Masculinity in American Society and Hip-Hop free essay sample

Tomography Never cry or show any emotion, when things happen take it like man, do not get mad, get even. These along with many other rules are makeup the Guy Code believed to shape what masculinity in American society. Brows before Hoes: The Guy Code by Michael Kismet discusses a set of epigrams and analyzes American masculinity. These ideals of what is takes to be a man are often portrayed by hip-hop artists in todays mainstream music industry.Kismet attended many different workshops and high school assemblies asking unsung men in every state What does it take to be a man? and generated what he calls the Real Guys Top Ten List. The answers were predictable. Never show any emotion and remain as though everything is in control at all times, losing is not an option when youre in competition with other men, and kindness will get you nowhere. We will write a custom essay sample on Masculinity in American Society and Hip-Hop or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Real Boys a book by psychologist William Pollack covers these same ideas.To be a man they cannot be a sissy, or appear to be weak or gay. Masculinity Is measured by your wealth, power, and status. A man remains a rock and he Is dependable during crisis. Give the impression that you are daring and aggressive. In Hip-Hop, the lyrics and the rappers usually echo these Ideals. Masculinity is money, power, and respect. Most rappers give off an Image of being strong and never showing emotion. Guns and violence is the way to show other men that you are a man that you are powerful and are to be respected.Rappers boast about their jewelry, their homes, and nice cars and believe that having more money and material objects, and women, than the next man makes you a winner. These Ideas are found in the lyrics of rappers such as Ill Wayne and 50 Cent, who are the Ideal stereotypical Image of masculinity In Hip-Hop. Boys are taught to be a man from birth and many of the Ideas of masculinity are instilled in them by their fathers or other male figures In their lives. According to Kismet, homophobia Is the fear of being misperceived as being gay and Is the fear that animates American mens masculinity (614). They are taught to be tough and eave a manly front cover In everything that they do. If you ask most fathers they would not appreciate their son wearing pink and playing with dolls because Its gay and not masculine. Any sort of display of stereotypical effeminate behavior, dressing nicely, sensitivity, and being emotionally expressive, Is perceived as being gay. If a guy walks, talks, and acts In a manner that Is different from someone who Is gay he will be a man.In Hip-Hop, the worst thing one can do Is take away someones manhood or associate him with anything to do with being feminine or gay by referring to them as a fagged or pitch Amiga, not only disrespecting the homosexual community but women also. Mine often use the word fagged In his when he Is battling someone. It doesnt necessarily mean gay, Its Just taking away his opponents manhood (612) Hip-Hop artists often portray Images that are hyper contribute to being mistaken for being gay. Instead, they attempt to be thugs and gangsters.Misogyny exists not only in Hip-Hop but also in American society as a whole. Objectified female bodies are everywhere: in advertising, on magazine covers, and television and movie screens. In Hip-Hop women are exploited and viewed as objects. In raps they are often called bitched and hoes, and place them in music videos half-naked furthering the exploitation. A good example of this exploitation is Knells Tip Drill video which showcases and half-naked women parading around dancing explicitly and also features a man sliding a credit card between a womans butt cheeks.As a child, a boy is bombarded with these images and whatever his father caches him about women. How does he learn to respect woman from this? The constant reinforcement of masculinity at from a young age increases bad behavior in young men. The problem with views of masculinity in American society and Hip-Hop is that men spend more time attempting to impress other men, instead of focusing on living their lives for themselves, loving themselves, and using the l dont care mentality taught in masculinity properly. The pressure to be a man causes them to become homophobic, misogynistic Jerks.

The History of Laptop Computers

The History of Laptop Computers It is a little hard to determine which was the first portable or laptop computer since the earliest portable computers to arrive did not look anything like the book-sized folding laptops that we are familiar with today. However, they were both portable and can sit on a persons lap and did eventually lead to the development of notebook style laptops.   With that in mind, I have outlined several potential firsts below and how each might qualify for the honor. Many of the off-site links provided below include excellent photos of the computers so that you should be able to see the progression in design.   The First Laptop The Grid Compass was designed in 1979 by a Briton named William Moggridge for Grid Systems Corporation. It was one-fifth the weight of any model equivalent in performance and was used by NASA as part of the space shuttle program in the early 1980s. As far as technical specs, it featured a 340K byte bubble memory laptop computer system with a die-cast magnesium case and folding electroluminescent graphics display screen. Gavilan Computer Manny Fernandez had the idea for a well-designed laptop for executives who were just starting to use a computer. Fernandez, who started Gavilan Computer, promoted his machines as the first laptop computers in May 1983. Many historians have credited the Gavilan as the first fully functional laptop computer. The First True Laptop Computer The Osborne 1. Tomislav Medak/Flickr/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0   The computer considered by most historians to be the first truly portable computer was the Osborne 1. Adam Osborne, an ex-book publisher was the founder of Osborne Computer Corp, which produced the Osborne 1 in 1981. It was a portable computer that weighed 24 pounds and cost $1795. For that, users got a five-inch screen, modem port, two 5 1/4 floppy drives, a large collection of bundled software programs and a battery pack. Unfortunately, the short-lived computer company was never successful.   And The Rest is History Also released in 1981 was the Epson HX-20, a battery powered portable computer with a 20-character by 4 line LCD display and a built-in printer.In January of 1982, Microsofts Kazuhiko Nishi and Bill Gates begin discussions on designing a portable computer that featured a new liquid crystal display or LCD screen. Kazuhiko Nishi later showed the prototype to Radio Shack and the retailer agreed to manufacture the computer.In 1983, Radio Shack released the TRS-80 Model 100, a 4-pound battery-operated portable computer with a design that was flat and looked more like modern laptops of today.In 1984, IBM announced the IBM 5155 Portable Personal Computer.In 1986, Radio Shack released the new, improved and smaller TRS Model 200.In 1988, Compaq Computer introduced its first laptop PC with VGA graphics, the Compaq SLT/286.In 1989, the release of the NEC UltraLite was considered by some to be the first notebook style computer. It was a laptop size computer that weighed under 5-pounds.In Septemb er of 1989, Apple Computer released the first Macintosh Portable that later evolved into the Powerbook.   In 1989, Zenith Data Systems released the Zenith MinisPort, a 6-pound laptop computer.  In October of 1989, Compaq Computer released its first notebook PC, the Compaq LTE.In March of 1991, Microsoft released the Microsoft BallPoint Mouse, which used both mouse and trackball technology in a pointing device designed for laptop computers.In October of 1991, Apple Computers released the Macintosh PowerBook 100, 140 and 170 - all notebook style laptops.In October of 1992, IBM released its ThinkPad 700 laptop computer.In 1992, Intel and Microsoft release APM or the Advanced Power Management specification for laptop computers.In 1993, the first PDAs or Personal Digital Assistants were released. PDAs are pen-based hand-held computers.

Industrial Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Industrial Relations - Essay Example The collective bargaining of the union has greatly facilitated the welfare of the workforce and has promoted their interest amongst the management. According to Claude Bernard, ‘Art is I; Science is We’ (Bernard). Indeed, the strategic leadership of the management and the union significantly promote better relationship to maintain smooth operation. Like science, the union leaders are much more informed and constantly make efforts to improve and improvise relationship between the employee and employer and ensure that workforce is not exploited. They strike hard bargain with the management in the interest of the working class. Then again, one can broadly define art as a creative expression of oneself. It is individualistic and normally confined to the interest of one person, even though it might have significance for others. The science, on the other hand, is not exclusive and the outcome of scientific experiments has direct impact on people at large and applies universally. Indeed, in science, what affects one person, has the same concern for others also. This works best for labor unions because if the union fights for the injustice of one employee in an organization, the result of that negotiation applies for others also. This has specially become significant in the contemporary times of recession when businesses are going in for large lay off of the workforce. The repercussion of loss of job for one person is as traumatic as for others. So the unions across the regions and nations are working hard towards coming come up with creative forms of negotiations to wards of employees lay off. A case in point is the role of unions in Virginia where ‘unions have played a major role in local races, including making a $50,000 contribution to Fairfax County Supervisor Sharon Bulovas campaign for board chairman. And they are preparing to dedicate significant resources to this years hotly contested campaign for governor’

How Knowledge-Management Repositories are Used within Organizations Essay

How Knowledge-Management Repositories are Used within Organizations - Essay Example Apart from that the essay will also highlight on the various types of storage systems. Finally the report will shed light on the advantages of the mentioned storage systems Table of Contents Introduction 4 Data Warehousing 5 Types of Storage system 6 References 8 Introduction Knowledge management can be defined as the set of methods that are responsible for arrangement, distribution, and deployment of knowledge. Knowledge management has a long history; however the form of knowledge management was different from time to time. Knowledge management is a broader topic and plays a significant role in today’s age of information technology. It hugely impacts the action we perform and the decision we make, as both are influenced by some form of knowledge. According to Thomas Bertels knowledge management can be defined as the management or supervision of the organization in the context of continuous regeneration of knowledge. Incorporating information technology within the organization , circulation of knowledge and developing the structure of organization are the examples of knowledge management (The knowledge management forum, n.d.). Thus knowledge management can be portrayed as the capability to manage knowledge. These days organizations have also started to view ‘knowledge’ as a type of resource. ... Such activities are principally carried out to preserve knowledge assets of the organization and also to facilitate group working. The next half of the report will present a brief description about data warehousing. Data Warehousing Data warehousing is the process by which an organization stores its historical data in a structured form, so that it can be used further. Data warehousing can be defined as the set of techniques, methods and tools that are employed to offer support to the knowledge workers such as managers, directors, and analysts. The primary function of a data warehousing is to facilitate availability of information which further helps in the process of decision making and also for enhancing informational resources. William H. Inmon defined data warehouse as an integrated, non volatile, issue oriented collection of data which helps in the decision making process of the management (Inmon, 2005, p. 32). Data warehouse is the base storage location, which contains data from a number of sources and then transforms it into a multi dimensional and informational model that can be used for the process of querying and investigation. A data ware house also holds the capability to carry out many activities. For example a training manager from an organization may ask ‘what are the best possible orientations for a newly recruited employee?’ Apart from that personnel from administration department may ask ‘which particular strategy is more likely to get success in the market place’. Each of the aforementioned questions needs information pertaining to the area of research and this information instigates from the data warehouse. In general, on regular basis information the operational systems are imported and extracted in the data

How do economic recession affect people's behavior Essay

