Cultural communication Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Cultural communication - Coursework Example Daley considers himself as constructive participant of the society and characterizes professor as having lack of courage and personal power. Daley says that mother’s role in bringing up the sons cannot be negated, as they are the one who enable their sons to be a part of society and develop into men. Daley’s Council Speech expresses a code of honor. The code of honor that is described in the chapter, Mayor Daleys Council Speech, deals with consideration of an individual not as an individual but as a part of a larger group. It also differs with different cultures of communication. In Daley’s culture, there was a custom, whenever men insulted each other or passed negative remarks on each other, they were at once ready to take off their cloaks, which depicted towards their lose of control in terms of temperament. They wanted to fight the other person because of his offensive comments and during their fight or before the conductance of the fight, their mothers used to intervene so that they could drag their sons backward in order to stay from the fight. Code of honor is related to cultural code of communication. Daley followed his code of honor by being infuriated by the comments of Richard Simpson, after which, he responded in the same fashion, as was a custom of his culture. He described mother’s role as constructive because she used to stop her sons from fighting. Code of honor also dealt with the superiority in debate and warfare. Daley adhered to the moral as well as instrumental aspects of the code of honor. The written speech looked very informative related to the speech of Daley but audiovisual evidence in the form of the film, Daley, helped a lot in understanding the whole idea behind the infuriation of Daley and the offence of Richard Simpson. It is generally said that audiovisual depiction of something is more comprehensive

Rulers That Followed the Prince by Machiavelli Essay Example for Free

Rulers That Followed the Prince by Machiavelli Essay Niccolà ² Machiavelli suggested in The Prince that a ruler should behave as both a fox and a lion, being both loved and feared. There are clever rulers who were strategic, courageous rulers who were effective, and successful rulers who possessed both qualities. Elizabeth I of England and Henery IV of France were two great rulers from Europe that were able to personify Machiavellis advice. Elizabeth I of England was able to act as a fox by preventing England from being torn apart over matters of religion. By repealing The Catholic Legislation of Mary Tudors reign, she was able to make the New Act of Supremacy which dsignated her as the supreme govenor of spritual and temporal affairs. Also she restored the church service of the Book of Common Prayer, but was clever enough to make some revisions to make it more acceptable for Catholics. With keeping her subjects out conflict, she also made sure that her power within England remained preserved. She didnt marry anyone, because if she did, the real power would then belong to the king. Maintaining her power outside England ment keeping Spain under control. The Sea Beggars were an international group of anti-Spain pirates. Elizabeth made a secret alliance with the Sea Beggars, and sent them to the Netherlands to fight the Spainish. To make sure she was exempt from international problems because of her tie with the Sea Beggars, she immediately diassociated England from the doings of the Sea Begggars. With doing clever and sniky things to maintain Englands power, she added courageous things to her list of accomplishements. One of her greatest challenges was her cousin, Queen Mary of Scots. Being that she was next in line to the English throne, Mary was a huge threath to Elizabeths power. After fleeing from Scotland to England, she was put under house arrest by Elizabeth. In 1587, Mary was finally excuted after being caught in a plot to over throw Elizabeth. This direct action kept Elizabeth out of threat within England. But the execution of Mary, sparked a Spanish Armada invasion in England. Under the guidances of Elizabeth, the swift English ships were able to batter out Spanish and be victorious. Elizabeth showed much leadership and strength in defeating the Spanish. She heeded Machiavellis advice and was able to drive England towards a prosporous Golden Age of wealth and power. Henry IV of France was able to act as a fox by evaluating what mattered more to him. When Henry converted to Catholosism out of being a Hugenot during the Saint Bartholomews Day Massacre, it was clear that he valued his own life over religion. Even when he coverted back to Calvinism afterwards, he soon relized his valued of being in power over religion would cause him to convert, once again, back into Catholism. â€Å"Paris is worth a Mass, he said as he gave into the Roman Catholic Church for the leadership of France. This value of state over religion made him a politique, believing that no religious truth was worth the ravages of cicil war. He kept France from futher civil war by issuing the Edict of Nantes which acknowledged Catholicism as th official religion of France but guaranteed the Hugenots the rights to worship. He was wise to recognize that tolerance can help establish peace in his nation and also to convert to Cathalosism because of their bigger population in France. Along with being able to weigh out which decisions would help maintain a peaceful France, he was also able to roll in more power for himself. Appionting The Duke of Sully as his finance minister was a major step in gaining power and wealth. Sully reformed the tax collection system to make it more equitable and efficient, improved transportation, stimulated trade and industry, and fostered prosperity. These economic improvment gave Henry power. With his power under stable condition, Henry looked to forgien affairs. Henry saw the Religious Wars as an opportunity to divide up the Holy Roman Empire so he attacked, but since he was a politique he battled over politics and not religion. Though he instilled fear in his subject, he was able to gain the popularity of people because of his informal dress and a strong wit and charm. He had many things to take care of in and out of France, however, he took this bold move because knew his power would remain if people liked him. By Elizabeths creation of the Act of Supremacy and Act of Uniformity, her refusal of marriage, her secret alliance with the Sea Beggars, her execution of Mary, and her victory over the Spanish Armada, she was able to bring England to a Golden Age. By Henrys adoption of the Edict of Nantes, appointing of The Duke of Sully, munipilzing the Religious Wars to his needs, and being friendly with his subjects, Henry was able to secure France as a power in Europe. By following the advice of Machiavelli, Elizabeth I of England and Henry IV of France were able to strengthen their countries, with Elizabeth being a little better at it than Henry.

vera drake :: essays research papers

Vera Drake Vera Drake is a film nominated for several Oscars, and a completely successes for Mike Leigh, who is both director and writer. The film is set in London in the early 1950s. Vera Drake lives with her husband Stan, and her two grown children Ethel and Sid, in a small middleclass flat. Vera is a domestic who cleans the houses of rich women, while Stan works at a mechanic shop run by his brother Frank. Vera has a heart of gold, and is cheerful at anytime, even though she got plenty of work to do, and lots of people to take care of. She sings and smiles anyhow, and has a tremendous care and compassion for others. She also has time to help out women in need, as she calls it. This is her big secret that no one in her family knows of, and a secret that she intends to keep secret. When she says â€Å"help women in need† she means poor pregnant women who are not willing or able to give birth to a child. She works closely with Lily, a friend from her childhood, who sells households goods on the black marked and find women seeking abortions. She charges the women for money, while Vera does not take anything for helping them out. Vera’s secret comes to a brutal end, after one of the girls she has treated gets deadly sick, and the police get involved. Abortions were not legal in the 1950s in England, and therefore Vera is committing a crime. By the time Vera and her family is g athered to celebrate the announced wedding between Reg and her daughter Ethel, the police comes knocking on their door. Vera is taken in to custody and is very afraid to tell her family the truth, but still does not think what she has been doing as anything wrong. The theme of the film is obviously abortion, and those plenty questions concerning abortion. This has been a well debated theme for a long time, but Mike Leigh sees no obstacle in that. The question whether abortion should be legal or not, is still a big political issue, and it does not seem like politicians round the world has come to an agreement just yet. Even though this theme is highly debated beforehand, it does not make this a boring film. It is more opposite, and that is why I feel that Mike Leigh give us viewers a different angle than many others would have.

