Trade Liberalisation Schemes Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6500 words

Trade Liberalisation Schemes - Dissertation Example Previous decades have been marked with an increase in the establishment of free trade areas, trade agreements and attempts to reach international treaties towards trade liberalization. Yet, trade was liberalized by fewer countries than had been expected, and more importantly, trade liberalization policies have been implemented partially or tentatively. All three main constituents of national income: factor prices, factor quantities and production technology, are influenced by the trade liberalization process. An open international trade regime may contribute through better allocation of world resources, through expansion of consumption opportunities and through a rise in production efficiency. In the view of the World Bank, trade liberalization is a major factor of economic growth, provided that additional conditions, such as macroeconomic stability and good governance are met. The current body of research that examines the relationship between trade liberalization and economic growth points to rather different conclusions, suggesting that little can be deemed as clear regarding the precise effects of trade liberalization on economic growth and poverty alleviation. Our research aims to determine how far trade liberalization schemes have been successful at promoting economic growth and what the implications have been for the relationship between developed and developing countries.... Yet, trade was liberalized by fewer countries than had been expected, and more importantly, trade liberalization policies have been implemented partially or tentatively. (Nugent, 2002) All three main constituents of national income: factor prices, factor quantities and production technology, are influenced by the trade liberalization process. (Parikh, 2007) An open international trade regime may contribute through better allocation of world resources, through expansion of consumption opportunities and through a rise in production efficiency. (Hoekman & Olarreaga, 2007) In the view of the World Bank, trade liberalization is a major factor of economic growth, provided that additional conditions, such as macroeconomic stability and good governance are met. (Spanu, 2003) The current body of research that examines the relationship between trade liberalization and economic growth points to rather different conclusions, suggesting that little can be deemed as clear regarding the precise eff ects of trade liberalization on economic growth and poverty alleviation. Our research aims to determine how far trade liberalization schemes have been successful at promoting economic growth and what the implications have been for the relationship between developed and developing countries. To answer the research question we must examine the role of organizations such as WTO, in particular the reasons for the breakdown of Doha round negotiations. Then we examine the concerns posed between the developed and developing countries, giving special care to the question of protectionist measures and trade barriers. We assess the way in which liberalization influenced intellectual property rights and the availability of pharmaceutical

Why do professionals prefer IAS Essay Example for Free

Why do professionals prefer IAS Essay A new subject has attracted legislators, thinkers, journalists and one could say the economists as well. Why should not we ban the entry of professionally qualified personnel into the IAS or IPS Services ? Some have argued that government spends, directly or indirectly, a lot of money on the education of an Engineer or a Doctor and in case these professionals join general services like IAS or IPS the hard spent government money goes into the gutter. Good some thinking of the type has emerged to care for the state expenditure. It was even in the year 1995 as well that some candidates from the general education side had suggested that engineering graduates should not be allowed to appear in entrance examination for IAS /IPS/IAAS/IRS and such like services. The reaction had been in response to the high rate of success in UPSC prime entrance examination from amongst the candidates with engineering degree, even clear walking away with almost 75 % of top ranks by engineering graduates ( doctors etc were not named at that time because they did not figure at the rate as the engineers figured to oust the generalist). The position is not much different in 2008.And now expenditures made by the society/ government have been talked about. Better before starting such discussions those so concerned with the subject would have asked the Engineers, Doctors, Post Graduate in Sciences, and the like and more so the rank holders amongst these categories of technocrats from even premier institutions like Indian Institute of Technology, BITS Pilani, IIMs that why do they try all hards to enter the general services like IAS ( where minimum qualification is any graduate degree) and let go waste the technical expertise/ professionalism they otherwise acquired through so much of hard work and investment , even as acquired out of aims and ambitions ? have observed that the engineering graduates prefer to enter IAS than to go for IES ( Indian Engineering Service ) since they feel that the top seat of civil governance in the Union Secretariat will generally be occupied by an IAS officer and not by the IES( Indian Engineering Service) officer. Such views were expressed by one of the engineering graduate who had ranked in top 5 of IAS l ist and had laid preference for IAS and not Indian Engineering Service. I had been investigating in this direction for more than 12 years now. And have been able to work out some reasons for such type of thinking being developed. A few years earlier in India we used to talk of brain drain to out side India and it was reasoned that since the engineers/ scientists/ doctors are not well paid in terms of cash and career in India that is why they attempt leaving for US/UK/ other countries. And now the question is of brain drain from professional bank to the general service bank. The reason in this case lies both in Career Prospects, involvement in governance of the affairs of the society and perks in terms of monetary as well as social authority. The disparity between the IAS and other Government services is so huge that any one would prefer IAS .

