Role of Stakeholder

Role of Stakeholder Jane C. Doe MGT/420 December 10, 2012 George Wells Role of Stakeholder The role of stakeholder in implementing a quality management process is one that has many facets. When an organization decides to embark upon a quality management process there are many people, internally and externally, dependent upon or affected in some way by the final product, output or process (â€Å"Tutorialspoint†,  2012). In order to decide who the stakeholders will be in the process, management of the stakeholder process is essential.First, it is important to identify all those required to ensure the success of creating an efficient process; those involved are either inside or outside of the organization (â€Å"Tutorialspoint†,  2012). Second, an analysis to ascertain what the stakeholder’s needs, boundaries, expectations, locus of control within the process, and mutual relationships will be is necessary to make sure everyone involved understands his or her rol e (â€Å"Tutorialspoint†,  2012).A third and also important step is the process of engaging all stakeholders early on in the project. Stakeholders must have the ability to engage with the leaders of the quality management process to familiarize everyone with each other and understand each person’s role within the process. When working conceptually with quality management, the three spheres of quality known as quality management, quality control, and quality assurance each have their own role but also overlap (Foster, Chapter  1, Differing Perspectives on Quality,   2007).In each of the spheres mentioned herein, stakeholders play various roles. In order for an organization to achieve, maintain, and improve the quality of its offerings, companies use quality control and quality assurance processes and procedures (â€Å"Tutorialspoint†,  2012). Organizations will define their internal quality standards, procedures, and processes as well as develop stakehold ers who will be required to adhere to those standards when dealing with quality control. Stakeholders will monitor process apability and stability, measure process performance, develop and maintain control charts and more (Foster, Chapter  1, Differing Perspectives on Quality,  2007). In terms of quality assurance, stakeholders are required to put forth a continuous effort to improve the quality practices within the organization. According to  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Tutorialspoint†Ã‚  (2012),  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Continuous improvements are expected in quality functions in the company. For this, there is a dedicated quality assurance team commissioned†Ã‚  (Quality Control & Quality Assurance).The stakeholders of a quality assurance team are dedicated to and responsible for defining a process for achieving and improving quality; they are responsible for process improvement (Foster, Chapter  1, Differing Perspectives on Quality,  2007). â€Å"The management processes that overarch and tie together the control and assurance activities make up quality management† (Foster, 2007, Chapter 1, Differing Perspectives on Quality). According to Foster  (2007),  the mixed view of quality management up holds the notion that quality is the responsibility of all management, not just quality managers (Chapter  1, Differing Perspectives on Quality).So in the case of implementing a quality management process, managers, supervisors, and employees are all stakeholder of varying degrees in implementing quality management activities such as planning, creating the quality culture, providing leadership and support, providing training and employee recognition, and facilitating organizational communication (Foster, Chapter  1, Differing Perspectives on Quality,   2007). Two companies that utilized world-class quality control plans are General Electric (GE) and Federal Express (FedEx). To keep GE ahead, managers have devised an array of corporate strategies. They put exceptio nally heavy reliance on the quality control program that far outstrips run-of-the-mill efforts†Ã‚  (Foster, 2007, Chapter 1, Differing Perspectives on Quality). FedEx utilizes the value-added perspective on quality (Foster, Chapter  1, Differing Perspectives on Quality, 2007). â€Å"To reach its aggressive quality goals, the company has set up one cross-functional team for each service component of the SQI† (Foster, 2007, Chapter 1, Differing Perspectives on Quality).The SQI is a 12-component index that FedEx uses that comprehensively describes how its performance is viewed by its customers. Each item in the service quality indicator is weighted to reflect how pointedly it affects overall customer service (Foster, Chapter  1, Differing Perspectives on Quality,  2007). References Foster, S. T. (2007). Managing quality. Integrating the supply chain (3rd ed. ). Retrieved from https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/eReader. aspx#gloss01_357. Tutor ialsPoint. (2012). Retrieved from http://www. tutorialspoint. com/management_concepts/stakeholder_management. htm

Why Study Organizations?