Bond and Market Capitalization Rate

330-s2013-prac9 1. An American put option gives its holder the right to _________. A. buy the underlying asset at the exercise price on or before the expiration date B. buy the underlying asset at the exercise price only at the expiration date C. sell the underlying asset at the exercise price on or before the expiration date D. sell the underlying asset at the exercise price only at the expiration date 2. An American call option gives the buyer the right to _________. A. buy the underlying asset at the exercise price on or before the expiration date B. buy the underlying asset at the exercise price only at the expiration date C. ell the underlying asset at the exercise price on or before the expiration date D. sell the underlying asset at the exercise price only at the expiration date 3. A European call option gives the buyer the right to _________. A. buy the underlying asset at the exercise price on or before the expiration date B. buy the underlying asset at the exercise price on ly at the expiration date C. sell the underlying asset at the exercise price on or before the expiration date D. sell the underlying asset at the exercise price only at the expiration date 4. You purchase one IBM July 120 call contract for a premium of $5.You hold the option until the expiration date when IBM stock sells for $123 per share. You will realize a ______ on the investment. A. $200 profit B. $200 loss C. $300 profit D. $300 loss 5. At contract maturity the value of a call option is ___________ where X equals the option's strike price and ST is the stock price at contract expiration. A. Max(0, ST – X) B. Min(0, ST – X) C. Max(0, X – ST) D. Min(0, X – ST) 1 1. C 2. A 3. B 4. B 5. A Long Call Profit = Max[0,($123 – $120)(100)] – $500 = -$200 1. A firm that has an ROE of 12% is considering cutting its dividend payout.The stockholders of the firm desire a dividend yield of 4% and a capital gain yield of 9%. Given this information which of the following statement(s) is/are correct? I. All else equal the firm's growth rate will accelerate after the payout change II. All else equal the firm's stock price will go up after the payout change III. All else equal the firm's P/E ratio will increase after the payout change A. I onlyB. I and II onlyC. II and III onlyD. I, II and III 2. A firm cuts its dividend payout ratio. As a result you know that the firm's _______. A. return on assets will increaseB. arnings retention ratio will increase C. earnings growth rate will fallD. stock price will fall 3. An underpriced stock provides an expected return which is ____________ the required return based on the capital asset pricing model (CAPM). A. less thanB. equal toC. greater thanD. greater than or equal to 4. Stockholders of Dog's R Us Pet Supply expect a 12% rate of return on their stock. Management has consistently been generating a ROE of 15% over the last 5 years but now believes that ROE will be 12% for the next five year s. Given this the firm's optimal dividend payout ratio is now ______.A. 0%B. 100%C. between 0% and 50%D. between 50% and 100% 5. The constant growth dividend discount model (DDM) can be used only when the ___________. A. growth rate is less than or equal to the required returnB. growth rate is greater than or equal to the required return C. growth rate is less than the required returnD. growth rate is greater than the required return 6. Suppose that in 2009 the expected dividends of the stocks in a broad market index equaled $240 million when the discount rate was 8% and the expected growth rate of the dividends equaled 6%.Using the constant growth formula for valuation, if interest rates increase to 9% the value of the market will change by _____. A. -10%B. -20%C. -25%D. -33% 7. You are considering acquiring a common share of Sahali Shopping Center Corporation that you would like to hold for one year. You expect to receive both $1. 25 in dividends and $35 from the sale of the share at the end of the year. The maximum price you would pay for a share today is __________ if you wanted to earn a 12% return. A. $31. 25B. $32. 37C. $38. 47D. $41. 32 8. Eagle Brand Arrowheads has expected earnings of $1. 5 per share and a market capitalization rate of 12%. Earnings are expected to grow at 5% per year indefinitely. The firm has a 40% plowback ratio. By how much does the firm's ROE exceed the market capitalization rate? A. 0. 5%B. 1. 0%C. 1. 5%D. 2. 0% 9. A preferred share of Coquihalla Corporation will pay a dividend of $8. 00 in the upcoming year, and every year thereafter, i. e. , dividends are not expected to grow. You require a return of 7% on this stock. Using the constant growth DDM to calculate the intrinsic value, a preferred share of Coquihalla Corporation is worth _________. A. $13. 50B. $45. 50C. $91. 0D. $114. 29 10. Brevik Builders has an expected ROE of 25%. Its dividend growth rate will be __________ if it follows a policy of paying 30% of earning in t he form of dividends. A. 5. 0%B. 15. 0%C. 17. 5%D. 45. 0% 11. Cache Creek Manufacturing Company is expected to pay a dividend of $3. 36 in the upcoming year. Dividends are expected to grow at 8% per year. The riskfree rate of return is 4% and the expected return on the market portfolio is 14%. Investors use the CAPM to compute the market capitalization rate, and the constant growth DDM to determine the value of the stock. The stock's current price is $84. 0. Using the constant growth DDM, the market capitalization rate is _________. A. 9%B. 12%C. 14%D. 18% 12. Ace Ventura, Inc. has expected earnings of $5 per share for next year. The firm's ROE is 15% and its earnings retention ratio is 40%. If the firm's market capitalization rate is 10%, what is the present value of its growth opportunities? A. $25B. $50C. $75D. $100 13. Flanders, Inc. has expected earnings of $4 per share for next year. The firm's ROE is 8% and its earnings retention ratio is 40%. If the firm's market capitalizat ion rate is 15%, what is the present value of its growth opportunities?A. -$6. 33B. $0C. $20. 34D. $26. 67 14. Cache Creek Manufacturing Company is expected to pay a dividend of $4. 20 in the upcoming year. Dividends are expected to grow at the rate of 8% per year. The riskfree rate of return is 4% and the expected return on the market portfolio is 14%. Investors use the CAPM to compute the market capitalization rate on the stock, and the constant growth DDM to determine the intrinsic value of the stock. The stock is trading in the market today at $84. 00. Using the constant growth DDM and the CAPM, the beta of the stock is _________. A. 1. 4B. 0. 9C. 0. 8D. 0. 5 15.Westsyde Tool Company is expected to pay a dividend of $2. 00 in the upcoming year. The risk-free rate of return is 6% and the expected return on the market portfolio is 12%. Analysts expect the price of Westsyde Tool Company shares to be $29 a year from now. The beta of Westsyde Tool Company's stock is 1. 20. Using a on eperiod valuation model, the intrinsic value of Westsyde Tool Company stock today is _________. A. $24. 29B. $27. 39C. $31. 13D. $34. 52 16. Todd Mountain development Corporation is expected to pay a dividend of $2. 50 in the upcoming year. Dividends are expected to grow at the rate of 8% per year.The risk-free rate of return is 5% and the expected return on the market portfolio is 12%. The stock of Todd Mountain Development Corporation has a beta of 0. 75. Using the CAPM, the return you should require on the stock is _________. A. 7. 25%B. 10. 25%C. 14. 75%D. 21. 00% 17. Interior Airline is expected to pay a dividend of $3 in the upcoming year. Dividends are expected to grow at the rate of 10% per year. The risk-free rate of return is 4% and the expected return on the market portfolio is 13%. The stock of Interior Airline has a beta of 4. 00. Using the constant growth DDM, the intrinsic value of the stock is _________.A. $10. 00B. $22. 73C. $27. 78D. $41. 67 18. Everything equal, w hich variable is negatively related to intrinsic value of a company? A. D1B. D0C. gD. k 19. A common stock pays an annual dividend per share of $1. 80. The risk-free rate is 5 percent and the risk premium for this stock is 4 percent. If the annual dividend is expected to remain at $1. 80 per share, what is the value of the stock? A. $17. 78B. $20. 00C. $40. 00D. None of the above 20. A stock is priced at $45 per share. The stock has earnings per share of $3. 00 and a market capitalization rate of 14%. What is the stock's PVGO?A. $23. 57B. $15. 00C. $19. 78D. $21. 34 21. If a firm has a free cash flow equal to $50 million and that cash flow is expected to grow at 3% forever, what is the total firm value given a WACC of 9. 5%? A. $679 millionB. $715 millionC. $769 millionD. $803 million 22. Next year's earnings are estimated to be $5. 00. The company plans to reinvest 20% of its earnings at 15%. If the cost of equity is 9%, what is the present value of growth opportunities? A. $9. 09B . $10. 10C. $11. 11D. $12. 21 1. A2. B3. C4. B5. C6. D7. B8. A9. D10. C11. B12. A13. A14. B15. B16. B17. A18. D19. B20. A21. C22.C 1. Consider two bonds, A and B. Both bonds presently are selling at their par value of $1,000. Each pay interest of $120 annually. Bond A will mature in 5 years while bond B will mature in 6 years. If the yields to maturity on the two bonds change from 12% to 14%, _________. A. both bonds will increase in value but bond A will increase more than bond B B. both bonds will increase in value but bond B will increase more than bond A C. both bonds will decrease in value but bond A will decrease more than bond B D. both bonds will decrease in value but bond B will decrease more than bond A 2.Everything else equal the __________ the maturity of a bond and the __________ the coupon the greater the sensitivity of the bond's price to interest rate changes. A. longer; higher B. longer; lower C. shorter; higher D. shorter; lower 3. A __________ bond is a bond where the issuer has an option to retire the bond before maturity at a specific price after a specific date. A. callable B. coupon C. puttable D. treasury 4. In an era of particularly low interest rates, which of the following bonds is most likely to be called? A. Zero coupon bonds B. Coupon bonds selling at a discount C. Coupon bonds selling at a premium D.Floating rate bonds 5. A coupon bond which pays interest of 4% annually, has a par value of $1,000, matures in 5 years, and is selling today at $785. The actual yield to maturity on this bond is _________. A. 7. 2% B. 8. 8% C. 9. 1% D. 9. 6% 6. A coupon bond which pays interest of $60 annually, has a par value of $1,000, matures in 5 years, and is selling today at a $75. 25 discount from par value. The current yield on this bond is _________. A. 6. 00% B. 6. 49% C. 6. 73% D. 7. 00% 7. A coupon bond which pays interest semi-annually has a par value of $1,000, matures in 8 years, and has a yield to maturity of 6%.If the coupon rate is 7 %, the intrinsic value of the bond today will be __________ (to the nearest dollar). A. $1,000 B. $1,063 C. $1,081 D. $1,100 8. A treasury bond due in one year has a yield of 6. 3% while a treasury bond due in 5 years has a yield of 8. 8%. A bond due in 5 years issued by High Country Marketing Corporation has a yield of 9. 6% while a bond due in one year issued by High Country Marketing Corporation has a yield of 6. 8%. The default risk premiums on the one-year and 5-year bonds issued by High Country Marketing Corp. are respectively __________ and _________. A. 0. 4%, 0. 3% B. 0. 4%, 0. % C. 0. 5%, 0. 5% D. 0. 5%, 0. 8% 9. A zero-coupon bond has a yield to maturity of 5% and a par value of $1,000. If the bond matures in 16 years, it should sell for a price of __________ today. A. $458. 00 B. $641. 00 C. $789. 00 D. $1,100. 00 10. You can be sure that a bond will sell at a premium to par when _________. A. its coupon rate is greater than its yield to maturity B. its coupon rate is le ss than its yield to maturity C. its coupon rate equal to its yield to maturity D. its coupon rate is less than its conversion value 11. Consider a 7-year bond with a 9% coupon and a yield to maturity of 12%.If interest rates remain constant, one year from now the price of this bond will be _________. A. higher B. lower C. the same D. indeterminate 12. The yield to maturity on a bond is ________. I. above the coupon rate when the bond sells at a discount, and below the coupon rate when the bond sells at a premium II. the discount rate that will set the present value of the payments equal to the bond price III. equal to the true compound return on investment only if all interest payments received are reinvested at the yield to maturity A. I only B. II only C. I and II only D. I, II and III 13.Assuming semiannual compounding, a 20-year zero coupon bond with a par value of $1,000 and a required return of 12% would be priced at _________. A. $97 B. $104 C. $364 D. $732 14. The yield to maturity of an 10-year zero coupon bond, with a par value of $1,000 and a market price of $625, is _____. A. 4. 8% B. 6. 1% C. 7. 7% D. 10. 4% 15. If the quote for a Treasury bond is listed in the newspaper as 98:09 bid, 98:13 ask, the actual price for you to purchase this bond given a $10,000 par value is _____________. A. $9,828. 12 B. $9,809. 38 C. $9,840. 62 D. $9,813. 42 16. The price on a treasury bond is 104:21 with a yield to maturity of 3. 5%. The price on a comparable maturity corporate bond is 103:11 with a yield to maturity of 4. 59%. What is the approximate percentage value of the credit risk of the corporate bond? A. 1. 14% B. 3. 45% C. 4. 59% D. 8. 04% 17. You buy an 8 year $1000 par value bond today that has a 6% yield and a 6% annual payment coupon. In one year promised yields have risen to 7%. Your one year holding period return was ___. A. 0. 61% B. -5. 39% C. 1. 28% D. -3. 25% 18. If the coupon rate on a bond is 4. 50% and the bond is selling at a premium, which of the following is the most likely yield to maturity on the bond?A. 4. 30% B. 4. 50% C. 5. 20% D. 5. 50% 19. All other things equal, which of the following has the longest duration? A. A 30 year bond with a 10% coupon B. A 20 year bond with a 9% coupon C. A 20 year bond with a 7% coupon D. A 10 year zero coupon bond 20. All other things equal, which of the following has the shortest duration? A. A 30 year bond with a 10% coupon B. A 20 year bond with a 9% coupon C. A 20 year bond with a 7% coupon D. A 10 year zero coupon bond 21. (Challenge question) A pension fund must pay out $1 million next year, $2 million the following year and then $3 million the year after that.If the discount rate is 8% what is the duration of this set of payments? A. 2. 00 years B. 2. 15 years C. 2. 29 years D. 2. 53 years 22. All other things equal, which of the following has the longest duration? A. A 20 year bond with a 10% coupon yielding 10% B. A 20 year bond with a 10% coupon yielding 11% C. A 20 yea r zero coupon bond yielding 10% D. A 20 year zero coupon bond yielding 11% 23. Because of convexity, when interest rates change the actual bond price will ____________ the bond price predicted by duration. A. always be higher than B. sometimes be higher than C. always be lower than D. ometimes be lower than 24. Duration is a concept that is useful in assessing a bond's _________. A. credit risk B. liquidity risk C. price volatility D. convexity risk 25. A pension fund has an average duration of its liabilities equal to 15 years. The fund is looking at 5 year maturity zero coupon bonds and 4% yield perpetuities to immunize its interest rate risk. How much of its portfolio should it allocate to the zero coupon bonds to immunize if there are no other assets funding the plan? A. 52% B. 48% C. 33% D. 25% 26. You own a bond that has a duration of 6 years. Interest rates are urrently 7% but you believe the Fed is about to increase interest rates by 25 basis points. Your predicted price cha nge on this bond is ________. A. +1. 40% B. -1. 40% C. -2. 51% D. +2. 51% 27. A bank has an average duration of its liabilities equal to 2 years. The bank's average duration of its assets is 3. 5 years. The bank's market value of equity is at risk if _______________________. A. interest rates fall B. credit spreads fall C. interest rates rise D. the price of all fixed income securities rises 28. Banks and other financial institutions can best manage interest rate risk by _____________. A. aximizing the duration of assets and minimizing the duration of liabilities B. minimizing the duration of assets and maximizing the duration of liabilities C. matching the durations of their assets and liabilities D. matching the maturities of their assets and liabilities 29. The duration of a portfolio of bonds can be calculated as _______________. A. the coupon weighted average of the durations of the individual bonds in the portfolio B. the yield weighted average of the durations of the individu al bonds in the portfolio C. the value weighed average of the durations of the individual bonds in the portfolio D. verages of the durations of the longest and shortest duration bonds in the portfolio 30. Rank the interest sensitivity of the following from most sensitive to an interest rate change to the least sensitive. I. 8% coupon, noncallable 20 year maturity, par bond II. 9% coupon, currently callable 20 year maturity, premium bond III. Zero coupon, 30 year maturity bond A. I, II, III B. II, III, I C. III, I, II D. III, II, I 31. A bank has $50 million in assets, $47 million in liabilities and $3 million in shareholders' equity. If the duration of its liabilities are 1. and the bank wants to immunize its net worth against interest rate risk and thus set the duration of equity equal to zero, it should select assets with an average duration of _________. A. 1. 22 B. 1. 50 C. 1. 60 D. 2. 00 A bond pays annual interest. Its coupon rate is 9%. Its value at maturity is $1,000. It mat ures in four years. Its yield to maturity is currently 6%. 32. The duration of this bond is _______ years. A. 2. 44 B. 3. 23 C. 3. 56 D. 4. 10 33. The modified duration of this bond is ______ years. A. 4. 00 B. 3. 56 C. 3. 36 D. 3. 05 34. A bond with a 9-year duration is worth $1,080. 0 and its yield to maturity is 8%. If the yield to maturity falls to 7. 84%, you would predict that the new value of the bond will be _________. A. $1,035 B. $1,036 C. $1,094 D. $1,124 35. When interest rates increase, the duration of a 20-year bond selling at a premium _________. A. increases B. decreases C. remains the same D. increases at first, then declines 36. Duration facilitates the comparison of bonds with differing ___________ A. default risk B. conversion ratios C. maturities D. yields to maturity 37. The historical yield spread between the AA bond and the AAA bond has been 25 basis points.Currently the spread is only 9 basis points. If you believe the spread will soon return to its historic al levels you should ________________________. A. buy the AA and short the AAA B. buy both the AA and the AAA C. buy the AAA and short the AA D. short both the AA and the AAA 38. The duration of a bond normally increases with an increase in _________. I. term-to-maturity II. yield-to-maturity. III. coupon rate A. I only B. I and II only C. II and III only D. I, II and III 39. Compute the modified duration of a 9% coupon, 3-year corporate bond with a yield to maturity of 12%. A. 2. 45 B. 2. 75 C. 2. 88 D. 3. 00 40.An 8%, 30-year bond has a yield-to-maturity of 10% and a modified duration of 8. 0 years. If the market yield drops by 15 basis points, there will be a __________ in the bond's price. A. 1. 15% decrease B. 1. 20% increase C. 1. 53% increase D. 2. 43% decrease 41. To create a portfolio with a duration of 4 years using a 5 year zero-coupon bond and a 3 year 8% annual coupon bond with a yield to maturity of 10%, one would have to invest ________ of the portfolio value in the z ero-coupon bond. A. 50% B. 55% C. 60% D. 75% 42. Which of the following set of conditions will result in a bond with the greatest price volatility?A. A high coupon and a short maturity. B. A high coupon and a long maturity. C. A low coupon and a short maturity. D. A low coupon and a long maturity. 43. An investor who expects declining interest rates would maximize their capital gain by purchasing a bond that has a ___ coupon and a ___ term to maturity. A. low; long B. high; short C. high; long D. zero; long 44. A zero coupon bond is selling at a deep discount price of $430. 00. It matures in 13 years. If the yield to maturity of the bond is 6. 7%, what is the duration of the bond? A. 6. 7 years B. 8. 0 years C. 10 years D. 13 years 45.Convexity implies that duration predictions _______. I. underestimate the % increase in bond price when the yield falls II. underestimate the % decrease in bond price when the yield rises III. overestimates the % increase in bond price when the yield f alls IV. overestimates the % decrease in bond price when the yield rises A. I and III only B. II and IV only C. I and IV only D. II and III only 1. D2. B3. A4. C5. D6. B7. B8. D9. A10. A11. A12. D13. A14. A15. C16. A17. A18. A19. A20. D21. C22. C23. A24. C25. A27. C28. C29. C30. C31. A32. C33. C34. C35. B36. C37. C38. A39. A40. B41. B42. D43. D44. D45. C

