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Analysis of Employee Benefits within an Organisation The WritePass Journal

Analysis of Employee Benefits within an Organisation Introduction Analysis of Employee Benefits within an Organisation Introduction Types of Employee Benefits2.1 Disadvantages of employee benefits2.2 Advantage of employee benefits   Compensation Management Influence Over Employees and CompaniesConclusions References Bibliography   Related Introduction The purpose of this essay is to open the discussion about one of the most relevant features for the human beings these days, the payment schemes such as salaries, wages and benefits that employees receive in retribution of their work. On this paper work it will be developed the next question â€Å"If employees undervalue the cost of benefits, why should a company not drop benefits and simply add more direct compensation?† On first instance, is precisely to say that the direct compensation is the monetary benefits that employees receive in return of the service they provide to the company, such as basic salary, rent allowance, travel allowances and medical reimbursements among others; on the other hand indirect compensation is the non monetary benefits that the employees receive such as life insurance, health security, pension, vacations and flexible timings among others. Thus, the payment programs have become one of the most important issues on the human life nowadays, that ´s because they define the opportunities and choices that one person has to provide wellness, security and a future to their families or their loved ones, and in the same way feel recognition for their capabilities and efforts. Consequently, there have always been different systems of pay and compensations to suit the employees and employers requirements, for this reason there are wages with non monetary and monetary benefits. Employees typically depend on salaries and wages to get a stable income and on benefits to provide health and security. For employers, compensation decisions influence their cost of doing business and thus, their ability to sell at a competitive price in the goods and/or service markets. Far beyond that, compensation decisions determinate the employers ability to compete for qualified employees in the labour market. (Ferris, et. al, p.528) Employee compensation practices differ across employment units (e.g., organizations, business units, and facilities) on several dimensions. Dimension like Form (cash or benefits), Level (How much do people disserve to earn for their job), Structure (hierarchies and pay differential within an employee unit), Mix (how and when cash compensation is disbursed) and finally Pay Administration (pay policies and who is in charge of that process) (Ferris, et. al, p.528).The central point of the employee compensation discussion has been on defining these dimensions, researching why organizations differ on them, and considering whether such differences have consequences on employee behaviours and attitude; Along this work this topic will be developed deeply and it will be shown examples of how it can vary and how this contribute to the question above. Now then, as it was mentioned before indirect compensation refers to benefits, is essential to understand that this benefits are forms of value (non monetary) that are provided to the employee in return for his/her job. That ´s why when it refers to employee benefits the most common are: vacations-holidays, employee stock ownership plans, retirement plans, health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, pension, leisure bonuses, etc. Benefits are increasingly expensive for businesses to provide to employees, so the range and options of benefits are changing rapidly to include, for example, flexible benefit plans and timings. Despite that some employees undervalue the benefits, it ´s important to say that companies cannot drop benefits that easy because two essential reasons. The first reason is because of the law; the benefits must be given to the employees as part of the remuneration of their job or services, that ´s legal issue and must be part of the pay policies of the company. The second reason is because employees like parents or elder people prefer benefits as they find them important for their families, their retirement or their pension schemes. Other aspects that companies find important are that the indirect compensation can encourage the employee to do a better job, creates a sense of trust and loyalty between the employee and the employer. This way compensation plays such a key role because it is at the heart of the employment relationship, being of critical importance to both employees and employers; also that ´s a reason why organizations are becoming more concerned with positioning employee compensation as a strategic human resource management function in order to obtain competitive advantage. Types of Employee Benefits Each country has different forms of salaries, wages and benefits. In the UK, employee benefits are categorised by three terms: Flexible Benefits, Voluntary Benefits and Core Benefits. (Price, 2007, p.467) The first term is Flexible Benefits, also called Flex Scheme, is where employees are allowed to choose how a proportion of their remuneration is paid. This is normally delivered by allowing employees to sacrifice part of their pre-tax pay in exchange for a car, additional holiday, a shorter working week or other similar benefits, or give up benefits for additional cash remuneration. The second is Voluntary Benefits; these are the collection of benefits that employees choose to receive. These tend to be schemes such as the government-backed, Bike2Work and Childcare Vouchers (Accor Services, Busybees, Sodexho, KiddiVouchers, Early Years Vouchers Ltd). Employee Discount schemes are often setup by employers as a perk of working at the organization. (www.cipd.co.uk) Finally, Core Benefits is the term given to benefits which all staff enjoys, such as holiday, sick pay and flexible schedule. In recent years, many UK companies have used the tax and national insurance savings gained through the implementation of salary sacrifice system, to fund the implementation of flexible benefits. In a salary sacrifice arrangement, an employee gives up the right to part of the cash remuneration due under their contract of employment. Usually, the sacrifice is made in return for the employers agreement to provide them with some form of non-cash benefit. The most popular types of salary sacrifice benefits include childcare vouchers and pensions, that’s a reason why indirect compensation still being important for some workers like those who are parents or those who are close to retirement. 