SMC Ways to Acquire New Language Elephants Babies and Human Babies Similarities Essay

Leading Managing and Developing People in the Workplace

Executive Summary The changes into the economic crisis and the credit crunch problem lead to many organizations to restructure their system of operations. Bankco is from banking sector facing the problem of industry changes. This report emphasis on issue in regards to leading Managing and Developing Peoples on work place. The key issues and impacts raised in this report is how the external and internal business environment affects the performance, and strategic Direction of Bankco. Consider as the internal perspective of Bankco this report evaluates the learning and development aspects of workforce and why it is so critical towards the future of Bankco. The points raised into the report are related with policy and procedure adopted by Bankco in Human Resource Department. The urgency of Bankco in application towards the new policy and process. Employee morale and motivation is low due to the labour cuts and changes into the industry. The important role of staff unions and the role of line managers working on behalf of Human Resource Department. Bankco is replacing the evaluation method on performance based system which is mandatory for both the managers and the clerical grades. Introduction Bankco have to change its Human Resource Policy from hiring the staff till the retention of the staff. Bankco also need to redesign its direction and strategies to compete in the changed industry with greater delivery of deal to its customers. The purpose of this report is to critically analyse the internal and external forces affecting the business of Bankco. The perspective influencing the structure and strategic direction of the Bankco and its workforce. Bankco like other financial institutions have paternalistic human resource policy, which really focus on the single career structure of the workforce. The changes in the Banking Industry, change in the social life of customer and the internal and external pressure on the business are beyond the control of the business. However, it is related to the Bankco itself how will the management is able to adopt these changes. The Michigan Model Fombrun et al (1984) Fombrun created Michigan Model which analyse the current position of the internal and external environment of Bankco. Because with out knowing the impact of environment. Bankco can’t respond to the changes in the industry. According to the scenario the economic and financial situation is putting a pressure on Banks to redesign its high risk sales culture. Foley, Jayewardhene (2000) the changes into regulatory reforms will have a greatest impact on banking industry throughout next decade. On contrary, the Banking sector is playing safely under new regulatory system where the system is pushing them to operate like a flexible institutions. This is how they are minimising the risk of failure. The Michigan Model emphasis on the manners required to deal with the peoples. Because they are the most valuable asset of the organization and must be obtained as cheaply as possible like raw material and inventory of any manufacturing company. The cultural according to the current scenario of Bankco is like most of the financial institutes are offering the same kind of products and services so the issue is how to manage the quality of the staff and the service they are providing to the customers. The culture of Bankco is distinctive because of the manager they have got are drown from outside the banking industry. Style of management and organization direction is changed due to the implication of banking domain. Gentle (1993), institutions are facing the challenge of having the right staff with the right skills, investment in technology and branch networks. So over all the scenario of the external environment is very diversified because of the regulatory pressure and the economic crunch. Looking into the internal aspects of the organization, Bankco mission is to offer more distinctive products and services because most of the financial institutes are offering the similar services. Bankco have 250 branches nationwide, the mission is to distribute the banking service across the England. This is because the financial market has fuelled and the extensive branch network has enabled Bankco to capture Market share. Foley, Jayewardhene (2000) “Therefore the spatial element is central to current delivery strategies. Such a structure allows these institutions to provide homogeneous products and services at the cost of a large number of staff with high fixed and variable costs.” The structure of Human Resource Department has moved from the Head Quarters to the line managers. The new policy of cutting has enabled Bankco to cut its cost by downsizing. The other important issue of the Human Resource department is to keep the motivation and morale of the staff high. The Harvard Model of Human Resource Management: Beer et al (1984) According to the Harvard Model of Human Resource Management, The main concern of Bankco is to reshape the relationship with the union. For this vary purpose the management designed the new communication policy to clear the aspects with the employee rather letting the union to be the source of communication. However the Human Resource Strategy is to introduce the point based new performance appraisals system. The HRM policy is to minimise the conflicts with the employee and unions which could lead to the possible effects on the motivation of the staff. The outcomes of the new system are, customers complaints have increased and the employees are thinking that management is taking them back to the old practice. However the bank is successful towards cutting its labour costs. But overall the long term perspective on Bankco is cynicism. Why do Organization Invest in Workforce: Pedlar et al (1997) How Bankco can learn and develop to achieve learning and development attitude to re-emerge from financial crunch. The idea is why organization invests into workforce. Here are few key aspects. The above outlined are the key aspects why organization invest on learning and development. Looking at the current scenario of Bankco. There is a competitive pressure on them because most of the financial bodies are offering the same products and services. The culture of all the organizations is changing due to the industry changes. Bankco have to sustain its corporate image as well, because it has 250 branches all over England. AS Bankco have introduced most of the policies and procedure newly into organization so the customer complains about the quality of service they are offering required