China sweat factories pollution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

China sweat factories pollution - Essay Example The thesis statement of this paper is: Sweatshops in China are unethical because they are causing severe pollution and are destroying the environments surrounding the country. A sweatshop is basically a factory in the clothing industry, in which working conditions are poor and which violates the labor laws as defined by the legislature of the country. Poor working conditions may include unfair wages, child labor, lack of incentives given to the workers, perverse working hours, issues such as sexual or gender harassment, or any other kind of high degree exploitation of workers. Sweatshops even do not provide living wage to the workers, which is required to cover the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. Workers work more than 60 hours per week. The workplace environment of sweatshops is a great stressor for workers. Harassment, intimidation, verbal abuse, and forceful work are important aspects of sweatshops. For example, workers are made to work with dangerous chemicals bare-handed. Developing or under-developed countries have the highest rate of child labor coming out of sweatshops that tend to produce a variety of products, such as clothing, shoes, toys, car gadgets, rugs, carpets, and eatables like chocolate and coffee. Sweatshops in China tend to pollute the air. There are a myriad of reasons behind this. Sweatshops discharge waste materials and toxic chemicals into the air and water. For instance, tons of dyes are discharged into water that causes various diseases. There are a number of sweatshops in China that are responsible for adverse environmental practices that are dangerous to health of workers working in the supplier plants. For example, Foxconn and Lian Jian Technology are some of the Chinese suppliers that work for Apple. These factories regularly violate China’s Law on the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases, according to which factories found indulged in

Interpretation of Political Cartoon Essay Example for Free

Interpretation of Political Cartoon Essay We feel that the cartoonist intended to convey that Malaya is going to take all the revenue of every state involved in the merger in order to contribute to Malaya’s prosperity. To justify our opinions above, we refer to the following points. The man in the vehicle is Tunku Abdul Rahman as he is wearing a religious hat and he is also the person driving the vehicle which made him seemed very mighty and powerful. The man rolling the wheel is Mr Lee Kuan Yew as he is the person who was strongly for the common market, precisely the words on the wheel that he was rolling. The truck that Tunku Rahman was driving was empty and was moving towards Singapore. As such, we felt that Tunku Rahman was going to take the money from Singapore in order to greater benefit Malaya. Mr Lee Kuan Yew is also put in a bad light as it seems like Mr Lee Kuan Yew is working for the Tunku. We then further deduce that the cartoonist is pro-Malaya from the additional inference that since the original title is in Malay, the cartoonist should be Malay as well. Singapore is placed at the edge of the entire picture and our country is also depicted as small and undeveloped. Malaya on the other hand, is big and has many factories that are emitting smoke which can suggest that their factories are in operation. As established above, Mr Lee Kuan Yew is the man who is rolling the wheel with the words ‘common market’ written on them. We think that this means that his main/ most explicit purpose of merger is for a common market to be set up. (With further analyzation, this can be a form of saying that Singapore is selfish as Singapore would benefit more than the other states. He also seems to be kneeling on the ground which could suggest that he is desperate for a common market. On the other wheel of the vehicle, there are the words ‘rural development’ written on them. We feel that this means that the Tunku is pushing forward the idea of developing the rural areas. (With analysation, this can also be hinting that Malaya is very gracious who is thinking about developing the other not as advanced states unlike Singapore who only thinks about her own benefits. ) We believe that these respectively are the high hopes of each country.

1984 compared to cults Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the book 1984, written by George Orwell, there is a group portrayed that is similar to what society would call a cult. A cult is defined as a religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader. Totalism is described as the principle of complete and unrestricted power in government. The books main themes include language as mind control and psychological and physical intimidation and manipulation. In the book, the people live in a city which is very out of the ordinary and also overseen by a charismatic leader, Big Brother. This society, portrayed by George Orwell has all the elements of a cult-like and totalist society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Oceania, which is the Americas, the Atlantic islands including the British Isles, Australasia, and the southern portion of Africa, is where Winston Smith lives in the book 1984. Ingsoc, newspeak for English Socialism, is the political ideology of Oceania. â€Å"War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength,† is the slogan of Oceania, which is displayed on the pyramid of the Ministry of Truth. The Ministry of Truth is where they change books to reflect the party’s ideology. â€Å"The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating clichà ©. The most far-reaching and complex of human problems are compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. These become the start and finish of any ideological analysis† (Lifton). Big Brother used this method to break down the party’s complex theories and put them into one phrase. â€Å"War is peaceà ¢â‚¬  is the part that keeps all the people of Oceania united. Big Brother makes the people of Oceania think that they are in a state of constant war. By making the people think this, the people stay united against the other countries that â€Å"threaten† them. â€Å"Freedom is slavery† is used to scare people into remaining loyal to Big Brother. The party is saying that anyone who strays from Big Brother will surely fail. â€Å"Ignorance is strength† means that the inability of the people to realize how the party is keeping power is how the party stays in power. This type of language puts people on a leash and the more they repeat the party’s sl... .... These men called him Christ, which translates into â€Å"Chosen One†. Another example of religions starting out as a cult is Buddhism. Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, also known as Buddha, who rejected the principles of Hinduism and found acceptance for his new ideas among a group of disciples. Big Brother never claimed to be the chosen one because he wasn’t taking power for religious purposes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  They called him Big Brother because the name sounds like he would be one to protect his people, but he is just brainwashing them. Big Brother uses the same methods of control that are used by every cult and totalist leader. He uses lies to convince the people that he is protecting them, but he is just putting them on a leash that gets smaller and smaller with each day. He prevents the flow of information within Oceania just like cults makes their own newspaper and books. Not one person has left Oceania and came back to tell about it because if anyone left, they wouldn’t even be able to realize that all they’ve known is false. Now I understand Orwell when he wrote, â€Å"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.†

The Struggle Within :: essays research papers

The Struggle Within   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Scarlet Letter offers extraordinary insight into the norms and behavior of 17th century puritan society. The basic characteristics and problems of its main characters, however, are familiar to readers in the present (Encarta 98). In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne develops Reverend Dimmesdale’s internal struggle through his guilt, his indecision regarding confession, and his final decision to confess.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At the beginning of the novel, the Reverend Dimmesdale has committed adultery with Hester Prynne, and he is constantly troubled by inescapable guilt. Dimmesdale knows he is a hypocrite and he hates himself for it. He tries many ways to pay penance, but nothing seems to relieve him of this terrible guilt. He tries fasting and he tries whipping himself, but nothing can rid him of his guilt. This guilt causes Dimmesdale to become physically ill. He constantly is holding his hand over his heart. This is because Hester Prynne is forced to wear the scarlet letter A on her breast. He feels connected to her because she was his partner in sin, so he holds his hand over his heart to hide his A, or guilt. At the end of the novel when he does confess, he shows his chest, and reveals his own A. Many people thought that this was caused by guilt.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Reverend Dimmesdale wants to confess, but he is always too cowardly to face the consequences of confession. In the first scaffold scene, Dimmesdale tries to confess, but is unable to do it. In the second scaffold scene, Dimmesdale’s purpose is to stand on the scaffold until morning so everyone will see him. He is unable to stop thinking about what might happen to him if he is seen. While standing on the scaffold, in this vain show of expiation, Mr. Dimmesdale was overcome with a great horror of mind, as if the universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart†¦. Without any power to restrain himself, he shrieked aloud; an outcry that went pealing through the night, and was beaten back from one house to another, and reverberated from the hills in the background†¦(Hawthorne 102) This quote shows the anguish felt by Dimmesdale that he had no way to relieve himself of his guilt. Later, when Dimmesdale is still on the scaffold Hester and Pearl walk by. Dimmesdale asks them to join him on the scaffold.

