Managerial Research Findings

Introduction Managers play pivotal roles in the success of organisations. To ensure that they have theoretical paradigms, which while applied help them to continue to realise success, a large scholarly body of knowledge has evolved seeking to study and or give insights to the most acceptable roles and functions of managers.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Managerial Research Findings specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In a more interactive way, management refers to â€Å"human action, including design, to facilitate the production of useful outcomes from a system† (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin Cardy 2008, p.20). In the realisation of this goal, managers organise six M’s- men and women, machines, markets, money, methods, and materials such that the M’s operate in harmony in favour of organisational objectives, missions, goals, and aims (Marshall Stewart 1981, p.177). In this extent, the work of managem ent encompasses utilisation of resources that are available at the disposal of an organisation to aid in the realisation of the objectives of the organisation. Many of the scholars in the field of management contend that the work of management involves tasks such as directing, controlling, organising, monitoring, and motivating among others. Findings indicate that managers have central roles to play in fostering employees’ relations through harnessing their (employees) cultural diversities in an organisation, creating appropriate organisational behaviours that are consistent with an organisations’ missions, objectives and strategic goals, and initiating perspectives of social corporate responsibility in the effort to ensure that all organisations’ stakeholders are satisfied with the organisation. In the execution of these tasks, managers must utilise their knowledge on fundamental functions that they serve within an organisation- controlling, directing, organisi ng, and planning (Hales 1986, p.89). Ensuring that all these functions are integrated within the management body demands the possession of good communication skills. This paper discusses and justifies social corporate responsibility and the nature of management role of communication in management as the most crucial findings in the studies of the management work.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Nature of Management Work For any upcoming manager, research findings on the nature of the work of management are important. Investors risk their money in the anticipation of future gains. Due to operational dynamics, investors look for various ways of shifting around their money that is committed to investments in the effort to look for a myriad of ways that would yield optimal returns. Research findings in the field of management reflect applicability of a similar analogy in the eva luation of the work of management. Apart from the investment of energies of the managers in the running of an organisation, they have resources, which include people (employees), materials, and time (Mintzberg 1990, p.172) at their disposal, which they must establish appropriate combinations to yield optimal returns for the investors (shareholders in case of company). Being one of the most important resources that are available to an organisation, managers must not only ensure that they have â€Å"the right employees at the right places and at the right time but also focus on improving the resource† (Coli Klidas 1998, p.88). Amid the many ways of accomplishing this requirement, motivation and empowerment are outstanding. Coli and Klidas (1998) studied empowerment as a component of management work. The authors argued that empowerment addresses most of the enduring problems in human resource by enhancing cooperation among various employees coupled with compliance (p.88). In th is extent, empowerment as an essential work of management helps managers to function as catalysts, facilitators, developers of people, and more importantly, coaches of people. However, it is vital to note that this list does not cover totally the roles of empowerment in management work. In today’s work environments, people are required to think more about how certain tasks are to be completed as opposed to engaging more in physical activities (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin Cardy 2008, p.25).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Managerial Research Findings specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Consequently, it is crucial for managers to engage in asking various simulation interrogatives to unveil the solution of how people’s optimal mental work can be realised from them. This way, the work of management appears more of being inclined to facilitation as opposed to decision-making as has been theorised by past literatu re on management work (Tengblad 2006, p.1439). Acting as facilitators, managers have to establish various management approaches that suit the environmental condition of an organisation. In this extent, when an organisation encounters periods of rapid technological changes, when it needs innovations and creativity to create new products while not negating services and periods of low motivations of employees among other challenging situations, managers have no choice rather than advocating for empowerment of employees. This argument calls for incorporation of employees in decision-making process even if it means erosion of the authoritative power of a manager (Coli Klidas 1998, p.90). Therefore, the work of management entails making bold decisions for the benefit of an organisation. While empowerment through delegation is important as suggested by the findings of Coli and Klidas (1998) in their study on empowerment in 10 five-star hotels located in Amsterdam, more current findings in dicate, â€Å"delegation is not enough in today’s knowledge-driven world to have work done through people† (Blalock 2005, p.237). This finding is important since the modern managerial work environments have evolved to encompass more of problem solving, decision-making, and creative thinking tasks.