Negotiation Outcome between Teachers Union and US Government

Negotiation Outcome between Teachers Union and US Government Our main goal was to stop the layoff of teachers, not to reduce prep time, increase salary, and possibly reduce workload on the teachers. The outcome of the negotiation was in favor of the teacher’s union. However, due to the constraint in the budget, many of our demands were not met. The board had a budget deficit of $188,6902, it was difficult for us to negotiation our demands of increasing the salary of the teachers.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Negotiation Outcome between Teacher’s Union and US Government specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The parents union was a strong third party influence that strongly opposed any form of strike or disruption of normal schooling. Therefore, the negotiation process went through a distributive form of procedure wherein the Board of Education, the teacher’s union, and the parents’ body together tried to solve the problem. The process was more int egrative as all parties wanted to come to a middle point wherein all their demands were satisfied to some extent . The bargaining process must be convergent and not divergent as this would increase individual differences of the negotiators and therefore no outcome would be possible to be reached. Negotiation is believed to be â€Å"non zero-sum game† wherein the outcome can be that of mutual gain and that is ensured through an integrative bargaining process . This process has been followed in out negotiation process, such that the outcome of the process is beneficial to all the parties involved. The distributive process involved in the negotiation is related to the distribution of pay, the ratio of teachers and pupils, the total number of employees in the school, the duration of the working day and the recall period. This aspect dominated the beginning of the negotiation process. However, the first phase of negotiation based on this approach did not end satisfactorily for eit her of the parties. This led to the use of an integrative process of negotiation in order to satisfy the requirements of both the parties. The integrative process of negotiation put forward the proposal of increasing the salary of the teachers through direct contributions made by the parents. Further this process also helped us finding innovative proposals to reduce the deficit in budget. According to the study conducted by Beersma and de Dreu integrative process of negotiation helps in deriving better outcome than distributive process and they also found that the former helps in creating better atmosphere for the bargaining process to take place.Advertising Looking for assessment on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The teacher’s association employed a number of negotiating tools to achieve their goals. In doing so, the association consciously acknowledged and accepted the goal of the board to reduce the number of teachers and increase the productivity of the paper stationeries. In this respect a more cost effective means of sending the study material through emails to the students was suggested by the association in order to reduce the cost of printing. This helped the association and the board to reduce the cost of the materials, and therefore reduced the budget deficit considerably. As the budget deficit was the main reason for the disagreement between the parties, most of the time in the negotiating process was spent on this issue. The process of integrative negotiation led both the parties to agree on the errors that had occurred in pricing of the materials and therefore the budget deficit could further be reduced. There were other errors in calculation of the utilities that were reduced through the bargaining process. This process helped in reducing the deficit 47 percent of the initial deficit. This encouraged the association to dwell further, and look into the savings i n order to reduce deficit to zero. Due to the evident errors in the budget that were found in the process of the bargaining process, the association put forth a proposal for reviewing of the budget deficit presented by the board of education and make a more balanced deficit. However, this was not negotiated and agreed upon by the board who showed their reluctance in dealing with any further. Bias and bad intention during negotiation process can make the process redundant as such an unethical behavior would make the process useless . Such a behavior by the board put doubt regarding the intention of the board as has been indicated in the negotiation literature on ethical negotiation. The association was willing to loose on to financially in order to come across a better and more mutually beneficial negotiation. As Ertel believes that at times financial losses done intentionally during a negotiation process can become advantageous for the whole process.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Negotiation Outcome between Teacher’s Union and US Government specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Compromise in the final phase also indicates the intention of the parties to conclude a deal rather than stretching it indefinitely towards a deadlock . Therefore readiness of the teachers’ association and the board to accommodate and reconcile to few demands of the other party indicated their willingness to come to a mutually beneficial conclusion. Value creation is a necessary process for the both negotiating parties to achieve positive outcome . This was done by proposing that the administrative and the clerical staff to be reduced, and the teachers’ association offered to do extra administrative work. This was done by foregoing a lot of extra time and taking up extra load in order to reduce the budget deficit as showed by the board. This way, the teachers’ association would be able to k eep their members from being laid off, and increase the productivity of the board of education. Therefore the association was willingly accommodating many of the offerings of the board in order to make the negotiation process a success. Thus, the association was actually increasing the workload of the teachers by offering a cut of administrative and clerical staff. Such a move would increase the administrative duties of the teachers extensively. Accommodating largely is sometimes not correct as this may hamper the interest of the one’s own side, in this case, the teachers’ association itself. Therefore the board and the teachers’ association to a great extent achieved their interests and maintained their goal. However, I believe that the teachers’ association undertook too soft a stand and may have compromised to a great extent in order to reach a positive outcome. This section would answer the influence power and dynamics, team dynamics, and constituenci es played in reaching the outcome of the negotiating process. In this answer these categories would be treated differently, and demonstrate my involvement in the negotiating process. The negotiation that took place was from the point of view of the teachers’ association. I represented the teachers’ association in the negotiation process. The team decided to take a value creating stand, thereby, a lot of time was spent on reducing the budget deficit, which was presumed to be the root cause of t he whole situation.Advertising Looking for assessment on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Through the previous section demonstrates, during the negotiation process, the teachers’ association made excessive concession that may have made their demands too weak to be paid heed upon by the board. In many cases, the other party takes advantage of the party that fails to take a tough stand and therefore, fail to meet their own interests . This is what has been observed in case of the negotiation process of the teachers’ association. In this respect, a better approach would be not to consider value creation at the very beginning of the negotiating process. Rather, it would be important to engage in a wider aspect of negation process. The teachers’ association too easily agreed upon reducing the retirement age, increasing the pupil teacher ration that would inadvertently increase the workload on the teachers. Further, the teachers’ association also agreed upon increasing the workload further by doing a part of the administrative works themselves. Ther efore, the teachers’ association was willingly accepting a higher degree of workload instead of looking at the interest of the teachers, and just aiming for a positive closure to the negotiation process. Therefore, their suggestion actually would help the board to reduce to a great extent, but at the cost of the interest and greater effort put in by the teachers for similar remuneration. The teacher’s association did not utilize the parent’s association in the negotiating process. Parents’ association was a strong third party influence on the board who would have helped the teachers as they were in direct contact with them and not the board. The association could have utilized the parents’ body to help them getting an upper hand in the negotiation and deriving greater benefit for themselves. The parent’s association could have been utilized in attaining a few of the goals of the teachers’ association i.e. to maintain the number of tea chers at 400. This would have received wide support from the parent’s body, as they would want the quality of teaching not to be hampered due to the budgetary deficit that the board faced. Further, this would have been a helpful strategy to influence them to agree to parental