Ethics and Financial Services Essay

Question A1 Outline the frauds identified in the case and explain the inconsistencies with proper accounting treatment. Relate your answer to broad accounting concepts and accounting standards where relevant. (8 marks; approximately 800 words) Answer: Livent Inc. is a theatre production corporation registered in Toronto, Canada. Therefore, all the accounting behaviours were subject to the General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) of Canada. In a broad sense, the GAAP imposes four main constraints on the accounting behaviours of companies – objectivity, materiality, consistency and conservatism. In the case of Livent Inc., there are several behaviours that was inconsistent with the proper accounting regulations in general. Large kickback scheme At the very beginning of the entire fraud by Livent, the two executives, Drabinsky and Gottlieb, fabricated transactions that did not exist at all, in order to transfer the revenue of the company secretly to their own pockets. They made the fake transaction on their balance sheet by colluding with their vendors. Drabinsky and Gottlieb received the money from vendors and asked them to fabricate evidences of charging fees. Manipulation of accounting records The kickback scheme sacrificed the net profit of the company, and as a result, Drabinsky and Gottlieb started manipulating the records. There were evidence from later investigation that Livent was exaggerating its revenue from the box office to show that it kept good income statement with good  profit. Also, they asked the accountants at Livent to modify the financial statements to hide the potential financial problems Livent had and to exhibit good operating performance to attract more investment. Drabinsky even used special software to manipulate the financial statements to make them as if they were the original record and hard to be detected. Keeping the fraud as secret to auditors With the help of the special software, Livent Inc. was able to keep two records of their financial performances, the phony one and the real one. And the outside auditors did auditing of Livent based on the phony financial records Livent provided. Therefore, the Deloitte, Livent’s outside auditing company, could hardly see signs of fraud during annual auditing. Significantly, the fraud of Livent Inc. broke the accounting principle of objectivity, which is also the primary standards companies should stick to. The objectivity principle basically requires that all kinds of financial statements the companies offer should be based on the facts. That is to say, every transaction and item recorded in the financial statements should be supported by unbiased and objective information. Under no circumstances are the managers, shareholders and accountants allowed to fabricate or distort any accounting reports and materials of the company. However, what Drabinsky and Gottlieb did at Livent went against the accounting standards. The fact that the two partners urged the internal accountants to modify the seasonal expenses and liability is definitely away from the proper professional behaviours. Livent benefited from manipulating its performance with additional investment and bank loans, which boosted aggressive expanding plans of Livent. It is even intolerable that the company invented the special software, which allowed unlimited arbitrary modification of all the accounting records of the company. This made the fraud much easier and less likely to be discovered because it enabled the manipulation looked as if they were the original data. Elrod and Gorhum (2010) made quantitative research on the way of detecting fraud by examine the extent to which the cash flow from operation and the earnings from continuing operations are correlated. Livent Inc. forced the accounting staff in the company to comply with the fraud behaviour without any doubt. The executives showed a â€Å"matter-of-fact† attitude toward the fraud. The accountants, independent auditors were not working independently and objectively as required by GAAP. On the contrary, they have been coerced or instructed to make fake accounting records, and did not show cooperation with the independent outside auditors. GAAP intends to ensure auditor independence. But Messina used her previous influence at Deloitte to disturb the independency of Deloitte auditors in examining the financial performance of Livent. The objectivity principle additionally restricts unreliable reports, materials and sheets offered to the auditors for annual auditing. Under the current accounting principles and standards in Canada and the United State, the auditors are responsible only for ensuring the preparation of all the accounting documents of the company align with the GAAP. But the outside auditors do not have access to the detailed daily record of the company. Therefore, the annual auditing is unable to prevent managerial collusion if the company provides counterfeit accounting materials. Livent was giving the fake balance sheet, income statement and other reports to Deloitte, which is not allowed by the accounting standards to a broad extent. Some companies correct their cheating behaviour when the situation improves, which makes it even harder to be detected. Nonetheless, such behaviours done by Livent are inconsistent with the standard professional ethics and regulations. Moreover, the aggressive developing strategy Livent had taken also violated the conservatism principle that the GAAP requires. This principle asks the accountants to exclude the uncertain income or revenue, while include the possible losses and risks in the financial statement. The conservative accounting behaviors are necessary because they can effectively prevent the shareholders and investors from potential losses. But in this case, Drabinsky is in such a haste to pursue aggressive development of the company, and obviously was exaggerating its revenue as well as concealing its losses. Question A2 Describe the corporate ethical culture at Livent Inc. How did this culture affect employee behaviour? Explain and justify your answer. (12 marks; approximately 1,200 words) Answer: Several researches supported the argument that the corporate ethical culture had large influences on the behaviours of the employees and their ethical judgements. The company does not have to have a specific code of ethics for the employees to constraint their ethical behaviours. The corporate environment in itself is enough for influencing the ethical behaviours inside the company. Nwachukwu and Vitell (1997)’s research found that the ethical culture in corporate has certain impact on the moral conviction of the employees upon what is right and wrong. Fraudulent behaviour was a very significant issue in the development of companies. It was because that it had tremendous impacts on the corporate, the employees as well as the public. Also, the difficulties in preventing such behaviours were to define, prevent and detect it. Schwartz (2013) made research and emphasized the three key factors in maintain an ethical corporate culture in the company. They are the set of ethical beliefs or values throughout the company, establishing â€Å"formal ethics program† and the ethical leadership throughout the development of the company. However, in the case of Livent’s fraud, all the three factors were lack in the system of the company. They had no clear ethical values, as the self-regulation mechanism, set and administrated inside the company to constraint the behaviours of not only the employees, but the senior executives as well. The unethical culture set by the top executives had not only influenced, but also forced all the staff, especially the accountants, to cooperate and to help conceal the fraud from being detected by the outsiders. This caused the company running under a set of very unethical corporate culture. It seemed to be routine to manipulate the financial records in Livent Inc. for quite a long time. As early as the year of 1990, Drabinsky, together with his best partner Gottlieb, began the kickback scheme to illegally create fake transactions to transfer money from the company to their own pockets. Then later Dranbinsky and Gottlieb had to tell even bigger lies and got more people involved in in order to make up for the expense losses from the kickback plan. The company lacked ethical leadership from the very beginning. To make the financial performance of Livent look promising,  Drabinsky and Gottlieb meddled in the daily accounting records as well as the preparation of the annual financial statements that were handed in and were examined by the auditing company, Deloitte. The executives and the senior level staff were not establishing positive example inside the company so as to maintain a positive ethical corporate culture. What’s even worse, they acted as the leading role in such fraudulent behaviours and arbitrarily got the other employees into the serious fraud scheme. Drabinsky and Gottlieb shouted at and coerced the staff and even the senior level managers to fulfil their ambition. They developed a specific computer software inside the company’s accounting system, so that they were able to take control of the financial status of the company. They could adjust any amount and transaction records in the system to make the quarterly, semi-annually and annually report of financial performance of Livent look promising to invest in. Even worse, by applying the software, Livent was able to cheat on the accounting records as if they were the raw figures, and avoid being discovered. It had also facilitated the fraudulent behaviours and motivated the employees and the executives to fraud continuously. Another serious issue inside Livent, besides the manipulation of the accounting records and financial statements, is the overwhelming attitude of viewing fraud as a matter of fact among executives as well as the employees. Even if some of the accounting staff including Messina and Webster questioned the unethical behaviours they got involved in, they were influenced by the overall environment and paid no attention to the fraudulent behaviours in Livent. They took for granted that what they did was to follow the instructions of the executives so as not to get fired. The employees would see Drabinsky shouting and bullying the accountants and even the senior level staff in the company if they had any different opinions against him. This was in fact establishing bad example for the employees and was to warn the other staff to just accept the deviant behaviours as a matter of fact. For a long time, employees were aware of the fraud happening, but were unwilling to avoid it. Llopis et al. (2007) argued that â€Å"effective communication is essential for the ethical message to be properly assimilated†. However, in Livent, the top two executives, Drabinsky and Gottlieb, were much too autocratic in the way of managing the company. There  were barely any information about the ethical culture passed to the employees, and the staff had little freedom to do their job but to listen to Drabinsky’s instructions. Last but not least, Livent Inc. lacked proper self-regulation mechanism to prevent the non-ethical behaviours. More often than not, self-regulation are considered as the last prevention of bad corporate ethical culture. Schwartz (2013) pointed out that the set of ethical value of the company was critical for making ethical decisions. Real self-regulation should not be independent of the public interest. Instead, the behaviours under self-regulation should be compatible with the social values and principles. In addition, as the ethical value of the company should not be arbitrarily decided by the executives or a few people in the company; instead the set of ethical value should gain the consent of the majority of the employees (Llopis et al. 2007). Yet, what the set of value acquiesced by the employees in Livent went against the public’s interest, and thus led to the unethical corporate culture overall. Formally, inside Livent, they did not have complete ethical programs including regulations on the professional operation of each position to prevent fraud. The ethical value of the company should be clearly stated in the policies and regulations, or even set incentive mechanism to encourage the employees to follow and to form good habits. In conclusion, there were three factors causing the unethical corporate culture inside Livent. The first is the long-standing fraudulent behaviours from the top executives, which were then passed down to the employees of lower levels arbitrarily. Second element of the unethical culture was the attitude of taking committing fraud as a matter of fact, and thus no one in the company were willing to discourage it. Finally, the lack of internal ethical corporate regulations or values established throughout the company accelerated the forming of unethical corporate culture. Working under such environment, the employees got involved in the fraudulent behaviours willingly or unwillingly forced by their boss. Moreover, their original ethical judgement became vague as they got used to the prevalent fraudulent working culture after a long time. They loss the sense of justice to judge the right and the wrong things. They might even rationalize what they had  done to be just and necessary. PART B Question B1 Why do you think Maria Messina become complicit in the fraud(s)? Explain your answer using the fraud triangle. (15 marks; approximately 1,500 words) Answer: The fraud originally started with the large kickback scheme by Drabinsky and Gottlieb, and finally Maria Messina, as the chief financial officer of Livent, got involved and helped in the huge fraud. Messina’s motivation to become complicit in the fraud can be explained by the theory of fraud triangle, which reveals much