Northern Rock Bank

Introduction Northern Rock is a bank operating under the umbrella of Virgin Money in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1965 and 30 years down the line, it had acquired approximately 53 building societies in England.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Northern Rock Bank specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Over the years this bank was being considered as one of the top lenders in the UK, especially in relation to mortgages. Prior to 2007, Northern rock had an investment plan which was to result in securitization. This according to Milne Wood involved â€Å"borrowing heavily in the UK and international money markets, extending mortgages to customers based on this funding and then re-selling these mortgages on international capital markets† (518). This, however, failed in 2007, when, owing to the global financial crisis, the demand for credit facilities from investors went down and Northern Rock was un able to pay back the credit it had obtained from the money markets. Lender of last resort This is a facility that allows banks to survive a financial crisis. It is mostly offered by the central bank. When Northern Rock was faced with the liquidity crisis in 2007, it looked up to the Bank of England for emergency support but this was not possible since it could not provide the facility. Many scholars, including Vesala (2006), Herring (2007), and Shin (2009) blame the situation in Northern Rock to the inability of the Bank of England to act promptly indicating that had it performed its role as a lender of last resort, the bank run would have been avoided. In fact, Shin indicates that â€Å"in its role as a lender of last resort, the Bank of England had been able to exert significant moral suasion over the banking sector, and the discount office was able to obtain information from banks on a purely informal basis† (2009,p.103).Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Other scholars believe that the Bank of England failed to act because Northern Bank had not provided it with sufficient information concerning its discount facilities. They also argue that the management of Northern Rock failed to heed to liquidity warnings and this acted as a hindrance when they needed assistance. These claims are, however, refuted by Freixas et al (2009). He asserts that a central bank is expected to perform its role irrespective of the actions of the other party (151). He states that â€Å"even when the central bank does not have the formal statutory responsibility for banking supervision, it can still obtain the information it needs to act as lender of last resort† (2009,p.152). Kane (2008) believes that the Northern rock issues exposed the faults in the government with regard to dealing with financial crisis. These faults include â€Å"the workings of emergen cy liquidity assistance, some others the workings of deposit insurance and some others the insolvency and pre-insolvency arrangements† (2008, p.50). All these boil down to the functions of the Central bank as a lender of last resort. Financial crises in banks are one of the greatest challenges in most economies, since failure of banks spells out a failure in the entire economy. Liquidity lending is therefore considered to be an important factor since it is usually the solution to most banks going through a crisis. Some of the instruments available to governments dealing with financial crises include â€Å"the central bank’s role as a lender of last resort, deposit insurance schemes, government’s policies to shield depositors’ insolvency laws, among other preventive measures† (FSA internal Audit division, 2008, p. 39). Despite all the other actions, the lender of last resort factor is the most effective since it provides the banks with the credit fac ilities to continue with their operations promptly. Prior to the crisis, Northern Rock was a successful institution though not influential to the point of thinking its failure would affect the economy in any way. This issue however attracted the attention of many financial analysts since it brought out the weaknesses of the Bank of England in dealing with crises faced by the banks.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Northern Rock Bank specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Due to this exposure, the government made a commitment to offer the required liquidity, and this worked since the bank run in Northern Rock stopped instantly. House of Commons (2008) therefore made a conclusion from this issue that the run would have been avoided all together, if all parties had been playing their roles effectively. This can, however, not be blamed on the Bank of England since it had not dealt with such an issue in the recent past . The activities in relation to acting as a lender of last resort were rarely carried out, hence the policies were outdated. This explains why the situation caught all relevant bodies including Northern Rock itself by surprise (House of Commons, 2008, p. 23). Northern rock and the FSA In the view of financial analysts, the crisis that hit Northern Rock in 2007 was predictable and some even argue that the crisis was not related to the activities of Northern bank per se. It is believed that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) played a major role in this. An article by Bank of England (2007) made an observation that FSA had given Northern Rock warnings concerning â€Å"the evolving trends in the market which included; sharp asset growth, systemic underpricing of risk, and the risk shifting characteristics of new financial instruments which would not be as water tight as they appeared to be† (2007,p. 2). FSA also indicated that the strategies being used by Northern Rock were u nstable since they were depending on large scale market funding; hence, placing the institution in a risky liquidity position. Besides this, FSA had also made an observation in the government’s regulatory system which it claims had a number of loopholes that exposed the financial institutions to issues similar to those of Northern Rock. These, according to FSA (2008) included â€Å"a fundamental flaw in the depository protection scheme, lack of established special bankruptcy regime for banks, lack of predictable resolution regime for handling troubled banks and the existence of an institutional structure of financial supervision that separated responsibility for systemic stability and lender of last resort from prudential supervision of individual banks† (FSA, 2008, p. 33).Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Owing to the financial stability that had been witnessed in the region over the years, these observations seemed not to be having any ground, until the real risk was witnessed in Northern Rock, and this acted as a wakeup call to FSA. At the beginning of 2007, FSA considered Northern Rock as one of the best performing financial institutions in the UK. What it failed to realize at that time were the mortgage risks that it was exposed to owing to the fact that the institution dealt mostly with international investors. This risk was brought about by the financial crisis that was being witnessed all over the world during that period. Observations made later on indicated that â€Å"by mid-September, it had become apparent to Northern Rock that longer term funding markets were closed to it. Rollovers were largely continuing but at shorter and shorter maturities and Northern Rock lacked the option to draw on sufficient prearranged contingency liquidity lines of credit and did not benefit f rom a third party injection of capital† (FSA, 2008,p. 34). Due to this, FSA made an endorsement indicating that the Bank of England was deemed to provide liquidity facilities to all the banks that needed this kind of support in the UK, including Northern Rock. This crisis mainly focused on three institutions, the Bank of England, the treasury and FSA, owing to their joint responsibility of ensuring stability in the financial sector. FSA is blamed for permitting Northern Rock to raise its dividends irrespective of the already messed up financial position. An article by FSA Internal Audit Division (2008) supports these allegations by indicating that, â€Å"in in their own internal audits of the experience and compilation of the lessons learned from the Northern Rock failure contained a broad list of problems within FSA which included lack of rigor in the analyses conducted and failure to devote insufficient resources to monitoring what are regarded as high impact situationsâ₠¬  (Audit Division, 2008, p. 42). This report indicates that the major issues that led to this failure included organizational shortfalls, lack of sufficient skills in the supervisors, and poor methods of supervision, especially in large institutions operating at international levels. From the discussion, it is clear that FSA was in a position to save Northern Rock from the downfall, had it acted on the early signs. In fact, financial researchers such as Milne Wood (2008), Shin (2009) and Herring (2007) indicated that FSA devoted little time to the process of checking the level of stress tolerance in Northern Rock, hence ignoring many factors that eventually worked against the institution. Shin (2009) specifically points out that â€Å"insufficient attention was given to the banks challenging governance programs and risk mitigation processes† (2009, p.110). Herring (2007) concurrently indicates that â€Å"FSA not only ignored numerous early warning signs of troubles with N orthern Rock, but also ignored a breach of required minimum capital standards early in 2007† (p.10). Besides these, it was also noted that the bank failed to inform its stakeholders of this failure, and FSA was aware of this, but failed to take action. From this, a conclusion can be drawn that despite the fact that Northern Rock was responsible for its own peril, FSA also played a major role of not intervening where it would have been and also assuming the warning signs that were so loud and clear. Failure of prudential supervision In any financial setup, there are four aspects that need to be considered to come up with a stable financial system. The Bank of England (2007) indicates that â€Å"the first aspect is prudential regulation of financial firms, second is systemic stability, third is the lender of last resort role and finally the conduct of business regulation and supervision† (Bank of England,2007,p. 6). The issue in question especially in relation to the Nort hern Rock problem is the institution responsible for prudential supervision, whether it is the bank of Europe, the treasury or FSA. Irrespective of the institution responsible, this type of supervision is mandatory in financial institutions, failure to which results in cases such as what was experienced in Northern Rock (Freixas et al, 2007, p. 12). This conflict on the question of supervision mandate led the government to redefine the roles of the institutions in the financial sector. As a result of this, it was realized that supervision lies with FSA. The crisis in 2007 created the need to develop an official set of organizations and practices for assisting in the recovery of failing banks. This led to the officiating of a memorandum of understanding between the three bodies, that is, treasury, FSA and the Bank of Europe. A report by FSA internal audit division (2008) indicated that there were five basic standards that came with this agreement and these were â€Å"the existence o f a clear division of responsibilities, appropriate accountability arrangements, the avoidance of duplication of responsibilities, exchange of relevant information and mechanisms for crisis management† (2008,p.50). The causes behind the problem of Northern rock are interrelated to the extent that it is difficult to tell exactly what the main cause of this issue was. However, it was realized that prudential supervision of the banking institution was being conducted in a poor way and this is therefore deemed to be the greatest contributor to the whole problem. According to the Bank of England (2007) â€Å"this institution had been a pioneer in risk based supervision; focusing attention where it is most important† (2007, p. 8). This credit was however withdrawn after the Northern Rock crisis which revealed the poor laid supervision strategies. Many financial analysts believe that FSA was in a position to foresee this situation, long before it occurred. From this, it is evi dent that the Northern Rock crisis depicted a high level of failure in the prudential supervision of banking institutions. These failures according to FSA (2008) include â€Å"reliance upon seriously deficient accounting and capital adequacy standards; failure to monitor institutions in a timely, effective, and on-going fashion; failure to intervene appropriately when problems were identified; and promoting the welfare of the regulated institutions and the regulatory agency rather than the insurance fund or the taxpayer† (FSA, 2008, p.43). In fact, hearings in the House of Commons – a committee responsible for establishing the cause of the problems surrounding Northern Rock, indicated that FSA failed to perform effectively. House of Commons alleged that this was by way of â€Å"failing to monitor the institution and allowing Northern Rock to increase its dividends despite its troubled financial position† (2008, p.23). The supervisory evaluations of Northern Rock conducted by FSA did not put much emphasis on liquidity issues. Conclusion From the above discussion of the issues surrounding the Northern Rock problems, it is evident that these problems could have been avoided if all the parties concerned, that is, Northern Rock bank itself, the Bank of Europe and FSA were responsible for the actions that were taken before 2007. Northern Bank was responsible for the crisis in the sense that it did not perform a long term analysis of its actions. In its operations, it failed to consider the possibility of liquidity risks in the financial market. Bank of Europe was responsible in the sense that it did not act promptly as a lender of last resort in providing the credit requested by Northern Bank when it started experiencing the liquidity challenges. References Bank of England 2007, Financial Stability Report. Web. Freixas, X, Giannini, C, Hoggarth, G Soussa, F 2009, ‘Lender of last  Resort: a review of the literature’, Financial Sta bility Review, Vol. 7, pp. 151–167. FSA (2008) ‘The supervision of Northern Rock: a lessons learned review’, Internal Audit, pp. 32 – 43 FSA Internal Audit Division 2008, ‘The Supervision of Northern Rock’ A Lessons Learned Review, pp. 37 – 56 Herring, R 2007, ‘Resolution Strategies: Challenges Posed by Systemically Important Banks’, lecture at Regional Seminar on Financial Crisis Management, pp. 5 – 16 House of Commons 2008, ‘The run on the Rock’, Treasury Committee, Vol. 1, pp. 23 Kane, E 2008, ‘Regulation and supervision: an ethical perspective’, Principles v Rules in Financial Regulation, Vol. 2 no. 5, pp. 48 – 56 Milne, A Wood, G 2008, ‘Banking Crisis Solutions: Old and New’, Review (Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis), Vol. 1 no. 2, pp. 517–530. Shin, H 2009 ‘Reflections on Northern Rock: The Bank Run that Heralded the Global Financial Crisis’, Jo urnal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 101–119 Vesala, J 2006, ‘Which Model for Prudential Supervision in the EU’ Monetary Policy and Financial Market Stability, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp.99-105. This case study on Northern Rock Bank was written and submitted by user Trinity Osborne to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Mutual Intelligibility Definition and Examples

