Post Colonial Theory

Post Colonialism Theory To understand the post colonialism theory, I believe that we must first take a brief look at how we got here. In order to reach the post era, we first must walk through the challenges and lessons of those before us. How else would the history that we have to teach us today be there, how else would we have the literature to educate us? Colonialism was all about the newer, bigger, better lands and though these lands had natives already, they were Just another obstacle. They would befriend the natives and get them to teach them the ways of the land in order to live and survive off the land.Once they were self-sufficient, they would begin to try to conform the natives to their way of life as the proper way of life. They would teach them that they were living wrong and evil lives and would eventually turn against the natives when they did not conform to their way of life. Therefore switching roles from the colonized to the colonizers. In switching the roles of powe r and showing their true colors and purpose for being there, they showed their true nature for possession and power, for fear and hate.Throughout the texts that we have been studying, we see this over ND over again in the way that these characters move in and take over. As we look at the way Galoshes was possessive of his people and his land, we see the way he did as he pleased. He was known to be two thirds god and â€Å"a tyrant. † (Manson 15) As in those who are the colonizers, he was feared and not necessarily respected. He imposed his wishes and commands on his people and rather than living for them he forced them into submission, such as claiming his birthright, â€Å"the privilege of sleeping with their brides before the husbands were permitted. (Manson 15) as you see even now throughout the history books. It is a constant hunger for the power and desire of what is not ours that drives some. He lived this way for some time thinking that he is content until the farmer' s son brings him news of Unkind who is living in the forest with the animals as one. This is something new and undiscovered to him, but still not enough to get him totally worked up. Something untouched, something that he does not control or possess, so he sends the prostitute to see if he can disrupt it.It is in the continued thirst for power and possession that drives him to colonize in a way even Enkindles life in the ores. Galoshes is so bored, cold or immune to what he is doing that he forgot (Mason 17) that he has even done this and continues on with his life as he has done every day before that with no regard as to what impact he may have had on this man's life or history. The Tempest we see Prospers exiled on an island and living as the kingpin so to speak, but as we read on, it was not always that way.He was yet another example of the colonized becoming the colonizer. He came to the island as a humble exile, fleeing with his daughter Miranda after his brother Antonio had be aten him and moved his titles, lands and wealth to teach him a lesson. He befriended an island imp named Clinical who teaches them how to live on the island and in turn Miranda teaches him to speak. Prospers magically binds Clinical as a slave after he turns on him and holds his release over his head as a continual show of power.Where once he was liked well enough, he is now referred to as â€Å"a villain† by Miranda (Shakespeare act 1, scene 2), it is funny how the role are reversed when your usefulness has worn off and you no long hold the upper hand. The same ways Prospers holds Ariel, but he does not mind since he freed him from a much more evil master. Colonized and colonizers are switching roles and taking on roles of the others in this story. Everyone wants the power, yet no one knows how to share it because each feels that the other is less superior.As we look at the idea that both of these men Just wanted the possession of what they were after in the story, was that truly what they were after? Are we sure they were not after something else? An author by the name of Edward Said argued that â€Å"a literary text seldom conveys only one message† (Baldwin/Quinn 10). Could it be that they were after friendship, after love, after revenge, after hatred, after immortality (whether it was to be remembered in name or to live on as a god), or was it Just to die where they came from?So let's explore these options a little bit more. If we look to Galoshes, in changing the steps of Enkindles life with the prostitute, Unkind comes into his own and discovers who he is as a man and not Just animal by opening his eyes to his sexual nature and not Just his annalistic primal nature. Unkind comes to the city and challenges Galoshes to a man to man battle, which shows the release of anger and hate within them. The anger and hate was battled out for so long that upon the end of the battle it says they were exhausted.It states that when they stood, â€Å"He tu rned to Unkind who leaned against his shoulder and looked into his eyes and saw himself in the other, Just as Unkind saw himself in Galoshes† (Manson 24). If we look deeper into this quote from the book we see several things, we see love, we see friendship, and we could even see immortality of an everlasting soul mate. We see this love and friendship grow throughout the remainder of the story and most would say this is the main theme.They learn together, fight together, they even defy the gods together and therefore Galoshes is forced to pay the ultimate price for his part in that with the life of his friend and soul mate. Galoshes refuses to let go of his friend and the love the shared by bringing him back and puts himself through untold pain and toil to try to find a way to do so. He says, â€Å"l have been through grief! â€Å", â€Å"Even if there will be more of pain, and heat and cold, I will go on! † (Mason 57, 58). It is only when the serpent steals the plant and slithers away that he realizes he too must go back to whence he came.His search for immortality is lost. But is it? Is immortality everlasting life? Is it being known by name and story and being told over and over? Was his immortality the city that he had built and left behind as a legacy as we see him looking over in the beginning and the ending of his tale? I think that is up to our interpretation. If we take the same look at the Tempest as we did with the story of Galoshes, what would we see? We would see the love that Prospers had for his daughter Miranda and his desire to protect her from harm as he did on the island every day in is teaching and daily lessons.We see the love that he shows to Ariel although he is under his power he is gentle toward him, where with Clinical, he is rough and hateful. Prospers is very smart and calculated about how he gets his revenge. He does well not to kill or harm anyone to achieve it and wants to have those who have wronged him apologize. He even ensures the plan by involving his naive daughter and the love that she bears or will bear for Prince Ferdinand by having them married by the sacred beings. Once Prospers proved the treachery of Alonso, Antonio andSebastian that had been done to him those 12 years ago and the revenge had been played out, love won over. All he wanted was to have them to hear them apologize and to be restored. This was not a tale of immortality, but again, not of one singular theme either. I suppose the argument that I could make here is that no matter how you look at these two amazing pieces of literature, there are so many different stories all wrapped up into one. It is much like our history, not matter what angle you are looking at it from, there is always someone that has another view on it or how it really appended, or something missed.I think, like postcolonial literature, there is much to be left to the imagination in how we interpret it. I believe that what the authors had in mind when they wrote these stories was to let the stories wander and to evolve to fit what would speak to the reader and not to be one track minded. The point of having an imagination is to use it and set it free, to be able to read these stories and to re-read them and find a different angle every time is the best part about it. I don't believe that we were meant to stick to one specific theme, but to explore them all.Maybe you are not the type to explore them all at once, but next time you are thumbing through the pages, try looking at these stories from the prospective of more than one. It broadens the story and opens the plot to even more beauty and wonder of possibilities.