How do economic recession affect people's behavior - Essay Example However, as the theory points out, the knowledge is never complete and this imperfection leads to economic growth. This may not always be so. In times of economic recession, the more the awareness of bad news, the greater is its impact on human behavior and the economic crisis. According to Charles Hodge, if a human being is assumed to behave out of necessity, he loses his identity as a rational person capable of deciding based on his thoughts and analysis (Hodge as cited in Cleveland, 2000). He becomes a mechanical person and can not be held responsible for the consequences of his behavior. Similarly if he is assumed to base his actions on the contingencies, he is imbibed with irrational and autocratic power of determination, acting even against his own will. Hodge rejects both these patterns of behavior that emerge from the utilitarianism theory. In the third behavior pattern viz., certainty, the individual behavior is explained by the individual’s own rational analysis of a situation and determination of what is best in his own interest, and is embraced by Hodge as the more appropriate explanation of human behavior. The subprime crisis in the USA led to large scale defaults in the mortgage industry and its contagion effect soon engulfed a host of other sectors like the financial institutions, banks and manufacturing industries. Bank failures dried up the credit available for the business and industry and this has in turn led to significant loss of jobs and consumer confidence. All the major economies of the world are facing a downturn due to globalization. Mass communications media ensures that individual behavior is influenced and aggravated by the frenzy of collective disaster. Loss of consumer confidence and credit squeeze are the major factors impacting human behavior in these circumstances. US economy which is characterized by a high degree of consumer spending, is witnessing consumer

The Miller And Modigliani Capital Structure Irrelevance Theorem Finance Essay

The Miller And Modigliani Capital Structure Irrelevance Theorem Finance Essay Contrary to Modigliani and Miller (1958, MM hereafter), Capital Structure is not irrelevant when we consider a firm with a dividend payout policy. This article extends the MM capital structure theorem by relaxing the full payout assumption and introducing retention policy. The theoretical contribution shows that it is possible to verify the theorem when we suppose an investor who exchanges his initial holding for another portfolio composed of consumption and investment. The empirical analysis of this new approach is based on a data set of the USA Electric Utilities and Oil companies for the period 1990-1998. The results show that the relationships between leverage and firm value are significantly affected by the firms payout ratio. 1. Introduction Miller and Modiglianis (1958) irrelevance theorem is one of the important and puzzling issues in modern corporate finance theory [1], which has challenged the traditional view[2], that an optimum leverage exists. The main source of the puzzle stems from the fact that financial research dont seem to explain the firm financing behaviour as we attempt to reconcile the MM theory with the evidence(Myers 1984, Gordon1994, Rajan and Zingales1995). The MM theorem(proposition I) has shown that under a perfect market hypothesis the market value of any firm is independent of its capital structure (Stulz2006). This fundamental proposition explicitly indicates that the aptitude of investors to engage in personal or homemade leverage is sufficient to ensure that corporate leverage in itself cannot modify the total market value of the firm [3]. In other words, the theorem provides conditions under which arbitrage by individuals keeps the value of the firm depend only on cash flow generated by the i nvestment policy. Literature about the validity of the MM-proposition is discussed about whether investors can really accomplish the required conditions of the arbitrage method without changing the overall value of the company. In this context, many authors have shown the inadequacy of the theorem when variables that deal with the real world are introduced. Following the seminal paper of MM (1958), most theories have been put forward in corporate finance to reconcile the shortcomings of the irrelevance theorem with variables that explain the firms choice of capital structure. According to the previous debate, criticism against this theorem can be grouped in two types of arguments: on the one hand, there are papers which deal with the limitations of the arbitrage conditions; on the other hand, there are studies which analyze the effect of market imperfections on the firms choice of capital structure. Despite the importance of these interventions, we note that all of the limitations deal with the explicit assumptions used by MM, but none deals with the critiques of the MMs implicit assumptions. More recently, DeAngelo and DeAngelo (2006, DD hereafter) have challenged MMs irrelevance dividend policy. Dealing with this alternative of earnings as fully distributed, these authors have showed the irrelevance of the MM dividend irrelevance theo rem when MMs assumptions are relaxed to allow retention. As DeAngelo and DeAngelo(2006, page 294) wrote When MMs assumptions are modified to allow retention with the NPV of Investment policy fixed, a firm can reduce its value by paying out less than the full present value of FCF, and so Payout policy matters and Investment policy is not the sole determinant of value . According to DD(2006), the MMs irrelevance theorem forces firms to choose only among dividend policies that distribute the full present value of free cash flow(FCF) to shareholders. Distributions below the totality of earnings are ruled out by the implicit hypothesis. Dealing with this alternative of fully-distributed earnings, MM(1958) used the same hypothesis in the development of the irrelevance of capital structure.. As pointed by the authors à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.as will become clear later, as long as management is presumed to be acting in the best interests of the stockholders, retained earnings can be regarded as equivalent to a fully subscribed, pre-emptive issue of common stock. Hence, for present purposes, the division of the stream between cash dividends and retained earnings in any period is a mere detail. MM, 1958 p266. However, MM(1958) failed to recognize that proposition I implies that firms distribute all their cash flow to shareholders without paying any attention to their retention policy. This paper constitutes a new extended proof of the MM theorem by not considering the hypothesis of earnings as fully distributed. We will show that it is possible to verify the theorem when we suppose an investor who exchanges his initial holding fo r a mix of consumption and investment. The rest of the paper is organized as follows: in the next section, we demonstrate the irrelevance of the MMs capital structure irrelevance when earnings are not fully distributed. We propose the possibility of extending of the MM theorem. Furthermore, we show that the two firms are not forced to distribute their full earnings; and the irrelevance is hold in the presence of the mix of investment and consumption. Section III describes the data set, introduces the methodology, examines the hypothesis of the variables and investigates whether the empirical Modigliani-Miller capital structure irrelevance is influenced by dividend payout ratio. Section IV provides some concluding remarks. 2. How do we reconcile MMs capital structure irrelevant theorem with the firms payout choice? 2.1 The failure of the MM theorem when earnings are not fully distributed. As indicated by Rubinstein (2003), the law of the conservation of investment value of MM(1958) was anticipated by many studies (Fisher (1930), Williams[5] (1938), Durand (1952); Morton (1954) for examples) but none of these authors have used arbitrage mechanism to prove the invariance of the cost of capital under changes in leverage. The MMs theorem demonstrates that under certain hypothesis of market conditions, the value of the firm is independent of its debt-equity ratio and is given by capitalizing the expected return generated by its assets. This model can be expressed as: for any firm j in class k (1) Where V stands for the market value of the firm, S for the market value of its common shares, D for the market value of its debts, X for its expected earnings before interest on its assets, for the capitalization rate appropriate to its class. The analysis of the MMs arbitrage steps shows the implicit hypothesis of full payout ratio which plays a crucial role in the model. The MMs capital structure irrelevance theorem constrains firms to distribute all of their earnings. In particular, we note that the validity of the proof developed by MM is based on this implicit assumption. MM(1958) consider (see MM(1958) pages 269-270 ) the return of the investor Y as a fraction of the net income available (X-rD for levered firm and X for unlevered firm) for the stockholders. (2) Where: is the return of the investor before arbitrage process, L is levered firm and U is Unlevred firm and is fraction of the total outstanding shares owned by the investor. Obviously, MM(1958) confuse artificially return of the investor(dividend return) and net income which should be distributed between dividend and retention. MM(1958 page 266) assert that the division of the stream between cash dividends and retained earnings in any period is a mere detail. When we derive the MM capital structure theorem for firms that are not distributing all their earnings as dividends, it follows a non-adequacy of the arbitrage operations, a non-proof of the irrelevance model. Table I shows the two cases used by MM(1958) when we introduce a level of payout different from 100%. Therefore, when we use the same arbitrage as MM(1958), we must then admit that the two firms distribute all the available income to verify the leverage irrelevance proposition. As will be shown later, this assumption can modify the validity of the MM theorem. To justify this thesis, we suppose the same steps of the MM first proposition but with a slight difference: here we suppose that firms are not constrained to distribute all of their earnings. This means that we introduce in the arbitrage reasoning the payout ratio (PR) as a new variable. Table I below shows that MM theorem is not verified. The difference between returns (before and after arbitrage operations) is not the sa me as showed by MM (1958). Table I. The irrelevance of the MM capital structure irrelevance when payout ratio is different from 100% First possibility  : VL > VU Second possibility  : VU > VL First stage  : the initial return of the investor YL Second Stage: Arbitrage process Sold his initial worth of the firm L Borrows an additional amount dL with the same interest rate r Acquired new shares of the firm u sold his initial worth of the firm U Acquired new shares of the firm L Acquired new bonds b of the firm L Third stage: the return of the investor YU Final stage: Difference of earnings à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Y= YU -YL Interpretations It is not possible to verify the MM results when we introduce the hypothesis of payout ratio different from 100%, the difference of returns will depend on the all components of the equation. When we pose PRL=PRU=1, it is easy to obtain the same difference of returns as MM(1958): or Notes: Using the MM formulation, we consider two firms L and U, for which the expected return is the same XL = XU = X. Company U is financed entirely by stock SU and company L by stock SL and debt D. The market value of each firm is then VU = SU and VL = SL + D, We denote PRL and PRU the payout ratios of the levered and unlevered firms (MM 1958 suppose PRL = PRU = 100% all expected return is distributed).sL =SL, sU =SU denote the value of shares owned respectively by an investor in the levered and unlevered firm with a fraction 2.2 The possibility of extension;The two firms are not obliged to distribute all their income: the mix of investment and consumption solution. The object of this section is to show that it is possible to demonstrate MMs proposition I without the hypothesis of earnings are fully distributed. In other words, we present an extension of the MM capital structure theorem for the case in which firms are allowed to have a payout policy. To prove this new proposition, we suppose the same hypothesis used by MM (1958), except that earnings are not fully distributed. Using the MM formulation, we consider two firms U, L for which the expected return is the same XL = XU = X. Company U is financed entirely by stock SU and company L by stock SL and debt D. The market value of each firm is then VU = SU and VL = SL + D. * Case 1: we suppose the value of the levered firm VL , to be greater than that of the Unlevered firm VU ( ). We denote respectively, PRL and PRU the payout ratios of the levered and unlevered firms (MM 1958 page 269) suppose PRL = PRU = 100% all expected return is distributed). First stage (initial return): consider an investor who owns sL dollars worth of the stock in the company L representing a fraction of the total outstanding shares SL, where sL= SL. His return YL can be written as: (3) The return from this portfolio, denoted by YL, will be a fraction of the income distributed for the stockholders of company L, which equals the multiplication of the payout ratio PRL by the difference between to total return X and the interest charge r DL. Where, r is the interest rate which the firm pays on its debt D. Second Stage (Arbitrage process): now suppose that an individual investor who adjusts his own personal leverage in order to increase his profits. He makes the following operations: (a ) Sold his worth sL of the company L and he divided it as follows: (i) he partially