Mutual Intelligibility Definition and Examples Mutual Intelligibility is a situation in which two or more speakers of a language (or of closely related languages) can understand each other. Mutual intelligibility is a continuum (that is, a gradient concept), marked by degrees of intelligibility, not by sharp divisions. Example and Observations [W]hat allows us to refer to something called English as if it were a single, monolithic language? A standard answer to this question rests on the notion of mutual intelligibility. That is, even though native speakers of English vary in their use of the language, their various languages are similar enough in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar to permit mutual intelligibility. . . . Hence, speaking the same language does not depend on two speakers speaking identical languages, but only very similar languages.(Adrian Akmajian, Richard Demers, Ann Farmer, and Robert Harnish, Linguistics: An Introduction to Language and Communication. MIT Press, 2001) The Mutual Intelligibility Test [The] distinction between language and dialect is based on the notion [of] mutual intelligibility: Dialects of the same language should be mutually intelligible, while different languages are not. This mutual intelligibility, in turn, would then be a reflection of the similarities between different varieties of speech.Unfortunately, the mutual-intelligibility test does not always lead to clear-cut results. Thus Scots English may at first be quite unintelligible to speakers of the various varieties of Standard American English, and vice versa. True, given enough time (and goodwill), mutual intelligibility can be achieved without too much effort. But given an even greater amount of time (and goodwill), and a greater effort, also French might become (mutually) intelligible for the same speakers of English. In addition, there are cases like Norwegian and Swedish which, because they have different standard varieties and literary traditions, would be called different languages by most people, including linguists, even though the two standard languages are mutually quite intelligible. Here, cultural and sociolinguistic considerations tend to overrule the mutual intelligibility test.(Hans Henrich Hoch, Principles of Histoprical Linguistics, 2nd ed. Mouton de Gruyter, 1991) One-Way Intelligibility [A]nother problem regarding the use of mutual intelligibility as a criterion [for defining a language is] that it need not be reciprocal, since A and B need not have the same degree of motivation for understanding each other, nor need they have the same amount of previous experience of each others varieties. Typically, it is easier for non-standard speakers to understand standard speakers than the other way round, partly because the former will have had more experience of the standard variety (notably through the media) than vice versa, and partly because they may be motivated to minimise the cultural differences between themselves and the standard speakers (though this is by no means necessarily so), while standard speakers may want to emphasize some differences.(Richard A. Hudson, Sociolinguistics, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2001) Theres a fat man who comes in here with pills sometimes and I cant understand a word he says. I told him Ive got no problem with wherever he comes from but I have to be able to understand him. He understands what Im saying and he talks louder. I dont hear well, but it doesnt help anything for him to say whatever it is hes saying in a louder voice.​(Glen Pourciau, Gone. Invite. University of Iowa Press, 2008) Bidialectalism and Mutual Intelligibility in The Color Purple Darlie trying to teach me how to talk. . . . Every time I say something the way I say it, she correct me until I say it some other way. Pretty soon it feel like I cant think. My mind run up on a thought, git confuse, run back and sort of lay down. . . . Look like to me only a fool would want you to talk in a way that feel peculiar to your mind.(Celie in The Color Purple by Alice Walker, 1982.) Also Known As: interintelligibility