Marris Growth Maximisation Model

Assignment Set 2 Question 1 What are the principles of management? Answer There are fourteen principles of management laid by Henri Fayol. They are elaborated further below. Division of labour A particular task is divided into several units or segments, each performed by specialists in order to achieve efficiency. Authority and responsibility coexist Responsibility must be understood properly in order to achieve command in the business by taking the right decision at the right time for the right purpose. Unity of commandThere should be single chain of command in the organisational structure which means one person should report to only one boss Unity of direction Managers must be methodical and must approach with a single plan following the single universal approach to achieve goals Equity Management actions must be a combination of fairness, justice and empathy layered with the idea of productivity-based incentives. Order The entire process of productivity must balance on a discrete system which governs on the principles of desired output DisciplineManagement must elaborate through the entire chain of command the necessary of maintaining norms, rules and guidelines to enhance productivity and harmony in workplace Initiative The workers must find their job interesting so that they are enthusiastic about learning new responsibilities, thus bringing effectiveness. Fairness Various industrial laws and norms are established and governed by the respective legislative bodies to ensure a system of fairness, justice, equality is maintained within the industrial as well as organisational environment. StabilityProper schooling of guidelines, methodologies, and systems involved; creates team spirit, smoothness and enhances productivity. Thus an employee will always adjust himself or herself according to the dynamic reality. Scalar chain A strict and coordinated effort of inflow and outflow of information from top level to the lowest level of organisational hierarchy create s smoothness, review plans and solve problems faster. Subordination of individual interest to general interest Organisation’s interest must be prioritised at all cost because it affect the interest of many stakeholders.Espirit de corps Management must ensure the existence of team spirit, harmony and intense communication and accurate dissemination of information, trust among the employees. Centralisation and decentralisation Authority and power must centralise and decentralise accordingly although decentralisation is the trend nowadays in various existing multinational and national organisations. Question 2 What are the characteristics of leading? Answer The characteristics of leading are * Pervasiveness * Continuity * Human factor * Creativity Executive function * Delegating function Pervasiveness Characteristic of leading is required in all levels of organisation. Leading motivates all the levels in the organisation to coordinate with the CEO (leader). Continuity Leading is a continuous process happens everywhere and at anytime in the organisation. Its importance becomes higher when the organisation is undergoing a change. Human factor Leading directs and controls human factor of complexity and unpredictable nature in more of a disciplined, matured performer regarding fulfilment of rganisational goals and objectives. Creativity Differentiated thoughts and ideas are accumulated and processed through employees enrolled from different strata of the society brings matured creativity in order to project growth and development in the organisation. Executive function Leading implies that the followers execute the functions of organisation, which the leader and the follower agree is important for achieving the organisational goals and through it the individual goals. Delegating function Delegating is natural fallout of leading.It also follows that the leader trusts his or her followers and vice-versa. Mutual trust is the most important in leading and delegati on is largely based on that. Question 3 Briefly explain the four main approaches to organisational behaviour. Answer The main approaches to organisational behaviour are: * Human resource approach * Contingency approach * Productivity approach * Systems approach Human resource approach The organisation is for the people, by the people and with people. Humans are the integrated part of the organisation.Therefore growth and development is only possible when human resource are developed both internally and externally. Contingency approach Situation analysis is the vital part of the behavioural practices of organisation. Significant analysis of each situation prior to action helps to use all the current knowledge about people in the organisation in the most appropriate manner. Productivity approach Output per unit input is considered. Besides, economic inputs and outputs, we need to have human and social inputs and outputs in workplace, is the premise of this approach Systems approachThe systems view emphasizes the interdependence of people, technology, and socio-economic structure of organisation serves as a basis for co-ordinating activities to function as a whole effectively. Question 4 Explain the five major leadership styles as per the Managerial Grid Theory Answer The Managerial Grid Theory or also known as the Blake Mouton Framework builds on the Ohio and Michigan studies and creates a relative position that a leader prefers to take in most situations and thereby identifies his or her predominant style. The five major leadership styles are: * Impoverished leadership Country club leadership * Produce or perish leadership * Middle-of-the-road leadership * Team leadership Impoverished leadership It is the most haphazard, uncoordinated, reluctant, de-motivated style of leadership. It generates zero creativity, immense dissatisfaction and disharmony among employees. They have neither a high regard for creating systems for getting the job done nor for creating a w ork environment that is satisfying and motivating (low production/low people) Country club leadership It is mostly concerned about the needs and feelings of the members of the team.The main objective is making everyone happy instead of being focussed on the objectives and achieving results. A very relaxed environment exists but without direction and control (high people/low production). Produce or perish leadership Leaders believe that followers are simply a means to an end. They are generally strict and autocratic in nature. They believe frequent punishments can bring productivity and motivation in employees. (high production/low people) Middle of the road leadership Leaders settle for average performance and often believe that this is the most anyone can expect.In this case, neither production nor people needs are fully met. (medium production/medium people) Team leadership Leaders stress on needs related to production, quality and people with equal importance, because they believ e that each of them are the stakeholders of the organisation. This creates a team environment based on trust, and respect which leads to high satisfaction and motivation, resulting high production. (high production/high people) Question 5 List some of the commonly found perceptual biases. Answer The commonly found perceptual biases are as follows: Fundamental attribution error * Self serving bias * Selective perception * Halo effect * Contrasts effects * Projection * Stereotyping * Primacy(first-impression) effect * Recency effect * Self-fulfilling prophecy * Pygmalion effect * Golem effect Fundamental attribution error Tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the internal factors Self serving bias Tendency of people to attribute success to internal factors and failure to external factors, is known as self-serving biased perception Selective perceptionSometimes a person, or an object or an event stands out from the action. Faulty evaluation follow s after the action based on this selective perception. Halo effect Previous success creates a halo in our mind so that every time the same person, object or event returns, expectation remains premium about reproducing similar or better outcome. If the results fail to impress we generate biased judgements and attribute it to some outside factors rather to accept the inabilities. Contrast effects. Individuals do not evaluate a person in isolation.There is always a tendency of comparison which depicts high contrast in values and actual actions of the organisation, generating various prejudices. Projection We tend to feel and see that others are like us, and taking decisions on the premise that others want what we want, such perception is called projection. Stereotyping Judging someone on the basis of our perception of the group to which the person belongs is defined as stereotyping. It simplifies the complex world. But when we inaccurately stereotype, various mistakes and misunderstand ings cloud the right perception.Primacy effect First impression-lasting effect theory, the tendency to form lasting opinions about an individual based on the initial perceptions. This error is generally found formal interview sessions. Recency effect When we summarise a series of action taken by a person recently and decide its effectiveness in reality, we perceive with recency effect. Self-fulfilling prophecy It is a tendency for someone’s expectations about another to cause that person to behave in a manner consistent with those expectations.It can of two types * Pygmalion effect- manager has high expectations of his employee and therefore grades him as the topper although the facts indicate otherwise * Golem effect- the same manager evaluates his top performer as third, because his expectation from him is not high although the facts indicate otherwise Question 6 Suppose you are the Team Manager in a multinational company with team strength of 12 members. You are given the responsibility of ensuring that the team gives excellent performance or results. What are the key issues you have to handle in team building? AnswerThe key issues needed to handle while building a proper team are: * having clear expectations and context * commitment * team design and competence * charter of performance * control and coordination * collaboration * communication * consequences * creative innovation * cultural change Having clear expectations and context The team should get sufficient resources like people, time and money. The team need to understand the role and importance of their work and their strategic existence. Commitment All team members must oath in sincerity and recognised contribution in order have growth and development.They should enthusiastic, excited and challenged by the opportunity. Team design and competence There should continuous evaluation of the structure and reason of existence so that competencies are evolved and used to achieve results faster a nd in superior quality. Charter of performance The team must define its goals, the outcomes, the timelines, measuring success, and the process to accomplish tasks. Equally , the support of the top management is the precondition Control and coordination The team should have sufficient freedom and mechanism for self regulation and coordination.The top management must ensure the existence of such team spirit, address the challenges through incentives and motivation. Collaboration The team goals should be a collaborative one, and should establish norms so that collaboration becomes easy and effective. Communication The members must continuously communicate among themselves because it is the mother of all issues that is needed to be solved immediately as soon as the team formation occurs. Consequences Team members must be accountable and should feel responsible for the achievement and they should inherently get the idea of consequences of not achieving it. Creative innovationThe team mus t continuously innovate with the freedom of creativity in order to sustain for long run. Cultural change Teams need flat organisational structure, rewards and recognition and training and development of a high order. Traditional companies are not designed for effective team operation. Acknowledgement I would like to thank our honourable lecturers Mr. Indranil Bhattacharya and Miss Sumita Haldar for extensive cooperation and support in order to establish focused effort in completion of the assignment successfully. I would also like to thank my mates and Sikkim Manipal University for extensive cooperation and support.

