Spiritual Growth through Various Spiritual Disciplines

From time immemorial, spiritual growth has strengthened the faith of believers and has helped them become closer and made them believe more in their religious dogma. This is also evident in Christianity. From the time of Jerusalem’s height, discipline has always found a part in Christian beliefs and in strengthening the faith of the congregation. Over the years, people have learned that particular kinds of disciplines when practiced help them keep the connection between God and themselves open and help keep alive their passion towards God.It is worth noting early on that these spiritual disciplines are not the surest way to heaven and that there is no concrete account that they can even make you a holy person. On the other hand, being able to practice spiritual discipline can heighten your desire, awareness, and love of God by stripping down the barriers that you put up within yourself and other barriers that others have created for you that hinder you from being closer to God (Benner, 2002). A practice or activity can be considered a spiritual discipline when it takes a specific part of your way of life and turns it toward God.A spiritual discipline is, when practiced faithfully and regularly, a habit or regular pattern in your life that repeatedly provides you the opportunity to become closer to God, opens the practitioner’s heart to God and makes one malleable and open to spiritual guidance and opinion. Christian devotional practice is centered primarily on the holy trinity – Jesus Christ, God the Father and the Holy Spirit (Foster, 1998). In this study, we put special attention on a comprehensive analysis of spiritual growth through the practice of six kinds of discipline and how these are able to contribute to spiritual growth.In the succeeding parts of the paper, we will focus our study on spiritual disciplines such as meditation, prayer, fasting, study, service and simplicity. We will also provide a discussion of these particular dis ciplines and how they are able to make people grow closer to a perfection of relationship with Christ. The first part of the study is dedicated to a discussion of spiritual growth thru meditation. Essentially, meditation is subdivided into three parts: Concentration, Meditation and Contemplation. The first part of meditation is concentration.Concentration is being able to take special attention on a certain point, topic or area. It entails 100% of taking special attention on a single thought, in our case 100% focus to God. Meditation can be achieved by being able to clear one’s mind of unnecessary opinions and distractions as this can make it easier for people to be more connected to God. Concentration brings people to another level of consciousness that promotes for clearer thought and a heightened sense of feelings. This precursor must be achieved in order for people to become in a meditative state. The second stage of meditation is actually meditation itself.The uninterrup ted flow of one’s Attention, then, is Meditation. By being fixated in a single object, a person’s thought is totally focused on that object. This is the clearest and most important aspect of meditation. With this, the purest opinions and feelings are released between the person and God. Through meditation, God has a true and clear connection with the person that helps provide a clear and uninterrupted line of communication. Spiritual meditation creates for a very clear communication between God and the person, which promotes for better understanding of God and a first hand experience of God’s presence.This is also evident in order religious orders such as Buddhism that takes special attention on intense meditation to cleanse the mind and body of evil and wrongdoing. Through continuous Meditation, one becomes one with the object of one’s Concentration. The third level is contemplation. By means of meditation one is able to acquire a lot of pure experiences that has to reflect on and analyzed. Contemplation is a method that helps people clearly explain and analyze the events that had transpired during meditation.Contemplation often takes more time than the meditation itself, as it is important to clearly understand what the Lord has communicated to the person (Keating n. d. ). This can be in form of a group with a facilitator or contemplating alone. At any case, what is important is the resulting decision made that is important, regardless of contemplative medium. One can meditate by means of study. In studying, one is in a meditative state that is focused on the holy scriptures of God. With study, we are encapsulated within the scriptures of God’s word.In studying the word of God, we are led to deeper meditative state and we can gain more knowledge and be closer to God through his word (Beers, 2006). It has been said that pure existence can only be experienced when the mind becomes purely at ease with the environment he/she is in. In order for us to be truly one with God, we have to imbibe into our daily routine a portion of meditation in order to experience, even a little at the very least, pure existence and a unbroken line of communication with God in order to further develop our spirituality and relationship with God.With pure meditation, it is really hard to understand the words of God. Our opinions and speculations are like a veil covering our true Nature. In addition to this, a most serious problem is when we identify with a certain mind-structure, the personality or ego, and the body. But even with so much of this demystifying our meditative state, meditation is used to unveil our true Nature and relationship with the Lord, we might still continue to cling to this false personality and fear its dissolution (Foster, 1978).Since we cannot simply order the mind to be still, we give it something to hang on to. This is to facilitate effective meditation that would help us greatly in opening a pure lin e of communication with the Lord. Words designed for that purpose are called mantras. In Christianity’s case, a mantra can be of the form of a prayer or Christian ritual. The application of mantras during meditation is called transcendental meditation. Mantras are repeated mentally for the sole purpose to calm the mind, remove inhibitions and clear out any unnecessary opinions (Beers, 2006).By continually driving out unnecessary thought can the mind be completely â€Å"silent† and only when the mind comes to a complete standstill are we enabled to identify with the silent observer. Spiritual meditation is essentially a mental exercise that drives the mind to take special attention on the Lord in order to remove all opinions not relevant to the Lord and create a connection between him for effective communication and to further our relationship with the Lord. The next kind of spiritual discipline that is closely linked to meditation is prayer. The second discipline is pr ayer.Spiritual discipline is not spiritual discipline if there is no prayer, of course, is much more than a spiritual discipline; it is a way of life. However it should be noted that prayer, as with all spiritual disciplines, should never be taken only as a discipline and nothing more. It would be a rather low-voltage spiritual life in which prayer was chiefly undertaken as a discipline. On one hand, prayer is a very potent practice for opening our lives to God (Catechism of the Catholic Church n. d. ). In present times, it is very important to practice prayer as a discipline.In our culture today, a considerable margin of Christians’ attention span is severely impaired. In prayer we attend our minds to God, and all too often that attention lasts for a few seconds. We may be starting off with professing our faith by means of saying the Lord’s Prayer but it is not long before our minds tend to wander off and we start to forget who we had addressed in the first place (Tho mpson 2005). It is for this reason that we must undertake prayer as a spiritual discipline in order to enable ourselves to attain the single-mindedness necessary to attend to the God-who-is-present.It is also vital for us to understand that prayer, just as every other discipline, is a learning process. We will find ourselves distracted. We will notice our minds wandering among the countless concerns of the day. However, as we continue in the paths of prayer, our meanders will be shorter and less frequent. Prayer is conversation or communication with God. It involves both speaking and listening. So often we pray as if it were a monologue. But prayer is so much more than a one-way communication towards God.As a matter of fact, the most diligent person that practices the discipline of prayer knows that prayer is more about just listening towards God rather than talking to him. In addition, prayer is also about being open to God for change. Prayer is recognition that God is God and we a re not, and so in prayer we yield our desires to God's. As much as people might say it is, prayer is not at all complicated. Prayer is not just about saying the right combination of words and thought but it is the right orientation of our outlook towards God.In addition, prayers do not need to be flowery. Those kinds of prayers are either said in order to impress others or just to manipulate God. A prayer is not something that is done during mealtime, in times of church service or in times of distress. It is not just about bowing our heads, clasping our hands together, and closing our eyes. If we really consider the definition of prayer as something that is really paying attention to God, we really can conduct the discipline of prayer without actually stopping.What is important is that in whatever thing we do, we do it with the awareness that God is always there beside us (Thompson 2005). With that in mind, we can take special attention all of what we do and offer it to him. To pray without ceasing means that wherever we go and in whatever we are doing, we go and do with the awareness that God is always watching whatever we do. We listen through prayer and meditation for his opinion on everything that we do in our lives. We look at others and ourselves through His eyes.We ask God to show us the right path and the right decision for whatever we do. In prayer God invites us to join him in his community and wants us to lead our lives in his ways. The third part of the spiritual discipline is fasting. Biblically, fasting is abstaining from food, drink, sleep or sex to take special attention on a period of spiritual growth. Specifically, we humbly deny something of the flesh to glorify God, enhance our spirit, and go deeper in our prayer life. Christian fasting isn't some kind of a â€Å"work† that's commanded by Christ or required by Scripture.On the other hand, it doesn’t imply that fasting isn't suggested to be part of our spiritual growth. Fasting is often linked to prayer and meditation as well. Too often, the focus of fasting is on the lack of food. On the other hand, the purpose of fasting is to take our eyes off the things of this world and instead take special attention on God. Fasting is a way to demonstrate to God and to ourselves that we are serious about our relationship with Him. Although fasting in Scripture is almost always a fasting from food, there are other ways to fast.It can actually be as easy as giving up something temporarily so that you can better focus on God can actually be considered fasting. It is recommended that fasting be limited to a given period of time, more so when food is part of the fasting. It is important to note that fasting is never intended to punish the flesh but to let we take special attention on God (Catechism of the Catholic Church n. d. ). In addition, fasting according to scripture is not a prerequisite. However it is highly recommended. The only reason indicated within Holy Scri pture to fast is to develop a deeper relationship with God.Christian fasting is more than just not letting ourselves eat or deny ourselves of some kind of passion or thing that we crave for but it is a sacrifice of something that we hold dear in order to offer it to the Lord. Fasting imbibes humility and loosens us from the chains of worldly materials and needs. This concept of fasting is not a one-day thing – it is a lifestyle of servant living for God and others. The next kind of spiritual discipline that is the focus of our study is simplicity. Simplicity, as many people would have it, is not merely having less stress in life and having more fun and recreation.But, simplicity is a spiritual discipline that when practiced moves us closer to God and removes us from the chains of worldly possessions. Some people turn to God in order to simplify their lives. In some cases, this can happen but this would entirely depend on what God’s plans for you (Boa, 2001). But all to o often, God makes our lives more complicated. God continually tests us in order to determine our faith and love in him. As we are continually tested, God’s love then calls us to act. Part of what makes a Christian spirituality ‘simple' is that is has a single attention: Christ.All else radiates from there or is to be set aside. Spiritual discipline trains us to stay on course when our lives are rocked out of normality. But if we do not stay steady and stay the course, we lose our connection and ourselves to God. Christian spirituality helps make life simpler and happy to live. When we chase a wealthy life style, we thread a very difficult and often unholy affair: the standards keep on changing day in and day out, and our anxiety never ceases. That is why Christian contemplatives and mystics speak so often of detachment.By taking away the direction on acquiring and amassing wealth, we have more of ourselves made free in order to direct ourselves to take special attentio n on learning to love correctly, to meditate towards God, to provide the necessary aid to those that need it, to learn more about our Lord through scripture or learning how to depend on the Spirit. Simplicity guides to so many other spiritual disciplines such as giving time to others – service. By means of simplicity, you are actually attuned more to the needs of others and can actually help them, as you are not preoccupied with other material things in life.Service can also be a form of simplicity as you provide help to others. With service, you are closer to God as you fulfill one of the very tenets of Christianity, and that is not to just be closer to God but more importantly be closer and be in a communal relationship with the people around you (Ortberg 2004). In life, you cannot have everything. You always have to choose between something. You can't follow Christ and chase wealth. Most of the time these two paths go in extremely opposite directions. The simple life, the contented life, means that we have learned to trust God rather than worldly possessions.People currently worry so much about money that they forget the essential things in life. We think that money will take away all our worries but in reality money will only produce more and more worries. Take for instance the people that win the lottery and just go bankrupt. Riches and abundance are like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. They come in reeling in the bait, they are clad as sheep’s clothing pretending to be security against anxieties and they then become the object of anxiety that in the first place they try to remove.Worldly possessions not only take away our concentration towards God but also make us closer to evil (Mcknight 2004). In conclusion, prayer, meditation, study of the holy scripture, service to one’s fellow men, simplicity and fasting all guide people who do these spiritual disciplines closer to God. Each on its own can contribute to making this person clo ser to God. It is also evident that each spiritual discipline leads to the other; moreover, everything is intertwined and every part of each spiritual discipline is founded on another kind of discipline.This is strongly apparent in existing studies and prescriptions that it is important to practice not just only one but many of these spiritual disciplines if one were to aspire to become closer to God. As a concluding remark, these disciplines are not made in order to be just followed and it will logically guide to being saved from eternal damnation. Instead, these are carried out in order to be a guide for us to be ever closer to God. We use these disciplines as tools to make us closer to God but inevitably, it will all redound to the choice we make whether or not we would want to authentically accept God in our lives.