contribution as a necessary factor in retaining the level of education imparted to the students and negating the possibility of an impending strike of the teachers. Thus, if the threat of a strike as a possibility could have been removed from the scenario, the parents’ body would have been more sympathetic to the cause of the teachers, and have helped them in achieving their goals. However, mutual trust was not built between the teachers’ association and the parent body to take up their cause together . Another area where the teachers’ association went wrong was in their ready acceptance of all the moves of the board. A powerful way of presenting one’s argument influences the other party and makes the argument heard . In the first phase when the board rejected most of the initial proposals of the association, a better stand would have been not stopping all negotiation, rather than a ready acceptance of the rejection. This put forth a message to the board that the teachers’ association was ready to accept whatever they were willing to shell out. The teachers’ association totally sidelined their BATNA strategy and employed an integrative strategy that made their stance softer. A negotiation process is said to pass through four phases – â€Å"relational positioning, identifying the problem, generating solutions, and reaching agreement† . Traditionally, researchers have hypothesized that negotiation in relation to power such that higher degree of power for one party led to greater positive return for the side. However, more successful negotiation processes are found to move away from a power positioning to a more cooperative and c oordinating stand . In this respect, the stand of the teachers’ association was correct, as they from the very beginning did not entail in power play. Their positioning was to understand the situation and put forth their argument in relation to the other party’s reasoning. However, many believe that the process of negotiation is best done when it is broadly divided into two distinct stages – competitive in the first phase and cooperative in the second and some believe it should be done in a three staged process of conflict, tactical manipulation, and final agreement. In case of the teachers’ association, none of these possible processes were adhered to. Rather, they followed a softer stand of just being overtly cooperative from the very beginning of the negotiation process. Competitiveness in the negotiation process is a necessity. Many researchers believe that even when the negotiators are employing a cooperative attitude towards the process, they will c ontinuously employ competitive strategies to create greater value for themselves . The teachers’ association failed to employ the advantage they had in form of the parents’ body and could have used them to get greater value from the negotiating process. In many other cases, the negotiators of the association were too cooperative to the board, and therefore, failed to gain advantage out of the situation. The outcome of the negotiation could be divided into tangible and intangible outcomes. The intangible outcomes included that the board offered a position in the board for one representative from the teachers’ association. Howe, the teachers’ association feels that this proposition is not a very attractive offer as this would provide a minority place for the association in the board, and their voice would be lost. In tangible benefits, the material cost was reviewed by the board, and they proposed that the teacher to pupil ratio be increased in order to red uce material cost further. This again negated our stand of reducing cost through online system. However, the board was resistant to this point as they were unwilling to pay for a new IT system, and they had to raise money from the parents’ body that would be unwilling to do so. The other proposition that the board put forth was to go on a joint effort to increase the awareness for greater taxes and funding to develop the education system. This is a point that both that parties have agreed upon. The overall result of the negotiation process suggests that both the parties have reached a settlement. Both agree upon that no teachers would be laid off, and there was an increase of 5 percent annual salary of the teachers. The teacher’s salary now became $20,562,311. However, there was an increase in the workload of the teachers by 50 minutes per day. In addition, the pre-time was reduced. Further, as suggested by the teachers’ association, some changes were brought fo rth in the budget deficit. First, transportation that earlier was free, was made chargeable, and therefore the deficit was reduced by $1291430. Second, online system for imparting study material and reviewing class work reduced the excessive cost of stationary also decreased cost by 1 million. Further, there was found to be a misreporting of the local income in the deficit, and therefore that was increase by $800,000. On working out on these areas, the negotiating process helped both the parties to come across means of turning the possible deficit into a surplus, by making the above agreed upon changes. Therefore, the outcome of the negotiation value creating however was tilted on the side of the board, as in many cases soft bargaining strategies led the association to loose on their value . The overall outcome of the negotiation process was partially successful for the teachers’ association. They prevented the major hurdles that they faced and that was of layoff. No teachers were laid off, therefore, making their association strong. Further, they were also able to increase the salary by increasing CPI by 5 percent. The most important success of the association was in avoiding a strike that would have been a loss to all the parties. They reached a quick outcome, even though many researchers believe that a quick outcome may lead to reduction in creation of value . The tactics that was followed was to increase the benefits derived by the negotiators and increase the value created for both the parties. The aim was therefore to create the maximum possible value by generating greater value for the board. The ideas was to create value for both the parties by looking at the relative benefit of the opposing party following research outcome of Sebenius . In the initial stage both the parties were interested in optimizing their personal value; however, the situation should have been to maximum mutual value . One area that the association did not pay any stress on was equating the salary of the teachers with that of the teachers in the surrounding localities. This should have been a vital and stressful argument, as it could have been substantiated with statistical figures. However, the association revealed its priority on maintaining the job level rather than increase in salary, this outcome could have been achieved for the benefit of the teachers. therefore, the teachers association failed to employ any stand for itself in terms of self-defense and in term of fairness, as they willfully accepted what was given to them by the board. However, researchers believe that self-defense and question of fairness is a necessity for negotiation . In conclusion, the outcome was mutually beneficial; however, the association may have taken a stronger stand at the initial phase of the negotiating process, to maximize its value. References Adair, W.L. Brett, J.M., 2005. The Negotiation Dance: Time, Culture, and Behavioral Sequences in Negotiation. Organiza tion Science, 16(1), p.33–51. Barry, B. Friedman, R.A., 1998. Bargainer Characteristics in Distributive and Integrative Negotiation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(2), pp.345-59. Bazerman, M.H., Chugh, D. Banaji, M.R., 2005. When Good People (Seem to) Negotiate in Bad Faith. Harvard Business Review, pp.3-5. Beersma, B. de Dreu, C., 2002. Integrative and Distributive Negotiation in Small Groups: Effects of Task Structure, Decision Rule, and Social Motive. Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 87(2), pp.227-52. Colosi, T., 1983. A Core Model of Negotiation. American Behavorial Scientist, 27(2), pp.229-53. Ertel, D., 2004. Getting Past Yes. Harvard Business Review, 82, pp.60-68. Forester, J., 2004. Responding to Critical Moments with Humor, Recognition, and Hope. Negotiation Journal, 20(2), pp.221-37. Lax, D. Sebenius, J., 1986. The Negotiators Dilemma: Creating and Claiming Value. New York: McGrawHIill. Lax, D.A. Sebenius, J.K., 2010. Sol ve Joint Problems to Create and Claim Value. In R.J. Lewicki, R. Lewicki, B. Barry D. Saunders, eds. Negotiation: Readings, Excercises, and Cases. New York: McGraw-Hill. pp.97-111. Lussier, R. Achua, C., 2010. Leadership: Theory, Application Skill Development. 4th ed. Mason, Ohio: South-Western. Mannix, E.A., Thompson, L.L. Bazerman, M.H., 1989. Negotiation in small groups. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74(3), pp.508-17. Morley, I.E. Stephensen, J.M., 1977. The Social Psychology of Bargaining. London, U.K.: Allen Unwin. Provis, C., 2000. Ethics, Deception and Labor Negotitation. Journal of Busienss Ethics, 28, pp.145-58. Sebenius, J., 2001. Six Habits of Merely Effective Negotiators. Harvard Business Review, 79, pp.87-95. Tannen, D., 1995. The Power of Talk: Who gets Heard adn Why? Harvard Business Review, pp.137-48. Thompson, L., 2005. The mind and heart of the negotiator. 3rd ed. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Zaheer, A., McEvily, B. Perrone, V., 1998. Does T rust Matter? Exploring the Effects of Interorganizational and Interpersonal Trust on Performance. Organization Science, 9(2), pp.141-59.

