Pros and Cons of an Appreciation in Australian Dollar free essay sample

Pros and Cons of an appreciation in Australian dollar In the recent days, Australian dollar has witnesses a significant appreciation and keeps strong. To put in a simple way, appreciation of Australian dollar, for our ordinary consumer, means we can buy more goods than before using the same amount of money. This is caused by an increase of purchase power of Australian dollar. As for choices of consumers, foreign goods are especially welcomed for the simple reason that they become relatively cheaper than local produced goods, which is due to the high exchange rate. In addition, for overseas student, they will cost more than before to afford the expensive tuition fee. The tuition fee in Australia is kept the same amount; however, because of the high exchange rate of other currency over AUD, overseas students have to spend more. According to the historical statistics of Australian dollar over US dollar, the rate fluctuates below 1 during 1986 to June 2010. We will write a custom essay sample on Pros and Cons of an Appreciation in Australian Dollar or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page However the rate reached parity in Oct of 2010. Afterwards, the rate was beyond 1 and Australian dollar begins to keep strong. The reason why Australian dollar keeps strong and the effects of appreciation on consumers and investors should be analyzed by macroeconomics. The reason of the appreciation in Australian dollar is that the strong domestic economy of Australia and the sluggish of the United States’ economy. For the first reason, after the 2008 financial crisis, the Australian local economy remains stable and global inflation leads to prices fluctuate which would affect the Australian dollar appreciation. AUD is the commodity money and the Australian dollar was influenced by the commodities, especially the mining industry. Therefore, the AUD will appreciate because of the increasing of the commodities’ price. Let’s elaborate the strength of the Australian economy more details. There is no doubt that the Australian economy in recent years maintained a good momentum of development, therefore, the exchange rate rise reflects Australia a good economic growth. Australia is rich in natural resources; there is a lot of coal, iron ore and natural gas exports. So long as the Australian economy running smoothly, we can expect to the exchange rate of AUD will maintain in a relatively strong position. â€Å"Australias employment growth is very strong, about half of the U. S. unemployment rate. Furthermore, investment growth is also very strong. So Australia will be realized in 2013 budget surpluses. † said by Australia finance ministers Swan. Global inflation leads to commodity prices, especially in commodity prices, such as coal, iron ore, etc, and the impact of AUD for commodities, so one of the main currency appreciation larger AUD. The financial storm to all countries have effect on the economy, but as a commodity exporter, relative to the AUD international financial major currencies dollar terms, more insurance, plus a Australia dollar belong to high interest rate currencies, more easily to be buying a hedge. For the above analysis we know that the main reason of raising AUD is the global commodities prices are raising dramatically and good employment situation driven the increase in GDP for the local reason. When it comes to the factors which come from outside of Australian, the weakness of US economy and the loose monetary policy in US could be the other reasons. First of all, the US economy had an unemployment rate of 9. 1% in August, compared to Australian, 5. 0% in July. Based on the Reserve Bank of Australia, Australian GDP for second quarter 2010 was 3. 3% for the year ending June 2010. In contrast US GDP for the year ending 2010 was 2. 4%. Moreover, the projected recovery in consumer spending did not occur. The rise in food and energy prices outpaced the gain in nominal wages, causing real average weekly earnings to decline in January, while the continued fall in home prices reduced wealth for the majority of households. As a result, real personal consumer expenditures rose at an annual rate of just about 1 percent in January, down from the previous quarter’s 4 percent increase. That pattern of rising prices and declining real earnings repeated itself in February and March, with a sharp rise in the consumer price index causing real average weekly earnings to decline at an annual rate of more than 5 percent. There is no doubt that consumer`s confidence level fell sharply and consumer spending remained almost flat from month to month. Furthermore, a loose monetary policy occurs when the money supply is expanded and is easily accessible to citizens to encourage economic growth. According to the Global Futures amp; Forex, the Federal Reserve announced that it will keep rates low, and that it will continue with plans for an asset buy from the Treasury. The Federal Reserve (Fed) has lowered the cash rate to 0. 