Assignment # 2.2 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

# 2.2 - Assignment Example portant because patients data will be stored I better way and also activities in the health facility will be done quickly meaning it would be manual or paper work which will need all the information to be in paper form and taken to the next medical professional but will be reflected direct to the professionals computers thus lowering the cost of employment. My advice to Carla is that she should ignore the opening in the other medical facility as a medical assistant because in the future also the facility will endorse this new technology despite been assured by her friend she has not heard any information for her practice joining a network or switching to the EMRs. If Carla decides to stay she should prepare herself mentally so that she may understand the new system and she will be of great help to the practice because of her basic computer skills and also because she is young she will be able to master the new technology faster than her other workmates. If I were her could have remained in the facility. As a healthcare professional, though I will be employed I will always take the work seriously as the owner because this is my passion, my career and I would like to see it in the next level. I will invest my time and resources to help all those who will be in need of my service at all the time. I will always set standards and examples for my coworkers to follow. I will make all the efforts to see the health care improve. I will always be in the frontline when it comes to reforming the nation’s health care system. Government should be fully be involved in reforming of healthcare services for instances the government should ensure that each citizen who is living beyond the poverty line have free access healthcare, they should also construct more facilities to make easier for patients to access healthcare services. It important for people to have health insurance because it helps in case the patient cost of treatment is huge, it relieves the patients family the

Managing Workplace Diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Managing Workplace Diversity - Essay Example Also there is apprehension about the fact organisations will be confronting with the problems of utilising the human potential completely from them. This calls for the need for managing the diverse workplace. It is believed that organisations not able to manage diversity are unable to utilise the full potential of their workforce. Moreover this makes their survival difficult and creates an extremely complex business condition under which the company is not able to grow at its full potential (Wentling, n.d.). Numerous researches have been going on around the world to study the trend and status of the diversity initiatives taking place in workplaces. The project presents the major findings from the researches. This includes the various barriers in working within diversity and also includes the reasons for the implementation of the diverse strategies or the effective initiatives. The main purpose of the project is to bring forth the impact of cultural diversity in organisations. In this regard, it presents secondary data on cultural diversity. Cultural diversity may give rise to mis-communications and eventually lower the effectiveness of the groups in the organisation. Examining the selective factors like cultural diversity from among a wide diversity climate is the prime concern of the project. The project presents the trends in such diversities and how the subject has evoked special interest among human resource professionals in organisations. In this regards, the present challenges and benefits that organisations enjoy are presented. Special emphasis has been provided to the management of workplace diversity and the way in which they can be implemented in organisations. Workplace diversity has been especially emphasised with regards to the hospitals in UK. Finally the project ends with the presentation of the recommendations of the management and implementation of a diverse workplace culture. Conceptual Framework of the subject Workplace Diversity Extensive re search has been conducted by experts across the world which has brought out the meaning and definition of diversity. Diversity includes everybody and this is the reason why it must be given value. Different employees bring along with them the differences to the place of work, which includes the group identity differences as well. Organisations have tried using this diversity for accomplishing both individual and organisation goals. However, there are instances where organisations have demonstrated biasness towards particular groups. There have been efforts for removing such biasness (Wentling, n.d.). Diversity in the workplace refers to the various differences arising among people in organisations. Diversity may include race, gender, age, personality, ethnic group, cognitive style, tenure, education, organisational function, background etc. Out of the above aspects of diversity the project aims to emphasise on the cultural and ethnic diversity in organisations. The cultural or ethni c heritage carried by an individual determines the extent to which he or she identifies himself or herself with the group he works with.

Velocity of Sound Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Velocity of Sound - Lab Report Example Sound is often part and parcel of our entire surrounding and has great significance in our daily life. Generally, sound is a form of energy that is majorly produced and propagated through the longitudinal waves. They can also be termed as being elastic waves that requires a medium for transmission. The other fact is that, sound cannot be transmitted through a vacuum. It basically travels in liquids, solids and gases. The rate of velocity of sound varies from one medium to the other. For instance, it is higher in solids as compared to liquids and gases respectively (SpinART, 2002). Sound can be classified as being either musical, noise, high pitched, among other categories. In the undertaken lab experiment, the velocity of sound was measured using a method that is referred to as the Kundt’s tube technique. This was ascertained by allowing the sound to travel through a given metal rod, so as to determine its frequency as well as the speed. Sound is often propagated by longitudinal waves. These are waves whereby the particles movement consists of various oscillations to and fro within the direction and magnitude of propagation. Within a metal rod, sound can either be transmitted by transverse or longitudinal waves. In this lab experiment, longitudinal waves were produced in an air column and a metal rod. The sound frequency was then determined by use of wave motion concept. In this ultimate equation, f is taken as the frequency while  l  is the wavelength. When the rod set into vibration through proper stroking, the standing waves are hence produced within the vibrating rod. Due to the clamping of the rod at its mid- point, the clamped point is taken as a node with zero amplitude, whereas the ends that vibrates are taken as antinodes with maximum amplitudes. Vibration of the rod in such a manner means that its wavelength and fundamental frequency are twice the rod length (SpinART, 2002). After assembling