2.1 Disadvantages of employee benefits In the UK these benefits are often taxed at the individual’s normal tax rate,which can be expensive if there is no financial advantage to the individual from the benefit. The UK system of state pension provision is dependent upon the payment of National Insurance Contributions NIC. Salary exchange schemes will result in reduced NIC payments and so are also liable to reduce the state benefits, most notably the state second pension. (www.cipd.co.uk) 2.2 Advantage of employee benefits   The benefits are an important component of a companys remuneration package for attracting and retaining its employees. The benefits serve as incentives to the employees and encourage them to work hard for the organisation, instead of give up part of their salaries. These also help in building up job satisfaction. In the same way, there can be advantages for employers; one of the major advantages is an easing of their own cash flow. Another advantage is the option to negotiate discounts with benefit providers, this could represent savings for the company when the personnel is large, so the provision of non cash benefits can consequently be cheaper than the part of the salary that the employee is giving up. Some benefits are attractive even for young workers such as a company car or mobile phones, which can be provided by the employer and without having to make these arrangements by the employee. On the other hand, tax advantages are extended to employees as well as employers. Some benefits package provides a tax advantage; for example, if the employer pays for the mobile phone, this is treated as a non-taxable benefit, so this can represent a significant tax saving over the course of a year, for both parts. Compensation Management Influence Over Employees and Companies (Example 1) On this case, AVIVA an insurance company has proposed closing its final-salary pension scheme, because is considered inequitable and unsustainable. On this case, the reason of the closure of the final-salary pension was because it took two-thirds of Avivas contributions to UK staff pension arrangements, but only one-third of UK staff had the final-salary benefit. This proposal come after a string of businesses announced their intentions to close final-salary schemes to current members. Construction firm Taylor Wimpey, Trinity Mirror, Pirelli, Fujitsu, Barclays, Morrisons, Vodafone, BMI, Dairy Crest, IBM and Costain all said they planned to do so in the last year. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/) Now this could be a problem, as it means the typical worker will lose a third of expected pension payments, but also it can proved the high costs of indirect compensation for organizations. On the other hand, incentives and motivation programs can reduce the cost of the benefits expenses for the companies; on the following two examples it can be proved. (Example 2) The company name is Rim Hospitality, which is a hotel, resort and boutique property management company. With rising workers compensation expenses, Rim Hospitality needed to find a cost effective solution that would motivate employees to help reduce these costs, and also maximize efficiencies with employee productivity and scheduling. The plan developed by this company consisted in implementing a prepaid MasterCard card as the award to the employees, which provided the employee the freedom to choose what they want, when they want it. With this plan, Rim Hospitality experienced positive results almost immediately which have steadily increased. Thus, over two years, they reduced workers compensation claims by 29% and therefore this meant more productivity to compensate the cost of benefits and savings of $634,000 during that time. (www.hrmreport.com) (Example 3) There is another case where incentives and motivation programs can reduce the cost of the benefits expenses. This example is referred to Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG) which is the worlds largest manufacturer, seller and distributor of Pepsi-Cola beverages. In 2005, PBG was working on a better way to manage the rising cost of health care for its employees. They did that by educating their employees on various health related issues. First of all, PBG implemented an employee survey to get feedback on the interest of their employees. Thus, all the employees who had participated in the survey were rewarded with a prepaid card as an incentive; following the survey period, employees were offered a variety of healthcare educational classes to attend. When the class was completed, the employee received an additional prepaid Card as a reward for completing the class. Time after the implementation of that program, PBG has noticed that expenses generated by health disease, absence, emot ional conflicts, and health insurance costs were lowered in 47%. (www.hrmreport.com)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      Now then, sometimes a bad healthcare can drive up the cost of the benefits for employees and employers. (Example 4) Similar to the previous, this example shows that according to the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics, as of 2009, trucking had an injury rate 30 percent higher than other U.S. industries. This coupled with higher average medical and indemnity costs, makes employer costs will go higher; therefore this will lead to higher workers compensation costs and any savings employers thought they were accruing will be lost when injuries go up. So, the higher rates can be attributed in part to several factors. Because of the nature of their work many drivers are out of shape, eat badly, smoke too much, dont do exercise and hardly ever get enough sleep. As a result of this, they found themselves susceptible to heart attacks and diabetes, as well as a myriad of strains, sprains and various other muscular-skeletal injuries. This makes truckers a danger on the road but also a danger to themselves, and by the way driving up employers costs. (http://web.ebscohost.com) (Example 5) Sometimes working in a non traditional way like working from home is a benefit that workers value, especially if they have families. This example shows that an AIM survey made in 2006, indicated that 40% of companies in Massachusetts were looking at ways to decrease the compensation budget, which meant that workers wouldn’t have been happy with that news, for that reason employers found the way to offset the dissatisfaction that will cause. They proposed to give flexible hours of work, telecommuting, and other lifestyle benefits; but perhaps, one of the most important benefits was the opportunity to work from home or 50/50 (half in the office and half in home), that was a differential factor and was used even as a recruiting tool. (http://web.ebscohost.com) That is an important benefit that more and more companies have put in practice, because they can trust and rely on people, this is a management new thinking and change of attitude, where people find that they work hard when no one is looking at them, that they don’t