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This argument perhaps complies precisely with the findings of various scholarly findings indicating that successful organisations in the globalisation age needs to cast off traditional approaches of management, which emphasise more on task-oriented mechanistic management that focuses more on controlling. Effecting control is achieved through various mechanisms. Gronn (1983) identifies talk (communication) as one of such mechanisms. The author argues that, in school settings, â€Å"control is an aspect for administration for which talk is a key resource particularly for staff relations, which imply that talk is a key potential instrument of control for both principle and staff in schools† (Gronn 1983, p.1). In this perspective, controlling is a means for making sure that tasks within an organisation are accomplished through specified processes and methods. Thus, it is a mechanism of making sure that tasks allocated to work groups and individuals are done in the manager’ s way. Hence, it hinders employees from creating and innovating new way of doing the same task in a manner that would save costs, which oppose the managers’ approach. Management approach, which emphasises control, hinders information sharing: a major driving force for organisational success for a knowledge-based organisation. Stemming from the above arguments on the findings of the studies in the discipline of management work, it is evident that management work entangles multiple processes that never end, which cut across planning, organising, directing, and controlling. In this line of argument, Mintzberg (1990) maintains that the work of a manager is difficult since it often calls managers to over work themselves. From the perspective of Mintzberg (1990), â€Å"brevity, fragmentation, and verbal communication characterise their work† (pp167-168). Since this concern impedes incorporation of scientific research in aiding in the development of managerial tactics that wo uld make managers more productive in their work, concerning Mintzberg (1990), studies in management work focuses on functions, which are easier to analyse. This argument implies that the work of management extends from the key four pillars of management: directing, controlling, planning, and organising. The degree of integration of the management functions with other organisational dynamics determines the productivity and effectiveness of the managers (Watson 2001, p.223). One of such dynamics in the degree to which managers permit employees to take part in decision-making processes in the effort to ensure that managers ensure that work is done through the human resource. This strategy makes the nature of management work multidisciplinary to the extent that a manager has to deploy perspectives of economics, sociology, information technology, managerial science and art, and psychology among others to ensure that all organisational variables are balanced. The findings on the nature of managerial work are important since management functions cannot be to be realised in the absence of the knowledge of anticipated outputs and if managers are not aware of their roles in an organisation and or how the roles changes with changes in organisation work environment and technology. Management and Communication Research findings indicate that managers spend most of their time communicating either verbally or through written communication (Gronn 1983). Managers facilitate things in an organisation through other people (organisational employees). Consequently, it is important that managers are able to communicate effectively about the process of achieving the desired goals. Through directing as a fundamental role of management, managers utilise most of their time allocating jobs to various work groups and individuals in discharging other obligations that are akin to the success of an organisation. Faced by such many tasks to accomplish within a finite amount of time, ineffect ive managers have the probabilities of blaming their failures on obligations (Mintzberg 1990, p.174). Consequently, it is important that managers are able to alter obligations to act as an advantage. In this extent, speech is incredible since it gives managers an opportunity to lobby for appropriate cause. In this end, Mintzberg (1990) informs, â€Å"a meeting is a chance to reorganise a weak department- a visit to an important customer is a chance to extract trade information† (p.175) and hence impossible to achieve without possession of ardent communication skills. Organisations are made of diverse people in terms of cultural affiliations. These differences may influence the success of an organisation in the sense that they may create different organisational cultures, which are not consistent with the goals, objectives, and missions of the organisation employing them. This challenge calls for managers to look for a mechanism of creating an organisation culture that appreci ates the cultural diversities of the people. Such a culture is organised around the common organisational objective. In this effort, top-down and bottom-up communication is imperative. With regard to Blalock (2005), managers utilise about 75 to 80 percent of their total time in communication. In the context of the needs to organise people in an organisation around a common culture, this finding is imperative in the process of creation of a common culture. Hence, a manager who realises that his or her work entails principally fostering effective communication would not feel overwhelmed by the task of creating a multicultural culture. Research finding on the roles of communication in management evidences various reasons why managers ought to engage in good communication. Such reasons underpin the effectiveness of a manager in performing his or her managerial tasks. One of the reasons is laid on the platforms of the expensiveness of failure to foster effective communication in organisa tions. In this perspective, Blalock established that managers’ promotional rates were dependent on their ability to make things done in an organisation through people (2005, p.239), which is not only a disadvantage to the managers’ angle of view but also from the organisation’s perspective because ineffectiveness of managers influences the success of an organisation in terms of its profitability. Communication plays a pivotal role in the modern work environments. The organisational environments continue to be complex due to increased competition that is characterised by excess of surplus in productions. Consequently, only organisations that are able to harness their production resources would be able to reduce their costs of productions, which are important for an organisation to gain a competitive advantage in the market places. Employees are among the many organisational resources that a manager has sole responsibility to manage. Management of an organisationà ¢â‚¬â„¢s employees is improbable without ardent vertical and horizontal communication. Research finding on the roles of communication as a constituent element of management work is also critical considering that modern organisations are focusing on strategic missions to be globalised. Globalisation implies that an organisation increases its customer base. Global customers have different tastes and preferences. Where an organisation establishes presence in different nations across the globe, it is also likely that it will employ people from differing cultural, racial, and ethnic backgrounds. All these factors reinforce the perspective that managers of globalising organisations are increasingly facing more roles in enhancing cultural interactivity of their employees. With the findings that communication is an essential tool for harmonising employees’ pool differences, effective communication is certainly one of the elements that organisations will consider in hiring management staff. Communication entangles the use of words to spell out the required course of action in an organisation. This line of view is also held by Gronn (1983). In school settings, management work is effected through exchange of words to the extent that