Human Resource Management Strategy Business Essay

Human Resource Management Strategy Business Essay Strategic Human resource management is a plan that facilitates the way an organization is being ran. The Human Resource Management strategy and the business strategy must be totally integrated. (Kearns, 2008). In today ¿Ã‚ ½s modern world, they are different ways in which HRM within an organization operates but then they focus their attention on three main areas of management which are; staffing, employee compensation and defining or designing work. The target of every HRM departments in any organization will be to optimize the effectiveness of its employee in order to maximize productivity and increase profit. According to Edward L. Gubman as observed in the journal of business strategy,  ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½The basic mission of human resources will always be to acquire, develop and retain talent; align the work force with the business; and be an excellent contributor to the business. Those three challenges will never change. ¿Ã‚ ½ The back bone of any successful company is the HR de partment. The HR department must provide executive management with fundamental ideas that will help to not only gain market share, but entice and retain talent. Once the HR strategy of an organization is in place then its management ¿Ã‚ ½s responsibility sees that company goals are embraced and there are several ways they can do this which includes; communication, input, feedback, positive reinforcement, values etc. In recent year, observers have cited a decided trend towards a fundamental reassessment of HR structures and positions.  ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½A cascade of changing business conditions, changing organizational structures, and changing leadership have been forcing human resource departments to alter their perspective on their role and functions almost-overnight, ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ wrote John Johnston in Business Quarterly. Figure 1 Strategy Implementation in an HR Environment Emergent strategies The SHRM functions can be known of having six (6) menus of HRM practices, from which organizations can choose the ones that is most appropriate for implementing their strategy. The Strategies of organizations varies depending on the level and structure of that organization and there is no know strategy which is the best suitable. The company I will be looking at to see how its HRM operates in the Organization is Barclays Group PLC. 1.2. STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN BARCLAYS GROUP PLC Brief history of Barclays Barclays plc is a major global multinational financial services provider engaged in retail and commercial banking. Barclays has two geographical concentrations in the financial industry: global retail banking and corporate investment banking wealth management with operations in more than fifty countries with an extensive international presence in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. Barclays has got approximately fifteen thousand six hundreds colleagues internationally and it moves, lends, invests and protects money for over forty-eight million customers and clients. Barclays plc has a global network of more than one hundred and fifty-five thousand people working across a range of businesses thus makes the HR team of Barclays face a unique challenges. In such a diverse and internationally spread company, HR experts work with every business unit to help Barclays stay ahead of the competition by attracting and retaining the best people available and make sure that they are all in the right jobs and do the best work that will create sustainable benefits for the works, customers and shareholders, all over the world. But it ¿Ã‚ ½s not all about new recruit that the HR management team of Barclays focuses on. It is also committed to nurturing its established colleague and the HR team play a vital role in monitoring performances and monitoring a host of training programmes. The HRM of Barclays Group is divided into different professional Job titles that deal with the Human resource related issues and plays an important part in every business unit of co mpany. The purpose of SHRM in Barclays The purpose or importance of SHRM in Barclays cannot be over emphasized, the success and failure of any organization depends solely on its HR management. The Primary purpose associated with human resource management in Barclays includes Job analysis and staffing (recruitment), organization and utilization of workforce, measurement and appraisal of workforce performance, implementation of reward systems for employees, professional development of workers and maintenance of workforce. I. Job analysis and recruitment: The HRM in Barclays has the responsibility of recruiting people for various employment positions in the company; they determine the skills, and experience necessary to adequately perform in a position, identification of job and industry trends and anticipation of future employments. They provide valid information about jobs that is used to hire and promote people, determine wages, determine training needs, and manage the flow of personnel into and out of Barclays. II. Organization, maintenance and utilization: The HRM dept of Barclays maintains the workforce of the company. The duty here involves designing an organizational framework that makes maximum use of an enterprises human resources and establishing systems of communication that helps the organization to operate in a unified manner. Other responsibilities in this area include health and safety and worker management relations. Maintenance task related to worker-management relations primarily entails: working with labor union; handling grievances related to misconduct, such as theft or sexual harassment; and devising communication systems to foster cooperation and shared sense of mission among the employees. III. Performance appraisal: The HRM of Barclays assesses employees ¿Ã‚ ½ job performance and provides feedbacks to the employees on both their positive and negative performance. The performance appraisal is important because it is used to determine the salary increase and promotions and in the case of a negative performance, dismissal might follow. IV. Reward systems: This system is managed by the HRM in Barclays. This aspect of management is important because it provides the mechanism by which company provide their worker with a reward for past achievements and incentives for high performance in the future. They also use this system to address a problem within the work force through institution of disciplinary measures. V. Employee development and training: The HR is responsible for identifying the training needs of Barclay ¿Ã‚ ½s employee and initiates and evaluates developments programmes designed to address those needs. These training programs ranges from orientation programmes, which are designed to acclimate new hire of the company, to ambitious education programmes indented to familiarize workers with a new software systems. 