need a supervisor all the time or someone just watching if theyre working. This aspect was very important for families and parents who wanted to expend more time with their sons and relatives. (Example 6) Another option growing in popularity is flexible time and banks system, which consist on time off available to use at any time, instead of the typical, two weeks of vacation, five sick day permission, and 10 holidays. That way, employers are not asking to the workers if are they sick today, or if do they want the day off; because with the banks system and flexible times they can make some long weekends or take some time off in the middle of the week. That type of flexibility is definitely attractive to employees. (www.businesswest.com) By a short break, it has been found that the cost of the benefits could be a high risk when the PESTE factors (Political, Economical, Social, Technological and environmental) affect the organization. (Example 7) In Colombia for example, in the nineties when the government decided to open his economy to the neo liberal model of free trade and the invisible hand of Smith that in theory regulates the economy and the prices of buy and sale, a lot of Organizations in the textile industry suffered the consequences of that Governmental policy. There was a specific company that went to bankrupt in a short time after the economic opened, that company was Coltejer who had been one of the biggest companies in the textile industry in Colombia; the reason is that this company gave good benefits to their employees which made this one of the top organizations in where people desired to work, the benefits ranging from computers and household facilities provided by the company to cars that employees could acquire after have worked for some years in the company. So basically, when the Chinese and East Asia products got in the Colombian market, Coltejer could not compete with the bargaining and cheap prices of those products, that because of the high costs of benefits that Coltejer was holding with their employees, among other reasons, and the company could not bear and overcome the price difference, despite the fact that external products were low in quality; so in this case it can be seen that high costs of benefits could provide go od talents and satisfied employees, but also could be a high risk option for the organization if an external factor affect the business. (Example 8) In the same way in Chile, the shoes industry was affected by the PESTE factors; it was basically after signing the free trade agreement with China 4 years ago, and as a result of the undefeatable prices of Chinese shoes companies, many companies in Chile had to reduce staff and reduce both compensations direct and indirect, which brought turbulence and imbalance to the companies. (www.economiaynegocios.cl/) (Example 9) Although, external factors could be positive in a medium term perspective, like natural resources prices, especially the petroleum high prices; where in countries like Venezuela usually bring big wealthy to the people, such is the case of PDVSA, the Petroleum Public Company of Venezuela, which is one of the biggest companies in the petroleum industry over the world, and because the petroleum bonanza and the high prices of the barrel make that PDVSA could give spectacular and expensive benefits to their employees, such as car, housing, vacations, education (sons of PDVSA employees receive education allowances and scholarships to study abroad, and free education in Venezuela). So this shows the magnitude and the impact of the benefits on the employee’s life and in the company’s costs. (www.pdvsa.com) (Example 10) A survey made by Personnel Today found that, in half of 700 organisations who responded to the survey, take-up of childcare vouchers was less than 6%, and only 9% of organisations reported more than 30% staff take-up of the vouchers. So it means that poor communication of the benefits of the schemes is the result of the low take-up. However, the survey shows that there is growing awareness of the existence of childcare voucher schemes, which enable employers to offer working parents vouchers to pay for registered childcare without having to pay tax or National Insurance contributions. Most organisations (81%) said staff awareness of childcare vouchers had increased over the last five years, and that offering childcare vouchers could be a deciding factor in attracting working parents and retaining key staff. The final conclusion of the survey applied to the organizations, shown that 91% either agreeing or strongly agreeing that offering childcare vouchers improved an empl oyers reputation. The research also looked into employer interest in offering a similar scheme for staff that needed to look after elderly dependants and the results shown that 59% were interested in introducing them. (www.personneltoday.com) (Example 11) As it has been said along this work, good benefits are useful to attract and retain qualified staff for a company, now then, it also help the company to save money. That ´s because attractive benefits facilitate a companys bottom line on multiple levels, and one that shouldnt be ignored is the cost of replacing employees who become dissatisfied and leave. The cost to replace an employee can be anywhere from 30% to 40% of somebodys salary up to 150%, and is money that the employer is going to spend on recruiting and retraining. (web.ebscohost.com) (Example 12) On this order, employers might offer workers a motivating and attractive package that says, if you stay with me five years or 10 years, at the end of that time, Ill give you a raise that might be equal to 50% of the base salary. Because its on an individual basis, the employer cannot take a tax deduction for what he is spending, but if the employee got skills and talents that the organization needs to his optimal productivity, it would be more important to tie the employee to the organization for 5 or 10 years. That arrangement appeals to people at certain stages of life. For example, someone with two children is going to be staring to college costs in a little less than a decade. By offering to double his starting salary after 5 years, the employer can bring a little financial-planning reassurance to the worker, while not having to worry about losing the assets he brings to the company. Employees nearing retirement age might also find value in such an offer. (web.ebscoh ost.com) (Example 13) This is the case of Unisys (IT Services Company) which has had a flexible benefits scheme for 13 years. This has changed a lot over that time to reflect staff interests, and is split into three categories security, wellbeing and lifestyle. Unisys workers average salary is about  £50,000. Andrew White, reward manager, says We found high interest in security-type benefits rather than lifestyle, so tried to tailor as many as we can in