Legalization of Marijauna

Daniel FaybyshevPeriod 8-9 6/11/12â€Å"Legalization of Marijuana† Although to many it may seem as though marijuana is a harmful substance that poisons our nations youth, marijuana has the potential to open many new doors in economics, medicine, security and more. Marijuana should not be as easy to obtain as walking into a convenience store and buying a pack of gum. However, the use of cannabis should be a choice left up to responsible people of age who can make their own wise decisions. Marijuana should be extremely regulated.With that said, Marijuana can be hugely beneficial. Tax revenue could significantly increase with the legalization of marijuana because of its huge popularity. Forty-two percent of America’s population has tried marijuana at least once. Keep in mind this is while it is illegal and harder to obtain than it would be if it were legal. An estimated forty to one-hundred billion dollars in revenue could be collected if taxes that are put on tobacco and alcohol products were to be put on marijuana.Legal marijuana production would create jobs both domestically and globally. Locally, dispensary shops would create numerous legitimate jobs for people. Globally, producers all around the world including South American countries, Middle Eastern countries, and African countries would have new job opportunities involving the production of cannabis sativa. Marijuana can help aid in the reduction of global unemployment and jumpstart our economy. Marijuana has been clinically proven to treat and sometimes cure many diseases that unfortunately plague the human body.It can act as an effective painkiller and it can replace harmful generic opiate-based painkillers such as oxycodone and hydrocodone that are known for being extremely addictive and highly abused drugs that can severely harm the body if taken more than prescribed. Marijuana is just the safer alternative. Also, marijuana can successfully treat anxiety disorders and depression because t he main chemical in Marijuana, THC (tetrahydrocannabanoid) acts as an anti-anxyolitic and an anti-depressant. In many cases Marijuana can treat insomnia.In conclusion Marijuana has numerous medical benefits and I believe it is a shame that its medicinal powers cannot be taken advantage of just because the government believes it should be illegal. Medicinal Marijuana offers hope to many people who suffer from disease. Another reason marijuana should be decriminalized, is to ultimately create a safer environment for the general public. Because of the high demand for marijuana the black market has taken upon itself to mass-produce and distribute it to the world.Along with the manufacturing and distribution of drugs come numerous other illegal activities to support it. Guns are given to those who are involved with drug trafficking. From the growers all the way to the local dealers people are carrying guns. Also, other more dangerous drugs are sold to fund the production and distribution of marijuana. Prostitution is also used as a way of funding the production of cannabis. Gang violence is also prevalent with the distribution of marijuana because rival gangs often compete for territory on which they sell their product.Legalizing marijuana would lessen if not eliminate essential components of the black market. It is a valid and reasonable point to make by those who oppose the legalization on Marijuana that Marijuana is a dangerous substance. Unfortunately the use of marijuana does have some negative side effects. Although they are minimal they are still present. Despite its many wonderful benefits marijuana is still a drug and still alters the way the mind and body function.However, the fact of the matter is that we live in an imperfect world and in an imperfect world certain sacrifices must be made for stability to be maintained within a society. The negatives of Marijuana cannot compete with benefits that would come about with its legalization. Gaining a stable e conomy, advancements in medicine and safe streets for the public are just a few of the many reasons that are worth the few minor negative affects it may have on those who will use it.

Campuses of colleges

A century ago,the campuses of colleges and universities across the United States might as well have hung out a sign that read â€Å"Men Molasses's all of the students and faculty were male. There were a small number of women's colleges, but many more schools-including some of the best known U. S. Universities such as Yale, Harvard, and Princeton-barred women outright. Since then,women have won greater social equality. By 1 980, the number of women enrolled at u. . Colleges finally matched the number of men. In a surprising trend, however, the share of women on campus has continued to Increase. As a result, In 2005, men accounted for only percent of all u. s. Undergraduates. The gender gap Is evident In all racial and ethnic categories and at all class levels. Among African Americans on campus, only 33 percent are men. The lower the Income level, the greater the gender gap In college attendance.Meg Delano noticed the gender Imbalance right away when she moved Into her dorm at the uni versity of Georgia at Athens; she soon learned that just 39 percent of her iris-year classmates were men. In some classes,there were few men, and women usually dominated discussions. Out of class, Delano and many other women soon complained that having so few men on campus hurt their social life. Not surprisingly, most of the men felt otherwise. What accounts for the shifting gender balance on U. S. Campuses?One theory is that many young men are drawn away from college by the lure of Jobs, especially in high technology. This pattern is sometimes termed the†Bill Gates syndrome,† after the an who dropped out of college and soon became the world's richest person by helping to found Microsoft. Thus,many boys have unrealistic expectations about their earning power if they don't have an education. In addition, analysts point to an anti-intellectual male culture. More young women are drawn to learning and seek to do well in school, whereas some young men attach less Importance to studying.According to Judith Killed,in the Journal Gender Issues, stereotyping is also holding boys back, Because girls generally have more plopped social skills and are better behaved than boys, they perform better In school, which then prÐ ²?pares them for college. Boys,on the other hand, are often labeled as less cooperative and more likely to act out In classrooms, which can affect their grades. Rightly or wrongly, more men seem to think they can get a good Job without Investing years of their lives and a considerable amount of money In getting a college degree.Many college officials are concerned about the lack of men on campus. N an effort to attract more balanced enrollments† some colleges are adopting what amounts to affirmative action programs for males. But courts In several states have already ruled such polices Illegal. Many colleges,therefore, are turning to more active recruitment; admissions officers are paying special attention to male applicants stressing a college's strength in mathematics and science-areas striving to increase their share of minority students, the hope is that they can also succeed in attracting a larger share of men.

Freezers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Freezers - Essay Example Thus investing in the production of freezers seems to be profitable. However, investing decision needs to be taken with due care. For making a business profitable, the most important thing is to make a right decision about the location of the firm. If a person wants to set up a new business or to expand his/her existing business, it is very important to conduct a rigorous analysis of economic, political, social and technological environments of various areas before selecting any particular area for locating his or her firm. The person should choose the best suitable area for setting up his/her business. This paper analyses the potential of three developing regions for setting up a business of freezers. These three areas are Egypt, Turkey and Dubai. This paper will attempt to analyze economic, political, social and technological conditions of these three regions and find out which out of these three will be best suited for setting up the business. But before moving into an in-depth an alysis of the issue under consideration, it is necessary to provide a brief overview of the business organization that wants to invest in one of these three regions. The business organization is based at New Jersey, USA. It is a freeze manufacturing company and is quite new in this business. It was established only in 2004. Presently it is quite small in its size and belongs to the SME (Small and medium enterprise) sector of the United States. Although it is small in size at present, it has a number of investment plans in order to expand its business in near future. It is a profitable firm and purely concentrates on providing high quality products at reasonable prices. Although it started as a very small firm, its production level has been increasing quite rapidly given the increasing demand for its products. Looking at its growth in the US market, it is hoping that it would be also successful in other countries as well. But, instead of adopting a strategy

EU LAW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

EU LAW - Essay Example To preserve such provision, the European Court of Justice was established. When it comes to the application of competition law amongst the different facets of European healthcare, the view of lawyers are at odds. At one end of the gamut, many are apprehensive of its general applicability in the local laws while on the other hand, some argued that these laws fit perfectly in the health care scene. An area of focus is the difference of health care against the other sectors of the European economy. When the primary goal is protecting the patient and meeting their needs in the workforce, then modifications in their applicability is one way of bridging the gap. For example, hospitals must not attempt to put profit gain before service to the public; hence the imperatives of the free market do not directly affect them. II. Health safeguards in the I.T workforce A. First Scenario Assuming that an EU regulation provides for a 5-minute break of employees working with computers at two hour inte rvals throughout the working day; however, UK laws lack such provision. The area of interest now would be the rights of an employer against an employee, after she developed migraine attacks resulting from her constant use of computer, as required from her job. The Van Gend en Loos vs. Neatherland2 2established dual vigilance used to enforce the directives of the European law with every Member State. As a brief background, Van Gend en Loos was a shipping company that imports ureaformaldehyde to Holland with duty charged by the customs services. Thinking such as a clear violation of the former Article 12 EC (Article 25 EC) on the common market, the company asked for reimbursements. However, the Dutch court claimed lack of jurisdiction, since the law is not Dutch. Now, with reference to Article 177 EC (Article 234 EC), the company brought the case to the European Court of Justice citing that the Dutch court erred in its non-application of the EC laws33. In its decision, the ECJ said th at the nature of the EEC treaty on common market implies that the treaty itself does not only laid down a blanket of mutual obligations between the States involved but at the same time, it functions and acts directly to the concerns of the parties in interest. It even added, in relevance to the effect of the treaty, the specific article (Article 12) is to be construed as having direct effects and thus producing individual state rights that every nation ought to protect4. As a conclusion from the case at bar, from the establishment of the signatory states of the international European laws, then the states have effectively limited their sovereign rights – therefore creating a new legal order in these countries. However, in the thin scope of rights, the subjects are not only the states as well as the citizens and nationals. In short, these laws do not only enforce obligations to member states and it citizens but more importantly, it provides a set of rights that will be part of their legal heritage5. Based from the course of action taken by VGL above, the same can be used in order to secure her rights against UK’s (assuming) lack of implementing rules and guidelines of the established law regulation. However, it is to be taken as a consideration that even of the Van

