chris, Author at Essay Writers Hub

The History of Apple and Nokia corporations and a Comparison of their Recent Financial Performance

The story mobile phone and communication industry in general cannot be complete without a review of three main players in the sector- Nokia, Samsung, and Apple corporations. With the development and evolution of mobile and internet communication, these corporations have greatly expanded their interests to cover a wide market area, technological development and income generation. Consequently, these corporations have dominated the world telecommunication market as the main players, competitors and technology developers. The purpose of this paper is to analyze Nokia and Apple Corporations, two leading organizations in mobile communication, consumer electronics and computers. The aim is to develop an in-depth comparison between the two companies, right from their history through financial history and to their current financial performances.

The history and Evolution of Nokia Corporation

Although not initially a telecommunication company, Nokia Corporation is one of the oldest telecommunication corporations in the modern world. The company evolved from three different companies- Nokia Aktiebolag, Finnish Cable works and Finnish Rubber works limited. The actual origin of Nokia Corporation goes back to the year 1865 after the establishment of a forest industry enterprise near Tammerkoski River at Tampere, South Western Finland, a company owned and operated by Fredrik Idestam, a mining engineer. In actual sense, this company had nothing to do with telecommunications, but was rather a ground wood pulp mill with an idea of manufacturing paper (Martti, 2002). With the rapid growth of Russian industry at the time, the demand for paper was on the rise, which made Idestam, an entrepreneur, to expand his company by building a second mill on the banks of river Nokianvirta near Nokia, a town located nine miles to the west of the initial site at Tampere. At Nokia, Idestam was assured of an adequate supply of hydropower. The foundation of the company by the name of Nokia came forth in 1871 when, with the help of Leo Mechelin, Idestam transformed his firm from a private to a share company. While Mechelin’s vision was to expand the company into power production business, Idestam saw this as a risky investment and initially was against the idea. However, after Idestam retired from the business in 1896, Mechelin assumed the role of the company chairperson. Between 1898 and 1914, Mechelin worked to realize his vision by selling his plans to the company’s shareholders. By 1902, just six years after the retirement of Idestam, Mechelin was already generating electricity for the regional grid.

The second company that gave birth to the evolution of Nokia was the Finnish Rubber Works Limited. Founded by Eduardo Polon in 1898, this company specialized in manufacturing of galoshes and a number of other rubber products for the Russian empire and Europe in general. At the break of the 20^th century, this company was already operating a number of factories in and near the industrial town of Nokia, consequently using the name Nokia for its products, (Stradler, 2011)

Established in 1912 by Arvid Wickstrom, Finnish Cable Works limited set the foundation of Nokia’s communication and electronic business, thereby becoming the third company to contribute to the evolution of the modern Nokia Corporation. Wickstrom’s company specialized in production of telephones, electrical cables and telegraph, (Grabert, 2012)

Similar to a number of other European corporations, the three companies experienced financial, security and social difficulties during the First World War. By 1919, the Nokia Company was already on the verge of collapse due to the impact of the four years of war. In fact, it was headed toward bankruptcy. However, the managers at Finnish Rubber Works, which was heavily relying on the electricity production at Nokia, took steps to save the production by acquiring Nokia, saving it from insolvency. Finnish Rubber Works, now with its own power production system, went forth to acquire Finnish Cable Works in 1922. From this point in history, the three companies were jointly owned, although located in separate locations and still holding on to their different names. Now a conglomerate of three companies and a wide range of businesses, the company made fortunes from industrial development in the region, especially in Russia and Germany. However, the Second World War made significant impacts on its progress. During the war, most of the business was under the management of Verner Weckman, a renowned Finnish sportsman and Olympic Gold medallist. After the war and the defeat of Germany, Russia and Finland were in a critical condition, seeking to heal their economies from the effects of the war. Finnish Cable Works was given the critical role of supplying cables to Russia and the rest of the Soviet Union.

Although the three companies had been centrally managed since 1922, there were no attempts to merge them into a single corporation until 1967. With the merging, the three companies dropped their names and a common name, The Nokia Corporation, was born. This initiative is considered the actual event that paved the way for the establishment of the modern multinational corporation. However, the conglomerate continued with its wide range of specializations, dealing with paper, tyres, communication cables, footwear, military equipment, chemicals, robotics, aluminium, plastics, electricity generation and machinery and a number of other products. Moreover, each of the three companies continued under separate directors, but had to report to the central office to Bjorn Westerlund, the company’s president at the time.

The telecommunication boom of 1980s saw the company’s telecommunication sector grow rapidly, overtaking the non-telecommunication activities. It was at this time of its history that the company acquired a number of telecommunication companies, including Mobira, Swedish Luxor, Televa and Salora. Moreover, the company went on to acquire consumer electronic business and other components of German Standard Electric Lorenz and the Oceanic Corporation of France. As that not enough, the company’s aggression was witnessed further when it acquired Maillefer, the giant cable machinery of Switzerland in 1987. However, the acquisition of Ericsson Data Systems in 1989 is considered one of the greatest achievements of the company, which made the company the largest information technology corporation in northern Europe. Towards the end of 1980s, the company further sought to expand into continental Europe by acquiring NKF, the largest data cable company in Netherlands (Vaara, 2002).

With the advancement of telecommunication industry and the opportunities it provided, the company decided to do away with consumer products and concentrate solely on a few sections of telecommunication industry that were rapidly growing and indicating a good business future. In 1988, the company split into two, with Nokia Tyres forming an independent company. It was later followed by Nokia Footwear in 1990 to form another independent company. From this point in history, the Nokia Company became involved in telecommunication business after laying down other non-telecommunication activities in its business.

Nokia’s financial history

The company originally concentrated in the paper industry. It later diversified into a multi-sector institution. These two factors means that the company’s shares were first listed in Finland (country of origin) Helsinki Stock exchange in the 1915 (Steinbock, 2010). As the company grew and expanded during the 1980s, Nokia Corporation began introducing subsidiaries in other countries. For it to control a larger market share and having a large financial power, the company acquired and merged with about 20 companies. This was inline with the company moving away from power, pulp and paper manufacturing to solely place all its efforts on the electronics industry. As a result of the mergers and acquisitions, sales from the electronic segments grew from the original 10% of the total sales to more than 60% percent of the sales made of the company, (Nyberg and Vaihekoski, 2009)

To further grow its financial capability, in 1986 the company devised ways of reducing operation costs an increased its productivity. This was achieved through re-organization and simplification of the management structure. This as a result reduced the huge dependency on the Finnish lending system which was expensive. In the same year, as the company desire to compete openly with other world players grew, it produced the first phone under the Nokia brand name. Unfortunately, its entry to the market made its competitors from Asia such as Samsung drive its prices down leading to the reduced sales. However this did not deter the company from expanding worldwide. With the huge competition from Asian companies, the profits made by company declined. However, this did not deter Nokia from remaining a dedicated high tech phone producer, though financially, the company was not growing. To avoid collapse, Ollila, the then manager, was forced to a lay-off about forty-five percent of its workers. The company also centralized the company operations. Ollila also introduced other innovative measures such as concentrating on easy to make and use phones to attract a larger market. This was also contributed by the acquisition of UK technophone Company at 57$ million. This led to the company introducing to the market cellular phones in 1993. During Ollilas tenure, the company was transformed and grew from the loss making company in 1991, doubled its sales to become a profit making company in the yea 1995. During this period, the company’s capitalization also grew 10 times, (Doornik and Robert, 2001)

The company currently controls the largest market share in the world with its mobile phone production industry controlling at least 26% of the world market share. Majority of the Nokia Company sales are exclusively generated from the sales of handsets. Other contributors to the company’s financial muscle originate from the sale of Nokia Networks, which is also the leader in global supply of broadband and internet protocol networks. The company has expanded its market share with its products being found in over 130 countries.

One of the leading factors, which have led to the country’s financial growth, has been the production of superior products compared to its main rivals in the industry. This as a result has seen the company products respond well with the current market demands. If this trend continues, the company will continue to have a cutting edge over its competitors in the industry such as Samsung and Apple, which have emerged as other leading competitors in the information and communication sector.

The history of Apple Inc

When people think about Apple Inc, what comes to many people mind is Steven Jobs. However, he is not the sole founder of Apple Inc. In 1975, Steven Jobs a 16 years old boy met Steven Wozniak who was 21 years of age through a friend. The two were fondly interested in electronic stuffs ad most of their friends saw them as outsiders to the learning process. As fate would have it, the two friends ended up dropping out of high school and became employees of companies working in Silicon Valley. Wozniak was employed at Hewlett-Packard while a company called Atari employed Jobs. Wozniak specialized in computer design. In 1976, he designed Apple I, a model of the future Apple computers. During a conference, Wozniak met his former friend, Jobs and introduced him to the computer. Steven Jobs saw the market potential of the device and insisted they should sell the machine. The first Apple computer was thus born in April 1 1976. People did not take device seriously and it was not until1 1977 when the Apple II was introduced to the market that the sales began. Apple II was the first machine to come in plastic and came with added features since its graphics was also coloured. As a result of this, the demand for Apple II demand grew after its introduction to the market. When Apple Disk II was introduced to the market in the early 1978 (at the time Apple Disk II was described as the cheapest and easy to use floppy) the company sales grew further, (Allan, 2001).

With the growing market demands, the company had to expand so as to meet its customer needs. By the time of the introduction of Apple II in 1980, the company had employed several thousand employees and the computer sales were being made outside the United States. During this period, the company recruited experience managers and investors in order to make the company area one. As the demand for the computers grew, the company increased its production rate but as market, conditions dictate, the market became stagnant and in the year 1981, the sale of computers became hard. This resulted to the company laying-off some of its employees. In the same year, Wozniak was involved in a plane crash he returned briefly but later left due to health conditions. As a result, Seven Jobs became the chairman of Apple Computer. The company concentrated on computer productions. While this was ongoing, there was a separate group, which was focused on introducing a computer, which would change the way people though about computers. While Apple III as text based, the new computer would introduce new words and terms such as the mouse, desktop and icons among others. This is what led t the inception of Apple Lisa. Steven Jobs however proved to be a poor project manager. Mark Markkula, who owned more that Jobs, took over the leadership. Due to this predicament, Jobs also decided to take another person’s project and took over on Macintosh. When IBM introduced its first Personal Computer (PC as commonly referred), the product began to dominate the markets; as a result, Jobs had to engage his team faster if he was to compete with IBM. This made Jobs discover that Apple as a company needed grow and he could not do it alone. Consequently, in 1983 he stared courting John Schulley who at that time was the president of Pepsi-Cola. Schulley agreed to become Apple’s new CEO. Jobs saw this as an opportunity for the company to grow little did he know it would in future cost him his job. Although Schulley businesswise was a successful person, he understood very little about the computer industry. Due to his little knowledge, he began having differences with Steven Jobs. Before the introduction, Macintosh Jobs worked hard with his software engineers in writing and developing programs that would make Macintosh a success (Schermerhorn, 2009).

In 1984, during a super bowl match, the Macintosh was aired. Initially, the Macintosh computers sold well, competing with the IBM computers. However, by the end of the same year, people were becoming fed up with the computers small RAM and the hard disk lack of connectivity was another major problem. In 1985, Jobs and Schulley were at loggerheads. Schulley believed Steven jobs was dangerous and incontrollable while Jobs believed Schulley knew nothing and even made no efforts and understanding how the industry operated. As a result of this, Schulley decided to play a game on Schulley, enticing him to have a schedule in china and during his absence, jobs would take over. However, this information was leaked to Schulley before he could leave. Schulley confronted Jobs on the issue. When the board of directors met, they voted unanimously in favour of Schulley, forcing Steve Jobs to resign. This made Schulley the de-facto leader of Apple Company. During the several months, which followed, the company was forced to lay-off some employees. The company recorded losses. For the first time, Apple incurred losses. This led to the perception that Schulley did not have the capabilities as the CEO of Apple Company. At the same time, another battle was looming with the introduction of Windows 1 that had similarities with Macintosh Graphical User Inter-phase.Bill Gates was compelled not to use Mac technology on windows one. It did not interfere with Widows in its future versions. As a result, Apple lost all the exclusive rights for designing (West, 2007)

In 1987, Mac II was introduced. with its new features; the company became a darling to many people. It in fact sold more that 50000Macs in one month. In 1989, this made Windows appears as if it would be a flop while Mac was a success. However, this did not happen as the markets became saturated with PC clones and apple was the only company making sales. In 1990, with the market being saturated, Microsoft introduced a new version, Windows 3.0 that was also running on PC clones. As a result, Apple Company was sensing trouble as this old affect the company sales.

In 1991, Apple Company released the ‘PowerBooks’, immediately becoming an instant success. There were also ongoing works to introduce a newer version of the Persona Digital Assistant called ‘Newton’. It was introduced in1993, but the device had several problems such as poor hand recognition and therefore the sales were very poor. Schulley as the company CEO was becoming disinterested in the company; this led to the directors’ decision that they have done enough of him. As a result, in June 1993, he was relieved off his duties. Spindler became the new CEO, while Schulley remained as the chairperson but resigned several months later (Apple, 2009).

Statistics suggest that Spindler was not the right man for the job. Although His office was inaccessible, he foresaw some accomplishments. In 1994, the company introduced the PowerMac family. It was the first computer to be based on a power PC chip that was faster than even other Intel devices introduced by rival companies later. Spindler also decided to license the MAC operating system to several companies. This was so, but due to strict regulations in licensing agreements, few companies were able to use the company’s operating system. The company had no problem with selling computers; however making them was the major problem. By the year 1995, Apple Company had back orders of 1$billion but did not have the parts to build them. The company misjudged the market conditions in winter of 1995-1996 and introduced low cost performers over the mid range power Macs. This made the company incur losses to the tune of 68$ million. Spindler was asked to resign and was replaced by Gil Amelio, (Hormby, 2005)

Amelio made efforts to bring back the company to profitability but his efforts were not a success. He introduced new changes and even kept the developers informed about the day-to-day activities. Although the company announced losses of 740$ million, during the following quarter, losses reduced to 33 million. In the third quarter, the company made profits of about 30$milion but made losses lost in the final quarter. In 1996, Apple announced it would acquire NeXTstep and Steven Jobs would be returning. In 1997, the resignation of Gil Amelio was announced following the losses incurred. The company felt Amelio had done enough for his tenure. Fred Anderson was in charge of day-to-day operations while Jobs was made the interim CEO. Key changes were made to make Apple a profit making company again. The company also noted that Clones were also an obstacle to the company success as they were seen to pull the customers away from Apple products. In 1997, the company announced its intention to acquire Power computing Mac Operating System license. IN November 1997, Jobs also indicated that the company would begin selling PCs direct over the phone and web. They opened Apple Store that was a success, within a week; it had become the third largest ecommerce site. In 1998, the company made profits to a tune of 101$ million leading to the rise of Apple stock prices in a year. In 1999, Jobs announced fifth successive profitable quarter, (Linzmayer, 1999).

In 2000, Jobs announced a new internet strategy, a suite that used Mac only internet based applications and they came to be known as ‘iTools’. He also dropped the title interim and became the permanent CEO. July of the same year, Apple introduced PowerMac G4Cube which was an answer on those who wanted Imacs without a monitor. Although it was the biggest gamble, it turned out to be a failure. The second half of 2000 recorded slower growth for both the company and the industry as whole. This resulted in the company reporting its first quarterly losses in three years. G4Cube sold poorly due to its high prices. The company rectified the problem, this saw the introduction of newline of PowerMacs (Higson, 2008).

The year 2001 saw Steven jobs announce that Apple would be opening new retail shops all over the US.

By the falloff 2001, Apple introduced revisions of PowerBooks G4 and ibook lines. In October of the same year, the company launched iPod, its first non-computer product after several years the iPod: the digital music player. In 2002, Apple reinvented desktop again and released the flat panel iMac. It also announced iPhoto that improved the digital camera use. This increased profits. However, due to macroeconomic problems sales were generally low. In 2007, the company changed its name from Apple Computer Inc to Apple Inc. With the introduction of iPhones, iOS and iPads, Jobs said the company was not just a computer company but company which was seeking to change the whole world especially with the introduction of iPhones with the 1^st of its version being introduced in 2007(Siegel, 2009).