In order to answer an essay question, first of all, we need to understand what is meant by the term ‘organization’ from the sociological point of view. Then we need to understand what role organizations are playing in our life and why it is essential to study them. As we can imagine, there are different types of organizations. All of them have their own structure and purpose. In this essay I would like to focus on business organizations: how they appeared and developed; how employees’ relations were changing, etc. I would like to pay the specific attention to such department as Human Resource Management – how this term appeared and why it is so important nowadays. So, why do we actually need to study organizations? This question, from my point of view, has a very easy and obvious answer: we need to study organizations for the same reason we study the world around us. We are intelligent and curious people. We always need an explanation of what is happening, how the things are working, and what place do we take among other people. Organizations are the huge part of our modern daily life: we either study or work for them, or we are obtaining goods and services from them. We are interacting with organizations all the time, so it is not surprising, that we want to study them; and it does not matter if you are a manager or consumer – you are still involved in it and you want to be aware of what is happening around you. What is organization? In sociology term ‘organization’ has a very general meaning. This â€Å"is basically a structure for carrying out a particular social activity on a regular basis† (Fulcher and Scott, 2009; p. 542). All the organizations have such features as specific goal, defined membership, rules of behaviour, and authority relationships. This is also important to mention, that all organizations have the characteristic of continuity. This means that personnel can be changing, but the organization will still exist. There is no clear definition of what social units come into the category of organizations. Some of them are easy to define, other will bring us some difficulties. For instance, business corporations, schools, hospitals, trade unions are definitely organizations, as they all have the characteristics mentioned before. On the other hand, communities, social groups, and class are not organizations, as they do not have rules of behaviour or specific goals. The problem can occur, when we come across the term ‘institution’. The first thing we need to understand here is that organization is not an institution. Institution is â€Å"an established practice that regulate the various activities that make up social life† (Fulcher and Scott, 2009; p. 543). The most common examples of institutions in daily life are weddings and funerals. Although, these are two different terms, there is one class of organizations which is called total institution. Most of the organizations leave people with their separate private lives, but it is not the case with total institution. It is characterised by such features as disappearance of private life, planned and supervised activities, sharp division between staff and inmates, the mortification of the self. The biggest examples of the total institution are mental hospital and prison, where people are isolated from the outside world and society. Now we know what defines organizations, but we still did not get to the point why do we need to study them. From my point of view, it is essential to look at the historical background of organizations. We need to understand how they were appearing and developing trough the time, in order to understand how they are functioning nowadays. In this essay I have decided to look specifically at one type of organizations – business corporations. Weber (1914) said that modern society is distinguished from the earlier one by the appearance of the multiplicity of administrative tasks and the need to expertise and carry them. He called it â€Å"the increasing complexity of civilization†. Weber said that this phenomenon is caused by growing size of organizations, greater wealth and increasing social problems. If we would refer to the history of organizations, we can see the significant changes in structure, polices, employee relations, values, etc. The first interest in organizations appeared in the 19th century, which was driven by industrialization. Industrial revolution was caused by development of technologies, which completely changed the structure of most of the organizations, and lead to the transformation of society. The introduction of manufacturing process completely changed the employment relations. Discipline was the key feature of the new organization, as it helped to control and organize people more effectively – this lead to the process of bureaucratization. New industrialists were looking for the profitable production. In order to achieve it, they needed punctuality and uninterrupted work during fixed hours from their employees. These targets were achieved by bureaucratisation, which was central to the administrative revolution. These rganizations were highly rational, they functioned in a discipline and unemotional manner, their activities were calculated, systematic and predictable. This approach helped the manufacturers maximize the return on their capital. This new manufacturing process was the beginning of the new era of employment relations. Bureaucracy is a systematic approach; all the workers had their duties and were paid respectively. But, as many other theories, this sys tem did not work so smooth in the real life, as it seemed on paper. Employers’ main purpose was to increase the profit, in order to do so, they were underpaying their employees. At the beginning people were happy just to have jobs, but the time passed and workers started to understand and fight for their human rights. This situation caused the appearance of the new type of organizations called ‘trade unions’. Trade union is an organization of workers, who tied together in order to achieve better working conditions. It is suggested that the origins of trade unions lay in the failure of the early Factory act to protect children and women at the work place; as a result many began to work together, forming unions to agitate for change in the law and greater respect for the workers (BBC). As we can see, relationships between employers and workers were getting more and more complicated. In order to keep company’s profitability, employers had to meet workers’ conditions – this brought the necessity of new management approach, which was called scientific or personnel management. This approach was first introduced by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the late 19th century. Personnel Management was an administrative record-keeping function; it attempted to maintain fair terms and conditions for employees. This was the beginning of the employee relations. Its main idea was to pay people for their productivity, the new reward system was introduced. In other words people were paid for the amount of time they worked and for the quantity of items they produced. This was the beginning of new era of management. Lately Personnel Management evolved into the Human Resource Management, it was again caused by the employee’s unsatisfied demands. People were paid properly, but it was not enough anymore. Workers were tired of being treated as machines, they were demanding for more personal attitude. It was the time when Human Resource Management was introduced. It was concerned with carrying out the same functional activities traditionally performed by the personnel function, such as recruitment and selection, training and development, performance management, etc. But HRM approach was looking at employees from the point of view, that they are the main organizational assets. It was seeking to achieve the competitive advantage trough the strategic development of highly committed and capable work force. In other words, employers were trying to create the comfortable and friendly working environment, in order to keep the best employees in the company. As we can see from the historical background, there were massive changes in the organizational structure; and these changes appeared in a relatively small amount of time. We are living in the world of progress, where everything is developing so fast, that it is sometimes very hard to catch up. By ‘everything’ I mean every aspect of our lives: technologies, government, countries, and of course people. People is the most important cause of all these changes: organization, on the first place, is all about its employees – without them it wouldn’t exist. Thinking about personal development, I would like to mention Maslow Hierarchy of needs: This pyramid clearly explains how workers’ needs were changing through the time: first of all they needed job to earn money for living; when they got it they needed to be secure that their income would be stable (Trade Unions appear); then they needed to feel comfortable in their working environment (Personnel Management); the top two requirements consider the personal recognition and the opportunity for development (this is what HRM is dealing with). Summarising everything said above, we can finally try to answer the question: â€Å"Why do we need to study organizations? † Organizations are imprescriptible part of our life: we are dealing with them practically in any aspect of our lives. We all study at the University at the moment, which means we are all part of this organization. In the future we are going to find the job and, most likely nowadays, going to be the part of another organization. As we can see, we cannot avoid this component of our life. As the Latin saying claims: â€Å"Forewarned, forearmed†. Studying organisations gives us an opportunity to know more about the world we live in, to know our lives and grab our chances. As we can see from the history. It was people, who changed the structure of organizations – simple workers, who was looking for better life. The world has changed a lot and it keeps on changing. Organizations nowadays have to be more flexible and open-minded, in order to attract the best ‘human assets’ and remain competitive; enormous amounts of money are spent on the Human Resource Development. There is prediction that the relationship that individuals will have with organizations will change: there were no longer be fixed working lives. People still need to earn money, but they do not want to be tied up with their jobs. Humanity is developing, we are having different demands and priorities from our predecessors. To go with the times, we need to study the society we live in, and organizations is one of its biggest and important parts nowadays. References 1. BBC/Learning zone Broad Band. Why Did the Trade Unions Come About? Available at: < http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/why-did-the-trade-unions-come-about/11082.html> Accessed: 20/03/2011 2. Bratton, J. & Gold, J. (2007) Human Resource Management: Theory & Practice (4th edition). Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke. 3. Clegg, S. and Hardy, C. (1999), Studying Organizations: Theory and Method. London: Sage. 4. Clegg, S. Kornberger, M. and Pitsis, T. (2008) Managing and Organizations: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. London: Sage. 5. Fulcher, J. and Scott, J. (2009) Sociology (OUP, 3rd edition). Oxford University Press. 6. Giddens, Anthony. (2009) Sociology (6th edition). Cambridge: Polity Press. 7. Storey, J. (1995), Human Resource Management. London: Routledge.

