Case 4 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Case 4 - Assignment Example The idea here is to see whether the clinic can "inflate" its way to profitability even if volume remains at its current level.) 4. Suppose you just found out that the $3,215 monthly malpractice insurance charge is based on an accounting allocation scheme that divides the hospital’s total annual malpractice insurance costs by the total annual number of inpatient days and outpatient visits to obtain a per-episode charge. Then, the per-episode value is multiplied by each departments projected number of patient days or outpatient visits to obtain each departments malpractice cost allocation. What impact does this allocation scheme have on the clinic’s true (cash) profitability? (No calculations are necessary.) If the malpractice insurance charge is based on the hospital’s numbers of patient, then the clinic is paying too much. The clinic has fewer patients, so the insurance needs to be reduced to reflect the number of actual patient visits the clinic sees daily. 5. Does the clinic have any value to the hospital beyond that considered by the numerical analysis just conducted? Do the actions by Baptist Hospital have any bearing on the final decision regarding the clinic? The clinic does impact the hospital. If the hospital doctors see patients at the clinic, then patients from the hospital go to the clinic. It would also be a bad practice if the hospital is discharging patients to doctors in the Baptist Hospital clinic. The clinic is an extension of the hospital. Whatever the clinic loses, the hospital makes up in volume, procedures, and other means. Baptist Hospital should not have any bearing on the decision. When the other clinics were opened, this clinic had the same volume. Only if the volume of patients drop drastically should the clinic be close. I would recommend that the clinic raise their costs to $1 per patient. That would have the clinic breaking even. It is not cost

Marketing Communication Strategy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Marketing Communication Strategy - Assignment Example The hockey team, thus, will dawn the unique old jersey designs to become more appealing to the followers. A perfect of way marketing a product is through strategic promotional messages where strategy aims at using unique messages to leave a long-lasting impression on the consumers. Finally, proper target marketing will be crucial in achieving the objectives of this marketing communication strategy plan by identifying the right market that can add value to the team. Formulation of this marketing communication strategy appreciates the role that brand positioning plays in influencing perception of the consumers towards a product relative to perception of the competing brands. The marketing positioning strategies or activities will aim at occupying advantageous and unique position in the minds of the consumers. The first initiative in improving the Bulldogs perception is making the team more active in the community as opposed to just engaging in a league game, and all ends there. In this case, the primary aim is to influence the customers by providing endless entertaining hockey game with a thrilling experience where winning games is more important for the continued support of the Bulldogs. The strategy also integrates social media in positioning by targeting an enormous influence through social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and also mainstream media including the Television sports programs. Promotional social media activities like free jerseys for the followers will be a perfect way to improve the brand’s perception among the fans. Targeting niche market of a development league implies that the team will be entering a competition that is more community focused. In this case, the team targets a league that embraces community support through support on various services. On the other hand, the old hockey jersey designs

General Educational Development Questions Essay Example for Free

General Educational Development Questions Essay 1.Why are dogs mans best friends? Dogs are called mans best friend for many reasons. For hundreds of years, dogs have been friendly, loyal and protective of their human owners. For just as many years, dogs have accepted the love and affection of humans and have been greeting them with a wag of the tail all this time. A dog still wants to be your buddy and play with you even if youre in a bad mood or havent spent much time with him recently. They dont judge us for things like that, they just keep wagging.All a dog wants is to be loved and loved back. 2. Why are Hurricanes Dangerous? Hurricanes are considered to be very dangerous because they are deadly and are formed from strong tropical storms. When hurricanes happen, they result in heavy rains and strong winds that can sweep humans, buildings and livestock, cause inland flooding, marine hazards and even tornadoes. With that combination, they inflict widespread destruction and can result in a large loss of life. 3. Is addiction a disease.? â€Å"Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations. This is reflected in an individual pathologically pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviors.Addiction is characterized by inability to consistently abstain, impairment in behavioral control, craving, diminished recognition of significant problems with one’s behaviors and interpersonal relationships, and a dysfunctional emotional response. Like other chronic diseases, addiction often involves cycles of relapse and remission. Without treatment or engagement in recovery activities, addiction is progressive and can result in disability or premature death [emphasis added].† 4.Why is getting my diploma important.?  A high school diploma is important to my future, because college admissions counselors and potential employers usually wont consider you unless you have one. If I were to get a high school diploma and not need it, not much would have been lost. However, if I were to not get a high school diploma and then end up in a situation in which I needed it, I would be in a bad position. Even people who decide to open their own business might need business classes, meaning they would likely need to be accepted by a college or university, therefore having to present a high school diploma. It seems like many employers and facilities of higher education are willing to accept a GED in place of a high school diploma, but not all of them are. In addition, in order to pass my GED, I should have knowledge of things learned in high school. So it makes sense to stick it out and get the diploma. 5. Why you like or dislike Miami.? I like it because its nice and warm with beaches, and because its the Spanish Hollywood of the United States. I dislike it because of the streets that tend to get dirty, but overall theyre fine. 6. Reasons why Math is important. Math is hugely important. Pretty much everything you do involves math. All careers invlove some type of math and even if you dont have a career you still use math everyday. Think about how many times a day you estimate something or figure out some type of math problem. You do use math whether you realize it or not. Some jobs like an artist might not catch people as a math job but you have to add up totals of money in order to sell your art, or even when etimating paint utencils and other stuff. 