of the psychology of committing a fraud. The three key factors in the fraud triangle, considered as prerequisites of fraudulent behaviours, are the pressure, the opportunity and the rationalisation of doing it. Pressure The pressure of committing the fraud, according to the theory of fraud triangle, is more often than not â€Å"non-shareable† (Dellaportas 2013). The type of pressure may be related to financial issues, or may come from the job and working atmosphere. Dellaportas (2013) pointed out that the evil ideas can also be the source of pressure that causes fraud. People in Livent who joined in the fraud had different reasons of incentive to do illegal things as they had different kind of pressure. For example, for the two executives, Drabinsky and Gottlieb, they shared financial pressure. At first, their greed for money stimulated them to design the large kickback plan to secretly transfer money from the company to their own pockets. And later, just as Brenna and McGrath (2007) described in the paper, the executives had the motivation to fraud to keep the company at good performance so that they could gain high bonus as well as keep continuous outside investment for the company. But the motivation and pressure for Messina was a little different. Although as CFO of Livent, her bonus was linked with the performance of the company, the evidences in the  case and in the trial were insufficient to decide whether her fraudulent behaviour was directly motivated by financial pressure. However, it is clear that she was forced to involve in the fraud, like many other accountants at Livent, because of the coercion of Drabinsky and Gottlieb. Messina testified that the executives including Drabinsky would shout at the accountants and force them to cooperate in work. She worked under the pressure of the executives in the company. Messina would be at the risk of losing her job if she did not follow the instruction of Drabinsky. The financial situation was negative long before Messina joined Livent, meaning the fraud had already started before Messina was able to stop it. Taking over the responsibility of managing the financial performance of the company, she was faced with the situation out of her control. The environment of fraud and routine to manipulate the financial records had long been formed. The frequent use of software that enabled Drabinsky to easily manipulate the financial records and financial statements as much as he wanted was a common behaviour in Livent, acquiesced by everyone in the company. Under the threat of Drabinsky, Messina thus had no choice but to try her best to manage the fraud from being detected, making herself really exhausted by the daily work. The pressure Messina faced as the chief financial officer was unable to share with other colleagues and she was forced by the financial pressures to involve in the fraud. She could feel the threats from Drabinsky and the already very troublesome financial situation. And she could perceive that her subordinates and other staff in Livent were suffering the bully and coercion from their executives as well. Opportunity The factor of opportunity in the fraud triangle refers to the ability to commit the fraud and in the situations like the one in the case, such opportunity mainly results from having specific professional skills or knowledge. That is to say, the person was able to manipulate skilfully and knew how to avoid being discovered by his supervisors or regulations. In addition, the trust that the person is able to accomplish the job in accord  with laws also contributes to the opportunity. The trust existing in the relationship between the supervisor and the employees may contribute to getting authorized without careful screening. The trust caused the space of opportunity to fraud expanded. In case of Livent, Messina was an experienced accountants as well as a Chartered Accountant, who had been promoted to partner of the Deloitte &Touch, LLP in Canada. Her previous experience in the industry enabled her to have a good knowledge both in accounting and auditing. That is to say, Messina potentially knew how to manipulate the accounting records daily and prepare the fraudulent financial statement annually. Also, she understood the normal practice of outside professional auditors, who were responsible for examining the financial performance of the company and avoiding inconsistency with the GAAP. Thus, Messina could give professional advice to Drabinsky and Gottlieb so that their manipulation of the accounting records would not be detected in the annual auditing. Besides her professional knowledge and skills in assisting in the fraud in accounting, the opportunity for Messina to get involved also includes the trust on her and her influence in her previous company. Messina had worked at Deloitte Canada for quite a long time and had been promoted to position as partner before she left the company and became CFO of Livent Inc. She had therefore built broad relationship within Deloitte, who was the outside auditing firm for Livent at that time. As Dellaportas (2013) pointed out in the research, insufficient internal regulation and supervision upon such fraudulent behaviours prompted the fraud to continue without being detected by others. However, in the specific case of Livent, there was no self-regulation mechanism at all, since the entire company, from the executives to the employees of the lowest-level, got involved in the fraud. Thus, it was hopeless to discover and discourage such deviant behaviours by the people inside the company. This caused the fraud of Livent to continue to expand and to be very serious. Rationalisation The rationalisation is not rational, instead it is an excuse for the person  who commits the fraud to justify the behaviour to himself. Coleman (1987) discussed this factor of fraud within the context of white collar crimes, and he argued that rationalisation is not an â€Å"after-the-fact† excuse. In fact, people who commit the crime do not realize that their behaviours are deviant. A large number of white collar crime criminals argued that they considered the laws to be unjust or unreasonable, causing them to break the rules (Coleman 1987). The factor of rationalisation is more risky than the other two factors because the people who have violated the laws believed that they had the right reason to do so. He also mentioned other common argument of the fraudulent behaviours. They claimed that such behaviours were the only way for them to achieve the goal or to â€Å"survive† (Coleman 1987). Based on the research results from Dellaportas (2013), he identified the three most common way of denial that people think to justify their fraudulent behaviours. People would rationalize their behaviour as they deny the â€Å"responsibility, injury and victim†. First, the offenders will shirk responsibility and say someone else are supposed to be in charge of the fraud. Secondly, they justify what they have done by arguing that there is no victim in this situation. Finally, if there is victims, the offenders may consider that the victims deserve the sufferings. Thus, they are free from taking responsible or even committing their fraud is illegal. Definitely, there were rationalisation inside Messina that made her behaviour â€Å"just† according to her own value. After quitting the partner position at Deloitte, Messina believed it to be right or rational for her to help Drabinsky in the fraud. Or otherwise, she would lose her job and would be unable to survive. And the overall atmosphere inside the Livent, considering what they were doing as â€Å"matter of fact†, alleviated the employee’s sense of responsibility for the fraud. Messina could hardly feel guilty and never considered about the consequences of helping the company’s fraud. She might rationalize her efforts in the fraud as under the instruction of Drabinsky, instead of out of her own willingness. The above analysis clearly dissected the reasons why Messina became complicit in the fraud from the perspective of psychology. However, as Dellaportas (2013) discussed, the influence of each factor in the fraud triangle varied  from case to case, and was not often equally impacting the fraud behaviours. Recent researches intend to improve the fraud triangle by considering additional factors into the model to better understand the behaviour of fraud in current times. What Messina had done assisted the fraud in Livent to continue for quite a long time after she joined Livent. Messina became the complicit in the serious fraud due to the pressure she was facing, mainly financially, the opportunity she was able to take advantage of and the rationalisation she found for herself to justify her deviant behaviours. Dellaportas (2013) discovered, through case study from ten accountants’ committing fraud, that the opportunity of committing fraud was a much more important factor in dete cting fraud and to take control of it. The motivation and rationalisation contributed less in this kind of accounting fraud cases. Question B2 Comment on the adequacy of the disciplinary action taken against Messina. (5 marks; approximately 500 words) Answer: Finally, Messina was fined for $7,500 and was suspended from doing accounting practice for two years. It is adequate but not enough punishment for Messina’s violation to the accounting standards according to the facts already known. After joining Livent, what Messina did in the Livent’s case of fraud went against the code of professional ethics, which discourages cheating and manipulations. Also, her behaviours broke the securities law in the United States, where the trial of Livent was held. Her involving in the fraud conflicted the interest of the public, especially the investors, who were unable to judge the real performance of Livent from their financial reports. Messina abused her authority in Livent and her influence on Deloitte, for the interest of her own and the executives at Livent. At the very beginning of joining Livent, Messina faced coercion and threats from Drabinsky to keep decent records by manipulation. However, she did not take positive action to resolving the conflict of interest between Drabinsky and herself. Proper ways when one faces conflict of interest is to  quit the job or decline to do the fraud. Messina could have turned to a confidential counselling firm for advice so that she did not have to get involved further in the fraud. On the one hand, it is enough punishment for her involvement in the fraud. She helped the accounting department at Livent to conceal the manipulation of financial statements. Also, as former partner at Deloitte, she abused her influence on the outside independent auditors to comb the financial reports of Livent before they filed to ensure the fraud undetected. What she did violated the standard professional codes for accountants and auditors, and thus she should be subject to penalty. According to the documents from Securities and Exchange Commission (1999), Messina was involved in discussion and approval of every manipulated records. She helped to hide these materials from the auditors so as not to be discovered the inflation in the company’s revenue. On the other hand, the SEC is conservative in judgement because of lack of evidence in proving Messina’s role in the fraud. First, it requires further investigation of the case to identify what she really did and her attitude in the fraud supported with evidence. Moreover, Messina, according to the case material, did show adversarial attitude toward Drabinsky’s fraud plan at first. It means that she still sticked to professional discipline in the beginning, though she yielded to Drabinsky’s bullying later. Also, Messina showed humble attitude in investigation and trial, and cooperated with the commission to investigate the case. It is adequate that the judges punished Messina both financially and professionally. She not only has to give back the illegal money she gained from the fraud, but also should be prevented from doing the practice until she can finally reflect on her mistakes before returning to the business as chief financial officer. However, the amount of fine is too little for Messina to realize her improper behaviours, considering the massive consequences of the fraud and the amount of money they benefited from manipulation. But the judgement should after all based on the evidences and regulations. The judge should take the good and bad things Messina had done  throughout the fraud into account to decide. Also, the punishment against Messina requires further investigation of her role in the fraud, which is disputable. References Coleman, J W 1987, ‘Toward an integrated theory of white-collar crime’, American Journal of Sociology, vol 93, no. 2, pp. 406-439. Dellaportas, S 2013, ‘Conversations with inmate accountants: Motivation, opportunity and the fraud triangle’, Accounting Forum, vol. 37, pp. 29-39. Elrod, H & Gorhum, M J, ‘Fraudulent financial reporting and cash flows’, Journal of Finance and Accountancy, vol. 11, pp. 56-61. Llopis, J, Gonzalez, M R & Gasco, J L 2007, ‘Corporate governance and organisational culture: The role of ethics officers’, International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 96–105 Nwachukwu, S LS & Vitell, S J 1997, ‘The influence of corporate culture on managerial ethical judgments’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 16, no. 8, pp. 757-776. Schwartz, M S 2013, ‘Developing and sustaining an ethical corporate culture: The core elements’, Business Horizons, vol. 56, pp. 39-50. Securities and Exchange Commission, 1999, Securities and Exchange Commission versus Garth H. Drabinsky, Myron I. Gottlieb, Robert Topol, Gordon C. Eckstein, Maria M. Messina, Diane J. Winkefein, D. Grant Malcolm and Tony Fiorino, 99 CIV.0239, Litigation Release No. 16022, retrieved 15 Aug 2013, .

