Revisiting Day of the Week Effect in Indian Stock Market

In recent years the testing of market anomalies in stock returns has become an active field of research in empirical finance and has been receiving attention not only from academic journals but also from the financial press as well. Among the more well-known anomalies are the size effect, the January effect and the day-of-the week effect. According to this phenomenon, the average daily return of the market is not the same for all days of the week, as we would expect on the basis of the efficient market theory. The objective of this paper is to examine the existence of day of week effect in Indian stock market.Daily closing prices of S&P CNX Nifty index have been analyzed over fifteen years period commencing from January 1994 to December 2008. A set of parametric and non parametric tests has been used to test the equality of mean returns and standard deviations of the returns. The mean returns on Monday and Tuesday are negative while on Wednesday these are highly positive. Also, the i mpact of introduction of rolling settlement on the stock returns is observed. The results show that before rolling settlement came in 2001, Tuesday was showing highly negative returns and Wednesday highly positive.But after the introduction of rolling settlement, the seasonality in the distribution of the mean returns across different days of the week ceased to appear. Thus the markets have become more efficient over a period of time. KEY WORDS: Market Efficiency, Calendar Anomalies and Day-of-the-Week Effect INTRODUCTION A Stock Exchange is a common platform where buyers and sellers come together to transact in securities. It may be a physical entity where brokers trade on a physical trading floor via an â€Å"open outcry† system or a virtual environment.The Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) are the India's two leading stock exchanges. Indian security market is one of the oldest markets in Asia. It has come a long way from earlier days of flo or trading to the present day screen and net based trading. This study is an attempt to have a deeper insight in to the behaviour and patterns of stock price distribution in the Indian stock market. The price of a security should vibrate around its intrinsic worth in any efficient market.In finance, the efficient-market hypothesis (EMH) asserts that financial markets are â€Å"informationally efficient†, or that prices on traded assets, e. g. , stocks, bonds, or property, already reflect all known information. The efficient-market hypothesis states that it is impossible to consistently outperform the market by using any information that the market already knows, except through luck. Therefore, the past price movements can in no way help in speculating the prices in future. The price of each day is independent. It may be unchanged, higher or lower from he previous price, but depends upon new pieces of information being received each day. So seasonalities cannot be used to form ulate trading strategies to earn abnormal returns according to efficient market hypothesis theory. Calendar anomalies are cyclical anomalies in returns, where the cycle is based on the calendar. It describes the tendency of stocks to perform differently at different times. For example, a number of researchers have documented that historically, returns tend to be higher in January compared to other months (especially February).There are three types of efficiencies as explained in efficient market hypothesis. So calendar anomalies mainly explain weak form of efficiency which says that previous price changes or changes in return are useless in predicting future price or return changes. Some of the calendar anomalies are Month-of-the year effect, Month-of-the quarter effect, Week-of-the month effect, Day-of-the-week effect or Weekend effect, Monday effect, Hour-of-the-day effect or the End of the-day effect, holiday effect and turn of the month effect etc. Among them the day-of-the-week effect is most widely documented across the countries and markets.In context to stock market the majority of research findings, indicates that the stock returns remain low or negative on Monday. This paper examines the day-of-the-week effect in Indian stock market, using S;P CNX Nifty data of last fifteen years from January 1994 to December 2008. REVIEW OF LITERATURE There is an extensive literature on the day-of-the-week effect in the stock returns. This section examines a few research works on the day of the week effect in Indian and international stock markets. Ziemba (1993) investigated the weekend hypothesis for the Japanese market using daily data from 1949 to 1988.Tuesday recorded negative returns following a one day weekend and Mondays declined after two days weekends. Balaban (1994) found day of the week effect in an emerging stock market ISECI of a developing country Turkey for the period 1988 to 1994. Highest returns on Friday and lowest returns on Tuesday were observed. Mishra (1999) studied day of the week effect in Indian stock market using Sensex and Natex for the period 1986 to 1998 indicating the presence of day of the week effect in Indian stock market. Friday returns were found highest and significantly different from the mean returns of other days. Hence there exists a Friday effect.Berument and Halil Kiymaz (2001) tested the presence of the day of the week effect on stock market volatility by using the S;P 500 market index during the period of January 1973 and October 1997. The findings showed that the day of the week effect is present in both volatility and return equations. While the highest and lowest returns were observed on Wednesday and Monday, the highest and the lowest volatility were observed on Friday and Wednesday, respectively. Further investigation of sub-periods reinforced findings that the volatility pattern across the days of the week was statistically different.Sarma (2004) examined seasonality across the days of week in Indian stock market using BSE indices- SENSEX, NATEX and BSE 200. Highest variance on Monday was found and weekend effect was confirmed by this study. Nath and Dalvi (2004) examined the day of the week anomaly in Indian stock market for the period from 1999 to 2003 using index S;P CNX NIFTY data. The study found that before introduction of rolling settlement in January 2002, Monday and Friday were significant days. However after the introduction of the rolling settlement, Friday became significant. Mondays were found to have higher standard deviations followed by Fridays.Davidsson (2006) found evidence of day of week effect in S;P 500 index. Davidsson found Wednesday was the weekday with highest rate of return and Monday was weekday with lowest rate of return. Also Monday was the only day with negative rate of return. Wednesday’s returns were found approximately four times of Monday’s returns. Badhani (2008) examined the presence of day-of-the-week effect on stock retu rns, trading volume and price volatility at the NSE during the period of 10 years from 1995-2005. Wednesday effect was found during earlier weekly settlement regime which now disappeared.Monday and Tuesday returns were consistently low but during recent sub period these were not significantly different from other days of week. Also on Monday the average trading volume was significantly low and price volatility was high consistently across the entire sample period. Mangala (2008) examined day-of-the-week effect in sub periods in Indian stock market using S;P CNX Nifty data. Highest returns on Wednesday and lowest on Tuesday were observed. Also findings showed that seasonality in return distribution across weekdays was confined to pre rolling settlement time period; thereafter seasonality vanished.DATA AND METHODOLOGY This study covers a sample period of fifteen years from January 1, 1994 to December 31, 2008 comprising a total of 3695 observations(days). The stock prices are represen ted by S;P CNX Nifty index. The closing values of this index have been obtained from the official website of National Stock Exchange (www. nseindia. com). There was trading on certain weekly closing days (i. e. 18 Saturdays and 3 Sundays); these days have been excluded from the sample. During the above sample period of fifteen years many structural changes also took place in the market.For example rolling settlement was introduced in place of weekly settlement system. Therefore, the behaviour of stock prices has been studied on an yearly basis so as to gauge the impact of these changes on the stock prices. Measuring the Daily Returns Daily percent return on the index for a given day of the week has been calculated by subtracting the closing price of the previous trading day from closing price of that day, then dividing the resulting no. by closing price as on the previous trading day and multiplying by 100. Rt = Pt-Pt-1 * 100 Pt-1 Rt is daily return on the share price index for day tPt is the closing value of index for the day‘t’ and Pt-1 is the closing value of the index for the preceding day. Hypothesis and Testing Procedure The null hypothesis is that there are no differences in the mean daily returns across the weekdays. The non parametric Kruskall- Wallis (H) test has been applied to test seasonality in returns across weekdays to test the hypothesis. Null hypothesis is: – Ho:  µ1=  µ2=  µ3=  µ4=  µ5 Here,  µ1,  µ2†¦Ã‚ µ5 represent mean returns of different trading days of week. It means that mean returns across all the five days of week are equal. Alternative hypothesis is: – H1:  µ1?  µ2?  µ3?  µ4?  µ5It implies that there is significant difference in mean returns across the trading days in a week. Different statistical tools have been used to find the results like mean, standard deviation, range, skewness ; kurtosis etc. Then the most scientific and logical non-parametric Kruskall-Wallis (H) test h as been applied to check the hypothesis. The Kruskall Wallis test requires the entire set of observations being ranked – higher the value, higher is the rank and vice-versa- then arranged into nj ? 5 matrix where nj represents the rank of the return and columns represent the day of the week (Monday through Friday).The value of H is calculated by formula: |H |= |12 |( |[pic] |(Rj)2 |) |  Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã‚   |3(N+1) | | | |[pic] | | |[pic] | | | | | | |N(N+1) | | |nj | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Where: Rj= sum of ranks in the jth column nj = number of cases in the jth column N = sum of observations in all the columns The calculated H value has been compared with the table value of the chi-square(? 2) distribution with (k-1) degree of freedom, where k stands for the number of trading days in a week.Hence H0 is rejected if H;gt; ? 2 H0 is accepted if H;lt; ? 