Business Communication Essay Example for Free

Business Communication Essay His vision to give young, fashion forward men and women a unique way to express their individuality through style resulted in millions of customers worldwide and propelled his designs to the forefront of the fashion industry. It all started in 1990, with a mere $1,100 in his bank account, Madden started crafting shoe designs from his Queens-based factory and the  Steve Madden  brand was born. With a lot of courage, years of experience in the footwear industry, and unique creative designs,  Steve Madden  formed his own successful enterprise. A year later, Madden introduced a redefined version of platform shoes, resulting in one of the most spectacular success stories in the early 1990s. Inspired by his favorite rock and roll stars of the 1970s, the thick, chunky heel became  Steve Maddens  signature and a phenomenon in womens shoes. Maddens footwear vision is continuously evolving. Steve once said, What inspires me is what I see people wearing on the streets of the world from New York to London and beyond. I get my ideas and inspiration from pounding the pavement all over the world. Today, fashion is dictated by individual style. To me, the fashion of the future is anything that a young guy or girl feels good wearing as long as  its put together in the right way. (www. stevemadden . com) Today, the  Steve Madden  brand represents a lifestyle. It is about embracing fashion while still maintaining that funky independence that first defined the brand 20 years ago. Expanding now into apparel and other accessories such as dresses, handbags, belts, sunwear, cold weather, outerwear and hosiery,  Steve Madden  is always looking toward to the future. As 2013 begins, more exciting opportunities are on the horizon including re-packaging, new store design rollout and expansion in global markets. The days when the future did not seem so bright In April 2002, Mr. Madden found that neither his investors nor federal judges take too kindly to stock manipulation and securities fraud. Steve Maddens talents as a shoe designer helped him build a 240 million dollar empire in his own name. But by his own admission, that wasnt enough he was greedy for more. His greed cost him about eight million dollars and control of the very company that brought him such riches. Madden was sentenced in 2002 to 41 months in prison for his role in a stock swindle scheme coordinated by the now-closed brokerage, Stratton Oakmont. His wrongdoings include conspiring to manipulate the stock prices of more than 20 companies, including his own. And, he did it at the expense not only of the public but his own investors who lost more than 100 million. Besides paying restitution, Madden had to resign as CEO of Steve Madden Ltd and leave the board of directors. He is also barred from holding a position as officer for seven years. However, he did retain a creative position until his prison sentence began that fall and will likely fill that capacity upon release later this spring. Meanwhile, those left to keep the company going in his absence quickly started their damage control efforts. A new board of directors was quickly assembled. Among those elected were Maddens brother and a corporate accounting guru. Once their former leader began repaying his debt to society, company heads began cleaning Steve Madden Limiteds financial house; making sure stock prices accurately reflected the health of the business. The company fully cooperated with the SECs investigation and hired an independent auditing company to keep watch over the process. Those days and even today, the companys financial practices are an open and well-kept book. Anyone could get the latest financial news from the same site by loging on to for the latest shoe designs. After heading off anymore potential legal woes, management began to focus on keeping the business itself walking tall. If the companys sales reports were any indication, not having Steve hasnt really hurt Steve Madden Limited. While the founder has been in a Florida prison, the companys management built on his vision by expanding into other areas. Steve by Steve Madden moved the company from the trendy 16 to 24 year old demographic into upscale footwear for a more mature crowd. The company licensed Candies and Unionbay footwear for men. Rather than try and replace or substitute Maddens design eye, they took what they had and introduced it to new markets. It worked. According to company reports, nearly all of the brands have increased profit margins and inventory levels. In a press release, management expressed hope that their profits would have increased in 2005 as compared 2004 (which actually happened). 2. Corporate Communication after the Bad Publicity But prison didnt break Steve Madden—or his company. Like so many of todays celebrity convicts, from Martha Stewart to Paris Hilton, Madden says he emerged a changed person. He served out his sentence, doing yardwork, teaching business classes to other inmates, reading four books a week (from The Devil Wears Prada to David McCulloughs Truman) and pumping iron obsessively. I used to wear this tank top in prison, he says. And Id stare at myself and flex. I never did that before. He even got married, to a Madden employee who came for regular visits. And when he was released in April 2005, Madden says, he was stronger physically, mentally, spiritually than hed ever been. After the return of Steve Madden from prison, he decided not to shy away from the imminent release of its namesake founder fro m prison. The company was promoting the return of its creative leader in a series of eye-catching posters and print advertisements, and is having some fun with it in the process. While the ads do not say where Madden has been, one suggests, in a wink-wink kind of way, that Mr. Madden has not been on a sabbatical, a secret mission or up the  Amazon  collecting snakes: A new meaning for the word spring time. Steve returns. Spring 2005. The company had launched a rather interesting press campaign celebrating Steve Maddens upcoming release from prison. One features a girl wearing an ankle bracelet and another features an empty pair of shoes with the words, Theres one pair of shoes thats been impossible to fill. Steve returns Spring 2005. Others allude to Madden getting sprung in Spring 2005. Financial Dynamics, the shoe retailers investor relations agency, says the campaign is a positive way of dealing with the prison sentence. It makes light of the companys troubles, sending a message that the board is over it and customers should feel the same way. Its also a sure fire way to get people talking about the brand. When it comes to sales, the only bad publicit y is no publicity. Once upon a time, a company, particularly one that sold products to the public, would shun publicity if it possibly could when a senior executive encountered legal woes. The idea that a company especially one like Steve Madden, which sells shoes mostly to teenage girls and women in their 20s would actually run ads calling attention to its leaders prison past would have flabbergasted experts in fields like brand identity, advertising and public relations. I love controversy; I love pushing the envelope, but when you have a younger customer you have a responsibility to take the law and authority seriously, said James LaForce, partner at LaForce Stevens in New York, a marketing communications agency specializing in fashion and entertainment clients. That was of course before Martha Stewart, whose public image has, by initial measures, seemingly gained in stature after her release from federal prison. A colorful paper flap decorated with a photograph of her cradling a chicken, declaring Welcome home, Martha, was attached to the cover of Aprils Martha Stewart Living magazine, published by  Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Companies like Mr. Maddens and Ms. Stewarts may also be more likely to embrace their convicted executives, since those executives have plenty of influence in the boardroom. Reticence about an executives past also predates a world in which rappers can find the sales of their music increasing in seeming lock step with the severity of their scrapes with the law. Its in now to be out, out of prison, that is, said Paul Cappelli, chief executive at the Ad Store in New York, an advertising agency that creates campaigns for brands like  JetBlue. I could see myself suggesting something like this to a client, Cappelli said, that instead of ignoring the 5,000-pound elephant in the corner, you might as well bring it out into the open and make hay of it. Robert Passikoff, who has been tracking consumer response to the Martha Stewart brand as president of Brand Keys in New York, a brand and customer-loyalty consultant, said that his index of its value had recently risen. The index has climbed to 96, Mr. Passikoff said, compared with a bottom of 62 lower than  Enron, he said before she entered prison. (The peak was 122 in May 2002. ) Is the new badge of honor, I served my time? We are not sure it doesnt ultimately hurt, even if the American public is largely forgiving when people serve their time. The campaign is trying to make him the face of the brand but who wants the face with numbers under it? Steve Madden is different from Martha Stewart, because unlike her, he was never the brand. He was the label, so a lot of people dont know who the guy was and didnt know he went to jail. That has worked to Steve Maddens advantage so far,, citing the history of the Madden brand index: It was 110 before Madden went to prison and fell only slightly, to 106. However, it is worth mentioning