Legal essay(family law) Essay

Evaluate the effectiveness of the law in achieving justice for parties involved in relationship breakdown. Legislation and cases strive to achieve justice for all parties involved in a relationship breakdown. However, justice can be difficult to achieve as the law does not always uphold the rights of individuals. The law does reflect social and community values and strives to be accessible. Divorce is an example of the law being easily enforced, while with disputes involving children effectiveness isn’t always achieved. Amendments to legislation now make the law more effective when dealing with relationship breakdown’s between same sex couples and de facto relationships. Divorce is becoming more common in society, this means that legislation has been made more effective in achieving individuals rights. The Family Law Act 1975 (cth) established ‘no fault’ divorce, as long as the couple is separate for 12months, that overturned the Matrimonial Causes Act 1959 (Cth). Divorce is an effective method in achieving justice for parties involved in a relationship breakdown. An example of this is in the case Pavey v Pavey 1976, this case established ‘separate under one roof,’ this allowed couples to get a divorce even if they were living together due to financial strain. Pavey v Pavey is an example of how the law achieves justice for individuals and the accessibility of the law. Most issues related to relationship breakdown involves children, legislation has been improved in recent years to overcome this, but there are still many cases where justice isn’t achieved for all parties. The Child Support (assessment) Act 1984 (cth) aims to deduct money to support the child if the parent isn’t living with them. The Federal Government in 1990 ratified the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child. This ruled that all cases were to be solved in the ‘best interests of the child.’ The Family Law Reform Act 1995 (Cth) recognises ‘best interests of the child’ and also changes ‘custody’ to ‘residency’ and ‘contact.’ This legislation has effectively achieved justice for families however, the ‘best interests of the child’ and the presumption of shared parenting outlined in the Family Law Amendment Act (Shared Responsibilities) Act 2006 (NSW) was overturned by the High Court. The High Court overturned ‘best interests of the child’ in the case MRR V GR 2010, as shared parenting wasn’t reasonably practible and the rights of the individual was not being upheld. MRR v GR is an example of how legislation is not effective, but due to the responsiveness of the legal system, justice was achieved. The Family Law Amendment (Shared Responsibilities) Act 2006 (NSW) also created Family Relationship Centres that allowed families to resolve disputes and there is compulsory 3 hours mediation in the breakdown of a marriage involving children. The law has been effective in achieving justice for parties involved in a relationship breakdown as it upholds community values, is accessible and responsive and aims to protect the rights of individuals. The law is also responsive in protecting the rights of individuals through the media and lobby groups. Lobby Groups such as Dads in Distress, aimed to establish shared parenting as they were unable to see their children. This lead to reforms in the Family Law Act with a presumption of shared parenting. However the media has given reports of children being at risk because of shared parenting. This is shown in the SMH report ‘For the Sake of the Children.’ The law has to reflect community’s conflicting vales and therefore is not always effective in protecting the rights of the individual. Unmarried couples also have to be protected in the event of a relationship breakdown and justice must be achieved. The Property (Relationships) Act 1984 (NSW) defines de facto relationships and included same sex relationships in the definition. This act protects individuals in the situation of a relationship breakdown by identifying which parties get what. The SMH released an article, ‘Here’s an Idea’ that recognises de facto relationships as a valid choice and that they should be protected by the law. Through recent legislation reforms individual’s rights are achieved, as well as the law being accessible. However, legislation is not always responsive, as de facto relationships were only defined in 1984, and they did not have the same rights as married couples until then. The law is effective in achieving justice for parties involved in a relationship breakdown. Divorce is easily accessible and responsive. Relationship breakdown including children is mainly effective in protecting the rights of individuals and upholding societal values. Through recent legislation developments the relationship breakdown of de facto relationships is now treated the same as the dissolution of marriage. The law is mostly effective in achieving justice and protecting the rights of individuals involved in a relationship breakdown. View as multi-pages

Product Development Specifications

1)a. When making patterns, they can either be produced in house or be outsourced. Both types have their advantages and disadvantages. The advantage to using in house pattern making is that the fit of the garment can be more customized. When a company makes its own patterns, it has years of experience with their target market and their needs. Also, companies that produce their own patterns can base new patterns off of previous seasons. However, a disadvantage is that is expensive, and a smaller company may not have the resources to use their own pattern makers.When outsourcing pattern making, a company can either use pattern making services, or full service contractors. Pattern making services create patterns without the product developer having to invest in their own computerized pattern making system. The other type of out sourced pattern making, full service contractors, are usually used by product developers looking to knock off a design. The product developer sends an already mad e sample to the pattern maker with size specifications. Full service contractors are more difficult to use when making original designs.Some disadvantages to outsourcing pattern making are that different countries have different methods of pattern making and different perceptions of the body. Also it takes time to check samples, and language and measurement system are usually different in other countries. b. When choosing materials, specifications can either be open or closed. Open specs are when the information provided is more generic and only contains basic facts. Closed specs are when the specifications are very detailed and specify an exact material and supplier.A disadvantage to closed specs is that they can become very expensive. However an advantage is that they ensure consistency of the end product. Some advantages to open specs are that they are cheaper and less time consuming, however the end product could be less accurate. c. Tolerances are variations from criteria that will be allowed when producing a product. If a product does not meet tolerances, it will be rejected. Tolerances can either be tight or loose. Tight tolerances have less room for variation.The advantages to tight tolerances are that products will be more consistent, and fit better. However, the disadvantages are that it is costly, and time consuming as it may take a few tries to meet tight standards. Loose tolerances are when specs have a wider variation. Products that have loose tolerances vary more often, but are cheaper and faster to produce. 3) Standards and specifications in the product development process are very important because they affect quality, cost, and the time it takes to produce an item.In general, when a product has more standards and specifications it takes longer to produce and is more costly, but it will be a more consistent, high quality product that fits better. When there are less standards and looser specifications, products can be made faster and for cheap er but will be of a lower quality. When choosing standards and specifications it is important for the product developer to keep the company and its end target market in mind. For instance, when developing product for companies such as Zara or Forever 21, the focus is on producing products quickly as fashion is always changing and trending up or down.These companies would use looser specifications with lower standards to get their product produced as quickly as possible. Since the product is at a lower price point, the quality of products is not taken into as much consideration. However, for products that set the trends and are sold at higher price points, more time would be taken on specs and standards as the target market expects quality. LIM College. (2010). Chapter 9: Translating Concept to Product. Product Development (pp. 262-279). United States of America: Fairchild Books, a Division of Conde Nast Publications.

Risk Management and Banking Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Risk Management and Banking Crisis - Essay Example The Banks & Financial Institutions avail the benefits of higher interest rates by lending to Sub-Prime customers but expose the capital to higher risks. The Banks used a mechanism of distributing the risk of the lending to the investors outside the Banking system through a process called "Securitization" (A phenomenon that occurred in the booming Credit Derivative Market). This phenomenon occurred extensively in the US Sub-Prime Mortgage Market that helped the banks to increase the number of risky products but still reduce the liabilities on their balance sheets (apparently!!) because the money is flowing through so called "conduits" from investors to the borrowers. As per experts the primary drawbacks have been imperfections in the Credit Markets given poor valuation of assets acquired against the credit instruments thus resulting in uncertain asset valuation & high credit risk exposure. Even the rating agencies couldn't predict the Sub-Prime crisis through their valuations because the securitization process was too complex and the Bank's risk assessment was inadequate in screening the borrowers and informing the investors about the risks in the securitized products. The system became so huge that the root of the risks was completely covered by hyped data and analytics about the new credit instruments. [Schmitz, Michael. C and Forray, Susan J. pp28-30; Clerc, Laurent. 2008. pp1-4] In this paper, the process of Credit & Liquidity risk measurement by the Banks is presented with a discussion on how they have contributed to the overall Financial Crisis faced by the world. A brief on Credit and Liquidity Risk Management practiced by Banks Every bank has a native underwriting process to support the "Credit Approval System" for evaluation of credit risk resulting from a possible exposure when scrutinizing a loan application. As per Basel Capital Accord (Basel-II), the primary parameters that are assessed during scrutiny of a loan application are: Probability of Default (PD), Loss Given Default (LGD), Exposure at Default (EAD) and Maturity