2 The value of H in our study is taken as the critical value at 1% as well as 5% level of significance. Further Dunn’s mul tiple pair comparison test based on rank matrix built in K-W test has been used to find seasonality by a pair wise multiple comparison procedure. It identifies whether particular day of the week differs from other days of the week. The test procedure relies on Kruskall-Wallis rank sum Rj. The data in the rank-day matrix prepared for ‘H’ test is used for this purpose. For a given level of ? decide ?  µ ? ? if |Ru-Rv| ? Z [? /k(k-1)] [N(N+1)/12]1/2 [1/n µ + 1/nv]1/2 Where,  µ = 1, 2†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦k-1 v= +1,†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. k k = 5 N = total number of observations n µ = corresponding number of observations in the uth column nv = corresponding number of observations in the vth column Ru = Average K-W rank sums in the uth columns of the rank matrix Rv = Average K-W rank sums in vth columns of the rank matrix Z[? /k(k-1)] = the upper percentage point of the unit normal distribution for a given significance level for 99 percent confidence level is 2. 575 Further the retu rns have been analyzed for two sub-periods i. e.Sub period-1 before rolling settlement (weekly settlement period) ; sub period-2 after the rolling settlement was introduced. In weekly settlement time period, Tuesday used to be as the settlement day on NSE. In 2001, rolling settlement was introduced which shifted settlement cycle from a fixed day of the week to fixed settlement lag. Tuesday settlement might be the possible reason for the observed seasonality in stock returns. DATA ANALYSIS Here the day of the week pattern of the S;P CNX Nifty data from January 1994 to December 2008 has been tested, results of which have been depicted in Table 1.It is observed from the table that the mean returns on Monday i. e. -0. 08563 percent are minimum followed by Tuesday. Mean returns on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are positive out of which Wednesday’s return with 0. 303 percent is maximum across all the days of the week. The mean return on Wednesday is about 8 times the overall mean return. The variation in mean returns measured in terms of standard deviation is found maximum on Monday (1. 870303 percent) followed by Friday (1. 740897 percent). It shows that trading on week start and week end is more volatile than other days of week.Skewness is positive only on Wednesday while other days of week have negatively skewed distributions. Kurtosis tells us the extent to which a distribution is peaked or flat topped when compared with a normal curve. The return distribution on Monday, Tuesday and Friday is leptokurtic while on Wednesday and Thursday are platykurtic. Through table it is also observed that range on Monday is highest which is also a measure of Dispersion. There is a significant difference in mean returns across different the different days of the week as evident by K-W (H) statistics (21. 78) which is highly significant at 1 percent level of significance. Therefore the null hypothesis of equality of mean returns across various days of the week stands rej ected. |Table 1. Summary Statistics of Daily Stock Returns of S;P CNX Nifty(Jan 1994-Dec. 2008) | |   |Monday |Tuesday |Wednesday |Thursday |Friday |All Days | |Mean |-0. 08563 |-0. 07615 |0. 30300 |0. 1895 |0. 03221 |0. 03838 | |Standard Deviation |1. 87030 |1. 50858 |1. 62655 |1. 55153 |1. 74090 |1. 66944 | |Skewness |-0. 71612 |-0. 15909 |0. 40400 |-0. 05609 |-0. 35999 |-0. 24662 | |Kurtosis |4. 29741 |4. 47636 |1. 79652 |1. 53957 |5. 66062 |3. 98682 | |Range |7. 54838 |8. 29523 |7. 9590 |6. 30507 |7. 83089 |20. 53297 | |No. of Observations |741 |742 |740 |744 |728 |3695 | |K – W(H) Statistics 21. 278* | * Significant at 1 percent level for 5-1 degrees of freedom Table 2 represents actual and expected multiple comparison values as per Dunn’s multiple pair comparison test to study pair wise comparison among different days of the week. This test is based on rank matrix built in Kruskall Wallis Test.The calculation of actual and expected values is shown in table 3 wh ile the deviation of actual from expected ranks is shown in table 3. So it is observed from the table 3 that there is inequality in Monday – Wednesday, Tuesday – Wednesday, Wednesday – Thursday and Wednesday – Friday pairs as these are showing positive deviation of absolute rank sum values from the corresponding Z value or expected value. It means these pairs are showing more inequality in returns than expected and Tuesday – Wednesday is showing highest positive deviation. Also it is observed from the table that Wednesday appears in all above pairs.It means Wednesday returns are significantly different from the other days of week. Wednesday is showing highly different mean returns from rest of the days. So a trading strategy of buying on Tuesday and selling on Wednesday may help an investor to earn abnormal returns. |Table 2. Actual and Expected Multiple Comparison Values | | | |   |Actual |Expected | |   ||RU ?Rv| |Z |[N(N+1)/12]1/2 |(1/nu+1/n v)1/2 |Z[N(N+1)/12]1/2 (1/nu+1/nv)1/2 | |Monday-Tuesday |40. 64 |2. 575 |1066. 799 |0. 0519 |142. 6521 | |Monday-Wednesday |197. 07 |2. 575 |1066. 799 |0. 0520 |142. 7620 | |Monday-Thursday |30. 38 |2. 575 |1066. 799 |0. 0519 |142. 5697 | |Monday-Friday |50. 24 |2. 75 |1066. 799 |0. 0522 |143. 3388 | |Tuesday-Wednesday |237. 71 |2. 575 |1066. 799 |0. 0520 |142. 7070 | |Tuesday-Thursday |71. 02 |2. 575 |1066. 799 |0. 0519 |142. 5147 | |Tuesday-Friday |90. 88 |2. 575 |1066. 799 |0. 0522 |143. 3114 | |Wednesday-Thursday |166. 69 |2. 575 |1066. 99 |0. 0519 |142. 6246 | |Wednesday-Friday |146. 83 |2. 575 |1066. 799 |0. 0522 |143. 3938 | |Thursday-Friday |19. 86 |2. 575 |1066. 799 |0. 0521 |143. 2015 | |Table 3. Deviation of Actual from Expected Rank Differences | |Monday-Tuesday |-102. 12 | | | |Monday-Wednesday |54. 308 | | | |Monday-Thursday |-112. 190 | | | |Monday-Friday |-93. 099 | | | |Tuesday-Wednesday |95. 03 | | | |Tuesday-Thursday |-71. 495 | | | |Tuesday-Friday |-52. 431 | | | |Wednesday-Thursday |24. 065 | | | |Wednesday-Friday |3. 436 | | | |Thursday-Friday |-123. 41 | | | Table 4 represents the yearly distribution of mean returns on S;P CNX Nifty for different days of the week from 1994 to 2008. Also to test whether these differences in the mean returns on different days are statistically significant or not, the non parametric ‘H’ statistics has been used. The table value of the chi-square (? 2) distribution at 1 percent level of significance is 13. 277 and at 5 percent level of significance is 9. 488. If we look at year wise KW statistics, up to year 1999 ‘H’ statistics is highly significant and after 1999 it is insignificant. |Table 4.Yearly Distribution of Mean Returns on S;P CNX Nifty by Day-of-the-Week | |(January 1994 – December 2008) | | | | | |Year/Day |Monday |Tuesday |Wednesday |Thursday |Friday |KW Statistics | |1994 |0. 47012 |-0. 16573 |-0. 36687 |0. 01075 |0. 32745 |9. 945** | |1995 |-0. 51580 |-0. 33583 |0. 25709 |-0. 6627 |0. 11756 |11. 145** | |1996 |-0. 35599 |-0. 35342 |0. 53600 |0. 18662 |0. 07796 |10. 114** | |1997 |-0. 46253 |-0. 14396 |1. 04706 |-0. 16222 |-0. 06761 |19. 917* | |1998 |-0. 12914 |-0. 52606 |0. 78280 |-0. 15417 |-0. 22507 |13. 245** | |1999 |-0. 00553 |0. 07532 |0. 98097 |0. 10327 |-0. 00305 |14. 48* | |2000 |-0. 16997 |-0. 28629 |0. 49777 |-0. 10239 |-0. 16992 |4. 989 | |2001 |-0. 21325 |0. 11775 |0. 30553 |0. 08010 |-0. 60214 |4. 987 | |2002 |0. 00508 |-0. 15830 |-0. 05939 |0. 07054 |0. 22584 |4. 226 | |2003 |0. 15214 |0. 13598 |0. 26208 |0. 13987 |0. 38014 |2. 323 | |2004 |-0. 4126 |0. 26824 |0. 04482 |0. 02138 |0. 07889 |1. 236 | |2005 |0. 29696 |0. 04875 |0. 02291 |0. 08195 |0. 18711 |1. 806 | |2006 |-0. 09098 |0. 01140 |0. 22203 |0. 22753 |0. 33653 |1. 198 | |2007 |0. 24310 |0. 32425 |0. 02874 |0. 30801 |0. 02442 |2. 139 | |2008 |-0. 36369 |-0. 13064 |-0. 04547 |-0. 5441 |-0. 24632 |1. 46 | | All Years |-0. 08563 |-0. 07615 |0. 30300 |0. 01895 |0. 03221 |21. 278* | | | | | | | | | |*Significant at 1% level | | | |**Significant at 5% level | | |Further entire study period has been divided into two sub periods: Period 1 (January 1994 to Decemeber 2001) and period 2 (January 2002 to December 2008). Period 1 represents the time when weekly settlement was operational and during this time frame NSE had fixed settlement day – Tuesday. Period 2 represents the time period when rolling settlement was introduced in place of weekly settlement cycle. | | | | | | | | |Table 5.Mean Daily returns on S;P CNX Nifty by Day of the Week for Sub-Periods | |   |Monday |Tuesday |Wednesday |Thursday |Friday |KW Statistics | |Subperiod-1 |-0. 17276 |-0. 20228 |0. 50504 |-0. 01304 |-0. 06810 |42. 752* | |Subperiod-2 |0. 00197 |0. 05294 |0. 09734 |0. 03923 |0. 12735 |2. 84 | | | | | | | | | | | |*Significant at 1% level | | | It is analyzed from the above table that in sub period 1 (1994 to 2001) all days except Wednesday gives negative rate of retu rn. This is clearly the impact of Tuesday settlement that returns on Tuesday are lowest and on Wednesday it is highest positive. It means beginning of settlement cycle ives maximum returns while last day of settlement cycle called settlement day gives lowest returns. Also a very high value of KW statistics i. e. 42. 752 represents a high degree of seasonality in sub period 1 (before rolling settlement time period). To bring more frequency in the transactions and to bring Indian markets at par with the international markets rolling settlement on T+5 basis was introduced in December 2001. So in sub period 2 when rolling settlement was introduced, returns on all the days have become positive and Friday is giving maximum returns and Monday is giving lowest returns.This hints towards the presence of some sort of weekend seasonality. But the value of ‘H’ statistics is very low i. e. 2. 684. From this it can be inferred that the return distributions are not significantly diffe rent across the week days and the null hypothesis stands rejected in the sub period 2. Thus it may be concluded that with the introduction of rolling settlement on NSE the stock markets have become more efficient. CONCLUSION During the period 1994 to 2008, S;P CNX Nifty index recorded highest positive returns on Wednesday and most negative returns on Monday with highest volatility on Monday and Friday.It means week start and week end tend to be more volatile in Indian stock market. Also it has been analyzed that Wednesday is giving significantly higher returns than other days of the week which points towards the existence of Wednesday effect in Indian stock market. There was presence of day of the week effect in pre-rolling settlement period which gradually phased away with the introduction of the rolling settlement. Markets have become efficient after rolling settlement has been introduced.So in present scenario we can’t rely on a trading strategy formulated on the basis of historical return movements on different days to earn abnormal returns as seasonality has disappeared in the recent years of the study period.

