Present day Societal Value of Labor Unions Essay Example for Free

Present day Societal Value of Labor Unions Essay A labor union is an organization of employees of the same profession, working for either one employer or many employers. It is formed by people with common skills, knowledge and skills pursuing the same dream, to be at the top of their carriers. Labor unions are normally funded by contributions from employee’s salaries. They are headed by officials who are elected by members after a given period of time. For labor unions to be effective they need to be run by people with the right management education, skills, knowledge and experience for them to deliver to their respective members. Labor union officials are accountable to its members and need to be responsible enough, for every action they take, has consequences on all the members. Labor unions are formed and run as per the constitution, according to the Labor act of any nation and the related articles. Labor unions have a societal value in the present day, because members expect some return that is either qualitative or quantitative. Although employers may be opposed to the idea of labor unions, the Government gives the right atmosphere for their formation and existence. Labor unions that are not beneficial to the members do not last long, because they are democratic institutions and members have a right to quit and join new unions. (Albert, 2001 p. 20-31) Organized institutions: Labor unions provide a forum for dealing with multiple issues at once and as group. Actions taken by labor unions are across the board; they relate to all the employees and their respective employers. Issues tackled do not relate to individuals but to the whole group of members. Members of the same profession get to meet and reason together, in order to better their living standards and their economic well being. Solutions to issues facing the employees are to the advantage of all the member. Labor unions need to be registered as per the required regulations, prescribed under the Labor union’s Act of any Country. They are therefore recognized and protected by law. They are therefore expected to deliver as per the necessary standards, without bias to either the employees or the employers. Issues presented by individual members are discussed by the officials and if need be, they are communicated to the rest of the members, in order to understand who the union is acting for, at any particular time. Protection of Employee’s rights: Labor unions are formed on the principle, â€Å"united we stand, divided we fall†. Any skilled, semiskilled and unskilled employee has rights and privileges at his place of work, which the employer may not be willing and ready to fulfill. It’s the duty of the labor union to negotiate for its members, with the employers for their rights to be realized. Single employees may not have a better understanding of their rights and may be oppressed by the employer. In groups/labor unions they will have the power to speak as one and demand the employer’s attention. (Becky 2002 p. 11-32) Some employee’s rights include; Better working, conditions and environment; This mostly applies to semiskilled and unskilled workers who are found at industrial plants. Most employers may find it expensive to provide them with the right working gear and devices like, gloves, masks and gum boots. Such employees will therefore be risking their lives at the expense of their incomes and need someone to come in between. Such employees may not be housed at the plant and will be expected to report to work early in the morning. The labor union will come in and negotiate for their transport system; whereby they are either picked by bus early in the morning or they are given an adequate transport allowance to enable them be punctual at work. The single employees who demand better working conditions and environment may risk their jobs because the management may consider them to be unruly. Some manufacturing companies, like tobacco industries, pollute the environment which the employees are working in. they may therefore be exposed to contracting diseases, hence poor health. It is the duty of the labor unions to negotiate healthy environment to ensure that employees utilize their skills well and advance in their carriers. A well balanced remuneration package; Employees need a salary package relatively proportional to their contribution towards the company’s profitability. Some employers may want to retain a lot of their earnings and therefore deny their laborers/employees good compensation. For a worker to be productive his or her financial and economic needs should be well catered for, by the employer. A stressed up employee may not utilize his education and knowledge adequately to develop his carrier. Some employers may want to pay their employees less than the other professionals with the same education, knowledge and skills. This is psychologically unfair and the labor union steps in to ensure a uniform salary package across the board for people with the same skills and knowledge. If the employer does not obey, the labor union can sue on behalf of the employee with costs being met by the employer, as per the relevant regulation and case ruling. Employee Motivation; For employees to perform better, they need their spirits lifted through a well organized motivation system. These lack in some organizations and it is the duty of labor unions to negotiate for the members items like, overtime payments, study leaves and bonus payments. It is through such motivation systems that employees can utilize their skills, education and knowledge in order to have some carrier growth and development. Labor unions therefore assist their members in meeting their short-term goals and keep them focused at their long-term goals. Better working conditions at the present make it possible for employees to realize ambitions and dreams. (Norman 2000 p. 4-54) Retirement benefits; Labor unions ensure that every employer has retirement arrangements in place for its employees. Employees should not retire with any funds to survive on because this may depress them at their old age. Retirement age is therefore maintained across all companies and those who their contracts are terminated in advance are given some golden handshake to survive on. Labor unions also deal with cases where contracts are terminated before maturity and those affected are restored and any damages are catered for by the employer. The labor unions therefore ensure that the society’s dependency ratio is not increased due to early terminations or people retiring with out finances. Professional Networking: Through labor unions professionals get to meet and share ideas relating to their carrier field. People with the same knowledge, skills, education and experience get to network and assist one another emotionally and this boosts their morale. Meetings organized by labor unions for its members provide a forum for discussions to be held among members. Motivational speakers are also invited to give speech which inspires the members. Carrier growth and development: Labor unions ensure that members are constantly being updated on the latest skills and knowledge during union meetings. Discussions held also advance the awareness of their professional field details. Members also get to know the requirements for their movement up the carrier ladder. Study leaves negotiated for by the labor unions provide carrier development. Some employers may want to maintain employees as casual, which is not as per the law; labor unions therefore come to negotiate for their permanent employment. This enables both carrier growth and development. Go slows: When employers do not want to give in to requests by the employees, laborers may present this to their unions and they may result in mass action. Demonstrations/go slows organized by labor unions are recognized by the laws and no one of the employees is victimized. workers’ plights are therefore considered by their employers and their demands are negotiated for by both the employer and the union officials. Creation of jobs: Labor unions are run by officials, elected by the members based on their education, knowledge and experience, to manage the union. These officials are well remunerated, from the contributions by the members. They therefore earn a living out their efforts to manage the unions. In the society, dependency ratio is therefore reduced while idleness by the unemployed and crime levels go down. These officials are replaced from time to time and the jobs are given to new people. Mediator between the government and the employees: Labor unions negotiate with the Government for labor standards to be maintained for the sake of the employees. The government is therefore kept on check by the union to ensure that there are statutory regulations on the, minimum wage, working conditions/environment and unfair dismissals. Labor unions also provide some level of awareness to the professionals in terms of, what they should expect from the employer and what their level of productivity to their employers should be, in order to experience carrier growth and development. (Timothy, Roni, 2003 p. 23-34) References: Albert S. (2001). Labor unions. New York. Cristol Publishers. Becky T. (2002). Societal Value of Labor Unions. New Jersey. Western Press. Norman C. (2000). Enforcement of Labor unions. Los Angelus. Southern Publishers. Timothy S, Roni B. (2003). Labor Unions in united States. Boston. Cribal Publishers.

