Understand & explain the Accounting Equation and its components Essay

Understand & explain the Accounting Equation and its components - Essay Example Understand & explain the Accounting Equation and its components Furthermore, it makes sure that financial statements reflect acrual basia of accounting. Adjusting entries are necessary because a single transaction may affect revenues or expenses in more than one accounting period and also because all transactions have not necessarily been documented during the period. The determination of an objective net income as well as the correct balances on the Balance Sheet. There are two types of adjusting entries the deferrals or the prepayments and the accruals. They are further categorized into four types of adjusting entries which includes accrued revenues, prepaid revenues, accrued expenses and prepaid expenses. Accrued revenues which are also referred to as accrued assets refers to revenues whichhave already been earned but have not been paid for and thus have not been posted in the general ledger. These are adjusted in the financial statements by debiting the asset accounts recievable and crediting the the relevant revenue account. An example of ac crued revenue may occur when an architecutral firm offers consultancy services of $ 1300 to a manufacturing enterprise but fails to bill its services untill next accounting period. An adjusting entry to record the income in the correct period would be done by Accounts Reciavable $ 1300 Consultancy Income $ 1300 Prepaid income refers to revenues or money recieved from clients before the services has been earned. The effect of this transaction is at first when the cash is received; cash account is debited and credited as unearned fees or customer deposits. When a Cleaning services company receives $ 1000 being payment for its services for 5 months in advance which includes two months of the next accounting period is an example of a prepaid income. The adjusting entry at the end of the accounting period would be Cleaning Income $ 600 Prepaid Income $ 600 Accrued expenses relates to expenses which have been incurred by a firm but have not been paid paid for. An illlustration of an accru ed expense usually occurs when company pays its rent expense for rent relating tothe previous month. Thus if the rent expense amounts to $ 12000 a month. While recording the last salary payment at the end of an accounting period the adjusting entry will appear as follows; Rent Expense $ 12000 Accrued Rent $ 12000 Prepaid expenses relates to the expenditures which have been paid for recorded as assets which are paid for in advance. An example of a prepaid expense may arise when a company prepays $ 2000 relating to advertising and promotion expense, which relates to the next accounting period. To make adjustment entry in the general ledger the journals will be as follows; Prepaid Advertisement and Promotion $ 1300 Advertisement and Promotion $ 1300 There are other adjusting entries which may bad debts, depreciation allowances and stock or inventory adjustments. One example of such adjustment may arise when a manufacturing company purchases a motor vehicle for $ 0.65 million which is a ssumed to depreciate by straight-line method for 5 years then at the end of the first accounting period to adjust the motor vehicle value to ensure there is no balance sheet overstatement will be done as follows; Depreciation Expense $130,000 Accumulated Depreciation – Motor Vehicle $ 130000 Finance officers to ensure that they record adjustment entries in a computerized accounting system usually conduct a comprehensive mothly examination- cut-off procedures- of trial balance. This is done to ensure that all incomes and

The Effects of Global Financial Crisis in Nigeria Essay Example for Free

The Effects of Global Financial Crisis in Nigeria Essay The global financial crisis began in the United States of America and the United Kingdom when the global credit market came to a standstill in July 2007 (Avgouleas, 2008). The crisis, brewing for a while, really started to show its effects in the middle of 2008. Around the world stock markets have fallen, large financial institutions have collapsed or been bought out, and governments in even the wealthiest nations have had to come up with rescue packages to bail out their financial systems. It is a well known fact that the world is now a global village. As a result of this, the global economic meltdown is having a side effect on Nigerians to an extent that people’s standard of living has been seriously affected. The side effects on Nigerians include high cost of commodities, upsurge in social vices and unemployment. As a way of managing the situation, the government should cut down on the salaries of public office holders and reduce excessive spending in order to utilize the little resources available to provide the needed infrastructural facilities that will make life meaningful to the people, and focus attention on important projects. The concept of financial crisis The term financial