My Three Passions

Through my life, I have done many deeds and experienced many different things. I have tried new hobbles, but the three major passions that have guided my life In a positive direction would have to be my love for baseball, my addiction to video games, and my obsession with math. These passions have changed me, and helped me become a better version of myself. I am proud of the person I am today because of this. Baseball has been of my life since I was 6, the second I caught my first ball I fell in love with the game.Even though I'm not particularly amazing at this sport, I have racticed almost every single day. This has led to me being a dedicated individual and a person who will persevere no matter what. Also baseball has increased my reflexes and timing so I feel much safer to live in this world because I am able to retaliate quickly and efficiently. Furthermore, throughout my Journey in baseball I have gotten more social, by meeting new people such as Joseph, one of my close friends , who has kept me right on track even through the rough times In life. Without getting Involved with baseball I wouldVe never met Joseph.Finally and most bviously baseball has kept me active all the time. In gym, I have been easily been able to keep up with exercises because this sport has already trained by body to be fit. Being fit has also helped me because it has gotten me more involved in sport extracurriculars, by giving me the ability to play other sports. Over all, baseball has been an important part of my life and has changed it. Video games have given me many skills that have improved me, such as a higher level of fine motor skills, greater social skills, temper control, and quick decision making skills.My favourite video ame is hands down â€Å"League of Legends†. League is a multiplayer online battle arena game. Basically, with teamwork, skill, experience, and knowledge, I play this game on a daily basis. With League, outstanding hand-eye coordination, fast trigge r fingers and quick reflexes are essential, and for this, my fine motor skills have been Improved. This compare with my passion for baseball, as League helps me become a better player in Baseball and vice versa. League has also added to my social skills. I often play League of Legends with a group of people, talking on Skype.My eambuilding skills, as with my leadership skills are stronger now, because of video games. Additionally, I meet new people all the time, League has a fan base of over 10 million people, so I interact with different people and make friends. For example, when I came to high school I quickly met people with a passion for this video game to, which has extended my list of contacts. Temper control is essential in League, because when you rage, you tend to do worse, which may lead to defeat. League has taught me to be cool, and not sweat over little things, and try harder the next time.Finally, League has given me a fast reaction time, and now I am able to make deci sions faster. This Is because of the declslons you must take, such as choosing to destroy all the turrets, or rushing the nexus. I am a netter tnlnK now, ana Its Decause 0T tnls partlcular v10eo game. 10 conclude, my passion for video games, it has given me skills that have improved my life, and the people around me. Math, as lame as it sounds, has given me the ability to exercise my brain, challenge myself, test my brain power and help keep me entertained during school.These factors have helped me become a knowledgeable person, and this has helped me learn many subjects. Exercising my brain through math is really efficient for me because I can keep challenging myself. The thrill and challenge math gives me is unbelievable, because when I challenge myself, I improve. I learned many ways to memorize and remember things, because math has taught me that through constant drilling I can thoroughly understand more subjects. For example, When I was memorizing champions and their abilities in my video games, I used the same techniques as I did when I was memorizing the times table.Ever since I first learned math in Kindergarten, I was taken with it. It was the subject that gave helped me the most, and the one I found most interesting. Math has given me vital learning tools, which I can use to succeed in anything. In conclusion, my passions in many ways have changed my life in a positive way. I have acquired skills and tool that I can use to become a better person, not only for myself but for the world around me. Many other hobbies of mine have changed me, but these, baseball, video games, and math have to be the ones that have positively affected me the most.

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Group decision making - Research Paper Example Thus, group decisions carry greater risks. Considering its importance, the decision making process has to be carried out aptly, without any room for failures, dissension, instability, etc. Decision making process is one of the key processes in an organization, which can lead to profits as well as failures or losses to the organization, based on how well the processes is carried out and how optimum the taken eventual decision is. Thus, this paper focusing on group decision making process will identify and discuss one successful and also one unsuccessful experience with group decision making, concluding with the factors’ that could impact the group’s overall growth and effectiveness. Successful decision making process Even with the computerization and automation happening in every segment of organization, the management team along with the workers will only play a major role in the decision making process. That is, the crucial decision-making process will be initiated, ma naged and allowed to reach its logical conclusion only by the employees working in the organization. Then, when employees as part of a group carries out this decision making proces

Legal Based Analysis of The Leveson Inquiry Essay

Legal Based Analysis of The Leveson Inquiry - Essay Example By extension, this inquiry serves as the starting point within which a framework for regulating the media can be based and then modalities developed to handle any malpractices within the press. Although the inquiry started with a narrow area of scope, it soon snowballed into an enigma revolving around media ethics or its absence within journalism. Journalism and press are synonymous with each given their close association. It follows then that when either of them is brought into disrepute, then automatically the other one is also adversely affected. In the case of Lord Justice Leveson inquiry, a lot of dirt was dug out with regards to the rot within the British press. This rot was evidently brought by tabloid journalist s hungry for recognition at the expense of high ethical standards that have existed within British Press. On the sides, the police and the politicians turned a deaf ear to the declining ethical standards all the while assuming casual demeanour. A close scrutiny of Lor d Leveson’s inquiry1 reveals a tinge of mediocre and serious issues that affect the society at large. In large parts of the report, the matters being focussed are less serious like tabloid journalism. However, this does not in any way let the mainstream press of the hook since the rulings and recommendations will affect all forms of press across the board. One of the concerns about the report is that, it tries to compare and handle journalism like other professions like medicine or engineering. This is partly because every profession has got different ethical standards to observe and these standards are not directly transferable to other professions. To say the least, there is very little articulation about the new technologies of communication which is very similar to journalism. Take for instance someone who is blogging or posting information on the internet is more or less a reporter. There appears to be thin line between mainstream journalism and tabloids which is the foc al point of the report. First off, the mess and decline of the ethical standards within the British Press have been largely caused by tabloids and exacerbated by both politicians and police. The latter two have failed to act swift and nip the problem at the bud which has led to them being caught up and entangled within this elaborate web of decay. As a way of affirming the guilty of the tabloids and their insensibility to the reality of the matter, both the politicians and police have been apt in siding and backing up the findings of the report. However, their swift move does not exonerate them from their shortcomings and failure which they have propagated within the past couple of years. It would seem seldom sensible to act fast to mop up the rot since much of the ethical practices carried by the parties adversely mentioned in the inquiry are outlawed within the law. Some of these unlawful undertakings include; phone tapping, harassment among other equally heinous acts within the p ublic domain. Of interest in all these subtle crimes within the press and reporting sphere is the fact that despite the existence of legislations outlawing such activities, they happen unabated by the law. One of the most astounding recommendations of by the report is to replace the

Convergence between GAAP and IFRS Research Paper

Convergence between GAAP and IFRS - Research Paper Example In 2008, FASB reorganized the many accounting principles into only 90 topics. In the same year, the Securities and exchange commission granted a roadmap that would eventually change the US use of the GAAP as accounting rules and adopt the most widely used IFRS rules, by the year 2011 (Bradshaw, 2010). The full adoption of the IFRs was projected to be accomplished by 2014. On the other hand, the history of the IFRS can be traced to 1966 when a proposal was issued to establish a study group consisting of various accounting bodies from England, USA, Canada, and Wales, which would study the possibility of establishing accounting standards that could be universally applied to guide the accounting functions of organizations the world over. In 1967, the Accountants International Study Group, tasked with the responsibility of creating the appetite for change in accounting standards, was created. The body published articles every few months on the need for change until 1973, when Accounting S tandards Committee was formulated to develop accounting standards for international use (Ball, 2006). This was followed by the establishment of the Standing Interpretations Committee to resolve the contentious issues that were arising from the standards crafted by the Accounting Standards Committee. ... By the year 2003, the International Financial Reporting Standards were first published and adopted. In 2005, the European Union adopted the standards and later all the companies in the UK were supposed to present their financial statements using these standards for their financial years commencing January 2005 (Bradshaw, 2010). The current status of the GAAP and IFRS depicts some differences in some of the accounting principles. The differences in their statuses are in terms of the impacts of the accounting standards on the financial statements provided by organizations (Wiley, 2007). Consolidation is the first of this impact where IFRS applies control model while the GAAP prefers the risk and rewards model (Bradshaw, 2010). In the preparation of the statement of income, the IFRS requires that extraordinary items are not segregated while the same are shown below the net income under the GAAP standards. Inventory is another difference currently portrayed by the preparation of the fina ncial statements under the two standards. Under the IFRS, the use of the historical method of managing stock LIFO, where the last item to be bought in the inventory list becomes the first to be sold, is prohibited. Under the GAAP system, however, organizations have a choice between the use of that historical method and the FIFO inventory management system where the first item in the inventory list becomes the first to be sold by a business entity (Ball, 2006). Under the IFRS system, the earnings-per-share calculations do not call for the averaging of the individual interim period, while under the GAAP the computation takes the averages of the individual interim period incremental shares (Bradshaw, 2010). Finally, under the IFRS

HR class wirtting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

HR class wirtting - Essay Example Employee engagement leads to â€Å"better customer outcomes, employee retention and increased productivity and these are what every organization needs in order to thrive† (Hein, 2014). Employers should focus on the recency, frequency, duration, virality and ratings to be able to understand and analyze their engagement levels. Some of the tips in improving employee engagement include finding out what motivates the employees; setting goals and sharing organizational vision; constructing feedback on a regular basis; hiring the right managers; setting clear expectations; empowering employees; and gamification among others (Hein, 2014). Gamification is one of the useful tools used in an organization and it has many key metrics including employee engagement. It is one of the most effective ways to motivate employees thereby leading to greater satisfaction and higher productivity and performance in an organization (Hein, 2014). Generally, employee engagement is considered one of the most important and effective strategies to increase worker’s performance and productivity in an organization. It is one of the approaches designed at the workplace to ensure that all employees are committed to the organization’s goals and values. Notably, being committed to the organizational goals enables employees to enhance organization’s success and well-being. Engagement is a two-way relationship between the employer and employees. That is, engagement involves what employees think and feel about their employers, their emotional connection and their actions and perceptions of their colleagues and clients. Those organizations that consider employee engagement have strong established values, trust and fairness and mutual respect among members and the needs of every employee is understood and fulfilled accordingly. Employee engagement is the extent to which employees are motivated to contribute to organiza tional success