The Hemingway Hero Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Hemingway Hero - Essay Example In words, the Hemingway heroes are "courageous, confident and introspective", and "he does not let his fears get to him (http://engliterarium.blogspot.com) "Although Ernest Hemingway's heroes have different names they are fundamentally the same person, drawing from the same traumatizing experiences. However emotionally disturbed, Hemingway's heroes always seem to have some hope guiding them into the future. Their characteristics are all very similar, and the characters often seem to blend seamlessly into each other" (http://www.directessays.com). Another way of describing the Hemingway hero is someone who has grace under pressure. The Hemingway heroes are described as "code heroes". "Hemingway defined the Code Hero as 'a man who lives correctly, following the ideals of honor, courage and endurance in a world that is sometimes chaotic, often stressful, and always painful.' He measures himself by how well he handle the difficult situations that life throws at him. In the end the Code Hero will lose because we are all mortal, but the true measure is how a person faces death. He believes in "Nada," a Spanish word meaning nothing. Along with this, there is no after life" (http://engliterarium.blogspot.com). In "A Days Wait", the hero is not the boy but his father. The story is very simple. It was about a boy and his dad, an encounter when the boy is sick and the father was taking care of his some. The father was typical of a Hemingway hero, similar to Nick, the hero in the story, "Father and Son". Although the boy reflects worries and anxieties, the father was the opposite. Amidst the emotional pressure of taking care of a sick loved one, the father remained calmed, that's why he was also able to calm down the boy thus removing his fears. This is a show of "grace under pressure" a characteristic of a Hemingway hero In the story "In Another Country", the hero is the narrator. He is living the ordinary life of a man who has wounded leg caused by the war. The character is similar to what we have described above as a Hemingway hero - guided by hope in the future and at the same time he believes in the "nada" concept, meaning there is no after life. The man showed hope through his sickness, hopeful that he is going to get well and recover even he is in a foreign country, but the loss of his wife to death will never be recovered again. This painful reality reflects a depressing scenario on the life of a person and this is typical of a Hemingway hero. As stated above, the hero has a traumatizing experience. In the Story "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place", we witness an old man who is enveloped by darkness as signified by his blindness and his desire to be in the cafe. The young waiter could not relate to him as the former is happy with his life, especially having a wife. But the old man was depressed and finds respite in drinking. This story hero is so much reflective of a Hemingway hero who is suffering emotionally so that he even tried to commit suicide. Although, this is of course a revelation of Hemingway's later suicide decision, still the character was fighting and struggling for a well-lighted place. He still refused to succumb to darkness. Ironically, Harry is the one that resembles the character of a non-hero. "Where most of Hemingway's stories feature protagonists who speak little and reflect nothing at all about their motivations and

Private Equity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Private Equity - Essay Example On average, private equity has produced very high returns with low correlations to public stocks and bonds and real estate. In other words, private equity offers the prospect of both high returns and increased portfolio diversification. In some cases, private equity may also provide collateral benefits, e.g., a vehicle to make economically targeted investments or to create or preserve union jobs. Finally, there is also the undeniable appeal of seeking innovative investments (Gompers, 2003). 1. Until the investments go public or are liquidated, investments are carried either at cost or at prices set by later rounds of financing. Except in this latter case, private equity is even harder to accurately value than real estate (Bray,1997). 2. Ultimate returns have varied (and are likely to continue to vary) widely by "vintage year," i.e., the year of initial investment, because of wide fluctuations in the business cycle. For example, the median 1986 private equity fund returned only 8.4% per year through 1997, whereas the median 1990 private equity fund returned more than 17% per year through 1997. 3. ... (In statistical terms, the mean return is much higher than the median.) For example, for venture funds formed in 1988, an upper quartile manager returned almost 18% more per year than a lower quartile one from 1988 through 1997 (21.6% vs. 3.9%). 4. Reputation is very important: The best deals and the largest investment flows tend to go to firms with the best track records. Consequently (and quite unlike public equity markets), success tends to persist. The result, however, is that it is often difficult, if not impossible, for new investors to get into the best partnerships or deals. Here, the services of an established fund-of-funds manager can be of real value (Gompers, 2003). AIM OF THE PAPER Private equity (PE) buy-out deals have profound influence on domestic economies. Since the beginning of this year, they have accounted for more than one third of all deals that have been done on the New York stock Exchange1, and have raised $240 billion of cash for their acquisition plans2. The purpose of this report is to discuss the consequences of this type of buy-out on public markets, jobs, and tax revenues. Nevertheless, The effects of high leverage, which is used by PE firms to finance this class of acquisition, are beyond the scope of this report. DISCUSSION Private Equity investment used to be defined as "an equity investment in a company which is not quoted on a stock exchange". However, currently this definition has many limitations because it does not include investments that are structured as convertible debt and investments in public companies that are taken private3. For the purposes of this paper, Private Equity Buy-Out deal is a subset of

A Growing Level of Financial Engineering and Risk Management Research Paper

A Growing Level of Financial Engineering and Risk Management - Research Paper Example The renowned theory by Lon Fuller that is titled the â€Å"inner morality† of the Rule of Law clearly stipulates that a legal system will fail if laws presented within the system are obscure, and contradicting. Therefore, to ensure that Islamic banking maintains its unique nature it has been critical to devise a legal framework that ensures efficient functioning of Islamic banking, which is in conformity with Islamic teachings. We can look into the key elements that are contained within a legal framework to support the efficient functioning of Islamic banking. Aldohni stated that under the Islamic banking act, Islamic banking business is described as a banking business whose operations and objectives only contain elements that have been approved by the Islamic religion and in particular, the Shariah laws (63-65). Therefore, the main elements within the legal framework for the efficient functioning of Islamic banking draw their origin to the Islamic religion. The most predomina nt element of the legal framework for Islamic banking is the prohibition of the issuance of interests on all forms of transactions within Islamic banks. This element within the legal framework ensures the efficient functioning of Islamic banking in a manner that conforms to Islamic teachings and it helps in differentiating Islamic banks from the other commercial banks (Aldohni, 68-71). This differtiation would lead to figuring out to the public the equitability and avoidance of Ghara in Islamic banking as compared to conventional system conventional banking legal and regulatory framework.

Diversity and Learning Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Diversity and Learning - Coursework Example This integration can begin early at the school level where interaction with children of different colors, races and speaking different languages teach them to accept these differences and to take the best from each in order to develop wholesome tolerant personalities. Such diversity can be looked upon as an asset to enrich the learning experience and integrate children into a strong unit, irrespective of physical or cultural differences. Nieto and Bode define culture as â€Å"the values, traditions, worldview and social and political relationships created, shared and transformed by a group of people bound together by a common history, geographic location, language, social class, religion or other shared identity.† (Nieto and Bode, 2012) They add that language plays a critical role in learning. I agree that if students of different cultures and identities are educated in such a way so as to minimize their differences and stress on their commonalities, we would be building a stronger tomorrow based on respect and understanding of people different from us who could enrich one another and together build strong communities that are enriched by their diversity. As a child who belonged to a culture that was different from the one I encountered at school, I learned to negotiate between two worlds - the one in school and the one at home. In the beginning it was difficult and I was often confused. As a child my cultural identity was mostly discounted. I was one among a lot of others. Perhaps, this facet of a teacher’s role in her classroom had not yet been highlighted as it is today. However being a child, I quickly realized that the only way out for me was to be better at some things than most other students. Once I had mastered being bicultural and could alternate successfully between the correct behavior at school and at home, I began to feel more

Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 7

Annotated Bibliography Example Most of the authors reviewed agree that enough adequate research has not been carried out to understand post traumatic stress disorder and its symptoms. Some articles brought up controversial issue by making an assertion that the rates suicide among militants is higher than that of the general public. They have differed on the most common symptom observed from PTSD sufferers. The articles are helpful when carrying out literature review on symptoms and treatment of PTSD. Most of the articles reviewed making reference to The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 4th Edition Text Revision as a valuable reference for understanding the symptoms of PTSD. This is critical when carrying literature review since they can act as a guide in choosing materials for the review. Bryan, C., & Anestis, M. (2011). Reexperiencing symptoms and the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidal behavior among deployed service members evaluated for traumatic brain injury. Journal Of Clinical Psychology, 67(9), 856-865. Finley, E., Baker, M., Pugh, M., & Peterson, A. (2010). Patterns and Perceptions of Intimate Partner Violence Committed by Returning Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Journal Of Family Violence, 25(8), 737-743. doi:10.1007/s10896-010-9331-7 Gibbons, S. W., Hickling, E. J., & Watts, D. (2012). Combat stressors and post-traumatic stress in deployed military healthcare professionals: an integrative review. Journal Of Advanced Nursing, 68(1), 3-21. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2011.05708.x Herzog, J., Everson, R. R., & Whitworth, J. (2011). Do Secondary Trauma Symptoms in Spouses of Combat-Exposed National Guard Soldiers Mediate Impacts of Soldiers Trauma Exposure on Their Children? Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal, 28(6), 459-473. doi:10.1007/s10560-011-0243-z Polusny, M., Erbes, C., Murdoch, M., Arbisi, P., Thuras, P., & Rath, M. (2011). Prospective risk factors for new-onset post-traumatic stress disorder in National Guard soldiers deployed to