crisis is applied broadly to a variety of situations in which some financial institutions or assets suddenly lose a large part of their value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and many recessions coincided with these panics. Other situations that are often called financial crises include stock market crashes and the bursting of other financial bubbles, currency crises, and sovereign defaults (Kindleberger and Aliber, 2005, Laeven and Valencia, 2008). Causes of the Crisis The reasons for this crisis are varied and complex, but largely it can be attributed to a number of factors in both the housing and credit markets, which developed over an extended period of time. Some of these include: the inability of homeowner to make their mortgage payments, poor judgement by the borrower and/or lender, speculation and overbuilding during the boom period, risky mortgage products, high personal and corporate debt levels, financial innovation that distributed and concealed default risks, central bank policies, and regulation (Stiglitz,2008). Africa and the Global Financial Crisis The direct impact of the financial crisis on the African economies has thus far been limited as most commercial banks in the region refrained from investing in the troubled assets from the US and other part of the world. This is why most commentators argue that Africa is so far insulated from the direct effects of the financial crisis. The current financial crisis affects Africa and other developing countries in two possible ways; First, there could be financial contagion and spillovers for stock markets in Africa. Stock markets in the region showed some volatility, driven by a sell-off by foreign investors. The Nigerian stock market for instance has been experiencing a continuous downward trend in prices of stocks for over two months now. The India stock market dropped by 8% in one day at the same time as stock markets in the USA and Brazil plunged. Stock markets across the world – developed and developing – have all dropped substantially since May 2008. Share prices have tumble between 12 and 19% in the USA, UK and Japan in just one week, while the MSCI emerging market index fell 23%. This includes stock markets in Brazil, South Africa, India and China (ODI, 2008). We need to better understand the nature of the financial linkages, how they occur (as they do appear to occur) and whether anything can be done to minimise contagion. Possible Policy responses The current macro-economic and social challenges posed by the global financial crisis require a much better understanding of appropriate policy responses. Some recommended policy responses which can be applied to the situation in Nigeria are enumerated as follows: †¢ There needs to be a better understanding of what can provide financial stability, how crossborder cooperation can help to provide the public good of international financial rules and systems, and what the most appropriate rules are with respect to development. There needs to be an understanding of whether and how Nigeria and other developing countries can minimise financial contagion; †¢ Nigeria and other developing countries will also need to manage the implications of the current economic slowdown – after a period of strong and continued growth in developing countries, which has promoted interest in structural factors of growth, international macro economic management will now move up the policy agenda. †¢ Nigeria and other developing countries need to understand the social outcomes and provide appropriate social protection schemes. †¢ Central Banks should regulate issue of foreign exchange to companies during this time of crisis to avoid creating a deep in foreign reserves. †¢ Non-bank financial sector such as Pension Funds should also be regulated. This is to protect pension funds from being invested in some of this complex instruments to enable them meet their liquidity obligation as at when due. †¢ African countries should strengthen domestic and regional markets and boost intra-African trade and it is also important to promote domestic tourism. †¢ There is a need for new stability of the global financial system in which the voice of every nation, every continent is heard and their concerns taken into account. Conclusion The global financial crisis is already causing a considerable slowdown in most developed countries. Governments around the word are trying to contain the crisis, but many suggest the worst is not yet over. Stock markets are down more than 40% from their recent highs. Investment banks have collapsed, rescue packages are drawn up involving more than a trillion US dollars, and interest rates have been cut around the world with US and Japan cutting theirs to all time low of 0. 25% and 0. 1% respectively (bbc. co. uk), in what looks like a coordinated response. With a recession already in place in most developed countries, Nigeria and other developing countries should try and come up with policies that will minimise the spread of this crisis to their economy.

