Effect of supply and demand and gas in our lifetime Essay Example for Free

Effect of supply and demand and gas in our lifetime Essay Oil has been an integral socio-economic vehicle which within the corporate scene remains a highly competitive socio-economic driver. Due to vast uses and demand, oil has become controversial and elastic in socio-politics. Here we see it causing socio constraints in oil producing countries and collapsing political institutions. Socially oil has a significant contribution in our general lifestyle. It has a comparative role within the context of mobility and industrial function where it is used in factories as well as in institutions which use combustive machinery. It is a determinant of economic prowess of a country. It plays a major role in research and advancement of power generation and use of bio fuels to ease environmental pollution. Gas is valuable in our lives based on the fact that it eases the burden of power use in cooking and within many socio institutions especially within our families. Gas also has been highly competitive and still remains so with many countries seeking to sustain demand. Recently European countries grappled with Russian company Gazprom over supply of gas when the company threatened to cut supplies. This paper reflects on the major effects of oil and gas on our lives in various aspects of socio-economics and its profundity. This profundity establishes the oil and gas use and contribution to socio-economics and politics. This analytical review covers environmental, political and research contributions, so as to keep sustenance of the same at per with developments in the technological trends within our lives which drain energy resources and adversely effect socio-economic stability. Contribution to socio economics Economic growth is dependent on energy resources. Energy supply within the development perspectives of a nation deplete economic recession and create more apertures for industrial progression in the nation. The distribution of resources within this economic perspective contributes to social –economic growth due to the dissemination of the resources made and gained from the industrial progression. Socio-economic progress is what supports the constituents of the society, namely the family. Most families own vehicles, machinery and combustive equipment that require oil to run them. They own various oil consuming devices like generators which they use to get power and run their daily activities. This perspective of integrating resources based on oil based contribution and importance is indicative of the pivotal role oil plays in the economic progression of a nation and a community. On the negative aspect, oil has very diverse negative effects on social economic gains and has led to the disintegration of economic stability within the units of the society. Increase in oil prices leads to stifling of social economics due to constrained spending so as to meet the higher cost of fuel. This constraint forces individuals to over spend and increased prices of goods and services. The effect spreads within the society to the most unfortunate and stirs unrest due to the high prices. On the same aspect oil has been a very competitive socially owned natural resources which in as many countries has caused political divisions and social disintegration. Communities in developing nations have been embroiled in long civil wars like in Nigeria. Nations with superior industrial needs have sought after taking advantage of lesser nations to establish forced oil drilling concessions so as to have a monopoly in the production of oil and directly befit their economic needs while hurting that of the producing country. The performance of the portfolio might be measured by the effects of changes in energy costs and availability of energy on the economy. Another portfolio measure might be the effects of the mix of energy sources on the diversity and vulnerability of the supply. Generating Electric Power in the Pacific Northwest: Implications of Alternative Technologies Christopher G. Pernin, Mark A. Bernstein, Andrea Mejia, Howard Shih, Fred Rueter, Wilbur Steger 2002. p 15 Effect on Resources Drilling oil has led to dilapidation of natural resources like forested land, marine resources and agricultural land. The effect on these natural resources is basically destruction of their existence so as to create sufficient exploration and drilling acreage. To excavate gas or oil, exploration and seismic survey has to be conducted on very significant area of acreage which completely reduces this area to a wasteful land for many years. The long term effect is that, the existing resources and land itself becomes wasted and polluted due to activities involved to get the gas or oil out. However there are positive attributes that come along with oil and gas production. There creation of jobs on these areas benefits local and professionals who have relevant experience and knowledge on the activities related to drilling and producing oil and gas. Creation of infrastructure and connection to electricity grids become the positive effects on the resources which can be utilized within the region the drilling or production is on going. The resources, like agricultural activities directly benefit from these changes and developments. Existing coffee factories get a boost to revert from using diesel engines to electricity. Communities are connected to the electric grid and can access electricity. Industries come up and processing of natural resources become easier. Proved reserves are both drilled and un-drilled. The proved drilled reserves, in any pool, include oil estimated to be recoverable by the production systems now in operation, whether with or without fluid injection, and from the area actually drilled up on the spacing pattern in effect in that pool. The proved un-drilled reserves, in any pool, include reserves under un-drilled spacing units which are so close, and so related, to the drilled units that there is every reasonable probability that they will produce when drilled. Bruce C.  Netschert The Future Supply of Oil and Gas: A Study of the Availability of Crude Oil, Natural Gas, and Natural Gas Liquids in the United States in the Period through 1975: 1958. p 7 Development of alternative fuels Oil and gas have led to positive research on energy needs globally. Companies and researchers have been seeking best solutions to the waning supplies and deposits of gas and oil to curb the eminent collapse of the supply and demand. Discovery of coal mines, use of electric car and trains development of alternative oil are diverse developments all based on the oil and gas supply and demand agenda. According to arguments based on the global perspective on demand and supply of gas and oil, it is questionable and much worrisome ‘Are resources likely to be available during the next fifty years in the quantities necessary to satisfy projected demands without substantial increases in prices? If not, what price in- creases are likely to be necessary to close the gap between supply and demand, and what are the effects of those increases likely to be? Ronald G. Ridker William D. Watson: To Choose a Future: Resource and Environmental Consequences of Alternative Growth Paths. 