Nature or Nurture: The Case of the Boy Who Became a Girl Answers

NORTHERN CARIBBEAN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCE DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY, CHEMISTRY AND SCIENCE TERM PAPER Nature or Nurture: The Case of the Boy Who Became a Girl Presented Part 1 1. Assuming that the nurture theory is valid, David as Brenda will have female behavior and believe he is a girl. From a physical point of view he will not develop secondary characteristics. Based on how hormones work by removing his testicles they denied him of his secondary characteristics. After puberty he would not have testicles to produce testosterone which would make him deficit of his secondary characteristics.2. If Bruce was not subjected to gender reassignment surgery and raised as a boy, he would express the gender identity of a male. This is so because during the growing or maturing process he would recognize that he has more features of a male than of a female, physically. Although his genitals may look abnormal, he still has other features of a male.Part 21. According to the nature view of psychosexual differentiation, prenatal exposure to androgen could influence the development of gender identity. David’s experience did not support the nurture theory. None of h is characteristics supported the nurture theory. David being neat and tidy was not a feminine characteristic but rather one that was imposed upon by his mother.2. According to the article David as Brenda resisted the treatment to be raised as gentle lady and eventually became unmanageable. Brenda frequently resisted girl’s toys, activities and clothing. He also mimicked her father’s behavior rather than her mother. She complained that she felt like a boy and viewed her physical characteristics as more masculine than feminine.Part 31. They agree to a small extent as it relates to the nature theory. As seen with the rodents, once the neonates were exposed to testosterone (the male sex hormone) they would display male behavior; even the castrated male once exposed to this hormone would still show male traits due to its impact genetically. Similarly the controls; untreated males and females) exhibited male and female characteristics respectively as this was somewhat intrin sic based on their genome, that is, what is contained in their genetic makeup and not dependent on the environment they were raised in. his is synonymous with the studies done with 16 males in that the majority of genetically male children behaved as male despite being raised as females. This behavior was already encoded in their DNA. However, with the 43 girls, the effect of testosterone was nil on the behavior of the girls. They therefore did not act like boys even if they developed male genitalia. This does not support the nature theory as seen with the above examples.2. The advice to parents would be not to reassign the child’s gender and by virtue of having the testicles the child’s brain would develop masculine characteristics and sexual male characteristics would develop at the onset of puberty. According to the article (gorski and Johnson) â€Å"brief exposure to the testosterone early in life promotes development of brain in ways that allow male behavior to b e as an adult†3. Based on the nature theory homosexual behavior in men and women can be related to hormonal imbalance. Sexual orientation is determined by the early levels (probably prenatal) of androgen on relevant neural structures. If highly exposed to these androgens, the fetus will become masculinized, or attracted to females. The reverse is true.4. Based on the nurture theory homosexual behavior in men and women can be based upon environmental influences and that includes peer pressure, low self-esteem and parental influences. Experiment5. Aim: To observe the effects of neonatal castration upon sexual and aggressive behavior in male and female chimpanzees. Hypothesis: It is speculated that aggression in male and female chimpanzees was an innate behavior rather than learnt behavior.It is also speculated that this behavior only occurs in male chimpanzees. Method: 100 female chimpanzees were identified in a population. An ultrasound was done to ensure that the females would produce 50 male offspring and 50 female offspring. Each newborn was then castrated one day after birth. 25 females were treated with testosterone and 25 males were treated with estrogen, the other 25 females were treated with estrogen and the remaining 25 males were treated with testosterone. The behavior of each newborn was observed over a two year period.Expected results: Based on the nature theory the 25 females that would be treated with the testosterone and the 25 males that would be treated with estrogen the concept of hormonal imbalance would have caused the production of two much or two little androgen. The hormone that was introduced would have interfered with the normal distribution of hormone in both male and female. The 50 offspring that were treated with their original hormones would display normal behavior. Aggressive behavior in females could have been due to two much production of testosterone and the behavior in males could have been due to the production of too mu ch estrogen.It is common for adult male chimpanzees to act in an aggressive manner as such based on the nurture theory this behavior could have been imposed upon by parents or the environment that the offspring came from. This experiment has not been done due to ethical factors. It is not humane to perform castration on so many chimpanzees. The mere fact that some species are endangered would limit the amount of species that can be used in experiments and lessen the number of species to be preserved in the environment. Many experiments have been done and these have lowered the quality of life of these species.ReferencesBull, J. J. , Pease, C. M. (2003)Biological Correlates of Being Gay: retrieved March 27, 2003 from http://www. utexas. edu/courses/bio301d/Topics/Gay/Text. html Joseph, J. (2004)The Gene Illusion: Genetic Research in Psychiatry and Psychology Under the Microscope. New York: Algora Kagan, J Segal, J. , Havemann, E. (2004)Psychology an Introduction 9th Edition: Wadswort hThomas Learning. Belmont CA. Riemann, A. ; Jang, K. L. ; McCrae, R. R. ; Angleitner, R. ; Livesley, W. J. (1998).â€Å"Heritability of facet-level traits in a cross-cultural twin sample: support for a hierarchical model of personality†. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 74 (6): 1556–1565.

Performance as an Extreme Occasion

Edward Said, in his 1989 article â€Å"Performance as an Extreme Occasion,† writes that the execution of a music work as rendered by today’s musicians represents the kind of technical mastery that transcends affection and catapults the performance into an extreme public occasion. He begins by mentioning the works of literary and artistic critics who have explored the performance of such arts as painting and writing. He points out the similarities between this type of performance and that of musicians, but makes the important distinction that (especially today) musicians are less likely to be performing pieces they themselves have composed. Said goes on to identify the extreme state in which a musician must work himself when performing at concerts, as opposed to â€Å"performances† that occur privately. In fact, in today’s world, the musical performer is often so largely superior in skill to the listener that the extremity of the performance is much more pronounced because of the effect it has on its listeners. He explores the idea of how music is transcribed today as being almost an art form and highlights the difference between transcription for public use (of former times) and the elaborate forms of transcription (as done by Liszt and Gould) which allow the piece to take on a new identity. He describes Liszt’s transcriptions as â€Å"an art of sustained and extended quotation, and later of quotation prolonged elaborately into what Liszt was to call a concert paraphrase or fantasia† (Said, 6). Such forms of execution embody a method that showcases the extreme talent of the performer not just in technical but interpretative prowess, and this Said describes as the extreme â€Å"occasion† that performance becomes for the musician. The extreme nature of the performances to which Said alludes comes also from the fact that performers have the added pressure of desiring to sell tickets. This is true not just of concert performers, but of popular musicians who must show off â€Å"specialized and eccentric skills.† Said goes on to describe the performance of such musicians as staked on â€Å"the performer’s interpretive and histrionic personality fenced in by his or her obligatory muteness, upon the audience’s receptivity, subordination, and paying patience† (Said, 11). Furthermore, changes in the social methods of performance and the social strata to which performers belong have also contributed to the extreme occasion of performance. The essay by Said was interesting in the way he compares music with other art forms, but underscores the ability of the performer to be divorced from the composer in this medium. It points out to me the two distinct forms of excellence that musicians can attain. They can become masters at composing as well as masters of performing or executing works composed by themselves or others. What also was interesting about the particular ideas Said puts forth are his views on transcription as being an art in its own right. The development of transcription from a method of facilitating the amateur or chamber pianist to is elaborately interpretive state demonstrates the part that any art form takes to grow into maturity. It also shows how such ideas a plagiarism can be blurred in the music field, and musical quotes and paraphrases can grow up, become embellished and go on to be their own masterpieces. What Said calls â€Å"the basically illiterate mass market appetite† struck an interesting note for me, as it highlighted the fact that persons who listened to music in the past were probably more appreciative of it precisely because they were familiar with the technical aspects of the music. They perhaps listened as musicians listen—keenly and sympathetically. The role of recordings, radio and television in reducing music appreciation is therefore something I find ironic, because even though it has increased the exposure of the masses to music, it has reduced the need for them to understand how to play it. Therefore, this increases the effect of performance as an extreme occasion as it needs to happen less frequently and is therefore more dramatic when it does. Reference Said, Edward. â€Å"Performance as an Extreme Occasion.† Title of Book. City of Publication: Name of Publisher, Year of Publication.