Performance Management Essay Example for Free

Performance Management Essay William Hill employee workers in order to help the company to contribute its services. The efforts of Human Resources are directed towards improving the performance of employees and thereby enabling the business to achieve its objectives. Every business has to measure the performance of their company, this is to ensure efficiency and therefore they need their staff to perform effectively. William Hill always tries there best to recognise areas that are unsatisfactory for workers and find the aspects of weakness in the organization and do provide relevant training for individuals in order to develop this skills. They also realise that hard work has to paid off well so William Hill promote and reward good performance of employees with the use of bonus and this ensures workers tend to work better because they know that if they work well the organisation does better and further increase in pay will be awarded. Due to different hierarchical structures in companies, you will find that there are several methods to monitor performance, which do benefit these companies, and the system, which is commonly found, is the appraisal system. This is a one to one meeting with employee and manager to discuss the individuals performance between a certain periods. It is a rather good way in which to gain feedback from workers, discussing their performance to improve for the next meeting, identify what training is required if needed also to classify the potential for promotion and finally to reward performance related pay. William Hill does not find this method rather approachable due to the decentralisation of power of each subsidiary and some workers dont have a based shop but it can be used to encourage their employees to perform better because in appraisals you set targets which one would strive to meet in order to gain better financial gains. This relates with Hezbergs theory of motivator factors, one is given recognition of their efforts, which then enables a chance of improvement such as promotion due to the motivation the employee has also gained job satisfaction. Douglas McGregors theory Y can also be linked to appraisals if they met the targets that are set in the appraisal meeting then there is a good chance of promotion, this means that there is chance that workers can start enjoying work and be motivated by the job itself. McGregors theory X concurrent also that a pay increase, as he assumed that those in X are motivated by money. Abraham Maslows theory correlates with employees gaining job security by performing well, and if promotion is acknowledgeable then promotion will allow them to reach self- actualisation because their full potential has been realised. Businesses can use observation, which is when the manger watches the worker while they are working to ensure they are working efficiently and fault analysis, which is when the work is checked after it, has been finished to check for mistakes. In both incidents training can be identified and check for good performances and it indicates to the individual where they are going wrong and what needs to be done better. Training enables workers to be very familiarise with their job and will perform it to their best which according to Maslow will gain self-esteem to workers due to the confidence given by performing well. Performance through profit is when a business compares profit form previous years or to rivals to show how well they are performing. William Hill can use this in enabling them to see which area needs more work to increase workers routine such as training in needed areas to ensure that they perform rather more competitively with rivals also so that employees can be awarded dep ending how well the company does. This links with Taylor and McGregor theory Y as they all presume people are only motivated by money. Performance through productivity is when a company measures its workers output, this is done through William Hill by how much betting slips are taken by each Cashier and if targets are met then bonuses are rewarded monthly with your pay. This links with Maslow stating that rewarding workers gives them esteem as well as receiving recognition for their good performance. Performance related pay is when workers are paid according to their performance at work. William Hill can increase pay according to productivity or give the workers a bonus. This can be linked into the same theories as performance through productivity as they will be rewarded in the same way because it is financial gains that workers are gaining. Through various achievements within the organisation reward can also be given for instance when new employees go through the whole stage of induction program, William Hill will issue a certificate nicely presented to the worker, also a sense of achievement means more responsibility so they have moved from the trainee section which is related to promotion also so an increase of pay due to this. Through all of this William Hill are recognising their employees effort within the organisation which relates to Maslow theory of gaining once again esteem needs due to an increase of responsibility and Herzbergs motivator factors of achievement and recognition because the have ascertained to this level in William Hill PLC. Employees tend to be rewarded with good sales performance in William Hill through the way they demonstrate their skills, knowledge, behaviour and attitude towards customers. They are rewarded with promotion, job enlargement, job enrichment and fringe benefits that should keep them motivated to perform better at their position in William Hill. Theorists such as Taylor, Maslow and theory X believe those economic sorts of rewards are good for those who only work for the love money and this will motivate them to perform well whereas theory Y, Herzbergs motivators states that the job enrichment, enlargement and promotion are giving them more responsibility which should motivate but at the end of the day they want do the extra job with less pay that what is deserved. Long service to William Hill is also an achievement made because you have gained various skills and abilities also knowledge of William Hill to apply and allow new employees to imitate. This loyalty is rewarded with extra paid holiday allowance greater bonus at the end of each year to acknowledge also. This allows workers to feel respected and recognised by the company also part of the family. Gaining the bonus is a financial incentive and Taylor believes that is what motivates workers but Herzberg sees this as only causing job satisfaction not a motivator, the real motivator is that sense of achievement and reorganisation and this also relates to Maslow because esteem is given through respect and effort due to the loyalty the worker has given to William Hill.

