How Do We Select Our Life Mates Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

How Do We Select Our Life Mates - Research Paper Example One of the theories that contemporary social science uses is called Five-factor personality traits model. This model uses five distinct characteristics to describe an individual’s personality. This assignment conducted a survey to determine self-portraits of 190 respondents through a set of questionnaires. Survey questionnaires were tailored to characterize respondents per Big-five model theory. The respondents then described the portrait of their expected life partners through the same questionnaires. This assignment conducts a literature review on mate selection process; uses the results of the survey to test several correlations between respondents’ self portraits and their mates' portraits. The assignment presents the results of the findings. How Do We Select Our Life mates? Introduction The man said, â€Å"This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.† – this is said in the 23rd verse of the Genesis 2:23. The next verse, Genesis 2:24 says,† That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is to his wife, and they become one flesh (â€Å"BibleGateway.com†, n.d.). This is how everything started and until this day we ponder with the question how to select our life mates (Kim,n.d.). Choosing a life partner is one of the crucial decisions that all of us face in the lives. Unfortunately, neither our schools nor our society provides us with the foresight and knowledge needed to make the best possible choice (Kim, n.d.). In the process of adolescent development, an individual creates an identity, which contains a set of self-defined commitments (Klimstra, et.al., 2012). Two unique personalities with two separate identities in future create the nucleus of a new family. It can truly be compared with the birth of a new star. That is why; both social science and society spend enormous time to find the answer which two personalities may be the best combination as  a couple. The science has been struggling to find a theory that may be attributed to the mate selection process. Could it be ideal mate personality concept, dark triad concept, or big-five model of personality? The scope of this research does not constitute the goal in focusing on merits and demerits of various concepts in mate selection process; it rather analyzes the correlations between mate selection and big-five model of personality traits. Mate selection from cross-cultural and historical perspective strongly varies from country to country and culture to culture (â€Å"Introduction to Sociology†, n.d.; Figueredo, et.al., 2006). This process even in the same culture with the passage of time makes evolutionary or revolutionary changes. For example; sixty years from now in the USA this selection process predominately was based on how one’s parents felt about him or her, how stable his or her economic resources appeared to be, how healthy the person appeared to be, how good/moral his or her character appeared to be (â€Å"Introduction to Sociology†, n.d.). However, today it is not a selection but a search. Nonetheless, both selection and search have criteria. To identify the search criteria, this search conducted a qualitative survey focusing on the attributes of big five personality traits. Personality can be considered as a metric that describes a person’s character through quality, which makes one individual different from another individual. From the viewpoint of psychology, personality represents a dynamic concept that describes the growth and development of an individual’s entire mental system (Bedi, 2011). Even though, from the psychological viewpoint, one person’

Values of Early Childhood Education Essay Example for Free

Values of Early Childhood Education Essay Research Proposal The purpose of my proposed study is to analyze the values of early childhood education in the public schools system. There are several things that I hope to accomplish by conducting this research. This research will further illustrate how a sound foundation on certain skills enhances the readiness for those students entering kindergarten. This research will also provide possible solutions for kindergarten retention rates in the public schools system. I plan to investigate the answers to my questions using data, personal interviews with teachers, research based journals and magazines. I plan to utilize documents such as report cards and standardized test scores from schools. There are several sub-questions that I plan to examine such as: How and when do we know a child is ready for kindergarten? What measures are being used to assess the readiness of kindergarten? Why does full-day kindergarten work? I am a Kindergarten teacher who has benefited greatly from having a sound foundation early in my academic career. Therefore, I will keep an open mind throughout this paper and only state facts based on information found during my research. Parents, teachers, and other school employees are concerned with the issue of kindergarten readiness in today’s youth. Some districts start students in kindergarten based strictly on age. Other districts start students in kindergarten based on student’s scores from kindergarten screening tests. The screening tests are frequently administered by inexperienced employees (West). It is very difficult for a child to be confronted by a stranger, and perform several different tasks in a pressured testing atmosphere. Although these two ways have worked in our country for years, times are changing. Full-day kindergarten is also a growing trend throughout the nation that has had a positive impact on kindergarten retention nationwide (Atkins-Burnett and Meisels 37). This seems to be making up for the lack of unity in the kindergarten admission throughout the United States. Although it seems to be patching up everything properly this should not be used to patch up the mistakes of the way we decide on a child’s readiness to enter kindergarten. Mrs. Cheryl Mueller, former director of the Center for Child Development on the campus of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, states that these screening tests are mostly developed locally and claim to test things that are not important to the readiness of a child in kindergarten. At the Center for Child Development where Mrs. Mueller previously worked, the teachers must administer an evaluation two times during the school year which tests the child’s knowledge on several different tasks that determine the child’s readiness(see figure 1). Mueller believes that a pre-k program is imperative for a child to be fully prepared for kindergarten at age five. This should be the standard nationwide (Mueller). The