Brainstorming & Applied Imagination

Brainstorming has a long history that stretches back to almost 3000 years, although it owes its current popularity to efforts of Alex Osborn in 1950s through his seminal work Applied Imagination (Proctor, 1999, 114; Sutton and Hargaddon, 1996). Osborn used brainstorming with an objective to increase creativity within organizations. In his surmises, creativity in organizations was impeded by hostile environment to new ideas that discouraged people from coming forth with their views and opinions.Further development of brainstorming has been result of Osborn’s commitment to encourage employees to come out freely with their ideas (Paulus and Brown, 2003, 110). Brainstorming gained rapid popularity due to its simplicity, its fun elements, its therapeutic abilities and its proven effectiveness in stimulating creativity and emergence of new ideas (Davis, 1973, 90). In brainstorming participants are encouraged to come openly with their ideas of wildest sort, without being interfered, and criticized, that leads to combination and improvement of ideas (Sutton and Hargaddon, 1996).Techniques of Brainstorming Generally brainstorming techniques are divided into two main categories that are a) Unstructured; b) Structured (Proctor, 1999, 114). While the unstructured brainstorming doesn’t involve any established procedure, resulting in unproductive efforts, the structured brainstorming proceeds through some set rules that make it a very effective technique. These rules and principles, suggested by Osborn in the early 1950s are (ibid) 1. No criticism: Criticism is not permitted during brainstorming session to help in uninhibited flow of ideas2. Quantity is encouraged: Large number of ideas increases likelihood of effectiveness of session 3. Unrestrained ideas: Brainstorming sessions encourages participants to come out with any idea, no matter how wild it appears. This helps people in coming out of their fears and express their views openly 4. Improvement of ideas: Brainstorming also encourages people to suggest in improving ideas of other people and suggest ways by which various ideas can be combined in unison, for greater efficiency. Benefits of BrainstormingThese techniques of brainstorming have helped in reaching solutions to various kinds of problems within organizations. As reported by Proctor (1999, 116) brainstorming has proved very effective in coming out with solutions of problems that pertain to Issues of reducing time in production line, 1. finding ways to handle shop lifting 2. In marketing and sales segment where within a short time a large number of concepts, punch lines and creative names are required. However the same techniques of brainstorming do not yield desired result if problem is too technical or require special expertise that cannot be suggested by other people.Today brainstorming has become synonymous with creative thinking and infusion of imaginative solution to problems that come in organizational setups. The basic concept of brainstorming is to achieve a synergy of ideas that helps to break situation of deadlocks. It helps in generating ideas and then narrows down attention to their detail whereby from a number of available options the optimum course is selected. Thus it creates a sequence where participants themselves become proponents of ideas and their judge to weed out the ineffectual concepts and retain only those that carry sufficient potential with them (Proctor, 1999).The distinct advantage of brainstorming is that it helps in bringing forth a number of ideas through creating a light and interactive atmosphere where one idea is instigator of many other ideas, and even an absurd suggestion acting as a stimulant for relevant ideas. The other advantage of brainstorming is that it is a therapeutic procedure in overstressed atmospheres where people are given opportunities to speak up, present their views, receive feedback and share their ideas with others (Davis, 1973).There are numerous instances where brainstorming has successfully delivered the solution to problems that had flummoxed organizations. Effectiveness of Brainstorming Although the effectiveness of brainstorming is demonstrated through various experiments and test groups, there is a controversy whether group brainstorming is more effective than solitary brainstorming (Paulus and Brown, 2003). As mentioned by Sutton and Hargaddon (1996), a majority of experiments conducted on techniques of brainstorming have come out with different observation on the thesis of Osborn.Their findings revealed that although group brainstorming is a widely accepted method for inspiring creativity, revamping business operations and bringing improvement in industrial and manufacturing processes, controlled tests have shown that compared to individuals thinking alone, the productivity output of group brainstorming is lower. Further findings by Mullen, Johnson and Salas (1991) suggest that in some cases groups consisting of more than two members have shown comparatively lower productivity than that of individual thought process.However, on exploring the reasons of lower productivity, its found some of them result from improper application of Osborn’s fundamental rules. The three main reasons suggested for lower productivity in group brainstorming are 1. Fear among group members in freely expressing their ideas, anticipating negative feedback by their group partners 2. Lower level of accountability, where member tend to go reckless and literally get focused on coming out with only wild and impractical ideas 3. Sometimes over generation of ideas by some individuals