Rethinking Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Rethinking Strategy - Essay Example To achieve competitive advantage, a business outfit should achieve superior performance on the strategic factors relevant to stakeholders. For the Harvard professor and one of the famous thinker's business models, "a competitive strategy takes offensive or defensive action to create a defendable position in the industry ("Competitive Advantage," 2007)." The basis for a business' beyond par performance in an industry, according to Porter, is that a business has competitive advantage. There are three approaches to attain this status. The first is by attaining cost leadership. This means that a firm aspiring for this must become the firm that has the lowest cost of production in its industry. It is actually the ability of a firm to design, produce, and market a comparable product more efficiently than its competitors (Kenney, 2003, p.44). In a case where a company's prices are similar or near that of his competitors, the company that has superior returns has cost leadership. The second is by differentiation. The firm seeks to be unique in the industry where it belongs, among some that are widely valued by buyers. One huge factor that a makes customers value a company's product is by having special product features and service. The third is through focus. ... The first and more "traditional" is the outside-in approach. According to this mode of thinking, the company's strategy heavily depends on external (market) constraints such as customers, entry barriers of suppliers, threat of substitutes, etc. The most vital means to success is the "strategic fit": the jibing between the company's strategy and its environment (Paawe and Boselie 2004, Kenny 2003, p.44). One of the most popular versions of this thought is Michael Porter's popular "outside-in" Five Forces model. Existing competitive rivalry between suppliers, threat of new market entrants, bargaining power of buyers, power of suppliers, and threat of substitute products makes up Porter's five forces (Chapman. 2005). These are all external, environmental forces. For Paauwe and Boselie, the company's primary course of action in the company's outside-in strategy therefore is to adopt contingency measures. The company puts premium to its reaction to the environmental forces (outside) that affects its operation and performance (in). On the other hand, the inside-out approach thinking more espoused by strategic managers than the traditional outside-in one in the late 1990's. This method is more concerned on the internal resources of a company rather than how it will strengthen itself from external problems. Core competence of Hamel and Prahalad is an example of a business model that applies the inside out thinking. Under this model, corporations should find a core of shared competencies. A core competency is "an area of specialized expertise that is the result of harmonizing complex streams of technology and work activity." To identify a core competence,

Standard Chartered marketing communication strategy and competitive Lab Report

Standard Chartered marketing communication strategy and competitive position - Lab Report Example According to the research findings Standard Chartered discovered marketing as the group expanded its operations from local perspective to a global perspective across diverse-cultural set of markets, Asia, Africa and Middle East for onstance. The bank admits the fact that it serves multiple geographies, different people with diverse values and significant cultures. This has enabled standard chartered to develop a strategy that focus on understanding of its markets’ core values to offer distinguished products and services to consumers with respect to their local requirements. The bank claims that it has developed a ‘consistent marketing strategy’ through constancy of efforts, stanch commitment to miscellaneous values and cultures and focused on relationships with local customers across the target markets. Standard chartered asserts that the bank has an unambiguous straight forward strategy that revolves around the market and consumers it serves. It has classified it s marketing strategy on two major areas: standard chartered for consumers and standard chartered as the corporate brand. Amongst consumers there are two set of markets: the individual consumers, who consume bank services for themselves; and second set is of business/commercial consumers, who utilize bank services for commercial purposes. Standard chartered has developed wholesale banking for commercial consumers’ category and consumer banking for individual consumers’ category. Marketing is an ever changing and sprouting discipline of businesses; companies always have a room for development and advancement. (Vanhuele and Wright, 2008). The bank has to broaden the base of its marketing communication strategy to effectively converse the different marketing messages, to different set of consumers it serves, in the most appropriate manner which could influence the target audience and trigger the desired response out of each target group. There are three marketing strategie s that fit Standard Chartered intent to serve the market: push, pull and profile strategies. The bank has to adopt these strategies as each meets a separate objective using a separate approach, thus, supporting the overall mission. Push strategy requires the bank to direct marketing activities to propel the products to consumers. It is more a selling concept, supports the sale organization of the bank and helps them design sales programs over push strategy (Kotler, 2009). It requires the bank to encourage and motivate the consumer, direct selling and negotiating with the prospects, emphasize point of sale promotions and advertisements, and performing other promotional activities to forcefully throw the banks’ offers and services to the consumer. It is appropriate for standard chartered as the retail banking structure in its target market: Asia, Africa and Middle East enable the bank to push its offers to consumers. Products/Services Push Consumers Pull strategy involves the b ank to design marketing activities in a manner that would fetch the consumers to the products and services themselves by enhancing their visibility (Kotler, 2009). It is more a branding concept for it supports the organization to design more customer-driven marketing programs that would develop strong bank-consumer rapport which is the ultimate objective of Standard chartered bank. It requires the bank to establish consumer associations with the bank through mass communication programs, mass-advertising campaigns, sales incentives and buzz marketing campaigns to create word of mouth influence. Pull strategy supports standard chartered ideology of understanding local consumers and markets, and their respective cultures, consequently, its attractive for effective communication strategy. Products/Services Pull Consumers Finally, the third marketing strategy which encompasses a broader marketing perspective is profile strategy. This strategy reveals the corporate reputation of an organi zation. It has deep orientation in corporate branding which identifies what an organization is

Communication in Business Report Lab Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Communication in Business - Lab Report Example These will be elaborated in detail in this report. It is with great concern that Nike is committed to abide entirely with the United Nations Global Compact as guiding principles in all operations of the company. This not only improves the social status of the company but ensures a better working environment that supports innovations and new ways of operations in the company. These are our aims at Nike Company. Compared with Adidas and other competitors, Nike has a more than 47% of market share in sport shoes, though companies such as Adidas produce other products such as Jewelry, the company has a leading market share compared to its competitors. 2.0 Compliance with principles 6 and 8 2.1 Compliance with principle 6 on respect to discrimination and employment Nike is an equal opportunity employer across all its factories. Currently the company has more than 450,000 employees across the globe. This is in addition to thousands others who are indirectly employed by the company. Incident ally among the 450,000 employees, 85% are women (Boje, 1999). The company believes in affirmative action in improving the status of the female workers unlike other companies that have a higher population of males among their employees. In addition, the company is spread in various parts of the glob; in America and Asia and among these factories, Nike employs all races of employees without discrimination. The company to ensure leadership ensures that promotions and appointments in all positions are on a competitive basis disregarding race, gender, religious or any other factor that might be discriminative to employees. The company has put up policies and measures to ensure that it is fully compliant with the Health Code of Conduct and Equal Opportunity Acts and the Occupational Safety and Health Acts that would guide in ensuring a positive working environment (Buckley, 2011). Adidas on the other hand has no scandals relating to poor wages and child labor in overseas markets, and this puts the company much ahead of Nike in customer’s image and perception (Boje, 2001). 2.2 Compliance with policy 8 on environmental responsibility To achieve environmental responsibility, the company has over the time involved experts in analyzing the production process in a review that would enhance improvements in areas where pollution is indicated (Boje, 2009). The company has also initiated policies that would reduce pollution. These include recycling, adoption of greener technologies in the manufacturing process and have in the meantime phased out all PVC plastics in shoes and other products since 1998 (Tamara, 2001). The company has put in place measures and policies and is working towards certification in ISO14000 environmental standards in all the 600 subcontract factories (Tamara, 2001). T

Universal Pocket Prescription Card, Behavioral Economics Paper Essay

Universal Pocket Prescription Card, Behavioral Economics Paper - Essay Example Policy-makers and public or nonprofit administrators need to address the problem of failure to use the universal pocket prescription card by medical care consumers. The study also provides an insight into the economic benefits if using the universal pocket prescription card. The card acts as a remedy to various problems associated with escalating costs of medical care. Policymakers should implement the utilization of comprehensive Pocket Prescription Card because it can be in case there have been changes in the economic, medical cost. Policymakers should implement policies that support the utilization of Universal Pocket Prescription Card (Janssen et al., 2014). Universal pocket prescription cards are cards that are designed to fit a pocket of even a wallet of the user. They provide an easy and very effective strategy in the recording of personal information. The information may include names and dosages of prescribed drugs. The drugs may be over the counter, herbal, vitamins, and even supplements. The card also stores other details such as how the medicine should be and at what time it should be made. Universal medical cards are used to give caregivers more information. They help to minimize the economic problems that might be in the giving of health care (Boyer, 2009). There has been a projection by economists that there will increase in the medical cost. A rate of 7 percent is expected, calling on employees to try and control expenses by changing policies that shift costs to the workers. Because of the costs that might be behavioral economic predicts that people are most likely to adopt the use of universal pocket cards. It is because this reduces the chances for inappropriate prescription and increase opportunities for proper diagnosis. In the United States, it has been shown that non-compliance with medical

Value Creation - Mergers and Acquisitions in the Banking Industry Thesis

Value Creation - Mergers and Acquisitions in the Banking Industry - Thesis Example The dominance of the US and Europe in the current global financial services landscape means that most European and American banks enter new markets outside their region through transatlantic M&As. These developments are not lost on bank CEOs, who must keep a watchful eye on competitors’ strategies and assess what these acquisition moves mean to their own bank’s position. With their massive increases in market capitalization due to mergers, leading banks are in a strong position to invest heavily in new products or services and to make even larger acquisitions. This would pose a significant competitive threat that would require other banks to respond. Indeed, all acquisitions will result from value enhancing unless there exists some element of market inefficiency, i.e., imperfect competition in either the product and/or labour market and/or agency conflicts. Most large mergers and acquisitions fall short of achieving the desired synergies. In January 1999, The Economist reported that study after study of past merger waves has shown that two of every three deals have not worked. And at least 50% of major mergers since 1990 have eroded shareholder returns. Reasons for failed mergers are diverse and complex, but most can be attributed to losing something: critical people, customers, market confidence. Uncontrolled costs, hidden losses, unrealized benefits, avoiding decisions, cultural barriers, and power struggles can also undermine the most promising unions. Despite the high failure rate, M&As that succeed can pay large dividends. The most successful acquiring firms have clearly established and well-understood acquisition processes, both for ensuring good strategic decisions before the acquisition decision is made and for integrating the acquired firm once the deal is complete. This has created an interest amongst other banking firms to make a research on the M&As and the reasons behind their success or failure.  Ã‚  