Assessment of how managing the human Essay Example for Free

Assessment of how managing the human Essay This part of assignment assesses how managing the human, physical and technological resources that have been researched so far can improve the performance of Marks Spencer. Human Resources Human Resources are the people (employees) in the business. Monitoring the performance of employees in Marks Spencer has showed the way to a number of advantages. These essential advantages are assessed below. The employees in Marks Spencer are being monitored by CCTV and therefore watched by managers or directors which led to an increase in customer focus. Monitoring employees makes sure that they are carrying out the job tasks correctly. This could be for the reason that employees do not want to upset and get embarrassed when their managers or directors are observing them through CCTV; as a result they try to work and perform to the best of their ability. Employees in the stores of Marks Spencer know that they are being observed and monitored throughout the work day so this encourages employees to serve customers more adequately as well as to provide assistance at all times. In addition, employees in the stores are likely to think that they could get bonuses and rewards if they perform to the best of their ability. For instance, Marks Spencer could give incentives during the work which would likely make employees encouraged and complete the tasks given because incentives usually motivate employees to work to the best of their ability on whatever tasks are they completing. Marks Spencer offers gift vouchers that are the perfect choice to help reward congratulate and motivate people in a way they will appreciate. Marks Spencer vouchers are perfect incentive to increase sales, recruit new customers and generate new business. This is the best way to promote performance from the staff and encourage more positive outlook in the workplace. These incentives include the sick pay leave if needed as well as the holidays. (See appendix 4) Employees that work in Marks Spencer normally have 20% off discounts of the products and items that they buy. In addition, in order to increase their performance they offer deals and voucher tickets to their employees who are working to the best of their ability. These bonuses, fair wages and discounts that employees get makes them work even harder which means the motivation increases. Human resources includes the need of Marks Spencer having suitable employees in the organisation that work in the store in order to increase the performance of the business. Therefore, Marks Spencer should employ correct employees with the right skills, abilities and experience to complete tasks to the best of their ability. Having appropriate recruitment process – making adverts the most attractive as possible and having clear job descriptions with clear tasks would possibly bring the right people to Marks Spencer. When they choose an employee or employees to work for a business they need to make sure that interview procedure is correct and that short-listing table is used in order to compare all the candidates and choose the best one when looking at the criteria. Marks Spencer needs to make sure that they get the person to work for them that is intelligent, respectful and diligent. Candidates that apply for a job in marks Spencer need to complete the application form on the Marks Spencer’s website (www.marksandspencer.com) where an applicant would fill its personal details, grades and achievements and the experience. Retailers like Marks and Spencer have complex recruitment needs and have to deal with high volumes of applications to fill a large number of similar positions. Marks and Spencer manages all applications for store jobs via WCN’s Applicant Tracking System. The system is based on complex two way integration with the Marks and Spencer HR system. The system allows candidates who are successful after applying and completing online tests, to book their own interview within an hour of completing their application. Stores input vacancies and give available assessment times on the Marks and Spencer HR system, this data is then transferred to the WCN system and displayed to candidates online. Therefore, candidates that are successful they are either going to be contacted with the assessment times where they are going to be given different tasks including team work activities. In addition, their interview is going to take place at some time in the day too. After assessment day, usually the candidates will be told either by phone, e-mail or letter whether they got the job or not. In order to increase performance of the business the employees that are already working in Marks Spencer would need to be trained from time to time as they will be kept up to date with their tasks and will know how to complete them correctly. Knowing how to complete tasks correctly will eventually give motivation to them because they will have more understanding when completing their tasks and duties. However, if employees would not be sure of how to carry certain duties then the managers would not be happy with their work. Therefore, an appropriate training would be suitable in order to solve this problem. Training will give knowledge to employees about their job and introduce new tasks or duties that are needed to be completed. When employees go off for training they are normally working as a team by working together and completing certain tasks together; as a result, they are likely to develop more team work. Each store in Marks Spencer has different groups or teams and each group or team has their own responsibilities and tasks. Because each team has their own responsibilities this makes them know what they are doing and how they are approaching issues during their work day. Marks Spencer also have team members whose responsibilities are divided because they are specialists in their job; therefore, this means that Marks Spencer is likely to achieve its aims and objectives consistently and obviously, on time. On top of that, the employees that are part of Marks Spencer’s crew also help to achieve the targets of Marks Spencer. This could be for the reason that managers or directors have a span of control on supervisors and sales assistants in Marks Spencer stores. As a result, having the span of control will mean that managers are in charge for setting duties and tasks, controlling and observing employees, for instance, sales assistants and supervisors. For the reason that this happens they have their own responsibilities and tasks that has to be met and there is no need to worry themselves about other employees’ responsibilities and tasks in the store. As a result target achievement is met by a better task focus that takes place. In Marks Spencer the CCTV monitors the employees that are working and therefore, the managers in Marks Spencer’s store observes employees. This fact has increased Marks Spencer’s profit in the way as employees work to the best of their ability and perform well while they are working because they know that they are being observed. Employees need to perform well in order to get bonuses for their good work and to avoid the disappointment of their managers; therefore, they treat customers very well and serve them at all times when they are available. As a result, customers that are treated well tend to buy the items, such as food and clothing from Marks Spencer. This could be for the reason that when customers need help with their shopping, normally employees help them with where to find certain products, or where to find the right shoe sizes and clothing for them. In addition to this, Marks Spencer stores that provide clothing have fitting rooms which means employees that usually stand in front of the fitting rooms are there to help customers with the sizes of their clothing and even the styles. Marks Spencer usually observes the employees’ that are being late and therefore monitors them; normally, an employee that works for Marks Spencer will have an ID card. The lateness of employees’ can also be observed by asking them to sign time-sheets each day when they start and finish work; this helps Marks Spencer to organize all the employees that are expected to be on time and in their work place. Observing and monitoring employees’ makes them to start working on time for the reason that they might not want to have arguments or conflicts with their managers in the store. Because Marks Spencer stores have enough employees on the store floors this helps Marks Spencer to serve the majority of the customers properly. This is for the reason that fewer employees would be placed to serve customers in fitting rooms and most of the employees would be placed on the store floor placing products on shelves and helping customers to find certain products if they need help. For the reason that employees are divided into different areas in the whole store of Marks Spencer they can serve customers and help with their shopping at all times. However, if there aren’t enough employees on the store floor the customers will be disappointed due to the fact that they will not be served very well and not given much help concerning their shopping. For instance, if all of Marks Spencer’s employees’ in the store serves customers only in fitting rooms then there would not be enough employees on the store floor which will lead to a real untidiness and muddle in the store. In conclusion, observing employees’ punctuality makes them to keep up with their attendance and be punctual. This makes Marks Spencer have better image because their employees serves customers well and manages to keep up with the tidiness on the store floors. Physical and Technological resources Physical and technological resources that Marks Spencer uses have quite a lot of advantages as Human Resources. Physical resources are the things that business uses to complete its activities every day in the store, for instance, buildings and equipment. Technological resources are things such as computers with its software such as Microsoft Office. Physical and technological resources are assessed below. Marks Spencer has got a transactional website (technological resource) (www.marksandspencer.com) which means that the business is expanded in many ways which increased its performance. This could be for the reason that clients or consumers that are able to access the website can purchase its products. Marks Spencer online shopping offers UK online shoppers many choices. Their large clothing and home ware line has earned respect and loyalty from shoppers from the United Kingdom as well as worldwide. Consumers can shop online for thousands of Marks Spencer online products from the convenience of their home because people can look through the website to see new clothes and items and the new deals and offers are also promoted on the website so that customers know what is offered in the stores. In the website, it is also possible to contact Marks Spencer if consumers have a question regarding a product or an item. Therefore, this expand the business as anyone can access the website from any country of the world if they have internet connection and it also increases performance because consumers can stay at home not visiting the stores which means Marks Spencer would receive money from costumers anyway, which would increase in sales and this means Marks Spencer would make more profit. Marks Spencer stores has got many tills in their stores and employees that works on them, therefore, having many tills prevents in having long customer queues because as employees are able to work on the tills they can serve the customers very quickly. Therefore, the more tills Marks Spencer has, the better customer service because it serves customers quickly leaving them happy and it is likely to make them to come into the store the next time as they received good customer service. Eventually, if they continue visiting the store this means they will buy more products which will increase in sales and make higher profits. In addition to this, normally there are lifts in Marks Spencer stores that helps customers quite a lot too because their shopping can be more convenient. Lifts are useful because it helps customers with pushchairs and disabled customers to shop, especially in the stores where Marks Spencer has got four floors. For instance, one of the shopping malls in Plymouth has got Marks Spencer store of four floors; the first being men clothing, the second is women clothing, the third is lingerie and fourth floor is children clothing and toys, home ware and the cafà ©. On the fourth floor they also have a tunnel leading directly to the car park so it means customers can avoid the busy lifts that they will find in the shopping mall itself. Therefore, by having lifts Marks Spencer makes it convenient for customers to shop and they are likely to visit the store more often due to comfortable surroundings and resources available to them. In addition to this, Marks Spencer always has employees with samples of different items in the store for customers to try. This would also increase in providing better customer service as the products are promoted and customers will want to try out the new products. They will be happy that Marks Spencer offers samples to try out because customers would feel important in the store by employees showing attention and offering products to customers. As a result, customers that try the samples are likely to like the product and purchase it making Marks Spencer’s sales eventually grow and profits increase. On the top of that, customers want a good value for the products they buy which would be high quality and reliable. They also want to get good quality service provided to them at the stores and that staff always would be available for assistance if needed. Customers also want a good environment around them in which they would be comfortable to shop and buy high standard products provided; therefore, better customer service would be increased by employees being motivated and providing assistance and by having resources such as lifts which increase the shopping convenience and this would keep customers happy. The availability of communication through Internet and telephone allows Marks Spencer to correspond quicker and easier. Managers in Marks Spencer are able to send and receive information from other Marks Spencer branches as well as departments. For instance, e-mails allow managers to attach financial statement and transfer them to finance department which might be situated in another city. In addition to this, Internet and telephone connection gives an advantage to customers as well. This is for the reason that customers are able to contact Marks Spencer either by e-mails or by giving a call to Marks Spencer store. A number of customers feel the need to contact Marks Spencer because they want to ask about particular product, for example, if Marks Spencer has black jacket in size ten. If it happens that Marks Spencer has this type of an item in store the customer might ask to put it on hold which Marks Spencer will be happy to do. However, if it happens that Marks Spencer does not have it in store then the customer can order it and Marks Spencer will be happy to provide instructions how to do it. When the delivery arrives, Marks Spencer will contact the customer by informing him about the arrived jacket. Therefore, the customer would be happy because they are given quality service and because Marks Spencer is trying the best to serve customers well; this would make customers feel important. Marks Spencer has insurance against thefts, fire damages and vandalisms; therefore this makes employees feel safe in their working environment. Because of this employees are able to work and perform up to the highest possible standard. For instance, an employee who knows that he or she is protected from thieves that could appear in the store and be dangerous to lives of people that appear in the store will be able to serve customers without fair and stress. In addition, customers who know that Marks Spencer has insurance they would feel safe and protected when shopping in the store. This would increase Marks Spencer’s performance, as employees want to be safe, they want staff would be always available for assistance and they want good environment around them that is comfortable to shop in. Therefore, having insurance from thefts, fire damages and vandalisms would make sure that customer’s desires are fulfilled and employees would work to the best as they can knowing that they are protected. Therefore, as customers would visit the store more because they feel safe at the store, they would buy more products due to safety and getting quality assistance from employees and as a result sales will eventually increase which would lead to higher profit and increased performance. Equipment of Marks Spencer and the machinery would increase in productivity as well as the performance and reputation of the business. Marks Spencer would need to have the latest equipment and machinery in order to carry day to day activities correctly. Marks Spencer would use equipment and machinery such as self check-out machines, electronic tills and trolleys to carry products. The machinery in warehouses would be used in order to make items to the highest possible quality. These machines would need to be updated regularly so that they would not break down and cause day to day activities to slow down. Ultimately, if machinery and equipment are looked after and updated regularly then this means Marks Spencer would be able to operate effectively; customers are likely to buy their items and products which would eventually increase in sales and profit. If customers are going to be happy due to the service provided because of good machinery and equipment then they are likely to stay with Marks Spencer by visiting their stores regularly which would mean Marks Spencer’s reputation will grow over time and once again the sales and profits will increase. In addition to this, Marks Spencer stores have got employed security guards which make a store a safer place to work because there is an instant access to help. Having security is important for marks Spencer because products and items have security tags attached to them on the electronic bars; therefore, if people decide to steal a product or an item the alarm is going to go off at the entrance of the store which would mean that a customer has stolen something. Therefore, security guards will take care of this and make sure that the thief does not run away. In addition, CCTV cameras take great care of being secure at work as well. CCTV cameras operate all day through in Marks Spencer recording everything that is going on. Eventually, having security guards and CCTV cameras increases in performance of Marks Spencer as the employees will feel safe and happy at work and as a result carry out tasks to the best of their ability. Marks Spencer normally has quite big buildings that consist of two, three or even four floors, especially in shopping malls. In addition to this, if there are separate floors such as four floors building it allows Marks Spencer to set a particular floor for particular products and items. For instance, one of the shopping malls in Plymouth has got Marks Spencer store of four floors; the first being men clothing, the second is women clothing, the third is lingerie and fourth floor is children clothing and toys, home ware and the cafà ©. Besides, as the floors are quite big in terms of space, this allows Marks Spencer to have room in order to display a range of styles of the products. If Marks Spencer is able to display a large number of products this means that the performance is going to be increased because as the products are promoted the customers that walk around the store would see the product or an item and might get interested. Customer is likely to be attracted by the product because of the suitable displaying of products in Marks Spencer and as a result they would purchase it. In addition, customers that walk pass the store, might see the display of products in the shop windows of Mark Spencer and this would attract them to come in to the store to look at the product in more detail. Therefore, as customers are likely to buy more products due to displaying this is likely to increase sales and make a higher profit. If the business makes higher profit then this would increase the performance of Marks Spencer. Eventually, human, physical and technological resources have a big impact on Marks Spencer as a business. However, the inability that could to use these resources effectively could appear and this will cause many problems and difficulties rather than advantages.