Financial History

The Apple company stock started trading in the NASDAQ in December 1982. During the initial public offer, the company shares were offered at 22$. Since then, the stock at the company was split in three different times- in 1987, 2000 and 2005. The company has also been paying its shareholders dividend fromtheear1987 to the year 1995 when the company stopped. However, the company began paying its shareholders again in the year 2012.

The company financial problems continued in 2002 and due to the poor sales, this led to the company announcing a 45$million loss. However, the company recovered and made some positive progress since 2005. Since then, the company’s profits and stock prices have grown significantly. At some time in the year 2010, we saw the Apple stock prices surpass those of Microsoft, (Bielak, Henriquez, McNeil, Ogozaly, Rubino and Sulivan, 2010)

According to Dyson (2007), financial analysis is an important task in management accounting and it helps in establishing the relationship between a number of elements of the financial statements. These statements can then be compared with a number of critical information about the company and its business to determine its performance at a given time and financial period. In addition, these tasks also help in determining the future prospects of the business and the company in general, where areas that need improvement and strengthened. Dydson (2007), the primary aim of developing an in-depth analysis of an organization’s financial performance over a given fiscal period is to analyze the its current financial position as well as performance and form a basis on which judgments are made regarding to the its future performances.

From an investor’s perception, financial analysis is primarily concerned with the organization’s ability to meet its profitability levels and its ability to make returns to its shareholders in form of shares, rights or dividends. In addition, it is concerned with the company’s ability to increase its share value.

When performing financial analysis of a given company, it is important to carefully look at the annual accounts as well as the annual growth trend in terms of profits, revenues and market share.

In the case of Nokia Inc, the analysis will focus on the company’s consolidated accounts- balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement for the period 2008 to 2011.

First, a focus on the company’s consolidated income statement will reveal a number of key issues and facts regarding to the company’s performance. It is worth noting that

2008 2009 2010 2011

Net Sales/ Revenues 51,058 50,710 40,984 42,446

Cost of Sales 33,781 33,337 27,720 29,629

Gross Profit 17,277 17,373 13,264 12,817

Res & Dev 5,636 5,968 5,909 5,288

Sell& Ad Exp 5,544 5,664 5,078 4,529

Other Inc 2,312 420 338 507

Other Exp 424 1,195 510 56

Op Profit 7,985 4,966 1,197 2,070

Profit Bef Tax 8,268 4,970 962 1,786

Tax 1,522 1,081 702 443

Net Profit 6,746 3,889 260 1,343

From the above income statement obtained from the company’s website, it is clear that the company’s sales decreased significantly between 2008 and 2010, but increased significantly between 2010 and 2011. In addition, the cost of sales, earnings per share and operating and net profits had similar trends as the sales. This indicates that Nokia’s profitability was healthy in 2008 (at 6.7 billion euros) compared to 260 million euros in 2010. However, from 2010, the profitability started to improve significantly, reaching 1.3 billion euros in 2011.

Consolidated Balance Sheet for Nokia Inc. between 2008 and 2011

2008 2009 2010 2011

Assets

Cash & Eqv 11,992 7,854 9,202 12,653

A/Rec 11,356 9,545 7,995 7,609

Inventory 2,876 2,533 1,865 2,523

Other C/A 3,070 4,444 4,551 4,360

Tot C/A 29,294 24,470 23,613 27,145

Plant P&E 1,758 1,985 1,822 1,856

Goodwill 1,384 6,257 5,171 5,723

Tot Assets 37,599 39,582 35,738 39,123

Liabilities

A/Pay 7,074 5,225 4,950 6,101

Tot C/L 18,976 20,355 15,188 17,540

Oth/L 1,285 2,717 5,801 5,352

Tot/Liab 20,261 23,072 20,989 22,892

Equity 17,338 16,510 14,749 16,231

Tot Lib & Eq 37,599 39,582 35,738 39,123

According to Dyson (2007), a balance sheet provides an investor with an idea on how much a shareholder invests and how much debt a company owes its investors. From the balance sheets obtained from Nokia Inc, it is depicted that about 445% of the company’s business is financed by its equity in 2008. However, for the years 2009 to 2011, the figure reduced by 4%. This is an indication that the company was owing larger amounts of debt in 2011 than in 2008. This is a further indication that the company’s financial position was much healthier in 2008 than in 2011.

Nokia Inc Cash Flow Statements of Nokia for the fiscal years 2008 to 2011

2007 2008 2009 2010

Net Income 6,746 3,889 260 1,343

Depreciation 1,206 1,617 1,784 1,771

Cash from Op Act 7,882 3,197 3,247 4,774

Cash from Invest -710 -2,905 -2,148 -2,421

Cash from Finance -3,832 -1,545 -696 -911

Net Change in Cash 3,325 -1,302 378 1,666

The above cash flow statement provides an investor with a true set of information regarding to the company and its dependence on cash transactions. According to Dydson (2007), it is advisable not to over rely on income statements as it may mislead due to lack of sufficient figures of the cash flow shown on the statements. Accordingly, investors tend to focus on the company’s cash flow statements prior to making any decision to consider the actual performance of the company’s transactions in a given fiscal period.

The above cash flow statements indicate that Nokia Inc had a good position in regards to its cash flow during fiscal year 2008, but in the consequent years, the position deteriorated as it reached to a negative figure due to loss of investments as well as finances. However, it is evident from the cash flow statement that the company recovered in 2010 and made between progress in 2011, indicating that the investments and finances were actually recovering. This is an indication that although the company was suffering from massive loss of investments in 208 and 2009, it actually picked again in the subsequent years, indicating a better time ahead for the company’s financial health.

Analysis of financial Ratios for Nokia Inc

Theoretically and practically, calculating financial ratios provides an in-depth overview of the company’s financial health for a given period and a prospectus of its future performance. Some rations regard to the company’s profitability, short term and long term liquidity and asset turnovers. These calculations are obtained based on the income statements and the balance sheet. In this case, the purpose is to analyze the ratios of Nokia Inc based on its income statement and balance sheets between 2008 and 2011.

Profitability rations

From the company’s annual reports, gross profit margins, Operating profit margins and net profit margins made significant changes between 2008 and 2011 as shown below;

Gross Profit Margin 33.84% 34.26% 32.36% 30.20%

Op Profit Margin 16.19% 9.80% 2.34% 4.21%

Net Profit Margin 13.24% 7.63% 0.63% 3.21%

According to Dyson (2007), profitability ratios are important to an investor and the company management as they provide a basis for comparing the components of sales and income. In addition, they tend to provide the investors and the management with an idea of what comprise of the business income as expressed as a portion of the company’s sales. In case of Nokia Inc, this is given in terms of Euros. The ratios further provide an explanation of the company’s ability to generate earnings as well as cover its expenses as well as other costs for a given fiscal period.

In case of Nokia Inc, the company’s gross profit margin did not experience significant changes between 2008 and 2010 as observed from the company’s statements. However, the operating profit and the net profit margins experienced significant fluctuations for the same period. For instance, the company’s operating profit changed from 2.3% to 16.1% within the four years, while its net profit changed from 0.6% to 13.2% in the same fiscal period. This is an indication that the company’s operating expenses were more, especially in terms of selling, research and development, marketing as well as administration. In addition, the difference between net profit and gross profit is less when the same ratios are compared vertically. In this case, the differences between the net profit and gross profit were given by (33.8%- 13.24%= 20.6%). In 2009, the same difference was 32.63%- 0.63% = 31.73. Theoretically and practically, this is an indication that the company’s operating expenses increased significantly in the year 2009 and compared to the fiscal year 2008. However, it is clear that the situation improved significantly in 2010 and 2011, reaching a difference of 3.21% in 2011.

Return Ratios

Return Ratios:

Return on Assets 17.94% 9.82% 1.00% 3.90%

Return on Capital 54.8% 27.2% 6.7% 7.02%

Return on Equity 53.9% 27.5% 6.5% 8.67%

The above ratios provide an indication that the company’s assets were efficiently employed in a better manner in the year 2008, but started decreasing until 2010. However, they indicate that the ratios were healthier in 2011 as compared to 2010 and 2011.

According to Dydson (2007), return rations provide a better way of analyzing the company’s performance in a given period. They aim ay measuring the efficiency of the company in terms of the efficiency with which it has employed its capital, assets and equity for enhancing its profitability in relation to the amounts used in investments.

Activity Ratios

From an analysis of Nokia Inc in 2008-2011, the following results were obtained for total asset, fixed asset and inventory:

Total Asset TO 1.4x 1.3x 1.1x 1.1 xs

Fixed Asst TO 29.0x 25.5x 22.5x 23.1 xs

Inventory TO 17.8x 20.0x 22.0x 16.8 xs

This analysis of the activity rations provides a convenient way of measuring how well Nokia’s business assets were used between 2008 and 2011. The rate of turnover observed in 2011 provides an indication that the company was using its assets more efficiently that it had been using in 2008 and 2009.

Liquidity ratios

Current Ratio

From the analysis of Nokia Inc, it is clear that the company’s current ratio increasingly deteriorated from 2008 to 2010 and from 2010 to 2011. The current ratio as at 31 December 2008 stood at 0.39, but increased significantly to 0.61 in 2009 before reaching 0.72 by the end of fiscal year 2010. However, it decreased significantly to hit 0.65 in 2011.

Quick ratio

Practically, liquidity ratio is the ratio of cash and short-term investments and receivables to the current liabilities. In the case of Nokia Inc, the quick ratio deteriorated in 2008, but improved significantly from 2009 to 2011. For instance, the quick ratio as at 31 December 2008 stood at 0.85, but increased significantly in the following year, reaching 1.13 by the end of December 2009. In addition, it increased to 1.16 in 2010 but reduced again to 1.07 in 2011.

Cash ratio

Cash ratio is the liquidity ratio calculated as cash plus receivable and investments divided by the current liabilities. In the case of Nokia Inc, the company’s cash ratio had deteriorated in 2008, but between 2009 and 2011, it provided an indication of a recovering business, with an improved performance in these three years. Nokia’s cash ratio stood at 0.39 in 2008, but increased to 0.61 in 2009 before increasing again to 0.72 by the end of 2010. However, there was a reduction in 2011, with the cash ratio standing at 0.65 as at 31 December 2011.

Financial analysis of Apple Inc

From an analysis of the company’s financial statements, it is clear that the sales increased steeply by about 52% between 2009 and 2010 before increasing again by 66% between 2010 and 2012. Secondly, there was an increase of 54% in the cost of sales between 2009 and 2010. This is due to the launching of the iPad smart phone products. In 2011, the company’s gross margin improved from 52% to 63%, overtaking that of Nokia Inc. it is also worth noting that the company’s current assets grew by 32% between financial years 2009 and 2010, but reduced significantly to 8% between 2010 and 2011. From the analysis, it is clear that the company, unlike Nokia Inc, maintained a low level of inventory as a means of mitigating its risks to obsolescence. The company’s assets performed generally well. For instance, it experienced an increase of 61% between 2009 and 2010 and by 63% between 2010 and 2011. The long-term investment was one of the areas that experienced the largest growth, with a investment jump of 141% between 2009 and 2010, but recued significantly to 119% by 2011.

Unlike Nokia, Apple did not have short term and long-term debt by the end of financial year 2011. In addition, there was an increase in the company’s total liabilities, which increased by 73% in 2010 and by 45% in 2011. Moreover, the total equity experienced an increase of 58% in 2009-2010 and by 69% in 2010-2011 fiscal years.

Apple Inc, unlike Nokia, had its absolute liquidity ratios increasing significantly each year between 2009 and 2011. For instance, there was an increase in absolute current ratio, which changed to 2.74 in 2009 to 2.87 in 2011. In addition, the absolute quick ratio increased from 2.60 to 2.70 between 2009 and 2010. However, like Nokia Inc, the company’s ratio decreased from 2.70 to 1.94 in 2011, indicating similar business environment to that of Nokia Inc. Similarly, cash ratios, like that of Nokia, experienced significant changes for the same period. For instance, there was an increase in cash ratio from 1.95 to 2.02 in 2009 before reducing to 1.24 in 2011.

Conclusion

A focus on the two corporations reveals a number of facts about them, their industry and the trend of telecommunication and computer based technologies in the world market. Secondly, the history of the two corporations provides an easy way of describing the telecommunication and computer business in the world, its trend and opportunities developed by the presence of technological dynamism in these two industries.

First, an analysis of the histories of the two corporations shows a number of differences. While Nokia began as a conglomerate of three different companies with different specializations, Apple Inc began as a simple experiment in a university setting before rolling out as a real business. While Apple began as a computer production unit, Nokia began as companies producing different products, including electricity, tyres, paper and domestic products. In addition, the history of Nokia is quite long, proving the need for investors to take the advantage of the prevailing business opportunities and changing to other forms of business with market dynamism. For instance, when Nokia was producing electricity and tires, the European region was undergoing rapid develop in industries and locomotion, with the need for electricity and vehicles increasing every year in early and mid 20^th century. In addition, the company was producing domestic products, which were in high demand during the 20^th century. The company later switched to telecommunication and computer business when these industries proved to be more important in profits because the products were in high demand. Similarly, Apple Inc has been dynamic since it was established in the late 1970s. For instance, the computer business was extremely profitable during the intent boom of 1990s, which forced the company to focus on this industry to maintain growth. This is quite similar to the case of Nokia Inc, which switched to the production of mobile phones and internet gadgets in the 1990s to improve its business and competitive advantage.

Unlike Nokia that has existed over two decades as a large multinational corporation, Apple Inc just emerged as a world player in mobile phone and computer production businesses. In fact, the company was a small and little known business enterprise, which was more of a laboratory trial than a real investment project. However, within a matter of less than 20 years, the company has emerged successful, and in fact has become a major competitor to Nokia, Samsung and other multinational corporations in this sector.

References

Alan, R. (2001). A History of the Personal Computer: The People and the Technology. Sixth Edition. New York: Allan Publishng.

Apple. (2009). The Evolution of Apple Design between 1977-2008. Retrieved from:

The Evolution of Apple Design Between 1977-2008

Bielak, M., Henriquez,W., McNeil, S., Ogozaly A., Rubino, E and Sullivan, K. (2010). Apple In, parent company overview. Retrieved from: http://www.boydassociates.net/stonehill/bus336/BUS336%20grp%20projects/Apple%20-%20India.pdf.

Doornik, K.,and Roberts, J (2001). Nokia Corporation Innovation and Efficiency in a High-

Growth Global Firm. Retrieved from

http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic161099.files/Nokia_Corporation.pdf.

Grabert, M. (2012). The university-innovation nexus in Finland. Retrieved from, http://www.go8.edu.au/__documents/go8-policy-analysis/2012/go8backgrounder29_finland-1.pdf.

Higson C. (2009). Apple computer financial performance. Retrieved from http://faculty.london.edu/chigson/casestudies/pdfs/apple.pdf.

Hormby, T. (2005). The Rise and fall of Gil Amelio at Apple. Retrieved from, http://lowendmac.com/orchard/05/gil-amelio-apple.html

Linzmayer, O. (1999). Apple Confidential: The Real Story of Apple Computer, Inc. Retrieved from http://macspeedzone.com/archive/art/con/be.shtml

Martti, H. (2002). Nokia – the inside story: Retrieved from https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10224/3567/haikio13-33.pdf?sequence=1.

Nyberg, P., and Vaihekoski, M. (2009). A new value-weighted total return index for the Finnish stock market. Retrieved from http://www.suomenpankki.fi/pdf/164195.pdf.

Siegel, M. (2009). Apple and eBook reader. Retrieved from http://www.stanford.edu/class/ee204/pdf/Apple%20and%20the%20eBook%20reader.pdf.