In the united States we do not need to plan for retirement Social Essay

In the united States we do not need to plan for retirement Social Security will cover our needs when we retired - Essay Example They think they are entitled to their monetary contributions which they had earned by virtue of their retirement. However, the American government indicated clearly even from the start when the law was signed that social security is not intended to be the sole income source of retired people. What the government had in mind when creating social security was to provide an alternative for people who are down and out financially but never to support them entirely for the rest of their lives. The intention was to supplement whatever incomes the retired people may have. It is also unrealistic to expect the United States government to provide for the financial, medical and other basic needs of retirees when the economics of doing so dictates otherwise. Social security became a law as America’s response to the Great Depression in which millions of workers were thrown out of work. The economy was in a shambles and it was the government only which had the means to help these millions o f poor workers who are able to work but cannot find work. Capitalism and free markets had collapsed but once the economy recovers, people are expected to find gainful employment again and set aside some money for their retirement by saving and investing part of their wages and salaries for retirement aims. Discussion Social security benefits are projected based on so many external factors just like any insurance program. Put simply, making projections even with the most powerful computer models cannot ensure any accurate outcomes. Additionally, many people have the wrong perceptions and concepts of the social security program. This safety-net law was to provide benefits for working people on their retirement, any disability, survivorship (for dependents) and death. Over the years, many other benefits were added such as those amendments for a â€Å"Supplemental Security Income† program for the aged, the blind and the disabled persons (although this is managed separately) even though they had not worked a single day before and did not contribute any social security taxes. The social security system of the United States of America works just as an insurance program would. This means it works on the assumption that everyone will be covered and all workers who are gainfully employed will contribute to the program to make it viable. Social security works on the idea that risk is spread over a big proportion of the working population. Additionally, the ideal should be more workers paying contributions to support the retired or elderly people who will now draw down on their contributions to support themselves. The social security fund comes from contributions made by people of working age. It means demographic shifts such as the graying of the population has a big impact on the future financial viability of the program. Actuarial calculations are just best estimates or assumptions about fertility, life expectancy, quality of health care and state of the economy ; these factors determine the fund’s financial viability. The ideal set-up for social security would be workers supporting fellow retired workers. When it began in 1935, the contributions of 17 workers had paid for the benefits of one retiree. By 2035, the ratio is estimated to be only 2.1 workers per beneficiary. This situation clearly is financially not sustainable to continue giving benefits. The reduced ratio of contributing workers

Job Description Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Job Description - Research Paper Example Thus, I should exercise due diligence in the selection of the most suitable candidate for the position. Job Analysis/ Job Description I am tasked to do a job analysis for the Labor Relations Specialist post. Heathfield (2011) defines job analysis as â€Å"the process used to collect information about the duties, responsibilities, necessary skills, outcomes, and work environment of a particular job† (para. 1). It reflects the knowledge, skills, abilities and competencies that workers need in order to be efficient at work (SHL, 2001). Safdar et al. (2010) conclude that individuals with higher levels of knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA) tend to be better job performers. They also suggest that jobs need to be analyzed for the nature of the job and the nature of the relationships that the job entails as well as the job outcomes. The job of a Labor Relations Specialist covers a wide range of responsibilities. Basically, his or her job is to â€Å"resolve disputes between worker s and managers, negotiate collective bargaining agreements, or coordinate grievance procedures to handle employee complaints† (Career Planner.com, para 1). Specifically, his job requires him to have a vast knowledge of company policies, labor laws and employee rights. His numerous tasks include but are not limited to the following: Ensure that the company policies adhere to labor laws and monitor its adherence to labor agreements. Review employer practices or employee data to ensure compliance with contracts on matters such as wages, hours or conditions of employment. Advise management on matters related to employee contracts, discipline or grievance procedures. Prepare and submit required governmental reports or forms related to labor-related matters. Prepare reports or presentations communicating employee satisfaction or other related information to management. Develop methods to monitor employee satisfaction with company policies, working conditions, grievance or complaint procedures. Train managers or supervisors on labor-related topics like working conditions, safety or equal opportunity practices. Negotiates between workers’ unions and the company on labor-related issues. (Career Planning.com, 2012) Qualities/ Qualifications Needed for the Job It can be said that a Labor Relations Specialist should have a neutral stand so he will be able to be more objective in the performance of his work. In arbitrating labor problems, he needs to see both sides of the issue and ensure that they justly enforce whatever consequence necessary. Hence, my replacement be so, and should possess the knowledge and skills necessary to carry out his important role with efficiency. Applicants to the position should be a college graduate, preferably with an MBA degree and an intensive background in industrial and public relations (Jain, 1975). Apart from the knowledge of industrial and labor relations and laws, he should be personable and approachable by both managemen t and workers. He should be effective in his communication skills both in oral and written communication as these skills will always be called upon in his work. It is highly preferable that he has adequate experience in handling labor problems. Recruitment Finding the right candidate will entail a series of tests. Aside from the usual ones given by the Human Resources division, a panel interview should be set up with some managers and myself as part of the panel. To test the

Project Team Building Strategies Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Project Team Building Strategies - Assignment Example A project team is a group of people that comprised of a manageable number of people. The people have complementary skills, share a common goal, purpose and a working approach (Petrick, 2002). The selection of the project team members can be from within or from outside an organization as situations may demand. Team members selected from within an organization have the advantage of knowing the other team members. This will help in molding a unified project team. The team members will also be familiar with the policies, work culture and work procedure of the organization. Project team members sourced from outside an organization lack familiarity with the organization culture. However, it is necessary for an organization to recruit team members from outside if the project requires certain skills, which are not available among the existing members of an organization (Nagarajan, 2005). Project team members are selected from the coordination between the project manager and the functional management. Team building refers to assisting a group of individuals. This group is bound by a common purpose. The members of the group work interdependently. The members include the leader, external stakeholders and the organization in general. Team building can also be perceived as the process of influencing members of a group to work together effectively for better results from a project. There are six strategies that leading organizations adopt so as to create outstanding performance among its team members. These strategies are the formation of the project team early, having a strong matrix organization structure, consensus on goals, sharing of work, and collocation of a team and lastly, the rewarding of the project team members to motivate them (Levin, 2010).