The Romance Novel Marriage Essay examples -- Marriage Married

The Romance Novel Marriage From the moment they saw each other they knew they were the perfect pair. They knew instantly that the other was their soul mate. It was love at first sight. This knowledge is followed by amazing sex. Then the ecstatic couple gets married and lives "Happily Ever After." I'm talking about the modern day adult fairy tale, also known as the romance novel. I've been reading these novels since I was in the seventh grade. My first one was titled Bitter Sweet, written by Laverle Spencer, and was found in my mom's closet. From there I graduated to the more sordid novels with half-naked people on the covers. My adolescent mind was absolutely fascinated and I could not wait until I found my guy and could experience those feelings first-hand. Fifteen years later, I'm happy to say that I realize the utter ridiculousness of hoping for a romance novel relationship. I'm glad I realized fairly early in my life that reality is never anything like the words on those pages. What many people fail to gra sp is that they are just entertainment. The modern marriage is given up on too easily; dashed to bits by its disgruntled participants with only a couple of swipes of their pens. Marriage should not be promoted as a fairy tale or romance novel, or as a place for the typical family to reside. Marriage should be promoted as hard and grueling work, but at the end of day after all the sweat and toil you have a partner for better or worse to share your world with. There is no "typical marriage." You should marry exactly who you want to, but when it starts getting messy, frustrating, and generally annoying, as marriage will, stick with it. Here, I will enter a short disclaimer: I do not believe anyone should stay in a marriage... ...equences and the effect it will have. Love is different for everyone, but what is the same in every successful relationship is the time and work put into it by the couple. My advice to everyone is to put down the romance novel images that you carry in your head about what love should be like. Fairy tales and books are nothing more than...well, fairy tales and books. Works Cited Shulman, Polly. "Great Expectations." From Psychology Today, March/April 2004. Rpt. in Elements of Argument: A Text and Reader. Annette T. Rottenberg and Donna Haisty Winchell. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006. 569-575. Pollack, William, and Todd Shuster. "The Sting of Divorce." From Real Boy's Voices by William Pollack. 2000. Rpt. in Elements of Argument: A Text and Reader. Annette T. Rottenberg and Donna Haisty Winchell. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006. 567-568.