Human Resource Practices in Sme Sector

EuroEconomica Issue 3(31)/2012 ISSN: 1582-8859 Human Resource Practices in SME Sector: An Exploratory Case Study of Pakistan Naveed R. Khan Faculty of Management and Economics Sciences, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, 35900, Malaysia naveed. r. [email  protected] com Mustafa Rehman Khan Faculty of Management Sciences, Institute of Business and Technology, 75190, Pakistan [email  protected] com Abstract The role of human resource practices (HRP) at its significance in small and medium enterprises (SME) become an emerging topic, especially in developing countries.This study aims to gauge the level of HR practice being exercise in SME. Quantitative approach has been followed and data was collected from 195 SMEs through a structure questionnaire. Findings suggested that SME are performing moderate level of HR practices and owner/managers are aware with the importance of HR practices in their organizations. Moreover, compensation is the most significant factor of HR practices foll owed by employee performance, recruitment and selection and training and development.HR function has been substantially implemented and HR practices are being carried out in number of SME and is contributes at all phases of organization’s functions. The globalization and dynamic milieu is forcing the SME sector to switch informal functions to formal manner. However more coherent approach is required to replace the traditional way of practicing HR functions. This study validates the implementation of HR practices in SME as documented in the literature. It further provides a reference for academicians and practitioner to build upon a contention for future research. 7 7Keywords: recruitment and selection, training and development, employee performance, compensation. COUNTRY CASE STUDIES Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn. com/abstract=2155840 EuroEconomica Issue 3(31)/2012 1. Introduction In the era of globalization, business environment becomes highly dynamic with high r isk and uncertainty. This uncertainty decreases market share and increases organizational inefficiency. As elsewhere, Pakistani SMEs too are affected by the recent global economic meltdown. Escalating inflation in Pakistan further compounded the situation for SME growth.Human resource working in SME sector plays a vital role in economic growth without any space for their personal growth. It is therefore observed that retention is one of the major problems in small and medium size industries. Slightly better emoluments provide good reasons to an employee to switch over from one organization to another organization. Growth in salary in SME sector is far behind the growth in inflation which is a source of depression and made them less productive at their workplace (Khan, 2011). SMEs are identified as the leading employment generation sector, nation wide.In context of the Karachi city which contributes 30% in manufacturing sector of Pakistan and 90% in Sindh’s GDP and around 20% of the total GDP of Pakistan. These figures indicate the potential and further growth in this sector further it prove the argument that SME sector shall plays pivotal role and have potential to grow. Moreover, extensive economics activities at sea ports and industrial zones increase the significance of Karachi city, hence is called the financial and business hub of Pakistan, providing millions of economic opportunities (Ghouri et al. 2011). This study has been conducted to measure the gap between philosophies and practices of HR practices. HR scholars have argued that SMEs are insignificantly practicing the HR function in Pakistan. It may be consider that the owner / managers are not able to utilize their human resource strategically and coherently. Perhaps this is due to the shortage of HR professional in SME sector. Further, fragile structure and substandard formalization intends management to ignore organization’s most valued assets, that is, 8 the workforce.This ignorance causes the job dissatisfaction in employees and ultimately affects the organizational performance. However, employees perform the essential tasks within the organization, and organizational human resource systems are designed to support and manage this human capital. 7 This study aims to measure HR practices in SME operating in Karachi, Pakistan. The city is considered as the hub of commerce and financial activities of Pakistan. SMEs operating are having a mix of proper and casual setup.The study is designed to measure the level of HR practices and identify the most significant HR practice among recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation and employee performance. Consistent with the discussion so far, this study seeks to answer the following questions. 1. What is the level of HR practices followed in the SME? 2. What is the most/least important practice of HR, among four facets, in SME? 1. 2 Brief Overview of Employment in Pakistan Over the years, Pakistan ha s substantially moved from agriculture economy to manufacturing economy.Economically active size is the largest in the total population of the country. Human capital is enriched with diverse skills from unskilled labor to high-skilled critical mass. Pakistan’s urban growth rate is highest in South Asia. Estimated in 1980s, urban population growth rate was 4. 5% per annum and projected to 60% by the turn of the century. That proved true. Karachi’s urban economy and its employment pool is the glaring example of this. Its formal and informal sectors provide greater employment potential and are in a position to use human capital efficiently (Khan et al. , 2011).ISSN: 1582-8859 COUNTRY CASE STUDIES Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn. com/abstract=2155840 EuroEconomica Issue 3(31)/2012 ISSN: 1582-8859 At present, SMEs are recognized as the backbone of the country’s economy by representing nearly 90% of all the enterprises in Pakistan. SMEs form a significant po rtion of the manufacturing and services sector. According to the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s report (2010) the labor force today is divided in agriculture 43%, manufacturing 13%, construction 7%, transport 6%, and services 14% and the other head carrying the rest of the burden.The total workforce in Pakistan is 102. 7 million; out of which 55. 77 million people are employed in 2010 with $2400 per capita income; this labor force will increase to 154. 4 million by 2030 with the growth rate of 2. 05. However, 15. 2% unemployment rate was recoded in 2010. SMEs provide 80% employment of the non-agricultural labor force. In Pakistan small and medium enterprises offer diverse employment and production and share 40% in annual GDP of Pakistan (Khan, 2011). 2. Literature Review Pakistan’s SMEs sector is very different from SMEs working in industrialized world.Here, small and medium size businesses are usually not documented mostly with purpose. Pakistan has also a un ique culture of not sharing information with others. Freedom of public information is only on paper. Businesses profiles are not uploaded on the website and it is even so difficult for field researchers to collect basic information through interviews. Limited academic studies are conducted so far on HR practices in Pakistan’s SME environment. This study thus dependent on earlier researches conducted in environment other than Pakistan for conceptual understanding and theory development.Selected literature is reviewed for this study whose results are generalizable to any other environment. Basically, employees perform the essential tasks within the organization, and organizational human resource systems are designed to support and manage this human capital (Gramm and Schnell, 2001). HRM philosophy emphasizes on the benefits of meeting employee needs and enables them to have control over their work, moreover, satisfied workers willing to improve their efficiency, effectiveness a nd productivity to get the work done.The extensive use of high-involvement work practices represents a significant investment in human 7 capital. Basic microeconomics suggests that investments in human capital (employees) are justified when such investments are more than offset by future returns in the form of increased productivity. Thus, firms will make greater use of such practices when employees are viewed as particularly vital to firm success (MacDuffie, 1995). By adopting effective HR practices firms can acquire not only new skills and knowledge and change the attitudes of their employees but also improve their organizational performance.Through effective HR practices firm can get rid of traditional ineffective and inefficient practices which in turn enable the firm to maximize the achievement of its objectives (Delery and Doty, 1996). Armstrong (2006) defines human resource management (HRM) as the strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization's most val ued assets – the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business.Findings from previous studies indicated that increased concern for HR practices among firms resulted from the need to develop HR as a source of competitive advantage (Walker, 2001; Wright et al. , 2001; Wright and Snell, 1991). In relation with the SMEs recent studies