Bankco to invest on training. Lidhari and Ines and Morales (2010) “providing superior service quality enhances customer satisfaction and contributes to profitability. Superior service quality lowers customer defection, enhances customer loyalty, provides opportunities for cross-selling, increases word-of-mouth recommendation, and enhances corporate image”. Looking at the scenario of Bankco how the learning process can be initiated and developed into the staff of Bankco The Learning Cycle Model: Kolb (1984) The situation in Bankco can be assessed with the help of Kolb learning cycles. There are currently four learning stages into Bankco. Management of Bankco is managing at the stage of concrete experience and thus it is providing then a base for the observation and reflection from the result of poor staff performance. Bankco management have introduced new policies, looking at the performance of the employee. This can be asses using the key stage of abstract concepts. Human Resource Department is taking the organization into a new paradigm of management. Though the managers are feeling it like they are taking them back to the old style rules and regulated working. This stage can be assessed on the stage of actively tested. Change Readiness Model: Susanto A. B Bankco itself how much ready to change is, the Change readiness Model is used to critically analyse the performance of Bankco Management, Staff and its line Managers. The impact of industry change is effecting the position of Bankco. Especially the new trend into the industry needs the competent workforce which must be flexible to change. According to the scenario Bankco hired the staff outside the Banking domain. Most of them are professional in Accounting, Marketing, and Personnel. The problem here arises the change has been managed from top to Bottom. As the senior management emphasise on more positive approach to managing employee as a key asset to Bankco. On the other hand the Staff and Branch Manager are reluctant to change and their commitment to change is low. As a result complains from the customers are increasing. So we can say that the Staff of Bankco is not committed to the work. The mission and vision of Bankco is clear to re-emerge from the current financial crisis. But due to the change into the policy and procedure of Bankco. The Staff morale is negatively affected. The point to be considered is like staff doesn’t have the clear vision. The overall performance is increased customers complains, urgency to implement changes, staff morale is down, managers commitment is poor. Downward Communication: Marchington (1992) The current communication practice at Bankco is Downward. Looking at the current scenario of Bankco. The management is changing the policies and procedures and they are willing to change as shown by the readiness to change model. The core aspect of downward communication is to educate and train staff with the new plan and procedures introduced by the management. However in Bankco, the management is going so fast but the staffs are not getting into the process of change. On contrary we can see that there is no commitment from the line managers and the staff towards the work. The problem of communication in Bankco is like there is no such good technique used to deliver the message from the management to the workforce that what management wants. The scenario shows that Bankco have replaced the new system of evaluation for both managers and the clerical staff. Secondly the Human Resource Responsibilities are shifted to the line managers. Bankco have introduced new disciplinary policy, in which they are successful to cut the labour cost. But is this communicated before to the staff, and now there is no job security so there is not commitment to work and employee morale is low. In downward communication, there are proper techniques which can be used. Bankco no matter used the team briefing method but it was to get rid of the union pressure, but what about the individuals. The other techniques could be used like, employee reports, informal communication between top management and the line managers. Proper Bankco Journal which could be published monthly or weekly about the financial statistics of the company. A communication model of employee cynicism toward organizational change: Daniels, Qian (2008) The results of poor communication from management and from line managers have resulted into employee and customer apathy, cynicism and obstruction. The Bankco’s cynicism can be shown into below mention model. Analysing Bankco on the suggested model we can say that information and relation is an input to the process of change and reduce cynicism which could lead to the change of Bankco. Looking at the current scenario of Bankco, There is only team briefing going on which is to deal with the problem of Unions and the only step is taken to transfer the responsibilities of HR issue to the line manager have solved the issue of decision making to the work floor where the union was not strong. The point of argument is where is the proper communication with the line manager, so that they can show some kind of commitment to the staff. Looking at the above model the rational context of input which staff is getting from is colleague cynicism and trust in management which is low by the introduction of new policies and code of conduct, resulted into labour cuts. This input as a whole result into the specific change required by Bankco, which lead to the staff resistance to change. The other issue of resistance to change is performance based evaluation, the staff really consider if we will change to new process then our initial performance will not be up to mark. This could result into termination from employment. So these are the critical point on which Bankco should emphasis before implementing the change process. The strategic employee communication model: Barret (2002) The practices can only be improved by proper communication from top management to bottom including the line manager and the feedback should be taken from bottom to top. Considering the strategic objectives of the Bankco the model clearly shows how the best communication could be achieved. The AMO Model: Purcell et al (2003) The role of line manager is very critical in Bankco environment. The first implication is line managers are responsible for HR issues, Bankco made these changes to shift the decision making from union head office function to the work floor. The senior management is at the aim to relate the staff with the commitment and identification with the increased cooperation in Bankco. The importance of line manager is important in respect to the performance