7. Why is your best friend so special.? My mother is my best friend, ive known her all my life. Shes the only person I know that will listen to me, not judge, offer honest and real advice without having other motives. Shes just like me but were different in so many ways. I feel so blessed to have a best friend who is actually family. We can share everything from clothes, to purses, to hair items and know well get it back lol.! I feel so blessed to have someone so wonderful in my life. The special for me is that I always gonna have her and her pure love. 8. Why is Tanning in the sun Dangerous.? Some people think having a tan gives them a healthy glow. But a tan really shows that the skin is trying to protect itself from sun damage. Sun damage can lead to premature aging (wrinkles!), eye damage and skin cancer. Even indoor tanning is not without risk. Tanning beds and lamps can expose you to even more harmful ultraviolet light than the sun does. And tanning products such as self-tanners,sunless sprays and pills can expose you to additional risks, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Before you try to get a tan, you should learn how and why our skin tans. When a type of radiation is exposed to the skin, the skin responds by producing melanin. Melanin is a dark substance that helps prevent the body from taking in too many harmful sun rays that can damage skin. The sun produces two kinds of rays, UVA and UVB. UVB rays are around all year and UVA rays are mostly present only during the summer. UVA rays are regarded as safer and they cause the skin to age, while UVB rays cause the skin to burn. However, both of these types of rays are harmful and dangerous in large quantities. Overexposure to the sun can cause sunburn and even skin cancer.

Corporate Governance in Different Countries

Corporate Governance in Different Countries Corporate Governance and theories Development of Corporate Government is a global occurrence. Different countries have different Theories in relevance and also depend on the stage of economic condition the country is in, the corporate structure of the country and the ownership groups present. It is also important to understand that not only shareholders but other stake holders are also involved wit a company and therefore emphasis should be given to other interest groups as well like employees, suppliers, customers and local communities (Christine A Mallin 2007). Theories associated with development of corporate governance Agency theory In the theory, there are two parties – principals and agents. Owners are considered Principal and director – agents. According to the theory due to self interest agents may not be working towards principals interest. In such cases the result may not be as expected by the principals or owners. A good corporate control is thus required to reduce agency problems and to keep control over directors actions. Transaction cost economies As firms desire to grow overtime, they need capital to expand. Often a firm raises a capital by going public or including other shareholders into the firms. As the owners in the company increase it is possible that the separation of ownership and control (which mostly remains in the hands of directors) may create problems. Stakeholder theory As discussed earlier, a firm has a member of stakeholders and is not just accountable to shareholders. If there are other stakeholders that need to be given emphasis then the governance system is developed accordingly. Corporate governance has only recently gained more importance and although agency theory was the main theory that led to its development, stakeholder theory is gaining more importance as it evolves further. It has been observed that good corporate governance have helped business perform better and provided better access to finances. Corporate Governance in UK Cadbury and Greenbury reports had a major contribution in UKs Corporate Governance. Cadbury Report (1992) â€Å"The Report of the committee on the financial aspects of corporate governance†, also known the Cadbury report, was published in December 1992. After 1980s financial scandals, a committee was formed in may 1991 by the financial reporting councils the London stock exchange and the accountancy profession. The committee worked in the financial aspects of corporate Governance and produced a code of Best Practice, which all UK listed companies related to director remuneration, responsibilities and tenure. Some of the recommendations were as follows. The majority of non-executive directors should be independent of management and free from business or other relationship. Non-executive directors should be appointed for the specified terms. Executive remuneration should be subject to the recommendation of a remuneration committee made up entirely or mainly of non – executive directors. Greenbury Report (1995) The rise of remuneration of directors and absence of necessary incentives for directors to perform better works a rising concern for investors and the public at large especially for listed firms. The Greenbury committee was thus established to address the above-mentioned issue. The committee submitted its report in 1995 and much of its findings were incorporated into the code of Best Practice on Directors Remuneration. The report addressed for major issues â€Å"The role addressed for major issues in setting the remuneration package for the CEO and other director. Service contracts - performance†. Hampel Report (1998) After the Greenbury report in 1995, a committee was established in 1996 to review and revise the earlier recommendations of the Cadbury and Greenbury committees. The committee recognized that it was important to understand the situation of each company and the principle of corporate government should be more flexible to be applicable to all companies. While Cadbury and Greenbury reports addressed the abuse of the discretionary authority entrusted to management, Hampel viewed the same to maximize the shareholder value. Combined Code (1998) The combined code was formed from recommendations of Cadbury, Greenbury and Hampel reports put together. It outlined the best practices, which were not mandatory for companies to provide sufficient information to the shareholders about its practices. Higgs Report The report was dedicated towards determining the role, independence and recruitment of non-executive directors. Higgs identified non-executive directors role contributing to corporate strategy, setting remuneration of executive directors, monitoring the performance of executive management et. And recommended that one third board should comprise of non-executive directors. Corporate Governance in Germany In Germany, most of the firms are either public or private limited that have shareholders who control the