â€Å"No Child Left Behind Act† now in place across the country has raised the bar on pre-k classrooms nationwide. In 2006, pre-k school teachers were required to hold an associates’ degree (Tozer). With these standards being raised it ensured that proper education in a pre-k classroom would be take place and encourage more parents across the nation to get involved in placing their children in a pre-k program. This would significantly reduce the kindergarten retention rate says Mueller. There is no statewide standard, which prevents a lot of children from advancing to the first grade. The kindergarten retention rates continue to climb all over the country. The Education Statistics Services Institute states 40% of children that are retained in kindergarten are more likely to have behavioral problems, and set backs in social development with other children (West). This is why there should be four aspects that a district reviews in order to determine a child’s readiness for kindergarten including; social and emotional development, approaches to learning, communication, and cognitive development and general knowledge, and this should be a nationwide criteria. Social and emotional development in children of five years old is imperative in determining the readiness of a student for kindergarten. A student that is five years old, and ready for kindergarten should be able to do a certain check-list of activities including:  · Dresses self without help  · Tie shoelaces  · Balances on each foot  · Heel to toe walk  · Can count on fingers  · Knows own address and phone number  · Recognizes colors and common shapes  · Copies simple shapes (e. g. triangle or square)  · Able to print a few letters and numbers  · Draw a person with a head, body, arms, and legs  · Speaks in phrases that are understood by others  · Plays make believe and dress up  · Plays and shares with others  · Understands opposites  · Recalls parts of stories These are just some of the social and emotional aspects that should be nationally accepted to the guidelines for kindergarten readiness (Amos). These tasks should be evaluated by a pre-school teacher or by a highly qualified expert. A student’s developmental skills are also very important in evaluating a child’s readiness for kindergarten. They need to be able to complete several different tasks to function happily in the kindergarten classroom. These tasks include parts of speech and language, gross motor coordination, fine motor coordination, and social and emotional. In the speech and language section students need to ask meaning of words. This determines whether or not the child will be involved in the learning process in a classroom setting. The student must describe pictures and experiences. They must use appropriate verb tenses and grammar. This will ensure a core of knowledge for the kindergarten curriculum. Also, the student must recognize simple jokes, riddles, and absurdities. (Gisler and Eberts). The student’s gross motor coordination should also be an important factor in determining the child’s readiness for kindergarten. They must be able to walk downstairs using alternate feet, and hop on one-foot; this is to check the child’s balance and ability to walk. They must jump along a six- foot line with both feet. The student needs to be able to walk scissor steps across a line. Last, but not least, student must be able to begin to skip alternating feet. These evaluations are done in a few states nationwide. These evaluations do take place in certain districts in the state of Mississippi and are administered by properly trained educators. This needs to become a nationwide standard. (Williams) The next part of the evaluation should include fine motor coordination including using scissors to cut a straight line. It seems like an easy task but as a kindergarten teacher witnessing it first hand everyday; it is hard for students to complete this task. The child needs to copy a circle, square, and cross. This is to make sure the child is ready to learn extensive penmanship. This is also where students need to draw a person with a body, a head, and four limbs. This is not to see if there is an artist in the making, yet to see if children comprehend parts of the human body, and to see if they can distinguish their basic shapes. The final portion of this part of the evaluation should be social and emotional. This would include the child handling snaps, buckles, zippers, and possess the beginning knowledge of shoe tying. The child should be fully potty trained, and should independently take care of their own business in the bathroom. They should be able to dress and undress independently. This is very imperative especially with the laws and regulations between a student/ teacher relationship from kindergarten and beyond (Schweinhart and Zongping). A child also needs to be able to function in structured group activities with rules and discipline. The student needs to have sympathy for others in all situations. And, of course the golden rule, â€Å"Sharing is caring† all students need to partake in sharing and taking turns. If a child can complete these tasks they will be ready and able for the task at hand. â€Å"A child who is socially ready for school should be able to make friends, gets along with peers, and communicates well with teachers. Children who arrive at kindergarten with social competencies generally have an easier time forming relationships with their peers and better school outcomes† (Elovson 27). Dr. Elvoson has a good handle on this situation. The social aspect is often overlooked in most kindergarten evaluation tests, if the district even has any such test. A kindergartener should be able to ease in joining others in play, have an ability to make and keep friends, and positively interact with peers. There is a large percentage of students who interact with their peers who show positive social behaviors while a very small percentage show poor social development. Full-day kindergarten is a trend nationwide that is helping with the oversights, or lack of kindergarten evaluations. Full-day kindergarten has made state standards and standardized testing more advanced so, that at age five children will attain more knowledge academically, in better preparation for the first grade. It also gives teachers more time to get to know their students, and individualize their instruction. In turn, it gives students more time to learn all the academics that kindergarteners are required to learn. Having students in class over twenty hours a week has produced the increased studying of, all subject matter including: math, social studies, and science every day (Walston). This is preventing kindergarten retention. Kindergarten retention is another serious problem that could