Motivation and Marketing Mix Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Motivation and Marketing Mix - Essay Example In the same way, Maslow’s theory was based on two key ideologies; they are classification of human needs and consideration of the relationship between the classes. Taylor held a fundamental and straightforward idea of what motivated people at work—money. According to his opinion, each worker should get a fair days’ pay for a fair day’s work, and the pay should be on the basis of amount produced using the piece-rates method. Thus, his theory explains that employees who do not delver a fair day’s work should be paid less or nothing and those who deliver more than a fair day’s work, going beyond the target should be paid higher. However, according to Maslow, an employee’s career begins at the bottom of the hierarchy, where he would primarily try to meet his basic needs. Moving higher on the hierarchy, he secondly searches for his psychological needs and safety needs at the next level. When these needs are met, they are no longer motivator s for him, so he would then want to satisfy his social needs, which the employer must use as a motivator. Finally, the esteem needs of an employee acts as a motivator such as, given appreciation for a job well done, awarding a promotion, etc. For example, as noted down by Oyedele (2011), a multi-national company in Nigeria watched their production increasing by more than fifteen percent after they had installed a ‘cold water tap’ and a ‘color television’ in the junior staff waiting room; the employees felt a sense of belonging in the organization and worked hard. Apart from these, the apparent weakness of Taylor’s ideology is that it leaves out the significant differences between different kinds of people. It is hard to make sure that a â€Å"best way† is going to suit everyone. In the same course, the Maslow model seems impracticable with the real-life practice as individual behavior may respond to not just one, but several needs at the same time. 2. Benefits of having a motivated work force In fact, employee motivation is one of the significant factors which help the organization to improve employees and thereby organizational performances, and hence, having a motivated workforce helps to achieve the competitive advantage that the organization tries to accomplish. There are many advantages of having a motivated workforce to the organization. First of all, an enhanced employee performance and efficiency helps the organizations to acquire higher productivity. According to Calrk (2003, p2-3), an organization having a motivated workforce can reduce their costs as the employees would not only work faster, but utilize their inventiveness to propose developments to the course of action which can lead the organization to save millions of dollars of overall cost . In the same way, motivated manpower will increase the quality of products produced by the organization (PSP Metrics, n.d). A team working efficiently will bring out t he best quality products and thereby reduce the cost of resources for work. This process helps to boost up the product value in the market making sure that the product release cycle is reduced to its minimum. Moreover,

Evaluation Research, Research Analysis And Ex Post Factor Essay

Evaluation Research, Research Analysis And Ex Post Factor Hypothesizing - Essay Example Evaluation research, factors that makes formulation of the problem difficult and suggested solutions The role of research in science involves collection of data on a given topic in order to establish existing properties of the data to aid ‘decision-making’ processes. In evaluation research, data collection and analysis aims at establishing preference on an item. A number of difficulties, through controversies, however, have continually been raised with respect to formulation of problems in evaluation research. The reasons for such difficulties are their induced dilemma on a researcher with respect to formulation of research problem. The first factor that makes formulation of the problem difficult is existence of different theories with respect to time, within the research’s outline, when the problem is supposed to be formulated. While formulating the problem prior to the research allows for identification of information gap through exploration of existing literatu re, some experts believe that it restricts a researcher’s objectivity in research. An evaluation researcher may therefore not know whether to ‘pre-establish’ a research problem or to let problems emerge from the research process (Hunter and Brewer, 2006). The relevance of a research problem in determining the scope of a research such as research design and methods also identifies a number of difficulties in formulation of problem in evaluation research. Available resources for a research initiative together with expected cost of completing different research initiatives for example restrict a researcher’s options, in formulating the research problem, to a scope whose methodology will meet the available finances. Existing ideologies and availability of resources are therefore some of the factors that make formulation of a problem difficult for an evaluation researcher (Maxfield and Babbie, 2011). The problems can however be solved by a researcher’s s ubjective reasoning based a number of factors. One of the possible suggestions to solving the dilemma on problem formulation is reliance on a person’s experience with respect to the appropriate time, within the research’s timeline, when a problem should be developed. The researcher’s experience should also solve the difficulty of whether the problem should be developed, prior to a research, or should emanate from the research process as opposed to being determined by the researcher. Another suggestion to handling the issue is the dependence on existing literature on a similar evaluation research topic to guide a researcher on formulation of the problem. Similarly, reliance on theories also offers directions to an evaluation researcher on development of research problem (Vedyadhara, n.d.). Topics of evaluation research Evaluation research is a widely scoped type of research that aims at developing solutions to social problems or developing a plan for solving soci al issues. Consequently, it has diverse topics within the social framework. One of its topics is the â€Å"cost benefit studies† of social problems (Babbie, 2012, p. 361). The cost benefit studies evaluate existence of relationships between economic investment in social initiatives and the possible benefits from such initiatives. The topic for example researches and projects both inputs and outputs in a social venture to justify an initiative. An example of an evaluation research in cost benefit is an initiative to determine the significance of investing a given amount of resources in an anti drug campaign. In the research, the aim would be to determine the involved cost of the campaign and possible benefits, both social and economic, which can be derived from the

What signals that the quality of supervision is good or bad Essay

What signals that the quality of supervision is good or bad - Essay Example Employees like to be associated with supervisors who listen to issues that are affecting their performance. Therefore, when the supervision is effective and ensures that the working environment is conducive, employees are unlikely to leave the organization because of the uncertainties concerning the next working place. Employees approach towards the supervisor can signal good supervision. Good supervisors have an open-door policy whereby, employees are free to talk to them on any issues that is related to the job without the use of intermediaries. This can be personal or work-related. These are some of the aspects that affect their performance while working in the organization. Therefore, when supervision is good, employees feel free to talk to their supervisors. Employees respect towards the supervisors is a sign of good supervision. Supervisors who integrate with the employees and listen to them earn themselves respect from the subordinates. This is because the employees recognize their effort to make their workplace more comfortable for them. Good balance between work and other activities in the organization is an indication of good supervision. Good supervisors know how to ensure that the work is done effectively and within the timeframe given. This is through encouraging the employees to work as a single team (Cassidy and Robert 31). However, they treat employees as their fellow human beings. This is through interacting with them in order to rectify a problem rather than commanding or yelling at them. Employees trust on their supervisors is an indication of good supervision. Supervisors guide the rest of the employees towards specific objectives. However, when supervisors fail to offer the group with the direction, they lose the trust of the employees. This can be indicated by employees seeking help from the top-level managers, an aspect that involves overlapping the protocols in the organization. Less conflict in a group is a sign of good

Personal statement for master Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Personal statement for master - Essay Example Knowledge of both principles will guide me in making correct decisions and plan strategies that will be followed by the people in the company. I believe that these two functions in the company should be treated with collaborative effort and as a team to create a culture of harmony in the business. Marketing strategies are the efforts done to create attention, interest, desire and action of consumers while management gives finance and administrative support in doing the strategies. I had a short stint of managing a business because my parents own a shopping center, a market and building rentals in my hometown. My parents assigned to me the purchasing of raw materials and supplies needed for the manufacture of the products needed by our clients. I have learned the process of sourcing through the internet, through trade associations and referrals. From here, I have gathered the basic skills of pricing, comparison, competition and quality control. There were instances that a price of the same raw material will be differently offered by several suppliers. Because of this discrepancy, I became interested in finding the causes why prices behave that way, a little of Economics. In this way, we have exercised cost efficiency in sourcing of raw materials. In management of the company, I have learned how to please customers by maintaining good customer relations, in the same way; I have practiced behavior control of employees working for us. This little knowledge, I hope could be very useful in my studies of Business Management. I am sure that the education that I will learn from this university will play an important role in designing my future in the career path that I have made for my life. This early, I plan to be a successful entrepreneur someday or right after I have finished my studies and apply what I learn in school. With proper educational guidance, I know I will not go wrong in decisions and strategies

Introduction to Communication-Positive Responses to Relational Personal Statement

Introduction to Communication-Positive Responses to Relational Conflicts-discussion - Personal Statement Example I would lash out, and this led to verbal conflict towards my workmates. The whole situation led to decreased productivity, and it got the attention of the manager. In any workplace, healthy environments lead to empowered employees, and lack of that leads to decreased productivity (Daudelin, 38). Healthy environments ensure that there is mutual respect between the manager and the employee as well as between the employees (Daudelin, 38). In this situation, the manager decided to take a collaborative approach by having a sit-down with members of the team and addressing the issues. Understanding this situation makes the issues clear and coherent (Daudelin, 40). The manager addressed the issue of how tasks assignment in the workplace, and embarked on making changes that ensured that these tasks were equal. The issue was solved the issue in this

Occupational Therapy for Dementia Patients Assignment

Occupational Therapy for Dementia Patients - Assignment Example A patient may display abrupt mood swings, become aggressive and angry due to chemical changes in the brain. The patient may develop fear and frustration as he feels that he is gradually losing knowledge and understanding of his surroundings (Scout News, 2006). A person with AD may live anywhere from three to twenty years after diagnosis. On the final phase of AD, a patient becomes increasingly immobile and dysfunctional, totally incontinent that he cannot control his urine or bowel movement; may become bedridden that bed sores and suffers from muscle pain; may lose the ability to swallow and may not be able to eat or drink properly. At the stage of end of life care, the patient may require feeding tubes, respirator, antibiotics and hospitalization. Occupational therapy is recommended by physicians to help the patient improve the ability to perform daily activities and reduce the pressure on their caregivers (Griffith, 2007). Occupational therapy can improve the daily performance, communication, sense of competence and quality of life of an AD patient. The therapist applies a combination of education, setting feasible goals, using adaptations in physical environment, training compensatory skills, training supervision skills, and changing dysfunctional cognitions on patient behavior. The occupational therapist can help the patient's caregiver to understand the impact of AD ona person's day-to-day function (Scout News, 2006). ... the occupational therapist based on Canada's Occupational Therapy Resource Site (2009): 1) minimize distractions in the environment by reducing excess noise at mealtime and decrease confusion by eating regularly, maintaining same table setting, use plain dishes and minimal cutlery; 2) provide opportunities for independence and personal control by dressing, lay out the clothes in the order that they will be put on by the patient and allow the patient with AD to do as much as he can for himself together with verbal cues and encouragement. When eating, use tableware with enlarged handles, plates with rims, and non-slip placemat to help the patient maintain coordination and be independent; 3) ensure consistency in routines by preparing a schedule of regular daily activities for personal care, medication, meals, leisure, walking, and retiring to bed; 4) maintain a safe and secure environment for the patient by providing grab-bars, non-slip bathmat, bathbench and hand-held shower with ther mostatic shower control in the bathroom; 5) manage stress by developing coping skills, providing support, and counseling; 6) learning about the disease, its effects, and future care. II. Diagnostic procedures and Prognosis of OT Intervention Physicians usually do not tell the patient that he has AD. Only in the case than the patient expresses the need to know the truth that the doctor discloses his condition. The doctor will prescribe drugs to slowdown progression of AD. Drug trials are performed in early stages of AD. Most of the doctors dealing with AD will recommend Occupational Therapy to help the patient improve his capability to perform daily activities and speech therapy to maintain verbal skills of patients with mild symptoms of AD. Another type of therapy developed is