The Physics Of Scuba Diving Essay -- Scuba Diving Descriptive Process

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to swim with the fish and explore the underwater jungle that covers two-thirds of the earth's surface? I have always been interested in water activities; swimming, diving and skiing, and I felt that scuba was for me. My first dive took place while on a family vacation. I came across a dive shop offering introductory dives, which immediately caught my interest. After much convincing (my parents), with my solemn assurance that I would be careful, I was allowed to participate in a dive. I was ready, or so I thought. The slim basics such as breathing were explained and I was literally tossed in. Sounds easy enough, right!, well WRONG!!. From the moment I hit the water, my experience was much less than fun. I quickly sank to the bottom into a new world, with unfamiliar dangers. I really wasn't ready for this experience. I was disorientated, causing me to panic, which shortened the length of my dive, not to mention my air supply. Let's just say I would not do that again.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To start exploring the underwater world, one must first master a few skills. Certification is the first step of learning to dive. From qualified professionals one must learn how to use the equipment, safety precautions, and the best places to dive. This paper is designed to help give a general understanding of the sport and the importance that physics plays in it. Self- contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, or SCUBA for short, is a hell of a lot of fun. However, there is considerably more to Diving than just putting on a wetsuit and strapping some compressed air onto ones back. As I quickly learned, diving safely requires quite a bit more in terms of time, effort, and preparation. When one goes underwater, a diver is introduced to a new and unfamiliar world, where many dangers exist, but can be avoided with proper lessons and understanding. With this knowledge the water is ours to discover. The Evolution of Scuba Diving Divers have penetrated the oceans through the centuries for the purpose of acquiring food, searching for treasure, carrying out military operations, performing scientific research and exploration, and enjoying the aquatic environment. Bachrach (1982) identified the following five principal periods in the history of diving which are currently in use. Free (or breath-hold) diving, bell diving,... ...tary, research, business, or recreation, hundreds of thousands of people are heading for the depths, to experience the unknown. My advice for a new diver is to do it right. Get the proper certification and make each dive a safe one. When a diver is fully trained, and in good mental and physical condition, safe diving can be one of the most enjoyable of experiences. The true beauty of the underwater world, coupled with the marvelous almost-weightlessness of floating with neutral buoyancy is an indescribable experience. Bibliography: Ascher, Scott M. Scuba Handbook for Humans. Iowa : Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company. 1975. Cramer, John L. Ph.D. Skin and Scuba Diving: Scientific Principles and Techniques. N.Y.: Bergwall Productions, Inc. 1975. Ketels, Henry & McDowell, Jack. Safe Skin and Scuba Diving, adventure in the underwater world. Canada : Little, Brown and Company (Canada) Ltd. 1975. Koelzer, William. Scuba Diving, How to get started. Pennsylvania :Chilton Book Company. 1976. Resneck, John Jr. Scuba, Safe and Simple. New Jersey : Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1975. Tillman, Albert A. Skin and Scuba Diving. Iowa : Wm. C. Brown Company Publishers. 1966.

NAFTA

Introduction Since the idea of a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) first entered the broader public consciousness in the early 1990s, there has been a remarkable reorientation within business, academic, and political circles in an effort to consider and better understand the nature of the North American relationship. The 1988 free trade agreement between Canada and the United States evoked intense debate and soul searching within Canada and comparatively little interest among Americans; but that situation changed as the horizons broadened to include Mexico and likely extension into other countries of Latin America, beginning with Chile. (Aggrawal, 363-372) By the early 1990s, Americans, along with Mexicans and Canadians, had fully entered into the dialogue. Remarkably, although perhaps not surprisingly, the nature of the issues raised, anxieties expressed, and ambitions to be realized through a closer trilateral relationship articulated within one country have resonated in the others. Although the alliances of foes and advocates have varied in the three countries, there have also been remarkable similarities. Canadians and Mexicans have tended to be more directly engaged in a debate over models of development and strategies of dealing with their common neighbor than have Americans. The NAFTA Debate The NAFTA agreement touched on such a wide range of issues and areas, including financial services, foreign investment, the auto sector, textiles, agriculture, labor, and the environment in the side agreements that it should not have been surprising that it evoked strong sentiments among a variety of interest groups in the United States and Mexico, although the Mexican public debate was significantly muted by the more closed nature of the political system. In the United States, the opponents of NAFTA were strange bedfellows: organized and unorganized labor, environmentalists, consumer groups, the protectionist left, and the populist right of Ross Perot, variously denouncing the agreement as a big-business plot to take advantage of low Mexican wages and lax Mexican government enforcement of environmental standards and labor laws. (Andrea, 54-69) On the protagonist side, the administration and its supporters, which included arch-conservative Rush Limbaugh and corporate scion Lee Iacocca, contended that NAFTA would expand American markets, improve environmental and labor issues along the U.S.