that consumers seem to be more forgiving about men than women. Brian Russak, a senior editor at Footwear News in New York who covers Madden, said: It seems like an obvious play to Martha Stewart, but I have to wonder whether that resonates with Maddens consumers. We often say here the target consumer doesnt know there is a Steve Madden. Trey Laird, president and executive creative director at Laird Partners in New York, an advertising agency that creates campaigns for fashion and apparel brands like DKNY and Gap, also drew distinctions between Madden and Stewart. The Madden ads are kind of cute and clever, but this is not a Martha Stewart situation, when the whole country is watching because shes a cultural icon. I dont feel most consumers know about Steve Maddens sentence, he added, or if they knew, they forgot about it. The Madden campaign can be perceived as a parody of Ms. Stewarts story meant to get people talking about the brand, Laird said, particularly because the Madden brand has never been a brand that has taken itself seriously. For instance, a recent Madden campaign featured caricatures of its customers with comically oversized heads. A statement by Financial Dynamics read: Steven Madden Ltd. looks forward to the much anticipated return of the unique talent and creative design expertise of Steve Madden in the spring of 2005. Further, the company believes the current advertising campaign embodies and enhances the Steve Madden brand. If the rise in Martha Stewart stock is any indication, getting out of prison seems to be in. The publicity generated by Maddens return could translate into increased exposure and, in turn, increase sales in the future. Plus, having him back at the head of the creative team will bring his company something it hasnt had in a while his ability to give the millions of women who buy his shoes what they want. So, If theres one thing Americans enjoy more than watching the mighty fall, its granting them forgiveness. You have to go through a process. You made your mistake, you did your time, Madden says. You have to be a little contrite to get redemption. To judge from the recent performance of his company, Maddens been forgiven—at least by that segment of the population that favors shoes with animal prints, polka dots and four-inch heels. Sales were $475. 2 million in 2006, up from $375. 8 million the year he was released, while net income more than doubled to $46. 3 million. Madden is quick to admit that hes made mistakes. But he says he wouldnt change a thing about his life. Everything Ive done has gotten me to where I am today, he says. His prison experience has clearly had an impact on his designs. The next offering from the prison groom: wedding shoes, called I Do. Its a huge market, he says. Marriage is sort of back on track. And so is Steve Madden. . The Crisis 3. 1. Chain of events In summer 2004, Maddens luck turned when he was indicted for stock fraud and money laundering in both the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York. According to the charges, Madden secretly purchased stock on behalf of the principals of two corrupt penny-stock brokerage firms Stratton Oakmont Securities of Lake Success, Long Island, and Monroe Parker, of Purchase, Westchester helping them manipulate 29 initial public offerings, including that of his own company. That same day, the Securities and Exchange Commission came after him with a civil suit alleging Madden had employed devices, schemes, and artifices to defraud. If convicted in either of the criminal cases, Madden would face up to more than twenty years in prison and several million dollars in fines. If he were to lose the SEC case, which was put on hold until the criminal cases were completed, he could be forced to pay millions more. Even worse, he ran the risk of being barred from serving as an officer or director of any public company, including his own. On the day of his arrest, while Madden was busy pleading not guilty to all charges and pledging his East Hampton country house and the Long Island homes of two friends in order to make bail, shares of Steve Madden Limited fell almost 15 percent to $11. 85 before nasdaq halted trading. Two days later, when the stock (which trades under the ticker SHOO) reopened, it fell to $6. 88. Though the stock has traded up as high as $13. 88 due to a recent rally in the footwear sector, it has yet to regain its pre-indictment momentum. The storys sad. Its a great story. Its a real American story. My old friends took me public, they turned out to be crooks, and Im innocent†, Madden has been quoted to say. While the indictment has severely damaged Steve Madden Limiteds standing on Wall Street – there was a consolidated class-action shareholder lawsuit pending against the company, and it has hired Bear Stearns to explore all possible strategic options, including an outright sale it hasnt tarnished Steve Maddens reputation as a design and marketing genius. He has some special knack at figuring out what teen girls want to wear, says Sanford Bernstein analyst Faye Landes. According to teen-market consultant Irma Zandl, who ranks Madden with Nike and Adidas in the top five brands that girls favor, his shoes are popular because they are fabulously over-the-top. Steve Maddens are not for the conservative girl, she says. If hes going to add leopard skin, hell do it ten times more outrageously than anybody else. Its for people who think less is less. Every week following his indictment, Madden used to get more than a thousand e-mails from his customers, only a handful of which referred to his legal predicament. In fact, the company not only refused to retrench, instead it was aggressively expanding. At that year’s Grammy Awards, the company made a bid for high-profile customers by giving out fluffy leopard-print slippers to special guests. Three days later, at the Western Shoe Association show in Las Vegas, Madden introduced his newest product line at the time: Steve Madden Mens. 3. 2. The players While Madden was working his way up in the shoe industry, his best friend, Danny Porush, was stuck in a rut. After five years at Boston University, he left without getting a degree and bounced from job to job, working for, and starting up, a variety of small businesses, including an ambulance company called SureRide Ambulette. In 1988, while watching his son in the playground of his Bayside, Queens, apartment complex, he met an unlikely mentor: a dental-school dropout and former door-to-door meat and seafood salesman named Jordan Belfort. A short, brash, young Jewish guy, Belfort boasted he was making $50,000 a month selling penny stocks out of a boiler room in Great Neck. As Porush would later testify, Belfort confided the business was half a scam, but the chance to increase his income tenfold was a siren call Porush couldnt resist. Two days after they met, he closed down SureRide and joined the firm. Using fanciful scripts, the brokers Belforts childhood friends from Queens, Porushs golf buddies, money-crazed kids recruited from Long Island college campuses sold and manipulated tiny, high-risk IPOs, according to testimony, by grossly exaggerating their prospects, boasting that they had inside information, and generally saying whatever was necessary to make a sale. Their underwritings encompassed a vast array of low-rent businesses and all had the same trading pattern the stocks would soar when they touted them but then come crashing down when the brokers unloaded their stakes. In 1992, Steve Madden made a decision that at the time seemed natural enough: He hired his best friends firm to be his banker. While Madden knew that the SEC had already accused Stratton of engaging in price manipulation and employing high-pressure sales tactics, he considered it a legitimate company. They cleared through Bear Stearns, Madden recalls, pointing out that Strattons link to the giant firm gave it an aura of respectability. Besides, Stratton was not only willing to raise capital for Steve Madden Limited in the private markets, it wanted to take the tiny, unproven company public. Like his friend Porush, Madden was going to enter the big leagues. On December 13, 1993, only seven months after the first (and, at that time, only) Steve Madden shoe store had opened on Broadway in SoHo, Stratton Oakmont took the company public at $4 a share. The most active stock on the nasdaq on the day of its offering, SHOO closed at $8 a share, a huge gain in the pre-Internet era. Just a few months later, it sunk to $3. With only $5. 