Case Studies for Management

While examples of guaranteed payment exist, the length ND size of the payments is considered uncommon. In 2005, the CEO received his guaranteed bonus while the amount of money allotted to the non-salaried employee bonus program decreased by 50 percent. Questions: 1 . How does expected performance relate to the current business outlook? 2. What are the results that need to be achieved In the short and long term? 3. Is senior management prepared to support and communicate this program or issue? 4. Are compensation committee members/board of director members familiar with similar programs or issues? . Has the compensation committee/board of directors reviewed animal compensation programs or Issues In the past? ENRON CORP. In the late sass and into 2001, Enron Corp.. Provided its executives with compensation packages that included equity stakes in business units. Although many companies use equity In rewards programs, the amounts provided to Enron executives were unusually large (greater than 5 percent) and not tied to long-term performance because executives were allowed to convert their equity into either than $310 million by converting equity stakes into cash.In addition to the equity stakes, Enron rewarded two executives large cash bonuses of $54 million and $42 million. The chairman/chief executive of a subsidiary allegedly received a 20-percent stake in his unit, thus becoming a minority owner. He eventually converted his stake into more than $20 million in cash before leaving the company. The executive's stake, however, was not listed on any company's proxy filings, despite the fact that the stake diluted the value of the shareholders' investments. 1 . Are there particular communities/social or political activists that will react to this plan? 2.To what extent do you want to match or differ from market pay practices? 3. Do you know what financial constraints may affect program design? 4. Has your accounting division reviewed this program design from an accou nting treatment perspective? 5. What are the results that need to be achieved in the short and long term? Case #28 KGB HOME The CEO of KGB Home departed in 2006 after an internal investigation revealed that he had backdated his own stock options. The company's internal investigation indicated that the CEO and head of HER had probably altered the dates of stock option grants between 1998 and 2005.As a result of the backdating, the company indicated a need to restate more than three years of financial results and incur an additional compensation expense of more than $41 million. Despite the scandal and ongoing investigation at the time of his departure, the terms of the Coo's employment agreement provided him with the ability to collect as much as $175 million in severance, pension and stock. Because of the backdated options scandal, the company adopted a new policy that all stock option grants and the terms of the grants be approved by the compensation committee.The company also appo inted a nonconsecutive chairman of the board, a chief compliance officer, and did not grant any stock options to executives in 2006. 1 . To what extent is the legal department involved in compensation planning, design, administration and disclosure? 2. Is the legal department comfortable with this design in the current legal/regulatory environment? 3. What is the likely perspective population perceive this program as fair? 5. How and when will you disclose this plan to shareholders? Case #29 WALT DISNEY CO. In 2003, Walt Disney Co. Warehouses filed a lawsuit relating to the $140 million severance package paid to the former the president. Shareholders contended that the directors knowingly or intentionally â€Å"breached their fiduciary duty of due care in approving (the president's) employment agreement,† and failed to consider the terms f the termination ? which was allegedly negotiated exclusively by the CEO. Although the court agreed with shareholders that the CEO had excl usively negotiated the deal and orchestrated the president's hire without input from the board of directors, it found that neither he nor the other directors breached their fiduciary duty.The court did, however, â€Å"criticize the members of the compensation committee for not doing more to inform themselves of the terms of Vita's employment agreement and to become involved in the review and approval process. 1 . What is the process for developing responses and communicating with Warehouses? 2. To what degree does the compensation philosophy align with corporate strategy, culture and organizational resources? 3. What are shareholder expectations about your compensation programs and how do they affect program design? 4. Is senior management prepared to support and communicate this program or issue? . Tools and processes are in place to support compensation committee decision making (e. G. , tally sheets)? Between 2000 and 2002 World CEO Bernard Beers obtained unsecured loans amounti ng to 20 percent of the firm's cash, allegedly at interest rates well below the market rates for large margin loans. Upon leaving the organization, Beers still owed $408 million. World subsequently entered bankruptcy and the share price dropped dramatically. Beers was then unable to pay back the loan by selling his shares, as he had allegedly planned.If the compensation committee had secured the loans, Beers' shares might have been seized in order to sell them to cover the loan when the stock price was still high enough to do so. 1 . Do you have the necessary systems to operational and administer this program? 2. Are there key stakeholders or influences (HER, legal, tax) that need to be part of the program development process? . Is your finance/accounting department prepared to support any special reporting requirements for this program? 4. What is the role of finance/accounting in plan design? . What is the company's position on appropriate level of transparency (disclosing more th an is required, simplification of written communications)? Case #31 Is Raja in needs of Remedial Training? Raja Sahara has been employed for six months in the accounts section of a large manufacturing company in Abridged. You have been his supervisor for the past three months. Recently you have been asked by the management to find out the intrusions of each employee in the Accounts Section and monitor carefully whether they are meeting the standards set by you.A few days back you have completed your formal investigation and with the exception of Raja, all seem to be meeting the targets set by you. Along with numerous errors, Raja's work is characterized by low performance – often he does 20 percent less than the other clerks in the department. As you look into Raja's performance review sheets again, you begin to wonder 1 . As Raja's supervisor can you find out whether the poor performance is due to poor training or to some other cause? . If you find Raja has been inadequately trained, how do you go about introducing a remedial training programmer? . If he has been with the company six months, what kind of remedial programmer would be best? 4. Should you supervise him more closely? Can you do this without making it obvious to him and his co-workers? 5. Should you discuss the situation with Raja? Case #32 SONS AND ARPA COMPANY The Sons and ARPA Company manufactured wooden toys of various kinds; wooden animals, pull toys, and the like. One part of the manufacturing process involved spraying paint on the partially assembled toys. This operation was staffed entirely by women. The toys were cut, sanded and partially assembled in the wood room.Then they were dipped into shellac, following which they were painted. The toys were predominantly two colored; a few were made in more than two colors. Each color required an additional trip through the paint room. For a number of years, production of these toys had been entirely and work. However, to meet the tremendou sly increase in demand, the painting operation had recently been re- engineered so that the eight operators (all women) who did the painting sat in a line by an endless chain of hooks. Those hooks were in continuous motion, past the line of operators and into a long horizontal oven.Each woman sat at her own painting booth so designed as to carry away fumes and to backstop excess paint. The operator would take a toy from the tray beside her, position it in a Gig inside the painting cubicle, spray on the color according to a pattern, then release the toy and hand it to the hook passing by. The rate at which the hooks moved has been calculated by the engineers so that each hook before it passed beyond her reach. The operators working in the pain room were on a group bonus plan. Since the operation was new to them, they were, receiving a learning bonus, which decreased by regular amounts each month.The learning bonus was scheduled to vanish in six months, by which time it was expected t hat they would be on their own, that is, able to meet the standard and to earn a group bonus when they exceeded it. By the second month of the training period. Trouble had developed. The employees learned more slowly than had been anticipated, and it began to look as though their production would stabilize complained that they were going by too fast, and that the time study man had set the rates wrong. A few women quit and had to be replaced with new operators, which further aggravated the learning problem.The team spirit that the management had expected to develop automatically through the group bonus was not in evidence except as an expression of what the engineers called â€Å"resistance†. One woman whom the group regarded as its -leader (and the management regarded as the ring-leader) was outspoken by voicing the various complaints of the group before the foreman; the Job was messy one, the hooks moved too fast, the incentive pay was not being correctly calculated, and it was too hot working so close to the drying oven. A consultant who was brought into this picture worked entirely with and through the foreman.After many conversations with him, the foreman felt that the first step should be to get the employees together for a general discussion of the working conditions. He took this step with some hesitation, but he took on his own volition. The first meeting, held immediately after the shift was over at four o'clock in the afternoon was attended by all the eight operators. They voiced the same complaints again: the hook sent by too fast, the Job was too dirty, the room was hot and poorly ventilated. For some reason, it was this last item that they complained of most.The foreman promised to discuss the problem of ventilation and temperature with the engineers, and he scheduled a second meeting to report back to the employees. In the next few days the foreman had several talks with the engineers. They and the superintendent felt that this was really a trumped-up complaint, and that expense of any effective corrective measure would be prohibitively high. The foreman came to the second meeting with some apprehensions. The operators, however, did not seem to be much put out, perhaps because they had a proposal of their own to make.They let that if several large fans were set up so as to circulate the air around their feet, they would be much more comfortable. After some discussion, the foreman agreed that the idea might be tried out. The foreman and the consultant discussed the question of the fans with the superintendent, and three large propeller-type fans were purchased. The fans were brought in. The women were Jubilant. For several days the fans were moved about in various positions until they were placed to the satisfaction of the group.The operators seemed completely satisfied with the results, and the relations between them and the foreman improved visibly. The foreman, after this encouraging episode; decided that further meetings might also be profitable. He asked the operators if they would like to meet and discuss other aspect of the work situation. They were eager to do this. The meeting was held, and the discussion quickly centered on the speed of the hooks. The operators maintained that the time study man had them at an unreasonably fast speed and that they would never be able to reach the goal of filling enough of them to make a bonus.The turning point of the discussion came when the group's leader frankly explained that he point wasn't that they couldn't work fast enough to keep up with the hooks, but they couldn't work at that pace all the day long. The foreman explored the point. The employees were unanimous in their opinion that they could keep up with the belt for short periods if they wanted to. But they didn't want because if they showed they could do this for short periods they would be expected to do it all day long. The faster or slower depending on how we feel†. The foreman ag reed to discuss this with the superintendent and the engineers.The reaction of the engineers to the suggestion was negative. However, after several meetings it was granted that there was some latitude within which variations in the speed of the hooks would not affect the finished product. After considerable argument with the engineers, it was agreed to tryout the operators' idea. With misgiving?, the foreman had a control with a dial marked ‘low, medium, fast' installed at the booth of the group leader; she could now adjust the speed of the belt anywhere between the lower and upper limits that the engineers had set.The operators were delighted and spent many lunch hours deciding how the speed of the belt should be varied from hour to hour throughout he day. Within a week the pattern had settle down to one which the first half-hour of the shift was run on what the operators called a ‘medium' speed (a dial setting slightly above the point marked ‘medium'). The next t wo-and-a-half hours were run at ‘high' speed the half-hour before lunch and half hour after lunch were run at ‘low' speed.The rest of the afternoon was run at ‘high speed' with the exception of the last 45 minutes of the shift, which was run at ‘medium'. In view of the operators' reports of satisfaction and ease in work, it is interesting to note that the constant speed at which ,the engineers has originally set the belt was slightly below medium on the dial of the control that had been given to the women. The average speed at which they were running the belt was on the high side of the dial. Few, if any empty hooks entered the oven, and inspection showed no increase of rejects from the paint room.Production increased, and within 2 weeks (some 2 months before the scheduled ending of the learning bonus) the operators were operating at 30 to 50 per cent above the level that had been expected under the original arrangement. Naturally their earnings were correspo ndingly higher than anticipated. They were collecting their base pay, a considerable piece-rate bonus, and the learning bonus which, it will be remembered, had been set to decrease with time and not as a function of current productivity. The operators were earning more than many skilled workers in other parts of the plant. 1 .From the angle of Job enrichment, which core Job dimension or Job characteristic was most influenced by new system of group regulated speed? Evaluate the reported success of the case against the principles of Job Enrichment. 2. Comment on the method of payment to the operators. How good do you think such a system is? 3-4. Would you consider the initial discontent of the operators as a grievance? Why or why not? 5. How would you characterize the involvement of the operators after the introduction of group-regulated speed? OLD ORDER CHANGED? Modern Industries Limited (MIL) in Bangor is an automobile ancillary industry.The company started manufacturing automotive components over two decades ago in a small way and has grown steadily over the years, employing over 4,000 persons at present with the turnover exceeding RSI. 100 scores. Its products are selling well and earning a sizeable amount of profits. The company is controlled and managed by an industrialist family. Known for their shrewdness and business acumen. They are among the first generation industrialists who started their industrial ventures in a modest way, during the early phase of industrialization in the country and along with the growth of automotive industry, MIL also grew up.The present Chairman, Mr.. Surest Shah had been with the company right from its inception; He started his career as an engineer trainee, rose to the position of the Managing Director and in 1983 became the company's Chairman. As a result, he is acquainted with every minute detail and also with every employee who has been in the company for long. He continues to keep in close touch with them and is easily accessible to all of them, overruling hierarchy. A high premium is placed on their loyalty and their long services are valued.The Chairman of the company firmly believes that each one of them has contributed significantly towards the growth of the company. In the light of the fact that the company maintained a â€Å"strong utilitarian culture† all along, the contribution of each and every employee had to be substantial and they were rewarded accordingly. At the same time, there were many instances, where the services were terminated due to inadequate performance. Mr.. Kandahar Taker owned MIL as a training instructor, over two decades ago. Prior to that, he served as an instructor at an Industrial Training Institute.He had himself obtained the craft instructors' certificate from IT'. He was 35 years old and his main task was to recruit young persons as trainees, either under the Apprentices Act or as company trainees and then train them as craftsmen. Most of these trainees we re absorbed to meet the growing needs of the company, and Mr.. Shah used to personally involve himself in the process of recruitment and training of craftsmen. Mr.. Taker was directly reporting to Mr.. Shah, despite the vast gap in the hierarchy. Mr.. Taker was promoted to the rank of training Superintendent in 1980, though there was not much change in his Job content.The growing phase of the company was practically over by that time, and the Apprentice training became a mere statutory activity. The company did not have the vacancies to absorb the trained apprentices, and therefore, Me. Became a subsidiary activity and was not given much importance. The winds of change were blowing through MIL also. Mr.. Nail Shah, the son of the founder industrialist took over as the Managing Director of MIL in 1983, whereas Mr.. Rammers Shah continued to be the Chairman of the company. The young MD was full of new ideas.He wanted to revivalist the company from all aspects and diversify into high t echnology areas. He wanted to modernize the present plant and change the management style from the traditional direct control approach to a systems controlled approach. A modern computer was bought and computerizing was introduced. The company had to face many problems while introducing these changes. One of the major hurdles was the problem of a number of senior employees, who were not adequately qualified or developed, but had grown into senior positions. Earlier the touchstone was loyalty and hard work rather than impotence.In the light of this situation, new competent professionals had to be hired to introduce the changes. MIL was well-known for its aggressive personnel policies. Anyone who Joined the company had to struggle hard for his survival as the company was ruthless in sacking those who were not meeting the requirements. It was particularly so in case of the new appointees, which in turn necessitated them to be ruthless in their work The older employees felt threatened a nd resented the changes and the consequent pressures. Therefore, they collectively approached the Chairman and requested him to intervene and safeguard their interests.The Chairman, who was not himself happy with all the changes, issued instructions to the MD, to the effect that no old employee be dislocated. The new MD had no other option but to comply with the order. The MD was interested in trying out the HARD approaches to train all the employees, particularly employees who were turning out to be deadwood's. He hired Mr.. Kumar in 1984 as a Training Manager. Mr.. Kumar was basically an engineer but had considerable experience with a multinational company in the field of HARD, particularly in Training and Management Development. He reorganized the training set up by inducting two Assistant Managers.Mr.. Taker was next to the Assistant Managers in the hierarchy ‘and reported to Mr.. Kumar directly and continued to manage the affairs related to apprenticeship training. Until Mr.. Kumar came along, Mr.. Taker had enjoyed the position of the head of the training division, though there was no other training activity apart from apprenticeship training. He was operating independently and was reporting directly to the MD. He continued to do so even after the organization have grown in proportion. Mr.. Taker felt demoted in the new set up. Fie lost his position and individuality in the organization, and his pride was seriously hurt.He was not prepared to accept Mr.. Kumar as his boss . And he started behaving in an irrational manner. He resented the vast gap created between him and the top man in the new structure. Mr.. Kumar tolerated him with the hope that Mr.. Taker would reconcile himself to the changes, in time. Unfortunately, he continued to behave in the same way and there was no improvement even after one year. When Mr.. Kumar tried to counsel him, Mr.. Taker demanded to be promoted to the level of Assistant Manager, as he happened to be the senior mos t people in the department. Kumar promised to look into his demand.On a careful analysis of the personal docket of Mr.. Taker and all the previous the Job that he was doing. Leave alone being entitled for further promotion, Mr.. Taker was not even fit for his present position. The company did not have a formal performance appraisal system. Its products were selling well, the profitability was good and accordingly all the employees were rewarded well. Promotions and extra increments were given arbitrarily based on the personal likes and dislikes of the top man, rather than on any objective analysis of performance or potential of an individual.No formal manpower planning or organizational planning existed. No efforts were made to forecast implications of such a system in future. On the whole, the company did not have any formal projection for the future. The company followed the practice of giving long service . Certificates and awards to all those who had completed 20 years of servic e in the company. Mr.. Taker had got his certificate only recently. There were several employees belonging to Mr.. Thacker's category. All of them united and met both formally and informally to discuss their strategies and demands. They used to put up their grievances to the management collectively.They had established a very strong rapport with the Chairman, Mr.. Shah. Mr.. Kumar presented all the facts to Mr.. Taker to convince him that his promotion was not possible. As the latter was not used to the kind of logic presented by Mr.. Kumar, he dismissed all his arguments as sophisticated Jargon, irrelevant to the context of his company. He was particularly bitter about the fact that his promotion was turned down whereas there were several people with similar background who have got their promotions. Therefore, there was further deterioration in his behavior. He started ignoring the directions of Mr..Kumar and worked as per his own whims and fancies, behaving arrogantly. He even wen t to the extent of challenging Mr.. Kumar that he could neither promote him nor demote him in the prevailing situation. So long as he was protected by the Chairman of the company, there was nothing for him to worry about and his Job was practically secure. Mr.. Kumar optimistically hoped that Mr.. Taker could overcome his frustration and anger over a period of time. Unfortunately, even after another six months there was no sign of any progress. In fact, the situation deteriorated further with Mr..Taker becoming more confident in his belief that' Mr.. Kumar was powerless to deal with him. He turned out to be a drag in the department, purposely creating problems for Mr.. Kumar. In MIL the annual increments and general raises were given as a policy to every employee who is termed as. The â€Å"Kanata raise† Mr.. Taker was quite sure that he would get his Kanata raise and reconciled himself to that. Mr.. Kumar tried to stop this raise but could not do so. There were several bulli es belonging to Mr.. Thacker's category in the organization and one of the tasks of the Training Manager was to handle such people.Though he had organized a few training workshops in the behavioral areas, it had not brought about the required attitudinal changes. Right under his nose he had a person whose behavior he was not able to amend. Mr.. Kumar realized that the desired changes were not possible, so long as the â€Å"flat security† was there. Due to a change in the governmental policy, there were several new competitors to MIL and the MD felt there was a strong need and urgency to bring in changes in the organization, to make it more dynamic and competitive. It was no longer possible to carry on the organizational dead woods. Mr.. Kumar was under great pressure to look

