Theories of a Leader

This essay will approach types of power such as; to utilize and influence others, to either reward or punish, to confirm by role of an organization, and to identify with a leader such as rock or film personality. This essay will cover six categories of power and these interlink with each other and brings a better focus on theories of power. The functions of leadership are many and varied, depending upon the basic problem with a group must deal with, and the type of leadership style in action, which is dependent on the leaders basis of power. Power, in the case of leadership, is divided into six categories, however, each can be linked with another, as they are inter-related. Expert and Informational power are concerned with skills, knowledge and information, of which the holders of such abilities, are able to utilize, to influence others ie technicians and computer personnel. Reward and Coercive power, differ from the previously mentioned, as they involve the ability to either reward or punish persons being influenced, in order to gain compliance. Legitimate power, is power which has been confirmed by the very role structure of the group or organization itself, and is accepted by all as correct and without dispute, such as in the case of the armed forces or the police force. Referent power, on the other hand, involves those being influenced, identifying with the leader, ie. rock or film personalities using their image to enter the political arena. Most leaders make use of a combination of these six types of power, depending on the leadership style used. Authoritarian leaders, for example, use a mixture of legitimate, coercive and reward powers, to dictate the policies, plans and activities of a group. In comparison, a democratic or participative leader would use mainly referent power, involving all members of the group in the decision-making process. In my research I have found that by the use of meta-analysis uncovers an approach beyond the general focus of theories of leadership. However within the central study of the term theory, I explore this article to expand this essay in more detail. According to Hunter and Hirsh (1987), most discoveries and advances in cumulative knowledge are no longer being made by those who conduct primary research studies, but by those who use meta-analysis to uncover the latent meaning of existing literature. In addition, meta-analysis provides the empirical building blocks for theory since results derived from such analyses indicate what needs to be explained by theory. Although meta-analysis has been criticized for not directly generating theory (Guzzo, Jackson &mKatzell, 1987), the results of meta-analyses are indispensable for theory construction, keeping in mind that theory development is a creative process distinct from cumulating results across studies. Nevertheless, there is no reason that meta-analysis cannot deal with theory and explanation as well as with description. In fact, efforts sponsored by the Russell Sage Foundation's meta-analysis project are designed to move meta-analytic techniques beyond the descriptive into the theory development domain (Russell Sage Foundation, 1991). Leadership itself, has been accompanied throughout time, by numerous theories, all claiming to answer the question, Are leaders born or made? Those who accept the verdict, that leaders are born and not made, maintain, â€Å"†¦ that there are certain inborn qualities such as initiative, courage, intelligence and humour, which altogether pre-destine a man to be a leader †¦ the essential pattern is given at birth† (Adler, 1991, p. 4) Two leadership theories which concentrate on this point, are the Great man/great woman and theTrait theories. The great man/great woman theory, accordingly to Wrightsman, involves its followers believing that major events, both nationally and internationally, are influenced by those persons in power. â€Å"A sudden act by a great man could, according to this theory, change the fate of the nation† (Wrightsman, 1977, p. 638) The trait theory expands further on this conjecture, by concentrating on the personal characteristics of the leader. The theory, which until the mid-1940s formed the basis of most leadership research, cited traits believed to be characteristic of leaders, the list of which grew in length over the years, to include all manner of physical, personality and cognitive factors, including height, intelligence and communication skills. However, few traits emerged to conclusively differentiate leaders from non-leaders. The traits an individual has may, increase the probability that a person will become a leader, though whether such leadership is guaranteed, is uncertain. Nevertheless, it can be seen to be true that some people are more likely than others to assume leadership positions. â€Å"The research on trait theories of leadership has shown that many other factors are important in determining leader success, and that not everyone who possesses these traits will be a leader† (Adler, 1991, p. 267) As interest in the trait approach to leadership declined, researchers focused their attention on the leader's actions rather than their attributes, which led to the emergence of the behaviourist theories. The most widely publicized exponent of this approach was Robert Blake and Jane Mouton's Managerial Grid, which attempted to explain that there was one best style of leadership, by various combinations of two factors regarding a concern for production and people. Due to the disillusionment with the fore-mentioned trait theory, the situational approach suggested that the traits required of a leader differed, according to varying situations. The situational approach, which predominated in the 1950s, held that whether a given person became a leader of a group, had nothing to do with his/her personality, but had everything to do with such factors as the flow of events and circumstances surrounding a group. To put it simply, the leader was a person who was in the right place at the right time. â€Å"Rather than a great man causing a great event to happen, the situational approach claims that great events are the product of historical forces that are gong to happen hether specific leaders are present or not † (Adair, 1984, p. 8) Unfortunately, this theory still didn't answer, why one member of a group emerged as the leader, rather than another, or why one particular leader proved to be a better leader in some situations than another. The emergence of a related theory, the interactionist approach, attempted to explain the existing anomalies. The interactionist theory proposed that both the characteristics of the individual, and the situation in which the group found itself, accounted for whom would become the leader. Resulting from this theory, was the view that leaders are both born and made, due to the leader requiring certain abilities and skill, but as the situation and the needs of the group changed, so to the person acceptable as leader changed. Developing such abilities and skills requires no position of authority but does require commitment to self, commitment to the organization and its employees, action, and thoughtful, on-going self-assessment. Such a program of personal development, ideally begun as a part of the formal education process, can assist significantly in learning how to influence others, up, down, and across the organization. Thus, one can learn how to become what Cohen (1990) has called an â€Å"uncrowned leader,† a person who exerts influence over others but lacks positional authority. It takes many hours of research to provide a strong research paper however this essay touches only the surface. The functions of a Leader are many and varied. It's hard to say the one theory is better than the other because as my research shows, it takes more than one approach to accomplish a task with overall proficiency. From upper management to the first line supervisor, each situation, each environment, and each group of people requires a different approach. In some circumstances a leader is considered to be a leader only if he/she knows the organizational structure well and knows how to execute a plan. By reviewing the theories of the previously mentioned theories, the term leader doesn't necessarily mean he/she is a leader. Therefore a leader can have more than one meaning and the theories of leadership may need to be more refined. However this essay focuses more on the standard process of identification of a leader and the theories that identify such. If a leader is trainable to understand that different approaches are needed for different situations, then a leader can succeed. However if a born leader hasn't had the exposure to an array of situations, then he/she will not be effective. It stands to reason regarding a leader is born is that a leader may be born but if that person isn't exposed to an array to various situations and factors, then that born leader will become a failure. However I agree a leader may be born and a follower is a follower but a follower can influence other followers especially if that person has charisma such as wiser experience, cultured education, and mature personality. So a leader may be born but a follower by my own experience I've seen followers who are leaders and assist leaders to perform their best. Therefore sometimes a leader and follower can complement each other thus strengthening the environment and or situation. Therefore my own observations show that there are ranks of leaders and ranks of followers. Each side of the line can have leadership. Theories are many but now that we have all these theories, it may appear that we need more research to better recognize the leaders not recognized by the standard approach.