Research proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Research Proposal Example Color also gives the customers an impression on the quality of food (Ciotti). Therefore, the right color will give the impression of good quality food sold by Gyro Hero and in the process attract customers. As shown above, the brand’s color is very critical in attracting customers. With the perfect color or combination of colors, the business will be able to keep a large and loyal customer, thus ensuring continued profitability and expansion of the business. The proposed method of research is using picture cardboards depicting different colors for the food truck and food background. Previous research shows that the target market for the food truck business is parents with young children in their homes and those within the age group of twenty-five to thirty-five. These groups of people would, therefore, make the largest proportion of our study samples. The research is done in simple steps of showing the target study group the pictures with different color patterns and then asking them for their feelings, thoughts and impressions on each of the color samples. Their responses are recorded and taken for analysis. The most preferred color for the food background was red followed by blue. We therefore, could use red and blue as our favorite color for the background. Yellow and green had a significant preference, and can be in use as a second

Persona Responsibility Essay Essay Example for Free

Persona Responsibility Essay Essay Personal responsibility, in this context, is an important concept composed of these parts: Fist, what the words personal responsibility means to you? Second, what relationship exists between personal responsibility and college success? Last but not least, what preliminary plan do you have to practice personal responsibility in your education? Personal responsibility is a decision that you make to live up to your own ideals and expectations. It also means that you would be accountable for what you say, do, or think. It can also mean self awareness of a person towards the success of one’s life. Personal responsibility starts inside us and move outwards. We should not blame others for our mistakes. We should start blaming our self if something went wrong that way we can find ways to fix it and move on our life. Also, don’t postpone doing what you can do today, because tomorrow has it own problem to solve; if you can, today is the perfect day to develop your talents. Many students believe that it is a responsibility of the instructors or other students to help them succeed in college. I believe it is me and only me who can achieve my own success. Personal responsibility is accepting what ever consequences come from my actions and understanding how to improve and make necessary changes. By setting personal goals, staying focused, and time management skills, I can achieve college success. A good way to improve my college career is to stay organized. Often times in college, the schedule of classes, and making time for things other than school can be extremely challenging. This requires me to have a good time management skills, keep a detailed schedule of all future deadlines, and to have whatever resources and supplies available and ready to use. The Journal  of College Admission says: â€Å"The student would benefit from using organizational tools, such as planners, calendars, to-do-list, folders, blinders, and dividers† (Prevatt, Huijun, Welles, 2011, para.). Also, every society, like every family has their rules. If you want to live a better life with no troubles, you have to follow those rules. Following the rules makes your life easier and happy. When it comes to relationship between personal responsibility and college success, we all need to think twice. There is correlation between personal responsibility of the student and their success in college. This relationship exists because personal responsibility directly affects issues that are pertinent to ones life such as family, relationships, education, as well as physical and spiritual well-being of an individual. Personal responsibility determines the success of the student in college for a number of reasons (Charles, 2008). The first, and I think one of the most important, is self-discipline. Personal responsibility is the ability to be in control of ones life in terms of actions, emotions, etc. Students who do not have personal responsibility concerning their lives are prone to influences of doing what others are doing by just following them without proper reasons. This lack of self-control comes about because any individual without a sense of personal responsibility will always be irresponsible. A student without personal responsibility will blame the lecture for failing in the exam when a responsible student with personal responsibility will rather analyze the reasons behind his/her failure and decide to take action to pass the exam. This explains why students who have a sense of personal responsibility have higher scores than those without personal responsibility (Bourbon, 1994). The other factor that makes students who take personal responsibility to succeed in college more than the others who do not take personal responsibility is that they do not allow circumstances to hinder their progress in life. They do have a high sense of self-esteem, which makes them to confront issues critically rather than emotionally. Students who feel that they are not in control pity themselves when they have issues to deal with in their lives thus affecting their physical health negatively. This may lead to absenteeism from classes and even suicidal cases (Charles,  2008). Students who are aware of the words personal responsibility also manage to delay gratification; it’s the ability to deny oneself pleasure in pursuit of a particular goal. Personal responsibility enables a student to stick out or to persevere in pursuit of academic excellence thereby delaying the enjoyment of pleasures, which may affect the concentration, or peace of mind in pursuit of excellence. Th e delay gratification of pleasures such as drug abuse, sexual relationships, and hooliganism are known to affect student’s academic performance (Bourbon, 1994). Studying at university is not just about learning a lot of things that are fascinating in themselves but, preparing your future in a work place. At the same time as you develop your knowledge of your subject and the skills required to perform well in it, you’re actually developing a whole range of skills and intellectual abilities that can be transferred to other areas of life, including your future employment. To reach that goal, you have to be hard on yourself; you have to set a study time and respect it no mare what, Study individually is good, but, group study is better because you have more than one ideas and a lot of experiences to take advantage of. You also need an appropriate place with no noise around to be concentrate and do your work. Be strict on your school schedule like you are for the one at wor k. Make sure to do all your assignments on time and make sure that you respect the time you set for your studies. College demand extra work to do. You have to manage your time between your work, your family members, your friends and so on †¦ Time managing is very important if you want to succeed in college. Planning thing ahead can help thing get done early so that you can have enough time to do your school work. As work responsibilities, school has his part too. Study, do assignment on time, participle in group activity, find a good place and time to study. Discipline is a key word I Think to succeed in college. A person cannot succeed if there is not a personal responsibility for what he/she is doing. In order for me to practice my personal responsibility in my education, I need to do my own assignment, do my work on time; don’t wait for someone else to do it for me. If I’m having troubles understanding a subject, I can as my instructor or a classmate for help for more explanations instead of letting someone else do it for me. Doing your own assignment helps understanding your courses and be successful at the end. References Charles, Chester (2008). Building Classroom Discipline Boston: Pearson Education Bourbon, Thomas (1994). Discipline at Home and School: New York: Brandt