be avoided if we increased the rigor of the content on kindergarten evaluations. The pre-k tests that are administered at educational institutions such as the Center for Child Development Center in Hattiesburg takes the gross motor, fine motor, psycho/social, self-help, cognitive, homework, and reading/writing categories and put them into a mini-evaluation as shown in figure one. This is what every state should do for the kindergarten evaluation. In figure one a sheet is shown where the teachers that do the evaluation are told to show children ten colors. The children must point them out and recall the colors without any help from the instructor. Then, the child must pick out four shapes, and tell the instructor the names of four shapes. Next, the student is asked to count to ten. Following counting the numbers aloud the student must then look at flash cards of the numbers and distinguish them apart by name without any help from the instructor. The final step of part two in the evaluation consists of the alphabet. The students must say the entire alphabet without singing the alphabet. This is difficult even for adults. Then the students must recognize the alphabet as shown with flash cards, with again, no help for the instructor. These evaluations seem to work very well, and 95% of the Center for Child Development students goes on to pass kindergarten successfully (Mueller). In conclusion, there are some of these same techniques taking place in different parts of the United States today. Education is an essential part of growing up. Many children begin school at the age of 5 or 6, when they usually enter kindergarten. Kindergarten is where the foundation is set for a child’s long term educational progress. Some view kindergarten as a baby stage that is not important, but really it’s the first step that a child takes into the real world. The skills learned in kindergarten will be carried with the child forever. â€Å"Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand box at nursery school† (Fulghum 4). However, children’s learning capabilities are at there peak at earlier ages than that. Preschool is the special tool for an educated future, but few people pay attention to or care about preschool’s potential benefits. Children are valuable to the future of the country, but the government has largely ignored them. At the Federal level, the government should make it a law that every child should enter preschool and also create free preschools available to all families. Preschool is a tool that would improve our children’s performance in school by giving them a head start in education, lower the risk of being placed in special education or being held back a grade, developing social skills, and lowering the crime rate. Although you might think that preschool is just a place for parents to drop off their children while they are at work for the day, you’re wrong. It is in preschool where children learn the necessary skills needed to succeed in school and in life. It’s not only the children who reap the benefits of early childhood education; their parents, fellow peers, and even society feel the positive effects of quality preschool programs. Children enrolled in quality preschool programs are more likely to succeed academically and socially when they are older. In preschool your child will listen to poetry and songs building blocks needed to grasp phonics and reading skills when it is developmentally appropriate. The play that takes place with water, sand, and containers gives them the foundation for understanding some basic math concepts. Matching, sequencing, one-to-one correspondence are all activities that are done over and over in preschool settings and help children get ready to learn academics. Judy Packer, a pre-k teacher at French Elementary School in Jackson says, â€Å"Children learn more in their early years than they ever will again. With the dissolution of the extended family, the best way to support early learning is with publicly funded pre-K. † Quality pre-K programs helps children by helping them accomplish something all families want for them: success in K-12. School success in turn, is a path to life success – to children’s ability to graduate from high school, support themselves as adults, to own homes, stay out of trouble with the law, and eventually raise their own families. Referring back to Graduation by Maya Angelou she briefly described what it felt like to graduate from high school, as she tells the story, the importance of this day for Angelou grows beyond that of the typical graduation. These days preschool has a big impact on whether a student will graduate or not. Quality preschool boosts our K-12 schools by laying a learning foundation that enables children to arrive at kindergarten ready to learn, play and build on their self confidence. Preschool lifts a burden off our K-12 public schools by ensuring that all children have the chance to start strong in school. Kindergarten teachers know from experience what a positive contribution preschool makes toward children’s success in school, also the kindergarten teachers see first hand the difference between kids who have experienced quality preschool and those who haven’t. References Amos, Denise. â€Å"No More Nappy Time-Kindergarten’s Serious†. Enquirer 06 April. 2005: 4-7 Atkins-Burnett, Sally, and Samuel J. Meisels. Handbook of Early Childhood Intervention. New York: Cambridge, 2000. Elovson, Allana PhD. The Kindergarten Survival Handbook: The Before School Checklist a Guide for Parents. New York: Parent Ed Resources, 1993 Fulghum, Robert. All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. New York: Ballantine, 1986 Gisler, Peggy Ed. S. , and Marge Eberts Ed. S.. â€Å"Education Q A with†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Family Education Online (2005): 4 pars. 17 Nov. 2005 Meisels, S. J. , S. Atkins-Burnett, and J. Nicholson. â€Å"Assessment of social Competence, Adaptive behaviors, and Approaches to Learning with Young Children. † National Center for Education Statistics (1996) 6 Nov. 2005 Mueller, Cheryl. Conference Call. 5 March. 2009 Packer, Judy. Personal Interview. 24 March. 2009 Schweinhart, Lawrence J., and Xiang Zongping. â€Å" The Michigan School Readiness Program Evaluation through Age 10. † High Scope Ed (2002):3-9. 23 Nov. 2005 Tozer, Steven E. , Guy Senese, and Paul C. Violas. School and Society Historical Contemporary Perspectives fifth edition. New York: McGraw, 2002. Walston, Jill. Education Statistics Services Institute 28 June 2004-cited in Ellovoson West, Jerry. â€Å"Delaying Kindergarten: Effects on Test Scores and Childcare Costs. † Education Week Magazine 27 Feb 2004:1-3 West, Jerry. Education Statistics Services Institute 07 June 2004-cited in Ellovoson.