250% and has undertaken quantitative easing to lower longer-term interest rates, with a second round of easing planned. Quantitative easing involves a central bank purchasing financial assets from banks and other private sector businesses with new electronically created money, thus increasing the money supply. And then it weakens the US dollar against other currencies. Furthermore, while US interest rates remain low for the short term, investors will seek out higher-yielding opportunities, such as Australian dollar denominated assets. This will tend to strengthen the Australian dollar. The reasons that Australian dollar is very strong recently are shown above. But, what does it mean for consumers? To be simple, Australian dollar has more purchasing power. Consumers are able to afford more goods that import to Australia. Also, it has been much cheaper to travel abroad. In addition, the demand for Australia dollar is quite high, which is shown by the high interest rate. As a result, consumer can get higher return, if they put money in the bank. However, can we say strong Australia dollar is 100% beneficial to consumers? The answer is no. For the people, who buy oversea goods, it is good news. On the other side, it also has adverse effects on exporters who produce and sell overseas. Duo to high exchange rate with Australian dollar, the domestic goods become more expensive for foreigners. As a result, Australian products lost the competition in the globe trade. Unfortunately, it is not the only bad news. As travelling abroad becomes cheaper, even costs about as much as travelling locally, who would choose to travel in this country instead of enjoying their holiday overseas? So, the tourism in Australia will experience a recession in the near future. The same situation would happen to Australia universities that want to attract more oversea students. To conclude, strong Australian dollar brings upside as well as downside effects to consumers. However, what does it mean to investors? High level of financial inflows into Australia causes the ‘price’ of the Australian dollar appreciates. It has both advantages and disadvantages for the domestic and overseas investors in the short run and long run. In short run, a major implication of the appreciation of Australian dollar is the increase in the real purchasing power of the domestic investors. In other words, there in an improvement in terms of trade as imports become cheaper for the domestic investors. However, there will be a significant reduction in exports in Australia as the relatively price increases. It will therefore cause disequilibrium in the short run and higher export price resulting from the appreciation will direct affect the export industries in Australia and become less competitive in the global market. Consequently, it will lead to an increase in frictional unemployment in Australia. In the long run, the main effect of appreciation of Australian dollar is the structural change in the Australian economy. Due to the expensive exports in Australia, Australian export industry cannot compete under high exchange rate. It results in the reallocation of the labour and capital resources. Both domestic and overseas investors have better opportunities to earn a better return from the investment as the efficiency of the production rises and economic growth increases. The economy will reach the equilibrium point again in the long run so that results in decrease in unemployment rate and relatively higher investment return. The appreciation of the exchange rate has both positive and negative impact on investors. In short term, the economy will be worse off because of the uncompetitive high price of the exports. The foreign investors lose interest in making investment in Australia. However domestic investors will be better off as the relatively cheaper import price will give the domestic investors better returns. In long run, as the structural change in the economy has taken place, both domestic and foreign investors gain better return and the economic growth increases as well. In conclusion, Australian economy is competitive and stable after the 2008 global financial crisis, which remains a low unemployed rate. The value of AUD increased by the rising in commodity price in Australian domestic market .

Movie Analysis - Amistad essays

Movie Analysis - Amistad essays Courage, perseverance and hope are clearly seen through the actions of several Africans and their Big Man Cinque, who over-ran the slave ship La Amistad in an attempt to go home. Fifty-three native Africans fate is chosen by a dung scraper, a unknown attorney looking for a case, but that is only skin deep. Not only does this dung scraper know what he is talking about but he is the one who can and will free them from bondage. There are two other men who play a very drastic role in the fate of Cinque and his people; those men are John Quincy Adams and Theodore Joadson. John Quincy Adams is not highly regarded among his colleagues and is seen as a drooling fool who sleeps half of the time during the meetings on Capitol Hill. Others feel that the only reason that he is well known is because of his middle name not true. John Q. Adams was a great man, filled with knowledge and wisdom which many people do not acquire in a lifetime. When it came down to the line John followed through, he triumphed over evil by doing what was right at the right time. One thing that Mr. Adams stated to the United States Supreme Court was "The constant and perpetual will to secure to every one HIS OWN right." Essentially John knew that Cinque wanted and needed freedom, which is what every person on this planet wants and needs. John Quincy Adams fought and won freedom for them. There is one man that did not do the right thing, President Martin Van Buren. Two words sum up his presidency, Bill Clinton. His only want and will to be in office, was to be in office. The only thing he was concerned about was his reputation, and not to be in office when the civil war began. That was the last thing he wanted on his head. So instead of helping 53 native Africans return to their families, homes and friends, he made it all the more difficult for Baldwin, Theodore Joadson and John Adams to win the case in the U.S. Supreme court. ...

