MYOB's Interdepartmental Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

MYOB's Interdepartmental Communication - Essay Example This is referred to as interdepartmental communication. Every department needs to communicate with the other departments to inform them as to what are the updates and/or changes that a particular department would be implementing. It is not to know whether the department is doing its designated task, however it is more on knowing how the change would affect the organization as a whole. A particular department’s change would definitely affect the whole company as each department is linked to one another (Carroll, 2010, pp. 10-12). Though working in just one company, people from different departments still find it difficult to communicate with other people belonging to another department. As Carroll (2010, p. 11) expressed, â€Å"interdepartmental communication is a challenge in many industries – one department may not know how its action or inaction affects another department. The managers may incorrectly assume that other departments understand what they need and why.â €  It is not good to assume that everything is okay when memorandums are sent. There should be counter-checking with regard to the comprehension of the memos that were transmitted. MYOB has been providing Australia and New Zealand with downloadable computer software which aids many professionals in their jobs since 1991. Since the company uses the worldwide web as its medium in disseminating this software, the company has options to expand its market internationally without any additional cost (MYOB, 2012). It is known that when a company starts expanding, there would be a need to create departments that would focus on particular aspects of maintaining the website and running the company as a whole at the headquarters. Though working in the same company, there would be instances that employees would not be given the chance to meet everybody on the payroll. The usual mode of communication used in companies in recent years is through company’s electronic mail or e-mail. If s uch is the case, an employee should habitually check his company e-mail for the latest memos or updates circulated to everyone, or an e-mail directly addressed to the person for any issues that need clarifications, or just any direct instruction or message. With the numerous tasks waiting to be accomplished, there would be times that an employee would only be able to check the e-mail at least twice a day, which would be upon coming to work and before leaving the workplace. Since the company is dealing with customers purchasing their products online, people who are using the software can either use the phone numbers listed on the website or just click on the picture on their Contact Us page to be redirected to the proper support group. For this kind of company, it is the support group and the technical department that need to ensure that their interdepartmental communication is synched. Other department that should be synched with each other are the finance and the advertising depart ments. During the latter part of 2011, MYOB released the latest version of one of its accounting software. This should be kudos to the technical department. However, as reported by Sholto Macpherson (2011), there were bugs present in the newer version that either slows down the program itself or makes it unusable at all. Surely, the support group received complaints regarding the bug; however, the technical team was not properly informed about the concern. The scenario would be likely as the latter statement or the technical team

Effective Training Essay Example for Free

Effective Training Essay Human Resource Development or HRD is about the enhancing and widening skills by helping people to grow within the organization, and by enabling them to make better use of their abilities and skills. In an increasingly competitive world, which is the reality for most organizations today, few would disagree with the view that a link should exist between the training and the development that the organization undertakes and the business strategy of that organization (Wilson, 1999). Personnel are now widely regarded as ‘human resources’ with the implication that, like other resources, they are to be valued and carefully managed. The amount of financial resource available for the training and development of employees is not unlimited, necessitating decisions where to deploy training activity to maximum effect, and such decision can only be made if those responsible for ‘Human Resource Development’ or HRD are clear about the organization’s strategy and priorities (Wilson, 1999). An alignment between strategy and training and development is now commonly regarded as good business sense in all corners of the globe, but despite this, there is some evidence from both Europe and the United States that, while at an intellectual level this link is recognized, the practice may be considerably different in many countries. Training and development has traditionally been a functional division of the personnel department concerned with carrying out the identification of training and development needs, planning and designing training, implementing training and evaluating it (Wilson, 1999). Small organization handles the responsibilities of Human Resource Development and its Human Resources by emulating larger organization in the way they implement ways in guiding their personnel to be more productive and skillful. The only difference between small and large organization is on the process or methods they implement their ways due to lesser personnels.

The King Lears Enlightenment English Literature Essay

The King Lears Enlightenment English Literature Essay In King Lear, Lear goes through a process of attaining a true insight of himself, human nature, and the world. At the beginning, the vanity and the self-image of ultimate power dominate his character. However, a series of loss throughout his life provides him with many precious lessons about the conception of true love, about the nature of a man after rejecting his power, and about the real poverty of people around him. After the unexpected attitude of two older daughters, Lear realizes that real love is manifested not in words. At the beginning, a strong need for praise is set as a standard which he uses to divide his kingdom among his daughters. The one who praises him most will receive the largest dowry. Lear also finds himself blind to assume his reward will ensure his accommodation in the future. However, the following reality hurts him strongly. It is also the turning point for Lear when he realizes his partial blindness and learns the lesson about true love. When his daughters are reluctant to accept him in their houses, he shouts: O, how this mother swells up toward my heart! / Histerica passio, down, thou climbing sorrow; / Thy elements below.-Where is this daughter?(7.224-226). Histerica passio is referred to one kind of mental illness, and Lears sickness is the surprise, the fear, and ultimately, the pain in his heart. His previous assumption about his daughters love is destroyed. They sa id they loved him strongly, but where is this daughter?, he disappointedly asks himself without any reply. They just show their love when they need Lears reward of property; however, when Lear needs an accommodation, no one accepts him. Lear shouts how this mother swells up toward my heart to illustrate that an extreme sorrow fills up his mind and his heart. He cannot suffer it and runs off into a storm. The power of the storm elevates the process of change within Lear. What he changes is how he sees himself and his daughters. He realizes that his daughters love is for his kingdom, not for him. O Regan, Gonoril, / Your old kind father, whose frank heart gave you all- / O, that way madness lies (11.18-20), he states. The term frank heart can be interpreted in two different ways. It may be the divided kingdom Lear gives to his daughters, or it can be his strong hope and belief toward their loves they show up in the love test. In either meaning, he gives them to his daughters already. However, now Lear receives nothing, except their ungratefulness. Their love is just a rhetorical promise, or, more painfully, a lying story. Consequently, that way makes his madness. His enlightenment also illustrates when he insists, Ha, Gonoril! Ha, Regan! They flattered me like a dog, and told me I had white hairs in my beard ere the black ones were there à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ When the rain came to wet me once, and the wind to make me chatter, when the thunder would not peace at my bidding, there I smelt them out. Go to, they are not men of their words. They told me I was everything; tis a lie, I am not ague-proof. (20.95-103). He uses an interesting metaphor the rain came to wet me to illustrate that his old assumption about his daughters love was wiped out of his mind. His suffering in the storm has brought him new insight that they are not men of their words. They swore they loved him to attain his kingdom, but then they betray their words. He subtly uses the term not argue-proof to show how desperate he is when gradually seeing the treachery of his daughters, Goneril and Regan. Argue-proof refers to the immune to fever or shivering, but, in this context, he is not argue-proof. He is a normal human-being so he still gets extreme hurt when his daughters betray their love toward him. True love should be expressed by action rather than by hollow words, and capturing that lesson requires Lear to ask for the forgiveness when he has made an error. The primary point about true love assumption is apparently illustrated when Lear meets his true daughter, Cordelia. She refused to exaggerate her love toward him and be banished, but she returned to take care of him. Experiencing her kindness, Lear easily feels that she truly loves him; consequently, he regrets about his folly treatment to her before. He offers to Cordelia, if you have poison for me, I will drink it. (21.69). Lear is in a state of illusion, but also of great humility because he knows he has wrongly punished her when it was her sisters who should have suffered that treatment. Lear shows more of his humility when he asks his daughter, Cordelia: You must bear with me. / Pray now, forget and forgive. I am old / And foolish. (21.82-84). An almighty king as Lear, of course, hardly says he is foolish, but now Lear does. It proves that Lear himself admits his previous serious blindness about love, and he gains a new visionary insight which is accompanied by a true humility. A series of loss throughout the play teaches him a lesson in common humanity. People respect him just for his title. Once he gives it up, he is totally powerless and becomes a normal man like others. His position as a successful king leads him to overestimate his power, and he thinks of himself as almost a God. This perspective turns out to be a fatal mistake only when the first acts of disobedience of his daughters occur. He confusedly re-evaluates himself: Doth any her know me? / Why, this is not Lear. Doth Lear walk thus, speak thus? Where are his eyes? / Either his notion weakens, or his discerning are lethargies. Sleeping or waking, ha? / Sure, tis not so. / Who is it that can tell me who I am? / Lears shadow? I would learn that, for by the marks/ Of sovereignty, knowledge, and reason/ I should be false persuaded I have daughters (4.215-225). Many questions are raised in succession, expressing clearly Lears confusion about his real power. Sleeping or walking, ha? These terms su ggest his incredulity at what seems to happen in front of him. He always assumes he can keep his daughters in line by virtue of his authority as a father, but, in fact, he loses all of his privileged position. That reality makes him frustrated. Additionally, the self-question who is it that can tell me who I am? / Lears shadow? demonstrates that Lear begins to realize the amount of control he possesses and his position in his own kingdom. Its not Lear himself any longer, yet Lears shadow. An image of an egocentric king is replaced by one of a powerless, weak, and despised old man. The struggle in his self-esteem causes him to run madly into a storm. At this time, he acknowledges that he has nothing. Additionally, when Lear meets Tom, the beggar, in the storm, he discovers humans as no more than animals, except how we wear clothes. Clothing makes him a king and nothing else. He sees all of humanity in a bare level: Is man no more but this? Consider him well. Thou owest the worm no si lk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool, the cat no perfume. Heres three ons are sophisticated; thou are the thing itself. Unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal as thou art. (11.92-97). By listing a lot of nice material from the animal for his clothes like silk of worm or wool of sheep, Lear illustrates that only clothing distinguishes between him and the beggar. Once they remove their clothes, they are equally unaccommodated man. Accordingly, Lear thinks the way to reach at mans essence is to uncover human nature; in particular, he strips away his clothing to cast aside his customary status as a king and therefore bring himself in line with common image of humanity embodied in the poor beggar. Clearly, Lear changes his vision about human nature in which his kingship is just a symbolic status; he is still a normal man once he rejects his coverings. During the storm, Lear also learns about the poverty of people around him. He begins to think of the poor who suffer the extreme storm with the little that they have: Poor naked wretches, wheresoeer you are, / That bide the pelting of this pitiless night, / How shall you houseless heads and unfed sides, / Your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you / From seasons such as these? (11.25-29). He effectively uses many lively words such as houseless heads or looped and windowed raggedness to draw in the readers mind a picture of how harsh the poors condition is during the storm. He raises his concern for the poor as a big question that he had never posed in his life before. By those details, Lear approaches the notion of wide sympathies with his fellow sufferers, with the naked Poor Tom, and with the poor wretches. Now he feels the same needs like others and the basics needs of human beings when struggling with the nature. O, I have taen/ Too little care of this. Take physic, pomp,/ E xpose thyself to feel what wretches feel,/ That thou mayst shake the superflux to them/ and show the heaves more just (11.29-33), he states. With the regretful tone by the term I have taen / Too little care of this, Lear now has a better idea of how he should use his power as a king. He finally realizes that the throne must associate with privileges as well as obligations. Lears new lessons involves realizing that he was blind in judging the love of his daughters toward him, that all men are equal and it is only the clothes that make them different, and that many people in his kingdom are struggling with their poverty. The self-discovery in King Lear is not just for Lear himself, but also for other characters like Gloucester or Albany. Though most characters finally paid for their late self-awareness with their lives, what would their lives have been without it? The play has a sad ending, but its lessons still remain in any audiences mind.

Reward systems Essay -- essays research papers

CHAPTER 3 Reward systems RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  INTRODUCTION The aim of this chapter is to explain, justify and account for the research methodology that has been selected in this study. In conducting the investigation, the researcher intends to proceed from a quantitative-descriptive design. A number of issues related to the research methodology will be extensively discussed below. 3.2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  METHODICAL ACCOUNT (RESEARCH:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   QUANTITATIVE-DESCRIPTIVE) Thyer as cited by De Vos and Fouchà © (1998: 77), defines a research design as a â€Å"blueprint or detailed plan for how a research study is to be conducted – operationalizing variables so they can be measured, selecting a sample of interest to study; collecting data to be used as a basis for testing hypotheses, and analyzing the results.† Hussey and Hussey (1997: 54), also point out that research methodology refers to the overall approach evident in the research process from the theoretical foundation to the strategies that are used in the collection and analysis of the data. So research methodology can be said to indicate the answers to questions as to how research should be designed, structured, approached and executed. In this study, the researcher has opted to conduct his investigation through the quantitative-descriptive paradigm. A randomised cross-sectional survey design will be used to investigate attitudes of employees with regard to reward systems. According to De Vos and Fouchà © (1998: 127), the randomized cross-sectional design is written as follows:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  R O1 Where, R = randomized selected subjects   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  O1 = administration of the questionnaire It is through the relevant and appropriate quantitative research paradigm that the researcher hopes to conduct a controlled, purposive, accurate, systematic, and scientific research on the impact of reward systems on employee attitudes. The researcher also hopes that the quantitative research approach would enable him to arrive at findings that would have greater validity and less artificiality as a process of measuring the impact of rewards on employee attitudes. 3.3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  RESEA... ... caring professions. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik. Du Plooy, J.L., Griesel, G.A., and Oberholzer, M.O. (1993). Fundamental pedagogics for advanced students. 4th Edition. Pretoria:Haum. Greengard, S. (2004). Employee surveys: ask the right questions, probe the answers for insight. Workforce management [online], December, 2004, pp76 – 78. Available from: http://www. Workforce.com.html [Accessed 15 April 2005]. Hussey, J and Hussey, R, (1997). Business research: a practical guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students. London:Macamillan Locke, L.F., Spirduso, W.W., and Silverman, S.J. (1993). Proposals that work: a guide for planning dissertations and grant proposals. 3rdEdition. London: Sage Publications. Mancosa. (2003). Research methodology. Study guide diploma in management studies. Durban. Schurink, E.M. (1998). The methodology of unstructured face-to-face interviewing. In De Vos, A.S. (ed.) (1998). Research at grass roots: a primer for the caring professions. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik. Strydom, H. De Vos, A.S. (1998). Sampling and sampling methods. In De Vos, A.S. (ed.) (1998). Research at grass roots: a primer for the caring professions. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik.