â€Å"†¦administrative control is accomplished by talks† (Gronn 1983, p.1). Hence, through a constant talk, school management teams are able to accomplish their administrative tasks, which may be interpreted in the context of the management work as encompassing organising, directing, planning, and controlling. Hence, communication is an essential aspect of management in all settings involving organisation, planning, directing, and controlling human resource. Management Social Corporate Responsibility Social responsibly is a new aspect of components of work of management in an organisation. Managers have the tasks of ensuring that not all stakeholders of an organisation are caught up in the battle for conflicts of interests (Tengblad 2006, p.1438). For them to do this job, managers need to harmonise all the stakes of the organisational stakeholders in a manner that is consistent with the goals of an organisation. Literature on management work associates such a requirement with the adoption of principles of social corporate management within organisations. From the most fundamental perspective, social corporate responsibility (CSR) is the obligation for companies not only to act to serve their own interests but also the interests of the society. More interactively, CSR is defined as an â€Å"economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary expectation that the society has on organisations at a given point in time† (Carroll Buchholtz 2003, p. 36). A thorough examination of CSR is essentially provided through analysis of stakeholders. Stakeholders encompass all groups and specific individuals who either benefit, or even are harmed by decisions made by an organisation’s management arm. Managers c annot make decisions that will not harm all the organisational stakeholders if they do not harmonise the differences among the stakeholders of the organisations they manage. Social corporate responsibility is presented in the management work literature as an incredible tool for creating integration of interests of differing people who have special interests in an organisation. As Carroll and Buchholtz (2003, p. 36), â€Å"the key principle of social corporate responsibility is pegged on the idea that organisations have philanthropic, ethical, and moral responsibilities to play in addition to providing returns to investors†. Additionally, organisations gain immensely when they respect the environment in which they are established. Research findings in the studies on management work indicate that it is crucial for managers to focus on how they would hike the profitability of the organisations they lead. They should also look for mechanisms of ensuring mitigation of risky situat ions that may prompt an organisation to hike its weakness and threats to its operations (Tengblad 2006, p.1444). One of the ways of doing this task is through adopting principles of corporate social responsibility. In the discussion of social corporate responsibility, as an essential component of work of management, it is perhaps important to consider how the principles apply to some stakeholder in an organisation, for instance, customers and employees. Employees constitute an organisation’s stakeholders who help in the process of conversion of raw materials into finished products and services through value addition. Thus, they are central to the CSR program. More importantly, they are crucial to an organisation since they â€Å"invest their skills and time in their work and that their livelihood depends on the activities of the organisation† (Carroll, Buchholtz 2003, p.67). The main task of management is to adopt strategies for determining how employees’ inter ests are merged with the main goal of an organisation without creating conflict of interests. It is in this extent that management literature findings on the roles of corporate responsibility in an organisation are significant. One of the reasons cited by management literature for existence of organisations is to create value to customers. Customers are the chief stakeholders that keep any organisation’s business in operation. Apart from ensuring customers’ satisfaction with the products that the company offers to them, an organisation through management arm has other ethical and moral obligations towards them. In fact, customers are important since the degree to which the reputation of an organisation is maintained depends on their perceptions about the way an organisation in question treats them. Treating customers with courtesy ensures better reputation of the name of the business and hence more sales meaning more returns on investment to the investors. Organisation s management obligation is to ensure that organisations engage in business in a long-term basis (Garriga Mele 2004, p.52.). Customers are the main tools for ensuring realisation of this obligation. The issue is thus how to retain first time customers and make them faithful subsequent buyers of organisational products through adoption of CSR principles. To resolve this issue, organisations endeavour to not only treat customers fairly but also offers products and services of high quality at fair prices. Based on these arguments, findings on the roles of management in enhancing CSR in an organisation are very important. Conclusion The role of management in an organisation is an area of study that has attracted the interest of many scholars within the last three decades. More efforts of the studies in management work have been dedicated on establishing the basic functions of a manager in an organisation coupled with delving on theoretical paradigms on how managers can be effective in e xecuting their key functions. As discussed in the paper, these functions are directing, controlling, organising, and planning. The paper argued that managers achieve these core functions by focusing on other aspects such as social corporate responsibility, adopting appropriate communication, and motivational techniques such as empowerment. In fact, the paper discussed these three aspects as the most important findings in the management work-studies. In case of social corporate responsibility, the paper held the findings on its roles in an organisation as crucial since a manager cannot avoid conflicts of interest among organisational stakeholders without paying attention to mechanisms of harmonising all stakes of the stakeholders. Communication is one of the most important aspects of managerial work, which help binding all organisational processes. Findings on the nature of management work were also considered in the paper as important since execution of the management work requires people to know what management embraces. References Blalock, M 2005, ‘Listen up, why good communication is good business’, Journal of Marketing Management, vol. 9 no. 3, pp. 233-243. Carroll, B Buchholtz, A 2003, Business and Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management, Thomson South-Western, Australia. Coli, H Klidas, A 1998, ‘Empowerment in five-star hotels: choice, voice or rhetoric?’, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 10 no.3, pp. 88-95. Garriga, E Mele, D 2004, ‘Corporate Social