-Mexican border, and sufficiently improve economic and labor conditions in Mexico to result in a significant reduction in Mexican immigration pressure on the United States. (Peter, 44-56) The Impact of NAFTA Given the limitations of time and space, I will touch on a select range of areas in considering the impact of NAFTA to date: industry, labor, immigration, and the environment.   As with other issues, continuity here is more striking than any significant departure from the past. At the time of the conclusion of NAFTA, Mexico was, and remains, the third largest trading partner of the United States after Canada and Japan, although its economy was only five percent the size of the combined American and Canadian economies. In 1992, the United States was the source of approximately seventy percent of Mexican imports and the market for seventy-six percent of its exports. As the result of GATT and general tariff reduction in Mexico, Mexican tariffs on U.S. imported goods by 1992 averaged ten percent in contrast to the one hundred percent that prevailed in 1981. (Gallagher, 43-51) NAFTA will have no effect on the number of jobs in the United States NAFTA will have neither a significant negative nor positive impact on the environment It will produce a small overall gain in U.S. real income The real wages of skilled workers may decline slightly For the United States, NAFTA is more a foreign policy than an economic issue. NAFTA provided for the phasing out of tariffs on apparel and textiles over ten years, with some items to have duty-free access to Mexico immediately. All tariffs on autos and auto parts are to be eliminated over ten years; in agriculture, Mexico and the United States are to phase out fifty-seven percent of trade barriers immediately, ninety-four percent after ten years and one hundred percent after fifteen years. U.S. and Canadian investors are guaranteed national treatment with the right to seek binding arbitration in international tribunals, although the agreement excludes in this respect the Mexican energy and railway industries, U.S. airline and radio communications, and Canadian cultural industries. (Gilmore, 102-118) In the oil sector, PEMEX is to retain its monopoly over most of the industry, but non-Mexicans will be able to invest in petrochemicals, electricity generation, and coal mines; procurement contracts for PEMEX and Mexico's state electricity commission are also to be opened to foreigners; foreign banks and securities brokers are to have unrestricted access to Mexico by the end of the decade, although there are some restrictions on the sale of policies by U.S. insurers. (Andrea, 54-69) The agreement also provides for an elimination of most of Mexico's tariff barriers on telecommunications equipment. Basic voice services remain protected but foreign investors are to have access to value-added telephone services. As a response to the significant political opposition to the original agreement in the United States, there are two side agreements for environmental and labor standards. The former is especially weak, providing for each nation to apply its own environmental standards provided they are established on a scientific basis and with the stipulation that lowering of standards in order to attract foreign investment would be â€Å"inappropriate.† (Aggrawal, 363-372) The two commissions established to deal with environmental and labor matters have the power to impose fines and remove trade privileges as a last resort when environmental standards or legislation pertaining to health and labor safety, minimum wages, or child labor are deemed to have been violated. Such fines would be levied on the governments not the private sector violators. (Francesco, 90-97) Labor. In 2005, Perot contended that the job losses to the United States as a result of NAFTA would be as high as 5.9 million. As The Economist suggested at the time, such a result was not feasible. For there to be a shift of even 2 million-and this is not to suggest that such a loss would be insignificant-Mexico would need a bilateral trade surplus of $100 billion, equal to one-third of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 1973. Gary Hufbauer and Jeffrey Schott of the Washington Institute for International Economics estimated, on the contrary, that NAFTA would generate a net increase of 171,000 jobs in the United States and that combined U.S. and Mexican GDP would ultimately increase by $15 billion a year. Yet another study, this one by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, predicted that the net loss of U.S. jobs to Mexico would be 490,000. (Andrea, 54-69) Such wildly diverse predictions and analyses, even if one discounts Perot's, suggest the inexact nature of economic forecasting as well as its ideological biases. Yet one also has to keep in mind that differences of 200,000 are not considered significant, since seasonally adjusted statistics employment numbers shift up and down by that magnitude on a month-to-month basis. There also seems to be a general consensus among economists, including the Chicago school, that open markets and deregulation