Lyrics to the Christmas Carol Gloria in Excelsis Deo

Lyrics to the Christmas Carol Gloria in Excelsis Deo The refrain of the French Carol translated into English as Angels We Have Heard on High is in Latin as Gloria in Excelsis Deo. Below is one version of the English version of the carol from the same source. The translation from French to English is by Bishop James Chadwick (1813-1882). Review the translations in English and French and learn about the songs history as well as its place in pop culture as we know it today. History of the Music The Christmas carol Angels We Have Heard on High was originally written by James Chadwick but played to music from the song Les Anges Dans Nos Campagnes. The French carol translates as The Angels in our Countryside and was originally created in Languedoc, France despite not knowing who the original composer was. The song meaning is about Jesus Christ as a newborn child and the many angels singing and praising his birth. In Pop Culture Dozens of popular artists have covered the song, from independent singer-songwriters such as Josh Groban, Brian McKnight, Andrea Bocelli, and Christina Aguilera. Groups of musicians and bands such as The Piano Guys, Bad Religion, Bayside, and Glee have also created notable versions of the famous carol.  Translations to the song may also be found in Scottish Gaelic, Portuguese, German, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese amongst others. The English Translation (Angels We Have Heard on High) Angels we have heard on highSweetly singing oer the plains,And the mountains in replyEchoing their joyous strains.RefrainGloria, in excelsis Deo!Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Shepherds, why this jubilee?Why your joyous strains prolong?What the gladsome tidings beWhich inspire your heavenly song? Refrain Come to Bethlehem and seeHim whose birth the angels sing;Come, adore on bended knee,Christ the Lord, the newborn King. Refrain See Him in a manger laid,Whom the choirs of angels praise;Mary, Joseph, lend your aid,While our hearts in love we raise. Refrain The French Version (Les Anges Dans Nos Campagnes) Les anges dans nos campagnesOnt entonnà © lhymne des cieux;Et là ©cho de nos montagnesRedit ce chant mà ©lodieux.Gloria, in excelsis Deo,Gloria, in excelsis Deo. Bergers, pour qui cette fà ªte?Quel est lobjet de tous ces chants?Quel vainqueur, quelle conquà ªteMà ©rite ces cris triomphants?Gloria, in excelsis Deo,Gloria, in excelsis Deo. Ils annoncent la naissanceDu libà ©rateur dIsraà «l,Et pleins de reconnaissanceChantent en ce jour solennel.Gloria, in excelsis Deo,Gloria, in excelsis Deo. Bergers, loin de vos retraitesUnissez-vous leurs concertsEt que vos tendres musettesFassent retentir dans les airs:Gloria, in excelsis Deo,Gloria, in excelsis Deo. Cherchons tous lheureux villageQui la vu naà ®tre sous ses toits,Offrons-lui le tendre hommageEt de nos coeurs et de nos voix!Gloria, in excelsis Deo,Gloria, in excelsis Deo.