of the employee. The Ability, Motivation, and opportunity model emphasis on the role of line manager and their importance. The relationship of line manager and HRM can only be shown by the positive assessment of HR practices in organization. Henry and Jordon (2008). The basic objective of HRM is to recruit, train and retain the best skilled peoples in Bankco. But as I mentioned earlier they are following the tradition approach to HR. and now they have transferred the HR issue to the line managers. The line manager as the role is clear from the above model is the key player whose management style is different then the HR perspective. Line manager is the only person who gives the opportunity to the staff to perform well in Bankco. Line manager use to motivate them to get out the best of their job if they have got ability and skills. Human resource department job is only to bring the best pool of peoples in Bankco it’s the line managers who are playing the best role in 250 branches across UK. So in order to retain the best peoples in Bankco Brach Managers are important because they are the only people who are directly interacting and motivation people on work floor. In current scenario of Bankco, Branch manager are leading managing and developing people to perform their best. Due to changes in industry Bankco is facing the problem with the commitment and motivation. Line managers are critical because of the role they have got is like leading the staff according to the standards of Bankco. The performance of overall organization sustain on the role of the line managers, in scenario of Bankco. The front line managers in the Branches have critical role according to this model if they are satisfied with their job and committed to present only then the rest of the staff will get the high morale of job. Engaging Leadership Model: Shaping Future engaging leadership CIPD (2010) Line manager really act like leaders while working with their subordinates. The above model shows that how line manger take the whole of staff with them selves to accomplish the organizational vision. The aspect in engaging the individuals to the job is to show them the genuine concern and share the mission of the organization. The other aspects included into engaging the individuals are being accessible and flexible into the role they are performing. The best way to get the feedback from the co workers or the subordinates is to encourage questioning. The second step in leading for line managers is engaging the organisation. This mainly includes inspiring other team members; this could be Bankco staff working in head quarters. The idea behind the successful towards the vision of Bankco is to consider Bankco as a team and then focus on the performance of overall organization this lead to a change in the current practice of Bankco. The development of Bankco is important. Once the staffs are ready to change then the organization could lead towards the development according to the change into industry. Looking at the current scenario of Bankco, personal qualities and core values are the key aspects which realty impact on the performance and capability of other subordinates. This mainly includes the honesty towards achieving the shared goal of organization. If the line manager is not honest then whole of the team will take the advantage not to perform according to the desired standards of Bankco. Considering Ability, Motivation and Opportunity model in brief the “black box” concept evolves around every employee who has got the skill the only thing is the opportunity. In case of Bankco they have got the opportunity but the external pressure of economic forces and the internal pressure of Human Resource policies have changed their mind to defend their jobs rather then to perform their job really well. The motive of the business is to remain profitable, but in other scenario they have to perform all the activities ethically. According to engaging leadership model the line manger is responsible for moving the team forward together with the shared vision and mission of the organization. This mainly includes networking, sharing vision of Bankco, Solving complex problems of staff and facilitating change. Summary Conclusion Leading managing and developing people on work place is not as simple as it is written in the books. Bankco a large organization having large operations is with all those organizations which are facing the problem of economic crisis and credit crunch. What is the reason why Bankco is not competing into the market where rest of the players are offering the similar products with the same services and surviving successfully? Machines are important to the operations of organization, but the men standing behind the machines are the most valuable assets to the organization. These reports analyses and stimulate the aspects which Bankco is facing. The only problem they have is external pressure of changing the high risky sale culture and managing the staff to meet the customer demands. Leading and managing people at work place can contribute to the work place be achieving the desired standards of managing people. The only limitations to reach at desired level is the willingness of the staff, particularly the managers, and the clerical staff of Bankco. Recommendations: ACTION RESPONSIBILITY TIMEFRAME BENEFITS BARRIERS COSTS Change in the HR policy Top management First Quarter of a year ( Three Months) The overall restructure in organizational strategy and HR strategy The reluctance to change in the practices, financial health of Bankco. Low cost is required, because the practices need to be changed. Training and Development Campaign Human Resource Department Based on Selection methods The scope of Bankco will improve and commitment of employee, their job security and employee retention for Bankco will be easy. The existed training and Development programmes they have, which are sales oriented, secondly the cost involve to change the over all plan or Training in Bankco. Heavy cost is required. Relationship with union Management Long term The relationship with union must be strong in order to achieve the full commitment from the staff of Bankco. Because it will lessen the power of union in Bankco. The new policy and procedure of labour cuts will effect on union relationship. High. Customer Complains and employee morale towards Bankco Success Management and line managers Long term Besides the Bankco new policies and the external pressure the line manger must ensure the good delivery of deal to customers. And try to minimise the complains The labour cut policy and performance based evaluation system. High.

Is Russia a True Democracy?

