Investment plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Investment plan - Essay Example There is usually a stated value on each stock certificate called the par value. However, some stocks have no-par value. The total par value is the number of shares issued multiplied by the par value of each share and is sometimes referred to as the dedicated capital of a corporation. Shares of common stock are the fundamental ownership units of the corporation. The articles of incorporation of a new corporation must state the number of shares of common stock the corporation is authorised to issue. The board of directors of the corporation, after a vote of the shareholders, can amend the articles of incorporation to increase the number of shares authorised; there is no limit to the number of shares that can be authorised. There is no requirement that all of the authorised shares actually be issued. Although there are no legal limits to authorising shares of stock, some practical considerations may exist. Authorising a large number of shares may create concern on the part of the invest ors, because authorised shares can be issued later with the approval of the board of directors but without a vote of the shareholders. Capital surplus usually refers to amounts of directly contributed equity capital in excess of the par value. The sum of the par value, capital surplus, and accumulated retained earnings is the common equity of the firm, which is usually referred to as the firm's book value. The book value represents the amount contributed directly and indirectly to the corporation by equity investors. The conceptual structure of the corporation assumes that shareholders elect directors who in turn elect corporate officers-more generally, the management-to carry out their directives. It is the right to elect the directors of the corporation by vote that constitutes the most important control device of shareholders. Directors are elected each year at an annual meeting by a vote of the holders of a majority of share who are present and entitled to vote. A proxy is the l egal grant of authority by a shareholder to someone else to vote his or her shares. For convenience, the actual voting in large public corporations usually is done by proxy. Many companies have hundreds of thousands of shareholders. Shareholders can come to the annual meeting and vote in person, or they can transfer their right to vote to another party by proxy. The value of a share of common stock in a corporation is directly related to the general rights of shareholders. In addition to the right to vote for directors, shareholders usually have the following rights: (1) the right to share proportionally in dividends paid (2) the right to share proportionally in assets remaining after liabilities have been paid in a liquidation (3) the right to vote on matters of great importance to stockholders, such as a merger, usually decided at the annual meeting or a special meeting (4) the right to share proportionally in any new stock sold (Ross, Westerfield, and Jaffe, 1996, p. 365-369). A distinctive feature of corporations is that they issue share of stock and are authorised by law to pay dividends to the holders of those shares. Dividends paid to shareholders represent a return on the capital directly or indirectly contributed to the corporation by the shareholders. The payment of dividends is at the discretion of the board of directors. Here are

Indigenous Knowledge Amd Essay Example for Free

Indigenous Knowledge Amd Essay Pedagogy in First Nations Education A Literature Review with Recommendations. ’’ Marie Battiste, director of the Apamuwek Institute, in partnership with the Canadian Government has made a research conducting a literature review on indigenous knowledge. The author writes about the challenges that such a research implies. For example, the record of educational knowledge for indigenous people is not necessarily done through books as with the European knowledge system. Throughout the years, the rights of indigenous knowledge in the educational system under the constitutional Act of 1982 section 35 and 52 (p. 13) was not always respected. Her goal s to ensure that the right information about indigenous knowledge is integrated into classrooms. To achieve it, Battiste proposes three approaches. The first one would be to clarify insights into the tensions between Indigenous people and European ways of knowing. The second approach is on innovating program to help understand the challenges of Native People. The third part is based on the Author’s research and the Ministry recommendations in improving First Nations education. Marie Battiste suggests to focus on ‘’ Similarities between the two systems of knowledge ather than on their differences’’ as a start to introduce educational reform. (p. 11). Reference: Battiste. M. (2002) Indigenous Knowledge and Pedagogy in First Nations Education

SWOT Analysis Social Work

SWOT Analysis Social Work Life is a learning process and this involves a lot of interactions and interpretations to evaluate one and evolve as a better person. The observations made by the superiors, colleagues and self have enabled me to identify my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Below is a brief discussion on the same. (S)trengths Strengths just do not mean the obvious job skills one has. It means the resources a person has, to tackle a situation. These could be things like knowledge gained through a hobby, ideas absorbed from sports, family background, and sense of humor and much more. Developing a list of a persons strengths is a time killing process as inherent skills may not be recognized as strengths until specific situation brings them on action. Similarly, strengths in dealing with a situation may not be so when a person faces other issues. My strengths are best derived while at work. I could identify my strengths, whenever a task was assigned to me. My immediate response would be to step forward and ask the requester for his / her objective behind this task and his / her expectations out of this particular task. This has always helped me enhance my ability to focus on structuring my tasks and giving optimized output. This reminds me of a past instance at my work place where, there was difference of opinion emerging within the team, under the supervision of