block idea generation process of other individuals who loose the coherence of their thought process.Electronic Brainstorming Application of information technology and computer analysis methods to brainstorming has provided new tools in hands of researchers to measure the effectiveness of brainstorming and improve its outcome by balancing te chnological capabilities with the situational requirements. Meeting styles within groups, in the words of Dennis (1994) have largely resorted to electronic communication styles that offers benefits of â€Å"parallelism, direct access to meeting memories and anonymity offered by pure electronic communication†.Group brainstorming has seen emergence of new techniques such as Group Decision Support System, Electronic Meeting System, Groupware, and Group Support System. Some of these methods help the group members to interact with each other by help of networked computers that facilitate instant communication, messaging, sharing of ideas and joint coordination. In addition members can highlight key issues on discussion on common large electronic blackboard that is visible to every group member (Dennis, 1994).Apart from the benefits of parallelism, access to meeting memories and anonymity of individual, the electronic brainstorming session also provides the facility of media richne ss, i. e transmission of complex information. Studies have shown that a combination of electronic communication and verbal communication produces better media richness than what either of them are capable of achieving alone (Dennis, 1994). Electronic brainstorming has received great boos by application of EBT or Electronic Brainstorming Tool that has been designed to assist researchers who are interested in method of electronic brainstorming (Clapper, 1995).The tool provides users with a simple interface to help in sharing and developing ideas for effective communication, leading to greater media richness. Reeference Clapper DL, 1995, EBT: a Tool for Electronic Brainstorming Researchers. Journal of Organizational Computing. Volume: 5. Issue: 1, Page Number: 22 Davis, GA, 1973, Psychology of Problem Solving: Theory and Practice, Basic Books, New York Dennis AR, 1994, Electronic Support for Large Groups, Journal of Organizational Computing, Volume: 4. Issue: 2, Page Number: 177Hargado n A, Sutton RI, 1996, Brainstorming Groups in Context: Effectiveness in a Product Design Firm, Administrative Science Quarterly. Volume: 41. Issue: 4, 685 Mullen, Brian, Craig Johnson, and Eduardo Salas, 1991, Productivity loss in brainstorming groups: A meta-analytic integration, Basic and Applied Psychology, 12: 2-23 Paulus PB, Brown VR, 2003, Group Creativity: Innovation through Collaboration (edit),Bernard A. Nijstad, Paul B. Paulus, Oxford University Press. New York Proctor, T, 1999, Creative Problem Solving for Managers, Routledge London

Human Resourse Management in Pakistan

HUMAN RESOURSE MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN (Major Human recourses challenges in Pakistan public health system, Human Recourse system policies and ways to address those challenges) Introduction Human resources are the heart of the health system and health care managers have a critical role in determination of performance of the system [1]. Our savings and investment level can be raised only when we are in a position to convert our unproductive and underutilized human and natural resources into dynamic and self-sustained capital and potential accelerator of economic growth.The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined the health workforce as â€Å"all people primarily engaged in actions with the primary intent of enhancing health†. This definition is consistent with the WHO definition of health systems as comprising all activities with the primary goal of improving health. The health workforce is one of the most important pillars of the health system. Adequate numbers and quality o f health workers have been positively associated with successful implementation of health interventions, including immunization coverage, outreach of primary care, and infant, child and maternal survival. 2] Human Resource Management is a key to improve productivity of people in the organization. Good Human resource management approach with strategic, ethical and social responsibility which further help to achieve organization goal and objectives. Human Resource management is an art to transform changes as employee commitment and opportunity through developing their knowledge & skills and motivating them. In developing country human resource players are considered necessary since they can serve as intellect of an organization.A loyal, dedicated, skilled, efficient and productive human resources is valuable assets of an organization but not reflected on the balance sheet. [3] Pakistan story In 1947, Pakistan was created as British rule came to an end in India. In 1971, East Pakistan demanded independence, and after a bloody civil war it was transformed into what is now the country of Bangladesh. As one of the most crowded countries in the world, Pakistan faces enormous economic and social crises.Fortunately, however, it possesses an abundance of natural resources that can help it overcome these challenges [4] Pakistan is blessed with huge natural and human resources but most of these are in crude form. â€Å"According to official data, there are 127,859 doctors and 12,804 health facilities in the country to cater for over 170 million people. † [5] â€Å"Infant mortality rate: 72/1,000 live birth, Maternal mortality rate: 260/100,000 live birth instead having 7. 