Case Study: Harold Shipman

Case Study: Harold Shipman Shipman began practicing as a doctor in 1974, at the Abraham Ormerod Medical Practice in Todmorden. He was there until 1975 when his partners discovered that he had been obtaining drugs dishonestly for his own use. In 1976 he pleaded guilty to three offences of obtaining pethidine by deception, three offences of unlawful possession of pethidine and two further offences of forging a prescription he was sentenced in Halifax Magistrates court to pay a fine and compensation. In August 1992,he began working as a solo practitioner at a surgery in Hyde he continued to work as a single-handed practitioner until his arrest in September 1998. In July 1998 the Greater Manchester Police began an inquiry into Kathleen Grundys death, a patient of Dr Shipman, the inquiry was rapidly widened to include the deaths of Shipmans other patients. On Monday, 31st January 2000 the jury at Preston Crown Court convicted Harold Shipman of 15 murders and of forging a will. Case Study Mrs Kathleen Grundy was a widow and lived by herself she was in remarkably good health for her age. She undertook work for many Charitable organisations and had a healthy social life. She spent the evening before her death with a friend and was in normal health when she went home. Mrs Grundy died on 24th June 1998 at the age of 81. Shipman forged a certificate and passed of her death being due to old age. Later scientific analysis of her body tissues in August 1998 showed that she had died of morphine poisoning. In the few days before her death, Shipman had persuaded Mrs Grundy to take part in a research project into the ageing process, allegedly to be conducted by Manchester University. It emerged later that this was a hoax so he could obtain a sample of her signature, which he used in an attempt to forge a will. This also created an excuse to visit her at home. She visited him on 23rd June, to have her ears syringed and told her that he needed a blood sample for the research project which must be taken early in the morning. He arranged to visit her at about 8.30am the next morning. The following day she was due to attend Werneth House but she did not arrive. Friends and colleagues there became concerned as this was out of character for Mrs Grundy and two of them, Mr John Green and Mr Ronald Pickford, went to her house at about midday. They found her lying on the sofa fully dressed. Her body was cold and it was established she was dead. The door to the house was unlocked. They summoned Shipman to the house. Following a perfunctory examination of the body, he said ‘cardiac arrest’, following the test he had a brief discussion with someone in the coroner’s office and it was agreed that a certificate which stated the cause of death to be ‘old age’ would be acceptable. There was no record kept of the conversation with the coroner’s office. When Shipman had left the house Mr Green informed the police, as he was unable to contact Mrs Grundy’s daughter Mrs Angela Woodruff. The officers concerned spoke to Shipman later and he informed them he had called on Mrs Grundy earlier that day because she had been unwell. He did not mention the fact that he had called to take a blood sample. Shipman also told them he had spoken with the coroner’s office and was going to issue a certificate stating that Mrs Grundy had died of natural causes. The police officers took a quick look at the body and on seeing nothing suspicious took no further action. The day after the death Shipman spoke to Mrs Woodruff. He told her that he had seen Mrs Grundy on the day before her death just for ‘a routine thing’. He was vague and mentioned she had chest pains possibly due to indigestion. Shipman said that he had arranged to collect a blood sample the next morning, when he arrived she was not yet dressed. He then said that some old people complain of feeling unwell a few days before they die and then just die. He inferred that this had happened to Mrs Grundy. He handed Mrs Woodruff the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) and said that he had certified the death as being due to old age. Mrs Woodruff’s suspicions were not aroused until she was contacted by the Hamilton Ward legal firm handling her mother’s will. Her own law practice in Warwickhad usually dealt with her mother’s legal affairs. The original will had been lodged with the firm in 1986. Hamilton Ward received a new will the same day that Mrs Grundy died. The new will was badly typed. Mrs Woodruff told the Shipman trial in October: â€Å"My mother was a meticulously tidy person. The thought of her signing a document which is so badly typed didn’t make any sense. The signature looked strange, it looked too big. The concept of mum signing a document leaving everything to her doctor was unbelievable.†[1] The police arranged for the exhumation of Mrs Grundys body. The exhumation was vital because forensic evidence was needed to verify the case of death. Dr Rutherford an expert witness pathologist was instructed to conduct the post-mortem examination. The post-mortem was crucial as it would establish time and cause of death, one would also know if Shipmans version of events are true. The results of the post-mortem examination found no natural explanation for Mrs Grundy’s death therefore not supporting Shipmans account. Also questions that were left unanswered for example why had this happened to someone who had been in good health, had been answered. Scientific analysis of the body tissues revealed levels of morphine consistent with the administration of a fatal dose. Dr John Grenville also provided a report and said that there were a number of false entries in the medical records which had been created after the death to give credibility to Shipman’s stories. Firstly that Mrs Grundy was under the weather when he saw her on 23rd June and secondly that Mrs Grundy had been abusing drugs and might have administered the morphine herself. This evidence was very valuable as it proved medical records had been doctored in order to cover Shipmans back. Forensic evidence proved that Shipman forged Mrs Grundys will this was one of the main reasons as to why suspicions were aroused in the first place. Shipman wanted to obtain the whole of Mrs Grundy’s estate, leaving nothing to her daughter and grandchildren. He drafted the will using his own old-fashioned Brother portable typewriter. When the police came to Shipman’s premises and took possession of the typewriter the will was immediately linked to him. This was important as tests would be able to show that if the will had been produced from Shipmans type writer the paper could be matched as well as the ink and tracks that had been used, this evidence would be enough to prove that it had come from that specific printer. Although this evidence was valuable shipman could still argue that someone else had used his type writer. Overall the final product