Dynamics Of Rebellion Essay Example for Free

Dynamics Of Rebellion Essay When the Seven Years’ War (1756 – 1763) ended, England accumulated a considerable financial debt and sought to resolve this problem as fast as possible. Prime Minister George Grenville and his government reasoned that the debt had to be partly decreased at the expense of the Colonies which were held responsible for it by many politicians in London (Nesnay â€Å"The Stamp Act). One of the proposed options to raise the necessary revenue was the introduction of the stamp duties, a law which would require a governmental stamp on all important official papers and documents to make them legally acceptable (Nesnay â€Å"The Stamp Act). Grenville determined that this tax had to be levied to maintain English troops in America that were supposed to preserve public order there. But the colonists saw no need in the British standing army of ten thousand men in America in time of peace and believed it was stationed on their soil to keep them under control (Elson â€Å"History of the United States of America†). At first, Grenville requested the colonial assemblies to come up with a better mechanism to raise the revenue from the Colonies than his stamp tax law. But as instead of proposing an alternative method most colonial assemblies expressed strong opposition to the proposed tax law, the Stamp Act was passed in March, 1765 and was due to go into effect in the Colonies on November 1 of the same year (Elson â€Å"History of the United States of America†). Colonial response When the news of the act reached America, it was received with a storm of outrage and protests throughout the Colonies. The colonists explained their indignation by the fact that England had no right to impose taxes on them without their consent and because they were not represented in the decision-making process. A special letter was circulated to all the Colonies in which its authors called for a general congress that would be held in the autumn â€Å"Page # 2† of 1765. As a result, the representatives of nine Colonies held the Stamp Act Congress in New York while the other four Colonies expressed their support for its resolutions. The Congress criticized London’s policies, questioned its right to impose taxes on the Colonies, challenged its power to enforce the new law, and issued a Declaration of Rights. Its participants also signed a petition to the King and Parliament of England and called them to repeal the Stamp Act which they believed was unfair and discriminatory (Elson â€Å"History of the United States of America†). Meanwhile, as November 1, 1765 was approaching, the Colonies showed their determination to oppose the Stamp Act. Riots broke out and numerous meetings were organized in many American cities. Governors and newly appointed stamp distributors soon realized that it was impossible and even dangerous to try to enforce the new law. Most distributors finally refused to receive the boxes of stamps that had just arrived from England (Elson â€Å"History of the United States of America†). The general uprising was masterminded by several newly founded organizations, the most famous among which was â€Å"The Sons of Liberty†. It was formed in the summer of 1765 of thousands of men who chose the policy of intimidation of royal officials and were determined to lead the furious mobs to protect the rights of the Colonies. Businessmen also vowed to boycott English goods until the Stamp Act was repealed (Elson â€Å"History of the United States of America†). Rioting in Massachusetts In Boston, Andrew Oliver, who was designated as stamp distributor for Massachusetts, was faced with the same difficulties as stamp distributors in other places. Local townspeople hanged him in effigy which they left in a street. Some neighbors tried to remove the effigy but were intimidated by the rioters into keeping away from it. At first, the majority of members of the City Council did not take the matter seriously. Massachusetts Governor Francis Bernard â€Å"Page # 3† requested that the Sheriff send his officers to remove the effigy. However, it turned out that taking down the effigy would put the lives of officers in danger as the crowd was emboldened to attack them (Bernard â€Å"Stamp Act Riot, 1765†). At the afternoon meeting of the Council, most of its members decided to give up any attempts to take down the effigy. Some believed that it could be done after the crowd cooled down. But others suggested that the riot was to be taken seriously due to the fact that the majority of townspeople were involved in it. So they suggested that as they had no real support, they should do nothing about the effigy as it would only infuriate the crowd and unnecessarily put their lives in danger (Bernard â€Å"Stamp Act Riot, 1765†). By the end of the day, the mob brought the effigy to the Town House, went to a building that had been erected by Mr. Oliver, and destroyed it in a few minutes. After that, they headed for Mr. Oliver’s residence where they first beheaded and then burnt the effigy. Mr. Oliver had sent his family away and with a couple of his friends remained in his house at that moment. After having burnt the effigy, the crowd decided to attack the house. They demolished the fence, broke some windows, and then entered the house only to find out that Mr. Oliver had fled away. Infuriated, the mob declared that they were going to find the stamp distributor and kill him. They then headed for the two neighboring houses to check whether Mr. Oliver was hiding there. He was indeed in one of those houses, but a gentleman told them that Mr. Oliver had just fled to the Castle. No one doubted that if the townspeople had found Mr. Oliver there, they would certainly have murdered him (Bernard â€Å"Stamp Act Riot, 1765†). By midnight, the Sheriff and his officers went to Mr. Oliver’s house with the aim of persuading the townspeople to disperse. But the rioters began to hurl stones at them and they had no choice but to retreat. And it was not until after midnight that the crowd dispersed and the town became quieter (Bernard â€Å"Stamp Act Riot, 1765†). â€Å"Page # 4† Uprising in New York The most terrific riots occurred in New York where Cadwallader Colden, the Governor, tried to enforce the Stamp Act and in anticipation of the uprising ordered to strengthen Fort George and had its cannon pointed at the town. He expected the townspeople to get intimidated and disperse, but by introducing such measures he only further infuriated them (â€Å"The Stamp-Act Riot of 1765†). Colden was so furious that he was ready to fire on the townspeople as soon as they came closer to the gate of the fort. But the Sons of Liberty got wind if his intention and instead of storming the fort they sent a letter to Colden and warned him that they would hang him if he gave the order to fire on the townspeople. Terrified, Colden had no choice but to forbear from any aggression against the rioters (â€Å"The Stamp-Act Riot of 1765†). A few hours later the Sons of Liberty demanded to hand over to them the boxes of stamps that were kept in the fort so that they could destroy them. Colden’s refusal to cooperate only exasperated the townspeople, who erected the gallows on the Broadway and, like in many other places, hanged the Governor of New York in effigy (â€Å"The Stamp-Act Riot of 1765†). After that they seized Colden’s elegant coach, which was a symbol of his pride and power and after dragging it around the town, made a bonfire and burned it as well as the effigy and other property from his house. The Governor and other officers did not dare to interfere as they feared that it would trigger a general massacre that none of them would survive (â€Å"The Stamp-Act Riot of 1765†). After having burnt the effigy and the coach, the mob headed for the beautiful house of the mayor of New York and destroyed it setting fire to his rich library and many precious works of art. However, all these acts did not appease the townspeople’s anger as they failed to get hold of the stamps. The mob sent another letter to Colden in which they threatened to â€Å"Page # 5† storm Fort George and kill all of its occupants if he did not give up the boxes of stamps to them. The Governor finally agreed to have the stamps transported to the City Hall and the rioters never harassed him again (â€Å"The Stamp-Act Riot of 1765†). Moor, the new Governor of New York who arrived from England, at first also believed that he could enforce the Stamp Act and refused to accept any papers without the governmental stamps on them. But he soon realized the seriousness of the situation and was forced to publicly declare that he would not try to enforce the Stamp Act. All these concessions were not enough, though, and merchants and townspeople were still angry and refused to buy goods arriving from England until the law was repealed (â€Å"The Stamp-Act Riot of 1765†). Although Colden tried hard to execute the Stamp Act, he received no support from London and later was even severely reprimanded by English Government for having failed to enforce the law (Nesnay â€Å"The Stamp Act). The repeal London’s reaction to the uprising in the Colonies was calm. The Government could not send the army to America to punish the colonists and help British officials execute the Stamp Act because it had no money. By 1766, it became obvious that the law had brought more trouble than profit. British merchants complained that they were loosing a lot of money because the colonists were boycotting their goods. Parliament began to realize that insisting on the execution of the act would lead to serious consequences. So, when the majority of Members of Parliament in both Houses voted for the repeal of the Stamp Act, George III granted his consent on March 18, 1766 and the law was officially repealed. As a result of the Stamp Act uprising, the Colonies were victorious and London was defeated. However, larger problems between England and America were not solved and ended later in civil war (Nesnay â€Å"The Stamp Act). WORKS CITED: 1. Bernard, Francis. â€Å"Stamp Act Riot, 1765. † Prologue to Revolution: Sources and Documents on the Stamp Act Crisis, 1764-1766. Ed. Edmund S. Morgan, 1987. 2. Elson, Henry William. History of the United States of America. New York: the MacMillan Company, 1904. 224-231. 15 June 2008 http://www. usahistory. info/American-Revolution/Stamp-Act. html 3. Nesnay, Mary. â€Å"The Stamp Act. † April 2004. 15 June 2008 http://www. marynesnay. com/STAMPACT. pdf 4. â€Å"The Stamp-Act Riot of 1765. † 15 June 2008 http://www. accessgenealogy. com/african/nyriots/stamp_act_riot. htm