a colleague of mine who was nominated as the Acting Team Lead (ATL) of the month. ATL was a concept brought in to enable the team with team leading experience. The differences emerging had led the team into a cold war. This is a situation that no supervisor or any superior would desire his/her team to be in which might cripple the performance and relationship of the team. When this started to be visible, I was asked by my General Manger to handle the team until the issues were resolved. This task was critical for me, as this responsibility was given to me by my GM. He set his expectation and told why he chose me and I had to live up to his expectations. Since I had been with the team for more than two years, I was confident that I would be able to crack the puzzle. I had to be cautious in approaching the team. A wrong move or decision could turn things around for the worst. Hence, I decided to break ice by meeting every individual of the team to get a better perspective of the issue. This way, I was able to analysis the core issue and come up with a resolution to resolve the particular issue. I initiated a fish on table activity for the team, where everyone from the team was allowed to speak their mind out and discuss their issues. This activity helped them understand each other and sort their differences. Post this activity, the bonding of the team was further strengthened. There was a visible change amongst the members of the teams approach toward tackling any issue. They wouldnt wait for a third person to come and resolve their issues; rather they started walking up to each other and sort the issues themselves. With this particular incident, I was able to identify my strengths. When my GM looked up to me to handle the situation, it showed his faith and confidence in my problem solving techniques. A one to one session with my GM made me realize that I possessed a greater level of patience. I realized some of my strengths through this particular incident, which were my approachability, decision making, ability to negotiate and solve problem. (W)eaknesses ÂÂ  It may be very easy to identify a persons weakness, but it takes far more objectivity. For example, showing sympathy on a persons problem is a very good human characteristic, but if it exceeds, it may cause problems in leading a team. As in the case of STRENGTHS, it is important to be aware of all your weaknesses while dealing with an issue and also to know which weaknesses could be related to a particular situation. Some of my weaknesses that I would like to work towards is to improve my area of expertise i.e. my knowledge on MS office applications. This was necessary for me to understand and put to ease the complexities involved in my work. I also would like to bring about improvement in attaining best possible control over my emotions, to incorporate the skills attained to improve my social networking and to put to best possible use, my creativity. The main culprit to be blamed for this absolutely is the lack of time. Due to which, I am most of the time unable enhance my knowledge as mentioned above. Once, I planned to dig to the roots of my weakness, and approached my supervisor to give me a feedback. Thats when I realized that I couldnt say No when I had to say it. Let me quote an incident which is fresh in memory. One fact that was brought to my notice during a feedback session was, I had the habit of going out of my way to help others even when I was piled up with so much of work for the day. I would land up myself doing the extra work not oblivious of the fact that if I took even a smallest of extra work, I would miss my deadlines. This began to affect my regular deliverables. Knowing the fact that an adjoin on work would affect my regular deliverables, neither did I say No nor did I seek help. Though I had an opportunity to say no or to get the time lines extended, I did not do so. Instead I ended up extending my shift. After this feedback from my superior, I knew I had to change myself by working towards this issue to overcome this particular weakness of mine. (O)pportunities It is important to examine a problem in its entirety and also to identify the opportunities that may exist in it. A simple example is that of a production manager who has to lay off workers in order to reduce the production due to a fall in demand for the product of the company which he works. This is a problem. However, if he is updated of the happenings of his industry and the economy, he can use this problem as an opportunity to optimize the operations and prepare for product enhancements for the future which the market will require at that point of time. Similarly, I believe that my strengths could be my gateway for opportunities. I consider every challenge that I come across as an opportunity to learn. This would enable me to tackle different situations, undauntedly. I always try to learn from my own mistakes, as well as from others mistakes too. This has helped me narrow down my mistakes and even to correct the mistakes which I have already done. To me, approaching people to understand their requirements and providing them with the desired output is one of the strengths. According to me, this is a quality which can be put to use for the advantage of the others as well me. This trend not only creates a great visibility but also enables me to understand things better and look at things from a wider perspective and from different angles. This reminds me of an instance where in all the managers from different departments were asked by the SDL (Service Delivery Lead) to work on analyzing the attrition trend for their respective spans. The SDL also informed the managers that they could approach me for any kind of help with regard to data or for any details required for the analysis. At this moment I realized that I was noticed by my SDL and my capability to work efficiently was made transparent, by him to others. I also realized my way of working turned my strength into an opportunity of getting to know more people from the hierarchy, to widen my network and provide me the opportunity to work with all LOBs (Line of Business). (T)hreats ÂÂ  Every circumstance has its own threats. The one who faces it has to recognize it and gather his strengths to tackle those. Similarly, threats are easy to identify. But differentiating