firm and its policies. Like many other European countries, in Germany there are a number of shareholders in a firm. Both financial and non financial investors hold considerable shares in a firm and are the most influential people. It is therefore important to take into consideration these cross-holdings that investors have when analysing the corporate governance in Germany. According to Charkham (1994), banks have considerable investment in large firms and therefore play a central role in determining the corporate policies of the firm. Banks provide long term loans to the firms and develop long term relationship with the firms in the course of time. Due to these facts the corporate governance in Germany can also be called an ‘insider system (Charkahm, 1994). The German corporate governance has a dual board system comprising of a management board and a supervisory board. The management board handles the day to day activities of the firm and is responsible for management of the whole firm. The supervisory board on the other hand is responsible for appointing the directors in the management board, supervising them and deciding their remuneration. The supervisory board also advices the management board on various aspects of business. According to Charkham (1994), â€Å" if there were a spectrum with ‘confrontation at one end and ‘co-operation at the other, we would definitely place German attitudes and behaviour far closer to the co-operation end than, say, those of British or Americans.† (Charkham, 1994) What Charkham (1994) indicated was how close the shareholders in German firms are to its operations and the interests of different stakeholders are given equal emphasis. This is supported by the Works Constitution Act 1972, according to which work council has the right to deal with employee matters and conditions of work. This is done to improve trust of the employees in the organisation by keeping them informed about companys activities and allowing them to participate in the decisions of the company that may have effects on the workers. However the first corporate governance code, Cromme code, was first published in 2002 as discussed in the next section. Cromme Code (2002) A committee chaired by Dr Gerhard Cromme was assigned the task to submit a report on corporate governance. The committee submitted the Cromme Report, also know as the Cromme Code, which was published in 2002 and has a number of sections that provide guidelines about different aspects of corporate governance. Later in 2005 there some amendments made to the code. Some of the sections that Cromme Code covered are: General Meetings and shareholders According to this section of the code, it is required by the companies to submit annual reports and other financial statements in the general meeting. The meeting decides how the net income has to be disclosed and whether the decision made by the management and the supervisory boards are appropriate and approved. The code also requires the firms to publish these on their website, with any other agenda for public transparency. Co-operation between the Management Board and the Supervisory Board The management board being the set of directors who actually run the company operations, and the supervisory board being the one that advises and sets goals for the management board, it is important that the two boards co-operate with each other. The code therefore suggests that the management board should report its activities to the supervisory board so that the companys strategic approach is rightly followed. The management board can seek guidance of the supervisory board in case of any issue and should look to report these immediately. The supervisory board on the other hand should monitor the progress of the management board and check if the duties assigned to management board are being performed effectively and if there are any changes to be made into them. If there is any deviation from the Cromme Code then it is the duty of the management board and the supervisory board to mention them in the annual report explaining why such deviations had occurred. The company has to keep t hese details available for public viewing for atleast five years. Management Board The management board is set up by the supervisory board, and it is required as per the code to report these notes in the accounts. In case of any difference in the interest of the management board and the supervisory board, it should be immediately conveyed to the supervisory board. This is important so that management board can work independently and in the best interests of the company. The code also mentions that the remuneration of the management board should consist of both fixed salary and variable salary, as in many companies where variable salary is based on performance of the firm. Supervisory Board The supervisory board has the responsibility to determine the composition of the management board and monitoring of the management board. It is therefore important that the supervisory board has suitable knowledge, experience and ability to make good management board and set good targets. Not only this a good supervisory board can provide good guidance to the management board. The code suggests that the supervisory should be independent and not related to the management board so as to avoid any conflict of interests. The code also forbids the chairman of the management board to become the chairman of the supervisory board. The code also states that the management board directors cannot be in the supervisory board of more than 5 non group listed companies. The remuneration of the directors in the supervisory board can contain both fixed and performance related pay and needs to be disclosed n the annual report as well. The remuneration can be determined in the general meeting or in the articles of association. The Cromme Code has an important requirement that if supervisory board take part in less than half of the meetings in a fiscal year then it has to be mentioned in the supervisory board report. Transparency The code requires the management board to disclose any information or fact that might affect the company operations and not known to the public. This is so as to keep all shareholders equally informed about the companys facts. Disclosure should be made through media which is accessible in time to the public. Reporting and Audit of the Financial Resources In order to avoid any fabrication of the reports the code requires the supervisory board or the audit committee to obtain a statement from the auditor clarifying that there is no financial or any other relation between the firm and the auditor that can affect auditors independence. According to the amendments, from 2006 onwards, it is important for the companies to disclose all elements of the directors remuneration. However, if 75 percent of the shareholders feel that further disclosure is not required then the firm can chose to do so. It can be said that the corporate governance code in Germany has provided great emphasis on serving the interests of various stakeholders. Corporate Governance in India