Discussion-Reflections and Responses

What does Lynda Parry's comic strip suggest about children and drawing? What do they enjoy about it? Why might they suddenly stop drawing? What does Barry seem to be saying about the creative process In general? I believe that children love the Idea of drawing whatever Is on their mind. If something pops up, they could express themselves by drawing whatever It Is.Barry Is trying to say that children should draw no matter what happens. There may be times where they second guess homeless and that will have an effect on the final outcome. Children may suddenly stop drawing because they are being criticized by other students or even their teacher. Being criticized may bring them down and can have a negative feeling on them. By doing so, they will feel that art is not for them and not want to draw anymore. 2. What are the â€Å"two questions,† and how are they visualized throughout the comic strip?What does their appearance suggest about them? What is their connection to â€Å"goo d† drawings and â€Å"bad† drawings? What do you think the octopus-like creature is meant to suggest? What is the significance of the repeated phrase â€Å"don't know†? Two Questions is a comic strip about Lynda Barry and the art of cartons and drawing. This writer/artist had times of troubles that made her a better person. â€Å"Is it good,† â€Å"Does it suck,† were the two questions that were asked every time she had drawn something.Barry wanted to be a good artist, but she had her doubts about herself. She had to try and figure out the answers to her questions, but instead she shows objects and creatures that are trying to pull her down. For example, on page 66 there Is a picture of a creature that says â€Å"Man the torpedoes she's getting closer. † There are four different torpedoes that explain four different names: moron, genius, stupid, and brilliant. This signifies that she Is getting closer to the answer of these two questions. 3.C onsider â€Å"Two Questions† not as an Illustrated personal essay but as an amalgam of verbal and visual craft Intended as a unified creative process. Explain how Barry achieves this Integration of word, Image, and concept. How does she go about making drawing Inseparable from Its language? Barry achieves the Integration f everything by putting them all as one. Through word and Images a story comes about. She Illustrates what she Is felling and everything that Is on her mind. She sticks with one concept throughout the whole essay, which is drawing.The two word, image, and concept Barry came out with an meaningful essay that teaches a lesson. Peer Review What I learned from this paper is that kids like to think a lot and are also very creative when it comes drawing. I like how the author says that when she was younger she would Just make a few lines and the next thing you know she was drawing and she also says that every kid understands the concept behind that, it is something that doesn't not have to be taught to them they Just know how to draw.Kids will draw Just about anything monsters and even funny looking people. Brandon does a great Job of formulating his thoughts and answering the questions that were asked for this assignment. He referred to the text explicitly to give the reader an idea of what the â€Å"Two Questions† was about. He also mentioned the author's name at appropriate times and gave his own interpretation of the text and does a great Job of answering the questions required for this assignment.