Contract law coursework - Consideration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Contract law coursework - Consideration - Essay Example The fact that past consideration cannot constitute valid consideration was depicted in Eastwood v Kenyon2. In this case the guardian of a young girl obtained a loan in order to defray the cost of her education. After the completion of her education this girl entered holy wedlock. Her husband agreed to repay the loan. The court opined that the guardian of the girl was not entitled to enforce the promise because of the fact that the loan was availed by him to educate the girl constituted past consideration which had been completed long before her husband had made the promise to repay this loan. However, in Pau On v. Lau Yiu Long past consideration was deemed to be good consideration. In this case the court decided that for a new contract, an advantage that was bestowed or a disadvantage that had been undergone in the past could be deemed to be valuable consideration if payment was forthcoming. Further, the court opined that commercial pressure cannot be considered to be coercion if it is a reasonable business practice3. In all such exceptional cases the original act should have been conducted by the promisee at the behest of the promisor; an unambiguous perception should exist between the parties that remuneration would be made available for performing the contract and the promisee should have agreed to these terms, prior to receiving the consideration, which must be enforceable as a legally binding contract. In the month of February road repair work commenced in front of Tommy’s establishment. This made access to Tommy’s establishment difficult and resulted in a drastic reduction of business. The Arcadia Company consented to reduce the rent, for a period of three months, to  £30 per week. The road repair work was over at the end of three months and normalcy was restored. However, due to the road repair work a lot of dust had accumulated and Tommy was compelled to engage

Wal-Mart.com Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Wal-Mart.com Case Study - Essay Example Given that a large number of Wal-Mart’s regular customers would get used purchasing various items online, the number of customers who will be dropping by Wal-Mart store outlets would eventually decrease. The shift from traditional shopping to online shopping will enable the company to cut down the number of its employee which will reduce its customer-borne transaction costs. Yes. In general, the use of web-site services and Wal-Mart’s decision to close a deal with Fingerhut Business Services and Books-a-Million enables the company to reduce its operational costs. (Zellner, 1999) Given that Fingerhut Business Services and Books-a-Million has the expertise on distributing the customers’ orders directly to their home (Zellner, 1999), there is a lesser chance for Wal-Mart to have serious problems related with the transportation of goods from the warehouse straight to its customer’s home. Aside from the huge reduction on the cost of operations, the fact that Wal-Mart announced its plan to expand its online store service will enable the company to have take advantage of economies-of-scale. Since the company has already invested on Wal-Mart.com, expansion of its online store offerings is expected to open new business opportunities for Wal-Mart. Since Wal-Mart will be able to save a lot of money from operational costs, the company will have the competitive advantage of being able to offer consumer products at a discounted price. Yes. It is most likely that Wal-Mart will capture the value created by Wal-Mart.com. Since the website is accessible 24/7, the use of Wal-Mart.com can reach millions of people around the world. For this reason, more people in other countries will be able to acknowledge the brand Wal-Mart. As soon as Wal-Mart has already dominated the domestic market, the management behind Wal-Mart will have to start expanding its business in the international market. This can be done by establishing several

Balanced score card of puppy Luv Doggy day care Essay Example for Free

Balanced score card of puppy Luv Doggy day care Essay Robert Kaplan and David Norton first introduced the Balanced Scorecard in the early 1990’s as a strategic management system that forces managers to focus on the important performance metrics that lead to success. There are four perspectives of BSC as following: 1. Financial perspective This is the standard perspective that everyone uses even before the BSC. Even a non-profit organization uses this perspective in order to balance their books. It measures financial performances through financial ratios and other financial indicators. In the case of Puppy Luv Doggy Day Care, the financial perspective includes strategic objectives in following areas: ? Market share ? Revenues and costs ? Profitability ? Competitive position 2. Customer Perspective It is a measure of corporate value viewed from the value it delivers to customers. For instance, time taken to process a phone call, result of customers’ surveys, number of complaints, competitive rankings, etc. In the case of Puppy Luv Doggy Day Care, the Customer Value Perspective includes strategic objectives in following areas:? Customer retention or turnover ? Customer satisfaction ? Customer value 3. Business Process Perspective It measures corporate value from the enhancement of its business processes, like time spent prospecting, quality cost, product rework required, etc. In the case of Puppy Luv Doggy Day Care, Process or Internal Operations Perspective includes strategic objectives in following areas: ? Measure of process performance ? Productivity or productivity improvement ? Operations metrics 4. Learning and Growth Perspective. This perspective measures corporate value from its learning abilities or the progress of its learning processes. Example of activities measures are staff training, employee suggestion and improvement of certain processes as an outcome of the learning process (‘Balanced Scorecard’, 2006). In the case of Puppy Luv Doggy Day Care, the Learning and Growth (Employee) Perspective includes strategic objectives in following areas: ? Employee satisfaction ? Employee turnover or retention ? Level of organization capability ? Nature of organization culture or climate. ? Technological innovation These perspectives are then adaptable to various businesses by choosing different drivers for each perspective. The BSC can also detect and measure correlation between activities, in order to help decide which activities positively impacted others. For instance an online customer service can help reducing telephone calls and time to handle complaints, thus increasing effectiveness of business processes. According to Kaplan and Norton, there are various utilities of the Balance Scorecard. Some of them are: to clarify and update strategy, communicate strategy, align unit goals with corporate strategy, link strategic objectives to long term target, etc (‘Balanced Scorecard’, 2006). Table 2 KPI based on Balanced Scorecard of Puppy Luv Doggy Day Care. Reference: Balanced Scorecard Institute. (2009). Balanced Scorecard Basics. Retrieved August 5, 2009 from http://www. balancedscorecard. org/BSCResources/AbouttheBalancedScorecard/tabid/55/Default. aspx Hansen, Don R. And Mayanne M. Mowen. (2003). Management Accounting. Ohio: South-Western College Publishing Co Niven, Paul R. (2006). Adapting the Balanced Scorecard to Fit the Public Sector. Retrieved August 5, 2009 from http://www. bettermanagement. com/seminars/seminar. aspx? l=5545 Shaw, Greg L and John R. Harrald. (2004). Identification of the Core Competencies Required of Executive Level Business Crisis and Continuity Managers. Retrieved August 5, 2009 from http://www. gwu. edu/~dhs/pubs/identifycore_2004. pdf#search=businesslevel%20strategic%20control.