How to Get a Merit Scholarship 6-Step Guide

How to Get a Merit Scholarship 6-Step Guide SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you’re looking for a way to fund your college education, you should definitely check out merit scholarships. They’re especially great options for high-achieving students who may not qualify for much need-based financial aid. The best part of getting a merit scholarship is, of course, that you’re essentially getting free money for school.But how to get a merit scholarship can still be confusing and overwhelming. In this post, I’ll explain what defines a merit scholarship before going into both where you can find them and how you can get them. At the end, you’ll find a list of some of the top merit awardsavailable - this way, you can get a head start on getting that cash. What's a Merit Scholarship? Merit scholarships are financial awards that are meant to help students pay for school. They’re one of the best forms of financial aid because they’re free money that you never have to pay back, often with few to no strings attached. Let's answer some of themost common questions that come up aboutthese awards. How Do Scholarship Organizations Define Merit? Many merit scholarships look for students with impressive academic achievements.Others focus on community service, sports prowess, professional/business experience, leadership skills, or artistic talent. The most prestigious scholarships tend to go to students who stand out in several different areas. It's important to note that, although mostmerit scholarships are awarded primarily based on merit, many take financial need into account. Financial need qualifications (if applicable) will vary based on the scholarship. If you don't think you'll qualify for much need-based aid, you'll want to focus your energy on pure merit-based awards. Are Merit Scholarships Hard to Get? This will obviously vary based on the scholarship. In general, the bigger the award, the more serious the competition for the money. Merit-based scholarships are often difficult to get in the sense that they require dedicated, long-term, impressive performance in order to stand out as an applicant. For example, if you want to apply for a scholarship based on GPA, you will have had tomaintain a high GPA since the beginning of high school in order to be a competitive applicant. In another sense, thesescholarships may be less difficult than other awards because you might not have to do anythingâ€Å"extra† in order to qualify (if you're already a meritorious student, that is). How to Find Merit Scholarships There are two major sources of merit scholarships: private organizations and colleges/universities themselves. The way you’d go about finding (and applying) for thesescholarships depends on their source. Step 1 of the scholarship app process: figuring out where all these awards are hiding Merit Scholarships Offered Through Private Organizations Some of the most well-known (and most generous) merit awardsare offered through private and nonprofit organizations. The mission of many of these organizations is to provide financial assistance to high-achieving students who also demonstrate financial need. As such, it may be tough to find pure merit-based awards from these sources. To look for merit-based awards, you might want to start with these guides to the country’s top scholarships. Then, you can move on to looking for less competitive local awards. You can also do your own research by Googling scholarships based on your specific interests, skills, or activities. If you're into debate, for example, you might search for "debate scholarships," "debate merit scholarships," or even "debate scholarship [specific school name]." Merit Scholarships Offered Through Schools It’s often easier to find pure merit-based scholarships through schools than it is to find them through private or nonprofit organizations. Schools sometimes offer merit-based awards in order to attract competitive applicants. In order to get your hands on these merit awards, often all you have to do is apply to the school. You’ll automatically be considered for awards once you submit your college application. Colleges and universities often look at the following criteria when awarding merit scholarships (keep in mind that the specifics of these criteria vary widely by school): High school GPA Standardized test scores (SAT and/or ACT) Class rank SportsScholarships Talented athletes can get a ton of merit scholarship money (regardless of financial need), but the process is usually more complicated than just submitting a college app.If you’re looking for merit awards based on your