best assignment help Hague and Harrop (2013) argue that liberal democracy is a system with a representative and limited government that operates within an accepted framework for political competition between different political parties. Regular elections are based on universal suffrage and are free and fair where individual rights are respected (Hague and Harrop, 2013). Based on this definition, this essay will argue that Russia has the potential to become a true democracy, but in recent years it has become an illiberal democracy or a competitive authoritarian regime. Levitsky and Way (2010) suggest competitive authoritarian regimes, or illiberal democracies, were competitive in the sense that they use competitive institutions to gain power. However, they use electoral manipulation and abuse state resources in favour of the incumbent regime (Levitsky and Way, 2010). This essay will explore how Russia has reached this stage from the formation of the 1993 constitution under Boris Yeltsin’s rule and how Vladimir Putin has transformed Russia into an illiberal democracy. Under Yeltsin’s rule (1991-99), Russia adopted a new constitution following a referendum in 1993 (Darlington, 1995). This is the constitution that Russia still uses to this day, though it has been amended since. Under this constitution, Russia has a bicameral legislature with a Federal Assembly, a Constitutional Court and a Duma, the latter being the lower chamber of their legislature (Hague and Harrop, 2013). The president is subject to impeachment to a great degree under the Russian constitution, as the president needs a two-thirds majority in both parliamentary chambers plus confirmation by the courts, to ensure laws are passed (Hague and Harrop, 2013). Donaldson (2004) suggests that this was a time when Russia was strengthening its parliamentary and legal system. This constitution ensures that laws take precedence over presidential decrees, and the Duma played a significant part during the 1990s of resisting Yeltsin’s reforms (Hague and Harrop, 2013). Hague and Harrop (2013) praise Yeltsin’s rule as a time when Russia achieved substantial decentralisation of power. Hague and Harrop (2013) suggest that even under the changes to the Russian constitution Putin has brought in since the end of Yeltsin’s rule, Russia still has a more effective system of rule of law when compared to authoritarian China. Smith (2010) praises the 1993 constitution for ensuring that substantial legal reforms and new laws were passed to improve the legal system in Russia. The 1990s seemed like a decade where Russia could achieve true democracy because they established a constitution that allows the government to operate within a framework of limited government like in a liberal democracy. Following the election of Putin in 2000 to the present day, the situation in Russia has changed dramatically. Firstly, Putin successfully centralised power by acquiring the appointments of regional governments throughout Russia and he created, in 2000, seven extra-constitutional federal okrugs (districts) to oversee lower level units (Hague and Harrop, 2013). Though the 1993 Russian constitution has received praise for moving Russia towards a parliamentary and legal system, the constitution has an inherent flaw of allowing the president too much power as a guarantor of the constitution (Hague and Harrop, 2013). This flaw allows the president to be able to override legislation through decrees and dismiss ministers (Hague and Harrop, 2013). The purpose behind this centralisation was to ensure that these branches of the federal government remain loyal to Moscow and allowed the state to reduce dissent (Hague and Harrop, 2013). It seemed like Russia was now losing its potential to become a true democracy as Putin was beginning the process of strengthening the president’s power over Russia. This has led to Russia becoming a competitive authoritarian regime. This was only the beginning of things to come. Ross’ (2010) suggestion that Russia is a ‘unitary state masquerading as a federation’ (p.170) seems a more accurate way to describe Russia under Putin. Despite the work that Yeltsin made in the 1990s to ensure that the Russian constitution remained decentralised, Sharlet (2005) argues that there is now a gap between individual rights on paper and their realisation in practice since Putin came to power. Respect for individual rights are fundamental for a true democracy to exist, and this lack of respect for individual rights shows how much further away from a true democracy Russia has become under Putin to become a competitive authoritarian state. Throughout Putin’s time, the public have increasingly lost faith in the legal system and legal adjustments against the state have become increasingly difficult to enforce, particularly in the case of Russia’s richest oil oligarch, Mikhail Khodorkovsky (Sharlet, 2005). Khodorkovsky was arrested in 2003 for fraud, and again in 2010 for money laundering (Donaldosn, 2015). His trials received international condemnation for being politically motivated and for its lack of due process (Donaldson, 2015). Yet another distinguishing factor that contributes towards the growth of a competitive authoritarian regime in Russia under Putin is the lack of separation between the public and private sphere. Hague and Harrop (2013) argue that it is quite common in Russia for gangsters to participate in ‘free-for-all deals with the state’ and that ‘individual financiers pull the strings to fill their own pockets’ (p. 167). Putin even stated himself that he wants to decrease the degree of pluralism in Russia and how he wants ‘civil society to be adjunct to a strong state’ (Evans, 2005: p.112). For this reason, few promotional groups in Russia possess a mass membership (Evans, 2005). Despite this, Russia still has the potential to become a true democracy in allowing the promotion of business interests to the state and increase the amount of pluralism in Russia. As Peregudov (2011) argues, a network of business organisations has been established, and it is up and running. Yet, as Peregudov (2011) also highlights, the problem with this system is that it has received very little interest from Putin. It is little wonder that promotional groups in Russia do not possess a mass membership as they feel they have little influence under Putin, which demonstrates a further lack of true democracy in Russia. It is not just business interests that are penalised under Putin’s Russia. It is also opposition parties that receive