1.3 Contributions of SHRM to achievements of Barclay ¿Ã‚ ½s objectives Meaningful contributions to the business processes of Barclays processes are increasingly recognized as within the purview of active human resource management practices. The HRM of Barclays disseminates guideline for and monitoring employee ¿Ã‚ ½s behaviors and ensuring that the company is obeying worker-related regulatory guidelines. The HRM professional are aware of the fundamentals of learning and motivations and carefully design and monitor training and development programmes that has helped in achieving the aim and objectives of the company by increasing the quality of products and services delivered and increased growth and profit that benefits the whole organization. The HRM of Barclays has been deeply involved in reshaping of the company ¿Ã‚ ½s structure under increased external and internal complexity and in managing other aspect of strategic change in Barclays Group. The role and importance of SHRM in Barclays cannot be over emphasized, the success and failure of the company depends solely on its HRM and they can only succeed when the right strategy is applied. Having the company ¿Ã‚ ½s mission in mind at all time has been a driving force to the achievements of HR team of Barclays Group and technological changes with the help of SAP (enterprise resource planning tool) helps Barclays to succeed in today ¿Ã‚ ½s tough business climate. Figure 1.2 This table below show how the SHRM add value to an Organization. Source: CIPD, The case for good people management, 2001. 2.1. The business factor that underpin the HR planning in Barclays Strength of the company Barclay ¿Ã‚ ½s group has a widespread of global presence allowing it to spread its risk and enjoy economic of scale. The Barclays brand is well-established historically and has become ingrained in the psyche of the consumers and continually promoted, for example, through sponsorship of Premier league football. Barclays is particularly associated with innovation, it brought out the first debit and credit card and most recently the one plus card combining Oyster, cashless and credit functions for London-based customers. The opening of new flagship branches along with a refurbishment programme can be seen as an attempt to refocus on customers demand for a strong presence on the high street. The opening of new flagship branches along with a refurbishment programme can be seen as an attempt to refocus on customers demand for a strong presence on the high street. There is an increased online growth and online security to combat fraud and they enjoy a robust financial performance. The business growth Barclay ¿Ã‚ ½s business strategy is to achieve good growth through time by diversifying its business base and increasing its presence in markets and segments that are growing rapidly. This is driven by the Group ¿Ã‚ ½s ambition to become one of a handful of universal banks leading the global financial services industry, helping customers and clients throughout the world achieve their goals. The strategy is based on the principles of earn, invest and grow. Supporting this are four strategic priorities; Build the best bank in the UK, Accelerate the growth of global businesses, Develop retail and commercial banking activities in selected countries outside the UK, Enhance operational excellence. Barclay ¿Ã‚ ½s five guiding principles are key to the way the business operates:  ¿Ã‚ ½ Winning together: Achieving collective and individual success  ¿Ã‚ ½ Best people: Developing talented colleagues to reach their full potential, to ensure Barclays retains a leading position in the global financial services industry  ¿Ã‚ ½ Customer and client focus: Understanding customers and serving them brilliantly.  ¿Ã‚ ½ Pioneering: Driving new ideas, adding diverse skills and improving operational excellence.  ¿Ã‚ ½ Trusted: Acting with the highest integrity to retain the trust of customers, external stakeholders and colleagues. To continually compete internationally, Barclays must strive to perform customer service at an utmost level of excellence which will promote the company worldwide as a organization that can be relied upon time after time for small individual accounts as well as huge corporate accounts. To accomplish this, Barclays must identify their customer groups and the needs associated with each particular group and develop products and services that will be of great value to their customers. The practices that have worked in the past must be reconfigured to work for years to come and keep Barclays updated with the high changing IT world. This will call for new investments into new levels of technology that can help offer higher levels of service to its customers. Along with the apparent increase in speed that IT will allow Barclays to accomplish routine tasks, technology will also reduce risk of errors and fraud. (www.thebanker.com). IT will allow up to date information to be at the fingertips of Barclays managers, giving managers a huge advantage when it comes to making decisions and in pin pointing groups of customers that can have a high added value to Barclays. The fine-tuning of IT will also eliminate weaknesses within Barclays practices, preventing failures that effect customers and thus reducing excessive and unnecessary costs. In recent years, Barclays has been very successful in carrying out its desired tactics. Huge investment strategies that have led to this increase in profits include the acquirements within its Barclaycard card business. With growth on its mind, Barclays has set out to create an international business that if forecasted correctly, the income generated in its Barclaycard division will be of equal value internationally as well as domestically by 2013. Barclays has also placed strategic action in growing throughout Europe up to sixty percent in the near feature. 2.2. Human resource requirement to open new technology center in Johannesburg, South Africa In order to successfully open a new technological center in South Africa, Barclays will require having a structure (accommodation), the need the right number of staff, at the right place and the right time and equipped with the right technical skills to design, implement, manage projects and be able to develop new technological innovation. To assess the capacity required to do this research has to be carried out to derive the quantitative and qualitative data about the human requirement in this sector. The operations and activities in this center will range from upgrading ATMs, hosts the applications for the regions markets, credit card transfer, looking after all the net work and infrastructure applications and re-plat forming a country ¿Ã‚ ½s banks. The HR also needs to put in place a career development programmes for the staffs that will be working in this center and rewards and benefit packages. 