Merger and Acquisitions Theories in Management

Merger and Acquisitions Theories in Management Management theory and practice Mergers and acquisitions are a main means by which single and individuals are able to grow and then enter the new markets. After this happens, the competitive structure of the whole industries may alter radically in a span of a short time. Mergers are the unifications of two or even more firms into forming a new one whereas acquisitions are the companys purchases of the majority of the shares from another. Mergers and acquisitions can also represent a major mechanism through which the firms that are national are able to become multinational firms. The cost and benefit analysis of the mergers and acquisitions affect the decision by the managers and the shareholders of whether to take up a specific merger and acquisition. The decision by the employees also can lead to the acceptance or refusal of the merger and acquisition (Paul Simon 2). In this paper, I am going to research on why the employee-related issues prevent the succeeding of a merger or acquisition. The modern business environment is characterized by change that is continuous in nature. Every organization is considered as a system where work, process, system, people are all aligned in order to ensure that the unit of the individual, individual and overall systems are well fit to deliver the strategies of the organization. The objective of the integrative process is to integrate people, processes, technologies and strategy without interrupting service, quality or product and not only to combine financial standing of any two companies. Employees issues in relation to the integration phase always relate to the human capital related integration issues such as integration of the culture of the organization, leadership, organization structure and design, processes and systems and retention of the key talent. The other important issues are effective planning for the purpose of integration, employee communications, and the selection of good leaders to manage the business combination and the creation of practices and policies for knowledge sharing and learning and also the transfer. The failure to address the issues that concern merger and acquisition impacts the new and current organization very negatively at the stage of post-merger in two levels. One of these two levels is the individual level and the reactions of the individual employees are insecurity, powerlessness, alienation, a drop in productivity, loss of energy and the rise in absenteeism which increases turnover and profits. Other stress factors include the performance evaluation criteria, the loss of control over the life of the professional and also the alterations in the reporting relationships which would also impact the merger or the acquisition adversely or negatively. There are also many other psychological impacts which result from the merger activity. These are lifestyle instability, loss of confidence, depression, anxiety among others and these symptoms may lead to large-scale industrial strikes at times (Nilanjan and Bhattacharya 143). From this we can find that due to these impacts, the employees can resist the mergers and or acquisition in their companies. The other level is the corporate level and at this level the impacts are long-term in the cultural integration, organization structure and design, processes and systems. The failure to tackle these issues in the phase of planning of the merger process can lead to outcomes such as benefits integration, high financial costs, incompatible HR plans and policies, inadequate communication to the employees, insufficient provisions and reserves for risks that had not been discovered and/or improperly evaluated, inefficient financial accounting for the integration costs, the loss of loyalty of the employees leading to the high turnover rates, the dilemma of the workforce reduction, reduced productivity and finally leads to lowered employee morale (Nilanjan and Bhattacharya 144). These issues are the ones that drive the employees to be against and protect the mergers and acquisitions. The strategic combinations of the mergers and acquisitions have a dramatically greater chance of success in terms of providing the added value to all employees, and shareholders. The success could also be experienced in justifying of the acquisition premium when they are led, designed and implemented with these four elements. The first element is the integrative perspective in which the mergers need to be seen as combinations that try to balance the interplay of the organizational architecture and organizational strategy with the guiding principles of the management of the change. The second element is the designed integration which is the scope, intensity and degree of the integration and should be driven by elementary business case for the merger or acquisition which defines integration process. The third is the differential leadership because leadership is very vital and different leaders have different roles. The leadership roles should be considered and assigned at the initial stages because this could bring confusion at the late stages. Lastly, the expanded due diligence factor is considered where the organizational issues are discussed. In this case, the organizational diligence is made a crucial part of the merger and the acquisition chain of events as is the due financial and legal diligence. An example of the job losses caused by mergers and acquisitions and also the reduction of salaries of the members of banks is the European banking sector. Since the start of 1990s, the European banking sector has witnessed massive job losses and the decrease of the salaries of the employees who were left. The impact of these job losses has been greater in the Northern Europe rather than in the southern Europe. The employment in the sector of insurance has also been affected as a result of mergers and acquisition. The nature and quality of the employment has greatly changed from the year 2000 in Europe (Paul and Simon 2002: 45). The reductions of employment have affected the branch administrative and networks functions. The older workers with the conventional banking skills who do not qualify and therefore not transferable easily to the new developed and centralized functions, for example those that work in the call centers, are affected adversely. These are the people who may rise ag ainst any mergers and/or acquisitions and also the banks may consider these people and reach a decision not to accept any mergers and acquisitions. Mergers and acquisitions have been known to accelerate corporate practices because the enterprises tend to review the whole cost structure entailing the mergers and acquisitions with the aim of identifying the very maximum savings that are possible. The job losses have increased greatly from 17.5% to 24% due to many mergers and acquisitions. A merger and/or acquisition also referred to as a takeover invalidates in many ways the employment contract. The employee works for someone else without having taken the required steps to change his or her employers. This brings into clear view in an emphatic manner the one-sidedness of the employment relationship and also the idea that the employees do not have any control over the decision of who their employers are. The mergers and/or acquisitions are described as the legitimate means for breaking the implicit contracts in the view of restructuring (Paul and Simon 2002: 183). The mergers are seen as avenues to disrupt job security that the employees have held for long periods and therefore are bound to disrupt the process of mergers and/or acquisitions. These mergers and acquisitions appear to the employees as deliberate strategies to violate the internal norms and also as a hard, brute exercise of powers and therefore they can prevent the succeeding of the mergers