Privacy of Information Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Privacy of Information - Assignment Example This is because it is possible for companies and organizations to use this data in an unauthorized manner. The main stakeholders around the privacy of information include the internet users, the websites visited by these internet users and the United States National Security Agency that has the ability to access internet communication from across the globe. In considering the issue of privacy of information in respect to online customer transactions, there are a number of factors that the team needs to consider. One of these is the question as to whether there are currently any legal restrictions that target the issue of privacy of information. This is important as it is essential for the company to ensure that it constantly remains within the legal parameters. Another aspect that the team needs to think about is the question as to what is the current prevailing feeling among customers about the collection of their personal information from the online transactions that they make. This is important as it will help in informing the company’s decision making process. To learn more about the main issues, the best action that the team can engage in is to organize a professional training course whereby the team members can be educated on the latest main issues surrounding the issues of privacy of information and exactly how to tackle them. There are a number of difficulties that surround the maintaining of privacy of information. Some of these include the difficulty facing users in preventing cookies spyware from illegally accessing their information. Companies such as social media sites, email service providers and banks are faced with the risk of having their customer information becoming illegally accessed by hackers (Easttom and Taylor, 10). Some of the possible solutions that can be employed by users to help in better securing their personal information include the

Four wheel steering Vs Front wheel Steering Assignment

Four wheel steering Vs Front wheel Steering - Assignment Example The vehicle is symmetrical about the x-z axis; 2. The vehicle’s total mass  is lumped; 3. The vehicle’s roll axis is fixed and ; 4. The road’s surface conditions are consistent throughout the modelling; 5. Small angle approximations apply to the vehicle’s motion. The dynamics of the 4WS vehicle system can be divided broadly into three categories which are: 1. Tyre side forces; 2. Yaw moments; 3. Roll moments. These aspects of the steering system will be investigated separately based on three kinds of steering systems which are the 2WS (two wheel steering) with front wheel steering, 4WS under 40 km/h where the wheels are steered in opposite phases and 4WS over 40 km/h where the wheels are steered in the same phase. The three modes of steering and the relevant dynamics and motion investigation are discussed below. 2. Vehicle Dynamics Where: The variables ,  and  all represent various kinds of disturbances that may affect the lateral, yaw and roll d irections such as drag effects, side wind gusts, braking on ice, modelling uncertainties, loads, a flat tyre, an uneven road etc. These external disturbances may exert a sizeable influence in certain circumstances but for the sake of this investigation these disturbances will be neglected. The longitudinal forces  are related to the wheels’ rotational model and these forces can be described by denoting them as: Where  is the effective rotational inertia that includes all related drive train effects. The lateral forces  are non-linear functions that can be described using the magic formula as below: Where   are six different coefficients that depend on the vehicle load  and the camber angles  and . In order to study the dynamic behaviour of the vehicle model being investigated under the assumptions that the side slip angle is small under regular driving conditions, the equation listed above can be linearized and written as: The tyre slip angles presented in the notation above can be written as: If the roll angle is assumed to be small then  and . In this case the equations listed above can be linearized as below: Similarly: And: If the vehicle is considered to be travelling under constant velocity conditions in a steady state fashion then  = 0 and the longitudinal force  displayed by the wheels can be approximated as: The dynamics of the involved actuator can also be represented as a linear first order lag system that can be described as: Where: And: Using the equations listed above a descriptor system can be obtained that possesses the form listed below: Where: The matrix inverse operation can then easily be used in tandem with the matrices presented above to produce a linear time invariant system that is described as below: The system above can now be easily modelled as a state space system in MATLAB in order to see how the system behaves when subjected to different steering angles and speeds. The parameters of interest are the lateral velocity, the yaw rate and the roll angle. 3. MATLAB Simulation The space state system was simulated as such in MATLAB for a host of combinations. The input steering angles were investigated for two wheel steering (2WS) and four wheel steering (4WS) systems for the yaw rate, the lateral velocity and the roll angle for limits of vehicle speed above and below 40 kilometres per hour. The 2WS system was investigated as such both above and below 4

Color and Vans Essay Example for Free

Color and Vans Essay Vans and Converse are both brands of shoes. Vans and Converses have many similarities but they also both have many differences. Both brands come in many different colors and patterns. They also both come in many different styles. For example, they both come in slip-ons, lace-ups, and boots. Also both Converse and Vans make shoes for many different activities. For example, Converse makes shoes for Basketball and Cheerleading. Vans make shoes for surfing, skating, skateboarding, BMX, Moto X, and Snowboarding. Last but not least, they both make casual shoes. Some differences between Vans and Converse are sizing and pricing. The Converse sizes are smaller than the actual street shoe you wear. The pricing between Vans and Converse is also different. Converses are more expensive than Vans. Those are just some of the similarities and differences between vans and Converse. Vans vs converse Vans and Converse are both brands of shoes. Vans and Converses have many similarities but they also both have many differences. Both brands come in many different colors and patterns. They also both come in many different styles. For example, they both come in slip-ons, lace-ups, and boots. Also both Converse and Vans make shoes for many different activities. For example, Converse makes shoes for Basketball and Cheerleading. Vans make shoes for surfing, skating, skateboarding, BMX, Moto X, and Snowboarding. Last but not least, they both make casual shoes. Some differences between Vans and Converse are sizing and pricing. The Converse sizes are smaller than the actual street shoe you wear. The pricing between Vans and Converse is also different. Converses are more expensive than Vans. Those are just some of the similarities and differences between vans and Converse. Vans vs converse Vans and Converse are both brands of shoes. Vans and Converses have many similarities but they also both have many differences. Both brands come in many different colors and patterns. They also both come in many different styles. For example, they both come in slip-ons, lace-ups, and boots. Also both Converse and Vans make shoes for many different activities. For example, Converse makes shoes for Basketball and Cheerleading. Vans make shoes for surfing, skating, skateboarding, BMX, Moto X, and Snowboarding. Last but not least, they both make casual shoes. Some differences between Vans and Converse are sizing and pricing. The Converse sizes are smaller than the actual street shoe you wear. The pricing between Vans and Converse is also different. Converses are more expensive than Vans. Those are just some of the similarities and differences between vans and Converse. Vans vs converse Vans and Converse are both brands of shoes. Vans and Converses have many similarities but they also both have many differences. Both brands come in many different colors and patterns. They also both come in many different styles. For example, they both come in slip-ons, lace-ups, and boots. Also both Converse and Vans make shoes for many different activities. For example, Converse makes shoes for Basketball and Cheerleading. Vans make shoes for surfing, skating, skateboarding, BMX, Moto X, and Snowboarding. Last but not least, they both make casual shoes. Some differences between Vans and Converse are sizing and pricing. The Converse sizes are smaller than the actual street shoe you wear. The pricing between Vans and Converse is also different. Converses are more expensive than Vans. Those are just some of the similarities and differences between vans and Converse. Vans vs converse Vans and Converse are both brands of shoes. Vans and Converses have many similarities but they also both have many differences. Both brands come in many different colors and patterns. They also both come in many different styles. For example, they both come in slip-ons, lace-ups, and boots. Also both Converse and Vans make shoes for many different activities. For example, Converse makes shoes for Basketball and Cheerleading. Vans make shoes for surfing, skating, skateboarding, BMX, Moto X, and Snowboarding. Last but not least, they both make casual shoes. Some differences between Vans and Converse are sizing and pricing. The Converse sizes are smaller than the actual street shoe you wear. The pricing between Vans and Converse is also different. Converses are more expensive than Vans. Those are just some of the similarities and differences between vans and Converse.