980. p 96. Negative effects of the demand and supply is mainly seen within the oil curtails and supply context. International oil curtails have a stranglehold on the oil and gas prices and the effect of alternative oils becomes less dynamic and progressive stifling efforts to stipulate best policies to use to achieve the required progress in alternatives is slow. Implementation of development of alternative o ils and energy resources has been ongoing. Creation of biodegradable oils has resolved much of the fears that demand would become elastic. Environmental effects Global warming and environmental degradation consequences on the flora are as a result of a lot of oil and gas exploration activities. Secondly the use of oil and gas in industries and within the concepts of combustion has led to degradation of the environmental. Industrial effluent related to oil has destroyed the flora while gaseous emission like carbon emissions from vehicles and industrial machinery has destroyed the ozone layer resulting to global warming. There are literally no positive implications on the environment by oil and gas. However on the profound aspect of research advancing of technology to improve on the air and to maintain a level of complacency within the ozone layer has led to discovery and global use of green houses and introduction of policies which reflect on addressing how to stop global warming. Governmental and geo-political effects A lot of the current crisis within the global fronts is based on escalation of demand of oil and gas by major world like the United States. The demand for energy, especially based on oil supplies has become un-foreseeable, as such the need to have vast reserves of oil within proximity as insulation to the critical point of demand and elasticity of demand is important. Non-Marxist social science, needless to say, had to contend with the reality, where incidents of collective violence were taking place all around. Facing this contradiction between their theory and reality, a compromise was reached by which it was hypothesized that anti-systemic conflict was only a temporary situation. This situation, they argued, would be symptomatic of the Third World nations going through a structural change. Structural change caused by the introduction of economic development and a new production relationship calls for the end to the traditional social and economic relationship. Dipak K. Gupta: The Economics of Political Violence: The Effect of Political Instability on Economic Growth. 1990 p 31 The issue here is that political prowess has influenced a lot of political inclinations in various nations within the world. On the same context, government policies to curb oil prices and to have reserves for future use have become null and wavering. The community within these jurisdictions suffer fluctuating oil prices and there is no consistency in the pricing hence the problem of constantly adjusting to the new prices due to lack of legislation. Political problems have emanated from this point with extremist policies on invasion of natural resources and barrel prices becoming tools of stifling economic progress in the communities.

Effect of supply and demand and gas in our lifetime Essay Example for Free

Effect of supply and demand and gas in our lifetime Essay Oil has been an integral socio-economic vehicle which within the corporate scene remains a highly competitive socio-economic driver. Due to vast uses and demand, oil has become controversial and elastic in socio-politics. Here we see it causing socio constraints in oil producing countries and collapsing political institutions. Socially oil has a significant contribution in our general lifestyle. It has a comparative role within the context of mobility and industrial function where it is used in factories as well as in institutions which use combustive machinery. It is a determinant of economic prowess of a country. It plays a major role in research and advancement of power generation and use of bio fuels to ease environmental pollution. Gas is valuable in our lives based on the fact that it eases the burden of power use in cooking and within many socio institutions especially within our families. Gas also has been highly competitive and still remains so with many countries seeking to sustain demand. Recently European countries grappled with Russian company Gazprom over supply of gas when the company threatened to cut supplies. This paper reflects on the major effects of oil and gas on our lives in various aspects of socio-economics and its profundity. This profundity establishes the oil and gas use and contribution to socio-economics and politics. This analytical review covers environmental, political and research contributions, so as to keep sustenance of the same at per with developments in the technological trends within our lives which drain energy resources and adversely effect socio-economic stability. Contribution to socio economics Economic growth is dependent on energy resources. Energy supply within the development perspectives of a nation deplete economic recession and create more apertures for industrial progression in the nation. The distribution of resources within this economic perspective contributes to social –economic growth due to the dissemination of the resources made and gained from the industrial progression. Socio-economic progress is what supports the constituents of the society, namely the family. Most families own vehicles, machinery and combustive equipment that require oil to run them. They own various oil consuming devices like generators which they use to get power and run their daily activities. This perspective of integrating resources based on oil based contribution and importance is indicative of the pivotal role oil plays in the economic progression of a nation and a community. On the negative aspect, oil has very diverse negative effects on social economic gains and has led to the disintegration of economic stability within the units of the society. Increase in oil prices leads to stifling of social economics due to constrained spending so as to meet the higher cost of fuel. This constraint forces individuals to over spend and increased prices of goods and services. The effect spreads within the society to the most unfortunate and stirs unrest due to the high prices. On the same aspect oil has been a very competitive socially owned natural resources which in as many countries has caused political divisions and social disintegration. Communities in developing nations have been embroiled in long civil wars like in Nigeria. Nations with superior industrial needs have sought