acknowledged the relevance and applicability of HR practices in small and medium scale firms (Nankervis et al. , 2002; Singh and Vohra, 2005; Chang and Huang, 2005; Schlogl, 2004) SMEs who successfully integrate their HR system with their vision and organizational objectives, are achieve their goals in a more organized manner (Singh and Vohra, 2005).Hence it would build-up more 9 COUNTRY CASE STUDIES Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn. com/abstract=2155840 EuroEconomica Issue 3(31)/2012 ISSN: 1582-8859 comprehensive business strategy to retain the position in the industr y. According to Chang and Huang (2005) human resources are viewed as a strategic asset that creates value when embedded in the operational system in a manner that can enhance firm’s abilities to deal with a turbulent environment. Sevral studies indicated that to improve organizational performance and develop a competitive advantage, firms need to implement an ffective HR practice system (Zheng et al. , 2006; Osman et al. , 2011; Katou, 2012). Studies on HR practices indicated that HR theories and models are assumed that they are applicable to all types of organizations regardless of their type, sizes and nature of human resource practice functions (Arthur, 1994; MacDuffie, 1995; Huselid, 1995; Youndt et al. , 1996). However, Nankervis et al. (2002) study findings suggested that previous empirical evidences are still not able to provide enough evidence to suggest that HR practices works for all kinds of organizations.Traditional literature on human resource practices identifie d four general categories, which include: Staffing, training, evaluation and compensation (Dessler, 2008; Mathis and Jackson, 2008; Fisher et al. , 2006). In few cases, these categories are aggregated in a slightly different manner, and certainly there is overlap and interrelationship among them (Shub and Stonebraker, 2009). Shub and Stonebraker (2009) define these categories as: Staffing generally involves the human resource activities of planning, job analysis and design, recruitment and selection.Training generally involves the HR activities of employee training, organization development and career development. Evaluation generally involves HR activities of various evaluation designs, both formal and informal, and different evaluation periodicities. Lastly, Compensation generally involves the HR activities of base wage or salary system, incentive system and perks, as well as benefits. Generally, the relationship-based approaches to staffing, training, evaluation, and compensation are shown in the literature to be directly associated with firm performance (Huselid, 1995; Osman et al. 2011; Ngo et al. , 1998) 2. 1 Human Resource Management and its Measurability Stone (2005) defined human resource management as it involves the productive use of people in 7 achieving the organization’s strategic business objectives and the satisfaction of individual employees need. This definition clearly indicates that the organizations’ objectives are dependent on their work force productivity. Moreover, work task, work environment, freedom in work, opportunities provided and the benefits are provides are few of the most important needs a worker may perceive.The effective HRM practices are able to link these practices with organization structure and objectives. Many studies investigating human resource management practices have looked primarily into an organizational structure construct. To accurately measure â€Å"human resource practices†, a number of H R functions may need to be evaluated. However, these characteristics or facets may not be of equal importance to every organization. One of the most comprehensive and widely used measures for human resource practice is presented by Dessler (2008) and Fisher et al. 2006). In this study human resource management practices is characterized as multidimensional, and it has four major facets namely i) recruitment and selection, ii) training and development , iii) compensation, iv) employee performance evaluation. 2. 1. 1 Practice of Recruitment and Selection Recruitment and selection is the first facet of human resource practice, which involves planning, forecasting, and job analysis for the future demand of employees according to the need and demand of the firm.Moreover, various tools and techniques have been used by the firms for the improvement of staffing process to avoid the loss in terms of time, money and potential employees. 2. 1. 2 Practice of Training 10 COUNTRY CASE STUDIES Eur oEconomica Issue 3(31)/2012 ISSN: 1582-8859 Training is another dimension of human resource practice where firms invested on the development of their employees’ knowledge, skills ability and other on-job required skills to improve the productivity of employees.Training can transform human resource to human capital where skilled employee would better perform in the success of organization as compare the employees who can get training lesser or never. 2. 1. 3 Practice of Compensation Compensation is one of the most extrinsic practices of human resource function in an organization setting. This dimension determines the level of job of an employee on the basis of their perceived knowledge and experience.Moreover, the matching of their job knowledge with the pay or compensation provided them must demonstrate the market level competitive packages. Good compensation plan would therefore, inevitably influence on employees’ performance. However, the extent to which an employee who is getting the good compensation package will perform well would also depend on his/her overall assessment of various factors like the compensation package in other organizations in relation to the work load and the possibility of getting better compensation packages (Purani and Sahadev, 2008). . 1. 4 Practice of Evaluation This aspect of human resource practices generally involves the activities of various evaluation designs, both formal and informal, and different evaluation periodicities (Shub and Stonebraker, 2009). It is a means of getting better results by understanding and managing performance within an agreed framework of planned goals, standards and competency requirements. It functions as a continuous and evolutionary process, in which performance improves over time.Moreover, it provides the basis for regular and frequent dialogues between managers and individuals about performance and development needs (Armstrong, 2006). 3. Research Methodology The study comprises on a quantitative survey of 195 SMEs. The data was collected from the companies operating in Karachi through a self-administered questionnaire. The study covered manufacturing and 7 service sectors SMEs. In the study, SME referred to the firms employed between 10 to 250 employees, this definition have been adopted from the SME policy 2007 and SMEDA.The SME were identified and randomly selected from the listing of Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) and Jamal’s Yellow Pages. The questionnaire was adopted from Chew (2004) and modified according to the nature and objectives of the study and tested for reliability, prior to data collection. The questionnaire used in this study consisted of three sections. Section one focused on collecting background information of the respondents. Section two captured the characteristics of the firm and last section obtained the information concerning the HR practices adopted by the firm.To examine the hypotheses of the study, descripti ve statistics analysis were performed using SPSS 17. The sample size for this study was 300 however only 195 questionnaires, with response rate of 65%, were found acceptable for analysis. 3. 1 Reliability Testing To measure the reliability of the instruments used, Cronbach’s alpha was employed. According to Sekaran (2005), if the alpha value is greater then 0. 7, the instrument is acceptable. The internal consistency reliability coefficients (Cronbach’s alpha) for the scales used in this study are well above the level of 0. , thus are acceptable for the analysis purpose. In Table 3. 1, alpha scores of all variables with complete response of 195 SMEs are given. 11 COUNTRY CASE STUDIES EuroEconomica Issue 3(31)/2012 Table – 1: Reliability Coefficients of the Constructs (n = 195) Constructs Recruitment and selection Training and development Compensation Employee performance No. of Items 4 6 6 5 Cronbach’s Alpha . 750 . 792 . 845 . 824 ISSN: 1582-8859 4. Rese arch Findings 4. 1 Characteristics of the Respondents The characteristics of the respondents are presented in the following table.Table – 2: Characteristics of the Respondents (n = 195) Variable(s) Gender Male Female Age 20-25 yrs 26-30 yrs 31-35 yrs 36-40 yrs 41-45 yrs 46-50 yrs Over 50 Education Intermediate Bachelors Masters MS/M. Phil PhD Other Total Frequency 167 28 %age 85. 6 14. 4 Variable(s) Marital Status Married Unmarried No response Position in Firm Owner but not manager Owner and manager Manager but not owner No Response Frequency 130 64 1 %age 66. 7 32. 8 0. 5 29 48 40 32 16 21 9 3 77 103 7 0 5 195 14. 9 24. 6 20. 5 16. 4 8. 2 10. 8 4. 6 1. 5 39. 5 52. 8 3. 6 0 2. 6 100. 14 108 70 3 7. 2 55. 4 35. 9 1. 5 12 7 Work Experience 1 – 4 Years 5 – 7 Years 8 – 10 11 – 13 14 – 16 ; 17 Total 42 37 45 20 19 32 195 21. 5 19 23 10. 2 9. 7 16. 