Impact of Electronic Information on Individuals & Society

In this report I will discuss the impact of electronic information on individuals and society. I am going to talk about how the ways people access information has changed and how new technologies have played a part in this. Firstly I will talk about how increased availability of electronic information has changed mine and my family’s daily lives. Then I'll consider how this has affected the older generation, in particular, the elderly.After that, I’ll explore some of the ways organisations these days communicate with individuals and society, and finally I'll talk about people who do not have access or don't want to have access to the internet and the possible consequences of this. Over the past few years the amount of information I receive from paper-based information sources has decreased dramatically while electronic information is becoming more and more significant to mine, and my family’s daily lives. On a daily basis I access many different types of electron ic information such as text messages, internet and television.All these things have a huge impact on me and my family. For example, if I want to meet a friend, first of all I text them to find out if they’re at home and are not busy, while not so long ago when I didn't have a mobile phone I would go to their house and find out if they were at home, which isn’t very time efficient. Another example of how increased availability of electronic information has changed my life is the way I find the information I need. Not so long ago I was searching for information I need in paper-based sources such as books, newspapers and magazines.While now I mostly use the internet, and a search engine such as Google for searching for information. But the problem with search engines is that you have to be very accurate and know exactly what kind of information you want to find, otherwise you may not find what you need or not exactly the kind of information you need. I sometimes also watc h the television; television provides light entertainment, education and information. It means that I can be kept up to date with what is going on in the world by watching the news, or alternatively can be kept amused.In the rapidly aging population, the elderly are called upon to adapt to new technology and the demands of modern society. It is widely accepted that elder individuals show low adjustment to new technologies compared to younger generations, either because they do not have the technological experience or because of their current health status. At their effort to use new technologies, they usually face many difficulties related to the complexity of new technology. Other contributing factors for this low adjustment to new technologies are the lack of incentives, economical obstacles, digital skills and appropriate training.A commonly held view is that the market is not currently investing enough on innovations for the elder users, such as comprehensive and user-friendly s ervices for healthier living conditions. In addition, many products and services often are not appropriate to the needs of elder users, exacerbating the sense of frustration and leading to dependence on other people. The main sources of information for the elderly are the internet, thematic television channels and magazines.In their effort to take greater responsibility for their personal health, physical status and independent living conditions, the elderly users need to be more informed through the use of these sources. Technology may involve the use of most simple everyday electrical appliances (TV, kitchen, vacuum cleaner, dishwasher, etc. ) or other more complex machines (ATMs, PCs, mobile phones etc. ) This widely accepted use of new technology by the elderly population has a beneficial effect on their quality of life. More and more organizations are equipping the use websites to advertise themselves.When an organization has a website, they suddenly have a home base for the me ssages their customers have to share with everyone. They can take that to the next level by branching out and allowing their customers to sign up to be on an e-mail list on their website. They can then send potential customers updates for the latest deals, blog posts, and more. Although e-mail is a valuable communication tool, its widespread use in academic and business settings has introduced some new challenges for some people. I believe every business needs to use technology to gain competitive advantage.In today’s world, time and efficiency are very essential factors in business growth, so if you want your business to survive in this technologically demanding century, you will need to use technology. The type of technology used in business varies, as they do not all have the same needs of technology; it can be used for communication, manufacturing, packaging, quality control, record keeping, accounting, human resource management, data security, decision making, used to im prove customer service, business marketing and promotion and more.Because it is a relatively new form of communication, basic social conventions for writing and responding to e-mail are still being worked out. Miscommunication can easily occur when people have different expectations about the e-mails that they send and receive. In addition, e-mail is used for many different purposes, including contacting friends, communicating with professors and supervisors, requesting information, and applying for jobs, internships, and scholarships.Depending on your purposes, the messages you send will differ in their formality, intended audience, and desired outcome. The individuals who do not have access to the internet, do not know how to use it, or simply do not want to use it are being deprived of the benefits, social opportunities, and time saving methods the internet provides. This further segregates certain groups of society. For example, most uneducated people probably do not have access to the internet, and if they did, they would not be able to use it as efficiently as more educated people.The internet has changed the way we live, interact with others, and go about our daily lives. Social interaction no longer relies on physical location, which has many implications that sociologists are interested in studying. As a relatively new invention, we have yet to see the full implications and effects that the internet has on societies around the world. This opens up an entirely new and exciting field within sociology and it will be interesting to see where it takes us.

Assessment for learning Essay Example for Free (#9)

Assessment for learning Essay Learning is an innate capability of a person. People perceive things and learn through their experiences while they grow up and develop accordingly with their ages. Aside from the normal people who learn in the normal way, there are off course other people who are above normal, after which learn through special trainings and conditioning. People learn accordingly with their capacity to gain information and store it in their minds. It is not only by sending children to school that they are learning but also through their real life experiences that require not only for their intelligence but also for their emotional skills. In determining the learning rate of a certain group, it is very important that the surveyor is able to gather the information about the specific group such as age range, family background, nutrition of the students and other factors that actually affect the learning activity of a person, be it a cognitive or conditional learning. There are also specific tests that can be given to the students or the target learners to have written and documented results. Suppose I chose the pool of elementary students that includes children ranging from 10-11 years old. These children are already exposed to a large scope of media that portray the different roles and scenarios in the society. If I am to analyze their emotional intelligence, I would give them examinations that can determine how well they interact with other students such that they will be told to work on groups. Through the activity, students with good family background can actually have the bigger possibilities of leading the group thus causing peace whenever other children tend to fight for what they believe. Off course there will be passive kind of children and the best tool to give or offer them are group dynamics that can actually unleash their inner talents. That is also possible if the conductor of the test is encouraging and enthusiastic. In terms of academic assessments, children on this age range can be fed with lectures and practice activities such as solving math problems or subject and verb agreement. In my past experiences as a child, it is very effective for me that children will be given the chance to construct their own sentences and math problems. After that, children will be asked to solve and analyze what they do and have it in group discussions. Group discussions can help the children to gain other ways of solving such problems and understanding different sentences. It is also helpful that the teacher follows up the development of the understanding of a student. Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the lesson is necessary thus providing them devices and strategies that can help them understand more the difficult points. Specific tools that can be used in assessing the ability of a person in Mathematics and English can be flash cards and reading literary pieces (stories, anecdotes) respectively. Both can add up to the expertise of a student to the subject matter. Every child deserves the right for education. For those who can’t afford it, there are still many ways to supply your children with it; either tutoring them every day or enrolling them a school that caters scholarships. It is vital to feed the children with knowledge while they are young and still can acquire and save them to their memories. The value of education is much more priceless than any treasure in this world: not fading but still growing through ages. QCA WEBSITE. Assessment for learning. Retrieved 1 May 2008 from http://www. qca. org. uk/qca_5067. aspx Assessment for learning. (2017, Jan 11).

M Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

M - Essay Example It controls roughly 90 subsidiaries in the world. It’s the second largest packaged food company in the world just behind Procter & Gamble. Its current expansion programme includes a number of acquisitions and mergers. Its smaller acquisitions like the purchase of Kwality Group’s ice cream plants in Delhi, India by Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) and bigger ones like Japans Ajinomoto Co. for $381 million. This acquisition gave Unilever the full management control and total sales and profits in seven Asian Ajinomoto owned companies. The strategic significance of these acquisitions has to be examined against the backdrop of their future revenue generating capacities. Above all they have to be considered as part and parcel of the overall Unilever operations in the world. Its organizational structure and culture have augmented this A&M drive despite a number of set-backs that it suffered in some of its operations recently. The strategic competitive environment of the global packaged food industry in particular and the consumer goods industry in general has been characterized by a series of causative factors such as demand-centric and supply-centric influences. Health worries on the part of consumers have taken a particularly worse turn for the packaged food industry while suppliers are going for mergers and acquisitions to achieve scale economies and bigger profit margins. This trend has brought with it a host of other consequences within and without the industry. Such developments have place Unilever in a particularly tight spot with regard to M&A activity. Both causes and consequences of these acquisitions and mergers can be considered on a broader set of strategic management choices and imperatives along with competitive expediencies of time and circumstance. Unilever has been operating on a uniformly defined platform of principles of which the corner stone is the strategic competitive edge over its rivals such as Nestle, Procter & Gamble and Kraft. Thus

Madeleine-Leininger Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Madeleine-Leininger - Assignment Example She highlighted that the theory had its basis on comparative culture care. The document also describes the ethnonursing research method that Leininger developed when developing her theory. In addition, models and enablers used in the ethnonursing research method are also described in depth. From this document, it becomes evident that the numerous factors, which can be categorized as both diverse and universal cultural factors that influence nursing care. From the document, the strengths of the ethnonursing research method become evident to the reader. It is intriguing to analyze Leininger’s understanding of culture care in her effort to form the foundation of transcultural nursing. All the definitions and concepts used in her theory are well explained in this overview document. A close analysis of the document helped me understand the different constructs that define the culture care theory. I also realized that transcultural nursing was the field developed by Leininger after describing her theory successfully (Madeleine-Leininger.com, 2014). This field utilizes both cultural differences and similarities in an effort to provide assistance that matches the needs of people from different cultures. The context under which Leininger developed her theory is also given attention in the document (Leininger, 2008). Doctor Madeleine Leininger calls her theory Culture Care Diversity and Universality as highlighted in the info-facts section. It is identified as the only theory that focuses on transcultural nursing (Leininger, 2008). After reading the info-facts section, I had the impression that Dr. Leininger is an experienced professional in the nursing field. She had conducted wide research in an effort to develop her theory. She has been recognized for her efforts in launching the transcultural nursing field. Notably, she is the author of 28 books, more than 300 articles, and about 60 chapters. This makes it evident that she is a resourceful

Recommendation Grading Schema (NA) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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Cleland Wildlife Park and park values Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Cleland Wildlife Park and park values - Essay Example his brief essay, this student will discuss and analyze the case of Cleland wildlife Park; located in southern Australia and visited by this author and friends on May 20th, 2014. Comprising fully 10 square kilometres of land in near Adelaide Australia, this particular natural area houses nearly all of the indigenous and well known species of wildlife indigenous to this particular region of Australia (SouthAustralia, 2014). Furthermore, the following analysis will provide a joint discussion; concentric upon the experience that this student had at the wildlife park in question alongside a discussion and analysis of the importance and relevance that parks and natural areas such as this play within the broader economic, environmental, educational, and tourism/recreation goals that society has. It is the further hope of this particular student that through engaging in a broader understanding of these metrics, the reader can come to appreciate how integral parks such as Cleland are within t he current society. Firstly, and perhaps most obviously, parks such as Cleland allow the wildlife within its borders to be protected from the dangers/hazards that might exist for them in an unprotected area. Although it is true that hunting and other such activities are heavily regulated within Australia, the danger posed by vehicles and human expansion into habitat and territory of this wildlife is something that natural areas of protect against. Furthermore, by designating a specific result in which wildlife can exist in its natural form, without the hazards of human interference, and beneficial sanctuaries created in which an unadulterated ecosystem can survive and thrive. Moreover, as the animals within the natural area are reduced from human dependence, the way in which they exhibit natural behaviors of interacting with their ecosystems maximized; once again promoting a more instinctual level of development that could otherwise exist in a situation in which such parks were not

Individuals Influence On Gender Identity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Individuals Influence On Gender Identity - Essay Example To understand gender identity at a deeper length, it is imperative to consider social constructs of gender difference. This implies that issues like socialization or environmental factors and response to changing societal norms must be considered and understood. Children start understanding gender identity at a very tender age. A child will know whether he is a boy or she is a girl. Thus children at an early age can already categorize their gender. They further learn how to perform gender roles that are associated with their identity as masculine and feminine. Boys learn to control and manipulate their physical environment through their strength and sometimes skills. On the other hand, girls at an early age, already start presenting themselves as an object that should be viewed. These children keenly monitor their friends’ gendered behaviors as well as their own. Thus, gender segregated children activities, partly found in their play and normal life practices bring in the appe arance that there are male and female behaviors. Therefore, these children grow up knowing that there are varied behaviors, roles, and practices that they should do as a male or a female. There are a number of factors that influence a child’s gender development. The most outstanding of these factors is the environment where a child develops. Indeed, Barret found out that one's identification as a male or a female is not natural, but it results after a series of repeated performance of gender norms conforming to the above-identified sexes. identified sexes (2001, pp. 313). Thus, it is this performance that will reproduce and results into the traditional gender categories of males and females. Studies have found out that children develop gender identities as they search for their social cues (Lucal, 1999, pp. 513). In addition, Brown established similar findings in his studies. He established that, children will develop their

International politics, Movie Analysis Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

International politics, Analysis - Movie Review Example They should have known that for monistic states, the international law that protects humanity is directly translated and incorporated into the national law and should be applicable (Bradley 1). Moreover, the truth is that the judges should have known better and understood international law since they were already educated adults by the time Hitler was rising into power (Bradley 1). These judges during the Hitler’s regime were bounded by the love for their country. This is shown in the movie when Hitler announced that all Jews would be destroyed, they as judges who knew the law also stood down (Bradley 1). The truth of the fact is that the outcome of this military tribunal was very important. It was a test case to show that national and international law against humanity is powerful and applicable to anyone. It will send a strong message to all government officials whose work is to enforce the law to do so with international law appealing before making final verdict against the accused (Bradley 1). There was need to value for human life as a judge (Bradley 1). According to the movie, the judges had sentenced 99 people to life imprisonment and there was not a single one who was serving the trial. This calls for the pardon granted to them by the military tribunal that had been formed to explore the crimes committed against humanity during the Hitler regime. The military tribunal was specifically formed to try top war criminals, political and military leaders of the third Reich (Bradley 1). The tribunal operated under the Control Council Law No.10 at the US Nuremberg Military tribunals (Bradley 1). In summary at the end of the movie, judge Janning confessed after being found guilty that as Judges of the time they had no idea that mass execution would erupt as a result of their ruling (Bradley 1). He also confessed to have realized for the