invested an amount IU = PRL.sL (which equals: IU=PRLSL) in acquiring shares (ii) he consumes the remainder CL= (1-PRL)SL. where sL= IU + CL . (b) Borrowed an additional amount . (c) Acquired an amount of the shares of the company U. He could so by using the amount IU from the sales of his initial holding and the amount d from borrowing. Third Stage (the new return): the income of the investor ((i) who holds sU dollars worth of the shares of the company U (ii) and who must pay interest of personal debt d would be: (4) Last Stage: Arbitrage profit: Comparing (4) with (3) we obtain: (5) Thus, under this approach we can distinguish two situations: First situation: If PRU= PRL = 1 then we find the same result as obtained by MM (1958 page 270). (6) Second situation: We can also verify the same result of MM(1958 page 270) without the hypothesis of PRU = PRL = 1, we can simply assume PRU = 1, while the payout ratio of the levered firm PRL is likely to vary between 0% and 100%, we get then: (7) From equation (7), we conclude that as long we must verify, so that it pays shareholders of corporation L to sell their investments, by this means decreasing SL and hence VL, and replace them with a mix of consumption and portfolio investment, which contains shares of the unlevered firm and personal debt, thereby growing SU and thus VU. This arbitrage process will be finished when equilibrium restores the stated equalities between the values of the two firms. * Case 2: we suppose the value of the unlevered firm VU , to be larger than that of the Levered one VL ( ). First stage: The return of the investor who holds sU dollars of shares of company U representing a fractionof the total outstanding stock SU . Where (8) The return from this portfolio denoted by YU will be a fraction of the income distributed to shareholders of the unlevered firm U. Second stage: suppose that the investor exchanges his initial holding in U by another portfolio in the levered firm L. The arbitrage process with consumption behaviour will take the following form: the investor sold his worth of company U: and divided it as follows: (i) He invested partially of the shares of the company L (ii) He invested also of bonds of the company L (iii) The remainder will be consumed. From IL and IB , we can write respectively: Third stage: The return of the investor (i) who holds IL dollars worth of the shares of the company L (ii) and who holds IB dollars worth of bonds of the company L. (9) Last stage: Arbitrage profit: comparing YL (from 9) with YU (from 8) we obtain: (10) In order to get a profitable arbitrage opportunity for the investor, we must consider a positive difference of returns. Analysing equation (10), we can easily formulate two possibility of payout ratio: In the first, if we suppose a full earning model for the two firms (PRL = PRU = 1), therefore we will obtain the same results as showed by MM(1958) (page 270). According to this situation, equation (10) can be written as: (11) In the second, the MMs results can also be obtained if we just assume a full earnings for levered firm PRL= 1 while the payout ratio of the unlevered firm PRU is likely to vary between 0% and 100% implying that the firm can use a payout policy, which is not restricted to full earnings. Such a representation is written as: (12) In this context, it is also important to show that as we must obtain , hence it pays the shareholders of company U to sell their holdings and substitute them with a mix of consumption and portfolio investment, which contains shares and bonds. If, all investors in firm U will accomplish the three stages below, decrease the value of the unlevered firm U and increase the price of the levered firm L. This switching process will be over when equilibrium restores the stated equalities between the values of the two firms. From these demonstrations (case 1 and case 2) we can conclude that we are not compelled to suppose that the two firms distribute all of their returns. In other words we can make arbitrage process merely by considering that the overpriced firm (levered firm L in the first case and unlevered firm U in the second case) has a payout ratio PR which is not restricted to be 100% of the earnings. The table below summarizes the theoretical findings. Table II: the MMs arbitrage and the payout hypothesis Conditions Conclusions MMs arbitrage conditions without dividend payout MMs(1958) irrelevance theorem MMs arbitrage conditions with a payout ratio Failure of the MMs proof MMs arbitrage conditions with a payout ratio and consumption hypothesis Proof of the MMs irrelevance theorem(Extension) 3. The Empirical Analysis The previous part of this paper provides a new extension of the relationship between firm value and capital structure when the firm has a payout policy. In this section, we attempt some possible empirical tests. The central issue is, whether or not the leverage ratio affects firm value when earnings are not fully distributed?. Modigliani and Miller (1958) have taken two samples of 43 electric utilities during 1947-1948 and 42 oil companies during 1953. The data are provided respectively by two studies conducted by Allen (1954) and Smith (1955); and they estimated the weighted average cost of capital (wacc) according to the financial leverage of the firm. The regression form of the model was: (13) Where wacc is the weight cost of capital approximated by X /V , here X is the expected return net of taxes, V is the market value of all securities and the financial leverage of the firm measured by the ratio D/V, where D is the market value of Bonds and preferred stock. The results of the tests (as shown MM(1958page 282) are favourable to Modigliani and Miller (1958)s hypothesis. The values of the correlations coefficients are small and not statistically significant. Weston (1963) criticizes Modigliani-Miller empirical result. In particular, he assumes that the lack of effect of capital structure on the overall value of the firm is due to deficiency of the approach to take account of other factors that may be influencing the firms cost of capital. Contrary to MM, the author shows in the empirical tests that leverage is correlated negatively with firm value in the presence of the hypothesis of earnings growth. 3.1 Data and Methodology In order to conduct an empirical analysis similar to MMs, we have collected data on the same sectors from the same country as done by Modigliani and Miller 1958. The data we use are annual standardized financial information of US firms observed in the period 1990-1998. Our sample is formed by two sub samples: from the Electric sector we use 256 companies, and from the oil sector we take 223 companies. These data were obtained from the Worldscope Database (SIC Code 13 and 49). Contrary to Weston(1963), we consider the hypothesis of risk-class can be verified in the oil industry and the electric sector (as supposed by MM 1958). According to MM(1958), a linear model was constructed to explain the relationship between leverage and the firm value. The variables used in our regressions are constructed (see table III) as the same way as presented by these authors. The corresponding models used by MM(1958) are: For Model 1 :see MM(1958) page284 (note 38), for model 2,see MM(1958) page282; For Model 3,see MM(1958) page284 (note 39); For. With regard to the basic capital structure irrelevance theorem to be estimated; we propose three regression models as follows: Model 1: (14) Model 2: (15) Model 3: (16) Where wacc is the weighted average cost of capital; Leverage 1: first measure of leverage; ML1: modified leverage 1; Value: the ratio of the firm value; , ER: earnings ratio; DR debt ratio. The purpose of model 1 is to test the effect of leverage (as measured by Debt ratio DR) on firm value, while the Model 2 and model 3 test the effect of leverage (measured by Leverage1) on the cost of capital (measured by WACC). The variable ML1(modified leverage 1) is included in model3 to test the U-shaped hypothesis that the coefficient e of this variable should be significant and positive to confirm the traditional view, and not significantly different from zero to confirm the irrelevance theorem.. Note also that according to our approach the correlation between these variables should be different from zero. To test the validity of the MMs proposition when earnings are not fully distributed, we alternatively estimate all the above regressions in the absence (model MM58 and the model MM58supp) and the presence of the payout ratio. We validate this last alternative in two steps: In the first step, we test the models for all firms (model MMExt). In the second step, we test the models for subsamples: First Quartile sample (Firms Payout ratio is less than 25%), Second Quartile sample (firms payout ratio is between 25% and 50%), Third Quartile sample (firms payout ratio is between 50% and 75%), and Fourth Quartile sample (firms payout ratio is more than 75%). The tableIII below reports the different measures of variables and their predicted effects. Table III. Measures of variables and predicted signs Variables Symbol Measure MM Hypothesis Our Hypothesis Dependants variables Weighted average cost of capital WACC X/V Firm value ratio Value V/A The explanatory variables First measure of leverage Leverage 1 D/V Zero effect Significant effect Modified Leverage 1 measure ML1 D.D/V.S Zero effect Significant effect Earnings ratio ER X/A Debt ratio DR D/A Zero effect Significant effect Payout ratio Payout Div/NI Not tested Significant effect Notes: the table reports the different measures of variables where V: firm value= market value of equity S +market value of debt D, X: Earnings before interest and Taxes (EBIT), A: is the value of the total assets, NI net income. ML1 modified leverage 1 measure = (D/V) ²/(1-D/V). We measure the value of the Debt D by the amount of total liabilities. 3.2 Descriptive statistics As indicated in Table IV, the descriptive statistics shows that the average value of cost of capital is 5.92% for electric utilities and 4.48% for oil companies[6]. On average, we have a leverage ratio of 51.79%(37.85%), this measure is 62% (50.2%) when we use total assets as deflator . The average firm has a value ratio of 1,38 for electric utilities which is much weaker than those of oil companies (1,99). For these firms, earnings ratio ranges from 0% to 2.7% for electric utilities (0% to 66% for oil companies). In terms of net income, the average value of payout is more important for electric utilities (45%) ranging from 0% to 99,9%, than those of oil companies (16%). These results show that the division of the stream between cash dividend and retained earnings in any period is not a mere detail as supposed by Modigliani and Miller (1958 page 266). None of firms in the two samples and during the whole period (1990-1998) has distributed the totality of its income. For the normal di stribution of the series around the mean (see table IV), all of the distributions of the variables are not symmetric since their skewness values are different from zero. This conclusion is also verified by the values of the Kurtosis which are quite different from 3. Table IV. Descriptive Statistics of Variables (256 Electric Utilities and 223 Oil Companies) Variables Sample Mean Minimum Maximum Std. Dev Skewness Kurtosis Obs WACC Elect 0.05924 0.00000 0.29090 0.03188 0.292328 6.376099 2304 Oil 0.04481 0.00000 0.69582 0.05448 4.75993 42.0526 2007 Leverage1 Elect 0.51796 0.01573 0.99416 0.17873 -0.46925 3.36365 2304 Oil 0.37857 0.0000 0.98237 0.21714 0.20952 2.36431 2007 Value Elect 1.38155 0.09087 9.77112 0.82268 5.51989 45.7871 2304 Oil 1.99172 0.14447 138.56 5.40308 18.7716 397.615 2006 ER Elect 0.07353 0.0000 0.027612 0.04158 0.77790 7.94274 2304 Oil 0.06418 0.0000 0.664303 0.06683 2.104262 11.546 2007 DR Elect 0.62322 0.02761 0.995066 0.14891 -0.9991 4.78983 2304 Oil 0.50220 0.0000 0.9978 0.22065 -0.2593 2.4847 2006 ML1 Elect 1.34913 0.000252 169.346 6.6480 17.3645 344.950 2304 Oil 0.61298 0.0000 23.2454 1.5346 8.6309 103.96 2006 Payout Elect 0.45169 0.00000 0.99980 0.35978 -0.15569 1.40417 2304 Oil 0.16381 0.0000 0.9991 0.27721 1.50967 3.90646 2006 3.3 The effect of Leverage on the firm value (model 1) The MM(1958)s theorem is confronted with our hypothesis in order to know the crucial effect of payout ratio on the sensitivity of firm value to leverage. If our prediction is true, we should find a significant coefficient of leverage ratio, otherwise the MMs view should be confirmed. As indicated in table V, estimates result shows that coefficients of earning ratio (ER) and debt ratio (DR) are significantly different from zero, which fails to support the MMs view. Since our results, as presented below, demonstrate that the coefficient of debt ratio is significantly negative and contrary to the traditional view. We prefer to give more explanations of this relationship based on the presence of the payout policy. The latter has a negative influence on the two samples (see Model MMExt , table V) which is in the opposite direction as obtained by the cost of capital regressions (see tableVI). There are two main explanations for this result: According to Brigham and Gordon(1968), the relationship between stock price and leverage depends on the association between R (return on assets and investment) and i ( the rate of interest which the firm pays on its debt), not on the level of Leverage L. This can be written as: (16) Where E is the book value of the common equity per share, k is the rate at which dividend is discounted. It is evident, when R is less than i, the leverage effect on stock price P will be negative. Furthermore, the negative influence of the dividend ratio on the firm value confirms the leverage impact when the return on investment is less than the cost of debt. This means that firms experiencing lower rate of investment tend to use funds from internal and external resources to display higher payout ratio. The leverage measure is not the same: in Wacc regression, this variable is measured by debt on firm value (D/V), while in firm value regression (Value), the debt ratio is measured by debt on total Assets (D/A). The fact that both variables are divided by different deflators may be affected by a random disturbances of the market value of the firm. This bias correlation is not observed in the firm value regression. According to Modigliani and Miller (1958), the constant term in the previous regression should give more information on the value of the unlevered firm. As shown in table IV below, the estimated coefficient of this variable is not only significantly different from zero, but is quite positive and greatly relative to the coefficient of the debt ratio. This conclusion is confirmed for the two samples with large values for the oil companies. Table IV. Directs Pooled Least-Squares Estimates of the effects of leverage on the firm value Coefficients of Regressions Sample Constant ER DR Payout AdR ² Obs MM 58 Elect 1.893a -0.158a -0.805a 0.025 2304 Oil 2.464a -6.730a -0.668 0.048 2007 MM Ext Elect 1.963a -0.131a -0.466a -0.625a 0.095 2304 Oil 2.465a -6.703a -0.642 -0.086 0.048 2007 First Quartile Elect 1.969a -0.133b -0.412c 0.005 801 Oil 2.342a -7.490a -0.286 0.052 1440 Second Quartile Elect 1.465a 2.650a -0.554a 0.187 216 Oil 1.659a -0.197 -0.501a 0.033 279 Third Quartile Elect 1.206a 1.823a -0.249a 0.096 738 Oil 1.224a 3.229a -0.055 0.113 207 Fourth Quartile Elect 1.080a 1.809a -0.105 0.102 549 Oil 7.197a 0.983 -9.064a 0.676 72 Notes: a, b and c indicate significance at the 1%, 5%, and 10% levels respectively. 