3 million in sales, a net loss of $900,000, and a boom-bust trading history, the company simply seemed to be nother one of Strattons overhyped IPOs. But it wasnt. In 1994, Madden surprised his critics. With hardly any advertising, Madden increased sales by almost 40 percent. The next year, sales tripled to $39 million, prompting Madden to hire Rhonda Brown, the former merchandise president of Macys East, to become his chief of operations. Soon, Madden had celebrity customers Carmen Electra, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Neve Campbell, Alyssa Milano, Mary J. Blige. By 1997, the company was generating $59 million in total sales, operating seventeen stores, and introducing a clothing line designed for a customer who doesnt break the law but does break the rules. That spring, in a lengthy profile in  Footwear News,  Madden compared his company to an underground rock-and-roll band that gets its first hit single. Meanwhile, over in lake success, Porush and Belfort were struggling to stave off failure. While they were still raking in tens of millions a year from stock manipulations, regulators were working to put Stratton out of business. In March 1994, they nearly did: As part of a settlement with the SEC, Belfort was barred from the securities industry for life. But Porush managed to garner a lighter sanction, barred for just one year from supervising other brokers. In the wake of the ruling, Belfort continued to control the firm through Porush. Inevitably, though, the relationship between the partners soured. In January 1997, the company eventually filed for bankruptcy. By that time, Gregory Coleman, an agent in the FBIs securities-fraud squad at 26 Federal Plaza, had been investigating Stratton for several years. In 1995, under instructions from federal prosecutors, Coleman sent out a flurry of subpoenas to some of Strattons clients, including Madden, in an effort to create a panic that would culminate in a race to the governments door. One year later, U. S. Customs officers in Miami arrested a young French private banker who worked for Union Banquaire Privee in Switzerland. The arrest was made as part of an unrelated money-laundering sting operation, but hoping to win a lighter sentence, the banker began to talk. By sheer coincidence, he had two clients who were of particular interest to the government: Jordan Belfort and Danny Porush. On September 2, 1998, just a few minutes after pulling out of the driveway of his Old Brookville mansion to take his 5-year-old daughter to the video store, 36-year-old Jordan Ross Belfort was arrested for conspiracy to commit money laundering and securities fraud. The next day, 41-year-old Daniel Mark Porush was nabbed down in Boca Raton. Faced with maximum sentences of twenty years in prison, both men came to the same conclusion: After only a week in jail, they decided to flip. It was like taking down the heads of a major crime family, says former assistant U. S. ttorney Joel Cohen, the prosecutor in the indictment. But in this case, the organized crime was the brokerage business. Porush and Belfort secretly wore wires to record their friends and dragged down dozens in their wake: lawyers and accountants, bankers and brokers. 3. 3. Effects For the government, Steve Madden was one of the biggest catches in the dragnet. The shoe mogul had been a focus of the investigation for some t ime; the SEC had cited his companys IPO as one of those that had been manipulated, and believed that Madden was routinely getting, and flipping, stock in other Stratton deals. Although some of Strattons IPOs had grown into profitable businesses, only Maddens company had become a significant success. But according to Belfort, the celebrity CEO was also a rat hole, a place to hide stock. Porush, his P. S. 1 buddy, didnt hesitate to give him up either. Madden, as he recently testified at the trial of Strattons former auditor, was deep into the fraud with us. According to the Madden indictments, the designers personal connection to Stratton began in 1991, when Madden agreed to secretly buy and sell stock in Stratton deals on Porushs behalf with the understanding that he would incur no risk. (Porush, as a principal of the firm, was restricted in his ability to trade stock in these companies. ) The deal was that Madden would earn a predetermined profit on each transaction, then kick back to Porush a significant portion of the proceeds, either in cash or by purchasing stock from Stratton that was deliberately overpriced. Once Belfort was barred from the securiti es industry in 1994, Madden allegedly entered a similar agreement with him regarding the Stratton spinoff Monroe Parker. But according to the SEC, Madden wasnt only ripping off the general investing public, he was ripping off his own shareholders as well. In early 1993, the SEC alleges, Madden agreed that the IPO of his company would be a manipulation similar to previous Stratton IPO manipulations . . . such as Master Glaziers Karate International. In exchange for his agreement to follow Porush and Belforts instructions, they allegedly promised that even if SHOO . . . went bankrupt, Madden would make money on the SHOO IPO. In addition, as Belfort recently testified at the Stratton auditors trial, Belfort had a secret deal with Steve Madden to maintain control of his company after it went public. Because Belfort and his partners had financed Steve Madden Limiteds early development, they owned a majority stake in the company before it went public. But the National Association of Securities Dealers refused to list SHOO unless Belfort then under investigation for securities fraud dramatically reduced his stake. As Belfort testified, he agreed to sell his shares to a corporation controlled by Madden to placate the NASD, but it was a bo gus transaction. Under the secret deal which we had written down and legally signed, says Belfort, he was the true owner. Belfort exerted an extraordinary influence over the company. Strattons auditor, who was a friend of Belforts, also became Maddens auditor. In 1994, after Belfort was kicked out of the securities industry, he even joined SHOO as a consultant. In addition, according to Porushs testimony, key Madden employees were given stock in Stratton IPOs as part of their compensation. (A Madden spokesperson denies such an arrangement existed. ) As Porush explained, Part of the package when we recruited people for Steve Madden was . . . because youre in with us, youll make money on every new issue. In 1997, the Belfort-Madden friendship ended abruptly around the time Belfort asked Madden to sell some of the SHOO stock he secretly owned. Madden refused, and the dispute quickly turned into a bitter lawsuit, during which Belfort produced the deal they had signed. Madden admitted the signature was his but insisted he had been manipulated and tricked into signing by someone he had trusted as my friend, business associate, underwriter, and confidant. According to Madden, the demise of the friendship actually preceded the lawsuit, when Belfort started showing up stoned for work. I have no intention of allowing Jordan Belfort to ruin SMLs bright future by threatening me or by tarnishing the companys reputation, Madden vowed at the time. Ultimately, he settled the suit for $4. 3 million in cash, an outcome that favored his adversary. In the fall of 1999, around the time the government went public with the news that Porush and Belfort had been secretly cooperating, the U. S. Attorneys Office approached Maddens personal attorney, Joel Winograd, to discuss its case against his client. Soon, rumors that Madden might be indicted began wending their way around Wall Street. . Assessment As many people saw it, the fact that Madden had an account at Stratt on doesnt mean he knew what Porush and Belfort were doing, let alone that he was in any way involved. Madden was buying stock and making money, buying stock and losing money. He made more than he lost, but he didnt know what improprieties they were involved in. As Madden himself put it in the course of his lawsuit with Jordan Belfort: My strengths as a businessman lie in the design and sale of womens shoes, and I have never been comfortable with complicated or technical legal or business documents . . . I have always relied on the people around me. When asked why Madden employed Belfort as a consultant at Steve Madden Limited in 1994, after he was barred from the securities industry, his lawyer replies, Steve Madden is a loyal friend and a devoted human being. He didnt turn his back on Jordan Belfort in his time of need. And what about the $80,000 cash kickback Madden allegedly gave to a Stratton golf buddy in the locker room of the Engineers Country Club in Roslyn, Long Island? Its totally ridiculous, says Winograd. Cash? The government can explain from here to kingdom come. There is no way Steve would have had that amount of cash, and he wouldnt have had that in a bag walking around a country club. I think these fellows have watched too many spy thrillers. Lets say Steve was fooled, Mr. Madden’s lawyer summarizes. You can be savvy in business, but you may not be savvy in love and friendship. In any case, Steve will overcome, he vows. His company will continue to have record quarters of sales and earnings, and this will have a fairy-tale ending. Perhaps. But even if Madden was acquitted in both of his criminal trials, he still lost the civil case and, control of his company. For Steve Madden Limited, such an outcome might be manageable. Mr. Madden is extremely talented and a tremendous business partner, and hes wonderful, says the companys president, Rhonda Brown. But we could continue to grow our business profitably . . . whether hes on the golf course, or whatever. For Steve Madden the man, it could be devastating. My life, he says, is my company. 5. Conclusions Throughout the paper, we have researched and debated both sides of the issue and conversely presented both approaches by those involved or ever taking interest in the matter. Some say that the fashion mogul got what he deserved, bashing him for being a fraud under a publicly endearing persona, while others, close friends and devoted customers alike, stood behind him and helped if not the man, the company itself from disaster. Should a great visionary not content himself with being the image upfront and the genius behind the empire he built and instead take charge of other key areas that make a business successful rather than trusting others, trusted friends or proven experts with managing them? That may be true and perhaps this was where Mr. Madden made the biggest mistake of all. While the case was and still is controversial, the company succeeded in overcoming the crisis and continues to be among the most profitable and booming shoe fashion business in the States.