after taking advantage of lesser nations to establish forced oil drilling concessions so as to have a monopoly in the production of oil and directly befit their economic needs while hurting that of the producing country. The performance of the portfolio might be measured by the effects of changes in energy costs and availability of energy on the economy. Another portfolio measure might be the effects of the mix of energy sources on the diversity and vulnerability of the supply. Generating Electric Power in the Pacific Northwest: Implications of Alternative Technologies Christopher G. Pernin, Mark A. Bernstein, Andrea Mejia, Howard Shih, Fred Rueter, Wilbur Steger 2002. p 15 Effect on Resources Drilling oil has led to dilapidation of natural resources like forested land, marine resources and agricultural land. The effect on these natural resources is basically destruction of their existence so as to create sufficient exploration and drilling acreage. To excavate gas or oil, exploration and seismic survey has to be conducted on very significant area of acreage which completely reduces this area to a wasteful land for many years. The long term effect is that, the existing resources and land itself becomes wasted and polluted due to activities involved to get the gas or oil out. However there are positive attributes that come along with oil and gas production. There creation of jobs on these areas benefits local and professionals who have relevant experience and knowledge on the activities related to drilling and producing oil and gas. Creation of infrastructure and connection to electricity grids become the positive effects on the resources which can be utilized within the region the drilling or production is on going. The resources, like agricultural activities directly benefit from these changes and developments. Existing coffee factories get a boost to revert from using diesel engines to electricity. Communities are connected to the electric grid and can access electricity. Industries come up and processing of natural resources become easier. Proved reserves are both drilled and un-drilled. The proved drilled reserves, in any pool, include oil estimated to be recoverable by the production systems now in operation, whether with or without fluid injection, and from the area actually drilled up on the spacing pattern in effect in that pool. The proved un-drilled reserves, in any pool, include reserves under un-drilled spacing units which are so close, and so related, to the drilled units that there is every reasonable probability that they will produce when drilled. Bruce C.  Netschert The Future Supply of Oil and Gas: A Study of the Availability of Crude Oil, Natural Gas, and Natural Gas Liquids in the United States in the Period through 1975: 1958. p 7 Development of alternative fuels Oil and gas have led to positive research on energy needs globally. Companies and researchers have been seeking best solutions to the waning supplies and deposits of gas and oil to curb the eminent collapse of the supply and demand. Discovery of coal mines, use of electric car and trains development of alternative oil are diverse developments all based on the oil and gas supply and demand agenda. According to arguments based on the global perspective on demand and supply of gas and oil, it is questionable and much worrisome ‘Are resources likely to be available during the next fifty years in the quantities necessary to satisfy projected demands without substantial increases in prices? If not, what price in- creases are likely to be necessary to close the gap between supply and demand, and what are the effects of those increases likely to be? Ronald G. Ridker William D. Watson: To Choose a Future: Resource and Environmental Consequences of Alternative Growth Paths. 980. p 96. Negative effects of the demand and supply is mainly seen within the oil curtails and supply context. International oil curtails have a stranglehold on the oil and gas prices and the effect of alternative oils becomes less dynamic and progressive stifling efforts to stipulate best policies to use to achieve the required progress in alternatives is slow. Implementation of development of alternative o ils and energy resources has been ongoing. Creation of biodegradable oils has resolved much of the fears that demand would become elastic. Environmental effects Global warming and environmental degradation consequences on the flora are as a result of a lot of oil and gas exploration activities. Secondly the use of oil and gas in industries and within the concepts of combustion has led to degradation of the environmental. Industrial effluent related to oil has destroyed the flora while gaseous emission like carbon emissions from vehicles and industrial machinery has destroyed the ozone layer resulting to global warming. There are literally no positive implications on the environment by oil and gas. However on the profound aspect of research advancing of technology to improve on the air and to maintain a level of complacency within the ozone layer has led to discovery and global use of green houses and introduction of policies which reflect on addressing how to stop global warming. Governmental and geo-political effects A lot of the current crisis within the global fronts is based on escalation of demand of oil and gas by major world like the United States. The demand for energy, especially based on oil supplies has become un-foreseeable, as such the need to have vast reserves of oil within proximity as insulation to the critical point of demand and elasticity of demand is important. Non-Marxist social science, needless to say, had to contend with the reality, where incidents of collective violence were taking place all around. Facing this contradiction between their theory and reality, a compromise was reached by which it was hypothesized that anti-systemic conflict was only a temporary situation. This situation, they argued, would be symptomatic of the Third World nations going through a structural change. Structural change caused by the introduction of economic development and a new production relationship calls for the end to the traditional social and economic relationship. Dipak K. Gupta: The Economics of Political Violence: The Effect of Political Instability on Economic Growth. 1990 p 31 The issue here is that political prowess has influenced a lot of political inclinations in various nations within the world. On the same context, government policies to curb oil prices and to have reserves for future use have become null and wavering. The community within these jurisdictions suffer fluctuating oil prices and there is no consistency in the pricing hence the problem of constantly adjusting to the new prices due to lack of legislation. Political problems have emanated from this point with extremist policies on invasion of natural resources and barrel prices becoming tools of stifling economic progress in the communities.