looked painstakingly unprofessional and suspicion would be aroused immediately. Expert hand writing evidence proved them to be forgeries. Shipman forged Mrs Grundy’s signature and dated the will 9th June 1998. On that day he staged a ‘signing and witnessing’ event in his consulting room and must have prepared a document for Mrs Grundy to sign which purported to provide for her consent to take part in some medical research supposedly to be conducted by Manchester University. This document required that Mrs Grundy’s signature should be witnessed by two others, who also had to sign and provide their names, addresses and occupations. While Mrs Grundy was at Shipman’s surgery on 9th June, Shipman appears to have obtained her signature on this document and then called two patients from his waiting room into the consulting room where they completed and signed the witnesses’ part of the document. Shipman must have used this document to copy the three signatures as well as he could. The document would have been valuable to shipman as he had no other means of looking at Mrs Grundys signature. Forensic evidence showed the Shipman had forged the signature as it did not match the style of Mrs Grundys writing and it was blatantly obvious that it was a copy due the fact that Shipman had to break off as he kept looking at the original signature to copy it, it was also noted that the signature Shipman forged was allot bigger than how Mrs Grundy would normally sign. There were clear conclusions drawn from the Forensic evidence as the post-mortem that Mrs Grundys death was a clear case of morphine poisoning. Even without this evidence there were a number of questions that did not add up for instance this was a sudden death of an elderly person in good health. There was no explanation for her death. Mrs Grundys door was unlocked this was also unusual for her as her neighbours mentioned the fact that she was a security conscious person, Shipman implied that Mrs Grundy left the door unlocked after letting him out this vital piece of evidence was a major blow to shipmans case as he had been unable to leave the security system in the condition relatives and friends would have expected it to be. Even though Shipman had altered Mrs Grundys medical records to show she was unwell just before her death and that he suspected she had been abusing drugs her medical records still showed she had been in good health and had no potentially fatal conditions that would harm her. Also the cause of death being ‘old age’, left unanswered question and was quite an inappropriate case of death for a person who had been in such good health. On the 31st January 2000, after six days of deliberation the jury found Shipman guilty of killing 15 patients by lethal injections of diamorphine, and forging the will of Kathleen Grundy. He was sentenced to 15 consecutive life sentences and it was recommended that he never be released. Shipman also received four years imprisonment for forging the will. Two years after his conviction, Home Secretary David Blunkett confirmed the judge’s recommendation that Shipman never be released. Shipman was officially struck off by the General Medical council in Februaury 2002 he consistently denied his guilt, disputing the scientific evidence against him. He never made any statements about his actions. His defence tried, but failed, to have the count of murder of Mrs Grundy, where a clear motive was alleged. Shipman subsequently committed suicide at Wakefield Prison by hanging himself from the window bars of his cell using bed sheets. He was found in his cell at 6:20 am on 13 January 2004, on the eve of his 58th birthday, and was officially pronounced dead at 8:10 am. Bibliography Crime scene to court second edition, Edited by .P.C.White http://www.the-shipman-inquiry.org.uk http://www.geraldengland.co.uk/gx/shipman.htm http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-180566187.htm [1] Mrs Woodruffs evidence in court Royal Ahold: An analysis Royal Ahold: An analysis ROYAL AHOLD: 1. Introduction Headquartered in the Netherlands, Royal Ahold is one of the worlds largest international retail grocery and food service companies. At its peak in 2001, Aholds reported sales and profits were â‚ ¬66.6 billion and â‚ ¬1.1 billion and it operated 5,155 stores in 27 countries with nearly a quarter of a million employees. Ahold was started as a family firm in 1887 by the Heijn family. It was a family-controlled business, operating primarily in the Netherlands for over 100 years. The company went public in 1948. In 1989, Ahold underwent a major transition from a family-controlled to a management controlled firm. This transition resulted in a phenomenal period of success for the firm. It generated over a 1,000% return for its shareholders and had a market capitalization of â‚ ¬30.6 billion by November 2001. In February 2003, Ahold witnessed a reversal of fortunes and suffered a complete meltdown. The firm was in a complete disastrous state with nothing going in their favour: a failed strategy, an accounting scandal, the firing of professional management, and litigation filings from all parts of the world. Shareholders lost most of their returns generated since 1989. Ahold scandal gave Europe a reason to believe that corporate governance and accounting problems were not restricted U.S. only. Ahold became â€Å"Europes Enron† (The Economist, March 1, 2003). It caused Dutch and European policymakers to rethink their approach to corporate governance and accounting policy. The Royal Ahold scandal, along with the accounting fraud at the giant Italian firm Parmalat, caused the European Union (EU) to impose more extensive and rigorous regulation on the financial reporting system and independent audit function within its member nations. The Royal Ahold debacle also reignited the debate re garding the need for more uniform accounting and auditing standards around the globe. In the Netherlands, a committee on corporate governance was installed on March 10, 2003 (Tabaksblat Committee, 2003) to restore the lost confidence in public companies. This report aims at studying the inter-relationships between the lack of corporate governance and of accounting transparency which led to the downfall of Ahold. The subsequent policies and strategies of the firm which aimed at reviving the firm are also aptly covered in the report. 