appropriate risk management plans are implemented in advance the risk related with the management of data in banks is minimized. Quite often, personal data of customers are lost during the transactions developed in financial institutions – often the personal data of customers are lost even if no transaction takes place – i.e. while being stored in a bank’s database; therefore, the use of risk management

How do the governments of the Communist East and the Capitalist West Essay

How do the governments of the Communist East and the Capitalist West perpetuate the Cold War - Essay Example Yet this perpetuation of the Cold War corresponds to the anticipation and autonomy to those subjugated in the East Germany and, on the other hand, the cruel existence of Communism to the Capitalist West. This particular transitional zone situates Alec Leamas, a spy of Britain coming up for the defection of one of his secret agents. The subjected man emerges over the border and seems to be set to make his 'run away' when, all of a sudden, he is chopped down in a bombardment of gunfires. Leamas is called again to London by his supervisor, Control (Cyril Cusack), anticipating him to be fired from his job. And then Control changes his mind to keep more Leamas in a Cold War. Though, Leamas is immediately started searching for a job and finally he got a tedious librarian job. With his only companion, whisky, for company, Leamas simmers in his own beliefs, buttressing the detestation not in favor of the British Secret Service. Nobody seems able to make a way into his shell (developed over the time when he was a secret agent) even though his associate librarian, Nan Perry, takes a predilection to him. Regrettably, Leamas beats up a storekeeper and finishes up in a lockup. Nan should like him nonetheless, and also the Leamas in return, since she congregates him on his liberation from jail. The interesting thing that took place is that, there is one more there to see his come back and he comes up to him in the park. Claiming to be from an aid organization which facilitates ex-convicts, Carlton (Robert Hardy) takes Leamas to a pricey lunch. This is completely gibberish for sure -- as a matter of fact it's an approach from the foe, inspecting a peeved previous secret agent and detecting if he'll defect. Leamas appears to undergo that he doesn't owe Britain anything and, rather grumpily, looks to believe (of course, by means of having the only purpose of wealth). After that Leamas circuitously moves towards Smiley's residence, for a get-together with Control. Everything turns out to be obvious Control sketches the plan, a deceitful and wicked endeavor to harm the reputation of the apex East German secret agent, Hans-Dieter Mundt. With eagerness, Leamas is rushed towards Holland for de-briefing by Fiedler, the second in power to Mundt. The bottom line of the arrangement is that Fiedler loathes Mundt and would wipe out him at all cost. By plummeting slight clues in his discussion with Fiedler, Leamas lets the spy to pencil in his own thoughts without so much delay - the unbelievable ability that Leamas has for spying and espionage, and his great understanding skills, embraces him in good stead as he intertwines a compelling story for Fiedler. Realizing the "certainty", Fiedler sent Leamas back to East Germany, where he looks forward to to overthrow Mundt in a closed trial and assessment. Leamas is an additional snag though since his persistence that Mundt couldn't have been a spy or espionage (he was leader of East German maneuvers and probably would have acknowledged). Fiedler still controls to induce an assessment however, completely influenced that Mundt is being disloyal to his State, and then the closed session starts on. It appears as though the court will rule alongside Mundt, ensuing in his carrying out, in anticipation of his defense representative presents an unforeseen and unanticipated

Analyzing a disaster Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Analyzing a disaster - Essay Example ress the various aspects of risk; indicatively, risk theorists have referred to risk as an indication of ‘moral hazard or conflict of interest’ (Roy, 2008, 122); from another point of view, emphasis is given on the emergent character of risk (Guerden, 2003, 78) – in terms that if there is no appropriate plan of action the occurrence of a disaster can lead to severe damages. Current paper focuses on the examination of risk management in banks; a specific part of these businesses’ activities is examined – the management of personal data of customers. It is proved that the risk involved in the management of customers’ data in banks can be significant; however, with the implementation of appropriate policies this risk can be limited – the use of risk management cycle for the control of risk involved in the management of personal data of customers in banks has been proved to be the most appropriate solution for addressing the specific proble m. Relevant literature is also used in order to highlight the various aspects of risk in the specific sector but also to evaluate the effectiveness of risk management cycle in relation with the specific business sector. The management of data in banks is a demanding task; the management of personal data of customers – which is the issue under examination – often fails to meet all the standards set by the principles and rules governing the specific sector. The above failure is usually related with the high cost of systems required for the effective administration of the specific business activity; however, if appropriate risk management plans are implemented in advance the risk related with the management of data in banks is minimized. Quite often, personal data of customers are lost during the transactions developed in financial institutions – often the personal data of customers are lost even if no transaction takes place – i.e. while being stored in a bank’s database; therefore, the use of risk management

Cold war Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cold war - Essay Example The domestic influence of the Cold War brought to their prominent leadership anti-communist presidents such as Truman, Kennedy, and Nixon who not only waged political and cultural battle with the Soviet Union, but also fought with the latter in the endeavor to achieve greater favor for the American economy. Though the nature of Cold War bore domestic consequences upon local affairs, political battles between the Soviet Union and the United States were mostly staged on an international level. By the time ‘Sputnik’ took off, most schools functioned as fighting grounds in allowing intellectual ideas to flourish over ideological conflicts of the 50s and this incident drew education to a sense of drastic reformation that appeared to radicalize certain schools of thoughts in various levels. Democratic enthusiasts would normally stress that acquisition of good scholastic foundation was beyond primary necessity, being an accountability and contribution to gaining victory over th e communists so that state and federal sovereignties expressed support through generous funding of academic institutions. Fields of maths and sciences had been able to receive more than sufficient financial assistance with adequate books and facilities.