Human Resource Accounting

Human Resource Accounting First we need to look at any business in a profit motive and of course in a society prosperous kind as well. When we talking about any entity first thing that one can ask is about the output of that firm in terms of production. Resources to that particular organisation provided will have an intention in yielding some kind of output. Human resources in particularly will have a kind of criteria that should only satisfy with their skills and capabilities. Though skills and capabilities are not quite easy to design and anticipate in a desirable context but can draw some equators to expect. In doing this professionals need elaborated information with a measurable set of ends that possibly design the role and responsibilities of individuals in the organisation. When things can measure will evidently get managed. It is always important to set some standards and giving targets to the individuals such will helps in creating organisational structure with more ease and straight. Thus intellectu al capital all set to have advanced significance in valuing the firm value. Where human capital also get place in it. Organisations have got to control over the human resources in order to get more rigid and assist organisation carry further efficiency. Human resource management functions thus got more prominence in evaluating; measuring and managing human resources like any other divisions attain control over their relevant functions. Human Resource Accounting (HRA) is part of function of accounting and Human Resources as well. Much attention laid on human resource accounting in many years ago as research began in the 1960s by Rensis Likert [Bowers, 1973]. The importance which Emperor Akbar gave to the nine jewels (courtiers) is a strong evidence of this in the sixteenth century only. Many critics, researchers, scholars and many others perceived human resource accounting in different ways as a part of financial accounting, management accounting view and as a human resource function. Organisations must estimate the value arising out of employees then only it will make advantage to the stakeholders in terms of financial and managerial perspectives. Having a same kind of resources in terms of technology, tangible assets and even in number of human resources will still makes lot of difference between one to another. The bridge among the difference would be skills and capabilities of human resources. With the same technology, a solid human resource team makes all the difference [Archel, 1995]. Human resource accounting involves assigning; budgeting, measuring costs expend on (employees) human resources while recruit, select, hire, train and develop employees and judge their economic value to the organisation. Human resource accounting is an effort to recognize and report investments made on the human resources of an organisation which are not currently accounted under conventional accounting practice. In essence, it acts like an information system that advice the management what changes took place overtime to the human resources of the business, and cost and value of the human factor in particular organisation. The process may well furnish both the internal and external users; strengthen human resource management function (internal users) providing with relevant data which supports recruiting, training and other development decisions in and supplying investors, lenders and other external users of financial statement make presented information as to the investment in and utilisation of human resources in the organisation. Enhance the skills and capabilities of employees, setting some standards and to schedule the training and development programs by this practice. Exhibiting comprehensible strength of the organisation by exploring more information about potentialities of the organisation and to overcome the missing scarce of balance sheet for the investors by means of providing necessary adequate information. â€Å"Human Resource Accounting is mainly an information system that informs management what changes are occurring over time to the human resources of the business. HRA also involves a ccounting forinvestmentin people and their replacement costs, and also the economic value of people in an organization,† says P K Gupta, the director of strategic development-intercontinental operations, of Legato Systems India. HRA is primarily an information system, which update the management about the changes that are taking place in the human resource of an organisation. It is the art of valuing, recording and presenting methodically about the human resources in the books of accounts of an organisation. Definition: â€Å"Human Resource Accounting is the process of identifying and measuring data about human resources and communicating this information to interested parties.† American Accounting Society Committee on HRA â€Å"Human resource accounting is the measurement of the cost and value of the people for the organisation.† Eric Flamholtz of university of California, Los Angeles IT, hospital, sports club, research oriented and many organisations mostly depends on human capital rather physical capital. When we have a look at service oriented organisations which are creating more wealth to the society typically have greater significance to the human resources as the value of the knowledge and skills of its personnel more than that of physical assets of the organisation. Should HR accounting be rejuvenated at the present time? The answer lies in the level of consensus which presently exists about the crucial role that employee plays in all organisations (1992: 312).Most of the works on HRA focused primarily on validation and development of accounting the human resources. The treatment of human resource capital in final accounts and also on methodologies approaching in computing HRA and there are some researchers like Robinson (2009) questioning about the need of HRA. Though