The Nz Aviation Sector Tourism Essay

The Nz Aviation Sector Tourism Essay The NZ aviation sector has grown from strength-to-strength in the recent years. New Zealand has a very high involvement with the aviation industry than many other countries. The aviation industry over here is world-class and the kiwis are air minded too. This made the aviation business a large one. Moreover, from the past few years, the innovation and technology has allowed the aviation industry to grow significantly. anz.png Air NewZealand has a very special brand image among the New Zealanders and it is the sole largest airline in the country. The report is presented by Narendra Inti, a PG Dip Business student at UNITEC, Auckland. The first part (Part A) of the report speaks about the history of Air NewZealand and provides an overview about the Managing Team, the organizations mission-vision-values and the prime elements of the organizations existence. By identifying the key values, the report also focuses on the key strategic-elements of the organizational strategy that helped to establish the firm. Environmental scan, both at the micro and macro levels is included in the report. Environmental analysis would expose the issues that need to be addressed for a business to become successful. The report also emphasizes on those areas in business where commendable performance is required to forecast success. 2. INTRODUCTION The Air NewZealand originated as TEAL (Tasman Empire Airways Limited) in 1940. TEAL was a flying-boat organization operating between Australia and NZ. Later, in 1965 TEAL was completely owned by NZ government and took the new name as Air NewZealand. Though it was privatized largely in 1989, the majority stake was took over by the NZ government in 2001 after the tie up with Ansett (an Australian carrier company) failed miserably due to the financial issues that prompted to fold the operations of Ansett. The recent figures show that about 12.8 million passengers are carried annually by Air NewZealand. Currently, it operates on a mighty fleet that comprise of the Boeing-747, Boeing-767, Boeing-777 and an Airbus-A320 on the international routes. Air NewZealand also operates domestically with its regional subsidiaries: Air Nelson Eagle Airways Mount Cook-Airline Air NewZealand achieved the Airline of the Year awards for the years of 2010 and 2012. Air nz.jpg 2.1 COMPANY OVERVIEW Company name: Air New Zealand Limited Company Type: Public Company Size: 10,001+employees Industry: Air lines/ Aviation Website: http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/ Registered Office Air New Zealand House185 Fanshawe Street, Auckland1010 NEW ZEALAND Stock-Exchange Listing NZX trading code: AIR ASX trading code: AIZ 2.2 Key People CHIEF-EXECUTIVE OFFICER: Rob Fyfe CEO DESIGNATE : Christopher Luxon DEPUTY CEO : Norm Thompson CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER : Rob McDonald GROUP GENERAL MANAGERS: Group General Manager Short-haul Airlines :   Bruce Parton Group General Manager People Technical Operations: Vanessa Stoddart General Manager Airline Operations and Safety : David Morgan General Manager Marketing and Communications : Mike Tod General Manager Strategy : Stephen Jones 2.3 OBJECTIVES The global economy has been facing a challenging environment due to the ongoing recession and this combined with a heavy competitive market has slowed down the economic activity. This has resulted in a great change in the peoples attitude towards the mode of travelling. The highly competitive market has compelled the organizations to deal more strategically. Present global economic crisis has limited the peoples ability to spend and so they look for something that is cost effective and at the same time very useful. The report mainly focuses on the strategic-foundations of Air NewZealand. Narendra Inti has conducted the PESTEL analysis as a part of the environmental scan while dealing with the macro-level analysis of the Air NewZealand followed by the Porters five frame-work to analyze at the micro level. The findings from the environmental scan are used to address the key level strategic issues and thereby help the organization to grow and be successful consistently. 3. STRATEGIC FOUNDATIONS 491591_orig.jpg CSL_mission2.png An organization comprises of the following strategic-foundations Mission Vision Strategy Values 3.1 THE MISSION Air_New_Zealand.png The tag line Worlds warmest welcome clearly suggests that Air NewZealand is committed to provide the best service to the people and that is what they have been doing since their inception. About 13 million people all around fly on Air NewZealand , annually. It could happen only because of the warmest service they have been providing and this is what is differentiating Air NewZealand from the other airlines. The commitment towards their mission Worlds warmest welcome has fetched them international acclaim. It is not just the kiwis who love to enjoy the service of this airlines, also people from many other countries do. Apart from the best airlines award for the years of 2010 and 2012, it has been continually winning Best Passenger-Service Award presented by ATWMA (Air-Transport World  magazine-award). 3.2 THE VISION Vision of Air NewZealand: Air NewZealand will strive to be number one in every market we serve by creating a workplace where teams are committed to our customers in a distinctively New Zealand way, resulting in superior industry returns. Values 3.2.1 PROVIDING THE BEST SERVICE Air NewZealands approach towards the customers begins by knowing the customers need. They enquire its customer where they are traveling and how many people, why when, and what is that they value during the journey. This helps them to decide the network and their schedule; and the service and process is tailored to match needs of the customer during the journey. Every employee of Air NewZealand commits himself to make-a-difference to their customers and their business. 3.2.2 COMMUNITY SUPPORT Air NewZealand is the top sponsor of most of the major events conducted in New Zealand. It holds a record for sponsoring a lot of groups and supporting many charities by donating huge amounts and providing travel assistance. 3.2.3 EnvironmentAL CARE Air NewZealand is highly dedicated to minimize the aviations impact on the environment. ANZET (Air NewZealand Environment-Trust) has been making donations to support the development for conservation the research projects in NZ. 3.2.4 Customers AIRLINE They value their customers and that has made them the customers choice. They constantly study about peoples changing tastes and give top priority to the customers needs. That is the reason their quality in service has been always above the customers expectations. 3.3 KEY ELEMENTS OF PLANNED STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS Air NewZealand want to build a competitive advantage in their businesses with the help of its employees innovation and creativity. Air NewZealand is highly committed to champion and also promote NZ and kiwis, business and the culture both at home and abroad. They believe in teamwork and its great committed team aiming for the growth of its organization and vitality of New Zealand. Air NewZealand wants to always be the customers choice of airline, when people travel to/from or within NZ. 4. ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN The Environmental scanning helps to find out current or forthcoming changes because it thoroughly focuses on those areas the organization might have neglected previously. So there are 6 elements/segments of the generic environment that has its effect on an organization. The impact caused due to these segments differs from organization to organization. The organization need to mainly concentrate on researching, monitoring, reporting and analyzing the data. The resultant findings of this analysis can be used as the tools that convert uncertainty into strategy (Aaker, David, Michael and Mills, 2005). 4.1 MACRO ANALYSIS Business environment surrounding an organization comprises of external influences which affects an organizations decisions and its performance. So the PESTEL analysis provides a methodological approach to find out and analyze those macro environmental segments that could affect the strategies involved in business, and also helps to forecast how these factors might influence the performance of the business in the current and future scenarios. The environmental study starts with the study of six factors of the PESTEL analysis. The six factors are interrelated to each other and each factor cannot be viewed as a unique one. During the analysis one need to take in to consideration a lot of macro-environmental-factors so that the strategic process of policy formulation can be more useful to the current and future scenarios. The factors discussed below gives an insight for the strategy makers as to what to incorporate in the organization strategy to make it efficient and those environmental factors that are very essence of a business strategy. According to their organization needs, the strategy makers need to assess other factors too that could have the potential to influence the organizations output, which is not mentioned below. Therefore the mantra is to concentrate on the key factors that need to be addressed in order to be successful. (Grant, 2010) pestlee.png 4.1.1 POLITICAL factors Political factors can have either a positive or a negative impact on a business and that pure depends on the current scenario in a country .So, understanding and monitoring the political environment is very crucial for every business because this factor can significantly affect any business. Some key questions that are a part of the political environment which the strategy makers need to find the answers before proceeding further are: whether the government is stable?, what type of a government is it?, what type of economic policy do they have?, What type of trade policies the government has?, what are the Diplomatic proceedings in the neighboring countries?. Once the strategy makers get the answers for the above questions, they need to incorporate the findings in the strategy making process and this helps them to forecast the future. Almost 74% of the stake of Air NewZealand being owned by the NZ government, there seems to be no trouble for Air NewZealand from the political front as for as New Zealand is considered. Moreover policies were framed to benefit the organization since the NZ government strongly believed that it is something related to the integrity of the nation. But the organization needs to constantly monitor and adapt to the policies of the overseas governments as the policies, taxes and regulations change very frequently. ECONOMIC factors The economic factors which can affect a business and the factors that need to be considered are: demand for service or goods, regulation, interest and the inflation rates, access to the credit and un-employment proportion. The above mentioned factors can directly affect the market competition, demand and the supply. Though the global economy is gloomy, the local economic conditions in New Zealand are far better than many other developed countries. The major areas like Australia, Singapore and Gulf countries where Air NewZealand flees to and from are also in good shape economically. So there are no concerns as of now for Air NewZealand in this segment. 