Responsibility Theories: Mapping the Territory’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 5 no. 3, pp. 51-71. Gomez-Mejia, L, Balkin, D, Cardy, R 2008, Management: People, Performance, Change, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. Gronn, P 1983, ‘Talk as the work: the accomplishment of school administration’, Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 28 no.1, pp. 1-21. Hales, C 1986, ‘What do managers do? A critical review of the ev idence’, Journal of Management Studies, vol. 23 no. 1, pp. 88-115. Marshall, J Stewart, R 1981, ‘Managers’ job perceptions. Part I: their overall frameworks and working strategies’, Journal of Management Studies, vol. 18 no. 2, pp. 177-90. Mintzberg, H 1990, ‘The manager’s job: folklore and fact’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 3 no. 2, pp. 163-76. Tengblad, S 2006, ‘Is there a ‘new managerial work’? A comparison with Henry Mintzberg’s classic study 30 years later’, Journal of Management Studies, vol. 43 no. 7, pp. 1437-1461. Watson, T 2001, ‘The emergent manager and processes of management pre-learning’, Management Learning, vol. 32 no. 2, pp. 221-325. This essay on Managerial Research Findings was written and submitted by user Trinity Osborne to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Art of Effective Problem Solving

The Art of Effective Problem Solving Finding the best strategy to solve a problem depends on the problem itself. Often it is best if students were given an assignment that requires the implementation of their problem solving skills, that they learn all they can about the issue surrounding or even causing the problem. Problem solving is a highly regarded and much-needed  skill in the working or business world – in fact, poor problem-solving practices can do much hard to business relationships and a business’ success. In other words, problem solving is a process of finding solutions to difficult issues. Students in the  academy are often given problem-solving assignments to hone this particular skill set. The opportunities for problem solving  are so ubiquitous, coming every day  to most people, that many do it quite naturally – and yet very effectively. PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS In either case, the term â€Å"problem solving† is a mental process that seeks to overcome obstacles – a problem, or a doubtful or difficult matter requiring a solution – by finding the best solution to that problem; it involves identifying a problem, then analyzing and solving that problem through what is known as the â€Å"Problem-Solving Cycle,† which includes the development of strategies and organization of thought and action. Problem Solving Cycle Finding the best strategy to solve a problem depends on the problem itself. Often it is best  if students were given an assignment that requires the implementation of their problem-solving skills, that they first learn all they can about the issue surrounding or even causing the problem; then using that knowledge of the issue to assess the problem for possible solutions. Planning and structuring are critical in problem solving. Of course, in other instances, creativity, collaboration and sound judgment may serve the student best in problem-solving practices. All problems have two key features – a goal and a barrier. Without a barrier preventing one from reaching a goal, there would be no problem in the first place. And problem solving involves overcoming these barriers and obstacles that prevent the immediate achievement of these goals. Steps to Solving the Problem As mentioned above, there is a series of steps a student can follow to determine the most effective solution to their problem. Step 1. To solve a problem, a student must recognize that there is a problem, and define it. Although this seems an obvious step, it’s not always a simple task. It’s too easy to identify the wrong problem  or even the wrong source of the problem, so the student must initially consider all possible problems. Step 2.  The student should keenly search to identify the causes of the problem. Step 3.  It is crucial that before the student brainstorms all possible solutions that contribute or create the problem, they should first organize all available information, and ask â€Å"What do I know about the problem? What do I not know?†Ã‚  Subsequently, choose the best solution to solve the problem. Step 4.  The student has to implement or incorporate that solution to solve their particular problem. Step 5.  The student must then evaluate and monitor the implementation of this solution – the results – to see if the problem has been solved. This stage of the problem-solving cycle involves determining if the process was successful, through monitoring any changes that occurred that might have led to the student achieving their goal in solving their problem. It may be best to keep a record of outcomes and additional problems that occurred using each solution. If the solution you think is right does not work, or if it does not solve the problem at hand, you will have to consider implementing other solutions and, therefore, complete the cycle again and again until the problem is ultimately solved. PROBLEM SOLVING STRATEGIES Need help with your problem-solving  assignment? is happy to be your academic advisor. We have effectively helped hundreds of our customers worldwide and have developed considerable expertise in problem-solving  assignments. Just email us your instructions, we will analyze them and will assign you a writing professional who is an expert in your field. We guarantee you a fully authentic, well-written  and properly formatted paper at the end of our cooperation. You will be able to use this paper as a sample to work on your subsequent problem-solving  assignments and you will want to come back to us for me professional services! is the service you can rely on! You can place your order right now.

360 Degree Performance Morgan Stanley Case Study

360 Degree Performance Morgan Stanley - Case Study Example The problems at Stanley Morgan are associated with the improper assessment of the personnel of the company. The new system that is going to be implemented should resolve a lot of the inefficiency of the old system. I do not think that the problems the company faces are a symptom of a larger problem. An immediate issue that needs to be address is to ensure that the new evaluation system does not promote individualism over teamwork. â€Å"Teams are groups of people who work actively together to achieve a purpose for which they are all accountable† (Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, 2003, pg. 192). The new evaluation system does not have the capability to differentiate between team skills and personal abilities of the workers. Team skills are a valuable ability for an employee to have due to the shift way from individualism in the corporate world. The new strategic direction of Morgan Stanley is geared towards being able to fully access the performance of the employees in order to maximize the capabilities of the workers of the firm. The new system will directly impact over 2,000 employees at Morgan Stanley. Strategic planning is critical to the success of a business because it describes where your company wants to go (Pirraglia, 2012). The morale of the employees is an important factor to monitor at Morgan Stanley. Three ways to improve employee morale are to keep employees feeling like work is more than just a job in an effort to keep enthusiasm high, creatively celebrate accomplishments, and allowing employees the freedom to pursue projects they are passionate about (Erb, 2012). Keeping the morale of the workers at the company high is very important because unmotivated workers with low morale typically are less productive employees. The job performance of the employees of a firm is the responsibility of the managerial staff