Apologetics Essay

1. What are some ways the Christian gospel is perceived in our culture? To many individuals, the Christian gospel is seen as selective and intolerant. Although we are all free to accept the gift of salvation through Christ, He tells us in John 14:6 that He is â€Å"the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.† To many, this will seem intolerant and almost haughty. How can a God who wants nothing more than to have a relationship with us say that there is only one way to do so? 2. What are some specific moral reasons people may reject the Christian gospel? Many individuals who will reject the Christian gospel do so for moral reasons such as their sexual preferences (gay, bi, or straight), their marital status, or the apparent intolerant moral code found in the Word of God. People believe that you have to give up everything that is worldly to follow Christ, and that Christians think they are more righteous than others. The fact is, you will have to give up living in sin, and you will have to give up treasures of the world, but the heavenly treasures that you gain will outshine any possession that you will have on this earth. 3. What are some specific emotional reasons people may reject the Christian gospel? One specific emotional reason that people will reject the Christian gospel is that they cannot grasp the concept of God’s unconditional love. God loves each and every one of us, even the worst sinner, and tells us in His Word. People will say things like â€Å"God would not let me be poor, or God would not have let me be abused like I was.† Even though we are all loved by God, and He wants us to have a relationship with Him and be happy and well, even the most devout Christian has to go through trials and tribulations. 4. What are some specific intellectual reasons people may reject the Christian gospel? For most Christians, believing in God is â€Å"faith-based,† and that there is no room for science and fact in Christianity. Many non-Christians will say that the Bible is nothing more than a collection of fairy tales for those who are easily enchanted and to make the people who read them feel good. The intellectual non-believer’s insistence that the Bible has no basis in fact  is one reason that they will reject the message, even though there is historical proof to show that Christ lived, died, and was resurrected, as well as that many other Biblical places and people existed at one point in time, even if they do not anymore. 5. What can Christians do to address these objections and better communicate the Christian gospel? As Christians, when we approach someone and begin to talk about our faith, it may seem like they are a little frightened, or maybe just upset and unwilling to take a leap of faith. They maybe feel like we have come on too strong, even though we know that we are just eager to talk about our faith. It is important for Christians to learn that we need to be patient with others but also diligent as we share the gospel of Christ.