4.1.3 SOCIAL factors Social factors are very crucial and they can play a key role in influencing a business. Social factors include several components like lifestyle, trends, wealth distribution among the people and ethnicity. Human beings are social animals and so the social factors that influence are interrelated to peoples culture, opinions and changing tastes. The Air NewZealand is very good at marketing themselves in a way that appeals to the people. They focus on diverse cultures and that can been seen in their service, which address and values the culture. To give an example, during the recent rugby world cup few planes were painted in black to support the All Blacks rugby team of NZ. This clearly shows that they give a lot of importance to incorporate the social factors in the strategy making process. Also the way Air NewZealand staff address the people of different cultures is another classic example too. 4.1.4 TECHNOLOGICAL factors Businesses should continually implement new technologies to give the best service in the market. Companies with good vision look out for the best technologies that are apt for their business and implement those technologies to take an advantage in the market. Air NewZealand is very good in terms of implementing new technology. As their company vision states, they always strive to provide competitive advantage blended with creativity and innovation. When few airlines are still with old technology in the seating facilitiesetc, Air NewZealand constantly monitors the technology advancements and updates them regularly to their services. 4.1.5 DEMOGRAPHIC factors New Zealand is a place of great ethnic mix. People from all over the world have come and settled here. Every year there is a great increase in young generation pouring from all the over the world for good study and job opportunities over here. This is a great advantage for the Air NewZealand as the immigrants fly to home countries very frequently. This is also a reason that boosted up the Air New Zealand business. 4.1.6 Legal factors The legal factors include the regulations of employment, health, safety and service. Air NewZealand has to abide by the New Zealand Civil Aviation Act 1990. 4.2 MICRO ANALYSIS The micro-environment involves organizations/individuals that are dealt by the firms regularly. Stakeholders groups in business viz. suppliers, competitors, distributors, employees and customers come under the micro-environment. All the stakeholder groups can show their impact on a firm directly. Managers need to often interact with the stakeholders since their decisions have direct impact on the business. Therefore the micro-environmental factors play a critical role in organizations behavior and success. Many frameworks and models are recommended to analyze an organizations micro-environment where it operates. Porters Five Forces Of Competition Framework In 1979, Michael.E.Porter, a professor from Harvard Business School proposed a frame-work known as Porter Five Frame-Work. This framework was very useful for business strategy-development and for the ongoing industrial-analysis. These five forces are useful to analyze the competition in a given environment of the market and help to improve the strategy (Michael, Duane, and Robert, 2005). The forces of Porters five framework are based on the S-C-P paradigm (structure and conduct performance) in organizational-economics. This can be applied to diverse scenarios and different range of problems and thereby help the businesses to be more profitable (Porter, 1979). D:AUT SEM 2SMAssignmentporters_five_forces.png The five forces were referred as micro-environment by Michael E.Porter. The micro-environment consists of the forces that are close to the organization which can affect the ability of an organization to serve the customers and its profitability. Firms would be able to apply its core competencies, network or the business model to gain profits over industry average. 4.2.1. Bargaining power of suppliers The term suppliers can be referred to all the sources of input required to provide the goods or the services. A service industry needs infrastructure, labor and the other supplies. This requirement has lead to supplier-buyer relationship between the firm that provides material and the industry that provides goods or services. If the suppliers are powerful, they could exert influence on the industry that provides goods or services, by selling the material at very high prices with an intention to capture the industrys profit. Supplier bargaining-power could be high in the following scenarios: If the market is completely dominated by very few giant suppliers. If there are no substitutes for those products. If the buyers are fragmented, the bargaining power would be low. Sometimes switching to a different supplier could cost more. In the case of airlines, are there several-buyers and few principal-suppliers? Yes, in the case of airline industry there are many buyers like Air NewZealand and only two suppliers viz Boeing and Airbus. So the power is in the hands of those two suppliers. Is the suppliers brand image strong? Yes, Boeing and Airbus have a very strong brand image and they are the only suppliers of aircrafts for many airline service providers like Air NewZealand. Can the suppliers raise prices? Suppliers have all the power to increase their prices, but currently they might not do so as the airline industry is struggling with low profits due to heavy competition. Can the suppliers find new customers? Yes, it is easy to find new customers but not many are jumping into this sector so easily. 4.2.2 Bargaining power of buyers The buyer bargaining power of Porters five forces refers to the consumers pressure in-order to get the better quality service and lower prices. According to the Porters framework of industry analysis, buyer bargaining power is one among the five forces that shape the structure of a completion in an industry. The main idea here is buyer bargaining-power in any given industry affects the competitive-environment for the seller and thus influencing the sellers profitability. If the buyers are strong, they could pressure the sellers to improve quality of the product, provide more services and to reduce the prices. Buyers play a key role in creating demand in an industry. Are there very few leading-buyers and many sellers in airline industry? The entire population of New Zealand and other users from many different countries form the customer base and this is too high when compared to airlines operating. Are the services standardized? Yes. The customers demand a wide range of high quality services at low prices. Are the buyers forced to be tough? No. Is it easy for the buyers to switch their suppliers? Yes. There are many airlines operating currently and so the customer can easily switch if they find that they are not getting what they prefer from the current airlines. 4.2.3 Threat of NEW ENTRANTS The new entrants can be referred to the new firms that pop in and emerge in any given industry and thereby giving a tough competition to the existing already established firm. New entrants cannot actually compete on equivalent terms on the already established and recognized firms. There are many risk factors involved that need to be considered by the new entrants. There is minimum scope for the new entrants to come up on a large scale. The three main barriers for a new entrant are brand loyalty, economies-of-scale and absolute-cost-advantages (Hill and et al, 2007). Going by the current scenario, it is not so easy for the new entrants to survive in an airline industry, because this particular industry is very congested and has very high entry barriers. Moreover airline industry is less attractive due to high initial investment required and very less profits to gain. So there is no threat of new entrants to Air NewZealand. 4.2.4 Threat of substituteS The substitute refers to the alternatives that are available in the market to the buyers. The alternatives that are available for the customers are referred to as substitutes. Speaking in context to airlines, alternative transport methods like roadways, railways and waterways can be a threat to domestic airlines as a train or ship can be used for leisurely travel purpose. But still airlines secure the position of fastest mode of transport and it would continue its dominance in the international market of transport. 4.2.5 RIVALRY BETWEEN ESTABLISHED COMPETITORS The business that is providing similar services or goods is referred to as rival. It exists if there are more many firms in a market. These firms constantly try to capture the markets of the other firms to better their position and get an edge over the others. Normally the competition is on the product basis, cost, customer service and promotional campaigning to achieve a better place in the market. This force gives a clear idea about the competition intensity between the current players in the market. High competition results in lowering the prices margins and this affects the profitability of every single firm in the industry. Though Trans Tasman market zone in airlines is completely dominated by Air NewZealand and Qantas, other competitors like Virgin Blue and Emirates play a vital role in determining the prices in the market. Competition and intensity of rivalry in airline industry is likely to be high when the following happens: Competition Structure The rivalry would be more when it has small sized competitors vice versa when there is single largest market leader. Strategic objectives The competition increases if the competitors take up fierce growth plans. It would be a different scenario if they only aim for the profits. In the airline industry, the competition is more focused on advertising, pricing structure and customer satisfaction. The main competitors of Air NewZealand are listed below: Qantas Airways its subsidiary Jetstar Airlines Virgin Australia Airlines Emirates Airlines 5. KEY STRATEGIC ISSUES The aviation industry has seen drastic changes from the recent past. Airlines have become very competitive as the airlines are more focused on capturing the market share of the others. As far as the Trans Tasman zone is considered, the environment for aviation is in good shape. Understanding The Markets and Customers To survive and effectively compete in the aviation sector it is essential for the airlines to understand the market and the changing tastes of the customers. Airlines can retain a customer only if they provide the best in their service. So retaining has become one of the key issues for airlines. Therefore, Air NewZealand should constantly check their SLs, frequentness and connectivity. They should constantly survey and update accordingly to meet the customer taste and expectations. Increasing use of loyalty marketing A concept that aims to encourage the customers to use a product or service frequently by instilling a loyalty sense in them is called loyalty marketing. There are various loyalty program adapted by the airlines. Air NewZealand provides a frequent-flyer loyalty program that gives a chance for the customers to win points during their trips. Once the customer has sufficient points, he could redeem them in order to avail some free benefits. re-align procurement strategies Recession has taught many good lessons. It has clearly shown how trends could become volatile. The current global economic crisis has urged the aviation industry to realign the procurement-strategy. Therefore it is very necessary for Air NewZealaand to establish an efficient strategy and procurement system in order to succeed in any uncertain conditions and be successful. 6. CONCLUSION Aviation industry is a very hi-fi industry. Air NewZealand has to make sure that their staff is providing the WOW factor in their service that a customer would always expect. They need to strategically plan all their moves and should always strive to provide the best market rates and the best service in the market. Air NewZealand has been constantly receiving aviation industry awards for its operations and it has got excellent honor of services. It enjoys a giant 52 % of total market share in the Trans Tasman aviation zone. Therefore Air NewZealand should always strive to be the best by providing the best.

The Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Limited

The Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Limited Great Eastern started to operate in 26 August 1908 as a branch office of The Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Limited. It has the distinction of being the oldest life insurance company in Malaysia and Singapore and it is owned subsidiary of Great Eastern Holdings Limited (GEH) and its parent company is Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (OCBC). It was transferred to a locally incorporated public company, Great Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia) Berhad. The Chief Executive Officer, CEO of Great Eastern is Mr. Koh Yaw Hui. Great Eastern was certified as the â€Å"Oldest and Largest Life Insurer† in Malaysia by the Malaysia Book of Records in 1998. It is the largest and most established insurance company in the country with 24 branch offices nationwide and a strong service network of more than 17,000 agents. These locations include Alor Setar, Batu Pahat, Bintulu, Ipoh, Klang, Melaka, Penang and so on. The main office located at Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. Besides that they also expand their business to China, Indonesia and Brunei. According to statistic, Great Eastern is the largest group and market leader in Malaysia and Singapore with the total assets of $45 billion and 3million policyholder. Among the 16 insurance companies in Malaysia, Great Eastern is the largest in term of assets and biggest in term of market share compare to other competitor. The slogan of Great Eastern is â€Å"Life is great!† and the mission of Great Eastern is to make life great by providing financial security, and promoting good health and meaningful relationships and their vision is to be the leading financial service provider in Asia. As a company dedicated to the people business, it always provides solution on financial planning, protection and savings to meet their customers’ needs. Generations of individuals, families and businesses have been and will continue to be assured of their financial security with the companys full range of products such as life insurance plan, investment-linked plans, mortgage protection, business protection, employee benefits, medical insurance and group health benefit schemes. Great Eastern also offers full range of products to the potential customers whether individuals, families or organizations. Great Eastern offers flexible and affordable group health benefits and protection schemes to both the corporate and public sectors employees. Customers can purchase the products and services provided by the company according to their needs through the agents. Now a day, Great Eastern is on the track to becoming the leading financial service provider in Asia. Further, Great Eastern is ready to be the only choice of financial service provider in the region and beyond in accordance of integrity, initiative and involvement. Thus, Great Eastern has introduced a variety of products to meet consumer needs. Those products may classify into several categories as life insurance, health protection, investment-link, retirement planning and saving plan. Great Eastern continues to forge ahead through the greater use of proven leading-edge technologies to improve their business processes to create a unique customer service experience, and deliver greater value to their clients. On their website, they offer e-Connect facilities to allow policyholders to obtain their policy information on-line. It will reduce the cost for searching the information. In order to smoothen the operation and better manage their enormous customer base, Great eastern has adopts many Information technology (IT) and information system (IS) from the market-leading insurer and help to transform the company operation. Different system used by different department such as top management, middle management and operational management. Every department will used different information system according to the function and operations. The information systems adopted by Great Eastern are outsourcings also in-house development. It means that they purchase the relevant software and hardware from the market most of the time to save their cost and also develop the in-house software to perform the specific job and more easily to meet the business requirement. With the help of current IT and IS, the company are able to perform their business effectively and consistency. Besides that it will also resulted in higher level of performance, reliability and scalability of company and it delivers greater value to their clients. Senior Management Team 1. Loke Kah Meng Executive V. President Head Customer Management 2. Margaret Fong Senior V. President Head Operations 3. Lee Pooi Hor Senior V. President Head Information Technology 4. Michelle Tan Yee Ming Head, Group Audit 5. Koh Yaw Hui Chief Executive Officer 6. Cheong Soo Ching Senior V. President Head Risk Management 7. Nancy Lim Senior V. President Head Human Capital 8. Chan Choong Tho Chief Investment Officer 9. Yong Chee Keong Senior V. President Head Customer Acquisition 10. Bruce Lee Executive V. President Head Finance Corporate Affairs 11. Sophia Ch’ng Appointed Actuary 12. Liza Hanim Vice President Company Secretary b) Explore and analyze the current application of IT/IS Across different levels of management Across different functional units Great Eastern is a company that we going to do research. Great Eastern is the largest insurance company in Malaysia and the business had run over 100 years with the supporting from customers. There are over 3 million policyholders for the company. The company has used sophisticate system to run the business. Great Eastern using different information technology and information system to carry their business day-to-day and they used the information system to manage the company more effectively and efficiency. Basically the company used Oracle ERP system which is Oracle E-Business Suite to manage whole enterprise. The company consist of different departments such as Finance and Accounting department, Human Resource department, Sales and Marketing department and Customer Relationship Management department. Each department used different information systems for their operations but all the systems are linked to the Oracle E- Business Suite system. Oracle E-Business Suite Financials Human Resources Projects CRM SCM There are many systems used by the company and the main information system used by the finance department is Oracle Financials (OFIN). The main user of this information system is all the personnel in Finance department. Oracle Financials (OFIN) is one of a group under the Oracle E-Business Suite and it consists of five modules or also known as Oracle Applications. The five applications of the Oracle Financials are Oracle General Ledger, Oracle Payables, Oracle Receivables, Oracle Assets and Oracle Cash Management. Besides using Oracle Financials (OFIN), the company also use other communication system and office system to run their daily business. The communication systems used by the company are E-mail, MSN, and Skype. The communication software allowed the personnel and manager interact with each other and the office they are using is Microsoft Office 2007 such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint. The application of system and software will change when it com e across different level of management. By using Oracle E-Business Suite, it helps Great Eastern to reduce the cost of automating centralizing global transaction processes and produced streamline reporting across its branch offices in Malaysia. The management said that the information maintenance cost of the company have been reduced by 35% after implemented the system. Oracle provides new solutions that help financial institutions include Great Eastern to improve customer intimacy, build competitive advantage among competitor, reduce costs by automating and centralizing the transactional processes and mitigate enterprise risk and it continues to build its financial services leadership. Great Eastern use Oracle E-Business Suite Financials to support their business is because it can meets global financial reporting such as International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) and tax requirements by using only one accounting, banking, tax and payments model. Besides that, it delivers pre-integrated financial and industry-specif ic processes and it makes Great Eastern easy to operate shared services across their businesses and regions. As it provides very consistent operation and financial information to the user, it helps the company make the correct decision on investment and business decisions with integrated performance management and business intelligence. The management of Great Eastern had divided into three categories which are executive management, middle management and operational management. The executive management includes the highest management positions in the company such as CEO and CIO, who is primarily responsible for strategic decision making also known as unstructured decisions that centre on the companys overall goals. Every decision is important and non-routine. They will determine the long term objectives, resources and policies of the organization such like where to invest, approve the capital budget and oversee the middle management. While the middle management of Great Eastern such as Finance Department manager is responsible for implementing the strategic decision such as develop a budgeting plan and investment proposal. They make semi-structured decisions which are short-range decision and will oversee operational management. The last layer in the enterprise are operational management includes all the personnel who involved in daily transaction. They need to determine how to carry out the specific tasks set by executive and middle management decision makers. They need to monitor the transaction carefully and ought to follow the procedure. In this case, the staffs of the Great Eastern need to record the transactions make by policyholders and make sure the data is correct. Oracle Applications is installed and link to the servers of a Great eastern. All the personnel from different levels of management in the company include CEO, department manager and normal employees will be given a user name and the password to link to the server. Basically, they connect to the servers in their LAN by using their browsers. The user will receive a menu to choose their responsibility before they proceed to receive another menu of functions to perform. The user may key in the data or what is happening at the company ground needs in a form in applications. In this situation the applications will not allowed to proceed further if there is any errors because the errors will be arrested at every step. The outputs will be a dozens of reports in a different format for Business Intelligence so that the users can make informed decisions based on timely information and for decision makers; they will understand better what is actually happening. The fives modules of Oracle Financials are Oracle General Ledger, Oracle Assets, Oracle Payables, Oracle Receivables and Oracle Cash Management. Oracle Financials 5 modules: Financials Assets (FA) General Ledger (GL) Receivables (AR) Payables (AP) Cash Management (CM) Oracle General Ledger Enterprise G/L Accounting Oracle General Ledger is the most scalable general ledger and the fastest in the market. It can post 40 million journal lines per hour and thus help the company cut down the time in preparing the financial report. It is the most important module which is used to manage the accounting and financial information of Great Eastern. The Oracle General Ledger will tell the company that how much profit they have generate, how much expenses they have incurred, how much assets and liabilities of the company. All the information flows from different modules into Oracle General Ledger module which manages the accounting and helps the management to make decision. Oracle General Ledger provides highly automated financial processing and real time visibility to financial results. Besides, Oracle General Ledger also can support different types of journal processing options. The system allows tailoring the chart up to 30 segments and 25 characters per segment. The user just can enter the segments they would like to enquiry then the system will show the results. Another feature of this system is the chart of account will be secured and prevent other people to access and retrieve the private data. Besides, Oracle General Ledger also can support different types of journal processing options. The user can combine journals and schedule the journals to be generated automatically and it provides spreadsheet integration for journals, reporting, budgets and currency rates. Oracle Asset Enterprise FA Assets The second module of Oracle Financials (OFIN) is Oracle Assets which is used to manage the assets of Great Eastern. The assets could be anything like laptop and computer in the company. With the help of Oracle Assets, the asset management would be automated and accounting tasks would be simplified. Standard accounting, operational, and registry reports are available to ease reconciliation and analysis. Oracle Assets allowed the user to define the depreciation rules according to the regulatory and business needs. The company can choose the method to according to the needs. Great Eastern is a global enterprise; the company is focus on the business in South East Asia. Different country used different depreciation rules to calculate the depreciation charges. As the company grows internationally, Great Eastern need an integrated, flexible system grows exponentially. In this situation, Oracle Assets supports complex reporting requirements includes worldwide financial and tax standards. Great Eastern can obey any regulatory requirements from other country by using flexible user-defined rules to calculate depreciation charge. Oracle Payables Enterprise Vendor AP The third module is Oracle Payables which is used to manage the vendors or the suppliers of the company. The transaction record or data need to enter by the operational level includes what has the company purchased from which vendor? When to pay the suppliers? Does the company pay on time? What methods they used for payment such as by credit or cash? All the transactions between the company and supplier will be record in the Oracle Payables. In the Payment Process Request window, it will show the details about the suppliers with the Great Eastern. It shows the amount, the name of vendor, date of purchased and the schedule of payments. The schedule of payments include the payment currency, amount remaining, discounts given, interest due and also total amount payable. With the help of Oracle Payables, it will optimize the payment strategies of the enterprise. The middle management is given the tools to control the cash flow, oversee the operational management to minimize the errors and the problems of overpayments. Besides that, the system also helps to eliminate the inefficiencies with the standard reports that allow the manager to eliminate the identical or double payments. Another way is Oracle Payables provides real-time, accurate cash position and speculate information so the manager can plans the payment and expenses properly. So in overall, Oracle Payables can improves the margins, infuse corporate and fiscal discipline, and optimizes business relationships between Great Eastern and their suppliers. Oracle Receivables AR Enterprise Customers The fourth