Fungicides Market Trends Forecasts to 2019 Essays

Fungicides Market Trends Forecasts to 2019 Essays Fungicides Market Trends Forecasts to 2019 Essay Fungicides Market Trends Forecasts to 2019 Essay Fungicides Market by Type (Benzimidazoles, Dithiocarbamates, Phenylamides, Chloronitriles, Strobilurins, Triazoles,), by CROP Type (Cereals Grains, Oilseeds Pulses, Fruits Vegetables), by Geography – Global Trends Forecasts to 2019 The fungicides market has grown exponentially in the last few years and this growth is expected to continue. Numerous factors such as high cost of seeds, ease of application, modern production practices, new product offerings, increased availability, and increasing threat of fungal infections are the major causes of the increasing demand for fungicides. Fungicides inhibit the growth of pathogens so that plant tissues that provide carbohydrates to the grains are protected from damage. They are applied to the seed, in the furrow or directly onto the leaves and stems, as foliar sprays. The best approach to protect these tissues is by applying fungicides to seeds or as soil treatments or sprays during stem elongation. This helps in reducing the growth and reproduction of the fungus. Fungicides are better at protecting diseases than eradicating them. Early treatment given to crops can reduce the amount of airborne pathogens spreading from one crop to another. The European Union as well as the FDA (U.S.) is keeping a strict vigil on chemicals used in fungicides. Due to these restrictions, extensive investigation and progress is undertaken by key players to develop more environment-friendly fungicides as well as utilize biological sources for manufacturing them. : Complete report available @ rnrmarketresearch.com/fungicides-market-by-type-benzimidazoles-dithiocarbamates-phenylamides-chloronitriles-strobilurins-triazoles-by-crop-type-cereals-grains-oilseeds-pulses-fruits-vegetables-by-geog-market-report.html Companies are entering into distribution agreements to gain access to unexplored markets in the Asia-Pacific, Latin American, and the Middle Eastern regions. Reputed companies such as Bayer CropScience (Germany), BASF (Germany), Syngenta (Switzerland), and DuPont (U.S.) are investing in greenfield ventures in emerging economies to reap the benefits of low-cost

Dont Ask Dont Tell essays

Don't Ask Don't Tell essays We the Affirmative believe the United States Militarys Dont Ask, Dont Tell policy should be repealed. We argue that homosexuals are not a threat to the military, that the policy is a hardship on American taxpayers, and that the policy is not being administered properly and never has been. People are different. People have always been different; this isnt a new concept. There are differences ranging from physical appearance to political opinion to sexual orientation. Our society has consistently been confronted with and has consistently overcome those differences that may be a threat to human cohesion. Cohesion is an important term, used often in this debate. Websters Dictionary defines cohesion as The act or state of sticking together; close union. Proponents of the United States Militarys Dont Ask, Dont Tell policy frequently argue that homosexuals in the military are a threat to unit cohesion and morale, that the military is a much different society than what the average ci tizen lives in. Meaning that a heterosexual service member would have trouble serving with a homosexual one, and that despite growing acceptance of homosexuals in the workplace, school, and in general everyday life; the military is a different society than the world as we know it, and not as accepting. However, if you ask any Professor of Political Science they will all tell you what Dr. Roger Payne told me; that the military is supposed to represent the ideals of our culture. Since the invention of the military, it has been a common belief that unit cohesion is a necessity to the successful operation of any military force. We argue that homosexual service members, who have not tried to hide their sexual orientation, are in actuality not a threat to unit cohesion. Over one hundred years ago African Americans began to serve their country in the military despite beliefs f...

Defining Homogeneous Groups in Education

Defining Homogeneous Groups in Education Homogeneous groups in educational settings is defined as groups of students organized so that students of similar instructional levels are placed together, working on materials suited to their particular level, as determined through assessments.  These groups are also known as ability groups. Homogeneous groups can be contrasted directly with heterogeneous  groups  in which students of varying abilities are grouped together. Also Known As: Ability-Based Groups Examples of Homogenous Groups in Educational Settings When organizing reading groups, the teacher puts all of the high students together in their own group. Then, the teacher meets with all of the high readers at the same time and read a higher book with them, and so on, through the various reading levels that exist in the class. When composing classrooms for the year, a school may group the talented and gifted students into a TAG classroom, while grouping students who have intellectual, emotional, or physical challenges into a different classroom. Students who fall into the middle of the spectrum are assigned to a different classroom. Students may be grouped by ability for specific subjects, but be in a heterogenous classroom most of the day. There may be an advanced math group and a group for students who need more assistance in meeting grade level for math. Advantages of Homogenous Groups A homogenous group can have a lesson plan tailored to the ability of the group as a whole, rather than having to address students with a variety of abilities and needs. Students may feel more comfortable in a group of their peers who are able to learn at about the same speed. Advanced students may not feel the pressure they experience in a heterogenous group to be an assistant instructor and always help the students who are trailing. Advanced students may not feel held back to learn at a slower pace than they can achieve when with other advanced students. Parents of advanced students are often pleased that their child is in the advanced group. This may further spur the child to achieve even more. Students who have lesser abilities than average may feel less pressure when in a homogenous group. They may have felt stigmatized by always being the slowest learner in a heterogenous group. The teacher assigned to such a group may have additional training in assisting students who have special needs or a slower learning pace. Disadvantages of Homogenous Groups There has been a move away from homogenous groups. One reason is the stigmatization of groups of students of lesser learning ability, emotional needs, or physical needs. Some studies showed that reduced expectations for such groups were a self-fulfilling prophecy. Students may be given a curriculum that wasnt challenging and therefore didnt learn as much as they would in a heterogenous group. There have been concerns that minority and economically disadvantaged students were more likely to end up in a lower-level group. Students may have varying abilities by subject and therefore being grouped into a classroom that labels them either gifted or special needs ignores that they may be high-performing in some subjects and need more assistance in others.

Star report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Star report - Essay Example Though it is not as visible from the earth, the Proxima Centauri is the main sequence star. The star is thus the main sequence red dwarf star, and like the sun has a low luminous value compared to the degenerate (white) dwarf stars that run on star remnants. The energy generated by the star (magnetic, X-Rays, and surface flares), is promoted by the thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen not accumulating helium ash at the core. This lengthens the lifespan of the star, which is estimated to be when the star burns through all of its fuel. The Proxima Centauri is the star nearest to the sun. As such, its nomenclature is founded in the distance to the sun. The term Proxima is derived from Latin and translates either as ‘next to’ or ‘nearest to’. It applies to both the sun and the earth, as it is the closest star to the earth after the sun, making the name proper name. Discovered in 1915 by Robert Innes (Scotsman), it is located in the G-cloud in the Centaurus constellation, with an estimated orbital period of more than half a million years (Benedict et al 1086). The myth to the constellation is that it was believed to be a bison-man by the Babylonians, similar to the Greek and Roman concept of the centaur, half horse-man. The star has a visual magnitude of 11.05 and is only visible with the use of visual aids, but its absolute visual magnitude is 15.5. Its invisibility to the naked eye follows the limitation of the eye’s visual magnitude, placed at 6. There are proposals that suggest that the star makes up the triple star system with the A and B Alpha Centauri. Such is part of the binary Alpha Centauri with about 0.237 Â ±0.011 ly (about 15.000 Â ± 700 AU (Astronomical Unit) (Benedict et al 1088). Considering its proximity, the angular diameter (1.02 Â ± 0.08 milliarcsec.), and length from the sun, its diameter has been determined as a seventh that of the sun. With this

Corporate Planning Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Corporate Planning - Coursework Example The manager can then postpone the decision or take no action. The second reason why managers may fail to make a decision is need to maintain the status quo. The company may be performing extremely well and the manager may wish to pursue existing strategies to maintain good performance. Alternatively, the manager may be undergoing high pressure to comply with existing rules, policies or procedures. Consequently, the manager will have little room to introduce change. Therefore, maintaining status quo becomes better option. Sales forecasting is one of the core functions of the sales and marketing department. Sales forecasts must be realistic and inspiring to the sales and marketing department as well as to other departments of the company. Inspiring and achievable sales forecasts can be achieved by considering internal and external factors that affect company’s performance. The first issue is the internal environment of the company. Internal environment of the company is comprised of key personnel in the sales and marketing department, finance department and production department. The key personnel in the above key departments should be involved during sales projections. According to Haines (2008), sales executives should set their own sales targets. The managers of key departments proceed to discuss the targets and check if they are achievable. For example, the production managers confirm if sales targets are in tandem with the production capacity and finance managers confirms if the targets ar e in line with company’s revenue targets. The second factor to be considered when a company makes sales forecast is the external environment. External environment include the competition, purchasing power of the consumer, political events, fashion and styles, changes in population, and the state of the economy. The sales forecast team should make use of facts from the

The Common Goal and the Overall Productivity of the Organization Research Paper

The Common Goal and the Overall Productivity of the Organization - Research Paper Example The above performance appraisal form has been prepared for the supervisors to estimate his/her performances on a regular basis. The rating scale consists of nine parameters ranging from Excellent to Low. The supervisor will be evaluated based on the performance within a certain stipulated time. Seven performance factors have been taken into account since they are the key skills that a supervisor needs to possess. These factors are administration, knowledge of work, communication, teamwork, decision making, leadership and scheduling. It is to state that greater weight has been provided to the decision making, teamwork, leadership, communication and knowledge of work because these are the most essential skills that the supervisor’s job demands. Communication relates to how efficiently a supervisor is listening to his subordinates. It also intends to identify whether the supervisor demonstrates his ideas orally and in writing or not. The other factor to consider is whether the su pervisor reports to the management regarding the co-workers on a regular basis. Conversely, comparatively less weight has been provided to scheduling and administration since they are comparatively less significant; however, are important skills that are required. After having assessed the performance of an employee, it is vital to provide feedback on the performance that needs improvement and thus plan the activities that the organization along with the supervisor needs to take to make advancement in the performance. The plan can be to provide training to the supervisors. The evaluator also needs to check the reason behind the unsatisfactory performance and thus plan their actions accordingly.