Government had set new reforms introduced in India after the economic downturn in 1990-91 to open up the economy to depend on market mechanisms instead of the government. With the new reforms the committee Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), which became the regulator of the securities market aimed at transforming the public sector and the banking sector in line with international norms. As the disclosure requirements were introduced to safeguard the interests of shareholders these markets were altered. After the economic downturn in India during 1990 – 91, Indian government introduced new reforms to open the economy to rely more on the market mechanisms instead of the government. The new reforms were mainly aimed at making the public sector more efficient. There were also reforms in the banking sector to bring India in line with international norms, and in the securities market, with the new committee Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) becoming the regulator of the securities market. The securities market was altered as disclosure requirements were introduced to safeguard shareholders interests. Kar (2001) mentions how â€Å" foreign portfolio investment was permitted in India since 1992 and foreign institutional investors also began to play an important role in the institutionalization of the market†. India has a range of business, including the public limited companies listed in the stock exchange, private companies and foreign companies. Main ownership of the companies is difficult to determine as there are very few studies in this area but we can say that after the economy opened up after 1990-91, institutional investors are gaining more shares of the market. The Confederation of Indian Industries published a ‘Desirable Code of Corporate Governance in 1998 and many companies took the recommendation of the committee on board. Still there are many companies that have poor governance practices which has led to the concerns about financial reporting practices, their accountability to losses being suffered by investors and the resultant loss of confidence that this caused. A recent example of Satyam Computers proves this that still there are companies, which are not following the Code of Corporate Governance. SEBI formally established the Committee on Corporate Governance in May 1999, chaired by Shri Kumar Mangalam Birla. The report of the Kumar Mangalam Birla Committee on Corporate Governance was published in 2000. The report emphasizes the importance of corporate governance for future growth of the economy and the capital market. Three key aspects underlying corporate governance are defined as accountability, transparency, and equality of treatment for all stakeholders in terms of information. The recommendations of the SEBI are split into mandatory requirements, which are essential for effective corporate governance, and non-mandatory requirements. Board of Directors Board in Indian companies should comprise of the Executive Directors and Non-Executive Directors and Independent Directors. The code recommends not less than 50 percent of the board should be comprised of the Non-Executive Directors, where there is a non-executive chairman, and at least one-third of the board should comprise independent directors, where there is an executive chairman, and finally at least half the board should be independent, the latter being mandatory. Nominee Directors The Indian system allows nominee directors appointed by the financial or investment institutions to protect their investment in the company. Such directors should have the same responsibility as other directors and be accountable to the shareholders. Chairman of the Board The roles of the chairman and the chief executive are different, the code identifies the roles as related and may be combined and performed by one person. Audit Committee The audit committee has many mandatory recommendations, like the committee should comprise at least three members, all of them being the non-executive directors. The audit committee is empowered to seek external advice as appropriate and to seek information from any employee. Remuneration Committee Remuneration committee is set up to decide on the remuneration of the executive directors. Committee should be comprised of at least three non-executive, chaired by an independent director. All the remuneration package of the directors must be disclosed in the annual report with details on all the elements including the fixed salary and performance based incentives. Another mandatory requirement is that the board of directors must decide on the remuneration package of the non-executive directors. Board Procedures Board Meetings should be held a minimum of 4 times in a year with a maximum of 4 months between two meetings and that a director must not be involved in more than 10 committees or act as a chairman in more than 5 committees. Management Management should ensure smooth day – to – day activities of the company. There should be disclosure of the companys performance, position and other things of interest to shareholders in the annual report. Shareholders Shareholders are allowed to be able to participate in the annual general meeting, therefore whenever there is a new appointment of a director it must be in the knowledge of the shareholders about the same. Manner of Implementation Companies must have a separate section on Corporate Governance in its annual report. Non-compliance of any recommendations should be highlighted and explained. The Indian code is rather complex as compared to UK and Germany as it has a number of mandatory and non-mandatory recommendations in its code. Although India has good recommendations on corporate governance code but still the acceptance of code in many companies is still lagging. Roles, Duties, Responsibilities and Liabilities of Directors Functions of Directors In 1844 an Act in Parliament described directors as ‘ the persons having direction, conduct, management or superintendence of a companys affairs. (Alfred Read) described director as a special kind of agent, whose function is to control the companys affairs. The directors in a company have certain responsibilities at law, which they must perform efficiently and effectively. In large organisations the major role of the board is to set the context of the strategy and not to formulate the strategy. To accomplish this, the board must keep on reviewing the corporate definition ‘what business are we in. This can be done by assessing and reviewing strategic proposals and changing them by giving comment and advice on the same, by encouraging managers to work on their strategic aims. The results of these sets the standards of the organisation as well as the standards others have to attain. Another challenge for the directors in an organisation is to balance the powers of managers w ith accountability to the shareholders. The board of directors act as the internal mechanism for control to overcome the principal agent problem. Directors also help in acquiring critical resources and responding to environmental forces and their