The Great Gatsby Quotations

Figurative Language: Foreshadowing is used in this. When Jordan says this it foreshadows on the accident Of Daisy hitting Myrtle. 3) â€Å"Some time toward midnight Tom Buchanan and Mrs.. Wilson stood face to face in impassioned voices whether Mrs.. Wilson had any right to mention Daisy name. â€Å"Daisy! Daisy! Daisy! † shouted Mrs.. Wilson. â€Å"I'll say it whenever want to! Daisy! Dad-† Making a short deft movement Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand. Importance: The importance of this quote is showing how the richer class people think that being snobs makes them â€Å"fancy†.It shows how the era this book was set in was a time much different hen ours. Symbolism: This shows how Tom is unworthy of Daisy and her love, no matter what his social status. It is also showing the darker side of the jazz era. Seeming Nick did not respond to Tom hitting myrtle this shows you his non-judgmental side to him. Figurative Language: Personification is used here w hen â€Å"Impassioned voices† is said, as well as â€Å"a short deft movement. † 4) â€Å"l believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited-?they went there. Importance: The importance Of this quote is that it is showing how society used Gatsby, they didn't know him or particularly like him, but they felt more then happy, and welcome to party at his house. Even though he would throw a party for all of New York the East egger wouldn't accept him. This also shows the general corruption of the roaring ass's. It also helps show that people wanted to escape from their empty lives. Symbolism: This quote helps show that for some reason Gatsby wanted to meet Nick, he wanted to make sure that Nick showed up. Which then helps you realize that Nick has a connection to someone or something that Gatsby wants.Which would be Daisy. Figurative Language: Foreshadowing is used. Because the fact th at Gatsby invited Nick, and no one else shows that he wants to see him badly for some reason. Which is then explained later on in the book. 5) â€Å"A stout, middle-aged man, with enormous owl-eyed spectacles, was sitting somewhat drunk on the edge of a great table, staring with unsteady concentration at the shelves of books. As we entered he wheeled excitedly around and examined Jordan from head to foot. â€Å"What do you think? † he demanded impetuously. â€Å"About what? † He waved his hand towards the bookshelves â€Å"About that.As a matter of fact you needn't bother to ascertain. I ascertained they re real. â€Å"The books? † He nodded. â€Å"Absolutely read-they have pages and everything. I thought theft be a nice durable cardboard. Matter of fact they're absolutely real. Pages and-Here! Lemma show you. † Importance: This quote is important to the plays pot because it helps describe how real of a man Gatsby is compared to the rest of the people i n society. It shows how Gatsby is genuine, and isn't just an illusion like everybody else in society in the ass's was. Symbolism: The constant bringing up of â€Å"owl eyes† in the book is symbolizing wisdom.It symbolizes that Gatsby is a wise man. It also symbolizes for how Gatsby is blinded by assays beauty and for his love for her. Figurative Language: Owl eyes is used as a symbol in this quote, they come up often in the book. They symbolize for how Gatsby has a difficult time separating the ideal from the real. 6) â€Å"l hope she'll be a fool-?that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool†¦ You see, I think everything terrible anyhow†¦ And I know. I've been everywhere and seen everything and done everything. Importance: Daisy says this to Nick and Jordan, talking about how she hopes her daughter will turn out.Importance of this is that it shows that she lives in a time when Oman are not expected to be quite intelligent, she hopes t hat her daughter can be a â€Å"beautiful fool†. Woman in this era were expected to be docile. Importance to Character: This shows how she refers to the social values of her era, but does not challenge them. Instead Daisy describes her own boredom with life, and believes that a girl can have more fun in her time when she is beautiful and simplistic. Daisy conforms to the social standard of American femininity in the 1 dad's to avoid tension issues as her undying love for Gatsby.Figurative Language: This foreshadows on Tom having a mistress because Daisy is a fool. She has no idea that Tom has a mistress, so she herself is a â€Å"beautiful† fool. 7) ‘There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams-not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion†¦ † Importance: The importance of this quo te is that it explains how Gatsby expected more out of Daisy then what she could give.He expected her to be the same Daisy that he had fallen in love with before the war, and he expected her to love only Gatsby and not Gatsby and Tom. Symbolism: This shows that Gatsby is that Daisy is the golden girl. A symbolic validation that his love for her makes him a real man, while to Daisy, Gatsby is symbolic of freedom and escape, everything that Daisy wants 8) â€Å"She was appalled by West Egg†¦ By its raw vigor that chafed†¦ And by the too obtrusive fate that herded it's inhabitants along a short-cut from nothing to nothing.She saw something awful in the very simplicity she failed to understand† Importance: This quote shows how Daisy is a judgmental character and does not understand what it is like to not have much money to upend. Daisy doesn't understand the amusement of new wealth partying crowd. Daisy grew up knowing that there must be a concrete difference between po or and rich. Daisy and Tom like the old traditional way of wealth, the status and reputation. They like the â€Å"classy' way of life, so when there is woman there asking to daisy to have a cold shower, she is disgusted that a woman would let herself get that drunk.Symbolism: This quote shows how Daisy loves Gatsby. Even though this party disgusted her and Tom, she still tries to defend Gatsby when Tom says something nasty about the party. She rises to explain that a lot of people who weren't invited must have came, and those were the people that are acting not appropriately. 9) â€Å"You ought to go away:' I said. â€Å"It's pretty certain thefts trace your car† â€Å"Go away now, old sport? â€Å"Go to Atlantic city for a week, or up to Montreal† He wouldn't consider it. He couldn't possibly leave Daisy until he knew what she was going to do.He was clutching at some last hope and couldn't bear to shake him free. † Importance: This quote shows that Gatsby is too hung up on Daisy that he can't leave without her. He believes himself to be so in love with her that e can't leave. Gatsby doesn't know that his life is at risk because Mr.. Wilson is running around the countryside trying to find the owner of the yellow car. Symbolism: This quote shows how Gatsby lives Off Of hope. It shows how hope is the only thing that is keeping him from loneliness, and from just giving up. 0) minis is a valley of ashes-?a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations form your sight. Importance: The val ley of ashes is a dividing point between West egg and East egg, It is a division between two totally different life styles, West egg is a place full of people who are happy and searching for what to be, while East egg is full of people who are wealthy and spend money on whatever they like, while in the middle, is the valley of ashes. A place that is burnt down, nothing but grey from ashes, where it is filthy and dusty, and people are just getting by. Symbolism: The Valley of Ashes symbolizes for a place of death, of something dark.It symbolizes that dreams are left there, and that there is no hope there. The Valley of Ashes is a place where god sees everything, because of the large billboard with the dry in the large glasses on it. 1 1) â€Å"It makes me sad because Eve never seen such- beautiful shirts before† Importance: This quote shows you how Daisy is very materialistic. After seeing Gatsby mansion, and finally seeing his bedroom and the mount of money/things he ash, she becomes overwhelmed. Symbolism: The shirts symbolize for something of the bigger picture. They symbolize a rainbow, especially because it is raining outside.The shirts show her how Gatsby become wealthy for her to love him because he knows that she is materialistic, she starts sobbing because she knows she can never return the ardent love for him. 12) ‘They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people clean up the sees they had made† Importance: Tom is careless because he goes out and cheats on Daisy with myrtle, while Daisy is careless because she lets Tom go out and snoop.It makes you wonder how Gatsby received his endless amounts of money he seems to have. 4) â€Å"If it wasn't for the mist we could see your home across the bay†¦ You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of yo ur dock. † Importance: This quote shows how Gatsby is so in love with Daisy that he bought a house right across the bay from her, just so he could see the green light at the end of her dock. It's not quite enough for him, but its just enough to keep that hope their in Gatsby mind.Symbolism: The green light is a symbolic representation of Daisy, Which is everything that Gatsby desires. It shows how much he truly loves her. 15) ‘With every word she was drawing further and further into herself, so he eve that up, and only the dean dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, UN- despairingly, toward the lost voice across the room† Importance: This quote shows how when Gatsby is speaking to Daisy, he realizes that she will never be his, the way that she was before.He realizes that he had lost her for good, and that she was never coming back again. Symbolism: This quote shows an illusion. It shows how Daisy was all a made up illusion in his mind, and he made her to be greater then what she actually was. Just like the American Dream, his hopes were crushed.