Is fundamental analysis redundant Essay

Introduction Shortly after the stock market crash in 1929, as the first batch of financial experts in the Great Wall, Benjamin Graham and David Dodd firstly mentioned the concept in a book called security analysis: Based on public information that intelligent investors are able to analyse securities and determine whether the current price of stocks and bonds is over or below their intrinsic value. The Critical thinking and strong logic make this theory become the foundation of nearly all investments theories in Wall Street. Warren Buffett, John Neff, Peter Lynch and other famous investors become the  best practitioners in fundamental analysis. This essay will firstly introduce the related theories of fundamental analysis. Secondly, the essay will explain free cash flow model to equity valuation and the qualitative and quantitative factors of fundamental analysis. Thirdly, choosing a particular company analyses the relationships between the leading financial ratios and its stock price. Finally, indicating why financial ratios and free cash flow model cannot explain Berkshire Hathaway cooperation’s stock price changed during global financial crisis. Theory Aasuumption & Metholody Theory Fundamental analysis which is based on analyzing the intrinsic value of securities, focuses on factors affecting the stock price and its trend and lets investors determine what type of securities they choose to buy and when to buy. (Lee and Swaminathan 1999, 8 )The basic assumption of fundamental analysis is that value investors believe that the market price is determined by its intrinsic value and the stock price can reflect its intrinsic value in the long term. Cash flow model Fundamental analysts use cash flow model, dividend model to roughly estimate a company’s intrinsic value. They assume that the stock price of the intrinsic value is its present value of the stream of expected cash flows and the selected reference values are based on generating the cash flow data. For example, using free cash flow model to measure intrinsic value, investors firstly assume the observed company can increase at constant rate and then choose the reference value based on a constant growth rate (g)to estimate free cash flow the next 10 years. Secondly, they calculate the present value of the 10-year cash flow based on the constantly discounted rate (k). Secondly, they estimate the terminal value P10=free cash flow*(1+g)/(k-g) and calculate its present value. Thirdly, they get the present value of the company and calculate pre- share value: equity value/numbers of shares. Rational investors can make well-informed investment decisions according to the relationship betw een market price and intrinsic value. Qualitative factors On the company level, fundamental analysis focused on two factors: qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative and quantitative analyses have a dialectical relationship. Both analyses should join together to analysis and inspect on a particular company. Although qualitative analysis is used for physical areas, with the usage to tackle non-financial information, it can be widely useful in business and finance fields.(kesh and Raja 2005, 167) The qualitative analysis of the company level is concerned with products and services, competitive advantage, management efficiency, corporate culture. Advanced products can get increasing cash inflows and improve company value (Carter and Demissew 2008, 63) because booming demand for products and services can lead to a high reinvestment rate of the company, this creates additional wealth.( Madden 2007, 125) Competitive advantage can includes producing capacity and the efficiency of a company’s design and cost controlling better than the industry’s competitors. Generating a competitive advantage for a company will creates stakeholder value. (Vilanova, Lozano and Arenas 2009, 63) The improvement of management efficiency can lower operating costs and company culture can enhance corporate image, leading to improvement of company value. Quantitative factors The quantitative factors in fundamental analysis are based on a deep understanding of financial reports which is the process of identifying opportunities and threats from the company, so investors must be concerned with the balance sheet, cash flow statement and income statement analysis. Financial statements consist of all important historical information about the company’s operation management during a specific time period (quarterly, annually). All these information provide an overview of a company’s business activities and can help managers assess the company’s wellbeing. (Dayanandan 2010, 116) Financial statement Different users are interested in different areas of the financial statements. For example, investors and equity holders are concerned with  expected earnings and dividends of the observed companies. Company’s executives usually focus on the company’s capacity. Therefore, based on historical reports, different users can get valuable information about what they concentrate on. Financial statement analysis includes selected data from financial statements to predict the company’s financial health.( Hagos and Pal 2010, 441) Applying these data from financial reports, such as profitability ratio, liquidity ratio, management efficiency ratio, debt ratio, market performance ratio analyses year by year to determine whether to buy or sell observed companies. Based on analyzing financial statements, financial analysts are able to use profitability ratio, including gross margin, ROE to indicate how efficiently revenue is generated. The liquidity ratio such as current ratio, net working capital can be used to prove the firm’s ability to generate sufficient liquidity when needed and to meet short term obligations. For example, current ratio is an indicator as a rate of current assets to current liabilities. It measures the liquidity status of a company. With a higher current ratio over time, this company will be able to meet its current obligations and experience less financial risk.( Zaki, Bah and Rao 2011, 315) Table1 Sourced by Berkshire Year ROE Total asset turnover Debt/equity P/E P/B closed Price 2003 0.105 0.588 1.32 12.7 1.34 $84280 2004 0.085 0.394 1.20 18.8 1.6 $87900 2005 0.093 0.412 1.16 15.5 1.45 $88620 2006 0.102 0.397 1.27 12.5 1.27 $109990 Table 1 above shows the some figures provided by Berkshire corporation’s annual report from 2003 to 2006. During this period, the stock price has a significant increase from $67600 in Jan 2rd, 2003 to $109990 in Dec 1st, 2006. And from 2003 to 2006, Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s net worth is $13.6billion, $8.3billion, $5.6billion and 16.9billion respectively. Graph1: Berkshire Hathaway(BRK) Inc’s stock price between 2003 and 2006 Sourced by yahoo finance The increase of Net worth can indicate the stock price’s change during this period. The gain in net worth during 2003 was $13.6billion, which increased the per-share book value of its stock by 21% from $41727 to $50498. Because of good quarterly reports and an annual report, the stock price reflected the company’s performance, rising from $67600 to $89490. However, between 2004 and 2005, the gain in net worth increased $8.3billion and $5.6billion. Although in 2004 Berkshire’s book-value gain of 10.5% fell short of the index’s 10.9% return, the net worth fell from $13.6billion to $8.3billion, leading to fluctuation of the stock price during 2004. In 2005, the net worth fell to $5.6 billion because hurricane caused loss worth of $34billion. And in the stock market, the price fluctuated and even slightly increased. However, the price reflected the company’s performance. As a multi-business company, its main business-insurance company called GEICO improved its management efficiency at nearly 32% and warranty numbers increased by 26%. On the other hand, insurance float of BRK’s insurance company increased from 46 billion to 49 billion. Due to the capital cost rate of mostly 0% and improving competitiveness, its stock price rose sharply. Financial ratios (price to book ratio and earnings per share ratio) measure share price compared to earnings, book value per share and indicate whether the market overvalues, undervalues and appropriately values the firm’ shares. Managers use to assess investors’ perceptions of future prospects. Some investors invest in stock market based on analyzing financial statements. Table2 Table2 shows mainly the relationship between the book value and stock price. Financial analysts are willing to use book value to measure the stock price. From the table 2 above, the book value of the Berkshire Hathaway increases from $14426 in 1995to $70281 in 2006 and the company’s stock movements, rising from $31900 in 1995 to $110050 in 2006. In addition to particular years, these two charts reflect clearly whether a short term or a long term, the trend of the book value and stock price is roughly the same. In the long term, the growth rate of the net worth is a useful indicator to justify intrinsic value. From 1995 to 2006, the net worth of Berkshire Hathaway’s  net worth increased from $5.3billion to $16.9billion, more than 3.18 times growth during the period. Stock price had increased 3.44 times with book value 4.87 times. Although 1n 1999, the net worth fell to 0.358billion, in the long term, this company still had a significant increase in its stock market per formance. Analysts also can apply activity ratios such as total asset turnover ratio and average payment ratio period to measure management effectiveness in managing its assets and to determine whether the investment in particular asset categories is too high or too low and also find out the efficiency or speed in converting accounts to sales or cash. (Dayanandan 2010, 114)Debt ratios such as debt to equity ratio and debt ratio can indicate financial leverage and the apparent financial risk assumed by the firm’s equity holders. Application Dow Jones Graph2 Dow Jones industrial index Sourced by yahoo finance Graph2 shows the change of Dow Jones industrial index before, during and after global financial crisis. The global financial crisis started in 2007 because the burst of housing bubble caused credit crisis especially in the debt markets.