Case study Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 7

Case study - Assignment Example However, the author also notices that there are situations that fixing may not be a good option, when the employee shows disinterest in the duties and underperforms, this may affect the other employees performances and the department or company’s position (46). In this case, firing is the better option. An effective employment termination plan should include these three key things. First, the plan should have a way that prevents the employee from seeking delay or postponement of the process by seeking help from the authority above the immediate manager or to other departments (52). This is avoided by having the communication about the termination received and supported by the supervisors above you and other departments such as human resource approval. Secondly, the plan should include activities immediately to secure the companys assets that were under the employee (53). This is done through change of passwords, repossession of rights and materials and escorting of the terminated employee to make sure he or she leaves the compound as fast as possible. The third requirement of the plan is to have administrative support and presence in the termination process (55). This helps to have a witness and to indicate that the decision has been made with the involvement of all the administrat ion. Underperformance in any business is costly and brings the company down in an effort to reach their goals. This is the main reason the managers should always monitor the employees’ performance and make decisions related to fixing or firing employees. Some employees however may try to rationalize their underperformance. First, the underperforming employees may appear to follow the example of another employee who underperforms and the company or the manager does nothing about it (46). They, therefore, feel that the level of performance demonstrated by this employee is acceptable. Secondly, the employees may use the

Philosophy ESSAY 2 - Business and Professional Ethics

Philosophy 2 - Business and Professional Ethics - Essay Example This paper will refute this argument in the pursuit of justifying whistle-blowing as a social and moral duty to secure the interests of society. Renowned American economist Milton Friedman offered a landmark statement when he suggested that corporate social responsibility means, primarily, making money for stockholders and implying that ethical behaviour is therefore good for shareholder wealth (Nickels et al, 2005). Friedmans suggestion indicates that business maintains a duty to those who invest in the success of an organization and must work to ensure that it bases its activities chiefly to secure the financial well-being of shareholders. Enron Corporation, a now infamous American company which was bankrupted virtually overnight for eliciting false accounting practices, offered global business a learning lesson on truth in financial disclosure, insider trading, and the ethical fiduciary responsibilities of corporate managers and directors (Berenbeim, 2002). Enron Corp. failed in its duty to sustain its responsibility to its employees and shareholders, thus offering a blow to all of society, and was publicly exposed for it s corruption by internal employees who blew the whistle on Enrons false activities. In the situation with Enron, the whistleblowers infringed on the precept of employee loyalty and, most likely, felt it was their social duty to expose corruption within the organization. However, loyalty is a feature of special, mutually-enriching relationships in which self-interest may be forfeited without anticipation for reward (Powerpoint, 2006). The key words are mutually-enriching and in the case of Enron, the whistle-blowers witnessed the firms failure to fulfil its duty and thus viewed exposure as more than merely a right, but a duty to act in a morally responsible manner to reclaim a sense of business ethics and protect investors from fraud. Thus, the whistle-blowers enacted their perceptions of justice against Enron. The term justice has been

Case study Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 7

Case study - Assignment Example However, the author also notices that there are situations that fixing may not be a good option, when the employee shows disinterest in the duties and underperforms, this may affect the other employees performances and the department or company’s position (46). In this case, firing is the better option. An effective employment termination plan should include these three key things. First, the plan should have a way that prevents the employee from seeking delay or postponement of the process by seeking help from the authority above the immediate manager or to other departments (52). This is avoided by having the communication about the termination received and supported by the supervisors above you and other departments such as human resource approval. Secondly, the plan should include activities immediately to secure the companys assets that were under the employee (53). This is done through change of passwords, repossession of rights and materials and escorting of the terminated employee to make sure he or she leaves the compound as fast as possible. The third requirement of the plan is to have administrative support and presence in the termination process (55). This helps to have a witness and to indicate that the decision has been made with the involvement of all the administrat ion. Underperformance in any business is costly and brings the company down in an effort to reach their goals. This is the main reason the managers should always monitor the employees’ performance and make decisions related to fixing or firing employees. Some employees however may try to rationalize their underperformance. First, the underperforming employees may appear to follow the example of another employee who underperforms and the company or the manager does nothing about it (46). They, therefore, feel that the level of performance demonstrated by this employee is acceptable. Secondly, the employees may use the

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Ground Support Equipment Business Proposal Essay

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Ground Support Equipment Business Proposal - Essay Example Unmanned Aerial Vehicle supports both war missions. Mission success depends on the airworthiness of the aircraft. Every aircraft are suspected of structural degradation throughout its lifetime. Maintainers of the aircraft require equipment that has already been tested and safe for use. The second part of our business will focus on providing replacement parts for the ground support equipment. Ground support equipment is required to safely handle aircraft parts. Nine out of ten aircraft parts will be transported from the hangar to the field. Ground support equipment will provide that ease. Mission Statement Our mission is to build, create and implement a safety program that would meet our aviation communities’ expectation. Our product will be the end result of our mission statement: quality. We also have high expectations of being a manufacturer who will guarantee high value; high quality and we will exceed our customer’s expectations. Executive Summary I propose that our company would be called FUGENAV. I combined the word future, generation and aviation to come up with FUGENAV. This is only my proposal and is subject to change upon request. The United States military are wide spread across the globe. I propose that we stay within close proximity to the busiest military airfield. The busiest military airfield is located on Fort Bragg, NC. We could sell our products and ideas to the military as a startup. We would provide demonstration and loan some equipment with a fee. General support equipment could be used to transport an aircraft parts. Aircraft are disassembled down to the fuselage. All aircraft parts must be stowed away properly so that damages does not incur. Unmanned aerial vehicles are small enough that we could build trailers to move the aircraft from point A to point B. There are an abundance of ideas that we could use to support the different types of unmanned aerial vehicle. We could build ground support equipment tha t pertains to the different types of unmanned aerial vehicles. There are over fifteen different types of unmanned aerial vehicles used today. For example, I will list the different types of unmanned aerial vehicle used by the US military today: US Air force: Wasp Block III Gnat 750 MQ-1 Predator MQ-9 Reaper RQ-4 Global Hawk RQ-3 Dark Star RQ-170 Sentinel US Marine Corps: Dragon Eye RQ-11B Raven B RQ-2 Pioneer US Army RQ-11A/B Raven RQ-7A/B Shadow 200 RQ-5A MQ-5A/B Hunter MQ-1c Gray Eagle Any aircraft require periodic maintenance to keep them airworthy. Every aircraft listed is build and designed differently. I believe we could provide the right equipment needed to conduct safe maintenance. We would provide the equipment that is safe and user-friendly. Our product will be built with quality, two year warranty, provide training to properly use the equipment, and develop good relationship with our customers. Introduction The rationale of this business plan is to delineate the goals we will pursue for the foundation, development and operation of an aviation ground support equipment safety program. All aviation equipment is required by FAA to be inspected for deficiencies so that it could mitigate risk. The US military, commercial airlines, and aircraft owners require ground support equipment to properly fix an aircraft. Our business will provide that service for companies like Boeing and the US military. FAA requires that products manufactured meet