and acquisitions. The integrating of the different company procedures and systems requires the harmonization of the different aspects of terms and conditions that apply to the employment signings. These include job titles, pay scales, job descriptions, entitlements and benefits, supervisory and reporting lines are all subjected to revision in order to ensure that there is common practice in the new mergers and acquisitions. These changes may make the employees to reject any mergers and acquisitions. The mergers and the acquisitions upset the links between explicit and implicit contracts in accompany that was in the past based on trust between workers and managers, they are presently founded on assumptions and beliefs regarding mutual responsibility between employees and employers. The integration, merger and acquisition also requires the harmonization of the different aspects of conditions and terms of the employment to ensure that common practice in the combined organization which may alter the existing practices of the human resource and management of either or even both of the organizations. Workers or employees have also considered the lack of incentives due to mergers and acquisitions. There is no transparency in the reward systems and the mergers also lead to contradiction between performance assessments that focus on personal contribution and the objectives that require team-based work. The employees therefore call for better balanced team-based and individual rewards. This is supported by trade unions where they argue that the alterations to the psychological contract which include erosion in the job security are not well reflected in the enterprise reward systems after the mergers and acquisitions. This decreased job security, increased workloads, stress and anxiety are other significant consequences of the heightened merger and acquisitions activity. These factors coupled with lowered morale and also a deterioration of the organization performance has led the employees to be against the implementation of mergers, takeovers and acquisition. This human side of the acquisitions and mergers is all about the overall impact that mergers and/or acquisitions have on the employees in a certain company. These impacts on the psychological difficulties that the employees experience, the culture clashes which may emerge in companies during the post-merger integration period. Finally the ways in which these outcomes manifest themselves that include communication breakdowns, there is also the we-they mentality that occurs between the inclusive organizations in the merger and acquisitions, minimized commitment, reductions in productivity, organizational struggles for power and also office politicking and at last the loss of the key and main organizational members. All these factors combined include the employee issues that affect the realization of mergers and acquisitions (Anthony and James 3). Through research through face to face interviews, a writer concluded that the employees were an important asset to the companies and that they should be considered when the management decides on mergers and acquisitions. Through an interview with an employee of a company that had undergone acquisition, Hayes was told that the employees would not make any move because they were told that their methods were outdated and that they would have to readjust to the new companys way of conducting their activities. He indicated that when he tried to complain to the corporate about the situation, he was warned that if he squawked too loud, his position would be in jeopardy. This resulted to the destruction of the company morale and with time, the main people started leaving and it did not take much time before he also resigned (Hayes 1981: 131). If the company had taken into consideration all complains of their employers, they would have retained their experienced workers and this would increas e the productivity levels. Acquisition and mergers can adequately transform the organizational processes, systems, structures and also cultures of one or both of the companies involved that the employees will often feel confused, frustrated, frightened, stressed or even frustrated and therefore whenever the employees of a particular company here of any merger and/or acquisition they are ready to prevent the realization of the same. On the personal level, these feelings often lead to psychosomatic difficulties, sense of loss, marital discord and at the extreme level, they can lead to suicide. On the level of organization, these feelings are manifested in lowered productivity and commitment, increased disloyalty and dissatisfaction, increased turnover among the key managers, power and leadership struggles especially among the managers who remain in the organization and finally an increase in the dysfunctional work-related behaviors at all the levels of the hierarchy. These impacts on the employee and by the empl oyee are issues that negatively affect the mergers and acquisitions. It is reported that in the 3000 and above mergers that occurred in the year 1985, so many employees estimated to be more than ten thousand lost their jobs and others were forced to accept early retirement (Kanter and Segger-man 1986: 17). It was also estimated that by the year 1990, there will be 2500 savings and loans and 5400 banks that would be involved in mergers and these would affect more than 900, 000 people in the United States. In the year 2009, it was noted that there were decreasing mergers and acquisition activities and that also the credits were tightening. One of the reasons of a successful merger and transaction activity is the compensation which is never done and if it is done it is only given to the executives. The compensation can be a powerful tool to motivate the management and its team to influence positive outcomes in the activity involving mergers and acquisition. This has not been the case in the recent past and the employees are laid off without being paid well leading to the negative feelings that they experience shortly afterwards. This can explain the reduction of the merger and acquisition activity because the employees through their managers are able to prevent the realization or completion of a merger and/or acquisition owing to the fact that they are not compensated. In the recent past there was the acquisition of Merrill Lynch by the Bank of America, there was a problem in the executive pay and compensation and this led to a very expensive roadblock to the desired transaction. A report by the PricewaterhouseCooper indicates that the merger and acquisition activity has decreased 86 percent from the year 2008, the previous year. In addition to these statistics, when the High Court approves the schemes of arrangement of a merger, it takes into account the workers interests. The scheme of arrangement must provide for adequate protection for the employees service benefits and conditions. If the scheme shows otherwise, the High court does not agree to the terms and conditions of the merger and therefore we find that the issues of the employee are considered. The organizational behavior is always reflected by acquisition behavior, the relative size and the cultural compatibility. Global mergers and acquisitions are the main corporate strategies which the multinational corporations use to diversify, expand or even consolidate their businesses. In the year 2006, there was a recorded worldwide annual value of the acquisition transactions exceeded US $ 4 trillion (Larsen 2007: 23). This trend was also recorded in the year 2007 where the worldwide transaction value of the acquisitions in only the first 3 months ranged at US $ 1.13trillion which was the highest busiest recorded quarter ever in history (Saigol and Politi 2007: 145). However, almost 83%of these transactions were unsuccessful (KPMG, 1999; Sirower 1997). A considerable amounts of