Protecting Interest Of The Minority Shareholders

In Asian countries including Bangladesh, the controlling ownership of public listed companies are dominated by some families. The problem of minority exploitation may arise when the ownership is highly concentrated in any specific group, especially family ownership. One of the consequences of this is the expropriation of minority shareholder rights. Apart from family control another limitation of principles of corporate law is the principle of majority rule, sometimes called the â€Å"supremacy of majority† rule.Those who invested more in the company bear a greater risk in the event of a business failure, but simultaneously they have a greater degree of control over the company. There is certainly a risk that the majority will take advantage of the minority and that a company will be run at the expense of the minority shareholders. Any decision of Annual general meeting (AGM) adapted by majority vote and directors are appointed and may be removed from the office at any time by a simple majority at the general meeting.Thus, the directors are motivated to act in the best interests of the majority who appointed them and who may remove them. Minority shareholder rights expropriation occurred when family ownership directed cash to their own benefit, inefficient projects and connected lending to relatives and friends rather than return it in dividends to minority shareholders. Other expropriation can take the form of profit reallocation, assets misuse, transfer pricing, sell below the market price departments or parts of the firm to other firms that major shareholders own, or acquisition of other firms that major shareholders own at a premium.The majority shareholders treats the company as his own, and acts accordingly, to the detriment of the other shareholders, or where there is a breakdown in the relationship of the shareholders or any of their number, which gives rise to questions about the future ownership and control of the Company. On the other hand, wh ere a single or small number of shareholders hold a substantial block of shares in the company, say, in excess of 25% of the voting rights, securing managerial accountability to the shareholders or at least to the controlling shareholders through the traditional governance mechanisms of company law can dominate the company.In some situation, the ‘non-controlling’ shareholders may collectively hold more voting shares than the ‘controlling’ shareholders. However, if the non-controlling shares are widely dispersed, effective control of the company will lie in the hands of the block-holder, even if that block consists of less than 50% of the voting shares. The shareholder providing the majority of the capital may sometimes not control the company.In such a case the majority shareholder is effectively in a minority position with regard to the exercising of controlling rights. The emergence of such a situations are the principal/agent problem between the controll ing shareholders and the non-controlling ‘minority’ shareholders. The corporate management law and policy must have protection of interest of the minority shareholders. The general purpose of minority protection instruments is to prevent the abuse of power by the major shareholders.There is not an easy solution, to the problem, since the principle of majority rule, in company law and other rules of regulators. It is a long established principle of corporate law that the regulators and courts should not intervene in business decisions due to the nonintervention policy or internal management principle. There is no statutory law of anywhere contains a definition of the minority or majority shareholder. The distinguishing factor between the two is the degree of control over the corporation.The number of shares owned is not  decisive, even a shareholder owning a majority of shares may be a minority shareholder, if other shareholders are well organized and, thus, control th e company. The company must follow the principles ‘partnership’ and consultation aims at balancing the interest between major and minor shareholders, and usually do not infringe minorities rights through guaranteeing at least the following minority rights such as respect of opinion of major shareholders toward minorities, the right of minorities to be heard on regard of business matters and exit rights.The limited Liability Companies, which are, in practical terms, run, as if they were a partnership, between the persons who are shareholders of same, might be regarded by the law, as â€Å"quasi partnership†. The OECD principles on Corporate Governance (2004) provide that: Shareholders, including institutional shareholders, should be allowed to consult with each other on issues concerning their basic shareholder rights as defined in the Principles, subject to exceptions to prevent abuse.The protection comes from better legal protection, stronger structure of the in ternal control mechanisms and more efficient capital markets and market for corporate control. One of the methods to ensure the minority rights is to follow good Corporate Governance principles because there exists a relation between the level of protection of minority shareholders and incorporation of good practices of Corporate Governance. The separation of ownership and control in corporations with dispersed ownership structure highlights the agency issue due to conflict between agents (directors) and principals (shareholders).Due to a different agency problem that arises on account of the conflict between dominant and minority shareholders. The minority shareholders can be empowered by ensuring control over the management and board of directors. The board of directors are accountable to the shareholders as a class is to make it easy for the shareholders to convene meetings to consider the removal of directors, evaluate the board’s performance and remove directors of whom they disapprove.The minority shareholders are afforded the remedies if the majority shareholders, violate a personal right of a minority shareholder, then he can file a personal action against the wrongdoers to rectify such a violation of the articles of association of the Company or of the terms of any shareholder agreement etc. With increasing instances of corporate fraud around the world, another remedy is provisions for class action suits. Class action is a law suit brought by one or more individuals on behalf of a large group of people who have the same complaint.In certain circumstances, minority shareholders may bring a common law derivative action, on behalf of the company, against the wrongdoers, who committed a wrong to the company. Wrongdoers can be shareholders and directors of the company, as well as third parties. In order to be able to proceed with a derivative action at common law, the minority shareholders must have legal options to persuade the courts, that the com pany’s decisions by majority shareholders are not to pursue a remedy for the wrong done to the company which amounts to a â€Å"fraud on the minority† .Another Statutory remedy is of petition to winding up of the company on a just and equitable ground. There is hearsay that few sponsors / families are responsible for share scams causing huge loss of small investors. Security exchange commission (SEC) has such views with perceived experiences of two share market debacles and issued a notification on November 22, 2011 imposing conditions that all sponsors / promoters and directors of a listed company shall jointly hold minimum 30% share of paid up capital of the company. Moreover, each director shall hold minimum 2% of the paid up capital.In case of vacancy of anyone holding 5% share shall be entitled to be directors. The publicly listed companies have usually 15 directors and they will hold 75% of the share and voting rights of the company. This means the companies will gradually go under control of few limited persons who have capacity of investment of sufficient amount. SEC has in mind that, mandatory provision of higher shares will prevent such future stock market debacle. But as per investigation report of Mr Khondaker Ibrahim Khaled, accepted by all, there are many organizations including SEC are jointly responsible for disaster in stock market.The public companies are controlled by few families and the directors are ‘elected’ from same family by rotation and under full control of families. They retire due to compulsion of retirements as per law. Small shareholders are awarded a gift pack and nominal dividends in AGM and have no say against the decision of these controlling families. Companies go for public share to generate fund for investments but shall fail to generate fund with higher investments of sponsors and directors.The over investment of sponsors / directors will not bring sufficient share in the market and the market will remain at the present status of low investment. India has totally different legal framework to safeguard interest of small investors. Indian Companies Act 2013 under section -151. A listed company may have one director elected by such small shareholders in such manner and with such terms and conditions as may be prescribed. For the purposes of this section â€Å"small shareholders† means a shareholder holding shares of nominal value of not more than twenty thousand rupees or such other sum as may be prescribed.There is no policy of a designated directorship of choice of minority shareholder nor there do any provision to control, appoint or remove any director. The global law and policy is to protect the rights of minority shareholders but in contrary Bangladesh SEC make legal provision of make the minority shareholder marginalized and have no option to exercise their rights due to majority rule and lose their voice. The decision of higher investment of directors is not g ood for stock market and should be amended to find way out to safeguard interest of minor shareholders from the proven experience of other markets. Protecting interest of the minority Shareholders In Asian countries including Bangladesh, the controlling ownership of public listed companies are dominated by some families. The problem of minority exploitation may arise when the ownership is highly concentrated in any specific group, especially family ownership. One of the consequences of this is the expropriation of minority shareholder rights.Apart from family control another limitation of principles of corporate law is the principle of majority rule, sometimes called the â€Å"supremacy of majority† rule. Those who invested more in the company bear a greater risk in the event of a business failure, but simultaneously they have a greater degree of control over the company. There is certainly a risk that the majority will take advantage of the minority and that a company will be run at the expense of the minority shareholders.Any decision of Annual general meeting (AGM) adapted by majority vote and directors are appointed and may be removed from the office at any time by a simple majority at the general meeting. Thus, the directors are motivated to act in the best interests of the majority who appointed them and who may remove them.Minority shareholder rights expropriation occurred when family ownership directed cash to their own benefit, inefficient projects and connected lending to relatives and friends rather than return it in dividends to minority shareholders. Other expropriation can take the form of profit  reallocation, assets misuse, transfer pricing, sell below the market price departments or parts of the firm to other firms that major shareholders own, or acquisition of other firms that major shareholders own at a premium. The majority shareholders treats the company as his own, and acts accordingly, to the detriment of the other shareholders, or where there is a breakdown in the relationship of the shareholders or any of their number, which gives rise to questions about the future ownership and control of the Company.On the other hand, where a single or small number of shareholders hold a substantial block of shares in the company, say, in excess of 25% of the voting rights, securing managerial accountability to the shareholders or at least to the controlling shareholders through the traditional governance mechanisms of company law can dominate the company. In some situation, the ‘non-controlling’ shareholders may collectively hold more voting shares than the ‘controlling’ shareholders. However, if the non-controlling shares are widely dispersed, effective control of the company will lie in the hands of the block-holder, even if that block consists of less than 50% of the voting shares.The shareholder providing the majority of the capital may sometimes not control the company. In such a case the majority shareholder is effectively in a minority position with regard to the exercising of controlling rights. The emergence of such a situations are the principal/agent problem between the contr olling shareholders and the non-controlling ‘minority’ shareholders.The corporate management law and policy must have protection of interest of the minority shareholders. The general purpose of minority protection instruments is to prevent the abuse of power by the major shareholders. There is not an easy solution, to the problem, since the principle of majority rule, in company law and other rules of regulators. It is a long established principle of corporate law that the regulators and courts should not intervene in business decisions due to the nonintervention policy or internal management principle.There is no statutory law of anywhere contains a definition of the minority or majority shareholder. The distinguishing factor between the two is the degree of control over the corporation. The number of shares owned is not  decisive, even a shareholder owning a majority of shares may be a minority shareholder, if other shareholders are well organized and, thus, control the company.The company must follow the principles ‘partnership’ and consultation aims at balancing the interest between major and minor shareholders, and usually do not infringe minorities rights through guaranteeing at least the following minority rights such as respect of opinion of major shareholders toward minorities, the right of minorities to be heard on regard of business matters and exit rights. The limited Liability Companies, which are, in practical terms, run, as if they were a partnership, between the persons who are shareholders of same, might be regarded by the law, as â€Å"quasi partnership†.The OECD principles on Corporate Governance (2004) provide that: Shareholders, including institutional shareholders, should be allowed to consult with each other on issues concerning their basic shareholder rights as defined in the Principles, subject to exceptions to prevent abuse.The protection comes from better legal protection, stronger structure of the internal control mechanisms and more efficient capital markets and market for corporate control. One of the methods to ensure the minority rights is to follow good Corporate Governance principles because there exists a relation between the level of protection of minority shareholders and incorporation of good practices of Corporate Governance.The separation of ownership and control in corporations with dispersed ownership structure highlights the agency issue due to conflict between agents (directors) and principals (shareholders). Due to a different agency problem that arises on account of the conflict between dominant and minority shareholders. The minority shareholders can be empowered by ensuring control over the management and board of directors. The board of directors are accountable to the shareholders as a class is to make it easy for the shareholders to convene meetings to consider the removal of directors, evaluate the board’s performance and remove directors of who m they  disapprove.The minority shareholders are afforded the remedies if the majority shareholders, violate a personal right of a minority shareholder, then he can file a personal action against the wrongdoers to rectify such a violation of the articles of association of the Company or of the terms of any shareholder agreement etc. With increasing instances of corporate fraud around the world, another remedy is provisions for class action suits. Class action is a law suit brought by one or more individuals on behalf of a large group of people who have the same complaint. In certain circumstances, minority shareholders may bring a common law derivative action, on behalf of the company, against the wrongdoers, who committed a wrong to the company.Wrongdoers can be shareholders and directors of the company, as well as third parties. In order to be able to proceed with a derivative action at common law, the minority shareholders must have legal options to persuade the courts, that th e company’s decisions by majority shareholders are not to pursue a remedy for the wrong done to the company which amounts to a â€Å"fraud on the minority† . Another Statutory remedy is of petition to winding up of the company on a just and equitable ground. There is hearsay that few sponsors / families are responsible for share scams causing huge loss of small investors.Security exchange commission (SEC) has such views with perceived experiences of two share market debacles and issued a notification on November 22, 2011 imposing conditions that all sponsors / promoters and directors of a listed company shall jointly hold minimum 30% share of paid up capital of the company. Moreover, each director shall hold minimum 2% of the paid up capital. In case of vacancy of anyone holding 5% share shall be entitled to be directors. The publicly listed companies have usually 15 directors and they will hold 75% of the share and voting rights of the company.This means the companies will gradually go under control of few limited persons who have capacity of investment of sufficient amount. SEC has in mind that, mandatory provision of higher shares will prevent such future stock market debacle. But as per investigation report of Mr Khondaker Ibrahim Khaled, accepted by all, there are many organizations including SEC are jointly responsible for disaster in stock market.The public companies are controlled by few families and the directors are ‘elected’ from same family by rotation and under full control of families. They retire due to compulsion of retirements as per law. Small shareholders are awarded a gift pack and nominal dividends in AGM and have no say against the decision of these controlling families. Companies go for public share to generate fund for investments but shall fail to generate fund with higher investments of sponsors and directors. The over investment of sponsors / directors will not bring sufficient share in the market and the m arket will remain at the present status of low investment.India has totally different legal framework to safeguard interest of small investors. Indian Companies Act 2013 under section -151. A listed company may have one director elected by such small shareholders in such manner and with such terms and conditions as may be prescribed. For the purposes of this section â€Å"small shareholders† means a shareholder holding shares of nominal value of not more than twenty thousand rupees or such other sum as may be prescribed.There is no policy of a designated directorship of choice of minority shareholder nor there do any provision to control, appoint or remove any director. The global law and policy is to protect the rights of minority shareholders but in contrary Bangladesh SEC make legal provision of make the minority shareholder marginalized and have no option to exercise their rights due to majority rule and lose their voice.The decision of higher investment of directors is n ot good for stock market and should be amended to find way out to safeguard interest of minor shareholders from the proven experience of other markets.