Report On Workplace Stress Management Essay

Report On Workplace Stress Management Essay Workplace stress can be defined as the mental trauma and distress that an employee has to go through when there is a disparity between the requirements at work and the capabilities, efficiency or the resources available. Workplace today has become a studio wherein scripts are written to overtake other studios and outperform every single instance of competition out in the middle. Hence the pressure put by employers on their â€Å"bulls† to plough their fields is immense. This pressure takes its toll and results in increased anxiety and tension levels among workers. This phenomenon is popularly called stress in the workplace. Overworking, repeated rebuttals can cause such a response in workplaces these days. Majorly, work related stress affects sleep causing insomnia and sleeplessness. It affects fitness adversely because of the reduced sleep. It can cause problems in the family of the affected individual like infighting, frequent arguments and fits of disagreement. This adverse ly affects the family life and also enhances the inefficiency at work. All of this lead to increased levels of frustration and hesitancy and directly affects the quality of work, thus further compounding the pressure on the individual. Also stress is related to the cause of various physical disorders like cardiovascular and others. Hence workplace stress is a potent problem faced by modern day offices and employees. It not only affects the individual, also the company is on the receiving end of poorer quality of work output. (Wikipedia) There has been much work going on in regard to increasing the level of comfort of an employee so that there are lesser and smaller chances of stress burnout. This includes increasing the number of employees taken in, or easier division of labour at the workplace, or better appreciation or acknowledgement of quality work. All of this is being done by companies to offer their employees an opportunity to a â€Å"healthy job†. A healthy job, as defined by the World Health Organization, is one where the pressure on an individual is proportional in measure to the individuals capability, the resources available at hand, the amount of work assigned to him and the people present to support him. All of these form important factors in deciding the stress levels of an individual at the workplace. Also, the WHO emphasises that a good working environment would be one wherein the individual feels not only the absence of stress inducing factors, but also the presence of health and goodwill pr omoting factors. (WHO official website) Statement of the problem: Our major concern in the undertaking of this project is to assess factors that may lead to a stress burnout in modern day work environments and a possible solution to mitigate their effects on employees. This study aims at studying the measures that have already been taken to counter the problem of work related stress and questions their effectiveness. We will look at measures suggested by various agencies like the WHO and people involved in research on this subject in order to provide the world with a workforce performing at its maxima. Purpose: Firstly, the study will focus on the causes and effects of increased stress levels, especially in or due to the workplace. The symptoms are evident. Increased levels of tension (hypertension), insomnia, loss of interest in work, apathy or indifference, increased frustration, fatigue, trouble concentrating; these are all symptoms that an individual is on the verge of a nervous breakdown due to highly exaggerated levels of stress or anguish, thus leading to a poor response at the workplace. At times, this heightened anxiety may also lead to the individual involving in the usage of dope or turning an alcoholic. Thus the symptoms indicate when a person is in need of guidance, help or assistance to cope with the psychological pressures of working overtime or not being able to match with the standards of his peers. Then our focus will be on measures to detract such situations from coming to the fore in a workplace. We will study methods that seek to improve the overall well being of the em ployee, whether it is changes in the sociological environment, or the use of a counsellor to help the individual emerge from his state of depression. Significance of the study: Its of immediate and absolute necessity that the problems of the office and the workplace be solved as soon as possible before they spill over into the personal lives of the concerned individuals. There are many problems affecting the corporate sector, problems related to publicity and HRM, but when the output coming out of an employee is sub standard, and if that happens on a mass scale, the company loses long standing clients and the reputation takes a steep decline, inhibiting further expansion and growth. Hence, employee satisfaction is one of the major concerns in todays corporate world. And one of the most important aspects in employee satisfaction remains burnout prevention. If the company can keep employees from exhausting their potential due to excessive workload, they will certainly excel in other aspects of growth. The feedback of an employee is essential to the expansion and the reputation of the company. Thus, employees form the backbone of the skeletal structure of any company. Hence the study of work related stress becomes of top priority of corporate honchos. If a company is unable to protect its employees from the disastrous outcomes of a burnout, the word about the companys exploitative policies gets out in the market and then there are hardly any people willing to join the company even on a bit elevated pay scale. The company loses reputation, and there is no way in which it can recruit quality professionals because of its lousy reputation. Also the company becomes a bed of controversies as people start criticising its policies of employee management. This adversely affects the stakeholders in the company. Hence, employee management and satisfaction form a primary priority of the companys policies. Chapter 2 Background: The problem we are looking at is the issue of employee burnout at the corporate level in todays cut throat environment where companies draw up plans of execution that require employees to exhaust themselves by repeated stints of overtime, incentive based overload, etc. Though in the short term the company ends up profiting from such misplaced dedication, in the long term, the company loses its energy and money on training professionals who are eventually going to burn themselves out in a particular instance. Hence the long term loss of the company is far more emphatic, and the company has to invest in order to set it right. Hence the company loses a lot of its money and time setting things right. Thus, the modern day corporate has woken up to an existing issue of workers suffering work induced stress. This problem needs to be addressed with a steel authority so that in the long term, employees dont end up leaving the company due to such reasons, and the company can retain most of its staff, thus putting good to all the investment it made on training and teaching the staff. The issue of employee burnout also has to be addressed to improve the output of a employee in a capacity. An increased output level of an employee can make wonders for a company looking for greater ventures. An employee holds the key to a companys ability to make it big in the corporate world. A grumpy and irritable employee only succeeds in turning the mood of an environment irritable, leading to an epidemic of grouchy workers, in turn leading to a horrible turnover for the company, failed attempts at meeting deadlines, angry clients. Thus an employee needs to be looked after if he does show signs of burnout. A pat on the back can do wonders to lift the morale of the worker. It can give him much needed assurance from the employers side. However, it is also rewarding to appreciate the quality of work a worker constantly turns in by rewarding him a pay rise. At times, a little counselling from experienced people can also help the individual climb out of his state of depression. Literature Review: A lot of literature has been published on the above topic to help companies with various techniques aimed at reducing stress at the workplace. The WHO has been actively involved in collaborating with researchers and the corporate world alike to enhance the methods taken to help individuals with their stress disorders. This is necessary for all companies throughout. The studies undertaken can be company specific, pertaining to the workplace of a particular company. The studies undertaken may be industry specific, pertaining generally to the kind of work involved in the industry of choice which will more or less be the same in most companies working within the domains of that industry. The studies could also be general, pertaining to some common features that all industries share. These measures can be adopted by all companies and are for global welfare of employees. Also the governments of various nations fund their own studies and researches to identify the key aspects that impact th e psychological functions of an employee. Thus even governments are actively involved in working for the welfare of their workforce. Many governments have set up centres or councils that work all the year around to study present day policies of companies towards its workers and give suggestions relevant and feasible to protect workers from an overdose of work. Also many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are also working for the same. Human rights activists are also actively voicing their concerns over the exploitative policies of certain companies and at times, also the governments. These add up to numerous research papers and literature on policies that a company should follow to save its employees from blowing off the lid off their heads. Definitions: An important definition is of a healthy job. As previously mentioned, a healthy job is one where the load on an individual is considering the capabilities of the individual, his resources, his knowledge of the topic, his work routine, so that he is not indirectly forced into putting in far too many extra hours, his support staff, whether everything in the personal life of the individual is fine and doesnt involve sizeable perturbations. Also the stress related hazards at work can be differentiated into 2 categories: work content and work context. Work content includes the amount of work handed to the individual, the quality of the job, also whether the individual is coped with enough resources to carry out the work, whether the work entails him to put in hours of extra effort, thereby affecting sleep. The work context includes the sociological factors in a workplace. These can be the competition at the workplace, the disappointments of failure, and the grumpiness due to malpractices at the workplace, the ignorance of the higher commands to the appreciable work done by the individual, the lack of motivation or disinterest in the kind of work allotted. Chapter 3 Causes of Workplace Stress: As many countries around the world spend billions of rupees on anti-depressants and stress-busters to relieve their people from stress, an analysis of the causes of stress provides a great deal of understanding of the problem. The research hence indicated some of the chief causes of stress, the major causes being explained as follows. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, U.S., emphasises that the personal traits and characteristics of the workers play a chief role in determining the level of stress the person is likely to go through, given a fixed set of working conditions. (NIOSH, 2010). For instance, the stress level of one person may differ from another person based on their skills to cope and adjust, and the tendencies of their bodies to respond to the mental stress. Another increasingly popular notion which is gaining credence states that the working conditions, instead, play a greater and dominating role in causing stress to the people. Apart from these viewpoints, there are also other causes by various organizations of the world, which are cited as contributing factors in inducing stress. For example, the post of a person, his status in the organization can also alter the levels of stress he might be experiencing. In other words, people who have little influence and lower status in the organization are found to be more stressed out than other people, who at higher posts. Such arguments also state that even though people at powerful positions have higher workload, but there is no co-relation between workload and stress. In addition it must be mentioned, the Glob al Business and Round Table Conference on Addiction and Mental Health puts the overload factor, also called as â€Å"The Treadmill Syndrome† on the top of the list of the factors causing workplace stress. Moreover, there are popular arguments which have claimed to link the stress with economic factors. It can be best illustrated by an increasingly growing trend in the 21st century business world wherein companies are very quick to lay off workers or sack them stating some reasons, cutting down jobs and taking back benefits to the existing employees, so as to save on capital and adjust with the rapidly changing business environment. The solid emergence of the concept of â€Å"downsizing† leads to worrying employees, which in turn leads to a great deal of stress. Moreover, studies of the WHO reveal that the most significant cause of work stress can be attributed to the pressures and demands from the employees who are either not capable enough, or not qualified and equipp ed to the level which would enable them to do the required work. Such situations, clearly, lead to immense workplace stress. Another factor that adds to the stress of an average employee is the vagueness of his perception of his job and the goals of the organisation. When the employees are ambiguous about their jobs, their duties and what is expected of them, it leads to worries and anxiety. Furthermore, the lack of concrete and clear knowledge about the philosophy of the organisation and its objectives leads to a lack of awareness, commitment, interest and a sense of lessening confidence. In addition, many studies have revealed the inflexibility is also a major factor contributing to stress. Workplaces where the employees are required to work for long hours under a strict schedule, and particularly those where they are made to do so alone, and the environment is non-social, it leads to great stress. The mental pressure increases with the strictness, and this might also, in a way, d epend upon the characteristics of the supervisor (manager). Another aspect of stress which is usually found to be its cause is, as discussed, lack of control or participation. The reason behind why employees at lower positions feel stressed is actually this factor, by which the employee tends to feel that his contribution to the organisation is making no difference, since he holds no say in any sort of decision-making or policy-framing. Gradually a growing sense of alienation and frustration combine, thereby leading to stress. (Workstress.net) Effects of Stress: Stress in the working environment of a company directly affects the individuals, and in turn, affects the organizations and its many aspects to a great extent. Apart from the physical toll stress can take on an individual, leading to many problems like fatigue, blood pressure problems, the emotional and psychological effects of stress are the most severe. A distressed person may lose his spirit of dedication and commitment towards the organization totally, thereby putting in less and less amount of effort and creativity in the work he does, and contributing less to the organization. Stressed out employees may not be able to work with concentration which can affect the output of their work in a negative way. All this in turn affects the organization as a whole. For instance, increasing workplace stress may cause considerable absenteeism from work thereby pulling down efficiency and productivity. In addition, it may create many other problems like defaming the image of the company, and dissatisfaction among the public (customers). Stress among the employees also leads to objectionable trends like drug abuse, etc. It negatively impacts the procedure of recruiting new staff, as the image of the company has been harmed and damaged. In addition to this, stress can be very problematic on the personal side of the employee. Anxiety, mood swings, etc. may affect the personal life and the relationship of the employee with his family and loved ones, the negative impact of which may result into more and more stress. Hence, the effect of stress is multi-faceted. It is taxing to the company, to the individual and to other people not directly related to the organisation. The effects of the stress lead to symptoms of stress amongst the employees, which must be identified at a stable stage, so that the task of stress prevention is carried out effectively and successfully. (Workstress.info) Chapter 4 Summary: The problem of stress, its management, its causes and effects is one of the most important global problems of the current area. The ever-increasing concern about workplace stress and how to curb it is the key motivation behind the research. Furthermore, the primary aim of the research is to study the causes and effects of stress, and provided recommendations. There has been a genuine attempt in fulfilling the aim, beginning by reading a great amount of literature on the topic. Various studies and various sources have tried to provide a concrete notion of the causal of workplace stress, based on which many have provided recommendations. Those causes are studied in a practical environment, as part of this research, so as to genuinely assess their validity. The research also involves considerable study on workplace stress management. Preventive measures that have been implemented to reduce stress have been evaluated and looked into, and measures that include management of stressed out w orkers and their total recovery from stress have also been analysed. Discussion: It must be mentioned here that completely doing away with stress is an unprofitable concept. Psychological studies reveal that a small amount of stress can provide for just the right amount of drive needed to work effectively with genuine interest. Thus, a little stress is always good. But when stress assumes larger proportions, it can be destructive for the organisation. We have studied the factors leading to stress. The causes of workplace stress vary, as we have seen. Contrasting arguments also exist, for instance, some cases argue that the even though managers and executives of a company face a larger workload, there are less stressed out than other employees at lower positions. On the contrary, there are studies that list the overload factor as one of the primary factors leading to stress among the employees. The likelihood of the latter claim seems more intense, since it is more reasonable and plausible. Furthermore, stress is now increasingly believed to be arising out of a si tuation known as the Work Organisation Problem, which states that the stress among the employees is a consequence of improper, inefficient, problematic and inappropriate organisation of tasks and work amongst the employees. This is perhaps a result of various studies which point out and emphasize that the mismatch between qualification and work done by an employee is the root of all problems that arise in various forms within the organization. Moreover, the recommendation for the organisation to look for signs of stress amongst its employees stems out of the need for prevention of stress. Since stress management, i.e. management of stressed out workers involves many structural measures and a great deal of temporary effort, and is also time consuming, it is always imperative for the organisation to prevent stress in a proactive way. Managing stressed workers should always be recorded for further interpretation of the findings, and hence for effective human resource management of the organisation. The need for culture change within the body of employees is an area that must be taken care of. Having unions for the betterment of the employees is a notion that must be discussed with the employees first, and then implemented. Furthermore, it is quite clear and easily comprehendible that stress leads to the damage of the image of the organization. Such damage is usually both internal, i.e. within the perceptions of the employees, as well as in the eyes of the public. (Guide to Stress Management) Recommendations: Based on the findings, it can be concluded that stress arises out of not one factor, but many factors. Improper work organisation, economic factors like pressure from investors in the share-market, growing fear of being downsized, and so on can create workplace stress. In any case, an organization must follow certain fundamental steps whenever stress is discovered to threaten its efficiency. The risks involved with stress are huge, and affect the organisation in many direct and indirect ways. Hence, a concrete policy of risk-management must be followed. Such a policy includes various steps as shown by the following flowchart. Beginning from the assessment of risk, to planning and materialisation of the required action plan, all steps must be followed up with genuine concern for the stressed employees and the suffering organization. (Leka) Thus, to address the overload problem first and foremost, the primary concern of the managers should be proper distribution of work among the employees. Moreover, there can be also a regular training for all employees to teach them on how to prioritize work efficiently. Certain other factors that are also cited as causes of stress must be treated. For instance, random and abrupt disturbances for the employees can have a negative impact. Various experts have suggested measures such as effective management of workspace and time as a solution to this type of stress. In an organization, it is imperative for every employee to be treated equally and justly. Absence of such treatment can also leads to uncertainty and stress amongst the employees. Hence, it must be tended to that each employee is treated equally and at par with everybody else, and all his rights are guarded. Mistrust amongst employees should be taken care of, with an attempt to develop frank communication levels and healthy inter-personal relationships within the organization. It is strongly recommended that any kind of politics must be rejected and condemned, so as to create a healthy workspace. In addition, the aim of creating a healthy and productive workspace can be done through rewards and recognizing outstanding performances, and their appreciation. Such measures have been found to go a long way in creating a sense of loyalty, commitment and a positive attitude towards the company. Stress puts the whole organisation at the risk of survival. Hence, it must be addressed as soon it has been discovered. Apart from small measures, a need to take large steps within the organization to reduce the problems caused by work stress might also arise. Such steps may involve redesigning the whole structure of work, and reorganising it within the employees, and managing it. Work stress generally shows itself in little observations, hence regular and continual steps must be taken to assess the conditions of the w orkers, and to look for signs of stress. Such measures may include regular questionnaires, or talks with the employees and managers. Also, whenever the warning signs are discovered, immediate action must follow. Discussions should take place with the stressed out workers, and certain changes which will help remove stress must be implemented. Such discussions should encompass suggestions and measures that could be taken on the personal front of the employees, which could help in lowering the stress. Steps such as having a balanced diet, thinking positive and even incorporating ideas like organising regular workshops on how to psychologically manage stress and combat it could turn out to be of great help. It becomes all the more important in many situations whether these discussions take place or not, since they could greatly benefit and completely curb stress within the workplace. A sense of direction, in totality, needs to be provided to the staff at regular intervals. (Life positiv e official website) References: Wikipedia (n.d.) retrieved on 17/5/2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workplace_stress WHO official website retrieved on 17/5/2010 from http://www.who.int/occupational_health/topics/stressatwp/en/ National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health official website (n.d.) data retrieved on 17/5/2010 from http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/programs/workorg/ Workstress.info official website (n.d.) retrieved on 17/5/2010 from http://www.workstress.info/the-health-effects-of-workplace- stress/ Workstress.net official website retrieved on 17/5/2010 from http://www.workstress.net/causes.htm Guide to stress management official website (n.d.) data retrieved on 17/5/2010 from http://www.guidetostressmanagement.com/workplace-stress/ Work Health and Organization Stavroula Leka and Amanda Griffiths UK 1-35 obtained on 17/5/2010 from www.who.int/occupational_health/publications/en/oehstress.pdf Life Positive official website retrieved on 17/5/2010 from http://www.lifepositive.com/mind/psychology/stress/stress-at-work.asp Appendix: Downsizing (cutting down or chopping the workforce in economically unfavourable times) Page 9. Flowchart on Risk Management Page 13. Flowchart on Stress Causal Mechanism Page 8. Global Business and Round Table Conference on Addiction and Mental Health (organised by the Centre of Mental Health and Addiction , Toronto) Page 9 National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NOISH) U.S. Page 8. Summary of the research Page 10. Treadmill Syndrome (disproportionately high amount of work with respect to time, space) Page 9. Work content Page 8. Work context Page 8. WHO—World Health Organisation Pages 4, 7, 9.