Career and family priorities of college students

Career and family priorities of college students This study was designed to observe the career and family priorities of college students. It was studied to determine whether men and women differ in feelings towards career and family. It was hypothesized that there would be an inverse relationship between career values and the importance of family life between men and women furthermore; female students would value the family life role, whereas male would prefer the occupational life role. It was tested with the help of Life Role Salience Scale (Amatea, Cross, Clark, Bobby, 1986). Thirty female and thirty male college students rated the scale. Statistical analysis demonstrated that women valued family more than career and men valued career more than family. INTRODUCTION: Everyday decision can be related to the essence of human. In todays society, individuals are trying to do it all-to find life satisfaction through a combination of multiple roles (e.g., career, marriage, parenting, homecare). Super (1990) theorized that ones life career is made up of many different roles occupied over the life span, including the roles of career person, home and family person, community member, student, and leisurite. However, if they are not spending their time in ways that are congruent with their values, they are unlikely to find the happiness they seek. Greehaus and Beutell (1985) theorized that the more important a role is to an individual, the more time and energy that person will invest in it, which will allow less time and energy for other roles. Super discussed participation, commitment and value expectations in relation to life roles. Participation is the amount of time spent in a role, whereas commitment and values expectations reflect the importance of th e role to the individual, and the degree to which the individual can meet their needs through that role (Super Neville, 1986). Satisfaction in life is related to role congruence, which is the amount of congruence between the level of participation in each life role and the level of commitment to and valuing of that role. For example, if an individual highly values and is highly committed to the family role, but only participates in this role 5% of the time, that individual will be less satisfied with life than an individual with greater congruence between valuing/commitment and participation. Research has demonstrated that inconsistency between role participation and role commitment may cause increased psychological distress and decreased marital quality (Voydanoff Donnelly, 1999).Graduating senior women on the Berkeley campus overwhelmingly reported that they expected to be married, to have children and to have a career. Nearly nine-tenths are planning to earn graduate degrees in law, medicine, science, or business, and half expect to earn as much if not more, than their future husbands. Simultaneously, they hope to raise two or three children each and to interrupt their careers for extended amounts of time, (Six months to twelve years) in order to care for their children. Some researchers say that women place family before career and like to spend large amount of time at home, especially when their children are young. And women with children earn significantly less than either men or women without children. College women and men are quite similar in one respect they both want partners or spouses and they both want children. Ninety percent of the women and men in one of the research say that women hope to marry and have children. But one asks these students how they plan to combine their careers, marriages, and children, striking differences appear. They wanted their husbands to work continuously. It would be strange, said one, echoing the sentiments of man y, if I was at work and he was at home. But many of the men were tentative about their future wives employment. Several men stated they wanted there wives to stay home after she had children. Clearly, both women and men see the husbands job as essential to the economic well-being and survival of their future families and the wifes job as optional-a luxury they can choose to add on or take off at will. Most of the students come from fairly traditional homes-their mothers were responsible for cooking, doing the dishes, and cleaning the house while their fathers made money and fixed things around the house. Students say that mother took care of the kids and the house while father went out to work and earn money. Extensive research indicates that college men and women endorse both achievements goals such as career development and marital goals. Many researchers have found that college men and women are increasingly similar in their goals and value orientations. Scant information is avai lable about how women and men with similarly strong and equal motivations toward the achievement of goals and the maintenance of affiliative relationships will prioritize, make decisions, and interact when achievement demands and personal relationships conflict. Students reveal ignorance of the career hazards of interruptions in employment, and lack of awareness of the family sacrifices and stresses attendant to career commitment (Catalyst, 1987; Phillips Johnston, 1985; Zuckerman, 1980). As men and women in college today think about their future and plan for work and family, they are exposed to a variety of mixed messages relating to gender. Gender socialization continues to influence young peoples identities and stereotypes from the past frame choices (e.g., Angrist Almquist, 1975; Komarovsky, 1985; Machung, 1989) for students as they move into a society which, at least theoretically, permits equality of opportunities regardless of gender. Yet, participation of women in the work force has increased significantly and attitude surveys indicate that we are much more accepting of women taking active roles in our society (e.g. Mason Lu, 1988). Nevertheless, women still face considerable occupational segregation (Blau Ferber, 1985). Research suggests that women continue to oversee management of home, children and social activities of the family, while men help with household tasks (Hochschild et al., 1989) since discrimination results in women earning less money for eq ual time at work, men can justify their non-involvement in household chores because they must provide for the family. Thus, despite many changes, todays college students have grown up in traditional families where women have had to assume the majority of household tasks, whether they worked outside of the home or not. Consequently, many traditional gender expectations are maintained by the structural inequality in our society. According to Eccles, womens career choices will differ from mens because they place more value on family and relationships. Machungs (1989) interviews with 30 graduating Berkeley seniors, illustrates the contradictions which occur between the changing role of women in society and the traditional roles we still hold for women and men in the family. The women whom Machung interviewed wanted careers, but recognized that their career paths would be interrupted by family and children. The men researcher spoke to, on the other hand, planned their career with the exp ectation of having a support system (wives) to care for their homes and families. The women in other studies (e.g., Komarovsky, 1985; Maines Hardesty, 1987; Angrist Almquist, 1975) also express tentativeness of plans for their work life, in which career planning becomes contingency planning or planning around husbands and children. Women in these studies expect to be working most of their adult life, but also expect that their family will take priority over work as needed. Sociological functionalists saw employment and family in an earlier and family life in an earlier historical period as well-integrated (Parsons and Smelser 1956; Goode 1960). Only one person, the male breadwinner, participated in the labour force; the wife/mother met childcare, house-hold upkeep, and other pattern maintenance needs. Husbands and wives were thus specialists in their roles. Societal restrictions on employment for women of childbearing age reduced work/family conflict and stress. Today in our socie ty there is almost universal support in principle for equal opportunity however; traditional attitudes regarding womens family roles persist. Employed women thus experience conflict between work outside the home and family responsibilities (Mortimer and London, 1984; Mortimer and Sorensen, 1984). Pleck (1984) finds that traditional norms promote asymmetrically permeable boundaries in the roles of men and women. For men, the work role dominates; the family is expected to accommodate to its requirements. To support their work involvement, men spend relatively little time on family work. Because the male family role inextricably entails being a good breadwinner (Bernard, 1984), male