King Charles and the Power Struggles after the Battle of Edgehill

England- being the site of industrial revolution and subjected to several wars can be considered as more developed economically and politically. Alongside with these developments, people in England had established the Parliament as a response to the growing need of the people for an organized society apart from the ruling of the monarchy at the time. However, the decline in the power of the monarchy including that of King Charles and the rise in the power of the parliament were not without struggles.The Battle of Edgehill characterized the classic battle for power between the Parliament and the monarchy (King Charles) in their bid to show who has the most political power in England. Characteristically, the Battle of Edgehill is a power struggle between the Parliament or democracy and King Charles and the monarchy. At the time when there is an increasing acceptance and power accorded to the Parliament, the question has been raised on who can appropriate and approve funds- the King or the Parliament.This being the root cause of the Battle of Edgehill and the four (4) years that followed after an indecisive outcome of the war had been studied from the point of view of political scientists and sociologists. This paper on the other hand, seeks to provide an evaluation on the significance of the Battle of Edgehill on the power struggles of King Charles and the Parliament after the years that followed. It can be recalled that while the way was opened for King Charles' troops, no victor emerged in the war.The vagueness of the result then further pushed the power struggle and hence, put England at the theme of monarchy vs Parliament. Power Struggle: King Charles vs. The Parliament and the Battle of Edgehill The triggering factor in the Battle of Edgehill has been the conflict on who would determine the kind of rule that England would be governed with. According to the side of the Parliaments, it is they who should decide on this matter as they have the mandate of the pe ople. On the other hand, the monarchy under King Charles claimed that it is the monarchy with the divine provision who should rule England on their discretion.An important element in this disagreement is the discernment on who should appropriate funds and how to allocate them. For King Charles, the monarchy has the sole authority to use funds on their discretion; on the other hand, the parliament asserts that they have the right to deny and appropriate funds from the crown. Hence, the inability of the two opposing forces to reach an agreement precluded the Battle of Edgehill and the English Civil War. Prior to the start of the war, both sides had acknowledged and prepared for the inevitability of war.King Charles took charge of the Royal Army with about 13,000 forces together with Prince Rupert of Rhine whereas, the Parliament headed by the Earl of Essex commanded about 14,000-15,000 military men. Before the war broke, England has been divided into areas that support the Parliament and the monarchy. For instance, Wales had been considered to be the territory of King Charles whereas Parliament has control of Essex and the Midlands. The predictability of the war made the two opposing sides prepare for it. On the side of King Charles, he handed out the Commissions of Array compelling the Lords of each county to prepare the royal army.On the other hand, the Parliament signed the Militia Ordinance in order to command England's trained military personnel. The process of accumulating all the needed armed men took a few months on both sides as it was not easy to assimilate the troops necessary for battle. After Charles secured the necessary weaponry for war, he moved to Shrewsbury in order to meet up with the troops coming from Wales. On the other hand, the Earl of Essex with directives coming from the Parliament assimilated a slightly large troop in Northampton and then went to Worcester.Prior to the Battle of Edgehill, the strength of each force was tested in the Ba ttle of Powick Bridge where the Royal Army defeated the Parliament army. En route to its success, King Charles planned to march towards the center of power in England- London in order to seize power and defeat the Parliament Army. En route to London, both troops were unaware as to the location of their enemies. On their way to London, the Royal Army of King Charles had an encounter with the Parliament Army at Banbury who then sought help from the Warwick Castle. By the evening of October 22, the Parliament Army went to rescue its troops in Kineton.In October 23, 1642 by the orders of King Charles, the Royal Army trooped to Edgehill because of the threat of the Parliament Army. From there, the battle of Edgehill occurred. Scholars assert that the Royal Army was more trained, young and were predominantly gentlemen whereas the Parliament Army were experienced but are older and with less armory than the enemy(Evans, 2005). While the Royal Army was in place of the battle earlier than the Parliament Army, the Royal Army members are largely more inexperienced and when it came to foot battle, the Parliament army had the upper hand.However, due to the tactical and strategy of scattering the Royal Army, the Essex or the Parliament Army succumbed and they withdrew from the battle. Both sides stayed and camped on Edgehill for the night. What is surprising about the battle is that King Charles had not expected that the battle would have so many casualties not only on their side but also on the other camp. The unwillingness of both sides to resume battle had made some scholars declare the battle to be a draw while others assert that it was the Royal Army under King Charles who won the fight.However, King Charles was unable to patronize and seize the victory and improve his power position. Hence, the power struggle between the monarchy and the parliament went on for years. Analysis Inordinately, the Battle of Edgehill signalled the six year war that constituted the English C ivil Wars from 1642-1648. However, it should be noted that the Battle of Edgehill was not a one-time spontaneous battle but a series of disagreements between the Parliament and the monarchy on who should rule England. Hence, the lack of resolution of the battle had pushed for more wars.Consequently, it is not only the war that made the post Battle of Edgehill continues but rather the political power struggle that constituted after it had pushed for more wars in order to find resolution. Hence, the Battle of Edgehill had exposed more issues to be confronted leading for more civil wars in England. First, the power struggle between King Charles and the monarchy versus the Parliament and Oliver Cromwell (leader of the Parliamentary Army) stems from the very nature of the legitimacy of their rule. The question posited is that â€Å"who should rule England, the monarchy or the Parliament?â€Å". The long dominance of the monarchy in England ended in the Industrial Revolution when the Pa rliament was formed in response to the growing need of the people to be represented and reform the political and economic policies in the society. Add to this, the growing discontent on the rule of the monarchy and its inability to solve poverty and unemployment issues were still prevalent in the English Civil War. This was one of the primary issues why despite the century long rule of the monarchy, several states in England had supported the Parliament in their bid to out rule King Charles.On the other hand, counties such as Wales were still loyal to the monarchy and supported King Charles. Hence, the question remained after the Battle of Edgehill. King Charles whose power emanates from the Divine Rights of Kings and hence, its primary supporters were the Catholic Church and the Pope. From this power, Parliament seeking to end his arbitrary practices and refuse to be given the financial resources had a temporary agreement until King Charles dissolved Parliament in 1629 in order to pursue his goals of religious orthodoxy- Catholicism for all of the people of England.The end of the Battle of Edgehill did not end this power struggle. For instance, King Charles after the battle continued to dominate the west, southwest and north parts of England whereas the Parliament had Eas Anglia, Southeast and London as its territory. The division of the people and the question of who should rule them are therefore still prevalent after the Battle of Edgehill. Second, King Charles and the Parliament continued to rally people to support their sides even after the battle. Parliament retained the support of the army despite the seeming victory of King Charles in the post Battle of Edgehill era.Hence, lacking the necessary resources to put up his own army, King Charles was in shambles particularly because Parliament was preparing for another civil war. For instance, the Parliament allied themselves with the Scottish Presbyterian in 1643, giving the Parliament the upper hand in te rms of army and military power. Consequently, with the institution of the New Model Army, training that was lacking among the Parliamentary Army in the Battle of Edgehill was instituted in order to strengthen the Parliament troops.Thus, the struggle of power continued with King Charles and the Parliament. Third, King Charles continued to struggle with the Parliament by aligning the monarchy with Scottish Army. By this time, King Charles still considers the monarchy as the stable force that counters the instability of the parliamentary. Consequently, King Charles saw the opportunity to gain back the power when the Parliament was divided by differences between Presbyterians and the Independents. However, the war waged by Charles against the Parliament failed with the victory of Cromwell in Preston by 1648.Finally, the power struggle was ended by the Parliament when it sentenced King Charles to death in 1649 by beheading him in the Banqueting House in Whitehall, London. The decision by the Parliament rested on the premise that King Charles still holds power over some of the population in England and hence, it cannot effectively establish its power if he is still alive. However, the aspirations of the Parliament to end the Civil War by ending the life of King Charles did not succeed (Dix, 1992). England will go on for more wars concerning the power struggle between the monarchy and the Parliament.Each of these entities asserts that they are the ones who are representing the stability of England by enforcing the constitutional and social rules. Additionally, the legacy that was left by King Charles was carried on by supporters of monarchy. On the other hand, the struggle for power by the Parliament continues. King Charles death marked the beginning of another round of struggle. For the period surrounding the trial, the most powerful theme is the exaltation of form over substance: The army and its Puritan allies believed they could not execute Charles without appear ing to follow acceptable legal procedure (Roberts and Tincey, 2001).The very idea of trying a king must have appalled English citizens. They were contemplating impeaching not just the constitutional head of government, but also a hereditary monarch, who, some believed, could heal with his touch. The Cromwellians tried to overcome objections by disposing of the King through the formal legal process of a trial. After Cromwell's death, the power of the Parliament was weakened and the restoration of the monarchy was underway. However, problems concerning the emancipation of the Catholics as well as the Catholic succession had the Parliament's disapproval again.Hence, after James II fled, the Parliament seeking to reinstate the monarchy, declared William and Mary the King and Queen. From thereon, the Declaration of Rights that changed the power of the monarchy up to this day was declared. This change resulted to the delegation of power to the monarchy as merely symbolic in nature. This i mplies that legislative power and matters of the state would be the sole domain of the Parliament while the monarchy which once held power indiscriminately was relegated to the sidelines and became the head of state- a symbolic position that is relevant to the history of England.Conclusion History reveals that conflict between the political concepts of monarchy and Parliamentarism or of a Republic is fairly common. This is true in the case of King Charles and the Parliament in the Battle of Edgehill. Prior to the Battle of Edgehill, King Charles had been exposed to several power struggles that led him to the abolition of the Parliament. These acts were deemed to be indiscriminate particularly when he increased the taxes of the people and entered into wars that England has no use of.Hence, the rise in power of the Parliament was a direct result of the actions of Charles. After the Battle of Edgehill, the series of English Civil Wars follows. The same theme ensued: who holds the power to rule England? The answer was not resolved in the Battle of Edgewood and the years later would result to more casualties and wars and power struggles between the monarchy and the Parliament. However, the tactical alliance made by the Parliament secured its power over King Charles who succumbed to the Parliament.The inability of King Charles and the Parliament to enter into a common ground has historically scarred the country- but this can be considered as a necessary struggle in order to define and redefine what England is now. First, the power struggle marked the decline of the monarchy and the Divine Power of Kings and the rise of republics ruled by the people and for the people. Second, the insistence of King Charles of religious orthodoxy was unwarranted and gained him more enemies than supporters. Third, it made leaders accountable for their actions.While King Charles rested on his Divine Power, the people at the time were increasingly aware of their own power as well. The i nability of the King to address poverty and unemployment decreased their legitimacy and claim to power. Fourth, the Parliament together with Enlightenment was able to educate and introduce the people to the concepts of freedom, democracy and rule of the people. While both parties had struggled for power, their goal was the same: to uphold England. However, the means by which they have accomplished this was a result of years of power struggles of which lives were sacrificed.However, the resolution via the separation of monarchy as symbolic in nature (head of state) and the Parliament who would run the government was the good result of this political struggle. References Dix, P. (1992) The Ghosts of Edgehill, Leamington Spa, Peter Dix Press. Evans, R. (2005) The ‘Loyal Unknown Soldier': Wales and the English Civil War Robin Evans Assesses the Contribution of the Welsh to the Troubles of 1642-49. History Review. 53(1): 23-29. Roberts, K and Tincey, J. (2001) Edgehill 1642 : first battle of the English Civil War, Oxford : Osprey Military.