( McCarthy, Solomonand Mihalekl 2012, 1277 ) the stock market highly violated between 2007 and 2009. For example, in United States, the stock market increased to the peak in October 2007 with the Dow Jones Industrial Average about 14,000. After that duration, the Dow Jones dropped sharply from 12,000 in August 2008 to 6,600 in March 2009. After 2009, there is significant increase until now, rising to 14,929. Company- Berkshire Hatchaways Berkshire’s core business for insurance business includes the property casualty reinsurance and special class insurance company. For the past 25 years, this company has increasingly strong capital and little debt, for shareholders to create the value of more than 25% growth on average every  year. Table 3 shows analysis ratios and stock price from 2006 to 2012. Table3 Year ROE Total asset turnover Debt/equity P/E P/B closed Price 2006 0.102 0.40 1.27 12.5 1.27 $109990 2007 0.109 0.43 1.24 13.8 1.51 $141600 2008 0.046 0.40 1.41 38.16 1.71 $96600 2009 0.059 0.38 1.19 18.1 1.11 $99200 2010 0.08 0.37 1.29 14.9 1.24 $120450 2011 0.06 0.37 1.32 19 1.18 $114755 2012 0.077 0.38 1.23 14 1.1 $133000 Sourced by Berkshire Graph3 Berkshire’s stock price between 2006 and 2012 Sourced by yahoo finance The gain in net worth during 2006 was $13.6billion, which increased the per-share book value of its stock by 18.4% to $109990. In 2007, the net worth is 12.3billion, which increased the per-share book value of its stock by 11% to $141600. However, in 2008, the stock price fell to $96600, and then there is an increasing trend from 2009 to 2012. Total assets turnover ratio Total assets turnover ratio measures the management efficiency of the firm in managing its total assets to generate sales. A high ratio suggests greater efficiency. Figures shown in table3, the total assets turnover ratio during global crisis had slight change between 0.37 and 0.40. However, the stock price changed sharply, so the stock price can not reflect the stability of this ratio. ROE indicates the rate of return realized by a firm’s shareholders on their investments and uses as an indicator for the company’s operation. Return on equity (ROE) Return on equity (ROE) is the best indicator to learn how much money a company is making for its investors and measurement of the company’s operations. (Dayanandan 2010, 117) However, ROE is also sensitive to leverage. Assuming that proceeds from debt financing can be invested at a return greater than the borrowing rate, ROE will increase with greater amounts of leverage. From 2007 to 2008, the debt to equity ratio increased by 13.7%, from 1.24 to 1.41. However, ROE rate fell sharply from 10.9% to 4.6%. Although ROE overreact to debt change, Berkshire’s fundamental did not change in 2008. Most of Berkshire’s business is affected by the economic significant downward in 2009. However, its manufacturing services and retail generated a lot of cash flow and continued to consolidate their market competitive advantage. Berkshire’s two most important businesses: business insurance and utilities also had a good growth rate. These businesses produced a large amount of business profits in 2008. P/E ratio P/E ratio is a common approach used by security analysts. In practice, investors usually use expected P/E ratio for the following year and analyse whether the stock price is overvalued or undervalued on the basis. P/E ratio indicates that a stock of its P/E rate over 30 is more likely to be overpriced. The P/E ratio in 2007 and 2008 is 13.8 and 38 respectively and the stock price during the period time of 2007 and 2008 is $141600 and $96600. The change of stock price is overreact to the pre-share earnings. P/B ratio P/B ratio gives some idea of whether an investor is paying too much for what would be left if the company went bankrupt immediately. From 2006 to 2009, P/B ratio increased or decreased had no direct correspondence with the stock price. However, to most companies, the book value is always lower than the stock price. Because most companies have intangible assets such as brand name, specialized skillsï ¼Å'product pricing power. These factors can not reflect in the balance sheet, but the long term trend of the market value is similar with book value. It seems that when P/B ratio increases, the gap between book value and stock price increases. On the other hand, the gap shows investors are willing to hold the stock due to its intangible assets. Cash flow model All these financial ratios cannot explain what happened in 2008 and using cash flow model to estimate the stock price also cannot explain this situation. Because investors assume the company can increase at constant rate. Although they use long-term GDP growth rate to reduce the risk of assessing value, this growth rate cannot explain and predict what happened during the investing period. They also use CAPM to measure discounted rate given by the risk-free interest rate plus a risk premium. The formula is ki=Rf+(Rm-Rf)ÃŽ ²i. However, ÃŽ ²sometimes cannot estimate risk between the market and stock. For example, a company’s market value increases from 10billion t0 20billion is less than market value of the company from 10billion to 3billion. If the company still operate well, from the market side, the risk of buying a company of the market value of 20billion is less than buying the same company of its market value of 3billion. Conclusion Therefore, during global financial crisis, fundamental analysis was useless. It is clear that during some periods the stock price is overvalued or undervalued significantly from its intrinsic value, leading to highly volatility of market price. Any market volatility is considered as irrational performances, so these market valuations caused by behavioral finance which do not have impacts on the company’s assets valuations and  operations. (Adams, Armitage and FitzGerald 2012, 157). In the long term, the trend of the stock price is similar to the trend of its intrinsic value. On the other hand, in the short term, market price is influenced and fluctuated by political, economic, psychological factors, so market price is always undervalued or overvalued, but it is fluctuating around the intrinsic value. Some research show that sometimes earnings information cannot react to the stock market simultaneously and all the public financial information pose a gradual influence on the stock market for a while. During global financial crisis, the stock price sharply fluctuated because of financial behavior. Debt crisis caused by housing loan had a significant impact on people’s confidence. Trader’s low confidence let them make decisions irrationally. Reference list 1. Lee, C.M.C. and Swaminathan, B. 1999. â€Å"Valuing the Dow: A bottom-up approach.† Financial Analysts Journal 55 (5): 4-23. 2. Kesh, Someswar. and Raja, M. K. 2005. â€Å"Development of a qualitative reasoning model for financial forecasting.† Information Management & Computer Security 13 (2): 167-179. 3. Carter, T. and Demissew, D.E. 2008. â€Å"Value innovation management and discounted cash flow.† Management Decision 46(1): 58-76. 4. Madden, B.J. 2007. â€Å"Guidepost to Wealth Creation: Value-Relevant Track Records.† Journal of Applied Finance 17 (2): 119-130. 5. Vilanova, M., Lozano, J.M. and Arenas, D. 2009. â€Å"Exploring the Nature of the Relationship Between CSR and Competitiveness.†Journal of Business Ethics 87: 57-69. 6. Dayanandan, R. 2010. â€Å"Working Capital Management for Sustainable Cooperatives.† Global Business and Management Research 2(1): 102-124. 7. Hagos, T.M. and Pal, G. 2010. â€Å"The means of analysis and evaluation for corporate performances. â€Å"Annales Universitatis Apulensis : Series Oeconomica 12 (1): 438-449. 8. Zaki, E., Bah, R. and Rao, A. 2011. â€Å"Assessing probabilities of financial distress of banks in UAE.† International Journal of Managerial Finance 7 (3): 304-320. 9. McCarthy, Mary., Solomon, P., and Mihalek, Paul. 2012. â€Å"Financial Crisis During 2007 And 2008: Efficient Markets Or Human Behavior?† Journal of Applied Business Research 28 (6): 1275-1281. 10. Adams, A., Armitage, S. and FitzGerald, A. 2012. â€Å"An analysis of stock market volatility.† Annals of Actuarial Science 6ï ¼Ë†1ï ¼â€°Ã¯ ¼Å¡153-170.