Taiwan: Business Environment and Investment Opportunities

Taiwan: Business Environment and Investment Opportunities AN ANALYSIS OF THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN TAIWAN HISTORY Pre 20th Century History Little archaeological evidence remains from Taiwans early history. People probably from Austronesia are though to have inhabited the island since 10,000 BC with migration from China in the 15th century. In 1517 Portuguese sailors reached Taiwan and named it Ilha Formosa (Beautiful Island). The Dutch invaded in 1624 and built a capital at Tainan two years later they lost the island to a Spanish invasion but returned the favour by booting the Spanish out in 1641. During the 1660s the Ming and Manchu (Qing) dynasties arrived on the scene, kicking out the Dutch and wrestling one another for control of the island. The Manchus eventually won, making Taiwan a county of Fujian province and triggering a flood of Chinese immigration. At the end of the 19th century, the Japanese decided to weigh in as well: Taiwan was ceded to them in 1895 following Chinas defeat in the Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese quashed a republican rebellion organised by the local Chinese population and went on to establish a military base on the island and to promote education and economic development. After Japans defeat in at the end of WWII, Taiwan was handed back to China. Modern History When Communist forces took control of China in 1949, the president, General Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist Party, the Kuomintang (KMT), fled to Taiwan to plan their reconquest of the mainland. Theyre still planning. One and a half million Chinese also left the mainland for Taiwan when Mao took control. The leaders of both Communist mainland China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) claim to be the voice of all China, but the international community has, almost without exception, chosen the mainland. In 1971 the KMT lost the Chinese United Nations seat, and in 1979 the USA withdrew its recognition of the Republic. When Chiang Kai-shek died in 1975 and was replaced by his son Ching-kuo, Taiwanese started muttering the word dynasty, and criticism of the one-party system rose. In 1986, those opposed to Chiang formed the Democratic Progressive Party and were granted seats in the legislature. Two years later Chiang died and was replaced by the first native-born president, Lee Teng-hui. Taiwanese politics is divided among those who want reunification with China (the KMT line), those who want Taiwanese independence, and those who want the status quo preserved. In 1995 relations between the two Chinas, always chilly, plummetted to a new low. Lee Teng-huis high-profile visit to the United States brought mainland China out in a rash of nervous jealousy. Determined to isolate Taiwan and sway the minds of its voters, China held intense military exercises near the Taiwanese coast. In response, the United States donned its global cop hat and sent a couple of warships to monitor the situation. Despite the regions sudden high concentration of itchy trigger fingers, the first direct presidential election was held without incident, and Lee Teng-hui was returned to office. Taiwans fortunes took a turn for the worse in September 1999 when a massive earthquake hit the island, the largest in its history, leaving over 2000 islanders dead and a rubble-strewn country. Even in this time of crisis, however, the snippy relationship between mainland China and the wannabe republic continued. A defiantly sulky China demanded that any country entering Taiwan to offer earthquake relief get permission from the Chinese government first: a demand that was met with less-than-hearty agreement from humanitarian organisations and other countries around the world. Recent History In March 2000, Taiwan elected its next president Chen Shui-bian, the candidate of Taiwans Democratic Progressive Party, who believe in a formal declaration of independence for the island. The upset ended 55 years of Nationalist rule and alarmed China, which regards Taiwan as a rebel province. In 2004, Chen Shui-bian was re-elected by a narrow margin following a possibly-dubious assassination attempt on him only hours before the election. In a concession to political opponents and a country fearful over its constant Chinese threat, Chen Shui-bian vowed to forge closer relations with China and leave the volatile issue of Taiwans sovereignty off the political reform agenda. BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT IN TAIWAN To adjudge whether or not a country is suitable for investment opportunities we must use certain parameters these can range from descriptive tools like reports available from various established organizations like The World Bank or The IMF. Else we can make use of diagnostic tools like PEST analysis which we will employ to analyse the business environment of Taiwan and look at the possibility of investment opportunities. PEST ANALYSIS (P)OLITICAL SCENARIO The political status of Taiwan is a controversy over whether Taiwan, including the Pescadores (Penghu), should remain the effective territory of the Republic of China (ROC), become unified with the territories now governed by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), or become the Republic of Taiwan. Taiwans political status is complicated by the controversy over the Republic of Chinas existence as a state. Currently, Taiwan, Kinmen (Quemoy), Wuchiu (Wuciou) and Matsu off the coast of mainland Fukien, and Taiping (Itu Aba) and Pratas in the South China Sea effectively make up the entire state known as the Republic of China. The ROC government has in the past considered itself to be the sole legitimate government over Taiwan, as well as its former territories on the continent that include mainland China, Outer