ESL learners feel anxious when doing reading comprehension tests Essay

This paper will explore in depth all the implications of the claim that ESL learners feel anxious when doing reading comprehension tests. First of all, the psychological and social causes of anxiety in ESL speakers during reading comprehension assignments will be explored and analyzed. Secondly, the level of anxiety will be assessed. Finally, the paper will suggest several ways to reduce negative feeling associated with performing reading comprehension tests by ESL speakers. Psychological causes of anxiety in ESL students partially mirror the experience of any other school related anxiety. Students are unsure of their abilities under the conditions of internal (i. e. a desire for self-affirmation) and external (i. e. a desire to please parents) pressure. Presently, students feel an incredible pressure to achieve and be at the top of their class, since the realization that school grades determine their future comes very early. Therefore, the joy of learning is often transformed into a struggle to excel (DeNoon, 2007). High expectations and competitive environment contribute greatly to the experience of anxiety and even panic. As concerns the severity of anxiety experienced by ESL speakers, it might range from slight psychological discomfort to serious physical symptoms. For example, short-term memory loss might be the result of extreme anxiety (the feeling of suddenly ‘remembering’ the correct answer immediately after turning in the test). Physical expressions of anxiety may include rapid pulse, a feeling of breathlessness, trembling, sweaty palms, dry mouth, chest pains, digestive problems such as nausea or diarrhea, loss of appetite, headache, sleeplessness, and stomach ache (BUPA’s Health Information Team, 2004). Anxiety may also result in undesirable social consequences, such as loss of trust between parents and students, since the latter sometimes tend to conceal the difficulties they encounter, as well as test results. Such behavior eventually results in unfavorable family atmosphere. The practical values of this research lies in the field of practices and methods aimed at eliminating the causes of anxiety and helping students benefit fully from the learning process. Negative thoughts about possible failure discourage active learning and, taken to extreme, can produce a generally devastating effect on personality development. Furthermore, anxiety during the testing process can distort result, since students who are able to control their emotions better will tend to get higher score, despite the fact that their knowledge might be less complete as compared to students who suffer from extreme anxiety. Together with exercises aimed at increasing students’ self-confidence, relaxation exercises might be very helpful for those who suffer from anxiety. It is also of paramount importance to teach students to plan their time for taking the test so that they would not feel lost and experience a state of panic. The methods of research will be qualitative and will include questionnaires and interviews. At one hand, questionnaires will help to gather statistically significant data and understand the pervasiveness of the problem. From another perspective, interviews will help to research the problem in depth by analyzing students’ perceptions, emotions, and experiences. Therefore, the combination of these research methods will provide the most accurate picture of anxiety in ESL speakers during reading comprehension tests.

A Federalists Speech essays

A Federalist's Speech essays A Federalist's Speech (I made this up actually) Many of us are overreacting; the Constitution is not meant to oppress us. As of now, our states are vulnerable. Do you honestly think that one of our states can maintain their independence from the British on its own? Survival as a respected nation requires the transfer of important, though limited, powers to a central government, and this can be done without destroying the identity or autonomy of separate states. I am like you; none of us wants to replace one oppressive monarchy with another centralized, unrestrained regime. But our Articles of Confederation were unstable and disorganized, and they allowed for petty jealousy and competition between states. Americans, we must unite; but I see that we must also have a balance of power. This Constitution allows for this new kind of balance, never achieved elsewhere. Indeed, the Federalist Papers themselves indicate a balance or compromise between the national propensities of Mr. Hamilton- who reflects the commercial interests of a port city, New York- and the wariness of Mr. Madison, who shares the suspicion of distant authority widely held by Virginia farmers. Rather than the absolute sovereignty of each state granted by those Articles, the states will retain a residual sovereignty in all those areas that do not require national concern. The very process of ratification of the Constitution symbolizes the concept of federalism rather than nationalism. As our friend Mr. Madison puts it: This assent and ratification is to be given by the people, not as individuals composing one entire nation, but as composing the distinct and individual States to which they respectively belong... The act therefore establishing the Constitution will not be a national but a federal act. Under this Constitution, we will have a concurrency of powers between the national and state governments, analogous to the planets revolving around the sun...

Twelver Shiites, or Ithna Ashariyah

Twelver Shiites, or Ithna Ashariyah Twelver Shiites, known in Arabic as IthnÄ  ‘AsharÄ «yah, or ImÄ miyÄ h (from Imam), form the principal branch of Shiite Islam and are sometimes synonymous with Shiitism, even though factions such as the IsmÄ Ã„ «lÄ «yah and ZaydÄ «yah Shiites do not subscribe to Twelver doctrine.   Alternate spellings include  IthnÄ  ‘AsharÄ «yah,  ImÄ miyÄ h,  and ImamiyÄ . Twelvers are the followers of the 12 imams they consider to be the only rightful successors of the Prophet Muhammad, beginning with Ali ibn Abu Talib (600-661 CE), Muhammads cousin and son-in-law, and ending with Muhammad ibn al-Hasan (born 869 CE), the 12th imam whoaccording to Twelver beliefwill emerge and bring peace and justice to the world, becoming the ultimate savior of humankind (Muhammad never appeared publicly and is currently considered in major occultation as the Mahdi). Sunnis recognize Ali as the fourth caliph, but founding commonalities between Sunnis and Shiites end with him. Some Muslims have never recognized the first three as legitimate caliphs, thus forming the nucleus of Islams protesting Shiites. The seeming subversion never sat well with Sunnis, whose habit it became to mercilessly and brutally persecute Alis followers and assassinate subsequent imams, most spectacularly among those the killing in the battle of Hussayn  (or Hussein) Ibn Ali, the third Imam (626-680 CE), on the plains of Karbala. The killing is most famously commemorated in the annual rituals of Ashura. The copious bloodletting gave Twelvers their two most prominent characteristics, like birthmarks on their creed: a cult of victimology, and a cult of martyrdom. The Safavid Dynasty Twelvers never had an empire of their own until the Safavid dynastyone of the most remarkable dynasties ever to have ruled Iranwas established in Iran in the 16th century and the Qajar dynasty in the late 18th century when Twelvers reconciled the divine and the temporal in the leadership of the reigning imam. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, through his 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, pushed the fusion of the temporal and the divine furthest, adding a layer of ideological expediency under the banner of Supreme Leader. A strategic revolutionary, in the words of writer Colin Thubron, Khomeini created his own Islamic state above Islamic law. Twelvers Today The majority of Twelverssome 89%reside in Iran today, with other large populations existing but being mightily oppressed in Azerbaijan (60%), Bahrain (70%), and Iraq (62%). Twelvers make up some of the most destitute populations in countries such as Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Pakistan as well. The three major legal schools of Twelver Shia Islam today include the Usuli (the most liberal of the three), the Akhbari (who rely on traditional religious knowledge), and the Shayki  (at one time absolutely apolitical, the Shaykis have since become active in the Basra, Iraq, government as its own political party).

Concept of accountaibility & how it can be strengthened in world Essay

Concept of accountaibility & how it can be strengthened in world pilitics - Essay Example Individuals who are in positions of power that affect world politics should have a higher level of accountability than local politicians due to the possible ramifications. A need for strengthened accountability is needed in their volatile political atmosphere. By applying the need for increased accountability in organizations that influence world politics is important in many aspects. Without being held to task for what they are doing, there is a possibility of personal beliefs and unknown alliances to influence the results. If this occurs, there could be detrimental consequences for all of those involved. To explain how accountability is better used, a supranational organization will be examined by how accountability is used currently and how it could be better used. Supranational organization means that an organization is above one nation, either by the span of their operations or because of where the leaders are located. A great example of this is during the current conflict the United States government in attempts to save money and decrease troop levels began to hire private corporations to act as paramilitary forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan. One corporation that has been in the news off and on since the beginning of the United States involvement in Iraqi conflict was what is currently known as Academi. Academi has been previously known as Xe Services LLC, Blackwater USA, and Blackwater Worldwide. According to the United States government, Academi has provided private military security, diplomatic security, logistics, airlift, and transportation to the United States government. In addition to providing the national government, Academi has assisted state governments with security. (Burns, 2007) To make matters worse, those in control of Academi have contracts assisting foreign countries, such as Japan. (Shachtman, 2007) Due to their conduct, the country of Iraq has banned Academi

Foodborne Disease Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7500 words

Foodborne Disease - Essay Example The means from the two groups were examined and a t-test was performed in order to determine if there was a statistically significant difference between their food safety knowledge. It was determined that there was a difference in food safety knowledge between the two groups and researchers recommended that a food safety educational program be administered to employees in order to reduce the incidence of food borne illness. In addition, it was recommended that this group be tracked for further incidences of outbreaks in order to determine the efficacy of that food safety program. 100 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, contracted food borne illnesses in 5 consecutive years. It was determined that an investigation into food safety handling knowledge of employees would be beneficial in determining whether or not an educational program needed to be administered. 2 Two groups of participants were recruited, those with food safety education that occurred less than 10 years ago and those that had education longer than 10 years ago or no education at all. These participants were then administered a food safety test and test results were rated on a percentage basis. The means from the two groups were examined and a t-test was performed in order to determine if there was a statistically significant difference between their food safety knowledge. 2 In an examination of disease dissemination at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 4, it was discovered that 100 employees contracted food borne illnesses in a period of 5 years. It was deemed this investigator that this number of outbreaks was considered problematic and that inadequate food safety practices among employees were the likely culprit. Food safety practices are usually taught by health care practitioners, dieticians and through media outlets that attempt to inform consumers, food handlers and at risk population’s

PepsiCo Strategic analysis Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

PepsiCo Strategic analysis - Term Paper Example In this paper, the researcher will analyze PepsiCo’s strengths and weaknesses and whether the marketing environment within and outside the organization is favoring it or not. This paper fundamentally is a strategic analysis of PepsiCo, by keeping in consideration the internal and external forces and resources that can help the company to become a market leader. In the light of the research conducted on markets, in which PepsiCo is incorporated, the author of this report suggests business and corporate level strategies that can be utilized for succeeding in market place. Undoubtedly, Pepsi is the largest manufacturer of carbonated drinks around the world. Initially, the company was started by a North Carolina based chemist and pharmacist, Caleb Bradham in 1898. He named his cola drink â€Å"Brad’s Drink†. PepsiCo’s presence in UK dates back to 1950s when the company sold its first cola drink in London. Now PepsiCo is present in United Kingdom with a diversi fied work force of 5,000 individuals. PepsiCo operations can be divided into four regions in the world. These four strategic business units are PepsiCo Americas Beverages (PAB), PepsiCo Europe, PepsiCo Asia, Middle East and Africa (AMEA) and PepsiCo Americas Foods. It is evident from the marketing analysis of the company that it offers world’s largest range of brands in food and beverages industry. In UK, beside general stakeholders, which includes the employees, customers and the public, PepsiCo is working side by side with public service organizations and corporations. For example, PepsiCo

Protective security research project Assignment

Protective security research project - Assignment Example The study found out that most of the security firms and Close protection Officers were in favour of including a compulsory physical fitness test as a pre-requisite for SIA front line license award. With all the technological advances being made in the world today, security is being recognized globally as one of the areas which has greatly benefitted from these developments while at the same time suffered from it. Many people are becoming more aware of the security risks they face everyday. They seek the services of Close Protective Officers (CPO) who basically offer security services to anyone who feels that he/she is at risk and therefore in need of security services. As the need of security services increases, the effectiveness of CPO’s is coming under close scrutiny. It has been noted that physical fitness is one of the key areas that has the potential of increasing the overall effectiveness of CPO’s. In order for an individual to practice as a CPO, he/she has to be licensed. Security Industry Authority is the body mandated to award licenses to individuals who meet the criteria. Among the requirements for the award of a CPO license is a clean criminal record a nd undergoing CPO training. This study was conducted with an intention of evaluating whether CPO’s need to complete compulsory fitness tests in order for them to gain their Security Industry Authority (SIA) front line license. A brief background at this point would be of great value as it would assist contextualize this study. The Security Industry Authority (SIA) is a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) that was established under the PSIA Act of 2001. It is an independent body that has the mandate to license all the individuals who meet the criteria for licensing. Any individual who wants to work as a front line operative, they must have a clean criminal record, undergo an identity check and a competency

Three theories for a better life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Three theories for a better life - Essay Example Thus, it is important that we know â€Å"ourselves†, our failings, our tendencies and our weaknesses so that we may guard ourselves from it and prevent ourselves from veering away from virtuousness. We can take for an example an honest family man who makes a living for his family. He may toil with integrity under normal situation, but when a crisis like losing a job will set in, he may be faced with a dilemma that would reveal his weakness and change his disposition (honesty). He may be tempted to commit fraud when presented the opportunity just to provide for his family. This is a common dilemma that confronts many â€Å"honest† people which made them less virtuous because it hit their unguarded weaknesses such as theirlove and duty for their family that held them hostage to do things that they do not like. 3) (a) State and explain the meaning of the second version of Kant's categorical imperative. (b) what are the ethical implications of this  imperative; [c] provid e a somewhat detailed analysis of an ethically relevant problem or situation, different from those discussed in the  readings or in class, that can be illuminated through this imperative. To effectively explain Kant’s second version of categorical imperative, it would be necessary to understand what Kant meant by categorical imperative. According to Kant, imperatives imply what they meant which are command such as â€Å"wake up early†. Often they are hypothetical imperative because they only serve a specific objective or purpose such as â€Å"wake up early so you will not be later for work. This imperative or command becomes categorical when it is applied... To effectively explain Kant’s second version of categorical imperative, it would be necessary to understand what Kant meant by categorical imperative. According to Kant, imperatives imply what they meant which are command such as â€Å"wake up early†. Often they are hypothetical imperative because they only serve a specific objective or purpose such as â€Å"wake up early so you will not be later for work. This imperative or command becomes categorical when it is applied universally and that the actions and decisions of individuals are to be judged solely by their motivations and that the consequences do not matter morally (as in the case of hypothetical imperative) neither the intended consequences nor the actual consequences matter morally; only the principle or rule we follow if we do the action matters morally. Thus actions themselves become an end and this action should be a rational result in the exercise of freewill. Consistent to this, Kant’s second impe rative states that every person has the duty to use and exercise his goodness/humanity as a means to an end. The application of this second formulation of Kant’s categorical imperative is best illustrated in slave ownership. A slave owner may assert his right to own a property which in this case is a slave. While ownership by itself is not immoral, slave ownership becomes unethical or immoral according to Kant’s second imperative because it deprives a person of his free rational action and that persons can never be a mere means to an end.