How honest will I be in the world of Business Article - 1

How honest will I be in the world of Business - Article Example While dealing with customers, I shall always tell them the truth about my products and I shall honor my promises to them. I shall for example make sure that I disclose any defect in commodities that I sell to customers and ensure timely deliveries to the customers. Similarly, my dealings with suppliers at different business levels will be free from falsehood. I shall correct any understatement in suppliers’ delivery notes and make sure that suppliers’ payments are made within agreed upon durations. I shall also be honest in my possible role as a manager, a leader, or an employer. In any of these capacities, I shall treat employees and relate with them according to my organization’s human resource management policies. Further, I shall not be involved in any form of fraud or misrepresentation of information to any stakeholder in the business world. Avoiding conflict of interest will be my strategy to achieving this level of honesty (Boone and Kurtz,

The Diabetes Issue Prevailing in South Asian Indian Women Term Paper

The Diabetes Issue Prevailing in South Asian Indian Women - Term Paper Example Kanaya et. Al (2010) stated that South Asians have a prevalence of diabetes despite their low body weight. This may be because of the difference in the culture that needs to be analyzed. Based on the study conducted by Kanaya et al, it was found that South Asian Indians immigrants are more likely to have diabetes than other US ethnic Groups. The discussion aims at highlighting the health issue prevailing in South Asian Indian women in Los Angeles County in the United States along with developing a health care program to curtail the health issue to an extent. Gielen, Bone (2008) stated that the quality of life is often affected by these health issues along with affecting the social and economic environment in the present as well as in the future. The health problem to be assessed in this particular discussion is diabetes using Precede-Proceed Model as a public health theory The study would be conducted in Los Angeles County by collecting data and information on South Asian Indian wome n suffering from diabetes. ...Wulffson (2011) stated that diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death and the ninth leading cause of premature death in Los Angeles County. The impact of diabetes has been severe on South Asian Indian women compared to any other ethnic group in the United States as per the study conducted by Kanaya et. al (2010). The data reflected that a total of 29% of Asian Indians had diabetes, after the full research and analysis, Indians still had high cases of diabetes compared to whites and Latinos. However, diabetes cases of South Asian Indians were similar to African Americans: Indians [odds ratio (OR), 1.0], whites, 0.29; Latinos (0.34) African Americans (0.77 ;) South Asian Indians have a different lifestyle compared to other ethnic groups in terms of nutrient intakes. Chowdhury and Hitman (2000) stated that the primary cause of diabetes is obesity that increases the weight of the body along with making it defunct up to an extent in terms of performing no rmal usual tasks. Along with this, hypertension and proclivity towards oily and rich food often affect the body mass index of South Asian Indian Women.  

Is the EU reaching the limits of enlargement Essay

Is the EU reaching the limits of enlargement - Essay Example These problems such as the ever increasing size of the subsidy programs and additional payments to keep countries in line with the overall EU policy have imposed some limits on the current enlargement process. Despite an ever increasing degree of interest shown by these East European countries in joining the EU the organization has almost come to a stretching point where there is little or no room for further expansion. This dilemma is basically attributed to the very structural constraints experienced by the former communist economies in Eastern Europe (Jacobsen, 1997). For instance when countries like Poland, Hungary and Rumania joined the EU during the initial stage following the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe there was much greater hope about the future of the EU as an economic union. Subsequently with further enlargement and monetary union the organization began to develop first the structural constraints and next trade related problems on the allocation of subsidy funds. The future of the EU now is more or less determined by how best the organization would be able to absorb those new entrants and how best the structural problems arising from its subsidy programs would be handled. Various writers have pointed out that the EU is basically a behemoth that is much less likely to absorb the remaining East European countries in to the fold with any degree of success. The rapid transformation of th... However what the EU could do as a customs union and then as an economic union is no more possible under the present dispensation. Primarily the EU has been evolving on unbridled largesse in the form of farm and agricultural subsidies. When all these subsidy programs culminated in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) the organization did little realize what was ahead. In fact it is the CAP that caused the current impasse between the US government and the EU on international trade.The World Trade Organization (WTO) and other international trade forums have almost failed to reconcile the two sides to the conflict. Similarly Japan and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have objected to the presence of CAP in the EU. Despite these disputes the EU has been compelled by an ever increasing necessity to maintain a minimum level of subsidies to the new member countries. The net result of this commitment is the further aggravation of trade relations with the US in particular an d other countries in general. The EU has come a long way in giving farm and agricultural subsidies to its powerful community of farm producers who demand the continuation of the programs irrespective of the global pressure to wind them up. These trade related outcomes have compelled the EU to adopt some new programs and to redesign the existing programs in keeping with the adjustments required by its member countries' commitments to the WTO.This paper would particularly focus attention on the current phase of EU enlargement arising from the post-communism developments in Eastern Europe while the theoretical considerations of enlargement related structural constraints would be discussed with reference to the empirical evidence on the EU's inability to absorb new

Economic Development Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Economic Development - Research Paper Example Notably, it has also been demonstrated in certain other areas relating to business activities such as trade, manufacturing and other business operations. In this context, industrializations, economic policies and export activities among others are considered to be the most important factors for the all-round development of a country. Human capital is also considered to be an important aspect which assists in the development of economies by a considerable level (Khan, Zhang, Hashmi and Bashir, â€Å"Cultural Values and Economic Growth in Asia: An Empirical Analysis†). Economic development in the Asian countries can be recognized by taking into concern certain valuable aspects like trade activities and better investment opportunities among others. In the worldwide context, Asia has been viewed to be the fast growing or developing economy and is recognized to be one of the leading financial centers throughout the globe. The financial advancement of Asia can be noted in the develo pment of its various nations like Japan, China, South Korea, India and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. The economic conditions of these Asian countries have been viewed to be developing in a continuous manner (Ishido, â€Å"East Asia’s Economic Development cum Trade â€Å"Divergence†Ã¢â‚¬ ). It has been apparently observed that there laid certain imperative factors which are held responsible for the economic development of the aforementioned Asian countries in the 21st century. In this regard, the factors comprise adoption as well as implementation of pioneering technological advancements, globalization of world economy, diverse trade activities and enhanced policies linked with financial development. Moreover, another important factor that contributes in developing the financial position of the different Asian countries is the role played by the government in the respective nations. The governments belonging to different nations of Asia int roduced as well as implemented various favorable economic and political policies that eventually resulted in raising the standards of the financial position of the Asian countries by a greater extent. Besides, the policies that formed as well as executed by the government belonging to different nations of Asia have improved business as well as human welfare activities resulting in better economic development. Apart from the aforementioned factors, the financial development of