The Cost and Reimburstements of Medicare Research Paper

The Cost and Reimburstements of Medicare - Research Paper Example This study focuses on cost and reimbursement of Medicare as well as challenges facing the program. Medicare services can be provided to the beneficiaries either through traditional fee-for-service (FFS) program or private health plans such as Medicare Advantage (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2008). Whereas clients can be served in any hospital and by any doctor under FFS those using Medicare Advantage should be treated by providers in a network or pay extra charges for treatments received from out-of network providers (Mason et al., 2013). The program is available in four parts namely Part A, B, C and D. "Medicare covers Hospital Insurance (part A), Medical Insurance (part B), Prescription Drugs (part C) and Medicare Advantage" (part D) (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2008). Clients who apply for part C receives various benefits offered in other parts. Currently, some people prefer Medicare Advantage because it offers extra services in addition to those provided under FFS. Part A of the Medicare is financed through payroll tax charged on employees and the employers whereby each contributes 1.45% to make a total of 2.9% while for self employed persons they contribute full 2.9% since they are both employees and employers (Mason et al., 2013). Part C and D are financed by premiums contributed by enrollees of the Medicare and revenue from the general fund. Medicare in partnership with local insurance companies pay compensation to claims presented each year by the Medicare beneficiaries (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2008). The Medicare uses various methods to compensate the medical service providers for the services they offer to their clients covered by health insurance. For example, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services introduced Accounting Care Organization model to harmonize medical service delivery among the service providers by enabling them to coordinate their service delivery to reduce expenses, improve quality and outcome of the

Ethics and Public Administration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Ethics and Public Administration - Essay Example Ethics are considered as accountability principles, which the public use to scrutinize government people s work in public sector. Government people s and public manager’s decision and code of conduct are directed by ethical principles that are public’s perception of the correct actions by public managers and government people. Therefore, to ensure effectiveness and transparency in their public work, government people subscribe to various ethics theories. Government ethics debates centers on the question of whether it is moral and ethical for government people to deceive the public to acquire and maintain their power. Whereas, people cringe at the legitimating mendacity though by government people s, people have the true Walzer’s admonition that â€Å"no government people can survive in politics without getting their hands dirty. The discussion will analyze the official deception defense as outlined by Machiavelli and Walzer, ethical theories that guide political behavior and code of conduct and finally outline why government people are justified to get their hands dirty. Discussion Any debate concerning ethics in public management is fraught with controversial issues such as the apolitical service culture, conflict of interest among others. Having public ethics and theories help to put distinction that ensure that government people s act based on set moral and ethical principle. Ethics also put an extra burden on government people s concerning their behavior conduct; therefore, government ethics strive to create an increasingly open atmosphere within the public operations, (Bowie, 2002, p. 52). Ethical issues that government people s experience are complex and dynamic and these issues are unique to public service that demands public managers to take choices concerning ethical issues on regular basic. Whereas people commonly believe that government people s are naturally challenged by telling the truth, very few citizens would like to conce de that government people are on certain occasions justified to get their hands dirty, (Oberdiek, 2006, p.55). However, there are compelling circumstances and ethics on special occasions that require government people s to lie not to jeopardize public interests. As early mentioned, public services is guided by ethical theories based on the nature of their public work, for instance, some political service and behavior support deontological ethics theory. Deontological theory is a duty or obligation grounded ethics, and deontologists assert that ethical rules bind government people s to their duty and they consider the right or wrong aspect of the action and not the effects of the action consequences, (Coady, 2006, p. 31). Deontologists are concerned with the government people s’ fidelity to principles and overlook the results or outcomes of a certain act, in their moral worth determination. Kantianism or the ethical theory of Kant is considered deontological because it mainly revolves around an individual’s obligations instead of their emotional feeling and end objectives – the center of this concept is the duty of a government people or what he should do in a certain situation. Kant’s ethical theory asserts that true ethical and moral acts are grounded on the highest sense of duty and the right and fair actions but not on the self-interest or highest utility on a broader aspect (irrespective of the possible effects for government people

Aristotle,nz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Aristotle,nz - Essay Example The procedure of realizing excellence of character calls for individuals to develop a steadiness of character by adopting virtuous pursuits and shunning vice. Aristotle stressed the ethical as well as normative effect of virtuous regulations would contribute towards assisting or directing human beings in the pursuit of good. Thesis Statement: From Aristotle’s treatise, all human beings have the capability of acquiring the excellence of character and thought through the constant practice of constructive behaviors such as temperance and duty. Aristotle also wrote about the excellence of thought- or intellectual excellence. He specified that common sense as well as practical wisdom could also be considered as being a kind of excellence of thought. From his writings, it is evident that Aristotle believed that the combination of these two types of excellences is what would be the redeeming factor of the human race. The concepts on the excellence of thought and character tie into Aristotle’s ideas on temperance and intemperance. According to Aristotle, the acquisition of temperance is important because it brings a balance between the excesses that are easily embraced by the untamed human soul and the insensibility that characterizes extreme asceticism. This is directly related to the portrayal of temperance in any challenging situation. For instance, an individual who was practicing temperance would find a balance in the expression of his or her emotions. In a situation where there was a significant threat, the temperate individual’s expressions of fear would not be more or less that the situation called for. However, an intemperate person would either express extreme stoicism or extreme fear that did not correspond to the danger of existing threat. Essentially, the possession of temperance in a human being is what will keep the soul’s need to yearn for different things in harmony with common sense