WHITE COLLAR CRIME Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

WHITE COLLAR CRIME - Essay Example within a corporate setting. Next, the crime is free of violence and aggression usually committed for personal benefits such as one’s economic and financial welfare and prosperity. In other words, a white collar crime could be a ‘combination’ of above mentioned factors in various instances. (Hasnas, p. 585, 2005) It should be highlighted that this crime differs from ‘state criminal law’ in a way that it does not involve physical violence or aggression that may directly damage someone else. Also, it does not about â€Å"murders, rape cases, prostitution, abduction, illicit drugs and narcotics† etc. neither it is about violation of another person’s core rights and interests or any other immoral activities. (Hasnas, p. 586, 2005) Some of the commonly observed examples of White Collar Crimes include cyber crimes (hacking, computer viruses and malwares, credit card fraud, misuse of financial information and bio data), fake bankruptcies, tax evasion through fake financial statements followed by monetary frauds with stakeholders, fake or misleading insurance covers, â€Å"antitrust law violations, healthcare issues, phone and telemarketing scams†, business and â€Å"environmental law violations, federal mail fraud, public corruption and embezzlements†, forwarding business secrets of an entity, common stock and security frauds with stockholders, â€Å"insider trading, bribery, counterfeiting, money laundering and economic spying†. (Conklin, 2007) and (Internet: Hg.com) The white collar criminal law primarily considers ‘federal mail fraud statute’ that emphasizes the fact that a person is involved in dishonest and immoral behavior when one intentionally or deliberately involved in violating code of conduct and organizational rules and regulations. In more simple words, it takes into account the fact that a person is dishonest or deceptive if does not provide services he or she has promised for in

Protective security research project Assignment

Protective security research project - Assignment Example The study found out that most of the security firms and Close protection Officers were in favour of including a compulsory physical fitness test as a pre-requisite for SIA front line license award. With all the technological advances being made in the world today, security is being recognized globally as one of the areas which has greatly benefitted from these developments while at the same time suffered from it. Many people are becoming more aware of the security risks they face everyday. They seek the services of Close Protective Officers (CPO) who basically offer security services to anyone who feels that he/she is at risk and therefore in need of security services. As the need of security services increases, the effectiveness of CPO’s is coming under close scrutiny. It has been noted that physical fitness is one of the key areas that has the potential of increasing the overall effectiveness of CPO’s. In order for an individual to practice as a CPO, he/she has to be licensed. Security Industry Authority is the body mandated to award licenses to individuals who meet the criteria. Among the requirements for the award of a CPO license is a clean criminal record a nd undergoing CPO training. This study was conducted with an intention of evaluating whether CPO’s need to complete compulsory fitness tests in order for them to gain their Security Industry Authority (SIA) front line license. A brief background at this point would be of great value as it would assist contextualize this study. The Security Industry Authority (SIA) is a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) that was established under the PSIA Act of 2001. It is an independent body that has the mandate to license all the individuals who meet the criteria for licensing. Any individual who wants to work as a front line operative, they must have a clean criminal record, undergo an identity check and a competency

WHITE COLLAR CRIME Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

WHITE COLLAR CRIME - Essay Example within a corporate setting. Next, the crime is free of violence and aggression usually committed for personal benefits such as one’s economic and financial welfare and prosperity. In other words, a white collar crime could be a ‘combination’ of above mentioned factors in various instances. (Hasnas, p. 585, 2005) It should be highlighted that this crime differs from ‘state criminal law’ in a way that it does not involve physical violence or aggression that may directly damage someone else. Also, it does not about â€Å"murders, rape cases, prostitution, abduction, illicit drugs and narcotics† etc. neither it is about violation of another person’s core rights and interests or any other immoral activities. (Hasnas, p. 586, 2005) Some of the commonly observed examples of White Collar Crimes include cyber crimes (hacking, computer viruses and malwares, credit card fraud, misuse of financial information and bio data), fake bankruptcies, tax evasion through fake financial statements followed by monetary frauds with stakeholders, fake or misleading insurance covers, â€Å"antitrust law violations, healthcare issues, phone and telemarketing scams†, business and â€Å"environmental law violations, federal mail fraud, public corruption and embezzlements†, forwarding business secrets of an entity, common stock and security frauds with stockholders, â€Å"insider trading, bribery, counterfeiting, money laundering and economic spying†. (Conklin, 2007) and (Internet: Hg.com) The white collar criminal law primarily considers ‘federal mail fraud statute’ that emphasizes the fact that a person is involved in dishonest and immoral behavior when one intentionally or deliberately involved in violating code of conduct and organizational rules and regulations. In more simple words, it takes into account the fact that a person is dishonest or deceptive if does not provide services he or she has promised for in

Pro Genetically Modified Foods Essay Example for Free

Pro Genetically Modified Foods Essay We must have science to make medicine. All of us have been to the doctor to get medicine at least once in their lives. Think about how many people would die each year if it weren’t for modern day medicine; a lot, right? So it’s safe to say that some of us trust in medicine but not the science of genetically modifying foods? Believe it or not, genetically modifying foods has been around for thousands of years. â€Å"About 8,000 years ago, for example, farmers in Central America crossed two mutant strains of a weedy-looking plant called Balsas teosinte and produced the first corn on the cob. † (http://www. pbs. org/wgbh/harvest/engineer/) Without GM foods, farmers would be using more pesticides to keep their crops fresh. Scientists have created pest resistant plants that require fewer pesticides and grow faster. Along with being more cost efficient for farmers, the farmer’s use of fewer pesticides has been thought to be safer for consumers and for the environment. â€Å"How is the environment affected by pesticides? † After the rain comes and washes all the pesticides on the crops away the chemicals run off into the ground water and the water becomes contaminated. Then the animals of the surrounding area consume the water and then become sick and eventually die. If corn were not genetically modified, many crops would die as a result of pests and poor resiliency to changes in the weather. One of the biggest pathogens for corn is said to be the European corn borer. Because this insect subsides inside of the corn husk, pesticides do little to fix the issue. As a result of reduced production of corn, produce prices would become inflated and many people could no longer afford to buy it.