Mongolia and Tannu Uriankhai (part of which is present day Tuva). This position started to be largely ignored in the early 1990s, changing to one that does not challenge the legitimacy of PRC rule over mainland China, although the ROCs claims have never been renounced through a constitutional amendment. Different groups have different concepts of what the current formal political situation of Taiwan is. In addition, the situation can be confusing because of the different parties and the effort by many groups to deal with the controversy through a policy of deliberate ambiguity. The political solution that is accepted by many of the current groups is the following perspective of the status quo: that is, to unofficially treat Taiwan as a state and at a minimum, to officially declare no support for the government of this state making a formal declaration of independence. What a formal declaration of independence would consist of is not clear and can be confusing given the fact that the Peoples Republic of China has never controlled Taiwan since its founding and the fact that the Republic of China, whose government controls Taiwan, considers itself a de jure sovereign state. The status quo is accepted in large part because it does not define the legal status or future status of Taiwan, leaving each group to interpret the situation in a way that is politically acceptable to its members. At the same time, a policy of status quo has been criticized as being dangerous precisely because different sides have different interpretations of what the status quo is, leading to the possibility of war through brinkmanship or miscalculation. Hence we can say that Taiwan has a volatile political situation but is stable currently. (E)CONOMIC SCENARIO Taiwan has a dynamic capitalist economy with gradually decreasing guidance of investment and foreign trade by government authorities. In keeping with this trend, some large government-owned banks and industrial firms are being privatized. Exports have provided the primary impetus for industrialization. The trade surplus is substantial, and foreign reserves are the worlds third largest. Agriculture contributes less than 2% to GDP, down from 32% in 1952. Taiwan is a major investor throughout Southeast Asia. China has overtaken the US to become Taiwans largest export market. Because of its conservative financial approach and its entrepreneurial strengths, Taiwan suffered little compared with many of its neighbors from the Asian financial crisis in 1998. The global economic downturn, combined with problems in policy coordination by the administration and bad debts in the banking system, pushed Taiwan into recession in 2001, the first year of negative growth ever recorded. Unemployment al so reached record levels. Output recovered moderately in 2002 in the face of continued global slowdown, fragile consumer confidence, and bad bank loans; and the essentially vibrant economy pushed ahead in 2003-04. Growing economic ties with China are a dominant long-term factor, e.g., exports to China of parts and equipment for the assembly of goods for export to developed countries. A FEW RELEVANT STATISTICS GDP purchasing power parity $576.2 billion (2004 est.) GDP real growth rate 6% (2004 est.) GDP per capita purchasing power parity $25,300 (2004 est.) GDP composition by sector agriculture: 1.7% industry: 30.9% services: 67.4% (2004 est.) Inflation rate (consumer prices) 1.7% (2004 est.) Labor force by occupation agriculture 8%, industry 35%, services 57% (2001 est.) Unemployment rate 4.5% (2004 est.) Budget revenues: $67.41 billion expenditures: $76.7 billion, including capital expenditures of $14.4 billion (2004 est.) Industries electronics, petroleum refining, armaments, chemicals, textiles, iron and steel, machinery, cement, food processing, vehicles, consumer products, pharmaceuticals Industrial production growth rate 12.2% (2004 est.) Oil consumption 988,000 bbl/day (2001 est.) Agriculture products rice, corn, vegetables, fruit, tea; pigs, poultry, beef, milk; fish Exports $170.5 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.) Exports commodities computer products and electrical equipment, metals, textiles, plastics and rubber products, chemicals (2002) Exports partners China, including Hong Kong 37%, US 16%, Japan 7.7% (2003) Imports $165.4 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.) Imports commodities machinery and electrical equipment 44.5%, minerals, precision instruments (2002) Imports partners Japan 26%, US 13%, China, including Hong Kong 11%, South Korea 6.9% (2003) Debt external $55.5 billion (2004 est.) Investment (gross fixed) 18% of GDP (2004 est.) Public debt 32.4% of GDP (2004 est.) Current account balance $21.16 billion (2004 est.) Reserves of foreign exchange gold $246.5 billion (2004 est.) Hence after having a look at the economic structure we can say that a few indicators like the availability of labour forces, growth rates, inflation rates point to the fact that Taiwan is a stable economy and hence suitable for investment opportunities. (S)OCIAL SCENARIO Although the majority of the people residing in Taiwan (84%) are descended from 17th century migrants from China, the political power (and a substantial part of the economic power) of the island has been, until recently, almost exclusively held by less than one-fifth of the population. A population who fled to Taiwan in 1949 after the communist takeover of the mainland. Almost a half-century of co-residence has seen an integration of these two populations to some degree, with both pride in Chinese heritage and culture and national pride in being a resident of Taiwan, combining successfully to date. Taiwan is a society that supports strong Confucian values, reflecting the islands predominantly Chinese heritage (the native aborigines of Taiwan make up only 2% of the