impact on the organisation. These were however how the roles were perceived in the 1970s and after a number of highly publicised cases of corporate fraud and failure there has been a strong focus on policy issues. According to the Companies Act 2006, the duties of the directors have been identified seven-folds. These have been formulated to keep the acts of the directors in the interest of the company they serve and their shareholders. It is quite interesting how the roles and duties are slowly being more specifically defined and the need of the directors to comply with these by enforcing these into the Company Act. The Company Director His Functions, Powers and Duties by Alfred Read, Jordan Sons Limited, London, 1971 Safeguarding the Shareholders An important function of the board is to ensure that the interests of the members are properly safeguarded. If saving and investment are to play their proper part in the future, the investor must be assured of fair treatment and an adequate return, and it is for the directors to ensure that, so far as is consistent with the circumstances, he is not disappointed. Take Over Bids The function of the board in safeguarding the interests of shareholders is of particular importance in take-over situations. The general rule regarding the exercise of directors powers applies that the interests of their company must be their paramount consideration. It follows that the directors of a company, when advising their shareholders whether to accept or reject an offer for their shares, must disregard the effect he take-over will have on their own personal positions. Ensuring Progress Another function is that of ensuring that the operations of the company are kept under constant review so that changes which are necessary are made without delay when changes take place in public taste or in political and economic conditions. Checking Up on Progress A board must check up on results in order to ensure that the policy that has been laid down is being carried out and that the results expected from it have been obtained. Proper statements should be presented to the directors at regular intervals to keep them informed of what is happening. Powers of Directors The duty of the board is to see that the business is carried in accordance with the memorandum and articles of association. While some powers may be reserved for shareholders, some powers can only be exercised by the board of directors. Often the directors are given power to declare and pay interim dividends during the year if in their opinion the profits of the company justify them. It is also usual for the fixed dividends on preference shares to be authorized by the board. Other powers usually vested in the board are the allotment of shares, the making of calls, the forfeiture of shares for non-payment o calls, the appointment of the chairman and of agents, officers and servants of the company and all matters of policy and management which are of special importance. Also the directors may delegate any of their powers to committees consisting of such members of their body as they think fit; any committee so formed shall in the exercise of the powers so delegated conform to any regulations that may be imposed on it by the directors. Remuneration of Directors Salary has traditionally been described as a word that represents as monthly income of an individual. Directors Remuneration has been a major concern for investors for long. It is observed that directors remuneration has some or most elements of the following: Basic Salary Benefits in Kind Annual Bonus Share Options Pension Rights Basic Salary Basic Salary is a fixed part of the salary that directors get. The basic is generally in the range that similar jobs are offered. Individual experience, skills, and commitment also form an important factor of determining the basic salary. It is also important for the company to analyze skills, and job security related to the individual while setting the basic pay. Benefits in Kind Certain companies provide the directors with some benefits in kind. For example provision of goods, travel and luxury items are some kinds of benefits given to the directors of the company. It is however important that the remuneration committee keeps a close check on such benefits and reviews them periodically, annually provided to improve executive performance. Annual Bonuses Annual bonuses are given based on the performance of company or division. It is mostly a variable form of remuneration and is generally a percentage of basic pay. Annual bonuses can act as motivation for directors to improve their performance. It is therefore important that the remuneration committee sets the good performance targets for the directors. Long Term Incentive Schemes (Share Options) Executive share option is a long-term incentive scheme that has been used by companies for long. Share Options are provided at a lower price than that in the market or at some future date at current prices. This is a factor used to align directors and shareholders interests. The directors thus would want the share prices to go up so as to benefit from the returns from their holdings. However, the directors may sell off their shares and loose interest in share prices thereafter. In UK a provision in the code C6, limits directors to exercise their share options, for at least three years. This is done to keep directors interest in the share prices high for at least that period. A benefit for share options is that it is not taxed until the shares are sold and thus provide the directors a non-taxed form of investment for a specified period. Pension Rights â€Å"Pension Entitlements are a key element in the total Remuneration, with important longer term implications for the individual and the company† (Greenbury, 1995). The pension provision is carefully considered by the remuneration committees, and is measured in terms of the value of pension entitlements earned during the year. (As written in proposal needs more changes but not sure of the books from where it was written) Remuneration can be defined as the aim to reward people fairly, consistently and equitably in accordance to their value to the organization. The impact of executive remuneration on the efficiency of the company can be explained with many different theories. Other policies and theories on effective remuneration, like theory of Human Motivation, are based on the need for stability and sustained staff commitment. Also there are surveyed and comparable pay market for different grades and specialists. Remuneration also depends on the pay structure practice in comparable organizations. Members of board of directors who are not the employees or major shareholders are paid for their services as directors of the company. In the past directors compensation was relatively dependent on the number of hours they devoted to the company but according to the new federal law a new sense of public outrage has appeared and a new fear of shareholder litigation has caused directors to work even harder as before and hence many of the determinants have changed since then.