Entrepreneurial Approach to Profit and Social Responsibility Research Paper

Entrepreneurial Approach to Profit and Social Responsibility - Research Paper Example Entrepreneurship is about risk taking, seen an opportunity where others are not able to see it and taking advantage of the opportunity. Adi Saravanan and Rich Gorman are such leading and successful entrepreneurs who saw an opportunity where other people around them were not able to see. They took all the risks involved in the business and financial undertakings to venture and later emerged successful and became millionaires as a result of good entrepreneurship. Adi Saravanan Adi Saravanan, an engineer by profession, graduated from the University of Bharathiyar, developed interest in being a successful entrepreneur as a result of the opportunities’ he saw in the business world when working in the financial department of Samar Financial Limited. Adi Saravanan also holds a degree in Business and Financial Management from the University of Periyar and Masters form the same university. His hard work made him get a promotion to market the products of the company. He later got another job at Ashok Leyland finance limited where he worked within the financial and treasury departments. He had a lot of interest in finance and information technology that made him co-find a company named Allsec Technologies where he is the Chief Executive officer. This company offers Business Process Outsourcing services ranging from payroll to web solutions and retail healthcare services to various industries in India and Philippines. Adi Saravanan’s Leadership Style Leadership styles are the skills, traits and behaviors that a leader exhibits as he or she interacts with his workers. Adi Saravanan as the president of Allsec Technologies is portrayed as a democratic leader.... Adi Saravanan’s Leadership Style Leadership styles are the skills, traits and behaviors that a leader exhibits as he or she interacts with his workers. Adi Saravanan as the president of Allsec Technologies is portrayed as a democratic leader. As such, he uses a democratic leadership approach to manage the company’s activities. This is because he encourages participation of all his workers and staff in decision makings. He also ensures that workers are consulted on what is supposed to be done for the benefit of the company as a whole (Northouse, 2009). His democratic leadership style is also seen in that he does not closely supervise his employees but instead gives instruction and trusts that his instructions are to be followed since all decisions made are done in consultation. Adi Saravanan’s Approach to Profit making Adi Saravanan developed various strategies to ensure that his company became profitable. The first thing he did was to ensure that costs are kept l ow by eliminating unnecessary expenditures. He also ensured that the focus of the company was to improve shift utilization by getting more clients. He ensured that the services provided are customer focused and that they met customer expectations. This is in terms of both quality and quantity. This way, he maintained the loyalty of his clients and customers. He also makes sure that the staff he hires as are professionals to ensure that quality services are delivered to the clients. This was demonstrated by the quality of payroll services and BPO services offered by Allsec Technologies (Drucker, 2006). Adi Saravanan’s Strategies to Social Responsibilities A company is supposed to give back to the society through corporate social responsibility. This is because the society is normally impacted in various

Knowledge Management Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Knowledge Management Systems - Essay Example The objective of this paper is to identify and review the challenges of building and implementing knowledge systems. Also included in the discussion are the advantages of curbing failure factors of KMS as well as effective strategies in developing knowledge management initiatives. Identifying the challenges in building knowledge management systems (KMS) is a major concern. Bartczak (2002) claims that an intervening action towards achieving the objective of knowledge management (KM) is to determine the problems that inhibit knowledge transfer in different types of organisations. When a particular problem is recognised, organisations become capable of implementing approaches to reinforce organisational value through improved knowledge management. Knowledge is at the core of managing knowledge in organisations. In management literature, numerous studies have been proposed integrating the contribution of knowledge in enhancing management performance. Nevertheless, there are few researches about studying the chief failure causes in the domain of knowledge management (Chatzkel 2003). Through a comprehensive review of literature about the failure causes of knowledge management Malhotra (2004, as cited in Akhavan, Jafari, & Fathian 2005: para 3-4) states that: .. Prior discussion has highlighted that knowledge management system fail because of two broad reasons. ... For these inputs to result in business performance, the influence of intervening and moderating variables such as attention, motivation, commitment, creativity, and innovation, has to be better understood and accounted for in design of business models. Second, the efficacy of inputs and how they are strategically deployed are important issues often left unquestioned as 'expected' performance outcomes are achieved, but the value of such performance outcomes may be eroded by the dynamic shifts in the business and competitive environments... In other words, Malhotra is arguing that the most frequent mistake in building knowledge management system is incompetence in synchronising endeavours between human resources and information technology. He also emphasises that KMS design should guarantee that adjustment and improvement of organisational performance outcomes transpires in harmony with evolving processes of the business environment. At the same time, envisioning a wide range of future courses of human contributions and information technology implanted in the KMS can reduce the threat of rapid obsoleteness of these systems. The objective of this study is to analyse and discuss some of the most apparent problems or challenges in building knowledge management systems in organisations. The first section will discuss the inherent challenges in the management of organisational knowledge, such as employee characteristics and the trend of knowledge work. Then the challenges in embedded knowledge and information systems, as well as the failure causes in KMS will be discussed. The final section will provide an overall analysis and inclusive conclusion on the knowledge management

Discuss why you chosen pharmacy as a profession Essay

Discuss why you chosen pharmacy as a profession - Essay Example My second reason for choosing Pharmacy as my life's work is that it suits my personality and technical skill perfectly. During my years in the army, I was exposed to numerous professional pursuits and had the opportunity to experience a wide variety of activities. During this time, I always returned to my interest in Pharmacy because it was such a good fit for me. When I left the Army, I was allowed to shadow a local pharmacist which only confirmed what I already knew; this profession was my life's calling. I have a natural empathy for people and want to make a positive contribution to their lives. I am studious by nature, and have the ability to concentrate and pay great attention to detail. These two aspects of my personality will find their greatest and best expression as a pharmacist because my caring heart and technical abilities will be able to be combined into a single life pursuit. Finally, I have chosen Pharmacy as my career because I understand the vital role that pharmacists play in both the healthcare system and improving the quality of life for individuals. Pharmacists are an important bridge between the patient and their doctor because they provide important information directly to the individual. People have so many questions about their health and the medicines they take. Often, the doctor does not have time to explain the details of the medications they prescribe, or the patients are too intimidated to ask a lot of questions. With a pharmacist, people are more willing to discuss their medications because the pharmacist seems more accessible. I know that I want to be a pharmacist because I want people to have the information they need regarding their treatment and how it might interact with their lifestyle or other medicines they are taking. This profession will give me the opportunity to give important advice while caring for the people who need it mo st. I will be a great pharmacist. I have seen the impact of healthcare on the lives of individuals. I have the personality and technical skill to learn the profession and apply it in assisting people every day. The important role of helping patients manage their treatment and emphasizing the precautions they must take to maintain their health is what I want to do for the rest of my life. My Priorities in Life As a mother and former member of the U.S. Army, I have had the opportunity to travel to many different places, experience much of what life has to offer and see the things that are important. I have three fundamental priorities set for my life; to finish school, to fulfill my chosen professional goals, and to help people. My first life priority is to finish my education. As I have indicated before, I am very aware of the benefits of a quality education. Being raised in Jamaica, I witnessed first hand what happens to people who are not allowed to develop to their full potential. After moving to America, I saw the other side of what education can provide to a person, and I want to reap those benefits for myself as well as my children. I know that in order to develop my full personal potential, I must attain success in my chosen career and that means successfully finishing school. In fact, I don't just want to be successful in my studies, I want to be outstanding. This first milestone must be achieved for the others to have a chance at being fulfilled. Accordingly,

Spiritual Needs Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Spiritual Needs Assessment - Essay Example I believe in tolerance. Everyone should be able to worship or believe what they want as long as no harm is coming to others. My ideas and views are not more important than someone else’s. Everyone should have ideas and views that are respected. A5: Yes. My spiritual goal is to pray for my family daily. I have prayed daily since I was in the first grade. I remember being scared of going to hell. I was more frightened for my dad because he did not go to church and was an alcoholic. am in the low percentage of being married for almost 20 years to the same man. All of my children have the same father. My anemia causes me to be very tired and sleepy. I feel bad for my family. I wish I could do better. Yes. My daughter attends a Baptist church regularly. My grandparents are Calvinists. My mother is Baptist. I perceive their spirituality with respect but still maintain my own beliefs. One of my beliefs is not to force my spirituality on others. My assessment findings with this patient were eye opening. I did not realize that she believed in anything. She did not talk about religion or spirituality much. I would never have guessed that she believed in anything. The significant discovery was the fact the patient prayed every day. I did not realize that she believed in a higher power to pray to. I did not realize either that the patient was raised in the framework of Calvinism. This explains her aversion to organized religion. Her type of Calvinism believes Jesus did not die for the whole world – just a selected few. It also preaches that everyone is born wicked with repentance as their only way to heaven. This revelation helped explain her depression surrounding organized religion. The whole interview went well. However, the patient was a little uncomfortable discussing her spirituality. It seemed to be a private issue. I would approach

Drinking age Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Drinking age - Essay Example Moderation will lead to results that are more realizable as compared to the minimum drinking-age restrictions. Certainly, under-age drinking is a prevalent problem especially among Americans. Different control measures have been taken to address the issue. However, each one of them has its advantages and disadvantages. I agree with the author that responsible drinking should be encouraged. This is even more important when dealing with a revolutionized society. The present youth develop in all aspects at a very fast rate as compared to the ages of our parents. Therefore, imposing stern legal restrictions regarding drinking may not realize the desired results. Instead, guidance and mentorship should be preferred. Provisional drinking license seems to be the best way forward. Introduction to drinking should be stepwise. This will eliminate dangerous drinking such as binge drinking. Hanson et al feels that prohibiting age is not a good solution. I agree with him since there are cases of adults experiencing irresponsible drinking. In fact, responsible drinking is also common among young adults who have not yet reached drinking age. Jenna Bush is a good example of responsible drinking among young adults. Although she was highlighted for under-age drinking, her drinking was responsible. Undeniably, responsible driving is gained through gradual introductory classes. The same case should be emulated for responsible drinking among young adults. However, one-sided approach cannot work effectively. Although the author advocates for drinking permit, the idea cannot work without rules and guidelines. The drinking permits ought to be followed by strict regulations to make them effective. For example, it would be good if the permits specified that an adult such as a parent be present at the time of drinking. This way, the parent, mentor, or the guide would be