2. The Growth Story: Expanding Boundaries Over the years, Ahold evolved from a single grocery store in 1887 to a food company with a dominant position in the Netherlands. By the mid-1970s, Royal Aholds management realized that for the company to continue to grow it could not limit its operations to The Netherlands. Since the Netherland market was already dominated by Royal Ahold, the companys top executives, who had long been known for their conservative operating and financial policies, announced their plan to expand its operations into other countries. Royal Aholds expansion efforts got off to a slow start but then accelerated rapidly in the 1990s after the company hired a new management team. Until the late 1980s, members of the Heijn family had occupied the key management positions within the firm. In 1987, two grandsons of Albert Heijn, served as Royal Aholds two top executives. Later in 1987 when the brothers retired, a professional management team was hired to replace the Heijn brothers. The team recognized that the quickest way for Royal Ahold to gain significant market share in the grocery retailing industry outside of The Netherlands was to purchase existing grocery chains in foreign countries. To finance their growth-by-acquisition policy, Royal Aholds new executives raised large amounts of debt and equity capital during the 1990s. By 2000, Royal Ahold had purchased retail grocery chains in Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Portugal, Scandinavia, South America, and the United States. This aggressive expansion campaign m ade Royal Ahold the third largest grocery retailer worldwide by the turn of the century. At the time, only U.S.-based Wal-Mart and the French firm Carrefour SA had larger annual retail grocery sales than Royal Ahold. Royal Ahold completed its most ambitious acquisition in 2000 when it purchased U.S. Foodservice, a large food wholesaler headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Although Royal Ahold had previously purchased several retail grocery chains along the eastern seaboard of the United States, including New England-based Stop Shop, U.S. Foodservice was easily the largest U.S. company it had acquired. The U.S. Foodservice acquisition was also important because it signalled the companys commitment to becoming a significant participant in the food wholesaling industry. In 2003, after purchasing two smaller U.S.-based food distributors, Royal Ahold ranked as the second largest food wholesaler in the United States—Houston-based Sysco Corporation was the largest. In fact, the three U.S. acquisitions caused food wholesaling to be the companys largest source of revenue, accounting for slightly more than one-half of its annual sales. The companys more than 4,000 retail grocery stores located in 27countries accounted for the remainder of its annual sales. 3. Problems Due to Expansion The aggressive growth strategy adopted by the new professional management gave rise to a number of unexpected and unanticipated problems. Among these the major problems were caused primarily due to the expansion in the global regions. The differences in the cultural norms hampered the ability of the management to manage its worldwide retail grocery operations. As the firm ventured into new markets, especially the markets outside of Western Europe and the United States, it faced new challenges in the face of wide range of laws, regulations and cultural differences. The management team also faced difficulty in dealing with human resource policies regarding hiring, appraisal, and other employee benefits. The policies which were successful in The Netherlands failed to live up to the expectations of the new managers and employees in the countries of Asia, Latin America and South America. Furthermore the cultural norms of grocery shopping among the consumers in global markets also exacerbated the misery of the firm. Some consumers out rightly rejected the â€Å"Dutch: idea and way of organizing the grocery store. The consumers also did not appreciate the idea of â€Å"foreign invader† replacing the local grocery stores which existed there for years. 4. Response towards the Problems and Further Issues Since the problems were primarily the result of cultural and social issues, the management at Ahold decided upon the strategy of using the management personal of the local grocery chains and retaining them when those chains were acquired by Ahold. The new mangers were empowered with the authority to make major decisions. The Royal Ahold ambitious plan to become a major player in the wholesaling segment of the huge food industry in the US gave rise to new problems. Most of the company officials were unfamiliar with that segment. Therefore they adopted the â€Å"hands-off† mindset to the acquisition and depended primarily on the executives of U.S. Foodservice who were retained following the buyout to oversee the subsidiarys day-to-day operations. But the firm adopted a policy of following the same rigorous performance standards that were imposed on the companys domestic operations. The companys established goal of 15% annual growth rate in profits was used to decide upon the annual sales targets for each of the companys operating unit in Netherland and also at global locations. The units were pressurised to achieve their target and there were significant rewards on meeting the specified targets. But due to increased competition and the relatively lower profit margins within the food industry prevented many of those units from achieving the annual earnings goals that had been assigned to them.  ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­5. Accounting Issues During the fiscal 2002 audit of Royal Ahold, Deloitte Accountants uncovered evidence suggesting that the companys consolidated revenues had been inflated and overstated. When Royal Ahold invested in a foreign company, it often acquired exactly a 50 percent ownership interest in the given company. Nevertheless, Royal Ahold would fully consolidate the companys financial data in its annual financial statements.Dutch accounting rules at the time permitted a parent company to fully consolidate the financial data of a joint venture company if the parent could control that firms operations. Such control could be evidenced by a more than 50 percent ownership interest in the joint venture company or by other means. Royal Ahold persuaded their Deloitte auditors by providing them with â€Å"control letters† officially signed by the officials of joint venture companies. This was accomplished by taking the officials to their side by bribing them. Further in order to placate the companys executives, the Royal Aholds management team signed â€Å"side letters† addressed to the companys executives of the JV. These letters affirmed that the decision making was mutual rather than by Ahold exclusively. Thus for Dutch accounting purposes, the joint ventures operating results should have been â€Å"proportionately consolidated† in Aholds annual financial statements. Apart from such improper accounting, Royal Ahold was also accused of not sharing the full information among the stakeholders. It did not reveal its obligations to purchase the ownership interests of certain investors in those companies. This was because of the default on the part of the joint venture companies to pay off their outstanding debt. Fraudulent Accounting at U.S. Foodservice Deloitte Accountants U.S. affiliate, Deloitte Touche, audited the financial statements of U.S. Foodservice after that company was acquired by Royal Ahold in 2000. Before the acquisition, KPMG was its auditor. Deloitte uncovered anomaly in the account books which distorted the consolidated net income of Ahold group. Subsequent investigation revealed that US food Service had misrepresented their financial statements for several years before the acquisition. The misrepresentation was because of improper accounting of the â€Å"promotional allowances.