Dormitory rooms Essay

As students move on in their lives after high school to college, many think that their lives will become paradise. With many house rules abandoned and without a curfew, students get the first taste of adulthood. Many think everything will be easy; however, from the dining halls to having no money students learn that being an adult is harder than parents display. Campus life shows students what they perceive is very different than the reality of life. In my opinion, living on campus in a dorm, supplies a student the full experience of the college life. When I imagined living in a dorm room, I imagined a very small room and hardly having any space to walk around. However, the rooms are actually quite big. There is plenty of room to walk around and even play some crazy, goofy games with a roommate. I thought the most exciting part of living on campus was going to be able to meet new people and live in a new environment. Because I am so far from home, my biggest hope was having a roommate who was easy to get along with and could have fun, and I definitely got that. The bathroom situation, I thought, was going to be the worst part of living on campus. However, in reality, it is not as bad as I had thought. As a student-athlete living in a dorm where the entire floor houses athletes, the bathroom has a maximum of five people using the facilities at a time. This works because of each athlete on a different schedule. In actuality, living on campus is very exciting and there should be no worry considering the problem with space, meeting new people, or the bathroom being very full to the point of not being able to use it. As an athlete living on campus at Western Nebraska Community College the athlete receives a dorm family. A dorm family is a family around town that â€Å"adopts† the student for the two years while attending the school. The family opens up their hearts and lets the athlete come into the family. The family attends sports events that the athlete plays and supports the athlete. I have a dorm family, and I love them. When I first thought of having a family that would open up their home and family to me I thought it was going to be awkward. However, having a family in town that has opened up their home and hearts has been great. It helped me know that there are people here in town who are willing to help and support me. Additionally, living in the dorms and living on their own, without parents, helps students find many new found freedoms that they did not have before. With living in the dormitories many students stay out late on all nights of the week, because they had a curfew at home and now they do not. The first week of school I stayed out late when I could. However, this staying out late situation did not last long, because I had been slammed with homework and after I was done with my homework all I wanted to do was sleep. With these newfound freedoms I learned very quickly how I was going to manage my time and make sure I got my sleep. When first living on campus I learned how easy I had it while living under my parents’ roof and the responsibilities that I didn’t have that I have now. When thinking that I was moving out of my parents’ house I thought it was going to be great. The freedoms I would have were going to be tremendous compared to what I had back home. However, when thinking of the freedoms I never thought of the responsibilities that I was going to have. When at home, laundry was done and living on campus causes me to do my own laundry and pay a dollar fifty for it. At home I always had someone harping on me to do my homework, make my bed, and clean my room, but on campus there is no one around to do that except myself. I had to learn to manage my time wisely and make sure I stayed up in my schoolwork. As a new freshman in college, like myself, sees his or her schedule and thinks, â€Å"man this is going to be a tough year. † This was my reaction when I saw mine at least. As a new student at any school I thought classes were going to be hard, one, because I didn’t know anyone; two, because I want to accomplish a difficult degree; three, because I didn’t know how I was going to manage the homework load and basketball at the same time. Although, when I got to the campus and started the school year I found out that staying caught up with school really was not as hard as many people make college seem. College classes are a lot like high school classes, just a lot more homework. Once I figured out how I could manage my time with basketball, study time, and have somewhat of a social life, my days became easier. Furthermore, expecting high quality food when entering into a college is putting a lot of confidence into the cooks that have to cook for hundreds of people everyday, three times a day. As a freshmen student entering into the college experience, I expected the food to be very good. I understood that the cooks had to cook for many people each day, but I expected that the food was going to have a lot of taste. When I first came to the campus and had my first meal the food was very good. The food on campus did not necessarily get any worse; it had gotten old. When I say old, I do not mean spoiled or rotten, I mean boring. The food all ends up tasting the same each and everyday. By the third week of living and eating on campus at the dining hall I began to realize how much I loved my mother’s home cooked meals. Lastly, money is a big problem for many college students. When I thought I was going to save all my graduation money for college, I thought that I was going to have a lot of money, but as reality turns out I have no money. Living on campus and living on my own made me realize the things I need to buy and the things I just want. The difference between what I needed and what I wanted was crucial for me to determine what I should spend my money on and what I should not. As a student-athlete I go to my parents a lot for money still, because I do have not time for a job considering homework, school, and practice time. In conclusion, campus life shows students that what they perceive is very different than the reality of life. Students living on campus have to share a dorm room with someone, the room is big, and there is not a lot of girls in the bathroom at once. Athletes have a dorm family who â€Å"adopts† them and welcomes them into their home. Students have a lot of freedom and can stay out late, but might have a lot of homework so it would be smart to not stay out. Many students also have a schedule with classes that may seem tough, but if they manage their time they will be just fine. The food is not high quality food, and it gets old. Students living on campus begin to miss the home cooked meals. Finally the money problem, I thought I was going to have a lot of money but turns out, I do not have a lot of money, I will buy what I need and not what I want.

The Growth of Media Corporations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Growth of Media Corporations - Essay Example It perceived homogenisation on account of cultural hegemony. The global growth of mass media corporations based in highly developed capitalist countries and chiefly in the United States gave rise to the annihilation of local cultures and their surrogate by a single, uniform set of cultural forms fastened to consumer capitalism and American political domination (McChesney, 2004). Europe occupied an indefinite middle position in this literature. European media were observed as part of the dominant Western cultural sway on developing countries; simultaneously, the early cultural royalist literature also raised the matter of U.S. influence over European culture. American indoctrination still governs many media corporations, in some industries- for example films- possibly as much now as ever earlier. Furthermore, in terms of the types of media practices and media structures that are coming into sight and the direction of change in the association of media to other social institutions, it is coherent to say that homogenisation is to a considerable degree a junction of world media toward forms that originally evolved in the U.S. The U.S. was once just alone among developed countries in its system of marketable broadcasting; now marketable broadcasting is turned into a standard. One of the main objectives of economic globalisation is that everywhere on earth should be relatively like every other situate. Whether it's the US, Europe, or far-flung places like Asia, Africa, or South America, all nations are inescapable to expand the same way. The progression of homogenisation commenced with the periphery of a usually exceptional culture; and for a while the core may be apt to get more distrustful against the external influence. The young and the other trivial groups and the core by more conventional constituents of the community typically take the periphery. And consequently, the homogenisation process as stimulated and enlarged by the global and worldwide transportation and links will very probable is a conflict locally as well as globally. The process of homogenisation has already begun remarkably with the most meaningful figures of culture. The same area monopoly fast chow, the same pictures and melody, the identical jeans, shoes, and cars, the same urban backdrops, the matching personal, enriching, and sacred values and so onwards are being speedily homogenised to look identical throughout the world. As for culture, the notion itself grows to be increasingly diffusive. For example, what is monetary, what is political, and what is civilizing will be complicated to discriminate. Cultural eccentricity of the public and the associated series of mores of the many communities of the world will give way to the swift homogenising process (Chang, 2003). The immediate global interactions and the mass intercontinental activities are undoubtedly the aggressive media of such homogenisation. If you've journeyed a lot, you've perceived that this is wildly happening already. Such a mock-up serves the advertising and efficiency requ irements of the gigantic global corporations that the structure is devised to gain. Whether civilizing, political, or natural, assortment is a direct menace to the effectiveness targets of universal

Themes And Ideologies In The American Society Case Study - 1

Themes And Ideologies In The American Society - Case Study Example In Hollywood, the outlaw hero’s view of civilization is portrayed as a life in marriage with a woman. A woman helps a man to settle down and attain calmness in his life. Only those women that allow their husbands to proceed with their self-determined and adventurous lives are deemed as female outlaw heroes. In terms of characterization, the outlaw hero is seen to be against societal standards and in preference of defining justice at the individual level and not by the society’s collective law. Contrary to this, the official hero is more modernized, civilized, and quaint. In his description, Robert Ray points out that the official hero may be portrayed as a lawyer, teacher, farmer, politician, or family man. In this case, the official hero represents collective action as part of the American belief and the legal processes that replace individual definitions of right or wrong. As such, this is the kind of hero that each parent wants their children to grow up to be one who embraces law in solving life’s injustices. This paper review the description made by Robert Ray concerning how Hollywood portrays the competing values of the official hero and the outlaw hero. The outlaw hero is depicted as childish and having the tendency of tantrums, whims, and emotional decisions that have been derived from the cult of childhood among Americans(Ray, 1985). Ray reviews Fielder’s observation of how American literature tends to uphold the view that an individual that falls short of adulthood is guaranteed innocence and insight. American literature offered privileges to children, and they were not confined by societal rules. Such a notion set in motion the outlawed actions as related to daily affairs. According to Fielder, the developed childhood image has created a new approach to adult life outside the law, yet permissible in society.

Melting Pot Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Melting Pot - Essay Example Ideally, these immigrants would bring the best of themselves, blend those talents, gifts and skills, and become Americans, sharing the unified hopes and greater goals of this country. The idea of the United States as an immense cultural â€Å"melting pot,† at one time, seemed realistic, however today many opinions of whether that metaphor is appropriate have changed. Is America a cultural melting pot or is it now a modern myth that is no longer applicable? Discussion It was a Jewish immigrant from England that originally coined the term the â€Å"melting pot.† It was the title of play he had written that focused on the belief,†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦that all immigrants can be transformed into Americans, a new alloy forged in a crucible of democracy, freedom and civic responsibility.†(Booth 1) There is no doubt that in the early 1900s that this was the general mentality of many of the immigrants that came to this country. Many wanted nothing more than to be Americans, and we re willing to do whatever was necessary to legitimately earn that title. At this point in history, being an American was a title that mattered and was desired and respected. However, the mindset of, many immigrants and multi-ethnic Americans, today is not quite as endearing or geared to American ideals as a whole, as they once were. Many scholars have pointed out that there is lessening of common â€Å"dreams.† What Americans want is no longer a unified ideal. Some researchers have said that the attitude of native-born Americans has, also, changed. Once very tolerate and encouraging of immigration are now much more, territorial and, often, suspicious of immigrants that come to this country. The world has changed and it is, often, said that the United States is no longer a â€Å"melting pot,† but is more like a â€Å"salad bowl.†(Millet) Meaning that instead of becoming the culmination of many things into one thing, they are all independent parts that remain so, but contribute to the greater whole. However, there is a danger that this consistent insistence on segregating, embracing differences over similarities, could lead to a salad with unpleasantly divergent ingredients. Today people who find their ancestry in multiple cultures are not eager to let go of those roots. This is not necessarily a negative thing. We all have a right to acknowledge our ancestry. On many levels the modern society cannot deny any individuals that right to honor or celebrate relevant and important aspects of their culture. However, there are some immigrants who come to this country, in this modern age, who have no interest in being part of America at all, or of becoming American; they simply seek the benefits and freedoms that are available by being here. They have no intention of positively contributing to this country. It these people that can negatively taint the perspective of Americans born and raised in this country. Studies done in the late 90’s ver ified that most young people when asked to identify their ethnicity would choose a hyphenated answer; African-American, Asian-American, and the like. Very few of those surveyed were comfortable with answering simply answering, just, â€Å"American.†(Booth 1) It is this need to separate on some cultural level that negates completely the ideology that the United States can be considered a melting pot of cultures. When in truth much of the attitudes of current American citizens are not a unified one. Political ideologies are heavily differing. Social differences, and a number of cultural and

Parallel trade (import) in pharmaceuticals in the UK Dissertation

Parallel trade (import) in pharmaceuticals in the UK - Dissertation Example One of the most common problems of these practices is their failure to fully meet the standards related to the relevant activity. Furthermore, it seems that the willingness of the state to support business initiatives in various industrial sectors is not standardized. The above problem has resulted to the development of practices, which can help businesses to minimize the risks of loss and increase their competitiveness; parallel trade is such practice. Despite its value in increasing business performance, mostly through decreasing prices while the quality of offered products is not affected, parallel trade has been often negatively criticized as of its effects on the economy. On the other hand, there are industries more appropriate for parallel trade and others where parallel trade practices are difficult to be established. In the pharmaceutical industry of Britain, parallel import was used in order to control prices, which are already at a high level – compared to the averag e prices of similar products in other EU countries. The use of parallel trade in the pharmaceutical industry has been initially related to the reduced prices for patients; however, through the years, the specific activity has been also found to help towards ‘the reduction of costs for the social security system of the importing countries’.1 In practice, it has been proved that the use of parallel trade in the specific case did not manage to significantly support the particular industry – at least, not at the level expected by its initiators. However, important benefits were resulted for the British economy. The effects of parallel trade on the British pharmaceutical industry are examined in this paper. Emphasis is given on the policies used by the British legislators to control parallel trade regarding the pharmaceutical products and minimize relevant risks. It is concluded that parallel trade in the British pharmaceutical industry has helped the industry in incr ease its competitiveness against its rivals – referring mostly to the pharmaceutical industries of other member states; however, in terms of the performance of British pharmaceutical firms, the benefits of parallel trade are not clear, a fact indicating that additional measures need to be taken in order for the parallel trade in the specific industry to be more effectively controlled. 2. Parallel trade – description, characteristics and benefits Due to its nature, parallel import cannot be clearly defined; rather, reference could be made to its characteristics, as identified in the literature published in the particular field. In accordance with Cheng et al. (1995) the key characteristics of the parallel import are the following ones: ‘a) it relates to goods protected by trademark/ patent or copyright and b) the importer is not the rightholder of the said right but obtained and exported’.2 In terms of their legal status, parallel import goods have been cha racterized as ‘greymarket goods’, meaning that they are not fully legal;3 this issue is judged each time by reviewing the conditions of the local market but also the economic benefits to which parallel import is related in a particular market.4 In practice, this means that in countries where parallel import highly supports the national economy, its potential alignment with the law (referring to the legal status of the parallel