Employees Perception About Merger Management Essay

Employees Perception About Merger Management Essay The present economic scenario has witnessed a large number of merger and acquisitions in banking industry all over the world. One of the principal objectives behind the merger Acquisition in banking sector is to reap the benefit of economies of scale. The growing competition has compelled banks to expand their size and to penetrate in market place; it indicates the rule of the ocean that big fish will eat small fish. Consequently, one of the most widely used tools is mergers and acquisitions. However, the market situation is such that there is bombardment of many new and divers products from large pool of bankers. For survival, deliberate decisions are required to mitigate the diverse effects of market forces. At the time of taking decision of MAs, generally financial issues are taken care of and HR issues are ignored which is most important issue for success of any merger. Therefore, the aim of this research paper is to assess the level of satisfaction among employees of the merged bank i.e. the erstwhile bank of Rajasthan ltd. This study is based on a pilot survey; small sample of 30 employees, which is taken from the 14 selected branches from Udaipur city, and paired sample t-test, is applied to test the significant difference of the sample along with weighted average method. The results revealed that post merger satisfaction level is low and stress level is high among bank employees after merger. The implication of the study is for policy makers, strategist, bankers, future researchers, and scholars. Key Words: Merger, Acquisition, Bank, Employees, Perception 1. Introduction: In recreation of organizational growth, augmenting geographic networks, to accelerate market share, creating strategic fit and synergy; organizations are adopting strategic tools like Mergers and Acquisitions (MAs). It is evident from the pages of history that MAs is the most widely used inorganic strategic tool for growth. A merger is a combination strategy of two or more organization in which one acquires the assets and liabilities of the other in exchange for share or cash. At this point of time, it becomes imperative for strategist and policy makers to undertake the confidence of their employees, customer, shareholder and subsidiaries and to understand how they perceive any strategic move because this surely affects the image of the company. Kotler (1997, p. 185-86) has illustrated in his book that perception is the process by which an individual selects, organizes and interprets information inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world. Since the world market is shrinking and consumers are becoming aware about various products and services offered by global players due to the emergence of ICT, it has become strategically important for banks to understand the perception of employees under the purview of MAs, this is so, because they deliver the services. Many researchers have proved that human factor is the key element in delivery of services. Thus, we can say that core reason for success and failure of mergers are human resources i.e. personnel and behavioral issues, blends of cultures and sets of policies practices. Therefore, Transferee Company must create an environment where the employees of Transferor Company can project merger as a steps towards growth. Consequently, employees will strive to work with integration of vision and mission of Transferee Company. Thus, this study can contribute in the field of strategic management as a view point of employees and human resource management. Strategist can consider this view as an input in strategy formulation. In this scenario, this study on employees perception may be a modest attempt to trace the hard realities regarding employees perception of ICICI Bank Ltd. It will be helpful for ICICI mangers, executives, and employees, government, banking industry, RBI, research scholar, strategic managers, HR managers and policy makers. 2. Review of Literature: Schneider and Bowen (1985) reported significant relationships between branch employees perceptions of organizational human resources practices and branch customers attitudes about services. Schweiger and Weber (1989) suggested that Mergers and acquisitions (MAs) are corporate events that have the potential to create severe personal trauma and stress which can result in psychological, behavioral, health, performance, and survival problems for both the individuals and companies involved. With the increasing size and number of MAs transacted and the number of employees affected, it is essential that executives and human resource professionals pay greater attention to understanding the sequence of actions and reactions associated with the process. Schweiger and Denisi (1991) conducted a longitudinal field experiment to evaluate the various effects of a communication program on employees of an organization; they called it a realistic merger preview. This study was intended to measure the effects of mergers and acquisitions on employees. Their results suggested that realistic communication during a merger process in the form of a realistic merger preview can help the employees to get through the process of merger. As illustrated by the significantly lower measures on global stress and perceived uncertainty and significantly higher on job satisfaction, commitment and self-reported performance for the experimental group, exposed to the communication program. Schneider and Dunbar (1992) suggest that media plays an important role in shaping the social context for mergers and acquisition. Weber (1996) assessed the role of corporate cultural fit, autonomy removal, and commitment of managers to the merger in predicting effective integration between merger partners in different industry sectors. He found that relationship was very complex; they varied across industries and had different relationships with different measures of performance. Further, he found that cultural differences at the top management level were most likely to influence the merging organizations ability to realize synergies. Literature shows that communication also plays vital role in the success of a merger. Nikandrou, Papalexandris and Bourantas (2000) explored a number of variables which bear an impact on managerial trustworthiness, for example frequent communication before and after acquisition, and already the existing qualities of employee relations seem to play the most important role. Therefore, a carefully planned, employee-centered communication programme, together with a good level of employee relations, seem to form the basis for a successful outcome as far as employee relations in the face of mergers and acquisitions is concerned. Therefore issues related to human resource management are also raised by researchers in articles. Appelbaum, Gandell, Yortis, Proper and Jobin (2000) conclude that communications throughout the MA process plays a crucial role in its eventual success. Providing clear, consistent, factual sympathetic and up-to-date information in various ways will increase the cooping abilities of employees, which will in turn increase their productivity. This increased productivity will positively impact on firms performance and create sustained competitive advantage by achieving the projected strategic fit and synergies. Communication and a transparent change process are important, as this will often determine not only how a leader will be regarded, but who will be regarded as a leader. Leaders need to be competent and trained in the process of transforming organizations to ensure that individuals within the organization accept the changes prompted by a merger. Hurtt, Kreuze and Langsam (2000) suggest that growth is the primary reason for MAs. Panchal and Cartwright (2001) investigated post-merger stress in a sample of field sales employees. A survey methodology was used to examine group differences, comparing those from the two pre-merger companies and those newly merged organization. Results revealed that group differences in both sources and effects of stress existed. Those from the dominant pre-merger company reported the highest stress levels and most negative work attitudes. Lynch and Lind (2002) also suggest that mergers and acquisitions is one of the major tools for organizational growth and on the other hand Dario, Fabio and Carmelo (2002) investigated using Italian data that mergers seek to improve income from services. Bryson, (2003) reviewed the literature around managing HRM risk in a merger. He found that poor merger results are often attributed to HRM and organizational problems, and that several factors related to maintaining workforce stability are identified as important in managing HRM risk. Schraeder and Self (2003) also found that organizational culture is one factor as a potential catalyst to MA success. DeLong (2003) studied sample of 54 bank mergers announced between 1991 and 1995, tests several facets of focus and diversification. The study found that upon announcement, the market rewards the merger of partners that focus their geography and activities and earning stream. Only of these facets, focusing earning streams enhances long-term performance. Shanmugam and Nair (2004) identified factors in their study on mergers and acquisitions of banks in Malaysia like globalization, liberalization and information technology developments have contributed to the need for a more competitive, resilient and robust financial systems. George and Hegde (2004) reported a case for the delicate aspect of employees attitudes, their satisfaction and motivation, which are posited as prerequisites for customer satisfaction, which is, again, sine qua non for the competitive sustenance of the organization. Chew and Sharma (2005) examined the effectiveness of human resource management (HRM) and organizational culture on financial performance of Singapore-based companies involved in mergers and acquisition activities. They used the method of content analysis to collect information on cultural values and HRM effectiveness, using Kabanoffs content analysis. Culture profiles were then assigned to organizations in the sample following the results from cluster analysis. Various financial ratios were used to measure organizational performance. Finally, regression analysis was performed to test various hypotheses. The key finding of the study suggests that organizations with elite and potential leader, when complemented by human resource effectiveness, had a better financial performance as compared to other organizations. At the end it was concluded that to achieve better financial results by undertaking merger and acquisition activities organizations need to have elite or leadership value prof ile. Seo and Hill (2005) identified six theories viz. anxiety theory, social identity theory, acculturation theory, role conflict theory, job characteristics theory, and organizational justice theory to explain problems in managing the merger and acquisition and organizational change process. These theories have implicitly or explicitly formed the basis for the past MA literature. The authors integrate these theories into one conceptual framework that clearly delineates unique sources of problems that can emerge in different stages of MA integration, their psychological and behavioral effects on employees, and prescriptions to address the problems. According to Mylonakis (2006a) an important parameter in the relationship between the number of branches and employment is branch size. He has used most well-known indicators for the evaluation of staff efficiency in banking sector i.e. operating revenue per employee, personnel expenses per employee and pre-tax profits to personnel expenses. He observed that operating revenue either fall or remains stable, administrative expenses per employee increase for every examined bank and pre-tax profits to personnel expenses indicator showed how many Euros are gained by the bank for every euro spent in staff payroll. Mylonakis (2006b) has examined in his article that how bank employees perceive bank MAs and how it is expected to affect their personal and professional career. The results showed that bank employees feel personally threatened by mergers and acquisitions, which are not considered to be justified and necessary entrepreneurial activities conducive to enhanced, quality banking services. Mergers and Acquisitions often have a negative impact on employee behavior resulting in counterproductive practices, absenteeism, low morale and job dissatisfaction. It appears that an important factor affecting the successful outcome of acquisitions is top managements ability to gain employee trust. Wickramasinghe and Chandana (2009) took views of 109 employees of two banks of Sri Lanka, which had undergone an extension merger and a collaborative merger and reported that employee perceptions are affected by the type of the merger and employees are less satisfied in the collaborative merger than in the extension merger. Further findings revealed that age, gender, and marital status influence the perceptions of the respondents and among those age is the most influential. DeYoung, Evanoff and Molyneux (2009) have found in their study that the changes in deregulation, allowed commercial banks and other financial services firms to expand through mergers and acquisition into geographic markets and product markets. Marmenout, K (2010) conducted experimental study to examine how employees make sense of a merger announcement and investigates the relationship between deal characteristics (culture clash potential, degree of integration, position in deal structure) and employee attitudes. As employees make sense of the merger, higher perceived uncertainty is associated with greater dysfunctional outcomes. Calipha, Tarba and Brock (2011, p. 1-24) have reviewed MA motives and success factors in their article such as entering a new market, gaining new scarce resources, achieving synergies and other managerial and organizational factors that are associated with MA i.e. relative size of MA partner, managerial involvement, culture and organizational structural issues etc. Goyal and Joshi (2012a) identified the general sentiments, challenges and opportunities for the Indian Banking Industry. They concluded challenges and opportunities like rural market, transparency, customer expectations, management of risks, growth in banking sector, human factor, global banking, environmental concern, social, ethical issues, employee and customer retentions. They further concluded that banks are striving to combat the competition and the competition from global banks and technological innovation has compelled the banks to rethink their policies and strategies. (2012b) studied the growth of ICICI Bank Ltd. through mergers, acquisitions, and amalgamation. The article concluded that a firm must devise a strategy in three phases i.e. Pre-merger phase, acquisition phase and post-merger phase. 3. Research Methodology 3.1 Objectives of the Study: To identify the factors responsible for employees satisfaction. To assess the satisfaction level of employees, after merger. To assess the stress level of employees (post merger). 3.2 Sampling Distribution 3.2.1 Universe Total 463 branches of BoR were operating across India before merger and out of this total 293 Branches were operating in Rajasthan. Out of these 293 branches, there were total 31 branches operating in Udaipur before merger and merely 14 branches were situated in Udaipur city. 3.2.2 Sample unit There were total 14 branches of erstwhile BoR, which are now functioning as ICICI Banks branches after merger, Employees of these branches are considered for sampling purpose. 3.2.3 Sample Size A small sample of 30 bank employees from erstwhile BoR is drawn by using stratified purposive sampling. 3.2.4 Data Type Primary and Secondary data will be used to achieve the objectives. 3.2.5 Research Instrument Schedules (structured) and personal interviews methods are used for primary data collection. Publications from company, books, journals, magazines and various websites are referred for secondary data collection. 3.2.6 Research Tools Paired sample t-test and is used to test the hypothesis and process the data. Data processing is done by SPSS 13 software (student version) and weighted average method is used. Where; d = x -y 3.2.7 Limitation of the Study The limitation of the study is that it is based on small sample size with geographical constraint and time. The respondents were contacted at the respective bank and appointments were taken. Then, they were contacted as per their convenience and ease. The budget was a major constraint for this study. 3.2.8 Hypotheses H01: There is no significant difference between employees satisfaction level (pre-merger and post merger). H02: There is no significant difference in stress level of employees between pre-merger and post-merger. 4. Conceptual Framework: Mergers and acquisitions is a phenomena which has been used as a tool for growth and a tool for survival of sick units in banking industry. There are certain provision in the Banking Regulation Act 1949, which helps us to understand the basic concept of mergers and acquisition. 44A of Banking Regulation Act 1949 clearly defines procedure for amalgamation of banking companies. According to it a draft of amalgamation scheme should be produced before shareholders of each banking company. If the scheme of amalgamation is approved by the requisite majority of shareholders in accordance with the provisions of this section, the sub-section (4) states that it shall be submitted to the Reserve Bank for sanction and shall, if sanctioned by the Reserve Bank by an order in writing passed in this behalf, be binding on the banking companies concerned and also on all the shareholders thereof. Section 45 of the act defines the power of Reserve Bank to apply to Central Government for suspension of business by a banking company and to prepare scheme of reconstitution of amalgamation in certain condition like public interest, depositors interest, for the interest of banking system and reconstruction of the banking company. 5. Conceptual Analysis of Merger of the Erstwhile Bank of Rajasthan Ltd. and ICICI Bank Ltd. 5.1 Historical Background: The Bank of Rajasthan Ltd. (BoR) was incorporated on May 7, 1943 as a Company defined under the Companies Act, 1956 and has its Registered Office at Udaipur, Rajasthan. The Bank of Rajasthan had a network of 463 branches March 31, 2009. The primary object of the Transferor Bank was banking business as set out in its Memorandum of Association. For over 67 years, the Bank of Rajasthan had served the 24 states with 463 branches as a profitable and well-capitalized Bank in India. It had a strong presence in Rajasthan with branch network of 294 which is 63 percent of the total branches of BoR in India. The men power strength of BoR was more than 4300 employees across India. The balance sheet of the Bank shows that it had total assets of Rs. 173 billion, deposits of Rs. 150.62 billion and advances of Rs. 83.29 billion as on March 2010. The profit and loss account of the bank shows the net profit as Rs. -1.02 billion as on March 2010, which shows that bank, was not in good financial condition. On the other hand The ICICI Bank Ltd. was incorporated on January 5, 1994 under the Companies Act, 1956 and has its Registered Office at Landmark, Race Course Circle, Vadodara, Gujarat. The Transferee Bank, as on May 21, 2010, has a network of 2,000 branches and extension counters and has over 5,300 automated teller machines (ATMs). At present the bank has 79,978 employees with strong financial position like total assets of Rs. 3634 billion, total deposits of Rs. 2020.16 billion, advances of Rs. 1812.06 billion and net profit of Rs. 42.25 billion as on March 2010. 5.2 Scheme of Amalgamation: According to the scheme of amalgamation of the Transferor Bank with the Transferee Bank, it is clearly stated that the Scheme was formulated as per the Section 44A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, as per the guidelines of Reserve Bank of India for merger/amalgamation of private sector banks and in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Companies Act, 1956, and the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Transferor Bank and the Transferee Bank and other applicable provisions of laws. 5.3 Strategic Intent: The objectives and benefits of this merger are clearly mentioned in the scheme of this merger by ICICI Bank that its customer centric strategy which places branches as the focal points of relationship management, sales and service in geographical micro markets. As it is evident that the BoR had deep penetration with huge brand value in the State of Rajasthan where it had 294 branches with a market share of 9.3% in total deposits of scheduled commercial banks. It was presumed that the merger of BoR in ICICI Bank will place the Transferee Bank among the top three banks in Rajasthan in terms of total deposits and significantly augment the Transferee Banks presence and customer base in Rajasthan and it would significantly add 463 branches in branch network of ICICI Bank along with increase in retail deposit base. Consequently, ICICI Bank would get sustainable competitive advantage over its competitors in Indian Banking. 5.4 Issues Emerged: When the information about this merger was communicated to the employees, they did not accept this merger. All the employees were against this merger as it was evident from the strike and agitation by all the three major employee unions i.e. All India Bank of Rajasthan Employees Federation, All India Bank of Rajasthan Officers Association and Akhil Bhartiya Bank of Rajasthan Karmchari Sangh, subsequently demanding the immediate termination of the ICICI-BoR merger proposal. It is a very strong phenomenon from the behavioral aspects of employees in the growth strategy like mergers and acquisitions. It is quite possible that this human aspect may hamper the whole strategic challenges of the bank or any other organization adopting the strategic tool. 5.5 Future Implication: The issue of employees perception towards mergers needs special attention from researchers and thinkers in order to convert mergers as synergy. At this juncture, the prevalent challenge for ICICI Bank Ltd. was to encounter the agitation from the 4300 BoR employees. Now, since the merger has taken place the critical issue for discussion is the management of Human Resources in the course of Mergers and Amalgamation. The mist of human aspect in the process of MAs can be removed by the turning the pages of available literature for better vision in strategy formulation. 6. Data Analysis and Interpretation: Demographics Table 1: Age * Gender Cross tabulation Gender Total Male Female Age 20-30 1 2 3 31-40 2 7 9 41-50 3 5 8 51-60 8 2 10 Total 14 16 30 Table 2: Designation of the Employees * Gender Cross tabulation Gender Total Male Female Male Designation of the Employees Branch Manager 10 0 10 Senior Manager 2 1 3 Manager 2 3 5 Senior Executive 3 4 7 Executive 2 3 5 Total 19 11 30 In analysis, following scale (Table 3) will be used to interpret the mean values of ranks. Results Interpretation 1.00-1.80 Very poor 1.81-2.60 Poor 2.61-3.40 Moderate 3.41-4.20 Good 4.21-5.00 Very good Table 4: Pre-Merger Rank Analysis S. No. Factors Weight Total Weighted Total Weighted Mean Rank 1 2 3 4 5 Very Poor Poor Moderate Good Very Good 1 Satisfaction Pre-Merger 0 8 12 9 1 30 93 6.20 9 2 Work Culture Pre-Merger 0 7 16 6 1 30 91 6.07 12 3 Quality of Management Pre-Merger 0 7 18 5 0 30 88 5.87 17 4 Infrastructure Pre-Merger 0 7 9 12 2 30 99 6.60 2 5 Salary Pre-Merger 0 7 17 6 0 30 89 5.93 16 6 Time Schedule Pre-Merger 0 7 19 4 0 30 87 5.80 18 7 Communication with Senior Pre-Merger 0 4 21 4 1 30 92 6.13 11 8 Authority Provided by the Bank Pre-Merger 0 7 17 5 1 30 90 6.00 13 9 Responsibility Level Pre-Merger 0 9 18 3 0 30 84 5.60 21 10 Designation Provided by the Bank Pre-Merger 0 10 15 5 0 30 85 5.67 20 11 Benefit Provided Pre-Merger 0 7 16 7 0 30 90 6.00 14 12 Involvement In Decision Making Pre-Merger 0 6 22 2 0 30 86 5.73 19 13 Job Security Provided Pre-Merger 0 7 16 7 0 30 90 6.00 15 14 Opportunity for Advancement Pre-Merger 0 3 21 6 0 30 93 6.20 10 15 Working pattern Pre-merger 0 3 18 6 3 30 99 6.60 3 16 Stress Level Pre-Merger 0 4 19 6 1 30 94 6.27 5 17 Ambience Pre-Merger 0 4 20 4 2 30 94 6.27 6 18 Training Development Pre-Merger 0 4 17 8 1 30 96 6.40 4 19 Compatibility Pre-Merger 0 4 19 6 1 30 94 6.27 7 20 Perks Responsibility Pre-Merger 0 4 20 4 2 30 94 6.27 8 21 Redressal Pre-Merger 0 3 14 12 1 30 101 6.73 1 Table 4 reveals the ranks of the variables used in the study and derived by weighted average method. The responses were taken from bank employees on five-point Likert scale and as per the above table it can be observed that the most ranked variables are redressal, infrastructure, working pattern, training and development, stress level, and ambience and so on. Thus, we can say that employees were on the verge of merger and they were in ambiguous situation what to do. On the contrary, in table 5, the employees rated one of the most important factor is Benefit Provided Post-Merger, infrastructure, compatibility, working pattern, stress level, perks and responsibility and so on. Thus, it can be said that financial benefits provided by the transferee banks like salary hike has affected employees. Some more variables rated by employees like working pattern which has also affected the employees. BoR employees were not exposed to high end technologies in banking sector. Stress management in the course of mergers and acquisition is one of the most debatable issue as MAs brings new working culture, new technology, infrastructure, colleagues and peers and it takes time to make adjustments with these. Table 5: Post-Merger Rank Analysis S. No. Factors Weight Total Weighted Total Weighted Mean Rank 1 2 3 4 5 Very Poor Poor Moderate Good Very Good 1 Satisfaction Post-Merger 0 2 8 16 4 30 112 7.47 12 2 Work Culture Post-Merger 0 2 7 14 7 30 116 7.73 8 3 Quality of Management Post-Merger 1 2 11 11 5 30 107 7.13 19 4 Infrastructure Post-Merger 1 1 3 19 6 30 118 7.87 2 5 Salary Post-Merger 1 3 8 14 4 30 107 7.13 20 6 Time Schedule Post-Merger 0 3 8 14 5 30 111 7.40 13 7 Communication with Senior Post-Merger 0 2 11 13 4 30 109 7.27 16 8 Authority Provided by the Bank Post-Merger 0 6 6 6 12 30 114 7.60 10 9 Responsibility Level Post-Merger 0 4 9 12 5 30 108 7.20 18 10 De