population). European influences have also made their mark, in the form of trading links (and some colonial aspirations) from the Spanish and Dutch in the 17th and 18th centuries. Japan has also had a more recent influence over the character of Taiwan: the island was occupied by Japan from 1895 to 1946, but this occupation although repressive at times was also a period of prosperity for Taiwan. Taiwan today is a vibrant and prosperous patriarchal society, which maintains the family as its basic foundation. Multi-generational households are the norm, with age being respected and children prized. The people are reserved, respectful and humble, although individual achievement and a hearty entrepreneurial attitude is found throughout the Taiwanese society. The practice of religious tenets, more so than pure belief alone, influences the Taiwanese character. Approximately 24% of the population is Buddhist, 16% is Taoist (Confucian) and 3% Christian. Much like other Chinese societies, respect and formality mark social relationships, and guanxi (guanji) is quite strong in Taiwan. Open conflict or direct criticism is avoided, as is any other action which could create embarrassment. Boasting or loud behaviour is to be avoided, although compliments are appreciated but usually denied. While many educated Taiwanese speak English, the national (and commercial) language is Mandarin Chinese, with many also speaking the local Taiwanese (Chinese) language. Varying degrees of English is spoken by many of the younger generation and the internationally educated. Taiwan is one of the most urbanised nations in Asia with over 60% of the population living in cities. Taipei, the capital, houses nearly 13% of the population, or approximately 2.75 million. Other major cities include Kaohsiung and Keelung. The people of Taiwan are well educated and have relevant knowledge of subjects like English and science. The society is a peaceful one and not very different from other South East Asian countries. The cities are well developed and the working conditions are conducive to conducting business. Hence investments with respect to the social structure will be a safe bet. (T)ECHNOLOGICAL SCENARIO Measures accompanying Science Technology (ST) development include the four main aspects of educating, training, recruiting, and rewarding ST manpower; the ST research environment; technology diffusion, intellectual property rights, and standards; and international ST cooperation. The goal of manpower training is to establish superior ST research and development manpower, which may be considered a RD software input. The goal of common research facilities is to provide the infrastructure needed for research, and this infrastructure may be considered a RD hardware input. Superior RD outputs can be obtained only after these two inputs are appropriately matched with funding. 1. Manpower education and training The education and training of ST development manpower includes the three aspects: (1) education in colleges and universities, (2) advanced studies in Taiwanese institutions and overseas for personnel selected by government agencies, and (3) training by vocational and professional training institutions. In addition, the Executive Yuans Implementation Regulations for Commendation of Outstanding Scientific and Technological Personnel, Executive Yuan and the Academia Sinicas Topical Research and High-level Manpower Training Program both serve to actively promote key ST research and train ST manpower. Apart from education in universities and colleges, the government also promotes the training of ST manpower via advanced studies or research in Taiwan and overseas for personnel selected by government agencies, and training by vocational and professional training institutions. A total of 37,945 students received Ph.D. or masters degrees in the natural sciences, engineering, medicine, agriculture, or the humanities and social sciences from domestic universities during the 2003 academic year. This number represented an increase of 16.3% over the 2002 academic year from this total 35,981 persons, or 94.8%, received masters degrees. See Table VI-1 for an overview of the various advanced ST manpower training and technical skills education training systems and their results in 2004. 2. Manpower recruiting In order to meet shortages of ST manpower, the government has implemented a number of policies and programs to train domestic high-tech manpower and recruit outstanding overseas manpower to work in Taiwan. It has established long-term targets for ST manpower recruiting, training, and utilization. The government has adopted simultaneous long- and short-term approaches to the recruiting of ST manpower. The Academia Sinica recruits overseas post-doctoral research personnel, foreign consultants, specialists, and scholars, and the NSC funds the recruiting of ST manpower, the hiring of post-doctoral researchers, the recruiting of research scholars, and the invitation of scientific and technological figures from China to participate in research in Taiwan 3. Rewarding Personnel The government offers a variety of grants and awards aimed at encouraging ST personnel to engage in academic research, technology development, and invention. Relevant honors include the Outstanding Achievement in Science and Technology Award, Academic Award, National Lectureship, Outstanding Research Award, and the Ta You Wu Memorial Award. Hence we can say that technologically also Taiwan is very superior and backed by Government. Technologically there should be no problems with investments in Taiwan. Therefore after doing a PEST analysis we can conclude that weighing all options Taiwan is a relatively safe place to invest resources. Now let us have a look at the various industries in Taiwan and try to zero in on an industry or a sector where a investments are a possibility.