What are the effects of social network sites on the English teenagers Coursework

What are the effects of social network sites on the English teenagers - Coursework Example 172). Social networking has had diverse effects on English teenagers both positive and negative depending on the person examining the effects and on the angle viewed. SNS have led to improved social connections among the teens, which have been fundamental in affecting social skills among them, especially the ones who are shy in interacting in the real world. These sites build the confidence of the teens and affect the interaction skills through the platforms they provide where a person can express his or her opinions freely without any fear. This has been made possible by the options the sites present for self-expression through updating a status, commenting, liking or disliking, joining a relevant group on Facebook and tweeting on Twitter among others. The youngsters then apply the social skills gained from the social networking in the real world either consciously or unconsciously since the skills become part of their day-to-day social life. In addition, these internet sites have been o f great importance to the teens in making friendships with other teens across the globe and in maintaining their current friendships (Zheng, Burrow and Drew 2010, p.15). As a result, important friendships that have been critical in the teen’s adult life have been created which could not be possible if these social interaction tools did not exist. Social Network sites have enabled the English teenagers to have a cheap and readily available access to a wide range of information on various issues, which affect them in their various activities. This has been possible since the sites provide their users with access to millions of people from the different parts of the world that are well knowledgeable and specialized in different fields. The teens therefore depending on their interests, likes, ambitions and passion choose the kind of people whom they are interested in and start learning from them through the various tools the SNS present. Research shows that

Market Imperative and Popular culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Market Imperative and Popular culture - Essay Example So how is it connected with market imperative And what really is market imperative Market imperative is basically an economic concept that states that the consistent need of producers to seek new markets forces them to cross national boundaries and exploit foreign markets. In other words, the need to seek new frontiers might push national boundaries to the extent that there is little difference left in national and foreign markets. When a country's producers push their own boundaries, they create new boundaries and thus embrace foreign land into their own scope of influence. This is a logical concept but due to rapid globalization, this concept has become a curse for the world. America stands at the very center of this heated debate about national boundaries extension. If a country that seeks to extend its control to other countries chooses to market its products and services to foreign lands, it automatically gains access to their social and moral fabric. And while it may be trying to only sell its products but it intentionally or unintentionally also manages to sell its values and norms to other countries thus triggering a process of homogenous culture.

Nursing home for aging Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Nursing home for aging - Essay Example Research indicates that more than 1.000 million people at the age of 60 or more will comprise of the total world population whereas approximately 700 million old individuals will be living in the developing countries by 2020 (Ayranci, 2005). This shows that there would be a significant change in lifestyle of people in the near future which will subsequently increase health care issues, family responsibilities of young individuals and the overall social set up. Furthermore, meeting the health care needs of the older generation will become a greater challenge (Ayranci, 2005). These problems can be met through facilitating nursing homes for aging at the government level. Based on ethical standards and traditional family systems it can be argued that nursing homes aren’t the right choice for aging persons fundamentally because they create distance between elderly and young while also transforming an individual in to an irresponsible and egotistic being. However, on the other hand old individuals who are particularly diagnosed with fatal or transferable diseases can be treated and cared more conveniently in nursing homes. This actually relates to careful assessment of an old person, safety factors, health care practices and interventions required to counter with the disease. Since nurses are trained to deal with aging people therefore these patients are usually shifted to nursing homes to get benefitted by the professional health care practitioners. Mobility and Portability: Nursing homes’ quality standards are mostly judged on the basis of technotherapeutic interventions that they have. In addition to this, they also need to develop freestanding clinics, significant nonhospital settings and the ambulatory care centers. Evidence-based Practice: It is one of the most common and widely acknowledged concepts of nursing care primarily because it is helpful in

The relation of quality management and risk management -or- the future Thesis Proposal

The relation of quality management and risk management -or- the future of quality management with risk management - Thesis Proposal Example Widdop et al (2007, p.2) observes that integrating the two approaches to management requires communication. There is a gap in the existing literature of the lack of a framework of enhancing the integration of quality management with risk management and this is the focus of this study. Developing this integrative framework will make it easy for organizations to manoeuvre these important approaches to management. According to Williams et al (2006, p.68) risk management intersects with quality management at the point at which it seeks to ensure the effectiveness, efficiency and economy of a business strategy or process. Quality management is the design and execution of products and services with the objective of meeting and preferably exceeding customers’ expectations without the wastage of available resources (Williams et al 2006, p.68). Risk management identifies, prioritizes, addresses, and eliminates potential sources of failure of the services and products to meet their set objectives. In this context, risk management is a pre-emptive, proactive, predictive, and preventive endeavour. After studying a number of companies, Williams et al (2006, p.69) found that reducing risk deltas reduces objective gaps and variation hence increasing process quality. Kuhn and Youngberg (2002, p.159) asserted quality is one of the important issues in risk-based approach to management alongside health, safety and environment. After examining five organizations, Kuhn and Youngberg (2002, p.159) found that continuous improvement, stakeholder satisfaction, adherence to standards and checks and balances, optimizing the quality of every investor’s dollar and prevention are quality principles and practices that seamlessly fit into risk management. Kuhn and Youngberg (2002, p.160) observe that the Six Sigma is an exemplar case of how to integrate quality management with risk management. For example, he notes that Six Sigma’s DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve,

Silence, Feminism & Racism Essay Example for Free

Silence, Feminism Racism Essay The essays done by Hooks simply described the voice as an relevant tool in achieving freedom from oppression, not only for the perspective of one woman, but using the voice in order to liberate other women experiencing cruelty. This is an example of one important role of women in the society. Silence on the contrary keeps women from being in the state of oppression, because they are hindered from using their voice to speak of their situation. Women in silence never learned how to speak for themselves, and the only solution is to free them from silence. For other women, even though they are subjected to domination, they still use their voice to resist the impact of those who oppress them. Hooks mentioned that feminism is transformative. The writings of today are racist and at the same time sexist as dictated by the culture. But then the way a student reads a composition, for example a novel, the style of literary criticism may be varied from the usual cultural dictatorship that makes the women oppressed in those readings. I agree, feminism is a possible tool for critical and analytical examination of writings, and when the feministic view is inserted in the classrooms, this may transform the customary outlook of women. But as for me, the feministic view cannot be totally pushed into the minds of people but could be just used as a guide in making literary criticisms, but not an overall guiding principle in much or almost all of the things. Some of the women chose not to be identified in the feminist movement because of the fear or responsibility. Attached to being a feminist is the confrontation and many critical encounters from the opposition that would punish the ego and esteem of women. Of course, much of the views of a feminist will be opposed by the status quo of men stronger than women, which entails public critique to their feministic ideals. Hooks was happy learning many things from her teachers who happened to be black also in her younger days, until she transferred to another institution of all-white teachers in the 1960s because of school integration. Here she was always confronted because of her color. It made her think that the teachers are not willing to enrich their intellect but to make them consider education as just a form of obedience to them. Also, there was not even any subject or discussion incorporating the life of the blacks. This is one of the factors that made her decide to continue writing for their culture and for womanhood. She had made it a channel for arousing her imagination of conceptualizing teaching as a way to free people from captivity of the mind, especially the women at that time.