research developed that the failures were caused by the absence of a national cultural fit which is the cultural distance of the workers and employees (Rottig and Reus 2006: 340). This may lead to cultural problems and clashes among the involved workforces. This in return lowers the employee cooperation and commitment, cause voluntary turnover of the acquired top managers and could also complicate the process of post-acquisition integration (Very and Schweiger 2001:22). The cultural distance might have some positive results but it is among the high points that lead to the failure of the mergers and acquisitions and it is an employee-related issue. The organizational culture which is defined as the interdependent and interrelated system of practices, beliefs, norms and assumptions that the members of the organization bear collectively should be put into consideration before a merger and/or acquisition because when they are altered extensively after the merger, the employees will tend to work against them and this will not promote success of the merger and/or acquisition. The assumptions, norms and practices could be unconscious which are learnt through the socialization of the organization and often reflect the shared perceptions of the daily practices and also determine the things that are carried out within an organization (Gertsen, et al. 1998: 123). An example is the acquisition of the Tokyo Bank by the Mitsubishi Bank in the year 2003. These two organizations had very dissimilar organization cultures. The employees of the Mitsubishi Bank shared a common cultural norm of being to work on time, wearing only white shirts while at work and also thanking their department supervisors and managers in person for any monthly pay checks. But in contrast, the employees of Tokyo Bank were not used to strict dress code and being reprimanded for getting to work late and they also had no duty to carry out a thanksgiving ceremony as they collected their monthly salaries. After the acquisition activity, a huge number of the employees of the Tokyo Bank were alienated by the strict culture of the Mitsubishi Bank and they left the combined company voluntarily. This was in the United States. This is an example of how the employee-related issues could lead to unsuccessful mergers and acquisitions. Poor communication between the employees of the same company after a merger or an acquisition could lead to problems of integration in both the domestic and the international mergers and/or acquisitions. This may cause unsuccessful mergers and acquisitions and it is an employee-related issue. On the other hand, the international acquisitions are characterized by ethnocentrism; nationalistic attitudes; xenophobia and language barriers (Vaara 2003: 864) and these could lead to the failure of the mergers and acquisitions. Work cited Nilanjan Sengupta and Bhattacharya Mousumi. Managing change in organizations.PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Anthony Buono and James Bowditch. The human side of mergers and acquisitions: managing collisions between people, cultures and organizations. Chicago: Beard Books, 2003 Kanter, R and Seggerman, T. managing mergers, acquisitions, and divestiures. Management review, Oct 1986, pp 16-17. Hayes, R. what happens to my people after I sell? The human side of acquisition. In S. J. Lee and R. D. Colman (eds.), handbook of mergers, acquisitions and buyouts. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1981. Paul Temple and Simon Peck. Mergers and Acquisitions: critical perspectives on business and management. : Taylor Francis, 2002. Thomas Straub. Reasons for frequent failure in mergers and acquisitions. Germany: DUV, 2007. Rottig, D. Reus, T.H. Organizational and national cultures consequences for acquisition performance: A meta-analysis, Paper presented at Southern Management Association, Clearwater Beach, 2006. Saigol, L. Politi, J. MA volume tops $1,000bn, Financial Times, March 30: 13, 2007. KPMG. Mergers and Acquisitions: Global Research Report 1999. London: KPMG, 1999. Gertsen, M., Soderberg, A.M. Torp, J.E. Cultural Dimensions of International Mergers and Acquisitions, Walter de Gruyter: Berlin, 1998 Gertsen, M.C., Soderberg, A.M. Torp, J.E. Different concepts of culture, in Gertsen, M. C., Soderberg, A.M. Torp, J. E., editors (eds.) Cultural Dimensions of International Acquisitions, Walter de Gruyter: Berlin, 1998. Vaara, E. Post-acquisition integration as sense making: Glimpses of ambiguity, confusion, hypocrisy, and politicization, Journal of Management Studies, 40(4): 859-94, 2003 Very, P. Schweiger, D.M. The acquisition process as a learning process: Evidence from a study of critical problems and solutions in domestic and cross-border deals, Journal of World Business, 36(1): 11-31, 2001. Sirower, M.L. The Synergy Trap: How Companies Lose the Acquisition Game, Free Press: New York, 1997.

How to Have Effective Communitcation

How to Have Effective Communitcation Lets throw some light upon what Communication is all about: According to Allen, Communication is the sum of all the things, one person does when he wants to create understanding in the mind of others. It is the bridge of meaning. It involves a systematic and continuous process of telling, listening and understanding. IMPORTANCE OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION: Effective communication is important because one needs to express his ideas clearly and needs to be understood very clearly while communicating. The receiver should understand the message in the same perception as intended by the sender of the message. This is what we call an effective communication. Interestingly though, there are other facets to effective communication when it comes to written communication, popularly known as Seven Cs of Effective Communication. THE IMPORTANCE OF WRITTEN COMMUNICATION IN AN ORGANISATION: Communication is the key to motivation, it helps in informing and illuminating the employees about the task to be carried out, the manner they should be performing their task, and how to improve their performance if it is not up to the mark. An Effective Communication is the best source of information to the members of organization for decision-making process as it helps identifying and evaluate alternative course of actions. Communication also plays a fundamental role in altering an individuals attitude, i.e., a well informed individual will have better attitude than a less-informed individual. Organizational magazines, journals, meetings and various other forms of oral and written communication help in moulding employees attitudes. Communication also helps in socializing. In todays life the only presence of another individual fosters communication. Human is a social animal and survival without communication is neither possible nor fruitful. Communication also assists in controlling process in a big way. It helps controlling organizational members behavior in various ways. It is the art of getting work done. There are various levels of hierarchy, certain principles and guidelines that employees must follow in an organization. They must comply with organizational policies, perform their roles efficiently and communicate any work problem and grievance to their superiors. Thus, communication helps in controlling function of management. TYPES OF WRITTEN COMMUNICATION: Letters Memos Circulars Bulletin Reports Instruction cards Manuals In Order to perfect the art of written communication, we have a helping hand known as the Seven Cs Of Communication The principles advocated by Francis J. Bergin. These principles provide guidelines for choice of content, style of presentation, how much is too much etc. Lets take tour of the same. THE SEVEN Cs OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATON For transmitting effective communication written or oral messages, certain principles must be followed. These