module of Oracle Financials is Oracle Receivables. Basically, the information for Oracle Receivables not much different compared to Oracle payables. The difference is this system is used to manage the customers or receivables so it will tell the company that the name of the customers, items bought from the customers such as what insurance policy purchased by the customers. Besides that it would state the payment methods used by the customers and the date of payment made by customers. By using this system, it will show the credit rating of the customers due to the pass payment made by them. All the transactions between Great Eastern and their customers will be recorded in this system. In the Oracle Receivables streamlines invoice entry, it shows the name of the customers, address, contact number, policy number, types of payment, amount of premium, due date, interest due if any and etc. Besides that, it allows the company to increase their cash flow and minimize the bad debt through Oracle Receivables system and better control for the manager. Oracle Receivables allows company to go globalization. With this system, Great Eastern has the flexibility to respond to the global market needs, support any regulatory requirements and so present documents in customer’s language and also enhanced customer relationship. With the flexibility, it helps the enterprise to calculate the currency gain or loss automatically so the finance staffs they no need do the complex calculation by themselves and also able to report in multiple currencies. Oracle Cash Management CM Enterprise Bank The last module of Oracle Financials is Oracle Cash Management. It helps the company to reconcile the bank statement and it will tells that whether bank has made error not, how many bank accounts the company have and also what is the status of the bank account. It allows Great Eastern to manage the firms liquidity and control of cash. Oracle Cash Management gives the company directs access to expected cash flows from their operational systems. By using the company can analyze enterprise wide cash requirements, cash management and currency exposures more quickly, to ensure liquidity and optimal use of cash resources. As it provides flexibility in cash forecasting, in different currencies, different organization and for multiple time periods, the middle and senior management can use the system to forecast the cash flow in future based on forecasted transactions for example outstanding orders and invoices that may be create a cash flow in future. Besides that, real time cash positioning will minimize the idle cash. Real time cash positioning is important to prevent overdrafts of bank balance and helps the company manage their liquidity effectively. c) Explain how the use of such IT/IS application can help to change or manage the organization decision making and business process. Information Flow Payables (AP) Assets (FA) General Ledger (GL) Cash Management (CM) Receivables (AR) Great Eastern Finance department had used Oracle E-Business Suite to automate their general ledger and accounts payable and receivable processing, cash management and as well as their fixed assets. Oracle E-business Suite able to help the company automate budgeting, purchasing and any forecasting process include future cash flow and thus allow for online payment to the supplier or vendor. Without the information system, they have to do all financial budgeting and forecasting job manually by using the Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and it will cause time consuming and the information produced may not be accurate and limited. Each module in the Oracle Financials will talk to each other means that information from one module will flow to each other although they are stand alone software. In this case, the management is easier to retrieve different information from different area. By using standardized software, it simplifies interdepartmental sharing of data as well as information and they are able to get all the information they want. Besides that, the information system will also help to manage the enterprise risk and reduce compliance costs. All the modules will link together and it will provide sufficient reliable information for the management of Finance department to make any short term or long term decisions. For example, the Oracle Financials modules are linked to each other, the Finance manager can refer to different modules at the same time to forecast future cash flow and to control the daily transaction more effective. The manager may use the software to make a right investment decision in the business. Great Eastern used Oracle E-Business Suite to improve their budgeting and planning. The Finance manager of Great Eastern enters department budget and submits for the senior management to approve. Using the Oracle Cash Management and Oracle Assets, the user can immediately prepare the financial budget and forecast report after approved. Oracle Assets For Oracle Assets, operational management which involves Finance staffs have to enter the original cost of the assets, the useful life of the assets, and the most important step is to choose the depreciation method which the company complied with in order to calculate the accurate depreciation amount for each year. By using the Oracle Assets, it gives the company and department more accurate visibility of capital investments and therefore the middle management like Finance manager will has better control over their capital investment. Once the Finance manager inquiries for the ad-hoc report, he may use the powerful Asset Inquiry to access the information he looking for, including transaction history of the clients, financial details, depreciation profile, capital project details and financial details. The senior management of Great Eastern able to optimize their accounting and tax strategies by projecting depreciation expenses with what-if depreciation analysis. With the assist of Oracle Assets, it drives better decision making and able to optimized business processes at lowest cost. Oracle Cash Management For oracle Cash Management, the operational management will enter all the past transaction data into Oracle Cash Management for example the cash inflow and cash outflow then the system will calculate the net cash flow. The middle management they only enter the duration they going to forecast for example 3 months from now, they also need to choose the forecast currency then the system will do the calculation and forecast the future cash flow of the company. The Finance manager can base on the forecasted result and decide how to allocate the cash and how much to invest in which area to maximize the revenue of company. The user can do their budgeting and forecasting without rely on the hard copy report, because all the data will easily and quickly turns up on time which will increase the accuracy of forecast. It will also make sure the accurate information of the company’s assets between Finance department and line of business will help the manager make better decision on budgeti ng. Without the assist of the system, it may take up to 2 weeks to make the report available to the manager. After preparing the budget and forecast report, it will helps the Finance manager to have an clearer picture on how to allocate the funds in different area of investments such as shares market, bond, unit trust or deposits. In addition, Oracle Cash Management can build a cash forecast based on forecasted transactions like outstanding order and invoices. With this, the user in Finance department can analysis the past transactions from the customers and suppliers such as receipt and past payments into future. Once the budget and forecast report was approved, the budget data will be upload into Oracle General Ledger for combination. After that the budget is ready to use by the Finance department. Besides that, the month-end report also can be created within a day allowed the faster response to inquiry by the Finance manager. Oracle General Ledger Finance department staffs are using Oracle General Ledger and Oracle Cash Management to done their day-to-day business transaction include oversee the invoicing, budgeting and also company cash flow. The Oracle applications are integrated with each other, it makes the financial information more stable and reliable and stored in a single database. It gives the higher visibility to the manager into financial matters. Basically the manager will have confident in making any financial decisions because the data provided is accurate and is the latest one considered as up-to-date data. Operational management in Great Eastern Finance department used the Oracle General Ledger to enter the daily accounting transaction. The finance staffs just need to enter the correct data such as the premium amount; expenses and amount claim from policyholders then the system will help them to perform the task. Since the system performs the task in automated way, it will minimize the error make by people and increase the efficiency. For middle management, they will oversee the operational level. Since Oracle General Ledger provides flexible chart of accounts and reporting structures, the finance department manager can based on the report and make the decision. Oracle General Ledger allows the middle management to have a complete control and flexibility to design their own chart of accounts. They need to know the amount of insurance premium delay or accrue by the policyholders and send the notifications to reminder them to pay off. Furthermore, they can control the budget and expenses made by the department based on the accounting record. Oracle General Ledger also provides flexibility to the management level to response to their inquiry. The manager only enters the segment they want then the system will show the result to manager. From the result, the manager will know the balance of the account, the amount paid to the suppliers and received from customers. The senior management use Oracle General Ledger to check on the profitability revenue growth of the Great Eastern. The CEO of the company can use the system to check the balance each month because the system provides the feature of automated month-end close processing. It allows the senior management to optimize the use of resources they have such as, cash, assets and budget to generate more income for company in future. From the accounting record, Finance department will know the profitability revenue growth in the past; it will help the company to make better decision in the future and fully utilize the resources that the company has to generate higher revenue by referring to the accounting record produced by Oracle General Ledger. Oracle General Ledger’s Financial Statement Generator (FSG) improves the precisely and timeliness of financial reporting. FSG supports many output options includes PDF, HTML, text and spreadsheet outputs. In addition, the staffs are allowed to create quality reports by defining the report layouts using word processing application and leveraging formatting features like change the font size, colour and adding logo. Oracle Receivables Oracle Receivables is a module which enables the Finance department to manage all the transaction made by the customers. The staffs have to enter the information of the customers like name, policy number, date, types of purchases and amount of purchases in order to reduce the error. Oracle Receivables will do calculation with data, determine the premium amount need to pay by the policyholders and calculate the interest due if the policyholders failed to pay the premium on time. The task will be automated so it will help to reduce the personal error and provide more accurate and timely data. Based on this system, the operational management will send the notification letter to the customers and tell the customers when they need to pay the premium. Basically the information from this system will flow to Microsoft Office- Microsoft Word in preparing the notification for customers. In order to optimize customer relationships with the company and provide strategic information, Oracle Receivables allows the finance staffs to streamline invoicing and receipt. The data enter will be saved in the database and easy for user to retrieve data next time. In addition, it will let the management know the credit rating of the customers and so they will always focus on the loyal customers once they introduce new product. With the assist of Oracle Receivables, the middle management know who is unlikely to make payment on time and they will find out the solutions try to enhanced the relationship between the customers with enterprise and reducing the time and effort required to process customer payments thus resolve disputes. By using Oracle Receivables, the senior management of the company can provides variety of convenient payments to the customers to make payment like using credit card, debit card, check or cash. This will encourage timely payment and reduce their day sales outstanding (DSO). Oracle Payables Oracle Payables are deal with the transaction for suppliers. By using this system, it will tell the company when they should pay to the suppliers. Oracle Payables will show the amount, date and the name of person or organization that the company should pay on time in order to maintain a good credit rating and trustworthily form the creditor. With the help of Oracle Payables, it will optimize the payment strategies of the enterprise. The middle management is given the tools to control the cash flow, oversee the operational management to minimize the errors and the problems of overpayments. The management level can based on this system decide what types of payment they should pay first and what the payment method is. This system supports shared services functionality which promotes best practice for Great Eastern. Besides that, Oracle Payables also provide full scale support for Great Eastern including foreign currency transactions and also future date payment. So in overall, Oracle Payables can improves the margins, infuse corporate and fiscal discipline, and optimizes business relationships between Great Eastern and their suppliers. Office and communication system For Office Automation System (OAS), Great Eastern Finance department using Microsoft Office 2007 in perform their daily business. It is designed to increase the productivity of data workers in the office by supporting the coordinating and communicating activities of the typical office. The most common office tools used by the finance staffs are Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. The staffs are using Microsoft Word to prepare the report and letter or document required by the manager. Basically, the financial report of Oracle Financials will link to Microsoft Word and PDF directly so the staffs no need to prepare again the report by their own. The Finance staffs use Microsoft Excel to do some simple calculation such as the total premium amount paid by the customers, the monthly collection, interest payment and etc. Besides that, they also used Microsoft PowerPoint when there is a meeting of the department. The presenter will show the slides by using Microsoft PowerPoint to make it mor e interesting. Besides that, the company also uses communication software in order to communicate with each level of the department. The most common communication way is to use E-mail. Each staffs in the company from lowest to top management are given their own E-mail address for internal use and external use. For the internal use, the colleague can send the document, notice or information through E-mail to a