3.4 The effect of leverage on the cost of capital (model 2 and Model 3) According to Modigliani and Millers proposition I: the average cost of capital Wacc (Xt/V) should tend to have the same value independently of the degree of leverage MM (1958, page281). In other words, the leverages coefficient parameter in the Wacc regression should be insignificant and statistically equal to zero. The results of the MM model tests are shown in table V (models: MM58 and MM58supp). According to this table, the MM hypothesis is only verified in the oil sample, while leverage in the electric utilities has a negative and significant effect (coefficient is equal -0, 1162) on the cost

Effectiveness of juvenile justice Essay

There is no doubt that youthful offending has occurred throughout recorded history. Youth offenders are grouped in an individual division of the criminal justice system, known as the Juvenile Justice System. Juvenile Justice is an extensive term, encompassing numerous aspects of the criminal justice system, from criminology, to crime prevention strategies, punishment and rehabilitation. According to the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW), juvenile justice refers to the system of criminal law which deals with offenders between the ages of ten and eighteen. This group can then be subcategorised into offences committed by children (aged ten to fifteen) and young people (aged sixteen to eighteen). Both of these subcategories of individuals in the juvenile justice system are said to hold criminal responsibility. But those subjects under the age of ten, according to the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW), hold no criminal responsibility, due to the common law operat ion of doli incapx1. The subsequent report will outline a variety of facets of Juvenile Justice as a present criminal justice issue within Australia, with an emphasis on diversionary schemes, the Children’s Court and Detention Centers (juvenile justice centers and juvenile correction centers). Furthermore, the issue will be considered within the jurisdiction of New South Wales. The reason for such a jurisdiction restriction to consider the issue only within New South Wales is because Juvenile Justice Law differs in each state and territory due to it being part of the residual powers of the state, granted under the principle of the division of power – which is in full operation within Australia. Preceding the presentation of the issue, an extensive assessment of the issue of Juvenile Justice in relation to justice, equality and fairness will be made, drawing upon various case material, legislation and media sources, to draw an accurate conclusion on the effectiveness of the legal system in d ealing with the matters that surround Juvenile Justice. Breaking the Myths: the reality (Facts and Figures) of Juvenile Justice in New South Wales The usual picture painted of juvenile crime is aptly drawn in the following comment made to the Australian Law Reform Commission when it was examining the sentencing of young offenders: â€Å"Notions of a ‘juvenile crime wave’ about to engulf the community have wide popular currency. It  seems to be commonly believed that juveniles commit a disproportionately large number of serious personal and property offences, or that new legislation and programs lead to an increase in juvenile crime, or that society is getting soft on its delinquents, and that tougher institutions and harsher penalties would help curb juvenile crime.†2 In contrast to the picture created by many media stories and thus society’s general view on juveniles, it can easily be shown how inaccurate the portrayal may be, when drawing upon statistical evidence and data. One of the crimes most associated with juveniles is motor vehicle theft. Motor vehicle theft has been declining since 2000, with 7618 vehicles stolen in November 2003 being the lowest figure recorded since figures were first collected in 1995. Further, despite poplar images, in 2002 – 03 only 29 per cent of motor vehicle theft offenders were juveniles and this rate was lower than data collected in 1995 – 96, when 36 percent of motor vehicle theft offenders were juveniles. This is not the only example which exposes the inaccuracy of both the media and society’s illustration of juvenile crime. The rate of juvenile offending is decreasing, from 4092 per 100,000 juveniles in 1995 – 96 to 3130 in 2002–03. The rate of offence dropped twenty per cent since 1995, while the female rate increased slightly to 2000-01, and then dropped 28 per cent by 2003. The most common juvenile offences are other theft (this category includes offences such as pick pocketing, bag snatching, stealing and bike theft), unlawful entry with intent, assault, and motor vehicle theft. Rates for all of these, except assault, declined between 1995-96 and 2002-03 and the rate for other theft decreased by 38 per cent in this period. 3 See Appendix 1 and 2 for full statistical graphs and tabulated evidence. The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research publishes extensive figures for criminal cases in the Children’s Court. These figures do not include cases dealt with by diversionary schemes (which will discussed shortly). In 2002, the Children’s Court had 8546 juveniles appear before it on criminal charges, and cases were proven against 5398 of them. The six most common offences are pictured in Appendix 3, 4 and 5. New South Wales Juvenile Justice Regulatory Legislation The main statutes regulating the operation of Juvenile Justice in Australia are: Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW): This act sets out court procedures for trying children. It was amended by the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Amendment (Adult Detainees) Act 2002 (NSW) to have people convicted of an indictable offence transferred to adult correction facilities upon turning eighteen. Children (Detention Centres) Act 1987 (NSW): This act sets out the way in which juvenile justice centres are administered and processes encompassing the supervision of juvenile detainees Children (Community Service Orders) Act 1987 (NSW): This out outlines supervisory processes of juvenile offenders placed on community service orders Children’s Court Act 1987 (NSW): Sets out the constitution and jurisdiction of the Children’s Court Children (Protection and Parental Responsibility) Act 1997 (NSW): This act explicitly has made parents responsible for the past and future actions of their children. It has also granted police to have powers to remove young people from public places in local government ‘operational’ areas Young Offenders Act 1997 (NSW): An Act to establish procedures for dealing with children who commit certain offences through the use of youth justice conferences, cautions and warnings instead of court proceedings; and for other purposes 4. Crimes Amendment (Detention After Arrest) Act 1997 (NSW): amends the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) to give police powers to detain young people after arrest for up to four hours Juvenile Offenders Legislation Amendment Act 2004 (NSW): This act established a new form of prison (‘juvenile correctional centre’) for young people sixteen years and older. Amendments were made to the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW), Children (Detention Centres) act 1987 (NSW) and the Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999 (NSW). The statues concerning juvenile justice have been created according to international law principles, or amended, to ratify various international conventions of which Australia is a party. Children are recognised internationally as to be treated differently from adults in the criminal justice system, acknowledging that children progress through a number of developmental stages as part of the process of becoming adults. Such international law which recognises the need to treat juveniles differently  comprise of the: Convention on the Rights of the Child (CROC) United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty A separate juvenile justice system provides safeguards to protect children and young people, based on international rules for the administration of juvenile justice. In NSW this separate juvenile justice system is administered by the Department of Juvenile Justice, whose mission statement is to â€Å"provide services and opportunities for juvenile offenders to meet their responsibilities and lead a life free of further offending†5. Diversionary Schemes It is clear that there are a variety of statutes regulating the operation of juvenile justice in New South Wales. Of particular importance is the Young Offenders Act 1997 (NSW). This act came into effect on April 6th 1998. The objects of this act aim to â€Å"establish a scheme that provides an alternative process to court proceedings for dealing with children who commit certain offences through the use of youth justice conferences, cautions and warnings†6. That is, change the way the criminal justice system deals with young offenders by diverting young offender’s away from the court and juvenile justice centres, to alternative forms of intervention (see appendix six for full objects of the act and appendix seven for the sentencing of juveniles; an illustration of when diversion can occur). The Young Offenders Act 1997 (NSW) gives a hierarchical scheme of alternatives to court hearings and detention; these schemes from the lowest level of the hierarchy to the highest level of the hierarchy are: Warnings directed by the NSW Police Formal cautions directed by the NSW Police Youth Justice Conferences directed by the Department of Juvenile Justice These diversions from the court and juvenile justice centres can be employed for the vast majority of offences committed by young people. However, in  Section 8 of the Young Offenders Act 1997 (NSW) the offences which are covered/not covered by the statute are outlined. Offences that cause the death of a person, indecent assault, aggravated indecent assault, acts of indecency (see appendix eight for definition and scope), aggravated acts of indecency, sexual intercourse (or attempt of) with a child between ten and sixteen years, attempts or acts of bestiality, serious drug offences and motor vehicle offences where the young person is old enough to hold a license or permit under the Motor Traffic Act 1909 (NSW) are not covered by the Young Offenders Act 1997 (NSW)7 and are therefore dealt with by the court system. Warnings Under the Young Offenders Act police officers have the discretion to give young offenders warnings for minor summary offences that do not involve violence or related issues. An example of such a minor summary offence is the use of foul language in public. A warning can be issued at any time or place and does not require that the young person admit the offence, although, the police must record the time, place and nature of the offence and the offenders name and gender. The investigating official must â€Å"take steps to ensure that the child understands the purpose, nature and effect of the warning†8. Cautions Under the Young Offenders Act police have the discretion to issue a formal caution for more serious offences covered under the Young Offenders Act. The young offender must admit the offence (after being given the opportunity for legal advice) and consent to being cautioned. If a young person chooses not to be cautioned, they will be dealt with by a court. When making the decision to issue a caution, the police officer must consider: (a) the seriousness of the offence, (b) the degree of violence involved in the offence, (c) the harm caused to any victim, (d) the number and nature of any offences committed by the child and the number of times the child has been dealt with under this Act, (e) any other matter the police officer thinks appropriate in the circumstances. 