the impossible and the unlikely among them may be a difficult task. The unlikely is the one that often turns around to make you mad. It is the unexpected threats which could be the greatest danger than the obvious ones. Knowing the fact that the unexpected may suddenly occur and a pre-existing knowledge of ones strengths allow for most effective response to these situations. According to me, everything is a threat My strengths, weaknesses and opportunities My way of approaching people to understand their requirements creates visibility, which my competitors could find threatening and try to persuade others to go against me. This is a potential threat that I experience. I recall an instance when I was recognized for my hard work and dedication in many occasions. I was rewarded point and vouchers as gift as an appreciation for my hard work. My competitors started envying me for getting recognized. They started stretching their shifts and began to work on weekends as well to gain attention. For which they succeeded to some extent. When I noticed their behavior and actions, I realized that I had become a threat to them and that was a threat for me. In another instance, I had to take calls of our clients. Since I had no experience in taking calls, I found it difficult to understand their accent. This was a threat as the other were either well trained or had prior experience in taking call before they joined. Knowing the client and understanding them was the most important part of our job. Since I lacked such an understanding with the client, I was given the least importance when it came to attending client calls. Emotions are one of the weaknesses that can be exposing me to a threat of being misused. As I very easily get carried away emotionally, people could take advantage of me and get me to do things for their selfish motives. STAGE 2 Improvement Plan It is important for one to identify his/her strengths and opportunities, and work towards enhancing them at the same time; it becomes equally important to work towards improving the same to overcome threats and weakness. One of the strengths if feel is important and would add value or become an added advantage is to gain my supervisors reliability / confidence in me. As an individual, I was successful enough in gain my supervisors and co-workers confidence on any kind of work given to me. However at a supervisor level it was still verified. This could be due to the importance of the report or data or else it could be that I couldnt gain his/her complete confidence. I had to work on this and had to overcome by improvising an improvement plan or a strategy and reach the point of confidence where my supervisor would give me complete authority to send report without he / she cross checking. I intend to approach my supervisor and talk to him about the same. ask him to observe my work for a week and only once he is confident in me would send the reports directly to the concern departments or people. To achieve this I plan to adopt a strategic way of doing my work. This can be achieved by looking into each and every details of the given task, identifying the areas of modifications or areas which have some scope of improvement or areas of interest of the requestor and the purpose of the report. This way I would be working towards perfecting my skills, understanding the requestors requirements, improving on visualizing the minute details and gaining confidence of my supervisor to be confident in me. I also had work towards improving my knowledge on MS Excel. Due to my limitation on MS Excel knowledge, most of the time, I depend on the experts for complex formulas which had become one of the core areas of improvement. Improving the knowledge on Excel would widen my areas or expertise, help me improve or modify complex formulas and enable me to create new templates to ease the work for everyone. If I excelled on this, it would enable me to perform critical and complex tasks. Hence I intend to overcome this weakness of mine by attending some classroom trainings or online trainings on MS Excel and by reaching out the experts. I also intend to seek for help from my supervisor to help me understand complex formulas. The second weakness I thing I would like to improve is to say No when required. As I feel, I might offend a person by saying No or might give an impression that I am not willing or I do not possess the ability to perform that particular task. One way to do so is by gathering courage to say No, by sympathizing myself and not allowing others to take advantage. A sincere effort would help me overcome this challenge. Probably by saying No in different way rather than being curt. Probably addressing the same to my supervisor or by delegating / sharing the work with my colleagues would help me solve this problem. As mentioned above, my threats, my hard work and recognitions for the same could become a threat. This could lead to a bad relationship or unhealthy competition within the team. I would try to overcome the same by changing my approach to such situations. By getting others from the team involved in all my activities and cross training everyone on each others work can ease the pressure off. This approach wouldnt be a strategy to overtake others but a step or opportunity to work together as a team for good. This way both parties would get an opportunity to improve their skill and thoughts; and plan better for the best results. The lack of experience in taking calls as mentioned earlier was one of the most important drawbacks in my career. As this could set me back or leave me behind when it come to my assessments or performance review and would become a road block in my career growth. Hence I decided to approach my superiors and colleagues to help me over come on the same. At the same time I decided to side barge with my colleagues to learn how to take client calls and speed up my learning curve. This way would be back on track for the race and wouldnt allow this weakness to affect my performance or growth. STAGE 3 Summary of progress When I implemented the plan to improve my SWOT, I began to realize that my quality of work had improved. I was more confident in terms of structuring my daily activities related to work. I knew exactly how I had to achieve my goals. When I joined the team I lacked confidence in attending