principles advocated by Francis J. Bergin. Bergin provides guidelines for choice of content and style of presentation adapted to the purpose the receiver of the message. They are also called as Seven Cs of communication. They are: Completeness Conciseness Clarity Correctness Concreteness Consideration Courtesy COMPLETENESS Every communication must be complete and adequate. Incomplete messages keep the receiver guessing, creates misunderstanding and delay actions. Every person should, therefore, be provided with all the required facts and figures. For example, when the factory supervisor instructs workers to produce, he must specify the exact size, shape, quality and cost of the product. Any assumptions behind the message should also be clarified. While answering a letter, all the questions raised in the letter must be replied. A complete message offers the following benefits: Complete messages are more likely to bring the desired results without the expense of additional messages. They can do a better job of building goodwill. Messages that contain information the receiver needs show concern for others. Complete messages can help advert costly lawsuit that may result if information is missing. Communication that seems inconsequential can be surprisingly important if the information they contain is complete and effective. It is advised that while answering a letter one should make sure that all the questions are answered. The message is not complete, if it fails to answer questions like : What is the meeting about? When is it? and Where? CONCISENESS In business communication, you should be brief and able to say whatever you have to say in fewest possible words without sacrificing the other C qualities. A concise message is complete without being wordy. Conciseness is desired because of the following benefits: A concise message saves time and expense for both sender and receiver. Conciseness contributes to emphasis; by eliminating unnecessary words, you let important ideas stand out. When combined with a YOU-VIEW, concise message are inherently more interesting to recipients as they avoid unnecessary information. There is no hard and fast rule for the length of a letter. A two page letter seems short, while a ten line letter may seem all too long depending upon the event and situation. CLARITY The message should be put in simple terms to ensure clarity. Words must mean the same thing to receiver as they do the sender. Complex issues must be compressed in to themes, slogans or stereotypes that have simplicity and clarity. In order to ensure clarity in oral communications, you should use accurate and familiar words with proper intonation, stresses and pauses. Thoughts should be clear and well organized. The important considerations in attaining clarity are as follows: Choose precise, concrete and familiar simple words. Construct effective sentences and paragraphs. In short, simple and short words are more effective than pompous and heady words. Using the K-I-S-S Method Keep It Short and Simple! If the message does not help recognizes who actually the person is? It may be possible to have many people with same name in an organisation. What great work he/she has done? When? And what he/she is expected to do now? It is not a clear message. CORRECTNESS The term correctness, as applied to business messages means right level of language and accuracy of facts, figures and words. If the information is not correctly conveyed, the sender will lose credibility. Transmission of incorrect information to superior will vitiate decision making process. Transmission of incorrect messages, grammatical errors should also be avoided. All the messages must be transmitted and responded to at the most appropriate time. Outdated information is useless. Since communication is an expensive process, transmitting outdated information involves wastage of time, money and human resources. The principle of correct timing also stipulates that you communicate your message at a time when it is likely to prove most effective. CONCRETENESS Concreteness of messages is an essential requirement of effective communication. It means being specific, definite, and vivid rather than vague and general. In oral communication, we cant draw tables, diagrams, or graphs to make our statement vivid, but we can precise words to convey the correct messages and support it by relevant facts and figures. If the message is specific, there would be increased likelihood that the message is interpreted by the receiver as intended by sender. For sending concrete messages, the following guidelines should be followed: Use concrete expressions. Use specific facts and figures. Put action in your verbs. Choose vivid, image-building words. Facts lend credibility to our communication since it is not possible to refute them. Concrete expressions create visual images that are easy to register. So instead of vague, generalized statements, definite facts should be given. The statements with no passion, no vivid detail, having nothing that creates emotion and nothing that tells people in the audience why they should care does not work well. CONSIDERATION Consideration means preparing the message with the receiver in mind. In order to communicate effectively, the sender should think and look from the receivers angle. He should adopt a humane approach and understand the emotions and sentiments of the receiver. The socio-psychological background of the receiver must be understood. The golden rule First understand than be understood should be followed. It should be noted that consideration underlies the other 6 Cs of the communication. Four special ways to indicate considerations are as follows: Focus on You instead of I and We. Show audience benefit or interest in the receiver. Emphasis positive, pleasant facts. Show empathy. Ask how you would feel if you were to receive this message. Consideration also requires emphasizing positive and pleasant facts. To say no, sorry,regret,disagree should not be used in direct and straight forward manner. COURTESY Courtesy stems from a sincere you-attitude. It is not merely politeness with mechanical insertions of please and thank you, although applying socially accepted manners is a form of courtesy. Rather it is politeness that grows out of respect and concern for others. In business discussions, you should say things with force and assertiveness without being rude. The following guidelines should be observed to ensure courtesy: Thank generously for a favour. When someone does a favour to us, acknowledge it promptly and thank the person. Apologize for an omission. If you had committed a mistake, express regret promptly and sincerely. Avoid irritating expressions. Words and expressions having negative connotation should not be used in the message. Use of non-discriminatory expressions that reflect equal treatment of people regardless of gender, race, ethics, origin and physical features. Below mentioned are some useful guidelines to advice staff members in the organization on how to best communicate effectively: 12 guidelines: Take sufficient time to effectively communicate. Care. Learn to be empathic. Be honest and sincere. One of the cruelest things one can do to another person is to not acknowledge that person. Develop a sense of belonging when interacting with others. Be welcoming and inclusive. Regularly, in your daily life, interact with persons whose culture, race, ethnicity and other identifiers and important characteristics are different than your own. Welcome persons with disabilities. Person with a disability is the preferred manner of speech, versus disabled person. Place the person before the disability. Spend quality time with persons whose backgrounds are different than yours. Set an example by being welcoming and inclusive to everyone. Learn to pronounce names correctly. Make a concerted effort to do so and to remember names.