4 100. 0 As shown in the table 2, statistics of the respondents clearly and logically depict the pic ture of their characteristics. In total of 195 respondents 167 were males and 28 were females. Likewise 130 respondents were married and 64 were unmarried. The age and years of work experience among the respondents ranged from 20 to more than 50 years and one to more than 17 years respectively.In terms of education 3 respondents obtained intermediate certificate, 77 obtained bachelor’s degrees, 103 have master’s degree and 7 have MS/M. Phil degree, however none of the respondent has a PhD. COUNTRY CASE STUDIES EuroEconomica Issue 3(31)/2012 ISSN: 1582-8859 The in-depth analysis of statistics highlighted some interesting facts of the respondents. The Female owner/manager represented the 14. 4 % of total respondents which show significant contribution of females in the total workforce, however, this proportion need to be increase at substantial level.Moreover, sixty percent respondents’ age ranged from 20 to 35 years, it shows that young entrepreneurs/managers are coming into the industries with new passion for growth. Likewise 52. 8 percent respondents have a Master’s degree. This combination of ‘young age’ along with ‘education’ shall change the mind-set of traditional business practices and may bring new innovative ideas and measures which shall boost the SME sector in near future. 4. 2 Characteristics of the Firm The characteristics of the firm are summarize in Table 3.These characteristics depict the picture of the firm’s form of business, number of employees working, age of the firm and type of business. Table – 3: Characteristics of the Firm (n = 195) Variable(s) Form of Business Solo proprietor Partnership Private limited Age of Company 3-5 years 6-8 years 9-11 years 12-14 years ; 14 years Total Frequency 24 74 97 23 15 42 51 64 195 %age 12 38 50 11. 7 7. 6 21. 5 26 32. 8 100. 0 Variable(s) No of Employees 10 to 50 51-100 101-150 151-200 201 – 250 Type of Business Manufacturing Se rvices Total Frequency %age 45 16 26 73 35 89 106 195 23. 8. 2 13. 3 37. 4 17. 9 45. 6 54. 4 100. 0 13 7 The in-depth statistical analysis shows that fifty percent SME are the private limited firms and 32. 8 % firms are operating since more than 14 years. Likewise, 37. 4 % SME employed the workers range from 151 to 200. Lastly, 54. 4 % SME are fall under the category of services firms. 4. 3 Distribution of firm by Business sector The SME, participated in this study, represented various business sectors in the manufacturing and services industry. The distribution of the sample firms by type of business sector is presented in table 4.Table – 4: Characteristics of the Firm (n = 195) Variable(s) Business Sectors Financial Institution Engineering/Construction Energy/Petroleum Frequency 18 23 5 %age 9. 2 11. 8 2. 6 COUNTRY CASE STUDIES EuroEconomica Issue 3(31)/2012 Chemical/Pharmaceutical Education Textile Telecommunication Logistics Others Total 18 15 19 18 17 62 195 9. 2 7. 7 9. 7 9. 2 8. 7 31. 8 100. 0 ISSN: 1582-8859 The statistics indicated that eight different business sector firms were participated in this study. Most of the firms are from Engineering/Construction business sector which comprises of 11. % of the firms participated in the study. Energy/Petroleum business sector have the least presentation in the sample which comprises of only 2. 6%. However, the ‘others’ head carrying the rest of the burden comprises of 31. 8%. 4. 4 Human Resource Practices The mean and standard deviation scores of HR practices variables which include recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation and employee performance are recorded, from the firms, are presented in table 5. The results depict that the mean scores of HR practices ranged from 3. 352 to 3. 83. Hence, at the general level, results suggest that the SME in the study practiced the HR function, to a certain extent. Furthermore, recruitment and selection is moderately practiced in the organization (mean = 3. 49, SD = 1. 10) along with training and development (mean = 3. 35, SD = 1. 081), compensation (mean = 3. 68, SD = . 975), and employee performance (mean = 3. 69, SD = 1. 34). Table – 5: Descriptive Statistics of Variables (n = 195) Items Recruitment and selection Training and development Compensation Employee performance Overall HRM Practices 4. . 1 Recruitment and selection Table 6 highlights the descriptive statistics for each item. Out of the four items of selection, â€Å"only the best people are hired to work in this organization† (mean = 3. 74, SD = 1. 07) followed by â€Å"the values and beliefs of this organization are discussed in interviews with potential employees† showed the second highest mean value of 3. 69 (SD = 1. 054), followed by, â€Å"when new employees are hired, they must go through an extensive hiring process in which they are interviewed a number of times† (mean = 3. 44, SD =1. 53), and â€Å"employ ees of this organization are involved in the hiring of their peers† (mean 3. 11, SD = 1. 152). In general, the SMEs appeared to have moderate level selection practices in their organization. Table – 6: Descriptive Results of recruitment and selection (n=195) Mean 3. 497 3. 352 3. 683 3. 682 3. 553 Standard (SD) 1. 10 1. 081 . 975 1. 349 1. 126 Deviation 14 7 COUNTRY CASE STUDIES EuroEconomica Issue 3(31)/2012 Items Only the best people are hired to work in this organization. The values and beliefs of this organization are discussed in interviews with potential employees.When new employees are hired, they must go through an extensive hiring process in which they are interviewed a number of times. Employees of this organization are involved in the hiring of their peers. Total Mean (Selection) 4. 4. 2 Training and development Table 7 highlights the descriptive statistics for each item. Out of the six items, â€Å"people are properly oriented and trained upon joining this organization† showed the highest level of training practice (mean = 3. 67, SD =1. 042), followed by â€Å"the company provides enough training for the employees to learn new ways to do their job† (mean = 3. 9, SD = 1. 037). â€Å"This organization does provide regular opportunities for personal and career development† (mean = 3. 43, SD = 1. 045). â€Å"Training provided by the firm often consists of both classrooms teachings and On-Job-Training (OJT)† (mean = 3. 27, SD = 1. 168); â€Å"This organization subsidizes, assists or reimburses employees for training they get outside the organization†, mean = 3. 22, SD = 1. 097). However, â€Å"employees in this organization receive additional compensation† have the lowest level of practice in the variety of activities (mean = 2. 0, SD =1. 099). Table – 7: Descriptive results of Training and development (n = 195) Items People are properly oriented and trained upon joining this organization. Th is organization does provide regular opportunities for personal and career development This organization subsidizes, assists or reimburses employees for training they get outside the organization Employees in this organization receive additional compensation Training provided by the firm often consists of both classrooms teachings and On-Job-Training (OJT). The ompany provides enough training for the employees to learn new ways to do their job Total Mean (Training) 4. 4. 3 Compensation Out of the six items in table 8, â€Å"Employees are given positive recognition when they produce high quality work† showed the highest level of compensation practice (mean = 3. 89, SD =. 965), followed by â€Å"This organization pays well† and â€Å"This organization offers good opportunities for promotion† (mean = 3. 723, Mean 3. 6769 3. 4359 3. 2205 2. 9077 3. 2769 3. 5949 3. 352 SD 1. 04202 1. 04524 1. 09713 1. 09906 1. 16885 1. 3793 1. 081 Mean 3. 6923 3. 7436 3. 1128 3. 4410 3. 497 ISSN: 1582-8859 SD 1. 05405 1. 07737 1. 15213 1. 15337 1. 10 15 7 COUNTRY CASE STUDIES EuroEconomica Issue 3(31)/2012 ISSN: 1582-8859 SD = . 927) and (mean = 3. 723, SD = 1. 018) respectively. â€Å"The way in which employees in this organization are compensated† (mean = 3. 65, SD = . 920). â€Å"This organization values individual excellence over teamwork† (mean = 3. 61, SD = 1. 015); â€Å"This organization offers a good benefits package compared to other organizations†, mean = 3. 49, SD = 1. 007).Table – 8: Descriptive Results of Compensation (n = 195) Items This organization pays well The way in which employees in this organization are compensated This organization offers a good benefits package compared to other organizations This organization values individual excellence over teamwork Employees are given positive recognition when they produce high quality work This organization offers good opportunities for promotion Total Mean (Compensation ) 4. 4. 4 Employee performance SMEs are highly intended to let its employees know, how they are performing (mean = 4. 08, SD = 2. 98).Table 9 the descriptive statistics is highlighted for each item. The measurement of an employee's performance on the job is a priority in this organization receives the 2 nd highest mean value (mean = 3. 77, 16 SD = . 895), followed by the measurement of turnover and absenteeism is a priority in this organization† and â€Å"when evaluating the employees for promotion, seniority is one of the criteria taken into account† (mean = 3. 