Employment Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Employment Law - Essay Example This paper seeks to discuss the employment law. Based on a case, the paper will explore relevant legal principles in employment law with the aim of advising a party over possible claims. Facts of the case Kareen has been employed at Coombes & Partners architect firm for six years, a period in which she has served as a receptionist and has been offering exemplary services. Her mother is currently ill, having suffered from a stroke, and has for this reason moved to stay with her, forcing Kareen to double up as a care giver at home and an employee. As a result, Kareen wrote to her manager to request for a variation in working conditions that include change in reporting time and departure time. Besides request for fewer daily working hours, she also requested her working days to be reduced from five days a week to four. Her request was however rejected by her manager on grounds that her line of duty is normally busy during morning hours and that a late reporting time could not therefore be granted. The manager further noted that the organization’s policy does not allow receptionists to work on part time schedules. A male trainee, Audio, at the firm has also been making verbal suggestive advances towards Kareen. The trainee has also reportedly patted Kareen on her bottom, an act that offended her. Though she reported the issue to her manager, no action was taken. The trainee, then in a separate incident, tried to kiss her by force. In reaction, Kareen hit him forcing him to fall on a desk. Adio reported Kareen’s reaction and the manager summoned her for a hearing. In the hearing, that Kareen describes as intimidating, Adio accused her of hitting him without a reason and denied any sexual advancement towards her. The manager then gave her a dismissal letter to which she did not appeal due to her anger. Issue One of the issues to be determined in the case is existence of an employee’s right to a flexible working condition and the circumstances und er which the employer can violate such a right. Another issue to be determined is existence of sexual harassment and the nature of liability that is induced by acts of sexual violence. Termination of an employment contract is also an issue for determination. Rules and application Kareen, as an employee, is legally entitled to flexible working conditions as provided for by the law and based on the facts that she has worked for the organization for a period of six years. Based on the provisions of the Employment Rights Act1, Kareen has a right to apply, to her employer, for an option to work under conditions that are more flexible. Such conditions may include shorter working hours or rescheduled timetable with respect to reporting times as well as the times at which she may leave work. Chandler explains that such a right would be extended to Kareen if she were a parent or a guardian who is responsible for the care of a child who is younger than six years or a minor who has been identi fied with a disability. Based on a written application, Coombes & Partners is therefore legally obliged to grant such request unless there are serious negative consequences that the enterprise may suffer for granting the flexible condition. Such reasons, however, must be communicated.2 Lewis and Thornbory however categorically specify that all employees are entitled to the right to flexible working condition if reason for application is for care of a relative. According to the authors, an

Research Report - Esprit Holdings (Management Accounting) Essay

Research Report - Esprit Holdings (Management Accounting) - Essay Example We consider the lifestyle and home division to analyze the costing method that is used in this division. This division produces such products as jewels, eye wear, umbrellas, baby carriage, toys and stationery. The most appropriate costing method used in this division is the job costing method, this is due to the fact that each of the above named products produced undergo different activities to achieve the quality and product desired. For example the activities involved in making of jewels are different from the activities involved in the making of toys, for this reason therefore the most appropriate method is the job order costing method that allocates appropriate overheads to the products produced. In the production of lifestyle and home products a number of department are involved, these include the production departments and the support departments. Production departments include the manufacturing department and the quality control department. Support departments include the human resource department, the administration department and the marketing and sales department. These entire departments are important in the smooth running of the company. All companies have costs that are incurred in the production of products, the lifestyle and home division has these costs which include the variable and overhead costs. Some of the major costs include electricity and power costs which are incurred through lighting and the running of machinery in the manufacturing department. The other cost is labor cost which includes direct and indirect labor costs; the production process requires labor while indirect labor costs are evident from the administration and human resource department. Material cost is also a cost incurred by the division and the material costs depend on the product being produced, example material used to make jewels are more expensive than he

International Corporate Reporting Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International Corporate Reporting Issues - Essay Example The Objective of Financial Reporting The major elements of the financial statements are the Asset, Liabilities, Equity, Income and Expenses. The financial statements are prepared on the accrual basis of accounting and ‘going concern’ concept both being the fundamental principles for recognition, measurement and reporting. The objective of financial reporting could be achieved only if the decision-usefulness aspect maintaining the principle of stewardship is fulfilled in financial reporting. The information provided should be useful to the existing investors and the other stakeholders and relevant in decision making. Qualitative aspects should enhance the financial statements’ usefulness in predicting the future while confirming the fair and true view of the current status of the company and the statements are required to be understandable and comparable. A - Decision Usefulness Stewardship information is historical in nature and they are subjected to various types of analysis to assess the performance during a particular year for taking decisions. The comparison of the information over a period of time reveals the trends in the operations and the business. But, in most of the cases these could not be extrapolated to assess the future of the company as they are dependent on various internal and external environmental factors. The other statements and the reports like Chairman’s Report or Directors’ Report to the shareholders would be useful in assessing the future performance. Information regarding Stewardship objective The data available from the Income Statement and the Balance Sheets are useful for working out various financial ratios for the purpose of analysis with reference to various parameters such as efficiency in performance, profitability, leverage, interest cover or return on capital employed. For example we can work out operating margin from the Consolidated Income Statement as below: 2011 2010 2009 Sales 13,232 12, 958 12,283 Operating Profit 2,595 2,574 2,418 Operating Margin 19.61% 19.86% 19.68% The comparison for the past three years suggests that though there is increase in sales during 2011 by 2.11% in 2011 and 5.5% in 2010 over the previous years it is not reflecting in gross margin. This is mainly because there has been slowdown in the economy during this period and there has been increase in excise duties, marketing and other operating expenses. Similarly, we work out the current ratio from the balance sheet. 2011 2010 Current Assets 7161 6952 Current Liabilities 4915 3944 Ratio 1.46 1.76 Though the current ratio is better than the generally accepted level of 1, the ratio has come down during 2011. This is mainly because of the increase in overdraft from 587 in 2010 to 1447 in 2011. Stewardship oriented cash flow statement would indicate the movement of cash in the operations of the business. The details given in the Annual Report serves the decision useful objective in the areas such as efficiency in working capital management or plough back of profits accrued for long term capital investments. Elliott and Elliott (p. 16) state â€Å"Cash flow accounting provides objective, consistent and prudent financial information about businesses transactions. It is