the insurance sector. Security benefits include critical illness insurance, travel insurance and group income protection. The most popular benefits are critical illness, dental insurance, holiday-trading and income protection. (http://proquest.umi.com) (Example 14) In the case of retail giant Tesco, who offers its employees a wide selection of benefits, including a defined benefit (DB) pension scheme that is open to all staff, three all-employee share schemes, life assurance, childcare vouchers and discounts at theme parks. Tesco also offers all its employees a discount card (the Privilege card), which gives a 10% discount on shopping in all Tesco stores and online. Staff can save a maximum of  £730 a year. Staff feedback shows the Privilege card is top of the list of most valued benefits. The reason the Privilege card is so popular is because staff get immediate benefit from it, they get money off their shopping receipt. (http://proquest.umi.com) On the other hand, voluntary benefits include a staff tariff on the Tesco Mobile network and discounts at Tesco Bank. Each pay period, Tesco includes a new offer, for example extra deals on clothing, home ware or photo processing. With nearly 290,000 UK staff and from different nationalities, Tesco has a wide range of needs to consider. (Example 15) Telegraph Media Group is an organization who gives to their employees’ wide range of benefits, and that’s the cause of why more than 80% of the employees have declared to be satisfied with benefits. One of Telegraphs most popular benefits is the pension scheme, where the company pays a lot into that and employees don’t get charged for administration. In the same way there is a good website for the pension scheme. This is very important issue for employees therefore in the current situation, because they can save their pensions and don’t have to worry about the public pot. (http://proquest.umi.com) Another valued issue is the health and wellbeing services provided by Telegraph, such as its on-site gym, free and subsidised fitness classes, free corporate massage service, and on-site doctor with physiotherapy services. All this kind of smart compensation policies ease the life of the employees and also the productivity and work environment of the company. (Example 16) Another example is the one about the Oil and Gas Company Subsea 7, who employs 1,800 people in the UK and they consider that is essential to create a clever payment strategy to attract and retain the best people. Considering this the company first introduced tax-efficient perks offered via salary sacrifice arrangements, then built on this with a total reward statement and a flex scheme. To ensure the package is understood and appreciated by staff, it tracks a variety of measurements, including the number who has enrolled on the benefits website, the choices they make, how often they visit the site, and the take-up of different benefits. (http://proquest.umi.com) Conclusions During this essay, it has been tried to demonstrate what is better for both employees and companies in terms of compensation. As it has been shown the compensation could vary depending on the company policies and the HR strategies. As human beings we are looking always for the best choice for us, it must be a choice that satisfy the basic needs one person has and at the same time gave him/her wellbeing, comfort and happiness. In the same way companies are looking for the best way to attract and retain excellent staff, which brings quality, productivity, growth, status, competitiveness and profits to the company. Now then, compensation is just the manner in which the employees get some pay in return of the services they have given to the company. The main question of this essay put a hypothetical situation in which employees undervalue the cost of the benefits, and the company has to decide whether remove the benefits and add more direct compensation, which would means add more monetary value, more basic salary or just more allowances; now then, as it has been shown before, the needs of each employee differs depending on the age, personal aims, family type, lifestyle, culture, religion and even education level. So it’s essential that the employer knows perfectly well the characteristics and the staff behaviour, in order to offer the best compensation package for each group of workers, and also to save money and gain productivity and competitiveness. As it has been mentioned before, the company could gain productivity and competitiveness just by offering to their employees’ nice conditions, because the worker who feels that the company really care about him and give to him everything he needs could work the double in the half of time, giving better results and being committed with the business, so that’s how an employer can create loyal and good workers. On the other hand, when companies chose the right compensation packages for their employees, they will be saving money and the reason is because on one side they won’t waste money in benefits that employees don’t like or undervalue or even they are not going to use, and on the other side the save money because if they keep the employees satisfied they won’t be need to spend money on recruiting and training new staff. So, my answer to the main question is that, employers have to do everything necessary to keep employees satisfied, as they are the gears of the machine, so if in this case or in one specific company the employees undervalue the benefits and prefer more direct compensation, I must say that on first instance a general check in of the compensation program must be done, so it means to check the different dimension of payment such as form, level, structure, mix and the pay policies of the company. Is necessary to know that some benefits cannot be removed, as they must be given as a legal issue (e.g. social security or pensions), other flexible benefits could be removed or added according the characteristic of the employee, because I can’t offer a 25 years old person, whose marital status is single a childcare voucher or long term plans benefits, may be this person could be more attracted with travel allowances, or just have more cash to spend on leisure activities; on the other sid e a mother with little kids should be more interested in flexible timings, work from home, health care insurance and vacations, and in the same way an old person is probably thinking in pension schemes. Now then, for the company instead, the fact of add more direct compensation could represent a more complicated manage of the cash flow and at the same time could be more expensive, as employees are not giving up part of their salaries in exchange of the benefits, and some companies usually negotiate discounts with some benefit providers, instead it cannot be done with the employees salary; in addition, with indirect compensation employers get tax