Smoking and Lung Cancer Essay -- Biology Essays Research Papers

Smoking and Lung Cancer Lung Cancer accounts for fifteen percent of all cancer cases, and an estimated 170,000 people in the United States get lung cancer a year. (5)About 155,000 of those people die from the cancer. Recently, the rate of women affected by lung cancer has increased, while the rate of men affected has decreased. However, lung cancer is the leading cancer that kills both women and men. (1) So, what is lung cancer? Lung cancer is the uncontrollable growth of abnormal cells in the lung. (5) There are two main types of lung cancer: non-small cell and small- cell lung cancer. Non-small cell lung cancer (or NSCLC) is more common than small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) and occurs in about 80% of all lung cancer cases. (3) Early lung cancer does not cause symptoms, so when the symptoms finally do show and the cancer is detected, it is already at an advanced stage. (1) Smoking has been shown to be the primary cause of lung cancer. About 87% of all cases occur in people who smoke. (1) However, not everyone who smokes gets lung cancer and not everyone who gets lung cancer smokes. One of the main symptoms of lung cancer is a chronic cough that lasts for more than two weeks. Another is constant chest pain. Other symptoms include wheezing, shortness of breath, coughing blood, hoarseness, and repeated pneumonia or bronchitis. (1) There are also less noticeable signs such as unexplained fever, weight loss, or appetite loss. (2) As mentioned earlier, there are two types of lung cancer: NSCLC and SCLC. NSCLC can be divided into three sections. First, there is epidermoid carcinoma which is usually starts in the large breathing tubes, and grows slowly. (5) There is also adenocarcinoma, which is found in the mucus glands and ... ...is still a fatal illness that kills most people if it is not detected early. The main way to avoid lung cancer is to stop smoking! Cigarettes and tobacco have about 4,000 chemicals in them which lead directly to cancer. (1) The more a person smokes, the greater the possibility of lung cancer. However, if one stops smoking, the risk of getting lung cancer reduces each year. After ten years, the probability decreases to about one-half or one-third the risk of people who continue to smoke. (1) In addition, secondhand smoke causes about 3,000 people to die from lung cancer a year. (1)Therefore, the best way to prevent yourself or those around you from getting lung cancer is to stop smoking! Internet Sources: 1) http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=22542 2) http://www.cancer.gov/cancerinfo/wyntk/lung#9 3) http://www.meds.com/lung/guide/u_lung.html

We Need More Animal Research, Testing, and Experimentation Essay

We Need More Animal Research, Testing, and Experimentation    A life can be taken or created in a matter of seconds and with that has come the miracles of modern medicine. People have come to expect science to save lives, prevent illness, relieve suffering and improve the quality of life. The means of curing, treating and preventing diseases are not achieved by magic or accident. Medical advances are gained through years of intensive research -- research in which laboratory animals have played, and continue to play, a critical role. Opponents of animal testing are wrongfully determined that this process is completely unethical. Animals have been used for experimentation for around 2,000 years. In the third century BC in Alexandria, Egypt, the philosopher and scientist Erisistratus used animals to study the human body. Five centuries later, the Roman scientist Galen used apes and pigs to prove a theory about veins being full of blood and not air ("Animal Experimentation . . ." 74). Since then several experiments have educated man in many ways that wouldn't have been possible without the use of animals. The debate about animal testing started well over 130 years ago ("The Ethical . . ."). There is no doubt that the animal experimentation performed 100 years ago was cruel and unjust, but since then many changes have taken place. A century ago animals were experimented on without the benefit of modern anesthetics and painkillers, and since then several laws have been passed to prohibit inhumane treatment of animals. Virtually every major medical advance of the last century has depended upon research with animals. Since the early 1900's, 90 Nobel Prizes for medicine have been awarded. At least 60 of these were for disc... ...ts: Animal Rights. California: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 1996. pp. 73-81. "Animal Research Helping Kids." Foundation for Biomedical Research. [online], Available: http://www.fbresearch.org/helpingkids.html, December 11,2000. "Animal Rights Myths FAQ." Animal Rights Myths FAQ. [online], Available: http://www.cix.co.uk/~embra/armyths.html, December 7,2000. Murrary, Joseph. "Animals Hold the Key to Saving Human Lives." Americans for Medical Progress Educational Foundation. [online], Available: http://www.ampef.org/research.htm, December 8,2000. "The Humane Care and Treatment of Laboratory Animals." National Associationfor Biomedical Research. [online], Available: http://www.nabr.org/pdfs/orange.pdf, December 6, 2000. "The Ethical Debate." Research Defense Society. [online], Available: http://www.rds-online.org.uk/ethics/index.html, December 11, 2000.