Teaching Philosophy Statement :: Teachers Progressivism Education Essays

Teaching Philosophy Statement Ever since I was born and could comprehend, my parents hammered into my brain the need to excel. Not just to excel in general but to excel over everyone else. My parents are very competitive and believe the world is the same way. In their mind, it is them vs. everyone else in any and everything they do. I was encouraged to compete against my two older brothers to be the best in everything we did. This included sports such as soccer when we were younger, baseball, and most importantly, football. It also included academic areas such as grades and extracurricular activities such as student council. Whoever was doing the best at the time would be held up on a pedestal figuratively as a person for us to emulate. This upbringing instilled in me a need to get great grades, lift zealously to do better in those sports and be bigger than everyone else, and to also do excellent in sports. I got great grades all through grade school and high school and also was an all valley tackle in high school in football. I was one of the â€Å"smart† football players. After looking at the different characteristics of each philosophy, I realize that I have been raised as and become an essentialist. I believe essentialism to be the best teaching method to force the students to learn. Essentialism puts an emphasis on academics. What is the purpose of school? Basically, the purpose for the teacher is to teach students information while the purpose for the students is to learn the information. That means the point of going to school is to learn academics. Score one for the essentialists. Essentialism also goes by the theory of promotion based on the mastery of the material gone over in class. How else could someone be promoted on to something harder or higher? By not mastering previous material? No. Academic subjects usually build on content in each field until the top is reached. Here, to excel, one must know and know well all the previous material to deal with the subject.

Conformity and Fear in Self-Reliance :: Self Reliance Essays

Conformity and Fear in Self-Reliance The quote that most provoked thought and emotion from within me comes from the essay "Self-Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson. "To be great is to be misunderstood" was used by Emerson to explain the lagging growth of the conception of ideas and thoughts of his generation. Original and novel ideas were scorned by conservatives who believed the best method for learning was by repetition and memorization of proven classics written by previous generations. The continuing timelessness of his quote is still in effect today as the scientific community has evolved to accept unaccustomed theories, yet encounters difficulty when relating to the public new and extreme ideas that rebut the system. In history, the results of individualism has been spread world wide. Important leaders, thinkers, and philosophers with radical ideas in virgin areas of research were making significant finds rapidly. Yet progress was slowed by short-sighted men who failed to see greatness. Aberham Lincoln was a revolutionary in his time with his views on slavery and forgiveness of the South. Yet his death was the result of one man's refusal to accept what was once a proud and rich land reduced to tatters- left to ruin because of her failure to accept civil reform. Herman Melville's work in Moby Dick was considered a classic, yet Melville died a figure with lost prestige, poor and unaccepted. When he was laid to rest in 1891, he was remembered only as the author of entertaining novels of the South Seas. It was not until 1920s when his place in America's foremost writers was assured. His works are now great masterpieces of emotion that were misunderstood while he was still alive. Another important example is democracy. In medieval times, monarchies and kingdoms ruled the land. Today, the monarch is merely a figurehead behind the power of democracy. At the birth of the democratic rise of the United States of America, the colonists were thought of as upstart fools- dreamers believing the impossible. English royalists were aghast at the indignation of the colonies to separate from England and form their own country. In present day, the United States is the sole world power, a great

Course Analysis

MBA Program LIST OF MEETINGS, READINGS AND CASES Study. net: http://www. study. net/r_mat. asp? crs_id=30033488 March 25 Culture Readings DT: Chapters 1 through 3 Osland, J. S. , & Bird, A. 2000. Beyond sophisticated stereotyping: Cultural sensemaking in context. The Academy of Management Executive, 14(1): 6579. http://proxy. lib. sfu. ca/login? url=http://search. ebscohost. com/login. aspx? direct=true&db=bth&AN=2909840&site=bsilive&scope=site March 26 Communications and Negotiations Readings: DT: Chapters 4 and 6 Sebenius, J. K. 2002. The hidden challenge of cross-border negotiations.Harvard Business Review, 80(3): 76-85 Article can be found online via lib. sfu. ca Cases: Evans, G. (2003, reprint) Road to Hell. In D. Thomas (Ed). Readings and cases in international management: A crosscultural perspective. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage . Available via Study. Net Cultural relativity of management theories: decision-making, motivation and reward distribution. Ethical dilemmas in decision ma king DT: Chapter 7 (pp 145-153) and Chapter 5 Donaldson, T. 1996. Values in tension: Ethics away from home. Harvard Business Review, 74(5): 48-62. Article can be found online via lib. sfu. ca Buller, P. F. Kohls, J. J. , & Anderson, K. S. 2000. When ethics collide: Managing conflicts across cultures. Organizational Dynamics, 28(4): 521|Page April 2 Readings MBA Program 66 http://proxy. lib. sfu. ca/login? url=http://search. ebscohost. com/login. aspx? direct=true&db=bth&AN=3617480&site= bsi-live&scope=site Cases Shay, Jeffrey P. (2001) West Indies Yacht Club Resort: When cultures collide. Reprinted in A. M. Francesco & B. A. Gold (Eds) International Organizational Behavior, 2nd ed. (pp. 401-415). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall/Pearson Education. Available via Study. Net Fryer. , B. (2003) In a World of Pay.Harvard Business Review, 81(11): 31-35 (for class discussion only, no write up) Article can be found online via lib. sfu. ca April 8 Diversity Multinational teams Virtual t eams DT: Chapter 8 DiStefano, J. J. M. , Martha L. 2000. Creating value with diverse teams in global management. Organizational Dynamics, 29(1): 45-63. Permalink not available. Article can be found online via lib. sfu. ca Siebdrat, F. , Hoegl, M. , & Ernst, H. 2009. How to manage virtual teams. MIT Sloan Management Review, 50(4): 63-68. Permalink not available. Article can be found online via lib. sfu. ca Case Dietz, J. , Olivera, F. , O’Niel, E. 2009) Leo Burnett Company Ltd: Virtual Team Management. Ivey Publishing (product number 9B03M052). Available via Study. Net Readings 2|Page MBA Program April 9 Readings Global leadership DT: Chapter 7 (p154-end) Earley, P. C. , & Mosakowski, E. 2004. Cultural intelligence. Harvard Business Review, 82(10): 139-146. Article can be found online via lib. sfu. ca Javidan, M. , Teagarden, M. , & Bowen, D. 2010. Making it overseas. Harvard Business Review, 88(4): 109-113. Article can be found online via lib. sfu. ca Hollenbeck, G. P. , & Mc Call Jr. , M. W. 2001. What makes a successful global executive. Business Strategy Review, 12(4): 49-56.Permalink not available. Article can be found online via lib. sfu. ca Green, S. , Hassan, F. , Immelt, J. , Marks, M. , & Meiland, D. 2003. In search of global leaders. Harvard Business Review, 81(8): 38-45. Article can be found online via lib. sfu. ca Javidan, M. , Dorfman, P. W. , Sully de Luque, M. , & House, R. J. 2012. In the eye of the beholder: Cross-cultural lessons in leadership from project GLOBE. In G. K. Stahl, M. E. Mendenhall, & G. R. Oddou (Eds. ), Readings and cases in international human resource management, 5th ed. : 131-166. New York: Routledge. Article available on Sharepoint in Bus 712 folder.