sports performance, you’ll have to go through the proper channels, i.e. you’ll have to be in touch with coaches and/or be formally recruited. Your award will depend on the school’s merit scholarship policies and how much they want you as an athlete.Learn more about how college recruitment works. A Small Caveat Not all schools offer merit scholarships - many top private schools, for example, only offer need-based financial aid.If you’re looking specifically for schools that offer generous merit awards that aren’t dependent on financial need, you should check out our guide to schools with top scholarship programsor our guide to schools that offer full-ride scholarships- just be mindful when it comes to discriminating between need-based and merit-based aid. Want to build the best possible college application and financial aid package? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. How to Geta Merit Scholarship Ready to get started seeking out your own scholarship money? Here are all thesteps you should take if you want to optimize your chances of winning a merit award. Step 1: Start Early AsI mentioned before, you have to be in it for the long haul if you hope to qualify for some of the more competitive merit awards. Many merit awards will ask for transcripts, records, ordocumentation going back to your freshman year of high school.You don’t have to be perfect - your later high school years will matter more than your freshman or even sophomore year - but you do needto demonstrate a pattern of consistent high-achievement or consistent improvement. This will be important if you hope to come across as a compelling applicant. Step 2: Choose Your Focus Even if you're a young high school student, it's prudent to start thinkingabout what sort of scholarships make the most sense for you.What kindof merit award are you most likely to qualify for? Are you gunning to be a top student, a star athlete, a community service expert, or some combination? Unless you’re a true stand-out performer in another space, I’d encourage you to focus on your academics before expending energy on other pursuits. It's relatively easy to qualify for merit-based awards at many collegesif you have a strong GPA and/or test scores. You can be a great debater or have hundreds of community service hours under your belt, but if your grades are underwhelming, you’ll likely hurt both your college admissions and scholarship chances. Merit awardsare pretty useless if you can’t use them at the schools you want. The more you can narrow in on a type of target scholarship, the more successful you'll be. Step 3: Be Proactive AsI mentioned earlier, it’s important for you to consistently demonstrate that you’re a high-achieving student (or athlete, or volunteer) in order to be competitive for a merit award. This means you’re responsible for tackling any weaknesses in your performance before they become bigger problems. To be proactive, you can: See teachers and coaches for extra help on assignments or problem areas. Meet with your guidance or college counselor regularly (perhaps once a quarter) to check in about college plans, grades, career goals, etc. This may also serve you well if you need letters of rec from your counselors later forscholarship applications. Step 4: Have an ACT/SAT Prep Plan Standardized test grades are often a big part of qualifying for merit scholarships. The earlier you start laying out a plan for preparing and taking either the ACT or the SAT, the better off you’ll be. To start formulating a plan, check out these guides: Should you take the ACT or the SAT? How long should you study for the ACT or theSAT? ACT/SAT test dates and study plans How to get a perfect score on the ACT or the SAT Step 5: Find "Good Fit" Scholarships Not all of the scholarships that you’ll be interested in will necessarily be good fits, even if you technically meet all of the eligibility criteria. Applying to scholarships won’t be the only thing on your mind when you're putting together these apps, so it’s important to use your time efficiently when selecting scholarships. You could technically submit an infinite number of apps, but you’d likely be wasting your time. You don't want to just apply for one or two awards - applying to scholarships is still a numbers game - so aim for 8-10 applications. Think of it like you think of applying to colleges: select a few â€Å"reach,† a few â€Å"safety,† and a few â€Å"target† scholarships.Use your strengths(e.g. academics, sports, community service) to select scholarships for fit (and eliminate scholarships that aren't worth your time). For example, if you’re top of your class but only played