this study may/could not provide answers to these questions but can make a sense about HRA prevalence India and how they are handling in the books of accounts. However, in order to assess the value of the human capital, method of quantifying the significance of the knowledge, skills, capabilities and contribution of the human element as well as that of the organizational processes, like recruitment, selection, training etc., which are used to form and carry these human aspects, is developed. No particular HR accounting model is accepted by the accounting bodies all over the world. However, many organisations in India using the application ofLev Schwartz modelin both public and private sectors as well. Models for measurement of knowledge capital in monetary terms:- Cost modelsare based on the acquisition cost, including replacement and training costs and opportunity cost of human asset. The supporters of this model are Burmment, Flamholtz and Pyle. TheLev Schwartz model, more monetary-centric, is based on the likely future earnings of an employee till his retirement. Methods for Valuation: Historical Cost Method This method was proposed by Brummet to measure a firms investment in human resources. The current scarifies for obtaining future benefits is the cost of human resource. The method suggests capitalizing the firms expenditure on recruitment, selection, training and development of employees and treats them as assets for the purpose of human resource accounting. Capitalization of costs is contrary to traditional accounting norms and does not reflect value. Moreover the accumulated costs of human resource acquisition and development may not reflect its proper worth. Instead of this, the total performance needs should be assessed in relation to the total cost associated with human resource to reflect their value. Replacement Cost Method This method involves assessment of replacement cost of individuals, and rebuilding cost of the organization to reflect human resourceasset value of both the individuals and the organization. However, the replacement cost may not reflect either the actual costs or the contribution associated with human resource. Opportunity Cost Method According to this method the computation of monetary value and allocation of people to the most promising activity and thereby to assess the opportunity costs of key employees through competitive bidding among investment centers. Behavioural Method In this method a set of casual variables through psycho-social test results reflecting the appreciating or depreciating condition of human organization as reflected by a set of intervening variables, which in turn, are likely to result in the achievement of the end result variables. The investment in human resource value has been proposed to be amortized over the years in tune with the condition of the human organization. Economic Method Lev Schwartz advocated the estimation of future earnings during the remaining life of the employee and then arriving at the present value by discounting the estimated earnings at the employees cost of capital. The formula adopted for computation of the present value of the future earnings in an extension to the formula propounded by Lev Schwartz. Flamhlotz value human resource on the basis of the roles which the employees are to perform. The method also considers the present value of the future services at different service states and takes into consideration the migration of an employee from one service state to the other. However, the estimates of the employees occupying different service states in his career in the organization can be highly probabilistic and unreliable. Harmonson advocated the human resource value as the present value of the future wages payable for the next five years discounted at the adjusted rate of return. The adjusted rate of return is the average rate of return on the owned assets of all firms in the economy multiplied by efficiency ratio of the organization. This method attempts to bring into question the effectiveness of return on investment of the industry on the assumption that there are no extraneous factors and that the results were due to efforts of the employees. Each model has its own negatives and positive when it comes to practical application. In an Indian context, the Lev Schwartz model has an edge over the other models. Since the method has been widely adopted by Indian companies such as Infosys, DSQ Software Ltd., Satyam Computers, BHEL and SPIC, it enables the company to benchmark the performance and efficiency of their human resources with others. The assumptions in this model are realistic and scientific. The method has practical applicability when availability of quantifiable and analyzable data is concerned. Organisations which are undertaking this HRA process in India and some other global companies as well are as follows: Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited, India Infosys Technologies, India Reliance Industries, India NIIT Limited, India HCL Technologies, India Cadence Systems, India Legato Systems, India SBI, India Novo Nordisk, Denmark Frederiksborg County, Denmark Skandia, Sweden Environmental Protection Agency, Denmark The Body Shop, London, UK Xerox Mitsubishi Whitbread Ford Motors Esso And the some human resource accounting softwares: ADP, Kronos, Ceredian, Lawson, TempWare, Empact, SAP, UltiPro, Stromberg. [SOURCE : secondary] Interesting points to come across in this study are; o Book representation of HRA o Methodologies to adopt in computing HRA o The present importance given to HRA in different countries, organisations and in perspective of many scholars, researchers. o Is HRA more advantage in accounting perspective or HR perspective? And the belief of people involved in it through some sort of interviewing the professionals. o More focus on Infosys and BHEL where two organisations has different mode of industries. o And the value of HRA in recession timings.