† Since the food wholesaling industry is intensely competitive, so the profit margins on their sales are relatively small. This led to the concept of â€Å"promotional allowances† (refund on purchases) being paid to food wholesalers by their suppliers or vendors. Another common practice or rather malpractice was â€Å"front-loading† promotional allowances. This means accounting for all the allowances prior to its actual period. The absence of proper internal controls over promotional allowances provided an opportunity for dishonest employees to overstate those allowances for accounting purposes. 6. The Aftermath In 2003 when the company issued the restated financial statements for the preceding there years, the fraud was uncovered. The net income figures for the years 2000, 2001 and 2003 had been overstated by 17.6%, 32.6% and 88.1% respectively. The corresponding figures for the reported revenues were 20.8%, 18.6% and 13.8%. Soon after the disclosures were made the regulatory agencies, law authorities, investment companies and other stakeholders began seeking more information regarding the fraud. Following the public disclosure both Dutch and U.S. law enforcement authorities filed criminal charges against the company and several of its former executives. Upon investigation, the responsibilities for the fraud lay on the top executives of the firm. The so called â€Å"professional management† which replaced the Heijn-family management in the 1990s were the forces responsible for the crisis. They over estimated their growing potential and set unrealistic targets at the company level. These targets where passed on to the individual units which were pressurised to achieve these unrealistic targets by hook or by crook. This was further enhanced by a significant level of rewards attached to the meeting of targets. Role of the Auditor Though it was because of the Aholds auditor Deloitte that the crisis was finally ended, but it cane under severe criticism for letting this fraud flourish to the extent it had reached. There were many lawsuits filed against Deloitte for the shear reason of negligence on their part which required them to prove their integrity. The loosely organized operating units under Ahold group made the auditing task a tough one. Regulatory Bodies The following controversy also revolved around the inefficiency and loopholes of the present in the regulatory system. The Ahold case re-affirmed the need for cooperation among the different regulatory bodies across countries. This was evident in the wake of rapid globalization which had taken place in the 1990s. Also the need for a common framework of regulations was further enhanced to maintain the comparability aspect of the account books across globe. 7. The Verdict The fraud charges against the Royal Ahold corporate house were finally settled in September 2004. The verdict required the firm to pay a fine of 8 million Euros. Further after investigation the Royal Aholds former executives (CFO and CEO) were found guilty and were penalized as well as were sentenced to four to nine months of imprisonment 8. The Road to Recovery program Press release is issued by Royal Ahold N.V â€Å"Our highest priority now is to rebuild the value of our company. We will do everything in our power to create a company of which you can once again be proud. Reinforcing accountability, controls and corporate governance Ahold is replacing a decentralized system of internal controls that had many weaknesses with a one-company system with central reporting lines. Internal audit will not only report to the CEO, but also to the Audit Committee of the Supervisory Board. In addition, Ahold has nominated Peter Wakkie to the position of Chief Corporate Governance Counsel on the Executive Board, to serve as the driving force behind improved internal governance policies and practices, for legal compliance as well as conformance to ethical and social standards. †

Discussion on the Problems of Quantum Theory :: Physics Essays

Discussion on the Problems of Quantum Theory The early 1930s gave us quantum theory, and along with that came many new physical and philosophical arguments. Many problems exist in quantum physics, and many brilliant scientists have spent their lives trying to understand. Heisenberg gave us The Uncertainty Principle, the idea that nothing is certain, just within a probability of certain. It also questioned the scientific method of observation, arguing that no measurement can show an object’s true nature. This brought the idea of quanta, different states, and the question of objects existing in more than one state, or having a dual nature. Scientists, physicists and mathematicians alike have all pondered and questioned these theories for many years and yet there are still problems left unresolved. One of the problems with quantum theory and The Heisenberg Uncertainty principle is the reliance on probabilities. This is to say that nothing can be exactly predicted, just predicted within a certain probability. This implies that nothing can be certain; that there is an uncertainty associated with every statement, even those we consider facts. â€Å"This uncertainty leads to many strange things. For example, in a Quantum Mechanical world, I cannot predict where a particle will be with 100 % certainty. I can only speak in terms of probabilities. For example, I can say that an atom will be at some location with a 99 % probability, but there will be a 1 % probability it will be somewhere else (in fact, there will be a small but finite probabilty that it will be found across the Universe). This is strange† (Heisenberg). This problem is especially troubling at the microscopic level because there still are many uncertainties involved. Scientific technologies have not yet bec ome omniscient. There are still limitations to what can be observed and measured. â€Å"It is important to understand that this is not simply a philosophical question or a rhetorical debate. In QM one often must model systems as the superposition of two or more possible outcomes. Superpositions can produce interference effects and thus are experimentally distinguishable from mixed states. How does a superposition of different possibilities resolve itself into some particular observation?† (Quantum Measurement). This measurement brings up another issue with quantum theory. There was a great debate among scientists as to whether it was possible to measure things without changing them.