JV-level sports, you might not be the best applicant for a scholar-athlete award. If a scholarship isn't a natural fit, you'll likely be wasting your time. Step 6: Submit Polished Applications Just like with your college applications, you only have one chance to make a good impression when you apply for merit scholarships (especially when it comes to themost competitive awards, where scholarship committees have to process thousands of apps). If possible, start putting together a tentative list of scholarships as early as your freshman year. This may seem a little too proactive, but keep in mind that many of the top scholarships are due late junior-early senior year. This early research will also help you stay on track to meet eligibility qualifications. Start seriously thinking about your apps about four months before their due dates. This gives you time to ask forletters of recommendation(if applicable). It also gives you a chance to get feedback on drafts of essays. Finally, have 2-3 trusted people look over your apps before submission to check for clarity, typos, or missing information.Don’t wait until the actual deadline to submit your application - you never know when you might run into technical issues that could prevent submission. It's best to schedule submission 3-5 days before theofficial due date. What Are the Top Merit Scholarships? If you're eager tobegin researchingmerit awards, the following scholarshipsare a good place to start. You’ll find a list of some of the biggest pure merit scholarships, in addition to a list of merit + financial need-based scholarships. For more comprehensive lists of top scholarship programs, check out our guides to the best scholarships available for high school juniors and seniors. Pure Merit Awards National Merit Scholarship Coca-Cola Scholarship Ronald McDonald Scholarships Merit + Financial Need Awards Gates Millennium Horatio Alger Scholarship Program Jackie Robinson’s Foundation Scholarship Program Engebretson Foundation Scholarship Jack Kent Cook Foundation College Scholarship Program Elks National Foundation Most Valuable Student Competition What's Next? One of the hardest parts of searching for scholarships is that there isn't one centralized, reliable source of information on available awards. To help make the search a bit easier, we've put together several guides on various types of award programs. If you're interested in other merit-based awards, read about guaranteed scholarships based on ACT/SAT scores. Looking for scholarship apps that won't interfere with school or extracurriculars? Check out our guide to the 12 easiest scholarship applications. Finally, if looming college bills are getting to be a bit overwhelming, read more about how to get a full ride scholarship and how to apply for financial aid. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Artificial Reproduction in Humans Research Paper

Artificial Reproduction in Humans - Research Paper Example In IVF or in-vitro fertilization, where the egg is fertilized by sperm cells outside the womb in a glass container, is a major process that is undertaken when all other methods of artificial reproduction have failed. AI or artificial insemination is the process where the sperm cells from the husband or an anonymous donor are placed within the uterus of the female recipient, by using methods other than sexual intercourse, for the purpose of impregnating her. Embryo transplantation is the process where one or more eggs that have been fertilized under in-vitro conditions, is placed within the uterus of a recipient female that carries the embryo to its full term. Thus all the three processes aim to procreate for childless couples and also for gay partners, that is, for all those who fail to have children normally or cannot adopt, due to certain reasons. However, as in all latest techno-medical innovations, here also, there are certain ethical considerations to be made. The concept of hav ing ‘designer babies,’ and opting for embryo sex selection, have all been made possible with advances in the assisted reproductive technology, and these are the very ideas that have come under controversy in the recent times. Religious morals and certain medical ethics have placed these processes under considerable scrutiny, with a debate going on as to whether having children by artificial means is indeed morally or ethically correct. It will also consider the various ethical and religious sentiments that speak against the procedures, and also scrutinize the various medical benefits of these techniques. This article has taken up a topic that is very interesting, yet extremely controversial too.