Schermerhorn, J. (2009). Management. John Wiley & Sons

Stadler, C. (2011). Enduring Success: What We Can Learn from the History of Outstanding Corporations. Stanford University Press

Steinbock, D. (2010). Winning across Global Markets: How Nokia Creates Strategic Advantage in a Fast-Changing World. John Wiley & Sons

Vaara, E. (2002). On the discursive construction of success/failure in narratives of post merger Integration. Organization Studies, 2002, 23(2), 213-250.

West, J. (2007). Entering a mature industry through innovation: apple s iPhone strategy.

Retrieved from http://www2.druid.dk/conferences/viewpaper.php?id=1675&cf=9.

Cross post

Cross post on the Impact of Recession on Access to Health Care and Chronic Disease Management

Recession not only affects the economy but it is indeed true that it has negative impacts on the accessibility of health care services. Management of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart diseases, obesity, among others is adversely affected through the effects of recession. The reasons that causes this situation is inadequate financial capacity on the healthcare users to access to medical services provided.

The fact that economic downturn places financial risk and deter accessibility to healthcare and chronic disease is of concern to the stakeholders. Healthcare is more important in ensuring that the economy of the country is uplifted. For instance, in USA the cost of accessing to healthcare is the leading factor in bankruptcy. This indicates concerns by the citizens of promoting their own healthcare (O’Toole, 2012). Citizens take the responsibility of ensuring that they maintain their healthcare at all cost. The financial or economic crisis aggravates the situation and this deters many of them for accessing to medical care. Related factor that has resulted or contributed to poor management of chronic diseases is increased rate of unemployment. People cannot afford to cover their medical costs or manage some of the chronic disease without having the ability to meet the costs of the expensed.

Even though, there are some programs that are in place to ensuring that medical services are provided at an affordable rate such as Medicaid, there is still deterrence that has ruled many people to access such programs (Rust et al (2011). One of the deterrence is the rules and regulations that govern their operation. For a person to access to the services they are required to meet certain thresholds and this makes many of the citizens unable to access them.

Hard economic times such as recession, therefore contributes to poor healthcare provision. Various stakeholders in the healthcare including, patients, insurance companies, government, healthcare providers as well as the public in general have the duty to work in tandem to ensure that effects of economic recession are mitigated (Justice, 2011). These crucial parties contribute to the effective management of chronic diseases and should play their roles well. The quality, accessibility and affordability of medical health should not be compromised. The government has the role of ensuring that every citizen access to quality medical care at an affordable fees. The constitution requires that all citizen access to medical health regardless of the situation. It is a fundamental right and therefore, the government duty is to formulate policies that would ensure that indeed all citizens’ access to medical care and that program are in place to manage chronic diseases.

The public too has the responsibility of promoting their own health. They need to take good care of their health by upholding to preventive behaviors (Hill et al (2011). Many of chronic disease are as a result of lifestyle. The lifestyles can be changed to promote good health and this will not be a big problem during recession.

Community has an important role in improving the health of the patients and in managing chronic disease. Community involvement is important since it will not be affected by economic downturn. Community collaboration can assist in providing medical service, educating the community on preventive behaviors and providing of facilities such as transportation services to the patients (Weil & Sheppach, 2010). This initiative can impact positively on the health of the citizens. The high cost of accessing medical services is yet another reason that has impacted negatively on the provision of medical services and in management of chronic disease during recession. Therefore, this needs to be factored in the policies of the government.

Indeed, it is true that, recession impacts negatively on the health and chronic management in USA. Many citizens are unable to access to health service. High mortality and morbidity rates can be resolved through aggressive process and policies that can seal these loopholes. Recession should not be deterrence to accessibility and management of chronic diseases. Health is more important and it is right that all stakeholders give it a priority through their policies and plans.

References

Hill, M et al (2011). The impact of income, public assistance and homelessness on seeking medical care, American Journal of Health Studies, 26(3):174-18.

Justice, D. (2011). States, Stakeholders, and Climate Change: The Affordable Care Act Offers a New Environment for Long-Term-Care Advocacy, Generations, 35(1): 32-37.

O’Toole, T. (2012). Staying Healthy During Hard Times: The Impact of Economic Distress On Accessing Care and Chronic Disease Management, Medicine & Health Rhode Island, 95(11): 363-366.

Rust, G et al (2011). Economic Impact of a Medicaid Population Health Management Program, Population Health Management, 14(5): 215-222.

Weil, A., & Sheppach, R. (2010). New Roles for States in Health Reform Implementation, Health Affairs, 29(6): 1178−82.

Glut to blame for farm-gate milk price falls, not big supermarkets.

Introduction

The market is the real phenomenon of the basic economic life and it’s the foundation on which the central economic problem is based. It’s the device by which the main objective of equilibrium and the marginal relevance of all the exchangeable items are secured and well maintained. Equilibrium occurs when the commodity takes and occupies a similar place at the margin on the ranks of who possess it. The equilibrium price of any item is the price which ones it’s established and determined it would produce equilibrium without any fluctuations. The ideal equilibrium value determines and fixes the ideal market price; the estimates and figures formed constitutes the actual price in the market any moment.

Assume that milk operates in a perfectly competitive market. Use a well-labeled demand and supply model to explain how market equilibrium price of milk is being determined.

In a perfect competition the number of buyers willing and ready to spend to buy the milk depends on the price and other factors that are constant. Also the amount of money the sellers are willing and ready and able to sell depends on the price and other factors i.e.

Qd =f (price, constraints) and Qs = g(price, constraints) , the model therefore is Qd = Qs

Equilibrium exists if the amount and quantity the sellers are willing to sell is equal to the amount and quantity the buyers are willing to buy. For a supply curve to freely exist there must be a considerably large number of sellers in the market, also for the demand curve to freely exist, the buyers must be many. This high number in both instances ensures that none of the individual players can influence the price. The model of demand and supply demands that the buyers and sellers be in clearly defined groups. That’s sellers should not double up as consumers and vice versa. The buyers and sellers in the supply and demand model are assumed to have all the information needed on the products qualities and also availability.

Using the same model, explain and illustrate the impact of the glut of milk on the market. Clearly explain the equilibrating process.

The oversupply of milk caused the glut.

Overproduction is the total accumulation of unsalable stock in the businesses. Overproduction refers to the excessive and extra production over consumption. The nature of overproduction of commodities leads to collapse of capitalist economies. Overproduction leads to reduced production in order to remove or clear the excess inventories. These removal of excess production results in reduction of employment which in turn reduces consumption, these worsens the problem and creates a vicious circle where excess stock force companies to reduce production, and subsequently reduces employment which in turn reduces demand for excess stocks.

The glut milk represents excess production on the part of the producer. When production is high and the quantity supplied is in excess then the prices will definitely come down and the supply curve will move from right to left signifying that for a given quantity the supply will move away with a different price each time depending on the market forces. The demand for the goods will go down as the goods are readily available to anyone. Alternatively if the supply decreases the supply curve will move to the right and the prices will go up once more, as the demand will increase and customers will be chasing few goods with a lot of money.

If you were the Minister for Agriculture in the Victoria Government, and the Victorian Dairy farmers Association asked you to support their members by imposing a legal minimum price, would you support or reject their request. Use an economic model to explain why you reached your decision.

I certainly would reject it straight away. It would be great if it could work positively but in most cases it doesn’t. The main reason being that price controls interfere with the allocation of resources. Maximum prices or price ceilings cause shortages while minimum prices or floor prices cause surpluses, at least for some time. For instance, if the supply of milk and its demand are balanced at a certain equilibrium price and then a price is set by the government at a level slightly lower than the equilibrium price. The demand will increase and surpass the supply resulting in shortages in the market. A number of consumers will be fortunate to purchase enough milk for themselves and their families others will be forced to do without. This is because the consumers purchase value is increase i.e. for the same amount as before, they can purchase more quantities of milk. (Schultz, Aliber (eds), 1966) Also, if the price is set at price level higher than the equilibrium price then demand will decrease and the supply increase resulting in surpluses of milk. When prices increase to a level higher than the equilibrium price, the consumers purchase value is eroded and they can only afford a reduced quantity because of the increase in cost. When price controls are introduced in an economy, they interfere with the self regulating system of the equilibrium concept that rations the available supply naturally another mechanism must take over its role. ( Jonung, 1990)

With the aid of appropriate diagrams, what possible alternative programs could the government implement to increase the prices farmers receive in the market? How does your answer compare with question3 above? Explain.

The government should subsidize the cost of production so as to lower the final cost of the product. A subsidy is some amounts paid to the producer from the Government to encourage and motivate them to supply or produce more goods or service. A subsidy will certainly reduce the cost of production

It’s likely the producer will be motivated and encouraged to produce more goods and therefore the curve of supply shift to the right. It will most likely reduce the cost of product.

The government can also introduce taxes. These takes the form of a charge added on top of the cost of a good or service by the government.

A tax will increase the production cost to the producer. It makes the product to be more expensive. This will affect the production quantities of the product as they are expensive to produce; the producer will produce less therefore the supply curve will shift to the left. The cost of the product will also increase.

In question number three the government uses price control mechanism to regulate the market. These are restrictions on commodity prices that can be placed on certain goods and services. The major objective of price controls is to maintain the average prices of essential goods. In reality however price controls lead to severe shortages of essential goods and services. They lead to the development of black market where the prices for similar goods exceed those in the uncontrolled market. (Capie, Wood, 2002)

In question number four the government tries to use other means available to control the high prices or low prices other than interfere with the prices of the goods and services. The use of taxes to raise the cost of basic commodities is a regular practice used by economists to control prices of essential goods. Also the government can use subsidies to influence the cost of basic commodities.

Reference.

Capie, F., Wood G. (2002). Price Controls in War and Peace: A Marshalling Conclusion.

Scottish Journal of Political Economy 49 (2002): 39–60.

Clinard, B. (1952) The Black Market: A Study of White Collar Crime. New York: Rinehart.

Galbraith, J. (974) A Theory of Price Control. Cambridge: Harvard University Press,

Grayson, C. (1974) Confessions of a Price Controller. Homewood, Ill.: Dow Jones–Irwin.

Jonung, L. (1990) The Political Economy of Price Controls: The Swedish Experience 1970–

Brookfield, Mass.: Avebury.

Schultz, P., and Aliber. Z. (eds) (1966) Guidelines: Informal Controls and the Market

Place. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Rockoff, H. (1984) Drastic Measures: A History of Wage and Price Controls in the United

States. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Taussig, W. (1919) “Price-Fixing as Seen by a Price-Fixer.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 33

205–241.

Case Consultant Report for Mr. Rose

Case Consultant Report for Mr. Rose

Substance Abuse

Among the crimes which made Mr Rose to be arrested was substance abuse. His criminal history has been centered on theft, assault, reckless driving, drug taking and possession. During a forensic assessment, he points out that alcohol is not a problem to him. He further claims that he regularly drinks until he passes out especially in weekends or after stressful day. His reason for consistent take of marijuana is to remove stress and relax. Concerning any treatment remedies for his condition of substance abuse, Mr. Rose appears not to be ready for such a course.

It is well acknowledged that excess alcohol and drug abuse is plainly dangerous. This is because; the use of drugs and alcohol affects the physical and psychological health of a person. Mr. Rose’s drinking problem has not only posed danger to himself as observed from his frequent arrests and convictions, job dismissals and irresponsibility, but also to others such his girlfriends and family members. Mr. Rose is unable to maintain a stable relationship because of this habit. For instance, we learn that he had more than 60 sexual partners in his life time including prostitutes and bar attendees. These habits will consequently interfere with any future relationship he may aspire to have since few ladies will tolerate that. Concerning employment, alcohol and substance abuse is the main cause for the unstable work record he is experiencing. Other resultant features as observed from his work history include constant absenteeism, problems with his superiors and so on.

The problem of substance abuse has also spurred conflict between him and his parents as he is unable to live with them. His parents complain of irresponsiveness, uncouth behaviors, and failure to comply with the rules and regulations. These uncouth behaviors include stealing to supplement his drinking sprees, playing loud music and parties, damaging properties and so on. Since Mr. Rose is not ready to undergo treatment for the drug related problems, it is probable that proper counseling be established and which will help him to recognize the dangers which this habit has caused on him. Apparently, the patient should be taken into an outpatient alcohol rehab clinic which provides individualized and comprehensive treatment programs for the patient. A comprehensive evaluation on this him should emphasize on comprehending the severity of the alcohol and drug abuse issues as the first step in initiating and established a personalized treatment program that would be appropriate.

Individualized counseling for this patient and his family members should be made available so that he understands how alcohol and substance taking has added to his present predicament. More so, these programs should be followed on at each stage of treatment and recovery process. Another approach to be used in this perspective and which would appear very efficient is that of motivational therapy. This refers to a type of counseling approach developed by Miller and Rollnick (1983). According to these theorists, motivational interviewing is a method which operates on facilitating and incorporating intrinsic motivation with patient in an attempt to change his behavior. The evaluation and resolution of the ambivalence is the rationale for this theory. The counselor undertaking this project should be directive in achieving this objective.

Employment

With regard to employment, facts reveal that Mr. Rose mostly works in the construction industry. He is also a mechanic at local garage where he sometimes spends time repairing cars. He however does not stay long in each of these work stations because of his uncouth conduct resulting from heavy drinking and drug abuse. This behavior also causes a problem with his superiors and workmates at the workplace, thus resulting into frequent dismissals. Apparently, his frequent absenteeism resulting from arrests and conviction has also cost him employment opportunities for he can not sustain a permanent job.

Consistently heavy drinking mostly results into dependence for the patients. This is because the patient will not be efficient in his work and as we have seen in Mr. Rose’s case, he or she can not sustain employment opportunities. Heavy drinking is associated with impaired attendance in the work place as well as the work performance. Dependence is related to alcohol and drug abuse or being in that influence at a time or place which is not appropriate. In addition, lack of employment also results into interpersonal difficulties as well as deterioration of skills. An increased blood level when at work jeopardizes both safety and efficiency in the work place. For instance, there is a likely hood of errors, mistakes, increased danger of accidents as well as impairment of skills for the drinker.

Lack of a stable job for Mr. Rose has also contributed to his drinking sprees since he finds a lot of free time with nothing else to do. In filling the void of this free time, such people look up for activities such as in drinking. The value of lost output for drunkards has long been acknowledged to be the major costs to the economy of alcohol misuse. It is definite that, drinking is an issue affecting the workplace. Those people who drink a lot may think that they are in control of their drinking problems. This is more of portrayed by Mr. Rose who thinks that he is in control of his behaviors. Apparently, he may not realize that his colleagues who ‘fills the void’ for him in his absenteeism may have different thoughts about him altogether. Another thing this man is not realizing is that, his drinking spree and other uncouth behavior are costing him employment opportunities.

With regard to his employment prospects, Mr. Rose should be taken through the employee assistance program. Since Mr. Rose happens to be unwilling to undergo treatment program, he should not be coerced into accepting the assistance so offered. This is because the patient is not obligated to following advice from counselors or supervisors. A reasonable work area should be sought for Mr. Rose and in his first time, the management of authorities should be willing to accommodate him with regard to performance in production as he is undergoing the rehabilitation program. The authorities in wherever he will be working should be willing to offer some leave, be it sick leave or leave without pay just because of the rehabilitation program he is undergoing. This will make him busy and therefore avoid the temptation to drink and at the same time be able to make some coins for himself and his expenses.

One of the symptoms of drug abuse and alcoholism as exhibited by this patient is denial. It is a common phenomenon for employees or person who abuse substances to deny that they have a problem that need to be solved. Therefore, a disciplinary action or removal of such substances from availability is crucial to affect behavior change. Before, taking disciplinary measures however, counseling program should be designed in such away as to make him realize the consequences of his actions.

Marital/Family

Although Mr. Rose has reached 30, he is not yet married. One of the reasons is that he can not sustain any serious relationship from uncouth behaviors including violence on his partners. He also happens to be having casual sexual encounters with several women. In fact, he claims to have had sex with more than 60 partners in his life time. Additionally, he consistently attends strip clubs where he claims to be going after work to “relieve the stress”. He also claims to be having an obsecure sexual desire. Moreover he is also not interested in having along term relationship or marriage though he is ready to continue with his fanned relationship.