Marketing of Central Heating System Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Marketing of Central Heating System - Case Study Example They can do a better job of choosing their market, developing their offerings and executing their marketing plans. Company needs a strong marketing information system to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate and distribute needed, timely and accurate information to marketing decision makers. This information in developed from internal company records, marketing intelligence, marketing research and marketing decision support analysis. Marketers find many opportunities by identifying trends in the macro environment. A trend is a direction or sequence of events that have some momentum and durability. According to futurist Faith Popcorn (1992) a trend has longevity, is observable across several market areas and consumer activities and is consistent with other significant indicator that occur or energy at the same time. A new product or marketing programme is likely to be more successful if it is in line with strong trends rather than opposed to them. Companies and their suppliers, marketing in termediaries, customers and competitors all operate in a macro environment of force and trends that shape opportunities and pose threats. Within the rapidly changing global picture the firm must monitor six major forces: demographics, economics, natural, technological, political-legal and socio-cultural. Now we will analyze the there markets i.e. Poland Hungary and Czech republic on the basis of six macro- environments forces and analyze their needs (Market needs and Customers need) for central heating system. After analyzing markets trends the launch product in the said markets could be prioritized. During analysis we also take care of financial analysis of the product through Return on investment analysis. This process is called target- return pricing for the product. The firm determines the price that would yield its target rate return on investment (ROI). Many firms use target pricing. The target-return price is given by formula, Target return price = unit cost + desired return * invested capital/unit sales. After fixing the desired return company could easily analyze and perform break-even analysis so that it could assess that how many minimum numbers of units of product selling is essential to match their investment (Kotler, 2003). (For data see appendix) Poland: It is one of the Central European countries having population of 38.6 million. After world war -II until 1989-90 it remained under communist control as well as members of Warsaw pact. During the last decade Poland has made the transition to democracy and to market based economies. Now it becomes EU member state. Poland was the first economy in Central and Eastern Europe to recover to pre-transition level of economic output. Growth in GDP since 1993 has been very strong averaging over 5% annually and making the polish economy between the fastest growing economies in Europe. However, GDP per capita (measured in terms of purchasing power parity) remains very much lower than the other western European union members. The most notable features of Poland's energy sector are its heavy dependence on coal and the depth of power sector restructuring both to date and planned for the future. The total installed power generation capacity in Poland amounts to approximately 33GW while peak d emand is about 24GW. So it is energy surplus country. Annual electricity consumption stands at around 124 TWL of which about 63% powers the industrial sector (including

Pedagogical Practices Essay Example for Free

Pedagogical Practices Essay Abstract This paper provides an insight on the effective pedagogical practices that can be used in the children learning. Some of these practices include the incorporation of ICT in early childhood education and some of effective direct instructional strategies that can have an impact in the learning process of children. Five common learning outcomes for children are identified. In addition, the paper outlines characteristics of effective teaching that contribute to effective teaching. Furthermore, the concept of culture in early childhood education is also discussed. Keywords: Effective teaching, Pedagogy Introduction Early childhood education in Australia falls under the responsibility of each state. The approach in each State towards early childhood education is different. The different States have different school starting ages, nomenclature, approaches in the testing and evaluation of the children, policies, support services and both public and private funded childhood education and care programmes. In Australia, children in preschool and childcare are usually placed under the funding and policy of the health sector, whereas those children aged between 5 and 8 years are placed under the school sector. Amendments by the government have resulted to the combination of the health sector provision and childcare policy to the education sector. Childcare in the States of Victoria has been moved to the Department of Human Services to the Department of Early Childhood Education (DEEW, 2009). In Australia, pedagogy and learning have been put within the context of a developmental paradigm that is widely influenced by developmental (Sumsion et al., 2009). In the past, the school segment has been involved in implementing a discipline-focused criterion together with the child-centred approach to learning and pedagogy. The childcare sector mostly concerns itself with the child, whereas the school sector mainly focuses on the implementation of the curriculum (Church, et al., 2010). Some of the efforts by the Australian government in promoting preschool education include the investing of a million dollars in to the research and development of innovative practices in childcare and preschools. In addition, additional funds have been directed towards the development and research of early childhood programmes. Furthermore, the Australian government is developing a nationwide curriculum for early childhood development that will be implemented nationwide (DEECD, 2009). Pedagogy refers to the correct use of teaching strategies. In addition, pedagogical practices are those set of principles that facilitate and support effective teaching. Use of pedagogy standards assists in the teachers and childhood professionals in achieving their goals (Fleet, Patterson Robertson, 2006). According to the Victorian Framework, five outcomes for children can be identified. These include identity, sense of community, communication, learning and well-being (VCAA, 2000). Effective Teaching Effective teaching is dependent on certain outcomes. These outcomes include the whether the students learn something as the result. Despite the introduction of teaching strategies that have been described as effective, use of these strategies will produce different outcomes in the different learning situations (City et al., 2009). In these scenarios, the teacher will be confronted with the idea of developing instructional strategies and behaviours, which are effective practices as well as combining these strategies at the appropriate time to the individual students. In addition, the teacher has to apply of these strategies depending on the different learning situations and what is the teacher’s goal for students learning outcome (City et al., 2009). Effective teaching’s primary purpose is the attainment of academic knowledge of the student. In addition, effective teaching, as a whole encompasses the attainment of skill or knowledge on a subject of interest by a student, students feeling good about themselves, students obeying the society laws and students liking the school (Alter Coggshall, 2009). Besides ensuring increased academic achievement, the use of instructional strategies should not produce affective loss. Moreover, the instructional strategy that produces positive affective results is the most effective teaching strategy. In order to achieve effective teaching fully, vital understanding of the effective teaching practices, the students, teaching contexts, coherent decision making and learning environments is significant (Dahlberg, Moss Pence, 1999). Characteristics of Effective Teaching Effective teaching involves effective communicating, planning, managing and evaluating the actual process of instructing. Reflective teaching plays a major role in making of informed decision relating to the effective teaching strategies (Mabrina, Church Tayler, 2010). Through reflective teaching, teachers can be able to do a critical analysis their actions and their decisions. Reflective teaching allows teachers to foresee the impact of the teaching methods and in the process may make relevant changes in improving their strategies. In addition, the teacher gains a deeper understanding by scrutinizing the goals of the teaching practice. According to the DEECD (2009), children’s learning becomes advanced when they experience interactions with highly effective childhood professionals. Application of reflective teaching allows the childhood teachers to promote practices are supported by evidence to be doing well in supporting and developing children learning (Osterman, 1990). Furthermore, reflective teaching will allow the childhood professionals ability to challenge and develop new practices that they discover to be effective. In the process of reflective teaching the childhood professionals, improve their knowledge and skills concerning early childhood education. Teachers have to have a comprehensive understanding of the learning values of development the children to cater for the variety of and diversity of children in a classroom setting (Ashmna and Elkins, 2009). This allows the teacher to select the best effective teaching strategies. Consequently, this will necessitate the need of the use of a various instructional resources and technology. To be effective teachers must have adequate knowledge on the subject, which they propose to teach. This includes professional knowledge about teaching in general, pedagogical knowledge about the concepts and theories of effective teaching and pedagogical content knowledge concerning the different teaching approa ches and methods. Another important t characteristic of effective teaching involves the use of a variety of teaching strategies. Use of a variety of teaching techniques stimulates the student s during lesson activities and may encourage students to participate actively in the lesson. This especially true when dealing with children who are normally intrigued by different things and hence in the process may enjoy the lessons. The advantage is that children have inquisitive minds and anything new to them encourage exploratory mind (Rinaldi, 2006). Furthermore, proper assigning of tasks taking into account the time factor will provide the children with adequate time for learning new ideas. Various ways can be used to increase children engagement in learning activities. The teacher can monitor the work of the children as the progress and make comments and appreciation of their efforts. In addition, preparation of a daily schedule that gives a description of the activities that the children will undertake will assist in reducing time wastage activities such as giving directions. Furthermore, individual assignments given to the child should be interesting and easy to them as well as different to what the other children are doing. This promotes their confidence in being able to carry out activities on their own. The children should not only be involved in just doing things in class as a way of ensuring children success rate. The activities should be meaningful and have a relation to what the teacher is planning on teaching. Planning of these activities should replicate the capability and interests of the children. If a child is successful in one day, chances are that the child will replicate the same success in the days to follow. Effective Pedagogical Practices Cognitive Construction Cognitive structures refer to the patterns of the mental or physical actions that bring about specific acts of acumen. These are conditioned by stages of development. An assumption using the Piaget theory is that children are natural and active developers of their own understanding. Growth in a child results to the integration of abstract structures in their understanding. Using Piaget theories on child development, the teacher can be able to facilitate developmental change in a child by assisting the child to find contradictions using hid or prior knowledge and understanding. Culturally Relevant Pedagogy The Victorian Framework for early childhood development t recognizes the fact that culture plays a significant t role in the shaping the learning and development outcomes of children. The childhood professional use of culture empowers the children both socially and emotionally. An example of how the Victorian Framework incorporates culture-based pedagogy is in the Aboriginal culture. Respecting and learning the value of this culture will assist in ensuring that the Victorian children have a sense of belonging in the community. Culture, in this case, is used as a vehicle for learning. Moreover, incorporating of children’s books that outlines the different cultures will assist the children in developing their own personal identities related to their different cultures. In addition, the children can be able to understand the relationships that exist between Australia and Asia and in the process grow up understanding the Asian culture. (ACARA, 2010) Creating Relationships Fostering relationships among the children will assist in building trust, understanding thereby creating a peaceful learning environment for the children. The children strengths’ can be increased by encouraging the children to talk about the family histories. Incorporation of this strategy will assist the children develop social and persona competence as they learn to mange and understand their relationships. This is a key aspect of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment, and Reporting Authority (2010). Furthermore, the children will be able to start friendship relationship with one another, work effectively as a team, and be able to make responsible decisions (ACARA, 2010). Use of Technology In recent times, the use of computer games and simulations has a possibility of improving how children learn. Early childhood professionals can incorporate an assortment of strategies using technology. These include the use of a learner-centred approach, promoting cognitive activity, and focusing on learning outcomes. A learner-centred approach will help in assisting the natural process through which children learn. In addition, this approach will allow a better understanding of the children’s cognitive processing and, therefore, affect the learning outcomes of the child. In focusing on promoting the cognitive activity, video games cause the children to be more active. This allows teachers to recognize how the different aspects of the computer software affect the learning process of the child. Consequently, measuring the learning outcomes of the games can help in accessing the level of comprehension in a child. In addition, use of reading software can help determine what children learn from the use of the software. Use of ICT is a key component in the Australian curriculum (ACARA, 2010). Direct Instruction Hunt and Touzel (2009) suggest that the use of direct instruction strategies allows teachers to be able to organize and present material to the children. Direct instructional strategies are characterized by a certain level of predictability of the children responses. This allows teachers to be to respond with ease and in the process save time. The teacher best applies direct teaching for children in the learning of procedures and skills. Teachers use the direct instructional strategies to present information through which the children use their prior knowledge and give feedback to the teacher. Direct instruction strategies ensure the close monitoring of the children’s outcomes and ensure effective use of classroom organization and management methods. The direct instruction process consists of modelling, direct practice, guided practice and independent practice. In modelling, the skill to be imparted on children is performed by the teacher. This normally involves thinking aloud so that the children can grasp the concept. In direct practice, the teacher uses questions through a variety of steps that allow the children to understand the reason behind every step, whereas, in guide practice, the children generate questions working through various steps while the teacher observes, guides them, and provides a response to the questions. Lastly, in independent practice, the students have gained the ability to work on their own and can be able to do more questions without much assistance from the teacher. Examples of direct instructional strategies include explicit teaching, drill, demonstration, lecture presentation and teacher led guide discussion. However, lecture presentations are not effective in teaching children. In explicit teaching, the teacher first gain the attention of the children then provides information, which the children can use to provide feedback to the teacher. Use of demonstrations in teaching children is a more effective method the use of direct instruction. In demonstrations, the children can observe how the teacher carries out a certain task, which helps to increase the attention of the children. Furthermore, using demonstrations allow the children to look at the actual activity rather than hearing about something they cannot see. An example of a demonstration that is normally used in teaching children is the teacher showing them how to tie their laces. Most of these demonstrations are explanatory in nature (Moss et al., 2006). References ACARA (2010). The Shape of the Australian Curriculum. Sydney: Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority Australian Education Ministers. Retrieved from http://www.acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/Shape_of_the_Australian_Curriculum.pdf Alter, J Coggshall, J. G. (2009). Teaching as a Clinical Practice Profession: Implications for Teacher Preparation and State Policy. Retrieved from http://www.tqsource.org/publications/clinicalPractice.pdf Ashmna, A. Elkins, J. (2009). Education for Inclusion and Diversity. NSW: Pearson. Church, A., Deans, J., Raban, B. Margetts, K. (2010). The Early Years Learning Frameworks in Practice. Melbourne: Teaching Solutions. City, E. A., Elmore, R. F., Fiarman, S. E. and Teitel, L. (2009). Instructional Rounds in Education. A Network Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning. Harvard University: Harvard Education Press. DEECD. (2009). Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework. Early Childhood Strategy Division: Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved from http://www.education.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/earlychildhood/learning/veyldframework.pdf Dahlberg, G., Moss, P., Pence, A. (1999). Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care. Philadelphia: Falmer Press. DEEW. (2009).Belonging, Being and Becoming. The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia. Retrieved form http://apo.org.au/node/18428 Fleet, A., Patterson, C. Robertson, J. (2006). Insights: Behind early childhood Pedagogical Documentation. NSW: Pademelon Press. Mabrina, L. Church, A. Tayler, C. (2010). Evidence Paper, Practice Principle: Reflective Practice. Retrieved from http://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/earlylearning/evi-refprac.pdf Moss, J. et al. (2006). Invitations Inspirations: Pathways to successful teaching. Victoria: Curriculum Corporation. Osterman, K, F. (1990). Reflective Practice: A New Agenda for Education. Education and Urban Society, 22 (2) 133 – 152. Sumsion, J., Barnes, S., Cheeseman, S., Harrison, L., Kennedy, A., Stonehouse, A. (2009). Insider perspectives on Developing Belonging, Being Becoming: The Early Years Frameworks for Australia. Australian Journal of Early Childhood. 24, (4), 4-13. Rinaldi, C. (2006). In Dialogue with Reggio Emilia. Oxon: Routledge. Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (2000). Victorian Essential Learning Standards, Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. Retrieved from http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/