9 A maximum of three cautions can be given to any one person. A number of individuals, on request by the offender, can be present when the caution is given, including: (a) the child and the person giving the caution, (b) a person responsible for the child, (c) members of the child’s family or extended family, (d) an adult chosen by the child, (e) a respected member of the community chosen by the child, if the person arranging the caution is of the opinion that it is appropriate in the circumstances to do so, (f) an interpreter, (g) if the child has a communication or cognitive disability, an appropriately skilled person, (h) if the child is under care, a social worker or other health professional, (i) if the child is subject to probation or a community service order, the child’s supervising officer, (j) if the investigating official is not giving the caution, the investigating official. 10 As a result of a caution, the young person can be asked to write an apology to any victim(s) of the offence, but no other conditions or penalties may be imposed on the child. Youth Justice Conferences The aim of the scheme of Youth Justice Conferences, empowered by the Young Offenders Act, is to encourage young people to take responsibility for their actions and to discourage them from reoffending. This process allows issues to be addressed in a non-threatening environment and enables the youth to gain access to appropriate services, such as counselling, to help them resolve the underlying problems. The offender must consent to the conference, and must be given a chance for legal advice before consenting to the conference. The decision to hold a conference can be made by the Director of Public Prosecutions or upon court order. The decision to hold a conference is based on the following factors: (a) the seriousness of the offence, (b) the degree of violence involved in the offence, (c) the harm caused to any victim, (d) the number and nature of any offences committed by the child and the number of times the child has been dealt with under this Act, (e) any other matter the Director or court thinks appropriate in the circumstances. 11 The Department of Juvenile Justice is responsible for the operation of youth justice conference in NSW. Youth justice conferencing offices are based mostly in Juvenile Justice Community Offices throughout NSW. Those usually present at the conference can include, the conference convenor, the young offender, the parents/guardians of the offender, other members of the offenders family, the victim (if they choose to attend), support people of the victim and a police officer. The result of a Youth Justice Conference is the creation of an â€Å"outcome plan†, a realistic and achievable plan agreed on by the offender and victim. Each outcome plan is different, and may include the following: (a) the making of an oral or written apology, or both, to any victim, (b) the making of reparation to any victim or the community, (c) participation by the child in an appropriate program,  (d) the taking of actions directed towards the reintegration of the child into the community. 12 If a young person satisfactorily completes an outcome plan, no further action can be taken against him or her for that offence. If this is not the case, the administrator returns the matter to the referring body which then deals with the young person as if the conference had never occurred. Children’s Court: Sentencing Options Young offenders are referred to the children’s court [empowered under Children’s Court Act 1987 (NSW) and Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987(NSW)] for the most serious indictable offences, such as murder, manslaughter, sexual offences, domestic violence, drug trafficking and any other offences that result in the death of a person (i.e. all offences which are not covered under the Young Offenders Act).   The court has limited sentencing options, set out in a hierarchy of available penalties in order of severity. Sentencing hierarchies have been introduced in order to guide the court in selecting an appropriate penalty and to provide a greater degree of consistency in sentencing. Some statutes prevent the court from imposing a sentence at one level unless it is satisfied that a sentence at a  lower level of the hierarchy is inappropriate. Such requirements have been designed to require magistrates to justify the use of more severe penalties, to promote the use o f non-custodial options, and to reinforce the use of detention as a sentence of last resort. The sanctions available to the Children’s Court in NSW, in order of decreasing severity, include the following: detention in a juvenile justice centre or juvenile correction facility suspended detention  community service order, attendance centre order  probation (usually up to two years) or other supervised order fine or compensation and good behavior bond  fine or compensation  referral to a youth conferencing scheme  good behavior bond  undertaking to observe certain conditions  dismissal of charges with or without either a reprimand or a conviction recorded The objectives of sentencing, defined as, retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation and incapacitation have a certain difficulty in being met when sentencing juveniles. Instead, sentencing aims to meet the following objectives: Responsibility; intent, excuse, impairment, motive. This mitigating factor of responsibility is changed when applied to young offenders, due to the notion of reduced responsibility be cause of age Proportionality; sanction applied by the court needs to take account of the seriousness of the crime and responsibility of the offender Equality; consistency in punishment. Frugality; sentence imposed should be the least restrictive that is appropriate Rehabilitation; the court must take into account the chances of rehabilitation for the offender As well as an outline of the options available when sentencing and the objectives that must be achieved when sentencing, the key issue that remains to be examined is the actual use of these sentencing options. Appendix Nine tabulates the various court outcomes from the Children’s Court in 2000. Noteworthy is the â€Å"other proven outcomes† category, comprising a total of 15.1 per cent of the outcomes. This category includes such outcomes as apprehended violence orders, compensation and  committals to higher courts. The next major category is dismissed with a caution, comprising 13.8 per cent of the court outcomes. The offence categories where dismissals are most frequently used are public order offences and drug offences. Most notable is the use of detention, the sixth most frequently used outc ome, 9.8 per cent of the time. Detention Centers: Juvenile Justice Centers and Juvenile Correction Centres In some jurisdictions there are certain legislative requirements when the court is considering sentencing a young person to a period of institutionalisation. Generally speaking, the court must be satisfied that no other sentencing option is appropriate, that is, the offender has not responded to the different preventive and rehabilitation methods available or the offender has committed a serious indictable offence and no other sentencing option is feasible. It is clear that the use of detention is meant to be a â€Å"last resort† measure. The detention of young offenders is driven by several competing rationales, including deterrence, retribution, community safety and rehabilitation. The relative emphasis placed upon these will shape the overall direction of detention-centre policy and have a major impact on the nature of the incarceration experience. Many counseling and education programs are available in Juvenile Justice Centers and Juvenile Correction Centers, like, Kairong Juvenile Correction Facility and Reiby Juvenile Justice Centre in New South Wales. It is expected that these young offenders will be able to exit the system with the same skills and vocational opportunities as any other youth, as they offer many services to incarcerated offenders, such as: drug and alcohol counseling services educational opportunities vocational programs health programs and services recreational programs independent living programs arts and crafts courses cultural programs; special services for Aboriginal offenders legal services It is clear that detention facilities, as required by legislation, provide a secure, stable environment with an accent on rehabilitation and reintegration into the community. Importance is placed on upholding the rights and dignity of juvenile offenders and maintaining family links. Juvenile Justice: Fairness, Equality and Justice The three key legal notions of fairness, equality and justice are fundamental when assessing any issue within the Australian legal system. It is said that these three notions are the speculative cornerstones of the entire legal system, with each decision (whether they be statute law or common law decisions, decisions by government departments or decisions made by law enforcers) made within the legal system, hinging on fairness, equality and justice. It is fundamental, when assessing the issue of juvenile justice as a current criminal justice issue, to consider fairness, equality and justice, independently, even though these three notions, in operation, are interdependent. The following is an assessment of juvenile justice in relation to the specific issues which have been outlined in this report, thus far. These specific facets of juvenile justice are its relevant regulatory legislation, diversionary schemes, the Children’s Court and Detention Centers. – Equality Many individuals argue that equality before the law is the most fundamental and important aspect of our judicial system. Equality before the law means that all people who come before courts are treated equally regardless of their individual situation; this is formal equality before the law. But equality also suggests that everyone is treated the same and to achieve equal treatment, mitigating circumstances must be taken into account during the legal process, so that equality of outcomes can be achieved. The statues regulating juvenile justice all take into account the age of criminal responsibility before the law, and the fact that being a juvenile does in fact reduce responsibility before the law. Because of this, formal equality for juveniles can be achieved, as all juveniles are considered to have reduced criminal responsibility due to the fact that they are indeed juveniles. The imposing of formal equality, which is clearly defined in the various statutes regulating juvenile justice, does not occur during the operation of the statutes by law enforcement officials, such as police officers. It is evident that minority racial groups can be discriminated against at the law enforcement level, that is, due to the police. During the documentary, Insight: Juvenile Justice, produced by SBS Australia and screened by SBS Australia on March 3rd 2000, which was documented by reporter, Vivan Ultman, raises many issues in regards to the treatment of ethnic minorities within the juvenile justice system. Chris Cueen a criminologist in New South Wales believes there is a clear reason for the over representation of minority groups in Juvenile Justice Centers, stating â€Å"the clear answer to that is the most marginalized kids in society are the ones that end up locked up, it’s a reflection on unemployment and ethnicity†. Former magistrate of the Children’s Court in NSW, Rod Blackmore, states that â€Å"they (ethnic minority juveniles) aren’t being dealt with more harshly by the courts, or by the system, it’s rather a gate keeping problem, whether they’ve been diverted in the first place by the police or they are quickly being charged and arrested by the police†. Because of the lack of diversion by the police, who do not utilize diversionary schemes empowered under the Young Offenders Act 1997 (NSW), such as an on the spot warning or a more serious formal caution, a clear inequality has resulted – leaving more ethnic minorities, such as indigenous Australians, in juvenile correction facilities. This overrepresentation, specifically to indigenous Australians, is clearly illustrated in the statistical data comprised by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, shown in Appendix Ten. Yet, this over representation could be avoided if the police force took active steps to ensure equality in treating indigenous Australians. Over policing in areas of high indigenous population could be reduced to decrease the tensions between indigenous juveniles and the police. In an article written by Liz Gooch, titled â€Å"Aboriginal Prison Rates Increasing† in The Age on the 12th of July 2005, the focus is on indigenous juveniles who are, as quoted, â€Å"20 times more likely to be detained than other Australians†. Not only this, such unequal treatment â€Å"could affect their future significantly, possibly leading to further convictions later in life†. Yet, of importance, is the inequality of ethnic minorities within the community prior to entering the Juvenile Justice System. In New South Wales, groups of indigenous Australians and those from non-English speaking backgrounds, are portrayed by the media as being disadvantaged and typical â€Å"offenders†. Whether or not this true, this has a strong bearing on the factors which lead individuals, like these minority groups, to commit crimes. The result of negative public image can often lead to the justification of groups such as indigenous Australians, to commit crimes. But, active steps have been taken to ensure equality of all juvenile offenders who appear before the Children’s Court, as all juveniles have access to the Legal Aid Youth Hotline, which gives free advice to juvenile’s at all stages in the juvenile justice system. Not only this, during diversionary schemes – such as cautions and Youth Conferencing – young offenders may elect individuals to be present at such schemes, such as