advantages, that could be relevant throughout of the year. In conclusion, if the employer adds more direct compensation he could lose money, because he won’t have tax advantages, there won’t be salary sacrifice system so there won’t be possibility to negotiate with benefit providers and as a result it will be also more complicated to manage the cash flow without those benefits. Now on the other hand, if the employees are not completely satisfied with the indirect compensation, it will mean that the work environment could be affected and as a result the productivity, competitiveness and loyalty of the staff which in a medium term could be expensive for the company. So it’s a complex situation, which I’m agree in part, because it require a smart strategy that permit the employer hold indirect compensation in order to benefit the company wealth, assets and resources, but at the same time is necessary offer good perks to employees in order to create incentives and wellbeing among them and thus boost each employ ee to get the best of them. References Books: Ferris, Gerald R., Rosen, Sherman D. And Barnum, Darold T. Handbook of Human Resources Management. (1995) Blackwell Publishers, first ed., Oxford,   pp. 528-570 Price, Alan. Human Resource Management in a Business Context. (2007) Cengage learning EMEA, third ed., London, p. 467-488. 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And Barnum, Darold T. Handbook of Human Resources Management. (1995) Blackwell Publishers, first ed., Oxford,   pp. 528-570 Price, Alan. Human Resource Management in a Business Context. (2007) Cengage learning EMEA, third ed., London, p. 467-488. Dowling, Peter and Festing, Marion and Allen D, Engle. International Human Resource Management. (2008) Cengage learning EMEA fifth ed.   Hough, Alison. Employment Law. (2006) Old Bailey Press third ed., London.   Redman, Tom and Wilkinson, Adrian. Contemporary Human Resource Management. (2009) Prentice Hall, third ed. Essex, p. 139-174. Electronic Articles and Internet:   Aviva to close final-salary pension scheme (20th April 2010). http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8633088.stm [31st March 2011] HR Management Employee Incentive, Recognition and Reward Case Study. 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(2005) hrmreport.com/article/HR-Management-Employee-Incentive-Recognition-and-Reward-Case-Study/ [ 1st April 2011].   direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/index.htm [2nd April 2011]. human-capital-management.net/business/   [3rdApril 2011] Hudson Valley Business Journal May 17. 2010 http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=21hid=119sid=b9cb39d4-a1c7-499b-9d41-b7631902a20a%40sessionmgr104 [4th April 2011] Hudson Valley Business Journal May 17. 2010 http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=21hid=119sid=b9cb39d4-a1c7-499b-9d41-b7631902a20a%40sessionmgr104 [4th April 2011] personneltoday.com/home/default.aspx   [4th April 2011] http://businesswest.com/archive [4th April 2011] economiaynegocios.cl/mis_finanzas/detalles/home_fin.asp?seccion=3   [4th April 2011] pdvsa.com/interface.sp/database/fichero/publicacion/6409/1279.PDF[4th April 2011] personneltoday.com/home/default.aspx [4thApril 2011] cipd.co.uk/search/searchresults.aspx?recommended=TrueQuery=compensation+and+benefitsPageIndex=1sortby=relevancesitetype=REDESIGN_MAIN [8th April 2011] Hudson Valley Business Journal May 17. 2010 http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=21hid=119sid=b9cb39d4-a1c7-499b-9d41-b7631902a20a%40sessionmgr104   [10th April 2011] http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=21hid=119sid=b9cb39d4-a1c7-499b-9d41-b7631902a20a%40sessionmgr104 [10th April 2011] Employee Benefits.  Ã‚  Dec 2010.   pg.24 http://proquest.umi.com.ez.urosario.edu.co/pqdweb?index=6did=2202553811SrchMode=3sid=3Fmt=3VInst=PRODVType=PQDRQT=309VName=PQDTS=1302484952clientId=65930aid=2 [13th April 2011] Employee Benefits.  Ã‚  Jul 2010.   pg.20   http://proquest.umi.com.ez.urosario.edu.co/pqdweb?index=8did=2202553441SrchMode=3sid=3Fmt=3VInst=PRODVType=PQDRQT=309VName=PQDTS=1302485310clientId=65930aid=2 [13th April 2011] Employee Benefits.  Ã‚  May 2010.   pg.43   http://proquest.umi.com.ez.urosario.edu.co/pqdweb?index=8did=2073932571SrchMode=3sid=5Fmt=3VInst=PRODVType=PQDRQT=309VName=PQDTS=1302485541clientId=65930aid=3 [13th April 2011] Employee Benefits.  Ã‚  May 2010.   pg.44   http://proquest.umi.com.ez.urosario.edu.co/pqdweb?index=2did=2028876661SrchMode=3sid=6Fmt=3VInst=PRODVType=PQDRQT=309VName=PQDTS=1302485717clientId=65930aid=3 [14th April 2011] peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/subjects/employment-law/ [15th April 2011]

Critical Review Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Critical Review - Article Example Companies who have employed the use of teams in their organizations have experienced benefits of improved flexibility, cost savings, customer focus, innovation and a more motivated staff force (MacBryde and Mendibil 2001). Because of this mounting reliance on the use of teams, it has become imperative that there should be clear guidance on how to assess what constitutes team performance as well as reliable direction on how to measure the same. The research undertaken by Barbara Senior and Stephen Swailes entitled â€Å"The Dimensions of Management Team Performance: A Repertory Grid Study† is therefore timely, as it is significant. The research paper of Senior and Swailes aims to encapsulate the concept of team performance, concentrating mainly on management teams. The data gathered from study conducted insinuates certain factors that characterize team performance, namely: team purpose, team organization, team leadership, team climate, interpersonal relations, team communication, and team composition. Another factor has been identified with arguments as to their validity in characterizing team performance. The methodology used was suitable and the results of the research were appropriately derived at. However, the presentation of the different factors identified needs to be more organized. Some of the concepts being presented were well-argued and supported, while there are some which requires more foundation and substance. The research paper starts with a brief history on the concept of workgroups and teams, illustrating that interest in this topic in social psychology dates back to the early 1920’s. The study then provides a definition of what constitutes groups. The paper adopted Schein’s (1988) definition which considers group as people who have interaction with each other, are â€Å"psychologically aware of one another† and who recognize that they belong to a set or a group, regardless of their number. Other factors that could be considered