8 Physicians/10,000 population, 3. Nurses and midwifes/10,000 population; overall 11. 6 Health care workforce /10,000 population in the country† [6] In Pakistan the health system remains functionally weak and the quality of health services is poor, despite very old constitutional support fo r health care as a right and a large Ministry of Health at federal and provincial levels [7, 8]. In Pakistan health sector performance has not been evaluated in terms of inputs, processes or activities and outputs for different types of resources including human resources.Very little is known about compositions of health managers, their skills, and training, and spec ifically the policy for deployment. The first and foremost prerequisite for human resources progress is the proper attention to the health sector. No nation can dream of acquiring preeminence in any field with sick and disabled persons so developed nations invest quite a hefty amount in their health sector. In Pakistan, unfortunately, due attention is not paid to this important sector.Human resources for health have recently been emphasized as a central component in providing a stronger health system to achieve the Millennium Development Goals [9]. Absence or nonimplementation of appropriate human resource policies that address appropriate numbers of staff, their qualifications, deployment, working conditions, and gender distribution are associated with many problems in the health work force [10]. Frequency of turnover of key managerial staff has also been associated with poor system performance [11]. Human Resource Development and Management challengesPakistan has been categorized as one of 57 countries that are facing an HRH crisis, below the threshold level defined by WHO to deliver the essential health interventions required to reach Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 [12]. Health workforce strategy is usually low on a country’s agenda, despite the understanding that scaling-up health interventions to reach MDGs is not possible without a minimum level of health workforce. National health workforce strategies require reliable and timely information, rational system analysis and a firm knowledge base.However, data analysis, research on HRH and technical expertise are still underd eveloped in many countries, in part due to low investment in HRH [13]. Pakistan’s new draft National health policy 2009 mandated the development of strategies in various key areas, including HRH [14] There is a lack of clear long-term vision for human resource development and the federal MOH or provincial DOH does not have a unit, responsible for such an important health system function. [15] The imbalances in health workforce in terms of cadre, gender and distribution are well known in Pakistan.The public sector continues to heavily invest its scarce resources in the development of medical colleges and universities rather than investing in improving quality and quantity of nursing institutions, public health schools and technicians training institutions. In the context of health system development, there is a serious shortage of qualified health system specialists such as health and human res ource planners, health economists, health information experts and health system and hospital managers.Pre -service training of health professionals follows traditional methods and there is a mismatch between educational objectives, which focus on hospital based care, instead of addressing the needs of the communities for promotive, preventive curative and rehabilitative services. The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC) is responsible for registration, licensing and evaluation of the medical and dental practitioners, the attempts made by PM&DC have not materialized yet.Regulation of private practitioners and different traditional categories of medical practice such as homeopathic doctors and Yunani Hakims is non-existent. Human Resource in health care is not appropriately planned in Pakistan, with the result that there are more doctors than nurses, dearth of trained midwives, urban concentration, brain drain from rural to urban areas and abroad, along with other issues related to curriculum, quality of graduates and their continuing supervision.The service structure for health workers is poorly defined it, favors tenure over competence, largely ignores technical capacities and does not allow incentives or rewards for performance. The conduct of education for medical, nursing and related cadres is mostly conventional and does not utilize recent developments in the field of medical education. Though curricula have been revised from time to time, in majority of cases they are not locally contextualized and are not based on competencies and skills.There is no organized system for continuing medical education for any health providers who are also largely unsupervised and at times ill equipped with newer knowledge/skills to tackle emerging diseases. This holds true for management cadres as well. The health system is currently not conducive to nurses, midwives and allied health professionals playing pivotal roles in ensuring the provision and delivery of effective primary health care services in th e absence of doctors.Health authorities hav e yet to be convinced that PHC services can be successfully provided and delivered by nurses, midwives and allied health professionals making up local teams with the relevant staffing complement and skills mix. [14] All publicly employed doctors are forbidden from practicing privately and many of them receive non practicing allowances as part of their non salary allowances under the law of