workplace success simultaneously fulfills both work and family role responsibilities. On the other hand, women are expected to stress family obligations over activities related to employment. Womens work roles often give to accommodate the family (e.g., women with young children often work part-time or inte rmittently). Thus, employment doesnt radically disrupt the traditional core wife/ mother responsibilities. In essence, employed married women have two jobs, one in the workplace, the second in the family; this normative pattern has negative implications for their socio economic attainment (Marini, 1989). Therefore what normative controls used to accomplish (i.e., a women was expected to quit work when she married or had children). Adolescence is widely recognized as a critical life stage for vocational development (Erickson 1963) and crystallization of future plans. Adolescent work and family orientations are therefore expected both to reflect changing work/ family linkages and to contribute to them in the future. Public opinion trends (McLaughlin, 1988) show that widespread behavioral change (e. g., wives employment) often precedes attitudinal change (e.g., approval of wives working). Moreover, status attainment researchers have demonstrated that educational and occupational aspirations influence attainments (Sewell and Hauser, 1975). Given these reciprocal relations of work and family structures, it is important to continually monitor trends in young peoples work attitudes and behaviors. Recent research shows that future work (Farmer, 1983; Shapiro and Crowley, 1982) and family (Affleck, Morgan, and Hays, 1989; Machung 1989; Joss Elson, Greenberger and McConchie, 1977a, 1977b; Maines and Hardest, 1987) cont inue to be central life interests for adolescent boys and girls, with both planning to spend significant portions of their lives in the labor force and in families. A major gender difference persists in that girls more often plan to work part-time and intermittently rather than full-time to accommodate competing work and family role demands (Machung, 1989; OConnell, Betz, and Kurth, 1989).Young women often anticipate that career and family life will be problematic if perused simultaneously (Machung 1989; Ward and Rubin1989; Archer1985; Crowley and shapiro1982). Tangri and Jenkinss (1986)1980 survey of 1967 college female graduates showed a dramatic increase in reported conflict between career and marriage in the post graduate years. Adolescent males ,in contrast ,see their adult work and family roles as more congruent; they see few problems in wanting both careers and families(archer1985).This is to be expected since families do not impede adult mens career(Mortimer and Sorensen 198 4 ).Maines and Hardesy (1987)conclude, young men and women anticipate participating in basically the same categories of activity(education, work, family),butà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦differ in their assumptions about the nature and extent of that participation. Men expect ability and labour market opportunities to determine their futures, while women face the problem of how to integrate these various dimensions of their lives (Maines and Hardesty, 1987). Regan and Roland (1982) investigated marginal shifts in university seniors life goals and vocational aspirations, finding that they had changed over the decade of the 1970s. Women graduating in1979 expected careers to be the primary source of future satisfaction but also indicated that family relationships were still very important. Van Maanem and associates (1977) argue that an understanding of careers should focus on the interaction among individual aspirations, family concerns, and work demands. We therefore, build a measure of lifestyle co mmitment, constructed from individuals ordering of life goals, to investigate relationships. Gender differences in work and family experiences have been a consistently important theme in work-family research (Lewis Cooper, 1999). On the basis of Greenhaus and Beutells argument about the importance of role salience to the work-family conflict (Greenhaus Beutell, 1985), many scholars have hypothesized that women experience more work-family conflict than men because of their typically greater home responsibilities and their allocation of more importance to family roles. However, more recent researchers have discovered that men and women do not differ on their level of work- family conflict (Blanchard-Fields, 1997). In those studies where gender differences were found. The unanticipated results regarding gender and the work-family conflict raise the possibility that researchers emphasis on between-gender differences may mask important within-gender variation in work- family conflict. Within-gender variation may be as critical as between-gender differences in explaining work-fa mily conflict. Gender identity does not stand separate from other identity issues. Rather, it is part of a complex psychological and social process whereby men and women adopt varying degrees of traditionally masculine and feminine roles and responsibilities (Anderson Leslie, 1991). Social and cultural factors, as well as the individuals abilities and personality characteristics, mediate the relationship between gender and work-family conflict (Farmer, 1985). Thus, individual variation within gender can provide valuable information beyond the mere knowledge of gender in order to explain differences among persons regarding work-family conflict. The range of findings in the literature highlights the need to attend to the variation in mens and womens beliefs about the importance of work and family roles, rather than to generalize to all men and to all women (Kerpelman Schvaneveldt, 1999). Understanding this variation may contribute to a more coherent and comprehensive explanation of work-family conflict. The aim of this study is to explore gender differences in work-family conflict while attending to both between- and within-gender variation in perceptions of importance of work and family life roles. In the study we considered the importance attributed simultaneously to both work and family roles by both men and women. This approach should facilitate more precise understandings and may clarify some of the mixed findings of previous research concerning gender differences in work-family conflict. Role salience was typically determined by examining commitment and values regarding work or family roles (Neville Super, 1986). It is important to note that these researchers investigated work salience or home salience without simultaneously considering the relative importance of both roles in an individuals life. Much of the research on career and family orientation has disregarded the perceived relative importance of both work and family roles. As a result, these studies do not reflect the growing recognition that work and family are interdependent spheres of life (Rapport Rapport, 1971; Westman Piotrkowski, 1999). Despite the increase in womens involvement in demanding occupations and the substantial rise of womens vocational aspirations over recent decades (Gerstein, Lichtman, Barokas,1988), mens occupational goals and aspirations frequently exceed those of women. For example, Leung, Conoley, and Schell (1994) found that women generally have lower career aspirations than do comparably talented men. During socialization to work and family roles, men are traditionally raised to pursue the provider role and women the marital/ family role (Major, 1989). Many women in the West continue to be socialized to believe that being a wife and raising a family is the first priority in life and that financial independence and career advancement is secondary (Gilbert, 1993) by this findings we can anticipate that more women than men will fit the Family profile that comprises ind ividuals who assign high importance to the family and relatively low importance to work. Similarly, if young men are raised to adopt the provider role more than young women, it is likely that more men than women fit the Work profile, and assign high levels of importance to the work role and relatively low importance to family roles. By this we can say that women will be represented most often in the Family profile and least in the Work profile. Men were expected to most frequently fit the Work profile and least frequently the Family profile. In research we assumed that womens values and commitment regarding parent and spouse roles would be higher than mens. In addition, following most research findings (Major, 1993; Schwartzberg Dytell, 1996), we anticipated that mens values and commitment to the work role would be higher than that of women. Many women are expected to feel primary obligation to the family role (Schwartzberg Dytell, 1996; Tompson Walker, 1989). Many researchers ha ve found that college men and women are increasingly similar in their goals and value orientations. Scant information is