Human Resource Planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Human Resource Planning - Essay Example Human resource planning (HRP) is an "information decision making process designed to ensure that enough competent people with appropriate skills are available to perform jobs where and when they will be needed" (Kohl). It is a vital function that includes and supports the corporate strategy, and then deploys the necessary human capital where it is called for in the organization by the strategy. HRP includes the activities like Recruiting, performance appraisal, training and development. Recruiting can be done in planned in two ways- outsourcing or internal recruitment. Internal recruitment can be taken through direct placements from outside or through performance appraisal of exiting staff. Performance appraisals stresses on the skills that will be required for employees to move into higher level positions via promotion, where as training and development efforts need to be designed to provide these skills. 'However HRP during the 1960s and 1970s was about getting the right people at the right time. But in 1980s and 1990s HRP was about managing downsizing and redundancy. But at the beginning of the 21st century HRP appears to be more and more orientated towards dealing with the skill shortages faced by large organizations.' (James) Corporate strategic plans can only be achieved when the organization is staffed with the right kind and number human resources at the right time to offer the necessary skills, knowledge, abilities according to the planned task. Successful planning and handling of Human resource needs can become a competitive advantage or disadvantage to the organization. Having excessive or too few employees create problems for organizations. In general organizations don't tend to keep human resources on bench for three reasons. Human resources are costly; Productive work cannot be performed with unplanned resources; finally non utilization of productive resources results in poor economy, (who other wise would have been engaged in more productive work). On the other side, shortage of Human resource is also not a desirable Practice. For example, a supermarket store during the promotional scheme day requires more sales people than the other days. But when the necessity is wrongly estimated or neglected, it may also result in loss of employee efficiency due to heavy customer service demand. Customers that are waiting in long lines may turn away from the store taking their business elsewhere. Such problems can be reduced or eliminated through effective human resource planning. Also during the cases of divestment practice of unprofitable factories, HRP provides the exact guidelines on whether to divert the staff to the existin g factory or to retrench them completely. Against: As Rothwell (1995) suggests, 'Apart from isolated examples, there has been little research evidence of increased use or of its success. Being inadequate and not matching with other planning systems and lack of structured supporting system results in the failure of human resource planning efforts. There are different perceptions on the purpose of HRP; others have noted: Some perceive it as manpower planning primarily in terms of budgeting to control labor costs; and to other it is a management development technique; and for some other organizations it is a process of HR back ups and replacements for current employees; and also it is perceived as human resources informational system

The Fundamental Problem Of Exchange In Long Distance Trade Essay Example for Free