Capital Punishment Essay -- essays research papers fc

Capital Punishment   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What does capital punishment do for our society? Does it really do anything to better our society, or is it just a way for our government to deal with the irregularities that accompany any ill-perfect society? Presented here are facts about the death penalty that will let you decide whether or not capital punishment is needed. There is a possibility of error when the death penalty is used upon a convicted criminal. Many times, a person who is accused of a crime, and put to death because of this crime has been later proved to be innocent due to additional evidence. But since the person accused of the crime has had his life taken from them, there is no chance to tell them that the government made a mistake and to let that person go and live out the rest of their life. The government must continue on knowing that they have killed an innocent person and the person they wished to kill, was still free. There is no fail-safe solution to prevent innocent people from being executed. Our judicial system is made up of human beings, and we human beings are prone to mistakes. Some of these mistakes are irreversible. There is also a racial bias when the death penalty is carried out. â€Å"Since the resumption of executions in the early 1980's, 40 percent of those executed have been black.† And more often than not blacks were more often executed than were whites without having their conviction reviewed by any higher court. The cost of carr... Capital Punishment Essay -- essays research papers fc Capital Punishment   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What does capital punishment do for our society? Does it really do anything to better our society, or is it just a way for our government to deal with the irregularities that accompany any ill-perfect society? Presented here are facts about the death penalty that will let you decide whether or not capital punishment is needed. There is a possibility of error when the death penalty is used upon a convicted criminal. Many times, a person who is accused of a crime, and put to death because of this crime has been later proved to be innocent due to additional evidence. But since the person accused of the crime has had his life taken from them, there is no chance to tell them that the government made a mistake and to let that person go and live out the rest of their life. The government must continue on knowing that they have killed an innocent person and the person they wished to kill, was still free. There is no fail-safe solution to prevent innocent people from being executed. Our judicial system is made up of human beings, and we human beings are prone to mistakes. Some of these mistakes are irreversible. There is also a racial bias when the death penalty is carried out. â€Å"Since the resumption of executions in the early 1980's, 40 percent of those executed have been black.† And more often than not blacks were more often executed than were whites without having their conviction reviewed by any higher court. The cost of carr...

