The Nurses Role in Tackling Coronary Heart Disease Essay

The Nurses Role in Tackling Coronary Heart Disease - Essay Example There are about 17 million who die from cardiovascular diseases on a yearly basis (WHO, 2011). Most of these deaths are attributed to coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular diseases. Physical inactivity, unhealthy eating habits, and smoking are just some of the causes of these diseases. In 2009, about 5000 died from coronary heart disease in Wales with about 118,000 people having had a heart attack at some point and about 120,000 more suffering from angina. This disease also cost the NHS about 3.2 billion pounds with about 9 billion pounds cost to the entire UK economy (BHF, 2011, p. 2). The trends in the incidence of CHD are largely based on social patterns with mortality rates higher for the deprived areas, as compared to the least deprived areas. The rates of CHD in Wales are slightly higher as compared to the rest of England with male incidence rates higher than 10% as compared to the rest of England. Behaviours commonly attributed as causes for CHD include smoking, unhealthy eating, physical inactivity, and heavy intake of alcohol (BHF, 2011, p. 2). Obesity, increased cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes are considered risk factors for the development of coronary heart disease. Coronary heart disease, also known as coronary artery disease is said to affect about 14 million men and women in the US (Singh, 2010). It develops when fatty materials, calcium, and scar tissue accumulates in the arteries supplying the heart with blood. These arteries are arteries crucial to the efficient functioning of the heart with such heart muscles being supplied with oxygen and nutrients to enable heart functions (Singh, 2010). This plaque narrows the arteries and as a result, the heart does not get an adequate supply of oxygen-filled blood. With narrowed blood vessels, the blood flow to the heart becomes slower and causes chest pain or angina (Singh, 2010). With continued plaque formation, complete blockage of arteries may result, causing a heart attack (myocardial infarction) or disturbance in heart rhythms leading to sudden cardiac arrest. From years of its earliest development, the inner linings of the coronary arteries are very smooth and this allows the smooth and easy p assage of blood through the different systems of the body. As a person gets older, the cholesterol and calcium content in the arterial walls accumulate, making them thicker (Singh, 2010). The plaque formation on the arterial walls is primarily caused by unhealthy diets, including one which is high in fats and cholesterol. Smoking and limited activity or exercise can increase the plaque formation. This process is known as atherosclerosis or the hardening of the arteries (Singh, 2010). This plaque forms like a firm shell, but has a soft inner core where cholesterol is stored. When blood hits such plaque

UK Courts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

UK Courts - Essay Example Some arguments specifically identify the choice to eliminate trial by jury in the most complex fraud cases, suggesting that such cases can be more appropriately heard by a panel of judge or judge and magistrates. Attorney General Lord Goldsmith states â€Å"it is about justice...making sure serious fraudsters are brought to trial" (BBC News, 2005). Kevin Martin, president of the Law Society is against the new proposal, as he suggests That the problem does not lie with juries, but with poor management of court cases. There is concern that doing away with juries will erode public confidence in the legal system. This is a legitimate concern. Lack of confidence in the legal system may lead to lack of cooperation with police and others who serve to uphold the law. Interviews with UK citizens indicate that while the jury system can be flawed, it should be maintained in all cases. A poll of UK citizens by News Online provides as with insight into public opinion. One UK citizen believes tha t the jury system should be upheld at all costs, as failing to do so would allow the state to relinquish its authority to the victims, in deciding punishment. Another feels that trial by â€Å"jury of one’s peers† is still the most fair, claiming that judges are made up of social elite, â€Å"deciding the fate of us, the common folk† (News Online Poll, 2001), which would lead to injustice.