Impact of E-Commerce on Global Business

Impact of E-Commerce on Global Business Introduction E-commerce is different from any other type of business. In other words we can say that e-commerce have far more similarities than differences. E-commerce has its road map for the operation and development of the business; just to make sure we will not be lost. It has its own process for the business planning, to set the goals, think ahead, anticipate problems and some measures for the success. The Internet is same like any other sales channel. The Internet allows companies to advertise information fast with almost zero cost, to reach customers with their range, to introduce new and innovative product rapidly, to reduce costs and generate savings, to provide complete information in short period of time, to answer customer questions quickly, and many more differences. However, Internet also creates more bargaining and selection power for the customers, creates more perfect information market to the market place. The Internet is global and being on the Web means that our business will be visible internationally which will be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days in a year. E-business plan must account for this difference in Web hosting and fulfil the requirement of customers. The Web is giving greater opportunities for personalization of content, self service for the customer and one to one marketing. E-business has always focused on getting close to the customer We just discussed about the differences of business and e-business. In the following pages we will discuss the impacts of the e-commerce with perspective to Abbey Hotel, Reading which we have taken into consideration as a practical business example. Discussing about the e-commerce, we will see about the hotel, its strategy-setting activities such as writing the mission statement, core value proposition which are offered to supplier and consumers, defining the business model, supply chain management, identifying target markets, identification of critical success factors and critical risks. Executive Summary The long term goal of The Abbey House Hotel for temporary lodging and boarding with our shining restaurant and attractive with safe car park creating a differentiated experience, the historical nature of the Reading buildings and as well as the modern Oracles and shopping centre with its unique location in one of the most attractive part of Berkshire. We plan to be more than a great lodging, restaurant, bar and safe park. We planed to create friendly environment and pampered guest with our unique selling services. Expanding our exposure via the Internet and introducing our Abbey House Hotel on the websites to maintain our standard and to control over the market. The Abbey House Hotel aims to build a strong market position in the Reading area of Berkshire as a result of few BB in the area as well as the mild competitive climate in the area. The Abbey House Hotel aims to offer its services at the competitive price to meet the demand of the middle to higher income local market residents and tourists. Location The Abbey House Hotel is a beautiful facility. The Hotel offers 18 individually furnished rooms, each with its own antique theme. We are a complete bed and breakfast Inn with a full complementary breakfast served each morning to our guests. Oracles target market strategy is based on becoming a destination of choice for professional couples in the greater Reading area who are looking for a place to relax. We will also advertise to the newly married couple who are looking for that special get away. It will be important for us to be visible to those potential guests who are travelling on motorway M4 through Heathrow. Abbey house hotel is an established BB, and has been in operation for the last three years. After possession and a brief period of becoming established, Abbey House will diverse into other venires to ensure a steady flow of patrons (tourists and locals) through its doors. The Abbey House is a partnership, equally owned by Muhammad Riaz Hussain and Irfan Mahmood. Mr. Riaz resides on the property, managing and maintaining the business and satisfying guests requirements and Mr. Irfan is taking care of financial matters The Service The Abbey House was originally built in 1980 and is believed to have been one of three train stations on Reading. The slogan for The Abbey House Hotel is Home Away From Home The slogan Home away from Home was chosen to ensure that customers have a different experience different from their day-to-day life. In order to be customer conscious, The Abbey House Hotel is offering four different type of accommodation to its customers depending on their needs. There will be Single, Double, Twin and Interconnected rooms. In next spring we are planning to add one full service coin-operated laundry machine which will provide the facility of washing, drying and optional folding. The Abbey House Hotel will be opened 24 hours a day, 7 days in a week. Each of our rooms is equipped with one King size bed, Two single beds and one single bed. We have full-service restaurant and a bar. Next spring we are planning to add dance floor which will provide live entertainment to the in house guest. We are also plan to renovate the guest rooms next year and placed new LCD TV in each guest room instead of normal TV. The Market The Abbey House Hotels target market strategy is based on becoming a destination choice for the people who are visiting Reading (Berkshire) and who are looking for a place to relax. The target markets that we are going to pursue are people or families looking for a vacation destination, honeymooners, family reunion, visiting patient to Reading Hospital (which is nearby) Reading University students. Our target budget is 30% over than the last budget with  £25 average room rate. More variety was added into the restaurant to increase the weekly sales and also adding vegetarian and fish chips items in our menu. Subscriptions to various Web services will provide international exposure to potential customers for nominal fees, plus it has a website http//www.theabbeyhousehotel.co.uk. The Abbey House Hotel would like to see a 20% increase in customer. Financial Considerations Mr. Riaz Hussain and Mr. Irfan will invest  £50,000 in the business for an initial capital for the start-up and a significant part of the investment will be finance by HSBC. It hopes to secure a loan of  £150,000 from the bank with a payback period of 10 years. Because its family own business,  £50,000 will be contributed by two brothers raising its start up capital of  £200,000. Start-up Summary Table Start-up Expenses Legal  £1,500 Stationary etc  £75 Brochures  £500 Property Goodwill  £50,000 Lodge setup  £200 Direct TV  £200 Insurance  £500 Other expenses  £500 Total Expenses  £53,475 Start-up Assets Cash required  £15,000 Start-up Stock 0 Other Current Assets  £10,000 Total Assets  £25,000 Start-up Funding Start-up Expenses to Fund  £53,475 Start-up Assets to Fund  £25,000 Total Funding Required  £78,475 Business Objectives The broad objective of The Abbey House Hotel is to offer service at competitive price by meeting demand of tourists and residents area of Berkshire and London. The Abbey House Hotel also aims to acquire not less than 25 percent of the BB market before the end of 2009. Key to Success In order to succeed, the management of The Abbey House Hotel will strive to achieve the following goals: To position The Abbey House Hotel as the best BB in the area of Berkshire of London among the numerous tourists. Build strong market position among the local residents. Maintain healthy and sound financial management of the venture. Business Description Vision We are committed to dynamic growth and service excellence built upon our heritage of traditional hospitality. An ethic, respected and evolving organization a leader in excellence, we strive to consistently meet and surpass guests, employees and other stakeholders, expectations. Mission To provide excellent quality and service to all our customers by valuing and rewarding our team, whilst promoting mutual respect and diversity Core Values Communication Listen actively to others Embrace diversity and value differences Regularly update information and keep others updated Open to feedback and communicate positively Collaborate to exceed the organizational goals as well as our own Work Ethics Meet commitments, set personal standards Timely in our duties and punctual Understand our duties and responsibilities and keep our knowledge updated Adapt to change, handle pressure and are open to new ideas We do what it takes to get the work done Customer Services We strive to build customer confidence and are committed to exceeding customer expectation Actively seek feedback for continuous improvement Our aim to act quickly on resolving issues Handling service issues politely, positively and efficiently whilst following procedure Recognition and growth Achievement orientation Performance-based evaluation Appreciation Incentives Setting ever-rising standards of performance Innovation Listening and two-way interaction Participation Encouragement Motivation Initiative Trust Cooperation Support Teamwork Sense of ownership Integrity Dignity Respect E-Business Facilities Online Booking You have the opportunity to check room availability and also make an on line reservation. When you click on the online Booking box located below the left navigation you will be taken to a secure page a credit