Motion Picture Industry

Case Problem 2: The Motion Picture Industry This case provides the student with the opportunity to use numerical measures to continue the analysis of the motion picture industry data first presented in Chapter 2. Developing and interpreting descriptive statistics such as the mean, median, standard deviation and range are emphasized. Five-number summaries and the identification of outliers are also of interest. Interpretations and insights can vary. We illustrate some below. Descriptive Statistics Variable N Mean SE Mean StDev Range Opening Gross 100 9. 8 1. 89 18. 87 108. 43 Total Gross 100 33. 04 6. 32 63. 16 380. 15 Number of Theaters 100 1278 138 1379 3905 Weeks in Top 60 100 8. 680 0. 639 6. 390 26. 000 Variable MinimumQ1 Median Q3 Maximum Opening Gross 0. 0100 0. 0625 0. 395 12. 49 108. 44 Total Gross 0. 0300 0. 375 5. 854 47. 69 380. 18 Number of Theaters 5. 00 45. 3 410 2732 3910 Weeks in Top 60 1. 000 3. 000 7. 00 13. 000 27. 000 Interpretation Opening Weekend Gross Sales. Th e mean opening weekend gross sales is $9. 38 million. The five-number summary is . 01, . 0625, . 395, 12. 49 and 108. 44. Thus the opening weekend gross sales is highly variable and ranges from a low of $10,000 to a high of $108. 44 million. 50% of the motion pictures had an opening weekend gross sales of $395,000 or less, and 25% had a relatively low opening weekend gross sales of $62,500 or less. The top 25% of the motion pictures had an opening weekend gross sales of $12. 9 million or more. Total Gross Sales. The mean total gross sales is $33. 04 million. The five-number summary is . 03, . 375, 5. 854, 47. 69 and 380. 18. Thus the total gross sales is also highly variable and ranges from a low of $30,000 to a high of $380. 18 million. 50% of the motion pictures had a total gross sales of $5. 854 million or less, and 25% had a relatively low total gross sales of $375,000 or less. The top 25% of the motion pictures had total gross sales of $47. 69 million or more. Number of Theater s.The mean number of theaters for motion pictures is 1278 theaters. The five-number summary is 5, 45. 3, 410, 2732 and 3910. Thus the number of theaters for a motion picture is also highly variable and ranges from a low of 5 theaters to a high of 3910 theaters. 50% of the motion pictures were shown in 410 or fewer theaters. 25% of the motion pictures were shown in 45 or fewer theaters. The top 25% of the motion pictures were shown in 2732 or more theaters. Number of Weeks in Top 60. The mean number of weeks in the top 60 for motion pictures is 8. 8 weeks. The five-number summary is 1, 3, 7, 13 and 27. Thus the number of weeks in the top 60 is also highly variable and ranges from a low of 1 week to a high of 27 weeks. 50% of the motion pictures were on the top 60 list for 7 or fewer weeks. 25% of the motion pictures were on the top 60 list for 3 or fewer weeks. The top 25% of the motion pictures were on the top 60 list for 13 or more weeks. General Observations. The data show that th ere is a wide variation in the performance of motion pictures for the four variables being studied.Motion pictures range from the low gross sales movies shown in relatively few theaters to the highly successful motion pictures with hundreds of millions in gross sales and playing in almost 4000 theaters. The profiles of motion pictures using the means and medians are shown below. |Profile |Mean |Median | |Opening Weekend Gross Sales |$ 9. 38 million |$ . 395 million | |Total Gross Sales |$33. 04 million |$ 5. 54 million | |Number of Theaters |1278 |410 | |Number of Weeks in Top 60 |8. 68 |7 | The relatively few extremely high performance blockbuster motion pictures tend to inflate the mean in the above profile calculations. The profile based the median gives a better picture of the middle or more typical performance characteristics in the motion picture industry. Outliers We will use outliers to identify the highly successful blockbuster motion pictures in the data set.Using Q3 + 1. 5(IQR) to identify the levels required to qualify as a high performance outlier, we have the following. Opening Weekend Gross Sales Q3 + 1. 5(IQR) = 12. 49 + 1. 5(12. 49 – . 0625) = $31. 13 million Total Gross Sales Q3 + 1. 5(IQR) = 47. 69 + 1. 5(47. 69 – . 375) = $118. 66 million Number of Theaters Q3 + 1. 5(IQR) = 2732 + 1. 5(2732 – 45. 3) = 6762 theaters Number of Weeks on the Top 60 List Q3 + 1. 5(IQR) = 13 + 1. 5(13 – 3) = 28 weeks There are no outliers in terms of the number of theaters or the number of weeks on the top 60 list.There were motion pictures that were high on these two variables, but not high enough to be considered outliers. However, there were six motion pictures that out performed the other motion pictures in terms of reaching outlier levels in opening weekend gross sales and total gross sales. These motions pictures are considered the â€Å"blockbuster† motion pictures in the data set. To be in this category the motion pictur e had an opening weekend gross sales greater than $31. 13 million and a total gross sales greater than $118. 66 millions.The six blockbuster motion pictures in this category ranked by total gross sales are as follows: |Motion Picture |Opening Gross Sales |Total |Number of |Weeks in Top 60| | |($ millions) |Gross Sales |Theaters | | | | |($ millions) | | | |Star Wars: Episode III |108. 4 |380. 18 |3,663 |19 | |Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire |102. 69 |287. 18 |3,858 |13 | |War of the Worlds | 77. 06 |234. 21 |3,910 |19 | |Wedding Crashers | 33. 90 |209. 22 |3,131 |23 | |Batman Begins | 48. 5 |205. 28 |3,858 |18 | |Mr. and Mrs. Smith | 50. 34 |186. 22 |3,451 |21 | Star Wars: Episode III was the top motion picture in terms of both opening weekend gross sales and total gross sales for 2005. War of the Worlds was shown in the most theaters 3910 and Wedding Crashers, at 23 weeks, was the motion picture in this group with the longest run in the top 60 list.