available about how women and men with similarly strong and equal motivations toward the achievement of goals and the maintenance of affiliative relationships will prioritize, make decisions, and interact when achievement demands and personal relationships conflict. Students reveal ignorance of the career hazards of interruptions in employment, and lack of awareness of the family sacrifices and stresses attendant to career commitment (Catalyst, 1987; Phillips Johnston, 1985; Zuckerman, 1980). As men and women in college today think about their future and plan for work and family, they are exposed to a variety of mixed messages relating to gender. Gender socialization continues to influence young peoples identities and stereotypes from the past frame choices (e.g., Angrist Almquist, 1975; Komarovsky, 1985; Machung, 1989) for students as they move into a society which, at least theoretically, permits equality of opportunities regardless of gender. Yet, participation of women in the work force has increased significantly and attitude surveys indicate that we are much more accepting of women taking active roles in our society (e.g.. Mason Lu, 1988). Nevertheless, women still face considerable occupational segregation (Blau Ferber, 1985). Research suggests that women continue to oversee management of home, children and social activities of the family, while men help with household tasks (Hochschild, 1989; Bernardo, Shehan, Leslie, 1987; Coverman Sheley, 1986, Berk, 1985). Since discrimination results in women earning less money for equal time at work, men can justify their non-involvement in household chores because they must provide for the family. Thus, despite many changes, todays college students have grown up in traditional families where women have had to assume the majority of household tasks, whether they worked outside of the home or not. Consequently, many traditional gender expectations are maintained by the structural inequality in our society. The purpose this study was to identity the relationship between male and female college students priorities in terms of there future goals regarding career and family. It was hypothesis that there would be an inverse relationship between career values and the importance of family life between men and women furthermore; female students would value the family life role, whereas male would prefer the occupational life role. Methods Participants In the present study there were two groups consisting of total 60 subjects of which there were thirty female students and thirty male students in the age group 17-22 years. The samples were selected randomly from different colleges. Material The instrument used for the study was life role salience scale. The scale had four different sub-scales dealing with occupational, parental, martial and homecare. Life role salience scale was assed on five point Likert scale ranging from a score of (disagree-1, somewhatdisagree-2, neitheragreenordisagree-3, somewhatagree-4, and agree-5). The purpose of this research was to find reliable information. The first section of the survey consisted of a small section of demographics, including age, gender, major, ethnicity, and academic classification. The second part of the survey contained the Life Role Salience Scales (LRSS), which measured variables of gender, career goals, and family priorities (Amatea, Cross, Clark, Bobby, 1986). The LRSS contained forty value statements regarding feelings about work and family roles. In addition, the LRSS was assessed on a five point Likert scale, ranging from a score of one (disagree) to five (agree). The scale is geared toward role reward value and role commitment level (Amatea et. al., 1986). It also identifies four major life roles as occupational, marital, parental, and homecare. The purpose of this scale is to obtain reliable information pertaining to future career and family expectations of male and female college students (Amatea et. al., 1986). Design: The present study was quasi-experimental design. The subject variable was the gender of the participant, and the dependent variable was whether or not the participant rated his or her career role or family role as more important. This is determined by the participants score on the two Occupational subsets of the LRSS and the participants score on the Parental, Marital, and Homecare subsets. The age group of 20-25 was taken for the study. This particular age group was taken so as to see where this age is where people take decisions regarding career and family. Procedure: The students who volunteered where given consent form and the instructions were read aloud and were also mentioned in the questionnaire. The participants were debriefed on the true nature of the study. Specifically, they were told that the experiment was not about the social opinions about men and women, but on the priorities of male and female career and family values. Once again, all the questions were addressed and students received contact information for any further questions that they may have. Results The data analyzed for this experiment was based on the LRSS which measured family as a combination of homecare, parental and marital roles and assessed career values through occupational role expectations (Amatea al., 1986). Means and standard deviation for all the scales, by gender are shown in Table1. The data displayed variability between males and females in regard to parental role expectations. Overall, the means between genders exhibited significance, and were detected in levels of an independent samples t-test shown in Table 1.According to the data, their was large difference between both men and women in terms of parental role scale. (t=2.45*). As a result the difference between the results of both genders on LRSS reveals that females assessed a higher value towards the parental role than males. Furthermore, the differences between gender in relation to homecare expectation was significant (t=3.17*) which suggests that female preferred homecare role more than males. These res ults support our hypothesis, which stated that there is an inverse relationship between gender, career and family values. Table 2 presents the paired samples t-test; comparisons of the means between the occupational and parental roles were significant. (t=2.63*).table3 shows the paired samples statistics of life role expectation between males. By comparing the means, their was a significant difference (t=2.15*) between male occupational and marital views. Table 1- Gender Life Role Descriptive and Independent Samples Statistics Male Female mean sd mean Sd T Occupational 39.93 3.28 37.93 3.43 2.30 Parental 37.97 4.01 40.77 4.80 2.45 Martial 34.63 4.00 40.75 4.76 5.39 Homecare 37.63 2.16 40.47 4.39 3.17 P Table 2- Female Life Role Paired Samples Statistics mean sd T Occupational Parental 37.93 3.43 2.67 40.77 4.80 Occupational Martial 37.93 3.43 2.63 40.75 4.29 Occupational Homecare 37.93 3.43 2.49 40.47 4.39 P Table 3- Male Life Role Paired Samples Statistics mean sd T Occupational Parental 39.93 3.28 2.0722 37.97 4.01 Occupational Martial 39.93 3.28 5.6119 34.63 4.00 Occupational Homecare 39.93 3.28 3.2077 37.63 2.16 P Discussion This study investigated career and family values of college students. The first purpose of this study was to identify whether or not males and females had different priorities concerning family life and occupational roles. In the present sample of thirty males and thirty females, significant differences were observed between family and career expectations. According to our analysis, females appeared to value the parental role greater than males. This finding suggests that women assess a larger significance towards family priorities than men who value career. These findings supported our hypothesis, which said that there would be a difference in career and family priorities between genders. As hypothesized, females appeared to value the parental role greater than the occupational role. Thus, females held higher expectations for having a family, rather than a career. Likewise, males showed a preference for occupation, as opposed to marriage. Consequently, males viewed having a career a s a greater importance than having a family. Overall, the results of this study highlight the tendency for females to value family priorities, as opposed to males who value career. This finding is also different from gender-role traditionalism research, which suggests that both male and female attitudes change correspondingly during college (Bryant, 2003). Furthermore, results of the present study also indicated that among females, women were more likely to value family, as opposed to career. Past research, such as the Valedictorian Project, obtained results congruent with our findings. Arnold (1993) attributed these outcomes to lowered career aspirations possibly due to female beliefs regarding family-work conflict. In other words, women lowered their career goals