The Major Marketing Strategies Essay -- Business and Management Studie

The Major Marketing Strategies Most of the major marketing strategies can be classified into one of the following four categories: * Product * Place * Price * Promotion These four categories are known as the marketing mix or the four P’s of marketing. These are variables that the marketing managers have to control in order to satisfy their customers. Below is a diagram of how the marketing mix comprises. Product: looks at the physical product or service offered to the consumer, it also refers to the service or the conveniences that are part of the offering. Product decisions include aspects such as: function appearance, packaging, service, warranty and any other elements related with the product. Price: Pricing decisions should take into account profit margins and the probable pricing response of competitors. Pricing does not only take into account the list price but also looks at: discount, financing and other options such as leasing. Place: The place or placement serves as the channels of distribution for getting the product to the consumer. Distribution takes into account: Availability, types of outlets and market coverage and the location of the business. Promotion: These decisions are those related to communicating and selling the product to the consumer. Promotions need to take into account the value of the customer as promotions can become quite expensive and therefore you need to consider whether your customers are really worth the cost of acquiring them. Promotion decisions include: advertising, public relations, media types, publicity and image. The following table summarises the marketing mix decisions In regards to Hayes pool the marketing mix had been used to create their marketing strategy by looking at the four P’s and linking them to the consumer. Hayes pool would be looking to use a market penetration scheme as their main target consumers would be those people interested in using the swimming facility. In this case Hayes pool knows that the demand is likely to be elastic because of the fact that so many leisure centres and gym facilities are constantly opening. The product of Hayes pool is mainly the swimming complex that they have and as a subsidiary business they have involved a gym facility. The product side of the marketing mix has not been used very effectively; the appearance is very poor as the building seems quite old ... ...k workout I need to look into adding more facilities and this can be achieved by researching what other competitors are offering in the area. Opportunities * New and rapidly growing markets * Changing tastes of consumers * Could diversify into a number of product lines. I have found that my leisure centre can be shifted across the road which would mean that it lies in the zone that is funded by the government; this means that they could give the pool a complete makeover and really build up the facilities. Also if the leisure centre was to move across the road a route from central avenue could be made allowing easier access to the leisure centre for residents of the road that falls on central avenue, east holme, orchard road and coldharbour lane. Threats * Growing competition from rivals * Recession leading to poor demand in the economy * Development of foreign competitors A new leisure centre has recently opened up in the area and is offering all the benefits of the leading gym centres but at lower prices. Within a year the local elections will take place again and if the current government is voted of the chair the next government may not allow funding for my leisure centre.

Group Polarization And Competition In Political Behavior Essay

On Tuesday, November 14, 1995, in what has been perceived as the years biggest non-event, the federal government shut down all "non-essential" services due to what was, for all intents and purposes, a game of national "chicken" between the House Speaker and the President. And, at an estimated cost of 200 million dollars a day, this dubious battle of dueling egos did not come cheap (Bradsher, 1995, p.16). Why do politicians find it almost congenitally impossible to cooperate? What is it about politics and power that seem to always put them at odds with good government? Indeed, is an effective, well run government even possible given the current adversarial relationship between our two main political parties? It would seem that the exercise of power for its own sake, and a competitive situation in which one side must always oppose the other on any issue, is incompatible with the cooperation and compromise necessary for the government to function. As the United States becomes more extreme in its beliefs in general, group polarization and competition, which requires a mutual exclusivity of goal attainment, will lead to more "showdown" situations in which the goal of good government gives way to political posturing and power-mongering. In this paper I will analyze recent political behavior in terms of two factors: Group behavior with an emphasis on polarization, and competition. However, one should keep in mind that these two factors are interrelated. Group polarization tends to exacerbate inter-group competition by driving any two groups who initially disagree farther apart in their respective views. In turn, a competitive situation in which one side must lose in order for the other to win (and political situations are nearly always competitive), will codify the differences between groups - leading to further extremism by those seeking power within the group - and thus, to further group polarization. In the above example, the two main combatants, Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich, were virtually forced to take uncompromising, disparate views because of the very nature of authority within their respective political groups. Group polarization refers to the tendency of groups to gravitate to the extreme of whatever opinion the group shares (Baron & Graziano, 1991, p.498-99). Therefore, if the extreme is seen as a desirable characteri... ...roup of extreme, right wing, "constitutionalists" who were apparently trying to turn frustration with the federal government into open revolution. I do not think these examples are aberrations or flukes, but are, instead, indicative of structural defects in our political system. If we are not aware of the dangers of extremism and competition, we may, in the end, be destroyed by them. References Baron, B.M., & Graziano, W.G. (1991). Social Psychology. Fort Worth, TX. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Bradsher, K. (1995, November 18). Country may be losing money with government closed. The New York Times, pp.16 Kohn, A. (1986). No Contest: The Case Against Competition. Boston, Houghton Mifflin. No Author. (1995, March 24). [internet] What Wilson has said about entering race. San Jose Mercury News Online. Address:http://www.sjmercury.com/wilson/wil324s.htm Thurm, S. (1995, August 29). [internet] Wilson's 'announcement' more of an ad: California governor kicks off drive for GOP presidential nomination. San Jose Mercury News Online. Address:http://www.sjmercury.com/wilson/wil829.htm Turgue, B., & Thomas, E. (1995, November 27). Missing the moment. Newsweek, pp.26-29.