From Communism to Democracy Essays -- Government Politics Essays

From Communism to Democracy More than half a decade has passed since the sweeping political events of 1989 and 1990 in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. On December 26, 1991, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ceased to exist . In its place are the Russian federation and 14 independent countries. The impact of this change was felt across the globe, from European countries with close economic ties with the USSR to countries as far away as Cuba and Algeria. The former republics experienced the hardest time in their existence, and entered a new period of their history. Independence meant a new life for people, but not many of them expected the results. At the time sovereignty was not clearly stated, and nobody could predict what ramifications would follow. The inhabitants of the region have had to balance the positive and negative aspects of the change. Most countries were left with nothing, and they had to start everything from the very beginning. As Shor in Nations in Transit stated, for many, democracy, freedom of association, and the removal of the Soviet bureaucracy have had a positive impact. But economic uncertainty, hunger, and poverty also increased. The former republics struggle to maintain the value of the money and a decent level of life for the citizens, but the attempt to do so is failing. Many branches of the new economy are still socialized, and reforms are necessary to fulfill a change. People think that a change from communism to democracy should bring a better life, but in reality those countries suffer a period of stagnation. There are many causes for such a situation, which are revealed in different aspects of life and history. The principles of communism p... ...nge, than the reality of raw political power. Economic and democratic reforms are complementary and heavily correlated. Countries with consolidated market economies, guided by the rule of law also made progress in consolidating their transition to democracy. A transition from Communism to Democracy means more freedoms and choices, but it also needs time. Political and economic freedom means more predictable, more transparent, more constitutional, less discriminatory, and less corruption-prone lawmaking and enforcement. An authorian government can hardly engage in economic reforms, or undergo a transition to liberal democracy, without simultaneously undergoing free market economic reforms. Author: Valentin Antoci (ed_valentine@hotmail.com) February 1999 Reproduction of the Text without the author's permition is considered plagiarism and is punishable by law. From Communism to Democracy Essays -- Government Politics Essays From Communism to Democracy More than half a decade has passed since the sweeping political events of 1989 and 1990 in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. On December 26, 1991, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ceased to exist . In its place are the Russian federation and 14 independent countries. The impact of this change was felt across the globe, from European countries with close economic ties with the USSR to countries as far away as Cuba and Algeria. The former republics experienced the hardest time in their existence, and entered a new period of their history. Independence meant a new life for people, but not many of them expected the results. At the time sovereignty was not clearly stated, and nobody could predict what ramifications would follow. The inhabitants of the region have had to balance the positive and negative aspects of the change. Most countries were left with nothing, and they had to start everything from the very beginning. As Shor in Nations in Transit stated, for many, democracy, freedom of association, and the removal of the Soviet bureaucracy have had a positive impact. But economic uncertainty, hunger, and poverty also increased. The former republics struggle to maintain the value of the money and a decent level of life for the citizens, but the attempt to do so is failing. Many branches of the new economy are still socialized, and reforms are necessary to fulfill a change. People think that a change from communism to democracy should bring a better life, but in reality those countries suffer a period of stagnation. There are many causes for such a situation, which are revealed in different aspects of life and history. The principles of communism p... ...nge, than the reality of raw political power. Economic and democratic reforms are complementary and heavily correlated. Countries with consolidated market economies, guided by the rule of law also made progress in consolidating their transition to democracy. A transition from Communism to Democracy means more freedoms and choices, but it also needs time. Political and economic freedom means more predictable, more transparent, more constitutional, less discriminatory, and less corruption-prone lawmaking and enforcement. An authorian government can hardly engage in economic reforms, or undergo a transition to liberal democracy, without simultaneously undergoing free market economic reforms. Author: Valentin Antoci (ed_valentine@hotmail.com) February 1999 Reproduction of the Text without the author's permition is considered plagiarism and is punishable by law.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight :: Sir Gawain Green Knight Poem Essays

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written by an anonymous author in the 14th century. It was written in a dialect from Northern England. The poem uses alliteration similar to the Anglo-Saxon form of poetry. Alliteration uses a repetition of consonants. The poem ends the way it begins. At the end of each scene, the section of the poem concludes with a sharp rhyme. There are many patterns that are developed by the author in the poem. There are three literal hunts with the deer, boar and fox. The deer is represented as being timid; the boar is represented as being ferocious, and the fox as being cunning and sly. There are also three symbolic hunts, three attempts to seduce Gawain and the three hits of the Green Knight's ax. The poem seems to emphasize magical elements such as Morgan, Merlin, and the Green Knight. The poem gives us a very realistic depiction of the slaughtering of the animals, the big feasts that take place, as well as the changing seasons. The poem also contains many religious elements such as the celebrations that take place according to the church calendar. King Authur's court is in the midst of a celebration that has taken place for fifteen days. They are celebrating the New Year, and in the middle of their celebration, the Green Knight and his green horse come barging into the hall. Sir Gawain is the youngest knight of the Round Table. He is the only one that volunteers to play the "game" with the Green Knight. The game is that the challenger gets a chance to hit the Green Knight now, but in a year and a day, he must go to the Green Knight's chapel and then the Green Knight will test him and if he fails the tests, the Green Knight will hit him. The Green Knight has no fear, and he even lowers his neck to make it easier for Gawain. Gawain bravely cuts off the Green Knight's head, and the Green Knight proceeds to pick it up. Then the head speaks to the people on the dais, and he reminds them of the deal. The Green Knight then rides off on his horse with his head in his hand. The people in the hall are surprised that King Arthur allows Gawain to go on this journey to the Green Knight's chapel. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight :: Sir Gawain Green Knight Poem Essays Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written by an anonymous author in the 14th century. It was written in a dialect from Northern England. The poem uses alliteration similar to the Anglo-Saxon form of poetry. Alliteration uses a repetition of consonants. The poem ends the way it begins. At the end of each scene, the section of the poem concludes with a sharp rhyme. There are many patterns that are developed by the author in the poem. There are three literal hunts with the deer, boar and fox. The deer is represented as being timid; the boar is represented as being ferocious, and the fox as being cunning and sly. There are also three symbolic hunts, three attempts to seduce Gawain and the three hits of the Green Knight's ax. The poem seems to emphasize magical elements such as Morgan, Merlin, and the Green Knight. The poem gives us a very realistic depiction of the slaughtering of the animals, the big feasts that take place, as well as the changing seasons. The poem also contains many religious elements such as the celebrations that take place according to the church calendar. King Authur's court is in the midst of a celebration that has taken place for fifteen days. They are celebrating the New Year, and in the middle of their celebration, the Green Knight and his green horse come barging into the hall. Sir Gawain is the youngest knight of the Round Table. He is the only one that volunteers to play the "game" with the Green Knight. The game is that the challenger gets a chance to hit the Green Knight now, but in a year and a day, he must go to the Green Knight's chapel and then the Green Knight will test him and if he fails the tests, the Green Knight will hit him. The Green Knight has no fear, and he even lowers his neck to make it easier for Gawain. Gawain bravely cuts off the Green Knight's head, and the Green Knight proceeds to pick it up. Then the head speaks to the people on the dais, and he reminds them of the deal. The Green Knight then rides off on his horse with his head in his hand. The people in the hall are surprised that King Arthur allows Gawain to go on this journey to the Green Knight's chapel.