client calls. I did not want this deficiency to set me back or leave me behind in the race. As planned I addressed this issue to my supervisor. He then advised me to enroll myself for a voice and accent training. As I enrolled myself to the advised training I realized that it would take longer time than expected to learn. Hence I decided to attend the training every day and post that came to the work place and side barged with my colleagues to understand and learn quickly. This strategic move helped me finish my voice and accent training in two weeks which normally takes six to seven weeks. Post this training I was back on track to compete at power with the other team members. Post my training on voice and accent I start with my plan to gain confidence of my supervisor, I realized that this actually was working out. I approached my supervisor to seek for his help in observing my work, he was happy to do so. He in fact began giving me feedbacks regularly and gave me tips on how to overcome certain issues. And soon I got an opportunity to prove myself this was when my supervisor had to take his personal time off. This was an opportunity that helped supervisor gain confidence on me. I also received rewards from my GM for taking care of my supervisors work in his absence. This particular incident helped me to take more responsibilities and relieved my supervisor of his regular jobs allowing him to take new jobs from his supervisor. Because of this action plan it helped my supervisor and me to move ahead take up additional roles and responsibilities. During my improvisation of improvement plan, I had enrolled myself for class room trainings and online trainings on MS Excel. This was one of the tips by my supervisor to me. Since my supervisor was also good at MS Excel, I approached him for help when ever required. He helped me to read and understand complex formulas and worked with me in creating few. This way I began to gain confidence in myself and was able develop my own templates to make our jobs easier. As I began to improve on my MS Excel knowledge, I was being observed by everyone around me and was ask to help them in creating templates for their reports. Looking at my knowledge on Excel my supervisor appointed me to set test papers on MS Excel for interviews and was asked to train the team as well on the same. This was one of the important milestones I had achieved. As started to improve and began to receive rewards for my hard work, I was getting piled up with work. It so happened that the expectations were rising and I couldnt do anything about it to stop it. I had reached a point where I was only accepting more and more work, and could not put a stop to it. My health began to deteriorate, as I began to stretch my shift, pushed myself to complete the assigned tasks. My co-works realized this and advised me not to accept anything and everything. When I approached my supervisor to address him of the issue, he said that he knew about the pressure I was in but could not do much about as the profile demanded for it. He then told that he would look into the issue and look for an alternative. He then decided to appoint an additional person to help me. But it was a lengthy procedure to appoint a person to assist me, as it would take at least a month to appoint one. Hence I decided to delegate some of my work to my colleagues who were well equipped wit h the tools I used. As I began to get my work done by colleagues, my supervisor observed this and appointed one of my colleagues to help me. A process of appointing that took at least a month now was reduced to two weeks. This approach in fact led to more opportunity within the team and helped everyone get cross trained so as to work as a team to ease the pressure off. This way I was getting everyone in the team involved in different activities and shared my work. This approach was eliminating possibilities of threat in the team. The team no more felt threatened by anyone, as everybody was receiving an opportunity to learn, explore and expand their area of knowledge. I was a no more a war but a healthy competition, a race to learn more and not to pull down one another. There were rewards and recognitions delegated for the most helpful person of the team, knowledge priest award, most improved person award and the best performer award. The objective of these award titles was to create more opportunities, enhance skills, direct most of the people in the team towards a healthy competition and most importantly to work as a team to achieve organizational goals. STAGE 4 Future plan After the completion of my SWOT analysis, I was able to identify my SWOT in the initial stage of assessment, planned to improve by setting some milestones in the second stage and implemented the action plan to see the outcome of the same in the third stage. Post the successful implementation it is time for me to work on future plans to further improve my SWOTs. My future plans are to: Organize a forum where the best practices can be shared and implemented and look for new opportunities or scope for developing new strategies. I look forward to implement this in all the places where I would work. This would help the people around and me to work together towards creating a better place to learn and work. This forum can also be termed as Focus Group. As mentioned above, this group would concentrate on people development. Further it would focus on improvising corrective action plans, new idea generation in terms of reducing cost and time for a cost effective high performance and fun activities for stress busting in the work place. Organize an observation forum to identify the successful and potential areas of improvement. The forum would allow every individual to share their experiences. If a strategy they implement is successful, then, the forum would discuss how it can be utilized by others and how it can be improved and if the strategy fails, then this forum would look at what went wrong and how can it be corrected. We would then be able to list down all the dos and donts. Also look for new and innovative ideas to enhance our skills and work. The observation forums will observe all the implementations and give out a general feedback or individual feedback on the implementation methods. This forum would help to avoid or correct mistakes committed.