Workplace Discrimination and Autism Spectrum Disorders

299 Work 31 (2008) 299–308 IOS Press Workplace discrimination and autism spectrum disorders: The National EEOC Americans with Disabilities Act Research project Todd A. Van Wierena , Christine A. Reidb and Brian T. McMahon b,? a b Disability Support Services, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA, USA Department of Rehabilitation Counseling, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Abstract.Using the Integrated Mission System of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the employment discrimination experience of Americans with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) is documented for Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The researchers examine demographic characteristics of the charging parties; the industry designation, location, and size of employers against whom complaints are ? led; the nature of discrimination (i. e. , type of complaint) alleged to occur; and the legal outcome or resolution of these complaints.Researchers compare and con trast these key dimensions of workplace discrimination involving individuals with ASDs and persons with other physical, sensory, and neurological impairments. Researchers also attempt to discern whether or not the resolutions of the ASD charges can be predicted using the variables available for analysis. The comparative ? ndings of this study indicate that individuals with ASDs were more likely to make charges of discrimination against Retail industry employers. Persons with ASDs were also more likely to make charges of discrimination when they were younger, male, and/or of Native American/Alaskan Native ethnicity.The predictive ? ndings of this study indicate that the odds of ASD charges resulting in meritorious resolution (i. e. , discrimination determined by the EEOC to have occurred) increase when the discrimination was encountered in Service industries and by larger employers. Implications for policy, advocacy and further research efforts are addressed. 1. Introduction: Autism Spectrum Disorders The term Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is used to refer collectively to the group of disorders that comprise the ? ve speci? c, but related, conditions within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,Fourth Edition, Text Revision [3]. These disorders fall under the formal diagnostic umbrella known as Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDDs): (1) Autistic Disorder, (2) Asperger Syndrome, (3) Rett’s Disorder, (4) Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, and (5) PDD, ? Address for correspondence: Brian T. McMahon, Department of Rehabilitation Counseling, Virginia Commonwealth Universit, POB 980330, Richmond, VA 23298-0330, USA. Tel. : +1 804 827 0917; Fax: +1 804 828 1321; E-mail: [email  protected] edu. Not Otherwise Speci? ed (NOS). Collectively, they are commonly described as autism.The common, or core, characteristics shared by each of the ? ve PDDs generally include varying degrees of impairment in the triad of: (1) verbal and non-verbal com munication, (2) social interaction, and (3) restricted, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior or interests [2,9,33,37,38]. Aside from this common triad, additional functional limitations that can often be associated with ASDs include: hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli, hyperactivity, aggressiveness, self-injurious behavior, motor dysfunctions, arousal/activation issues, cognitive de? iencies (including impairments in abstract thought), and physical/medical features [13, 15,41,51]. Frequently, individuals with ASDs can also have â€Å". . . (1) problems understanding social cues and 1051-9815/08/$17. 00 ? 2008 – IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved 300 T. A. Van Wieren / Workplace discrimination and autism spectrum disorders: EEOC & ADA facial expressions, (2) dif? culty expressing emotions in conventionally recognizable ways, (3) in? exibility and discomfort with change, and (4) dif? culty adapting to new tasks and routines† [35, p. 163]. It is im portant to realize that people with ASDs vary cross a wide continuum of intelligence, clinical characteristics and abilities [15,16,38,41]. On one extreme, some individuals with ASDs deal with severe impairments and require intensive life-long support. On the other end of the continuum reside individuals who are sometimes referred to as having â€Å"high-functioning autism,† with relatively slight limitations in daily activities. Predicting life outcomes for the population of individuals with ASDs as a whole (merely based on their carrying an ASD diagnosis) is dif? cult because of the very wide spectrum of cognitive, linguistic, social nd behavioral functioning from person to person [21]. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) simply uses the term autism to refer collectively to the ? ve PDDs included in Autism Spectrum Disorder. It de? nes autism as â€Å"neurological disorder[s] affecting the functioning of the brain; characterized by such symptoms as speech an d language disorders and profound differences in the manner of relating to people, objects, and events. † The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is presently unable to report exactly how many people in the U. S. re diagnosed with ASDs. At the moment, more is known about the number of children with ASDs than adults. However, the CDC estimates that the current prevalence rates for ASDs are between two and six per 1,000 individuals [9]. It is known that the diagnosis of ASDs has increased steadily in recent years [9]. Estimating the change in prevalence over the years is dif? cult to do, as the definitions of and techniques for diagnosing ASDs have broadened. However, the conclusion derived from available evidence is that the current prevalence of ASDs is roughly three to four times higher than it was approximately 30 years ago [14].For instance, in 1994, ASDs were the 10th most common disability among individual s age 6–21 years served by public special education programs. By 2003, ASDs had risen to be the 6th most common disability [9]. The reasons for the apparent increase in ASDs are not exactly clear. It may be that the actual occurrence of ASDs is on the rise. However, a more likely explanation for at least part of the increase is the manner in which professionals have been classifying ASDs in recent years [14]. For example, in 1991 ASDs were added as a special education exceptionality within the US public school system [9].ASDs are known to be more prevalent in males than females, but do not seem to be systematically or conclusively linked to ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, lifestyle, educational level or geographic region [16, 53]. ASDs do tend to occur statistically more often than expected for individuals with certain medical conditions, such as Fragile X syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, congenital rubella syndrome, and untreated phenylketonuria [9]. Also, ASDs are thoug ht to occur sometimes in conjunction with harmful substances ingested during pregnancy, such as thalidomide [9]. 2. Background . 1. Employment challenges It is well known that many individuals diagnosed with ASDs face considerable dif? culty in obtaining and maintaining employment [1,5,8,22,35]. A 1998 study estimated that only 18% of adults with ASDs in the U. S. were employed in some type of work [20]. Furthermore, people with ASDs who do obtain work tend to struggle with maintaining employment. Perhaps because of the social, communicative and behavioral de? cits associated with ASDs, issues can frequently arise in the workplace with coworkers, supervisors, customers, or in the performance of duties [26]. . 2. Need for the study Even though it is well understood that individuals with ASDs experience considerable dif? culties in general with obtaining and maintaining employment, very little evidence-based knowledge has been available for understanding the more speci? c issue of wor kplace discrimination and how it may contribute to the group’s overall employment challenges. To date, a contextualized understanding of the workplace discrimination towards workers and applicants with ASDs has been lacking. Such practical insights into workplace issues re important for the community of working adults with ASDs, their advocates, and providers of vocational rehabilitaiton services. The preponderance of today’s ASD research efforts focus on either childhood issues, or on potential medical cures or prevention of ASDs. There is a substantial need for more research to focus on practical adaptation issues for adults with ASDs [6, 36,44,52]. T. A. Van Wieren / Workplace discrimination and autism spectrum disorders: EEOC & ADA 3. The National EEOC ADA research project Until quite recently, the majority of disability-related orkplace discrimination studies have tended to focus simply on the hiring preferences or attitudes of employers (or hypothetical employers ) toward individuals with disabilities [17,19,46]. Such studies generally could not examine actual occurrences of discrimination, which are behavioral manifestations of negative attitudes. By and large, they could only offer a perceived notion of workplace discrimination, and not an actual description. Furthermore, studies that attempted to examine Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title I cases of private-sector disability-related work discrimination ere limited to assessing Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) summary statistics at the allegation-level. Because data were limited, such studies did not provide deeper, more contextual, analyses of the EEOC cases [29]. Past studies did not have access to the cases’ ultimate resolutions, as well as other detailed information related to each case. Focusing on frequency of allegations alone may lead to skewed research conclusions. This is because only an approximate one? fth of all allegations made to the EEOC are ev er found to involve suf? cient evidence that disability-related discrimination conclusively occurred [28].Conversely, in approximately four-? fths of all allegations there is insuf? cient evidence for the EEOC to solidly conclude that discrimination took place. However, through an Interagency Personnel Agreement and a Con? dentiality Agreement involving the EEOC, Virginia Commonwealth University obtained the entire ADA segment of the EEOC’s Integrated Mission System (IMS) database. The IMS contains more than two million allegation records involving allegations of employment discrimination. The VCU subset includes all resolved allegations of discrimination made to the EEOC under Title I of the ADA, from July 7, 1992 (the ? rst date the ADA went into effect) to September 30, 2003. The National EEOC ADA Research Project was then developed to better understand the nature, scope and dynamics of employment discrimination against individuals with disabilities in the U. S. private-se ctor workplace. A number of studies have already been completed by members of the National EEOC ADA Research Project. Most of the ADA Title I studies completed to date have focused on speci? c disability groups, including: asthma [25], cancer [27], cerebral palsy [23], cumulative trauma disorders [4], deafness and hear- 301 ng impairment [7], diabetes [31], dis? gurement [45], HIV/AIDS [10,11], mental retardation [47], missing limbs [50], multiple sclerosis [42,43,49], speech impairment [34], spinal cord injury [30], traumatic brain injury [32], and visual impairment [48]. 4. The IMS data set Because of the unique level of access now made available to the EEOC’s IMS database, it is possible to examine the following contextual information for each case within the study database: (1) demographic characteristics of the Charging Party (i. e. , individual with the disability); (2) the industry and size of the Responding Party (i. e. employer); (3) the U. S. region from which the a llegation originated, (4) the speci? c type of alleged ADA Title I discriminatory allegation; and (5) the speci? c resolution of the case as determined by the EEOC, or by settlement or mediation between the Charging Party (CP) and Responding Party (RP). In this particular study, the research questions are answered by comparing and contrasting the employment discrimination experience of Americans with ASDs to that of Americans with other known physical, sensory, and neurological impairments. From these data, a â€Å"study dataset† was extracted to include only those ariables related to the research questions and to maximize consistency, parsimony, and con? dentiality (i. e. , to protect the identity of speci? c CPs and RPs). The extraction process was guided by the following considerations. The unit of study is an allegation; it is not an individual CP, nor an individual RP. A single CP may bring more than one allegation. Only unique allegations that do not involve recording e rrors or duplications are included in the study dataset. All identifying information regarding CPs and RPs was purged except variables important for this research.Study data were strictly limited to allegations brought under Title I of the ADA. Allegations brought under other federal employment statutes were not considered. Further, state allegations were also excluded to maintain a consistent de? nition of both disability and discrimination. To maintain consistency in de? nitions and procedures among the study variables, only allegations received, investigated, and closed by the EEOC were included. This required the exclusion of allegations referred by the EEOC to litigation for disposition in civil court, federal or state.Allegations of retaliation were excluded because complaints of this nature do not pertain directly to the existence or consequence of disability. 302 T. A. Van Wieren / Workplace discrimination and autism spectrum disorders: EEOC & ADA Only allegations that were closed by the EEOC during the study period, de? ned as July 26, 1992 through September 30, 2003 were included in the study dataset. Finally, open allegations (i. e. , still under investigation) were excluded from the study. This exclusion exists to insure that all allegations in the study dataset are â€Å"closed,† and as such are known to be either with Merit (i. . , decided by the EEOC to have reasonable cause for discrimination) or Without Merit (i. e. , decided by the EEOC to have no reasonable cause for discrimination). The resulting study dataset includes 328,738 allegations of employment discrimination under ADA Title I that were received, investigated and closed by the EEOC during the study period. These were divided into groups on the basis of disability status including the following two: 1. Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). The primary group of interest for this particular study entails the allegations of discrimination made by individuals who reported having an AS D.The ASD allegations number just 98 (i. e. , 0. 03% of the total number of cases in the study dataset). However, this is the entire population of EEOC-resolved ASD allegations for the study time period. 2. General Disability (GENDIS). The comparison group for this study is a compilation of all allegations made by individuals who reported impairments within the other physical, sensory, or neurological EEOC disability categories (i. e. , allergies, Alzheimer’s disease, asthma, back impairment, cancer, cardiovascular impairment, cerebral palsy, chemical sensitivity, cumulative trauma disorder, cystic ? brosis, diabetes, dis? urement, dwar? sm, epilepsy, gastrointestinal impairment, hearing impairment, HIV, kidney impairment, learning disability, mental retardation, missing digits or limbs, multiple sclerosis, nonparalytic orthopedic impairments, â€Å"other† blood disorder, â€Å"other† neurological impairment, â€Å"other† respiratory impairment, paralysis , speech impairment, tuberculosis, and vision impairment). For this particular study, GENDIS excludes ASD cases. The GENDIS allegations for this study number 174,512 (i. e. , 53. 09% of the total number of cases in the study dataset), and are the entire population of such cases resolved by the EEOC uring the study time period. GENDIS was also used as the primary comparison group for a majority of the other National EEOC ADA Research Project studies completed to date that examined various other EEOC disability categories [4,7,10, 23,25,27,30–32,42]. It is important to consider that the individuals who have actually made allegations of discrimination to the EEOC are likely a smaller number than the sum of individuals who have experienced discrimination. It is likely that many instances of disability-related discrimination go unreported to the EEOC. Individuals may not always realize that they have experienced discrimination.Or, they may perhaps be aware of discrimination but do not understand their rights, know how to initiate a complaint, or they are fearful of retaliation. The small number of allegations made by individuals with ASDs (98) could lead one to conclude that workplace discrimination is not a signi? cant problem for these individuals. The under-representation of people with ASDs in the workforce has been previously reported, and it is well known that most discrimination involves currently employed persons. However, many individuals with ASDs may not understand their civil rights or how to exercise them.The underreporting of discrimination would then make this particular study all the more important for individuals with ASDs and their advocates. The small number of ASD allegations also raises a technical concern. For most statistical tests, small Ns increase the risk of type II errors [12,40], or failure to detect actual differences when they exist. Because of the large number of comparisons that were conducted and in order to minimize this ri sk, the ? level was established at a more stringent level; p < 0. 