2.3. The human resource plan in Barclays Resourcing Manager: The resourcing managers partners with each of the business unit of Barclays in order to help them attract and retain the best people for every job. They produce a schedule that deals the recruitment programme for the various types and levels of services. HR Operations Advisor: The HR operation advisor of Barclays supports the internal and external clients to ensure that the logistic affecting new starters, movers within the business and people leaving the company are dealt with smoothly and efficiently. Benefits Administrator/ Pension Administrator: The duty of the people here is to assist a pension administration Team Leader, the Benefits Administrator reconcile pension calculations, answer members ¿Ã‚ ½ queries and help with correspondence. HR Business Partner: HR Business Partners work alongside business leaders in a specific area of the Group to improve performance, advertising on recruitment, retention and development issues for that sector. Compensation and Benefits Analyst: Compensation and Benefits Analyst will set salaries for job roles to ensure that proposed compensation and reward packages are benchmarked and competitive. 2.4. Contribution of human resources to Barclays objectives HR professional take a strategic approach to human resource management. Human resource management seeks to proactively provide a competitive advantage through the company ¿Ã‚ ½s most important asset: its human resources. Human resources has a great impact on the implementation of plan by developing and aligning HRM practices that ensure the company has a motivated employee with the necessary skills. Human resource management in Barclays interacts between people, technology and the task to be performed in context with the objectives, goals and strategic plan of the company. HR plays a central role in such key area activities like attracting, selection and recruitment, employee orientations, retaining talent, promotions and termination process, and performance management including individual assessments, measuring and improving work performances, all these have significant impact on the employee turnover. The HR in Barclays sees to employee and the organizational development programm e to maintain and improve skills as well as reward systems, benefits and compliance available for staffs also laws, policies, health and safety. The HR of Barclays gives a detailed job description and hires the right skills for a particular job and draws up programme for the professional development of the employee for e.g. learning to operate a new technology, this makes Barclays a leader in terms of new innovation thus providing a competitive advantage. They also plan effectively ahead with the number of staffs required to reduce cost to an optimum and ensure working processes are running smooth, this provides effective performance, thus increasing financial performance as indexed by productivity and market share value. The HR of Barclays also uses system such as incentives to achieve a specific goal. The reward system affects the company ¿Ã‚ ½s performance through increasing the quality of products and services. The company ¿Ã‚ ½s HR cares about the need and well being of the ir employees and provides a comfortable working environment; this increases the employee ¿Ã‚ ½s motivation and enhanced productivity performance. 3.1. The purpose of human resource policies in Barclays The Human Resource Policy is simply a set of documents that describes an organization ¿Ã‚ ½s policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the practices for its managerial, supervisory staff, and all employees. This documents sets out the policy for all the human resource related issues in the company including some policies from the government that relates to the company business activities. The purpose of this policy is to help the organization to maximize return on investment in the organization ¿Ã‚ ½s human capital and maximize financial risk. The policy sets the standards of operations compliance, effective internal management control systems compliant with regulation standards and processes of all the business unit of Barclays. The HR policy provides a clear guidance to the employees as to what their responsibilities and obligations are, and their behavior that last beyond the residency of a particular business unit or executive. An HR policy also helps Bar clays to avoid liability for their employees ¿Ã‚ ½ actions and helps protect against legal claims. HR policies promote consistency approach to meet their needs as they develop continuity with regards to flexible working and general understanding of the management strategy within the Barclays business environment. An HR policy also helps Barclays to keep up with competitors: e.g. policies are may be review in order to attract or retain employee. Policies are set in line with the company ¿Ã‚ ½s strategy and planned to suit the culture, circumstances and size of the company. HR policies need to be reviewed with changes to the environment and growth with the company. So without these policies there will be no sense of direction within the company and it will be difficult for such an organization to achieve it aims and objectives. 3.2 The impact of regulatory requirements on human resource policies in Barclays. The regulatory requirements are the licenses, restrictions and laws that are applicable to a business product or services, imposed by the government. The regulations go a long way from protecting the environment to ensuring work place safety. Such regulations includes; legal and regulatory requirement related to pay, equality, employment rights and responsibilities, data protection, discrimination, etc. The cumulative burden of the regulation requirements by the law can have a positive or a negative impact on a company ¿Ã‚ ½s aims and objectives and can easily overwhelm businesses. The Employment Act 2008 sets out the laws on employment rights and welfare of the employee. The HR managers must now plan the employment package under this employment Act which is very expensive to implement. For e.g. the law makes provision about the procedure for the resolution of employment disputes; to provide for compensation for financial loss on cases of unlawful underpayment or non-payment, to make provision about the enforcement of minimum wages legislation. Barclays manages health and safety at a local level under the requirement and any mistake done can cause the company thousands of pounds on compensation. There is continuing political and regulatory scrutiny of the operations of the retail banking and consumer credit industries in the UK, EU, US, South Africa and elsewhere. For example, in the United States, Barclays Bank PLC and certain US subsidiaries and branches of the bank are subjected to a comprehensive regulatory structure, involving numerous statutes, ruling and regulations, including the International Banking Act of 1978, the Banking Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended, the foreign Bank Supervision Enhancement Act of 1991 and the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001. Such laws and regulations impose limitation on the type of businesses, and the ways in which they may be conducted, in the United States and on the location expansion of banking business there. Non compliance to these regulations could lead to fines, public reprimands, damage to reputations, enforced suspension of operations or, in extreme case, withdrawal of authorization to operate. The new government has taken up deci sions to step up regulatory pressures on banks; it introduced a bank tax and is appointing a commission on banking to decide whether or not the banks should be broken up. Barclays has hinted it may move its operations overseas if the commission decides to force it to separate its retail and investment banking sectors. 