Farce and Satire in Shakespeares Comedy of Errors Essays

Farce and Satire in The Comedy of Errors      Ã‚  Ã‚   All is not as it seems in The Comedy of Errors.   Some have the notion that The Comedy of Errors is a classical and relatively un-Shakespearean play. The plot is, in fact, based largely on Plautus's Menaechmi, a light-hearted comedy in which twins are mistaken for each other. Shakespeare's addition of twin servants is borrowed from Amphitruo, another play by Plautus. Like its classical predecessors, The Comedy of Errors mixes farce and satire and (to a degree) presents us with stock characters.      Besides being based on classical models, is it really fair to call The Comedy of Errors a serious play?   I'm not sure it is. Three-quarters of the play is a fast-paced comedy based on mistaken identity and wordplay, and often descending to crude physical humor. The framing plot changes the total impression the play makes, mixing pathos, wonder, and joy with the hilarity. But it doesn't turn an essentially funny play into an essentially serious one. Still, there are serious elements in the play, and these may stay with us longer than the light ones. These serious elements are not limited to the framing plot, though they often depend on it. In fact, what is serious and thought-provoking in the play is often the source of laughter, too. Usually the laughter comes first, and then, if we're attentive, we'll notice that Shakespeare has given us something to think about. Let me offer some examples. First, the play treats with some seriousness issues related to marriage: jealousy, loyalty, love, misunderstanding, the need for patience, the "troubles of the marriage-bed," and the "joy" and "kind embracements" that can come with marriage (II.i.27; I.i.39, 43).    Second, the... ... to describe marriage. Adriana claims that marriage has made herself and her husband "one," "undividable incorporate": "For know, my love, as easy mayst thou fall/ A drop of water in the breaking gulf,/ And take unmingled thence that drop again,/ Without addition or diminishing,/ As take from me thyself and not me too" (II.ii.142, 122, 125-29). Shakespeare doesn't pretend that such a union is easily achieved. He is quite aware that to offer oneself to another is to risk oneself.    Works Cited * Fitch, Robert Elliot. Odyssey of the Self-Centered Self. New York: Harcourt, 1961. * Shakespeare, William. The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans et al. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974. * Wilbur, Richard. Introduction. Tartuffe. By Jean Baptiste Poquelin de Moliere. Trans. Richard Wilbur. San Diego: Harvest-Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1963.

Collections INF

This subject focuses on the provision of appropriate Information resources for organizations and communities, with particular emphasis on the hardcopy and electronic materials required to achieve the goals of libraries, Information agencies and related organizations.It will also address the concept of tacit and explicit knowledge collections and the role of institutional repositories. Attention is given to the assessment of needs, selection, acquisition, evaluation, deselecting of resources and consortia, and issues such as policy formulation, budgeting, cooperative resource provision, outsourcing, preservation, electronic publishing and space planning.Introduction INFIX 0 focuses on the resources that librarians, archivists, record keepers and other information professionals make available and accessible to their clients, with reticular emphasis on how these materials are identified, selected, acquired, evaluated and removed when no longer of value. In the past, subjects of this kin d have been concerned mainly with printed materials, but in more recent years digital objects (any digital file of whatever type – a word document, email, database, video clip and so on, is commonly called an ‘object') have become at least as important as print materials.In the weeks ahead both types of materials will receive considerable attention. As you will see, the subject covers a lot of territory. This means a lot of org, and your task will probably be a lot easier and more palatable if you are able to work at a steady pace through the modules in Interact and associated readings, rather than neglecting the subject for two or three weeks and then attempting to absorb several topics in a day or two. If you do work at It fairly steadily, you should not find the concepts particularly difficult to absorb and understand.But the relevant area Is rapidly developing, largely because of the revolution In electronic resources that has been proceeding for some years. It does require an openness to new Ideas. It Is recommended that you supplement what you read here by examining recent Issues of journals and by monitoring Internet sites, and If you find yourself working In this field you really will need to make a conscious effort to keep up with new developments.However, this subject does aspire to provide a self-contained Introduction at a basic level. The subject now before you is a varied one with many possibilities for further study student who found nothing at all of interest. We hope you find this an interesting and stimulating subject, providing broad brush contexts and paradigms within which the ore practical focus exists. Both aspects are important to understand the work and how it fits in the broader information environment.Your Subject Outline The University, Faculty and School policies, regulations and procedures frame your studies detailing your rights and expectations, your requirements and the procedures necessary for successful Charles S trut University Subject Outline INFANT 201230 W D-30 January 2012-version 1 page 2 of 15 navigation through your studies. It is important for you to read all this information and clarify any issues with your Subject Coordinator.Faculty and School policies are published online in the Faculty/School Folio. Http://www. CSS. Deed. AU/faculty/educate/ folio/folio. HTML Your subject coordinator Robert Pym Academic biography Bob Pym has worked in libraries and related cultural institutions for more than 20 years. From 1993 until early 2005, he worked for the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra, latterly as the manager of their Collection Development area.During this time Bob taught on a casual basis at the University of Canberra and Canberra Institute of Technology. His teaching interests include: collection development – leslies, selection and retention; preservation of digital materials; popular culture and libraries; and audio visual materials. Bob's PhD is in the area of Australian popular fiction and its preservation and he is interested in researching the role of popular culture materials and their place in documenting society.Subject author(s) John Kennedy, Bob Pym and Sue Terry Learning objectives – be able to discuss critically the means of assessing information needs of communities and organizations; – be able to participate in the development of an information resources policy; – be able to provide an overview of the range of information resources available; – demonstrate an appreciation of issues relating to the selection and deselecting of information resources; – display an understanding of the nature of acquisitions work as it relates to information resources in traditional and digital form and the formation of knowledge- based collections; – be able to outline the development of virtual information resources and participate in an informed consideration of the merits of such resources; – d emonstrate an understanding of the role of consortia in the provision of information resources; – demonstrate an understanding of how information agencies represent themselves in a digital world; – have developed a clear understanding of the role of institutional repositories and the policies and practices necessary to ensure their success; and – be able to discuss critically managerial issues such as censorship, budgeting, outsourcing and cooperative resource provision. All CSS courses leading to the award of Bachelor degree will foster in their graduates the attributes set out below. CSS graduate attributes build students' capacity to contribute to their community and to the wider society.