Since Mr. Rose has had too many failed relations, his behavior may be regarded as a personal disorder. Usually, people who harbor this behavior are characterized by being too abusive, controlling, and manipulative to their fiancés or partners. They will occasionally ruin not only their relationship but also their reputation, finances and self esteem. A personality disorder (of which Mr. Rose belongs) is a group of people with a history of behavior, personality, emotional and relationship problems. The personality disorder refers to a pattern of an individual’s inner experience (beliefs, values, attitudes, mood and so on) as well as behavior as depicted in instability and aggressiveness. These patterns of dysfunction are both intrusive and inflexible in nearly all aspects of a person’s life. They subsequently regenerate into a myriad of problems in emotional and personal functional function and in most cases are so extreme that they end up causing distress or impairment in all life aspects.

Apparently considering a team approach in treating avictim of personality disorder is the best way to go. Those responsible for the patient care should ensure that all the medical, psychiatric, as well as the social needs of the patient are looked into. This is because owing to the patient’s behavior, the condition happens to be in a chronic stage. Hence along term treatment programs will be necessary. Antisocial personality disorder is characterized by behavior which seeks to violate or challenge the society norms. By employing a special program of personalized therapy, the antisocial personality disorder can be effectively treated. Since the person in question is not willing or cooperative to undergo any form of treatment, he should be forced by a doctor for the same course. As earlier said, motivation should be the key consideration in order to emphasize the positive results from team work and cooperation.

Studies point out that the more an individual engages in multiple sexual partners, the more likely he will develop an alcohol and substance dependence. This may be the reason why Mr. Rose has immersed himself in alcohol and substance dependence. There is a theory articulating that people who have many sexual partners involve themselves in risky behaviors such as substance and alcohol abuse. There is a possibility that the use of marijuana enhances increased sex drive, thus the reason why Mr. Rose has depicted an increased sex drive and therefore wanting to have sex with whomever he encounters. This behavior makes him unable to sustain a relationship and even marriage since many ladies could not tolerate that. The best action to take therefore, in this situation is to make Rose stop his marijuana taking habit and also substance intake through counseling and rehabilitation program. The aspect of having multiple partners by Mr. Rose may also be derived from the essence of having short term relations or the consequence of having a multiple failed relationship.

Mr. Rose has no contact with his parents. This is because he takes them as being “too tough” on him and controlling his actions. However, the parents claim that there only requirement from him is to take responsibility and charge of his actions. It is well acknowledged that lack of personal responsibility results into many negative consequences. Mr. Rose’s overly dependence on his parents is the results of his irresponsible behavior. Another additional note for lack of responsibility is being hostile towards others; angry or depressed on how unfairly one is treated. This is more of depicted in Mr. Rose when he complains of his parents and the state authorities on being too “touch” over what he considers “minor issues”

The counseling program on Mr. Rose should be focused on creating a positive attitude towards policies, laws and regulations by authority figures including his parents. He should be made to understand that whatever laws are made and which are directed towards him, are made for his own good and the good of his neighbors. For instance, his parents “strictness” on him was only meant to make him responsible and take charge on his actions for his own good. Also the concern by other authority figures is meant to protect the rest of the population from harm or injury. Therefore, the laws are supposed to be followed by each and every person for the societies good. The fundamentals of finding positive aspects are simple but not usually an easy affair. The person has to be forced in trying to think of it, that is the benefits of law adherence not only to himself but to others as well.

Associates/Social Interaction

Mr. Rose is well known in the community he lives, perhaps due to his uncouthly behaviors. His closest friends, Bob and Rick are also criminals just like himself. For instance, the friendship between him and Bob emanated from his interaction in a local county jail, where Bob had also been convicted of drug trafficking. Although the guy does no longer do the business, he uses his former connections to procure marijuana for him and Mr. Rose to smoke. This has in a greater deal affected his marijuana smoking since without Bob; he may find it difficult to procure the substance. Steve, his other friend is also an accomplish in his drug taking as he had a connection with Bob, a former drug dealer. These friends of his can be seen as influencing Rose’ behavior as they are depicted as supporting his illegal activities including the latest assault incidence. Therefore, they give her a motivation to do illegal activities.

Association with people of decided excellence and virtue is of greater significance in the formation of a good character. The force by example is powerful as depicted in Rose’s associates. Human beings are creatures of imitation and by necessity, the habits, characters and tempers are much established by the model of those that they interact with on day to day basis. It would be very much better for an individual to be alone than being in a bad company. Good manners are corrupted by evil communication. Ill characters move faster than a communicable ailment and the mind is equally if not more affected.

It is well acknowledged that the true nature of man is recognized by the company he keeps. This is because; he will naturally assimilate by force of imitation, manners and habits of this company. In essence, bad companies affect ones character. This is because engaging one into bad company is like driving a nail into a post which after being blown in the wood, it becomes hard to draw it out. One may be clean but once he or she engages in bad company then he falls into what can be regarded as a bad odor.

The patient should try to encourage the patient strive for strict integrity and mental excellence. This means that he should also be restricted from his former allies and associates who negatively influence into bad behaviors and conduct. Once the patient is habituated into virtuous course, then he would be sure to be acceptable in the society and also the virtuous people. He should be encouraged to join the company of good people who would act as role models for his characters.

Community functioning
concerning the aspect of community functioning, Mr. Rose plans to go on with his normal life, that is drinking sprees, conflicts with other people, sexual activeness and so on. He does not see any problem with his characters nor his he willing to change them. Concerning his relationship problems, he also argues that it is the women who are the cause of all these and he has no part to blame.

In accordance to the social learning theory, also referred as social cognitive theory, behavioral change, there are various factors which determine behavior change. These factors include personal, environmental, and behavioral elements. Each of these factors is associated with another. For instance, in comparison to the principle of self efficacy, a person’s thought’s influences his behavior. In this case, Mr. Rose’ thought tells him that he is on the right and that the authority figures are the one in the wrong for interfering with him with no “cause”. Additionally, the personal characteristics draw out specific responses from the social environment. On the other hand, a person’s environment influences the development of his individual characteristics as well as a personal behavior. Consequently, a person’s behavior may alter the environment as well as the thoughts of that individual. These factors are hypothesized in the social learning theory to focus in the reciprocal interactions between these factors (Bandura, 1977).

Conflict avoidance is a personality trait which every one in a peace loving society is supposed to keep at all costs. In this perspective, a therapist or psychologist should be sought so as to help Mr. Rose learn better methods of dealing with conflicts in a healthy way, rather than engaging himself in frequent confrontations.

Personal/Emotional Orientation

Mr. Rose was too possessive and jealousy on his fiancés and consistently blamed the victim for infidelity though he had no evidence. He always believes that all women always cheated on men. He also places sex as his important aspect of life. He did not care about his sex partners or fiancés but slept to whomever was willing, thus portraying the other partner. He regularly attended strip clubs to “relieve his stress” after work. His other problem is on following stipulated rules and regulations.

It is a well known fact that being possessive and overbearing can turn any happy relationship into one filled with jealousy, fear, and control as depicted in the case of Mr. Rose. Possessiveness emanates from the thoughts of insecurity in a relationship whereby the possessive partner doubts the dedication, love of the other partners and consequently developing control and jealous. It is unfortunate that possessiveness spurs more problems in the relationship than good. This is because; the more possessive partner is, the more he or she will struggle to be free, therefore, making the ones who are possessive to be more and more insecure in an attempt to gain more control for the partner.

Since this problem seems to be chronic in this patient, it would be better if natural remedies such as the original flower remedies should be administered to the patient. The Bach Flower has been known for solving the problem of possessiveness as well as over protectiveness, enhancing care for others in away that would unselfish. Additionally, this remedy assists individuals feeling fulfilled, self assured and valuable. It is also appropriate for those who draw constant and unreasonable demand for recognition.

With regard to his negative attitude towards the community and his behavior, Mr. Rose should be made to understand the significance of being a good citizen. A good citizen is the one who possess the virtues of patient, determination, and dependability but not the opposite of these as Mr. Rose has depicted. In order for other people to see that Mr. Rose is a responsible citizen, he will need to exhibit the characteristics of a responsible citizen. In this way, the people will be able to accept him back in the community, otherwise he continue to remain alienated from the community. Mr. Rose should be taught on the best way to give back to the community, adherence to legal and traffic jurisdictions such as a show of congruence with the society.

Sex Offender Specific

From the assessment, Mr. Rose happens to have a history of sexually abusing women especially his fiancés. In fact, his recent conviction was because of sexually assaulting and abusing his long term girlfriend while in a drunken state. However, Mr. Rose should be taught that violence of any nature against women is wrong, when the victim is her fiancés, lover, sexual partner, a marriage partner, an acquaintance; a family member; or even a stranger. Being abusive to partners also creates a situation where people of the opposite sex will avoid you and this will make it difficult to obtain a marriage partner as most of them know or get to know your character.

Although sex may be a good thing for many people it is not good to be obsessed or get addicted with it as our friend Mr. Rose has. This is because; too much sex will interfere or jeopardize the sex life of the other partner. Worse still, it would cause infidelity and prostitution as in the case of our good friend Rose. Counseling programs should be designed for this patient to try to make him control his sex drives. It would also be very important for this patient to be made to stay proactive in his withdrawal and the process of having a satisfying, and health relationship.

Reference

Bandura, A. (1977). “Self-efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavioral Change”. Psychological

Review, 84, 191–215. R

Handmaker, NS; Miller WR, Manicke M (2001). “Pilot study of motivational interviewing” 86.

680–683.

Contract Law in Ireland

In his descriptive book, Contract Law in Ireland 2008 Robert Clark provides readers with a comprehensive review of contract law in Ireland. To capture readers’ attention, the author emphasizes more on the recent developments made in relation to the law, contract agreement, and insurance laws. The research presents a detailed account of various areas where the law assumes an intention to create legal relations and other instances where the law fails to presume that there is an intention to create relation.

To begin with, Chen-Wishart (2005, p22) argues that intention to create a legal intention is also defined as intent to enter into a legally binding contract or agreement. This also refers to an intention to be staid about the significance of the agreement. With this definition in mind, the question that bothers many people is which areas does the law assumes the intent to create legal relations. As Mckendrick (2007, p11) puts it, the necessity of intention to create legal relations is to eradicate cases that are not suitable for court action. With this requirement in mind, it is obvious that not every contract or agreement becomes a binding contract that can be implemented in the court. For instance, an individual may have an agreement to go for lunch with her friend. In this case, one has a moral or ethical duty to abide by the agreement but not a legal duty. This is because the two parties may not have a legal agreement to meet for lunch and thus, the law aims to fulfil or mirror the party’s wishes. To evaluate which contracts are legally binding and have objectives to create legal relations, the law differentiates between domestic and social agreements and those made in a commercial setting (Young 2010, p90).

Typically, the law does not assume an intention to create legal relations in domestic and social agreements. In these cases, the law raises the assumption that there is no written contract binding the parties (Gregory, Swisher, & Wolf 2005, p10). A perfect example of domestic and social agreement is a friend agreeing to meet for lunch. The law regards such instances as the moral obligations of both the parties to Honour the agreement. This is because the parties are not legally bound and for that reason the law establish the need to deter the action not suitable for court action (Mccamus 2005, p33). However, the court can only take action when there is a written agreement that obliges the parties to honour the contract (Jerry & Richmond 2007, p10). For instance, if a sister borrows a loan from her brother and they have a written agreement that the loan should be returned for a certain period, then a court can take action when the written agreement is not honored. Clark (2008, p10) argues that, a court can also take action when there are evidences to the agreement such as a 3^rd party. Thus far, one can argue that the law presumption is that domestic and social agreements are not intended to have legal force. Nevertheless, the law can rebut the presumption if families have a written agreement, or a wife and husband have an agreement and they are no longer living together (Reland 2006, p366).

However, the law presumes that there is an intention to create legal relations when there is a legal intent. In response to this, Ireland (2008, p19) argues that when a contract is made in the commercial set up, the law presumes that the parties should create legal relations by the agreement. When parties agree and negotiate in a business set up, the law assumes that the parties planned the agreement putting into consideration the legal impacts or consequences. In this case, Chuan-Fong, Dedrick & Kraemer (2005, p60) argue that the court can take a heavy action if one of the party fails to abide to the agreement. In other words, there are legal consequences associated with the commercial agreement. When making the decision, the court weighs options on whether the parties intended to form an agreement or a contract. If so, the party that fails to abide to the agreement has the right to undergo legal consequences. For instance, the court may take action on government activities such when a company not fulfilling its agreement or contract to manufacture vehicles despite being paid half the amount. In such cases, the court may need to decide the legal intent with the contracting parties. In reaction to this, Davenport (2008, p10) argues that government activities regard parties to enter into a contractual relation. Now, if a company fails to supply the vehicles demanded by the government, then the government can sue the company for breaching the agreement.

Nevertheless, the court may decide not to make legal relations in different ways (La Porta, Lopez-De-Silanes, & Shleifer 2006, p10). These include when the agreement expresses that there should be no legal consequences flowing from the agreement or if the parties never had the intention to be into legal relations. For instance, if a company that agrees that for every improvement or profit made there should be an increase in workers’ salary and an employee present such a case to the court, the intention to form the agreement should be evaluated. In such instances, the court may access the improvement or profit made by the company and therefore judge on whether the Company is guilt for not fulfilling its written agreement or contract (Ireland 2005, p368). If there was a legal intention to form the agreement, the court may punish the company for not fulfilling the agreement. However, if there is no legal intention binding the agreement, the Company may not be found guilty for not rewarding employees.

According to Dutson (2006, p36), the presumption that emerges in the commercial context is that parties can only create or make legal relations by entering into the agreement. The presence of written agreement may help the court to establish the legal consequences. To determine the legal intent, the court evaluates the construction of the agreement and the circumstance or promises surrounding the agreement (Dana 2011, p13). With the intention to create legal intention, one law affirm that the parties can sue each other. This is because the parties may be legally binding and this may make the contract more promising. According to Gillard (2012, p10), when parties decide to have an agreement their mind understands the information and the laws binding the contract. This is because of the intention the both parties have in relation to the issue. If the intention is to create legal intentions, one should not that the contract would be binding, legal, and enforceable. Faulkner (2008, p10) argues that, if there is no legal agreement binding the parties, then the court can assume that the contract was illegal. In turn, the court may not find any party guilty because there is no legal document binding the team. With no intention to make legal relations, the law perceives the contract as a mere promise (St John Kennedy 2006, p74).

From the above analysis, one can highlight the differences between when the law makes a presumption to create legal relations and when they do not presume to create legal relations. The law presumes to make a legal intention when there there is legal intent binding the agreement. The court claims that, a written or a signed agreement is a perfect example of a legal binding agreement. In such cases, the party who fails to honour the agreement is bound to face the legal consequences. However, the law presumes not to make legal intention when there is no legal intent binding the agreement. Examples of these are social and domestic agreements where the contract may not be legally binding. In such an instance, the court regard that the party should take a moral obligation to honour the agreement. Nevertheless, the court can only take legal actions when there was a written agreement on social and domestic issues. The written agreement may indicate that the parties were entering into a legal contract, thus failure to abide by the agreement may cause one to face the legal consequences.
Conclusively, this paper provides a comprehensive analysis about the subject Intention to create legal relations. This research has discussed that, there must be a specific purpose of the parties to enter into an agreement. To express an intent, the parties may use various things such as written agreements or witnesses to impress the concept of legal obligation. In determining which case is suitable for court action, the law raises assumption on whether or not the parties should intend to create or make legal relations. In summary, this research affirm that the law assumes that the parties should not intend to create legal bindings in domestic and social agreements. The law regards that it is the moral duty of the parties to fulfil the agreement. Nevertheless, the law can rebut the presumption if there is a written agreement or in instances where a wife and husband have an agreement and they are no longer living together. Lastly, the parties should create legal relations in commercial agreements such as government contracts whereby there is a written agreement. In such instance, the court may take action on the party not fulfilling the agreement. When making decision, the court evaluates whether there was any form of agreement or a contract. If so, there are legal consequences associated with infringing the agreement. To sum up, the court can only take actions when there is law binding the agreement. However, if there is no legal document, the court assumes that the parties were not in a legal binding document. Therefore, this is research is significant as it educates readers on instances when the court takes action and when it does not.