Privacy Issues in the Workplace- Technology and Social Media Essay

Privacy Issues in the Workplace- Technology and Social Media - Essay Example ployer from jeopardizing the employees right to engage in union activities or other protected activities seeking to attain mutual aid or protection within and outside the company (National Labor Relations Board Web). However, under the recent technological advancements, privacy issues have increased with the new technological generating new privacy concerns for both the employees and the employer. Ideally, the new technological advancements allow the employer to gain access to employee’s information around his scope of work. Through the new technology, the employers can initiate telephone monitoring, social media monitoring, electronic mail and voice mail, video monitoring, computer monitoring, and other workplace privacy protections. Where E-mail/Internet is concerned, the employer can access all the emails and online conversation of an employee. Indeed, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, stipulates that an employer has can monitor electronic communications, e-mail and Internet surfing, and instant messaging of an employee where employee is using the employer-provided computer system (US Department of Justice Web). As such, it is the duty of the management to brief the employees on the application of this rule upon employment to avoid privacy issues. On the other hand, computer monitoring comes in handy where employers use computer software to access the screen or stored in the employees computer terminals and hard disks.  They can additionally invoke keystroke monitoring and count time spent away from the computer. Since the employer own s the computer and the terminals, he therefore has a right to monitor an employee’s computer usage. However, certain federal offer minimal rights against computer monitoring like the Fourth Amendment of the US constitution that restricts unreasonable search and seizure (Privacy Rights Clearing House Web). Employers can also initiate social media monitoring of the employees by accessing their Facebook and twitter

The Essence Of Mbo Business Essay

The Essence Of Mbo Business Essay The use of management objectives was first widely advocated in the 1950s by the noted management theorist Peter Drucker. It can be defined as a process whereby the employees and the superiors come together to identify common goals, the employees set their goals to be achieved, the standards to be taken as the criteria for measurement of their performance and contribution and deciding the course of action to be followed. The essence of MBO is participative goal setting, choosing course of actions and decision making. An important part of the MBO is the measurement and the comparison of the employees actual performance with the standards set Ideally, when employees themselves have been involved with the goal setting and the choosing the course of action to be followed by them, they are more likely to fulfill their responsibilities. THE PROCESS OF MBO: Management by objectives (MBO) involves setting specific measurable goals with each employee and then periodically discussing his/her progress toward these goals. The term MBO almost always refers to a comprehensive organization-wide goal setting and appraisal program that consist of six main steps: Set the organizations goals. Establish organization-wide plan for next year and set goals. Set departmental goals. Here department heads and their superiors jointly set goals for their departments Discuss and allocate department goals. Department heads discuss the departments goals with all subordinates in the department (often at a department-wide meeting) and ask them to develop their own individual goals; in other words, how can each employee contribute to the departments attaining its goals. Define expected results (set individual goals). Here, department heads and their subordinates set short-term performance targets. Performance review and measure the results. Department heads compare actual performance for each employee with expected results. Provide feedback. Department heads hold periodic performance review meetings with subordinates to discuss and evaluate progress in achieving expected results. MBO appraisals are suitable for measuring quantitative and qualitative output of high-level employees. High-level employees such as managers generally report to directors, according to hierarchy and the chain of authority present in many organizations. Therefore, managers and the directors or executives they report to often work together to establish MBO goals for this type of appraisal. Performance Appraisal : A Look Employers use performance appraisals to measure both the quantity and quality of production. Performance appraisals typically are conducted annually, and employers often base decisions about salary raises, wage increases and year-end bonuses on employee performance. An MBO appraisal is just one method among several types of performance measurement tools. Others include: Graphic Ratings Scales, Narrative Evaluations, 360-Degree Appraisals, Peer Evaluations, Forced Ranking Or Differentiation Appraisals. One well-regarded and widely used approach to performance appraisal is called MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVES (MBO). By definition, under this method, you evaluate your employees on the basis of results. MBO is more than performance appraisal its a construct for