Sports Products Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Sports Products - Assignment Example Through the commercial that run during designated times, Fitbit advertisement intend to convince the consumers that the product offers real-time feedback, and thus suitable for tracking steps and vital statistics such as the calorie consumption (Salah, MacIntosh, & Rajakulendran, 2014). Notably, the FuelBand and Fitbit Flex advertisement compete to attract consumers to purchase the products. The FuelBand and Fitbit Flex target the both male and females who are health oriented and interested in tracking their vital statistics. The company segments the market according to none and sports participants. The marketers position the products as the replacement to physical trainers, workout logs, and other sports accessories (Guarda, 2013). Notably, the competing goal of the two companies is to create loyalty to the consumers through the focused-differentiation strategy. Nike’s advertisement depicts the company as the market leader in the sports product and technology, and it will always strive to reach the consumers through social media, families, and friends in order to increase the Nile community. On the other hand, the Fitbit adverts employ the geographic and behavioral segmentation. Salah, MacIntosh, and Rajakulendran (2014) contend that company targets the technologically savvy consumers in the middle and upper-classes. Guarda, D. (2013). Nike Takes Digital Data and Social Media Marketing Seriously. Retrieved 21 Apr. 2015, from http://www.intelligenthq.com/social-media-business/nike-takes-digital-data-and-social-media-marketing-seriously/ Salah, H., MacIntosh, E., & Rajakulendran, N. (2014). Wearable tech: Leveraging Canadian innovation to improve health. Retrieved 23 Apr. 2015, from

Full Corse Profile Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Full Corse Profile - Essay Example (2000), the manner in which culture affects decisions is through the reasons that a person responds when called upon to explain his or her choice. They further propose that cultures equips people with various principles and rules that offer guidance for decision-making. Besides, they argue that such cultural knowledge is activated by the need of providing reasons. Consequently, the proposal, which represents a dynamic instead of dispositional perspective of cultural influence, is examined in studies regarding consumer decisions (Briley et.al. 99) These studies involve an exchange between opposing attributes such as high quality and low price. From the study, the principles that enjoin compromise were more outstanding in Japanese culture than in Australian culture. In the same note, it is predictable that there will be higher cultural disparities in the propensity to select compromise options if the decision-making calls for the participants to give reasons (Simpson & Murawska 65). In the first study, the difference between Australian and Japanese participants in the propensity to select compromise goods was seen only on being asked to clarify their decisions. On analyzing the content of their reasons, it was found out that it is the cultural differences relating to the frequency with which specific types of reasons are generated that the differences in choices was mediated (Simpson & Murawska 65). ... According to Radford et.al. (1993), the effect of culture, is examined in terms of decisional stress, copying styles for the self-reported decision, and decisional self-esteem. Consequently, the authors have used both the Australian students and the Japanese students in conducting this research. In this case, 300 Australian university students and 743 Japanese were used. From both participants, there was positive correlation between the decisional self-esteem with the decision making choice style (Radford et. al. 74) However, there was negative correlation with such coping styles required in personal decision making as hyperactive vigilance, avoidance, and complacency; and decisional stress. Australian students had higher cultural differences than Japanese students did when it came to decisional self-esteem. On the other hand, the Australian students were lower on decisional stress, hyper vigilance, avoidance, and complacency coping styles. There was therefore, a relationship between the cross-cultural differences of the individualistic Australian culture and the group- oriented or collectivist Japanese culture (Wierzbicka 48). Ryuko et.al. (1999), has highlighted the way the applied linguistics literature have provided pedagogical arguments when applied on critical thinking and teaching writing by the ESL students. In this case, the author argues that through the presentation of these pedagogical arguments, the applied linguistics literature draws on cultural differences between the target academic society and ESL students (Ryuko et al. 56) The authors in this case, are trying to come up with cultural dichotomy between the west and the east, by constructing fixed, essentialized, apolitical cultural representations like harmony, deemphasis, and

Good parenting advice for first time parents

Good parenting advice for first time parents Being or becoming a parent is one of the most challenging, yet most natural things people may face during their life. A first-time parent may feel overwhelmed by the situation, therefore it is important to learn from other parents and research carried out in this area. This essay will look at some of the most important pieces of advice that a good parent can have, which will hopefully lead to a good parenting. First it will outline more about what it means to be a parent. Secondly it will specify different theories of child development. Then it will look at attachment and the Internal working Model and why secure attachment is important in early childhood. And finally it will look at first relationships and how infants experience distress. A parent is someone who has a responsibility to raise and guide a person from child, to adolescent, all their way up until their offspring is an adult. Parents are important, because they are the main example for their child on how to interact with the world and how they should lead their life. A parent is a bit like a rules book or instruction manual, on how to live life, for a child. Good parenting is difficult to define, as one definition does not fit all, however it refers to finding a good balance within all aspects of how to be a good parent. Many successful people are often heard praising their parents and upbringing for their success; this could be due to a result of good parenting. If there is good, there must be bad parenting. Many criminals state that abusive or poor parenting is a cause for their behaviour. It is also important to realize that parenting has changed over the last 50 years, and that the term and expectations of a parent differs not only over time, but also culturally and socially, therefore what one can see as good parenting, can other dissaproof. (Oates, Lewis and Lamb, 2005) There