Assess To What Extent Large Chain Stores Are Positive For National Research Paper

Assess To What Extent Large Chain Stores Are Positive For National Growth - Research Paper Example The growth of chain stores is of considerable importance when it comes to the growth and size of an economy. There are changes which have emerged due to growth of these stores. This has led to the globalization of the markets and the economic integration due to the introduction of custom unions, free trade areas, political economic unions and social changes which result from the common monetary and fiscal policies (Greenfield, 2011). There are different types of chain stores. These include the consumables and the non consumables stores which are used to stock different types of commodities. These stores are of considerable importance to the nation. Greenfield (2011) asserts that to begin with they have led to the improvement of health sector in the economy. It has been due to this that we have changed the nature of conduct within the place of work. This has led to changes in the political behaviors of dictatorship in the government. This has been due to the misconduct by the wealthy merchants taking their business without considering the health of the workers and their care towards the society members. Secondly these stores have led to environmental conservation. This is due to the organized storage of stock thus avoiding pollution in both air and water. This has led to the conservation of the environment and health for the citizens. In addition, they have led to proper and well organized distribution of goods and services. This is due to the mass production by large companies in the world. Most of these companies are anticipating high returns, and they thus effectively and efficiently struggle to make high profits due to the increase in consumption behavior of the consumers (Howard, 2011). Distribution is a key factor to consider in the modern business. This has been due to the increased competitive nature of suppliers and distributors. Lebhar (4) asserts that consequently, advertising of products is also another factor to adopt due to the rising modern market ing strategies in the field of business. Chain store is managed by observing the degree in which to employ the salesmanship. Salesmanship is employing the convincing power in marketing of the product. However, the business has enhanced the availability of commodities to the customers. This has made it so easy for individuals to acquire goods because of the single roofing whereby one can select the desired product out of the multiple products in the store. The collaboration among many business enterprises has led to capital adequacy in investing especially to the green field investors. Capital is a significant factor to consider in doing a business since it enables an entrepreneur to acquire the factors of production which include land and labor. These are the main resources in production (Lebhar 8). The resources are endowed differently in different countries in the world, and thus chain stores are enjoying together the absolute advantage in production and avoid the comparative disa dvantage caused by factor distortion. This has led to franchise in the international market. In addition, the size of the economy must grow, and there is a significant impact on social living which results from varied opportunities in employment. This leads to eradication of poverty and place individuals in a better position to acquire goods and services (Lebhar 10). They thus

Time Management and Success Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Time Management and Success - Research Paper Example These include setting of goals, planning, delegation, allocation, time analysis, organizing, monitoring, prioritization, and scheduling. In the school setting, time management is extremely crucial for the school to satisfy the organizational goals and objectives. Time management is a tool that determines the project completion and the scope to which a project is done. It helps teachers in satisfying the goals and objectives of the students. When students and teachers on activities that deal with instrumental responsibilities use most of the school time, then, achievement of the student would be influenced positively. In this respect, time management is paramount for the success of any school. This paper explores a report on the impact of time management on the success of a school. Statement of the Problem. The study examined the impacts of time management on the success of a school. In many schools, teachers experience the challenge of accountability and high-stakes testing, that has a massive effect on the success and achievement of the learners. The increased responsibilities towards the profession are one great influence to the time spends on learning activity. School administrators, on the other hand, have the responsibility of policy formulation or a program administration. This means that they have an entitlement to all benefits, rights, and burdens brought about by appropriate management of time. ... School administrators should, therefore, take into consideration the impacts of time management on instructional time for them to satisfy their goals of increasing the achievement of students. Research Questions The following research questions will direct the quantitative section of the study: 1. Is there any there any influence of time management on the success of students? 2. Is there a correlation between the time management skills of the teacher’s and student achievement? The following questions will direct the qualitative section of the study: 1. What are the effects of management of time on the performance of students? 2. How does time management correlates with the performance of the students? Purpose of the Study The key purpose of the research was to give out insight regarding the link between time management skills and student achievement. Through the analysis of the skills of time management skills and the academic performance of the students, as given by studentâ €™s scores on Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), Knowledge could be obtained on the relationship between time management skills of a teacher and the success of the student. The study was conducted to examine the relevance of time management on academic performance hence provide an appropriate solution for increasing the performance of learners in schools. Importance of the Study The success of this study is vital because it is will provide a powerful tool of increasing the performance of learners in a school. The study examines whether time management skills play a factor in the success of student. The existence of any correlation between time management and student’s success will give room for

Undocumented, Indispensable by Anna Quinden Essay

Undocumented, Indispensable by Anna Quinden - Essay Example The primary claim of the author that immigrant issue has already assumed a proportion that has to be addressed seriously was well positioned. Quinden did not put her main argument nonchalantly or straightforwardly but rather, she used colorful descriptions and analogies that engage the readers. She used the description of geologic earthquake and comparing the march to the other important marches such as march about Vietnam War and feminist rallies. After engaging the reader about her claim, she then conditioned the reader to her arguments that there side of the arguments that were not considered about immigrants such as their contributions through the taxes they pay that they may in fact be the one helping to keep the system afloat. It also helped to mention that they are being demonized as social costs when in fact they work and also contribute to the social security yet not entitled to full benefits. In essence, Quinden humanized the issue that immigrants are not devils or social s ecurity malaise that drains our resources but rather as individuals who helps to keep our way of life. They may have kept wages down but they also keep the prices our homes cheap and ensure that our foods are cheap. Such, many employers who are also campaign contributors turn their eyes the other way about the immigration status of their worker. And perhaps they may be doing this because they are waiting for immigration laws to be more responsive to the reality of the times. Immigrants are workers and therefore are taxpayers.