card will be required for you to make an online reservation. Your credit card is only used to secure the booking and your account need not be settled by this card. Guest will make the booking online and guaranteed by their Credit Card. B2C Booking confirmation No Online Hotel Information Online booking options Guest All bedrooms have en-suite facilities Double bed, Twin bed Single bed, Tea/Coffee making facilities, Direct dial from rooms, TV, Hair dryer, Trouser press Check in time: 1400 hrs Check out time: 1100 hrs All reservation must be guaranteed by Credit Card prior to the arrival. Non guaranteed booking will be cancelled 24 hours prior to arrival. Extra sharing person will be charged  £10. Room Rate Click here to book the room Sunday to Thursday Single  £75 ENQUIRE Double / Twin (single occupancy)  £85 ENQUIRE Double / Twin (double occupancy)  £95 ENQUIRE Extra Person  £10 Weekend Room Rates Click here to book the room Friday and Saturday Single  £49 ENQUIRE Double / Twin  £59 ENQUIRE Extra Person  £10 All rates are inclusive of Full English Breakfast and VAT at 17.5% All rates are subject to change without notice Online Special Offers Extended Stay Programme, Room from Just  £40 ENQUIRE Weekends in Reading  £45 ENQUIRE Valid Date: April 7, 2008 April 7, 2009 Double bed, Twin bed Single bed, Tea/Coffee making facilities, Direct dial from rooms, TV, Hair dryer, Trouser press Reading Rock Festival ENQUIRE Valid Date: August 22, 2008 August 25, 2008 Double bed, Twin bed Single bed, Tea/Coffee making facilities, Direct dial from rooms, TV, Hair dryer, Trouser press Home Away Home click here for our specialities Advance Purchase Reservation click here for our specialities (No amendment, no refund will be given in this offer) Web Plan Summary The Abbey House Hotel website will focus on the features the Abbey House Hotel has to offer. Each room with its different options will be on the site as well as pictures of The Abbey House Hotel and the facilities that it has to offer. The lunch / dinner menu will be displayed. Room rates will be given, with maps on how to get to there. Attractions with in 30 miles will be on the site and other local colour will be shown. Room reservation can be made online if the consumer wishes to do so. Website Marketing Strategy Our website marketing strategy will focus on Corporate, Visitors and groups who are looking for a boarding and lodging. The Berkshire, Oxfordshire and London area will be our main focal point. The Abbey House Hotel will promote through our website by using: Detailed photos of the Abbey House and surrounding area Price list of our rooms and our restaurant menu. Special Package We will contact with travel agent around the world e.g. Active Hotel. Gullivers Travels, Travco, Expedia, Expotel, Late room. Last minute. BSP, Super breaks etc Guests are making the room booking through the following travel agents and pay to them. These Agents forward those booking to the hotel via email and fax. e.g. Gullivers Travels www.gullivertravels.co.uk Expedia www.expedia.com Travco www.travco.com Super breaks www.superbreaks.co.uk On the other hand, these following Travel Agents, they advertise our hotel on their websites, guests make their booking and these Travel Agents forward those booking to hotel and hotel charge to guest directly and pay the commission on top of that to Travel Agents after receiving their commission invoice. Active Hotels www.activehotels.com Late room www.lateroom.com Last minutes www.lastminute.com Our Hotels website is linked with all above mentioned websites. It is another source of e-business to increase the revenue and achieve our target. Booking through Travel Agent B2B Activehotel.com Lateroom.com Lastminute.com Gta.com Travco.co.uk Superbreaks.com Expedia.com Expotel.com Booking Confirmation to Guest Online Guest Confirmation send to the Hotel Inventory Control System on websites by Hotel Joint websites or travel agents websites providing us a business and we will allocate the rooms and control the inventory. If we dont have rooms to sell we can close their allocation and if we want to give some rooms to them, we can allocate them number of room as per our hotel requirement. If travel agent has a client who is looking for a room in our hotel or in our area and there is no room is avail able or room inventory is zero then we can sell directly to the travel agent. On both ways we are not losing the business. Marketing Strategy The mission of Abbey House Hotel is to become the best choice in Berkshire area for the boarding and lodging by expending our exposure via the Internet (with multiple networks and links). We are planning to be more than a great hotel. We are planning to bring the guest satisfaction up to the mark and the name of excellence in the hotel industry and guests feel that they are not away from their homes. And we are also planning on adding a full service coin-operated laundry facility (washing and drying) The Abbey House Hotel makes the guest valued by ensuring their comfort. For special occasions, catered meals, Extra mattress, room service, etc. can be provided for an additional fee. During the weekends, guests will return to the Abbey House Hotel in the evening and find a fine restaurant to dine and efficient staffs is waiting to serve them to make them valued. The Abbey House Hotels target market strategy is based on becoming a destination choice for families, local familys visitors, and corporate clients, small groups who are looking for a place to relax for short or long period of time. The Abbey House Hotel would like to see a 30% to 40% increase in customers on a yearly basis with 100% customers satisfaction. Our target market strategy is based on becoming a destination for people who are looking to get away for a vocation or visit London. Our marketing strategy is based on superior performance in the following area Quality facilities Beautiful location Customer Services The target markets are divided in to three major segments Vacationers, Corporate and Family visitors. The primary marketing strategy is selling to this accessible target market by focusing on their vacation and recreational needs. Sales Strategy The Sales Strategy the Abbey House Hotel aimed to adopt is to ensure customers can book via Telephone Travel Agents Internet (i.e. www.theabbeyhousehotel.co.uk) The Abbey House Hotel also aimed to offer guarantee reservation for regular customers during high season. Critical Success Factors and Critical Risks Although Abbey Hotel is a medium sized organization, there are several survival factors imbedded to its organizational culture. Well experienced staff, visionary leadership, eco-friendly geographical location, continues training and development for the staff, chances to grow based on high performance for the staff, continues supervision on house keeping, food and beverages operation, delicious and different kind of menu, clear downward communication pattern, are survival factors in the organization to overcome the challenges for its business. Among said survival factors in the organization, experienced and visionary leadership, well-trained staff and beautiful location are carrying its business to the top in the industry. Therefore, Abbey hotel could survive as well as it will reach to the business excellence, if the firm can overcome following risk factors. Due to the increased terrorism activities in the world, global certainty is being jeopardized. September 11th incident in New York, recent Bomb blast at Marriott Hotel in Pakistan are some examples. This global uncertainty directly impact for the decline occupancy rate in the hotel industry in main capitals in the world. The most difficult task is implementing proactive steps to overcome these challenges. Present financial crisis in the global financial industry is another risk for the industry as the share value of many leading hotels is declining. In such a situation, industry is in a danger situation as market is depending on economic sovereignty of any market segment. Secondly, should expectations not materialize, and then sub-par returns could damage the overall financial credibility of the lodging industry. Shortage of skilled work force is another risk factor. Changing government rules and regulation on migration policy will be direct impact for finding skilled staff for the hospitality industry. Due to intense competition among the hotels in the hospitality industry, brands issues are appearing in present more than in the past. Customers are assessing this culture that it would be affecting the quality of the service in negative aspect. Because, all organizations are prefer to maximize their profit to remain in the market long-term basis. Popularising of eco tourism also may impact for the industry, as right now customer preferences are more for eco-friendly atmosphere within the hotel premises. For example herbal spa, inorganic foods, natural cottage are highly demanded options from customers. In addition to above, increasing loss of control over the customer due to the use of the Internet, homogenisation of the hotel product and increased corporate oversight has reduced the amount of control that operators have over the customer. Hence emerging impact of new technology, operating cost creep, supply change management issues, safety and security issues, reputation risks, hig h-energy cost, are some other key issues in the industry. The management should emphasis the said survival factors and challenges as provocative measures.