Eating Disorders :: essays research papers

As field hockey began in late August I thought that she was a lot better, but, as time went on, I found out that she was not any better than when she left school last May. She was really getting worse. Living with someone that has an eating disorder is very hard. My college roommate, also my field hockey teammate suffers from an eating disorder called bulimia. She is now not playing field hockey because she is so bad that her heart can stop at any moment, and she could die. As an athlete there are many pressures to look and to be your best. Female athletes often try to lose weight to improve their game, to keep in shape or even just because of the pressures. Christy Henrich, a world-class gymnast, died in 1994 from anorexia. Her mother told Scott Reid (2005) of the Buffalo News was that, "the first thing [other athletes] told [Christy] was if there's something you want to eat, eat it and throw it up. That's the first thing you learn when you're on the U.S. national team." Pressures come from all over not just from your parents, coaches, teammates and fans. They can show up anywhere. There are many different kinds of eating disorders, from bulimia to anorexia to diet pill abuse to laxative abuse and many more (Otil,103). But the most common that we know of are bulimia and anorexia. Bulimia is a disease when a person eats a lot of food in a short amount of time (called bingeing) and then tries to prevent weight gain by purging. Anorexia is when you starve yourself in fear of gaining weight. As Richard Carey (1997) says in his article, an estimated in 1995 that 20% of college age women and 10% of adult women have suffered from eating disorders. An estimated 1,000,000 teenagers are affected by eating disorders. As many at 90% of all individuals with eating disorders are female this leaves only 10% of males. When it comes to losing weight there is a right way and a wrong way. For some of us we don’t know the right for the wrong. And that’s when an eating disorder steps in. Our body needs the chemical and neurological balance to be healthy. And when you resort in an unhealthy weight loss like not eating (anorexia) or bingeing and purging (bulimia) the chemical and neurological become unbalanced.

Labour Disputes Case

Labour Disputes: A look at the TKM unrest Introduction: Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited (TKM) was a joint venture, established in 1997, between Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota), Japan’s largest car company and the second-largest car manufacturer in the world, and the Kirloskar Group of India. Toyota holds an 89% equity stake and while the Kirloskar Group holds the remaining 11%. Toyota has over 400 acres of land in its Bidadi plant and less than half of the land has been utilised so far even though its plant's capacity is about 60,000 units per annum. Toyota has invested nearly 15 billion INR in the plant. Some of its most famous brands such as Camry, Innova and Corolla are the end products of this plant. The plant had a total workforce of 2,378 out of which around 1,550 employees belonged to the Employee Union. Toyota's plant has witnessed labour unrest in 2001 and again in 2002 hitting the production of their vehicles leading to a ban of the strike by the Government. Below, we discuss the various reasons, which led to the clashes between the management and the employees of TKM. This highlights the growing number of instances of clashes between the employees and the management of companies in India, which is often guided by external parties such as trade unions and political parties. Aim: To understand †¢ The importance of HR policies adopted by the organization to prevent labor unrest at the workplace. †¢ The role of trade unions, political parties etc in upsetting the work culture in a company. The Issue: On January 08, 2006, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited (TKM) announced an indefinite lockout of its vehicle manufacturing plant at Bidadi located near Bangalore, Karnataka. The company claimed to have forced to resort to such a decision following a continuous strike by their employee union for third day in a row. The Toyota-Kirloskar union affiliated to the Center of Trade Union (CITU) Jan 9, 2006 demanded that the Government prosecute the management, which had declared an indefinite lockout of the local unit for violating a section of the Industrial dispute act . On January 06, 2006, the Employee Union went on strike with the demand to reinstate three dismissed employees, ten suspended employees, and improve the work condition at the plant. According to company sources, these employees were dismissed and suspended based on disciplinary issues. TKM declared that it would not rehire those employees culminating in the strike and lockout. The company said that the striking workers were threatening to blowup LPG gas cylinders in the company premises, obstructing the outward movement of manufactured vehicles, illegally stopping production, and manhandling other workers, who were not part of the Employee Union, to strike. The Employee Union said that these employees were dismissed because they were active members of the trade union and the company was unhappy with the union activities. They further added that the working environment at the plant was not conducive and the work hours were longer than the standard. The issue scaled further in the event of the Company representatives failing to appear before the Labor Commissioner on January 09, 2006 for dispute resolution with the union. The company reasoned that they feared adverse reactions from the aggressive union members. Though, the company appealed for two weeks time to appear before the Labor Commissioner so that situation could become stable, they were given time only till