Reality of Teaching and Learning Pronunciation Essay Example for Free

Reality of Teaching and Learning Pronunciation Essay Rationale of the study Nowadays, with the rapid pace of integration and globalization, English becomes a golden key to open the door of many fields such as commerce, communication, science and technology throughout the world. Therefore, to meet the demand of the society, it is very necessary to teach English in schools at all levels. And the highest target is to get well in communication. If one wants to get successful in communication, he must be good at pronunciation: â€Å"a threshold level of pronunciation in English such that if a given non-native speakers pronunciation falls below this level, he or she will not be able to communicate orally no matter how good his or her control of English grammar and vocabulary might be† (Celce-Murcia, 1987:5). In the field of language teaching, the role of pronunciation has varied widely from having virtually no role in the grammar-translation method to being the central focus in the audio-lingual method where emphasis is on the traditional notions of pronunciation, minimal pairs, drills and short conversations. The growing emphasis on communicative approaches for the teaching of English has placed higher demands for correct pronunciation. Despite this fact, at the upper-secondary school level in Vietnam, in language teaching and learning, compared with vocabulary, grammar and language skills, pronunciation has so far been paid less attention to. In the official textbooks used for teaching English at high school level, there are a few exercises for pronunciation practice. To make the matter worse, all important English exams at schools as well as the entrance exam to universities are always in written form so most teachers as well as students have little motivation to teach and to learn pronunciation. As a result, students are often shy and unconfident to speak in English. And that is the reason why the effectiveness of teaching pronunciation still remains one of the most widely problematic subjects in the field of language teaching. Coping with this pressing fact, as a language teacher teaching English at Quynh Coi high school (QCHS), the author always thinks of some burning questions: in language teaching and learning, what is the present situation of teaching and learning pronunciation at high school level in QCHS? What are the problems teachers and students face in teaching and learning pronunciation? How to find suitab le methods to teach pronunciation? What should teachers do to teach pronunciation effectively? How should teachers make students become interested in learning pronunciation? The answers to these questions will help language teachers improve their students’ pronunciation as well as help them make progress in effective communication. For the above reasons, the author decides to carry out the study entitled: â€Å"The reality of teaching and learning pronunciation at Quynh Coi high school: problems and solutions†. 1. 2 Aims of the study The main purpose of this study is to discover the reality of teaching and learning pronunciation at Quynh Coi high school, especially to find out problems that teachers and students often have in pronunciation lessons. The writer also hopes to make some feasible solutions that can help the English teachers overcome those problems and improve students’ pronunciation. 1. 3 Research questions The above aims of the study can be realized by answering the following research questions: (1) What is the present situation of teaching and learning pronunciation at QCHS? (2) Which problems do the teachers and students at QCHS face in pronunciation lessons? (3) What teaching techniques can be used to improve teaching pronunciation for students at QCHS? 1. 4 Scope of the study As a case study, this study focuses on the reality of teaching and learning two aspects of English pronunciation: stress and intonation for the 12th form students at Quynh Coi high school. The subjects of the study are 12th form students those are familiar with learning pronunciation for two years at high school. Moreover, stress and intonation are two major aspects of pronunciation introduced in the official textbook used by the 12th form students. Other characteristics of English pronunciation would not be deeply investigated in this research. . 5 Methods of the study In order to fulfill the tasks mentioned above, both qualitative and quantitative methods are selected for this case study, involving the following instruments: survey questionnaires, classroom observations and interviews. Firstly, the survey questionnaires were delivered to both teachers and students to investigate the reality of teaching and learning pronunciation at QCHS. Then, some classroom observations and interv iews with some English teachers have been also conducted to get supplementary information. Finally, the results obtained from questionnaires, observations and interviews have been discussed and analyzed to with a hope for providing language teacher with some feasible teaching techniques to work successfully with their students. 1. 6 Significance of the study This study hopes to make contribution to teaching pronunciation at high school level in Vietnam and the result of the study is considered to be useful for teachers and students at school. Thus, this study will be an interesting reference material for any high school language teachers in Vietnam, especially for those who are in favor of improving their students pronunciation. This research will help teachers and students identify their problems in teaching and learning pronunciation and self- improve their pronunciation. 1. 7 Design of the study This thesis consists of six main chapters: Chapter one is the INTRODUCTION including the rationales, the aims, the scope, the research questions, the methods, and the design of the research. In the book â€Å"Pronunciation† published in 1994, Christiane Dalton and Barbara Seidlhofer (1994:3) consider pronunciation â€Å"as the production of significant sound†. They look at the word in two senses. First, it is used as part of a code of a particular language. That is the reason why English sounds are distinguished from sounds of other languages. In this sense, pronunciation can be told as the production and reception of sounds of speech. Second, sound is used to achieve meaning in contexts of use. Here the code combines with other factors to make communication possible. In this sense pronunciation is referred with reference to acts of speaking. In the scope of this study, the concept of pronunciation can be described as â€Å"a way of speaking a word, especially a way that is accepted or generally understood† (American Heritage Dictionary, 1992) or â€Å"may be said to conclude the sounds of the language or phonology; stress and rhythm; intonation; combination sounds; linkage of sound† (Ur, 1996). 2. 2 Features of pronunciation Gerald Kelly (2000) points out main features of pronunciation including phonemes and suprasegmental features, in which consonants and vowels belong to phonemes, intonation and stress are two main parts of suprasegmental. Phonemes are units of sound, they are known as segments. Suprasegmental features are features of speech which apply to groups of segments, or phonemes. The features which are important in English are stress, intonation, and how sounds change in connected speech. The following diagram shows a breakdown of the main features of pronunciation: Features of pronunciation (Kelly, 2000:1) As seen from the diagram, pronunciation is a broad subject with the boundaries of various items such as consonants, vowels, stress, and intonation. This study is intended to focus on two major features of pronunciation: intonation and stress are deeply investigated. According to Quirk R. and Greenbaun S. (1973:450), stress is the prominence with one part of a word or of a longer utterance is distinguished from other parts. This can be understood like this: when an English word consists of more than one syllable, one of these syllables is made to stand out more than the others. This is done by saying the syllable louder. For instance, in such words as â€Å"English†, â€Å"teacher†, and â€Å"student† the first syllables are stressed. Intonation is an important part that most teachers have to deal with when teaching connected speech, it refers to the way the voice â€Å"goes up and down in pitch† (Kelly, 2000: 86) when we are speaking. It plays a vital role in helping people express their opinions, and understanding thought of others. In short, the word â€Å"pronunciation† is like a big umbrella covering various sub-items as consonants, vowels, intonations, stress, etc. With such big boundaries of items, language teachers and learners have to think of how to master these key aspects, especially stress and intonation, to be successful in teaching and learning pronunciation. 2. 3 Teaching pronunciation 2. 3. 1 The importance of teaching/ learning pronunciation and a â€Å"paradox† 2. 3. 1. 1 The importance of teaching and learning pronunciation Pronunciation is as important as any other aspects of language like syntax and vocabulary. Some people may argue that speech is obviously much more significant than pronunciation. However, speech cannot exist without pronunciation. Correct pronunciation, in fact, is considered to be a prerequisite to develop the speaking skill. That is why teaching pronunciation should occupy an important place in the study of any language. According to Gerald Kelly (2000), pronunciation â€Å"involves far more than individual sounds† including word stress, sentence stress, intonation, and word linking. All of these influence the sound of spoken English. Sound is the core of the language. When teaching a language, the first and foremost thing teachers should do is to let learners have chances to expose themselves to the sounds of that language. That is the reason why more and more teachers pay much attention to teaching pronunciation to their students. Considering the importance of communication in general and pronunciation in particular, Gerald Kelly confirms â€Å"a learner who constantly mispronounces a range of phonemes can be extremely difficult for a speaker from another language community to understand. A consideration of learners’ pronunciation errors and of how these can inhibit successful communication is a useful basis on which to assess why it is important to deal with pronunciation in the class† (2000:11). Sharing the same ideas with Kelly, Martin Hewings (2004:10) adds â€Å"difficulties with pronunciation might mean that students fail to get their message across, even when the correct words are being used, or they might fail to understand what is said to them. † The inaccurate use of suprasegmetal elements, such as tress or intonation, can also cause problems. Errors in pronunciation can lead to a problem of reception, or comprehension of the meaning or function of an utterance, even worse, they can affect the perceived tone or mood of an utterance. Moreover, it is obvious that good pronunciation serves as a strong motivation for language learners. Most language learners show considerable enthusiasm for pronunciation as they consider it as a good way to show that they are competent in the language. Once they have obtained adequate pronunciation competence, they gradually build up strong confidence for themselves and are ready to learn new things without hesitation. 2. 3. 1. 2 A â€Å"paradox† As the matter of fact, the role of pronunciation in English learning process could not be negated. Regrettably, teaching and learning pronunciation has not received appropriate attention as expected and Gerald Kelly call this fact a name â€Å"a paradox† (Kelly, 2000: 1). It tends to suffer from being neglected. This may not be teachers’ lack of interest or motivation in pronunciation. The main reason comes from their teaching experience and confidence, â€Å"feeling of doubt as to hoe to teach† (Kelly, 2000:13). In spite of the fact that both teacher and students are keen on pronunciation, they often take grammar or vocabulary precedence over pronunciation for granted. If it is not neglected, â€Å"it tends to be reactive to a particular problem that has arisen in the classroom rather than being strategically planned† (Kelly, 2000:13). This is the most popular problem is pronunciation lessons. Teachers only deal with pronunciation when it comes to be problematic. There is no lesson plan, no strategy in teaching and learning pronunciation. Most teachers often prepare lesson plan for teaching grammar, vocabulary, but pronunciation. Yet pronunciation work can, and should, be planned for, too. Teachers should regard features of pronunciation as integral to language analysis and lesson planning. This paradox arises from both the nature of pronunciation itself, from the teaching staff as well as from the learners themselves. However, to deal with this problem, as language teachers, teachers need to have a good grounding in theoretical knowledge. Furthermore, in order to teach pronunciation successfully, teachers should be practically skilled in classrooms, and they need to have good ideas, approaches, techniques, as well as classroom activities. 2. 3. 2 Teachers’ roles in teaching pronunciation Mastering a foreign language pronunciation is not something impossible as far as the student and the teacher participate together in the total learning process. Thus, to succeed in a pronunciation program, the teacher plays an essential role. Kenworthy (1987), Nguyen Bang and Nguyen Ba Ngoc (2001), and Hoang Van Van, et al. (2006) shared the similar ideas about teachers’ roles in the teaching and learning pronunciation process, in which, teachers are responsible for: †¢Helping learners to hear: The teacher has a mission to provide appropriate input of the target sounds for learners to hear. Teacher needs to check that their students are hearing sounds according to the appropriate categories and help them develop new categories if necessary. †¢Helping learners to make sounds: It is true that some English sounds do not exist in the learners’ mother tongue. Some learners may be able to imitate the target sounds if they are provided models. However, for those who lack such an ability, it is teachers’ duty to explain the way those difficult sounds are made and provide aids to help learners produce correct sounds. †¢Providing feedback: Students need to be told where they are standing, how much they have gained and what they need to improve because sometimes, students themselves can not know whether they are making mistakes or not. The teacher must provide them with feedbacks on their performance. †¢Pointing out what is going on: In many cases, learners fail to realize what and how they are speaking, as speaking is for most parts unconsciously controlled, learners may sometimes make mistakes in the way they produce a particular sequence of sounds, or put stress in an incorrect place, leading to misunderstanding. It is the teachers’ role to specify the area that learners have to pay attention to so as not to cause miscomprehension. †¢Establishing priorities: Native-like pronunciation is not easy to achieve. Therefore, learners need a guide to tell them about what aspects they should master, what aspects they not need to be â€Å"perfect†. Inevitably, when learning a foreign language, it is dealt if learners master every aspect of it. However, as this is somehow unrealistic, learners should learn to satisfy at an accepted level of those aspects which are not vital. The level at which learners can feel satisfied at depends on different situations for different individuals. †¢Devising activities: It is not easy for teachers to cover all activities in a limited time. Thus, teachers need to identify what exercises will be suitable for their learners, what activities would bring them the best effect. In devising them, however, it should be accepted that certain activities are more suitable to some students than others. †¢Assessing progress: An important role of teacher is to assess progress. Learners need to know at what level they are in pronunciation. Tests allocated at appropriate times will serve as a strong motivation for students. When they look at their marks, they have a clear sense of how much they have gained. Judging learners’ pronunciation performance is very complicated. However, this should be done accordingly. 2. 3. 3. Approaches, techniques and activities in teaching pronunciation 2. 3. 3. 1 Approaches in teaching pronunciation In the book â€Å"Teaching pronunciation† (Celce-Murcia M. , et al. 1996: 2), the authors point out two general approaches to the teaching of pronunciation in the modern time, namely intuitive-imitative approach and analytic-linguistic approach. An intuitive-imitative approach depends on â€Å"the learners’ ability to listen to and imitate the rhythms and sounds of the target language without the intervention of any explicit information†. This means the teaching of pronunciation depends largely on the teacher’s turning on and rewinding a cassette player (or another instrument), and the main activities in the class are listening and repeating. In this approach, the teacher has no responsibility to explain how sounds are formed or produced and the learners do their main task of listening and imitating, and it is expected that learners will gradually gain pronunciation competence. Meanwhile, an analytic-linguistic approach â€Å"utilizes information and tools such as a phonetic alphabet, articulator descriptions, charts of the vocal apparatus and other aids to supplement listening, imitation, and production† (Celce-Murcia M. , et al. , 1996: 2). In this approach, learners are given explanation as well as training on how to form particular sounds of the target language. Between these two approaches, there is no scale on whether which one is better. Choosing to apply which approach into teaching pronunciation depends on teachers themselves and the level of learners. To do well with these two approaches, it is a need for both teachers and learners to fulfill knowledge of articulator system such as consonants, vowels, stress, and intonation, etc. In this study, the author considers the use of both approaches to gain best effect in teaching and learning pronunciation. 2. 3. 3. 