Community Corrections Paper Essay

When people think of community corrections they may imagine offenders coexisting with the community. To some this is cause for immediate alarm, but community corrections is happening all around us every day, and in many cases, community corrections is actively effective. Community corrections is practiced in countries other than the United States, and impacts each community it is practiced in. It was the late 70s, when officials finally began to take a deeper look into other ways to handle offenders besides the obvious. With growing prison and jail populations, and institutions filling up with first time offenders, offenders convicted of nonviolent crimes, and misdemeanors, many states determined that under proper limitations and regulations, many nonviolent and petty offenders could be maintained securely in their homes, or in halfway homes. These offenders could check in daily to drug treatment programs reporting centers, or community service centers. This notion is what helped ins pire the community corrections programs of today. The practice of community programs is beneficial to both offenders, and the communities they return to. The offender learns accountability in the sense that they learn to be responsible for their time and what they do within that time. Communities are impacted by community corrections in a partially indirect way. The community can claim those who successfully complete the community corrections programs, and utilize the resource provided by the programs, as law abiding and productive citizens of the community. Thus these offenders will no longer pose a threat to the community. My theory about community corrections and their overall effectiveness within the correctional system  is community corrections will evolved and find more efficient ways to help offenders become productive members of society. I imagine the evolution of community corrections programs will be a slow process, but I feel that it is with evolution and innovativeness during evolution that community corrections programs will improve there effectiveness. The United States is not the only country that focuses on humane treatment of prisoners, and rehabilitation within the prison system. Places like Norway, and Indonesia have a prison system that focus es on treatment and rehabilitation through programs. A prison in Norway has been accused of making the prions experience too cushy. Bastoy is equipped with a church, a library, and working toilets in the cells. What many in Norway view as a luxury some would consider necessity. Despite debates about the prisoner treatment in Norway prisons, this area of Europe has the lowest reoffending rate in Europe, and the crimes rates in this area of the world remain at an all-time, low, (James, 2013). Prisons in Indonesia view what they do as a service to the prisoner, and the public. According to the Forgiven Prisoner Support service, (2013), â€Å"services are offered to prisoners in the form of drug and substance abuse and rehabilitation services†, (p, 1). These efforts are specifically aimed at ensuring that the prisoners will be able to live a fulfilling and law abiding life after their release from prison. Considering that all of the prisons I researched seemed to focus on rehabilitation and treatment of prisoners, rather than stern and harsh punishment. During my research I found that it is not apparent that the United States’ prison system would be greatly if affected if it were to focus on imprisonment under the terms that foreign countries seem to focus on. Rehabilitation seems to be the recurring topic when referring to prison systems in this country, as well as others. In the end, it all comes down to the fact that community corrections programs are effective in many cases. If I were to suggest a community corrections program in my neighborhood, I would suggest a program that provides an opportunity for offenders to maintain work within the community. I would suggest projects that include cleaning dilapidated buildings and structures as a sort of beautification project. I would suggest these types of projects within the community that the offender  lives. I would suggest this type of program because I feel that if offenders played a part in cleaning up their communities they may be less likely to commit acts that will bring their communities down. This type of community correction would help build pride in the offender for where they live, and would make them what to keep the area nice. Community corrections is a reputable tool used to aid in the criminal justice system’s struggle to keep offenders functioning as active members of the comm unity. Countries all across the world have the same central focus, which is rehabilitation and treatment for prisoners. It is not plausible that so many prisons systems in the world have it all wrong with their treatment and rehabilitation approach. While some may question the effectiveness of community corrections, the active programs and growing implementation of community corrections in prison system across the country indicate that these programs indeed yield valid and tangible results for those who participate and complete them. References; James, E. (2013). Norwegian Prison. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/feb/25/norwegian-prison-inmates-treated-like-people Foreign Prisoner Support Service. (2012). News at Foreign Prisons. Retrieved from http://www.foreignprisoners.com/prison-indonesia.html

Henri Fayol and the Relevance of His Ideas in the 21st Century