The Fundamental Problem Of Exchange In Long Distance Trade Essay How did medieval merchants solve the fundamental problem of exchange in long distance trade? What light does this shed on the prosperity of the Venetian Republic and Portugal before 1700? Trading has been an elementary part of economies since the advantages of it were discovered. The ability to exchange goods greatly contributes to economic efficiency as it enables us to capture gains from natural comparative advantage and division of labour. There are evident gains from trade when a country has an absolute advantage in the production of a good. A country is said to have absolute advantage in production if it can produce the same amount of output with less inputs relative to other countries. This brings about a stronger economy, as there is greater specialisation and technical innovation, which has positive impact on the economy in the long run. There are also gains in trade when a country has a comparative advantage in the production of a good. This is when the opportunity cost for producing a good is lower than that of another country. This results in a higher aggregate output, which means that gains can be split between both countries. The fundamental problem of exchange has existed since the advantages of trade were discovered. It says that even if there are potential gains from trade, trade may still not occur as the lender will not want to lend without being assured that the borrower will not invest the money in a hopeless venture, or take the money and run. It is very difficult to be sure that the person on the other end of a deal will fulfil their contractual obligation. In short, in the absence of commitment, an exchange will not take place. The arguments against trade, if the other side of the bargain wants the maximum gain for him or herself, can be seen very clearly by using the one-sided prisoners dilemma. Player I has the choice of either conducting an exchange or not. If no exchange is conducted, then both player I and II realise no gain. If player I does decide to exchange, player II has the choice to either cooperate or to renege. Both sides gain if player II cooperates, but if we are assuming that player II wants to maximise their own self interest then player II will decide to renege, in which case player I will be worse off. It is possible however that player I will anticipate this happening and so decide not to exchange in the first place. This leaves us in the initial position of both sides not realising any gains from trade and no one being any better or worse off. For the trade to therefore take place, it is essential that player II can guarantee that they will keep to their side of the bargain and not renege. A way for this to successfully occur arose in Europe, as institutions were developed through the formation of merchant guilds. Economic institutions are defined here as a system of social factors, such as rules, beliefs, norms and organisations, that guide, enable and constrain the actions of individuals; thereby generating regularities of behaviour. Merchant guilds were formed in order to act as a deterrent of opportunistic behaviour, both between merchants themselves and between merchants and the state. Within the merchant community itself, the majority of merchants traded through networks of kinship and the exchange of hostages. Networks worked extremely well in deterring opportunistic behaviour, as those with good reputations would carry out many trades, as they were trusted in the community. The fact that reputations also took a long time to build up and could be quickly erased made them of extreme value to people. It was also possible to use strategic marriages and trade through families if you wanted to be sure both sides of a trade were secure. As a medieval ruler would have a local monopoly of the area he ruled, he would be faced with the temptation of abusing his power and appropriating merchants. Merchants therefore devised a solution to combat this problem, which was by organising a boycott of a state that abused the rights of a merchant. This deters predatory behaviour by the ruler, as it is not desirable to deprive the population, the ruler and the merchants the benefits of trade. It therefore has the potential to work very well, but the problem is that it can be very difficult to sustain as some merchants may see ways of maximising their personal gains by renegotiating with the ruler, causing the boycott to deteriorate. It was therefore vital if planning a state boycott to ensure rules were set out to prevent this from happening. Venice played a major role in re-opening the Mediterranean economy to western European commerce after the post-Roman Empire collapse, and the establishment of effective protection for merchants was crucial in this. Venice was very different to other economies of its time as the state was able to create an institutional framework that was favourable to merchant capitalism. It did many things, including the creation of political and legal institutions that guaranteed property rights and enforced contracts; it created a government bonds market, a fiscal system and a democratic system of governance. The creation of the government bonds market was one of the earliest financial markets created. It formed ways of raising funds for the government through compulsory loans on which interest was regularly paid, which is directly comparable to modern day government bonds. It is possible to see just how prosperous the Venetian Republic was in comparison to other European countries by looking at the GDP per Capita it had. In 1500, it had a GDP of $1100, which was far larger than other countries; the UK had a GDP of $714, Spain $698 and the second highest GDP per capita was Belgium with $875. This shows just how prosperous the Venetian Republic really was. Between 1147 and 1249, Portugal emerged from Arab rule. It did so with a significantly different political regime in comparison with that of Venice, as military aristocracy and the church became major landowners, and the interests of the church and the state became very closely linked. The fact that it was placed very well geographically meant that it was able to develop a strong empire through its unearthing of new trade routes and voyages of discovery. The Portuguese state was willing to give Jewish merchants and scholars refuge after they were driven out of Spain, as they recognised the value they had to society through the skills they were able to bring. They were able to provide scientific development, as well as being providing valuable links in trading with the Islamic world. This allowed important networks to be built up, which increased the volume of trade that Portugal came into contact with and so built up its strength as an empire. Although Portugal was extremely successful in its core business areas of shipping and trade, this success did not lead to successful wider development. This can be seen when looking at figures for per capita income before the nineteenth century, which gives an estimate of the per capita income of Portugal of $632. This is far lower than other relatively similarly dominant economies, such as Italy and Belgium, who had per capita incomes of $1100 and $875 respectively. The reason for this can be given by the fact that in general, agriculture and industry were the determining factors when analysing the per capita incomes, and in Portugal these industries were quite underdeveloped relative to other countries. In comparison to Portugal, Venice was far more prosperous. Not only when looking at the per capita incomes, but also when seeing how much more developed the Venetian institutional framework was. It was formed to be favourable to merchant capitalism, which vastly strengthened its trading platform as a country, and therefore the amount of money it was able to make. Trading was only possible through solving the fundamental problem of exchange. Over time, ways of solving the problem became more sophisticated; from using boycotts and networks of trust, to legal frameworks and courts of law. We have been able to become more affluent as economies due to the advantages that trade brings us, as can be seen looking at examples of economies from hundreds of years ago that first experienced the prosperity that trade brought. We have also been able to see the importance that institutions hold in nurturing and maintaining an environment that is favourable to trade, namely in Venice. References: The Fundamental Problem of Exchange: A research agenda in Historical Institutional Analysis Avner Greif, 2000 Cambridge University Press Maryam Shakiba L100