2 Techniques and activities Pronunciation is never an end in itself, thus to receive expected result in teaching and learning pronunciation, teachers have made use of a great deal of techniques. It may be taught in isolation or in combination with language skills of speaking, listening, reading or writing. Supported by Kelly (2000:16); and Celce, et al (1996:8), some common techniques are: †¢Drilling: One of the main ways in which pronunciation is practiced in the classroom is through drilling. In its most basic form, drilling simply involves the teacher saying a word or a structure, and getting class to repeat it. †¢Listen and imitate† The pronunciation of the target language is provided by the teacher or tape recorders, language labs, etc. students are to listen to a sequence of sounds or sentences and repeat it. †¢Chaining: This can be used for sentences which prove difficult for students to pronounce, either because they are long, or because they include difficult words and sounds The above mentioned techniques are nearly similar; they usually take two forms, which are either all-class or individual. These two forms are actually the two phase of the same techniques. Normally, at first, the whole class repeats after certain sound and phrases. After a certain amount of class-drilling, individual students take turns and pronounce those items themselves. †¢Phonetic chaining: This technique makes use of articulator descriptions, articulator diagrams and a phonetic alphabet. Learners are provided with basic theoretical knowledge about how sounds are formed. They are also aided by the teacher to make genuine sound production. †¢Minimal pair drills: These relate to words which differ from each other only one phoneme. Normally, students are allowed to listen to the tape and distinguish between the two sounds. This type of activities is particularly useful to teach sounds which causes difficulties for learners or sounds that are mismatched. †¢Contextualized minimal pair: In this technique, the teacher establishes the setting and present key vocabulary; students are then trained to respond to a sentence stem with the appropriate meaningful response. When minimal pair drills seem a bit boring and too theoretical with separated sounds, the contextualization seems to be more useful because it is more practical. †¢Tongue Twisters: This technique rooted from speech correction strategies for native speakers. When other techniques look serious and sometimes put learners under pressure, tongue twisters provide a more delighting way to learn pronunciation. Sounds which are difficult to differentiate are put together to make meaningful sentences. †¢Reading aloud/recitation: Students are provided with a passage or scripts and then read aloud, focusing on stress, timing and intonation. This activity is often done with texts such as poems, rhymes, song lyrics, etc. †¢Recording of learners’ production. This technique can use audio-tape, video-tapes of rehearsed and spontaneous speeches, free conversations, and role plays. It needs the feedbacks of teachers as well as self-evaluation. †¢Practice of vowel shifts and stress shifts related by affixation: Base on rule of generative phonology, used with intermediate or advanced learners. The teachers point out the rule-based nature of vowel and stress shifts in etymologically related words to raise awareness; sentences and short texts that contain both number of a pair may be provide as oral practice material such as:PHOtograph And phoTOgraphy 2. 4 Learning pronunciation 2. 4. 1 Factors affecting learning pronunciation According to Joane Kenworthy (1987), there are many factors affecting learning pronunciation, including the native language, the age factor, the amount of exposure, phonetic ability, attitude and identity. The native language: it is inevitable that learners’ native language has a great impact on their ability of pronouncing English. The â€Å"foreign accent† is therefore easy to identity. The age factor: it is often assumed that the younger a person starts learning a foreign language, the better he is at pronouncing it and he has a greater chance of having a native-like accent. The amount of exposure: people who live in the country where the target language is spoken and is surrounded by an English-speaking environment may have some advantages over some who do not. Phonetic ability: researches have shown that some people naturally have a â€Å"better ear† for a foreign language than others. Attitude and identity: results from many studies have shown that learners who have a positive attitude towards speakers of a foreign language tend to have a more native-like pronunciation. 2. 4. 2 Students’ roles in learning pronunciation It is essential that in order to learn a language, motivation plays a vital role. The same thing happens to learning pronunciation. If students really care much about their pronunciation, they will become more cautious about their speaking, and gradually build up good pronunciation. In teaching and learning pronunciation, if teachers play the roles of a â€Å"speech coach†, students themselves need to involve in this process as much as possible in order to get good results. According to Nguyen Bang and Nguyen Ba Ngoc (2001), students need to satisfy some demands. Firstly, they need to perceive the model as exactly as they can. Secondly, they need to response as much as and as well as possible to the recognition, the imitation and repetition activities. Lastly, beside the help of the teachers, students should do self-correction of their pronunciation mistakes. 2. 5 Teachers’ and students’ problems in teaching and learning pronunciation Both teachers and students encounter various problems in the process of teaching and learning pronunciation. These problems do not only arise from the nature of pronunciation itself, but from various subjective and objective factors. In the light of the previous and current studies, some major problems that teachers and learners face in teaching and learning pronunciation are:. The nature of pronunciation According to Nunan (1991), the problem of acquiring the phonology of a second or a foreign language presents a formidable challenge to any theory of second language acquisition. In teaching and learning pronunciation, the biggest problem that most of the English teachers and students complain come from nature of pronunciation. English pronunciation itself contains so many complicated factors and invisible rules. In the light of this problem, Doff A. (1988) listed some common problems that learners often make when they speak English. The first is difficulties in pronouncing sounds which do not exist in the students’ own language. The second is the problems with similar sounds that often cause learners’ confusion. The third is difficulties in pronouncing consonant clusters. And the last problem mainly comes from English stress and intonation. Students seem to have a tendency to give all syllables equal stress and â€Å"flat† intonation. Class setting A lot of problems in teaching and learning pronunciation come from class setting such as classroom size, quality of the teaching staff, teaching and learning equipment. Firstly, a large class causes difficulty in teaching pronunciation. At high school, on average, there are over 50 students per class. With such a high student-teacher ratio, it is impossible to make sure that the teacher could carry out successful teaching techniques and activities, and the learner is not able to listen and receive what the teacher is saying. The quality of teaching staff is also a big problem. Most teachers of English are non-native speakers, and a few of them can have a native-like pronunciation. As a result, the language input that students receive every day is from non-native people. Therefore, it is impossible to require students to achieve perfect pronunciation. Teaching model According to Kelly (2000), in the past, the model of teaching English pronunciation was â€Å"received pronunciation†, the pronounciation of people in the southwest England. Today, there are a vast number of English: American English, Australian English, etc. Thus, it is difficult for teachers to choose what model to teach. In fact, each teacher often cannot produce a â€Å"perfect† accent without being affected by his own language. This fact sometimes causes both teachers and students problems in teaching and learning pronunciation. Some teachers do not feel confident with their own voice and students do not know what input language is perfect to receive. Intelligibility Beside factors from the nature of pronunciation, class setting, etc, teaching and learning pronunciation involves in its own problem that Kenworthy (1987) calls it as â€Å"intelligibility†. He defines â€Å"intelligibility† as â€Å"being understood by a listener at a given time in a given situation†. This means that intelligibility is affected by a number of factors: the speaker, the listener, the time, and the situation. This also means that teaching and learning pronunciation depends on many factors, causing many problems for both teachers and students. In conclusion, in this chapter, some theoretical backgrounds relating to teaching and learning pronunciation have been pointed out. These factors are the pronunciation concepts and their features. Factors relating to pronunciation teaching and learning as the importance, the problems, techniques and activities have been also given. It cannot be denied that pronunciation and teaching pronunciation is an important part to conduct in any language course. It is even more important for those who are or will be teachers of the language. Methods of teaching pronunciation are various with different elements of pronunciation. What are the attitudes of teachers and learners towards teaching and learning pronunciation? The school has 36 classes with 90 teachers and 1,800 students. Each year, the school enrolls more than 600 new comers. 3. 1. 2 Description of the course At school, all students when pass the entrance exam to the school have to study English as one of the compulsory subjects. During the process of learning English at school, students use three English textbooks (English 10, English 11, English 12) focusing on four skills including reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus part. The language focus comprises two major parts: pronunciation and grammar. Normally, students start learning pronunciation when they study English 10. However, at grade 10th, students only learn some vowels and simple consonants. At grade 11th, students continue to study complex consonants. And at grade 12th, students start to be familiar with stress and intonation exercises. That is the reason why stress and intonation are two major aspects of pronunciation chosen in this investigation. 3. 2 Subjects The subjects of this study comprised 10 teachers and 55 12th-form students at QCHS. All English teachers were invited to participate in this study. They are from 27 to 60 years old, and have taught English for more than 2 years. They graduated from both regular and in-service training. With those teachers who have taught English for many years, they have teaching experience, but were not well trained. They mainly graduated from colleges, even in-service training. With younger teachers, they graduated from many different universities: state and non-state universities. They are full of motivation, but lack of teaching experience. In general, these teachers are good at teaching grammar and do not feel confident to deal with speaking, listening, and pronunciation lessons. Thus, they often focus their lesson on grammar but the speaking and pronunciation. The class that the author chose to study consists of fifty-five 12th-form students. These students have had at least 6 years of academic English experience by the time they reach this course. However, their English proficiency is not good, especially at pronunciation. They may be good at grammar and can do these grammar exercises quickly, but can not speak fluently. Most of them do not feel confident to speak in class and express their ideas in English. These students have studied at high school for more than two years. Therefore, they have been getting similar with the teaching and studying methods, the conditions and the teaching environment, so it easy for the author to get their consent to participate in the research. 3. 3 Research methods As mentioned previously, the researcher chose a mixed-method approach to data collection, utilizing triangulation to measure a broad variety of variables in the research. Necessary data was gathered directly from the teachers and students participating in the research in several ways: Questionnaires: In order to collect reliable and comprehensive data, two questionnaires were designed: one for teachers and one for students. They are both open-ended and close-ended questions. Teacher questionnaire (Appendix 1): one survey questionnaire with 8 questions was designed for the teachers to get their ideas of pronunciation teaching and learning reality, problems faced by their students and some recommendations to improve learning pronunciation reality at school. To get this aim, the questionnaire is categorized into the following groups: †¢Teachers’ attitude towards present situation of teaching and learning pronunciation at QCHS; †¢Approaches, techniques and classroom activities used by teachers in teaching pronunciation; †¢Problems faced by teachers in teaching pronunciation; and †¢Teachers’ recommendations of techniques to improve students’ pronunciation. Student questionnaire Appendix 2): another survey questionnaire with 8 questions was designed for students including the following categories: †¢Students’ attitude towards learning pronunciation, especially stress and intonation; †¢Students’ problems in learning pronunciation; and †¢Students’ expectations in learning pronunciation. In-depth classroom observations: Six informal classroom observations during regular classroom sessions were used as an additional data source. The observations were carried out for two weeks during the course of the study to get more practical information about teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards teaching and learning pronunciation, and difficulties as well as techniques used in pronunciation lessons. During the process of observations, the author focused on some aspects taking in class as: †¢Teaching and learning materials used in class; †¢Students’ activities and their mistakes in producing pronunciation; and †¢Teachers’ approaches and techniques used in teaching pronunciation. Interviews and discussions (Appendix 3): after collecting data from the survey questionnaires and classroom observations, the author used the post interview in order to get the in-depth discussion about techniques used to improve students’ pronunciation. Because it is too difficult for the researcher to conduct long interviews with all teachers, the researcher randomly selected 5/10 teachers for interviews. They were willing to express deeply their opinions, and ideas about teaching techniques. 3. 2. Data collection procedures The study was conducted in the first term of the school year 2010-2011 (from September 2010 to December, 2010). At the beginning of the first term, two sets of questionnaires were given to the teachers and the students who agreed to participate in the research. After two days, these questionnaires were collected. The information from these questionnaires were then summarized and presented in the form of statistics. For the following two weeks, the autho r carried out some classroom observations. The observations during six English lessons including one in reading, one in writing, one in listening, one in speaking and two in language focus periods. At each session, the researcher took field notes on what happened when the students learned pronunciation. Finally, when the information from the survey questionnaires and classroom observations were collected and analyzed, structured interviews were carried out. The data collected from three different resources were read through to obtain a sense of the overall data. They were then analyzed both descriptively and interpretatively. The initial sorting-out process was writing findings in the form of reflective notes and summaries of field notes. The information was then displayed in forms of tables and figures while qualitative data from the open-ended questionnaire items, classroom observations and interviews were presented by quoting relevant responses from the respondents. CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION OF THE DATA This part, the information from collected data was presented in accordance with the category of data collection instruments. 4. 1 Survey questionnaires 4. 1. Teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards teaching and learning pronunciation Assuming that the consideration of the teachers’ and students’ attitude towards teaching and learning pronunciation would be beneficial to the research, at the outset, these factors were surveyed. The results, shown in below, reflect that grammar is the most concerning aspect in learning English at high school. Surprisingly, only 10% of the t eachers think that pronunciation is the most necessary for their students. They always pay much attention and time and energy on grammar. In contrast, teaching and learning pronunciation as well as developing listening, speaking or reading skills do not receive enough attention to. 4. 1. 2 Students’ pronunciation level From the chart 2, we can see an optimistic reality of students’ level in learning pronunciation at Quynh Coi high school. Being asked about this, all the teachers said that students’ level is not equal, however; it is not good as expected. 60% teachers said that their students’ level at pronunciation is at average; and even 30% of the students get under average level. None of the teachers evaluate their students’ level at pronunciation is good or excellent. . 1. 3 Pronunciation teaching and learning time Chart 3 presents time that teachers and students spend on teaching and learning pronunciation. One more time teachers and students share the same ideas about the fact that too little time is on pronunciation. 80% of the teachers and 43% of the students said that they di d not have time to spend on teaching and learning pronunciation in one teaching session (45 minutes); 20% of the teachers and 32% of the students spend less than 20 minutes on teaching pronunciation. None of the teachers and a very small number of the students teach and learn pronunciation for more than 20 minutes. The overall results indicate that the reality of teaching and learning pronunciation at Quynh Coi high school is not positive as expected. Although both teachers and students are very optimistic towards teaching and learning pronunciation, students’ level is not good as well as time spent on teaching pronunciation is limited during one normal teaching session. 4. 1. 4 Teachers and students’ problems in teaching and learning pronunciation Chart 4 shows that both the teachers and the students face many problems during the process of teaching and learning pronunciation. The biggest problem that both teachers and students face comes from the nature of pronunciation. The next two factors preventing students from gaining good pronunciation are teaching time and students’ competence. 27% of the teachers and 22% of the students said that they do not have enough time on pronunciation. 20% of the teachers considered that their students’ competence in pronunciation is too low. 22% students also agreed with that idea. Class setting is the next factor that 20% teachers chose. It is clear that quality of teaching staff is not good enough to come over all the difficulties in teaching pronunciation. In contrast, only 1% of the students agreed with this. The smallest factor that both teachers and students think that causing problem in teaching and learning pronunciation is students’ motivation. 4. 1. 5 Teachers’ and students’ problems in teaching and learning intonation and stress From the chart above, most of the teachers (50%) and students (43%) think that stress is the most difficulty in teaching and learning pronunciation. the second is intonation: 30% of the teachers and 14% of the students think that intonation causes trouble. Meanwhile, none of the teachers meet any difficulties in teaching consonants and vowels. Particularly, chart 6 shows that 43% of the students cannot know the place of stress in a word; 20% said they cannot pronounce stress though they may be know place of stress in those words. Surprisingly, 27% of the students said that they do not know anything of stress. From the above chart, we can see that the reality of learning intonation is even worse than learning stress. 56% of all surveyed students understand nothing about intonation, causing a lot of difficulties in teaching and learning pronunciation.