Religion in Pop Culture Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Religion in Pop Culture - Term Paper Example The vision of religion in the new light, when it is a component of the pop culture raises a lot of questions: whether it is right or wrong to popularize images of Jesus Christ or God Mother or other religious images. The most known reflections of religion in pop culture can be traced in the creative works of Lady Gaga. If we talk about this singer, we can see that lately this popular singer is really obsessed with religious images and she always is looking for an opportunity to promote religious images. In her interviews she claims that she is a too religious and spiritual person, but when we watch her videos we can have many doubts. Still, I am also impressed by her video on the song â€Å"Born This Way†. Lady Gaga is not the first one, who tries to reflect her ideas of love and faith by means of using different religious allusions and metaphors. There are humane and good lines in the song â€Å"Born This Way†, when the singer says: â€Å"I’m beautiful in my wa y because God makes no mistakes†. This is a righteous interpretation of religion. Nevertheless, allusions used are really impressive and we can think about the moment of birth. Her videos are always ambiguous. For example, the most impressive clip for me is â€Å"Judas†. Thus, in her video â€Å"Judas† we can see that â€Å"Jesus is my virtue / but Judas is the demon I cling to† and these lines imply a potential sinful behavior of too religious people. These controversial songs and videos impress me by their potential to strike my imagination. I try to guess, which are the real intentions of Lady Gaga songs? I came across the images of a sinful Magdalena in â€Å"Judas† and innocent â€Å"Venus† in this video. Moreover, Gaga does not only reflect her own religious beliefs, she also tries to bring in a kind of burlesque and kitsch to her religious interpretations†¦for example in her video â€Å"Judas† there are striking images of a nun, who is dreaming about sex with men, or when Lady Gaga tries to make a shot with her gun, but in reality it turns out to be a lipstick. Another demonstration of religion in pop culture is representation of religious ideas in clothes. For example, pink T-shirts with a cartoon kitten purring â€Å"Jesus loves me†. Religion is a kind of a trend in the modern world. Madonna and Pam Anderson wear T-shirts with the line â€Å"Mary is My Homegirl†. Such kind of T-shirts is an attempt to make people think about religious issues. We do not have enough time to visit Church and for some people it is a kind of showing off their religious beliefs. To my mind this strategy is fashionable, but it should not be kitschy as it is. As a rule priests argue with popularization of religion and blame Lady Gaga for her profanity. Popular films also reflect the fashionable religious ideas and beliefs. For example, the film by Mel Gibson â€Å"The Passion of the Christ† is very popu lar or â€Å"Joan of Arcadia,† a film story about the girl on who talks to God won attraction of the audience. Nowadays religion is a modern brand. It sounds like the world has gone wild, but it is really so. Popular slogans promote religion, but in a different way, which seems natural for people. For example, we can see that it is easier and more pleasant for people to wear T-shirts with

The Cost of College Essay Example for Free

The Cost of College Essay The cost to attend college is high, and has been rising for many years. The cost of college is too high, a lot of people can’t afford it, and unemployment rates are sky high. Why is the cost of college so much? The best answer would be our economy. Our economy has a great effect on the rising prices of everything, including college tuition. Another factor influencing the price of college is the demand for a higher education, for a well-paying job is more than ever. The problem of the cost of college right now is that many people can’t afford to go to college, and it puts them in debt even though it may be worth it. Works Cited Adams, Caralee J. Mid-Income Students Incur Higher Debt. Education Week 29 August 2012. English, Ed. Cap In Hand: The High Price Of Higher Education: A College Degree Has Become An Indispensable Credential In Today’s Workforce. But With The Cost Of Postsecondary Education Soaring, A Degree Is Also Slipping Out Of Reach For More People. What’s Behind Tuition Inflation, And Can Its Trajectory Be Altered? EconSouth 2011: 6. Luhby, Tami. Is College Worth It? Careers and Colleges November 2000. ? Articles about College Tuition: The cost of college is rising, and has been rising for many years. Even though the prices can be more or less depending on what state the college is in, what degree students plan on getting, and what type of college students go to, the costs are still very high. At a private four-year college the total cost would be over $40,000. At a public four-year college the cost would be more than $20,000. The cost to attend a two-year college would be more than $14,000. Most jobs require employees to have some sort of degree. Even though the prices keep rising, more and more people are going to college to get a better education, so they can get a well-paying job (English). Another issue with the high costs of college is the debt that comes along with it. Sure, some people get scholarships, and others have the money they need, but some people don’t. The people that don’t have enough money or don’t get a scholarship that want or need to go to college have to borrow the money. Borrowing these large amounts of money causes a lot of debt. Graduates can have thousands of dollars in debt. Debt can cause many problems all throughout life. Since most graduates cannot get a well-paying job right out of college, they have problems paying the high amounts of debt off (Adams). Others think that the cost of college should not be a problem because it is worth it. Going to college means that graduates will be able to get a better paying job than they could without a degree. Having a better job will eventually allow graduates to pay off loans and thrive in the real world. People who have a Doctorate or Professional degree earn between $120,000 and $150,000 per year. People who have a Masters or Bachelor’s degree earn between $80,000 and $95,000 per year. People with only a high school education only earn about $45,000, and people with less than a high school education only earn about $30,000. It is important to have a job that will pay enough to live a good life and even support a family. Even though the cost of a college education is ridiculously high, it is completely worth it. Getting a college education and having better job opportunities to get a well-paying job helps people in many ways throughout their lives (Luhby).