barely any attention from the media and are put at a disadvantage by the state. As Hague and Harrop (2013) suggest, in a liberal democracy, there has to be a framework for competition between different political parties. Yet in recent years, this has not happened under Putin, which shows that true democracy is not prevailing. As McFaul (2005) argues, in Russia there is an absence of independence within the media as oligarchic ranks and regional elites reduced the freedom of manoeuvre for opposition parties and political candidates. A 2004 survey showed that eighty-two per cent of Russians watched television and twenty-two per cent read newspapers, which demonstrates the scope to which Putin can reach out to people (Oates, 2005). The significant problem with Russia’s media is that there are one-hundred laws governing media conduct and many journalists fear that whatever they publish, will ultimately lead to their deaths (Hague and Harrop, 2013). This proved to be the case when journalist Anna Piltkovskaya was murdered under suspicious circumstances in 2006 (Donaldson, 2015). The 2012 presidential elections, where Putin was re-elected, despite already serving two terms, demonstrated the fundamental weaknesses behind the Russian constitution (Donaldson, 2015). Putin received considerable protest after the count was manipulated to ensure Putin was re-elected (Hague and Harrop, 2013). This is what Levitsky and Way (2010) describe as ‘electoral manipulation in a competitive authoritarian regime’ (p. 3). This move has brought Russia closer to becoming a competitive authoritarian regime. Putin reacted to the growth in protest to his rule in 2012 from feminist punk band, the Pussy Riot, by imprisoning them and he restricted the amount of protests people are allowed to hold in Russia (Hague and Harrop, 2013). It is little wonder that people have little faith in political parties in Russia. As Huggins (2002) argues, crucial to a true democracy is that there is no limit to political participation. Russia has the worst levels of political participation amongst European nations with only one per cent of people in Russia members of political parties (Hague and Harrop, 2013). The 2011 parliamentary elections and 2012 presidential elections saw higher numbers of young people voting than in previous elections (Hague and Harrop, 2013). As White (2007) suggests, political parties seem to ‘come and go’ in Russia and this creates ‘a lack of party identification’ when compared to most parliamentary democracies (p. 27). The United Russia Party, founded by Putin in 2001, has dominated the Duma and the Federation Council since and won forty-nine per cent of the vote in the 2011 parliamentary elections (Donaldson, 2015). Levitsky and Way (2010) suggest that in competitive authoritarian regimes, the state abuses its power. The Kremlin used threats and bribes to ensure that this party was supported by Russia’s most powerful companies and regional governors (Hague and Harrop, 2013). This incident demonstrated that Russia possesses the characteristic features of a competitive authoritarian regime. In 2008, Putin stood down as president so that Dimitry Medvedev could take over as president (Donaldson, 2015). In a cynical move, the constitution was extended so that the president could serve for six years and decided to become president again in March 2012 (Donaldson, 2015). Vladimir Rhyzkov, a Kremlin opponent and former Duma deputy who lost his seat in 2007, said of the extension terms of 2008: ‘This is very negative. Today, the president controls parliament, senate, the regions, and the bureaucracy’ (Donaldson, 2015). Hague and Harrop (2013) argue that Russia cannot achieve what is close to a liberal democracy because real change cannot occur until Putin resigns. As Donaldson (2015) argues, Russia has become ‘influenced by the power and personality of one man; Putin.’ As Levitsky and Way (2010) argue, rulers tend to make the results in a competitive authoritarian regime. Twigg (2005) praises the improvements in policy-making made by Putin in 2005 that replaced the era of Soviet privileges (free or subsidised housing, transportation, medicine for students and patients) with cash payments. Despite this, policy-making in post-communist Russia remains subject to the requirements of the political elite and industrialists who pose a threat to the president find regulations invoked against them (Hague and Harrop, 2013). For example, in 2006, Putin provided his allies from state-owned oil companies with a greater share of the Sakhalin-2 oil field by rewriting the contract with Royal Dutch Shell (Hague and Harrop, 2013: p. 359). Therefore, true democracy does not exist in Russia. Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, summed up his views of the current situation in Russia in 2011: ‘We have everything- a president, a prime minister, courts and a parliament- but it’s more of an imitation’ (Donaldson, 2015). The culmination of these events has inevitably led Putin to distract attention from home by trying to restore ‘prestige and glory’ to the Russian nation through occupying Ukraine and the Baltic states to expand Russia’s territory (Donaldson, 2015). Therefore, true democracy will not exist under Russia whilst Putin is still in charge. Russia has moved towards a competitive authoritarian regime instead. The potential for Russia to become a true democracy certainly existed under Yeltsin with the construction of the 1993 constitution which laid out the powers of the Duma, the Constitutional Court, the Federal Council and the president. The Duma played a leading part in blocking many of Yeltsin’s reforms and Russia moved towards establishing an effective parliamentary and legal system at this time. However, since the arrival of Putin, the state has centralised power to a large extent. The problem with the 1993 constitution was that it allowed the president too much power as both head of state and guarantor of the constitution. Putin has abused this clause by acquiring appointments for regional governments. Putin has ensured that the media plays a significant part in guaranteeing his re-election through electoral manipulation and giving less air time to his opponents. It may not be until 2024 that the potential for true democracy to exist in Russia re-emerges. Bibliography Darlington, R. (2015) Roger Darlington. Available at: http://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Russianpoliticalsystem.html. (Accessed: 20th January 2015). Donaldson (2004) ‘Russia’, Journal of Legislative Studies (10) pp. 230-49. Evans, A. (2005) A Russian Civil Society. In: White, S., Gitelman, Z. and Sakwa, R. (eds.) Developments in Russian Politics. 