to avoid future work conflict and experience fewer family life demands (Arnold, 1993). This finding suggested that external factors (such as occupational stress) tend to lower womens desire to achieve career goals. On the other hand, additional research indicated that universal work expectations were common between genders, in that both males and females contained aspirations in regard to high education, work, and family values (Maines Hardesty, 1987). Similar studies also suggested that women, who pursued high-level careers and contained greater occupational aspirations, appeared to value high quality career roles over family roles (Faver, 1982). These findings, although they were incongruent with our results, suggested that women and men valued career equally. Many studies have emphasized that womens career and domestic choices are situational and change over time, that women negotiate their positions and form ideologies in accordance with various circumstances encountered over their life courses (Gerson 1985; Hochschild with Machung 1989; Jacobs 1989). While not denying the validity of this position, the study suggests that many women students, even before they have had any experience with marri age, motherhood and extra domestic work are incompatible and that husbands are reliable lifelong providers -that help to shape their core identities we suggest that these ideologies influence the choices and decisions, students make as they go through college and enter the world of work, which in turn condition and limit other choices they may wish to make as the circumstances of their lives change. Ultimately, an individuals priorities navigate that person throughout life. A persons values guide him or her in attaining future goals. The very nature of human beings is dependent on critical decisions based on their priorities, which result in life roles. Thus, value lies in identifying gender priorities, in which future human behavior may be predicted. Consequently, future research on the career and family values of college undergraduates is needed to investigate how males and females of different ethnic backgrounds value career and family role expectations, whether or not an increas ed sample size would affect the results of the present study, and the influence of college environmental factors (size, religious affiliation, and location) on gender values. Finally, eliminating media tactics geared toward unrealistic gender stereotypes would decrease the gender-role social pressures exerted on males and females. By projecting realistic and non-traditional attitudes, both men and women would expand their life role opportunities. Womens achievement orientations are clearly not less than males. But women do not feel they must sacrifice their family roles to achieve the arenas of education and work. They anticipate that future family roles will be more important to them than males. Males see their future educational and work as more important than family. Although women expect to earn less than men, they have similarly high expectations for income as their male peers. However, we also find many differences between males and females which imply that traditional gender roles may be influencing plans for their futures. Of particular interest is the gender difference in self-perception. Although females perform well in academics than male they are likely to see themselves as less able than their male. The difference in self-perception is particularly perplexing. These findings support a traditional gender socialization model in which males and all things masculine are valued and females and all things feminine are devalued. Women may be socialized to devalue their own achievements whereas males, despite lower abilities would be pressured to overestimate their abilities. Therefore, responses such as these may be appropriate for both young men and women of marriageable age if they live in a world where men are expected to be superior (Eccles, 1987). We also find that men and women have very different expectations form roles in the home and work place. Although both sexes feel that a good marriage and family are important, men do not feel it is important for them to maintain household activities. Furthermore, males hold more traditional values about women combining work and family, and are more likely to wan their wives to remain at home. Likewise, women place more importance on hous ehold roles, expect to be employed for fewer hours, and are more likely than male

Pay and Job Performance Essay -- Business Management Studies:

Critically evaluate this statement: Managers who rely only on pay to motivate their employees to higher levels of job performance will always be disappointed n the results. Pay is one thing that causes many discrepancies within the work environment. Most employees continue to try and further themselves in work usually with the hope of better pay; fringe benefits i.e. company cars, pensions and so on. There are however, those who show â€Å"highly motivated behaviour where economic rewards are low.†[1] This citation agrees with the above statement, however, throughout this essay I will sum up where pay can be seen as a good motivator and where extrinsic benefits fail. Content theorists such as Maslow and Herzberg look at needs and what gives people the drive to work. A similar theme arises in the different theories which on face value seem opposing they all look at ones desire to work in order to satisfy their needs. To start, Maslow believed there is a hierarchy as to what makes people work. The first being for survival. People need basic requirements such as food, water and shelter. Those in this group are not necessarily poorly motivated but are purely working to satisfy needs. The second level of five is for safety reasons i.e. a safe work environment – job security. Thirdly Maslow believed some are motivated by the need for social interaction, friendship with fellow colleagues. This is inclusive of a sense of belonging. Further up the hierarchy is the need for status. When an employee is made to feel important and needed in a job this will motivate them to do well. Lastly is personal ambition called self-actualisation. This is a level of complete satisfaction. For Maslow, pay is the lowest in all of the motivators. He believes you move up the scale towards self-motivation. However, his theory has been met by much criticism. It can be seen as â€Å"patronising and elitist in terms of the values it expresses.†[2] People can achieve complete self-motivation from activities they do outside of work i.e. childcare, for these employees they can have reached a higher order before satisfying the lower ones. It is also practically impossible to generalise everyone’s strengths and weaknesses as each person is an individual. The theory is also often contradicted by research such as the study by Hall and Nougain. (1968)[3] In reality... ...r hard work showed in their performance. In conclusion, the essay has shown circumstances where pay works as a motivator and where it fails. The overwhelming feeling is that pay is fine as a short term motivator but when it is used continually workers can become reliant and it can put pressure on employee relations as well as encouraging them to work purely for economic reward. Managers will not always be disappointed with results as explained but there are other ways to motivate which have shown to produce continually good results such as job enrichment and making employees feel as though they genuinely matter. In my opinion, managers who use pay incentives can achieve good results but from reading the articles as evidence my advice would be to use them sparingly. [1] Organisational Behaviour – compiled by A. Beauregard page 201 [2] Organisational Behaviour – compiled by A. Beauregard page 204 [3] This study â€Å"examined the changes in needs of a group of people.† OB – A. Beauregard page 205 [4] Organisational Behaviour – compiled by A. Beauregard page 205 [5] Organisational Behaviour – compiled by A. Beauregard page 206 [6] Harvard Business Review

Characters of Beloved Essay example -- essays research papers

Characters of Beloved Sethe Sethe is a hardened but loving woman. Her memories of the brutality she suffered as a slave corrupt her everyday life and lead her to conclude that past trauma can never really be forgotten; it reveals itself at every chance. She thus spends her life attempting to avoid encounters with her past. The quality that best describes Sethe in my mind is persistence. Her constant devotion to Denver and her ability to function daily with her ever-present mind-scars shows an inspirational inner strength. Also, the act of attempting to kill you’re children to prevent their suffering is proof of her devotion to her children’s wellbeing (though obviously questionable to say the least) and her hatred of the slavery that has destroyed her life. So in respect to this, I compa...