Great Recession Essay Example for Free

Great Recession Essay Our 2007-2008 financial crisis is blamed on cheap mortgage credit, including lax underwriting process and government policies. In 2003, the government passed the American Dream Development Act, which provided financing to low-income families. Trying to help lower middle class families, the policy led to mortgage subprime mortgages. Financing to families with low credit rating at high interest rates. Since a large part of the population is middle to lower class, an exhaustible demand for new homes was created. As a result, creating a bubble in home price. Some of these mortgages include Interest only (monthly payment pays nothing to the principal, thus never decreasing the principal amount financed), and Adjustable Rate Mortgage, which consists of lowering or increasing rates every year depending on market interest rate. This type of mortgage can be beneficial in times like this; but back in 2006, when interest rates were so high, many mortgages monthly payments increase more than 10% in just one month. As Interest rates increased, subprime mortgages started to default exponentially since new homebuyers were unable to meet the monthly payments. This led to the collapse of home prices. This period of time is called the Great recession. The increase in subprime defaults reduces aggregate income and increases aggregate home prices, which in turn increases the level of prime defaults in the economy. This is called the subprime contagion. How did the government react? The government used fiscal policy to stabilize interest rates, reduce unemployment and increase GDP, they issued a program of Easy Credit, letting subprime borrow at a prime borrower spread. Also, they gave a Tax Rebate in 2008 of $8,000 for First time homebuyers, and for those in default they issued the Distress Relief program of HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program). On the other hand, the Fed used monetary policy to reduce the economic crises and spur investments and consumption. They reduce the rate at discount window, increase money supply to reduce rates and they purchase mortgage-backed securities. Using Monetary Policy in a recession is more effective because it acts faster than fiscal policy. Fiscal policy has go through a various committees and has to be voted on to be made into law. As a conclusion, there is a contagion effect od subprime default due to the negative impact of subprime defaults on aggregate income, and monetary policy is the most effective when dealing with a recession. Monetary policy increases home aggregate prices in contrast to alternative government fiscal policies designed to loosen mortgage credit.