interpreters, to ensure equality of opportunity for all young offenders. Equality of opportunity is further encouraged through the use of various educational and vocational training programs during incarceration periods. This ensures that when juveniles exist their incarceration sentence, they are at equal (or near equal) status with other individuals, as if they had not been through the process. There is also indirect discrimination created by the notion of equality before the law. An Australian Law Reform Commission and Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission join report, â€Å"Seen and Heard: Priority for Children in the legal Process†13, identified a number of problem areas with respect to young people. One of the most important problems was their relationship with police, the inadequacy of courtroom facilities and inadequate training for criminal justice personnel in dealing with young people. Although this report was created some time ago, improvement is a process of continuity, which may never be fully achieved. – Fairness Fairness refers to the legitimate and proper conduct in the performance of an act or duty. In regards to Juvenile Justice there are many instances when ‘unfair’ treatment in the eyes of the law may occur. One such example of this is the provision of legal advice upon detainment of a juvenile. In the past, when a child asked to speak to a lawyer, police had sometimes given the young offender a telephone book and told them to look one up, often outside business hours. In the case of R v Clifford Cortez14 the court found that this was not fair practice and that the custody manager must inform the child about the free Legal Aid Youth Hotline and help them to access it. In this case, Justice Dowd created common law precedent, when he stated â€Å"Young people aged 17 rarely have a solicitor and rarely have a contact number for one available. It is as absurd as suggesting they might contact their architect or dietary advisory. The whole intention of the hotline is that young people would know that is free, that it is available, and that they would be able to obtain advice there and then. Failure to make it available is a clear breach of the Act and regulation but, more importantly, in breach of the requirement of fairness to the young person†. It is clear that in an effort to allow fairness during the juvenile justice process, the right to legal advice must be upheld. Furthermore, in the case R v Phung and Hunyh15 the importance of the appropriate support person was enforced. In this case, seventeen year old Johnny Phung was suspected of committing an armed robbery and fatal shooting. Police arrested him and conducted two interviews while he was in custody. The these interviews, Phung made admissions about his involvement with the offences. Phung, was not granted an appropriate support person during his questionings. The support person in the first interview with Detective Senior Constable Quigg was Phung’s 21 year old cousin, who did not have strong English (and too was intimidated by the police). The second support person was a Salvation Army Officer who was a stranger to Phung and did not have any opportunity to talk to him privately. When Phung was charged and brought to Court, justice wood refused to admit the interview transcripts, finding that the police had acted improperly by not providing an appropriate support person for Phung. Justice Wood stated â€Å"I would exclude the evidence, since I am of the view that the apparent failure of those concerned to secure compliance with the regime gives rise to an unfairness, and outweighs the probative value of the admissions obtained, powerful as they might have been†. It is clear that in the efforts to  promote fairness in the juvenile justice system, an appropriate support person must be present during the police detainment. Particular unfairness can result in the Children’s Court Sentencing Process, with the most important consideration in sentencing juveniles being rehabilitation. This was illustrated in a case that went to the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal, R v GDP16. P was a 15 year old boy who, with two friends, caused extensive damage to a car yard and construction company in the western suburbs of Sydney, to the value of more than $1.5 million. P was arrested by the police and made admissions in two records of the interview. P’s charge could have been determined in the children’s court; however, the court used its discretion to commit P to stand trial in the District Court. P pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 month’s detention. A successful appeal was lodged in the Court of Criminal Appeal and the sentence was reduced to 12 months’ probation. Justice Matthews, in her judgement, made a number of points concerning the principles of sentencing young people. She noted that P was a first offender and had received a favourable court report, school report and psychiatric report. He had rehabilitated himself to a substantial degree since the original offence by not reoffending and by returning to school. Justice Matthews found that the original judge who had imposed the custodial sentence had been wrong on two accounts. Although the sentence of 12 months’ detention was within the range of appropriate penalties, it did not take into account the youth of the offender or his or her prospect of rehabilitation. Not only this, the sentencing judge had failed to distinguish the minor role played by P in the offences, he had the same sentence as one co-offender but had played a substantially less role. Other cases since GDP have also been significant in upholding the importance of rehabilitation, including R v Wilkie17, R v Vitros18 and R v ALH19. It is clear that in order to produce a fair outcome for each individual, mitigating circumstances must be taken into account as well any other particular circumstances which surround the case. Examples such as these are extensive, with numerous cases of unfairness during process due to inadequacy of complying with various specifications, outlined in statutes such as the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW) and the Children’s Court Act 1987 (NSW). – Justice Justice is a subjective term depending on the context it is used in. Everyone has an individual idea on what they personally believe justice is. Justice takes into account the notions of equality and fairness, as well as notions of access, equity and human rights. Criminal law is said to operate to right the wrongs of individuals in the community, on behalf of the state. It is a matter of public law, where the state prosecution acts on behalf of all members of society to give the most appropriate retribution for the individuals wrong to society. Yet, Youth Conferences as a diversionary scheme are questioned in their ability to achieve justice for the individual affected by the crime, and thus justice for society. In 2003, 1250 Youth Justice Conferences were run as alternatives to the Children’s Court. Through a youth conference, an individual experiences shame in front of the eyes of intimates and must experience a form of repentance in front of these intimates. It is said to achieve justice for young offenders as it is not excessively confrontational and produces an achievable outcome plan, agreed upon by both the offender and the victim. But, the question remains as to if this is in actuality an achievement of justice. Conferences are considered by many to be a progressive approach to juvenile justice because they recognise the rights of young offenders, their victims, and both their families and community to decide what to do about the damage caused by the offender’s actions. They also provide a forum for discussing and addressing many of the complex issues associated with young peoples offending. In a documentary, titled â€Å"Joe’s Conference: what happens at a youth justice conference†, produced by the Redfern Legal Centre Publishing, in 2000, depicts the process of youth justice conferences as it follows the story of Joe, a youth offender who stole a car, preceded to destroy the car and was then caught by the police, and sent to a youth justice conference. At the conclusion of the documentary, Joe’s agreed outcome plan includes community service and undertaking vocational training at a certified  mechanic’s work shop. No compensation is rewarded for the vic tim, who has lost his car. Although agreed upon by both the offender and the victim, justice, in the eyes of many, may have not been achieved. Yet, contrary to this opinion, in an article featured on the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, NSW, titled â€Å"Re-offending by young people cautioned or conferenced†, released on the 3rd of January 2007, found that â€Å"Juveniles who receive a caution or a youth justice conference are less likely to re-offend than those who are referred to the Children’s Court†. Using statistics given by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the article states that â€Å"Forty-two per cent of those cautioned and 58 per cent of those dealt with at a youth justice conference had a further offence proved against them in the Children’s Court over the five-year follow-up period† and â€Å"only a small proportion of those cautioned (5.2 per cent) or conferenced (10.8 per cent) committed an offence serious enough to warrant a custodial sentence within five years of being cautioned or conferenced†. It is clear that Youth Conferencing can achieve justice, bec ause re-offending rates are decreased. Not only this, justice is achieved for individuals who are able to confront the offender and express their opinions. This is depicted in the article titled â€Å"Justice in the cell with no bars†, written by Jock Cheetham, which appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald on the 29th of October, 2004. Journalist, Jock Cheetham, observes the Youth Conference, on condition that â€Å"no one except the convener is identified†. The Youth Justice Conference was held to create a successful outcome plan for the offender, who is known as ‘Dave’, for offences larceny, vandalism and driving under the influence of alcohol. This article allows the understanding of how Youth Justice Conferences do in fact achieve justice, as it states how the victims felt as a result of the Conference, when the victims and Dave agreed that the offender, Dave â€Å"pay $500 and do 20 hours community work at a Police and Citizens Youth Club†. One of the victims, known as â€Å"Jacquline † states, â€Å"But I was still a bit angry at the end, I still feel he got off a bit easily. It was good because we felt it was over and done with. It doesn’t wipe it all away, but you feel part of the process.† It is clear that Youth Justice Conferences do achieve justice for victims and allow rehabilitation, and thus justice, for offenders. Not only this, by diverting cases away from the Children’s Court, a much greater resource efficiency is gained and greater  access for all young offenders is promoting, furthering the justice provided. Juvenile Justice Centers and other correctional detention facilities, do not achieve justice. Chris Cureen, a criminologist, states â€Å"the most you can say about imprisonment is it takes a young person out of circulation for a period of time and so they are no as likely to commit an offence while they’re behind bars, but in terms of deterrence they don’t work, they don’t stop other kids from committing offences and they certainly don’t stop those same kids from committing offences when they get out†. Juvenile Justice Centers are said to â€Å"teach crime† so that young offenders are more skilful crimin als upon release – in essence, Criminologist Edwin H. Sutherland, theory of differential association. It is easiest and most pleasing to society to put youthful offenders behind bars, but perhaps justice is not achieved by doing this, as it hardens the young offender and fosters further criminal behaviour. Yet, the question remains as to why incarceration facilities offer skills for children to earn a good living upon release. Chris Cueen, states, â€Å"One of the most profound ironies out of something like this is that somewhere like Kariong (the highest security juvenile justice centre in NSW) has the best employment opportunities, so you lock someone up in sort of the maximum security environment, and there at the end point you begin to five them skills or education that should’ve been offered at the very start of the process†. Juvenile Justice Centers offer educational programs to rehabilitate young offenders, but too, foster crime. It is dependant on each individual as to whether the correctional facility is beneficial or detrimental to the offender. Furthermore, l aws regulating Juvenile Justice uphold international human rights standards, such as the UN Conventions on the Rights of the Child (CROC). The statues regulating juvenile justice provide for non-discrimination (article 4), the best interests of the child (article 3), survival and development (article 6) and participation in decision making (article 12). Justice is achieved for young offenders as statues regulating offenders protect ratified human rights conventions. Not only this, justice for juvenile offenders is achieved as it is an offence to publish or broadcast the name or other identifying characteristics of a young person appearing before or convicted by the children’s court. This achieves justice as it avoids future stigmatisation of the young offender and also by ensuring maximum  opportunities for personal growth and development. Conclusion Overall juvenile justice law, as assessed in the previous section, promotes fairness, equality and justice. The common law aims for rehabilitation of offenders, but will not hide from more serious sentencing