the country, That notwithstanding, most of them run lucrative private sector clinics while working in hospitals and often use the public sector leverage to boost practices in private facility settings.A number of unethical practices such as refusing to see patients i n hospitals and referring them to private clinics are well established and are almost regarded as a conventional norm. Provider-driven over-consumption of health services, over-prescription, and over-use of diagnostics as well as violation of ethical guide lines in clinical practice are well established in Pakistan. In terms of the et hics of health care alone, frequent violations of the four basic principles of: the Right to autonomy, Right to privacy, Right to choose and Right to information are often seen. 17] High rate of frequent transfer and posting is also a major reason of low levels of performance in public health sector. A study was conducted on the 54 top provincial offices in the government of Sindh Department of Health over the period of 24 years (1981-2004). There were 689 transfers/postings made in the 54 key offices studied over the 24 year time period. Almost half (48. 9%) of these postings lasted no longer than 1 year. The offices affected highest were tertiary/district care hospitals (54 tim es) and district health offices (37 times) respectively. 18] Recommendation and priority actions towards Human resource development Since the Pakistan is enriched with human resources there is emerge need to develop strategy for optimum utilization of it especially in public heath sector. WHO reviewed the h ealth system of Pakistan and suggested that there is need to develop a clear policy and strategies for human resource development according to the longer term stated health development vision for Paki stan and to the more pressing requirements of improving health service delivery in the country .The report emphasize on mapping of health care providers and institutions through a national human resources for health (HRH) observatory, which should bring together all stake holders involved in human resource development. It suggested that to deal with standard setting and regulatory functions strategic planning in human resource development at federal and provincial levels is required. It reflected the essentiality to established position such as human resource planners, health economists, health information experts and health system managers, which are attractive enough to recruit qualified and experienced persons.In addition, tackle their shortage in the short term through external fel lowships and in the longer term through the development of accredited training programs in the country. A nursing directorate should be established in the MOH in order to strengthen leadership and to address the nursing crisis. There is need to review the role of the PM&DC, CPSP and other institutions in term of new developments and planned reforms. By providing problem based training the system can reorient the production of health workforce towards more focus on public health and community needs.In order to provide the necessary support to the various reforms aimed at increasing access to health services and at improving health system performance; strengthening of partner institutions such as Health Services Academy (HSA), schools of public health, academia and professional institutions is required. Human resource policy in government bureaucracies should be developed to stabilize professional positions while having a clear transfer policy in place and improve the performanc e of the health care delivery system. 15] Efficient and effective development of a health care system needs of equitable gender distribution of women in the health workforce. [19] To meet out such needs ministry of health, Pakistan came up with national health policy in July 2009 which recommended that Federal and health authorities will play a vital role for the development of the health resource in Pakistan. This federal and Provincial Health authorities will forecast human resource needs based on requirements outlined in essential health services package and provincial strategies.It will direct and facilitate the teaching institutions in reorienting their curricula and training t o being competency-based with enhanced exposure to the community and with responsiveness to the local needs and compliance with international standards. It includes that each district will be linked to a teaching institution so that the latter can provide technical support and supervision to the former to imp rove rural health care services.All medical graduates will be recommended to be posted to rural centers for a period of at least 6 months after graduation. The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council will ensure that those undergoing post graduate training also rotate through district health centers. Provincial health authorities will appoint and retain relevant cadres of appropriate health personnel with special focus on staffing district primary care outlets and on recruiting women.Provincial health departments will track human resources for health by establishing a database of doctors, nurses, midwives and allied health professionals working in the BHUs and RHCs across each province and those in training funded by the government. [14] Conclusion A healthy population is not only valued in its own right, but it also raises the human capital of a country thereby positively contributing to the economic and social development.A considerable improvement in health sector facilities over the past year is reflected in the existing