lead to social and economic dislocation. The left and the right simply and fundamentally differ over what one does to correct that dislocation. (Peter, 44-56) Advocates of NAFTA countered critics on the issue of differential wage scales with the argument that firms would not relocate simply because Mexican wages are eight times lower than those for U.S. workers. If one considers that wages comprise only fifteen percent of production costs, that the cost of relocation, including potentially increased transportation costs, training of a new labor force and the lower level of productivity among Mexican workers, and fringe benefits including housing allowances and Christmas bonuses normally equal to one month's wages, the wage differential is significantly reduced as a factor determining capital location. As well, as productivity increases in Mexico, wages will also rise, which will also occur in the higher technology areas of employment, as for instance in the highly productive Ford plant in Hermosillo, Baja California. (Francesco, 90-97) Further, and perhaps most significantly, it could be argued that under the provisions of the maquiladora operations that had been in place for three decades, there had been more than ample opportunity to test the thesis that employment and investment would be diverted to Mexico. U.S. organized labor could identify only 96,000 pre-NAFTA jobs that had shifted to Mexico in the previous decade, and several of the firms involved-Smith Corona typewriters and Zenith televisions- would have either moved to Southeast Asia or gone out of business if they had not shifted operations to Mexico. In one of the sectors where Mexico enjoyed a clear comparative advantage over the United States-beet sugar production-Clinton acceded to pressures from U.S. interests to include a protective provision in NAFTA. (Gallagher, 43-51) In another sector-apparel manufacturing- where Mexico also enjoys considerable comparative advantage, it is anticipated that although there will certainly be short-term and possibly significant job losses to Mexico; in the long term, improved economic conditions in Mexico, rising wages, and increased consumer spending capacity will level the playing field between the two countries. The data on job losses and job creation tied to NAFTA are not very favorable to date. U.S. Department of Labor statistics suggest that the job loss in the United States has been slight. (Gilmore, 102-118) In the twenty months following the implementation of the agreement, 68,482 workers had applied for a special NAFTA program of federal retraining assistance while losing their jobs; 38,148 had been accepted under the plan, which requires proof that the job loss is trade-related although not necessarily specifically caused by NAFTA. Those applying for assistance represented some 457 firms located in forty-six states, including Allied Signal, Sara Lee, Smith Corona, Averred Battery, Zenith, and Proctor and Gamble, all of which had belonged to a pro-NAFTA lobby. (Andrea, 54-69) Department as well as American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) officials agreed that in northern California in particular the impact seemed to have been especially light. Only one firm, Plantronics, a designer and manufacturer of telephone headsets, had by 1995 laid off 60 of 300 workers at its Santa Cruz plant and moved their positions to Mexico. The marginal NAFTA impact on industries such as Plantronics appears to be linked to the fact the region's high-tech; white-collar industries are less susceptible to low-wage Mexican competition than other industries elsewhere in the United States. Nonetheless, this perception of a failure of NAFTA to increase U.S. exports and export-related jobs led the anti-NAFTA consumer advocacy group Public Citizen to claim without hard evidence 300,000 NAFTA-related job losses. This argument received support from Congressional critics of NAFTA. (Francesco, 90-97) Ohio Democratic Representative Marcy Kaptur, for instance, joined with others to form a bipartisan House group with plans to introduce a NAFTA Benchmarks Bill to suspend NAFTA and set quantifiable limits on the trade deficit, job losses, and currency rates that would trigger an automatic suspension of the trade agreement. Certainly, Mexico has increased its exports to the United States as well as its proportional share of U.S. imports; but, this would have occurred without NAFTA with the Mexican peso devaluation in the same way that a low Canadian dollar continues to stimulate Canadian exports. Immigration. It may be inappropriate to attempt at this early stage to examine what has been happening with Mexican migration pressures on the U.S. border during the two years NAFTA has been in effect, since the crisis in the Mexican economy has greatly exacerbated the problem. Nonetheless, it is useful to examine, briefly, the patterns in this area. Pro-NAFTA groups were adamant that an improved Mexican economy was the only long-term solution to high levels of Mexican migration-legal or illegal-to the United States, and I see no basis to reject that analysis. The fact remains that in the relatively short period since NAFTA was implemented there has been no easing of pressure on border points in the southwest. Nonetheless, I would stress that it is impossible to attribute this situation to NAFTA per se, at the same time that in the short term at least NAFTA has not in itself significantly alleviated the migration problem. That is a long-term issue, driven by cultural, economic, and political considerations, which will only be corrected if a relative degree of equilibrium is