Leadership in the UK Banking Sector

Leadership in the UK Banking Sector Banking industry in the United Kingdom, where has around 50 scheduled commercial banks, is one of the most competitive sectors and has a direct influence on this country economy. The story started 18 months ago, when global economic crisis spread in the UK. Following results of it caused some of the most successful British bank leaders have been forced to resign. In this assignment, the current and future leadership requirements of the British bank industry and the methods and techniques of developing leadership skills will be discussed. 2. Table of contents Executive summary Table of contents Introduction Aim and Objective Scope Methodology The Bank Leadership Requirements in the UK The Current Bank Leadership Requirements in the UK High self-confidence High energy level and stress tolerance Conceptual Skills Social Intelligence Participative leadership behaviour 7.2. The Predicted Future Bank Leadership Requirements in the UK 7.2.1. Power Motivation 7.2.2. Achievement Orientation 7.2.3. Technical Skills 7.2.4. System Thinking Leadership Development Supporting Leadership Development Special Technique for Leadership Training 8.2.1. Behaviour Role Modelling 8.2.2. Case Discussion 8.2.3. Business Games and Simulation 8.3. Developmental Activities 8.3.1. Multisource Feedback 8.3.2. Job Rotation Program 8.3.3. Mentoring 8.3.4. Executive Coaching 8.3.5. Outdoor Challenge Programs 8.3.6. Personal Growth Programs 8.4. S Conclusion and Recommendations 9. Supporting Leadership Development after the Training 10. References 3. Introduction Leadership means  ° process of getting things done through other people. The qu °rtà Ã‚ µrb °Ãƒâ€˜Ã‚ k moves the team towards  ° touchdown. Being a là Ã‚ µÃ‚ °dà Ã‚ µr is an  °dvà Ã‚ µnturà Ã‚ µ because you can never be sure whether you will reach your goals. So a leader always needs to improve his related personal skills and behaviours by getting new training. However, some of leadership sciences believe the most successful leaders learn from their life experience and apply them in their working behaviours (Tengblad, 2001). After, recent economic crisis and its results in the different sectors, there are some new effort to apply more leadership behaviour in their own organization. Following pages will be discussed particularly about leadership requirements in the UK bank sector. 4. Aim and Objectives The core of these pages is to identify the leadership requirements of the United Kingdom bank sector and find appropriate methods and techniques to reach these demands in current and future of bank industry. 5. Scope The ц¢Ãƒâ€˜Ã‚ opà Ã‚ µ of this study rà Ã‚ µvolvà Ã‚ µÃƒâ€˜Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ around the UK banking ц¢Ãƒ Ã‚ µÃƒâ€˜Ã‚ tor and will be limited through  ° ц¢Ãƒ Ã‚ µÃƒâ€˜Ã‚ ond °ry  °n °lyц¢iц¢ of the topic and ц¢Ãƒ Ã‚ µÃƒâ€˜Ã‚ ond °ry rà Ã‚ µÃƒâ€˜Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ãƒ Ã‚ µÃ‚ °rÑ h data. 6. Methodology This assignment is base on secondary data. The research involves studies in details of newspapers, journals, leadership books and online material on the web. The rà Ã‚ µÃƒâ€˜Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ãƒ Ã‚ µÃ‚ °rÑ h was Ñ onduÑ tà Ã‚ µd through various ц¢ourÑ Ãƒ Ã‚ µÃƒâ€˜Ã¢â‚¬ ¢, including libr °rià Ã‚ µÃƒâ€˜Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ and the Internet. à Ã‚  research library was visited for gathering useful data from textbooks and journals. The Internet was also an important tool to find relative information, là Ã‚ µÃ‚ °ding to the ц¢Ãƒ Ã‚ µÃ‚ °rÑ h for variety  °rtiÑ là Ã‚ µÃƒâ€˜Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ in journals and nà Ã‚ µwц¢p °pà Ã‚ µrц¢ from d °t °b °Ãƒâ€˜Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ãƒ Ã‚ µ. 7. Bank Leadership Requirements in the UK The requirements for the UK banking sector will be presented in two different parts: current and future requirements. 7.1. The Current Bank Leadership requirements in the UK In the current situation, British government has lent too much money to bank industry to overcome their problem such as mortgage crisis and the credit crunch. Due to this, nowadays, the UK government has more shares in some banks and give time to them to lock for new rescuer and funding some new options to firstly, end up this situation and then pay back the money, although some banks like Lloyds TSB already did, they still are supported by the government. Another important area that the government has asked banks is: keeping this lending information secret and prevent any panic among bank customers that may decline the numbers of investors. The British governor advice bank industry to prevent any wrong decision because any mistake can cause a huge fail for them (Sorkin, 2009). According to current scenario, the leadership requirements of bank industry are: High self-confidence High energy level and stress tolerance Conceptual Skills Social Intelligence Participative Leadership Behaviour 7.1.1. High self-confidence Self-confidence consists various related concepts like self-esteem and self-efficacy. High self-confidence is the exactly thing that high-level leaders in bank sector need in crisis situation. Managers with high-self confidence are more likely to attempt difficult tasks and overcome the crisis situation. Leaders with this feature have more motivation to solve problems Self-confidence is particularly essential for bank leaders to act confident and be decisive in current situation that usually their behaviour is followed carefully with Media and newspaper that it can cause an extra pressure for them(Yuki,2008,p53). There are some disadvantages for high self-confidence such as making rash decision and autocratic.However, being optimistic about the crisis is extremely helpful for bank leaders to overcome the problems. 7.1.2. High energy level and stress tolerance High energy level and stress tolerance help bank leaders to cope with changing situation and long working hours, thus it make it easier to overcome the stressful interpersonal situations like rapid change in economic system, control by Media and government demands. The success key for these leaders to making better decisions is: having high level of energy and stay calm. 7.1.3. Conceptual Skills Generally, conceptual skills consist of good judgment, creativity, intuition, foresight, and the ability to discover meaning and order in uncertain event and crisis situation. Nowadays, bank leaders need to identify complex relationships in economic al environment, creative the best ways to solve the current problems and predict future bank industry events from the current trend. It is essential for bank managers to have enough capability to analysis current issues in the external environment which will impact the bank sector, to identify how different parts of global bank industry related to each other and how changes in one aspect influence the UK banks, and to find new opportunity for bank sector (Yuki, 2008, p63). 7.1.4. Social Intelligence Social Intelligence is the capability to identify the requirements for leadership in special situation. Social perceptiveness prepares the ability to finding the functional demands, drawbacks, and opportunities that related to banks. If a bank manager has high social perceptiveness, he/she can motivate the group to work more effective. Behaviour flexibility helps bank leaders to use different behaviour correctly in crisis, and it is provided by self monitoring from leaders. One important aspect of social intelligence ability is having political skills which are extremely essential in todays bank situation. 7.1.5. Participative Leadership Behaviour Participate Leadership consist of applying different decision procedures that allow other people some influence on leaders decisions. In todays bank situation leaders need to involve other people in their decision particularly by consultation, joint decision and delegation. Bank leaders should try to encourage their colloquies to help them that cause more part of bank involve in the crisis and create a cooperative bank environment as well as help leaders to reduce the number of wrong decisions. If participative leadership behaviour imply correctly now, it can help bank leaders to rebuilt bank structure in the future. 7.2. The Future Bank leadership requirements in the UK In my opinion, current banks crisis will be continuing just for a few more time however, it affects the sector deeply. As it mentioned before, the UK government inject lots of money in the bank industry to prevent many drawbacks, but by doing this British government have more stocks in the bank industry, so the UK banks will be more dependence to the government. As a result of this, the next generation of the British bank leaders will be more selected by government and political environment will influence bank sector widely. The government wants to controls banks more than before and also do not want to loose profit again. Therefore, the United Kingdom government try to change some policies such as restriction on banker bonuses because wants to reduce bankers risk and create safer environment, control bank assets price, and change bank structure. It asked bank leaders to focus on some area like inflation and unemployment in bank industry. So, the future of this sector will be changin g in structure in the next five years in several parts, more autocratic environment by leaders that government selected, and need motivated leaders because of restriction on banking bonuses. As a result of this situation, future requirement for bank leadership are: Power Motivation Achievement Orientation Technical Skills System Thinking 7.2.1. Power Motivation Power motivation define as a ability and power to influence people and events .Managers with personalized power are more likely to create leaders who seek position of authority, aggrandize their-selves and satisfy personal demand for esteem and status. However, socialized power helps leaders to behave more for other peoples benefit .They use this power to influence subordinates, peers, and superiors to build up the bank sector and make it successful. Due to their orientation, these kind of leaders use more participative and coaching style of managerial behaviour, what exactly bank leaders need when they want to re-built the bank structure (Yuki, 2008, p55-56). 7.2.2. Achievement Orientation Achievement orientation consists of need for achievement, willing to assume responsibility, focus on task objective, and drive to success. If bank leaders have high achievement, they will focus on changing sector, solving problems, and high performance objectives. These kinds of managers maybe have lack of delegating and it is a drawback for this feature. However, if they can control it, banks leaders successfully can re-build bank structure and motivate other people to do it as well (Yuki, 2008, p58-60). 7.2.3. Technical Skills Despite the fact that high level manager does not need high level of technical skills, in future of bank industry leaders strongly need to have high technical knowledge about the are that in bank sector should be changed. If they do not have enough information about new policy and regulation they can make several mistakes in their decision that will be effect lower level leadership in their organisation and also they will not be able to show lower managers the current future. Therefore, they need to have enough knowledge about the future bank structure, new rules, management system, required employment characteristics, their new customer demands, and their bank opportunities in new situation. 7.2.4. Systems Thinking Systems thinking is what exactly bank leaders need when they are making effort to change their bank structure in the next five years. Systems thinking help them to identify the changing processes, dealing with new challenges, and improving efficiency. Change in one part of bank structure will affect the other parts as well and it usually has some reaction that maybe destroys the process. Bank leaders should clearly know what will be happen after their new decisions, identify following problems, and be ready to prevent any challenge. 8. Leadership Development In this part, the techniques, methods and other related subject to development the UK bank industry requirement will be discussed. 8.1. Supporting Leadership Development before the Training If we want to have an effective leadership development in the UK bank sector, we need to support our leaders for their training which are particularly important for intermediate level leaders. First of all, an effective development program needs to fully describe for its trainees. Being a bank leader usually requires long-working hours, so their work schedule should be more flexible that managers can attend especially in todays bank work environment. Also, they need to have enough time off for their preparations. Supporting leadership training is more essential in current crisis rather than predicted future situation. Therefore, bank leaders should have some programs that do not need too much preparation or are more flexible. 8.2. Special Techniques for Leadership Training There are varieties of techniques which are suitable for the UK bank leadership training. Some of effectives ones are: Behaviour Role Modelling Case Discussion Business Game and Simulations 8.2.1. Behaviour Role Modelling Behaviour role modelling is one of the most effective methods for managers and it usually combine with demonstration. Trainee can play a especial role for current bank crisis or future changing environment in small group or in front of the class. By playing different roles, bank leaders can get an appropriate feedback about their behaviour, especially if they record their plays. However, there is not enough evidence that measured actual behaviour change back on the job or improvement in managerial effectiveness. Behaviour role modelling can be useful for intermediate bank leaders not for executive ones who usually do not like to attend in this kind of training due to their position. However it can be full of fun and help bank leaders to reduce their stress level in crisis as well as improve their social intelligence, conceptual skills, system thinking, energy-level, and system thinking. Role playing prepare bank leaders to be more judgment about the situation and their decision, creative new solutions, and also identify special bank leadership behaviour style during crisis and for future. 8.2.2. Case Discussion Case discussion can be use in bank environment to develop its leaders analytical and decision-making skills and is suitable for high-level bank leaders. In this technique, managers can discuss about current and future the UK bank industry issues by exchanging their personal experiences. It helps bank leaders to increase their understanding about bank crisis, find the appropriate behaviour, make recommendations for the UK bank scenario, and predict banks future opportunities and threats. So, case discussion can improve bank leaders technical, decision making, power motivating and achievement orientation skills. 8.2.3. Business Games and Simulation Business games and simulation help bank leaders to analysis complex bank problems make decision and receive feedback about their decisions. It usually combines with role playing and group problem-solving exercises. Improvement in communication technology make it easier to use virtual meeting between bank leaders in different part of the United Kingdom and even all around the world and generally, it is short time training thus; it saves bank leaders time in current over-crowded bank working environment. Most business games stress on quantities financial information, market conditions, organization chart, and the tasks and responsibility for their positions which are essentially important for bank leaders to correctly understand the British bank sector situation. Finally, with this method, bank leaders can improve their confidence, system thinking, making decisions skills. (Yuki,2008,p430-432). 8.3. Developmental Activities There are several activities which can help bank leaders to learn from their experiences on the job and is so useful for development leadership skills due to being informal, applying by boss or co-workers, and combining with formal activities. These kinds of activities are particularly suitable for current bank situation because they are informal and usually do not take too much time of bank leaders and also give feedback to the leaders thus; according to this feedback bank leaders can improve their skills in short time. However, they have some advantages for predictable bank future as well. Some of these activities that are more appropriate for the UK bank industry are: Multisource Feedback Job Rotation Program Mentoring Executive Coaching Outdoor Challenge Programs Personal Growth Programs 8.3.1. Multisource Feedback Multisource feedback or 360-degree feedback is extremely popular for management development and it normally use to provide leader behaviour feedback in large organizations. Therefore it should be appropriate to apply in the UK bank sector. 360-degree feedback emphasizes board discrepancies among self-rating by leader and what other think about leaders behaviour. In this way, managers are received information about their behaviour or skills from questionnaires who are their subordinates, peers, superior, and clients. A feedback workshop with a facilitator usually is more helpful for enhancing the influence behaviour of bank managers rather than only giving them a feedback report (Barclay, 2007). 360-degree feedback can be valuable in current situation not in the UK banks future because in the future most of the British bank executive leaders are selected by the government and they should be more autocratic and powerful thus, questionnaires normally will be afraid to answer the questions honestly and the feedback will have not enough worth. 8.3.2. Job Rotation Program In job rotation program, bank leaders are given to work in various functional subunits of the bank sector for different period of time from 6 months to 3 years. These changes are for developmental reasons such as facing with new challenge, improving cooperative relationships, dealing with new types of technical problems, and developing a huge network of contacts in different part of bank. Job rotation programs are more appropriate for the future requirement of the UK bank industry, when this sector is trying to rebuild its structure. By doing these programs, high-level bank leaders can clearly understand the new problems in different parts, identify variety of behavioural reaction to the change, create a friendly environment in the whole banking sector which is essentially necessary for the time of change, and exchange their experiences and knowledge. In my opinion, these kind of programs are not suitable for the current bank crisis because bank leaders are under too much pressure from external environment especially Media and newspapers thus, changing their position can increase their personal stress. 8.3.3. Mentoring Mentoring programs are useful to simplify management development in bank industry. During the mentoring programs which are for high-level managers, more experienced leaders help less experienced ones. Mentoring programs are appropriate for both current and future bank requirements. By applying mentoring programs in the UK bank sector, we can reduce leaders stress level, facilitate adjustment to new change, create a stronger banking communication, and rise bank leaders satisfaction (Noe, 1991, p129-173). However, there are some factors in the UK bank industry that maybe reduce the beneficial effects of mentoring programs. For instance, more successful banks leaders can promote their position in bank sector, government or even political community thus; some of them maybe refuse sharing all of their experience with other bank leaders. Furthermore, female leaders usually have more difficulty to find successful mentoring and during bank crisis, these kinds of programs can increase their stress level and it is normally difficult to applying a program by separation between leaders according to their genders. 8.3.4. Executive Coaching Executive coaching has known as a great type of developmental intervention for middle and executive leaders. In this program, bank leaders can have an external or internal consultant. Executive coaching can help bank managers to implement recent and future the UK bank sector change, deal with their new bosses particularly in predicted bank future who are more related the British government, and gain more knowledge and information about new bank policy and structure. In current bank crisis, the decisions are made by bank leaders are so essential and effective for banking sector thus; a consultant can help to bank leaders to make correct decisions as well as reduce their stress level. Despite the fact that executive coaching is convenient, flexible and confidential, the high cost of it and shortage of bank competent coaches result in limitation of applying it (Yuki, 2008, p443). 8.3.5. Outdoor Challenge Programs Outdoor challenge programs are one of essential informal programs for bank leaders who are under too much of pressure due to crisis and changing bank environment. Outdoor programs can help bank managers to reduce their stress level, increase their self-control, self-confidence, energy level, and risk taking. However, there are some drawbacks about these programs .First of all, due to long-working hours in bank sector especially in todays situation, leaders need to receive strong support s to change their working hours for a short time. Secondly, because of overwhelming working situation, some bank leaders need to efficiently encourage attending in outdoor programs. 8.3.6. Personal Growth Programs After restriction in banker bonuses and crisis, the UK bank leaders need to more improve their self-awareness, emotional and moral level which can be provided by personal growth programs. The programs normally consist of several psychological exercises that help bank managers to find their living and working goals, how human development happens, how bank environment change, and how the role of leadership in bank sector change. Personal growth programs can help bank leaders to improve their emotional level, decrease their stress particularly in current bank crisis, and understand the change that will be occur in the future of the UK bank such as it will have more political environment. However, there is a fear of some negatives effects in bank leadership behaviour because for instance older bank leaders maybe indirectly encourage leaving their stressful jobs and more enjoy their personal life thus; these programs should apply carefully particularly in their subject selections (Yuki,20 08,p445-446). 8.4. Supporting Leadership Development after the Training Having an effective bank leadership development needs some supporting behaviour as well. It is important that leaders can apply their new skills in bank thus; providing an environment that they use their newly learned skills is essential. Also, leaders need to review what they learnt so, we can hold periodic review sessions or ask them to train these new skills to lower positions managers. By doing this, we can spread leadership development skills and behaviours among different part of banks and provide a friendly bank environment to cope with crisis and later changes. Conclusion and Recommendations The UK banking sector has experienced a trouble time recently that lake of leadership behaviour and skills is one important lateral factor to occur. However, by identifying and applying developmental leadership requirements such as participative leadership, system thinking, social intelligence we can cope with current issues and improve bank leaders skills by different training and methods to prevent more problems for the UK banks future. Furthermore, developing and implementing bank leadership requirements require a broad effort from whole the UK bank sector, the British government, bank clients, and also the media and newspapers.