Kenya National Security Strategy

Kenya National Security Strategy From colonial times to present day   Ã‚   Executive Summary After Kenyas independence, Somalia was a big security threats. After the president of Somalia, Siad Barre, was overthrown, Somali citizens fled their unstable country and entered Kenya. This affected Kenyas national security. Jihadist militant group, Al Shabaab, ruled Somalia, and through the arrival of refugees, it made it easier for terrorism to cross the borders from Somalia to Kenya. Small arms and light weapons proliferation is currently one of the most crucial external as well as internal security threat Kenya faces today. The existence of ethnic groups and conflicts spilling over across the border to Somalia as well as the constant flow of refugees, makes proliferation of small arms easier. Health insecurity is a major challenge for Kenyan people as well as the economic development of the country. Health and the countrys economy are positively correlated thus one directly affects the other. Piracy incidents have become more frequent in todays world. Somali pirates affect commerce that is taking place in that region which indirectly affects the economy of Kenya. International intervention failed to bring peace to Somalia. Terrorism arises from such instability affecting Kenyas national security. Joining with international help Kenya wishes to attain political stability in the region. Introduction This briefing paper examines Kenyas security strategy in terms of external and internal threats. It will analyse why Kenya has taken specific measures to tackle threats and challenges from Kenyas colonial period to present day. In terms of geopolitical factors, the Nile was and is a very important river. Britain wanted to capture and control the Nile in the 1800s, in order to increase trade. Additionally, they wanted to have control over Egypt, by capturing the source of the Nile, which helped sustain the country and then move on to control the Suez Canal. By doing so, the British would have full control over trade in the Middle East with Europe. Kenya was colonized from 1885 until 1964, when it gained its independence. Post-Independence Regional Influence The first decade after Kenya gained its independence, Somalia posed one of the biggest security threats. In 1992, after the overthrow of Siad Barre, the president of Somalia at the time, Somali refugees found shelter in Kenya as their country was a very unstable state, and this quickly started impacting Kenyas national security. Somalia was then ruled by jihadist militant group, Al Shabaab, and through the influx of refugees, it allowed terrorism to cross borders to Kenya with kidnappings and hijackings increasing rapidly. Terrorism is still one the most challenging and serious threats Kenya faces today. Another neighbouring country that posed a threat to Kenya was Uganda, in terms of external security. The rise of Idi Amin caused tensions between the two states, as the Ugandan president claimed a part of Kenya. To respond to this threat, Kenya improved its air force and build a stronger army in terms of number of soldiers enrolled. The tension between these two nations was a great challenge for Kenya and a threat it faced and still is today with the proliferation of small arms and the instability of a bordering country. Adding to that, South Sudan poses a great threat to Kenyas national security. In 2011, South Sudan, gained its independence, attention was brought to the Elemi triangle and countries in that region. This challenge was dealt with through peace talks to come to a common resolution in a diplomatic and civil manner, however, it could still pose a threat to regional security and impacting Kenya in the future, as different nations have different interests. Furthermore, internal conflicts in South Sudan also threaten Kenyas national security, as they could spill over and start spreading in other nations which would destabilize the region and its security. Post-Independence Social and Political Security In terms of social security Kenya, since independence, has faced problems with ethnicity influencing internal politics thus affecting the nations national security. These ethnic groups which lead to a divided nation have existed since Kenyas colonial era to post-colonial and even today remain an imminent threat to the security of the country. Kenya understood this challenge, thus included in its constitution, that the government should have a legal requirement in appointing a leader that will reflect and support ethnic diversity and not favour certain ethnic groups. Distinction was made between ethnic groups based on the land they owned, however this lead to ethnic conflicts for land ownership between different groups. Another difference that divided these ethnic groups was language which encouraged strong ethnic identities trying to prevail and ending up in conflicts. Adding to that, the effect that ethnicity had on Kenya, is that it divided the country into 42 different tribes which intensified internal ethnic conflicts that posed a security threat to Kenya before and even after independence and affect Kenyas economic development agenda. In terms of political security, Kenya was influenced largely from its colonizers.   The structure that they adopted into their political system was created by the British who colonized Kenya. However, the diversity of ethnic groups was embedded into politics with culture violence being the only tool Kenyans used to achieve their aim. There was no trust between different ethnic groups and thus leading to a more polarized political system with the risk of increasing cultural violence to resolve issues. Ethnic groups formed their own political parties to establish power to their own people. This lead to election violence, which is still one of the most important internal security challenged the nation faces today. Kenyas political system was and is still is divided between these ethnic groups which could potentially lead Kenya into a civil war which could simply be used as a political statement. After Kenya gained its independence the government of Kenya tried uniting the nation into thinking as a unity instead of being segregated into the 42 ethnic groups and tribes, hoping to put an end to political rivalry and focus on issues such as poverty and health security as one nation. Policies were formulated to achieve regional stability as well as continental unity to depolarize the world from the two superpowers at the time (USA vs. USSR). Kenya was always a neutral country during the time period 1960-1970 as it had a vision of a united Africa. The second decade after Kenya gained its independence, Somalia still posed a threat to the nation, as it continued receiving support from the Soviet Union. The end of the Cold War had a negative impact on Kenya as the US tried promoting democracy which led to a negative response by some Kenyan ethnic groups.   These rallies that took place to promote democracy, often resulted in violence. Economic Development To obtain economic security Kenya has to ensure that it has financial stability, access to resources and that its citizens have sufficient income. However, Kenya still suffers from high levels of unemployment, poverty, and segregation of different income classes. In terms of economic dominance, Kenya has seen its industries grow and help finance some of the projects Kenya envisioned in the Vision 2030, an ambitious plan Kenya wanted to implement by the year of 2030. The division of people in terms of wealth is very visible in Kenya. Poverty is at high rates which leads to unstable settlements and the rise of criminal behaviour, as people have to compete with each other for basic resources such as food and water. Reasons why the nation has failed to implement policies to reduce poverty and the wealth gap is poor budgeting and overestimating the nations capabilities. There is a lack of appropriate policy frameworks and personnel to carry out these policies. Kenya in recent times, has discovered oil, gas and other mineral resources which could potentially lead to an growth in the countrys economic development. Kenya has responded to these opportunities in a diplomatic and business like manner, already singing contracts with international oil companies for the exploration of its oil as well as training its own people in handling and exploring these sources themselves. However this puts Kenya in a difficult spot as the instability of its region could lead to radicalized groups wanting control of Kenyas oil. The nation wishes to create strategic and business relationships with big international companies in order to avoid these sources falling in the wrong hands. Internal Security Today Political  security and regional stability In terms of political security, with 42 different ethnic groups present in Kenya, Kenya is a divided nation with a lack of a national identity. Ethnic violence has been present in Kenya even before its independence. Even after the nation gained its independence, ethnic groups still divide and pose a challenge to Kenyas national security. Kenyas attempt at resolving this challenge was not successful and therefore Kenyas idea of addressing with the issue is through educating younger generations on how to think like Kenyans instead of following their ethnic prejudices. Kenya has constantly failed at resolving ethnicity and ethnic conflicts is still is a corrupted government. With the segregation of different ethnic groups, presidency is also in favor of the ethnicity of the party elected. In 2008 was the biggest political conflict Kenya has witness with the violence used a s a tool to displace members who were in power of specific ethnic groups. Keya created a legislation and made it a legal requirement to found political parties based on the persons religion or ethnicity and this was also used to prevent gender discrimination. All parties were required to follow a code of conduct. The nation has failed repeatedly as it has not yet resolved the issues with ethnicity and corruption. Corruption in Kenya weakens its agenda on economic development. These ethnic groups are not only present in Kenya but also in other neighbouring countries which makes it very difficult for the country to respond to such an imminent and large threat that it is facing as it is surrounded by unstable nations.. Health and Food Insecurities   Ã‚   Kenya has been struggling with health security for a long time. Incidences of malaria, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and other diseases have affected, not only Kenyans but also national economic development. More of the nations funds are directed towards building a better health care system that would cater to everyone and could be afforded by everyone. This eventually leads to a slower economic growth for the country, which leads to lower incomes for certain groups of people and thus resulting in a higher percentage of poverty. Kenya focuses on education, health and poverty as key instruments in developing the country and creating this prosperous nation it has envisioned by 2030.