Team Building Essay Example for Free

Team Building Essay Discuss and compare the different types of team and the benefits of different teams for different objectives Introduction The organisation that I will be talking about is Arsenal Football Club. Arsenal Football Club is a professional football team in the premier division of the English Football League which is run by the Football Association. Arsenal Football Club is an informal and formal team. They are formal on the pitch because they have to respect each other as well as the referee. Off the pitch Arsenal Football Club are an informal team this is shown by the way the players communicate with each other; be it verbal or non-verbal. Another Way that it is apparent that Arsenal Football Club is an informal team is by their use of body language towards each other. The size of Arsenal Football Club is large as there is more than one team because there is the backroom staff team, coaching team and the team of footballers who play week in-week out. The interesting factor about Arsenal Football Club is that without one of these three teams the others wont function properly, so in order to keep the balance all three teams have to work together with each other to make sure that their aims and targets are met. Responsibilities Team Business Line management Backroom staff To make sure the players are fit to play, to make sure the kits are ready, to keep the pitch neat and finely cut To treat injured players in the correct manner, Coaching team To train the players each week, sort out tactics, pick the team, assign the captain, sort out player and staff contracts To make sure the tactics that are being used are getting the right results, to make sure that all players/staff contracts dont expire Football players To perform on the pitch, to increase shirt sales through performance, to advertise club merchandise To make sure they win as many games as possible, to listen and follow the coaching teams instructions Organisation chart Types of Teams Benefits of Working in Teams There are many different types of teams. My personal definition of the phrase team-work is working in a group to contribute ideas and thought; and then working together to follow up these ideas. It could also mean supporting one another in a group. Group dynamics is the study of groups, and also a general term for group processes. Relevant to the fields of communication studies, a group is two or more individuals who are connected to each other by social relationships. Because they interact and influence each other, groups develop a number of dynamic processes that separate them from a random collection of individuals. These processes include roles, relations, development, need to belong, social influence, and effects on behaviour. The field of group dynamics is primarily concerned with small group behaviour. Other types of teams include: * Task Force a temporary team assembled to investigate a specific issue or problem * Problem Solving Team a temporary team assembled to solve a specific problem. * Product Design Team a temporary team assembled to design a new product or service. * Committee a temporary or permanent group of people assembled to act upon some matter. * Work Group a permanent group of workers who receive direction from a designated leader. * Work Team an ongoing group of workers who share a common mission who collectively manage their own affairs within predetermined boundaries. * Quality Circle a group of workers from the same functional area who meet regularly to uncover and solve work-related problems and seek work improvement opportunities. I will now state each type of team whilst listing their advantages and disadvantages. Types of teams Advantages Disadvantages Formal Organised, well structured, professional, punctual Usually more work expected, have to dress alike with other employees, more tension to meet deadlines Informal Laid back, relaxed, casual, non-fixed hours Lack of structure could lead to reduction in professionalism Small Focus, Clarity, in a smaller team, everyone has a line of sight to everyone else, interaction less range of ideas, losing one person can stall a lot of work, slow rate of production, since theres less of them there would be more work for each of them to do when they share it out Large More ideas, more production, people can be covered during days off Costs more, can be conflicts, too many people can slow the rate of work Temporary Meet new people, inject new ideas to the project, learn new skills You lose good friends, take long to adjust to specific roles, Permanent Trust, loyalty, fixed-schedule, long term If you dislike someone in your team they will remain there. If you dislike your job you will have to keep it. Contribution to Organisational Productivity My chosen organisations goals are to win as many games in the season as they can, to win silverware each year and to beat all rivals. The way that this becomes possible each year is by the team working together to achieve these goals. Each of my chosen teams within the organisation has to do their specified jobs otherwise the goals arent achieved. Because the teams have been together for such a long time, they have developed a familiarity with the roles of each other and so often they are able to stand in for each other. Because the employees know each other well enough they have learnt to trust each other and know what will happen in certain situations on the football field. Reducing Alienation Within every team, every member of the team has a certain part to play and this helps motivate each member because they can feel as if without them the team isnt complete and so they can feel proud of their contributions as they feel part of a team. This reduces alienation. Team members can learn from one another which would lead to increased respect for each other because they are able to see the skills that they have and realise how difficult it is to do what they do. We can relate this to Belbins theory which indentified nine team members within the team. According to Belbins theory of nine team roles, building working teams would be advised to ensure that each of the roles can be performed by a team member. Some roles are compatible and can be more easily fulfilled by the same person; some are less compatible and are likely to be done well by people with different behavioural clusters. This means that a team need not be as many as nine people, but perhaps should be at least three or four including the main team members who are the leader, plant, implementer and the co-ordinator . While comparisons can be drawn between Belbins behavioural team roles and personality types, the roles represent tasks and functions in the self-management of the teams activities. Here is a table showing the role of each member and their characteristics. Role characteristics Plant Creative, imaginative, unorthodox, solves difficult problems Resource investigator Extrovert, enthusiastic, communicative, explores opportunities, develops contacts Co-ordinator Mature, confident, clarifies goals, promotes decision making, delegates well Shaper Challenging, thrives on pressure, dynamic, has drive and courage to overcome obstacles Monitor or evaluator Sober, strategic, discerning, judges accurately Team worker Co-operative, mild, perceptive, diplomatic, listens, build, averts friction Implementer Disciplined, reliable conservative, efficient, turns ideas into practical actions Completer or finisher Painstaking, searches out errors and omissions, delivers on time, anxious, conscientious Specialist Single minded, self starting, dedicated, provides knowledge and skills in rare supply Sharing Expertise If a team had too many of one particular role than the effect and impact of this on the overall performance would be awful because you would have a lot of team members who could do a similar job to one another and so the level of productivity would decrease as they would have similar ideas to one another. Another problem with this could be that the team members would lose respect for one another because, as I mentioned earlier, each member of the team gains respect for one another because they have the skills to do something that they themselves cannot do. So if they all have similar skills than they would lose respect for one another which would mean that the team would perform as well as they should. Another problem with this is that if, for example, you had a lot of members who Belbin described as plants and no-one who was an implementer than there would be no reason for the team to exist as the aims of the team wouldnt be achieved because of the lack of the implementer, who turns the plants creative ideas into practical actions. Opportunities to Identify Talent One of the great things about Arsenal Football Club is that they allow the team members to freely express their talents. One great example of this would be the fact that The Manager, Arsene Wenger, has a fabulous scouting network which goes all around the world looking for the best talents. Once they recruit player into the youth team then they have them train with other player who they feel are of similar level as one another, this gives them a feeling that they are all equal which rises their confidence. They constantly put youth players, who have developed enough, into the first team and turn them into world-class players. A few examples of this would be: * Cesc Fabregas, bought in from Barcelona youth academy at the age of 16 and is now a regular at Arsenal Football Club as well as being the youngest ever scorer for the club. * Thierry Henry, bought from Juventus at the age of 21 when he wasnt being given enough playing time, moved him to the striker position and is now the clubs all-time top scorer. * Theo Walcott, bought from Southampton at the age of 16 for à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½5 million, and is now in the full England international team. The way the club explore a players talents is mainly though training sessions. Another way they explore talent is by using the team members in positions that they arent used to, for example using Theo Walcott who is a striker as a right winger to see what his attacking attributes are like. Implementing change There are many problems in trying to force change within a team. In doing this some of the team members might feel less values as they might have less or more to do, than the other members, than they had before. A team can influence change in both a positive way and a negative way. The positives could be that: * The team end product wasnt efficient enough so the change helps increase efficiency * Members of the team might fell more valued as they have more responsibility on their shoulders * Could boost morale * Would increase personal development The negatives could be that: * Stop personal development * Decrease performance * Lose respect for fellow team members * Members lose focus * Poor organisational structure * Decrease efficiency Fostering Innovation A team is much more creative than individuals because a team takes the skills from each member of the team and puts it together to increase the efficiency. The good thing about having a team is that the different roles can help certain members focus because of an authority figure giving them orders. Accountability Overall Organisation Objective Team Objective Individual Objective * To remove the debts owed to banks * To make the organisation known worldwide * Sell out matches every week * To increase revenue * Go as far as they can in all competitions * To score as many goals as they can * Beat all rivals * Win all competitions * Reducing reliance on key individuals by learning from each other * To improve personal skills * To contribute to the team * To earn the right to get a pay increase * To get into the starting eleven * To become a fans favourites Team Building My chosen organisation has to make a lot of considerations when recruiting new team members. The main consideration would be are they worth their value; because Arsenal Football Club is part of the Football Association, they have to abide to rules which are set out to make the game as fair as possible. So when Arsenal Football Club needs to recruit team members from other organisations, they have to either pay a compensation fee or a transfer fee (which can be rejected). Another consideration they have to take is will the new team member be able to give the team something which they dont already have. This is very important because if they have enough strikers, for example, then there is no need to go out and buy another one because it would just be a waste of money. The only reason that doing this could be justified is the age factor, this is when Arsenal Football Club buys new team members because they will be challenging the current team members in a few years or the fact that they will be put into the reserves or youth academies. The most important factor that they must see is whether the new team member will have the correct characteristics. This has been shown in the past as Arsenal Football Club have released very good players with a lot of potential because they did not have the correct attitude; a good example of this is David Bentleys transfer to Blackburn F.C. and of course Ashley Coles transfer to bitter rivals Chelsea F.C. One of the most important facts about Arsenal Football Club is that they always build towards the future. Currently Arsenal Football Club have 27 first team players and 29 reserve team players, so this shows the hard work that Arsenal Football Club have put in to ensure the long term future of the club. Tuckmans Theory Bruce Tuckman published a five stage theory in which it explains team development and behaviour. His theory explains that as the team develops maturity and ability, relationships establish, and the leader changes leadership style. It begins with a directing style, moving through coaching, then participating and finishing delegating and almost detached. At this stage the team will name a successor to the previous leader, who will now go on and develop a new team. The final stage is the breakup of the group, usually when the task is completed successfully. Tuckmans Theory Diagram Reference: www.businessballs.com Progression of Tuckmans Theory * Forming high dependence on leader for guidance and direction * Storming team members attempt to establish themselves in relations to other team members and the leader * Norming agreement and consensus is formed among team, who respond well to facilitation by leader * Performing team is more strategically aware; they know why they do what they do * Adjourning breaks up of the group, hopefully when the task is completed successfully Induction This only applies to when Arsenal Football Club buy players for the team. The induction usually happens just after the transfer where the player is shown around the clubs facilities, training ground and stadium. Once that is complete the player is usually drafted into the first team for pre-season. Here the player can get to know the other team members and communicating with them will help the new team member realise what the teams goals are so that he can participate in helping the team achieve these goals. Motivation Maslows Hierarchy of Needs 1. Concept of hierarchy of needs Abraham Maslow 2. Need = personal requirement 3. Maslow assumed people are beings who seek to fulfil needs in their order of importance. Maslow suggests we move up the ladder of needs and are motivated by the lower needs first; do not need to completely satisfy needs on a lower level in order to start work on needs of higher level, Maslows hierarchy provides useful way to view employee motivation and as a guide for management. Herzbergs Motivators and Hygiene Factors Frederick Herzbergs studies of job attitudes and their connection with industrial mental health are related to Maslows theory of motivation. His findings have had a considerable influence on attitudes toward administration. According to Herzberg, the employee is not content with the satisfaction of lower-order needs at work, for example, those associated with minimum salary levels or safe and pleasant working conditions. He instead looks for the gratification of higher-level psychological needs having to do with achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, and the nature of the work itself. Herzberg added a new dimension to this theory by proposing a two-factor model of motivation, based on the notion that the presence of one set of job characteristics or incentives lead to worker satisfaction at work, while another and separate set of job characteristics lead to dissatisfaction at work. Thus, satisfaction and dissatisfaction are independent factors. Examples of Hygiene factors (dissatisfaction) * The organization * Its policies and its administration * The kind of supervision which people receive while on the job * Working conditions * Interpersonal relations * Salary * Status * Job security Examples of Motivator factors (satisfaction) * Achievement * Recognition * Growth / advancement * Interest in the job McGregors Theory X and Y Theory X Theory X suggests that individuals have an instilled dislike for work and try to avoid it. Therefore all workers dislike work, try to avoid work, are born inherently lazy, must be constantly dominated into doing a honest days work and only turn up to work to collect their pay. This means that employees must be controlled by threat in order to perform. Such an employee prefers to be directed, avoids responsibility, is explicit, and prefers security above all else. Theory Y Theory Y assumes that employees basically like to work and view work as something rather natural; the worker views this as a potentially enjoyable and positive experience. It brings forward that there are ways to make individuals perform other than through control and punishment. If the employee is committed to the mission of the department he or she will become a self directed employee. Job satisfaction means commitment to the department and its objectives. Under the proper conditions, the employee will learn and lead in to acceptance of responsibility. Many employees can solve problems no matter how big or small. Team Cohesion The definition of the word cohesive is sticking together. In cohesive teams some team members tend to concentrate on task functions while others focus on process maintaining roles. Poor morale The main reasons for poor morale are: * Negative event, such as a firing * Promotion of an employee when others are overlooked * Arguments between staff and/or management * Lack of the companys financial health * Too much or too heavy of a workload * Unappreciated or underappreciated work * Working conditions * Supervision thats too rigid, demanding, direct or involved in the work process * Supervision thats not supportive or strong enough, and doesnt provide needed guidance or input To increase morale you should: * Show concern * Provide appropriate feedback * Create goals * Offer recognition of the employees efforts After analysing each theory I have come to the conclusion that Herzbergs motivators and hygiene factor are best related to Arsenal Football Club. This is due to the fact that the employees of Arsenal Football Club are motivated to achieve whats best for them and the organisation yet they might be dissatisfied due to the pay that they are receiving or their status within the club or maybe even the way the organisation is run. Staff turnover High turnover often means that employees are unhappy with the work or compensation, but it can also indicate unsafe or unhealthy conditions, or that too few employees give satisfactory performance, due to unrealistic expectations or poor candidate screening. Low turnover indicates that none of the above is true: employees are satisfied, healthy and safe, and their performance is satisfactory to the employer. Employee retention To increase employee retention, the employer should: * Integrate performance management including goal setting * Give and receive feedback * Recognize and value employees * Coach employee performance * Handle employee complaints and problems * Provide a motivating work environment * Hold career development discussions with employees Stopping Team Conflict The best way to stop team conflict is to set up clear roles and responsibilities, accountability and goals for each team member that accomplishes the team mission. Then hold each team member accountable to the established team standard. It is also advisable to document your work processes so each team member understands how they fit in the whole picture and how they impact each other. Finally punish the troublemakers by using team feedback and a conflict resolution process. Leadership Having the correct leader for any team is very important because this causes serious changes to the team. Having a disorganised leader for any team will cause the members of the team to lose respect for the leader and each other in the team. Whereas having someone who is punctual, organised, good communicator and who has an interest in the team will be beneficial to the team as this will motivate the team members to respect one another, work harder, and become more efficient as well as having a good organisational structure within the team. Training/Coaching/Mentoring The players of Arsenal Football Club are constantly trained, several times a week, to prepare them for the football games against other football teams. Within the training sessions they discuss tactics which are done accordingly to players skill levels. This helps them become more confident and their skills levels improve as well as their teamwork. The reason their teamwork increases is because they learn to play with the same team members every week so they get used to the way they play and they can adjust their playing style to suit that of the team so the efficiency increases. The difference between training, coaching and mentoring is that: * Training is teaching a team member a certain skill so they can use it to their advantage within the team and for the teams benefit, passing the ball for example * Coaching is supporting, explaining, demonstrating, instructing and directing team members through encouragement and asking questions * Mentoring is focusing on a certain aspect of a team members skill and working on that until it improves, speed for example. This is much more personal and takes longer for the team member to learn the skill because of the fact that you focus on this single skill until it is gained