Employees Perception About Merger Management Essay

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

Presidential Rhetoric and Campaign Essays -- essays research papers

Presidential Rhetoric and Campaign Osama bin Laden   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Osama bin Laden is a political icon to the people of Afghanistan. He has created a modern day crusade against western civilization that people support because of his rhetorical ability to create, not only through speech, but also through his actions, an insightful philosophy that has moved thousands of people into action against the United States. He was able to achieve this because he chose a religious path that people supported; he took influential persons in his life and his familial background into his radical stance on Islamic government and created an historical movement that has affected thousands of people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Osama bin Laden was born into a wealthy Saudi family that owned a very successful construction company, the Saudi bin Laden Group. This company was started by bin Laden’s father, Muhammed. With this company, Muhammed bin Laden was able to build three of the most religious mosques located in Medina, Mecca, and Jerusalem. Osama bin Laden, in his later years would take this as one of the greatest honors bestowed upon his family. (â€Å"Through Our Enemies’ Eyes† pg. 82) His father, besides building the religious mosques, left his fifty-two children, including Osama, with a very strong devotion to Islamic religion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Because of this strict background with Islamic religion Osama bin Laden attended schools located in Medina and in Mecca. Both places provided Osama with alliances that supported him in his beliefs, in the past and in the present with his education at both secondary and university levels. Throughout his education, he came across three of the most influential people in his life, Taqi al-Din Ibn Tammiyah, Mohammed Qutb (a.k.a. Sayyid Qutb Ibrahim Husayn Shadhill) and Shaykh Abdullah Azzam.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mohammed Qutb is referred to as the â€Å"brains behind Osama.† (http://www.nwe.ufl.edu/~jdouglas/F02finalart9.pdf). During the late 1940’s Qutb spent a few years as an educator. During his time there, he experienced things that completely turned him off to the ways of the west. He described the U.S. as â€Å"materialistic and occupied with topics of money, cars, and movie stars.† He also described Americans as, â€Å"crass people who were generally disinterested in life’s spiritual and aesthetic d... ...ma bin Laden is able to capture and maintain the interest of thousands of Al-Qaeda members. He uses his experiences, his current involvement with the Islamic world, and his hatred for western societies in order to convey an easily readable message to his listeners. They find it easy to support him because of the basis for the Al-Qaeda code, which, in general, is to create an Islamic based society that is free of outside enforcements. Many members of the Al-Qaeda already believe and stand for this idea. Thus, Osama bin Laden has created a message that provokes emotional response from his followers and has been able to maintain that emotion throughout all of the trials and tribulations that came along with the terrorist attacks. Bibliographies Anonymous. Through our enemies' eyes : Osama bin Laden, radical Islam, and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  the future of America. 2002. http://www.nwe.ufl.edu/~jdouglas/F02finalart9.pdf http://www.ummah.org.uk/ikhwan/ http://ddc.aub.edu.lb/projects/pspa/al-ahbash.html http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=fundamentalism http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/manualpart1_1.pdf http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Dec2001/d20011213ubl.pdf

Mendel Paper Company Essay

According to the text, a break-even point can be computed for any assumed mix of sales and a break-even chart or P/V graph can be constructed for any sales mix (2012). For (a) – the Break even= Contribution Margin from the original estimates is $1,013,000 and for (b) – the Margin of Safety, take the grand total sales number of all items and the total contribution margin and subtract it: $1,013,000 – 2,480,000 = $1,467,000 and to get the percentage, take the total from the subtracted formula ($1,467,000) and divide it by the grand sales total (2,480,000) = $1,467,000/2,480,000 = 59.15%. Revised Estimates – Break-even/Margin of Safety (4) For (a) – the Break even= Contribution Margin from the original estimates is $992,500 and for (b) – the Margin of Safety, take the grand total sales number of all items and the total contribution margin and subtract it: $992,500 – 2,550,000 = $1,557,500 and to get the percentage, take the total from the subtracted formula ($1,557,500) and divide it by the grand sales total (2,550,000) = $1,557,500/2,550,000 = 61.08%. Herbert’s Concern – (5) Herbert should not be concern about the place mats because the contribution margin is the second highest of the four products and the highest contribution margin per unit of the four products. Granted if the place mats were to be closed, it would reduce the profit of the company, but from the original estimates and the revised estimates, the place mats are generating contribution margin. In regards to the variable cost, it is below the selling price, but the place mats should not be discontinued. Conclusion Herbert from Mendel Paper Company should not be concern about the place mats, the data is there to help Herbert realize that that the place mats bring in profit than making the company lose profit, especially with it being the second highest CM. A company should not discontinue an item if the item is making the company some type of product, but if there are other variables involved such as updated machinery that requires more time and energy that costs the company more money, than the company should look at the things that are not doing as well and that does not have a high demand for. References Managerial accounting: Decision making for the service and manufacturing sectors. (2012). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.