International Monetary System

International monetary systems are sets of internationally agreed rules, conventions and supporting institutions that facilitate international trade, cross border investment and generally the reallocation of capital between nation states. They provide means of payment acceptable between buyers and sellers of different nationality, including deferred payment. To operate successfully, they need to inspire confidence, to provide sufficient liquidity for fluctuating levels of trade and to provide means by which global imbalances can be corrected. The systems can grow organically as the collective result of numerous individual agreements between international economic actors spread over several decades. Alternatively, they can arise from a single architectural vision as happened at Bretton Woods in 1944. Historical overview Throughout history, precious metals such as gold and silver have been used for trade, termed bullion, and since early history the coins of various issuers – generally kingdoms and empires – have been traded. The earliest known records of pre – coinage use of bullion for monetary exchange are from Mesopotamia and Egypt, dating from the third millennium BC. 1] Its believed that at this time money played a relatively minor role in the ordering of economic life for these regions, compared to barter and centralised redistribution – a process where the population surrendered their produce to ruling authorities who then redistrubted it as they saw fit. Coinage is believed to have first developed in China in the late 7th century, and independently at around the same time in Lydia, Asia minor, from where its use spread to near by Greek cities and later to the rest of the world. 1] Sometimes formal monetary systems have been imposed by regional rules. For example scholars have tentatively suggested that the ruler Servius Tullius created a primitive monetary system in the archaic period of what was to become the Roman Republic. Tullius reigned in the sixth century BC – several centuries before Rome is believed to have developed a formal coinage system. [2] As with bullion, early use of coinage is believed to have been generally the preserve of the elite. But by about the 4th century they were widely used in Greek cities. Coins were generally supported by the city state authorities, who endeavoured to ensure they retained their values regardless of fluctuations in the availability of whatever base precious metals they were made from. [1] From Greece the use of coins spread slowly westwards throughout Europe, and eastwards to India. Coins were in use in India from about 400BC, initially they played a greater role in religion than trade, but by the 2nd century had become central to commercial transactions. Monetary systems developed in India were so successful they continued to spread through parts of Asia well into the Middle Ages. [1] As multiple coins became common within a region, they have been exchanged by moneychangers, which are the predecessors of today's foreign exchange market. These are famously discussed in the Biblical story of Jesus and the money changers. In Venice and the Italian city states of the early Middle Ages, money changes would often have to struggle to perform calculations involving six or more currencies. This partly let to Fibonacci writing his Liber Abaci where he popularised the use of Arabic numerals which displaced the more difficult roman numerals then in use by western merchants. [3] Historic international currencies. From top left: crystalline gold, a 5th century BCE Persian daric, an 8th century English mancus, and an 18th century Spanish real. When a given nation or empire has achieved regional hegemony, its currency has been a basis for international trade, and hence for a de facto monetary system. In the West – Europe and the Middle East – an early such coin was the Persian daric, of the Persian empire. This was succeeded by Roman currency of the Roman empire, such as the denarius, then the Gold Dinar of the Muslim empire, and later – from the 16th to 20th centuries, during the Age of Imperialism – by the currency of European colonial powers: the Spanish dollar, the Dutch Gilder, the French Franc and the British Pound Sterling; at times one currency has been pre-eminent, at times no one dominated. With the growth of American power, the US Dollar became the basis for the international monetary system, formalized in the Bretton Woods agreement that established the post-World War II monetary order, with fixed exchange rates of currencies to the dollar, and convertibility of the dollar into gold. Since the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system, culminating in the Nixon shock of 1971, ending convertibility, the US dollar has remained the de facto basis of the world monetary system, though no longer de jure, with various European currencies and the Japanese Yen being used. Since the formation of the Euro, the Euro has gained use as a reserve currency and a unit of transactions, though the dollar has remained the primary currency. A dominant currency may be used directly or indirectly by other nations – for example, English kings minted gold mancus, presumably to function as dinars to exchange with Islamic Spain, and more recently, a number of nations have used the US dollar as their local currency, a custom called dollarization. Until the 19th century, the global monetary system was loosely linked at best, with Europe, the Americas, India and China (among others) having largely separate economies, and hence monetary systems were regional. European colonization of the Americas, starting with the Spanish empire, led to the integration of American and European economies and monetary systems, and European colonization of Asia led to the dominance of European currencies, notably the British pound sterling in the 19th century, succeeded by the US dollar in the 20th century. Some, such as Michael Hudson, foresee the decline of a single basis for the global monetary system, and instead the emergence of regional trade blocs, citing the emergence of the Euro as an example of this phenomenon. See also Global financial systems , world-systems approach and polarity in international relations. It was in the later half of the 19th century that a monetary system with close to universal global participation emerged, based on the gold standard. History of modern global monetary orders The pre WWI financial order: 1870–1914  From the 1870s to the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the world benefited from a well integrated financial order, sometimes known as the First age of Globalisation. [4] [5] Money unions were operating which effectively allowed members to accept each others currency as legal tender including the Latin Monetary Union (Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, France) and Scandinavian monetary union (Denmark, Norway and Sweden). In the absence of shared membership of a union, transactions were facilitated by widespread participation in the gold standard, by both independent nations and their colonies. Great Britain was at the time the world's pre-eminent financial, imperial, and industrial power, ruling more of the world and exporting more capital as a percentage of her national income than any other creditor nation has since. [6] While capital controls comparable to the Bretton Woods System were not in place, damaging capital flows were far less common than they were to be in the post 1971 era. In fact Great Britain's capital exports helped to correct global imbalances as they tended to be counter cyclical, rising when Britain's economy went into recession, thus compensating other states for income lost from export of goods. Accordingly, this era saw mostly steady growth and a relatively low level of financial crises. In contrast to the Bretton Woods system, the pre-World War I financial order was not created at a single high level conference; rather it evolved organically in a series of discrete steps. The Gilded Age, a time of especially rapid development in North America, falls into this period. Between the World Wars: 1919–1939 The years between the world wars have been described as a period of de-globalisation, as both international trade and capital flows shrank compared to the period before World War I. During World War I countries had abandoned the gold standard and, except for the United States, returned to it only briefly. By the early 30's the prevailing order was essentially a fragmented system of floating exchange rates . [8] In this era, the experience of Great Britain and others was that the gold standard ran counter to the need to retain domestic policy autonomy. To protect their reserves of gold countries would sometimes need to raise interest rates and generally follow a deflationary policy. The greatest need for this could arise in a downturn, just when leaders would have preferred to lower rates to encourage growth. Economist Nicholas Davenport [9] had even argued that the wish to return Britain to the gold standard, â€Å"sprang from a sadistic desire by the Bankers to inflict pain on the British working class. † By the end of World War I, Great Britain was heavily indebted to the United States, allowing the USA to largely displace her as the worlds number one financial power. The United States however was reluctant to assume Great Britain's leadership role, partly due to isolationist influences and a focus on domestic concerns. In contrast to Great Britain in the previous era, capital exports from the US were not counter cyclical. They expanded rapidly with the United States's economic growth in the twenties up to 1928, but then almost completely halted as the US economy began slowing in that year. As the Great Depression intensified in 1930, financial institutions were hit hard along with trade; in 1930 alone 1345 US banks collapsed. During the 1930s the United States raised trade barriers, refused to act as an international lender of last resort, and refused calls to cancel war debts, all of which further aggravated economic hardship for other countries. According to economist John Maynard Keynes another factor contributing to the turbulent economic performance of this era was the insistence of French premier Clemenceau that Germany pay war reparations at too high a level, which Keynes described in his book The Economic Consequences of the Peace. The Bretton Woods Era: 1945–1971 British and American policy makers began to plan the post war international monetary system in the early 1940s. The objective was to create an order that combined the benefits of an integrated and relatively liberal international system with the freedom for governments to pursue domestic policies aimed at promoting full employment and social wellbeing . 11] The principal architects of the new system, John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White, created a plan which was endorsed by the 42 countries attending the 1944 Bretton Woods conference. The plan involved nations agreeing to a system of fixed but adjustable exchange rates where the currencies were pegged against the dollar, with the dollar itself convertible into gold. So in effect this was a gold – dollar exchange standard. There were a number of improvements on the old gold standard. Two international institutions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank were created; A key part of their function was to replace private finance as more reliable source of lending for investment projects in developing states. At the time the soon to be defeated powers of Germany and Japan were envisaged as states soon to be in need of such development, and there was a desire from both the US and Britain not to see the defeated powers saddled with punitive sanctions that would inflict lasting pain on future generations. The new exchange rate system allowed countries facing economic hardship to devalue their currencies by up to 10% against the dollar (more if approved by the IMF) – thus they would not be forced to undergo deflation to stay in the gold standard. A system of capital controls was introduced to protect countries from the damaging effects of capital flight and to allow countries to pursue independent macro economic policies [12] while still welcoming flows intended for productive investment. Keynes had argued against the dollar having such a central role in the monetary system, and suggested an international currency called Bancor be used instead, but he was overruled by the Americans. Towards the end of the Bretton Woods era, the central role of the dollar became a problem as international demand eventually forced the US to run a persistent trade deficit, which undermined confidence in the dollar. This, together with the emergence of a parallel market for gold where the price soared above the official US mandated price, led to speculators running down the US gold reserves. Even when convertibility was restricted to nations only, some, notably France,[13] continued building up hoards of gold at the expense of the US. Eventually these pressures caused President Nixon to end all convertibility into gold on 15 August 1971. This event marked the effective end of the Bretton Woods systems; attempts were made to find other mechanisms to preserve the fixed exchange rates over the next few years, but they were not successful, resulting in a system of floating exchange rates. 13] The post Bretton Woods system: 1971 – present An alternative name for the post Bretton Woods system is the Washington Consensus. While the name was coined in 1989, the associated economic system came into effect years earlier: according to economic historian Lord Skidelsky the Washington Consensus is generally seen as spanning 1980–2009 (the latter half of the 1970s being a transitional period). [14] The transition away from Bretton Woods was marked by a switch from a state led to a market led system. 4] The Bretton Wood system is considered by economic historians to have broken down in the 1970s:[14] crucial events being Nixon suspending the dollar's convertibility into gold in 1971, the United states abandonment of Capital Controls in 1974, and Great Britain's ending of capital controls in 1979 which was swiftly copied by most other major economies. In some parts of the developing world, liberalisation brought significant benefits for large sections of the population – most prominently with Deng Xiaoping's reforms in China since 1978 and the liberalisation of India after her 1991 crisis. Generally the industrial nations experienced much slower growth and higher unemployment than in the previous era, and according to Professor Gordon Fletcher in retrospect the 1950s and 60s when the Bretton Woods system was operating came to be seen as a golden age. [15] Financial crises have been more intense and have increased in frequency by about 300% – with the damaging effects prior to 2008 being chiefly felt in the emerging economies. On the positive side, at least until 2008 investors have frequently achieved very high rates of return, with salaries and bonuses in the financial sector reaching record levels. The â€Å"Revived Bretton Woods system† identified in 2003 From 2003, economists such as Michael P. Dooley, Peter M. Garber, and David Folkerts-Landau began writing papers[16] describing the emergence of a new international system involving an interdependency between states with generally high savings in Asia lending and exporting to western states with generally high spending. Similar to the original Bretton Woods, this included Asian currencies being pegged to the dollar, though this time by the unilateral intervention of Asian governments in the currency market to stop their currencies appreciating. The developing world as a whole stopped running current account deficits in 1999 [17] – widely seen as a response to unsympathetic treatment following the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. The most striking example of east-west interdependency is the relationship between China and America, which Niall Ferguson calls Chimerica. From 2004, Dooley et al. began using the term Bretton Woods II to describe this de facto state of affairs, and continue to do so as late as 2009. Others have described this supposed â€Å"Bretton Woods II†, sometimes called â€Å"New Bretton Woods†,[19] as a â€Å"fiction†, and called for the elimination of the structural imbalances that underlie it, viz, the chronic US current account deficit. [20] However since at least 2007 those authors have also used the term â€Å"Bretton Woods II† to call for a new de jure system: for key international financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank to be revamped to meet the demands of the current age,[21] and between 2008 to mid 2009 the terms Bretton Woods II and New Bretton Woods was increasingly used in the latter sense. By late 2009, with less emphases on structural reform to the international monetary system and more attention being paid to issues such as re-balancing the world economy, Bretton Woods II is again frequently used to refer to the practice some countries have of unilaterally pegging their currencies to the dollar.