are different theories of child development, and each of them focuses on different aspects of development. Psychoanalytic theorys central stage is to put importance to early period of childhood, as that influence the development of adult personality. Freud stressed the importance of childhood events and experience. He saw child development as series of psychosexual stages, where each stage played a role in adult personality. (Oates, 2005) Another theory is cognitive theory, which argues that development of interactions from birth leads to the emergence of language. Piaget saw children think differently from adults, and as a first person, he saw children play an active role in gaining knowledge of the world. Behavioural theory looks at how environmental interaction influences behaviour; development is shaped by reaction to rewards, punishments, stimuli or reinforcement. Theory which looks at early relationships is Social theory, where Bowlby (1988) argues that early relationship s with caregivers play a major role in child development and continue to influence social relationships throughout life. The way in which newborns create new attachments and form their first relationships is very important. This is because these attachments and relationships could potentially provide the blue print for that person for the rest of their lives. Therefore an important bit of advice would be to provide lots of healthy attachments for babies early on in their lives. An attachment is something that we have a close bond to or a special relationship with. This can be with an object or a person. Bowbly (1988) believed that attachment is vital to make healthy attachments, not only one, but a variety, as this could lead to a more developed Internal working model (IWM). An IWM is made up of three parts; the model of self, model of the other and the relationship between these. The first experiences which babies have build their IWM, and this is what they use to approach new ideas and situations with. Therefore this model helps them to use this prior knowledge of attachments when they are in new sit uations with a different objects or people. A healthy attachment is a long-term, stable relationship between a child and an object or person, in this situation a parent. It is important for the child to make strong healthy attachments with not only parents, but also with other people, such as their grandparents or caregivers. The more relationships the baby has, the better outcome for the childs IWM, it also leads to healthy emotional development. Ainsworths Strange Situation (1978) experiment created four types of attachment, that a childs IWM can take. The four types are insecure-avoidant (Type A), securely attached (Type B), insecure-resistant/ambivalent (Type C) or disorientated/disorganized (Type D). The Strange Situation experiment examines attachments and its developmental consequences. The experiment looks at the behaviours and actions of a child, when they have been separated from their parent and then when reunited. Ainsworth noticed that it was when the child and the parent were reunited, that a childs type was most evident. Mothers of secure infants respond to all of their childs emotions, therefore the infants learn that all emotions are valid in relationship. When reunited the child found easy to be comforted by its mother. The avoidant infants show only few emotions, which are mostly negative. The mothers are unresponsive to most of the emotions, especially the negative ones. Therefore these infants learn to hid e their emotions. At the reunion, these children avoid interaction with their parents. Mothers, who respond only to distress responds of their infants, tend to have ambivalent infants. These infants learn that negative emotions get the attention of their mother and that these emotions are the valid ones in the relationship. These child children will seek contact and interaction at the reunion, but when it is offered, they reject it. These results showed that important factor of developing infants different types of IWM can be influenced by their mothers sensitivity to their infants emotional communications and emotions. (Ainsworth, 1969) Child with secure attachment feels worthy of his parents attention and love, and can gain comfort from this feeling when they are separated, and has confidence that his parent will return. According to Meins et al. (2001), parents, who treat their infants as persons with their own feelings and thoughts, contribute to their secure attachment. Bowlby (1988) argues that is important to have secure attachment, because these children might approach a relationship with more confidence than someone who has insecure attachment. The attachment theory puts forward that an infant who has a secure attachment with one or both parents will be able to use them as a secure base in which to explore their environment. This is because their IWM represent that of their parent figures. An example of importance of secure attachment and how IWM works can be seen in the programme by Dr Acquarone (2006). Marni had problem with her sleeping habits, she woke up through the night and needed her mother to comfort her. She had formed an attachment to her mother, as she feels secure with her, but as Dr Acquarone suggested, Marni has not formed a sufficiently stable internal working model for her to use as a source of comfort when her mother is not available. Therefore Marni needs to find and develop an attachment to a substitute transactional object, which will help her in this situation. It is important to remember that the baby is also a person, how a parent relates to the child in the early life will have a direct influence on its future. Throughout our lives we have many relationships. As people are predominately social, it is important that they learn how to make good strong relationships. It is important to make relationships not only for our physical needs, but also for our psychological development. Humans first relationship is very important. Winnicott (1964) stated that there is no such thing as a baby if you set out to describe a baby; you will find that you are describing a baby and someone. A baby cannot exist alone, but is essentially part of a relationship. (Winnicott, 1964, p.88) The caregivers are providing the physical needs for the baby; such as food, warmth and support, furthermore they are providing the opportunity for the baby to form a relationship with them. As part of a good relationship, it is important that an infants and an adults social in teractions fit well together, this is known as meshing. Oates (2005) assumed that meshed interactions between mother and infant can give the infant the unique experience of taking part in a dialogue, which also provides the experience of relatedness. Therefore mashing is very important, because interacting with infants provides an opportunity