Self-Validation and Social Acceptance Essay -- Culture Cultural Essays

People often need to have validation from themselves, in regard to both their sexuality and general self, before being able to be accepted others. Too often this important fact is disregarded by today's culture and societal norm. This appears to be a recurring theme throughout the many passages and articles we have read in class, as well as in various piece of fictional literature. I will be using the 1991 film "Paris Is Burning," a short work of fiction by Jane S. Fancher called "Moonlover and the Fountain of Blood," the lecture given by Carolyn Dinshaw on the twenty-third of September, and Cherrie Moraga's "The Breakdown of the Bicultural Mind" to support my thesis. Originally, I started thinking about this paper in a manner quite different from that which will be shown here. I thought I knew everything I had learned and that I could take a single idea and 'run with it,' as the saying goes. Then I began reviewing the articles and rereading my classmates' posts. I have always had an unusual interest in how 'outsiders' interact with a society that tends to be somewhat exclusive. Being on the receiving end to this sometimes painful exclusiveness, having had a disability from an early age, the ideas of censorship and prohibition toward people discovering themselves intrigued me. Due to illness, I watched "Paris Is Burning" after sending in my original plan for this paper. I was impressed by the complexity of the homosexual community in New York during the eighties. Despite the fact that all of these men were living outside of societal norms, they had a sense of belonging and home. They created Houses and families to replace what they had lost, but also to give them something they had not experienced in their previous liv... ...Call Home: Autobiography on Racial Identity, ed. Becky Thompson and Sangeeta Tyagi, New York, Routeledge. 7. 234. Moraga, Cherrie (1996), "The Breakdown of the Bicultural Mind," in Names We Call Home: Autobiography on Racial Identity, ed. Becky Thompson and Sangeeta Tyagi, New York, Routeledge. 8. 234. Moraga, Cherrie (1996), "The Breakdown of the Bicultural Mind," in Names We Call Home: Autobiography on Racial Identity, ed. Becky Thompson and Sangeeta Tyagi, New York, Routeledge. 9. 238. Moraga, Cherrie (1996), "The Breakdown of the Bicultural Mind," in Names We Call Home: Autobiography on Racial Identity, ed. Becky Thompson and Sangeeta Tyagi, New York, Routeledge. 10. Moraga, Cherrie (1996), "The Breakdown of the Bicultural Mind," in Names We Call Home: Autobiography on Racial Identity, ed. Becky Thompson and Sangeeta Tyagi, New York, Routeledge,

Hamlet: The Dog Will Have His Day :: essays research papers

"The Dog will have his Day" When fear overcomes individuals, it acts like a "poison"; it paralyses them, which forces them to escape. In the play, Hamlet, Shakespeare reveals how it is human nature for people to run and hide from a quandary. Hamlet being burdened with the sins of Denmark tries to find a proper escape that will not force him to take decisive action. To Shakespeare the desire for escape is an unpredictable one. Eventually fate has its way; a person can try to avoid it but it will eventually devour you. All too often when the jaws of fate open, people set up complications to stumble over so they don't have to face the belly of the beast. This allows them to start fabricating excuses for their apparent lack of action. Ostensibly, Hamlet "seems" to be a man of power and heart. Yet under all the ranks and nobility, he is nothing more than a coward that can not accept the idea of his fate. When Hamlet is given the role of vigilante he "swears" that he is man enough for the job. However when Hamlet does not kill Claudius outright, he begins to lose his vigor. The prince suspiciously admits that he is "mad" and uses it as an excuse to keep prolonging the inevitable fate that he must face. By toppling over this hurdle, Hamlet tries to find reasons why he does not have the tenacity for revenge. Running from the jaws of fate, Hamlet continually defies his solemn oath to his father. Even though a person tries to avoid the beast, they don't understand that it dominates their life. It is in places where they would least expect it. In Hamlet's case this problem is something that he can not just simply avoid; not only does it dominate his life but it starts to take over his conscious state like a "poison". He is constantly reminded of the molestation that his incestuous uncle has just inflicted on Denmark. For a sinful King is the same as a sinful country and someone must save the nation's people from those transgressions. Yet Hamlet does not want to acknowledge that he is the savior. Nevertheless fate continually shows Hamlet through coincidental instances that he must do what he "swore" to do. While in the Church, Hamlet looks over while in the confession box and sees Claudius confessing his sins to God.

Free Essays: The Weak Gods of Iliad, Odyssey and Epic of Gilgamesh :: comparison compare contrast essays

The Weak Gods of The Iliad, Odyssey and Gilgamesh    The Oxford English Dictionary defines god as Ã’1. A being conceived as the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient ruler and originator of the universe, the principal object of faith and worship in monotheist religions. 2. A being of supernatural powers, believed in and worshipped by a people.Ó The first definition reflects Modern AmericaÕs connotation of the word god. The latter recalls the Ancient Greco-Sumerian ideal of a being greater than man. While both definitions are equally valid in literature, many perceive the word only in the first view. However, the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Epic of Gilgamesh portray gods with limits and weaknesses. The contemporary Christian god is able to demand things of his followers, readily expecting wholehearted and unquestioning obedience. This was not the case with his ancient counterparts.    Rather than exacting demands upon their followers, occasionally the ancient gods were limited to requests. Often they were refused. In the Odyssey, the goddesses Circe and Calypso both expected lifelong commitments from the mighty Odysseus. Both promised great things to the hero, including godhood. Odysseus was able to refuse both goddesses. Human obstinacy beat out the whims of goddesses. If the Protestant god were to make sexual demands upon his followers, more than likely, he would not be refused. One could argue, though, that Odysseus did give in to the goddesses by bedding them. Always though, his focus eventually shifted to returning home and reuniting with his mortal wife. Homer portrayed a man who refused immortal beauty for true love: Ã’She is mortal after all, and you are immortal and ageless. But even so, what I want and all my days I pine for is to go back to my house and see my day of homecoming. And if some god batters me far out on the wide blue water, I will endure it, keeping a stubborn spirit within me, for I have already suffered much (93-94).Ó Thus, the mortal Odysseus was able to deny the temptations of the goddesses multiple times. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, another goddessÕ whims are put down. Ishtar, goddess of war and love becomes attracted to the mighty but mortal Gilgamesh. But rather than jumping right into the sack with