achieved on both sides of the border. (Gallagher, 43-51) At present, that is not even a fantasy let alone a realistic economic goal, and even if the economic situation were corrected, such issues as family reunification with the large indigenous Mexican-American population in the southwestern United States will work to encourage ongoing migration into the area. Environmental Issues. Environmental protection was a critical factor in obtaining congressional approval of the agreement in the U.S. Congress; yet one must recognize that it was and remains a side issue beside the main objectives of NAFTA, which are trade and investment liberalization. Hence, it is rather misleading to attempt to measure the success or failure of NAFTA in terms of the successes or failures of that side agreement. Nonetheless, what I believe has happened over the past several years is that analysts have begun to take a far more holistic approach to the understanding of international trade questions, much in the same way that analysts in strategic studies have gone far beyond their traditional weapon-counting approach to the discipline by taking into consideration a range of other factors that now are seen to threaten national security, including environmental degradation, poverty, and human migration. (Francesco, 90-97) Mexico's economic crisis has seriously undermined its capacity at the federal, state, and local levels to fund environmental clean-up and regulation of industries. Hence, although there has been notable new private investment in Mexican maquiladoras, there has been no significant investment in the infrastructure in the areas where those firms operate. There is little value in detailing here the level of environmental degradation that continues to characterize industrial Mexico. Such pollution is clearly not the direct result of NAFTA, but it is the result of a political and economic philosophy that attempts to separate trade matters from the quality of the environment in which we live and which places a premium on open markets, privatization, and deregulation. (Andrea, 54-69) There has admittedly been more attention to environment, labor standards, and culture in recent years than there was at the outset of the debate over the U.S.-Canada trade agreement, primarily because of the impact that labor and environmental groups have had on the political agenda in the United States; but it is questionable that the relatively weak institutions established to deal with environmental and labor issues will be radical in their approaches. In the longer term, all societies will pay a very high price indeed if those issues are not effectively addressed. Conclusion NAFTA has not simply failed to provide some of its promised benefits, but it has led instead to unemployment, environmental devastation, and serious health problems.   The few beneficiaries have been corporations who benefit from deregulation that reduces their costs and the free market that they largely control.   The North American Free Trade Agreement has proved a failure and at the very least must be revised in order to compensate for the damages that have occurred. As long as economic motives are behind any legislation, people and the environment will unfortunately always be expendable. To return to the main issue raised in this paper, the impact of NAFTA in its first two years the evidence remains preliminary. A combination of factors led to a dramatic increase in Mexican exports to the United States after NAFTA and a substantial shift in the favorable balance of trade away from the United States. As long as prices and the costs of production in Mexico remain low, proximity to the United States will likely serve to perpetuate that pattern. Mexican export opportunities will also provide continuing incentive for foreign investment in Mexican agriculture and manufacturing, as well as financial institutions. To date, the anticipated liberalization of investment in the extractive resource sector in Mexico has not been fully realized, especially in petroleum, and the continued significance and power of PEMEX in Mexican political culture suggests that any dramatic change in the petroleum investment environment is unlikely to come soon. At the same time, the decades of a highly protectionist Mexican economic policy are in the past, and there are no signs of a return to the import substitution model. In the United States, there is more volatility on the politics of trade and trade policy. Works Cited Aggrawal, R. and Kyaw, N.A. â€Å"Equity market integration in the NAFTA region: evidence from unit root and cointegration tests†, International Review of Financial Analysis 4, 2004: 363-372 Andrea Bjorklund et al. â€Å"Investment Disputes Under NAFTA (Ring-bound)† Kluwer Law International; Lslf edition, 2006: 54-69 Francesco Duina, â€Å"The Social Construction of Free Trade: The European Union, NAFTA, and Mercosur† Princeton University Press, 2005: 90-97 Gallagher, Kevin â€Å"Free Trade and the Environment: Mexico, NAFTA, and Beyond†. Stanford University Press, 2004: 43-51 Gilmore, C.G. and McManus, G.M. â€Å"The impact of NAFTA on the integration of the Canadian, Mexican, and U.S. equity markets†, Research in Global Strategic Management 10, 2004: 102-118 Peter Hakim â€Å"The Future of North American Integration: Beyond NAFTA†. University of British Columbia Press, 2005: 44-56

Authority and Social Identity Essay