Software Design Specification Document Essay

1. Introduction 1.1 Purpose of this document  describes the purpose of the document, and the intended audience. 1.2 Overview  provides a brief overview of the product defined as a result of the requirements elicitation process. I am working for M. Bufton which is a small engineering/prototyping company, which is in the process of expanding. They currently have a small workshop unit and office, but are looking to expand into the adjoining building. They have 20 PCs that are of mixed age and specification as well as 4 laptops. In addition to their office machines they have 2 CAD/CAM machine tools, an extrusion polymer 3D printer and a full (manual) machine shop. They employ 30 staff in various roles. Mrs Megan Bufton is a Newtown native, and speaks Welsh as her first language. All of the reports and other documentation need to take this into account. Initially, I have been tasked with improving the basic processes, procedures and documentation required for their business systems. However due to their rapid growth in the use of 3D printing the company is planning to franchise their operation and with the help of their intended franchisees open additional sites across the country as soon as possible. The company proprietors have decided that in order for their business to expand further and create a brand recognised as offering a wide choice of rapidly designed and developed products with simplicity of operations they  need strong support systems for franchisees. To keep costs low they will need a computerised system to manage all the company’s orders. The company’s proprietors have heard about databases but have no idea what they are or how they will benefit the company. Bufton’s company currently collects all regular orders in an Excel spreadsheet. They find the spread-sheet difficult to use and keep having to type in the same data for each customer order, which has led to data entry errors and subsequent inconsistencies in the data held. The spread-sheet doesn’t allow for effective retrieval of information and does not offer any reporting facilities for printing off documents such as invoices and outstanding payments. As their resident IT specialist I been seconded into developing a system based on database software to deal with Bufton’s orders. 2. General Description 2.1 Product Functions Describes the general functionality of the product, which will be discussed in more detail below. 2.2 User Characteristics Describes the features of the user community, including their expected expertise with software systems and the application domain. Directness I have made the program as direct as possible. You can search forms for specific data, add data, delete data with cascading updates and deletes and you can view reports for a quick overview of your data. The program does not have any unnecessary features. User in control The user can modify the system how they like, they can create new reports for specific criteria, they can view the data any way they like and have clear, easy to use buttons on the forms to navigate through them with ease. Consistancy The forms, reports and database is consistant, the layouts are the same and they look similar and proffesional. The navigational buttons are all in the same place and are the same size. I have added a picture to the company form as I was going to have a different related background on each but I didn’t have time to change the photo or seasrch for other related images for the other forms. Forgiveness My error messages contain a clear description of which characters must be entered into the field, you can then click ok and edit your entry. You cannot click onto another field untill the field you are on contains the right criteria. Feedback I have used reports for clear viewing of data so you can see clearly and quickly what stock is selling etc and I have input masks and validation rules on many fields so if the wrong information is entered an error message will appear. This helps to keep the referential integrity. Aesthetics I have made the database as logical as possible with fields in the right order and I have made the reports and forms as eye pleasing as possible by using pictures, colours and a consistant layout. Simplicity Using forms and reports I have made inputting data and pinpointing data as easy as possible. I have used a well known program to develop my software so most people will know how to use it anyway, I have also made a switchboard where the user can go from a menu to any form they want to view and a button on each form to take you back to the menu, ready to select another form.