Handspring INC Evaluation and Control :: essays research papers

Solution EVALUATION AND CONTROL Evaluation of the sales staff should be done in order to improve their performance. Targets should be set at the beginning of every month and the actual performance in relation to the targets should be compared to get the real difference between the targeted performance and the real performance. A similar, target setting and evaluation of the sales performance will not only evaluate the performance of the employees but will also control them effectively. Remember, the yearly increments and promotions will to an extent depend on the performance of the sales personnel. This will help the company meet its sales objectives. Evaluation of the research & development staff is necessary to make Handspring products technically superior to that of competitors. For instance if the objective of the personnel is to develop products that are compatible with the operating system of Microsoft, then they have to be given objectives relating to the technical development of the product, the time deadline they have and the cost constraints. The R&D staff would be given a priori evaluation. That means that before the work starts on the project, the values attached to the various stages of the work would be decided. For example, if the work were to be completed on time, it would be given a rating of 5 and if the work were 80% complete the rating would be 4 and so on. This a priori contract would not only impose a control on the work but would help Handspring achieve its strategic objectives. For example, if the strategic objective of Handspring were to reduce the cost of Treo, then this project would be given to a projec t team with a fixed time period and a set of objectives. Setting up of objectives and entering into an a priori contract with them so that their performance can objectively be evaluated can do evaluation of the top managers also. For, example one of the vice- presidents can be entrusted with the task of setting up alliances with other top companies so that Treo is purchases as a tie up product. The vice-president will be given a target of forging say 6 alliances having a sale value of $XXM. Apart from this other criteria for his evaluation can be set up and each given a weight. At the end of the evaluation period the actual performance of the vice-president will be compared to the targeted performance and a composite score calculated for him. Handspring INC Evaluation and Control :: essays research papers Solution EVALUATION AND CONTROL Evaluation of the sales staff should be done in order to improve their performance. Targets should be set at the beginning of every month and the actual performance in relation to the targets should be compared to get the real difference between the targeted performance and the real performance. A similar, target setting and evaluation of the sales performance will not only evaluate the performance of the employees but will also control them effectively. Remember, the yearly increments and promotions will to an extent depend on the performance of the sales personnel. This will help the company meet its sales objectives. Evaluation of the research & development staff is necessary to make Handspring products technically superior to that of competitors. For instance if the objective of the personnel is to develop products that are compatible with the operating system of Microsoft, then they have to be given objectives relating to the technical development of the product, the time deadline they have and the cost constraints. The R&D staff would be given a priori evaluation. That means that before the work starts on the project, the values attached to the various stages of the work would be decided. For example, if the work were to be completed on time, it would be given a rating of 5 and if the work were 80% complete the rating would be 4 and so on. This a priori contract would not only impose a control on the work but would help Handspring achieve its strategic objectives. For example, if the strategic objective of Handspring were to reduce the cost of Treo, then this project would be given to a projec t team with a fixed time period and a set of objectives. Setting up of objectives and entering into an a priori contract with them so that their performance can objectively be evaluated can do evaluation of the top managers also. For, example one of the vice- presidents can be entrusted with the task of setting up alliances with other top companies so that Treo is purchases as a tie up product. The vice-president will be given a target of forging say 6 alliances having a sale value of $XXM. Apart from this other criteria for his evaluation can be set up and each given a weight. At the end of the evaluation period the actual performance of the vice-president will be compared to the targeted performance and a composite score calculated for him.

A Way of Life Essay

Cell phones have become one of the most influential devices in today’s society. People have become so dependent on cell phones; they do not like to let them leave their presence because of anxiety that they might miss a call or text message. This essay will explore some of the positive and negative effects of cell phones with calling, texting and pictures. The first positive effects of cell phones are calling. Some employers will supply their employees with cell phones for business use. Salesman and drivers use them to contact customers for orders and deliveries. Customers can reach the drivers or salesman if there is a problem with their orders or have a complaint. Salesman can call and check on a customer at any time. Employers can call and check on the drivers and salesman for any reason. Parents can check on their kids. Kids can call their parents anytime and anywhere to let them know of their wellbeing. Cell phones are extremely useful to have when a person is driving alone. Someone may need assistance if they get stranded. If there is a car accident and need to call for help. Emergency personnel can respond quickly to an accident. On the other hand, the negative effect of calling is driving while talking on the phone. Can be extremely distracting paying attention to the road. Hearing the phone ring when a person is driving and try reaching for the phone can cause swerving all over the road or even an accident. The second positive effect is texting. Texting is an excellent way to communicate with someone without talking over the phone. Text messages can be sent to more than one person at a time. Schools like to send text messages to parents to remind and give information that they may need to be informed about their child. Companies like to send text reminders of payments due dates or compelling offers they might have. Meanwhile the negative effect of texting, while driving is extremely distracting because a person pays more attention to the cell phone than the surroundings around them and the road. Driver’s texting may not always see a car or person in front of them and can either have an accident or hit a person walking. People walking and texting at the same time do not always watch where they are going. They can walk into walls, cars, other things and end up getting hurt. Texting can also be distracting while people are working. Kids do not pay much attention in class if they worry about receiving a text or responding to one. Teenagers can use texting as a way of bullying others. The third positive effect is sending pictures. Taking pictures with cell phones is a terrific way of sharing photos by sending them to family and friends. Customers taking pictures and sending it to the salesman can help explain what they need or what product they are trying to find. The picture can give the salesman information they need to help the customer. The negative effect taking inappropriate pictures can lead to bullying and other unfortunate circumstances. In conclusion, cell phones are perfect for keeping in touch with family and friends. I send pictures of my kids to family and friends that are out of town all the time. So they are a part of what is going on in our lives. I am always calling and checking on my kids. I text them when they do not answer a call from me. My kids like most teenagers prefer to text message you then talk on the phone. Cell phones in general can have a positive and negative effect on everyone. When I am driving, I use my Bluetooth or I let it go to voicemail. Texting is not that crucial when people are driving. We all can call or text after we get to where we are going.

Importance of Child Friendly Education Essay

All this does not mean that you turn your class into a place of dreary learning. First of all, the activities you would use with adults can work, but make them shorter. For example, a role play may have to last five minutes instead of 10. Also make sure activities are varied: an activity that involves moving about and noise needs to be followed by a quiet task that allows kids to â€Å"cool down†. Remember also that children will not do a task because it is good for their English. Tasks need an end result rather than being open-ended. Building in a quiz or competitive element can work or ask learners to produce work that is displayed on the wall. It’s a great feeling when the children are busy, but their enjoyment of a task might manifest itself in terms of noise. Develop signals to get attention. This can be a raised hand or switching off the lights. Whatever you do, don’t try to out-shout a class because they will always win. Where groups of children are getting really loud it may be time to change the groups around. Adults like praise, but children really love praise. Avoid over-praising individuals and try to compliment whole groups. Use affirmative commands like, â€Å"Please speak English† rather than negative reprimands like, â€Å"Stop speaking Spanish!† You’ll also avoid problems if you set out rules at the beginning of the course. If possible, involve the children in preparing and writing out the class rules – it is especially good practice with modal verbs. A child that then breaks these rules will see greater justice than if you make up your own rules on the spot. More importantly, you will be punishing the inappropriate behaviour, not the child.