Marketing Strategy of TVs Motors

Marketing Strategy of TVs Motors TVS Motor Company is Indias third largest manufacturer and company had made success in their last ten years. TVS achieved many awards for their quality of products, customer satisfaction and for their technology. This paper analyzing the organizations various strategies models as well as describes the financial statement analysis for last five year. Analyzed how the company reached the current position and described the recommendations for TVS Motor Company. Introduction: An organizational study is conducted to have a clear and proper understanding of the organizations basic structure, coordination and functioning at all levels. Every organization involves in identifying and coordinating the work that being performed and delegates authority and responsibilities. Organizations are always looked as a social entity directing towards designated goals that are designed as coordinated activity and structured deliberately linking to external environment. In a country like India which has seen an industrial revolution in last couple of decades, bringing large multinational corporate and industries to the country any organization would require strong organizational functioning to compete with other industries in the market paving way to success and preferences to the organization. My organization study involves research on various departments to understand their functions within and their purposes. I have also tried to bring out the achievements of the organiz ation so far and how it competes with its competitors. It was also important for me to study how they progress towards their mission and vision of the organization. Before doing a study on any organization it was important to have compassion on the concepts, principles and requisites of the organizations. Concepts of an organization: Every organization involves in a process of identifying and grouping the work that has to be done. It defines and delegates the authority and responsibility to every individual or sector. It establishes strong relationship with its employees to accomplish its objectives and performing work efficiently. Principles: Principles are tailored on theoretical basis on which the strategies of the organization is built or framed. There are several fundamental principles there are to be followed in developing an organization strong and efficiently. Some of them are Unity of objective Unity of command Specification Span of control Co-ordination Exception Flexibility Communication Simplicity Efficiency REQUSITIES: The objectives of the organization are to be candid and clear and the organizations understanding their capacity in achieving them. All activities within the organization are implemented efficiently and easily. Proper coordination on all activities that being executed. Communication system inside the organization should be direct and effective. Should be complete with all essential activities being put into action. There should be reasonable span of control at all levels Wherever required, provision is to be available for expansion Defined procedures are to be followed on all functions of the organization Organization should always aim at promoting morality of its employees Proper diversion on authority and responsibility is required Business strategy: TVS motors which originates from Trichur Vengaram Sundaram Iyengar motors is one among the leading motorcycle company in India .it is the third largest two-wheeler manufacturer company in India and among the top ten in the world. It holds annual revenue of more than $ 1 billion .Its a flagship company with TVS group USA with 4$ billion. It strives and thrives in manufacturing innovative and pioneer products. TVS emphasizes on launching new products with its new product introduction (NPI) team of approximately 300 engineers who stand at forefront in executing strategic visions for the organization for its new products. Though these products are developed domestically it collaborates with globally technical renowned partners. It aims to introduce six to ten products every year to address broad-based requirements of the market. Bike for Anyone: TVS Motors aims at introducing wide range products thats suits the needs of all two wheeler riders. It holds products from mopeds to racing motorcycles. The prices of these motorcycles are also affordable and reasonable to suit financial status of middle and upper middle class people in India. It was also the first motorcycle company in India to launch mopeds that were easily affordable to labor and wager groups of India. Penchant for Quality: TVS Motor has established four manufacturing plants located at Mysore, Hosur, Himachal Pradesh and one in Indonesia. The company is more consistent on its quality of its products so far. The vehicles were long lasting and reliable. Innovation at the Helm: Strength of the organization lies in its design and development of its new products, the company launched seven products on the same day in 1997, making it all the first automotive company to do so. They aim at developing superior customer satisfaction. TVS presents quality vehicles to meet ever changing need of its customer and market, the company already holds 15 million customers on road. History: The company was founded by Trichur Vengaram Sundarm Iyangar. He initially started on transport business holding large fleet of buses, trucks under the name of southern roadways limited. Later the company spread its wings on automobile sector, including insurance, finance, two wheelers manufacturing components, and tires. It is combined with 33 companies of its own to bring a turnover of nearly 3 billion USD. On 1978 the company started plant at Hosur to manufacture mopeds as a new division. Later the company collaborated with Suzuki on 1982 on a joint venture to obtain brand impression on its customers. Major Milestone Year by Year: 1978: TVS Motors was started as a new division of TVS. 1982: Incorporated as Indians motors. It collaborated with Suzuki motors. 1984: 59,400,000 shares were issued on which 7, 00,000 shares Sundaram Clayton ltd, Chennai. 70,000 Anusha investments 20, 00,000-Suzuki motors 2, 20,000 -Employees and business associates 29, 70,000- public 1985: incorporated Lakshmi Auto Company6 for Manufacturing transmissions and critical engine parts. 1986: company name was changed from Indo Suzuki motors to TVS Suzuki motors 1990: launched 34cc Miniped 1997: set up auto ancillary estate at Mysore and Hosur 1998: RS: 1,000 crore mark in 1997-1988 introduced first four stroke vehicle in the country 2003: Recorded share of 35% of share in motorcycle division, Recorded 31% growth on its sales. Company introduced racing bikes that were tested in Asian circuits. 2006: Appointed new president 2007: launched 7 motorcycles on the same day making a mark in history 2010: Launched Indias first auto clutch motorcycle in Chandigarh. TVS Michael porters competitive force model The strategy is developed by Michael porter which describes the external factors affecting the organization. The TVS analysis is as follows: Supplier Power: Although TVS has been a prominent supplier for economic class customers in two wheelers market, here we take the power of the suppliers for TVS to analyze. The Supplier market for TVS is highly fragmented and the possibility for backward integration is also high which has restrained the power of the suppliers. TVS engages with several local suppliers for their spares and parts for their automobiles manufacturing. The entry of many new small scale manufacturers has also contributed to the benefit of large automobile manufacturers like TVS to source their Spares and parts at a very optimal price. This clearly indicates the low supplier power. Buyer Power: Buyers power in two wheelers industry is more as the product diversity and brands available in the market are exceptionally high. Buyers today are demanding and specific on their needs for the money they pay. They are looking for the brand that offers better pricing and technology which has shadowed the customer loyalty for any brand today which is the most faced threat by TVS. Threat of Substitutes: Threat from substitutes is quite low when compared to other forces since market seems only to grow and mature every day. But when looked down the line we could anticipate a threat from the dramatically escalating petrol cost which might cause customers to switch to economic diesel cars. As well growing environmental concerns has also brought in bicycles and battery two wheelers that might pose a threat in future to TVS. Intensity of Rivalry: Two wheelers industry is most known for the competitive market and rivalry. Two wheeler brands like Bajaj, Honda and Yamaha have come up with various product line and technology targeting the customer segment of age group 20 to 30 years who are more fascinated to sporty two wheelers. But TVS has very less sporty models available for customers to choose that has restrained power of the brand over the most targeted customer segment by its competitors. Although TVS has a better power over the mid aged economic class customer segment, competitors now are increasing their focus on taking over it too. Barriers to New Entrants: New entrants face a moderate barrier in penetrating the market since it is consolidated by few and strong suppliers. As the market size of the two wheelers industry is big and requires a strong footprint with high capital investment, new entrants find it difficult to fit themselves among the market front-runners. Thus TVS is not susceptible to threats from the new entrants to the industry. TVS Motors market share The market share of all Two-wheeler is affected by various inflation, rise in petrol price and interest rate. Automobile industry had unexpected growth around 15% is due supported by various external factor like urban development, developed public transportation, financial purchases and Two-wheeler penetration into various region. Hero Honda dominated in the market by 55% (2011-2012) in last five quarters. Market Share with competitors April Feb. 2011 Source: TVS Motor Company Financial performance Details/Year 2011-12 2010-11 2009010 2008-09 2007-08 Sales other income* 7148 6324 4485 3741 3310 Profit before interest, depreciation, amortization and tax* 520 491 304 247 219 Profit before tax 316 248 76 31 35 Profit after tax 249 195 88 31 32 Net fixed assets 1078 995 983 1036 1043 Share capital 48 48 24 24 24 Reserves and surplus 1122 952 842 786 798 Net worth 1170 999 835 735 769 Total borrowings* 831 768 1003 906 666 Earnings per share #(Rs.) 5.24 4.10 1.86 0.66 0.67 Dividend per share (Rs.) 1.30 1.10 1.20 0.70 0.70 Book value per share# (Rs.) 24.38 20.81 17.40 15.32 16.02 EBITDA/turnover (%) 7.3 7.4 6.8 6.6 6.6 Profit before tax/turnover (%) 4.4 3.9 1.7 0.8 1.1 Return on capital employed (%) 19 16.4 8.0 5.6 2.8 Return on net worth (%) 23.0 21.3 11.2 4.1 4.1 Source: TVS Motor Company The company achieved the annual sales of two million as growth of 32% by selling 1.52 million units last year. The company made their growth in all three segment as Executive as 26%, Economy as 12% and Premium as 38% for the year of 2011. When compared with 2010, there is increased in sale of fixed asset in 2011. On 2011 fiscal year TVS Motors acquires assets increasing the liquidatory assets to 1.70 crores. Due to increase in RD expenses decrease in sales and investment in manufacturing sector increased the companys liabilities to 950.49 crores. Companys capital expenditure was 91.63 crores in year 2011. In the year 2011 current ratio stands at 0.17 while the debt ratio is at 0.98%. The cash ratio is 1.4 times than previous as the number proves that the companys stable but if the ratios are not improved over years the companys long time sustainability will be at jeopardy. Operational analysis SWOT Analysis Strengths: TVS is an International player with brand equity and plays important role in Indian two wheeler markets. RD department team gives them a leading edge in markets technology development covering various segments like moped, motor cycle and scooter. These differences make the products attractive for people of all ages. TVS has a wide spread of distribution network and numerous service centers covering all regions of its service areas which provide a unique service to its customers. TVS groups have 40,000 knowledgeable, experienced and skilled employees providing service to more than 15 million customers in India. Advertising with brand ambassadors and attracting people with more promotional activities. Products with low price, high fuel economy, eco friendly less emission and unique design with its competitors. Weaknesses: Despite exporting products to various countries worldwide, its not a globally recognizable brand yet. Lack of competitive premium bikes to attract the riders in the market. Most of the RD resources used in economy and executive products shading the premium segment. Opportunities: One of the fastest growing automobile providers in India. Export is limited and the international market is untouched which gives a versatile opportunity to explore and establish international market. More movement in higher-end model and more young generation are motivated towards motorcycle. Threats: Heavy competition from other competitors and from other international brand i.e. importing of cheap motorcycle from china. Gradual increase in fuel price, Decrease in car prices, policies and increase in taxes will affect margin for dealer as well as customer. Improving public transport will have an effect on the automobile sales. Spare parts are expensive which increases the