options, such as detention. If this is continually maintained as the driving force behind the Juvenile Justice System, the pinnacle point of the effectiveness will be reached. For the system to be most effective, a balance must be achieved between the offender and sentencing options, remaining in proportion. Although great improvements are needed in areas of dealing with minority offenders to achieve formal equality before the law, as well as further strict enforcement of principles set out in Juvenile Justice regulatory statues to achieve fairness, total justice, and the utmost effectiveness of the system will be reached. Bibliography: Books: Cunneen. C, White. R. Juvenile Justice: Youth and Crime in Australia, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2002 Loughman, J. Mackinnon. G, Hot Topic 49: Juvenile Justice, Legal Information Access Center, NSW, 2004 Findlay. M, Odgers. S, Yeo. S, Australian Criminal Justice, Oxford University Press, NSW, 1999 Healey. K, Issues in Society Volume 90: Youth and The Law, The Spinney Press, NSW, 1998 Healey. K, Issues in Society Volume 40: Juvenile Justice, The Spinney Press, NSW, 1995 Department of Juvenile Justice, What’s Happening in Juvenile Justice in NSW?, Department of Juvenile Justice, Sydney, 2000 Ardagh. A, Youth Conferencing: Contrasting Models, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, 1996 O’Connor, I. and Sweetapple. P, Children in Justice, Longman Cheshire, NSW, 1988 Western. J, Lynch. M, Ogilvie. E, Understanding Youth Crime: An Australian Study, Ashgate, NSW, 2003 Roberts. A, Juvenile Justice Sourcebook: Past, Present and Future, Oxford University Press, New York, 2004 Cornu. Daryle, Miller. A, Robinson. S, Kelly. T, Steed. K, Cambridge Legal Studies: HSC, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 2006 Gleeson. W, Brogan. M, Siow, V, Hayes. M, Thiering, N. Heinemann Legal Studies: HSC Course, Heinemann, NSW, 2003 Brassil. D, Brassil. B, Excel HSC: Legal Studies, Pascal Press, NSW, 2005 Draper. H, Legal Studies: HSC, Longman, Melbourne, 2002 McCarthy. J, Suter. K, Watt. R, Legal Studies 2, Macmillan, South Yarra, 2000 Documentaries: Vivian Ultman, Insight: Juvenile Justice, SBS Australia screen on March 3rd 2000 Fiona Cochrane, Youth Express: Is Justice For all?, Marcom Projects, 1993 Joe’s Conference: what happens at a youth justice conference, Redfern Legal Centre Publishing, 2000 Articles: Liz Gooch, â€Å"Aboriginal Prison Rates Increasing† in The Age on the 12th of July 2005 Jock Cheetham, â€Å"Justice in the cell with no bars†, The Sydney Morning Herald on the 29th of October, 2004. â€Å"Re-offending by young people cautioned or conferenced†, Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, NSW, 3rd of January 2007 Cases: Accessed via http://beta.austlii.edu.au/ R v Clifford Cortez (Unreported Supreme Court, 3 October 2002) R v Phung and Huynh [2001] NSWSC 115 revised – 15/05/2001 R v GDP (1991) 53 A Crim R 112 R v Wilkie, NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, unreported 2 July 1992 R v Vitros, NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, unreported 3 September 1993 R v ALH, NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, unreported 26 May 1995 Note: Cases in the NSW Children’s Court are heard in camera, and could thus not be used in the report Websites: http://beta.austlii.edu.au/, accessed 23/2/07 http://home.comcast.net/~ddemelo/crime/differ.html, accessed 23/2/07 www.aic.gov.au, accessed 23/2/07 www.djj.gov.au, accessed 23/2/07 www.abs.gov.au, accessed 23/2/07

Research Methadology

Research Topic Linking enhanced employee performance to the achievement of the company’s goals and objectives so as to generate increased productivity: The case of â€Å"SUBWAY†, Rathbone Place. Submitted by LOKEMAN HOSAIN MOLLAH ID – 0385VLVL0209 MBA-A Submitted to DR. BERNADETTE WARNER Submission date 26 august 2009 Acknowledgement First of all, I would like to take an opportunity to say thanks to Dr. Bernadette Warner who has vast knowledge about business strategy and international business, which is helpful to complete this proposal. Also I would like to say thanks to Mr Hmant Dixit, the operational director of â€Å"SONISH LTD† who helped me a lot to get information about subway and the employees of Subway in Rathbon Place, London. And I would like to give special thanks to Mr. Mamunur Roshed, area Manager,Sonish Ltd and Mr. Arifur Rahaman, Store Manager, Rathbonr Place for their cordial support. Table of contents Introduction Topic area Problem statement Background and purpose of the research Literature review Aims and Objectives of the research Research Questions Research Design and Methodology Sources and acquisition of data Data analysis Timetable About Subway Conclusion 1. Introduction In today’s business become more globalize, and competitive, for this reason it is very essential to find out a ways to make our organizational resources more creative and productive. In many organizations, the most important and exclusive resource is employee and as a result, a lot of time is spent on creating processes and conditions that drive and motivate our employees. And if we can motivate and encourage our employee then their performance will be good which is very important for an organization. Increasing employee performance can achieve maximum business performance, for this reason every individual employee has to work at their optimal level and be focused on the correct tasks. Effective Employee Performance Management (EPM) adoption empowers employees to take responsibility for their own productivity, and allows a business to fully align goals, activities and tasks to support the direction of the company. Employee Performance Management helps organizations improve both the processes and the productivity of managing a workforce. In most service organizations, attrition is critical to consistent performance and success. Employee Performance Management strategies can help your organization make dramatic business performance improvements and yield tremendous benefits beyond cost reductions. 2. Topic area The topic area is to cover the employee performance at Subway to achieve the company’s objectives and productivity This research will conduct correlate the gaps in individual performance and organizational productivity, with the environment that exists in Subway. 3. Problem statement To stay in a global market, organization need to have very high performing, productive, and motivated workforce ( Madhok & Phene , 2001 ) . However , the problem is that organization have not been able to effectively tap into and leverage the full potential of individuals, to enable them to operate at their peak / optimized level of performance. Consequently, most employees are under performing in organizations. The inability of an organization to use the full potential of an employee’s capacity has had a negative impact on the overall productivity and competitiveness organizations in a global market. (Check land, 1999). 4. Background and purpose of the research The purpose of this research is to determine how organization could become more productive, and thus competitive, by enabling their employees to raise their overall level of performance and productivity, and assist employees to operate at high level of capacity by adopting the best practices of top performing employees in the organization. Building on the work on Pratt and Foreman (2000), the author was interest in determining, in a systematic and holistic manner, the impact of any interrelated organizational factors or entities that had a positive or negative impact on individual performance. The present research initiated to address a key organizational issue and leveraged a number of fundamental questions – First, how can organization become capable of sustained high performance? Second, can organizations leverage the full potential of their employees? Third why do most employees in organizations work at 60% of the full capacity? Finally, why most employees about 90% of the total workforce, considered to be typical employees? (Boyett & Conn, 1995). We need a comprehensive approach to a style of management that enables every employee to aspire to excellence. Now only a few employees are excellent. Most employees are performing below their capacity and our piecemeal efforts to improve performance aren’t working. (Boyett & Conn, 1995) 5. Literature review In the literature review will provide a comprehensive review of the existing literature on individual performance, organizational productivity, and connection that may exist between these two. This overview will include a review and analysis of the seminal books and articles as well as many of the most current books and articles on the subject. In a general and broad sense, this review revealed that individual performance and organizational productivity can be affected by five key factors: leadership /management, the nature of the job itself, the environment of the job, personal drivers or factors and the individual’s emotional intelligence. When observed in isolation, each of these factors can have a positive or negative impact on individual performance. However, when combined and observed holistically it quickly becomes apparent to this that the leadership/ management factor can have a positive or negative impact on how the other four factors are shaped . The section that immediately follows will briefly introduce each of these five factors followed by a section that is devoted to exploring these five factors in greater detail. 5. 1Management / Leadership Elements and impact Numerous studies have shown that management and leadership style, practices and approach can have an influence on individual performance and motivation. (Khaliq, 2001) Leader ship has been defined as, the ability to influence or inspire others to do something that needs to be done. It is instilling in each employee a sense of belonging and commitment towards the achievement of the goals and objectives of the organization and leaders are the catalysts that stimulate employees to develop their potential to the full. This section will provide Comprehensive review of the role, the significance, and the effect of management and / or leadership practices on individual performance, motivation and their overall development in organizations. A comprehensive review of the current literature includes recent books and articles that deal with this subject . Finally this review will include the various leadership and management styles approaches and characteristics that have a profound impact on individual motivation and performance. (Khaliq, 2001, p. 5) Khaliq (2001), compared the motivational and performance factors of the workforce in the United States to that of the Malay, Chinese and Indian workers employed by the Malaysian companies. He concluded many of the leadership approaches that dealt with the concepts of openness, direct confrontation nd / or challenging the process were in direct opposition to many of eastern cultures values and behaviours. In sense khaliq points out that many ethnic and cultural parameters may also have a significant effect on how individuals are motivated, committed and become productive in organizations. Motivation is closely related to leading nurturing a willingness to achieve the above mentioned vision and mission of the organization. Leaders can motivate their employees by creating an environment wh ere work is seen as enriching and fulfilling, thus encouraging employees to contribute ideas and effort in order to enhance productivity. Khaliq, 2000, p. 2. ) 5. 2 Job specific elements and impact The leadership / management factors and the kind of positive or negative effect it had on performance and organizational productivity. The section that follows will review the significance and impact of the job itself and the type of day to day tasks performed by the individuals on their performance, motivation and energy level and overall organizational productivity. The nature of the job, the daily tasks performed by an employee and the manner in which tasks assigned to the individual can also influence performance. , motivational level and organizational productivity Some jobs have lot of beginnings and endings during the day with the opportunity for employees to win or lose. ( positive or negative consequences ). But unfortunately the prevailing situation is that most jobs are just doing this hour what you did the last hour without any immediate consequence for performance . And few workers are running around complimenting other workers for the good they are doing. That leaves the managers as the only source of positive consequence (positive reinforcement) to employees for performing well any day. ( Fournies , 2000, p. 78) . The degree of motivational potential of any specific job, then, dramatically influenced by how a person views the job he or she is given, including how assignments are organized, structured and managed. Even a high pressure situation, IT professionals report that work is exciting when they are having fun doing it. In some sense, then, highly motivating work assignments should be similar the kind of activities people might chose to do for fun on their own. (Kartz, 1998, p. 1) 5. 3 Environmental elements and impact The stability or volatility of the work environment ( e. g the degree of office conflicts , power place ) can have a negative influence on the individuals anxiety level, performance and their overall motivation to perform well at work. We used to think we could separate the soft stuff from the hard stuff – the soft staffs was our commitment to the work force. The hard stuff – what really mattered. Now we know you can’t get the staff out the door unless your employees are 100 percent committed and free of home life distraction. And the way get them there is simple. You do every thing you can to help them those life issues, so work and family can coexist successfully. ( Mechelen , 1998 , p. 6) . 