Satire :: Literature Analysis, Art, Informative

Satire is a literary work in which the follies of its subject are attacked through irony, derision, or wit, usually to fulfill a corrective purpose. Those who satirize are called satirists. Satire is an art, and while making a point, it should do it in such a way that the reader doesn’t feel assaulted, or moralized. No one likes a moralizer. Satire’s more eye opening than judgmental, and is conveyed through distortion, exaggeration (as well as understatement), paronomasia, ambiguity and innuendo, comparison and zeugma, similes and metaphors, oxymorons, and parables and allegories. Satire has existed since the beginning of human stupidity, or fault. Among the earliest records discovered from the B.C., there have been forms of social commentary. Greek playwrights would incorporate parodies into their plays, bards from the middle ages would sing of society’s defects, by the 17th century, satirical books were published and sold. Nowadays, satires exists in various forms, such as The Simpsons, Spike Lee films, and The Onion. There are three main genres of satire: Horatian, Juvenal, and Menippean. Horation satire is usually good natured, Juveanlian satire is a bit more hard core, and Menippean humor is chaotic and disorganized, with no form of prose. There’s an idea that’s been progressively formulated, and that’s that satire needs to be humorous. This isn’t true, however, that is how it’s displayed today. The humor of satire isn’t upfront—it’s subtle and deadpan. Insane things will be said and done and the joker will be utterly earnest throughout it. Buster Keaton was a straight comic, barely smiling during his films, Ali G has the most outrageous interviews with celebrities and politicians and, somehow, doesn’t crack up.

Case for Analysis: Work Redesign in an Insurance Company

Running Head: WORK REDESIGN IN INSURANCE COMPANY Case for Analysis: Work Redesign in an Insurance Company 1. Explain which core characteristics of the employees’ jobs will be changed if the consultant’s recommendations are accepted. Answer: The core characteristic that needs to be changed according to the consultant’s recommendation is the job range. Employees only had a job depth but very little job range. The consultant suggested the company to change operation structure to a client basis from functional orientation, in which each employee would handle every aspect of service as issuing policies, collecting premiums, change beneficiaries, processing loan application pertaining to a particular policyholder. This company has a great job depth; the manager of internal operation believes that, this is the key of success of the company. The job depth is considered as the source of knowledge base and expertise in the firm. The consultant has come to an opposite conclusion according to the information provided by the employees. He considered and concluded that if the job nature and dimension can be spread horizontally then monotonous nature of work can be changed and employees can be motivated. He added inclusion if electronic data management system will reduce the amount of manual task offered to individual employee and that will eventually cut off the labor cost to the firm. 2. Which alternative redesign strategies should be considered? For example, job rotation and job enlargement are possible alternatives. What are the relevant considerations for these and other designs in the context of this company? Answer: Job redesign is actually restructuring the elements of the job by making it more motivating to the performer. It enhances the motivational potential of the job by altering core job dimensions. Job redesign strategies that can be considered are job rotation, job enlargement and job enrichment. Redesigning a job by altering its job range can be performed by either job rotation or job enlargement. Job enlargement is considered a horizontal restructuring method, in which the job is enlarged by adding related tasks. In this case the organization has separate departments to issue policies, collect premiums, change beneficiaries and process loan applications. To enlarge these jobs or to convert it into a client basis, it can be redesigned such as one employee will be responsible for all transaction related to a particular policy holder. Job enlargement can also result in greater workforce flexibility. In this job enlargement design technique, the number of tasks associated with a job is increased to add greater variety to activities, thus reducing monotony. Employees are bored with monotonic schedule of jobs, so by implementing this technique it will be possible to regain employee satisfaction. A job design technique in which employees are moved between two or more jobs in a planned manner is known as job rotation. The objectives is to expose the employees to different experiences and wider variety of skills to enhance job and to cross-train them. In this Insurance Company the employees for different departments can be rotated within the organization. This one may be an alternative redesign strategy. From the employee perspective this can be another strategy that can be taken into consideration, as this will help to reduce repetitive nature of jobs. The other job redesign technique that can be used is for redesigning job is job enrichment; this is a process to redesign job depth. Job enrichment adds new sources of job satisfaction by increasing the level of responsibility of the employee. In this organization every employee is an expert in their own domain, so the organization is very efficient. Employees are already working in a much enriched situation, so employee grievances won’t be reduced with this technique. While job enlargement is considered a horizontal restructuring method, job enrichment is a vertical restructuring method by virtue of giving the employee additional authority, autonomy, and control over the way the job is accomplished. For this company the problem is the employees are interested in job redesign by changing job range while the manager of internal operation is more interested in job redesign by increasing job depth. The employees are getting bored by monotonic work schedule, they are feeling uncared by the authority and these may be the reasons of high absenteeism. 