Legal Implications for Human Resources Management

Human resources are the most important resources in an organization and there is a need for human resource management to consider legal implications for every decision they make in regard to employee benefits. Today, organizations are faced with numerous challenges in sustaining a well-motivated workforce. To ensure that an organization retains the best human resources, several measures are put in place key of which is employee benefits, which is given to the top or executive employees as a motivation to ensure that the organization retains such employees. Employee benefits range from organization to organization but generally, they include short-term benefits, long-term benefits, termination benefits as well as post-retirement benefits. (Armstrong, 2002). Pay gap is one of the greatest issues that companies face with regard to employee benefits. Although the pay gaps can be explained by human capital differences, the travel patterns of different employees, there is also the other dimension of occupational segregation as well as workplace segregation, which has been found to bring disparities in regard to employee benefits. (Lowman, 2002). Pay gap can be a source of demotivation of staff as well as a leading cause of lack of unity of purpose in an organization. Whenever an organization decides to reward men differently from women this can be a source of conflicts in the organization and it is therefore, major challenge organizations are faced with today. Pay gap characterized by gender is a legal problem as it boils down to discrimination in the workplace. This has implications both for the employees involved as well as the organization given the fact that, these differences in employee benefits allotment creates a feeling of discontentment. In situations where the difference in pay is as a result of level of education or work experience, then this is understandable. However, often employee benefits have been found to be abused by human resource managers in designing rewards. (Thrope, 2000). Discrimination especially based on race, gender, nationality and color is a major issue that companies face with regard to employee benefits. It is evident that, the economic security of employees is very much dependent on other variables such as race, color and nationality something which can be seen as a major issue that companies face with regard to employee benefits. The fact that there are very many immigrant workers in the USA, has created an enabling environment whereby employers can abuse the rights of employees in regards to employee benefits without having to worry about legal implications since most immigrant workers do not have valid papers and it is therefore, not possible for such employees to take legal actions against employers even whereby there are cases of discrepancies in awarding of employee benefits. (Lowman, 2002). The other challenge facing companies with regard to employee benefits is the requirements by the law for a minimum wage rate. This is an issue in that, many companies have been forced to disregard employee benefits citing the mandatory minimum wage limit as being burdensome and being non-responsive to changing market situations. For instance, the wage limits fail to bear in mind that times are changing and competition is becoming stiff with globalization and pegging rewards on other factors other than market forces is likely to have a negative impact on employers decisions regarding to employee benefits. As a result, many employers are less willing to award employee benefits solely because they consider the minimum wage limit requirement as burdensome and exorbitant. (Armstrong, 2002). Over emphasis of pay as a form of motivation is a major issue that companies face in regards to employee benefits. Many companies offer employee benefits in terms of monetary value in total disregard of evidence showing that money is not always a motivator to every employee as there are some employees who work for different reasons other than money. The challenge companies face in this regard is to reform their employee scheme to reflect different needs for their employees. (Thrope, 2000). Finally, there is the dilemma of just how effective are employee benefits in increasing performance? Employees’ benefits as administered in many companies are meant to boost the morale of employees as the prospects of employee benefits is thought to have a positive impact on employee loyalty and commitment to duties. However, the issue arising here is the fact that, by just giving post-retirement benefits or long-term benefits as well as travel allowances, this does not automatically guarantee that employees will remain loyal and committed to the organization. To deal with the issues raised above, organizations need to work on programs, which are agreeable to both employers and employees by involving employee unions in designing of employee benefits packages. This will ensure that every interest is taken care of. Another important thing that organizations ought to do to deal with the issues above is to address human capital differences, especially those differences arising from other factors other than level of education or work experience. There is also a need for organizations to put in place strict rules and regulations as well as workplace policies to do away with any form of discrimination in the workplace, which ultimately reflects on the awarding of employee benefits. It is also important that organizations de-emphasize employee benefits as a form of motivation and opt for other types of rewards, which have little monetary connections. If the above is done, the problem of ineffectiveness of employee benefits will be dealt with and organizations will address the challenges of employee benefits. Potential future issues that organizations will encounter regarding employee benefits may include; high demand for tuition reimbursement considering the fact that due to rapid spread of information technology, new knowledge is released into the market at a fast rate, which means employees have to keep updated through employee training. Another area or potential future issue that organizations may encounter in regard to employee benefits is any new legislations especially aimed at either legalizing the immigration status of all immigrant workers or expelling the immigrant workers. (Lowman, 2002). In conclusion, it has emerged from the above discussion that, major issues that companies face with regard to employee benefits include; pay gap, gender discrimination, over emphasis of employee benefits as a form of motivation as well as lack of clarity on the effectiveness of employee benefits to employee performance. It has become evident that organizations need to de-emphasize on employee benefits as a form of motivation and in addition, there is a need for employers to deal with the problem of discrimination as well as the discrepancy in pay gap. Lastly, employers need to reposition themselves in readiness for future legislations, which may have impact on employee benefits such as legislations on immigration and minimum wage limit. References Armstrong, M. 2002. PP.110-120. Employee Reward. 3rd Ed. CIPD. Lowman, R. 2002. PP.104-109. California School of Organizational Studies Handbook of Organizational Consulting Psychology. Jossey-Bass. Thrope, R. & Homan, G. 2000. PP. 89-93. Strategic Reward System. FT. Prentice Hall. Â  