Bibliography

Chen-Wishart, M. 2005, Contract law, Oxford [UK], Oxford University Press.

Chuan-Fong, S, Dedrick, J, & Kraemer, K 2005, ‘Rule of Law AND THE INTERNATIONAL DIFFUSION OF E-COMMERCE’, Communications Of The ACM, 48, 11, pp. 57-62, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 26 March 2013.

Clark, R. 2008, Contract law in Ireland. Dublin, Ireland, Thomson Round Hall.

Dana, D. A. 2011, The Nanotechnology Challenge Creating Legal Institutions for Uncertain Risks, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Davenport, R. 2008, Fundamentals of Irish law, Dublin, Gill & Macmillan.

Dutson, S 2006, ‘A dangerous proposal for English lawyers’,International Financial Law Review, 25, 8, pp. 36-39, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 26 March 2013.

Faulkner, M. 2008, Essentials of Irish labour law, Dublin, Gill & Macmillan Ltd.

Gillard, C. 2012, Charities and not-for-profit entities: law and practice, London, Wildy, Simmonds & Hill.

Gregory, J. D., Swisher, P. N., & Wolf, S. L. 2005, Understanding family law, Newark, NJ, LexisNexis.

Ireland, S 2005, ‘Criminal Law Legislation Update’, Journal Of Criminal Law, 69, 5, pp. 368-374, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 26 March 2013.

Ireland. 2008, Report: privity of contract and third party rights, Dublin, Law Reform Commission.

Jerry, R. H., & Richmond, D. R 2007, Understanding insurance law, Newark, NJ, LexisNexis Matthew Bender.

La Porta, R, Lopez-De-Silanes, F, & Shleifer, A 2006, ‘What Works in Securities Laws?’, Journal Of Finance, 61, 1, pp. 1-32, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 26 March 2013.

Mccamus, J. D. 2005, Law of contracts, Toronto, Irwin Law.

Mckendrick, E. 2007, Contract law, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

reland, S 2006, ‘Criminal Law Legislation Update’, Journal Of Criminal Law, 70, 5, pp. 366-371, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 26 March 2013.

St John Kennedy, A 2006, ‘Ireland’, International Financial Law Review, 25, pp. 71-75, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 26 March 2013.

Young, M. 2010, Understanding contract law, Abingdon, Oxon, London, Routledge-Cavendish.

Making Sense of Organization

Making Sense of Organization

Typically, an organization is considered an assembly of people who work together in order to accomplish common goals through the division of labor (Schein 2010). It provides a means of utilizing individual strength in a group to accomplish more than can be achieved by the aggregate efforts of the members of the group working individually. In market economies, business organizations are formed with the primary aim of profiting by delivering a service or a good to the end-customers (Jones 2012). The purpose of this paper is to address the extent to which people are subordinated to systems and organizations in the 21^st century. Organizations comprise of a number of entities and making sense of them requires us to scrutinize them through different theoretical viewpoints as well as our own perceptual lens. As such, this paper discusses what an organization is, why it is there, how it works and why it works from dissimilar albeit interrelated theoretical viewpoints which include historical, sociological, political, psychological, cultural and symbolic.

Historical Perspective

The nature of present-day organizations is founded on the concepts first developed at the time of the Industrial Revolution during the final years of the 19^th and early years of 20^th centuries (Mastenbroek 2011). What was most significant was the theory of Max Weber, a German sociologist who maintained that bureaucracies, staffed by bureaucrats characterized the perfect organizational form. He based his model bureaucracy on absolute and legal authority, order and logic. In effect, the bureaucracy of Weber was designed to function like a machine. This is primarily because the business organization was arranged into specific parts/functions, each working in concert with the other parts/functions forming a streamlined process. There was an impersonal and indifferent attitude towards the workers within the organization, since personal aspects of human behavior were deemed as a likely detriment to the effectiveness of the system. Moreover, from the historical viewpoint, four important managerial functions characterized effective and successful organizations (Weick 2012). These include: Planning, which involves thinking before acting; organizing, which entail establishing procedures and policies that regulate the behavior of staff members; staffing, which involves the recruitment of relevant workforce, and lastly; controlling and this entails motivating the employees to pursue the objectives and goals of the business organization (Mastenbroek 2011).

In general, from the historical perspective, organizations were considered as closed systems which were isolated and autonomous from the outside world. However, later theories in the 1960s favored more humanistic and holistic ideologies. Having recognized that the traditional or historical theory did not take into consideration a number of environmental influences affecting the effectiveness of organizations, most business organizations began to embrace an open-system outlook of organizations (Daft 2012). The term open-systems reflected the belief that every organization is unique and thus, must be structured to accommodate unique opportunities and problems. Traditional or historical bureaucratic organizations did not succeed in environments where markets or technologies were evolving rapidly, and also fell short in realizing the significance of regional cultural influences in motivating employees (Daft 2012).

Sociological Perspective

From the sociological perspective, an organization is understood as a coordinated, planned and purposeful activity of people to compile or construct a common intangible or tangible product. This perspective distinguishes organizations into formal and informal organizations. Formal organizations include government agencies and business corporations. Formal organizations normally operate in a deliberate manner to achieve a complex goal. Sociology of organizations focuses on structure and objectives, the relationship between the organization and its environment, interactions among the organization members and among organizations, and the social meaning or significance of the organizations (Godwyn & Gittel 2012). Handel (2012) pointed out that organizational models are essential in understanding how organizations operate effectively. The two main models are bureaucratic and collectivist organizations. The notion of bureaucratic organizations was formulated by Max Weber, who observed that Western society necessitated bureaucracy: a type of formal organization. It was believed to be the most efficient form of organization and had the following characteristics according to Handel (2012): (i) Written rules and regulations that maximize bureaucratic efficiency and operations, (ii) a highly defined hierarchy of authority whereby people higher in the hierarchy order those who are lower, (iii) bureaucratic authority that rests in different positions or offices, but not in individuals, (iv) workers employed are recruited basing on technical know-how as well as on how they perform on entry examinations, (v) impersonal and formal record keeping and communications within the organization, and (vi) a compensated administrative workforce. Formal organizations include corporations such as Tesco, British Airways, and all organizations that have a well defined hierarchical structure with well established rules and regulations.

On other hand, an informal organization is a network of social and personal relationships such as friendships or alliances that come about as people associate with others within the work environment. It is not dependent on a hierarchical structure that is common with corporations and large-scale companies. They have loose structures and individuals can become members freely (Handel 2012). An example of an informal organization is a football team such as Chelsea FC, where a manual worker, a manager and a managing director are all on the same team, and the relationships between them is very different than in the workplace. There is no theoretical boss.

Political Perspective

The political aspect can be viewed as one that stems from within the organization – internal –, and one stemming from outside the organization – external. Internal politics: Child (2011), stated that political behavior within an organization are activities that are not necessary as part of an individual’s formal role in an organization. However, they influence, or attempt to influence the distribution of disadvantages and advantages in an organization. This definition includes all the positive and negative effects of politicking within an organization. An example of a negative effect of politicking within an organization is the National Health Service (NHS) scandal involving Stafford hospital where several patients died due to negligence. Politicking at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust resulted to nurses and care staff providing poor standards of care to patients, and this in turn caused avoidable deaths to a number of patients at Stafford hospital.

Generally, political behavior within the work setting may be considered as an attempt to derive on an individual’s power bases. In essence, from the political perspective, organizations can be seen as political systems where relationships of interests, conflict and power are common (Child 2011). The politics of an organization is most lucidly evident in the conflicts as well as power play which at times occupy center stage. It is also manifest in the numerous interpersonal intrigues which provide diversions in the flow of organizational activity (Tushman 2004).

In most organizations, the common political relationships are with regard to interests, conflict and power. Interests –there are three dissimilar types; First one are task interests, and they are linked with the work that an individual has to carry out; Second are career interests, and they are independent of the work being performed, and; third are extramural interests where one acts towards the relation to both career and work. Conflicts often arise when interests collide, and they could be inter-personal and/or personal. Conflicts could be between coalitions and rival groups, and may be built into roles, attitudes, scarcity of resources and stereotypes. Power generally serves as the means of resolving conflicts of interests. Sources of power include formal authority, control of decision powers, control of boundaries, control of scarce resources, control of knowledge and information, and control of technology (Spicer 2009).

External politics: External political conditions have a great influence on business organizations, and it helps in allocating power within a society and to enforce laws. Typically, the political system in which the business organization operates most importantly determines the long-term security and stability of the future of that organization. For instance, Britain’s national government could add stability by maintaining a powerful defense force. Nevertheless, political mechanisms may also hinder the success of the organization by burdening it with rules such as employee rights laws, taxes and regulations (Tushman 2004). Moreover, the political environment in a country plays an important in handling important issues that have substantial effects on the organization. For instance, the government of United Kingdom bailed out some business organizations to prevent their collapse due to the 2007 – 2008 economic recession. This bailout was in part because of the political climate in the country which compelled the government to bail out some large and very important companies.

Psychological Perspective

According to Chmiel (2008), psychology within an organization connotes the relationship between employees and work. Understanding an organization from the psychological perspective entails identifying the attitudes and behaviors of employees at the workplace, and this helps to understand how those attitudes and behaviors can be improved through training programs, hiring practices as well as feedback and management systems (Doyle 2010). In addition, understanding organizational psychology helps to formulate ways that will increase workplace productivity as well as related issues including the mental and physical wellbeing of workers. Psychology in the organization can be viewed in different ways.

Chmiel (2008) stated that industrial organizational (I/O) psychology has two distinct aspects. The first one is industrial aspect or personnel psychology. Personnel working in this area generally assess the characteristics of employees and then match these workers to jobs in which they are likely to do effectively. Other crucial functions on the industrial aspect of I/O psychology are measuring job performance, employee training, and developing job performance standards. The organizational aspect of psychology focuses largely on understanding the way organizations affect the behavior of an individual. Factors such as organizational structures, management styles, social norms, as well as role expectations can influence individual behavior in an organizatioN (Arnold & Silvester 2005). The human factors of psychology focuses on the impact of tasks and equipment on employee performance (Arnold & Silvester 2005). Typically, industrial organizational psychologists conduct a number of tasks such as studying employee behavior and attitude, evaluating organizations, and performing leadership training.

Cultural Perspective

In the 21^stcentury, people continue to be subordinated to systems and organizations in different ways. From the cultural perspective, this subordination entails employees being subordinated to the organizational culture; a communicatively created and historically based system of values, assumptions, and interpretive frameworks that constrain and guide the members of the organization as they carry out their roles and tackle the challenges of their environment (Lim 2008). The five aspects of organizational culture are symbols, artifacts, patterns of behavior, beliefs and values, and finally, the basic underlying assumptions. Symbols are signs that have meanings greater than themselves and they usually express much more than their intrinsic content. Symbols could be a seating arrangement, flag, office, building, phrase, policy, word or even a logo. For a company like Mercedes-Benz, its three-pointed star logo is one of the most significant symbols of the company. Artifacts are an essential aspect and comprise nonmaterial and material patterns and objects that unintentionally or intentionally communicate information regarding the company’s values, beliefs and assumptions and generally the ways of doing things (Johnson 2012). From my experience in my company, these include jokes, jargon, myths, brochures, internal memos, annual reports, celebrations and ceremonies.

Patterns of behavior connote routinized activities that cause workers to continue doing things for instance behavioral norms, rituals, and rights, which through repetition communicate information regarding the company’s beliefs, values, assumptions, technology, and ways of doing things (Lim 2008). In my company, these include management practices for instance conducting performance appraisals, trainings and holding staff meetings. With regard to beliefs and values, beliefs are the consciously held cognitive views regarding reality and truth, whereas values are conscious wants or desires. In my company, these include moral and ethical codes, and ideologies. The basic underlying assumptions consist of potent, comprehensive but out-of-conscious system of perceptions, values and beliefs, and these include the view of competitors, customers and openness to technology (Lim 2008).

Culture can also be viewed as an environmental influence emanating from the geographical location in which the company operates. Cultural influences are very critical in any organization. For instance, cultural values often determine views regarding what is good or bad, wrong or right, and trivial or important. Organizations in the United Kingdom will most probably be influenced by values of democracy, individualism, freedoms and individual rights, and a puritan work ethic. Additionally, local and regional values will affect organizations. Employees and consumers, for instance, in England and Scotland are more likely to be ideologically conservative unlike those in Wales or Northern Island (Johnson 2012).

Symbolic Perspective

Identities within organizations serve essential functions for the members of the organization as a collective. Symbols within organizations could be artifacts or physical objects, group or individual behavior, or verbal expressions (Bailey 2009). Symbols are commonly used to represent the identity of organizations. The identity of the organization can have a greater influence when symbols are used as its proxy. This is because symbolic proxies in general make it much easier for employees/members to not only articulate, but also externalize and share identity claims and beliefs (Harquail 2006). The tenuous and continuously changing nature of organizations complicates the relationship between individuals and organizations. As such, symbols provide to both organizations and individuals an effective and non-verbal language that could help in clarifying this relational complexity (Pratt 2009). In my company, the distinct symbols include: anecdotes, myths and stories which are verbal; physical artifacts and logos which are material in nature; and ritualized events and ceremonies which are actions. All these phenomena express the deeper levels of meaning which go beyond the object or simple action that is involved since they inform us about the character and nature of the identity of the organization.

Conclusion

In conclusion, making sense of organizations indeed entails examining them through a number of theoretical perspectives and through our own perceptual lens as well. The different perspectives including historical, sociological, political, psychological, cultural and symbolic provide a lucid understanding of what an organization is, why they exist, why and how they work. In general, they describe what characterizes an organization in the 21^st century. The historical perspective for instance indicates that prior to 1960s, organizations were bureaucratic closed-systems, but due to the limitations of the closed-systems, the open-system approach was adopted. Additionally, from the historical standpoint, four key managerial functions characterized effective and successful organizations. They are planning, organizing, staffing and controlling (Weick 2012).

From the sociological standpoint, sociology of organizations focuses on structure and objectives, the relationship between the organization and its environment, interactions among the organization members and among organizations, and the social meaning or significance of the organizations (Godwyn & Gittel 2012). This point of view distinguishes organizations into formal and informal organizations. Formal organizations are those that have a well defined hierarchical structure with well established rules and regulations such as British Airways or Tesco. Conversely, informal organizations are not dependent on a hierarchical structure typical with corporations. They have loose structures and individuals can become members freely, and an example is a football club such as Chelsea FC (Handel 2012). The political outlook can be seen as one that stems from either within or outside the organization. Internal organizational politics allow one to consider organizations as political systems where relationships of interests, conflict and power are common. Political behavior within an organization can lead to positive and negative effects. An example of negative effects of politicking within an organization is the NHS scandal that involved Stafford hospital where several patients died due to negligence that arose as a result of unconstructive politics within the organization. Political behavior that emanates from outside the organization has an immense influence on organizations, and helps in allocating power within a society and to enforce laws.

Getting to understand an organization from the psychological perspective requires identifying the attitudes and behaviors of employees at the workplace, and this helps to comprehend how those attitudes and behaviors can be improved through training programs, hiring practices as well as feedback and management systems (Doyle 2010). The cultural perspective largely focuses on the organizational culture, and the five essential aspects of organizational culture are symbols, artifacts, patterns of behavior, beliefs and values, and lastly, the basic underlying assumption Culture can also be viewed as an environmental influence emanating from the geographical location in which the company operates. Finally, with regard to symbolic perspective, symbols within organizations could be artifacts or physical objects, group or individual behavior, or verbal expressions and they are commonly used to represent the identity of organizations (Bailey 2009).