Comparing Leadership Styles | Effect of Leadership Styles of Business

Comparing Leadership Styles | Effect of Leadership Styles of Business Any organization can not survive without a sound management system. The management and how to manage the company from an overall aspect is mainly established by a core person in this company and he/she is called the leader of this company. It is wide accepted that no company can be successfully without effective management and without a competent leader. Therefore, the leader of the company plays a vital role for the organization. Different leaders with different natures and characteristics may bring up completely different management theory to the company, which will also decide the developing model of the company and determine the success of failure of the company. The leadership style will greatly decide the companys development for the future. It is a careful decision who to be hired or selected to be in charge of the company and guide the strategy of the company. Therefore, in order to analyze how the role of leader plays in an organization, two different leaders have been selec ted in this report. The objective of this report is to analyze leadership styles by selecting two leaders from two companies. One is Carly Fiorina with HP Company, and the other one is Michael T. Duke with Wal-Mart Company. These two different leaders are different in their leadership in many ways and the differences between their leadership approaches are demonsrtated in the critical analysis section. In the end the conclusion of the effectvie leadership is made based on the findings of the two cases. 2.0 Introduction As to the development of a company, the importance of the leader is obvious to the whole company. With reference to each successful enterprise, it is obvious that there is an outstanding leader guiding an excellent team, such as Jack Welch with GM Corporation America and Chinese Zhang Ruimin, leader of Haier Company and so on. Therefore, whether a company will be successful or not is greatly connected with who is leading the company. As the leadership topic is mentioned, this report is going to focus on the leadership in an organization. In this report, two famous leaders have been chosen and discussed from HP and Wal-Mart Companies in terms of their ways of leading the company and the major characteristics they have which may affect their ways regarding managing the team and the company. Based on the findings of the case study, comparison and contrast of both leaders with respect to their managing styles and leader style will be analyzed. At last, reasonable and information-based co nclusion related to leader management will be drawn. 3.0 Leader 1 Carly Fiorina with HP Company Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. which is HP company for short and established in United States in 1939, is a company specialized in developing and manufacturing computers, printers, software and other digital fields. HPs Corporate Objectives which was written by co-founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard have guided the company for decades. The objective is It is necessary that people work together in unison toward common objectives and avoid working at cross purposes at all levels if the ultimate in efficiency and achievement is to be obtained. HP Company has been developed very fast in technology areas and expanded to the worldwide. In anywhere you can see HP logo and its products in everywhere. HPs development and success can not be real without excellent leaders. Here Carly Fiorina as one of the excellent and competent CEOs is selected to analyze for the purpose of explaining the relation between a leader and company success. Carly Fiorina was born in 1954 and graduated from Stanford University. In 1999, she was presented as the CEO of HP company and ended as the CEO role in 2005. Carly Fiorina is a very competent leader. Before she took the CEO position, HP Company was encountering years of depressing time, especially in the years of 1997 and 1998, the company faced the unprecedented difficulties and the sales income was far behind its expectations. Fiorina started her career in business as a receptionist, but later she jumped very fast to the positions of management and leadership. Fiorina is also a very excellent communicator and her speech is convincing the same as the Ex-president Bill Clinton. Carly Fiorina was the first female CEO in HPs history (Carlys biography, 2010). During her stay with role of CEO in HP, she has developed comprehensive skills in leadership which include planning, delegating, decision making, coordinating and communication. She brought a lot of changes to HP and turned the HP ways into the Carly way (Forsyth, 2006). Carly Fiorina is characterized with board decision making and brave in taking actions. When made the merger with Compaq Company with a 25 billion USD in 2001, it was a broad step for taking. In terms of leadership style, Carly Fiorina could be determined as authoritarian in controlling and regulating policy, procedures within the company. Besides this leadership feature, she should also be concluded to be equipped with democratic leadership style (Sprenger, 2010). Carly Fiorinas leadership styles are most cultivated by her personalities. She is very diligent and hard working at the same time she is also good at selling. She stands very calm in any situation and is good at calculating and thinking. She is very dedicated to the pursuit of goals that she thinks that it is well-intentioned. She is very persistent with things. In Fiorinas view, every person is capable of far more than they realize. Fiorina holds this view in her life and applies it into her management. She is capable of digging and encouraging her teams ability. Some of her team workers feel very thankful to her, because she gave the chance to them to realize who they were and what they could do and where the y could reach in the future. With this characteristic, it is good to gather people and make them work hard to achieve the goal. Fiorina likes to engage activities personally which is another factor contributing to her successful leadership (Sadler, 2003). After she took the position as CEO, she started her trips to anywhere the HP covers and to investigate the problems and potentials there. She is very responsible for her position. She is persistent in doing the right things, for the right reasons and the right way, most of the time; it will turn out all right. When she was with HP Company, she will never give up what she thinks is a right choice or decision and she will lead her team to go for it. Thanks to Carly Fiorinas effective leading approach, HP Company has grown and developed very fast and achieved with the most important merger in HP history. During the period she took the leadership in HP Company, HP expanded very quickly to the world and its market share has grown. Compared with the developing and expanding and profit making situation before Fiorina as CEO, HP has made great success in terms of both self-development and its fast expansion to overseas markets. However, although Carly Fiorinas leadership has brought HP benefits in a range of areas, she was still not welcomed by all people within the company. Her leading behavior was not always appreciated by HP board (House and Price, 2009). Carly Fiorina holds her direction was right for HPs development for long term; however, other HP board worried about the direction of HP under Fiorinas leading. And also because Fiorina is a female leader, to some extent, most males are not really accepted the fact of being manage d or controlled by a female. Plus Fiorina is a relatively authorized person with respect to management. Therefore, in 2005, Carly Fiorina finished her CEO life within HP Company. 4.0 Leader 2 Michael T. Duke with Wal-Mart Company Wal-Mart as one of the worlds largest retailers has developed and expanded very fast. It has now expanded to many other countries and has occupied a relatively large retail market share there. Wal-Mart has thousands of products where consumers can find their various needs. The company now is continuing to broaden and accelerate its global efforts on sustainable development and responsible sourcing and opportunities. Until April this year, Wal-Mart has established businesses in 14 countries besides its businesses in United States. There are more than 4000 stores running around the world. Compared with the finance statement in 2009, the sales incomes in overseas markets have broken through 100 billion US dollars (Charles, 2009). Mike Duke is the president and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. As CEO, Mike leads a strong management team that is focused on keeping Walmarts mission of saving people money so they can live better relevant to every customer, every day. Mike Duke joined Walmart in 1995. Mike has taken various positions in Wal-Mart before he reached his current position as the leader of Wal-Mart. He has led the divisions of logistics, distribution and administration. He was capable and active in developing and executing corporate strategy. Duke is a low-key person which is very consistent with Wal-Mart style. He does not like to flaunt. The only leisure hobby of Duke is to play Golf. Duke is the fifth CEO of Wal-Mart. He is appointed by the previous CEO, Scot Lee. Lee appreciates Duke very much. Some people comment that Lee and Duke are very similar in their personalities and management. The most distinguished difference is Duke is better at social relations with people. From Dukes colleagues view, he is a considerate person as loyal to friendship and helpful to others. As a senior manager of Wal-Mart, Duke is very clear when to start a fight for Wal-Mart business growth. One retail analyst has commented that Duke is very ambitious. The development strategy held by Duke is that Wal-Mart must occupy the leading position in the retail industry. Therefore, Duke made decision to withdraw Wal-Mart from Germany and South Korea where the sales are not desirable. And also he decided to hold 95.1% of stake from the previous 50.9% of its subsidiary Japanese company Seiyu Department Store. At that time, every one warned that it might be a very high-risk decision, but Duke believed that as long as Wal-Mart gets more control stake, it will make things different. As a successful leader, you must be competent in the areas you exert in. The competence areas such as envision, involving and goal-oriented. Duke is experienced in the management field. Before he joined Wal-Mart, he was an executive at Federated and May Department Stores for 23 years. And before he took CEO role, he was engaged in various sectors in Wal-Mart, which enabled him the wide knowledge about the whole operation in the Wal-Mart. And also from the change perspective speaking, leaders should have the ability of responding to and managing the external changes. When Duke saw Wal-Marts poor sales in Germany, he made the broad step to withdraw from the Germany market. Personal characteristics and behaviors also contribute to be a successful leader or not. Duke gives his colleagues an impression of friendly and kind and easy-going, which does not mean he is not strict or decisive. On the contrary, Duke has the talent of gathering his employees and also has a clear direction where the company shall develop into. Duke made commitment that in order to make up the bad sales in American local market; Wal-Mart would fasten its pace in expanding to other potential overseas markets. He said to his employees that the anticipation is to attract more consumers and set up more stores world widely and accelerate Wal-Mart global expansion. For Wal-Mart, Dukes presence as the CEO is like change blood to Wal-Mart. Firstly, it was the very right time for Duke to take the position after the depressing year in 2008. Secondly, due the change of the political leader in United States, Wal-Mart had to choose a different CEO the represent a different Wal-Mart to the whole America Society. Because the political environment sounds not advantageous to Wal-Mart since Democratic Party won the election. In the previous years , Wal-Mart was supporting the Republic Party with its 85% amount of political capital went to Republican and just 15% left to Democratic Party. Duke may have to transfer its political policy within the organization for seeking a better development in its local market. Therefore, Despite Dukes leadership style will probably bring a bright future to Wal-Mart; Duke will definitely meet new challenges in this position. Under Dukes leading, because Duke is paying highly attention to his employee staff, it will be easy to gather and establish competent team. Also due to Dukes rich experience working the stores Company and his working experience in various sector of Wal-Mart for years, Duke has a very comprehensive view over the overall company developing. However, everything has its two sides. Although Wal-Mart may have the potential of grasping a good chance to develop and expand under Dukes leading approach, there are also potential challenges or disadvantages posed to its development. 5.0 Critical analysis-comparison and contrast between the two leaders with respect to their leadership styles 5.1 Differences in personal characteristics Carly Fiorinas characteristics: Somebody was born to a competitive, such as Carly. She has extraordinary passion, confidence, courage and endurance. In order to achieve goals that can endure hard to imagine the enormous pressures and challenges, even troubled, still self-improvement and never give up. Carly is an insightful strategist, led by her customers and makes the management of excited and kind, but also to carry out different tactics to ensure the smooth realization of goals. Carlys distinct personality made her very difficult to achieve harmonious, peaceful way to deal with things, so she makes many people feel hurt. While she was taking the reforms of HP Company, she also encountered difficulties in the realization of the merger plan. Carlys extraordinary will and unyielding personalities support her to become successful in her career. But at the same time, most of her colleagues do not agree with her in terms of the direction of the development etc. Thus in 2005, company board has fired her as CEO of HP. Michael T. Dukes personal characteristics Duke is a Georgia man, in his spare time; he and his wife did a lot of charity work. For example, they have been taken care of an orphan until finally found the orphan with an adoptive family. He is a low-key person. This moderate character is very easy to integrate into the Wal-Marts way of treating its employees and Wal-Marts humane enterprise culture. Although Duke has been regarded as a good and kind person in the industry, this does not mean his is not a strict man. Actually his work style of being slightly conservative but strategic is very good and helpful for promoting the smooth development of Wal-Mart. The difference in character between these two leaders is obvious, Carly positive attitude is very positive in work. Her enthusiasm for work is the key to her success in her career. However, being sometimes too tough and persistent and anxious to be successful often cause great resistance to the development. Carly belongs to the authoritarian leadership style. For HP Company during its depressing time before Carly took the CEO position, this passionate characteristic was very helpful for the company. Duke is moderate and communicative; Duke more belongs to the emotional intelligence leader type. He is easy-going and listening to others. He is the type of leader who affects his employees by emotionally. 5.2 Different in their reforming pace as leaders of the companies. Carlys reform of the HP, focused on control of the company, focused on adjusting strategy and simplifying the companys structures. Company just needs to keep useful functional departments. She made HP into four groups, which improved work efficiency a lot. Employees felt the sense of urgency in doing their jobs. Carly emphasizes on efficiency. She firmly believed that if she could correct the mistakes of HP made in the past few years, the company will become strong and competitive again. She led HP to the pursuit of speed and passion, and meanwhile to distinguish HP from other competitors in the characters. During her remodeling process for Hewlett-Packard, other senior managers and ordinary employees did not show their disputes openly, but actually some disagreement was originated. Besides continuing implementing the past successful business strategies, Duke made several marketing strategies aiming to survive from the global financial crisis. These strategies, such as improving consumers shopping experiences, more special products included, are attracting more and more consumers. But compared to HP Company, Wal-Mart reforming is relatively conservative. 5.3 Team organization capability Carly has a remarkable ability to communicate. She is good at communicating with her employee personally. She always travels to visit HP worker in different places. And this communication is very essential for the establishing an effective team. However due to Carlys strict and sometimes tough personalities, it is not very easy for her to establish a loyal team. Especially in the reforming period, most of people do not like changes at the same time, gender is another unfavorable factor contributing to her difficulties in managing an effective team. Many people, especially for male workers, it is very uncomfortable to work under a female manager. In the Dukes eyes, the future of employees is Wal-Marts future. He emphasizes this point to his staff that Wal-Mart will continue to work to build a better life. Duke is very popular and respected by his employees. His attitude towards life and relationship with workers gains support from his employees. So for Duke, he is more capable of organizing an effective team. 6.0 Conclusion In conclusion, leader is the most important figure in an organization. When a person is hired as the leader of a company, he/she becomes the core part of the whole company. The way he/she adopts for leading the company will greatly affect the companys development. The leaders leadership approach is greatly influenced by his/her personal characteristics, her/his competencies and his/her culture values as well. Different leaders to manage a company may turn the company into a completely different one in terms of its developing direction, its company values or culture and so on. In this report, two different leaders with different companies have been introduced and analyzed regarding to their personalities, leadership styles. Through their respective contribution made to their companies, we can conclude that effective leader is very crucial for the development and direction of the company. In the comparing and contrasting part, the two leaders differences with respect to their leadershi p have been addressed and proper reasons have been investigated regarding the differences. The leadership styles can also affected from the organization variables. The leadership style will be affected by the external environmental changes, such as in the case of leader 2. The change of the leadership is to some extent forced by the economic times and political environment changes.