6th edition. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 96-113. Hague, R. and Harrop, M. (2013) Comparative Government and Politics: An Introduction. 9th edition Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Huggins, R. (2002) Democracy and Democratisation. In: Axford, B., Browning, G.K., Huggins, R. and Rosamond B. (eds.) Politics: An Introduction. Abingdon: Routledge. Levitsky, S. and Way, L. (2010) Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War. New York: Cambridge University Press. McFaul, M. (2005) The Electoral System. In: White, S., Gitelman, Z. and Sakwa, R. (eds.) Developments in Russian Politics. 6th edition. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 61-79. Oates, S. (2005) Media and Political Communication. In White, S., Gitelman, Z. and Sakwa, R. (eds.) Developments in Russian politics. 6th edition. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, pp.114-29. Peregudov, S. (2001) The Oligarchical Model of Russian Capitalism. In: Brown, A. (ed.) Contemporary Russian Politics: A Reader. Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press, pp.259-68. Ross, C. (2010) Reforming the Federation in Developments. In: White, S., Sakwa, R., and Hale, H. (eds.) Developments in Russian politics. 7th edition. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, pp.152-170. Sharlet, R. (2005) In Search of the Rule of Law in Developments. In: White, S., Gitelman, Z. and Sakwa, R. (eds.) Developments in Russian Politics. 6th edition. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 130-47. Smith, A. (2010) Nationalism. 2nd edn, Cambridge: Polity. Twigg, J. (2005) Social Policy in Post-Soviet Russia. In: White, S., Gitelman, Z. and Sakwa, R. (eds.) Developments in Russian Politics. 6th edition. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 204-20.

Types Of Organizations In UK

There are a lot of types of organizations in UK today, but most common are sole trader, private limited company, government, partnership, public and Public Limited Company. The simplest structure is the sole trader. It is easy to start. You just register your business name and able to start trading. Such types of organizations are funded by only one person. All processes are managed by you and all profit is belongs to the sole trader (after paying tax) because it is funded by him/her. As result the owner has to accept a risk and be able to lose money. The profit depends on activity. Examples are: small shops, professional lawyers, service businesses, farms, doctors, etc. The next way is a partnership. This means that company is funded by two or more people (but maximum is 20). Partner is an individual who has equal responsibilities and share profit and management. Each member has to pay tax. Sometimes doctors, accountants, lawyers unite and organize partnership company. Private Limited Company is a non-government organization. Its shares are not listed in stocks and it is owned by small numbers of members. It is able to sale shares to customers but not the general public. As a result they tend to be small as to raise funds they need directors to act as guarantors for loans. The company is managed by two or more directors. Usually such type of company is used by families. The most famous and success private limited company in UK is Virgin. Public limited Company is a type of company used in UK and the company provides limited liability to its management and owners. In contrast to the private limited company, public one is able to sell shares on public exchanges and stocks. There are several criteria to be PLC. The first one is the minimum share capital and the number of directors. It has not to be less than 50 000 pound and less 2 directors. Also every company should take PLC symbol in the end of the name. Government organizations are owned by country usually they have more permission in inside and sometimes in international markets too. To be a government company state should have more than 51 % shares of company and company managed by state. Usually many railway and transport company are government companies. Franchising is a more difficult form of incorporation. Usually in this type of organization involved two different companies. One gives permission to use their brand, other rents this brand. So the first company has a profit from selling brand. Examples are: McDonald’s and Subway. 1.2 Describe the extent to which an organization meets the Objectives of different stakeholders. Individuals, groups, government and all other members who are interested in an organization are called stakeholders. The power and interest of different stakeholders are different. Interest stakeholder is determined by his desire to influence the organization. Therefore, the scheme of stakeholder: The Influence of the stakeholder = Power X Interest. Stakeholders dived into three groups: Internal ( Directors, Managers, Employees) Connected (Shareholders, Customers, Adviser, Competitors) External (Government, Local Community, pressure groups, Media) Internal stakeholders have a direct and immediate impact on the company. External affect the business indirectly. An interest and an influence of different stakeholders. Shareholders Shareholders people who have invested money in the firm, obviously they are waiting for financial return. They are interested in the growth of profits of the company and its annual dividend. If shares were purchased with speculative purposes, then shareholders may be interested in the growth of their prices to the further resale of shares to cash in on the difference in the costs of buying and selling. Top managers and directors. Managers as any employees who are interested in their salaries, bonuses and prizes. It is important for them and such a thing as a non-financial involvement. Occupying a high position, the Manager takes on weight in society and in their own eyes. In addition, any Manager care about his responsibility area. Customers Customer is the most important stakeholder. It is because they create demand in the market. Their interest is to get the right products at reasonable prices and in good quality. The consumer is interested to get the product as quickly as possible. Guarantees of security and health item also are important for them. Suppliers Those firms that supply raw materials or semi-finished products for companies, as well as provide some services, interested in what the firm ordered from them regularly, punctually paid in accordance with the terms of the contract. Also any provider interested in closer contact with the company, for example, entering into an exclusive contract. Financial corporations Structures that provide the company loans, they are interested in timely refunds and interest. They can keep track of the company with a view to determining whether it is effective it is using funds received and whether their pay. Government Authorities are interested in tax revenue resulting in the formation of the city budget. It also expects the firm’s employment, as well as the legality of its actions. 