3. What would be your decision in this case? What should management be willing to pay for employee satisfaction? Defend your answer. Answer: In my opinion Total Quality Management (TQM) combining the ideas of job enrichment and socio-technical theory will be the best fit here. Managers who implement TQM design jobs that empower individuals to make important decisions about service quality. This empowerment process will encourage participative management, team-oriented task modules, and autonomy. The electronic data processing system is very much required for this organization. Before starting job redesign the authority should consider the following facts. * Assessing the need for job redesigning -It has centrally involved problems with motivation, satisfaction and work effectiveness. -Employees think that there is problem with design of the work. * Determining the feasibility of job redesign -How ready are the employees for the change? How hospitable are organizational systems to needed change? * Enabling conditions -Reward system facilitating implementation. -Organizational climate facilitating implementation. – Employee development program: Employees should be regularly taken through various development programs such as training, classes, short term diploma etc in order to set them to the highest standard of professional strength and to maintain a highly skill ed workforce. Employees should be able to participate in the program of their choice in their spare time to develop and manage their career. Reward metrics and evaluation against the metric: Management should come up with an attractive and challenging reward metric to evaluate performance of individuals. More challenging and realistic metric will extract better performance and satisfaction from human resource. – Team building events: Team building events such as outing, camping, sport events are the excellent options to tether work force under the organizational culture. Employees should be able to select their preferred mode of celebration and team building process. Team building events facilitate sharing similar culture and competition across peer teams. – Assigning higher responsibilities towards organizational goals: Employees should be assigned higher responsibilities with time. This enables employees to stretch more on their capabilities to take work load and also provides a feel of pride and ownership. – Employee reorganization: Employees should be recognized either as individual or as team for their periodic accomplishments and should be awarded accordingly. This will enhance their confidence level and create healthy competition across organization. Employee review program – Employee satisfaction level must be reviewed by management on periodic basis. Employee satisfaction should be evaluated on multiple concerns as their work life balance, perks, work place comforts etc. – Motivating work force through dynamic management team: Last but not the least employees must be lead by enthusiastic and pioneer management teams who can lead by example. Dynamic management brings new ideas to the team and provides new challenges to the work force to exercise their skill set. References Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnelly, Konopaske, Organizations: behavior – structure – processes,  14th edition

Factors that influence an individual’s self-concept Essay

P3: State factors that influence an individual’s self-concept M2: Outline how factors can influence the development of an individual’s self-concept Sharon is a 17 year old girl at the stage of adolescence, to add on to that she’s also a single mother of two children. Throughout her life she has had to grow up more than others as she has a family of her own to look after as well as her educational life which will determine how her future will turn out later. In this assignment I will state as well as outline factors that can influence the development of Sharon’s self-concept. Before I continue I will be discussing self-concept, self-esteem and self-image in terms of Sharon. Self-concept is how Sharon views herself in terms of her strengths and weaknesses; self-concept is what she thinks of herself as†¦ While self-esteem is how much Sharon values herself, in other words if Sharon had a high self-esteem she would be more likely to believe herself as an extremely likeable person. Lastly, self-image is basically the overall image Sharon has of herself, what she believes her own image portrays. Read more:  Influences that affect children’s development essay Age: Especially at the stage of adolescence, girls like Sharon tend to be extremely self-aware of their own image and how they portray themselves towards the public. This is because as Sharon gets older, she’s more likely to care about how other people think of her. Age influences Sharon’s self-concept because as she gets older she’ll tend to behave in a certain way when she thinks she doesn’t belong anywhere, to be able to fit into everybody’s standards. As Sharon gets older, she’s more likely to develop her own self-image however peer pressure will prevent her from doing that as she will feel more pressured into fitting in and more fearful of being rejected by the majority. Appearance: Appearance is a big influence on Sharon’s self-concept, as appearance also affects your self-image as well as self-esteem. During the stage of adolescence, teenagers like Sharon tend to be more critical to themselves more therefore their way of judging tends to be more harsh; depending on  Sharon’s judgment of herself it’s more likely that she will either have higher self-esteem or lower self-esteem: this is because at this stage teenagers like Sharon tend to seek out their insecurities more and are less likely to point out their strengths since they are more focused on trying to fit in†¦And these days teenage girls care more about being physically perfect and trying climb up the social ladder that they sometimes forget about their own unique qualities and try to forge a completely whole image which fits completely into society’s standards. However looking back at Sharon’s past, it’s more likely that she’s to have a more negativ e self-concept, self-image as well as self-esteem as not only has she given birth once but twice and pregnancies can cause physical side effects such as stretch marks; now adding on to the stress Sharon has to face from trying to fit in she also has to face the physical side effects of giving birth which can cause her self-esteem to deflate which will overall affect her self-image. Gender: Gender influences Sharon’s self-concept because Sharon depending on how she’s been brought up may act upon society’s expectations towards male and female. When it comes to females, they are expected to be more of the submissive type that tend to do the domestic tasks around the house and do jobs related to health care more than physically strenuous jobs. Unlike males who are suspected to be more dominant, strong and more into jobs which doesn’t require emotional involvement but more of physical and intellectual involvement. When it comes to gender’s influences to Sharon’s self-concept, she will tend to stray away from doing physically strenuous activities as a girl she’s not expected to be strong and fit like boys