Recruiting and managing employees Essay

Job descriptions are a vital part of recruiting and managing employees. These written summaries of jobs ensure that applicants and current employees have clear understanding of their roles and what is expected of them in order to be held accountable. Despite the various job descriptions and posts for new hire, it is imperative that job descriptions be thoroughly written because it will help employees understand the major areas of their job or position and also help attract the right candidates for the job. In this essay, I will be writing on the components of job description with emphasis on the role of Operations Manager with careful analysis of the important facts about the job with respect to the tasks, tools and technology, knowledge, skills and abilities, and the educational requirements for the position. Emphasis will also be placed on job advertisement and the assessment methods used when recruiting and why the methods are most appropriate especially in recruiting an Operations Manager. In today’s labor market, business environment is constantly changing and for this reason the tasks of an Operations Manager in a company is ever increasing so the job description of this position should clearly state the expectation of the job. A job description identifies characteristics of the job to be performed in terms of the tasks, duties and responsibilities to be fulfilled (Youssef, 2012). The tasks of the position must clearly and concisely communicate in the job description. For instance, the main tasks of an Operations Manager will be to oversee, direct, and coordinate all activities of the business with respect to products and services being offered by the company. In addition, the Operations Manager will be responsible for reviewing financial statements, activity report and also m anaging, training and developing employees. Once the tasks of a job is clearly written on a job description it is important to state the tools and technology requirement of the position to ensure that employees or candidates for the job understand and know the tools and technology involved to carry out the expected tasks of the job. For the position of Operations Manager in my company, the person must be proficient in the use of cell phones, laptop computers, security systems, barcode printer, and barcode scanner. In additional to these tools, the person must also be comfortable with using various software to execute tasks some of which includes accounting, electronic mail, enterprises resources planning, office suite, spreadsheet and word processing. Having  enumerated the tools and technology required for the job, the knowledge needed to be effective in the position must also be clearly stated to ensure employees and prospective candidates for the positions understand the minimum knowledge required to be successful at the job. For the operations Manager, he or she is required to have substantial knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources (http://www.onetonline.org/link/details/11-1021.00). Also should be included in job descriptions is the skills and abilities needed for the job. As an Operations Manager, he or she must be a good listener giving attention to customers and employees taking the time to understand points being made and also must have the ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through written and spoken words and sentences. The skills and abilities will ensure that the operations manager can communicate with his or her customers and also employees either in resolving problems with customers or employees or business transactions (http://www.onetonline.org/link/details/11-1021.00). Lastly, a job description must include the educational requirement for the position. In most management position, a minimum of Bachelor’s degree is needed and preferably in Business or equivalent. In some instances, some company requires five years of experience in the field as an equivalent to Bachelor’s degree. Once the analysis and job description for a job is complete, the next step would be to identify recruiting method to use in selecting candidates. Since recruiting is the first stage in the hiring process, it is important to attract qualified people who have the skills and experience the job demands. To do this, I will suggest that recruitment be done through job fairs and advertising. To properly advertise a job, it is important to start by selecting the most effective job advertising medium where suitable candidate can be attracted. To recruit an Operations Manager, it will be best to place the ad on a premium job website. Once an advertising medium has been identified then the job is posted using the written job description for the position with some background information about the company. Once candidates  are identified, the next step would be to gain some valuable information about them. There are different selection methods that should be used and according to Youssef (2012) , selection methods can narrow down potential candidates. The approach and selection that I would employ in hiring an Operations Manager would be through tests and interview. The idea of using tests as selection method is to assess the personality and abilities of each candidate for the jobs. The personality test is to focus on the feelings, thoughts, and behavior of candidates as they relates to the type of enthusiasm and motivation employer is looking for in a candidate while the aptitude and ability test is to assess the intellectual performance of candidates. Interview method on the other hand, is a crucial preliminary part of recruiting process because it afford face-to-face meeting with candidates because it combines a detailed understanding of organizational requirements with a distinctive understanding of the responses, talents, qualifications, personality and character of prospective employee’s in order to make a final decision. Using interview and tests in the selection of candidate for the Operations Manager position will be most appropriate because it will afford the recruiter to be able to observe candidates attributes that will affect the job performance which include the abilities to communicate, reason and understand. This will also give the interviewer an opportunity to compare the strengths and weaknesses of each applicant. It is clear that to hire the best individual to fill a position it is important the analysis of the position be done and a written job description should be made to include the tasks, tools and knowledge, educational requirements, and the skills and abilities required to be successful at the job is needed in order to attract the best candidate. The recruiting method employed also is very vital in the process of hiring would also ensure that the best of the best candidates that applied for the job is eventually selected for the position. It is only by having a structured hiring process that an organization can compete and attract great minds in the labor market. References O*NET OnLine. (n.d.). O*NET OnLine. Retrieved from http://www.onetonline.org/ (http://www.onetonline.org/) Youssef, C. (2012). Human resource management. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.

Speeches of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln Compared essays

Speeches of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln Compared essays Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln are both addressing people who are experiencing a difficult time in history. In fact, both men are facing the issue of a nation at war. Jefferson was speaking to a nation that was seeking its independence from a separate country. Lincoln was addressing a country that was facing an internal war. Both men were forced to look at what government meant for the people and more importantly, they had to decide if that government was worth fighting to keep. In the face of tension and strife, Jefferson and Lincoln produced documents that not only helped to settle growing conflicts, but also helped define America as it In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson is speaking for a group people that desire to break free from the control of Great Britain. He is also addressing the British government. His views must be understood by both sides in order to be successful. Jefferson laid this document out in a superb manner, beginning with the statement that people must, at times, "dissolve the political bands" (Jefferson) which have previously bound them to one another. In addition, it is important to note that at the time, Jefferson and the other framers was drafting an incredible document because they were speaking out against the British monarchy, which was no small event. They were risking practically everything by committing treason. Jefferson believed that the colonists had every right to rebel against Britain. For one thing, they had not considered themselves part of British system for some years. There were two points that caused Jefferson to believe this way. One significant point that Jefferson makes is that all people are created equal and, as a result, have to right to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. These are the infamous inalienable rights with which every American citizen is born. Another point he makes in the Declarati...