1.3 Explain the responsibilities of an organization and Strategies employed to meet them. The main response of the company is to provide good serve or product to it is clients. Consumers want to know if they buy safety and qualitative goods or serve. Companies surely should guarantee what they produce or serve. Marketing also have a place here because many organizations usually promise too much on ads but in reality goods are not as they were described. All this points are written in legislation and organizations must follow them. If we talk about workforce, the company must provide them safety and good condition where they work. The Health and Safety at Work (HSW) is the law which provides and protects these points. According to Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) “All employers have a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of their employees. They also have a duty to protect non-employees from risks arising out of their work activities”. This means employer is liable to provide safe and healthy work environment. In the recruitment process organizations have to provide equal opportunities for all applicants. These points are written in “The Equality Act 2010”. According to this Act organizations do not have write discriminate jobseekers by their age, sex, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation and so on. Companies must provide honest financial report every year or quarterly to their shareholders. It is a statement in which financial performance and other operations are written. For example Enron’s(USA company) top managers over stated their profits in the financial report which lead to scandal among stakeholder. As a result company became bankrupt. Another aspect is environment. Organizations are responsible to provide safety goods not only for consumers but it have to be no dangerous for environment too. Today there are a lot of talks about global warming and pollutions. The company’s goal is to reduce them within the law. For examples they must buy environment friendly equipment’s. Such companies like Gazprom care about it. The company tries to minimize the effect from their activity by using new technologies moreover they invest money in environmental programs. According official website Gazprom in 2010 58% of their investment took a place in water protection, 26% – land protection. 2.1 Explain how economic systems attempt to allocate resources effectively. The economic system is a complex of socio-economic and institutional relations between producers and consumers of goods and services in country. Since the appearance of human there were a variety of economic systems. However most important are: Free market Planned Mixed Traditional Every system has own benefits and problems, but the common one in any economic system is scarcity problem. This question made us to answer how to produce, how to satisfy all people, how to consume. All types of economy system solve this problem differently. In planned economy system government tries to satisfy all demand in inside economy. Every companies, organizations, factories are belonged to government. Mostly all planned economies are closed for foreign. Benefit of planned economy is stability. Government can easily supply all demand. Disadvantages of this economy is that planners ignore the environmental impact and they do not care about scarcity they just produce to cover demand how much is not important. However in free market goods and serve are produced for personal reasons – to take profit from them and companies are owned by people. In free market the main rule is demand and supply. The most difference between planned and free market economy that price of goods or serve in planned economy put by government nevertheless in free market by demand and supply. The scarcity problem in free market is also common but there raw materials are used smartly. When resources are in shortage the price is increasing and the demand gradually goes down in this way resources are used effectively. 2.2 Assess the impact of fiscal and monetary policy on business organizations and their activities The impact of fiscal and monetary policy on business is significant. The aim of these policies is the same but the ways of reach are different. The main purposes are stable economic growth, the stability of the price level(inflation),the balance of payments, low unemployment. Fiscal policy is a stabilization policy of the federal government aimed to control the economic cycles. That’s means that government tries to stabilize economy by changing incomes and outcomes of the state budget. The main tools of this policy are net of taxes and government purchases of goods and services. If in the country the recession, the government can either increase purchases or reduce taxes. If the rise or overheating of the economy, that, on the contrary, reduce purchases or increase taxes. Monetary policy is stabilization mechanism aimed to control supply of money in the state by Central banks. The central banks of the countries try do it by changing interest rates or Reserve requirements, by open market operations. Also they have other instruments but most common three ones. Changing interest rate has enormous impact to the supply market. When there is a crisis or recession the rates goes down. It happens cause low rates is stimulating people to spent money more as results the demand is increasing and economy recovers. For example now the average rates in the World are the lowest cause it recession period. Another method of controlling supply of money is buying or selling government bonds in an open market. When there is a rise Central bank sells bonds to commercial Banks by that they reduce the amount of money in the market and when there is a recession Central Bank buy bonds from bonds holders(cause not only banks