Human papilloma virus (HPV) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Human papilloma virus (HPV) - Essay Example High-risk HPV 16 and 18 are most commonly associated with cervical, vulvar, vaginal, penile, oropharyngeal cancer and anal cancers.3 In females, cervical cancer is the second most frequent cancer worldwide, and the third most common cause of mortality from cancer.2 Additionally, 80% of cases occur in developing countries.3 Although low-risk HPVs (such as type 6 and 11) are not cancerous, they can still cause benign or minimal abnormalities of cervical cells, such as skin  warts  on or around the genitals or anus, and recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP).3 These figures are a global public health concern. This report addresses why HPV is a public health problem in developed countries and evaluates the policies and strategies taken to deal with HPV infection. HPV is an entirely mucosal infection and does not include a bloodstream phase. While HPV is sexually transmitted, penetrative sexual intercourse is not necessary for transmission to occur. Many researches indicate unprotected genital contact is a well-documented mode of infection, including genital–genital, oral–genital and manual–genital contact.4-6 For both genders, the infection rate is increased soon after becoming sexually active. Indeed, half of sexually active men and women are infected with several HPV types at any point in their lives, and some may be repeatedly infected. In 2011, Hariri et al. (2011) conducted a nationwide population-based study in the US to investigate the prevalence of both high/low-risk HPV in 14–59 year old females during 2003–2006.7 They found the overall prevalence of high- and low-risk HPV was 43% among 14-59 year old women. They also found those aged 20-24 years are more likely to be affected by high-risk HPV, and the risk decreases with age. Recent figures show almost 7% of adults are infected by oral HPV during their lifetime.8,9 Gillison et al. (2012) conducted a cross-sectional study in

Willys failures Essay Example for Free

Willys failures Essay The play is certainly not just about the failure of an inadequate human being(s) there is far greater depth to the story. One could argue that the play is also a critique of the American dream, the idea that an ordinary person can just achieve success without too much effort; you just have to be well-liked as Willy puts it. It is Willys obsession with achieving this dream that leads to his madness and his downfall. This could suggest that the dream is impossible to achieve and a person will only end up disappointed if they rely on it. It is after all only a dream and not reality. Despite Willys failure at achieving the dream, it does not necessarily mean that the dream is unobtainable. Miller uses many characters to show the difference in success and failure in the American system. Charley, regarded as another normal person, is actually quite successful under the American system. This contrasts greatly with the financial insecurity of Willy and seems to dispel the idea that this book is a critique of the American dream. The audience will think that Charley has achieved success in the American system; it cannot be too badly flawed therefore. If you look at the play in far greater depth however, you will realise that the play is criticising the American dream. Charley did not sit around waiting for his wealth to just appear like Willy did; who was following the idea of the dream much more closely. Charley went out and worked hard to achieve everything, willing to work from the bottom, and acknowledge that he was working from the bottom. This very different to the American day dreaming Willy, who was too proud to accept a job off Charley and fails to admit, until further into the play, that his job is a low job, at the very bottom of the social ladder. The idea of capitalist values is also criticised in the play such as the way Willy is cruelly fired from his job by Howard to save money and the way that as soon as Willy pays off the payments on his refrigerator and his car they break and he has to buy new ones. Miller is suggesting that although some may benefit from the American system, there are many that do not. It seems that Willy is almost certainly a failure in the play but one could argue otherwise. Firstly, the fact that Willy is willing to give up his life so the family can benefit from the vast life insurance payout, seems, although rather drastic, actually quite noble; a man willing to die for the welfare of his family. It is certainly true that Willy loves his family and one could argue that the main reason for Willys downfall is the failure of his children to make anything of their lives especially Biff. Willy feels somewhat responsible for their lack of success and this does not really show a huge failing on his behalf. Despite the affair, Willy loves his wife greatly as is seen with the guilt he feels when Linda repairs her old stockings. His often-ill treatment of Linda could be regarded as his own guilt and not his failure as a husband. Willy may not seem quite so much the failure as one might think. Despite this, Willy does fail in several areas. He fails to generate a good enough income to support a family and the situation becomes dire when he loses his job. He arguably fails as a father in that his sons are unsuccessful and when they were young he almost encourages them to steal for example. He also seems to fail as a husband in that he has an affair and he generally badly treats his wife. Willys delusion suggests a failure to hold onto his sanity and an inability to adjust with the times. I can conclude therefore that Death of A Salesman is certainly a touching portrayal of Willys failures. I disagree with the idea of the play being merely a touching portrayal however; it is far more than that. We certainly feel sympathetic towards Willys downfall yet we also feel angry at his situation. Miller challenges the ideals of Capitalism and the American dream and this creates almost anger amongst the audience, who feel the rich and great have cheated them. Millers use of a working class low man conveys the idea that every human being has dreams and ambitions not just the powerful man. His is a challenge to the Aristotelian tragedies of old in which it seemed to suggest that only the great kings could ever suffer. His challenge certainly succeeds.