Designing a Metaphysical Zone near the Miami River Essay -- Public Pol

A METAPHYSICAL ZONE We should accept the experimental nature of our prototype; we can push the design as far as our theories will allow, since whatever we produce may be tested by others. Our position within electracy is not unlike that of Plato in literacy, if only in the sense of what we are attempting to do (and not what we have achieved). Plato is credited with being the first person in the Western tradition to isolate and work purely within a conceptual discourse (he invented Philosophy). The first concept to be treated in this fully abstract way is "justice," and in a dialogue such as THE REPUBLIC Plato discusses what justice "is"--asks after its essence, its inner nature, its being--as opposed to dramatizing its dispersed qualities in a series of narrative actions, as the tragedians were still doing, not to mention the status of such a thought in the oral epics. When we isolate the Miami River as a zone, we are raising it to the status of an idea, or even of a category. As the Greeks assimilated literacy, the term eidos evolved from its original usage in Homer--"what one sees," "appearance," "shape"--to the abstract forms ("suprasensible reality, eternal, beyond the merely sensible") (Peters, 46-47). In Plato's metaphysics (his theory of what there is in the world, what is real) a set of eide evolved--the Good, the Beautiful, the One. At first there seemed to be an eidos for each class of things (ethical eide, mathematical eide). Then a hierarchy emerged, with certain final forms (Aristotle called them "categories") that did not mix among themselves, such as Existence, the Same, the Different, Rest, Motion (49). Comment What we are doing is generating an electrate mode of reasoning by means of an extended analogy ... ...rds and meanings most commonly used in such systems ( "If you hear a crow cawing on your righthand side, be very cautious in all you do that day"). Our consulting works this analogy at two levels: first, our zone consists of the Miami River and the movements, positions, identity, and "cries" of its denizens--Haitians, coast guard, Italian taxi drivers, and the like. Second, the form (shape, eidos) of our practice adapts some of the features of divination specific to the Carribean basin, specifically aspects of Santeria and Vodun ritual. We may also find useful parallels with the notion of the augur as "bird watcher," if we think of our interface metaphor of tourism. WORKS CITED Peters, F. E., GREEK PHILOSOPHICAL TERMS: A HISTORICAL LEXICON (New York: NYU, 1967). Telesco, Patricia, FUTURE TELLING: A COMPLETE GUIDE TO DIVINATION (Freedom, CA.: Crossing, 1998).

Marginality and Othering in Metalious’ Peyton Place Essay -- Peyton Pl

Marginality and Othering in Metalious’Peyton Place Metalious’ best known novel, Peyton Place, was a bestseller and a media phenomenon in the mid-1950s and 1960s, creating a stir because of its depictions of teenage sexuality, incest, and illegal abortion. Surprisingly, however, few close examinations of the novel’s content and style have been published by literary critics. This essay provides a discussion of a key concern in the novel: racial, ethnic, geographical, and sexual marginality. Written to challenge the inscription of white, middle class, nuclear family life as the standard by which difference should be measured, Peyton Place features several characters who inhabit the metaphorical margins of American society, including Samuel Peyton, an escaped slave and the founder of the town; Tomoas Makris, a mysteriously handsome Greek school principal with several resemblances to George Metalious; and Selena Cross, a dark-skinned, beautiful young woman describes as a â€Å"gypsy,† whose life ties in to the incest and abortion subplots within the novel. I will provide a working definition of marginality and â€Å"othering† to begin this essay, followed by a discussion of Metalious’ social status as a French Canadian in New Hampshire, a description of the characterizations of Samuel Peyton and Selena Cross, and a final word on realism, reception, and the novel’s legacy. Marginality and â€Å"othering† are terms that have a long history in literary and critical discourse of the 20th century. In cultural criticism of the last three decades, these terms have been used to describe differences in power among individuals, nations, and cultural forms. In Orientalism, for instance, Edward Said invokes this idea of marg... ...ched understanding of the novel’s legacy. The unique and provocative treatments of marginality and othering in Peyton Place illustrate conflicts and anxieties that remain unresolved in 21st century American culture. Works Cited Mussell, Kay. Fantasy and Reconciliation: Contemporary Formulas of Women’s Romance Fiction. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1984. Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books, 1979. Sorrell, Richard S. â€Å"A Novelist and Her Ethnicity: Grace Metalious as a Franco-American,† Historical New Hampshire, Fall 1980: 284-327. Stearns, Jane and Michael Stearns. â€Å"Peyton Place.† Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. New York: Harper, 1992: 381-383. Toth, Emily. Inside Peyton Place: The Life of Grace Metalious. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2001. â€Å"Unpopular Best Seller.† Life, November 12, 1956: 104.

Big MAck :: essays research papers

Sunday Night Match – up: Big Mac vs. Whopper   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   By reading that comparison of the Big Mac and the Whopper, many pros and cons came to mind. For every good thing the Big Mac has, the Whopper doesn’t, and for every good thing the Whopper has, the Big Mac doesn’t. For instance, the Whopper has only one beef patty that is only slightly larger than one of the Big Mac’s 2 beef patties. Both of thee hamburgers are relatively the same price, yet both have different things to offer. The Big Mac’s beef patties are fried, and the Whoppers patties are broiled. The broiled beef patties are better for you healthwise then the fried patties are. The Big Mac still offers more to the customer for the same price though. Or does it? The Whopper only uses 2 slices of bread, while the Big Mac uses 3. The Whopper seems to be better for your health than the Big Mac. Even though it doesn’t offer as much food, the nutritional value would be better for the human consumption. The whopper has brolied beef, which is healthier than the Big Macs Fried beef. The slices of onion that are on top of the Whopper could very possibly add up to be more onion on top of the Big Mac, which would give the consumer more nutrition, and worse breath. Once again the Whopper offers 2-3 slices of tomato while the Big Mac offers lettuce. 2-3 slices of tomato is proven to have better nutrition than 1slice of lettuce. Both ketchup and Mayonnaise are used as toppings on the Whopper. While only â€Å"sauce† is used on the Big Mac. For all we know the Big Mac special sauce could be ground up rat meat

Media Influences

When we as individuals have the desire to learn more about current events and the condition of the world it is only natural that we turn our focus towards the mediums that broadcast the information in which we are seeking. These information sources can be televisions, newspapers, magazines, and/or the most recent technological phenomenon, known as the internet. As of late, devices such as the television have been proven to be much more than just an amusement for many Americans.With awareness of the power that television possesses, it has arguably become a given that the content broadcasted through a television also possesses great influence. The media is becoming an ever more powerful force in shaping the world's perception of itself. An individual's struggle to develop, and maintain a unique identity and self-understanding apart from media's influence is steadily becoming increasingly difficult for the youths of today.When the people of the world absorb the many manifestations of th e media they believe they are simply viewing reality, but in actuality, the media often proves itself it to be the sole instigator of stereotypes, as well as the creator of adverse social problems that often plague our society. Personally, I believe in order to eliminate the stereotypes that the media generates the public must have a heightened awareness of both the existence of as well as the potential damage caused by these unrealistic and/or stereotypical images and messages we are bombarded with daily.Unfortunately, and just as it was discussed in the ‘Killing Us Softly’ video, these detrimental messages are difficult to fight and to even identify effectively because of the ways in which they are â€Å"wholesomely† or â€Å"harmlessly† presented via advertising. Overwhelming amounts of time and money are devoted to raising a small, specially selected portion of the population as models of physical perfection – and ‘Killing Us Softlyâ€℠¢ creator Jean Kilbourne exclaims, â€Å"These body types practically do not exist! For the most part, the types of people we see in the media are television and movie celebrities, fashion models, and sports figures. It is one thing to be acknowledged for one’s achievements, but the issue lies in that the glamorous ways in which these occupations are portrayed by the media are seemingly impossible to separate from the physical appearance of the people who hold them.The glamour that surrounds the media presentation of the lives and careers of these individuals extends, not surprisingly, to the clothes that they wear and the way that they look. One example solidifying this would be the fact that many celebrities, like Jennifer Lopez and Paris Hilton, create their own clothing and perfume merchandise lines, and both are prospering due to the constant bombardment of self improvement that television urges teenagers to make.In fact, so much attention is given to celebrity appearan ces that entire television programs are devoted to little else but visual exploitation of celebrity clothing, and their tangible products of their latest fad workouts – so we too, as common folk can also aspire to be the dangerously skinny, 6’2’’, 97 pound beauty with the flawless skin and natural stage presence†¦achieving such characteristics is no sweat, right?The media presentation of the celebrity body has a single unifying image, regardless of the specific job title of a given celebrity. It can be argued that, because the media portrays celebrities' bodies as attractive, desirable, and â€Å"good,† they become national symbols of these characteristics. On the contrary, bodies that do not meet this lofty goal frequently are, consciously or unconsciously, regarded as â€Å"bad† or ugly. Consider the ‘successfully’ popular advertising campaign used by Subway, the national fast food sandwich chain. Jared,† the  "star† of the recent number of television commercials, supposedly lost hundreds of pounds while on a diet consisting mainly of the chain's sandwiches. Jared's â€Å"before† pictures show him considerably larger than his current size, but they also show him alone, with no friends or family. In stark contrast, however, his â€Å"after† action shots consistently show him not only thinner, but also constantly in the presence of a beautiful woman. Although this is not always the case,) the advertising message here is clear and simple: being fat/not part of the 1% of the population that most models’ bodies fall into is considered to be the equivalent and/or predictor of one’s life being bad, ugly, unhappy and lonely; while being thin/having no source of natural body fat leaves one happy and with attractive partner. Through these commercials, Jared has assumed celebrity status, solely on the basis that his body has changed to approximate more closely to th e current standard of what the media considers to be attractive.In truth, there is a huge difference between the male and female body types glorified in the media and those of the public at large. For women, â€Å"desirable† physical characteristics (as they are portrayed in the media) include being thin, long-legged, slim-hipped, and large-breasted. In addition, the media-portrayed â€Å"desirable† physical characteristics for men include being muscular and possessing a full head of hair. While this has been the normal projection of a â€Å"desirable† man for decades, in some cases this desirable form has also been altered to an extreme (much like the unrealistic physical expectations of women. Just like the counterpart Barbie dolls, G. I Joe has evolved into a highly influential and popular action figure that displays levels of muscularity far exceeding the outer limits of actual human attainment. Thus, the unrealistic evolution of both Barbie and G. I Joe may seem insignificant, but in truth it reflects an ever changing and demanding projection of the human body that has been fabricated by none other than, the mass media.In the gap between what is absolutely beautiful in the eyes of the media and the physical reality of the popular majority, it seems as though nearly everyone, at some point in his or her life attempts to alter him- or herself in a physical way, in order to conform more closely to the marketed â€Å"norm† of attractiveness and desirability. Television, magazines, and newspapers are filled with advertisements promoting self-loathing attitudes, while offering â€Å"miracle,† and body-altering â€Å"cures. The body that does not conform to a sexy, sleek stereotype becomes a thing to be hated, improved upon, and generally tortured into submission. Again, in the video we watched, media activist Jean Kilbourne concludes that, â€Å"Women are sold to the diet industry by the magazines we read and the television programs we watch, almost all of which make us feel anxious about our weight. † Ultimately, the unachievable presentation of the human body in the media leads to many outlets that can harm/distort the average human being’s perception of themselves.The changes a person must make in order to become what the media considers to be beautiful leads to many problems such as: disordered eating, including anorexia, bulimia, over-exercising, excessive dieting, and over-anxiety over food (just to name a few. ) While most of the population recovering from disordered eating is still predominately composed of women, the number of men with disordered and dangerous eating habits as well as distorted body images is reportedly on the rise.In addition to inevitable physical damage, intangible psychological harm results from body image problems to which the media contributes greatly and regularly. The perception that a single, narrow range of body types is acceptable and healthy for men an d women is not only in error, but contributes to widespread social discontent. Instead of celebrating the diversity and beauty of the human form, the media stifles our desire to feel comfortable with ourselves.