Operations Management At Mcdonalds Management Essay

Operations Management At Mcdonalds Management Essay What is Operation Management? Operations Management is an activity of management which is concerned with the production and delivery of products and service to an organization. The operations functionis the part of the organization that is responsible for this activity. Every organization has an operations function Operation management is very important for any company. And by this function company can grow-up and moving in right way. For example Mc Donalds Mc Donald Corporation was Born in 1940s. It was the first fast food industry in the world market.   And who started a chain system in the world market. It serves some of the world favourite and famous food like French fries, Big Quarter Pounder, Chicken Nuggets and sausage McMuffin with egg as a breakfast. Mc Donald is the leading global food service retailer with more than 33000 local restaurants served by more than 1.7 million   employees p in 122 different countries. Mc donalds serves more than 49 Million customers around the world each and every day. More than 80% of Mc Donalds restaurant worldwide ran by independent local distributor and local public. Mc Donald corporation is grew from beginners and Every year they produce new product or scheme for   attract a customer. By latest news McDonalds introduce a new product as fruit maple oatmeal in its menu in 2011. Mc donald is using a Operation Management system for be in a International market. McDonld process McDonalds manufacturing process is completely transparent to the customer and in the market. Even A customer can see the process of the fast food and they can judge to hygienic standards at Mc Donalds by allowing them to enter where the process took place. A customer has allow to check the ingredients used in food. Inputs Material-Other procedures where the material use which can called a preparation. We have to prepare for all kind of material for making fast food. And Raw material are arranged acoording to the requirement. Example : Ready all kind of sauce, make a ready all vegetable and salads to ready for serve, burgers, Cheese, Chips and extra. Information -Information could do so to transform their informationalproperties. A change the possessionof the information. Example: Mc Donald research market to sell information. Store information about past experience and data about McDonalds Company. Facilities: McDonald has a all kind of facilities for making a food and preparing a food and servicing facility. They have buildings, equipment, plant and process technology of the operation. They provide a good arrangement for workers, servicing. They provide storage and administrative areas. The facility is designed by traditional techniques, scale plans, diagrams, and travel charring very lower cost. Staff   In the McDonalds the people who operates, maintain, plan and manage the operation. the term ‘staff to describe all the people in the Main operation, and any kind of operation. Transformational process The steps needed to transforming inputs into outputs. This is a Main part of transforming process. By transforming process Mc Donald handle a input and outputs servicing and It and maintain Quality services. Output The output has a required to the product and service by the customer. By output Mc Donald give aGood service to customer and satisfaction. They also believe to provide a quality product to a customer. Quality Management Mc Donald maintaining the quality of the goods and services so It can meet the minimum requirements laid by the corporation. For manage and maintain the quality of the product and services they must adobe a quality checks procedure. Quality in McDonald   is very important. And its depend on two main reasons. One reason that, its a legal requirements of the quality of fast food served. And Secondly ,to Maintain the good reputation about McDonalds Corporation earned over the years. Its   very difficult to maintain an quality of food   and therefore McDonalds carry on a number of practices to Double check that quality food is served. Some of these practices are the visited by the food inspector from the Food and Hygienic, supervisor checks etc. 4v challenges in Mc Donald The volume of their output; The variety of their output; The variation in the demand for their output; The degree of visibility which customers have of the production of the product or service. The volume dimension High-volume hamburger production is McDonalds, and they serve millions of burgers in the world each and every. Volume has most thing to implications for the way McDonalds operations are organized. First reason is the repeatabilityof the tasks people are doing and the systemizationof the worked where standard procedures are fix in a manual, with instructions with big volume of the job should be carried out. Also the tasks are systematized and repeated, it is worthwhile developing specialized fryers and ovens. All this given by low unit costs. Now consider a small local cafeteria serving a few ‘short order dishes. The range of items on the menu may be similar to the larger operation, but the volume will be more less than large operation.   And a degree of repetition will also be far lower. and the number of staff will be less. The variety dimension Mc Donald company offers a high-variety service. It may confine its   different type of   fast foods, servicing of people in the restaurant. In order to offer this variety it must be relatively flexible. Employee must have a good knowledge about customer like and dislike. So they can prepaid for that. The variation dimension MC Donald company has a variation dimension in a year. Basically Mc Donald has variation in products. Like, Hot food, and Cold drinks and Ice creams and different type of cold drinks. And Hot chocolates. Customers like cold drinks in summer times than in the middle of winter. And Customer like to drink Hot chocolates in winter time. They have different breakfast as per seasonal time. The visibility dimension Visibility is a slightly more difficult dimension of operations to envisage. It means how much of the operations activities its customers experience, or how much the operation is exposedto its customers. Generally, customer-processing operations are more exposed to their customers than material- or information-processing operations. But even customer processing operations have some choice as to how visible they wish their operations to be. For example, in clothes retailing, an organization could decide to operate as a chain of conventional shops. Alternatively, it could decide not to have any shops at all but rather to run an internet-based operation. Performance Objectives of every organization There are five performance objectives. Speed Cost Quality Dependability Flexibility Organizational structure of McDonalds, affects its performance and helps it to meet its objectives. The organizational structure of McDonalds has a big impact in helping the restaurant to have an effective performance and also boost it to meet its objectives. The production area of McDonalds by ensuring that there is enough food products, packaging for food in order for the restaurant to operate each day, and to requirement of the customers, and that customers needs are met properly. To do this McDonalds orders the food that it require from the suppliers in bulk whenever needed; this is essential due to McDonalds serving the food over a number of customers every day, the restaurant required to be good equipped with food items and packaging for the food so that it can run successfully and not have customers complaining due to the lack of food this According to my study McDonalds has two main performance objectives. Speed How much the time to customer has to stay for their product and the services its called speed. McDonalds aim for drive-thru is 90 seconds. But that is just regular documentation for the report not for every time. Here speed is main objective for McDonalds drive-thru performance, so they have to be accurate on that. If they cant keep that speed for serve the customer in drive-thru during busy time customer will unhappy with the services. For progress that performance McDonalds need to modify the policy and the system to serve the customer that will consume the time to chase the customers order in-time. For perform excellent process they have to follow the sequencing regulations, like when the customer will come first, than priority for that customer is high than the next customer. According to the sequencing system in McDonalds they wish First-In-First-Out Sequencing rules. Some time it could be change on order. If they make two different queues for serve the customer fast by customer s order number. It means two different queues for big and little order that will be supportive to McDonalds serving speed. Cost Cost is usually main objective for McDonalds. For organization complete in price, cost must be a significant objective. If they produce lower price product than it would be cheap for the customer. Most of the organization spends the money first for staff wages, after that machinery, stuff, tools and services. McDonalds provide low cost product. McDonalds food is very cheaper than other Companies food. Mc Donalds give an offer to customers in a meal deal, Burger, sandwich and   more number of people will be attracted by offer and McDonald average cost will decrease. Mcdonalda in some cost cutting strategy include are also investing in energy-saving to equipment Quality Mcdonalds food quality is as good as at used to be long time,this restaurant is already go through periodic inspections in item of quality food,in mcdonalds improving to tranning process and taking care of employees. Well i think the quality and menu at McDonalds needs to improve. Whats with the quarter pounders meat sticking out of the bun? Bun should be the same size as the meat, baru okay for the price that we are paying. For the past 20 years weve all been eathing the same thing, whats new Fold over, Quarter Pounder, Prosperity Burger, Big and Tasty Samurai Burger, Chicken Mc Deluxe all etc. CONCLUSION: We learn from above assignment that operations management is very important for any company as they have a partnership with the overall strategy of the organisation. Mc Donald used an Operation Management system in there channel. And by using a OM system Mc Donald company grow up year by year. McDonalds believes that the success of the restaurants and the company is achieved through the people it employs. MC Donald has a powerful five performance obejectives.The company aims to recruit the best people, to retain them by offering ongoing training relevant to their position and to promote them when they are ready.OM contributes to the strategy and they helps the organisation to gain competitive advantage. For an immediate basis, process planning can help the organisation reduce cost and gain cost advantages and therefore gain competitive advantage. Therefore the organisations must effectively manage the operations of the business as it has a massive effect on the strategy of the organi sation.