The Achievements Or Successes Of Both Eu And Iasc Iasb Accounting Essay

The Achievements Or Successes Of Both Eu And Iasc Iasb Accounting Essay Introduction Growth in international trade has been on the increase over the years necessitating several organisations to be involved in the efforts to harmonise accounting practices either regionally or internationally. Among those, leading in this effort were the European Union (EU) and International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) (formerly International Accounting Standards Committee, IASC). This essay will look at background and harmonisation process of the two organisations and evaluate their achievements to date. It is considered that harmonisation maybe defined as a means by which differences are reduced hence harmonisation of financial practices will be regarded as the process by which the differences in accounting practices across countries are reduced ultimately resulting in a set that is comparable (Nobes and Parker, 2010). Background and Objectives The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of 27 member countries located in Europe. The EU was established on 1 January 1958 following the Treaty of Rome 1957 (Nobes and Parker, 2010). The objective of Treaty had established rules to encourage free movement of persons, products and services, and capital. This establishment drives the needs of harmonization of accounting and financial reporting. Thus, the most important objective of EU is to create a common market for the member countries. Uniformed accounting standards are required regionally in all parts of EU to encourage the flow of capital, enhance the protection of the shareholders and other stakeholders, and increase the reliability and comparability of companies financial information. The EU shows a contribution to regionally harmonizing accounting practices by established Directives and Regulations which are the two main instruments to harmonize company law and accounting standards (Nobes and Parker, 2010). As as an economic and political union, the EU have issued and established many directives to harmonize accounting practice in regional term. However, in international scope, the IASC is one of bodies are effecting on harmonization of accounting rules and disclosure and it reported a number of international standards (Nobes and Parker 2010). IASC was founded in June 1973, and the Board of IASC was constituted simultaneously by main accountancy bodies in nine different countries such as Canada, France, Germany, UK, and USA etc. The IASC was established to harmonize international accounting standards. IASC has received board range of support for its effort to harmonize international accounting, which has been considered as leading force to harmonization (Larson, 1999). The harmonization of accounting is also supported by IOSCO (International Organization of Securities Commissions), large public accounting firms, trading unions and most national public accountancy bodies. The basic objective of IASC is considered as publishing accounting standards to be observed in the financial statement preparation and encourage their acceptance and observance globally (Nobes and Parker, 2010). In 2001, the IASC restructured and renamed to the IASB. The new organization has shown new more comprehensive objectives compared to the IASC. To be able to understand the objectives of IASB, the conceptual frameworks should be explained. The IASCs conceptual framework included the objectives and the qualitative characteristics. The following table 1 shows the detailed objectives of IASB under the IFRS Foundation Constitution. Table : IASBs objectives IASBs Objectives To develop high quality and understandable international accounting standards to guide high quality, transparent and comparable information in financial reporting. Thus accounting standards will help the global capital market participants and other users decision making. To encourage the use and rigorous application of standards To fulfill the (a) and (b), and take account the interest of small, medium size entities and emerging economic account appropriately. Give high quality solutions about convergence of national and International accounting standards. Source: IFRS Foundation Constitution (ias.com, 2010). The qualitative characteristics of financial statements made by IASC followed the FASB. In order to forecast the risk, the accounting information must include all these three characteristics: relevance, reliability and comparability. The motives of harmonizing accounting practices by these organizations: One is tempted to consider harmonisation objective as having shifted from reducing differences to coming out with a standard or model for uniformity. The motives of the two most influential international bodies involved in the process of harmonisation of the different national accounting systems, therefore (as stated on their web sites), seems to suggest that they aim to develop or create a single set of high quality, understandable and enforceable global accounting standards, (Elliott and Elliott, 2009). It is more of standardization than harmonization as it is less flexible. This therefore raises suspicion as to the true purpose of their efforts especially when we consider their respective current compositions, history, their headquarters and the majority of stakeholders who are likely to benefit. Perera (1989) as quoted in Deegan and Unerman (2006) argued that the accounting standards themselves tend to reflect the circumstances and patterns of thinking of the representatives that makes the committees. Already, IASB seems to have noted similar criticism and Nobes and Parker (2010) states that the trustees will gradually increase the Board membership to include members from Europe, North America, Asia/Oceania, Africa and South America by 2012. Similar concerns were once echoed by Gray, et al (1981) while commenting on the proposal to introduce standards specifically for MNCs and the question seems to be still valid. He submitted that the term standard could be used broadly to mean a set of statements which may include reference to disclosure or measurement issues for the benefit of Multinational Companies. He found such statements to have a different meaning from that intended to achieve strict uniformity to those capable of more flexible interpretation; from those derived from statutory authority, to those which are effectively advisory. However, he relented that the fact that they exist as guidelines or criteria against which MNCs accountability is assessed, qualified such statements to be described as standards. Whittington (2005) stated that the motivation for the creation of the IASC was due to the need for a common international language of accounting to serve capital markets. He highlighted that a common set of accounting standards increased the comparability of companies in different countries and facilitated the easy consolidation of group of companies based in different countries. Although IASB sets standards after close scrutiny from different national standard setters, it is evident that it is involved more with convergence than harmonisation. This may in a way also support the sentiments expressed by UK finance directors during a survey that IFRSs undermined UK (and obviously of all other countries) reporting integrity, (Elliott and Elliott, 2009). Countries still need to maintain their national pride as they exhibit substantial economic and cultural differences. On another hand, it is important to note that we now have more of a global economy hence the development of international standards makes it easier to raise cross-border finance and to compare performance of companies by users who include prospective investors, (Elliott and Elliott, 2009). To summary, Epstein and Mirza (2001) and Choi et al.