vast network of health care facilities which consist of 4712 dispensaries, 5,336 basic health units, 924 hospitals, 906 maternal and child health centers and 288 TB centers. Available HR is 122798 doctors, 7388 dentist and 57646 nurses. [20] A major strength of health care services in Pakistan is very strong outreach via about 95,000 Lady Health Workers (LHWs) and an increasing number of community midwives (CMWs).Inspite of all there is a lack of clear long-term vision for human resource development, which is necessary to address the imbalances in health workforce with appropriate skills; and improved motivation, retention and productivity; Human resources in health care are not appropriately planned in Pakistan, with the result that there are more doctors than nurses and â€Å"brain drain†, along with other issues related to curriculum, quality of graduates and their continuing supervision.The service structure for health workers is po orly defined it, favors tenure over competence, largely ignores technical capacities and does not allow incentives or rewards for performance. The conduct of education for medical, nursing and related cadres is mostly conventional and does not utilize recent d evelopments in the field of medical education. There is no organized system for continuing medical education for any health providers who are also largely unsupervised and at times ill equipped with the skills to tackle emerging diseases.National Health Policy 2010 is include a vision for the role HRH strategy can play in helping to meet the country’s goals for improving health care services for all Pakistanis. In addition, the current HRH assessment will serve as evidence for a new HRH strategy to be dev eloped and implemented by the Ministry of Health. The national and provincial authorities will comprehensibly plan and forecast their human resource requirement for next 10 years according to the proposed services in t he respective areas and take robust short term and long term steps to achieve the balance in manpower. 6] Provincial health authorities will also develop, implement and maintain a database of health human resource, including the private sector. Nationwide campaigns will be launched to promote the permanent roles that nurse, midwives and allied health professionals may play in providing and delivering effective services to the public. By: – Mr. Vikas Jain References 1. Martinez J, Martineau T. Rethinking human resources: an agenda for the millennium. Healt h Policy and Planning 1998 2. The world health report 2006: working together for health .Geneva, World Health Organization, 2006. 3. Dr. Zareen Abbasi Assistant Professor Department of Public Administration University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Human Resource Management in Pakistan , The Elite Scientific Publications, Faisalabad, Pakistan, 2009 4. World Atlas . com [http://graphicmaps. com/webimage/countrys/asia/pk. htm] 5. http:// southasia. oneworld. net/todaysheadlines/healthcare-in-pakistan-too-expensive-to-afford 6. CCF Case study, establishing an HRH coordination process, Pakistan, page 1, 2 7. Siddiqi S, Haq IU, Ghaffar a, Akhtar T, Mahaini R.Pakistan's maternal and child health policy: analysis, lessons and the way forward. Health policy 2004; page 117-130. 8. Bhutta ZA, Ali N, Hyder A, Wajid A. â€Å"Perinatal & Newborn Care in Pakistan: Seeing the Unseen! † Maternal and Child health in Pakistan. Challenges And Opportunities: Edited by Zulfiqar A Bhutta. Ameena Saiyid, Oxford University Press 2004. 9. Narasimhan V, Brown H, Pablos-Mendez A, Adams O, Dussault G, Elzinga G, et al. Responding to the global human resources crises. The Lancet 2004; page 14 -72. 10. Martineau T, Martinez J.Human resources in the health sector: guidelines for appraisal and strategic development Brussels: European Commission, Directorate General for Development, â€Å"Health and Development Series† 1997. 11. Buc han J. What difference does (â€Å"good†) HRM make? Human Resources for Health 2004 12. Global atlas of the health workforce. Geneva, World Health Organization (http://www. who. int/globalatlas, accessed 12 December 2009). 13. Narasimhan V et al. Responding to the global human resources crisis. Lancet, 2004 14. National health policy 2009. Islamabad, Ministry of Health (final draft) (http://www. health. gov. pk, accessed 5 May 2010). 5. Report of the Health System Review Mission – Pakistan, World Health Organization United Nations Children Fund, Department for International Development, United Kingdom, The World Bank, February 19-28, 2007, Islamabad 16. Corruption in the health sector in Pakistan , Pakistan Health Policy forum 17. Abdul Hakeem Jokhio B. S. , Ph. D. Department of Community Health Sciences, Aga Khan University, H ealth System Managerial Staffing Patterns: Public Sector Experience From P akistan, 18. World Health Organization. World Health Report 2003-Sha ping the future. Geneva; 2003. 19. Pakistan Economic Survey, 2007

U04d1 Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

U04d1 Case Study - Essay Example This will definitely cause numerous issues and problems, however, knowing the family, I believe that the children will come to an unanimous decision to appoint a full time nurse / medical help and to chip in and pay for the medicals and care. However there will be a complete opposition from Carl, since he loves his wife a lot and is willing to give up his life for her. With age the memory power also reduces. Also age brings about numerous other issues like irritability, and reducing skills sets. In the case of Carl, an appointment will be taken with the doctors to get immediate attention and care for him as well. The main idea of the appointment will be to get a complete body health check for Carl to assess his issues (Perls, Silver & Lauerman, 1999). I realize that the family goes through a lot missing their lost child, and lost sibling. Hence the topic will be brought out to assist them in any possible manner, emotionally. Hence to help them get through this issue, firstly we will talk of the individual concerns and the remembrance of the sibling (Kirkwood, 1999). Also a decision will be made to ensure children come to stay with parents over the