517, SD = . 937) and (mean = 3. 517, SD = . 970) respectively. However, â€Å"this organization 7 makes a point of keeping track of factors that it considers critical for success† receive the lowest mean value (mean = 3. 0, SD =. 959). Table – 9: Descriptive Results of Employee performance (n = 195) Items The measurement of an employee's performance on the job is a priority in this organization. Th is organization makes a point of keeping track of factors that it considers critical for success. The measurement of turnover and absenteeism is a priority in this Organization When evaluating the employees for promotion, seniority is one of the criteria taken into account Does your company lets its employees know how they are performing Total Mean (Evaluation) Mean 3. 7795 3. 5077 3. 5179 3. 5179 4. 0872 3. 682 SD . 89534 . 95986 . 3799 . 97041 2. 98408 1. 349 Mean 3. 7231 3. 6513 3. 4974 3. 6154 3. 8923 3. 7231 3. 683 SD . 92793 . 92024 1. 00706 1. 01574 . 96522 1. 01800 . 975 COUNTRY CASE STUDIES EuroEconomica Issue 3(31)/2012 5. Discussion and Conclusion Small and medium enterprises may have a significant contribution in the economic growth of a country. The swift progress in entrepreneurial set-ups depicts healthy business activities. The findings of this study measure the level of HR practices in SME. The mean score of overall HR practices reported at 3. 553 indicated a modera te level of HR practices, followed in the firms.The adequate level of HR practices is an indication that the SMEs, participated in the study, are involved in implementing and practicing HR activities in their organizations. However, sophistication HR practices bring ample opportunities to gain competitive advantage in the market in terms of HR outcomes i. e. employee retention, satisfaction, competencies and commitment. This increase in HR outcomes may significantly affect the SME performance. Hence HR practices should consider as the source of sustain competitive advantage and owner / manager should therefore put the HR agenda in central to any strategy.Human resources are consider as the activators of all non-human resources and are means for developing competitive advantages in the market place (Stone, 2005). Compensation practice of employees has a significant role followed by employee performance. These are considered as the key factors in managing HR in SME. Hence are practice s in a comprehensive manner. However recruitment and selection and training and development practices are still need the attention and would like to practice in a more sophisticated manner.Especially, training and development, since, trained and motivated employees and managers contribute effectively under these practices. Moreover, scant attention is being paid to new HR practices to manage knowledge and its effective use (Taha, 2006). Efficient HR practices in a SME may bridge the information gap and improve the organizational performance. Moreover, HR practices framework in SMEs requires a collective approach to practices HR functions working as a set or â€Å"bundle† rather than independently (Delery, 1998). SMEs owners and managers should broaden the scope of HR practices.It will increase the retention rate of employee, enhance the competencies and commitment in work force and levitate the level of 7 satisfaction among employees. This shift in-turn enhances the organizat ional performance in terms of quality, productivity and market share. Successful HR system also helps to integrate the other organizational functions in lesser time. This integration will open long term investment opportunities through organizational strategy. Finally, appropriate strategies at national level may enable the SME sector to boost the national economy. Acknowledgement: I would like to acknowledge Dr.Mashhood Ahmad Khan and Dr. S. M. Taha for providing guidance in initializing this study and insightful comments at different stages of this research. ISSN: 1582-8859 17 COUNTRY CASE STUDIES EuroEconomica Issue 3(31)/2012 ISSN: 1582-8859 References Arthur, J. (1994). Effects of human resource systems on manufacturing performance and turnover. Academy of Management Journal, 37(3): 670-87. Armstrong, M. (2006). A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 10th ed. , London: Kogan Page As’ad, I. , Ahmad, F. , Sentosa, I. (2012). An Empirical Study of E-Commerce Impl ementation among SME in Indonesia.International Journal of Independent Research Studies, 1(1): 13-22. Chang, W. A. and Huang, T. C. (2005). Relationship between strategic human resource management and firm performance, International Journal of Manpower, 26(5): 434-449. Delery, J. E. (1998). Issues of fit in strategic human resource management: implications for research. Human Resource Management Review, 8(1): 289-309. Dessler, G. (2008). Human Resource Management, 11th ed. , NJ: Pearson Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River Fisher, C. D. Schoenfeldt, L. F. and Shaw, J. B. (2006). Human Resource Management, 6th ed. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Ghouri, Arsalan. M. , Khan, Naveed. R. , Malik, Muhammad. A. , and Razzaq, Ambreen. , (2011), Marketing Practices and Their Effects on Firm’s Performance: Findings from Small and Medium Sized Catering and Restaurants in Karachi, International Journal of Business and Management, 6(5) Gramm, C. L. and Schnell, J. F (2001). The Use of Flexible staffing arrangements in core production jobs. Industrial and Labor Relations Review. 54(2): 245-251 Huselid, M. A. (1995). The impact of human resource management practice on turnover, productivity, and corporate financial performance.Academy of Management Journal, 38: 63518 672 Katou, A. A. (2012). Investigating reverse causality between human resource management policies and organizational performance in small firms. Management Research Review, 35(2): 134-156. Khan, Naveed. R. , (2011) HRM Significance and SME Sector, Business Recorder (DOR April 11, 2011) 7 http://www. brecorder. com/component/news/single/626:news. html? id=1176724 Khan, N. R. , Taha, S. M. , Ghouri, A. M. (2011). Bridging the Gap through E-Recruitment: Evidences from Employment Sector in Karachi. Indian Journal of Commerce and Management, 2(6): in press.MacDuffie, J. (1995). Human resource bundles and manufacturing performance: organizational logic and flexible production systems in the world auto industry. Ind ustrial and Labor Relations Review, 48: 197-221. Mathis, R. L. and Jackson, J. H. (2008). Human Resource Management, 12th ed. , Mason, OH: Cengage Learning/South-Western Publishing. Nankervis, A. Compton, R. , & Savery, L. (2002). Strategic HRM in small and medium enterprise: A CEO’s perspective? Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 40(2): 260-273 Ngo, H. Y. , Turban, D. , Lau, C. M. , and Lai, S. Y. (1998).Human Resource Practices and Firm Performance of Multinational Corporation: Influence of Country of Origin. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 9(4): 632–52. Nugroho, M. A. (2012). Correlations of Attitude to Avoid Sharing Risk and Trust with Informal Knowledge Sharing. International Journal of Economics Business and Management Studies, 1(3), 86-95. Osman, I. , Ho, T. C. F. , and Galang, M. C. (2011). The relationship between human resource practices and COUNTRY CASE STUDIES EuroEconomica Issue 3(31)/2012 ISSN: 1582-8859 firm performance: an empi rical assessment of firms in Malaysia. Business Strategy Series, 12(1), 41-48.Purani, K. and Sahadev, S. (2008). The moderating role of industrial experience in the job satisfaction, intention to leave relationship: an empirical study among salesmen in India. Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 23(7): 475-485. Schlogl, H. (2004). Small and medium enterprises: seizing the potential. Observer, 243: 46-8. Sekaran, Uma. (2005). Research Methods for Business: A Skill Building Approach, 1st ed, John Wiley & Sons. Singh, M. , and Vohra, N. (2005). Strategic human resource management in small enterprises. Journal of Entrepreneurship, 14(1): 59-70. Shub, A. N. and Stonebraker, P. W. (2009).The Human Impact on Supply Chains: Evaluating the Importance of â€Å"Soft† Areas on Integration and Performance, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 14(1): 31-40. Stone, R. J. (2005). Human Resource Management, 5th ed. , Australia: John Wiley & Sons. Taha, S. M. (2006). Kno wledge Entrepreneurship: A New Paradigm for Organizational Performance. Business Review, 1(1): 96-105 Walker, J. W. (2001). Perspectives Human Resource Planning. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(2): 6-10. Wright, P. M. , McMahan, G. C. (2001). Theoretical perspective for Strategic Human Resource Management.Journal of Management, 18(2): 295? 320. Wright, P. M. , & Snell, S. A. (1991). Toward an integrative view of strategic human resource management. Human Resource Management Review, 1 (3): 203–225. Youndt, M. A. , Snell, S. A. , Dean, J. W. , and Lepak, D. P. (1996). Human resource management, manufacturing strategy, and firm performance. Academy of Management Journal, 39: 836-65. Zheng, C. , Morrison, M. , Neill, G. O’. (2006). An empirical study of high performance HRM practices in Chinese SMEs. International Journal of Human Resource Management. 17(10): 1772-1803. 19 7 COUNTRY CASE STUDIES