Argumentation in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay Example for Free

Argumentation in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay At the beginning of the story, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck is constantly under the influence of a mother figure. That mother figure makes him feel guilty when he does something wrong, rewards him when he does something right, and also serves as a kind of protector of him. Although Huck does not realize it, he is always being looked after by something or other. At one point it’s the widow, and throughout most of the story it’s the river. In the story, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the river becomes a provider of food, transportation, and refuge, metaphorically taking over the role as his mother when he runs away with Jim. At the beginning of the story, the Widow takes Huck under her wing and tries to teach him right from wrong. She makes him wear nice clothes, go to school, and say his daily prayers. Throughout his stay with the widow, Huck does not respond to the widow’s ways of teaching very well. When the widow asks Huck to do something, he does it, however, begrudgingly. She tries to teach Huck to become a gentleman and treats him as if he were her own son. When Tom Sawyer comes back into the picture, the widow takes on the motherly role of disapproval. She does not like the way Tom acts and makes believe all the time. This is why, rather than asking to see Tom, Huck usually snuck out when she did not know. The widow can not act as Huck’s mother for long though, because Huck is kidnapped by his father and fakes his own death to get away from everybody. After Huck’s â€Å"death,† he escapes to the river where he hides out on an island while his friends and family are searching for his body. During this time the river, without Huck realizing it, kind of takes over the role of mother. It provides protection from the elements when rain hits. It also hides Huck as the steamboat sails past with all his friends and family on board. Huck does not want the people to see him, or they will know he was just faking and will take him back to the life he is not fond of. Knowing this, Huck hides in the bushes and trees that grow along the river. When a mother knows that its child is in danger, she will hide it from the world so that it won’t get hurt. The river shows this motherly trait to Huck. The first thing a mother does for its child when it is a newborn, is to feed it. While Huck is a runaway, he needs food for survival. The river, in a way, provides this when Huck finds a loaf of bread floating down the river. Also later on in the story, Huck and Jim happen upon a house boat where they find many different types of fruit among other things.

Hewlett Packard: Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM)