Global Marketing Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Global Marketing Communication - Essay Example The project was built with a support from the Australian filmmaker, Darius Devas. The inclusion of Devas was important as he had already travelled to Goa, India. He was allowed to document the reunion of his old friends who were there as part of Goa hippy Mecca in the 1970s. The documentary was built by collecting response from the significant personalities which were key in the entire story. At the first stage, the Dubs has come up with 13 video vignettes on the platform of Facebook. This was done on a regular basis throughout the months of March and April, 2010. The platform was chosen in the wake of customers’ growing attraction towards the online content. The project was an effort by the leading broadcast medium SBS, Freehand Television, Screen Australia and Screen NSW. The strategy was implemented in two stages. At the first stage, the Facebook Group was considered to attract the audiences. At the later stage, the Facebook fan page was included to communicate with the tar get audiences. The project started off with the introduction of ‘Goa Hippy Tribe’, an online community to connect the relevant people and communities. The community page put its effort to be linked and associated with the audience group who is passionate about the group and emotionally tied up with the Goa hippy community. The videos were related to certain themes like drug subculture, young age spirituality and trance music which can be associated with the Goa. Furthermore, the Dubs also used other media platforms like YouTube and Flickr to push its product to additional audiences. The project was a success as there was audience engagement in the making of this documentary TV series. As the people felt that they were actually involved in the making of the process. The loyalty was enormous with the feel of joint ownership. The audience base also increased through word of mouth communication. At the end stage, after the documentary was done, a fan page was created to rea ch out to a larger audience group. Through the group and fan page, the project was able to reach out to 9000 fans without spending a dollar on traditional marketing or advertising on air. Traditionally in a documentary film, there is enough research involved with a considerable number of interview processes. These are never released to the audiences (Tay, 2010). However, as those were released and were used to shape up the documentary films, people felt connected to the making process of the same leading to an emotional feeling and passion for the documentary series. Facebook also allowed the audience sot take part in the group discussion for this project leading to fetching a considerable attraction from its fans. This feeling of involvement was possible through Facebook and led to the success of the documentary series. Link between the Case and Relevant Theories Communication is one unique activity which establishes the relationship. The communication has been central to the integ rative marketing process. Dunca and Moriaty have come up with a communication based marketing model to manage the relationships. They developed a model displaying the significance of communication in the foundation of the marketing efforts. The communication seems to be one of the most significant elements of the marketing leading to the establishment of the brand relationships with

STRATEGIC ACCOUNTING & FINANCE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

STRATEGIC ACCOUNTING & FINANCE - Essay Example In the late 1980s and early 1990s there were a series of scandalous collapse of several prominent UK companies. The reasons being weak control and governance over the working of the management board and the main reason was the power and authority vested in the hands of a single person. In December 1992, the Cadbury Committee published the Code of Best Practice(hereafter, the Code) which recommended that Boards of publicly-traded UK corporations include at least three outside directors and that the positions of the Chairman and Chief executive Officer not to be held by a single individual. The purpose of this kind of separation is to enhance corporate performance and to avoid misuse of power and authority. In this essay the author discusses the effects of the Cadbury Committee on Corporate Governance and whether the split in the roles of CEO and Chairman according the Committee recommendations has increased or decreased the efficiency of companies. 1. It is mentioned in various research reports that the Code has definitely increased the general awareness of good corporate governance and it has caused several changes in the governance of companies. Mainly, the presence of independent directors on the Board has definitely increased the performance of a company. 3. ... 