The Passion Of The Christ Theology Religion Essay

The Passion Of The Christ Theology Religion Essay For the past 2000 years the Jewish people have been persecuted with extreme prejudice. They have been murdered for countless different reasons over the course of two millennia. The underlying reason for this hatred and racism has always been a belief that their ancestors were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. This racism is literally an ongoing punishment for the supposed sins of the early Hebrews. In at least three of the gospels in the Christian bible there are differing accounts of the roles the early Jews played in the actual trial and execution of Christ. Needless to say, these passages remained controversial for as long as they have been committed to paper. There is speculation as to the validity of their claims as historical proof. A recent film about the final twelve hours of Jesus Christs life and death places these inconsistencies and the mistreatment of the modern Jews back into the spotlight. This alleged literal translation caused many contemporary Jews to cry out in protest over the hard-line depiction in Mel Gibsons new film The Passion of the Christ. Part of the reason this new film is causing so much controversy is because of Gibsons blatant reinterpretations and artistic license taken throughout the film. He tends to go out of bounds with the already tough Jewish public sentiment in regard to Christs death and creates a completely anti-Semitic work. Artistic license is acceptable when creating, but when the claim is made that the work will be a literal translation of the gospels, one looses the ability to fabricate and enters into a new realm of scrutiny. Mel took a copious amount of artistic license with this film, but he does not see it that way. In 1965, the Catholic Church via the pope in the Vatican declared, among other things, that the Jews were not responsible for the crucifixion of Christ. This declaration is formally entitled Vatican II. It exonerates the Jews and condemns all those still seeking Jewish suffering. It directly affects the Catholics, which means that Gibson and his family, who are not Catholics, are not required to abide by these new dictates. Mel, his family and a group of others called The Holy Family, have decided that their particular form of Catholicism needed to be further amended and conservatively redefined. They practice the Trinitine Mass, an extremely conservative form of Christianity based on traditional Catholicism, and they openly reject the changes of Vatican II. In short, they still hold present and past Jews responsible in particular for the death of Christ. Mels father, Hutton Gibson, stated all the popes since John XXIII are illegitimate anti-popes, the Second Vatican Council was a Masonic plot backed by Jews, and the Holocaust figure of 6 million Jews killed was an exaggeration (Schroth 2). He himself is a full-fledged member of this ultra conservative right wing theology and did nothing but illustrate their prejudiced philosophies to the media and an interested society at large. He is an accurate reflection of the ideals that helped to form the interpretations governing this film. Mels self-professed goals for this film were simple. Gibson claimed that his account would be historically truthful because it would be based on the Gospels (Schroth 3). He was unimpressed with previous attempts to depict the passion in film so he embarked on the journey of telling this story. He wanted to depict the scriptures literally and show the events the way they truly happened. Gibson funded his attempt with his own 25 million dollars and the rest was history. This is an attempt to influence his audience to believe that the sacrifice Christ made for humanity happened the way he and his Holy Family see it. By creating a flashy high-profile film he makes this subject popular and accessible to the secular world as well as the established Christian community. No matter what Gibson claimed to begin with he fell short of his publicly stated intentions. After viewing his finished product one can easily walk away with the notion that this is actually an Anti-Semitic film and not the truthful enlightenment of the Scriptures originally purported. First, because Gibson stated the film would be Scripturaly truthful one must stay alert, knowing that the film starts off on shaky ground. The bible is a huge collection of literal contradictions and potentially inaccurate historical events, the Gospels themselves, written between A.D. 70 and 100, are not reliable historical documents. They contradict one another on detailsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Schroth 3). These inconsistencies can and do become a damning problem when one begins to make claims using the bible as infallible support as Gibson does for the film. Second, people interpret the bibles same passages in many different ways. This is part of the reason that Christianity separated into so many factions at different times throughout history. It is the reason so many people believe they are acting within spiritual grace. While other Christians may think the same action would be deviating from the correct path. These differing interpretations have been a source of constant confusion for two millennia, with no end in sight. So when Gibson makes a movie based on the scripture it could contain almost anything, slanted and yet still hold validity and accuracy. However this does not mean it was the way the true events occurred in history. It means he is trying to make truth from what can be anecdotal metaphors without any real support for actual fact regardless of Scripture. Perhaps most intriguing here is that the bible is actually at odds, within itself, as to the actual culpability of the Jews. The four gospels do not agree with the role the Jews played in Jesus execution, the amount of Jews present during the entire ordeal and ultimately whether or not they are guilty at all. Gibson in his film removes all the bibles messy inconsistencies and forces the Jews to shoulder the responsibility themselves; all the while operating under the pretense that this is the most faithful rendition of Scripture yet. This is a condemnable offence by itself on Gibsons behalf. Gibsons film boasts several inconsistencies with the Bible. This is a rough point for a film, which was purported to be a truthful translation of the Scripture. If we accept the Bible as fact, as faithful Christians do, then we are instantly exposed to many small changes and artistic licensing. These new interpretations singularly may not present an offence, but collectively within the span of a two-hour film become impossible to ignore. Among the more prominent of these points in dispute with the facts as the bible presents them are the inclusion of the devil as a supporting character. He, or she in the film, does not enter even once into Christs final twelve hours at all. No matter how great Satan is as a metaphor for evil in general, he had no place here. The portrayal of Harrod as an unbelievably self-consumed man is acceptable. The problem there was removing a classic sense of blame which can be interpreted as guilt in the role he played in sending Christ to a certain death at the hands of Pilate. He became a nonentity that only slowed the progression of the story. The depiction of the irrational high courts evaluation and sentencing of Christ is not congruent with the scriptures as well. The court actually speaks words directly from scripture but acts in a way that makes them seem to be just a well-dressed addition to the radically insane Jewish mob. There is a thoroughly unbelievable Jewish mob, which defies b oth scripture in most cases and also reality throughout the entire film. With the exception of Jesus inner circle there is no scene in this film that does not feature throngs of Jews acting horribly by spitting, beating and ridiculing Christ. It losses effect after fifteen minutes and just becomes farcical. Jesus and his inner circle are not portrayed as Jews in this film. They read as something else entirely, but the truth is they were Jews and just the sign above Christs cross was not enough to show that. This subtle technique only further pushed the Jews into a corner of singular guilt. This was particularly ridiculous. The outright destruction of the throne and the Jewish temple with the high