Hewlett Packard: Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) Consider an organization you are familiar with and with reference to associated theory and practice critically asses the approach that is taken to strategic HRM. Evaluate the extent to which the approach has contributed to the organizational effectiveness. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (ABSTRACT) The report focuses on critically evaluating how Hewlett Packard has been using the variables of Human resource management such as training and development, performance management in order to bring all the employees from a diverse cultural background, with different personality traits to work efficiently and effectively towards achievement of the organisational objectives HP, a giant in IT industry catering to the hardware as well as software needs of the individual customers and businesses, was started in the year 1939 by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard and currently employs over 300,000 people The report delineates how HP has been supporting equal opportunities for people from different ethnic backgrounds by recruiting people without any bias towards any particular ethnic group. The report also states the role of performance management within HP i.e. activities which ensure that the organizational goals are met on time and with minimizing resource usage. The report even talks about the resource facilities and working environment provided to the employees, i.e. employee relations at HP. Further the role of training and development in polishing the skills of the individual employees and making them become a part of the HP team is stated along with how the employees are trained to inculcate the necessary skills required for the job. TERMS OF REFERENCE/ STATEMENT OF PURPOSE The following assignment is compiled so as to become familiar with the main theories in the field of strategic human resource management. During preparation it intended to gain knowledge of the evolving role of strategic human resource management in the current world scenario, performance appraisal and its function in performance management system, administration and formulation of compensation and benefit programs, significance of development of human resource (development and training) at every level for employees and opportunity for management provided by employee diversity. The study undertaken requires expertise in research of the subject but due to limitations of the words for the assignment covering all the HR policies is next to impossible; my objectives were to study the key processes and policies for which the company provides vital information. INTRODUCTION Storey (1989) defined HRM as Set of interrelated policies with an ideological and philosophical underpinning. Storey (1995) defines HRM as a distinctive approach to employment management which seeks to achieve competitive advantage through the strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce, using an array of cultural, structural and personnel techniques. HP was started in 1939 by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. In 2010, fortune 500 ranking hp was placed at number 10. Its headquarters are located in Palo Alto California. HP has 304,000 employees. The company makes use of participative decision making management system in their company giving them an edge in the industry (HP website). The results of this investment can be seen in the two awards received by HP from the American society for Training and Development for inventiveness of its leadership development programs. Furthermore, Hay group recognized HP as one of the best company in the world for leadership development. (reference) To emerge as a complete technology company which offers an inclusive set of solutions all through the value chain, HP is practicing an inorganic strategy (Data monitor 2010). They cater to almost everyone ranging from individual customers, medium sized business and large corporations which include health, education and government sector. The company deals in a wide range of products, from portable devices to supercomputers, from computing to home printing. It has also sought a level of inorganic growth too, through its merger with Compaq in 2002 with an aim of providing excellent IT solutions. Consequently, HP today caters to over a billion customers in 170 countries (Data monitor 2010). CORE POLICIES AT HP DIVERSITY AT HP Smart organizations identify the need for swift action and are prepared and eager to disperse resources for management of diversity in the workplace. Workforce diversity can be defined as the differences between individuals in a company. Diversity includes gender, race age, education, background etc Diversity takes into account how individuals perceive others and how they perceive themselves. Their interactions are affected by these perceptions. Organizations diversity agenda is expected to increase in the future as we are moving into a more and more globalized setup. (reference) In The Future of Diversity and the Work Ahead of Us, Harris Sussman says, Diversity is about our relatedness, our connectedness, our interactions, where the lines cross. Diversity is many things a bridge between organizational life and the reality of peoples lives, building corporate capability, the framework for interrelationships between people, a learning exchange, a strategic lens on the world. The benefits of diversity include greater competitiveness through higher adaptability, poising it for success. Organizations embracing diversity are able to offer a wider variety of solutions to different issues. Services to customers are easily provided by organizations employing a diverse collection of experience and skills (e.g. culture, language etc), offering the wealth of varying points of view. A large number of experiences and ideas can be accumulated by employing a diverse workforce which comfortably communicates viewpoints. The organization can use these to form strategies and cater to customers effectively. Some of the challenges of workforce diversity are the organizations ability to successfully implement diversity agenda, which requires openness, transparent communication and sensitization of the existing staff. (reference) A diversity of age, culture, potential, ethnicity amongst the labor force encourages innovation and creativeness. It is believed at HP diversity is the solution to understand the principles and demographics of the consumers and is fundamental in drawing and holding on to the finest employees. (reference) HP supports diversity in the following ways: Hiring of different collection of people and crafting them as leaders. Constructing a comprehensive work atmosphere. Supporting employees in navigation of their work and private commitments while complying with the business requirements of HP. Policies A comprehensive work atmosphere is encouraged by HP diversity policies. Respect, courtesy and dignity is required by every employee while treating others. Discrimination founded on attributes such as age, race, ethnicity, sex or disability is not accepted under any circumstances. Employees are persuaded to speak up and it is possible for them all over the world to report harassment or bias through the 24 hour anonymous helpline. HP approach Efforts by HP include expansion of its labour force by hiring best in class varied talent and implanting diversity in all major diversity in all major development processes and supporting main growth programs for career development and professional escalation. Gender diversity is calculated and kept in check by HP globally and ethnic diversity in its united nations labour force. For details over the previous 5 years see table: Executive diversity Minorities comprised 17.3% in contrast with 12.9 % in 2008. In the year 2009 17% of HPs topmost executives in U.S. were women in contrast to 17.2% in 2008. HPs activities in the year 2009 were: Partnership with diversity associations: HP supplied grant and products for cause of cause of underrepresentation of minorities in business positions which is addressed by management leadership for tomorrow. Drawing a extensive range of human resource: 3000 women from extensive range of professions and businesses are brought together by the annual conference that is held in Boston. Employee resource groups: workers with familiar interests and backgrounds are brought together by HPs ERGs. Opportunities for internal development: celebrations of womens international day in India. For talented omen, a series of virtual leadership was conducted in EMEA. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS There is nothing new about the idea that company and employee performance should be improved by appraisals. Today managers are way more serious about the process- of training workers, rewarding and appraising them and forming goals. The whole incorporated process is called PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT. Performance management may be defined as a process that unites goal setting, performance appraisal and development into a single, common system whose aim is to ensure that the employees performance is supporting the companys strategic aims (dessler and varkkey 2010). Setting of standards, training of workers, feedback and appraisals related to performance and contribution to achievement of organizational goals is explicitly measured by performance management. Performance management therefore never just means meeting with a subordinate once or twice a year to review his/her performance it means setting goals that make sense in terms of the companys strategic aims. It means regular interaction to make sure there is continous growth in workers performance. It also takes into account and makes sure that the worker has the correct training to perform the job (hrm book pg 338). (reference) According to Goel 2008 manpower management is the most crucial job because managing people is the heart and essence of being a manager. Personnel management is concerned with any activity relating to the human element or relations in the organisation. Work life programs offered by HP Employees at HP have the benefit of various work life choices offered to them. HP offers: Flex time: altering the commencement and end of work, but working normal 8 hour a day. Part time: temporarily or continuously working for less hours, part time employees account about 2%. The requirements of aging workforce are met with the help of this program. Tele work: 28% of employee t HP work full time from home. Flex work: mainly working in hp offices but occasionally from home. Whilst improving employee productivity the cost of HPs real estate has been reduced with the help of these arrangements. Employee engagement Open, honest exchange of ideas and continuous communication is what HPs culture is based upon. This helps HPs workers understand their contribution to companys overall success and also gives the company chance to consider their input for various decisions. Recognition programs At HP employees are kept motivated and engaged by recognizing them for their contribution. Recognition @HP was conducted in 2009 to identify workers at HP for their qualities. Day to day non monetary recognition is stressed by the program. Retiree engagement HP has about 79000 retirees who are ambassadors of HP and the company keeps them connected and up to date. Retirees at HP connect through various social media. The retirees can also join HP alumni association which has worldwide members registered which account 17000 in numbers. The Employment Relationship A prerequisite for success in the organization is the maintenance of good employee relations. For high productivity and satisfaction, strong employee relations are needed. Employee relations are concerned with evading and resolving problems amongst individuals which occur due to the work situation. Safe and healthy work environment, incentives for motivation, useful communication and commitment of employees determines good employee relations. It is believed by many people that employee relations are about considering the larger picture and assisting the organization to take required action. (reference) HP considers its employees vital to its success. Innovation of products, management of supply chain and the connection with the customers and partners at HP is driven by the talent expertise and skills of the employees. According to HP its competitive advantage lies in retaining and hiring the finest people. For employees to grow, HP attempts to create a helpful and inspiring work environment. HPs policies are applicable globally and show companys commitment to just treatment of workers. (reference) HP complies with local laws but companys own policies demand much more: Best work environment: policy describes the principles of personal conduct that are expected by the workers to add to an optimistic, dynamic work experience. Open door policy: Portrays HPs promise to open communication and a place of work where everyone is heard. Human rights and labour policy: commends HP to just treatment of all workers. Management and compliance Upholding environmental health and safety is a key goal of HPs. Safety of products and services is the main aim and it is also made sure that the workers can perform without injury at the premises. HPs minimum obligation for EHS is legal compliance. The processes needed to abide by are made sure by HPs EHS management system. Any allegation is thoroughly investigated and proper action is taken to avoid any recurrence. All operations related to manufacturing at HP are certified to ISO 14001. EHS systems are introduced to recently acquired companies to make sure that EHS objectives carry on to be fulfilled as the company grows. (reference) Employee feedback The employees are asked for feedback by voice of the workforce conducted annually and also though pulse surveys on explicit issues. There were various surveys conducted during 2009 including: Onboard and monthly transition experience surveys. Enterprise business quarterly pulse survey. Hr manager communication survey EDS integration survey Voice of the workforce survey Around 90,000 workers in 2009 participated in voice of the workers survey. Privacy of the respondents is strictly protected and the survey was available over the internet in 25 languages. (reference) TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT at HP Training The process through which people acquire abilities to accomplish organizational objectives is known as training. It includes planned activities for specific learning to develop workers performance at work. (reference) Development According to Drucker (1977), the one contribution a manager is uniquely expected to make is to give others vision and ability to perform. A basic operation in the work of the manager is to develop people and to direct, motivate and train subordinates. Stern argues that staff training and development have become matters of vital strategic importance. Importance of training and development (reference) There are various reasons for an organization to conduct training and development programs. Some of them are: Helps to avoid managerial obsolescence Manage change due to acquisitions and mergers. Also helps in coping up with technological and diversity changes in the organization Higher employee morale and increase in job satisfaction. Elevated motivation among employees Financial gain through higher efficiency in process and innovation in products and strategies is increased. Developing leadership at HP Since HP recognizes excellence as a key driver of its business success, HP significantly invests in leadership development. Dedicated to this mission, global talent consists of 3 firmly integrated organizations. (reference) Employee relations at HP The evaluation of data and insights to spot high potential leaders in the company and underlining of areas where additional learning resources may be needed are provided by the dedicated talent management team at HP. Designing of HPs major corporate wide leadership is crafted by executive and leadership organization. Learning by doing is emphasized by almost all of HPs leadership development programs. E.g.: Projects providing major business impact are frequently powered by HP. Learning experiences offered by these projects are not like the classroom experience. HPs leadership programs are offered training and development support by more than 500 executives in a classic year. To get used to dynamic business conditions the curriculum of leadership is frequently revised. Leadership programs at HP are divided into 3 categories: Choosing those at a particular level or creating career transitions through foundational programs is emphasized. Leadership standards of HP and definition of expectations by HP leaders is carried out by skill based programs at HP. For employees with elevated potential for development there ate select talent development programs. With leadership development central portal, HP offers leadership knowledge. This is offered by podcasts, internet courses and quick tips. Green advocates training program Participation in this program is encouraged by HP in Canada. This program provides knowledge and allows workers to develop into ambassadors of HPs environment projects. (reference) Eco solutions advocate program Through this program HP teaches its workers about environmental issues and companys dedication to sustainability of the environment. It also offers workers the resources they require to communicate with consumers about HPs solutions. (reference) People Development HPs approach is based on interior and exterior benchmarking, HP uses an incorporated development framework for its employees. The structure employs range of tools to help workers plan the next step in their career. HPs developmental plans are divided in a 70/20/10 breakup. 70% of the plans are of the main concern. They include job rotations, special reports and cross functional team experiences. With hands on experience the workers are encouraged to develop their capabilities. Focus of about 20% of the programs is relationship based education. This is done through coaching and mentoring. Rest of the 10% of HPs programs are provided through formal learning, interactive online resources etc. (reference) HPs learning programs take the benefit of technology. About 83% of HPs training lessons are conveyed through video conference or the web. Wherever there is a geographic focus of members HP uses face to face training. It has been acknowledged by hp that technology- based training provides major benefits: wider reach and saving huge amounts of money on travel whilst reducing related greenhouse gas release. It also allows employee access at the correct times and place, and also improves knowledge and retention. Training at HP is complimented as employees are also encouraged in following external educational prospects. (reference) Summary The human element of business and partners with every business is driven by human resource at HP to make sure that employee planning strategy is associated to convey the business objectives. The leadership team at HP works together with groups of business to make sure the company has the correct people, with accurate skills, in the correct job etc. The company is escalating its ability to develop by explaining strategic employee plans, support of acquisitions and mergers, providing cost efficient infrastructure in growing markets. To stay in front of the competitive pressure, HP optimizes every element of its operating strategy- to increase revenue, be efficient, making smart investments. Even though the recent financial downturn of 2008 has had sever impacts in the IT industry, HPs earnings per share has risen continuously from 2008 till 2010 Good business results are indicative of great human resource which has driven performance On account of increasing globalisation, HP considers diversity as a major driver of innovation, invention and creativity. A diverse workforce differentiates the company and it is also vital for the company to relate and serve customers worldwide. At HP it is believed that people are motivated to do their best with a culture that respects differences. The company crafts an attitude in its employees, allowing them to think intentionally about diversity and its insertion in the companys activities. It does so by knitting diversity into the fabric of the company. As a MNC, HP has had to prioritize this so that they are more efficient across different markets, understand local needs. As far as performance management is concerned HP has a goal directed approach and has formulated a process to evaluate the manpower resource and their enhancement in terms of careers and work life balance is commendable. HP has a relationship oriented view to managing performance rather than a hierarchical top down approach. This approach has proved to be very concrete in terms of setting targets/achieving outcomes. The most striking feature of HP is its emphasis on leadership development. It is held as a company that has some of the best leaders in the business which is only because they invest time, effort and resources into making this possible. As the company becomes more global, it is important that they keep this emphasis. To broaden its reach to its employees all over the world, it provides training through video based sessions, which also ends up having a positive cost saving and reducing environmental impact by eliminating the need to travel (hence reducing greenhouse gases). Therefore it seems that training and development at HP pays attention upon interrelation of the companys goals and objectives with that of workers. HP maintains employee relations wherever it has its operations without showing any disparity or bias with respect to ethnicity or cultural background in true terms it is a global company. The company monitors compliance with its policies principally through employee engagement surveys. This enquires questions on prejudice and diversity. It also assesses employees understanding of companys approach to these issues. HP does not tolerate discrimination. It deals with this issue through stout polices that are accessible to all employees. HP has worked towards ensuring excellent work-life balance through various options provided to its employees. These programs have helped in improving employee productivity and therefore higher efficiency towards achieving organisational goals With regard to workplace safety since HP is an IT company therefore is requirement to work in potentially dangerous settings (assembling products, hardware etc), hence HP has been committed to fostering the best health and safety norms and always keeping themselves up to date with changes in health safety standards. Since the employees are assured of their safety the employees productivity to work has gone up leading to higher and more efficient production. RECOMMENDATIONS At HP the same performance appraisal standard is used overseas which they use in their headquarters. The external aspects that may affect performance in the international scenario were not considered while designing the performance appraisal criteria and has hence led to a number of problems. Therefore HP needs to formulate a new standard for evaluation according to the situation. To prepare workers to work on an international platform HP can provide linguistic training. This training requires not only learning of the language of the country in perspective, but it also requires learning of how customers think and react. Inclusion of higher level of responsibilities by expanding the job and access to important meetings should be facilitated to improve employee relations. Furthermore HP can assign employees to lead teams and projects and increase time spending between the employee and the boss. Focusing on service training can help workers expand knowledge of managing customers. Disagreement and conflicts can be prevented through transparent appraisals systems. Educating employees and improved training for rating Performance in the subsidiaries of the company is affected at times due to insufficient training and education of various related factors like interaction, culture, business and social information. By alerting managers about errors in judgment, it can be made possible to spot them before hand and prevent them. Clear cut performance in dimensions will help in reducing errors related to rating. Confusion and uncertainty circling the process can be avoided if the companys purpose for appraisals is clearly stated. CONCLUSION HP is committed to developing a high performance culture where the employees can grow. To enhance its value proposition for its employees, HP has been formulating plans to support development of people with a lot of firmness and discipline. Talent management was driven deeper into the company and creation of strategic employee planning was done by a total redesign of companys leadership programs. HP has effectively and efficiently: Excelled in transformation of business and planning of workforce. Motivated people and developed leadership. Maximized employee engagement and built a high performance culture. Promoted areas such as development of career, performance management, development of management of leadership. In both theory and practice HP has some of the best human resource management policies. The company has won awards for its diverse and innovative human resource systems. It is assessed that even though HP followed some of the best human resource policies, the recession had a major impact on the organizations employees. Dissatisfaction was caused among the employees due to the layoff and caused fear among employees for the loss of their job. It is therefore implicit that even some of the best human resource policies may not turn out to be satisfactory. It is hence implied that even though the organization includes some of the finest human resource practices the psychological aspect of humans are still erratic to rejection and acceptance hence making human resource practices should be made subjective to change. BIBLIOGRAPHY http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/empreltns/general/emprelsovr.htm http://www.managementstudyguide.com/employee-relations.htm http://www.cipd.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/B39AFC72-25BD-4C10-B1BA-3564CAC3BBB3/0/whatemprels1105.pdf http://www.diversityworking.com/employerZone/diversityManagement/?id=9 http://www.zeromillion.com/econ/workplace-diversity.html http://www.blurtit.com/q804656.html http://managementhelp.org/trng_dev/basics/reasons.htm http://www.allbusiness.com/human-resources/employee-development/339712-1.html

Hitler :: essays research papers

Today, April 20 is my birthday. I was born in 1889. My Father was the ‘illegitimate’ son of Maria Anna Schicklgruber. I was born at Braunau am Inn. My name is Adolph Hitler. I hate ‘Jews’ for they don’t deserve to live. They are like a deadly, filthy plague. It is best that they are exterminated. â€Å"If twelve or fifteen thousand of these Jews who are corrupting the nation had been forced to submit to poison-gas, just as hundreds of thousands of our best German workers are to facing it in the field, then the millions of sacrifices made at the border would not have been in vain.† The death of our beloved is the fault of these unlikable few. I entered the German army as a volunteer in 1914. After 19 years of Service, in 1933: President Hindenburg entrusted Chancellor ship of Germany to me. Oh, what great joy took control of me. I was on ‘cloud nine’. March 23, 1933: I become dictator. And what better way to start a new month on April 1, 1933: I proclaimed a national boycott of Jewish shops! They little rats went ballistic! Thought they could dare stand up to me! Look me into the eyes and dare raise their voice. Well, I showed them. April 8, 1933: Four Jews were shot dead at Dauchau. But that’s just the beginning, the game has just begun! April 22, 1933: Jewish merchant, Salomon Rosenstrauch, shot dead in Wiesbaden. Just wait, soon the Headlines will be covered with news like this. May 10, 1933: Nazis assaults Social Democratic party, taking over all offices, funds and newspapers. Oh yes, I forgot to mention, April 26, 1933: The State Secret Police is taken over by the Nazis! Beat that Democrats! May 15, 1933: Dr. Alfred Strauss, a Jewish lawyer, killed in Dachau. May 25, 1933: Louis Schloss, a Jewish lawyer killed in Dachau. May 27, 1933: Karl Lehburger, a Jewish businessman, killed in Dachau. See! What did I Tell you? The headlines are covered with reports of Jewish murders. But it is far from over. You know what? Those democrats are really beginning to bug me I am going to have to do something about them. June 22, 1933: The Social Democratic party is officially banned! I told you didn’t I? I got rid of them like I said I would. I’m the best, I’m the best. July 1, 1934: Jewish population at Dachua almost zero!! July 15, 1934: Court finds out that the murdered Jews actually "committed suicide".