Analysis to look at Red Bulls strategies

Analysis to look at Red Bulls strategies Red Bull has turned itself into a multinational company that offers a product that enhances the mind and the body. Their method of managing their internal and external situation and circumstances has become an interesting topic for many. Thus we conducted some analysis to look at Red Bulls strategies, and especially the international strategies. The external analysis was a mix of positive and negative observations, for example they have the advantage of the customer loyalty and the production cost, and however, they are in the territory of major players in the beverage industry which put them at risk. Nevertheless, the industry analysis and peer review helped to shed some light on Red Bulls external report, where we can see a substantial growth in the industry and Red Bull headship in the energy drink market. Through the internal analysis we observed that Red Bull leads a proactive approach towards their business by adopting conventional and unconventional methods to expand their horizons. Through the value chain model, we observed that Red Bulls internal marketing and sales strategies have shown ground breaking success on international scale. Moreover, the HR has accomplished to attract the right candidates to achieve the required goals, simple because they are young and know the young target market exactly. The generic strategy analysis of Red Bull has presented Red Bull a differentiated product within its market and a focused-differentiated product within the beverages industry. The norm is that any kind of differentiated products target few selected customers, however, Red Bull did become selective but became massively popular among the youth, and hence, they produce over 1 billion cans each year. The SWOT analysis they was conducted on Red Bull has crystallized some Weaknesses and threats. However, the Strengths and Opportunities outweigh the downside of Red Bull; moreover, the Weaknesses and Threats that Red Bull faces can easily be managed and fixed by Red Bull. We can safely conclude that Red Bull has adopted the right target market and the right method to communicate with the target market. More interestingly, we can see that Red Bull has adopted a product and especially a marketing strategy that can easily be copied to different counties and culture. In other words, it has spoken the language of the youth. History Background History A red cape is not always necessary to attract a bull towards you; nowadays it has become available in a can in the hypermarket, supermarket, grocery and the club near you. This all has become possible thanks to a visionary man called Dietrich Mateschitz, who is the discoverer, modifier, and introducer of the internationally famous drink, Red Bull. It all started in Hong Kong, in 1982, when Mateschitz was at the hotel bar sipping a famous local health tonic. While he was drinking he had a vision of marketing an Asian drink in the western countries. About two years from the vision, the Austrian Mateschitz teamed up with a Thai business man called Chaleo Yoovidhya to produce this product. Together they fiddled with the product, to take out the syrup nature of the product and make it fizzy. Canned in a silver and blue container, with a brand the shows two red bulls going head-to-head against each other, hence the brand was named Red Bull. (Red Bull Founder Rides Wave of Success) In 1987, the product was then taken to Austria where it had its first groundbreaking success in no time. In started going international in 1992, when they entered Hungary. Red Bull is currently active in over 100 countries, energizing the population and creating competition as they go along. One source mentioned that there are over 150 energy drink brands, however, all inferior to the mighty Red Bull (A REFRESHED CREW IS AN EFFICIENT CREW). With over 1 billion cans sold each year, Red Bull controls 70% of the worlds market share of energy drinks. Background Red Bull became strong when they created a high quality drink that is only made in Austria. Furthermore, all of its ingredients are synthetically made in pharmaceutical companies to grantee high quality and safety. Moreover, due to the ingredients of the product, it is said that Red bull (Red Bull FAQ): Improves performance Improves concentration and reaction speed Improves vigilance Improves emotional status Stimulates metabolism However, the main reason for the success of Red Bull is in its advertising style. Red Bull tends to spend very little on conventional or traditional marketing tools, like TV and Print ads. Their marketing strategy is usually out of the box and creative. Red Bull tends to be more active in sponsoring extreme spots and giving away samples in local events. Due to the fact that Mateschitz has been involved in Formula One racing for more than a decade, he used the events to draw attention to his brand. In addition, he sponsored the World Stunt Awards, an annual fund-raiser to help injured stunt workers (Red Bull Founder Rides Wave of Success). Moreover, some observers say that Red Bull uses the anti-branding method of advertising, where they broke the usual method of marketing and branding. Actually what they did was use the buzz marketing strategy or better known as word of mouth. With this strategy, they associated their brand with the youth culture and extreme and adventure-related spo rts, such as motor sports, mountain biking, snowboarding and dance music. Thus they targeted their brand directly to people from Generation Y, the so-called millennials: people born after 1981 who were believed to be cynical of traditional marketing strategies (A Look at a Key Feature of Red Bulls Business). The Buzz over Red Bull among the youth and their underground attitude has created Red Bulls reputation as the drink within that community. That is why Red Bull continues to use Viral marketing internationally, where the company would rather restrict the supply of Red Bull and not advertise it, expecting that growing numbers of target consumers to catch the bug and its reputation would spreads. Through this strategy, Red Bull has successfully captured 70% of the à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤1.6 billion market (A Look at a Key Feature of Red Bulls Business). External Analysis Porter Five Force Analysis The external analysis is one of the most important steps that a company should take to achieve to its goals and objectives. Moreover, for taking this step we should be aware of the essence of formulating competitive strategy which is related to company and its external environment. Also, we know that the relevant environment is very broad; encompassing social as well as economic forces, the key aspect of the firms environment is the industry or industries in which it competes. In addition, taking care of industry structure which has a strong influence in determining the competitive rules is very important because it includes the game as well as the strategies potentially available to the firm. Forces outside the industry are significant primarily in a relative sense; since outside forces usually affect all firms in the industry, the key is found in the differing abilities of firms to deal with them. Michael porter has offered a unique framework for make an easy way to analyze. Michae l Porters framework for industry analysis is described in his book Competitive Strategy (1980). In this book Porter claims that there are essentially five forces which determine the underlying structure of an industry. Rivalry among existing competitors, buyers, suppliers, potential entrants into the business and Threat of substitute products are those five forces which can have positive or negative effects on industry structure by making the industry more or less competitive. Potential Entrants In this case the potential competitors of red bull are soft drinks companies, which can produce energy drink with out adding bubbles. If the barriers of entry are high, it is difficult for potential competitors to enter the market. Three main sources of barriers to new entry: brand loyalty, absolute cost advantages, and economies of scale. Brand loyalty Due to the done research, innovation in creating new energy drinks, proper and profession advertisement, holding many special events and sponsorships, and having high quality for its products makes Red Bull as well known brand with a strong brand loyalty which is a barrier for any new entrant to enter the energy drink industry to compete with it. Cost advantage According to the Michael Porter, normally cost disadvantage is a big barrier for companies to enter an industry as new entrants because it can be cost advantage for existing companies in that industry. Also, companies with the help of cost advantages can compete and beat their competitors very easily because usually it is difficult for new entrants to match their companies with the lower cost structure. Therefore, Red Bull because of Red Bulls superior production and operation processes, and their experience in the energy drink industry, and control of its inputs according to their experience in producing red bull drinks, benefit the cost advantages with keeping its quality in the high level. Although there are many energy drinks existing in the industry with the lower price rather than Red Bull, as quality aspect they have not cost advantages both in quality and price, so Red Bull is steps ahead from its competitors in this case. Customer switching cost In food and beverage industry there is no switching cost for costumers with considering the level of quality, therefore it can be considered as threat for existing companies in this industry. In this case, Red Bull is not exceptional, so they need to keep their quality at the same level to not loosing their market share by coming new entrants because it is real threat for them. Government regulations One of big issues and always concerns for companies which like to go internationally is government regulation, also, in this case some Europe countries have problem with selling Red Bull and have tried to ban it. They claim that Red Bull was the cause of death of people in those countries. France, Belgium, and Sweden ban using the mixture of Red Bull and alcohol. So, it can be a threat for them in taking the market share and having a bad image for their brand. . (French Ban on Red Bull (drink) Upheld By European Court) Intensity of Rivalry Rivalry in some industries is characterized by such phrases as warlike, bitter, or cutthroat, whereas in other industries it is termed polite or gentlemanly. Energy drink industry has an intense rivalry because of a number of interacting structural factors: Industry competitive structure Due to the competition in the energy drink market, Red Bull focuses on non-price competitive weapon like offering exhilarating events, high quality products and sponsorship. In contrast with other competitors Red Bull attract more costumers to its company by growing in 45%marketshare  [1]  . Accordingly Red Bull has a major influence on its competitors performance in the industry because Red Bull is one of the pioneers in energy drink industry and many companies try to obey and consider Red Bull as benchmark. Industry demand In the energy drink industry, because of the various proper advertisements to encourage people to use and drink energy drinks (giving the image that people can fly) the demand for drinks is increasing  [2]  . Thus, this is a good point for the company because there are lots of opportunities for every company to fill the current demand and rivalry tend to reduce in the industry, also there is space for everyone to jump in enter the industry (growing stage), and the profit of the company is going to increase which is a goal that every company is seeking it. Buyers Having strong and stable costumers are suppliers and producers concerns, producers like to have costumers with large quantity level of ordering and stable financial status basically in energy drink industry especially Red Bull costumers (buyers) are wholesalers and big retailers. These buyers buy the energy drinks through the company or its representatives, and resell them to supermarket, bars, restaurants and end users. Red Bull faces buyers with high level of bargaining power, and it is real risk for Red Bull. Main reasons for this high bargaining power of buyers in this case are; the switching costs in the energy drink industry are very low. So, Red Bull buyers can switch from Red Bull to other energy drink companies which produce it with lower prices without any difficulty. Also, in most cases energy drink buyers (retailers and wholesalers) purchase products in large quantities, and it is obvious that the more buying in quantity, the more bargaining power the buyer has. So they c an use their power to reduce the cost of energy drinks. Suppliers The bargaining power of suppliers is the same story like bargaining power of buyers but from other side. Red Bull company has both kind of suppliers as bargaining power, some very strong and others weak, so they can balance between them. For instance, the supplier of Glucuronolactone is Glaxo Smithkline Company. Red Bull energy drink buys their Glucurnopolacton inputs from this company. So the bargaining power of this supplier is very high on Red Bull. But the other ingredients are assembled from several small suppliers, and Red Bull has the bargaining power on them. Also, Red Bull has many channels and substitutes suppliers for its normal raw materials, so they can switch from any supplier to cheaper and more flexible one. Substitutes All producers always carry the concern of substitute products for their products and always looking for ways to protect and survive themselves from this phenomenon. Energy drink industry isnt an exception, so players in this industry always try to keep level of quality high, convenience price and other thing which may make costumers more satisfy. Coffee industry can be a threat for energy drinks because of the existing caffeine in coffee and it can be a powerful potential product substitute for energy drink. Therefore, Red bull must take care of its pricing strategy and product quality to keep its costumers and satisfy them more day by day which they were successful due to reports not only Red Bull could protect its products against other substitutes but also, they have increased in their market share in US market by 45%  [3]  . Industry Analysis and Peer Review Industry Characteristics Beverage industry is divided into many categories such as alcoholic vs. non alcoholic, (hard vs. soft drinks) and within soft drinks still there is other segmentation such as carbonated soft drink (CSD) and non carbonated soft drink. Carbonated Energy Drinks account for less than half of the total volume. This figure is heavily skewed however by the popularity of still brands in Asia (Canadean Press release) According to Beverage Digest, in 2004 the U.S. non-alcoholic refreshment market totaled 14 billion cases (192-oz). Carbonated soft drinks made up 73.1% of the total with non-carbonated products comprising 13.7% and packaged bottled water accounting for 13.2%. Americans spent roughly $92.9 billion annually on refreshment beverages.  [4]   Energy drink is a relatively new product introduced in 80s and has been growing noticeably with the market more than doubling in size since 1998 (Canadean Press release  [5]  ). The following chart is evidence of this inevitable growth and the attraction of this growth for drink manufacturer. The industry has been experiencing a significant growth and still growing at the speed that draws the big players in soft like Coca Cola drink to enter to this high margin business. Food and beverage market are critical enough that out of 100 new product development 90 NPD fails. The failure results from a poor interpretation of consumers trend and translation of those to opportunities  [6]  . Austrian company, Red Bull, as a pioneer trend settler has made its fortune from their unique strategies in advertising, marketing and other products characteristics such as Packaging, Flavor, color and Product claim. Global consumption According to Beverage digest report, Asia is the largest leading market in consumption of energy drinks followed by Western Europe and North America as the second and third markets. Asia has been loosing some of 20% of its market share is past 6 years. However, this decline has been offset by the second and third market mainly due to the steady growth in market of carbonated E.D in North America. North American market is now almost 40 times greater than it was in 1998 Peer Review In North America today more than 200 energy drinks existed in US. According to bevNET.com, after a rigorous marketing research the best energy drinks are AMP by Pepsi Cola, KMX Red by Coca-Cola Company Red Bull by Red Bull North America. Red Bulls market dominance seems assured. No other competitors have either the distribution channels or, more importantly, the posture of rebellious infamy to be considered real threats  [7]  . Year 2001, in UK energy drinks market 21 new drinks  [8]  have been introduced that would have force the red bull into a competition. However, red bull can still enjoy being a market leader. In the following table there are representations of top 14 non- alcoholic markets where some of them are in the specific market of the energy drinks. Coca-Cola (Juice, Soft Drinks, Water) ($21bn) Suntory (Water, Soft Drinks) ($4.4bn) Nestle (Coffee, Soft Drinks, Water) ($19bn) Starbucks (Coffee) ($4.0bn) PepsiCo (Juice, Soft Drinks, Water) ($10bn) Sara Lee (Coffee) ($2.7bn) Kraft Foods (Coffee, Powdered Drinks) ($4.6bn) Tchibo (Coffee) ($2.7bn) Unilever (Tea ) ($4.5bn) Red Bull (Energy Drinks) ($1.6bn) Cadbury Schweppes (Soft Drinks) ($4.5bn) Cott Corp (Juice, Soft Drinks) ($1.4bn) Danone (Soft Drinks, Water) ($4.5bn) Ocean Spray Source: http://www.mind-advertising.com/sectors/sector_softdrinks.htm Industry Life Cycle Energy drinks were originally pioneered by Asian companies, but they became popular in Europe the late 80s with the arrival of Red Bull  [9]  . There are more than 200 energy drinks existed in US market only and this figure is increasing due to the high margin of this business. In 2004, carbonated soft drinks posted the growth of 1% which is unlike its usual trend, case of growing 2% to 4%. Noticeably, this inevitable growth was driven by Diet and Energy drinks  [10]  . While other carbonated drinks posted volume change of one Digit, brands like Red Bull and Hansen Natural reported the 45% and 56% of positive volume change in 2004. The market, now estimated to be worth $10 million, has been predicted to grow to $300 million or even as much as $2 billion in the next few years.  [11]  Double digit growth in the market is the main factor contributing to Energy drinks life cycle in its embryonic phase (growth). Since the market is not old enough, the number of players are increasing and even the Coca Cola and Pepsi are the new entrant which add to the well-built assumption of embryonic phase. Brand loyalty and high expectations are still questionable in this stage and its because the consumers are still exposing to new products and new claims. Thus, players are fighting for product feature extension such as low-carbs and sugar free plus new products claims such as improve concentration, reaction time and endurance.  [12]   After introduction of Red Bull in late 80s, industry went to an introduction phase. By 1998, the size of the industry doubled and still growing with a fast pace following highlighted area in the graph is an approximate stage of the life cycle at the moment. Internal Analysis Value Chain Primary Activity: Inbound outbound logistics Logistical issues at Red Bull in of high importance. Due to the fact that all ingredients in the Red Bull drink is synthetically made by pharmaceutical companies, they make sure that their products are carefully handled to maintain the quality and avoid unnecessary costs. Red Bull always makes sure that they align with premium logistics provider to achieve their strategic goals. Red Bull aims to have web-based visibility on their supply chain, thus they base their logistical activities or selection on: Flexible warehouse network Transportation management capabilities Strong information technology offering With 1,600 employees working for Red Bull world wide (Gulf News, Red Bull plans to set up Dubai plant), Red Bull required those standards as they are experiencing year-after-year of high growth, which make the inventory forecasting and management challenging. That is why logistical issues have become increasingly important, and that is why they choose to outsource the logistics to companies that can comply with their network of multi-client warehouses needs (Red Bull OH Logistics). Interestingly, Red Bull uses small distributors in small regional markets, if those small distributors dont perform up to Red Bulls standards they establish a warehouse and push young people to stuff their vans with Red Bulls product and distribute it every where. This way, the small distributors generally break even within three months and are profitable within six (A Bulls Market The marketing of Red Bull Energy Drink). Primary Activity: Operations There is little information about the operations process of Red Bull. However we will enlighten you with the contents and brief information about the packaging company that Red Bull deals with. The great product which is provided by Red Bull one of its main elements of success. Known for improving performance, improving concentration and reaction speed, improving vigilance, improving emotional status and stimulating metabolism, Red Bulls secret is in its ingredients. The ingredients in each Red Bull drink (250ml) consist of: Taurine (1000mg) Glucuronolacton (600mg) Caffeine (80mg) Niacin (20mg) Vitamin B6 (5mg) Pantothenic Acid (5mg) Vitamin B12 (0.005mg) According to Red Bull, It is a combination of all the ingredients together, which result in Red Bulls benefits (Red Bull, Ingredients).. The packaging process of Red Bull is fully done in Austria. And the supplier of Red Bulls cans is Rexam, and they are considered to be the worlds largest provider of beverage cans. Rexam manufactures different types of cans for different industries, however almost half of their revenues come from Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola. Moreover, industry estimates present that Rexam gained about $22 million from the sales of Red Bull cans (How Does Red Bull Package Its Product?). Primary Activity: Marketing and Sales: With the control of 70% of the à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤1.6 billion market (about à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤1.12 billion), Red Bull has achieved all of this through intensive unconventional marketing strategies. Targeting young people, mainly the Y-generation, Red Bull has utilized eccentric marketing tools that has extremely effective on the target market. The strategy of sponsoring local activities like the Red Bull music academy in the USA, parachuting in South Africa, Go-Karts in Kuwait, and many more in different countries has achieved its target of attracting its target market which gets excited when viewing such sports. Some of the strategies used for marketing Red Bull include: Using pick-up trucks as mobile displays, painted blue and silver with a giant can of the drink mounted on top of the vehicle. Designed to be eye-catching, these devices were aimed at promoting the red bull brand as youthful and slightly off-the-wall. Cans of the drink were also given out free to people on the street who had been identified as being in need of energy. Red Bull was given to club DJs, empty cans would also be left on tables in hot spots such as trendy bars, clubs and pubs. Secondary Activity: Technology The information about the technology that Red Bull uses was quite scares. However we could safely say that Red Bull little activity done on their RD side because Red Bull does enjoy any sort of economies of scale. Red Bull has only one main product, which is the Red Bull energy drink and recently they introduced the new Red Bull energy drink sugar-free. Hence, the main difference between the original Red Bull drink and the sugar-free drink is that it has 0g of sucrose and 0g of glucose, where the original product has 21.5g of sucrose and 5.25g of glucose. Moreover, each sugar-free drink has only 8 calories (EU)/ 10 calories (USA), yet it does not loose any of its energetic effects (Red Bull, Ingredients). Secondary Activity: Human Recourse Red Bull is famous for practicing what they preach, especially when it comes to recruitment. Due to the fact that Red Bull promotes their product as a Hip and young product, they make sure to recruit staffs that are young, in touch with youth culture, dynamic and innovative. For example, they achieve that by recruiting university students as student brand managers to promote its product among young student groups (What Sort of People Work For Red Bull?). However their recruiting does not happen by Red Bull themselves, but they makes sure that it is implemented by all of the outsourced activities. However, it is known that most of Red Bulls 1,600 employees are marketing experts and are the real movers of the Red Bull drink (Marketing Eye, Red Bull Car). Group Customers and Market Segmentation As it is known any successful company should have a certain customer group. The customers that were targeted by Red Bull were the ones that were looking for excitement, alertness, and concentration depending on the age, status, and lifestyle. Four consumer categories were Red Bulls target under the age of 16-30: students, club people, sport people, and employees. College students were the main target of Red Bull. Since college students look for something that would enhance their concentration on doing their assignments and projects, and staying overnight for studying for exams then Red Bull is the best solution for them. It would improve their concentration in their studying Moreover; Red Bull has used this group to enhance their promotion. According to Biz/ed, throw parties those students were emboldened to market the product in the campuses of the universities as what they call them student brand managers. Those students collect the information and make a report of a market data research to the company. Depending on that strategy and the youth generation (high school and colleges students), Red Bull was able to spread the reputation and the popularity of the drink and concentrating on supplying the product rather than applying the traditional marketing ways of promotion (A Look at a Key Feature of Red Bulls Business). The second category of Red Bull customers are the night club people, since the drink has some substances that would increase the persons emotional status. Moreover, Red Bull is offered in the nightclubs depending on the cultural background. For example, nightclubs in Dubai offer Red Bull for the people who do not drink alcohol like the Muslims, which made it a major substitute for alcohol to that group. However, Red Bull is still individually mixed with alcohol to create both the Red Bull highness and the alcohol sensation. Furthermore, Red Bull has also made music events for those groups of customers like the Red Bull Music Academy in 2005 in Seattle, Washington in the United States. (Red Bull Music Academy 2005) For the physical exertion that the drink offers, Red Bull has also promoted the product for the sport people. Among those people, there are the athletes, the racing drivers, the airborne-sport people, water-sport people, the bikers, the skateboarders, and the skiers. Red Bull highly endorsed this group with many sport festivals, and one of the famous one among those is the Red Bull Dolomite Man that took place in Austria in 2005. (Red Bull Dolomite Man) Red Bulls minor groups are the white-collar and the blue-collar workers. Red Bull can support white-collar workers to concentrate more on the job to improve their performance, and it would also help them stay overnight if he or she needed. The drink would also allow the blue-collar workers to work extra hours with out the feeling of exhaustions for the physical exertion that the drink provides. However, Red Bull did not concentrate on this group, so there were no special efforts directed towards them. Within the four groups, there a considerable amount of customers who look for diet product. For that category, Red Bull produced the sugar-free Red Bull to combine the diet customers with rest of the customers that are within the four groups. Business Level and Generic Strategy In the generic strategy Red Bull there are two views, there is a generic strategy from energy drink market perspective, and there is a generic strategy from soft drink market perspective. From the energy drink market perspective, since Red Bull has few economies of scope, the strategy adopted by Red Bull to follow is differentiation. The price of the drink is about 5Dhs in the UAE, which shows the clear differentiation of the product, especially in a market where every body is competing on the same customer segment. According to Biz/ed, Red Bull was able to build a strong brand image through: using Red Bull cars that had big cans on them, giving free cans to people, and providing Red Bull cans to club DJs (A Look at a Key Feature of Red Bulls Business). This strategy made Red Bull to be the market leader of 70% market in the energy drink market. From the soft drink market industry wide perspective Red Bull applies the Focused-differentiation generic strategy. Red Bull has a very good brand image in terms of soft drinks industry. The drink can only maintain this image through focus-