priests falling all over themselves was a blatant misrepresentation of the truth. The Bibles account only shows the sacred curtain being ripped down. Again, this is a real strike against the Jews with nothing to back it in terms of scriptural fact. Last, and very important to these minor ar guments was the extreme brutification of the criminal Barrabas. His role in the film is taken out of chronological order from the scriptures in all cases. This would seem minuscule, but it becomes profound, when in the film the Jewish mob chooses a disgusting known killer of Jews over a scourged and mutilated Jesus Christ. As opposed to how it actually takes place in scripture before the whipping. Again, all of these points are inconsistent with the Bible as a fact, and most of them are used to make the Jews look horrible, so that their sole blame can be easily established. The next and possibly most important point illustrating Mels disdain for the Jews is his treatment of the crucifixion, whipping and flogging in the film. In all four of the Gospels there is a description of the torture and execution of Jesus, but in only two of these accounts is he ever flogged. When mention of his flogging appears it is only included as an unelaborated fragment of another sentence. There is substantial doubt as to whether or not the scourging ever happened, let alone the flogging, but this is not how Gibson portrays this event. Gibson uses the bibles lack of detail as a green light to insert his own interpretations as he sees fit. He literally takes the sentence fragment from the two Gospels which mentioning a whipping, and recreates a seriously significant new transgression in Christs final trials. This newfound trial is then portrayed to be even more severe than the actual crucifixion itself, finally becoming Christs horrific true sacrifice. Gibson only had to rei nsert the Jews as the scapegoat decision makers and in the audiences eyes they would automatically take the blame for this horrifying act. This is a very subtle and true masterstroke on Gibsons part and it shows his deliberate intent completely. Gibsons doctoring of the Gospels accounts, reinterpretations of their clear passages and wholesale elaborations on their context becomes damning. It changes the movie from a literal interpretation of the Bible and creates a propaganda piece outlining one fanatical but skillful directors point of view: the Jews are not only responsible for Christs death but are guilty of an execution so brutal and a torture so heinous that it is literally unparalleled in human history. Furthermore, they should still be held accountable even now 2000 years later. Not only are these concepts ridiculous, but they became so polarized before the movie even released, that Gibson, probably realizing he had gone to far, cut out several lines from the film directly accusing the Jews of wrong doing. He knew he had crossed the line and would have an increasingly serious problem on his hands because the script pieces he removed were literal text from the Bible, not speculative fodder like many of his other treatm ents of the events. He must have truly understood that what he was doing was deplorable if he felt that cutting actual, literal text was acceptable when his goal was to make a truthful version of the Gospel in film. In order to understand how deeply Gibsons desire to defame the Jews runs, we need only examine the treatment of one of the movies main characters. Gibsons cruel intent is ironically tied to his saintly portrayal of the man Pontius Pilate. It is first important to note that all four of the Gospels are uniquely in unison on one thing: Pilate killed Jesus. Pilate made it his final decision to crucify Christ. If the whipping and scourging happened at all the way it did in the film, Pilate made that so. A small group of Jews 2000 years ago called for Christs execution, but it was Pilate who ordered it. Pilate is a monster, and he has always carried that reputation so fiercely that it is and has been common knowledge to Christians for 2000 years. It is Pilate who is responsible for Christs demise and not the Jews, but Gibson has another idea. For one very specific reason Gibson sees fit to take extreme artistic license once again with the facts as presented in the Bible and utilizes revisionist history to reinvent the monster Pilate into a good man. In his film Pilate is presented almost as a hero. He is the voice of reason and personifies logic. He is completed with a clichà © good-guy demeanor that is not at all the standard template for this dubious historical figure. Gibson plays him out in the film as a fine, moral Roman Tribune possessed of extraordinary logic and sympathy, struggling with a profound unwillingness to execute Christ amidst throngs of blood-hungry, insane Jews. Gibson manufactured Pilate into deity from an evil human being, and by doing that absolved Pilate of guilt. Pilates absolution was paramount to Gibson because it drives the nail home on the Jews. Gibson has carefully crafted many inconsistencies with the scriptures in order to create an even more terrifying version of Christs ordeals. With Pilate he removed any and all others associated with the wrongful death of Christ so that the burden would fall squarely on the Jews. There literally remains no third party to convolute the picture of now clearly established blame. Finally Gibsons grand-masterstroke can be revealed. The audiences horror with his extreme violent depictions of scourging and crucifixion will subconsciously transform into a basis of hatred against the Jews. This hatred of the character Jews in the film is probably intended to further proliferate a continuing Anti Semitic sentiment in both Christian and global Culture, perpetuating a 2000-year-old racial prejudice Gibson is an experienced master of his craft, which means that he acted deliberately. Nothing could have appeared in a film he produced, directed, financed and helped to write without his knowing and approval of every small detail. He can point no fingers here; there is nowhere to hide. All of his ugly subtleties were in the end, all to apparent to people with an open mind and an understanding of the facts as presented in the Bible. This is Gibsons true intent for this film, not historic truth based on the Gospels at all. Gibsons attempt to slander and blame the Jews either shows a profound lack of understanding or a scalding ignorance of the Christian faith on his part. He thinks he is a very devout Christian, but Christians believe in one very important thing: Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he sacrificed himself to atone for all of mans sins. Gibsons film does not reflect this ideal. He blames the Jews directly, but they could not be directly responsible at all. This shows either his inability to accept the fact, or just a simple prejudice. The Jews are not guilty because all mankind is guilty. A true follower of the teachings of Christ knows this and acts accordingly. After all, Jews helped Christ to fulfill the prophecies needed in order to die for all mankinds sin. This could serve to shed a fresh, new, and positive light on the Jews; in the end they are Gods chosen people. Gibsons extremist mincing throughout the film works against his established intentions. His interpretations are shallow and transparent. They clearly show his prejudice towards the Jewish people, and he can only come off as an ugly person in the end. Intelligent people and open-minded Christians will not be swayed by the coercive piece of propaganda that The Passion Of The Christ is. It will insult them and their intelligence. Gibsons only stroke of brilliance involved with this project was displaying that he understood the psyche of the religious-right in the US. He knew how to strike up the publicity on this film. Not only did he get the hard-core right wing Christian community to back it without question, he drummed up an overwhelming amount of raw curiosity throughout the secular world. His story, the publicity, the controversy, the disagreements, the inconsistencies, earned him notoriety, acclaim and over 300 million dollars. That money may be the only true success he earns with this film, because anyone ignorant of Christs story will not be converted by this nonsense. They will just be confused about how his portrayal of Jesus could measure up to the man so many people worship as God.