College :: essays papers

College I am studying at the college of Staten Island for an undergraduate computer science degree. Combined with my microcomputer applications diploma from St. Catherine's Business College in Ontario, this will qualify me for work in the business world. I am skilled in computer applications, programming, hardware configuring, connection, repair, and training non-computer personnel. I graduated from St. Catherine's in 1996, but did not seek work. Instead, I got married, settled with my husband in New York, and began to extend my education. I came to CSI hoping to learn more sophisticated programming and hardware design in order to expand my knowledge of commercial software application that I learned in Business College. I feel that with this knowledge, I would be better prepared to obtain the type of employment I would be seeking in the future. After graduation, I want to find employment at a small, dynamic company that is just setting up its computer system, or redesigning or reconfiguring its system. At a large company, I believe, I would find myself part of a large computer staff, doing the same few things over and over. On the business scale, in a large company, one works on the computer aspects of a small corner of that company, and it is hard to get a sense of the business purposes of one's work. I may be quite unhappy in a small corner of a large company, sitting in front of a screen all day entering codes and setting up scripts, and interacting with very few people. I would probably not stay in such a job very long. At a small company, on the other hand, one ends up doing a little bit of everything. One learns not only about the computer aspects of the company, but even about its business operations. Insofar as I would someday like to go into computer consulting, or even some sort of entrepreneurship of my own, such small business experience is much more valuable, I believe. It would be especially nice if it was a small company that was using computers in a creative way. A small graphics design, advertising, or architectural firm would have fascinating, cutting edge uses of computers in visual design. For example, an architectural firm would use computers to design buildings, colleges and houses. An advertising agency would use this technology to design their newspaper advertisements and television commercials. The ideal thing for me in such a company would be to start out as an assistant to the person in charge of all the information technology, and eventually,

Captain John Smith Is Successful Than John Rolfe :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Captain John smith was more important to the success of Virginia by 1630 then John Rolfe.. Like many famous heroes, John Smith was feisty, abrasive, self-promoting, and ambitious. He was an experienced soldier and adventurer, the man who boldly went out and got things done. If not for him, the colony may have failed at the start.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John Rolfe is best successful for having introduced tobacco as a commercial crop to Virginia colonists. The production of this valuable commodity shaped the future development of the colony and provided an economic incentive for future expansion and settlement of the New World. Rolfe is best remembered of his marriage to Pocahontas. This marriage brought a much-need period of peace between the Indian and the colonists until Powhatan’s death. But John Smith was more successful then John Rolfe because of the myths he himself created. Smith promoted the Virginia company’s interests in the New World and he provided the leadership necessary to save the colonists during the early years of the settlement. Although many of his narratives seem boastful and swashbuckling, his accounts were intended to lure adventurous new settlers to Virginia.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When the colonist suffered harsh winter, lack of fresh water, and the spread of disease made in Jamestown difficult for the settlers. Attacks by the native Indians, hoping that the settlers would give up and leave, raided their camps, stealing pistols, gunpowder, and other necessary supplies. Captain John Smith stepped forward as the leader of the colony when it became apparent that the council of seven was ineffective. He led expeditions into the interior and traded with the Indians for corn. In 1607, Smith and several other colonists left the fort to explore the local area. Unfortunately they ran into an Indian hunting party and were promptly captured by the Indians. Smith was treated kindly and a great feast was prepared in his honor. When Smith was not well received in Jamestown, Captain Christopher Newport and Gabriel Archer had assumed leadership during Smith’s absence and the colonists still suffered from a lack of food and proper shelter. Smith soon escaped from the tension of the fort and proceeded to explore the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers and the Chesapeake Bay during the summer of 1608. His explorations of Virginia were later complied in his Map of Virginia.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Due to bed government, Smith was eventually elected president of the local council in September 1608.