for the infant to recognize what his/her behaviour means, and how others respond to it. However, infants are very sensitive to their mothers responsiveness, as can be seen from Murray and Trevarthen (1985) study. Infants who were interacting with their mothers through a video link, where the live link was replaced by a delay or replay of the recording, made the infants distressed, as the mother was not corresponding to the infants needs properly. Shuttleworth (1989) assumed that distress is a crucial experience in infancy, which should not be avoided as it creates intimate contact between mother and baby. Each parent deals differently with distressed baby. Winnicott (1965) stated that it is very important for mother to be emotionally available to her infant to build up a system of two-way communication. He also believed that infant should be allowed to experience tolerable frustration as this leads to a healthy development of independence and sense of self. Therefore he challenged the term good mother, as he sees good mother as someone who allows just the right amount of delay in meeting the infants needs. Studies were done on what is the best to do with distressed babies. For example Ainsworth and Bell (1970) found that babies, whose crying was ignored early, were later crying more frequently than babies whose mothers responded quickly to their babies needs. These findings agree with attachment theory, where the idea is that mother respond immediately to her babys needs. However not all studies have same results. Some suggests that baby cries more frequently if the mother responds too often, this agrees with Social learning theory. In the study of Clarke-Steward (1973) on 11, 14 and 17 months old babies was found that mothers who respond promptly to distress infants were among the least fretful. However, when the results were examined separately in gender, the girls were the most and the least fretful even their mothers were very responsive to their signals of distress. This results support the predictions of both social-learning theorists and attachment theorists, which examples were mentioned above. Being a first-time parent can be a very challenging and difficult period in a persons life. Therefore it is vital that help is at hand. This has lead too many theories on child development. Parenting style is an important factor, and each parent must do what they feel is best for their child. This essay has identified some theories and examined research that explores attachments and relationships. It suggested that communication is very important between the mother and her infant, and that communication and attachment has an influence of the emotional development of the child. These would be important bits of information to pass on, because looking at these theories puts being a first-time parent into perspective. They demonstrate how the actions of the parent will have an effect on the baby possibly for the rest of his life. Primary relationships and attachments create the life blue-print for that baby. Obviously mistakes happen and parent cannot be a perfect all the time. So along with the advice in any parent help book or any research carried out, it is important for the parent to just do their best no matter what happens. Word count: 1981

It’s the End of the Worldand I Feel Fine Essay -- essays papers

It’s the End of the Worldand I Feel Fine It’s the End of the World†¦and I Feel Fine! (The role of intellectuals in the creation and justification of nuclear weapons.) In Fail Safe and Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Sidney Lumet and Stanley Kubrick question the relationship between technology and humanity by emphasizing mankind’s tendency to create machines that cannot be adequately controlled. By blatantly revealing the absurdity of game theory (Mutual Assured Destruction as a reasonable deterrence for nuclear war), both directors call into question the dominant pro-Cold War American ideology. One of the most quintessential aspects of this ideology includes the drive for constant technological advance and strategic superiority. Without the brainpower of the scientists and intellectuals who dedicated their lives to the extension of technological power and the study of international conflict, the Arms Race would certainly not have been possible. These academics not only became the architects of atomic weapons but they were also faced with justifying the use of these nuclear bombs, and creating a th eoretical framework within which nuclear warfare might be appropriately (and rationally) conducted. Within this context, one noteworthy parallel between Fail Safe and Dr. Strangelove is the existence (in both films) of a single intellectual genius that actively perpetuates the â€Å"science† of nuclear advancement and strategy. Indeed, through the characterizations of Professor Groeteschele and Dr. Strangelove, both Lumet and Kubrick examine the prominent role of intellectuals (both scientists and theorists) in the creation and justification of nuclear warfare. Ultimately, both Lumet and Kubrick reveal the problems with relying solely on science and mathematics to resolve international conflict, thus suggesting that modern warfare requires a more humanistic, ethical definition of right and wrong. Both Fail Safe and Dr Strangelove serve as moralizing responses to the dominant American Cold War culture, rhetoric, and political policy. In his article titled â€Å"Dr. Strangelove (1964): Nightmare Comedy and the ideology of Liberal Consensus,† Charles Maland identi fies the dominant American cultural paradigm (during the Cold War) as â€Å"the Ideology of the Liberal Consensus.† Maland maintains that the Ideology of the ... ...ocosm of possible nuclear disasters, both directors choose to include a character that embodies the contemporary ‘nuclear intellectual.’ Indeed, scientists and theoreticians (like Groeteschele and Strangelove) played a prominent role in defining and perpetuating the new Cold War culture. These academics not only became the architects of nuclear bombs but they were also faced with creating a viable theoretical framework within which the use of these weapons would be both recommended and justified. However, both Kubrick and Lumet suggest that in order to apply their brilliance towards mass destruction and death, intellectuals must give up a portion of their humanity, becoming increasingly more like the devices they create and defend. The mutual catastrophes that occur in Fail Safe and Dr. Strangelove show the inevitability of human weakness and scientific fallibility. Through the development of Professor Groeteschele and Dr. Strangelove, both Lumet and Kubrick illustra te the catastrophic possibilities of relying solely on science and mathematics to resolve international conflicts. Ultimately, modern, high stake warfare requires a more humanistic, ethical code of right and wrong.