Teenage Plastic Surgery Essay example -- Self Image Health Medicine M

Teenage Plastic Sugery In 2003, teenagers 18 years old and younger represented 4 percent of those receiving cosmetic plastic surgery in 2003. Although the percentage may seem small, it represents over 330,000 school-aged youths who had some kind of cosmetic surgery or procedure, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). The standards for a perfect body have been getting narrower, and teens and college students are reacting to the pressure. According to the ASPS, plastic surgeons preformed over 8.7 million total cosmetic surgery procedures in 2003, a 33 percent increase from last year. Kat* is a 19-year-old sophomore at Northeastern University who has seriously been considering breast implants for the past year. Kat is 5’9 and wears an A-cup bra size. She feels that implants would make her body more proportional. â€Å"It would boost my personal self-image and self esteem a lot,† said Kat. â€Å"Even though I know it’s something social†¦ I would feel so much better if I had boobs.† Kat said that both male and female friends have teased her about her small chest. This and the pressure and stereotypes of perfect bodies from television and movies have affected the way Kat says she feels she should look. â€Å"I think it is a combo of both†¦ but more personal friends because that is your real life.† Kat has not researched the procedure, but plans to do so extensively to minimize the risks of it. She also said that to get the procedure soon she would need either to start saving now or take out a loan. Kat said she has heard horror stories and I would invest a lot into it to make sure that everything goes well. She said that her mother knows of her plans and is supportive of it but she has not yet told her... ...use photographs are two-dimensional and people are three,† said Thilert. If the patient still has unrealistic expectations, the surgeon will refer the patient to a counselor or church official, though Thilert only knows of one case where this happened. If patients are not happy with the result and the doctor agrees that it is not up to his standard, he will redo the surgery for only the cost of the hospital and the anesthesia. Thilert has three children, one in high school and two in college. She said that if her 20-year old daughter wanted to get cosmetic surgery and it was important to her, she would support her decision. â€Å"I think if [young people] have realistic expectations and are doing it for themselves and not someone else, then it’s not anyone else’s business,† said Thilert. â€Å"I do not have a problem with people feeling better about themselves.†

Michele Cliff, Sidney Mintz and Antonio Benitez-Rojos Writings :: Caribbean Race Racial Issues Essays

Michele Cliff, Sidney Mintz and Antonio Benitez-Rojo's Writings With a focus on articles written by Michele Cliff, Antonio Benitez-Rojo, and Sidney Mintz. Michelle Cliff, "If I Could Write This on Fire, I Would Write This on Fire," and Abeng Antonio Benitz-Rojo, "From plantation to Plantation"; Sidney Mintz, "The Caribbean: A Sociocultural Area"; On this island of Black and Brown, she had inherited her father’s green eyes—which all agreed were her "finest feature." Visibly, she was the family’s crowning achievement, combining the best of both sides, and favoring one rather than the other. Much comment was made about here prospects, and how blessed Miss Mattie was to get herself such a granddaughter. The legacy of the plantation, the class struggle between dark and light skinned, the different lifestyles of city and country people, and the lack of a cohesive culture are all ideas toughed upon in the writings of Michele Cliff, Sidney Mintz, and Antonio Benitez-Rojo. The distinct difference in styles is what separates these writings. Cliff writes from the viewpoint of an islander, while Mintz and Benitez-Rojo write from a European point of view. All three authors begin by "telling" the history of the region in different ways. Mintz describes the Caribbean using nine distinct similarities, that he feels all islands have in common. He paints a picture of explorers "island-hopping" and discovering characteristics of each island. Mintz goes on by saying that the sole purpose for colonization was the plantation and the products of that plantation (mainly sugar). He continues by stating that the Caribbean is "western society" formed by European ideals and thoughts that were infused into the everyday life of the islands and its inhabitants. He says, that because of this heavy European influence, the Caribbean has no real culture. Its culture was formed by the teachings of European ideals and the remembered African tradition, which they brought over with them. Benitez-Rojo speaks of a rhythm that is present in the Caribbean. He does not believe that there is a Caribbean culture. He does say that the people of the Caribbean have a certain rhythm to them. "It is rhythm that puts all the Caribbean peoples in ‘the same boat,’ over and above separations imposed on them by ‘nationality and race,’ it is rhythm—not a specific cultural expression—that confers Caribbeanness." Cliff doesn’t really go into a description of the whole Caribbean. She tells the story of a light skinned Jamaican named Clare. Michele Cliff, Sidney Mintz and Antonio Benitez-Rojo's Writings :: Caribbean Race Racial Issues Essays Michele Cliff, Sidney Mintz and Antonio Benitez-Rojo's Writings With a focus on articles written by Michele Cliff, Antonio Benitez-Rojo, and Sidney Mintz. Michelle Cliff, "If I Could Write This on Fire, I Would Write This on Fire," and Abeng Antonio Benitz-Rojo, "From plantation to Plantation"; Sidney Mintz, "The Caribbean: A Sociocultural Area"; On this island of Black and Brown, she had inherited her father’s green eyes—which all agreed were her "finest feature." Visibly, she was the family’s crowning achievement, combining the best of both sides, and favoring one rather than the other. Much comment was made about here prospects, and how blessed Miss Mattie was to get herself such a granddaughter. The legacy of the plantation, the class struggle between dark and light skinned, the different lifestyles of city and country people, and the lack of a cohesive culture are all ideas toughed upon in the writings of Michele Cliff, Sidney Mintz, and Antonio Benitez-Rojo. The distinct difference in styles is what separates these writings. Cliff writes from the viewpoint of an islander, while Mintz and Benitez-Rojo write from a European point of view. All three authors begin by "telling" the history of the region in different ways. Mintz describes the Caribbean using nine distinct similarities, that he feels all islands have in common. He paints a picture of explorers "island-hopping" and discovering characteristics of each island. Mintz goes on by saying that the sole purpose for colonization was the plantation and the products of that plantation (mainly sugar). He continues by stating that the Caribbean is "western society" formed by European ideals and thoughts that were infused into the everyday life of the islands and its inhabitants. He says, that because of this heavy European influence, the Caribbean has no real culture. Its culture was formed by the teachings of European ideals and the remembered African tradition, which they brought over with them. Benitez-Rojo speaks of a rhythm that is present in the Caribbean. He does not believe that there is a Caribbean culture. He does say that the people of the Caribbean have a certain rhythm to them. "It is rhythm that puts all the Caribbean peoples in ‘the same boat,’ over and above separations imposed on them by ‘nationality and race,’ it is rhythm—not a specific cultural expression—that confers Caribbeanness." Cliff doesn’t really go into a description of the whole Caribbean. She tells the story of a light skinned Jamaican named Clare.

Macbeth A Character Analysis O :: essays research papers

A Character Analysis of Lady Macbeth   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  “What’s done cannot be undone'; This is what Lady Macbeth said to her husband when he returned from murdering King Duncan. The statement is subtle and explains her way of thinking. Although Lady Macbeth is not completely evil-minded, she does play a big part as the antagonist in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is a cold, heartless, and deceitful character. What did she get for being evil?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Shakespeare did not supply us with much solid information about Lady Macbeth’s outward appearance. Context clues are all that can be used to assume what she looks like. Examples of context clues are her manner of speaking, actions, and the surrounding characters’ actions. Lady Macbeth often spoke hastily and interrupted. She is a cold, two-faced woman who resorts to going through extremes to get her way. Lady Macbeth also assisted Macbeth in the murder of King Duncan by giving him the idea of killing the King. In scene 1-5 Macbeth addressed his lady as his “dearest partner of greatness';. He might have meant that he sees her as his equal in authority. Most people see people in power and authority as being solid characters. Lady Macbeth might have been a solidly built woman, perhaps brunette, and elegantly dressed, for her husband was of importance and they probably were higher in the social ladder. Through her actions and words, Lady Macbeth’s personality can be summed up in one word: deceitful. She would have done anything to get her way and made sure to do so. In act 1-7 she stated that she easily would have killed her own baby if she promised to do so. She is not trustworthy of anyone but her husband, if that. If it weren’t for her, many murders would not have taken place. She was the driving force is Macbeth’s reasoning and his added to his downfall.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Knowing now her personality traits and assumed physical traits, it’s clear how they fit together. Although she hid it well, any suspecting character could have very well seen the ice in her eyes. Lady Macbeth did not radiate kindness from her appearance because that was not what she felt inside. Her amoral motives showed in her body language, for a truly innocent being would be graceful and could never harm another with such ease.