Leadership and Performance

CHAPTER ONE (1) INTRODUCTION 1. 1Background of the Study Globally, educating a nation remains the most vital strategy for the development of the society throughout the developing world (Aikaman & Unterhalter, 2005). Many studies on human capital development concur that it is the human resources of a nation and not its capital or natural resources that ultimately determine the pace of its economic and social development. Since education is an investment, there is a significant positive correlation between education and economic-social productivity.When people are educated, their standards of living are likely to improve, since they are empowered to access productive ventures, which will ultimately lead to an improvement in their livelihoods. The role of education therefore, is not just to impart knowledge and skills that enable the beneficiaries to function as economies and social change agents in society, but also to impart values, ideas, attitudes and aspirations important for natur al development.In spite of the government initiatives in improving access, equity and quality of education, the secondary sub-sector continues to face challenges, particularly the low participation rates, low transition rates from primary to secondary and from secondary to tertiary (particularly to universities), as well as gender and regional disparities. From the researches that have been conducted on the impact of the government efforts to improve access equity and quality on performance indicate that most public schools have a lot of wastage, very poor performance in national examinations and poor learner preparation to face the world after school.It has become alarming since the number of secondary school graduates from public day and boarding schools exit without entry grade to university is increasing day by day. This has increased crime rate, drug and substance abuse, immorality and cases of HIV and AIDS on the increase. It is, on this backdrop that the research endeavors to establish reasons why even when the Government has done so much to increase access, equity and quality to education still good performance remains for a few secondary chools (without the district) and many Kenyan children are still coming out of school with poor grades that can not help them move to the next level or get meaningful training. How can the problem be remedied and which adjustments need to be made. To this end, this proposed research will analyze the effect of management or leadership styles of the principal on the teachers and students performance. The theoretical framework adopted for this study is derived from the systems theory of organizations, which emerged as part of an intellectual ferment following the World War II, although its roots are much are much older.Its founder, Ludwig von Bertalanffy, was concerned about growing compartmentalization of knowledge and argued that certain general ideas could have relevance across broad spectrum of disciplines: that desp ite obvious differences among the many kinds of organizations, they share very general characteristics and that is important to discover what they are(Hong et al. , 2004). The systems theory cuts across all the four paradigms of management thoughts, for every organization that produces output in a system of some of sort (Katz & Kahn, 1966).And an organization, including a school, regardless of its size and purpose, and the management perspective adopted not withstanding, basically concerned with relationships, structures and interdependence rather than just constant attributes (Katz & Kahn, 1966). This study will be modeled on the postulates of systems theory because schools, like other organizations, are always in constant exchange with the larger society. Rosemary as cited in BPP (1999) defines management as ‘‘the art of getting things done through others’’ (p. 6). Fabunmi (2001), however, defines management ‘‘as the coordination of all the re sources of an organization through the process of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling in order to attain organizational objectives’’ (p. 12). Resser (1973), on the other hand asserts that management is the utilization of physical and human resources through cooperative efforts, which is accomplished by performing the functions of planning, organizing, coordinating, directing and controlling.By management styles, I refer to, new leadership and management approaches in order to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. Improved efficiency is achieved through management reforms; raising the learner teacher ratio, increasing teachers’ time on task, reducing repetition and improving accountability (Nsubuga, 2003). Leadership at work in education institutions thus needs to be a dynamic process where an individual is not only responsible for the group’s tasks, but also actively seeks the collaboration and commitment of all the group members in achieving group goals in a particular context (Cole, 2002).Leadership in that context pursues effective performance in schools, because it does not only examine tasks to be accomplished and who executes them, but also seeks to include greater reinforcement characteristics like recognition, conditions of service and morale building, coercion and remuneration (Balunywa, 2000). It is this scenario that the researcher needs to establish whether it is practiced in Nyamira North District and if it is, what is its impact on the teacher and student performance This is also described by Sashkin and Sashkin (2003) as visionary leadership.However, according to them, the concept of leadership that matters is not being limited to those at the top of the organization such as the chief executive officer or principal/head teacher, but depends on certain characteristics of the leader. It involves much more than the leader’s personality in which leadership is seen as more of mutating followers to achie ve goals (Shashkin, 2003:2). This is supported by Lav Tzu (as reported in Shashkin, 2003:7) that good leadership commits to doing less and being more.However, Cole (2002) defines leadership as inspiring people to perform. Even if an institution has all the financial resources to excel, it may fail dismally if the leadership does not motivate others to accomplish their tasks effectively. It is therefore this consideration that has made it necessary to determine the impact of the management or leadership styles on the teacher and learner performance in secondary schools in Nyamira North District of Nyamira County. . 2STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Although it is the Kenyan government’s policy to ensure the delivery of quality education in secondary schools in Kenya, performance, particularly in Nyamira North District has remained poor, despite the various interventions by policy makers and implementers. Such a situation is alarming, bearing in mind that secondary education play a piv otal role in the development of any country.Equally important, are the overarching policies of Kenya’s education, which strongly emphasize the importance of science education in attainment of vision 2030. Scholars, policy makers and school managers have resolved to address the poor academic performance in secondary schools in Nyamira North District by conducting research on its would be antecedents such as a lack of instructional materials, ensuring quality teachers, admitting good students, remuneration and the motivation of teachers, improving discipline and community participation in schools.Nevertheless, all the above studied and recommendations implemented there is still poor academic performance in our public secondary schools which makes it necessary to make a study on the management or leadership styles adopted and the impact of them on teachers and students performance. Hence this study is intended to investigate the relationship of head teachers’ leadership o r management style and the performance of secondary schools in Nyamira North District.It is deemed that an investigation in this area would shed light on the factors affecting performance and in particular the effect of leadership /management styles on school performance. 1. 3The purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to establish to what extent the leadership/management styles adopted by principals have influence on the teacher and school’s performance Nyamira North District, using cross – sectional survey design with the aim of examining how leadership styles adopted by school principals influence the schools overall performance in secondary schools in Nyamira North District.Leadership styles will be characterized by behavioural tendencies, and characteristic methods of a person in a leadership position. An important dimension of leadership style is the extent to which the leader is willing to delegate responsibility and encourage input from followers. Ano ther basic dimension is the extent to which a leader is task-motivated (concerned with defining goals and the means to achieve them) or relationship-motivated (concerned with supporting and encouraging subordinates).A distinction can also be drawn between the charismatic leader, who relies on his or her personal qualities to inspire followers, and the bureaucratic leader, who depends on his or her position in the hierarchy and an established set of rules and procedures. In particular the study will determine and describe the effects of the various leadership styles (the authoritarian or autocratic leader, democratic leader, transformational leader, situational or contingency and laissez-faire leader) adopted by principals on teachers and student performance. 1. 4Specific objectivesThe study will be guided by the following specific objectives: a)To establish the relationship between the demographic characteristics of principals and teachers and school performance. b)To establish whet her performance in Nyamira North District secondary schools is dependent on the management or leadership styles c)To establish whether performance in secondary schools in Nyamira North District is dependent on the autocratic leadership style, democratic leadership style, transformational leadership style, situational or contingency leadership style of school head teachers. )To elicit the viewpoints of head teachers, teachers and students on the preferred leadership styles. e)To make recommendations for the improvement of schools on the basis of an analysis of leadership styles. 1. 5Research Questions/Hypotheses The guiding questions will be: 1. What is the relationship between the demographic characteristics of principals and teachers and school performance? 2. What is the relationship between management styles of principals and staff performance?A case study of secondary schools in Nyamira North District (Nyamira County). 3. Is the performance in secondary schools in Nyamira North District dependent on the autocratic leadership style, democratic leadership style, transformational leadership style, situational or contingency leadership style of school principals? 4. What are the viewpoints of principals, teachers and students on the preferred leadership styles? 5. What recommendations can be made for the improvement of schools on the basis of an analysis of leadership styles?Hypotheses 1. The demographic characteristics of principals influence teachers’ and student academic performance 2. There is positive relationship between management styles of principals and staff, and student academic performance. 1. 6Significance of the study While some may still ascribe to the old adage that ‘leaders are born, not made’, there remains a societal responsibility to provide school leaders with the skills and practices needed to orchestrate schools in a way that can maximize sustained achievement for all students.The continued research on behaviors and p ractices of leaders (Fullan, 1985; Murphy & Hallinger, 1992) remains important in the light of the changing role of the principal. The findings from the study would help to augment and enrich theories and principles on school leadership. It would also have a direct impact on the future training of school leaders and teacher leaders. Data generated from this study could serve as a practical framework for the Ministry of Education, or other training agents and higher institutions, to plan, organize and provide leadership-training program for school leaders and prospective leaders.The study could also be important for school leaders as the findings can help them take heed of their leadership behavior and become more sensitive to the process and importance of human interaction. The findings from this study may offer more insights and serve as a critical friend in academia, encouraging principals to reflect, break out of their traditional practices, raising consciousness, and questioning deeply entrenched assumptions. Hopefully, all principals would ultimately fulfill their leadership dream, and lead the schools in the direction as Bath (in Fullan, 1997) puts it, ‘you can lead where you will go. 1. 7Limitations and Delimitations of the Study This study will be concerned with effects of leadership or management styles on teacher and learners performance. It will be conducted in Nyamira North District (Nyamira County) between September 2011 and December 2011 using cross – sectional sample survey design and a sample of 25 secondary schools will be selected from 43 secondary schools in the district. Data will be collected by the researcher using questionnaires, interviews and document analysis techniques. The following are limitations of the proposed study. The study will include public secondary schools in Nyamira North District. Therefore, the results of this study may not be generalized to private schools. †¢It will not be possible to cover the opi nions of parents and other stake holders in this district because tracing them will require considerable time, resources and other logistics Though only public secondary schools in Nyamira North District will be included in the study, nevertheless, Nyamira North is typical of many districts with regard to recent emphasis on school reform and school improvement projects.Therefore, the results of this study may apply to other, similar district of the county and Kenya at large. 1. 8Theoretical and conceptual frameworks The theoretical framework adopted for this study is derived from the systems theory of organizations developed by Ludwig Von Bertalanffy in the early 1950s. It emerged as part of an intellectual ferment following the World War II, although its roots are much are much older. The systems theory has had a significant effect on management science and understanding organizations.A system is a collection of part unified to accomplish an overall goal. If one part of the system is removed, the nature of the system is changed as well. A system can be looked at as having inputs (e. g. , resources such as raw materials, money, technologies, and people), processes (e. g. , planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling), outputs (products or services) and outcomes (e. g. , enhanced quality of life or productivity for customers/clients, productivity). Systems share feedback among each of these four aspects of the system.The systems theory is an alternative to the classical and neo – classical organizations theories which the researcher felt cannot suffice because of their emphasis on schools as fragmented and closed social units independent of external forces (Baker 1973). The only meaningful way to study an organization (school) is to regard it as a system. Thus schools should be managed more like organizations where educational programmes are innovated and re – innovated to realize the importance each part makes to the whole, and the necessit y of eliminating the parts that make negative contributions.With the development of the various educational disciplines and departments, considerable overlap is inevitable among the different fields. The proliferation of specialization, as in many branches of education, also leads to further overlapping. Because of these interactions, schools are better studied as wholes rather than parts (Baker, 1973). Systems theory postulates that schools are like other on systems which of necessity engage in various modes of exchamge with the environment (Katz & Kahn, 1966).The theory emphasizes the consideration of the relationships between the school and its environment as well as what goes on within the school (Hall, 1977). The systems theory is basically concerned with the problems of relationships, of structures and of interdependence, rather with the constant attributes of objects (Katz & Kahn, 1966). The fundamental concept in the general systems theory is the notion of emergence and inte raction. As adapted in this study the systems theory holds that management actions influence the internal efficiency of a school.That staffing and control of students’ admissions coordination of teaching and learning resources, school fees budgeting and leadership styles adopted in school influence the drop outs and repetition rates, and promotion rates and general climate in a school. In the application of the systems theory to this study on the effect of management/ leadership styles on teacher and student performance the variables will be identified as follows: 1. Management is the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in groups, efficiently accomplish selected aims (Koontz and Weihrich 1990, p. ). This basic definition means several things. First, as principals, carry out the managerial functions of planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling. Secondly, managing is concerned with productivity – this implies effectiveness and efficiency. Effectiveness and efficiency is the ability of the school to keep or reduce, to as low as possible, the dropout and repetition rates, increase completion and promotion rates and to produce high outcomes that is good academic performance and no wastage.It also ensures that students complete an educational cycle in the possible minimum time. 2. Thus, management refers to the development of bureaucracy that derives its importance from the need for strategic planning, co-ordination, directing and controlling of large and complex decision-making process. Essentially, therefore, management entails the acquisition of managerial competence, and effectiveness in the following key areas: problem solving, administration, human resource management, and school leadership.First and foremost, management is about solving problems that keep emerging all the time in the course of an organization (school) struggling to achieve its goals and objectives. Problem sol ving will be accompanied by problem identification, analysis and the implementation of remedies to managerial problems. Second, administration involves following laid down procedures (although procedures or rules should not be seen as ends in themselves) for the execution, control, communication, delegation and crisis management.Third, human resource management should be based on strategic integration of human resource, assessment of workers, and exchange of ideas between stakeholders, teachers and workers. Finally, school leadership should be developed along lines of interpersonal relationship, teamwork, self-motivation to perform, emotional strength and maturity to handle situations, personal integrity, and general management skills. However, in adopting the systems theory of organizations this study, the researcher is not ignorant of its shortcomings.The interrelationships among parts of a system have to be recognized and understood by ‘all’ people involved. This the ory also requires a shared vision so that ‘all’ people in the school have an idea of what they are trying to accomplish. It requires a cohesive effort from all participants, a task that is not easy to achieve especially where ‘all’ is involved. Conceptual frame work In the conceptual framework depicted in the figure above the management or leadership style is hypothesized to influence the teachers and student performance.Management or leadership style is defined as having managerial competence and effectiveness in the following key areas: problem solving, administration, human resource management, and school leadership that is being able to carry out the managerial functions of planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling and teacher and student performance as early syllabus coverage motivated staff reporting to work early and leaving work place late, no school drop outs, no repletion cases, there is increased completion rates and good academic results in national examinations.The frame work postulates that managerial competence and effectiveness in leadership will affect the rate of drop outs, repetition, completion rates and academic performance of students in a school. However, this relationship may be modified by age, faith of the staff, background as well as families from which the staff comes from. Chapter Two (2) Literature review 2. 