Reference

Arnold, J. & Silvester, J. 2005. Work Psychology: Understanding Human Behavior in the Workplace. Cardiff: AMACOM

Bailey, C. 2009. Culture in Business: Using a Symbolic Approach to Connect Organizational and Corporate Cultures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Child, J. 2011. How Organizations Engage with External Complexity: A Political Action Perspective. Birmingham: University of Birmingham Press

Chmiel, N. 2008. An Introduction to Work and Organizational Psychology: A European Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Daft, R. 2012. Organizational Theory and Design. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Doyle, C. 2010. Work and Organizational Psychology: An Introduction with Attitude. Manchester: Wiley

Godwyn, N., & Gittel, J. 2012. Sociology of Organizations. Belfast: SAGE Publications

Handel, M. 2012. Sociology of Organizations: Classic, Contemporary and Critical Readings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Harquail, C. 2006. Making Use of Organizational Identity: Icons as Symbolic Identity Proxies. Retrieved from http://authenticorganizations.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Making-Use-of-OI-symbolic-proxies1.pdf

Johnson, S. 2012. The Organizational Culture Perspective. Oxford: Hart Publishing

Jones, G. 2012. Organizational Theory, Design, and Change (7^th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Lim, B. 2008. Examining the Organizational Culture. Oxford: Hart Publishing

Mastenbroek, W. 2011. Organizational Behavior in Historical Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Pratt, M. 2009. Symbols as a Language of Organizational Relationships. Retrieved from http://ie.technion.ac.il/Home/Users/anatr/Symb-Relating-FINAL-Text.pdf

Schein, E. 2010. Organizational Culture and Leadership. London: Jossey-Bass Publishers

Spicer, C. 2009. Organizational Public Relations: A Political Perspective. Birmingham: Cengage Learning

Tushman, M. 2004. Organizations: A Political Perspective and Some Implications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Weick, K. 2012. Making Sense of the Organization. Cambridge: John Wiley & Sons

HR Strategy

Part 1: Innocent Drinks

Introduction

Company profile

Founded by three university graduates, Adam Balon, Richard Reeds, and Jon Wright from Cambridge university way back in 1999, innocent Drinks Company manufactures smoothies from pure fruits and flavor added spring water packed in bottles that can be recycled (Temporal, 2011). Innocent is a UK based food industry and by the time if its establishment, the founders had a motive of selling their products in supermarkets and coffee shops among other market outlets. The company has however spread outside the UK. It is doing a booming business in countries like France, Amsterdam, Ireland, and Brussels (Stokes & Wilson, 2010). In these countries, the company makes sales of more than 2 million in a week. Despite the fact that the company is very young and facing competitors like Tropicana, it is ranked position four as one of the largest producers of smoothie brands in the UK.

Innocent drink organization has always geared itself at producing quality products labeled “innocent” with an implication that the products are natural and pure or unadulterated. The company offers one of the best services in the market through customer satisfaction and makes sure that their products get to the consumer in the right variety and quality (Bains, et al, 2012). Delivery vans are fitted with cooling systems, which adds flavor to the services offered to the consumers. The organization has always adhered to ethics of producing fresh products from fresh fruits with no preservative additives, concentrates, or stabilizers to give the customers a feeling that is always good and satisfying.

Problem analysis

The recent move by innocent company has not been very smooth especially when it was faced by the 2008 economic recession that made it register hefty loss of billions of money; consequently, a decline of its share was inevitable. To sustain competitive advantage in the market; a few factors should be put into consideration;

Key factors and work practices: the factors that the company has to gear itself into having a strong grab to are the ones that will always make the company sustain itself in a complex and dynamic market environment. Such factors will always guarantee the company of sailing through with maximized profits and fewer difficulties. Innocent company at first need to have an excellent customer service that is friendly, humane, and maintained at personalized levels. This of course is achieved if delivery of products to the market is at the right quality and variety, which the company has maintained since its establishment (Mennillo, et al, 2012). Still another very strong factor is maintaining transparency in fitting value for money pricing. A consumer would always want to see the value for the money spend on a product by getting full satisfaction of his needs. Innocent drinks have always given consumers satisfaction since they are made of pure natural fruits with no additives. The taste has also been maintained. Innovation is at the same time a vital factor to be put into consideration by this company. There is a need to come up with packaging materials that are environment friendly in turns of pollution, non-hazardous to users and possibly recyclable to minimize costs of production.

Product sustainability is another vital factor to consider if innocent company has to sustain its competitive advantage (Mennillo, et al, 2012). A product is said to be sustainable if it readily satisfies the customers’ needs and on top of that help in the improvement of social and environmental performance. Therefore, innocent company should be in a position to offer products that are sustaining to its consumers. The company needs to consider good working ethics with its employees. Good employee packages are vital here since this act as motivation to them.

Innocent company has the desire of expanding its business outside the European countries, therefore it should put into consideration language and cultural barriers associated with the target markets. The marketing strategies used in the UK may lose meaning or be lost through translations when the products are taken to new markets. As such this should be handled carefully otherwise the product may not win the market as deemed.

Challenges

Despite the fact that innocent drinks company had started well and grown rapidly, it has not run away from challenges that of course are inevitable in any business environment. Stronger rivals have posed a big challenge to the young Innocent drink company by trying to wipe it out of the market. A smoothies and food company PepsiCo, has made innocent company start to shiver with a wavy impact, which if not counteracted it may leave innocent in a shabby situation. Tropicana smoothie from Pepsi has offered challenging competition to innocent. Tropicana is retailed at reduced price rates that also force innocent to lower their prices to counter face them. Customer downturn has also proved to be another challenge to innocent drink since customer turn-up is claimed to be low (Mennillo, et al, 2012). This is partly contributed by Pepsi selling their Tropicana product at almost half the price of innocent drink and the company failing to introduce smaller packs for customer affordability. Innocent company is as well faced by the challenge of increasing the work staff irrespective of the company’s decline in sales turnover (Stokes & Wilson, 2010).

The implications of HR strategy in the organization;

The performance of an HR in any organization may determine the failures or success of an organization. Owing to the prevailing competition from the rival companies, then innocent has to come up with innovative means and make sure that the work force is well trained to increase production and be capable to face competition head on. This is actually the reason as to why the HR is placed at that level so as to maintain full support of the employees through full time motivation and training relevant to every individual’s role in the organization. The result for this is bigger relationship of the employee-organization relation (Abbing, 2010), in relation to the theory social exchange concept (Bains, et al, 2012). It should be understood that, the work moral code of employees comes from their mind set and behavior. Therefore, innocent company’s HR has to minimize employees’ turnover through maximization of reciprocities of benefits which lead to production (Koch 1996), performance, commitment, identification and more involvement in all aspects of their job (Pierce, 2009).

In summary, for innocent drink company to move miles in sustaining itself in the market and coping with various market competitions it has to move forward and create a good customer-company relationship and employee-company-relationship. As noted earlier the key factors to be considered are vital and not to be taken for a ride. The key factors are crucial since it is through their full evaluation that innocent will always be able to keep their products competitive and well placed in the market. This is in addition to the company’s five strategy points, quality, strong brand developing, vigorous chain supply, strong customer relationships and a working team composed of cheerful employees.

Part 1.2_innocent:

High Performance Work Practices

The term ‘high performance work practices’ has a broad coverage in meaning, and so to understand it we need to look at three basic practice components that drive us to its true meaning. These practices are; employee involvement practices, human resource practices, and finally reward and commitment. The employee involvement practices focus on building a solid relationship between the employer and employee through having confidence and a well defined system of communication between the two parties. The employees in this manner are encouraged to have control over what they do on day-to-day basis by freely making decisions in their workplaces consequently yielding to a motivated teamwork. Under human resource practices, the focus is capitalizing on the skills of employees and investing on them. The HR may come up with programs, which involve recruiting, training, and work redesigning among other processes. In this case, the HR is supposed to become a business strategy developer and implementer through partnering the business and not merely an administrator (Mennillo, et al, 2012).

On the other hand reward and commitment, the organization is aimed at motivating employees by rewarding them. The organization may reward the employees by adjusting to terms, which are employee friendly to create a sense of belonging to the organization. Therefore, ‘high performance work practices’ are the practices in an organization that are geared to the stimulation of the employee and excellent performance of the organization. The incorporation of these practices intertwined with other external factors is believed to yield a good performing business results in any organization. This is achieved through definite value of customers by offering goods and services that meet the satisfaction of their needs, creating top down leadership in the organization, empowering employees’ decision making especially those close to the customers for improved goods and service delivery, and offering supportive measures geared at building trust culture between the organization, customers, and employees (Shakespeare, 2011).

There is evidence to support high performance work practices geared at maximizing the contribution of their employees. The founders of innocent company have the feeing that managing their work force is part of the strategies they lay down in their business (Aaker &, McLoughlin, 2010). They have the believe that the success of their company is within making their employees happy and minding about their welfare, and that’s why they dedicate their biggest percentage of investment on people’s skills and what is around them to motivate them in doing their job. The company has embarked on creating a favorable working atmosphere to its employees and learning to appreciate the efforts of every individual within the business echelon. This has been the major reason as to why the turnover of employees is minimal. To realize these dreams innocent devised various methods of enticing its employees through various benefit packages. Innocent has been offering packages such as scholarships, roses and poems.

Scholarships: – scholarship of employees is done four times a year, which is determined through bidding. The successful candidate is given 1000 sterling pounds. This is of great benefit to the employees since they can do something that may support them in future other just working at innocent.

Roses and poems: – employees do get them on special days like valentine. There is also guaranteed outing from the company where employees can go to their favorite places. More to this the employees enjoys medical cover through free vouchers given by the company.

Employees are also privileged to enjoy flexibility in their working schedules at any time of the day depending on individual’s choice. An employee can also work from home or anywhere else since the company is IT compliant, which easily copes with distant working. These are just but a few investments that innocent has been able to accomplish on its employees among others like offering social activities, recognition, share ownership and training and development.

The company has won the minds of the employees and customers in not only producing and distributing their healthy drinks but also in the way, they present themselves with responsibility and maintained ethics. They have really taken wise decisions in incorporating good work practices, which has made the company move miles ahead and shine above most companies that produce smoothies. The company has strived in maintaining and building its stand through innovation and collaborating with people, more considerably its employees. Its reputation to the outside world is smart; this is seen through the charity donations of 10% of its shares to the need in the community.

High performance work practices and the AMO model:

The success of innocent company can be associated to adopting good work practices which has made it maximize on the employees contribution to meet a better chance of being competitive in the market. To understand this better we refer to the AMO model (Wilkinson ET AL, 2009), a theoretical driver synergy that helps us investigate such related situation.

The AMO (acronym) model is composed of three elements building a sustaining performance on employees. ‘A’ in the acronym stand for ability of individual, ‘M’ for motivation, and ‘O’ for opportunity. The combination of the three letters in the acronym has a focus on psychology and capitalizing on employees (Wilkinson ET AL, 2009). Motivation in the form of better/high payments, career related opportunities and information sharing about the results and targeted goals of the organization (Wilkinson ET AL, 2009) is actually what any employee would long for. In the acronym the ‘A’ and ‘M’ combination has been at the centre of the theories based on individual level work performance (Wilkinson ET AL, 2009). On top of these, the model emphasizes on the working environment as a big contribution to the execution of talents and abilities by the employee. The ‘O’ in the AMO model is opportunity in performing, whose basis is on work layout and the empowering of the employee. Giving employees’ freedom to make decisions in what they do, working together and sharing the outcomes of targeted goals of the organization, mobilizes them to deliver better results in the business and have a feeling of responsibility in their work. Therefore the contribution of AMO is inspiring the performance of the employees’ on individual basis (Wilkinson ET AL, 2009) and in summation the HPWPs forms the backbone of any managerial department of an organization focused at improving the organization of workforce, workforce approach and aptitude whose combination adds up to credible outcomes of the organization.

Part II

Introduction

Talent management is a recent terminology in an ever-increasing and jargon-riddled management world. Indeed, it might be easily confused with the traditional management functions of recruiting, staffing, and retaining employees in a firm. In operationalizing the talent management concept, it is possible for managers and consultants to confuse it with recruitment of employees (Silzer & Dowell, 2009). However, talent management goes beyond recruiting people. This section will explore the meaning of talent management in the context of human resource management. In addition, an effort will be made to show how talent management fits within the strategic human resource perspective. Finally, there will be a discussion on some of the practical issues, such as culture and ethics that must be taken into account while implementing talent management within an organization.

By definition, talent management refers to a continuous process of ensuring that an organization has the right caliber of staff in the right job and at the right time (Silzer & Dowell, 2009). In essence, talent management is a continuous process of seeking the necessary talent for an organization by creating an environment that can attract the very best (Schiemann, 2009, Shukla, 2009). Talent management starts by understanding that each person has a unique talent. This talent must be harnessed if an organization is to achieve its goals. According to Armstrong (2008), an organization should not focus of the favored few, but on the best if it has to realize its objectives. Moreover, the company must ensure that it provides all the required resources for people to harness their potential as they seek to propel the company in the right direction (Armstrong, 2008).

The goal of talent management is higher because it endeavors to attract and retain the best caliber of workers as much as possible (Schiemann, 2009, Shukla, 2009). Talent management is superior because it is proactive. By being proactive, talent management overcomes the traditional problem of recruiting, which is essentially isolation. Traditionally, recruiting has been isolated from other functions like workforce planning and redeployment. However, talent management integrates all the function into a one continuous and endless process.

Talent Management and Strategic Human Resource Management

Strategic human resource management is put in place to help the company meet the needs of its workers, while at the same time striving to realize the objective of the company. The human resource department is critical in dealing with all the aspects of employees. This includes hiring and dismissals or workers, training, as well as administration. In addition, the human resource department can provide motivational tools to their workers, safety information, and vacation days, among others. Strategic human resource management looks at the future needs of the workers and endeavors to fulfill the organizational requirements of labor in a practical manner (Silzer & Dowell, 2009).

Modern organizations require a forward thinking human resource management because of increased competition in the global market arena. It requires managers to think ahead in a way that meets the expectations of the employees, as well as aspirations of the company. If the needs of the workers are catered for, then they will work hard to meet the expectations of the company and those of the shareholders. This requires a change in the way the human resource department manages its workers.

Organizations must work extremely hard to meet the needs of their workers. This can be achieved by creating a condusive working environment, and the human resource department can achieve this function. Being able to determine the needs of the employees can help determine the type of workers that a company will require. Strategic human resource can also help in reducing the money that a company uses in hiring workers by ensuring the best worker are hired and retained.

Strategic human resource management is useful in all companies. In a small organization, it might require the manager taking some of his or her time to review how worker are getting on with their work (Burman, Bowman & West, 2009). On the other hand, large firm have specialized department dedicated to the management of workers. By managing the workforce in a manner that benefits the whole organization, it is possible to meet the needs of the employees themselves (Burman, Bowman & West, 2009). Indeed, it is worthy the effort for a company to see that workers have the right tools and information to execute their responsibilities.

In this analysis, it might seem that strategic human resource management and talent management can be sued interchangeably because of their overall focus. However, talent management goes further beyond the strategic human resources approach. Indeed, TM is used to re-package the traditional roles of management (selection, staffing, and developing talent) or to put emphasis on the needs to respond to demographic changes within an organization.

Another point of difference is that traditional human resource practices operate using a functional model (Burman, Bowman & West, 2009). This means every unit in the human resource department works independently. Indeed, the goals, measures, and budgets of each unit are relatively different. Although this separation or isolation allows each department to focus on its specialty, this can be a big impediment to achieving the goals of the organization in a unified way. For instance, it might affect the recruiting efforts if it does not meet the needs of other people. In Addition, TM focuses on integrating traditional management processes. It starts by understanding that the management of talent is an indispensable component in achieving the desired results. Moreover, talent management is superior to strategic human resource management because it is proactive. By being proactive, is possible to overcome the traditional problem of recruiting, such as isolation. In the traditional method of managing human resources, several aspects such as recruiting have been isolated from other functions like staffing, planning, and redeployment. However, talent management puts all the functions together and forms a continuous process that is executed by the human resources department.