(2002) gave reasons for the harmonization process of accounting practices in the preparers and user perspectives, they stated that harmonization created huge advantages as listed in the following tables: Table : Advantages of harmonization Preparers Users Better comparison between group company and subsidiaries in preparing consolidation of financial statement Higher quality and comparable information among companies to decision making and Better communications in internal reporting system Reduce the risk for financial institutions MNCs do not have to change their statements to conform to each countrys rules when listing on exchange stock Lead to a well-developed and good functioning capital market, and its a pre-condition for a good economy and development Process of harmonization on IASC/IASB and EU The IASC and its successor are considered to be the most successful body that evolved in harmonization of accounting practices (Nobes and Parker, 2010). The harmonization efforts of IASC can be classified in three phases. Simultaneously, the IOSCO and IFAC have supported to the IASC/IASB and EU. First phase: 1973 to 1988 This period of time is called the first stage of development of IASC. During this period, the IASC set up most of its standards which covered major accounting topics like accounting for inventory (Epstein and Mirza, 2001). IASC focused on achieving compatibility between the existing standards and IAS and giving a lowest-common denominator approach cross the countries. At the same time, the strategy of IASC allowed multiple methods that used in various countries. IOSCO accepted that IASs for financial statement of foreign companies that listed in their stock exchange market (Larson, 2011). Additionally, the IFAC was founded in 1983 to develop the areas which were uncovered by the IASC, such as auditing and management accounting (Nobes and Parker, 2010). The following table shows the detail information of process: Table : Harmonization Process from 1973 to 1988 Harmonization Process 1973-1988 Context 1973 The IASC was founded. 1976 The Economic Cooperation and Development published an announcement on investment in MNCs to develop guidelines on disclosure of information (Choi et al., 2002) 1977 A Report about IASs for transitional corporations was issued by an expert group of United Nations (Choi et al., 2002). 1981 In order to set IAS widely, the IASC had forums with other organizations. 1983 Foundation of IFAC helped IASC to get a closer relationship with other bodies (Nobes and Parker, 2010). 1984 The London Stock Exchange issued a number of incorporated companies to follow IAS in the UK or Ireland (Choi et al., 2002). Second phase: 1989 to 1993 During this period IASC started to cooperate with IOSCO, and made agreement with IFRS for cross-border securities offerings (Nobes and Parker, 2010). However, the IASC was decreasing the choices under the IAS and the IASC needed more capital market so that the IOSCO would accept it in the period between 1989 and 1993 (Fritz and LÃ ¤mmle, 2003). IASC published a framework to prepare financial statement in 1989 and Comparability/Improvement Project was carried out to narrow the alternative accounting treatment in this period. Furthermore, 10 standards was revised in 1993 (Nobes and Parker, 2010). Table 4 shows the processes in this period. Table : Harmonization Process from 1989 to 1993 Harmonisation Process 1989-1993 Context 1989 Exposure Draft 32 was issued by IASC Third phase: 1993-2001 IASC started agreement with IOSCO and IOSCO supported 30 core standards that were developed or revised by IASC. From 2001, IASB started to improve existing International Accounting Standards, deal with the problem that IASC havent addressed and enhance quality of financial report. IASB also involves in reducing the international differences in standards with FASB (USA) (Nobes and Parker, 2010). Table : Harmonization Process from 1993 to 2001 Harmonization Process 1993-2001 Context 1995 The European Commission planned to support the IASC to make IAS link with EU accounting requirements. 1996 The SEC manifested that it supports the IASCÂ ´s objective to develop, as expeditiously as possible, Accounting Standards that could be used for preparing financial statements that could be used in cross-border offerings. (Choi et al., 2002:296) 1998 The IOSCO published an announcement International Disclosure Standards for Cross Border Offerings and Initial Listings by Foreign Issuers (Choi et al., 2002:296); the IASC began to explore a new strategy and organization structure. 2000 The IOSCO accepted the IAS, especially for foreign registers (Nobes and Parker, 2010). 2001 IASB was set up by supporting from the IOSCO and SEC (Nobes and Parker, 2010). The fundamental of EU accounting harmonization is a harmonization of company law which is aim to create a uniform business environment (Mueller, 1997). Harmonization of company law taken by EU is directives, which have publicized 12 directives. Moreover, the forth and the seventh directives made the contribution to the accounting harmonization process in the Europe (Hulle, 2001). In details, the fourth directive in 1978 combines Member States provision and provide a guideline of the presentation and content of annual accounts, valuation methods and the publication. The Directive also pointed out that the annual report must include a fair review of firms financial position and the true and fair view brought from UK was firstly mentioned in mandatory term. Also, the seventh Company Law Directive in 1983 combines National laws on consolidation accounting and the fourth directive together, and sets out the methods of preparing consolidated accounts. Choi (2002) suggested that IASs as the new accounting standards are the preferred choice for EU countries by European Union. In terms of international harmonization of accounting standards, the policy stated by European Commission in 1995 pointed out that it was more efficient to associate EU with IASC and IOSCO than amend existing directives (Epstein and Mirza, 2001). In 2000, a further step in harmonization process was made by EU, which required enterprises on a regulated market to prepare their consolidated accounts under IAS (Fritz and LÃ ¤mmle, 2003). The important obstacles faced by EU and IASC are differing accounting practice, which caused by different countries, nationalism, as well as lack of strong professional bodies and international enforcement agency. Also, the difference in regulatory sources is the challenge for EU and IASC (Houssain,nd). IASC is broadly focused on removing unnecessary differences