4.1 The impact of organizational structure on the management of human resources in J Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s In an organization where different people works together, they need a defined system through which they relate to each other and through which there can be a coordination of their efforts. The defined relationships among the elements of an organization, namely people, tasks, structure, and information and control processes that characterize all organizations is referred to as organizational structure. Brief Business review of J Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s J. Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s plc is the parent company of Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s Supermarket Ltd, commonly known as Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s or Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s and JS, the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom with a share of the UK supermarket sector of 16.6%. The group head office is in the Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s Store Support Center in Holborn, city of London. J Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s plc was founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s and his wife Mary Ann, in London, and grew rapidly during the Victorian era and today operates a total of 872 stores comprising 537 supermarkets and 355 convenience stores. It jointly owns Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s bank with Lloyds Banking Group and has two property joint ventures with Land Securities Group and The British Land Company PLC. The Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s brand is built upon a heritage of providing customers with healthy, safe, fresh and tasty food. Quality and fair prices go hand-in-hand with a responsible approach to business. The store employs over 150,000 colleagues that serve over 19million customers a week and their largest store offers around 30,000 products. Read full story, available on jsainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s.co.uk/businessreview [assessed 27 Jan 2011]. 4.1.1 Organization structure of J. Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s 4.1.2 The operation mechanism 1. David Tyler (Chairman): He joined the Board on Oct 1 2009 and became the Chairman on Nov 1 2009. He is non executive chairman of Logica plc and a Non-Executive Director of Experian plc and Burberry Group plc, where he also chairs the Remuneration Committee. He was previously Group Finance Director of GUS plc (1997-2006) and has held senior ?nancial and general management roles with Christie ¿Ã‚ ½s International plc (1989-96), County NatWest Limited (1986-89) and Unilever PLC (1974-86). He was also Chairman of 3i Quoted Private Equity plc (2007-09) and a Non-Executive Director of Reckitt Benckiser Group plc over the same period. 2. Justin King (Chief Executive): Appointed Chief Executive Officer on 29 March 2004 and is also Chairman of the Operating Board. He has been a NonExecutive Director of Staples, Inc. since September 2007 and was appointed to the board of the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympics Games in January 2009. He was formerly Director of Food at Marks Spencer plc and from 1994 to 2001 he held a number of senior positions at ASDA/WalMart in Trading, HR and Retail. Justin was previously Managing Director of H ¿Ã‚ ½agen Dazs UK and spent much of his early career with Mars Confectionery and Pepsi International. 3. Darren Shapland (Chief Financial Officer): Appointed Chief Financial Officer on 1 August 2005 and is also Chairman of Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s Bank plc. Darren was appointed a Non-Executive Director of Ladbrokes plc in November 2009. He was formerly Group Finance Director of Carpet-right plc (2002-05) and Finance Director of Superdrug Stores plc (2000-02). Between 1988 and 2000, Darren held a number of financial and operational management roles at Arcadia plc including Joint Managing Director, Arcadia Home Shopping; Finance Director of Arcadia brands; Finance Director, Top Shop/Top Man (Burton Group); and Director of Supply Chain Programme (Burton Group). 4. Mike Coupe (Trading Director): Appointed an Executive Director on 1 August 2007 and has been a member of the Operating Board since October 2004. He joined Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s from Big Food Group where he was a Board Director of Big Food Group plc and Managing Director of Iceland Food Stores. Mike previously worked for both ASDA and Tesco, where he served in a variety of senior management roles. He is also a member of the supervisory board of GSI UK. 5. John McAdam (Senior Independent Director): Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 1 September 2005. He is Chairman of Rentokil Initial plc and United Utilities plc. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Rolls-Royce Group plc and Sara Lee Corporation. John joined Unilever PLC as a management trainee in 1974 and went on to hold a number of senior positions in Birds Eye Walls, Quest and Unichema, before the sale of the Specialty Chemical Businesses to ICI in 1997. He was Chief Executive of ICI plc, until its sale to Akzo Nobel, and was formerly a Non-Executive Director of Severn Trent plc (2000-2005). 6. Anna Ford (Non-Executive Director): Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 2 May 2006. She retired from the BBC in 2006, after 32 years in News and Current Affairs. Anna is a Non-Executive Director of N Brown Group plc and has been a Trustee of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, London; a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; a Trustee of Forum for the Future; Chancellor of Manchester University; and an Honorary Bencher of Middle Temple. 7. Mary Harris (Non-Executive Director): Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 1 August 2007. She is a member of the supervisory boards of TNT NV and Unibail Rodamco S.E. Mary previously spent much of her career with McKinsey Company, most recently as a partner, and her previous work experience included working for PepsiCo in Greece and the UK as a sales and marketing executive. 