Henri Fayol and the Relevance of His Ideas in the 21st Century Introduction Henri Fayol has always been considered as an important pioneer of business administration theory. He is known for the formulation of the main management principles (Brunsson 2008, p. 34).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Henri Fayol and the Relevance of His Ideas in the 21st Century specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Moreover, he highlighted the main functions that managers were supposed to perform (Brunsson 2008, p. 34). However, modern scholars and practitioners often debate whether his ideas can be applicable to modern day organizations. This paper is aimed at discussing the main concepts and ideas introduced by Henri Fayol. In particular, it is necessary to evaluate them and determine the extent to which they are relevant to contemporary teaching and management practices. Overall, it is possible to argue that despite various limitations Henri Fayol’s theories continue to shape many modern busines ses; therefore they will influence education of managers. Furthermore, it should be pointed out that many people have a very simplified view of Henry Fayol, and his ideas may have more implications than it may seem at first glance. The concept of general management The ideas introduced by Henry Fayol have been both praised and criticized. In particular, one can speak about the concept of general management. Fayol believed that organizations could certainly differ in terms of their size or structure; however, there were specific tasks of a manager always had to do, namely, planning, coordinating, controlling, organizing, and commanding (Fayol, as cited in Brunsson 2008, p. 34).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More To some extent, the notion of general management gave rise to a great number of theoretical works describing the functions of the management that are studied i n modern business schools. His idea of general management can be extended to the major activities of an organization. The thing is that Fayol singed out the main activities of a business, namely he spoke about the following processes: 1) commercial activities such as buying or selling; 2) accounting; 3) security activities or the protection of people and property; 4) technical activities or manufacturing; 5) financial activities or use of capital; and 6) managerial activities (McLean 2011, p. 32). He argued that to some degree, these activities were present in almost every organization (McLean 2011, p. 32). Therefore, one can say that Henri Fayol attempted to identify common patterns or features that are present in every company. In part, his theories are based on this premise. These ideas have been debated by many modern scholars. For instance, Karin Brunsson refers to empirical studies suggesting that managers do not always have to do the tasks outlined by Fayol (2008, p. 34). In this regard, one can mention some visionary leaders such as Steve Jobs or Bill Gates who are primarily responsible for planning or developing strategies of their companies. In turn, there are many managers who have to pay more attention to coordinating and organizing the work of employees. More importantly, the functions are often dependent on the type of organization, its structure or culture (Brunsson 2008, p. 34). This is one of the reasons why the theories of Henry Fayol have often been criticized by modern scholars.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Henri Fayol and the Relevance of His Ideas in the 21st Century specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Furthermore, scholars point out that the main activities highlighted by Fayol are not always represented in modern companies. For example, Fayol identifies technical activities such as manufacturing. There are many cases that contradict this argument. In particular, technic al activities can hardly be found in financial services industry or hospitality industry. These are service organizations that are not engaged in manufacturing. Thus, these are exceptions to the theories of Henri Fayol. Nonetheless, they do not completely disprove his ideas. It should be taken into account that Fayol tried to apply his theories to French steel industry (Wren 2001, p. 478). He focused on organizations that were engaged in product development (Wren 2001, p. 478). His ideas proved to be applicable to those companies. More importantly, they remain relevant to contemporary companies, for example, those one representing automotive industry (McNiff Whitehead 2000, p. 146). Therefore, it is possible to say that the notion of general management may have its limitations, but it is still important for modern practitioners. The fourteen principles of management Secondly, one should mention that Henri Fayol is often credited for formulating the main principles of management. Th e most important principles that he stressed was the division of work, unity of command, authority, centralization of power, order, efficient retention of employees, and so forth (Pryor Taneja 2010, p. 499). These principles helped Fayol achieve success in steel and iron industry. These principles have been used in many organizations; yet, some scholars and practitioners may question them.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More For example, we can refer to such a principle as the unity of command; it means that an employee must follow the commands of only one manager (Pryor Taneja 2010, p. 499). The main issue is that in modern companies an employee can work under the command of several managers. These are the so-called matrix organizations in which people can work on two different projects at the same time (Galbraith 2008, p 10). Moreover, these projects can be guided by different managers. Among such companies one can single out Boeing, IBM, or Proctor Gamble (Galbraith 2008, p 50). Thus, there are exceptions showing that the rules set by Fayol do not always have to be followed. Apart from that, Fayol attached much importance to the primacy of general interests over individual ones. Certainly, this idea is accepted by many business administrators. However, contemporary organizations tend to focus more on the needs of individuals. Some critics of Fayol’s theories even argue that his managerial pr inciples portray an organization as a mechanism in which every part can be substituted. More importantly, too little attention is paid to creativity, emotions, or desires of workers (Jex 2002, p. 377). This is why many scholars may object to Fayol’s theories. Researchers also point out that some of Fayol’s ideas are too general. For instance, he advocates such ideas as fair compensation of workers and promoting team spirit in the workplace. Nevertheless, he does not explain how these principles have to be implemented (Jex 2002, p. 377). This is another way to critique the ideas of Henri Fayol. Overall, these examples suggest that his views can be questioned for several reasons. First of all, they often contradict