01. 5. Project design and methods 5. 1. Variables The IMS data was transferred to the research team rom the EEOC via zip disk. Data needed to answer the research questions were extracted, coded, re? ned, and formatted in Microsoft Access using the aforementioned criteria. The result was a study-speci? c dataset in which the underlying unit of measurement is the frequency of allegations, a ratio level of measurement. The other variables for this study are detailed in Table 1. 5. 2. Research objectives The ? rst research objective for this study was descriptive in nature and focused on the most prevalent characteristics associated with the ADA Title I discrimination allegations made by individuals with ASD.The second objective was comparative in nature and T. A. Van Wieren / Workplace discrimination and autism spectrum disorders: EEOC & ADA 303 Table 1 Parameters of Variables CP AGE (ratio measurement) – Years CP GENDER (nominal measurement) – Male – Female CP RACE (nominal measurement) – White – African American – Hispanic/Mexican – Asian – Native American/Alaskan Native – Mixed Ethnicity – Other Ethnicity RP INDUSTRY (nominal measurement) – Agriculture – Construction – Finance, Insurance & Real Estate – Manufacturing – Mining – Public Administration – Retail – Services – Transportation & Utilities – Wholesale – Not Classi? edRP SIZE (interval measurement) – 15–100 employees – 101–200 employees – 201–500 employees – 501 + employees US REGION (nominal measurement) – Northeast – Midwest – South – West – U. S. Territory – Foreign (U. S. businesses operating abroad) ALLEGATIONS (nominal measurement) – Job Obtainment or Membership Issues: * Advertising, Apprent iceship, Exclusion/Segregated Union, Hiring, Prohibited Medical Inquiry, Quali? cations Standards, Referral, Testing, & Training – Job Conditions or Circumstances Issues: * Assignment, Bene? ts, Bene? ts (Insurance), Bene? ts (Pension), Demotion, Discipline, Harassment, Intimidation, Job Classi? ation, Maternity, Promotion, Reasonable Accommodation, Segregated Facilities, Seniority, Tenure, Terms/Conditions, Union Representation, & Wages – Job Maintenance or Preservation: * Constructive Discharge, Discharge, Early Retirement Incentive, Involuntary Retirement, Layoff, Recall, Reinstatement, Severance Pay, & Suspension – Other/Miscellaneous Issues: * Other, Posting Notices, References Unfavorable, & Waiver of ADEA Suit Rights RESOLUTIONS (nominal measurement) – Merit: * Settled with CP Bene? ts, Withdrawn with CP Bene? ts, Successful Conciliation, & Conciliation Failure – Non-Merit: No Cause Finding, Administrative Closure (RP Bankruptcy), Administra tive Closure (CP Missing), Administrative Closure (CP NonResponsive), Administrative Closure (CP Uncooperative), Administrative Closure (Related Litigation), Administrative Closure (Failed Relief), Administrative Closure (Lacks Jurisdiction), & Administrative Closure (CP Withdraws) explored whether or not the characteristics associated with the ASD allegations differ signi? cantly from those of the characteristics associated with GENDIS. The third research objective of this study, predictive in nature, was to explore whether or not the ? al EEOC case resolutions for the ASD allegations could be predicted based upon a function of some of the contextual variables of interest associated with the ASD group. 5. 3. Analysis Data was analyzed to answer the stated research objectives in three primary ways, using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). First, descriptive statistics were used to detail the ASD and GENDIS allegations and various attributes thereof. Second, comparis ons of the various characteristics of the ASD al- 304 T. A. Van Wieren / Workplace discrimination and autism spectrum disorders: EEOC & ADA egations vs. the GENDIS allegations were conducted utilizing Fisher’s exact tests, odds ratios, and t-Tests for independent groups. Third, in an effort to discern whether or not the ? nal resolutions for the ASD allegations could be predicted based upon a function of some of the contextual variables of interest associated with the ASD group, multiple logistic regression analysis was used. 6. Findings 6. 1. Descriptive analysis Based upon the descriptive analysis portion of this study (i. e. , Objective One), it could be said that the pro? le for a typical ASD case entails: (a) a CP who s 36 years old, male and White; (b) a RP in the Retail industry that is either on the large end of the size spectrum (i. e. , 501+ employees) or the smaller end of the spectrum (i. e. , 15–100 employees); (c) origination of the allegation in the Sout hern region of the U. S. ; (d) an allegation that involves an issue of job conditions/circumstances or job maintenance/preservation; and (d) a case resolution that is ruled by the EEOC as non-meritorious. See Table 2 for a more detailed account of the descriptive analysis portion of this study. 6. 2. Comparative analysis Relative to GENDIS, the median age for the ASD roup is younger (36 years vs. 44 years), and is statistically signi? cant (t-Test for independent groups, t = ? 8. 385, df = 86. 134, p =< 0. 000). Allegations in the ASD group are over two times more likely to be made by males than were allegations in the GENDIS group (Fisher’s exact test, p =< 0. 000, O. R. = 2. 30). ASD allegations are over seven and half times more likely than GENDIS to involve CPs who are Native American/Alaskan Native (Fisher’s exact test, p = 0. 001, O. R. = 7. 82). And, relative to GENDIS, allegations from the ASD group are two and a half times more likely to be made against RPs in the Retail industries Fisher’s exact test, p =< 0. 000, O. R. , 2. 52). Statistical analyses revealed no signi? cant differences between the ASD group vs. GENDIS in regards to the regions where allegations originate from, the types of ADA Title I allegations ? led with the EEOC, or ultimate case resolutions decided upon by the EEOC. 6. 3. Predictive analysis Forward, stepwise multiple logistic regression analysis was utilized to establish the best set of variables predictive of merit vs. non-merit ASD case resolutions. The selection of the predictor variables in the ? nal model progressed via steps while the different ndependent predictor variables were inserted into or excluded from the model, in an attempt to realize the largest increase in R 2 . This course of action revealed that RP size, CP race (Native American/Alaskan Native), and RP industry (Service) contributed the most to the explanatory power of the model (? 2 = 33. 176, p =< 0. 000, df = 3), explaining approxima tely 35. 4% to 48. 9% of the variance in the merit vs. non-merit resolution status of ASD cases (i. e. , Cox & Snell R 2 = 0. 354, Nagelkerke R 2 = 0. 489). However, the ? nal number of cases (N ) included in this model decreased from 98 to 76, because of missing data in a couple of he model’s independent variables. Therefore, desiring to include as many of the ASD group’s relatively small number of cases as possible in the ? nal model, another logistic regression analysis was completed. This new analysis made use of simultaneous entry of only the two statistically signi? cant predictor variables that had been found in the forward stepwise analysis (i. e. , RP size and CP industry [Service]). Thus, the new model (N = 86, ? 2 = 18. 553, p =< 0. 000, df = 2) consists of only RP size and RP industry (Service), which serve as the independent predictor variables and explain approximately 19. % to 27. 5% of the variance in the merit vs. non-merit resolution status of the ASD cases (i. e. , Cox & Snell R 2 = 0. 194, Nagelkerke R 2 = 0. 275). This same process for determining the best predictor variables for a multiple logistic regression model, while attempting to avoid as many missing data cases as possible, was recently utilized within the ? eld of Rehabilitation research [39]. The results of the ? nal model are detailed in Table 3. It could be said that the odds of an ASD allegation resulting in a meritorious case resolution increase when: (1) the allegation is made against a Service industryRP, and (2) as the size of the RP increases (i. e. , number of employees). It was found that ASD allegations that were made against RPs in the Service industry are approximately seven times more likely than all other industries (considered together) to experience merit resolutions (i. e. , Exp[? ]= 7. 013). In conjunction with this, it was also found that for each one-unit increase in a RP’s size (e. g. , moving from the 15–100 employee category, to the 101-200 employee category, to the 201– T. A. Van Wieren / Workplace discrimination and autism spectrum disorders: EEOC & ADA 305 Table 2Descriptive Analysis of ASD and GENDIS allegations ASD (F) CP AGE: Age (mean years of age) (72) (26) GENDIS (F) 36 years CP GENDER: – Male – Female % % 44 years 73. 5% 26. 5% (95,282) (79,048) 54. 7% 45. 3% CP RACE: – White (60) 61. 9% (108,803) 63. 1% – African American (14) 14. 4% (35,325) 20. 5% – Hispanic/Mexican (11) 11. 3% (12,535) 7. 3% – Other? (12) 12. 4% (15,718) 9. 1% ? Comprised of EEOC categories: Asian, Native American/Alaskan Native, Mixed Ethnicity & Other Ethnicity RP INDUSTRY: – Agriculture – Construction – Fin. , Ins. , Real Est. – Manufacturing (16) 16. 8% – Mining Public Admin. (8) 8. 2% – Retail (22) 23. 2% – Services (18) 18. 9% – Trans. & Util. (10) 10. 5% – Wholesale – Not Classi? ed (18) 18. 9% Indust ries with less than 5 ASD charges are not reported (32,539) 19. 2% (16,051) (18,129) (49,525) (15,741) 9. 5% 10. 7% 29. 2% 9. 3% (21,472) 12. 7% RP SIZE: – 15–100 employees – 101–200 employees – 201–500 employees – 501 + employees U. S. REGION: – Northeast – Midwest – South – West – U. S. Territory – Foreign (33) (13) (9) (34) 37. 1% 14. 6% 10. 1% 38. 2% (56,161) (20,708) (18,507) (72,297) 33. 5% 12. 4% 11. 0% 43. 1% (7) (24) (47) (20) (0) (0) 7. % 24. 5% 48. 0% 20. 4% 0% 0% (18,667) (52,014) (70,404) (32,782) (641) (4) 10. 7% 29. 8% 40. 3% 18. 8% 0. 4% 0% ALLEGATIONS: – Job Obtainment or Membership – Job Conditions or Circumstances – Job Maintenance or Preservation – Other/Miscellaneous (6) (47) (41) (4) 6. 1% 48. 0% 41. 8% 4. 1% (12,047) (90,162) (68,569) (3,734) 6. 9% 51. 7% 39. 3% 2. 1% RESOLUTIONS: – Merit – Non-Merit (29) (69) 29. 6% 70. 4% (38,3 85) (136,127) 22% 78. 0% 500 employee category, to the 501+ employee category, etc. ) the odds of an ASD allegation being resolved with merit increase by over one and a half times (Exp[? = 1. 836). 7. Discussion 7. 1. Education efforts by the EEOC The EEOC distributes training materials to employees and individuals with disabilities concerning ADA Title I issues. Efforts should be focused on educating Retail and Service industry and larger employers in particular concerning the characteristics of and the unique work-related issues of individuals with ASDs. Furthermore, in attempting to educate individuals with disabilities concerning their rights and options to ? le discrimination allegations, the EEOC should consider including focus on individuals with ASDs in a special ense, given that many of these individuals may not be aware of how to recognize discrimination and/or how to take advantage of the EEOC’s resolution services 306 T. A. Van Wieren / Workplace discrimination an d autism spectrum disorders: EEOC & ADA Table 3 Final model for logistic regression analysis of ASD Merit vs. Non-Merit resolutions Predictor ? SE df Wald – RP Industry 1. 948 0. 627 9. 665 (Service vs. all others) – Responding Party Size 0. 608 0. 218 7. 802 (i. e. , # of employees) Constant ?2. 942 0. 731 16. 195 Model Summary: N = 86 df = 2 ?2 = 18. 553 p =< 0. 000 R2 = 0. 94 (Cox & Snell), 0. 275 (Nagelkerke) ? Signi? cant p Exp(? ) 1 0. 002? 7. 013 95% C. I. for Exp(? ) 1. 397–35. 219 1 0. 005? 1. 836 1. 048–3. 216 1 0. 000 0. 053 at . 01 level (as possibly evidenced in the extremely low number of ASD allegations received by the EEOC to date). 7. 2. Training of ASD support personnel It would be important for personnel who support the vocational efforts of individuals with ASDs (e. g. , rehabilitation counselors, supported employment specialists, etc. ) to understand the unique trends of ASD allegations of ADA Title I discrimination. Compared o many o ther disability groups, ASD allegations are more likely to be made by younger individuals and by males. Employers that perhaps require a special degree of attention when considering ASD vocational issues would include Retail and Service industry employers and larger employers. Rehabilitation professionals also need to know that relatively few ADA Title I allegations are made to the EEOC by people with ASDs, compared to other disability groups, which may possibly mean that individuals with ASDs are especially at risk for not advocating for themselves against employment discrimination.Supportive personnel need to understand that a systems/ecological approach is especially needed in assisting individuals with ASDs to obtain and maintain integrated employment in the competitive, private-sector workplace. The supported employment and positive behavioral support models may be particularly valuable here in assisting individuals with ASDs and their work environments to successfully adapt to each other. After all, it is known that individuals with ASDs can achieve employment success and can be highly regarded by their employers if they receive the appropriate vocational supports [18,22,24].Such vocational supports should include sophisticated and independentlytailored assessment (of both the individual and potential work environments), placement, training, and ongoing support. Based upon the extremely low number of ASD allegations made to the EEOC, it might also appear that a major focus in working with individuals with ASDs would be to assist in increasing their self-advocacy skills. Employers engaged with individuals with ASDs (especially those in the Retail and Service industries and larger employers) also require sophisticated and independently-tailored assistance.Efforts directed towards employers should focus, in particular, on attempting to understand and articulate the workplace’s normative behavioral and communicative standards; educating the employer t o understand how individuals with ASDs may have a dif? cult time meeting these normative standards; helping employers to develop positive frames of reference concerning their employees with ASDs, and assisting employers to develop effective, appropriate, and non-discriminatory responses towards their employees with ASDs. 7. 3. Transition planning to adult working age Individuals with ASDs who ? le allegations of ADATitle I discrimination are more likely to be younger, compared to members of many other disability groups. As discussed previously, this may have something to do with ASDs being lifelong developmental disabilities. Thus, individuals with ASDs enter (and/or attempt to enter) into the adult workforce from day-one with their disability. This is different from some other disabilities that may not be acquired by an individual until later in life or after they have been engaged in the workplace for a length of time. Therefore, long-term transition planning for children and/or y oung adults with ASDs hould include the consideration of avenues by which such individuals can obtain introductory work experience (such as part-time jobs, internship/practicum-style experiences, etc. ) prior to the point that they will be expected to move permanently into the adult workforce. T. A. Van Wieren / Workplace discrimination and autism spectrum disorders: EEOC & ADA Because individuals with ASDs struggle with social perception/interaction and behavior in particular, they may bene? t especially from guided practice and experiences in learning how to appropriately and effectively perceive and respond within work environments. [10] [11] [12] . Conclusion [13] This study revealed unique issues for ASD allegations of ADA Title I discrimination. As a result of this new understanding, some implications and suggestions were offered, aimed at assisting both individuals with ASDs and their work environments to adapt to each other, so as to prevent issues of discrimination. Perhaps one of the most important and obvious issues noted in this study is the extremely low number of ASD allegations received to date by the EEOC. 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