8. Bob Stack (Non-Executive Director): Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 1 January 2005. He was a Director of Cadbury plc until December 2008. He joined Cadbury Beverages in the US in 1990 and was first appointed to the Board of Cadbury Schweppes plc in May 1996 as Group Human Resources Director. In March 2000 he was appointed Chief Human Resources Officer and took on responsibility for communication and an external affair in addition to HR. Bob is Trustee and Non-Executive Director of Earth watch International and also a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee of IMI plc. 9. Gary Hughes (Non-Executive Director): -Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 1 January 2005. Gary is Chief Financial Officer of the Gala Coral Group and a Director of the Scottish Exhibition Centre Limited. Formerly he was Chief Executive of CMP Information Limited, a division of United Business Media plc (2006-08), Group Finance Director of Emap plc (2000-05), Group Finance Director of SMG plc (1996 ¿Ã‚ ½2000), and Deputy Finance Director of Forte plc (1994-96). Prior to this Gary held a number of senior management positions with Guinness plc in the UK and in North America. 10. Val Gooding (Non-Executive Director): -Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 11 January 2007. She was formerly Chief Executive of BUPA (1998-2008), which she joined from British Airways, and is a Non-Executive Director of Standard Chartered Bank plc. Val is a member of the BBC ¿Ã‚ ½s Executive Board and the Advisory Board of the Warwick Business School. She is a Trustee of the British Museum and a Non-Executive Director of the Lawn Tennis Association. She was formerly a Non-Executive Director of Compass Group plc and BAA plc. 11. Neil Sachdev (Commercial Director): Joined Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s in March 2007 as Commercial Director following 28 years at Tesco, where he worked in a range of different business areas including: Stores Board Director UK Property/Operations (2000-06); Supply Chain Director (1999 ¿Ã‚ ½2000); Director, Competition Commission (1998-99); Support Director (February 1998-September 1998); and Retail Director (1994-98). Neil is Non-Executive Director and a member of the Audit and Remuneration Committees of Capital Shopping Centers Group PLC. 12. Matt Brittin (Non-Executive Director): Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 27 January 2011. Matt is Managing Director of Google in the UK Ireland. Before joining Google at the start of 2007, Matt spent much of his career in media and marketing, with particular interests in strategy, commercial development and sales performance. This included Commercial and Digital leadership roles in UK media. Matt has an MBA from London Business School and an MA from Cambridge. In 2010 he was voted wired magazine ¿Ã‚ ½s  ¿Ã‚ ½Most Influential Person in the Digital World ¿Ã‚ ½. The organizational structure of Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s is fit with the imperatives defined by needs to keep costs down, provide operational excellence and help to develop the potential of the human capital inside the organization. The organizational structures of the company allows the human resource department to smooth co-operation among employees, create effective communication among the employees, provide a clear defined roles, responsibility and processes. Organization structure is used for choosing the plan that utilizes minimal resources and achieve maximum returns. From Human Resource perspectives, it is the organizational structure that drives the employees to their full capacities and capabilities. The organizational structure will enable the Human Resource department to classify all the employees of the organization into achievers and non-achievers. 4.2 The impact of organizational culture on the management of human resources The cultures of an organization are thought of as those that evolve in conversation and is influx, constantly changing. It is the culture of an organization that defines what things mean, whether they are valued as good or bad, right or wrong, and how things are to be done when answers can ¿Ã‚ ½t be fixed by formal structure, policy or procedures. There are two aspect of organizational culture: the culture within an organization and the culture outside and organization especially hen company operates its business globally, it has to adapt to local cultures. Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s have their strong organizational culture along with their corporate strategies. Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s introduced the self checkout system in 2002; this helped the organization to save cost on s

A Historical Overview of the Geography, Politics, and Culture of Montserrat :: Essays on Politics

A Historical Overview of the Geography, Politics, and Culture of Montserrat Montserrat is a small Caribbean island with an interesting geographical, economic, political, and cultural history. Montserrat was inhabited by a succession of Amerindian groups before being discovered by Spanish explorers in the 1400s. In the seventeenth century, Montserrat was claimed by Great Britain, and settled by an English ruling class, and their Irish indentured servants and African slaves. These new inhabitants created a plantation economy in order to grow sugar cane, thereby significantly changing the landscape. The combination of English, Irish, and African residents also created a unique culture and a form of English Creole. Politically and economically, Montserrat has depended on Great Britain for nearly four centuries. In the late-1990s, a volcanic disaster devastated Montserrat and changed the island’s geography, economy, and political relationship with the United Kingdom. Montserrat’s culture was also affected, as many people fled the isl and, and those who remained were forced to drastically alter their lifestyle. Geography Montserrat is a small, Leeward Island in the Caribbean’s Lesser Antilles, located 27 miles southwest of Antigua, at 16 45’ N, 62 12’ W. The island is roughly 12 miles long by 7 miles wide, with a land area of 62 square miles. The climate is tropical, with a mean temperature of 78 degrees Fahrenheit, and only slight daily and seasonal temperature variation. The average relative humidity is 75%, and average rainfall is 35 to 40 inches a year. The wet season lasts from June to December and the dry season stretches from January to May, but droughts can last close to a year. Like many of the other islands in the crescent of the Lesser Antilles, Montserrat was formed by volcanic eruptions thousands of years ago. This volcanic formation resulted in Montserrat’s rugged, mountainous landscape, and inspired Columbus to name the island after a mountain in northeastern Spain. Until 1995, the lay of the land was as follows. In the Northern part of Montserrat lie the oldest volcanic structures, the Silver Hills. These hills have undergone much erosion, with strong northeastern breezes constantly blowing on them. They are less than 1,000 feet in elevation, with rounded slopes and broad ghauts.