Genetically Modified Foods Essay

As the old saying goes, â€Å"An apple a day keeps the doctor away†, but does it really mean what it used to? People are taking great risks by consuming genetically modified foods. Genetically modified crops, foods etc. are made when scientist combine genes from different organisms to get desired traits in a certain organism. Scientist uses this in fruits and vegetables to help make them more nutritious or help with insect resistance. Some of the first GM foods were corn, cotton, soybean, canola and alfalfa. In the last two decades there has been a spike in the cultivation of transgenic crops. Since the very first GM food marketed (a tomato that wouldn’t go so soft as quickly) it has continuously gone up. There are two main types of GMOs ones that are herbicide tolerant and others that are resistant to devastating insect. Herbicide tolerant GMOs can be sprayed with herbicides that kill weeds but not the genetically modified crops. This was developed by the company Monsanto. The second type of GM crop is resistant to devastating insects which is made by a bacterial gene which makes able to resist against certain insects. An example is corn BT which is able to resist the corn borer. Most Farmers who use these GM crops do it because they can make more money or it would ease their work load. Are GM crops and food going to help the world or hinder it? One of the leading arguments is that this will produce more food and thus feed the planet. Another advantage is that you can use less herbicides and pesticides which are then less harmful to the environment. It seems like that is the case but farmers are still spraying large amount of herbicides and pesticides and it somewhat contradicts the reasons for GM crops. What do these GM Crops do to our Environment and our health? Many questions arise about this and not even about the risks on the table but if it’s right morally. There great risks that where putting on the table like the safety of our children. We are being treated like experimental animals and these large companies are waiting to see what happens. In the US, about two dozen farmers reported thousands of pigs became sterile after consuming certain GM corn varieties. Some had false pregnancies; others gave birth to bags of water. Cows and bulls also became infertile when fed the same corn. In the US population, the incidence of low birth weight babies, infertility, and infant mortality are all escalating. Transgenic crops do help us in some ways, but is it doing more harm than good? They could help us stop world hunger but at what cost? Are you willing to put your children and their children at risk just for a quick buck? These are question you to need to answer choose a sid hopefully the right one.