National Cultures and Talent Management

Natural cultures are critical in virtually every aspect of management. As companies cross borders in search for new markets, they have to find a common ground in terms of adaptation to the local conditions, besides providing good and services that are standard in the global competitive market. This balance often has a big impact on the human resources department. Because of this understanding, cultural orientations among the different countries become an important factor for human resource managers to consider (Slizer & Dowel, 2009, Bamber & Blanpain, 2010). According to Hofstede (2001), companies must adjust to the local cultural and ethical inclinations of the host countries if they expect to reap the full benefits of the market. Indeed, subsidiaries that consider culture tend to perform better than those that neglect this important parameter.

National culture is crucial in talent management. According to Ma & Allen (2009), theories that delve on national cultural values provide a valuable insight and understanding of recruitment and management of workers within a firm. Previous research on this aspect also gives credence to the assertion that cultural values have a significant impact on human resource practices including the selection, compensation, as well as turnover (Kamoche, 2004). In summary, culture is important for researchers and practitioners in the global market arena as it plays a key role in the success or failure of a business enterprise.

Cross-cultural differences definitely have a significant effect on the international resourcing and retention of talent within the organization as companies move out in search for markets across natural borders (Burman, Bowman & West, 2009). In the foreign markets, companies must study the culture of the host country in order to maximize its potential in the market. Different culture put emphasis on different attributes while looking for employees. In addition, diverse cultures have different belief in their assessment models while recruiting workers. For instance, in Belgium, there is more reliance on tests than what happen in the UK (Millward, 2005) Moreover, recruitment practices in countries like Greece are generally less structured in their approach. In the US, employers are more prone to use integrity testing in their hiring process. It is imperative, to look at the local culture for companies that tend to use standardization in their hiring process. This is because locals might react negatively to a company that does not align to their cultural beliefs (Millward, 2005).

Ward, et al (2012), contend that managers should consider the thinking patterns and reasoning in different cultures when examining the influence that culture has on human resource managements as well as talent management. In essence, there are significant competencies that recruiters use to gauge the cultural needs, as well as the necessary adaptive measures that multinational need to work in a given locality. The competency parameters include teamwork, strategic vision, adaptability, drive for results, and competence, among others. These factors help managers to predict the likely scenarios in different national perspectives. In case there are different cultural contexts, then the managers modify these factors to minimize any dysfunction in the given market.

National cultures are not the main factors that affect management practices in most organizations. Human resource management is also affected significantly by several factors including the nature of the workforce, competitors present at that time, organizational culture, as well as the history of the company (Kumar, 2010). For instance, creating a common ground for a diverse workforce can be intriguing for the human resource manager, since traditional forms of human resource management do not have room for diversity. According to Kumar, traditional human resource system only allow fro similarity not diversity (Kumar, 2010).Therefore, it is paramount that these issues are also considered even before a company decides to initiate cultural changes (Burman, Bowman & West, 2009). Assessments can be conducted through surveys, observations, in-house research to identify those aspects that require change. It is after this evaluation that the management can effectively decide and design the change process within the organization. Indeed, through this approach, a company will be in a position to maintain employee integrity and ensure job security

Conclusion

Talent management might fairly be a new terminology in many organizations. However, its efficacy delves deep into the core of every business function. However, the Human resources department is a traditional management function that is resistant to change. This means even the recruiters do not embrace any change as quickly as might be expected. This is a challenge for companies as they seek for market across their natural borders. Indeed, many companies are going global, meaning that human resource managers must ‘fit’ into the local condition in order to harness the full benefits in the host countries.

This section of the essay has delved on the aspect of talent management in contemporary business practices. Although the concept is new in most business segments, it is indeed, the latest trend in the management of human resources. The main areas of differences between talent management and strategic human resource management have been highlighted. Specifically, talent management looks at what talents the organization will require in the future. It works towards getting this talent and maintaining it within the organization. However, strategic human resource management is functional in nature, departing the core functions into distinct units. Moreover, an attempt has been made to articulate the role that culture plays in the global marketing arena. Indeed, evidence shows that multinational have different approaches when it comes to the management of labor in different countries. Since cultures across many countries are significantly different, it is prudent that multinational tailor their policies to meet local conditions. As highlighted above, some cultures can hinder the operations of a company, while others are open to manipulation or change by the multinational companies.

Businesses are currently thinking global because of increased competition and the opportunities provided by globalization of world economies. Indeed, the business arena has become progressively more complicated and volatile. Accordingly, the greatest challenge facing most companies is how they can exploit the advantages of globalization, while at the same time managing human capital across diverse cultures. This is a critical component if a company expects to realize benefits in different parts of the world.

Reference List

Aaker, AD &, McLoughlin, D. 2010. Strategic market management. global perspectives. John Wiley & Sons, New York.

Abbing R. E. 2010. Brand driven innovation: strategies for development and design. AVA Publishing, London.

Armstrong, M. 2008. Strategic Human Resource Management: a guide to action 4^th edition, Kogan Page Limited, London.

Bains, P., Fill, C., Page, K. 2012. Essentials of marketing. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Blanpain, R & Bamber, G 2010.Comparative labour law and industrial relations in industrialized market, Kluwer Law International, New York.

Burman, ME., Bowman, SJ. & West, PJ. 2009. Human resource management in public service: paradoxes, processes, and problems, SAGE. Thousand Oaks, CA.

Harris, M. 2010. Find your lightbulb: how to make millions from apparently impossible ideas. John Wiley & Sons, New York.

Hofstede, HG. 2001. Culture’s Consequences, London: SAGE.

Kamoche, NK. 2004. Managing human resources in Africa, New York: Routledge

Kumar, R. 2010. Human resource management: strategic analysis texts and cases, I.K. International Publishing House Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi.

Mennillo, G. Friedrich, E., & Schlenzig, H. et al, 2012. Balanced growth: finding strategies for sustainable development. Springer, London.

Millward, JL. 2005. Understanding occupational & organizational psychology, SAGE, London.

Schiemann, AW. 2009. Reinventing talent management: how to maximize performance in the new marketplace, John Wiley & Sons New Jersey.

Shakespeare, K. 2011. Trade for good-the essential guide to business and finance in UK and international trade. Ecademy Press, London.

Shukla, R. 2009. Talent management: process of developing and integrating skilled workers, Global India Publications, New Delhi.

Slizer, R. & Dowel, B. E. 2009.Strategy-Driven talent management: a leadership imperative, John Wiley & Sons, New York.

Stokes, RD & Wilson, N. 2010. Small business management and entrepreneurship, Cengage Learning, New York.

Temporal, P. (2011). Advanced Brand Management: managing brands in a changing world. John Wiley & Sons, New York.

Ward, A. C. Bochner, S., Furnham, FA. 2012. The Psychology of Culture Shock, Routledge, New York.

Wilkinson, A. Lacon, N, Redman, T & Snell, S. 2009. The SAGE handbook of human resource management SAGE. Thousand Oaks, CA

Theoretical Analysis of Character Tracy’s Behavior in the Movie “Thirteen”

Abstract

The movie, Thirteen, highlights how failure in social systems could lead to an individual developing deviant behaviors. In the movie, the Transformation of Tracy’s behavior can be explained by various theoretical approaches including family systems theory, attachment theory, social learning theory and strengths perspective. This paper makes an analysis of Tracy’s behavioral transformation using the four theories. The analysis indicates that the failure in the family system following the divorce of Tracy’s parents predispose Tracy to influence from peers. For instance, such failure prevents the formation of a strong attachment between Tracy and her mother, thus reducing the extent to which the mother can serve as a support for Tracy during stressful moments. Through reinforcement of deviant behaviors, Tracy’s behavior deteriorates over time as the movie progresses; out of failure of systems in her environment to build her capabilities to cope with stress, she results to self-cutting behavior for solace.

Keywords. Family systems, attachment theory, social learning, strengths perspective.

Theoretical Analysis of Character Tracy’s Behavior in the Movie “Thirteen”

Humans inhabit a social environment comprised of systems that influence individual behavior and well-being. For instance, the extent of support and transactions that occur in a family environment may influence the vulnerability of members to influence from factors external to the family. Such susceptibility may vary with other factors such as biological stages of development, where, for instance, individuals in the teenage years may be more susceptible to peer influence compared to adults. In the movie Thirteen, the protagonist, Tracy, exemplifies various behavioral problems that may be explained through different social work theories. As the movie progresses, it is evident that the failures in Tracy’s family transactions, results in her clamor for a friendship with Evie, even when such friendship means her engaging in drug abuse and sexual risk behavior. Such behavioral change can be explained and managed through various theories including family systems theory, attachment theory, cognitive (social learning theory), and strengths perspective.

The family systems theory provides insight into Tracy’s change from a responsible teenager to a careless teenager who has little regard for her studies, old friends and family. The choice of family systems theory to critique Tracy’s behavior arises from the system’s conceptualization of the family “as an organized whole in which all the elements (i.e., members) are interdependent” (Hughes & Gullone, 2008, p. 94). As argued by Miller, Ryan, Keitner, Bishop and Epstein (2000), since the family functions as a whole unit rather than individual parts, the family’s structure and transactional patterns and quality of the transactions influence the behavior of individual members. When the quality of the transactions in a family is low, as Wener and Silbereisen (2003) found out, contact with deviant peers increases the likelihood of adolescent members developing problem behaviors. Such a scenario is witnessed in the movie with Tracy’s development of problem behaviors after interacting with Evie.

The failure of Tracy’s family to function effectively as a whole presents an enabling environment for external factors to have a great influence on her behavior. Tracy’s parents are divorced and she lives with her mother, Melanie, and brother, Mason. Her mother’s boyfriend, Brady, frequently visits the family but Tracy despises him perceiving him to be the threat to her mother getting back together with her father. Such indicates that Tracy has not undergone through the process of accepting that her parents’ divorce is permanent, which, as noted by Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman (2012, p. 547) is necessary for her to realize that the divorce does not mean her relationship with the father has failed. However, Tracy’s case is worsened by the fact that her father is always absent, concentrating on his job and is not available to talk to Tracy even when informed of Tracy’s troubling behavior by Tracy’s mother and brother. Due to the pressures of her work, for instance serving clients at her home, Melanie has little time for Tracy. Such unavailability creates a distance between the mother and the daughter, which leads to a communication breakdown. As such, even when Tracy wants to share with her mother a poem she has written, Melanie does not pay much attention to it at first, especially when her friend Kayla arrives and informs her of a meeting they were to attend. Even though she eventually listens to the poem, she does not have the time to discuss it with Tracy. Instead, she leaves with Kayla leaving Tracy to babysit Kayla’s daughter.

The absence of a family system that offers Tracy a loving and caring environment predisposes her to seek such an environment at school. Although she has friends with whom they study, their group does not seem to attract the attention that Tracy so much desires. Instead, the boys in her school, including her brother, seem attracted to Evie and her group who live a carefree life. Due to the attention that Evie’s group gets, Tracy develops a desire to become Evie’s friend, but various aspects such as her wearing clothes considered unfashionable makes such a feat impossible at first. Eventually, out of the overwhelming desire to demonstrate that she can fit into Evie’s group, Tracy steals a purse from a woman and uses the money from the purse to shop for clothes that would lead to her acceptance into Evie’s group. The friendship between Evie and Tracy that results from this event forms the basis upon which Tracy is introduced to drug abuse, dangerous sex and petty crime.

A second theory that offers insight into Tracy’s behavior transformation in the movie is the attachment theory. The theory, as developed by Bowlby, argues that attachment is a system of behavior that children develop from their stay with principal caregivers, especially the mother, which lead them to seek proximity to such caregivers in times of distress (Ng & Smith, 2006). When such an attachment does not arise by parents failing to create a loving environment, a solid foundation for the child to engage in meaningful interactions with the external systems is not founded (Ng & Smith, 2006; Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2012, p. 137). In the movie, for instance, Tracy does not develop a close relationship with the mother who would serve as a source of support in times of distress. Such lack of close relationship for instance makes Tracy lose her sense of self-worth, which is for instance demonstrated when she is led to believe that the clothes she has been wearing are outdated. On the contrary, her best friend from across the street enjoys a loving environment which enables her to resist the temptations of the peer pressure at school. Tracy’s failure to develop meaningful attachment with her mother is also noted in the fact that she does not confide in her even when she faces various challenges. On the contrary, she results to self-cutting behavior to relieve her stress, especially when she faces various conflicts. Due to her mother’s emotional detachment, as evident when Tracy tries to relate to her the poem and in other scenes when the mother is serving clients, a trusting relationship does not develop between the mother and daughter thus leaving the daughter to seek other people who may provide such attachment. Only at the end of the film, when Tracy’s deterioration is evident, does the mother reinforce her love for Tracy and her brother.

The social cognitive (social learning) theory can also explain the development of problematic behaviors in Tracy’s case. Social Learning theory, as advanced by proponents such as Bandura, perceive learning to occur in a social arena characterized by interactions between the individual, environment and behavior in a dynamic and reciprocal manner (Grusec, 1992). According to Bandura (2001), a social learning perspective envisages a scenario where “people are producers as well as products of social systems” (p. 1). As noted by Akers, Krohn, Lanza-Kaduce and Radosevich (1979), social learning theory can explain development and maintenance of deviant behavior, the core explanation being in differential associations. Differential associations refer to the net effect between rewards and punishments of a specific behavior when evaluated against the rewards and punishment for an alternative behavior (Akers et al., 1979). The development and maintenance of a deviant behavior is perceived to arise where net of rewards and punishment of that behavior is positive (i.e. rewards outweigh punishment) and outweighs that of the alternative behavior. According to the theory, acquisition and maintenance of a behavior thus follows an operant-conditioning hypothesis where various stimuli, following performance of a certain behavior, serve to reinforce or discourage the behavior.

In the movie, Tracy’s acquisition of deviant behaviors such as drug abuse and petty crime results from reinforcement of such behavior. For instance, the pursuit of indecent dressing is reinforced by the attention that the girls receive from peers. For instance, at the start of the movie, when Tracy and her friend arrive at school, they hold the attention of their male colleagues only until Evie and her group of friends arrive and distract such attention with their revealing dressing. Similarly, when Tracy joins Evie’s group, her dressing to conform to such group’s norms earns her admirers from a group of boys who never used to show such attention before. Such positive reinforcement serves to encourage Tracy to engage more into deviant behavior, which deteriorates into incessant drug abuse and engaging in sexual risk behaviors.

The maintenance of the deviant behavior is also enabled by the absence of positive rewards for the alternative behavior and absence of punishment for the deviant behavior. For instance, right from the start of the movie, the environment in which Tracy grows up in does not lay emphasis on positive responsible behavior. For instance, Tracy’s father does not seem to care much about her daughter’s engagement in problem behavior even when such are brought into his attention. Similarly, Tracy’s negative behavior such as stealing the purse and engaging in drug abuse are not punished since the mother is too lenient with her. In fact, her initial responsible behavior seems to earn her negative outcomes, for instance being relegated into a baby sitter whenever her mother goes to the meetings and for outings with her friends. Even when she arrives for class late, and fails to meet the deadline for submitting her work, the repercussions are blunt; only receives a verbal reprimand from the teacher. On the other hand, the deviant behaviors are reinforced by aspects such as getting attention from her male peers and getting to go out with such peers, which are critical desires for individuals in her age, especially with the lack of such attention at home.

The strengths perspective can also explain the behavioral transformation that Tracy undergoes, and offer insight into effective approaches to alleviate the deviant behaviors. The strengths perspective recognizes human beings’ innate capabilities to achieve success, arguing for the need to provide an environment where individuals realize the potential to achieve self-actualization (Gray, 2011). The strengths perspective advances the need to understand the bases of various deviant behaviors individuals exhibit, to build a better social environment that can help them use their strengths to overcome such behaviors. Yip (2006) for instance argues that a strengths perspective can help in identifying the needs of an adolescent with self-cutting behaviors and help to develop their abilities to express their distress via an alternative method.