Block Right Click Access to Context Menus on Web Pages

Block Right Click Access to Context Menus on Web Pages Web novices often believe that by blocking their visitors use of the mouse right-click context menu that they can prevent the theft of their web page content. Nothing could be further from the truth. Disabling right clicks is easily sidestepped by more savvy users, and the ability to access much of a web pages code itself is a basic feature of web browsers that doesnt require a right click at all. Drawbacks There are many ways to bypass the no right click script, and in reality the only effect that such a script has is to annoy those of your visitors who legitimately use the the right-click context menu (as that menu is properly called) in their web navigation. Additionally, all of the scripts that I have seen to do this only block access to the context menu from the right mouse button. They dont consider the fact that the menu is also accessible from the keyboard. All anyone needs to do to access the menu using a 104 key keyboard is to select the object on the screen for which they want to access the context menu (for example by left clicking on it) and then press the context menu key on their keyboard- its the one immediately to the left of the right CTRL key on PC keyboards. On a 101 key keyboard, you can execute a right-click command by holding down the shift key and pressing F10. JavaScript If you would like to disable right-clicks on your web page anyway, heres a really simple JavaScript that you can use to block all access to the context menu (not just from the right mouse button but from the keyboard as well)- and really annoy your visitors. This script is even simpler than most of the ones that only block the mouse button, and it works in about as many browsers as those scripts do. Heres the entire script for you: body oncontextmenureturn false; Adding just that small piece of code to the body tag of your web page is more effective at blocking your visitors access to the context menu than the many no-right-click scripts that you can find elsewhere on the web because it blocks access from both the mouse button and from keyboard options described above. Limitations Of course, the script doesnt work in all web browsers (e.g., Opera ignores it- but then Opera ignores all of the other no-right-click scripts as well). This script also does nothing to prevent your visitors from accessing the page source using the View Source option from their browser menu, or from saving the web page and viewing the source of the saved copy in their favorite editor. And finally, though you may disable access to the context menu, that access can be easily re-enabled by users simply by typingjavascript:void oncontextmenu(null) into the address bar of the browser.

Marketing strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Marketing strategies - Essay Example Australia’s strong employment growth and rising wealth coupled together with car manufacturers’ strong discounting and cheap finance schemes have cultivated growth in new car sales. With a strong economy, low interest rates on car financing and tariff reduction on vehicle imports will increase consumer confidence and encourage consumers to spend. Therefore, projected growth remains strong and stable over the next five-year period. In this paper, the author focuses on the product launch of new product line for Mercin Daviro. Mercin Daviro is a New Australian car manufacturer that specializes in the small, compact and economic range. The company is derived from Europe where it matches the features of the small European cars. Trends in the demographic environment, economic environment, natural environment, technological environment, political environment and cultural environment have been analyzed and Mercin Daviro had used this information to structure their car. The automotive market can be segmented by product type such as four-wheel drives, people-movers, Sports utility vehicles, and light commercial vehicles. Strong sales growth has continued in most segments in 2004, particularly for four-wheel drives, people-movers and light commercial vehicles, pointing to another record year for total vehicle sales, even though new passenger car registrations are likely to have fallen slightly. Local demand have been rising strongly between 1999 and 2001, the value of total automotive exports fell by 2.2% in both 2002 and 2003. Total earnings from automotive exports were A$4.72bn (US$3.1bn) in 2003, of which A$2.99bn came from vehicle exports and A$1.74bn from component exports. The Middle East is by far the largest market for Australian vehicle exports, accounting for 40.1% of export earnings in 2003, followed by New Zealand (17.5%) and North America (16.6%). The current key players in the Australian automotive market are Toyota, General Motors, Ford, Mitsubishi,

Comparative Business Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Comparative Business Law - Essay Example The negligence was recognized in the famous case Donoghue v Stevenson1. [Peter De Cruz, Comparative law]a It is illustrious case law on tort of negligence; this case is also called as "the snail in the bottle case". Though this case originates from Scots the House of Lords declares that the principle applied in this case apply to the world in common law jurisdiction. This case is fountainhead of the tortious principles say duty to care, breach of duty and causation of loss which are to be established for claiming liability of negligence. In this case the Session court rejected the appeal of the plaintiff on two grounds a) there is no privity of contract between the plaintiff and the manufacturer defendant; b) the product was not a dangerous product and there is no fraudulent misrepresentation from the defendant. It was appealed to the House of Lords by the plaintiff, arguing on the principle of privity of contract. The plaintiff counsel arguing for the removal of the protection provided for the manufacturers under the privity of contract under common law. The defendant side argued on wisdom of the Scottish judges in the mouse case, to prevail. Lord Atkin applies the 'Neighbourhood Principle', which says that a person will owe a duty of care not to injure a person or persons that can be foreseen reasonably which would be affected by the acts or omissions, in case where an established duty of care does not exist. The object of this principle is to provide the remedy against the suppliers of consumer products for tort, where there is no privity of contract. Lords MacMillan and Thankerton supported the opinion. Lords Tomlin and Buckmaster opposed this opining that it would be difficult to carry on the trade it becomes the law since they say that the principle of wide proposition. Remedies in Common Law The basic remedy that the common law provides is the damages. Damages such as liquidated damages, which is a predetermined or estimated value for breach of a contract; Compensatory damages, these damages awarded by the courts where any loss is caused due to a breach of contract or due to an action of a person, it is awarded to put the aggrieved party in the same position had there been no breach of contract or such action; Non Compensatory damages, the courts in certain cases awards non compensatory damages, when it do not aim to compensate the plaintiff, such damages are exemplary, contemptuous and nominal. [Benjamin Andoh and Stephen Marsh]d The remedies in Common law such as damages suffer with certain limitations. The common law puts some limitations and the entitlement of the plaintiff over the damages such as remoteness of damage, causation, duty to litigate, contributory negligence and impecuniosities. [Benjamin Andoh and Stephen Marsh]e Remoteness of damage: Damages will not be avoided where the loss is too remote (Re Polemis and Furness Withy & Co. Ltd.) and which is not foreseeable (Overseas Tankship (U.K.) Ltd. v Morts Dock