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The Relative Uncertainty Formula and How to Calculate It

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MHE 511 MODULE 1 DISCUSSION - Essay Example It is important for local, state, and federal stakeholders to formulate and implement functional plans that address different types of emergencies and disasters (Haddow, Bullock, & Coppola, 2010). Response plans ought to be different depending on the type of emergency or disaster in question. For example, approaches to natural and manmade disasters differ in regards to the causes, subsequent effects, and the actions taken by relevant agencies in that regard. In this respect, response plans should be tailored towards specific emergencies and/or disasters. From a personal point of view, there exist critical differences between bio-terrorism, natural, and other types of emergencies. It follows, therefore, that response plans targeting each of the aforementioned emergencies should differ from one type of emergency to the next. Doing so would ensure that local, state, and federal disaster management agencies are in a position to concentrate, focus, and identify key points of concern or interest across varying emergencies. For instance, response plans for bio-terrorist emergencies would hardly work in weather-related natural disasters, thus the need for different response plans in such

Evaluating Employees with Ease Essay Example for Free

Evaluating Employees with Ease Essay Performance evaluations are a critical component of human resource management in any organization. In â€Å"Evaluating Employees with Ease† Sharon LaBuke gives useful tips designed to help nursing employers conduct evaluations that translate into a positive experience for their employees. In LaDuke’s view, the first priority is to strategize the process. A good place to start is the examination of the evaluation document that forms â€Å"a common frame of reference for both manager and employee† (LaDuke, n.d., p. 49). It is noteworthy that the author places cultural issues at the top of the list of priorities, suggesting that employers thoroughly evaluate the culture of their facility to see whether the process is consistent with the culture. Relationships with the people evaluated and finding the right language are also at the top of the list, since these issues help set the right kind of atmosphere for the evaluation process, suggesting that people will feel better if they know the employer has the right kind of attitude. The second set of suggestions involves more organizational aspects. For example, LaDuke suggests that people will feel the evaluation is more objective when they know that they are being evaluated on an ongoing basis, with feedback offered throughout the year. To help make assessments more detailed and grounded in facts, employers can log important events and try to address them in a timely fashion. The creation of a personal plan for improvement is also a useful idea. Created with staff input, this plan can serve as a roadmap for individual development, helping the person to focus on the right areas. Constantly following up on the progress with the plan, the manager can create an ongoing dialogue with the employee concerning personal needs. The author effectively captures the most important points in the evaluation process. It is helpful that the focus is on the personal development of the employee, not on evaluation per se. the nurturing nature of such evaluation clearly has the potential to contribute to the employees’ development and foster adequate atmosphere in the organization. Reference LaDuke, S. (n.d.). Evaluating Employees with Ease.

Australia And The Global Financial Crisis Economics Essay

Australia And The Global Financial Crisis Economics Essay The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) was caused by various factors which impacted the Western worlds economies. It resulted from providing too many loans to people who could not afford to repay the loan and the packaging up of loans to on-sell (securitisation in the USA). The greed of consumers, bad investments, rising property prices, the wide spread distribution of income, and the overall poor regulation of monies also contributed. The Australian government takes credit for avoiding this recession by implementing Keynesian theory of fiscal and monetary stimulus by intervening early and a willingness to stimulate the economy. This stimulus was aimed to stimulate aggregate demand through increased consumption and investment expenditure the minority of this stimulus being monetary policy and the majority being fiscal stimulus. However this stimulus when compared to other contributions to change in GDP expenditure was not the major contributor to avoiding the recession. Net exports were t he most significant contributor during the GFC. This means that the stimulus did not save Australia from the recession. The net exports contributed greatly but when a consideration is made of all the National Income Measures (NIM) not just the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Australia did have a mild recession. It is clear that the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) has created a recession not only all over the western world, but in Australia as well and the main contributor to its mildness was Australias net exports. The Australian government has used fiscal policies to smooth out the economic fluctuations caused by the GFC and to reduce its impact on consumers. Fiscal policy uses changes in government spending and/or reduces taxes to influence the level of aggregate demand to impact the general direction of the economy. When Australia was threatened by the global financial crisis, the government took the action of implementing the largest fiscal stimulus in the world (Makin 2010:5). The government spending was used for infrastructure projects for the purpose of stimulating the workforce during the GFC recession especially when the construction industry is particularly depressed. In addition, the government is spending on transfer payments to people under the Employment Insurance and Welfare programs increase during a recession and thereby providing more support to the level of aggregated demand. These stimulus packages (Government spending) include the Economic Security Strategy,  the Nation B uilding Economic Stimulus, the Nation Building and Jobs Plan and a Nation Building Infrastructure measures which have reached a more than $55.6 billion (Makin 2010:5). Most of this funding was targeted to support local jobs throughout Australia by building new projects and facilities that will have lasting benefits across the nation including (ALP 2011). Australia went through the GFC economically with the strongest growth of any advanced economy through 2009 (ALP 2011).  With the government stimulating the economy resulting in a multiplier effect, the planned aggregated expenditure increases. The Australian government also stimulated the economy with the aid of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to increase the planned aggregated expenditure by the use of monetary policy. The RBA sets the interest rate on overnight loans in the money market which affects other interest rates in the economy to varying degrees, so that the behaviour of borrowers and lenders in the financial markets are affected by monetary policy (though not only by monetary policy). This can be seen in the figure 1below as the supply curve shifts to the right which meant that the RBAs influence could be used to reduce the burden of the GFC. This could be done by three measures; the first measure was to provide extended opportunities for the banks to borrow from the RBA. This provided sufficient liquidity for banks to support them through the GFC. The second measure was to provide loans or make direct purchases to support certain markets. This allowed for mortgage-securities to be bought back and provide s hort-term stabilities. The third measure was the use of guarantees to stabilise markets, support banks in raising debt and to avoid a run on the banking system. This helped to increase the willingness to lend, since lenders were only willing to lend at short maturities. The ability to modify rates at any time provided the RBA with the flexibility to stimulate the economy in a downturn and prevent an overheating boom. Thus in the GFC the decrease in interest rates reduces the cost in borrowing resulting in increased planned aggIt regate expenditure. Figure 1: A Monetary Injection and How It Will Affect the Supply and Demand of Money. The Australian government increased government spending to increase private and public consumption by the use of monetary and fiscal policy to counter the negative contributions from public and private investment. The recorded contribution from direct Australian government consumption to a change in GDP(E) in the December 2008 quarter was  actually negative  (-0.1 per cent), followed by nil contribution in the March quarter. These were offset by negligible positive contributions from State and Local consumption spending. This was due to the result of administrative delays in implementing infrastructure spending causing the total public spending not to increase until the end of 2009, but only after the worst of the GFC had passed. During the time of the GFC from the September 2008 to the March 2009 quarters, the main contributors to expenditure were not private and public consumption but net exports which detracted from real expenditure growth in quarters before and after the GFC struck. The strong net export result can be explained by a sustained real exchange-rate depreciation of over 25 per cent in trade-weighted terms during the December 2008 and March 2009 quarters, which made exports substantially cheaper for foreign buyers and imports more expensive for domestic buyers. There was also sustained demand for commodities from key Asian trading partners, including China, over this time. The Australian strong economy can be credited to its net exports rather than government spending, to maintain a positive GDP during the GFC. Table 2: Contributions to GDP Growth (percentage points per quarter, seasonally adjusted) Federal Government Consumption State and Local Govt Consumption Federal  Government  Investment State and Local Govt Investment Statistical Discrepancy Real GDP Jun-2008 0.0 0.1 0.3 0.3 -0.1 0.2 Sep-2008 0.1 0.1 -0.2 -0.1 -0.1 0.4 Dec-2008 -0.1 0.1 -0.2 -0.1 0.0 -0.7 Mar-2009 0.0 0.1 -0.1 0.0 -0.9 0.7 Jun-2009 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 -0.3 0.5 Sep-2009 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.2 -0.1 0.3 Dec-2009 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.0 1.0 Source: Makin, A 2010, Did Australias Fiscal Stimulus Counter Recession?: Evidence from National Accounts, pg. 10, A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2010. A recession can be determined when there are two consecutive negative quarters of GDP and also when there is a 1.5% rise in unemployment within 12 months. The nominal GDP fell in the March 2009 and June 2009 quarters implying there was a contraction in national income. The reason the average volume measure of GDP remained positive in the March quarter, while the current price value measure shrank, is that there was a sharp fall in the implicit price deflator (or overall price level), due in no small part to heavy retail discounting of goods for sale at this time. Meanwhile, real GDP per head, the single most important indicator of recession, fell successively over three quarters by a total of 1.3 per cent. The real GDP (E) measure in Table 1 is the only conventional GDP series that did not record at least two consecutive negative outcomes. Average real GDP was not negative for two successive quarters because the GDP (E) measures were sufficiently positive to make GDP (A) positive. He nce, the claim that fiscal stimulus enabled Australia to avoid recession according to the media definition of recession, in the end depends on the nature and robustness of the real GDP(E) measure for the March 2009 quarter. But Australia did have over 1.5% rise in unemployment, 1.1 per cent in the September 2008 and 1.5 per cent in the June 2009, meaning unemployment had a 1.5% rise in unemployment within 12 months meaning Australia had a recession. Table 1: Conventional Measures of Gross Domestic Product (percentage growth per quarter, trend basis) Real GDP-Expenditure Real GDP-Income Real GDP -Production Real GDP-Average Real GDP per capita Nominal GDP Jun-2008 0.3 0.3 0.7 0.4 0.1 2.8 Sep-2008 0.1 -0.2 0.2 0.0 -0.5 2.1 Dec-2008 0.4 -0.2 -0.2 0.0 -0.5 0.6 Mar-2009 0.7 0.2 -0.2 0.2 -0.3 -0.8 Jun-2009 0.9 0.5 0.1 0.5 0.0 -0.7 Sep-2009 0.9 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.2 0.7 Dec-2009 0.8 0.6 0.9 0.8 0.3 2.2 Source: Makin, A 2010, Did Australias Fiscal Stimulus Counter Recession?: Evidence from National Accounts, pg. 8, A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2010. The claim that Australia avoided a recession rests on the definition of recession as two consecutive quarters of falling GDP. This definition is popular with media commentators and market economists and is tacitly approved by the Australian Treasury and the Reserve Bank of Australia. However, it lacks support from academic economists and policymakers abroad because it is too narrow. If a consideration is made to all the National Income Measures (NIM) not just the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) indicators of macroeconomic activity can broaden the margin for error that is always subjected to the economy-wide data especially in the face of a major shock such as the GFC, as evidenced by large statistical discrepancies in the national accounts. As shown above in Table 1, two successive quarters of negative growth  were  recorded in nominal GDP, the real production and income-based measures of GDP, and real GDP per head. The real GDP (E) measure was the only series that did not fall over two successive quarters. Alternative national income series for Australia gleaned from the most recent set of national accounts are included in Table 3, all of which reveal at least two successive negative quarterly outcomes. Though routinely ignored in economic commentary, the real gross and net domestic and national income series are especially important measures of Australias international macroeconomic performance because they reflect the impact of the terms of trade (or ratio of prices received for exports to prices paid for imports) on the economy. Derived by adjusting the volume measure of GDP for changes in the international purchasing power of national income which, in Australias case, occurs due to fluctuating export commodity prices, these series are broader measures of national economic wellbeing than the standard real GDP measure used in the media definition of recession, which can assist in a more accurate decision whether Australia is in a recession or not.   Table 3: Other National Income Measures (percentage growth per quarter, trend basis) Real Net Domestic Product Real Gross Domestic Income Real Gross National Income Real Net National Disposable Income Real Net National Disposable Income per Capita Jun-2008 0.3 2.2 2.5 2.7 2.2 Sep-2008 -0.3 1.2 1.6 1.5 1.0 Dec-2008 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.5 -1.1 Mar-2009 -0.1 -1.2 -1.2 -1.8 -2.3 Jun-2009 0.4 -0.5 -0.6 -1.0 -1.5 Sep-2009 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.1 -0.3 Dec-2009 0.4 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.2 Source: Makin, A 2010, Did Australias Fiscal Stimulus Counter Recession?: Evidence from National Accounts, pg. 13, A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2010. Fiscal policy uses changes in government spending and/or reduces taxes to influence the level of aggregate demand to impact the general direction of the economy. This resulted in a multiplier effect which increased the planned aggregated expenditure that monetary policy also contributed too. But the main contributors to expenditure were not private and public consumption but net exports which detracted from real expenditure growth in quarters before and after the GFC struck. A recession can be determined when there are two consecutive negative quarters of GDP and also when there is a 1.5% rise in unemployment within 12 months. Average real GDP was not negative for two successive quarters because the GDP (E) measures were sufficiently positive to make GDP (A) positive. Hence, the claim that fiscal stimulus enabled Australia to avoid recession according to the media definition of recession. If a consideration is made to all the National Income Measures (NIM) not just the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) indicators of macroeconomic activity, all of which reveal at least two successive negative quarterly outcomes, Australia did have a recession. It than becomes clear that the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) has created a recession not only all over the western world, but in Australia as well. Thereby in the short-run, increases in households discretionary income and increase in spending results in a sudden increase of disposable income to help fight the downturn. The Australian strong economy can be credited to its net exports rather than government spending but government spending did help maintain investment and consuming confidence that help to maintain the flow of monies.