Management Case Study Essay

The case study below takes place at the Sir Charles Wilberforce Hospital’s cafeteria, which is experiencing problems with the change management. Due to the new management undertaken by Keith Davis, there was a major issue of inadequate communication channels, as Keith told his employees what to do rather than consult them, especially with the decision-making. The best alternative to rectify this problem is for Keith to adapt to a consultative management style, in order for employees to take ownership in their workplace through expressing their opinions and feel more valued, however still allowing Keith to still make the final decision. Another major issue addressed in the Cafeteria was the amount of unmotivated staff. As employees feel unsatisfied with their work, the best solution to this issue is Goal Setting. Through employees setting strategic goals they will increase their motivation through achievement of these goals which will lead them to set more challenging ones. Lastly, the third major issue recognised was Keith’s poor leadership skills which made it difficult for employees to fulfil expectations and find enjoyment in the workplace. The best alternative solution for this problem is to retrain Keith’s leadership abilities so he is able to adopt all the qualities needed to become a better leader in his managing role. Although this may be an expensive method, the new leadership qualities Keith will learn will make a happier work environment for his employees and build a better employer/employee relationship. 3. Problem identification Poor communication channels Keith focuses on top down communication channels, providing a one way communication which is from him to his employees, rather than two-way which provides his employees to communicate ideas with him. This negatively impacts the hospital as the Keith is unable to discuss problems or ask questions amongst employees to see if there are any problems going on amongst the workers and therefore leading to job dissatisfaction employees. Although Keith tried to soothe Julia when the issue between her and Madison was brought to his attention, he did not follow it up or treat it as an importance. Lack of staff motivation Prior to Keith’s managing, Anne’s original foundations of self-satisfaction and close family ties seemed to motivate the employees at Sir Charles Wilberforce hospital. Keith’s changes were made to become more efficient, employees were left struggling to gain satisfaction and motivation in order for themselves to achieve their hierarchy of needs (Maslow, 1954). In this hierarchy of needs Maslow developed, employees have five needs, physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualisation, once they fulfil one of their needs they can graduate to the next one to fulfil it and so on. Without fulfilling the social needs of forming social ties or self-actualisation of gaining enough experience within the kitchen to become a supervisor, it became unknown to the employees of what they are capable of and decreased their enticements to complete tasks and feel satisfied. Insufficient leadership abilities Keith lacks major leadership qualities, as the organisational layout he uses is to tell employees what to do, depriving them of guidance and support. The Hersey Situations leadership model suggests that leadership focuses on follower’s readiness (Hersey, Blanchard & Johnson, 2001). This theory suggests that at Sir Charles Wilberforce, if the employees feel they are unable to complete a task Keith should give those clear and specific instructions. If they are willing and confident Keith needs to provide them display high task orientation, and if employees feel able but are unwilling Keith would need to use a supportive approach. Lack of teamwork The teamwork environment of delegating tasks amongst of employees was not addressed by Keith. He believed that employees needed to finish work on time, plan menus monthly and take on cleaning responsibilities, whereas, the use of team work would have provided a better suited time managed system. Through having each employee assist with cleaning duties, planning menus, helping out another if time was short as well as assisting each other to get all food out and made the kitchen would be less chaotic. This would have assisted with issues if someone was ill, allowing more than one person to prepare greater portions of meals. 4. Statement of Major Problems The three major problems that are brought to the attention at Sir Charles Wilberforce Hospital are: Inadequate communication channels Unmotivated staff Insufficient leadership abilities The poor communication channel Keith utilises is top-down communication from Keith to his employees. As this is a workplace that depends on seeking ideas from others and support from each other, two way communications between Keith and his employees is necessary. This will allow employees to feel part of the decision making and feel they can share their ideas to improve the workplace. Following this Keith must then improve his leadership skills, putting his employees first and assisting them with any help and support they need in order to achieve a positive workplace. This may involve Keith revising the organisation’s culture, or distinguishing the strength and weakness of each employee so he knows how to assist each of them. Once Keith’s leadership abilities are improved, staff motivation must be identified and given, in order for employees to become productive within the kitchen and gain job satisfaction, increasing their abilities and allowing them to feel the want to work. 5. Generation and Evaluation of Alternative Solutions Inadequate communication channels Regular work meetings Set regular meetings within the kitchen, in order to concerns amongst employees to be discussed as we as evaluation on how the business is going and openly discuss ways to improve or maintain it. Advantages Allows for feedback Employees can listen to each person’s idea and encourages discussion openly Evaluate the earnings to the previous week and that time the previous year, allowing each person to suggest ways to improve or maintain their profit margins. Disadvantages Some employees may not attend May be time consuming to discuss all ideas Consultative management style Implement a Consultative management style in order to increase two-way and open communication between Keith and the employees. Advantages Allows employees to feel ownership in decision making Allows employees to share their ideas and opinions Gives confidence to employees Disadvantages Employees may feel held back to express their opinions because they do not feel comfortable Employees may feel offended if their ideas are not taken into consideration Time consuming Unmotivated staff Goal setting Implement setting goals, which involve employees setting goals that motivate them to improve their capabilities. Advantages Gives self-satisfaction Increases productivity and performance levels Disadvantages Time consuming to distinguish appropriate and achievable goals