5. 4 Personal / internal Elements and impact Personal factors or elements are internal and often silent motivational variables that can drive human behavior to act in certain way. For example a cultural or religious motivator (e. . Work being equal) may cause an employee to give it their all, deliver more quality work relative to their peers, and become creative. As second example an employee who is seeking promotion is more likely to work an and communicate better, establish better relationship and work harder compared to another co worker who was just recently promoted. Weiss (1936) points out that individual are driven on the basis of five categories of human needs that he refers to as Murray’s categories. These categories were named after Henry A. Murray). Murray (1938 )named five specific categories of needs self fulfillment (achievement and endurance) , social needs ( affiliation and love) , ego needs ( exhibitionism and independence), safety needs ( avoidance of harm) , and power needs ( control). These needs indicate that many individuals are often motivated by strong desires and factors. Thus we trying to enhance or raise individual performance, manager’s needs to be sensitive to these human needs and understand that individuals are typically goal oriented and strive to concurrently satisfy many internal needs. There fore managers needs to search for internal drivers and try to ensure that they provide appropriate motivators and inceptives that will address these needs. (Murray , 1938) 5. 5 Emotional intelligence elements and impact An individual emotional intelligence can contribute to how he or she performs at work, how the individuals relate to others and the overall productivity of the organization. ( Johnson & Indvik, 1999; mason , 1999;)A person with high emotional intelligence has the ability to understood and relate to people. In fact this skill is now considered to have greater impact on individual and group performance. That traditional measures of intelligence such as IQ. when emotional intelligence is present , there is a increased employee cooperation , increased motivation , increased productivity and increased profits . (Johnson & Indvik ,1999 , p. 1) . People wit well developed emotional skills are also more likely to be content and effective on their lives, mastering the habits of mind that foster their own productivity. People who cannot marshal some control over their emotional life fight inner battles that sabotage their ability for focused work and clear thought. (Goldman, 1994, p36) 6. Aims and Objectives of the research It is expected that this research will have a direct impact on the management community by defining methods of developing top performing employees . This work will address the significant issues of individual performance , organizational productivity , and the link between two. As a long term objective, this research will provides a number solid answer to age old problems of productivity and employee motivation, and establish a set of principles that will be applicable to most work groups in organizations. In the interim, this study intends to provide a report in the form of a process for improvement that can be applied in the field by management. Especially this study has some major benefits. First it will identify and document any common factors that have a positive impact on individual performance. Second, by identifying and documenting the common variables or factors that may exist among low performers in an organizations , it is expected that management can be assisted in identifying areas of deficiency and consequently develop employees to improve low performance, raise morale, and reduce the potential for burnout in their organizations. And also it is expected that the result of this research will be translated into a corporate training program that will enable a typical or average employee to raise his or her performance by adopting the best practices used by the top or star performers in the organization. Finally researcher expectation that the aforementioned concepts and findings will be applicable to the Subway. It is further expected that the findings of this research will be the subject of the future study. 7. Research Questions This study is to address a fundamental question: What are the common factors or best practices used by the top performing employees in organizations? Examples of these common factors were perceived employee- manager working relationships, Leadership or management, top individual motivators or de-motivators, environmental elements and any best known practices. For further clarification this fundamental question can be further broken down into a number of sub questions: Were the identified common factors between high performers the same factors that the low performers were deficient and lacking? From the perspective of individual motivational factors, what would be the management perspective compared to that of the employee perception? Finally are there any discrepancies or gaps between the manager and top performer perceptions or beliefs? 9. Research Design and Methodology Concepts of this research individual performance, organizational productivity and the connection between two. A major objective of this study to explore and discover the common factors that distinguish the top performers in an organization. These factors are: any key perceived employee manager working relationships, top three motivators or de- motivators, and any best practices. The identification of these factors is intended to generate one or more grounded theories to explain why only a small percentage of the employees in an organizations ( e. g. 5 % ) are considered to be more effective or productive performers. Relative to the peers in the same or similar work environment. The study is going to be on a qualitative research approach . It will use an iterative data gathering process, the use of inductive data analysis techniques, and a constant comparative and classification process of data to develop one or more grounded theories that could explain this phenomenon. The design of this research study is interpretive and systematic. It will attempt to uncover fundamental patterns and commonalities (e. g. employee manager working relationship) that exist in the research data. It will attempt to discover the common factors that characterize the top performers, both managers and employees, in organizations. As a systematic study it will compare and contrast the data. To achieve this data will be collected from the high, medium, low, performers. Using techniques: 1. through the use of an elaborate organizational survey. 2. A series of one to one interviews. 3. Personal observation. Each phase the data collection and analysis process will be built upon the learning obtained from the previous stages in an iterative process. To construct the organizational survey literature review and analysis process will undertaken. 4. Finally to generate the grounded theories, the results of the organizational survey, and analysis of the one to one and group interviews. At each stage data will be collected, compared, contrasted, classified and any commonalities that existed will documented. (Glaser & Strauss, 1999) 10. Sources and acquisition of data To begin with, organization Subway, Researcher has been working there since four years as a senior sales assistant. And have a good cooperation with the management and the employee who are willing to anticipate with the interviews. Primary data will be gathered by conducting one to one interviews with key managers or individuals. Before executing such research activities it is ensured that research will be carried out with the permission of the senior management to interview the respective senior members of such organization. More concerns will be shown to select the appropriate senior members for such interviews. Finally, secondary data the possible available reviews, books, articles, suggestions, journals, electronic based information such as internet will be taken in to account for obtaining relevant information for the research, however strong weight will be given to acquire data from reliable source to make sure research content solid track of information. 1. Data analysis The theory construction will be based upon the literature review process, the survey results and feedback received from one to one make to the organization survey. as pointed earlier the desired out come of this study will to develop one or more grounded theories that could explain the top performing ( or low performing ) employee in o rganizations. To achieve this- First, theories will be developed based on the data collected, analyzed and the common pattern identified. The data will take from the literature review process, a comprehensive organizational survey, one to one interviews and observation. And each phase findings will be classified into specific categories: management / leadership, job, environment of the job, individual motivators and emotional intelligence. Second all identifiable performance factors will categorized according to the five major factors identified during the literature review. A matrix consisting of number of variable performance factors and the frequency of each result will construct. Further a set of definitions for each term or variable used in the study will formulate. 12. Timetable ACTIVITIESWEEKS1234567891011121Initializing Appointments 2Literature review 3Follow Up Meetings & Obtaining Information 4Obtaining Historical information 5Critical analysis 6Deriving a Conclusion 7Developing a Draft 8Editing & preparing final Draft 9Final Report Ready 13. About Subway Fred DeLuca founded the SUBWAY ® chain in Connecticut, USA, in 1965. The company has since grown into a multi-billion pound business, with more than 25,000 outlets in over 80 countries. In a world full of â€Å"Super Size It† messages that prompt people to eat too much and eat high fat items, SUBWAY ® bucks the trend with a healthy message – 7 subs with under 6 grams of fat – as a major part of their advertising strategy. 14. Conclusion Optimizing individual performance, raising the bar of organizational productivity, and being able to accomplish organizational objectives. A growing body research indicates that a productive, efficient and healthy learning organization is a necessary and key ingredient for global competition . The present study will be explored, analyzed and documented how an organization could become more productive and competitive by enabling its employees to raise their overall level of work performance. The results of this effort will indented to assist employees to operate at a higher level of their capacity by enabling them to leverage many of the common factors or best practices used by the top performing employees in their organizations. These factors include: perceive good employee manager working relationship, top individual motivating, and any other best practices. This study attempted the best way managers and employees can partner to nature a work environment where they can grow, develop, and maximize their full potential. This study has benefits. It identifies and documents the most common factors that have positive or negative impact on employee performance and productivity. It attempts to capture the attributes and practices of high performing employees in an organization and perform this analysis on low and medium performers as well. In conclusion, this study provided evidence that organizational productivity, effectiveness and creativity flow from flow naturally from individual productivity, effectiveness and creativity. (Loehr , 2001) Reference Loehr , J . (2001 , January ) , The making of a corporate athlete , Harvard Business Review , 79 , Issue 1 , 120 , 9p , 1 . Glaser , B . & Strauss , A . (1999) , The discovery of grounded theory : Strategies for Qualitative research , Chicago ; Aldline . Madhok , A . & Phene , A . 2001) , The Co evolution Advantage : Strategic management theory and the electic paradigm , International Journal of the Economics of Business , 8 , No, 2, 243 – 256. Boyett , J . H . & Conn , H . P . (1995) , Maximum performance management : how to manage and compensate people to meet world competition, Glenbridge Publishing : Lakewood , Colorado. Checkland , P . (1999) , Systems thinking , systems practice . john Wiley & Sons , Ltd : New York , NY. Pratt , M . G & Foreman , P . O . (20 00) , Classifying managerial response to multiple organizational identities . The Academy of management Review . MississippiState. Khaliq , A . (2001) , Corporate leadership and workplace motivation in Malaysia. International Journal of Commerce & Management . 11 . 1, 82 (Fournies , 2000) . Fournies , F . F . (2000) , Coaching for improvement work performance , McGraw-Hill: New York , NY . Katz , R . ( 1998) , Motivation leads to innovation – IT professionals who are excited about their jobs will be more creative and productive , Information Week , September , 14 , 1998 , n. 700, 294 (1). Mechelen , R. V. 1998, spring) , Work/life programs as management programs , The public manager : The new bureaucrat , 27 , n 1 , 31 (4) . Murray , H . A , (1938) , Exploration in personality : A clinical an expremental study of fifty men of college age , oxford University Press : New York . Johnson , P . R . & Invik , J . (1999) , Organizational benefits of having emotionally intelligent managers and employee , Journal of Workplace Learning , 1999 , 11 , issue 3 , 84 , 5p Goldman , D . (1994) , Emotional Intelligence : Why it can matter more than IQ , Bantam Books : New York , NY . www. subway. com