In “The new psychology of leadership” (2007), the authors offer a new perspective about leadership, based not only on authority but on sharing a social identity with the people. The new concept of leadership is the ability to attain success by having followers wanting to do it instead of enforcing or rewarding them. To accomplish their goals, leaders must be situated among their group, be part of it. When goals are shared by common circumstances, they matter to the group as a whole, thus leaders that are able to represent the group better, have more influence over them. It should be a primary responsibility for the leader to understand values and opinions of the group in order to communicate effectively about what the group stands for and how their values should be reflected in their actions. LeaderÂ’s behavior and character affinity to the group defines how much control and inspiration can be imparted. However, any trait that separates the leader will hinder the chance for effective leadership. Other factors that influence leadership effectiveness are:•Show fairness when making decisions and resolving disputes, although fairness may depend on the perception of the group being led, therefore it is important to consider what itÂ’s fair for the group. •Leadership must shape and define norms conforming the groupÂ’s identity, which is based on shared beliefs and values. •GroupÂ’s social identity must be aligned with reality, since there is no chance of success for unrealistic goals that will eventually disappoint the group. Leaders need to be in touch with reality, and when required, align the groupÂ’s identity with his own. Based on the authorsÂ’ psychological analysis, leaders and followers must have the same identity that will be used to outline future actions. Many times in history, leaders lost their position because their actions depicted  a different identity from their group, and in some cases, only their individual identity. Development and nurturing a shared identity among leaders and their groups is the key for an effective and creative leadership. In FocusJuly 31, 2007The New Psychology of LeadershipRecent research in psychology points to secrets of effective leadership that radically challenge conventional wisdomBy Stephen D. Reicher, Michael J. Platow and S. Alexander HaslamFrom the August 2007 issue of Scientific American Mind

Quality Management Five Components of Service Management

Quality Management Five Components of Service Management Service management is usually defined as the point in a supply chain that connects sales and customers, but in recent years the concept has morphed from a fairly narrow aspect of overall management and strategy to a broad management orientation that addresses all facets of an enterprise, particularly in service industries. Beginning in the early 1980’s, Christian Grà ¶nroos of the Hanken School of Economics in Finland started developing a â€Å"framework of values† for service management, a set of principles which, if integrating correctly into the company’s strategy and operations, leads to good service delivery. There are five parts to the framework of values for service management: An overall management perspective This requires a shift in the broad priorities of the firm from an internal focus on process efficiencies, economies of scale, and cost management to an external focus on customers’ perspectives on core product quality and total firm performance. Grà ¶nroos’ entire thesis is that the classical scientific management handed down to us by the likes of Adam Smith emphasizes division of labor, which can and often does result in separate parts of the enterprise working at cross-purposes. The service management perspective, by comparison, establishes customer service as the overall goal throughout the organization so that even if the efficiencies of the division  of labor are employed, they are necessarily done so in the context of their impact on the broader objective. At first blush, this particular part of the framework might sound like a vague motherhood statement, but it is actually important because it establishes the basis for the other parts of the framework of value s. Customer- or market-driven performance measures The big difference between a ‘service management’ orientation and the best practices suggested by classical scientific management is that performance measurement must have an external perspective, rather than being based on goals related to internal efficiencies. Well-known performance management and planning tools such as CSFs and KPIs still work very well from a service management perspective, but only if the success factors and performance indicators down to the level of the individual employee are expressed in terms of what each segment or position in the organization contributes to customer service. In essence, every role within the organization in some way becomes a customer service position. You can also be interested in: Management or Leadership? Stock Markets and Seasonal Effects in Them Management and Exchange Rates Management Essay Quality management is not segregated from ‘normal’ management functions This part of the framework is perhaps more applicable to manufacturing or other production firms where a distinct quality control process is required, but otherwise, the concept of integrating quality control functions into normal workflow simply reinforces the perspective of the first two parts of the framework. This aspect of the service management perspective is also perhaps more familiar than most; we see it in practice quite often through ideas such as Total Quality Management.   