Gasoline Prices Essays - Petroleum Politics, Commodity Markets

Gasoline Prices Essays - Petroleum Politics, Commodity Markets Gasoline Prices The price of gasoline is a major interest to almost everyone in the country and almost everywhere in the world. It seems that every month and sometimes more frequently, gas prices are either spiking or dropping, never staying stable. Gasoline prices are affected by many factors, including the price of crude oil in the world market, supply and demand for gasoline, local market competition, temporary supply interruptions, government regulations, or taxes. Gasoline is produced by a distillation process where crude oil is heated and fumes are captured and converted into many products such as kerosene, jet fuel, and gasoline to name a few. Therefore the price of crude oil, which is extracted from oil wells beneath the earths surface, is a major factor in gas prices. The five leading oil-producing countries and their approximate shares of the world supply of oil are: Soviet Union 21%, Saudi Arabia 17%, The United States 15%, Venezuela 4%, and Mexico 4%. These five countries made up 61 % of the worlds oil production back in 1980. Even though The United States is a major producer of oil, it does not make them self-sufficient. The United States uses more oil than they can produce and must look towards foreign countries. An organization called O.P.E.C. controls approximately four fifths of the worlds oil reserves in the non-communist world. The United States is forced to deal with O.P.E.C., not only in its own interests, but also in the inter est of its allies and in the interest of maintaining peace. The former Soviet Union may now have an interest in selling some of their oil that they have a tremendous amount of. O.P.E.C. which stands for Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is made up of 13 countries: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Qatar, Indonesia, Libya, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Nigeria, Ecuador, and Gabon. O.P.E.C. was founded in Baghdad, Iraq in September of 1960. It was organized in response to oil producing countries that did not consult with the Middle Eastern oil states before lowering their crude oil prices. The producers feared that other countries would establish monopolies. The aim of O.P.E.C. was to create a universal price between the countries, in order to ensure peace between oil producers throughout the world. O.P.E.C. also wanted to provide its members with technical and economic support in times of need, since not all the countries were completely stable. The headquart ers were initially set in Geneva, but were later moved to Vienna in 1965. O.P.E.C.s goal was to establish firmly unified prices amongst their members, but the organization was not always successful. In their quest for control over the world market of oil production, they have ran into several obstacles and setbacks. O.P.E.C. has barely survived being eliminated due to internal conflicts amongst its members. Since O.P.E.C. almost has a strangle hold on the worlds oil supply, The United States is extremely concerned with the areas instability. The Middle East and the Persian Gulf area, where most of the members are located, are extremely prone to wars, both civil and cross borders, plagued by religious battles, and positions of power are frequently overthrown, making it hard for any stability to come out of the area. Any time there is chaos in the Middle East, The United States thinks back on memories of other troubles in the Persian Gulf area: the Arab oil embargo in 1973-74, the Iranian revolution in 1979-80 and Saddam Husseins invasion of Kuwait in 1990. (1) The area is also vital to our allies, who would be crippled without Gulf oil, whose livelihood we are dependent on. In 1973 O.P.E.C. raised oil prices 70%. The dominant Middle Eastern members of O.P.E.C. used succeeding price increases as a political weapon aimed at Western nations in retaliation for their support of Israel against its Arab neighbors in the so-called Yom Kippur War of October 1973. Prices were accordingly raised another 130% at the Tehran conference of December 1973, and a temporary embargo was placed on the United States and the Netherlands at the same time. Other prices increases followed in 1975, 1977, 1979, and 1980, which ultimately raised the price of a barrel of crude oil from United States $3.00

Landlord and Tenant Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Landlord and Tenant Law - Essay Example In the beginning, Able began extensive work on the unit. But the directors of Able soon discovered that the turnover from trading was not going to be as profitable as they had hoped. Hence, the extensive work to the roof was never completed. Although watertight, the roof is unsightly and not up to modern standards. In 2002, Able discovered that the concrete used to form the basis of the floor of the unit was not of the correct type. As a result, the surface had become crumbly and difficult to walk on. The only way to solve this problem would be to excavate the floor and lay a new one at a cost of GBP 250,000. Instead of undertaking any work, when the problem first became acute, Able laid metal sheeting on the floor as a temporary measure. The extractor fans fixed to the walls of the unit have ceased to function and when Able obtained quotes for installing new ones, they discovered that the original manufacture had gone into liquidation and new ones would have to be sourced from a different supplier. The new fans would be larger and require extensive installation work estimated at GBP 20,000. A director of Able has discovered second-hand fans which could be installed at a fraction of this cost. But these are older models than those currently installed and only work at half efficiency. Recently, surveyors instructed by the landlord have inspected the unit. On the basis of their calculations, the landlord claims that the cost to Able of complying fully with the covenant at the end of the term will be GBP 360,000. This includes completion of the work on the roof, laying a new floor, installing new fans as opposed to second-hand ones, and carrying out other miscellaneous works. The directors of Able are furious, especially since they have discovered that the landlord has submitted a planning application to the local planning authority under which the present unit would be demolished. The Questions The rent details, that is the amount of rent payable, and if any deposit had been paid to the landlord, are not provided. Details regarding the manner in which the lease agreement was made are also not provided. Was the agreement made through lawyers Were lawyers engaged by the landlord when the agreement was made Did Able engage lawyers to make the agreement It is important to know the answers to these questions in order to pinpoint the correct answers. It is possible to surmise the consequences in the absence of these answers. The information pertaining to the circumstances that have led Able to seek legal position are there. On the basis of these information provided the solutions to the issues raised will be given. The Cost of Repairs It appears that the premise is not suitable place to work. The premise needs long-term repairs and fixtures for long-term, problem-free use. Nevertheless, Able has gone ahead and made an agreement with the landlord for use of the premise for 15 years. The place was thriving at that time. Therefore, the directors of Able might have felt compelled to take the place on long-term rental basis, even willing to go along with

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini - Term Paper Example He was called by the title of II Duce by 1925 and after 1936 his official title was â€Å"His Excellency Benito Mussolini, Head of Government, Duce of Fascism, and Founder of the Empire.† He was also the top rank of military, First Marshal of the Empire besides the King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, created by Mussolini himself, which offered him as well as the King joint highest control over the military of Italy. 1 Although initially Mussolini denounced war by writing in an article named â€Å"Down with the war. We remain neutral† but he found an opportunity in war for himself, his political ambitions and those of his countrymen. Mussolini was impressed by anti-Austrian Italian nationalist feelings thinking that the war could liberate Italians in 1 Austria-Hungary from the rule of Habsburgs. He raised his voice supporting socialists to win over the autocratic rulers in Germany and Austria-Hungary who were against socialism as per Mussolini. 2 A discussion on Mussolini is incomplete without analyzing the ideology he was committed to. Fascism and Mussolini seem to be the two sides of the same coin. Fascism was like a big river with a number of tributaries assimilating such as Nationalism, Futurism, and Syndicalism. Other than being a practical experiment in government, fascism inculcated a theory and a philosophy, and to an extent an art, a mysticism and a religion. As announced Mussolini, â€Å"Fascism has a doctrine, or, if you will, a philosophy with regard to all the questions which beset the human mind today,† adding further, â€Å"We play upon every chord of the lyre, from violence to religion, from art to politics.† ... y chord of the lyre, from violence to religion, from art to politics.† 3 The start of fascism was not grand as Mussolini himself formed the first Fascio di Combattimento in March, 1919, which erupted in the coming into being of the National Fascist party in November, 1921. The sensational march on Rome, which positioned the party safely in power, happened on 22 October. Fascism took a defensive posture with the murder of Matteotti in May1924 but from which it emerged strong. It has not since then seen backward; it went ahead with its creative program resulting in the great Labor Charter of April 1927, the most happening thing. 3 The inner reality of fascism did not match with the outward projections, as proletarian changed to bourgeois, and radical changed to conservative. Sedition turned to loyalty; left changed to right. The only thing that did not change was Mussolini. That’s why Mussolini has been blamed by opponents of being the arch-turncoat of history. He outsmart ed all others in his cheating to attain popular liberty. No one can deny that at one point of time Mussolini was a socialist, a republican, an atheist who overturned government but later became averse to all these. Mussolini once stood against all that was constitutional turned to become Authority incarnate. Even he rid himself off from pacifism and feminism. Such volte-face was Mussolini. It is said that overambitious nature of Mussolini was responsible for the ever-changing attire of thought leadership that Mussolini went on acquiring and relieving with. Supporters of Mussolini saw in him a political personality rich in creative thoughts that directed the course of happenings. Taking a decision in favor or against this blame on Mussolini making volte-face on ideologies without analyzing the events