managing the entire organization. Its breadth includes the organizations vision, values, strategies, goals, and performance measurement. MBO (management by objectives) methods of performance appraisal are results-oriented. That is, they seek to measure employee performance by examining the extent to which predetermined work objectives have been met. MBO begins with managers at the top of the company setting goals. Then managers and employees at each successively lower level develop their own goals. Employees goals are designed to support the goals of their own managers. In this way, the entire organization is linked together in the pursuit of objectives. The focus is on outcomes that are clear, specific, measurable, and supported by action plans, benchmark dates, and deadlines. All aspects of the goal-setting process also apply to the employees personal and developmental goals, such as building their skills or knowledge base. Once an objective is agreed, the employee is usually expected to self-audit; that is, to identify the skills needed to achieve the objective. Typically they do not rely on others to locate and specify their strengths and weaknesses. They are expected to monitor their own development and progress. After employees meet with their managers to establish their goals and action plans, the employees return to work newly energized and focused on specific short-term and longer-term targets. Simultaneously, their managers monitor the employees performance, provide coaching and support, remove barriers or help employees overcome them, and make adjustments and course corrections as necessary. The employees performance and progress are clear, measured, documented, and transparent every step of the way. Employees are highly motivated through MBO because theyve been able to actively participate in the process of setting goals, instead of simply having the goals dumped on them. Their involvement in this type of decision-making helps meet many of their higher-level needs for accomplishment, achievement, recognition, and self-worth. MBO brings a wide range of advantages to the appraisal process: It helps build relationships between managers and employees. MBO includes a great deal of contact and communication between managers and their employees, which builds camaraderie, communication, and trust all key elements in strengthening teamwork. It fosters a comfortable climate in the workplace. MBO helps build an atmosphere of respect and trust within a given department and beyond. Because managers work directly with employees to identify and solve problems, MBO improves the quality of decision-making and problem solving. Its fair. Employees are evaluated on the basis of their performance and attainment of goals, which is regarded as fair and energizing. Its quick and easy. Performance evaluation forms associated with MBO are a breeze to complete. Typically, they spell out each objective as established at the beginning of the cycle, and then provide a space for the manager to summarize the results. Some MBO forms also include a scale that asks for a numerical assessment of the employees success in meeting their goals. These scales guide the managers in the rating process by including specific descriptions of excellent, good, fair, and poor levels of goal attainment. Management by Objectives and performance appraisal: The MBO approach overcomes some of the problems that arise as a result of assuming that the employee traits needed for job success can be reliably identified and measured. Instead of assuming traits, the MBO method concentrates on actual outcomes. If the employee meets or exceeds the set objectives, then he or she has demonstrated an acceptable level of job performance. Employees are judged according to real outcomes, and not on their potential for success, or on someones subjective opinion of their abilities. The guiding principle of the MBO approach is that direct results can be observed, whereas the traits and attributes of employees (which may or may not contribute to performance) must be guessed at or inferred. The MBO method recognizes the fact that it is difficult to neatly dissect all the complex and varied elements that go to make up employee performance. MBO advocates claim that the performance of employees cannot be broken up into so many constituent parts as one might take apart an engine to study it. But put all the parts together and the performance may be directly observed and measured. CONCLUSION: Although OD emphasizes the macro aspects of the organization, the individual is not ignored. In fact, individual developmental aspirations are identified and integrated with management development; managerial needs are translated into personal development objectives and action plans. Management by Objectives, the widely acclaimed and applied approach to management, has undergone considerable change over the years. In its early development, MBO was primarily an appraisal tool. Next, it integrated individual needs with organizational objectives. MBO was then expanded to include long range, strategic planning. But to remain a viable and effective managerial system, MBO must continue to evolve. New knowledge, where appropriate, must be merged with MBO. The inputs to the organization are transformed through the MBO process to produce the outputs. To be sure, this new MBO model is complex, but so is management. MBO must continue its evolutionary path and continue to aid, not add to, the work of the manager.