maintenance cost. TOWS Matrix Analysis SWOT and TOWS are acronyms to each other, where as strength and weaknesses comes under internal environment. Opportunities and threats are comes under the external environment. But for practical study, TOWS describes internal environment and SWOT describes external environment. Strength: TVS is International player with brand equity and plays important role in Indian two wheeler markets. Excellent RD work of products and different products in various segments like moped, motor cycle and scooter. These differences make attraction to people from different age. TVS had wide spread distribution network and numerous service centers which make easy for people. TVS groups have more than 15 million customers and knowledgeable, experienced, skilled 40,000 employees. Advertising with brand ambassadors and attracting people with more promotional activities. Products with low price, fuel economy, less emission and excellent design when compared to other company. Weaknesses: Even though exporting to various countries, it is not globally recognizable brand. Fail to cover premium segment bikes and their segments are only for middle class customers. Opportunities: One of the fastest growing segments in India is automobile segment. Export is limited and untouched international market. More movement in higher-end model and more young generation are motivated towards motorcycle. SO TVS had unbeatable sales in moped and scooter. (S1O1) They had 3500 dealer for making sales and giving excellent service to customers. TVS maintains its brand image by designing products for all customers from low income to high income people. (S4O3) Employed more engineers in RD to bring their designing performance and development in all categories. TVS has ratio in debt equity is 0.1. WO Even though it is not globally recognized, TVS made an excellent land mark in India. (W1O2) TVS need more concentration in premium vehicles because sales of premium vehicles are growing in recent years. (W2O3) Market share is reducing when compared to last few years. Threats: Heavy competition from other competitors and from other international brand i.e. importing of cheap motorcycle from china. Gradual increase in fuel price, policies and increase in taxes will affect margin for dealer as well as customer. Improving public transport will have an effect on the automobile sales. Spare parts are costlier. ST Automobile is one of the growing sectors in the world, so it is golden opportunity to come forward in global market. (S1T1) TVS need more concentration in RD to improve the use of personal transportation. (S2T3) WT TVS has other competitors in two wheeler segment, which is the main drawback for them. Cost of spare parts and their products are high when compared to other company. (W2T4) TVS BCG Growth Share Matrix: The BCG Growth-Share Matrix is a planning model in which business is divided into four major based on market growth and market share. The growth share in this table positions the two major things of profitability. Star (Scooter) Question mark (New motorcycle and new scooter) Cash cow (Moped) Dog (Motorcycles) Star: Star denotes high market growth and high market share in the industry. This position defends when the organization invest large amount in this segment. There is decrease in the growth when compared to last year, so this is the reason scooter comes under star category. It will turn into cash cow when there is gradual increase in coming years. Cash cow: Cash cow denotes low market growth and high market share in the industry. In moped sector it is the major contribution to the market share because moped have more advantages like low cost when compared to other moped manufacturing company. Handling is very simple and this is more preferred by small traders. Teenagers are using this vehicle as an entry point for them. This dominates in the position of cash cow because increase in the growth of sales in every year. Question mark: Question mark denotes high market growth and low market share. In this category, there are two things to be considered as invest greatly in the products or to clear up this products. The company launches new TVS Flame which gets more drawbacks in the market and the company planned to launch the product with redesign. Company had greater growth in the scooter segment, so they launched electric scooter due to increase in the fuel price. But the product is failed due to some motor problems. So company need to invest in them for increase in market growth, this is the reason that these products comes under the question mark. Dog: Dog denotes low market growth as well as low market share in the industry. In this segment, the motorcycle is divided into three categories as economy segment which had increase in 2% when compared to last year. In executive segment, decrease in 1% when compared to last year. But in premium segment, there is no increment or decrement when compared to last year. Market share came down when compared to last year, so this is the main reason that motorcycle comes under the category of dog. Marketing, Financial and RD Strategies Marketing strategy: The company volume growth increased largely from the year of 2010-2011, but the company does not have similar growth in last year of 2011-2012. The company had huge demand in moped, scooter and only in premium motor cycle; so these are volume key drivers in TVS motor company. The company is planning to build key model brand, so company had planned to have sustain success in their products like Star, Victor and Apache. These products had made brand image to maintain its success and these success made the company to introduce the new products in the market. These are key volume drivers and their focus to sustain their growth of the company. TVS motors have decided to launch seven new vehicles at a time in the year of 2007, so this will make the company as a young multinational company. This makes work for continues three years to rollout all these seven products at a time. Within these seven vehicles, four of them are two-wheelers and three are passenger three-wheeler vehicles. These products are various technologies, design and new engine. TVS introduced CCVTi engine which reduce carbon-dioxide and reduce the monoxide by 70% which make green revolution and also introducing Fuel injection technology which consumes less fuel. TVS motors first introduce the electric scooter due to increase in fuel price in India. These are marketing strategies to cover imagination of people. TVS continuous improvement in quality of products resulted in winning various quality awards which brings more value for the customers. TVS offers 5-year warranty for Star vehicles, which gives customers more preference. These customer satisfaction and quality are the one of major role for marketing strategy. TVS dealers are using their own individual promotion plans to the final buyers. The company advertises to the customers to provide offers to buy products where dealers provide with sale promotion to the product now. The company offering more promotional plan such as exchange offer, finance conveniences to the customers, free services, follow-up customer for their services and complaints and other festival offers. These are various marketing strategy promotions to customers for buying the products and giving excellent service to their products to have sustained growth in market place. Financial strategy: TVS records the sale of 154,647 unit in August 2012 and 194,898 units in August 2011, whereas for Two-wheeler sales records 150,740 units in August 2012 and 190,184 units of sales in August 2011. In domestic sector, TVS records about 135,513 units in August 2012 against 163,705 units in August 2011. In motorcycle sector, TVS records 53,673 units in August 2012 against 77,726 units in August 2011. In scooter segment, records 38,193 units in August 2012 against 52,253 units in August 2011. From this analysis, there is gradual decrease in the sales of all sectors including moped, motorcycle and scooters. Company exports 17,934 units in August 2012 against 29,984 units in August 2011. In Three-wheelers, company sold 4,714 units in August 2011 but it decreased to 3,907 units in August 2012. From the total, the company fails to compete with the previous year of same month. Research and development (RD): The company has a strong research and development (RD) department, supported with state of the art aiding technologies. Their in-house world class testing facility gives them a unique environment for testing the engines noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) and life time warranty testing. To they are supported with modern computers for developing good design as well as for developing new innovation in the products. The team has been concentrating on eco-friendly products for a decade helping the fact of global climatic changes and increases of carbon dioxide release into the environment. They succeeded by out coming with a high fuel economy, reusable parts and low emissions hybrid products. Their automatic transmission technology for scooters is widely credited across the world due their very low emission and fuel economy. TVS RD department published 81 papers placing and they developed various products with this research and they are successfully running in the road. For national and international conferences, RD published around 81 technical papers. Joint venture and Value chain TVS has joint venture with Japaneses company Suzuki with whom it shares their technology, design and manufacture for two-wheeler under the banner TVS-Suzuki. TVS-Suzuki manufactured various products including Samurai, Shogun and Fiero. Due to the rising disputes and low profit margins TVS decided to break their collaboration with Suzuki. In 2011, companies came to an agreement, as per the company was renamed as TVS Motors and Suzuki promised not to enter Indian market for minimum period of 30 months. This decision by TVS motors allowed them to operate independently and proves to be effective as their profit increased noticeably. TVS Motors invested heavily in RD to launch new products with new technology and succeeded making TVS a highly recognized brand. After three years Suzuki entered Indian market and became one of the top five Two-wheeler Company in India. The value chain for the Two-wheeler company has many value chain partners including manufacturing, dealers (outlets include sales and service), financial agents, support services, advertising, contracts, transportation and more. The value chain for TVS Motors will act like one team and they aim for success. The company has appraisal agencies, call centre, collection agencies and dealer management system to get daily updates from dealers and maintain a global communication across their value chain partners. TVS has plans to implement Information Technology across the value chains, to reduce the delays and lags in communication between the value chain dealers. This IT adoption to the company will significantly increase the customer satisfaction, timely service and a well structured management. Business performance: The overall Two-wheeler sales is decreased to 5% due to absences of executive segment motorcycle, whereas scooter and moped segment increased by 10% in their sales growth. The company achieved all time high sales in export of 2.70 lakh in 2011-2012. Three-wheeler sales also increased slightly from 0.39 lakh to 0.40 lakh in 2011-2012. Spare parts also increased to 29% sales. TVS Wego had a huge growth of 60% in the scooter segment. These vehicles are distributed around 3500 dealer in India; they are authorized for both sales and services. TVS is continuously seeking for opening new dealerships to increase the growth of sales. The export sales are grown 51% where as domestic sales decline by 35% in the Three-wheeler market. There is large number of competitors in exporting, so company takes advantages of providing quality products as well as providing new market line for domestic market. For reducing the material cost and input material cost, company is using value engineering and global sourcing projects. TVS is using total quality management (TQM) as a cornerstone from 1987. So that company created manually called TVS Way and won award for national and state level competition. Recommendations and Implementations References TVS Motor Company. From : http://www.tvsmotor.in/tvsbrief.asp TVS Motor Company. From : http://www.tvsmotor.in/tvs-rd.asp TVS Motor Company. From : http://www.tvsmotor.in/global.asp TVS Motor Company. From : http://www.tvsmotor.in/investor.asp TVS Motor Company. Annual Report. From : http://www.tvsmotor.in/pdf/19th-Annual-Report-2010-2011.pdf TVS Motor Company. From : http://www.tvsmotor.in/investor-news-home.asp Indian Infoline. TVS Motor Company Ltd. From: http://www.indiainfoline.com/Markets/Company/Background/Company-Profile/TVS-Motor-Company-Ltd/532343 Business Line. TVS Motor seeks early end to licence pact with Suzuki. From : http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/2001/12/29/stories/022907za.htm The Financial Express. TVS reaps Business Benefits through SAP. From: http://www.financialexpress.com/news/tvs-reaps-business-benefits-through-sap/60168/2 Live Mint. TVS Motor changes financing strategy. From : http://www.livemint.com/Money/uW1yXkCG0HsTBLIjI5rHKL/TVS-Motor-changes-financing-strategy.html Money Control. TVS Motor Company. From : http://www.moneycontrol.com/company-facts/tvsmotorcompany/history/TVS#TVS Indian Two-Wheeler Industry. From : http://www.icra.in/Files/ticker/Indian%202W%20Industry,%20Update,%20Feb%202012.pdf (Retrieved on Feb 2012)