Oil quality analyses of four autochthon

Key words: Oil quality, fatty acid composition, phonetic compounds, pigment content, mountain, Akers. Abstract Akers is a mountainous region characterized by an important olive biodiversity with high oil quality but little is known about this olive germless. The aim of this work is to analyze the oil quality of the most predominant varieties ‘Chitout', ‘El horn ‘Grades' and ‘Soulless' cultivated in this region.The most of the quality indices and fatty acid composition showed significant variations among the studied olive cultivators. Olive oil content is high for the four cultivators, especially for the variety ‘Grades' with approximately 67%. The cultivators ‘El Horn' and ‘Grades' had the highest values of ILEC acid (72. 8% and 74. 8%, respectively). While the varieties ‘Osculates' present the highest content of chlorophyll and carotene compounds.The cultivar ‘Grades' was also noteworthy for its higher content of phonetic compoun ds (720 MGM keg-l). In conclusion, the oil quality of the different studied cultivators is classified as extra-virgin oils with high ILEC acids and low palmists and lenience acids. These findings were of interest to protect the specimens studied cultivators, which can be used from the agronomic point of view to substantially improve the production of olive oil in the mountain of Akers. * Corresponding Shame et al.Author: Manias Raman' Shame 0 [email  protected] FRR page 124 Introduction Akers which is localized in the North West of Tunisia. Mountain people, who are among the world's poorest Several analyses were performed to characterize the and hungriest, are key to maintaining mountain different olive oils: free acidity, peroxide value, fatty ecosystems and their role in providing environmental acid composition, pigments content and phonetic services to downstream communities. Mountain compounds by HAPLY-MS.This is a preliminary study communities need to be empowered and their w ith the aim of finding any variable able to livelihoods improved, to enable them to take discriminate among the environmental extra-virgin responsibility natural olive oils and evaluate the oil quality of these resources and to fulfill their role as mountain varieties. Especially that, the olive cultivation could stewards (Walter 1986, Garcia-Uric and Lasagna- have an important role in the sustainable mountain Martinez development. 990, the preservation Blonde and of Aaron's 1999, MacDonald et al. ,2001, Roomer-Caldera and Perry 2004). Materials and methods Fruit samples In Tunisia, the mountains are characterized by an Healthy olive fruit samples of the varieties ‘Chitout', important olive biodiversity with high oil quality but ‘El Horn' ‘Israeli' and ‘Osculates' were picked at little is known about this germless (Manias et al. , industrial optimum ripening stage. The maturity 2013).This resource could be used from the index of all the olives was of 3 and wa s based on the agronomic point of view to substantially improve the degree of skin and pulp pigmentation according to the production of olive in the mountainous orchards, method developed by the Agronomic Station of Jagn pacifically, that olive is one of the few trees that can (Aced and Hermosa; 1998). This experiment was still produce fruits even on rock and unproductive conducted during the crop season of 2012-2013 in the land (Norman-Sabbatical et al. 2007). Mountainous olive orchard of Akers localized in North West Tunisia. The average annual On the other hand, virgin olive oil has a delicate and precipitation was 539 mm with the majority in unique flavor that distinguishes it from other edible October, December, and January. Average annual vegetable oils (Bosky. , 1996). Quantity and quality of temperature of the experimental orchard site is absences existing in the virgin olive oil such as fatty 13. C; the altitude is 1078 m, 35048†² N of latitude acids, phenols, chloroph yll and carotids are and 9021†² E of longitude. Affected by various factors including the type of the olive cultivar (Bacchius et al. , AAA; Certain et al. , Oil Content 2006 and Gomez-Rich. ,2008), climatic conditions For oil content determination, 40 g of olive fruits was (Agiler et al. ,2005), ripening stage (Salvadoran et dried in an oven at ICC to constant weight. The al. , 2001), irrigation management (Vivian et al. 2005) dried olives were crushed and extracted with hexane ND the extraction methods (Randall et al. ,2000). Using a Sloshes apparatus (Batch et al. , 1996). The Among these factors, cultivar is undoubtedly one of results were expressed as percentage of dry matter the most important. However, it is often ignored, either through lack of varietals information, or because the olive oil is a mixture of various varieties or even Analytical indices because emphasis has been laid only on its place of Determination of free acidity, peroxide value and origin (Lantern et al. 2002). Specific ultraviolet absorbency were carried out following the analytical methods described in the SEC The present work was carried out on the extra-virgin Regulation (1995). Olive oils of the four main olive varieties (Checkout, El Horn, Grades and Soulless) grown in the mountain of Fatty acids, peroxide value, and IV page 125 Spectrophotometer's indices (KICK, KICK) Fruits, destined and immediately frozen in liquid The quality indices of fatty acids, peroxide value, and nitrogen, were iterated in a blender.Approximately specific extinction coefficient KICK and KICK and 5 g of the powder obtained were homogeneity four AK were calculated from absorption at 232 and 270 times in 30 ml of methanol/water solution (80:20, spectrophotometer :v), containing 0. 5% sodium metabolites, and ANYWAY – 6405 IV Visible spectrophotometer, centrifuged at 5000 RPM at 3 co for 20 min. An England) according to the European Commission ethanol solution of resorcinol (0. 5 VI) was added as Regulation SEC/2565/91. Internal standard.The combined supernatant were respectively, by IV concentrated under reduced pressure and washed Determination chlorophyll carotene compounds Pigments with hexane. The remaining aqueous solution, partitioned four times with ethyl acetate in a water to were phase ratio of 1 was filtered on sodium sulfate determined by a spectrophotometer according to anhydrous) and evaporated to dryness at 30 co (Minimize-Mosque's et al. , 1991): 1 Goff olive oil was under vacuum. The dry residue was converted into dissolved in 10 ml of ISO-octane.The absorbency of trio-methyl's derivatives with a isolation mixture the solution was measured at 670 and 470 NM for made up of pyridine, hexane-idealizations and chlorophyll and carotene, respectively. Trimester-chlorinated for 1 h at room temperature. The silenced extracts were dried, Fatty Acid analyses dissolved in associate and further analyzed by GO and The fatty acid composition of oil samples was GO-MS. An HP model AAA, equipped with an on- determined as methyl esters by capillary gas column injection system, and coupled with a mass chromatography analysis after alkaline treatment. Elective detector model HP BIBB, was employed. The gas chromatograph (VARIAN CAP-3800 Gas Phonetic compounds extracted by ethyl acetate were Chromatograph) was equipped with an outsmarted identified by comparing both their retention times (CAP-8400), a capillary column HP Minnows (Agilest and mass spectra with those of authentic compounds Technologies, m x 0. 