3. Another effect is that it has induced the turnover of top level managers in companies after the recommendations were implemented. In a study by Jay Dahya and John J. McConnell, it is evident that the implementation of the recommendations of the committee has increased the turnover of top level executives in companies in UK. This turnover of top-level executives can be voluntary and forced. But the turnover of the executives and the performance of the company shows a direct correlation. This study is very significant to show how the composition of the Board of Directors can cause a change in the performance of a company. 4. Mostly the Code mentions only recommendations voluntary measures. It is upto the necessity and discretion of the companies to implement the recommendations. But the London Stock Exchange has made it mandatory for all the Companies to comply with the Code. This step by the London stock exchange is an evidence about the credibility of the recommendations in itself. These recommendations when implemented by all the listed companies will definitely have a change in corporate governance across UK. 5. Generally, the quality of corporate governance can be measured by the flow of information inside the company. When outsiders are more in the Board of management and the CEO and the Chairmen posts are held by two different people, then there are more chances that information will be available to the shareholders. This availability of information is a cyclic process in improving the efficiency of an organization. If information is available freely the shareholders will have better idea about what is happening inside the Board. This information can play

Closely watched Buffet recalculating his bets Essay

Closely watched Buffet recalculating his bets - Essay Example Even financial wizards like Mr. Buffet took a beating, amounting to around $25 billion in personal losses. However proving that he was made of sterner stuff, he took the initial beating and then decided to turn round this very crippling period of economic recession to his own advantage. Here he treaded paths where very few would have ventured and he dared to turn tides in his own favor. It was Mr. Buffet who advised the American government to bail out the plummeting financial market. It was again him who at the very middle of this turmoil advised all Americans to buy as many stocks as possible. And true to his given advice he led the way. Against all common sense and amidst general misgivings he decided to invest $5 billion in Goldman Sachs in September 2008. This was perhaps the boldest step ever taken by him in his entire career as a financial investor. After about eight days he declared that he was going to invest another $3billion in General Electrics which was at that time on ra ther shaky grounds. Mr. Buffet has labeled such companies as â€Å"sleeping beauties† as their stock market values are far lower than their actual book values. He believes in taking over such companies that are in turmoil and may look for takeovers or getting grounded. He invests in them by buying large amounts of stocks in the company and gets financial help in the form of concessions, in exchange. If we take a closer look at his modus operandi we will see a very sharp mind and a logical pattern of thinking behind these seemingly very absurd moves. As the Government sets off to bail out these companies to stabilize the failing economy we find that Mr. Buffet does not get any direct personal help. However, his stocks get the benefit of being bailed out by using the general taxpayers’ money. He invested in Goldman Sachs and General Electrics which all received financial bail outs from the government. So

Sonny's blues( The story) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sonny's blues( The story) - Essay Example is darkness through differentiating himself from black people who did not make it out of their miserable lives, but after the death of his loved ones and Sonny’s release from prison, he embraces his darkness through the music that binds the fears, disillusions, and dreams of his fellow black brethren. Before his mother’s death, the narrator has attained his own whiteness, where he rejects the reality of his blackness. When he gets married, he focuses on his family and raising his children. He does not even visit his mother anymore, and he has lost contact with his brother. In a sense, he has left his darkness behind. Being less dark, in other words, being whiter is critical for him because he does not want to be like any other black man. When he reads about his brother being jailed in the papers for drugs, he does not want to accept the truth e: â€Å"I didnt want to believe that Id ever see my brother going down, coming to nothing, all that light in his face gone out, in the condition Id already seen so many others† (Baldwin par. 6). By saying â€Å"others,† he spaces himself from these people. They are not him, and he is not part of them. But after the deaths of his mother and young daughter, the narrator reaches out to his brother, as he becomes more conscious of how his race impacts his social class and identity. His mother knows this, especially after what happened to her husband’s brother. She asks for her eldest to take care of Sonny: â€Å"It aint only the bad ones, nor yet the dumb ones that gets sucked under† (Baldwin par. 98). She is too painfully aware that being black in itself can push anyone to inner darkness, a darkness that is so deep and entangling that not many can escape it. When the narrator’s daughter died of polio, he realizes that pain intersects them all: â€Å"My trouble made his real† (Baldwin par. 183). From here on, he began piecing his brother together like a puzzle, which helped him understand his own identity too. The narrator