Internet Plagiarism Essay -- Plagiarizing Cheating Copyright Essays

Internet Plagiarism Plagiarism used to be easy to catch. It always took real work for a student to try to pass off someone else’s work as his or her own. Different sources of plagiarizing included copying texts from the library and buying old papers off of other students. There were not many resources to choose from where a student’s topic was contained. That has now changed. There is a little thing called the Internet. It has revolutionized the plagiarism world and made it a little more difficult for educators to catch plagiarism culprits. There are some tools out now, however, that are aiding this new battle. Since the Internet came along plagiarism has become a lot easier to accomplish; at least for the time being. What exactly is considered plagiarizing and how is it punished? â€Å"To plagiarize is to steal and use the ideas or writings of another as one’s own. Legally, plagiarism has been defined as the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his/her writings, or languages of the same, and passing them off as the products of one’s own mind.† [1] Basically what this is saying is that plagiarism is when someone takes another’s idea and calls it his or her own by either not citing properly or merely just trying to take full credit. There are three different ways a paper or a section of a paper can be plagiarized. The first way is quotations. Quotations must always be worded exactly and then cited exactly. The citation needs to be precisely from where it was found and do not forget to put quotations marks around the quoted section. The second form of plagiarizing is through paraphrasing. Paraphrasing involves taking other sources ideas and putting them into your own words. When... ...html). These programs also cost varying sums. [10] Until the Internet came along, plagiarism was difficult. There were not enough sources on a specific topic at a student’s fingertips to effectively pull it off. Plagiarism is a major offense and needs to be taken seriously. Students just cannot seem to resist cheating and trying to make their life a little easier by letting someone else do the work that they are getting credit for. Now that there is the Internet, new doors have opened for plagiarists and it is keeping educators on their toes. Teachers now need to make little modifications on their assignments and they need to keep a careful watch on students as they work on papers. New technology such as search engines, detection services and detection software are helping aid teachers keep plagiarism to a minimum. Soon it will be hard to plagiarize once again.

Characters of Bless the Beasts and the Children :: essays research papers

Bless the Beasts and the Children is a book about six naà ¯ve, immature boys who are sent away from their parents to The Boys Canyon Boys Camp where they are known as the 'Bed Wetters' and are considered the outcasts. Glendon Swarthout uses symbolism to show weakness and vulnerability in the characters and to fulfill the purpose of the novel. The radios symbolize the fear that the boys experience, at the beginning of the novel each one of the bedwetters has their radio going full blast. They use the radios when they are scared, like at night before they go to sleep to comfort them. The boys are neglected by their parents and the radios make them feel that something is there for them when they are afraid because their parents never are. My first character is Lally 2, a quiet insecure eleven year old boy. His parents neglect him and his brother doesn?t care about him and he gets a feeling of hopelessness and loneliness. He has low self esteem because of his parents absence in his life, but he shows a lot of compassion to others. He turns to the Ooms, creatures in the sauna, for comfort, he feels that they are the only ones he can talk to and trust. When he is at camp, he runs away and takes his radio with him so that he doesn?t feel alone. My second character is Laurence Teft, a shy, scrawny defiant fourteen-year-old boy. Teft is overwhelmed by his parents high standards for him that he seems to almost always fail to meet. He feels as though he is always disappointing his parents and becomes very angry, then he expresses his frustration violently. He is starved for attention, even if it is negative attention, and breaks the rules to get it, his criminal behavior ends up helping the bedwetters in their scheme. My third character is Sammy Shecker, the son of a rich and famous New York comedian. Shecker is unsatisfied living in his father?s shadow and thinks that if he is funny like his father, he will be accepted amongst his peer, so he unsuccessfully tries to be humorous to hide his inner pain.