empirical findings, and his concept of general management is not applicable to every type of organization. Secondly, he does not attach too much importance on individual needs of workers. Finally, his principles lack specific details. This is one of the views on Henri Fayol’s theories. Nevertheless, some of these criticisms can be addressed. Many concepts related to management may seem subjective or too general. For instance, even nowadays it may be difficult to give an exact definition of such a notion as fair compensation. Secondly, it is not quite appropriate to argue that the theories of Fayol are inhumane. They are aimed at maximizing the overall wellbeing of different stakeholders, rather than a separate individual. This is one of the ways in which one can justify the views of this theorist. The complexity of Henri Fayol’s ideas and their practical applications Some scholars argue that the criticisms of Henri Fayol’s views can be partly explained by the fact that many people have a very simplified view of this writer, practitioner and theorist. For instance, Lee Parker and Phillip Ritson point out that Fayol can be viewed as a forerunner of modern contingency theories (2005, p. 184). The thing is that in his wo rks, Fayol often compared an organization to a biological organism that has to adjust to various external factors. To some degree, this argument implies that there is no universal principle that companies should always follow. He certainly believed that it was desirable for a manager to follow the 14 principles that he established. Nonetheless, Fayol also argued that â€Å"there is nothing rigid or absolute in management affairs, it is all a question of proportion† (Fayol as cited in Parker Ritson 2005, p. 185). In this way, he could suggest that the behavior of a manager or a leader is determined by particular circumstances, rather than a set of rigid rules. These examples suggest that Fayol was a more complex thinker than many people believe. Overall, he strived to create a learning organization that could be agile and flexible. As it has been noted before, Henri Fayol has often been blamed for not paying too much attention to the needs of workers, for example, their need for empowerment. Yet, close analysis of his writings suggests that he set very high standards for managers. On the one hand, they hand to ensure that organizational goals were achieved. Nevertheless, they had to put trust in the creative capacity of workers and their ability to take independent decisions (Parker Ritson 2005, p. 188). The recommendations of these people could not be disregarded because they could improve the process of production. One should assume that Fayol’s theories promote complete separation of managers and workers. Therefore, one can argue that some criticisms of Fayol’s theories are not quite justified, especially the belief that he viewed workers only as subordinates. Additionally, he continuously advocated workers’ right to autonomy (Parker Ritson 2005, p. 181). Thus, people should not blame Fayol for viewing employees only as cogs in a machine. In fact, he opposed to this point of view. He developed his theories at the time when too little attention was paid to the rights and needs of employees. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Fayol’s ideas were radical and unconventional. It is vital to show real-life examples of how Fayol’s ideas can be applied by modern organizations. For instance, he was one of the first theorists to point out that high turnover adversely affected the performance of a company (Pryor Taneja 2010, p. 497). He noticed that businesses in which people regularly came and went were less likely to produce very good results. This is one of the reasons why he advocated effective retention of employees. This idea appealed to many Japanese companies such as Toyota that tried to encourage life-long employment of their workers (Taniguchi 2006, p. 266). Later, this strategy was adopted by many other businesses and retention of employees is one of the top priorities for modern HR managers. Additionally, we can mention such concept as just-in-time production. To some degree, it ori ginates from Fayol’s principles of order; in other words, every peace of inventory has to be in the right place (Pryor Taneja 2010, p. 498). Fayol attempted to develop the methods in which one could optimize the process of production. Nowadays, these methods are studied in educational institutions; moreover, they have profoundly changed modern manufacturing companies. Furthermore, such a quality control method as quality circles stems from Fayol’s concept of employee empowerment (Pryor Taneja 2010, p. 498). Thus, Fayol’s ideas continue to influence modern companies. Conclusion Overall, despite various limitations and criticisms, Henri Fayol’s ideas have significant implications for the education of future managers and business practices. This analysis demonstrates that this theorist had very complex views of organizations, and his contribution cannot be reduced only to the functions and principles of management. He attempted to create a very flexible co mpany that could react to the changes in its environment. Its success had to be based on effective cooperation of both managers and workers. Moreover, the relevance of his ideas to modern companies can be best illustrated by the practical applications such as just-in-time-production or quality circles. Therefore, Henri Fayol’s ideas will be relevant to educators and practitioners. Yet, it is quite possible that these theories will be modified so that they could better fit the needs of changing workplace. References Brunsson, K 2008, ‘Some Effects of Fayolism’, International Studies of Management and Organizations, vol. 38 no 1, pp. 30-47. Galbraith, J 2008, Designing Matrix Organizations That Actually Work: How IBM, Proctor Gamble and Others Design for Success, John Wiley Sons, New York. Jex, S 2002, Organizational Psychology: A Scientist-Practitioner Approach, John Wiley Sons, New York. McLean, J 2011, ‘Fayol – standing the test of time’, British Journal of Administrative Management, vol. 10 no. 74, pp 32-33. McNiff, J Whitehead, J 2000, Action Research in Organisations, Routledge, London. Parker, L. 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