in accounting principles and practice around the whole world (McComb, 1982). That A lack of synchronization between release of standards in different countries and the formulation of standards by IASC will be an obstacle for harmonization (Rivera, 1989). Furthermore, lack of the professional bodies takes a challenge to implement IASs. It is said that IASC can only implement its accounting standards by its member bodies, not through the own authority. Taking France and Germany as examples, the professional accounting bodies in these two countries have rarely influence setting of accounting rules than setting by the government and governmental bodies, so that IASs can only promoted by persuasion (Nobes, 1995). In terms of nationalism, there is an unwillingness to change accounting practice by accepting compromises. Nationalism may be brought out when attempting to maintain independence of sovereignty. It can be observed that some countries did not make a reaction to attempts of harmonization by IASC (Nobes and Parker, 2002). Another challenge is the economic consequences of a particular country. Various in economic consequences of standards could result in de-harmonization unless considered by those who set the standards (Nobes and Parker, 2002). The international accounting firms are also worried about the increasing interest of outsiders in the profession and the wish the standard setting process to be kept outside of the hands of the government (Samuels and Piper,1985). The achievements or successes of both EU and IASC/IASB in harmonising accounting practices: In order to decide whether EU and the IASC were successful, it is important to review the objectives of these 2 organizations. First of all, the achievements of EU would be evaluated. In the past, countries in European used control of bookkeeping system instead of the financial statements which were lack of law and format. The EU set two main directives to improve financial reporting practices and brought about some harmonisation. These directives approached rapidly throughout Europe and nowadays most countries in the continental Europe followed the EUs accounting system rather than Anglo-American type. The Table 6 describes the extent of harmonization that has been achieved in descending order. Table : Extent of harmonisation achieved between 8 EU countries in descending order The balance sheet translation Differences in translation treatment Value of inventory The income statement translation The way to approach depreciation Examination and improvement Value of Fixed Asset Goodwill Approach for cost of inventory Source: Herrmann Thomas, 1995, p264 Besides those successes, EU had some failures. Montagna (1986) stated that weak regulations, general and vague disclosure made European accounts be the same. In addition, Blake and Amat (1994) concluded that because of no direction for foreign currency translation, deferred taxation and accounting for lease commitments, the EUs directives was failed itself. Some countries have explained the directives paralleling with the national accounting tradition. Some individual companies might refuse to agree to the rules given by EU. For example, 90% of German companies failed to publish their accounts. The EU harmonization also failed at the material level of actual accounting practices. The Table 6 shown above have presented 9 material harmonisation completed by 8 European countries. Some of these areas are not concealed by the EU legislation. Secondly, we will determine whether IASC succeeded. The term issuing standards is clearly successful. IASC released forty-one standards coming along with conceptual framework. However, because of that the standards were criticized for allowing many options. Another objective which should be considered is promotion and observance of standards. We have to study four types of country: developing countries, emerging nations, continental Western Europe and Japan, and capital market countries in order to decide IASCs success. In developing countries type, Saudagaran and Diga (2003) achieved that the harmonization in ASEAN countries would go on and be based on IASBs standard. In addition, IASC had advantages as a global standard-setter to be a major impact in some emerging nations which moved from communist to capitalist economics. In the continental Western Europe and Japan type, IASC has achieved limited success. Some countries considered IASC as a Trojan horse trying to inflict the accou nting standard in EU. Some companies in Switzerland chose IASs for their financial statements, and until 1994 IASs were used by several large companies all over Europe. The last type of countries including United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa and Netherlands seems influence the IASC. Furthermore, IASC could be considered as a successful organization as it had a support from IOSCO and EU commission in 2000. Nevertheless, IASC has accomplished their objectives. CONCLUSION References IASB (2011) History of International Accounting Standards Board http://archive.iasb.org.uk/about/history.asp IAS.COM (2010) What is IASB? The objectives of IASB, http://www.iasplus.com/restruct/whatis.htm Larson, Robert K, Kenny, Sara York (1999) Harmonization of International Accounting Standards: Progress in the 1990s, Multinational Business Review, spring 1999. Nobes, C. and Parker, R. (2000) Comparative international accounting, 6th edition, Harlow: Pearson Education.

Project Management Chapter Notes

These tools provide basic project management features and generally cost I than $200 per user. Smartened and tablet APS are available for much less, but the y often have Limited functionality. Low end tools are often recommended for small projects and single users. Most of these tools allow users to create Gaunt charts, which cannot be done easily us inning current productivity software. Midrange tools: A step up from low end tools, midrange tools are designed to handle larger rejects, multiple users, and multiple projects.All of these tools can produce Gaunt c harts and network diagrams, and can assist in critical path analysis, resource allocation, project tracking, and status reporting. Prices range from about $200 to $1,000 per user, or less per MO nth for online tools. Several tools require additional server software for using workup feat rues. Microsoft Project is still the most widely used project management software in this ca destroy, and t has an enterprise version, as desc ribed earlier and in Appendix A.Students and deed actors can purchase software like Microsoft Project at reduced prices from sites like www. Journey yet. Com ($139. 95 for Project Professional 2010 in 2012), and anyone can download a trial verse on from Microsoft's Web site. Many other suppliers also provide trial versions of their product Weighed tools: Another category of project management software is high end tools, sometimes referred to as enterprise project management software.These tools provide robust c abilities to handle very large projects and dispersed workups, and they have enterprise an d portfolio management functions that summarize and combine individual project information t o provide an enterprise view of all projects.