Training And Development In Oil Companies Management Essay

Training And Development In Oil Companies Management Essay The results obtained from the surveyed oil and gas companies provide a rich source of qualitative data and insights into the companies perspectives on training and development. This chapter contains recommendations of the TD systems components, determinants and successful training development approaches as they may apply to firms () in the Yemen oil industry. This chapter also presents the conclusions review and concludes with suggested recommendations for future research. Conclusion Implication: In conclusion, it appears that oil gas companies, as represented by Yemen, are found to be committed to training developing their workforces. They are more or less implementing the training development process along with modern TD theory and practice. They have sufficient budgets allocated for their training development activates and many are in the process of reassessing and systematically improving their approaches to advanced and long term skill and competency development. The great majority of companies recognizes that the skill levels of their employees are fundamental to the success of the business, and that they need to invest and develop these skills in the same way that they maintained improve their infrastructure. While most companies are aware of the training development functions and processes, they arent much familiar with many of the specific components details and structure of what constitutes a training development system. Although the companies aim to have a well-trained staff and are, in general terms, aware of the functions and process stages of training development, they dont attach great importance to systematic training and development structures and they arent aware of the specific components of the TD system framework. For example, the organizational determinants that impact training development activities, such as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦andà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ are never considered. Although most of the TD process stages are followed two phases of the TD process are highly deficient, namely, the training needs assessment and program evaluation phases. Ad hoc needs assessments and evaluation practices may have served in the past but the new economic and social realities of Yemen, make these practices vulnerable. The researcher believes that this is partially due to the fact that the training focus has more or less linearly followed the short term planning of the the day-to-day needs and operations of the businesses, and that it served the direct needs only to ensure that the Oil Gas companies would remain sustainable in the Oil Gas industry. In fact, the training has so far been mainly reactive, where existing employees were trained as identified specific needs arise. Not having clear TD objectives, nor defining or stating specifically the required outcomes has caused some frustrations among the Human Resources or Training Specialists in the oil companies. In some cases their objectives were to only demonstrate to the Ministry of Oil that they are spending significant amounts of money in training and developing their Yemeni workforce. In spite of this, most companies claim that the currently applied TD systems are satisfactory. I believe this satisfaction is mainly due to the sufficient amounts of TD budgets they are currently spending and to the fact that they have an expatriate workforce ready to intervene whenever a Yemeni employee isnt performing as per required standards. So, the effectiveness of their TD activities isnt really a major problem till so far. Companies often consider training as a stand alone process with no ties or links to the major features of their business strategy nor to other parts of the total training development system, such as the surrounding environment of its different components, methods selection procedures (?), or the various burdens affecting employee training. Linking employee Training Development activities with other activities (e.g. career pathing, performance appraisal and reward systems and management by objectives) would put training in a perspective and give the trainee an incentive to learn and apply learned norms. While there is evidence that a considerable amount of existing employee Training Development is undertaken by the Oil Gas companies and their commitment to the continuous training development of their staff at all levels of the workplace (Sentence is not clear). The companies approach to the continuous training development of their existing workforce is unsystematic and dependent on the initiation and enthusiasm of employees and on the government requirements. Training opportunities, both formal and less formal, are open to all staff, but the company does not put pressure on employees to engage in training and development. When companies dont have TD qualified specialists as found by at least two companies, they (= higher management?) rely on the personality, and existing skills and knowledge of its workforce to address these issues. Due to the absence of awareness for restructuring their TD activities in a systematic manner, it is expected that long term development and career plans may not be possible in the Oil Gas companies.. Short-term plans (1-3 years), however that focus on the next promotion may be possible (Muna, 1987). This research has led the researcher to conclude that the Yemen Oil Gas sector is not fully aware of the importance of having a systematic training development system. However, external (Yeminization) and internal (call for promotions) pressure forces the companies to reassess the present practice and to introduce TD systems to link the modern and complex Oil Gas infrastructure with a highly qualified workforce. The potential is there. Recommendations The findings of this study shed light on the training development structures and practices in the oil gas industry in Yemen; and the issues raised in this research may be of value to practitioners in other industries and multinational companies operating in Yemen. On the basis of the result findings and conclusions of this research the following recommendations are made. General company recommendations The findings regarding the considerable amount of existing employee Training Development suggest a growing commitment to employee training in the Yemen oil industry. However, the deficient in not considering the organizational factors that impact the effectiveness of the TD activities needs to be reconsidered. Similarly, TD needs assessment and evaluation systems need to be remedied. It is important that a link is made between the application of systematic TD approaches with proper selection criteria and the required TD outcomes including effective Yemenization. Only through effectively and continuously developing and training their employees are the companies in the Oil industry able to acquire the core competencies needed to sustain their operations and to be flexible or ready to cope with changes. Training Development that is built around action rather than theory and characterized by encouraging a work habit of reflection and learning and self-development is what companies in the Oil Gas industry in Yemen in particular and in all industries in general should be looking at. It is suggested that systematic thinking should guide the planning, analysis, implementation and follow-up of employee development efforts in these companies. Perhaps the clearest messages from this study is with serious effort on their part these companies may be able to define the TD (input output) determinants that have most impacts on the outputs they value most. The cooperation between HR or training departments and all units in the company will enhance the training efficiency in planning and developing employee TD programs. HR, training and all units in the respective companies can work together to find out more about why each one approaches rules the way they do, and work out some compromises. People in various departments should understand what is really required and HR and training should also translate needs in training programmes and figure out how legitimate exceptions can be made to make things work for companys business. The research findings suggest that department managers who are not aligned with HR and training often fail to communicate or implement critical policies that help improve employee engagement. Without cooperation between HR and the various units in the company, both spend too much energy putting out fires, like recruiting new people because the good people leave the company. When HR and other departments leaders work together effectively, the results often include: Clear business roles that ensure the right people are doing the right jobs Performance management processes that relate the core competencies of each departments roles and enable ongoing development of employees Incentive plans that pay for performance and align with business strategy. Previous research (Schimel, 1979) has emphasized the importance of dual roles to be played simultaneously by management of companies and the government, namely, passivity and support. The acquiescence of Yemeni nevertheless at the managerial level and their willingness to permit experimentation and failure is a good approach for the success of Yemeni development (Comment: What do you want to say here? Is the management lenient to the support of the Government?). Moreover, the findings suggest increasing the role of the top management and government involvement in setting the training development strategies, objectives, proper budget allocation of what is spent on training which is short-term and more spending on development which ensures continuity of operations once the international oil companies leave Yemen. Company specific recommendations To enhance training and development effectiveness, it is suggested that the following feature be incorporated in the five Oil Gas companies Training Development functions: Supported by key strategies, objectives, systems, structures, policies, and practices: to ensure a true return on companies TD investments, it is suggested that Training Development in the five companies are aligned with and directly supported by key areas such as organizational structures, lines of authority, decision making, values, planning, budgeting, career development, performance management, rewards and recognition, staffing, recruiting, and succession planning. Specifically, the TD strategies in all five companies should be aimed at knowledge retention and transfer to the workplace, enabling employees to be more effective and to acquire more skills. In addition, there should be explicit alignment between programs, learning objectives, and business objectives. These direct links will help to both set boundaries and reinforce desired results. Best companies now realize that many Training and Development initiatives take years to fully achieve their goals. Consequently, the las t suggestion in this point would be that companies identify these timeframes up front, where possible, and the TD programs evaluated at those points. Companies must seek mutual benefit that is reflected, on the one hand through the employee in the development of his career and achieving personal goals, and , on the other hand, through the leader of these companies in achieving the set of business goals and a more effective management of his subordinate employees. In this way, appropriate staff will be trained and able to contribute to the success of the company. Driven through many Methods and Approaches: companies are encouraged to further investigate and utilize multiple modalities such as the classroom, workplace, blended learning, eLearning, technology support tools, however in a systematic manner to ensure that people get the right skills at the right time, in the right way, and at the right cost to succeed. Modalities are suggested to be selected to match specific learning styles, business issues, budgets, and required training development outputs. Employees are usually keen to participate in programs that add to their current and future work effectiveness and that will contribute to their companys success. Therefore, Training Development programs should be relevant to both the company and to the employees work requirements. All selected Oil Gas companies, and in particular (Companies 3 and 4), are encouraged to train their employees through real tasks and/or assignments in their international branches rather than teaching theory, so that after training employees are able to apply what they have learned in their own work. Also training in projects type of work, is suggested, however, because of the value placed on job rotation discussed in the literature review, the Yemeni government should encourage Oil and Gas companies to establish permanent training slots in major departments, ensuring ongoing exposure of Yemeni employees to new tasks and responsibilities, nevertheless at the management level.(Comment: reword sentence) Yemeni employees identified for management positions may be given the opportunity to test his or her skills in a number of different roles (positions?) such as in finance, operations, and exploration, before settling on a full-time management role within the company. Additionally, companies should encourage their employees to identify their own needs, create individual learning plans, and to seek learning opportunities. Relevant software packages that facilitate such employee interaction was only found in company 2 and therefore the other four companies are strongly recommended to use similar TD information systems. (Comments: but should also be given the opportunity to follow the programs as was mentioned in chapter 4) Participative approach in the application of their TD Processes: Training Development is best when conducted by line managers supported by the TD specialists experience and employee feedback. Line managers set performance objectives, and also perform evaluations. Even where the training is designed and delivered by (= for?) a specific function or department, TD programs should respond not only to organizational needs, but also to individual needs as identified through appraisals, counseling meetings, assessments, and career development plans. One of the most important elements of best practice training and development is that it should be easily transferred back to the workplace. The five Companies can achieve this through the timing of the training, the quality of the content, and the quality and appropriateness of the delivery method. Another crucial element to this transferability is the role of line managers (effective management of subordinate employees) in the maintenance of t he new skill or knowledge once training has been completed. All companies should remember that skills and knowledge that are not used constantly will quickly atrophy (= disappear? forgotten?). Consequently, to bring about lasting change in behaviors and habits, all Companies are encouraged to have a continuous learning process. To achieve this, the Companies should ensure that learning occurs before, during, and after scheduled TD events. The process of doing, reflecting, learning, and doing again should never cease. Another way to achieve this transferability is in the 2nd TD process phase, when designing the training materials. Companies could consider the Performance-Based Training Design method which teaches employees job performance that enables them to go back to work and do the job, not just know how to do the job. TD Input, Process and Output elements: It is no longer feasible to address the complex needs and requirements of Training and Development activities in the contemporary organization in a less than comprehensive approach. Today, the five selected Companies are operating in a surrounding organizational environment where several Input, Process Output indicators impact the quality of the organizational Training and Development function. It is suggested (= recommended?) that all of the five companies TD systems are structured based on the TD basic systems framework as used in this research; such that: TD Input consisting of: Clear TD objectives and strategies Participative environment Sufficient budget and resources Strong support from companies management: Management support is empirical to the success of training programs for resources and support, including time, money and motivation. When the companys top management does not take responsibility for TD policy rather imposed by the HR or training department, can lead to potentially spread the gap between training development and organizational requirements. Clear support from government, through establishing laws and regulations that monitor and sets minimum TD activities that are required to be implemented. TD Process: To ensure a successful Training and Development system, Oil Gas companies need to effectively go through the entire Training and Development process, such that there is: Assessment: assessing the needs for training and the area of improvement, setting training objectives, and determining the budget. In addition, keep track of available inventory of skills and competencies that will assist in proper planning of gaps. Involvement: participation of individual, departments, HR and top management should be involved in designing or selection of the training programs, including the training topics, training methods, place, and the trainers. Personalized: using real world issues and ease studies Interactive: employee training programs will involve open dialogue, role-playing and small-group sessions to increase team building and excitement. Evaluation and Control: the shallow reactive mode governing the program evaluation process should be replaced by a comprehensive evaluation system which focuses on the results of training and transference of knowledge to the workplace. This recommendation is consistent with the suggestions of Kirkpatrick (Kirkpatrick, 1979) who stated that the best evaluation system focused on the effects of the application of information and learned concepts on the organization. Establish follow up procedure that properly measures the TD effectiveness, Employee change and satisfaction, etc. TD Output: Have clear training and development outcomes that include: It isnt enough to evaluate what employees have learned rather what learning have they applied on the job: Standard measurement of productivity and profitability: Yemenization: is an important aspect that requires proper planning, measurement and regular monitoring. Correlation between training development determinants: The literature (Al-Khayyat, et al., 1997) shows that for each output indicator there is a unique set of input and process indicators that have significant effects over it. For example, the adequacy of resources allocated for Training and Development have significant effect on all output indicators such as (application of learning, performance improvement, productivity profitability). Similarly, clearly stated long-term policies of HRD have a significant effect on productivity and profitability. The logical inference of this is that companies should clearly identify and focus on the set of (input and process) indicators that are related to the output they value most, or the desired output in a given time. The view of output-related indicators is much differentiated; each has a somewhat unique path to achieve. Finally, Both the literature review for this research and the data analyzed from the surveyed companies informed ( = contributed to?) the development of a comprehensive TD Determinants model that includes: all relevant TD determinant indicators as well as the full TD process cycle. This improved model is depicted in the following figure that gives an overall picture or model that is suggested to be followed: Comprehensiveness of HRD Perspectives Resources Allocation Strategic Planning Long-term HRD Policies, HRD Objectives Senior Management Gov. Support and Involvement invlovement Employee and Customer Satisfaction Learning Application Yemenization. Productivity Profitability Productivity Work output Input Process Output Needs Assessment Implementation Method Selection Evaluation Control TD Process Change TD Environment TD Model Oil Gas Companies One of the particularly admirable features of the industry is the way that, once a person is accepted into the these surveyed companies industry, the educational sector from which the person emerged fades into insignificance as companies take care of developing their own people. Several directions for further research There are several directions for future research to consider, these include: The degree of agreement between the various oil companies needs to be investigated further. The future studies analysis should be at the organizational level (analysing the data for each organization separately) instead of doing it at the aggregate level (all subjects working in different companies together, as was done in this study). The issue of the differences between effective and less effective companies should be explored further. The analysis should be at the organizational level, that is, identify specific effective and less effective companies and then explore the differences between them with respect to input and process indicators. Identify the elements which contribute to successful training in the Oil Gas companies and factors that influence implementation of training and learning in the workplace (Ridoutt et al. 2002). And how do firms measure the success of their training practices Nonetheless, the major determinats uncovered are significant and gave an indication of the broad brush of what impacts training and skill development in the Yemen oil gas industry. It would be beneficial to test these determinants in other industries. Maybe a statement about making further study on ways the Government could speed up the Yemenization process using TD system.