The biggest change it requires from the organization lies in operational planning, because quality control functions – where distinct procedures are required – must be broken down and smoothly fit into a unified, overall process. Internal development of personnel This concept has become almost canonical in human resources management  and relates to service management in two critical ways. First, it is the primary means by which customer service perspectives and goals can be properly spread throughout the entire organization, and is a key link in the service-profit value chain (discussed in greater detail in another article). Higher levels of employee experience, skill, and satisfaction lead to greater efficiency and employee loyalty, which positively affect service quality in a number of ways. Second, it is virtually impossible to effectively implement quality management functions as described above into an enterprise-wide process without using internal human resources; the best people for the job in any organization are the ones the organization already has. Just as with quality management, personnel development requires the integration of HRM functions that are usually treated separately into mainstream processes, at least at the planning level. Flat organizational design The service management framework emphasizes cross-functional abilities, internal collaboration, and lateral communication, and as a result,  tends to discredit the effectiveness of hierarchical organizations for achieving customer service quality. This presents a significant management challenge in organizations where the scientific management perspective of specialization and division of labor is an unavoidable necessity, such as in businesses where core functions require highly skilled workers who have intensive specialized training. Cross-functional training at an airline, for example, can only go so far;   it would be ridiculous to consider putting ticket counter  personnel behind the controls of a jet airliner just â€Å"to get a feel for what others’ job roles are like†. But on the other hand, there is little to prevent a highly-skilled airline pilot from spending a few days behind the counter to experience a different side of customer service. Some criticisms of the service management framework of values One implication of the service management perspective is that it greatly increases the complexity of planning and strategy in an organization; many of the boundaries between different departments or functions disappear entirely, and everything initiative from the level of individual employees upward must be complementary. This is the underlying reason why the framework has never been modeled in any great deal; an effective model would require consideration of a very large number of variables, and might be too unwieldy to be useful. And without a model, the framework is just another qualitative concept that does not give much direction for practical application. Another reason the framework has not received as much academic or practical attention as it deserves is somewhat unfair; Professor Grà ¶nroos’ discipline is marketing, not management, and in his various writings, he tends to stay in his comfort zone when seeks examples to illustrate the points he is making. Management scholars seem to have a bias that relegates marketing to a niche within the broad realm of business studies, and so have possibly overlooked the greater application of the ideas developed by â€Å"a marketing teacher.† Which, if nothing else, is a good reminder for business students not to impose limits on their explorations of knowledge – just as the framework of values suggests, one’s own effectiveness can be greatly increased by cross-training. Read more about service management: Grà ¶nroos, C. (1994). From Scientific Management to Service Management. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 1(5).

Steriods essays

Steriods essays Anabolic steroids are natural male hormones that build up muscle mass and increase weight gain. Other team mates and even some coaches pressure and persuade their high school athletes to use steroids for higher levels of competition and to also induce strength. Professional athletes are role models and idols for these young athletes. Teenagers looking up to those elite athletes whose muscles ripple with steroid-enhanced power, are picking up some dangerous training tips [...] (Manning). Once the young athletes see their idols taking steroids they then want to take them also. Consequently, all high schools in the United States should test their athletes for steroid use because they are unfair, they cause behavior changes, and they are dangerous. First, all high schools should test their athletes for steroids because they are unfair. Taking steroids is unfair to those athletes who build strength and muscle the hard way. Instead, athletes taking steroids have enhanced performance by the hormones in the pill. Also, when athletes take steroids they are cheating themselves and other athletes of their natural ability. If all the athletes did not take steroids, then every athlete would have about the same strength and the competition would be a lot tougher. Taking steroids is certainly considered cheating. Not only are steroids unfair, but they can also cause violent behavior changes. Another reason all high schools in the United States should test their athletes for steroids because they cause behavior changes. Thus, steroids can change a users personality. When taking steroids, an athlete may experience a large amount of anger. Steroids cause the teenager to be angry, sometimes at those they love, or even towards total strangers. For some steroid users the consequences can be serious or even life threatening. Athletes who abuse steroids can become violent quickly. This makes them dangerous or deadly to their f...