but fragile and slender because it suits society’s overview on femininity. Overall adolescents like Sharon will feel more pressured in trying to fit into their gender roles. Culture: Culture affects our self-concept because it could change Sharon’s values and views of herself depending on what kind of culture she grew up into. Culture teaches Sharon a lot about how to do things such as what kind of clothes to  wear, how to react in different situations, and what food she should be eating; in other words it encourages Sharon to have different views and improves her self-concept depending on what kind of culture we grew up into. Culture mostly influences positive self-concept as culture is mostly not aimed to degrade our self-image but to improve our overall views on ourselves by gaining confidence and learning how to do and view things in a certain way. For Sharon since it seems that she hasn’t moved around much then it means that she’s been able to fit in to her culture quite well, and may not have much difficulty making herself accustom to other people’s culture; the way they were brought up. Culture affects self-concept because self-concept involves things such as how clever you are, and the approach to education is something that’s viewed differently from culture to culture. The Asian culture might be more uptight and committed to education, in contrast to the Western culture’s less uptight but nonetheless committed approach to education. The downside of culture is that if Sharon was to find her culture and another person’s culture clashing together then it could cause a negative influence towards her self-concept as this could mean that they won’t have the same views or attitudes to certain things, which could cause Sharon’s overall performance to a disadvantage as it’ll make her more self-conscious and less confident in the way she has been brought up as well as feel anxious as she might not be able to get her views across easily. Income: Income influences Sharon’s self-concept because depending on how much income Sharon or her mother’s income might be it might change her views towards money and expenditure as well as values towards other factors such as education because education usually is the key to a better occupation which could lead to higher income. Especially when Sharon’s a young single mother with most likely no high income at all, she’s forced to sacrifice some of her own self-indulgences to be able to provide for her children as well as aid in monthly bills with Janet as Janet can’t always provide financial security for her family. Due to Sharon’s current situation she’s more likely to have a negative self-concept, she will often find life more difficult and find less enjoyment out of trying to maintain enough income to fend for her  family as this will reduce Sharon’s time for herself as well as time to hang out with her friends and family. However since Sharon not only gave birth to Aimee but Fergal, this could indicate that there are positive influences to income when it comes to Sharon’s situation as this could mean Sharon’s willing to cope with the problems of being a single mother and try to be successful at it, meaning she must have a higher self-esteem to be able to have a high motivation. Media: Media plays an important role in influencing Sharon’s self-concept, media tends to encourage adolescents such as Sharon to come up with unrealistic ideals. This could cause Sharon to go through extreme measures such as dieting to get the perfect body, as well as completely change how she behaves because she might not be portraying the feminine image girls should have. The media tends to exaggerate flaws out of people that adolescents like Sharon feel the need to change due to the growing feeling of insecurity about their own qualities which causes low self-esteem and self-image; because of this Sharon may feel tempted to compare herself with friends and other people and be increasingly self-aware of other people’s opinions. Depending on how much self-esteem Sharon has towards her self-image she’s more likely to change her self-concept in order to meet the unrealistic norms the media has brought out from trying to maintain consistency with the idea of perfection. Education: Education affects Sharon’s self-concept because education is a gateway to Sharon’s overall financial outcome as well as lifestyle in the future; it also gives Sharon the ability to choose. However since Sharon’s a single mother education would have to be postponed as her life now revolves around her two children: Aimee and Fergal. Since Sharon’s at the age of 17 she’s still in progress of acquiring her qualifications, doing her A-levels then going to University. Unfortunately her current situation will prevent her from working to the best of her ability, this may affect her self-concept as  she’ll be less motivated to study and learn. She may also lack self-esteem because she might not be able to understand what’s going on in her lessons and what needs to be done. Her teachers might start to discourage her from continuing the courses she does due to bad grades and overall her self-concept will change negatively. Being a mother at the age of 17 is hard to hide, in such a big environment such as school and being pregnant at such a young age can be looked down upon which could cause Sharon to get bullied at school. Bullying is a dilemma that people have always tried to prevent but it still goes on today, it could cause a lot of damage to a person’s self-concept especially Sharon’s. Environment: Sharon’s financial status may prevent her and her family to live in a peaceful environment where pollution and violence is rarely an occurrence. This will affect her self-concept as Sharon will start to compare her situation with others that may have a better lifestyle bringing her self-esteem and self-image down. With her current situation she’s more likely to be living in a more polluted environment, meaning the environment she’s living in would be uncontained and unclean. This will be a potentially damaging environment for her children’s health thus affecting her self-concept negatively. Socialisation: When it comes to socialisation Sharon’s lifestyle will affect her greatly, as she’s a busy mother who would have to prioritise her children first before personal indulgences. This will affect her self-concept and self-image because she will have less time to hang out with her friends and socialise as well as even have enough time to take care of herself or go shopping. Sharon’s self-confidence will also decrease drastically as she compares her friends’ social life with hers, because Sharon already has a family while her friends are still at their adolescence stage having lots of freedom and less responsibilities to take.