can buy them) as result the amount of money increase and rates are going down. 2.3 Competition policy is a policy aimed to control competition between companies. They control if there are not monopoly in the market, if the merger of companies does not damage market structure and if there are enough supplies. Also the policy tries to promote competition in local market. The policy always controls if there are enough energy companies in the market and are they able to cover all demand. It is really important policy without it prices can grow sharply especially gas, electricity. For example According to the newspaper “Kommersant” The European Commission (EC) has launched a formal investigation into the actions of “Gazprom”, which, according to officials, may impede competition in the gas market in Central and Eastern Europe. “Gazprom” supplies about 30% of the gas imported by the EU. “The opening of the investigation does not prejudge the outcome of the proceedings, but only means that the Commission will consider this case as a priority” – to be confirmed in a statement by the EC. In particular, they suspect that “Gazprom” could violate Art. 102 of the Treaty on the functioning of the EU. This document regulates the monopolies that restrict competition in the private sector. In Art. 102 contract states that should be prohibited “any abuse by which involved one or more dominant position in the domestic market or in part” because this may affect trade between Member States. OJSC «Gazprom» is Russian public gas and the gas distribution company, the largest company in Russia (according to the magazine «Expert»), the world’s largest gas company, owns the largest gas transportation system (more than 160 000 km). According to the list of Forbes 2000 (2010), Sales of «Gazprom» took 24-th place among the world companies. According to the rating of the Fortune Global 500, according to the results of 2009, «Gazprom» became the most profitable company in the world, ahead of American Exxon Mobil, taking the 50-th place in terms of total volume of proceeds. 3.1 Explain how market structures determine the pricing and output decisions of businesses. Market structure is a set of factors, which determine the nature of the interaction between companies. Mainly market structure is a general factor of pricing. Further I will describe it. Market structure can be determined by number of factors: Number of firms in the industry and their size; Type of products produced by the company (a sister or differentiated); Opportunity for new companies to enter to the market. Number of customers. The ability of firms to influence demand through advertising. And so on. However, the main ones are 3 factors: Number of firms in the industry and their size; Type of products produced by the company (a sister or differentiated); Opportunity to enter the industry and exit of other firms. Considering these factors there are four main types of market structure: Perfect competition; Monopoly; Monopolistic competition; Oligopoly. This table shows difference between them : Characteristics Market structures Perfect competition Monopolistic competition Monopoly Oligopoly Number of sellers Many Many One Few Number of buyers Many Many Many Many Market share Small Small Highest Avg Size of firms Relatively small Relatively small Relatively large Avg Competition Fierce Fierce No competition High Monopoly is an extreme form of imperfect competition, in which the only seller complete control over the production of goods in the market. It is inevitable in a market economy – each competitor in the market wants to become a monopolist. The price of goods is highest in monopoly. Monopolist can put any price for a good because nobody except it produces the goods. Oligopoly is the market structure consisting of a small number of large firms, some of which control a large share of the market. In this situation, market entry of new firms is possible, but difficult. It is too expensive. Non-price competition is nature (technical excellence, quality and reliability of products, etc.) In Monopolistic competition there a lot of firms and they produce the same products but the brand are different. For example in Holborn there are too many cafes which provide good coffee. Each café has own place in the market. Large number of buyers and sellers the same goods but different branding and fierce competition. Perfect competition is a competition that takes place in a market where a very large number of interacting firms producing standardized, homogeneous goods. In these conditions, any firm can enter the market, there is no price control. The price regulated by demand and supply .In the market of perfect competition single buyer or seller has little impact on the level of the current market price of the goods. Seller can not ask for a price higher than the market as buyers are free to buy it for any amount of goods they need. 3.2 Market force is an influence of demand and supply on market. That means how demand and supply affect to the price. First of all i want to describe what is demand and supply. Supply is a quantity of goods or serves which are provided in the market. For example if you have 5 phones, then your supply of phones is 5. Demand is a quantity of buyers which would like to buy goods in the market. For examples if there are 6 people who want to buy the number of demand will be 6. Demand and Supply have an enormous affect in free market. It is general rule of this market. The interaction between them makes prices on goods. If there more supply then demand the prices are cheaper. But if the demand more, prices increase. For example the price of oil directly connected with this rule. Several month ago when Livia stoped providing oil to the market the price of oil increased gradualy. It increased about 3%. Another

Help in writing a MEMO

Help in writing a MEMO. I’m trying to study for my Management course and I need some help to understand this question.

Please read the assignment instructions CAREFULLY.
YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO CONNECT THEM WITH “PESTEL” CONCEPTS
Framework PESTEL
P = Political
E = Economic and/or Financial
S = Social; Cultural; Demographic
T = Technological and Infrastructure;
E = Natural environment
L = Legal & Regulatory (Laws at all levels)
C = Competition (optional)
____________________________________________
1ST ARTICLE:
MARY BARRA RISKS IT ALL.
2ND ARTICLE:
Exxon Goes Deep in Brazil.
3RD ARTICLE:
Then They Came for The Lawyers.
Help in writing a MEMO