Christian & Pagan Influences :: Essays Papers

Christian & Pagan Influences There are Christian influences in the episode of "Grendel's Mother's attack." Primarily, the Christian influence is seen Norton text(43): Grendel's mother, woman, monster-wife, was mindful of her misery, she who had to dwell in the terrible water, the cold currents, after Cain became sword-slayer of his only brother, his father's own son. Then Cain went as an outlaw to flee the cheerful life of men, marked for his murder, held to the wasteland. From him sprang many a devil sent by fate. Grendel was one of them, hateful outcast who at Herot found a waking man waiting his warfare. There a monster had laid hold upon him...Then he went off wretched, bereft of joy, to seek his dying place, enemy of mankind. And his mother, still greedy and gallows-grin, would go on a sorrowful venture, avenge her son's death". Grendel is the spawn of the greatest sin in the Anglo-Saxon era -- fratricide. Fratricide is the slaying of one's own brother. Cain was cursed by God, forced to have hardship in tilling the soil and was given a mark on his head. God's wrath would not allow Cain to abandon his sin, by death, and his curse carried on throughout the life of mankind. To read the complete story of Cain and his brother Abel, click here The sin of fratricide did not only mean blood-related family, but applied to the murder of kinsmen. This portion of the Norton text deals with Beowulf and his root to God's grace: ...but he was mindful of the great strength, the large gift God had given him and relied on the Almighty for favor, comfort and help. By that he overcame the foe, subdued the hell-spirit. This quotation provides a sense of Christian values and shows the hero's dependency on God. According to the poet, Beowulf realizes that his strength comes from the Almighty rather than from his own merit. Beowulf is shown as a brave warrior.