The Social Arrangements Made By Organisations Commerce Essay

The Social Arrangements Made By Organisations Commerce Essay An Organisation is social arrangements for achieving controlled performance in pursuit of collective goals (Buchanan Huczynski 1997). The organization can also be defined as, social element developed by humans to serve some purpose. An organization usually consists of more than one people. According to Rollinson, the organizations are goals directed i.e. they are created to serve some purpose. However, this does not mean that everyone in the particular organization has the common goals and neither does it follow that everybody is aware of the goals pursued by the organization. Achieving the purpose or the goals for the organisation normally requires that human activity be deliberately structured and coordinated in some way, thus there will be identifiable parts or activities (Rollinson, 2008). For example, let us take our University as an organisation. The students, teaching staffs, non-teaching staffs, top management, workers, buildings and other resources available in the university form the organisation. The purpose of the university is to provide the quality education to the students. There is a culture being followed up in this organisation. The culture plays a major role in the organisation. But this culture is different from one organisation to another. What is Organisational Behaviour? It is the study of human behavior in organisational contexts, with a focus on individual and group processes and actions. Hence, it involves an exploration of organizational and managerial processes in the dynamic context of the organisation and is primarily concerned with the human implications of such activities (Brooks, 2009). So it is essential to understand the human behaviour and the organisational behaviour. Each and every person in their lives is inevitably involved in some sort of organizations. So it is important to analyse the organisation in which we are involved. The following are about the paradigms, organizational structure and the role of culture in the organisation. 2. PARADIGMS: Paradigm is the name given to the conceptual frameworks within which the knowledge is produced. A paradigm is constituted, in part, by the rules which are generally accepted as necessary to follow in order to produce good knowledge (Jackson and carter, 2007). More significantly, a paradigm consists of the shared beliefs and assumptions of knowledge producers about what knowledge is, which shared beliefs and assumptions are institutionalised through support structure, such as universities, and through training (Corlett and Forster, 2004). The paradigm contains a model for solving the problems faced but it is not a real structure. The concept of knowledge paradigm was introduced by Thomas Kuhn in the year 1962. The schemes are about how people view the reality, what school of thought these people belong to, what kind of scientific tolls their use to carry out the science and what kind of metaphors can describe their way of thinking. In the year 1979, Burrell and Morgan developed this concept as Social paradigm which has been widely accepted by most scientists. A paradigm can be used as a lens through which we can view the world. According to Burrell and Morgan there are four types of paradigm by which the organization can be viewed. They are Functionalist paradigm Interpretative paradigm Radical Humanist paradigm Radical structuralist paradigm. They identified two fundamental core principles that divide researchers in two groups: the Objective dimension and the Subjective dimension. According to Jackson and Carter, the functionalist are the ones which see the organisation in an objective way and beliefs on more a structural and control type in the organisation. Most conventional theories of organisational analysis and organisational behavior will fall under this paradigm. The functionalist beliefs the managerial interests as a hierarchy were the rules and regulations and power in an organisation is an important factor in their organisation. (Jackson and Carter, 2007) http://www.ncjrs.gov/policing/mitar2_1.gif Radical structuralists are the ones which share the view of the functionalist were the organisational power and structure is the important factor where this paradigm concentrate in a structural relationship in an organisation (Jackson and Carter, 2007). Radical humanists are the far opposite of the functionalist. According to Jackson and Carter, this paradigm shares the interpretivist view of organisations as social construction but also shares the radical structuralist view of the organisations as instruments of power and domination. Radical humanist believe in change and structural way of communication in an organisation and more subjective in decision making. Interpretivist paradigms are the ones which are concerned with regulation but understand the real world situation. Interpretivist paradigms are more realistic and believe relationship within the organisation with some rules and regulation is the best work place to work referred from (Jackson and Carter, 2007). I identified my paradigm as an Interpretivist by using the questionnaire model to understand the types of paradigm and their views in radical change and subjective or objective interpretation of an organisation. According to Collins understanding a persons paradigm from a questionnaire cannot give the person the right view of which paradigm we fall in as it is just simple exercise and the mood of the person gives a huge impact when he answers the questionnaire. So, it is subjected to change from one organisation to another. (Collins, 1996) 3. METHODOLOGY OF DATA GATHERING: The name of the organization which we are going to see in this study is Santha Textiles. I have chosen this organization because it is my fathers company. So, it will easy for me to gather the information and analyse the organization to the core. And another reason for choosing this organization is that I will be in the company every weekend while doing my undergraduate studies in India. So, I know what is the culture and the structure followed up in the company. I mainly visit the company to know how well the business is going, what are the techniques involved and to develop my managerial capabilities. These previous experiences will be helpful to bring out my thoughts regarding culture at Santha Textiles when we proceed further. 4. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION: Santha Textiles is a textile fabric manufacturing company situated in South India. The company is manufacturing the textile products for more than 30 years. During the years the company has grown steadily and started marketing its product throughout India. The company has a strong reputation in its field. This strong reputation and market share is only due to its quality products. The company employs more than 350 employees and uses latest machines in its state of art factories to manufacture its product right away from raw materials to the finished goods. The company mainly manufactures cotton fabrics which are used for shirts, bed spreads and some Indian traditional wears. The company follows all the rules and regulations which are stated by the Indian Government. The following is my assessment of the structure and the culture in Santha textiles. This mainly elaborates about the structure and the culture followed in the company throughout their business periods. 5. ANALYSING DATA WITH LITERATURE REVIEW: 5.1. DEFINITION OF CULTURE AND CULTURE IN SANTHA TEXTILES: Organisational culture remains a controversial concept. The concept of culture is in itself a social concept. Therefore it follows that the concept of organizational culture should be viewed as the social concept of an organization and is an interpretation of the way how the organization behaves. Basically culture is a very diverse subject as it varies from country to country and from organisation to organisation. Organisational culture is defined as the collection of relatively uniform and enduring values, beliefs, customs, traditions and practices that are shared by an organisations member, learned by new recruits, and transmitted from one generation of employees to the next (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). According to this definition culture in one organisation is different from other organisation. Each and every organisation has their own tradition, beliefs, values and practices in them. However, organizational culture is a scientifically accepted concept used to define and descr ibe the collective individual behavior within the organisation. The culture has a significant impact to achieve the organisations aims and on the development of the organisation. Lundbergs seven points make it clear that culture is a soft aspect of an organisation, in which the details are carried in peoples mind, even though these people may not be aware of doing so they use this information to interpret what surrounds them, for example to judge whether something is right or wrong, suitable or unsuitable (Rollinson, 2008). So, people use this information to judge the decision whether it will go right or wrong in the organisation. Each and every organisation has their own unique culture even though they have not tried to create consciously. These cultures would have been created by the top management or by the founders who build that organisation. But in some organisation the top level management tries to change the culture of the organisation based on the location and condition in which the organisation is located. This change of culture will be more useful in decision making, managing and to bring out the success of their organisation. Culture allows for similarity and agreement on some matters but also rely upon differences and in some cases make it safe to disagree (Hatch, 2006). Organisational cultures have complex relationships with the environments in which they operate and from which they recruit their members. When an organisation is created it becomes its own world and the culture in the organisation becomes its foundation. Peoples actions and the work in the organisation are not always their own but are largely influenced by the socialization processes of specific culture to which they belong. According to Schein, organizational culture is the key to organizational excellence and the function of leadership is the creation and management of culture. Hence culture is very difficult to change unless one changes the people in the group. There are many theorists who describes about the culture in the organisation. We are going to see about the Scheins theory of oranisational culture in this assessment. Relating with the Scheins theory we can compare the culture in Santha textiles. 5.2. RELATING SCHEINS MODEL WITH THE ORGANISATION: Edgar Scheins model of culture is among most widely discussed. According to Buchanan and Huczynski, it considers organizational culture in terms of three levels, each distinguished by its visibility to and accessibility by individuals. Organisational culture is the pattern of basic assumption which a group has invented, discovered or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and integration, which have worked well enough to be considered valid, and therefore to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to the problems (Schein, 1985). Scheins fundamental view is that culture is the sharing of meaning and the sharing of basic assumptions among organisational employees (Buchanan and Huczynski, 1997). According to Scheins theory of organisational culture there are three levels of culture described. The three levels of cultures are Artifacts, Values and Basic assumptions. 6. LEVELS OF CULTURE: 6.1. Artefacts: This is the first level of culture. Artefacts are considered to be the only visible factor in a culture. Artefacts are manifestations or expressions of the same culture core that produces and maintains the values and norms however, their future distance from the core can make it even more difficult to interpret their cultural significance unambiguously (Hatch, 2006). One of the main Artefact of Santha textiles is, the way in which the production is set up in the factories. The logo of the company can also be considered as an artifact because the logo remains the same from the starting of the company till now and it is a visible factor. The artefacts in the company can be easily visualized and seen. The symbols and the captions used in the company can also be considered as artefacts. The caption used by Santha textiles influences the culture and the type of product they produce. There have been many ritual ceremonies which are being held in Santha textiles. These ritual ceremonies show the culture in the company and how well the company gives importance to the culture that is followed. In Santha textiles, it is believed to act as a positive force in the working of the company. Language is also considered to be one artefact. In Santha textiles, the local language called Tamil is spoken in all the departments and by all the employees. We can see tha t there is a respect shown from one employee to another inside the company. The older employees share their knowledge and experiences with the new comer and they are treated well. The history of an organisation inevitably has a huge impact on its culture and that some cultural elements can be traced back to the values and ideologies of the firms founder. Most of the ideologies followed in Santha textiles are formed by the founder of the company. 6.2. Values: The next level in Scheins layered conceptualization of culture is the values and beliefs. Values are the social principles, goals and standards that cultural members believe have intrinsic worth (Hatch, 2006). Organisational values are those things that have personal or organizational worth or meaning to the founders or senior management. Values are typically based on moral, societal or religious precepts that are learned in childhood and modified through experience (Buchanan and Huczynski, 1997). Where do these values come from? Values are the views of the original founder, as modified by the companys current management (Schein, 2004). The culture in Santha textiles is influenced only by the founder of the company The company is working towards its goal which is the predominant factor in the business. Mostly all the employees in the company were honest and trustworthy. But some of the employees were not honest to their job. This affects the companys production. So, the trust on these employees fails in this condition in the company. Effort is also one of the prevailing factors which influenced the company to grow such an extent for years. Mostly all the employees put their full effort to make the company to reach its goal. So, for their efforts Santha textiles gives a good salary and seasonal bonus. Some tours have also been arranged for the employees twice in a year to relax themselves. The founder feels that this will encourage the employees and it will be better for the company. 6.3. Basic assumptions: Basic Assumption is the third level in Scheins layered conceptualization of culture. In Scheins view they are fundamental beliefs that are so taken for granted that most people in a cultural unit subscribe to them but not in a conscious way (Rollinson, 2008). These assumptions are formed inside the company when it is created. Assumptions which are formed in the beginning dont change often. These assumptions are not seen when the oraganisation is viewed as such. In Santha textiles, we can see a sense of mutual respect between the employees, no matter in what positions are and in what department they are in. As everyone know that the textile market is a competitive one in India. So, there is always a feel of competition between the firms. Santha textile takes more interest in protecting the society around which it operates. They ensure that their factories do not harm the environment and the atmosphere. There has never been an employees strike since beginning of the company as the rela tionship between the employees and the management is good in the company. This indicates that all the employees are satisfied with their work and the salary they get. Employee welfare is a factor that has been prevailing in Santha textiles since it started its operation in the late 1970s. 7. CONCLUSION: This is all about the culture that is prevailing in Santha textiles relating with Scheins layered conceptualization of culture. It was a challenge for me to analyse the culture of Santha textiles relating with the literature review and Scheins layered conceptualization of culture. However, comparing my experiences with Santha textiles and the literatures has brought so much sense. Me being an Interpretivist, I shared the views of both the intrepretivist paradigm and the Radical humanist paradigm. Both these paradigm care for the human values but understands the real world situations. Based on this study I understood that culture in Santha textile is a mixture of value, human welfare, environmental care and local culture in which the company is held. Finally, these analyses tell me that I very much fall in Interpretivist paradigm but also share the views of radical humanist paradigm.

An Analysis Of Nature In The W Essay -- essays research papers

An Analysis of Nature in the works of Robert Frost When reading poetry by Robert Frost the theme of nature is strongly present and persistent. Robert Frost uses the world around him to create a mystic feeling to his writings, almost giving the reader a sense of nostalgia. The influence of nature in Frost’s works creates a palette to paint a picture filled with symbolism for the reader to interpret. The nature in the poems makes the poem an intimate piece in which most readers can identify with or imagine in some way because of the intense imagery used. In the analysis of Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken, Nothing Gold Can Stay, and Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening we can pick out specific examples to illustrate Frost’s overall use of nature. In the first stanza of Robert Frost’s Stopping by the Woods on A Snowy Evening we find the speaker reflecting on the beauty of a wooded area with snow falling. Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. (p.923) You can feel the speakers awe and reflective peace when looking into the woods that night. He doesn’t know the owner of the land but is still drawn to the beauty of the scene. Frost gives a scene that is taken into the reader and digested for a time in the speaker’s mind. It shows us that it is all right to take a minute out of a hurried hour and reflect upon what is around you, whether it is a snowy wood or a quite ... An Analysis Of Nature In The W Essay -- essays research papers An Analysis of Nature in the works of Robert Frost When reading poetry by Robert Frost the theme of nature is strongly present and persistent. Robert Frost uses the world around him to create a mystic feeling to his writings, almost giving the reader a sense of nostalgia. The influence of nature in Frost’s works creates a palette to paint a picture filled with symbolism for the reader to interpret. The nature in the poems makes the poem an intimate piece in which most readers can identify with or imagine in some way because of the intense imagery used. In the analysis of Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken, Nothing Gold Can Stay, and Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening we can pick out specific examples to illustrate Frost’s overall use of nature. In the first stanza of Robert Frost’s Stopping by the Woods on A Snowy Evening we find the speaker reflecting on the beauty of a wooded area with snow falling. Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. (p.923) You can feel the speakers awe and reflective peace when looking into the woods that night. He doesn’t know the owner of the land but is still drawn to the beauty of the scene. Frost gives a scene that is taken into the reader and digested for a time in the speaker’s mind. It shows us that it is all right to take a minute out of a hurried hour and reflect upon what is around you, whether it is a snowy wood or a quite ...