Strategic Management of Downsizing

Strategic Management of Downsizing Introduction This has become a major strategic alternative by well known firms such as DuPont, ATT and IBM (Hopkins, S Hopkins W., 1999). It is not only told in the daily newspapers but as well as in the entertainment industry. The recent movie entitled â€Å"Up in the Air† starred by George Clooney wherein his job was to tell employees that their position is no longer available. Top management plays an important role in this course of action. The strategic decision to downsize implies some ethical issues: first, the managers obligation for the best interest of the company and secondly, making sure not to violate the rights of the employees. It is in fact, the most preferred option of companies to sustain operating costs and comply with the existing scope of the business. It is an important management venture and requires large assistance from the human resource management team. Downsizing is extremely difficult. No one looks forward to being laid off. The extremely difficult decisions of who must be laid off, how much notice they will be given, the amount of severance pay, and how far the company will go to help the laid-off employee find another job are given less than adequate attention. These are critical decisions that have as much to do with the future of the organization as they do with the future of the laid-off employees. How It All Started Downsizing is the conscious use of permanent personnel reductions in an attempt to improve efficiency and/or effectiveness (Budros 1999, p.70). Since the 1980s, downsizing has gained strategic legitimacy. Indeed, recent research on downsizing in the US (Baumol et al. 2003, see also the American Management Association annual surveys since 1990), UK (Sahdev et al. 1999; Chorely 2002; Mason 2002; Rogers 2002), and Japan (Mroczkowski and Hanaoka 1997; Ahmakjian and Robinson 2001) suggests that downsizing is being regarded by management as one of the preferred routes to turning around declining organizations, cutting cost and improving organizational performance (Mellahi and Wilkinson 2004) most often as a cost-cutting measure. Euphemisms are often used to â€Å"dsoften the blow† in the process of firing and being fired, (Wilkinson 2005, Redman and Wilkinson, 2006) including â€Å"downsize†, â€Å"excess†, â€Å"rightsize†, â€Å"delayering†, â€Å"smartsize†, â€Å"redeployment†, â€Å"workforce reduction†, â€Å"workforce optimization†, â€Å"simplification†, â€Å"force shaping†, â€Å"recussion†, and â€Å"reduction in force† (also called a â€Å"RIF†, especially in the government employment sector). â€Å"Mass layoff† implies laying off a large number of workers. â€Å"Attrition† implies that positions will be eliminated as workers quit or retire. â€Å"Early retirement† means workers may quit now yet still remain eligible for their retirement benefits later. While â€Å"redundancy† is a specific legal term in UK labor law, it may be perceived as obfuscation. Firings imply misco nduct or failure while lay-offs imply economic forces beyond ones control. During the past several weeks, major staff reductions taking place across the world. Tens of valued professional Jewish communal workers along with competent and loyal administrative and support staff have received pink slips in some cases they were given just two days notice to clear out their offices as their jobs were being retrenched. These costs saving measures are not unique to Jewish organizations and have been seen thorough-out the public, private and not-for-profit sectors the world over. However, these massive layoffs raise the issue of the ethics of downsizing and whether or not there is a Jewish approach to these practices, particularly when it concerns employees who work for the Jewish community. Why Downsizing is an Ethical Issue Anytime were faced with a decision that can affect the rights or well-being of others, were looking at an ethical issue. No matter how strong the justifications for reducing the workforce are or seem to be, laying off loyal and productive employees is an upsetting experience for all concerned, and those on the receiving end face not just financial but psychological injury. How so? For many of us, the workplace isnt just a place for work; its where we develop and maintain some of the most important relationships we have. During the week, we spend more time with co-workers than with our families, and for better or worse, work is how many of us define ourselves and give meaning to our lives. Getting laid off compromises all of these things, so managers should think of downsizing as a deep and painful trauma for those being let go, and not as a mere setback or reversal of fortune. Yes, downsizing has legal implications, and it is understandable that companies want to minimize their liability when they downsize. Yes, there are economic matters to consider, which makes downsizing a management issue, too. But at its core, downsizing is an ethical issue, and the good manager is concerned not just with protecting the companys financial and legal interests but also with honoring the dignity and integrity of the human beings who work on the front lines and who are the lifeblood of the organization. What Are Your Ethical Responsibilities Downsizing successfully is immensely difficult. The following ideas can help to focus thinking for anyone considering such a move. Treat all employees with respect. Communicate too much rather than withhold information. Research applicable laws and follow the spirit of the legislation. Then afterwards, give employees the psychological space to accept, and discuss, Downsizing refers to a companys decision to reduce its workforce not because of poor performance, criminal conduct, or unethical behavior on the part of those being let go. The word is a euphemism meant to soften the blow as much for the company as it is for the soon-to-be eliminated. There is nothing wrong with making a difficult task easier to bear. In fact, there are good ethical reasons for doing so, as well soon see. Still, there is no getting around the fact that downsizing is a type of layoff, with all that this implies. The ethical manager will keep in mind what is really going when he or she is charged with letting good people go. Do it the right way. Showing compassion for these employees is the right thing and ethical thing to do no matter what the ultimate decision of the outcome. Do it in person. This seems obvious thing to do, but surprisingly a number of reports said about employees who were downsized on the phone or by e-mail. Managers who use this method claim it makes the whole thing easier to deal with. Yes, but for whom? Certainly, not for the employee being let go. As uncomfortable as it is to end someones employment, the right thing to do is to have a private conversation with him or her in person. The ethical principle of respect for others (BusinessWeek.com, 1/31/07) requires nothing less. Do it privately. Respecting others means honoring their wishes and values, and it is reasonable to assume that most people would prefer to have troubling news delivered in private. This means in your office, with the door closed. Ive heard of managers who broke the bad news at the employees cubicle within earshot of everyone in the vicinity. Again, one would think that this would be a matter of common sense and common decency, but apparently neither is all that common. Give the person your full attention. Interrupting the conversation to take phone calls, check your BlackBerry, or engage in other distractions isnt just rude, it tells the other person that the matter at hand isnt all that important to you. Thats yet another violation of the principle of respect. The impulse to turn your attention to less troubling matters is understandable, but along with the privileges of being a manager come responsibilities, and downsizing with integrity is one of the most important obligations you have. Be honest, but not brutally so. Must you always tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes, if youre giving sworn testimony in a court of law, but beyond the courtroom the duty to tell the truth is constrained by the duty to minimize harm. In practical terms, this means being forthright with the employee but also choosing with the care the words, tone of voice, and demeanor you use. Compassion (BusinessWeek.com, 2/22/07) literally, â€Å"suffering with† someone honors the dignity of your employee and speaks to the better part of your nature. We cant always make things better (BusinessWeek, 1/18/07), but we shouldnt make things worse. Dont rush. A shock takes time to absorb. Imagine that your physician says you have a serious illness. Wouldnt you expect him or her to allow the news sink in, rather than to summarily dismiss you and call for the next patient? Being let go isnt as serious as getting a diagnosis of cancer or heart disease, but it is still a major, life-changing event. You owe your employee the space to absorb the information, and you may have to explain more than once what is happening and why. You would demand nothing less if it were happening to you, and you would be right to do so. These guidelines assume that the organization has good reasons for downsizing but what if you dont see things this way? For example, suppose your company believes that it is necessary to shift its customer service jobs overseas (BusinessWeek.com, 9/27/07), and you believe that doing so is both unethical and bad for business. In this case, you not only have a right to object, you have an ethical obligation to object. Does this mean that you should be prepared to give up your job on moral grounds? Not necessarily. Depending on your personal circumstances, your duties to your family or to yourself might justifiably override the value of making a statement by quitting. Even if you are committed to keeping as many jobs in the U.S. as possible, this goal will take time to achieve, and it may be easier to do so from within the company than from the outside. Conclusion There are two main issues to keep in mind when planning a layoff: respecting employee dignity and business planning. No one, from the mailroom to the board-room, take pleasure in downsizing; but when the need for a reduction in staff is unavoidable, a layoff can be accomplished in such a way that the problem is fixed and the organization excels. The bottom line is important, but so are the values of respect, compassion, and simple human decency. The good manager takes all of these into account always. Derivative terms Downsizing has come to mean much more than job losses, as the word downsize may now be applied to almost everything. People describe downsizing their cars, houses and nearly anything else that can be measured or valued. This has also spawned the opposite term upsize, which means to grow, expand or purchase something larger. Ask the Ethics Guy! September 12, 2008, 11:57AM EST text size: TT References: Hopkins, S. Hopkins, W. (1999) Journal of Ethics : Perception of Rights and Responsibilities http://www.springerlink.com/content/m80p7mv83x110376/ Byron, W. (2009) Philadelphia Business Journal: The Ethics of Operating in downturns and downsizing http://philadelphia.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/stories/2009/01/12/smallb4.html From Alan Downs in Business: The Ultimate Resource Downsizing or doing layoffs is a toxic solution. Used sparingly and with planning downsizing can be an organizational lifesaver, but when layoffs are used repeatedly without a thoughtful strategy, downsizing can destroy an organizations effectiveness. How you treat people really matters to the people who leave and the people who remain. One outcome of downsizing must be to preserve the organizations intellectual capital. How downsized employees are treated directly affects the morale and retention of valued, high-performing employees who are not downsized. Downsizing should never be used as a communication to financial centers or investors of the new managements tough-minded, no-nonsense style of management the cost of downsizing far outweighs any benefits thus gained. So what happens? These decisions are handed to the legal department, whose primary objective is to reduce the risk of litigation, not to protect the morale and intellectual capital of the organization. Consequently downsizing is often executed with a brisk, compassionless efficiency that leaves laid-off employees angry and surviving employees feeling helpless and de-motivated. Ineffective methods of downsizing abound. Downsizing malpractices such as those that follow are common; they are also inefficient and very dangerous. Furthermore, attorneys advise against saying anything more than whats absolutely necessary to either the departing employees or the survivors. This caution is designed to protect the company from making any implied or explicit promises that arent then kept. By strictly scripting what is said about the layoffs, the company is protecting itself from verbal slips by managers who are themselves stressed at having to release valued employees. This approach may succeed from a legal perspective, but not necessarily from the larger and more important concern of organizational health. First, laying off employees by a flat percentage across different departments is irrational. How can it be that accounting can cope with the same proportion of fewer employees as human resources? Could it be that one department can be externalized and the other left intact? The decision of how many employees to layoff from each department should be based on an analysis of business needs, not an arbitrary statistic. The concept of laying off employees strictly on the basis of seniority is also irrational. The choice of employees for a layoff should be based on a redistribution of the work, not the date the individual employee was hired. Sometimes an employee of 18 months has a skill far more valuable than one with 18 years seniority. Always Respect Peoples Dignity The methods employed in many poorly executed layoffs treat employees like children. Information is withheld and doled out. Managers control over their employees is violated. Human resource representatives scurry around from one hush-hush meeting to another. How management treats laid-off employees is how it vicariously treats remaining employees everything you do in a layoff is done in the arena, with everyone observing. How laid-off employees are treated is how surviving employees assume they may be treated. Why does this matter? Because successfully planning for the new organization will keep it going and improve its results. You must keep that exceptional talent, who are also the employees most marketable to other organizations. When they see the company treating laid-off employees poorly, theyll start looking for a better place to work, fearing their heads will be next to roll. While its important not to allow the legal department to design a layoff, its nevertheless important that you respect the employment laws. In different countries such laws include entitlements tied to civil rights, age discrimination, disabilities, worked adjustment, and retraining. These laws are important and should be respected for what they intend as well as what they prescribe or proscribe. If you have planned your lay-off according to business needs, and not on head count or seniority, you should have no problem upholding the law. You will almost always find yourself in legal trouble when you base your layoff on factors other than business needs. The method of separation may have an effect on a former employees ability to collect whatever form of unemployment compensation might be available in their jurisdiction. Unemployment claim and receive compensation. unemployment benefits, as