Work Absenteeism In Health Care Facilities Social Work Essay

Work Absenteeism In Health Care Facilities Social Work Essay Work absenteeism is one of the biggest challenges which face service provision in health care facilities. There has been an increase in the number of staff or health care practitioners who are absent from work and this affects health care delivery in such facilities. Work absenteeism may occur due to legitimate reasons or illegitimate reasons. Legitimate reason for work absenteeism include sickness, family issues and baby sitting while illegitimate reasons include missing work due to false pretences (Beach, 2007). In health care facilities, work absenteeism is a very serious issue since it adversely affects health care provision. Health care provision is a sensitive issue since it may lead to fatality of patients or deterioration of patients health if enough health care staff is not present to cater to their needs. It is therefore important to assess the issue of work absenteeism in the health care industry in more detail. This paper will assess work absenteeism in health care and will specifically focus on hospital and nursing home settings. The various causes of work absenteeism and adverse effects to health care institutions will be discussed in detail. The solutions to work absenteeism in the health care industry will also be given. The discussed issues will be summarized at the end. Causes of work absenteeism There are various causes of work absenteeism in the health care industry. These will be discussed below; Sickness This is one of the most common causes of work absenteeism in the health care industry. Many employees who call in sick are genuinely unwell and unable to discharge their duties effectively. This causal factor can be linked to the high cost of health care delivery in the United States and the world in general. The increase in health care costs and insurance has made many people be unable to afford health care services (Kotlikoff, 2007). Such people seek low quality health care service providers, home solutions or Internet remedies for diseases. These are ineffective in dealing with illnesses and health care employees who seek these solutions due to the inability to access health care services are likely to be absent from work for longer periods than those who seek effective treatment interventions. It is important to offer affordable and high quality health care services to both health care employees and the public in general in order to reduce the problem of work absenteeism. Family issues There are various family issues which may make employees in the health care industry be away from work. These family issues include domestic violence, divorce proceedings, family conflicts and others. Family issues are important to address and this is the reason that many health care employees who face these issues are likely to be absent from work in order to deal with them. It is difficult for any employee to be productive at the workplace when dealing with unresolved family issues. Many employees opt to deal with such issues before resuming work in order to be productive. Employers should give employees sufficient time to deal with family issues since such issues are likely to lower employee motivation if not dealt with in a timely manner. Babysitting Due to the effects of the global economic crunch, many families have had their disposable income lowered. Such families are struggling to pay their bills and expenses with the little income earned. As a result, many families are unable to pay for babysitters for their babies especially due to the hard economic times. In such circumstances, some employees in health care institutions may be forced to stay away from work as they baby sit their babies. This on the other hand adversely affects health care service provision since there may be inadequate staff to deal with patients. It is thus important to find a solution to this issue. Low employee motivation Employee motivation is very important for organizations in any industry. Employees are the most valuable resource and it is important to motivate them and increase their output in order for organizations to achieve their objectives (Mugisho, 2007). Employee motivation enables employees to look forward to going to their places of work, in this case hospitals and other health care facilities. However, when employees have low motivation levels, most prefer missing work and undertaking other activities which may be more rewarding to them. Low employee motivation is arguably the major reason that employees are absent from work in cases of illegitimate reasons. It is important to address the issue of employee motivation if cases of workplace absenteeism are to be reduced in health care institutions. Stress related issues Stress is a major causality of low employee productivity and work absenteeism in health care facilities. Employees in health care facilities are exposed to working under pressure in order to meet the targets set. Such employees see injuries and fatalities almost on a daily basis and this would cause psychological effects to any human being. Student interns are exposed to working for very long hours with little rest and this is stressful to them. When such employees are not provided for with an effective mechanism to deal with such stress, they are likely to be absent from work as a result of stress effects. This in turn adversely affects service provision in health care facilities. Employees should be provided for with mechanisms for dealing with stress if they are to reduce cases of absenteeism from the workplace. Nurse staffing ratio There is a major problem in many health care service facilities due to the inadequate number of health care professionals, especially nurses. There is an inadequate number of nurses in these facilities and this exerts pressure on nurses to work harder and for longer hours in order to meet the needs of patients (Phelps, 2002). This causes a strain to them as they are forced to work under tremendous pressure. In most cases, the increased workload does not translate into higher pay and this further frustrates them. In such working environments, nurses lose motivation to work and they begin being absent from work for illegitimate reasons. The problem of nurse staffing ration should therefore be addressed to reduce cases of work absenteeism. Disadvantages of work absenteeism There are various adverse effects which are associated with work absenteeism in health care facilities. These will be discussed below; Quality of health care service provision Work absenteeism in health care service delivery facilities adversely affects health care provision amongst patients. When health care professionals are absent from work, there may be inadequate health care professionals to deal with the needs of patients. This may affect the quality of health care received by patients. It may also lead to further complications for patients or even fatalities due to inadequate care given to patients. This is very dangerous for the nation at large since the health of the population may be compromised as a result of work absenteeism by health care workers. It is thus important to address this issue immediately to preserve the lives of patients. Poor performance by health care facilities Many health care facilities, especially those set up by the private sector are usually developed with profit making objective as a major goal. Although helping the sick is a major objective of many hospitals, many are formed to make profit out of charging for health care services provided. When employees are absent from work, just like in any other organization, productivity reduces. Reduction in productivity over time may lead to losses by the health care institutions. It may also lead to the inability to attain the set organizational goals. It is therefore necessary to ensure that employees in health care facilities are not absent from work since this may be an obstacle to the attaining of organizational objectives. Solution to problems There are several solutions which should be implemented in order to deal with the problems which were earlier discussed in the paper. These solutions will be discussed on the basis of the individual problems discussed earlier. Sickness It has been discussed that sickness is one of the major problems which contribute to work absenteeism. When employees are sick, they are unable to discharge their duties effectively. Employees who seek low quality health care services are more likely to be absent for longer periods than those who seek high quality services. In order to deal with this issue, the government and health care providers should take immediate steps. The government should reduce the costs of health care services and insurance through allocating more funds to cater for the same. Health care facilities should offer health care cover to all employees in order to ensure that they have access to high quality health care services. This will reduce the number of hours employees are absent due to sickness or other health complications. Family issues There are various family issues which health care professionals experience, as is experienced with the rest of society. It is important to develop mechanisms which can enable health care professionals deal with family issues without affecting their workplace objectives. Employees in health care facilities should have access to counselors who will enable them solve family issues which they face. This will prevent such issues from affecting their work environment and causing work absenteeism in health care facilities. Babysitting It has been discussed that babysitting is a causal factor of work absenteeism since many employees are unable to afford babysitters due to harsh economic times. It is important to empower employees, especially those with babies, to be financially stable and to be in a position to cater for all the babys needs. Health care service institutions should take two steps to resolve this problem. The first is to increase employee remuneration in order to ensure that employees, especially those with children, are able to access salaries and benefits which are adequate in catering for the childrens welfare. The second step is creating a nursery within the health care facility and allowing parents to bring their young ones in such environments. This strategy has proven to be very effective in increasing the productivity of working mother since they have peace of mind whenever they work in environments where their children are within reach. These two strategies should be implemented depending on the policies of the organization in order to ensure that work absenteeism is minimized. Low employee motivation Low employee motivation is caused by several factors including poor leadership, organizational culture, low remuneration and others. Low motivation reduces employee productivity and it is likely to cause work absenteeism due to lack of morale by employees. In order to improve employee motivation, several factors should be taken into account by the management. The management should employ the democratic leadership style which allows employees to participate in decision making (Bratton et. al., 2004). The management should also ensure that there is a conducive organizational culture which features communication, teamwork, conflict resolution mechanisms and participative decision making. In addition, the management should use both financial and non-financial motivation forms when remunerating employees. This will lead to an increase in employee productivity, organizational performance and lower cases of work absenteeism. Stress related issues As previously discussed, nurses are prone to stress due to the nature of the environment they work in. Nurses work in an environment where they experience injuries and fatalities by patients every day. Some patients come with serious injuries and they may survive or not. Nurses care for such patients and in cases where patients succumb to injuries, nurses suffer psychological trauma. Nurses also work under tremendous pressure and this may make them experience stress. In order to deal with stress, the management should ensure that nurses have access to counselors and therapies needed to enable them overcome workplace stress. This will enable them to work more effectively and will reduce cases where nurses are absent from work due to stress. Nurse staffing ratio Nursing staff ratio is a major cause of work absenteeism in health care institutions due to the pressure exerted on nurses. The inadequate number of nurses forces them to work harder and for longer time durations. This de-motivates them and makes some opt to be absent from work. In order to deal with this issue, the government and health care providers have a responsibility to ensure that there are adequate nurses in every health care facility. This can be achieved through dialog between all health care stakeholders and development of strategies which will ensure that adequate nurses are trained and posted to health care institutions around the country (Murray, 2005). This will reduce the burden to nurses and ensure that they work with relative ease. Such an action will reduce the number of nurses who are absent from work. Summary and conclusion Various issues which relate to work absenteeism in health care facilities have been discussed in detail. Employees have been seen to abstain from work for a variety of reasons and these include low morale, family issues, stress, sickness, nurse staffing ratio and babysitting among other causes. This has been seen to adversely affect health care service delivery to patients. It has also been seen to lower the performance of health care providers. In order to deal with these issues, a number of recommendations have been made and these include allowing children to work, ensuring employees are adequately remunerated, ensuring employees have access to counselors, increasing nurse staffing ratio and improving health care services to employees who work for hospitals and nursing homes. This will reduce instances where employees are absent from work and it will ensure that all objectives of health care organization are met.