Comparing the Movies, Fight Club and Gladiator Essay -- Film Compare C

Comparing the Movies, Fight Club and Gladiator People today enjoy the same things that people enjoyed during the Roman Empire. In the movie, Gladiator, Maximus fights in the Coliseum in front of all the people of Rome. In the movie Fight Club they have fights between different people in front of all the people of the club. This shows that people who lived 1000s of years before us where entertained by violence just like most of us are today. The theme that ties both Fight Club and Gladiator together is people are entertained by violence. The movie Gladiator starts off by Maximus Decimus Meridas, who is played by Russel Crowe, being a respected general of Rome. Maximus leads the Roman army in a successful defeat against the barbarians. After this battle is over Maximus is confronted by the elderly Roman emperor and he tells him that he will be the next emperor of Rome when he passes away. The emperor’s son (Commodus) hears of this and murders his father. Now he is Emperor Commodus and orders to kill Maximus and his family. His family is murdered but Maximus ge...

Pay Structure

Range of grade and pay systems / structures, their ‘fit’ for organisational context and link to strategy 1. Pay structure (3 or 4) Broad-banding Job family Spot rates 2. 2 Performance Appraisal Armstrong (1998) points out that the performance appraisal schemes is essential for organization which often contain ratings of performance factors, such as volume, quality and knowledge of work, dependability, innovation, staff development and communication and an overall rating. Clive Fletcher (1997) states that the first step to appraise performance is to decide on the aims of appraisal from both organization and participants’ perspective.The appraisal principle today stresses the importance of fairness within organization. From organization perspective, there are five basic appraisal principles of performance, which are improving performance, motivating staff, succession planning, identifying potential, promoting manager-subordinate dialogue and formal assessment of uns atisfactory performance. While participants will pay more attention to the accurate and fair of assessment, the quality of their current relationship with appraiser, and the influence of appraisal on their reward and welfare.David A. Hume (1998) concludes six most common performance appraisal systems which are most effective are as follows: †¢ Appraisal by superior’s superior †¢ Appraisal by personnel staff †¢ Appraisal by peers †¢ Appraisal by subordinates †¢ Self- Appraisal †¢ Appraisal by assessment centre These performance appraisal systems can be realized by documentation such as rating (alphabetical/numerical/graphical), forced choice rating and free/controlled written report.What’s more, interview through tell and sell, tell and listen and problem solving style. Finally, follow-up the two methods mentioned above to continually assess the performance of staff and managers. DIYS performance appraisal can apply this system to all of ma nagers and staff, and relate the assessment to their performance pay. In addition, Ward, Peter. (1997) claims that other assessment methods employee survey, ability test, personality inventories, development centers and 360-degree feedback could be integrated as well.

Models of decision making Essay

When we speak of rational behavior, we should remember that our focus in this discussion is not on making decisions, but rather on how to support the process of making decisions. Managers are change agents, not just decision makers, so the steps before and after a decision are as important as the actual choice of action. Preparatory steps include creating tension for change, understanding the positions of the various constituencies, and developing political support for a chosen action. Steps after the decision include naming the change monitor and identifying the monitoring methods. Therefore, the mission of good information system is broader than just collecting data to make a choice. Designers of information systems must understand not only how managers think but also how the decision process will be implemented in the managers’ environment. An information system that is well design is an information system that is used. Thus, an information system, in order to be useful, must be implemented. To understand the implementation process better, we review three models of organizational decision making rational, administrative, and political. The Rational Model. The rational model of decision making was introduced earlier in this chapter. It is based on the logic of optimal choice: the choice that would maximize value for the organization. The manager is assumed to be an objective, totally informed person who would select the most efficient alternative, maximizing whatever amount and type of output s/he values. We can summarize the rational choice process as follows: 1. An individual is confronted with a number of known alternative courses of action. 2. Each alternative bears a set of possible consequences. These consequences are known and are quantifiable. 3. The individual has a system of preferences or utilities that permits him or her to rank the consequences and choose an alternative. There is no empirical support for the contention that these three phases are actually used. In reality, managers seldom have the time or money to analyze all alternatives or envision all consequences. If rationality were ever-present among members of an organization, the organization would appear as a coherent and rational  policy-making entity that maximizes the attainment of a unique set of goals and has no internal conflicts. In other words, a rational decision process implies a rational organization. A rational organization is an organization that has (1) centralized power, (2) harmony and consistency of goals across boundaries, and (3) members who are objective, fully informed, and inclined to choose alternatives that maximize the common good of the organization. The rational model represents a sanitized vision of how organizations make decisions. In reality, organizations often seem more like complex groups of coalitions fighting for shares of limited resources, and using multiple sources of information with varying reliability to achieve a set of fluid goals. Individuals within organizations typically have widely divergent perceptions and goals and act to maximize their own gains, not necessarily those of the organization. Because of this disparity between the rational model and reality, we prefer to accept the rational model primarily as a benchmark for comparing the remaining two organization decision-making processes. In searching for a more realistic description of how organizations make decisions, we turn to the satisficing, or administrative, model. The Administrative Model. The quest for a more realistic description of organization decision making produced a variation called the administrative model. This model sees decision makers as people with varying degrees of motivation who are besieged by demands but have little time to make decisions and thus seek shortcuts to find acceptable solutions. Under the administrative model, a decision maker does not try to optimize but instead â€Å"satisfices† treats objectives as loose constraints that can tighten if there are many acceptable alternatives that fulfill those constraints. While optimization would require choosing the alternative with the highest value, satisficing requires finding the first alternative with an acceptable value, that is, an alternative with a value above a minimally acceptable level on a given constraint. Assume you had a car you wanted to sell. If you listed your car for $2,500 and had 10 offers, you could choose with either method. With the rational method, you would determine which offer had the highest value in terms of conditions and price. With the satisficing model, you would accept the first offer that met your lowest acceptable price. Satisficing may lead to a reduced decision quality, but it saves time and effort. Satisficing is a dynamic construct: the aspiration levels of the manager and the number of alternatives determine what is a â€Å"feasible, good enough solution.† It has been pointed out that satisficing is an appropriate (i.e., rational) strategy when the cost of delaying a decision or searching for further alternatives is high in relation to the expected payoff of the supposedly superior alternative. When you take into consideration the costs related to extended search, it is questionable whether the optimum procedure is to search for the optimum value. When a decision has been reached and the solution to the problem implemented and found to be acceptable, then the organization institutionalizes the procedure used to solve the problem into astandard operating procedure (SOP). SOPs are rules, programs, and routines that are invoked by managers to gain time and to avoid the task of solving a problem from scratch each times it appears. Sometimes managers invoke those SOPs when the organization is facing a similar but not identical problem to the one that the SOP originally solved. Since SOPs are often processes that worked once but nobody is quite sure why or whether it was the best way to solve the original problem in the first place. SOPs are not always the time-savers they are supposed to be. Once implication of having rationally bounded decision makers in organizations is that organizations cannot be seen as single entities. Rather, problems are broken down and assigned to specialized units within the organization that develop their own priorities and goals. These goals, sometimes termed subgoals, may not agree with the organization’s overall goals. This phenomenon has been called local rationality.3 Using the perspective, organizations could be viewed as constellations of loosely allied units, each having a set of SOPs and programs to deal with its piece of the problem. As time passes, these units become more distinct and their subgoals more entrenched. These divergences are enhanced by increasingly distinct perceptions of priorities, information, and uncertainty; they are further reinforced by recruitment, rewards, and tenure. When these tendencies are very strong, the loose alliance of organization units breaks down into â€Å"organized anarchies.† In the extreme case, coalitions are created with conflicting interests. This leads us to the political model of rationality. You should note that the term political does not imply that this model is only relevant in the public  (government) sector; rather the term applies to a type of organization that may exist in any industry or industry sector. The Political Model. In contrast to the rational model, players in the political model (often referred to as incrementalists) do not focus on a single issue but on many intraorganizational problems that reflect their personal goals. In contrast to the administrative model, the political model does not assume that decisions result from applying existing standard operating procedures, programs, and routines. Decisions result from bargaining among coalitions. Unlike in the previous models, power is decentralized. This concept of decision making as a political process emphasizes the natural multiplicity of goals, values, and interests in a complex environment. The political model views decision making as a process of conflict resolution and consensus building and decisions as products of compromise. The old adage, â€Å"Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours,† is the dominant decision-making strategy. When a problem requires a change n policy, the political model predicts that a manager will consider a few alternatives, all of them similar to existing policy. This perspective points out that decisions tend to be incremental— that managers make small changes in response to immediate pressures instead of working out a clear set of plans and a comprehensive program. This incrementalist approach can be seen as the simplest or most extreme form of satisficing. The incremental approach of the political model allows managers to reduce the time spent on the information search and problem definition stages. Incremental decision making is geared to address shortcomings in present policy rather than consider a superior, but novel, course of action. In the political model, the stakeholders have different perception, priorities, and solutions. Because stakeholders have the power to veto some proposals, no policy that harms a powerful stakeholder is likely to triumph even if it is objectively â€Å"optimal.† Our purpose in reviewing these models of organizational decision making is to highlight the realities of decision making that must be recognized when developing or acquiring information systems. If the designer of an I/S assumes that the rational model is a valid representation of the way a given organization is being managed when in fact the political model is a more valid description, s/he may encounter serious implementation  problems. For example, access to information can be very sensitive issue, since in politics, â€Å"information is power.† If managers discover that once a new information system is implemented they will no longer have access to certain data, it is quite possible they will resist the implementation effort. When we consider the issue of organizational decision making, it is important to recognize that the structure of the organization has a strong influence on how and when information is communicated and who gets involved in what decisions. We now turn our attention to the issue of organizational structure.