Links Between Personality and Health Essay

The importance of understanding the links between personality and health are being increasingly recognized within the scientific and psychological society, over the years research and theoretical advances have begun to uncover that personality can have an effect on health, whether good or bad. Illnesses can be a cause of many factors that may be biological, psychological, environmental or even sociological. Suggesting that illnesses are related to more than just biological infectious diseases such as Tuberculosis, pneumonia, influenza, etc. of which during the 1900’s were major killers within western societies. (Stroebe, 2000) Yet as medicines understanding of these diseases grew and as vaccinations and treatments were made available the major culprit for death was no longer of a purely biological nature. By the year 2000 the major killers were taking the form of cardiovascular diseases which include coronary heart disease(CHD), High blood pressure, and cancer, (American Heart Association, 1999) that have many psychological, environmental and behavioral links, and most importantly links to stress and how our body copes while experiencing it. Selye’s three stages of the general adaptation syndrome (1976) can be directly linked to the above and have on many occasions been associated to personality and its effects on health. These developments have facilitated in the creation of ‘Health psychology,’ as researchers in this field evaluate and study the link between the mind and body, and how the environment may have an impact on these to produce illness or health. The following essay will interpret work written by professionals within the field of Health Psychology and offer an explanation of how Personality can impact health, with reference to research and theories, and to highlight personality’s role in Coronary Heart disease and cancer. The effect of stress on an individual’s physical health can have very serious consequences if the body’s response to the stress is over aroused. The prolonged arousal of the sympathetic system and the adrenal cortical system can cause major damage to the arteries and organs, yet long term stress can have an effect on the body’s immune system, lowering its ability to fight off diseases, this particular notion has had a lot of links to the development of cancer. (Taylor, 1986) Yet the links between the ideas that stress affects health has also been linked to the individual’s personality. Ultimately the concept is that challenging environments produce stress, and that certain individuals that possess a particular personality are poor at coping with stress, this is usually associated with personality traits and certain coping skills. Studies into the effects of ‘Hardiness’ by Kobasa, (1979); Kobasa, Maddi and Kahn, (1982) have shown that men who have had High levels of stress yet low occurrences of illness differed from those that had become ill during stressful events. The link seems logical as those that had less illnesses had felt as if they had more control and commitment in their lives while at the same time seeing certain situations such as losing a job, as a challenge instead of a setback, signifying that those individuals would be able to turn what could have been a stressful situation into their advantage. This particular study was only conducted on males, however and alternative study showed similar results when conducted on females.( Wiebe and McCallum, 1986) An alternative to theory to the Hardiness scale is The Type A personality type that has had links to CHD and other heart issues. Physicians believe that the traits of a Type A personality tend to be, aggressiveness, impatience and often an over involvement in work. The individuals that often exhibit this type of behavior tend to be very competitive and often find it difficult to relax. (Friedman and Rosenman, 1974) In comparison with type A, Type B individuals are those that do not show the characteristics of a Type A person. They can relax and work without a feeling of urgency; they are less likely to become agitated or angry. The Biological connection between Type A people and coronary heart disease suggests that the individual’s sympathetic nervous system responds to stress in a maladaptive way. Most people when exposed to stressors such as high demands at work, feel angry, or agitated yet not to the extent to which it could cause any long term issues, as they are not prolonged and easily returned to a normal state, however an individual with a type A personality would show a much higher increase in blood pressure and heart rate. The sympathetic nervous system on a Type A individual would be ‘Hyper-responsive’ to stressors. The theory is that all of these psychological and physiological changes damage the heart. (Manuck and Kranz, 1986) In relation to the above there have been many large scale studies that suggest that there are larger varieties of risk factors than just CHD, Such as smoking, and obesity. (Rosenman, 1975) patterns shown by research suggests that it is not necessarily the individuals traits such as high ambition and the need to work, instead the negative emotions that a Type A personality possesses such as anger are seen as the main culprits for the health problems. Friedman and Rosenman’s Western collaborative group study was the longitudinal study of 3534 men, between the ages of 39 and 59. Each individual was medically examined and given a category of either Type A or it’s contrasting Type B, it was found that 53 per cent of the participants were Type A and the rest Type B. (Rosenman, 1964) After an 8.5 year follow up results had shown that Type A men had experienced higher numbers of CHD in comparison with Type B over the course of the study. Coinciding studies such as the Framingham Study (Haynes et al, 1978) and the British Regional Heart study (Jognston et al, 1987) looked into the link between Type A and CHD, each study showed higher numbers of CHD (both MI man Angina) among Type A men and women .