January 12, 2006. The Employee Union with the back up of CITU and other unions demanded the intervention of the state government to help resolve the dispute in their favor. TKM continued with partial production of vehicles with the help of non-unionized workers and the management staff who were specially trained for these kinds of emergencies. Irrespective of this, the company incurred huge production losses due to reduction in output by 60%. The Employee Union withdrew their strike following a Government Order on January 21, 2006, which was against the strike The Company lifted the lockout on January 21, 2006 stating that it was responding to the request from workers who eager to return to work. Aftermath: The unrest had other impacts as the Toyota spokesperson said that the company would rethink its recent decision to build a second car manufacturing plant in the state. These sorts of incidents will definitely hamper the Government’s efforts to bring in foreign direct investments to the country. This in turn would affect the growth rate, employability and GDP of the country. Discussion: Industrial disputes are costly and damaging to companies and employees alike. The policy formulations should be such that it is strong enough to avoid conflicts or resolve it successfully. Though it is not possible to avoid conflicts, a system can be built in, which guidelines a proper conflict resolution management. In the above case, a proper conflict resolution management system would have solved the issue well within the company rather than involving external parties and escalating the problem thereby resulting in huge production losses & wasted mandates. The HR policies and the top management support should be such as to minimise the chance of a grievance turning into dispute, there by avoiding the influence of external parties in disturbing the peaceful working environment. Either of the parties who participate in a conflict resolution procedure should come with an open mind, without any baggage that hampers the setting. They should be ready to trust each other and believe in the efforts taken by either of them in solving the dispute. The management must give the participating institution its right place in the managerial organisation of the undertaking and implementing the policies of the undertaking. The labour, on the other hand, must also whole heartedly co-operate with the management through its trade unions. A committee can be formed by the management with the whole hearted co-operation of the workers. The board can involve an equal amount of participation from the employees as well as the management. The board can meet at a timely interval and discuss grievances before them turning into disputes. Issues related to work hours, remuneration, productivity, etc can have a say in the board meetings. Policies are made for all the areas of an organisation at the top level which give impetus for growth, discipline, productivity of an industry or business. These policies act as management guidelines to the functional heads who can discharge their responsibilities with clarity. Policies cover the areas of human relations like: policies regarding motivation, morale, communication, leadership, styles, grievance procedure, disciplinary procedure employee counseling etc. These policies also cover the areas of industrial relations like Union recognition, union representation, collective bargaining, prevention and settlement of industrial disputes, participative management etc . Voices â€Å"Central trade unions are still relevant, mainly for the unorganised sector. Internal unions should not have a narrow view on this. They should be aware of the problems of their brothers†¦ † -AITUC national secretary D L Sachdev. â€Å"An ITI pass-out in TKM gets around Rs 15,000 a month, while outside the company he'll only make Rs 4,000 or so. Not just the money, but even in terms of facilities, we offer the best. † -K K Swamy, deputy managing director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor. â€Å"We have requested the government to intervene in the matter immediately and prohibit the lockout declared by the management which is illegal. The government should prosecute the management for violating labour laws and issue immediate relief to the dismissed employees such as reinstatement and payment of wages during the dismissed period. † -Meenakshi Sundaram, General Secretary, Centre of Indian Trade Union, Bangalore, in 2006. â€Å"How long can we put up with unruly behaviour? We would like to restore normalcy as soon as possible, but at the same time, we would not like to compromise on discipline. † -A. R Shankar, General Manager, Corporate Planning Division, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited, in 2006. There are another 11 people suspended by the management and we fear they may also be dismissed. We are officially supposed to work for eight hours but we are overworked sometimes. And we are treated in such a way, that we can’t even take a bathroom break when we want. † -R. Ravi, Union Joint Secretary, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Employees Unions, in 2006. Conclusion While India boasts the best in class labour irrespective of the colour of the collar, what worries the industry are the regulations in terms of access to this valuable resource. The trade unions are not favouring the demand of the industry to improve labour legislations. While trade unions are of opinion that it would result in labour mismanagement, the industry states that the labour reforms are essential considering the frequent situational changes in the business scenario. According to Management experts, the success story of the software industry indicates how far our country can achieve if not restricted by controls. 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