Film Study of the Blind Side

The Blind Side was based on the life of Michael Oher a teenage African American boy whose mother was battling drug and alcohol addictions, in the projects of Memphis Tennessee. Mike as he is know in the movie was in foster care several times and always ran away to his Mother, thinking that no one could ever love him the way his Mother could, even with her ongoing addiction. Mike often slept at his fathers friends home, but even he could not give Mike the support that he desired. He would wash his clothes in the sink at the local laundry mat, and often had to steal food from the local gas station just to survive.When his only caregiver whose couch Michael slept on every night took his own son to a private Christian school to try and get him scholarship to play basketball, the coach of the basketball and football team saw Michael playing and offered to try to get him a scholarship as well. Much to the dismay of the board Coach Cotton was able to convince them to accept Mike on scholars hip. In his first few weeks of attendance at Wingate Christian School Mike walked and took the bus too and from school, until Thanksgiving night a family driving home from a school play saw Mike walking home in the rain with no coat.This would be a major turning point for Michael’s feelings of never being wanted or loved. The Tuohys an upper class white family saw Michael walking and Leigh Ann demanded that her husband Sean pull the car over so she could go and talk to him. Over the next several weeks the Tuohy family offered Mike a place to sleep, new and clean clothes, and a family that cared for him the way a family should. The Tuohys had 2 other children S. J an adolescent boy with a love of football and Lily also know as Collins.When friends of the Tuohys found out that Michael was living with them they were so closed-minded that they said they were worried about Collins well being and safety. Leigh Anne then wanted Michael to become a permanent member of their family an d obtained legal guardianship of Michael. It wasn’t until then that she learned of Michael’s poor grades and family situation. As they got to know Michael more and more they saw his potential and helped him make the football team, S. J was a key role, teaching Michael the ins and outs of everything football.In his senior year Michaels greatness attracted the likeness of several different college football teams who wanted to offer Michael full football scholarships. They then realized that Michael had to get his GPA up in order to be able to attend college. The Tuohys then hired a private tutor Miss. Sue who shared a love for Ole Miss football just as big as their own. Miss. Sue helped Michael realize that he had potential for being great. During the courting between football teams, Michael had decided that he wanted to play for Ole Miss just as his adopted father had.Michael would graduate and then become involved with the NCAA investigation, where the NCAA would quest ion his reasoning to attend Ole Miss because of donations that were given by the Tuohys over the years. In the end Michael and Miss Sue would both be attending Ole Miss, Miss. Sue as his own personal tutor. Michael Oher would then go on to be drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the first round of the draft. The film The Blind Side was both based on a true story, and also a book that was written by Michael Lewis in 2006. The movie was released in 2009 and quickly became a hit and an inspiration to foster children around the country.According to Michael Oher, the movie was not completely as it happened, for example S. J didn’t have to teach him the ins and outs of football, he knew everything about football before he came to live with the Tuohys. But for the most part the movie was accurate over all. In one scene Leigh Anne was having lunch with her friends at a high-end restaurant, her friends questioned her reasoning for taking Michael in with racial undertones, and inappropri ate comments. I have personally been to the Deep South and the Midwest seems to fit this role better, snooty over privileged white women with a chip on their shoulder.I feel as if this scene would have been more historically accurate 20 years ago, but there are racially insensitive people all over, some just hide their insensitiveness better than others. Another scene was where in Michael’s first football game, the referees only threw flags on plays that he made, when there was no reason for a flag to be thrown. This I feel is very accurate historically, football and the South are hand in hand, and anything out of the ordinary or anything that threatens a team will not go overlooked by anyone.The referees most likely felt that Michael had an advantage over the other players just because he was African American, not knowing that a few weeks prior Michael couldn’t even tackle another player, and still had to think that the person he was to tackle was a threat to his fami ly. After reading different reviews from this film, I’ve chosen two different reviews one from the Washington Post and the other from Variety. Each review gives the movie at least 3 out of 4 stars but for different reasons. Firstly the WashingtonPost. om, they gave the movie 3 out of 4 starts, but open the review with a very negative view of the advertisements for the movie â€Å"There's been something off-putting about the ad campaign for â€Å"The Blind Side,† a drama about a white woman who adopts an African American high school student, from trailers trafficking in nearly every troubling African American stereotype in movies (from the Magical Negro to the surly low-level bureaucrat), to posters featuring the patronizing image of Sandra Bullock gently leading her looming, gentle giant of a son down a football field. The Washington Post feels that The Blind Side does a good job of depicting Oher's good fortunes and the Tuohys ability to cross-racial boundaries in th e Deep South. The next review from Variety. com only saw the good aspects of the movie and gave it 4 out of 4 stars. â€Å"It's difficult to imagine anything that could long impede or contain the force of nature that is Leigh Anne Tuohy, the feisty Memphis belle played by Bullock with equal measures of acerbic sass, steel-willed brass and unabashed sentiment.Bullock is thoroughly convincing in the role — right down to her credible accent and the blonding of her normally brown tresses — and she's not afraid to occasionally keep auds guessing as to whether Leigh Ann's actions are driven by a heart of gold or a whim of iron. † Variety sees Leigh Anne as a loving foster/adoptive mother, who despite her social status and her seemingly tough exterior finds it in her heart to take Michael in and accept him as one of her own.The only negative comment they have about this film is that it seems as if nothing could ever go wrong until the final part of the movie, I suppose they saw this as being slightly overly optimistic in a world filled with pessimists. This film is a perfect choice as it relates so much to this class, not only does it cover racism but also it shows that those boundaries can be thrown out completely. A white upper class family who takes in an African American boy seems like something that would be straight out of a book; to cross such a deep seeded line took courage and determination on the part of the Tuohy family.They were proud of what they did and who Michael was/is as a person and didn’t choose to see him as a color but as a teenage boy who needed help, their help. If ever there was a story of over coming ones background this is it. This movie is a great way to show children that people are people no matter the color of their skin, and that everyone should have a family who cares for them no matter what. This would actually be a great section to have in the textbook about transcending racial barriers, and over coming s tereotypes, and it’s a true story to top it off.Both my wife and I watched this movie and on several occasions we both welled up, it’s one of those movies that just make you feel good, and make you want to do good. There were several scenes that made this movie great and choosing just a couple of them has taken careful deliberation on my part. The first scene that really hit me the hardest was when Big Mike was walking down a dark raining street and the Tuohys were driving home from the play on Thanksgiving, they saw him without a coat walking in the cold.Leigh Anne told her husband to stop the car and she got out to ask him where he was going and if he had a place to stay, after figuring out that he was homeless she told him to get in the car and that he was coming with them. I know there are some many kids out there whose parents simply don’t care about them and they have to raise themselves, but seeing it and knowing it are two different things. I can honestl y say that if I was in this situation I would have done the same thing and I know that my wife would make sure I did.The next scene is at the end of the movie when they brought Michael to Ole Miss to start his first semester of college, Leigh Anne was too strong to ask Michael for a hug, and she didn’t want him to see her cry so she gave him a nod and a slight side hug and told everyone to say their goodbyes and she walked back to their car, Michael then looked at Sean and asked him what was the matter, he replied â€Å"She’s like an onion you have to peal back her layers slowly†.Hearing this Michael then walked over to the car and said to her â€Å"Momma, I need a proper hug. †. This is the one scene that got me to well up, I know how it feels to want to show a softer side but not have the courage to show it. I face this on a daily basis with my two sons, so to see someone being so exposed and vulnerable was a perfect way to end this movie. I really do t hink that this movie is a perfect learning tool for children to show them that color is just something your eyes see, it has nothing to do with what’s on the inside.