53 mm, 1 pm), a split- or reference standards. Spiritless injector and a flame unionization detector FIDE). Alkaline treatment was carried out by mixing Statistical analysis 0. Goff oil dissolved in 3 ml of n-hexane with 0. 5 ml The results reported in this study are the averages of of 0. 2 N methanol potassium hydroxide solution at least three repetitions (n = 3), unless otherwise according to the method of Erg SEC 2568/91. Stated. Chemical data we re analyses by the SLAT (version 2010. 4. 01). The significance of differences at Determination of total phenols a 5% level between averages was determined by one- Phonetic compounds were isolated by a 3-time way NOVA using Tutees and Dunce's multiple

Legalizing Assisted Suicide For Terminally Ill Patients

The highest value of a democratic society is human rights, which means first of all that a human being is the one who is in charge of his or her own life. The premise presupposes that a person has the right to take a decision about what to do with his or her life on the most global level – whether to go on living or stop living.That is why the state, which aim is to provide the execution of citizens rights, should pay careful attention to such a burning issue as helping terminally ill patients to die. The solution to the problem is legalizing euthanasia as a way of defending human rights alongside taking into consideration the possible moral challenges.Indeed, moral concerns have been the main factors which prevented the quick spread of euthanasia which could otherwise happen. It is first of all religious communities which oppress the adoption of the law, and the more religiously conservative the country is the stronger is the oppression to assisted suicide. Even if one doesnà ¢â‚¬â„¢t know which countries already have the relevant laws we can easily guess what they are by knowing their excessive tolerance to controversial issues like legalizing marijuana or gay marriages.Among them are first of all Scandinavian countries and Holland, some of them having adopted the law others at the brink of adoption. It was in 1994 when Oregon approved Ballot Measure, which would have legalized physician-assisted suicide under limited condition but the vote met the oppression of Federal Government.So, the United States seem to belong to the countries with the strongest moral and religious orthodoxy alongside with deeply Catholic countries as opposed to the tolerant Protestant European societies mentioned above. However, the statistics show it is not completely true. In 1999 Gallup organization held a national survey asking Americans the following question: â€Å"If you personally had a disease that could not be cured and were living in severe pain, would you consider c ommitting suicide or not?†.Forty percent answered â€Å"yes†, fifty one – â€Å"no† and nine were not sure. So, on the face of it, the community divided in halves, roughly speaking. But a there is crucially important detail which shouldn’t be missed: the respondents who took part are naturally not terminally ill and they don’t suffer severe pain. This fact distorts the real statistics which might arise in case they were suffering terrible tortures.But the controversy is not only about the rights of the patients but also about doctors who help their patients to die. The much-talked-of case of Dr.Kevorkian is the evidence of how ambiguous the interpretation of this or that action can be. â€Å"He has been hailed as the champion of the right-to-die movement and denounced as a ghoulish cheerleader for suicide† (Lesenberry, 1994) Jack Kevorkian, who helped twenty people to die on their request, was given a name Dr Death. The case demonstrat ed the controversy, the current system of law has – there is no legal differentiation between killing out of hate and killing out of mercy.There is a moral difference, however. And if we try to trace how the legal system has been historically formed, it becomes clear that it grew out of moral system of values, it was its reflection. Society has always been trying to match moral and law, and there have always been discrepancy between them which needed to be bridged. The historical process hasn’t stopped, and the gap needs to be overcome.But looking at the problem closer makes it evident that it is not so much a matter of the motivation of killing because it is not so much the formal â€Å"killer† we are talking about. The focus is actually on the person who chooses death; a doctor is just an instrument for performing his or her will. Everyone should realize that making euthanasia a legal option is not defending suicide but defending choice.Depriving people of the right to choose is a heavy violation of their human rights. The task of the state is to find a way how to protect the rights of one side without violating the rights of the other one. But the point is the right of all people are least protected when there is no legal definition of the issue at all.One of the arguments against euthanasia is the claimed immorality of making the relatives of the terminally ill patients decide if to keep them living, especially in case the are not able to decide themselves, like those in coma. Indeed, the issue is very sensitive, which the survey confirmed.The respondents were asked the question: â€Å"If a member of your family were terminally ill and wanted to die, would you be willing to help them?† Forty percent said yes, forty-six no, and fourteen percent were not sure. Indeed, this is a moral challenge for the relatives of the person but again it is a matter of having choice.Of course, it is easier for the relatives to have no choice in su ch cases because indeed, it must be the hardest choice a person can face in his or her life. On the other hand, it is questionable what is more immoral – to challenge the relatives with the decision or to let them shift responsibility by making the state decide instead of them.