Philips and Matsushita Essay

1. Which factors account for differences in strategies and structures of Philips and Matsushita? What are their distinctive competencies and incompetencies? 2. What are the key organizational challenges that each company is facing at the end of the case? What recommendations would you give to the respective CEOs? 1.The two companies, each from different regions of the world, have an extensive history that have caused for different cultures, strategies and structures to be implemented (Bartlett & Beamish, 2010: 301). Philips, as an European company with the â€Å"old boys network† originally had a structure that Bartlett and Beamish (2010) classify as the Decentralized Federation. It was a structure that was based on internal relationships. The National Organizations (NO) that were in place had informal power over their product divisions. However this structure led to great distance between the corporate management and its subsidiaries with information and knowledge not spreading fluently from one NO to the next. This fragmentation, which Bartlett and Beamish (2010) state as a limitation of this form of structure, increased costs and promotes inefficiency. The learning capacity of the organization was harmed. Philips therefore tried to stay afloat by making drastic cuts, reorganizing an d implementing a Matrix structure, a popular phenomenon is the 1980s (Bartlett & Beamish, 2010: 300). However this lead to adjustment only in structure and not in culture, making it fail. When this was realized the company began to alter its structure again towards a Transnational Structure (Bartlett & Beamish, 2010) with a more integrated structure and where a vision that appeared to be lost was clearly reinforced, communicated and lived throughout the organization. Matsushita had a different heritage which lead them â€Å"to adopt very different strategic and organizational models.†(Bartlett & Beamish, 2010: 301) This Japanese company was set up with a non-typically Japanese divisional structure which would comply more to Bartlett and Beamish’s (2010) Coordinated Federation structure. It had an international mindset to achieve worldwide presence whether this was in the form of own image or by producing products for competitors and did this by providing divisions with development, production and marketing abilities whilst providing centralized parent technology all thr oughout the organization. In the 1960s the company was pushed abroad by pressure imposed on them by increasing manufacturing costs and national governments. The expansion led for the company to localize more intensely and aimed to move towards a more decentralized structure with less dependency on the center. When the domestic market collapsed end 1980s the company began to focus more on R&D as they lacked behind in technology advances. This was a result of the inability for knowledge to spread and the inefficiency of the development not being centralized. The company tried to move away from the imitator image they carried and aimed to do this by removing internal competition that was stimulated by the divisional structure and promoting a customer based innovative culture. Because of their different structures and strategies the companies both experience different (in)competencies. Competencies exist when resources are put to good use so that they create a competitive advantage for the business opposed to its competitors (Volberda et al., 2011). Both competencies and incompetencies are portrayed in the table below. From looking at this table one can see that some competencies of one company is the incompetency of the other as a result of the different implemented strategies. Where Philips, that is more centralized, is innovative, Matsushita lacks innovation. However, Matsushita experiences a rich company culture with a clear vision which is exactly what Philips lacks. | Philips| Matsushita| Competencies| * Innovative, strong R&D department * Can respond to local differences due to set up of NOs * The delegation of responsibility causes for strategic freedom| * Cheap production as a result of economies of scale. * Fast response to market * Rich culture and clear vision integrated throughout company by the implementation of Seven Spirits| Incompetencies| * Inefficiency in global aspect * Unclear responsibilities due to decentralization * Too much informal power granted to NOs * Fragmentation and restructuring leads to unclear vision and values throughout the company| * Lack of innovation at the level of the subsidiaries * Too much reliance of the subsidiaries on the domestic country * Centralized parent company lacks understanding and knowledge of market needs and production realities| 2. Because of their different strategies and competencies, both companies face different challenges. However, both face a phase of restructuring. Philips is currently going towards a Transnational organization where their approach of marketing is changing, being different in each country, and where they aim to outsource more. Also, they try to communicate a shared vision. According to Bartlett & Beamish (2010) they should focus on communicating a clear (simple, relevant, and reinforced) continuous and consistent vision. This will allow for; managers to look further than their scope of responsibilities and for the company to work more functionally as a whole. Matsushita is experiencing a recent restructuring in which they decentralize further, communicate a new culture of innovation and R&D and try to remove internal competition. Matsushita should be aware of the threat of strategic isolation, where each subsidiary is too focused on their own operations and it is therefore advisory for Matsushita to refocus their executive attention to get the most out of their subsidiary components. Bartlett & Beamish (2010) give various ways to do this; by â€Å"creat[ing] channels for attention, seek[ing] out the hidden gems and give them a platform, measure[ing] returns on executive attention and giv[ing] subsidiaries a chance to contribute.† An advice to both companies is to properly manage the process of change by following â€Å"the emerging change process† starting at changing individual attitudes and mentalities and then the interpersonal relationships and processes before changing the formal structure. Philip’s experience proves that doing this in reverse order won’t work, only this way can the organizational psychology be adapted. References: Bartlett, C. A., & Beamish, P. W. (2010). Transnational management. New York: McGraw-Hill. (Bartlett & Beamish, 2010). Volberda, H. W., Morgan, R.E., Reinmoeller, P., Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D., & Hoskisson, R.E. (2011). Strategic Management. Hampshire: Cengage Learning EMEA.