Goals ay appear as unattainable and lead to employees to give up Job design Mr Dev can alter the job design to assist in identifying and correcting any deficiencies that affect performance and motivation. Advantages Job enlargement, can be used to increase motivation by giving employee’s more and varied tasks so the employee is motivation to try new tasks Job rotation allows an employee to work in different departments or jobs in an organization to gain better insight into operations motivating the employee to increase his/her skills and knowledge about other jobs. Disadvantages Job enrichment may lead the employee transferred too much responsibility in the kitchen and independence in the planning and control aspects of the job which may suppress motivation levels Reward and Recognition Evaluating each employee to identify which people are performing to their maximum, and rewarding them financially or non-financially for their hard work, therefore motivating other employees to improve their work standards. Advantages Employees will increase performance to obtain more rewards Will produce higher standards amongst the employees Self- enrichment Disadvantages Expensive to keep purchasing rewards and reassess each employee to recognise After a while employees may feel that rewards may not motivate them anymore Keith may not want to undertake the idea of rewarding and recognising employees Insufficient leadership abilities Retrain Keith Retraining programs for Keith within the company or externally will allow Keith to develop better leadership qualities and create a happier workplace. Advantages Positively effects employees to feel trust and support from Keith Keith can evaluate themselves as to what skills are expected to lead the employees Disadvantages May take a while for Keith to learn and adapt to these skills May be expensive Dismiss Keith Dismissing Keith will demolish the issue of poor leadership abilities and will allow the business to replace him with a more experienced manager. Advantages Re-appoint a new manager who possess all correct leadership skills Employees are in a happier environment where they can get the support they need More time appropriate and efficient than retraining Disadvantages May be hard to find a replacement Employees may find it hard to adapt to a new manager and may be resistant to give them a chance due to their bad experience with Keith 6. Recommendation Consultative management style A Consultative management style is the recommended alternative for Keith to address to his employees. The type of management style used by Keith at this point is autocratic, which involves him making decisions for the hospital kitchen unilaterally. Although regular meetings are a good alternative by providing mediation and assistant towards employees, the consultative management style involves a permanent change to the organisation. The consultative style would involve Keith discussing ideas of possible changes to be made within the kitchen, as well as employees being able to give their opinions and ideas. By implementing a consultative management style, employees at the cafeteria will be able to perform to their optimum level, concentrating on increasing common sense approach for Keith to meet the needs and wants of the employees, as well as making employees realise their own abilities and capabilities in performing tasks, (McClelland, 1987). Similarly to regular meetings, the consultative approach gives open communication, however unlike meetings the consultative approach is more permanent in the workplace and is used daily, for example in decision making, gaining assistance with a task or getting support with a concern. This will benefit the kitchen, as the employees will respond more positively to any changes to feel more a part of the workplace and a sense of belonging. Keith will benefit from this style, as he will be given a broader range of ideas as well as maintain his authority to make the final decision. Goal Setting Setting goals is the preferred alternative for Keith to use within the kitchen. Despite the fact being rewarded motivates someone to maintain if not improve performance to be rewarded again, goal setting gives motivation. Goal setting enables employees to measure their processes and work performance. This enables employees to gain feedback on their results, unlike rewards and recognition which just motivates employees to try harder to gain another reward rather than possessing the want to gain the self-satisfaction that they have improved. Edward Locke’s theory of goal setting outlines that in setting specific and challenging goals it enables process and outcome improvement (Locke ; Latham, 1990). Similarly, job design suggests a different form of motivating to increase their skills of different tasks, however it also does hold the ability to measure the improvement that setting goals do. If goal setting is adapted by Keith, his employees would be able to achieve towards a higher performance, as well as motivating them to set higher goals with increasingly difficult tasks, once they have been achieved. Through Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, this can assist in setting goals with Locke and Latham’s theory. Maslow theory suggests that ‘although no need is every fully satisfied, a substantially satisfied need no longer motivates an individual to satisfy that need’ (Robbins, Bergmann, Stagg and Coulter, 2012, p559). This suggests that in identifying each need, physiological safety social esteem and self-actualisation, employees at sir Charles Wilberforce can pinpoint what tasks they need to complete in order to graduate to the next level. For example one of the employees may find that they feel they don’t belong, in order to achieve this level they can set a goal to form relations with other employees on a professional basis. Once this goal is achieved they can move on to develop their esteem needs. Retraining Keith Although, retraining Keith may be considered a time consuming process, compared to the alternative of dismissing Keith, it appears to be a more logical approach. Through retraining, Keith is able to gain leadership skills that he may not be aware are essential skills he needs in order to be a manager. This will transform him from telling his employees what to do, to instead assisting and guiding them through changes. Despite the expenses of this method, it may also be difficult for Keith to cooperate as well as understand the concept of these skills however unlike dismissing, he will be able to improve and allow for a happier work. The trait theory suggests that it is impossible to identify and isolate characteristics from leaders from non-leaders. However there are seven traits associated with leadership, these being ‘drive, the desire to lead, honesty and integrity, self-confidence, intelligence, job-relevant knowledge and extraversion’, (Robbins, 2012, p605). Eventually with the retraining, Keith may possess these seven leadership abilities to involve his employees in decision making process and form a trust bond.