0Introduction This chapter discusses the literature related to the effect of management/leadership style on teachers and student performance.It particularly focuses on the relationship between the demographic characteristics of principals and teachers and school performance, establish whether performance in Nyamira North District secondary schools is dependent on the management or leadership styles, establish whether performance in secondary schools in Nyamira North District is dependent on the autocratic leadership style, democratic leadership style, transformational leadership style a nd situational or contingency leadership style, elicit the viewpoints of head teachers, teachers and students on the preferred leadership styles and make recommendations for the improvement of schools on the basis of an analysis of leadership styles. These are considered the pillars of the study. In this chapter, the researcher reviews literature related to management/leadership styles and its effects on school performance. The review is conceptualized under the objectives and focuses mainly on autocratic leadership style, democratic leadership style and situational or contingency leadership style and their relationship with teachers and students performance. 2. 0 Transformational leadership Bush (2003) links three leadership models to his ‘collegial’ management model. The first of these is ‘transformational leadership’.This form of leadership assumes that the central focus of leadership ought to be the commitments and capacities of organizational members. Higher levels of personal commitment to organizational goals and greater capacities for accomplishing those goals are assumed to result in extra effort and greater productivity. (Leithwood et al. 1999: 9). Leithwood (1994) conceptualizes transformational leadership along eight dimensions: †¢ Building school vision †¢ Establishing school goals †¢ providing intellectual stimulation †¢ Offering individualized support †¢ Modeling best practices and important organizational values †¢ Demonstrating high performance expectations †¢ Creating a productive school culture †¢ Developing structures to foster participation in school decisions.Caldwell and Spinks (1992: 49–50) argue that transformational leadership is essential for autonomous schools: ‘Transformational leaders succeed in gaining the commitment of followers to such a degree that higher levels of accomplishment become virtually a moral imperative. In our view a powerful capacity f or transformational leadership is required for the successful transition to a system of self-managing schools. ’ Leithwood’s (1994) research suggests that there is some empirical support for the essentially normative transformational leadership model. He reports on seven quantitative studies and concludes that ‘transformational leadership practices, considered as a composite construct, had significant direct and indirect effects on progress with school-restructuring initiatives and teacher- perceived student outcomes’ (p. 506).The transformational model is comprehensive in that it provides a normative approach to school leadership, which focuses primarily on the process by which leaders seek to influence school outcomes rather than on the nature or direction of those outcomes. However, it may also be criticised as being a vehicle for control over teachers and more likely to be accepted by the leader than the led (Chirichello 1999). Allix (2000) goes furthe r and alleges that transformational leadership has the potential to become ‘despotic’ because of its strong, heroic and charismatic features. He believes that the leader’s power ought to raise ‘moral qualms’ and serious doubts about its appropriateness for democratic organisations. Transformational leadership is consistent with the collegial model in that it assumes that leaders and staff have shared values and common interests.When it works well, it has the potential to engage all stakeholders in the achievement of educational objectives. The aims of leaders and followers coalesce to such an extent that it may be realistic to assume a harmonious relationship and a genuine convergence leading to agreed decisions. When ‘transformation’ is a cloak for imposing leaders’ or governments’ values, then the process is political rather than collegial. 2. 2 The situational or contingency leadership style The situational theory stipul ates that leaders are the product of given situations. Thus, leadership is strongly affected by the situation from which the leader emerges and in which he operates. The contingency theory is a combination of the Trait Theory and Situational Theory.The theory implies that leadership is a process in which the ability of a leader to exercise influence depends upon the group task situation and the degree to which the leader’s personality fit the group (Sybil, 2000). 2. 3Autocratic leadership style The autocratic leadership style is also known as the authoritarian style of leadership. Power and decision-making reside in the autocratic leader. The autocratic leader directs group members on the way things should be done. The leader does not maintain clear channel of communication between him/her and the subordinates. He or she does not delegate authority nor permit subordinates to participate in policy-making (Smylie and Jack, 1990; Hoy and Miskel, 1992; Olaniyan, 1997). 2. 4Democr atic style of leadershipThe democratic style of leadership emphasizes group and leader participation in the making of policies. Decisions about organizational matters are arrived at after consultation and communication with various people in the organization. The leader attempts as much as possible to make each individual feel that he is an important member of the organization. Communication is multidirectional while ideas are exchanged between employees and the leader (Heenan and Bennis, 1999). In this style of leadership, a high degree of staff morale is always enhanced (Mba, 2004). Performance Performance is described in various ways. It is an act of accomplishing or executing a given task (Okunola, 1990).It can also be described as the ability to combine skillfully the right behaviour towards the achievement of organizational goals and objectives (Olaniyan, 1999). Teachers’ job performance is described as the duties performed by a teacher at a particular period in the sch ool system in achieving organizational goals (Obilade, 1999). It can also be described as the ability of teachers to combine relevant inputs for the enhancement of teaching and learning processes (Akinyemi, 1993; Okeniyi, 1995). However, Peretemode (1996) argued that job performance is determined by the worker’s level of participation in the day to day running of the organization. It is noted that employees behave differently under different situations. 2. Summary It is underpinned by the view that leaders should have an entitlement to appropriate preparation and support for their important and onerous role in leading educational change. To appoint school principals without specific preparation is a gamble, and we should not gamble with children’s education. The literature review tends to give reasons for the enhanced global interest in the role of school leaders. It assesses the differences among the various leadership/management styles, and argues that all are essent ial if schools and colleges are to thrive. It also emphasizes the evidence that effective leadership is critical to school improvement.While the importance of leadership/management style is increasingly recognized, much less is known about which leadership behaviours are most likely to promote successful schooling. The study will examine the various models of leadership and assess the evidence of their effectiveness. There is great interest in ‘instructional leadership’ because of the widespread view that the main function of schools is to promote student learning. Transformational leadership is widely advocated because of its potential to harness stakeholder support for the school’s (or leader’s) vision but there is some concern that this may be a vehicle for imposing leaders’, or governments’, priorities on teachers, pupils and communities. These and other models that have been highlighted above are subject to scrutiny in this study. 2. 6 C onclusionsPrincipals’ can therefore encourage effective performance of their teachers by identifying their needs and trying to satisfying or meeting them. Supporting this argument, Owoeye (1999) asserted that variables of job performance such as effective teaching, lesson note preparation, effective use of scheme of work, effective supervision, monitoring of students’ work and disciplinary ability are virtues which teachers should uphold effectively in the school system. In this regard, the teachers’ performance can be measured through annual report of his/her activities in terms of performance in teaching, lesson preparation, lesson presentation, mastery of subject matter, competence, teachers’ commitment to job and extra-curricula activities.Other areas of assessment include effective leadership, effective supervision, effective monitoring of students’ work, motivation, class control and disciplinary ability of the teachers. From the above resear ches done the effect of the leadership or management style adopted by principals in secondary schools has not been well researched on and as such not much is known whether it is the style the principals adopt that affects the performance standards or whether there are other issues in management in the secondary schools of Nyamira North District. There is a widespread belief that raising standards of leadership and management is the key to improving schools. Increasingly, this is linked to the need to prepare and develop leaders for their demanding roles.While this is the main focus of this study, a prior question is the nature of leadership/ management in schools. Which leadership behaviours are most likely to produce favourable school and learner outcomes? The study intends to examine the main models of school leadership and from the research consider the evidences on their relative effectiveness in promoting school improvement. 3. 0 Methodology This chapter presents a detailed des cription of the research methodology. Methodology refers to the detailed procedure to be followed to realize the research objectives. Methodology include a description of the research design, sampling techniques, instructions as well as data techniques.It describes in details what will be done and how it will be done. it comprises several sub-sections which are usually presented in the order given below. 3. 1 Research design This study will be conducted through correction research design. Correlation is a research design where the researcher determines whether or not and not to what extent an association exists between two or more paired and qualified variables. In this study the researcher will use semi structured interview method that places open – ended question constituting of various management and leadership styles assessment and the effect /impact it has on teacher and student performance.The survey will be done in terms of their leadership and management styles that t hey use in school and the effect it has on teacher and student performance by means of percentile ratio of every management and leadership style and rank those from highest to lowest from within survey questionnaire. Correlation will enable the researchers to provide vigorous and replicable procedure for understanding relationship and determination whether and to what degree a relationship exists between quantifiable variables. The locale of the study will be Nyamira North District in Nyamira County 3. 2 Population and Sampling 3. 2. 1 Target /Accessible PopulationThe target population will consist of all 38 principals 360 teachers and 9000 student in Nyamira North District in Nyamira County has 38 secondary schools and they have constantly performed dismally in the national examination for the last 20 years. It is therefore considered appropriate for providing a focal point for the study of effect of leadership and management styles on the teacher and student performance. 3. 2. 2 S ample The sample will consist of heterogeneous respondents selected from the target population. 25 schools will be selected and from each selected school three categories of the target group will be targeted. These categories will be selected as one principal, 4 teachers and 12 students.The size of the sample will be 425 respondents distributed as 25 principals, 100 teachers, and 300 students. This number 425 has been chosen using non-mathematical or convenience method determined at the discretion of the researcher, due to pressure of time that cannot allow for all the target population to be surveyed. 3. 2. 3 Sampling techniques This study will employ stratified sampling, random sampling, purposive sampling, and convenience sampling techniques. Stratified sampling technique will be used to select schools and the category of respondents to be included in the sample. Stratified sampling technique is a technique that identifies subgroups in the population and their proportions and sel ect from each subgroup to form the sample.It groups a population into separate homogenous subsets that share similar characteristics so as to ensure equitable representation of the population in the sample the sample. It aims at proportionate representation with a view of accounting for the difference in subgroup characteristics. The researcher is convinced that the target population is not uniform since mixed and single sex school and day and boarding schools do not necessary have similar characteristics, since even personnel in different departments within the same school environment may not always think similarly. As such the target accessible populations cannot be regarded as homogenous.Stratified sampling technique will therefore be used to ensure that the target population is divide into different homogenous strata and that each strata is represented in the sample in a proportion equivalent to this size in the accessible population. Simple random sampling will be used to selec t a representative sample without bias from the target population this will ensure that each school and its population has equal and independent chance of being included in the sample. Purposive sampling will be used by the researcher consciously to decide who to include in the sample in terms of getting focused information. This will also help to save time and money in cases where the target population may be widely spread. 3. 3 Data Collection 3. 3. 1 InstructionsThe study will use questionnaires, interviews, and document analysis as the main tools for collecting data. The selection of these tools have been guided by the nature of data to be collected, the time available as well as by the objectives of the study. The overall aim of this study is to establish the relationship between leadership and management styles on the teacher and student performance. The researcher is mainly concerned with views, opinions, perceptions, feelings and attitudes. Such information can best collecte d through the use of questionnaire and interview techniques (Bell, 1993; Touliatos &Compton, 1988) The researcher intends to use semi-structured instrument.This will enable the researcher to balance between the quality and quantity of data collection and provide more information. This delicate balance between the quality and quantity of information is useful for a fuller explanation of the phenomena under investigation. Questionnaire will be used since the study is concerned with variables that cannot be directly observed such as views, opinions perceptions and feelings of the respondents. Such information are best collected through questionnaire (Touliatos &Compton 1988) the sample size is also quite large (510) and given the time constraints, questionnaire is the ideal tool for collecting data.The target population is also largely literate and is unlikely to have difficulties responding to questionnaire items. 3. 3. 2 Research procedure Qualitative data will be collected from 425, respondents/interviewees/observant, from 9398 target population during the month of October 2011 using questionnaires, interviews, and document analysis. The data will be collected by the researcher himself because this will save time and lower the cost of collecting data. 3. 4 Quality Control The instrument will be piloted in the schools that will not be included in the study sample and modified to improve their validity and reliability coefficients to at least 0. 70. Items validity and reliability coefficients of at least 0. 0 are accepted as valid and reliable in research (Kathuri &Pals, 1993) Validity is the extent to which research results can be accurately interpreted and generalized to other populations. It is the extent to which research instruments measure what they are intended to measure (Oso &Onen, 2005). To establish validity the instrument will be given to two experts to evaluate the relevance of each item in the instruments objectives. The experts will rate each item on the Likert scale: very relevant (4) quite relevant (3) somewhat relevant (2) and not relevant (1). Validity will be determined using content validity index (C. V. I). C. V. I items rated 3or4 by both judges divided by the total number of items in the questionnaire. 3. 5 Data Analysis Chi-square ( test of goodness – of – fit will be used to analyze the data. Chi – square test is a statistical technique used to compare the different between categorical frequencies drawn from population with a uniform distribution which all alternative responses are equally likely chi-square( ) test of goodness – of – fit will be used because the data that the researcher intends to collect is of the type â€Å"one-variable-many levels† and are basically categorical frequencies of the description of views, opinions ,perceptions, feelings and attitudes of the respondents on the effects of management and leadership styles of principals on teacher and student p erformance.Chi-square is the most sustainable here since it will enable the researcher to identify whether there is any significant difference in the frequencies of the alternative responses. Data from open-added questionnaire items, interviews and group discussions will be grouped under broad themes and converted into frequency counts. All data will be analyzed at a level of significance of 95% or ? = 0. 05) the degrees of freedom depending on the particular case as will be determined. This value (? = 0. 05) has been chosen because the sample size has been adopted from figures calculated on the basis of 0. 95 level of confidence. 3. 6 Assumption and Limitations The following factors; leaner characteristics, and teacher qualifications are expected to influence the DV.The extraneous variable however many not be adequately controlled because the respondents are found in different institutions that are out of control of the researcher. But they will not have a significance effects on t he results because the respondents opinions, views perceptions, feelings attitudes will not be influenced by EV. It is therefore assured that they influence will remain very insignificance. The major limitations of this study are: the reliability and validity of the data collected due to the various views, opinions, feelings and attitudes that can emotionally be influenced. If all factors were kept constant, the researcher should adequately explain to the respondents to be very objective in answering.But this was the most suitable technique in the circumstances the data to be collected involves what can not easily be measured. 3. 7 Ethical Considerations. The major ethical problem in this study is the privacy and confidentiality of the respondents. Obtaining lists and files and respondents giving their opinion, feeling and attitudes in writing the questionnaire which itself is an infringement. However the respondents will have the freedom to ignore items that they do not wish to res pondent to. Reference and Biography: 1. Bell, J (1993) how to complete your research project successfully New Delhi: UBSPD. 2. Creswell, J. W (1994) Research Design Qualitative and Quantitative approaches . California: SAGE Publications, Inc. 3. Kathuri, N. J & Pals A.D (1993) introduction to educational research Egerton: Egerton university education Burk services. 4. Onen, D (2007). The management and the internal efficiency of private secondary school in Uganda. 5. Touliatos, J. S &Compton, N. H (1988). Research methods in human ecology /home economics. Iowa State University Press/AMES. 6. Willis Yuko Oso and David Onen a General Guide to Writing Research Proposal and Report (2nd edition 2008) Makerere University Printery 7. John Aluko Orodho,Phd. Elements of Education and Social Science Research methods. Kanejza Publishers, Maseno Kenya. 8. John Aluko Orodho,Phd. Techniques of Writing Research Proposal and Reports in Education and Social Sciences. Kanejza Publishers, Maseno Kenya