Groups and High-Performance Teams

Abstract Today’s leaders face many challenges in the creation of a high-performing team. Effective leaders are able to assemble a high-performance team with good hierarchical balance, measurable and attainable goals, and appropriate communication expectations across the team. They promptly address conflict resolutions and break down all physical barriers in managing multi-city offices and dispersed employees. By paying close attention to team demographics and diversity, good leaders will establish a solid group foundation which will result in a high-performance team.Groups and High-Performance Teams There are many factors that affect a team’s behavior and overall performance. Group demographics and diversity can ultimately play a key role in the success or failure of any team. This paper will identify some of the challenges that today’s leaders face in turning a group into a high-performance team, and the impact of demographic characteristics and cultural diversi ty on group behavior. Groups vs. Teams As defined by Schermerhorn (2005), â€Å"A group is a collection of two or more people who work with one another regularly to achieve common goals.An effective group is one that achieves high levels of task performance, member satisfaction, and team viability. † Teams on the other hand, are usually time-limited groups that get together to achieve a common purpose. â€Å"An essential criterion of a true team is that the members feel ‘collectively accountable’ for what they accomplish. † (Schermerhorn, 2005). The manager or team leader must remember the importance of the team members’ ability to associate themselves with a group identity and begin to form an attachment to their teammates. The fact is that it takes a lot more work to build a well-functioning team than simply assigning members to the same group and then expecting them to do a great job. † (Shcermerhorn, 2005). Team Identity Setting a teamâ₠¬â„¢s identity is one of the first steps a manager must take in forming a high-performing team. As we often witness in the sports world, a team’s identity can help to rally team members and build camaraderie amongst its members. The same approach holds true in a business setting. Computer Weekly (2004) reports, â€Å"The project start process can also be used to build team identity and build psychological attachment between members. (p. 24). This psychological attachment will serve as the foundation upon which the team is built and will affect the team’s overall performance. According to Turk (2005), â€Å"As the project manager you need to build a staff that can get the job done. You need the right mix of expertise, creativity, flexibility, enthusiasm, and experience. † ( p. 30). These key attributes will work to motivate other team members and assist the manager in establishing the appropriate balance to the team. Team Diversity When forming effective teams, managers must consider team synergy an important goal, and diversity plays a major role.Managers should strive to create the appropriate balance between workers and their personality types. As Martinette (2005) points out, â€Å"Work groups and teams that have too many people of one type or another soon find themselves out of balance. † (p. 117). â€Å"For good problem solving and decision making, you need a diversity of personality types. † (Hill, 2005, p. 37). Striking the proper team balance is important and balance does not mean people with a background and disposition just like the boss. Many types of diversity are to be expected on any team, and can be the source of many differences of opinion.Age, gender, ethnicity, and personality differences can affect the team’s cohesiveness, or non-cohesiveness as may be. Obviously, with a diverse group the possibilities of conflict increase, but so do the possibilities of a greater outcome. Hill (2005) gives us an ex ample, â€Å"Meetings are more raucous and consensus is harder to achieve. But these arguments often spark new ideas. As a result, the company is constantly spawning and sculpting new innovations in a way the old team never did. † (p. 38). Differences in world view can create dynamic conversations and results, if the team can learn how to effectively deal with conflict.According to D Andrea-O Brien and Buono (1996), â€Å"True team learning is the ability of members to†¦ build on their knowledge so that their collective knowledge enables them to continually improve team†¦ performance as well as to discover, develop and implement completely new ways of doing business (p. 1). Demographics Managing remote employees is a growing challenge for many of today’s leaders. It is not just about managing employees at satellite offices; it is also managing telecommuters who work a certain number of days from their home offices.A manager needs to understand the complexiti es of managing a virtual team and communicating across the boundaries of time zones, organizations and cultures. Good communication practices as well as building personal relationships are both key to working with remote employees. As Pauleen (2003) states, â€Å"Effective communications is a key to successful virtual teams, and one of the keys to effective communications is how well team members are able to build and maintain their personal relationships. † (p. 229).Video conferencing works well and provides a company’s employees with a visual link that serves to backfill for the lack of face-to-face communications that employees would have if they were collocated. Trust and Motivation An important goal for managers, in addressing and monitoring a team’s behavior, is to develop the trust of his or her team members. Employees that trust one another will often be motivated to go the extra mile in meeting and exceeding team objectives. Team motivation is extremely important because it makes the team more effective.Stephen Covey (1989) states: â€Å"Unclear expectations in the area of goals also undermine communication and trust. † (p. 194). If goals seem unachievable, it could affect the teams buy-in to the whole process. Giving, receiving and being responsive to feedback should be a fundamental part of the team process. Conflict According to DeJanasz, Dewd and Schneider (2001), â€Å"Conflict is any situation in which there are incompatible goals, cognitions, or emotions within or between individuals or groups that lead to opposition or antagonistic interaction. † (p. 243).Conflict among team members is inevitable and desirable, because â€Å"conflict in itself is not the problem. It is, rather, our reactions to it that determine the impact, and causes us to characterize it as a negative experience. † (Porter, 2005, p. 1). It should be anticipated that the team will disagree, and therefore, conflict should be considered a part of the process. â€Å"In fact, if we define conflicts as simply differences of opinion, this is exactly what we want to happen. In bringing together a diverse group of experts, we expect and want these differences to surface because, in the end, we expect a better outcome or result. (The Team, p. 171). If everyone agreed, there would be no reason to team up to resolve a situation, or to come up with new ideas. Teams are developed for a specific purpose, and diverse opinions, ideas, and perspectives will make the team most effective. Conclusion Team diversity and demographics play a key role in determining the success or failure of any team. An appropriate understanding and acceptance of a diverse group will benefit the organization through innovative and diverse ideas. â€Å"Of course, that doesn’t mean you should go out of your way to hire people you don’t like.While a certain measure of conflict is healthy, too much conflict can be destructive. † (Hil l, 2005, p. 39). Paying close attention to team identity, trust, diversity, motivation and conflict resolution will go a long way in paving the road for a successful team outcome. Employees will appreciate that their leadership cares about these issues and will reward the team with their best efforts in meeting goals, which results in a high-performance team. References Computer Weekly. (2004, June). Plan your web project milestones. Computer Weekly. 4-54. Retrieved October 8, 2005 from Business Source Premier database. Covey, Stephen R. (1989). The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. New York: Fireside. D Andrea-O Brien, Charlene & Buono, Anthony F. (1999, Summer). Building effective learning teams: Lessons from the field. S. A. M. Advanced Management Journal, 61(3), 1-6. Retrieved September 23, 2005, from ProQuest database. DeJanasz, Dewd & Schneider. (2001). Conflict: Sources and solutions. Interpersonal Skills in Organizations. Universit y of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text]. McGraw-Hill Companies. 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Retrieved September 28, 2005, from University of Phoenix, rEsource, GEN 300  œ Skills for Professional Development Course Web site: https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/resource/resource. asp.Schermerhorn, Jr. J. R. , Hunt, J. G. , and Osborn, R. N. (2005). Organizational Behavior (9th ed. ) Wiley. Hoboken, NJ. The Team Working Together. Chapter 12. [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text]. Retrieved September 26, 2005, from University of Phoenix, rEsource, GEN 300 – Skills for Professional Development Course Web site: https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/resource/resource. asp. Turk, Wayne. (2005, May/June). Quality Management – A Primer. Defense & AT-L, 34, 30-33. Retrieved October 7, 2005 from Business Source Premier database.