In the movie, the lack of environment that builds Tracy’s stress coping mechanisms leads to her adopting self-cutting behaviors to relieve stress whenever she faces a conflict. For instance, the failure in interpersonal communication between her family and her deprives her of the avenue to express her fears and desire for her fathers’ love to a confidant. Failure to build such interpersonal communication abilities also lead to Tracy seeking alternative ways through which she can attract the attention of her male peers. Such clamor results into her engaging in various irresponsible behaviors such as theft, drug abuse and sexual risk behavior. Even when opportunities to develop such strengths arise, such as when the family meets over meals, the presence of Melanie’s boyfriend who Tracy considers a reason for her father’s absence prohibits effective family bonding.

As highlighted in the analysis, the Movie, Thirteen, highlights various theoretical underpinnings of social work including family systems theory, attachment theory, social learning theory and strengths perspective. For instance, the failure of Tracy’s family to function effectively makes her susceptible to peer influence, which results into her developing deviant behavior. Similarly, the absence of a loving family environment averts the formation of attachment between Tracy and her mother thus depriving her of a resource she can turn to when in distress. Lacking such a resource, Tracy turns into the social environment provided by her peers for attention, whereby the reinforcement provided for deviant behaviors in that environment serve to encourage her irresponsible behavior. Moreover, the lack of a family setting that would help Tracy to develop strengths to cope with stress leads to her turning into self-cutting behavior whenever a conflict arises.

References

Akers, R. L., Krohn, M. D., Lanza-Kaduce, L., & Radosevich, M. (1979). Social learning and deviant behavior: A specific test of a general theory. American Sociological Review, 44(4), 636-655.

Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 1-26.

Gray, M. (2011). Back to basics: A critique of the strengths perspective in social work. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 92(1), 5-11, doi: 10.1606/1044-3894.4054

Grusec, J. E. (1992). Social learning theory and developmental psychology: The legacies of Robert Sears and Albert Bandura. Developmental Psychology, 28(5), 776-786.

Hughes, E. K., & Gullone, E. (2008). Internalizing symptoms and disorders in families of adolescents: A review of family systems literature. Clinical Psychology Review, 28(), 92-117, doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2007.04.002

Levy-Hinte, J., London, M. (Producers) &Harwicke, D. (Director). (2003). Thirteen [Motion picture]. United States: Working Title Films.

Miller, I. W., Ryan, C. E., Keitner, G. I., Bishop, D. S., & Epstein, N. B. (2000). The McMaster approach to families: theory, assessment, treatment and research. Journal of Family Therapy, 22(2), 168-189, doi: 10.1111/1467-6427.00145.

Ng, K. M., & Smith, S. D. (2006). The relationships between attachment theory and intergenerational family systems theory. The Family Journal, 14(4), 430-440, doi:10.1177/1066480706290976.

Yip, K. S. (2006). A strengths perspective in working with an adolescent with self-cutting behaviors. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 23(2), 134-146, doi:10.1007/s10560-005-0043-4

Robbins, S. P., Chatterjee, P., & Canda, E. R. (2011). Contemporary human behavior theory: A critical perspective for social work (3rd ed.). Boston, CA: Allyn & Bacon

Werner, N. E., & Silbereisen, R. K. (2003). Family relationship quality and contact with deviant peers as predictors of adolescent problem behaviors: The moderating role of gender. Journal of Adolescent Research, 18(5), 454-480, doi:10.1177/0743558403255063

Zastrow, C. H., & Kirst-Ashman, K. K. (2012). Understanding human behavior and the social environment (9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thompson Learning

British Manufacturing management

British Manufacturing management

During recession, it is difficult for many organizations to break even and therefore, they employ different strategies to survive in their market. For instance, during the 1980s and 1990s recession, British manufacturing management managed to restore its profitability and transformed its productivity by sacking some of its employees and adopting to other strategies that aimed at cutting their expenses/costs. The paper explores the extent to which the British experience differed from that of other competitors.

The competitors of British manufacturing firms include Germany and Japanese. These countries have larger manufacturing companies that deal in chemical and production of different categories of products. Therefore, they have a larger market share because of the large scale of production. Recession that happened in 1980s and 1990s did not spare these companies. When compared to the competitors, British manufacturing firms are quite smaller.

One of the reasons that enabled British manufacturing management to retain profitability despite recession was its financial control type of management approach. In this kind of management, more emphasis and control is geared at ensuring positive performance in terms of achieving the target profits (Ingram 1991, p. 5). Therefore, companies focused on their profitability. This strategic planning involved buffering other important parts of the business for the rigors of the market place in order for them to maximize market advantages. This strategy was applicable in both the medium and long-term operation of the business and required the firm’s management to produce standard products for its mature markets to help it remain competitive. Other competitors did not employ this approach in their operations and this contributed to their decrease in profitability during the period.

Downsizing employees is one of the strategic that firms use to counter the effects of recession. Most British manufacturing companies adapted this strategy to ensure that they cut costs. Of course, this strategy helped the firms to survive the effects of recession. Other competitors did not adapt to this strategy and therefore they continued to incur huge costs of paying their employees. Therefore, British firms managed to remain competitive and improved on their productivity. Furthermore, most of the firms in British recruited semi skilled workers that performed specific tasks. This helped the firms to cut on high costs of recruiting highly professional workers. The workers were given on-the-job-training to equip them with relevant skills that allowed them to perform different tasks that they were assigned. This strategy worked in favor of the firms as they managed to reduce on their expenses at the same time improving their profitability. The competitor companies in the same industries on the other hand, sourced high skilled labor, which demanded huge amounts of salaries. Therefore, this contributed to their reduction in profits during recession.

Technology in most of the larger manufacturing companies’ plants was not advanced compared to other competitor firms. Cellular manufacturing was adopted in most of the firms. This kind of technology was simple and less costly in terms of maintenance and use. According to Oliver and Wilkinson (1992), in their survey of 1991, they found out that 50 per cent of the samples of large firms in British used cellular manufacturing, which was introduced in 1983. The technology was fairly basic as it involved regrouping of existing machines tools and other equipment into cells that formed a small group of related machines that allowed manufacture of related sub assemblies to be produced in batches. This technology therefore, saved on the capital investment of the firms, as it did not require extensive investment (Alford 1994, p. 4). This therefore contributed to the profitability of the firms. Furthermore, it allowed production of products in high batches. This was economical and helped the firms to be competitive. Other companies dealing in similar products from Japan and Germany had invested heavily on advanced technology.

In most of the British manufacturing firms, privileges or high employee security was not provided but employees were allowed to compete with alternative suppliers and sub constructed labor (Batstone 1988, p. 12). This was not the case in other manufacturing companies that competed; with British companies. Management style of leadership also helped in ensuring that the productivity of the firms increased. The firms were well managed by competence managers who managed to apportion costs appropriately and this contributed to the higher productivity. Costs were well allocated and this enabled the company to perform well.

There was also systematic gathering and appraisal of data that related to production, this allowed routine surveillance of technology and the manpower that allowed or facilitated easy identification and reduction of waste. Labor force were also monitored and evaluated to determine their performance. These functions helped the managers to identify areas that required improvement and emphasized on those areas hence managing to increase the productivity of the organization. Competitor’s management style was not thorough this therefore resulted to gaps that led them to fail to achieve their objectives.

In conclusion, British manufacturing management had well-planned strategies that enabled it to remain competitive. Some of the strategies they employed included, downsizing, their labor force, using simple technologies and effective management styles.

Reference List

Alford, H 1994, ‘Cellular manufacturing: the development of the idea and its application’, New Technology, Work and Employment, vol. 9: 3–18.

Batstone, E 1988, The Reform of Workplace Industrial Relations: Theory, Myth and Evidence, rev. edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ingram, P 1991, ‘Changes in working practices in British manufacturing industry in the 1980s: a study of concessions made during wage negotiations’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, vol. 29: 1–13.

Oliver, N, & Wilkinson, B 1992, ‘The Japanization of British Industry, 2nd edn. Oxford: Blackwell.

Nutrition and Pregnancy

Introduction

Health and nutrition are important aspects of human life during pregnancy, not only to the mother, but also to the developing baby. Intake of right amount of required calories and nutrients, as well as close monitoring of weight gain; can greatly reduce labor pains and speed up the healing process after delivery. During pregnancy, the calorie and nutrient requirement of mothers increase, to supply the food needed for the growth of the baby (American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2010). It is therefore important to eat the right meals, and avoid ones that might be harmful to the baby. This paper discusses the calorie and nutritional requirements of a pregnant woman, as well as the various kinds of foods which should be avoided.

Dietary Requirements during Pregnancy

Eating a balanced diet is important during pregnancy. Though this period require increased calorie intake, the foods that are consumed must be closely monitored. This will help foster a healthy development progress of the infant in the womb. The calorie requirements increase with each trimester. In the first trimester, a pregnant woman may require about 1800 calories per day, while on the third trimester; the value may increase to 2400 calories (Riley, 2006). Macronutrients are important for provision of this required calories pay day, and they include: carbohydrates, fats and proteins, and other organic substances. Additionally, micronutrients also form an important segment of the diet, including vitamins and minerals. They support the growth of tissues and cells; and prevent occurrence of diseases.

In details, various foods which are needed and highly recommended during pregnancy include a long list of healthy nationals. For instance, dark green leafy vegetables are applauded as the most nutritious of all foods. According to the Center for Young Women’s Health, they are a rich source of essential minerals and vitamins, including Vitamins A, C, and K; iron, folate and calcium as minerals (Brown, 2005). Foods under this category include spinach, broccoli, mustard greens, kale, collard greens, and arugula. Iron derived from these vegetables can prevent instances of preterm birth, while folate prevents birth defects of the spinal cord and the brain, as well as cancer and stroke.

Oranges and grapefruits are also recommended during pregnancy. They contain substantial amounts of vitamin C and folic acid, where the former is useful for maintenance of healthy tissues and healthy immune system of the baby and the mother (Murkoff & Mazel, 2008). It is also responsible for secretion of collagen, the structural protein for tendons, cartilage, skin and bones, which are needed for a healthy development (American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2010). The daily intake of vitamin C for pregnant women should be 85 mg. In addition, protein intake should also be enhanced, given the rapid development of the body during pregnancy. As a building block of amino acids, it is important as a precursor of cells. One should aim at three servings of protein, making up to 75 grams, which should be spread evenly throughout the day (Riley, 2006). Foods rich in protein include eggs, cheese omelet, fish, whole grain cereals, yogurt, meat, legumes and soy among others.

Foods rich in calcium also form an important part of a pregnant woman’s diet. Calcium is important for strong bone and teeth development of the infant, and helps the mother stay stronger, avoiding falling prey to osteoporosis (Roizen & Mehmet, 2009). In the third trimester, the need for calcium increases, since bone and teeth development takes place at this time. Milk, yoghurt, cheese, calcium-fortified juice, salmon salad and fish are important sources of calcium (Brown, 2005). Moreover, whole grains gain an increased importance at this crucial time. Bread, pasta, cereals like corn, rice, oats, rye, barley, and quinoa among others are whole grains which have abundant sources of energy, fats, vitamins and minerals. They also combat nausea and prevent constipation.

Iron-rich foods are essential requirements during pregnancy, since the element is important for blood manufacture, as it forms the largest part of the hemoglobin (Roizen & Mehmet, 2009). The baby and the mother need increased blood supply, necessitating the craving for iron in the diet. Foods like spinach, soy, beef, blackstrap molasses and dried fruits are some of the best sources of iron. A daily intake of about 30-40 mg above the content of prenatal supplement is required to avoid future occurrence of anemia (Riley, 2006). Moreover, essential fatty acids must be supplied into the diet, since their foster proper eye and brain development, for instance, Omega-3 fatty acid. However, not more than 30% of the calorie intake should come from fats (American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2010). Vegetables, mayonnaise, pasta, omelet, butter and meat products are sources of fat. Salty foods should not exceed 2400 mg of daily intake, but moderate volumes are important for fluid retention in the body during pregnancy.

Above all, the body of a pregnant woman needs a lot of fluids. Water becomes an essential component of diet in this respect. Water is important for building body cells, excreting wastes, and delivering nutrients. About 8 glasses should be consumed per day, combined with other fluids like milk, juices, soups, and other drinks (Brown, 2005). Watching one’s calorie intake and diet is a crucial concept that must not be overlooked during pregnancy, as the development of the baby as well as the well-being of the mother rely heavily on what is eaten.

Foods that should not be eaten during Pregnancy

Though it has been mentioned and proved that a well-balanced meal is important for an expectant mother, there are foods that are not safe for consumption during this period. For instance, raw meat is undesirable, especially uncooked seafood and beef, or even poultry should be avoided, since they stand a high risk of being contaminated with bacteria, salmonella and toxoplasmosis. In addition, deli meat should also be avoided since they are believed to be contaminated with Listera, which can prompt a miscarriage. It is among the rare substances that are allowed entry in the placenta, and can lead to blood poisoning or infection to the baby. Fish which contains mercury in high levels is undesirable, as mercury consumption during pregnancy has been linked to brain damage and development delays (Riley, 2006). They include shark, king mackerel, tilefish and swordfish.

Refrigerated, smoked seafood, should also be avoid, especially those labeled nova, lox, kippered, style or jerky must not be included in a mother’s diet as they contain Listeria.this applies to fish exposed to industrial pollutants, like those from contaminated lakes, and rivers. These may have been exposed to high doses of polychlorinated biphenyls, which is not good for health (Brown, 2005). Some of the fish falling in this category include salmon, pike, trout, bluefish and walleye. As some people are fond, raw eggs have gotten some space in our diets. During pregnancy, they should be avoided as they are potential harbors of salmonella. The same goes to unpasteurized milk, soft cheeses and pate.

Caffeine has attracted a wide array of discussions, but several researchers support that its intake during pregnancy is unwelcome, as it has close correlation with miscarriages. As a diuretic, it triggers loss of water from the body, which may leach out calcium and essential water loss. It is also associated with low birth weight, premature/preterm birth, and withdrawal symptoms among infants (Murkoff & Mazel, 2008). Alcohol is another drug that is not acceptable during pregnancy. Prenatal alcohol consumption interferes with normal and healthy development of the infant. It can lead to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome as well (Murkoff & Mazel, 2008).

Finally, liver or liver products, for example, liver sausage and liver pate should also be avoided during pregnancy, as they contain high amounts of vitamin A. Excessive amounts of vitamin A can be harmful to the baby, thus one must restrain from any supplements of vitamin A. Others include ice cream, eggnog, uncooked or raw sprouts like alfalfa, mung bean, clover and radish; salads, and unpasteurized juices (Brown, 2005). These pose risks of bacterial infections.

One Day Menu for a 32-Week Pregnant Patient

At the 32^nd week of pregnancy, a weight gain of about 1-2 lbs. per week is expected. Being the third and last trimester, bone and teeth development also takes shape, thus requiring higher calcium levels, and a calorie intake of 300 more than a non-pregnant woman. The table below shows a typical one day menu for a 32-week pregnant woman.

Breakfast	½ cup skim milk	One serving of Whole wheat bread	2 pieces of oranges/grape fruits
Lunch	¼ chicken salad sandwich	One serving of Whole wheat bread	One serving of Dark green vegetables
Dinner	One serving of fish/ lean beef cut	A plate of whole grain rice	I cup of decaffeinated beverage
Snacks	1 cup of lemon juice	A few counts of non-dietary biscuits	A bottle of zero-calorie soda	5-oz glasses of water

References

American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (2010). Nutrition During Pregnancy. Retrieved from http://www.acog.org/publications/patient_education/bp001.cfm.

Riley, L. (2006). Pregnancy: The Ultimate Week-by-Week Pregnancy Guide. Meredith Books. pp. 21–22.

Brown, J. E. (2005). Nutrition Through the Life Cycle. Wodrsworth Publishing.

Murkoff, H. & Mazel, S. (2008). What to Expect When You’re Expecting. Workman publishing company.

Roizen, M. & Mehmet O. (2009). You: Having a Baby. Publisher: Free Press.