are those who are fired for gross misconduct. Also, lay-offs due to a firms moving production overseas may entitle one to increased re-training benefits. Certain countries (e.g. France), distinguish between leaving the company of ones free will, in which case the person isnt entitled to unemployment benefits and leaving the company voluntarily in the frame of a RIF, in which case the person is entitled to them. An RIF reduced the number of positions, rather than laying off specific people, and is usually accompanied by internal redeployment. A person might leave even if their job isnt reduced, unless the employer has strong objections. In this situation, its more beneficial for the state to facilitate the departure of the more professionally active people, since they are less likely to remain jobless. Often they find new jobs while still being paid by their old companies, costing nothing to the social security system in the end. There have also been increasing concerns about the organizational effectiveness of the post-downsized anorexic organization. The benefits, which organizations claim to be seeking from downsizing, centre on savings in labor costs, speedier decision making, better communication, reduced product development time, enhanced involvement of employees and greater responsiveness to customers (De Meuse et al. 1997, p.168). However, some writers draw attention to the obsessive pursuit of downsizing to the point of self-starvation marked by excessive cost cutting, organ failure and an extreme pathological fear of becoming inefficient. Hence trimming and tightening belts are the order of the day (Tyler and Wilkinson 2007) Here are your ethical responsibilities By Bruce Weinstein, PhD Most discussions about downsizing focus on the legal, economic, or psychological issues raised by this practice. These are essential concerns, but we rarely consider how or why downsizing is also an ethical issue. The next two columns are an attempt to redress that problem. Here, well consider your ethical responsibilities if you are the one charged with giving the bad news. In the second column, well look at what you ought and ought not to do if you are the one being downsized. (Weinstein, 2009) March 17, 2009 by Stephen G. Donshik http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/the-ethics-of-downsizing/ No one is oblivious to the massive firings that have been taking place over the last eight months. As the recession has been felt in countries throughout the world we have witnessed not only the collapse of financial markets but also the retraction taking place in multi-national corporations and among the largest manufacturers on all continents. More and more people are finding themselves unemployed, either the result of firms closing or staff reductions. In dealing with the ethics of downsizing our communal organizations we have an opportunity to demonstrate both our leadership and our commitment to Even though a number of Federations have already implemented cuts and made difficult decisions it is not too late to assist others who are yet to face the need to retrench staff members. This is an area that is clamoring for both clarity and direction. Lets hope we can rise to the occasion. After all, it is in our tradition that we are a light unto the nations. Stephen G. Donshik, D.S.W., Managing Leadership The strategic role of the senior executivehttp://managingleadership.com/blog/2006/10/25/corporate-ethics-and-downsizing/ Ethics cannot survive the retention in the management team of anyone who is responsible for the downsizing dilemma. They must resign, or, at a minimum, the CEO must resign. Furthermore, any member of the board of directors complicit in the development of the crisis forcing this decision must resign also. Indeed, in the absence of a board that creates and enforces such an environment of ethical acknowledgement and acceptance of responsibility for executive and managerial decisions, there is not only no corporate ethics in the conventional sense there is also a fundamental lack of executive fiduciary responsibility; a lack that will ineluctably continue to damage its shareholders, and as a result of that, also 1) the company; 2) its employees, customers, and vendors; and 3) its community. The unethical environment arises in the absence of a board that establishes and supervises this fiduciary responsibility. In such an unethical environment, the real specific ethical violations occur well before the dilemma such as the need to downsize that attracts all the attention. This is in seemingly better times, when the CEO, executive teams, and consultants inflate the role and capabilities of the companys senior management, leading to what can only be described as juvenile ill-discipline and playing to the crowd. This is when they make the ill-advised decisions evaluated more for the force of the impact they create about the pseudo-gravitas and paradigm-shifting vision of these great personages, than for their contribution to the advancement of corporate aims and the growth of shareholder value both of which should be delineated to management by the board. These are the decisions that create the inflated work force. In the current environment of non-accountability, where half of a board consists of company management, and the other half of managers of other companies familiar with the game, it is only the work force that is downsized, and, possibly junior levels of management who have not yet attained the corporate version of tenure in this collusion. In such circumstances, the only possible outcome is downsizing, and this is not unethical in and of itself, taken as a distinct business decision. Taken as a whole, however, as Ive attempted to portray it, it is an extension of an unethical situation and of a chain of unethical decisions. Crocodile tears will be shed by a management team professing to be compelled to oh-so-reluctantly make tough business decisions and effect practical remedies that cannot be avoided and which must be taken to discharge their executive duties and serve the company and its shareholders considerations which neither concerned nor motivated them sufficiently, if at all, when they created the circumstances leading to the crisis. This was written by Jim Stroup. Posted on Wednesday, October 25, 2006, at 10:02 am. Filed under Boards, CEOs, Ethics, Organizational Leadership. Bookmark the permalink. Follow comments here with the RSS feed. Post a comment or leave a trackback. 42k-6 sec @ 56kwww.buzzle.com/articles/reasons-for-downsizing.htmlwww.buzzle.com/articles/reasons-for-downsizing.html Reasons for Downsizing Corporate downsizing has been the biggest fallout of the troubled times, the world is witnessing. As we continue our efforts to fight the global downturn, downsizing has become a stark reality. Downsizing refers to a process where a company or a firm simply reduces its work force in order to cut the operating costs and improve efficiency. It has become a legitimate option for business growth strategies, especially after the 1980s. It is in fact, the most preferred option of companies to sustain operating costs and comply with the existing scope of the business. It is an important management venture and requires large assistance from the human resource management team. There are a number of reasons why a company downsizes its employee base. Merging of two or more firms: When a certain firm combines its operations with another firm and operates as a single entity, in order to stay in profit or expand the market reach, it is called a merger. In case of a merger, certain positions become redundant. The same work is done by two different staff members. Usually in such a case, the company cuts staff to eliminate redundancy in work. It is characterized by some employees leaving an organization voluntarily, or by lay-offs, especially in case of higher management positions. Acquisition: If one organization purchases another one, there is a definite change in the management and the acquired company staff has to face unemployment. The reason for this is the same as the earlier case, viz to cut costs and and increase the revenues. Change in management: The change in the top brass of a company can also result in downsizing. The working methods and procedures vary with the management. Therefore, a significant change in the management roles may drastically affect the employee size to suit a particular style of working. Economic crisis: This is the single biggest cause of downsizing. Often, it consists of huge lay-offs by a number of organizations across various domains. The recent economic recession facing the world, has triggered a number of lay-offs in many reputed and popular firms in the world. According to a survey conducted by the US Bureau of the Census, organizations consisting of higher percentage of managerial staff downsize more than the ones with higher percentage of production process employees. Strategy changes: Some companies may reduce certain areas of operation and focus on other areas. For example, if a company is working on a project in which there are no assured returns, it may downsize its employees working on that particular project. It focuses its resources on specific projects, which could be profitable ventures. Excessive workforce: In a period of high growth, a company hires excess staff, to meet the needs of a growing business. However, in times of recession the business opportunities dwindle, leading to downsizing of the surplus staff that was hired. Increase in efficient work flow and computerized services: If an organization work process is extremely fast and easily meets the requirements of the market, it may downsize some of its workforce. Similarly, if manual work can be done by a machine, in a much better and cost-efficient way, it also results in the reduction in the number of employees. Outsourcing practice: Organizations catering to international markets require a huge and efficient employee base. If this labor can be obtained by ‘exporting the job to other countries, a huge downsizing takes place in the parent country. For instance, if a certain job can be done more effectively in India and is more viable economically there, than in the United States, the business is operated from that country. These practices result in downsizing, which is a rampant practice prevalent these days. Efficient management of the existing skill set and constantly acquiring new skills and education is a sure way to beat the effects of downsizing. By Prashant Magar In todays business world downsizing, outsourcing, and combining of jobs to eliminate headcount is more prevalent than ever. As the economy swings down, companies find themselves needing to cut costs and increase their return on net assets (RONA). All too often, the easiest way to reduce costs and increase RONA is through reducing staff. The elimination of jobs, or finding more cost effective ways to perform their functions through job integration and outsourcing, reduces the salary expense as well as reduces benefits costs, human resources or payroll costs, and frees up those funds for additional investment activity if needed. Many companies, however, do not look at the potential long term ramifications before making these decisions. Among them are the potential for substandard customer service, costs associated to unemployment claims or placement strategies, potential for higher turnover of remaining employees, or loss of customer confidence. While cost reduction through job elimination or restructuring poses no legal implications or policy violations, it certainly presents many ethical problems. How the company proceeds could greatly affect the consumer view of their business practices. They also have the potential to place some employees in a position of being ethically challenged should they inform some parties of the possible downsizing but insist the information be kept from others. That will leave those employees who are aware with the ethical dilemma of telling what they know to those who will be affected or of keeping the company secret. The feeling though, that others know more and will not share the information, leads to extreme paranoia and dissatisfaction among lower level employees. If the best decision for the business financially is to centralize functions, the Kantian model of ethical thought would support full disclosure to the affected employees. This would provide them the dignity and respect they deser ve. Helping them with counseling for the self esteem issues presented in their job elimination and placement services seems to me the soundest ethical solution. Allowing them to prepare themselves financially for a potential loss of income would show respect for them as people as well as for the time they have spent as loyal, hard working employees. Potential attrition after the announcement might prove to be a challenge but will provide the same end result, less staff. To keep this information completely from the affected employees would fall under Ethical Egoism theories. It would serve only the officers of the company from having to deal with their own lack of ethics in this circumstance. The employees become a means to an end rather than the end itself. This school of thought tends to violate the morals taught through religious and parental guidance to most individuals. It directly violates all the major principles of the other moral theories. Consequently, following this path would likely lead to moral repercussions for those choosing to venture down this road. Living with the decision you have made and must stand by could be as emotionally traumatic in the end as the damage caused to the employees sacrificed for the company benefit. All too often the Utilitarianism approach is followed by not disclosing the full details but sharing information only as changes are closer to being implemented. This eliminates the likelihood of employee loss due to fear of the impending changes. A high turnover could cause those remaining employees to become overworked with no relief available. It would be vital though that the company effectively communicate what changes are coming with an accurate timeline of when they would occur in order to still be fair to the affected employees. The company should not hide the coming changes from the employees affected in any solution with a dissolution that trust will remain in tact for other employees unaffected by the changes. Character ethics would support at least this minimal amount of disclosure. The only fair thing to do is treat the employees as those making these decisions would want to be treated if they were in the same position, essentially following the Golden Rule. References: Baston, Ted Blake, J. Neff. (2007). Business ethics, Sunday ethics-Monday world. Triangle Publishing: Marion, Indiana The New York Times reports that the unlucky employees of fob Inc. received a bloodless e-mail informing them of their demise. Some employees of New York Times Digital learned of their fate in The New York Times itself. Dotcoms from Boston to Silicon Alley to San Francisco have behaved thoughtlessly and, yes, unethically as they frantically scrambled to salvage their companies. The idea of â€Å"downsizing† needs no introduction. Although borrowed from the automotive vocabulary, â€Å"downsizing† is a feared and familiar term throughout the employment ranks. It targets people. In all cases of downsizing anticipated, actual, or past the corporation have ethical obligations to its people. Not least among these obligations is telling the truth. Here are some principles for employers to consider whenever downsizing is a possibility or has, in fact, happened: keep employees informed; help employees to keep themselves employable; honor all pro