Stanislaus Military Academy developmental model and plan

Stanislaus Military Academy developmental model and plan Problem Identification In organizations, development of models and plans facilitates the achievement of objectives through scientific approaches. Stanislaus Military Academy seeks to roll out a plan that will oversee the training of Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (MCJROTC). Through the plan, the institution aspires to develop informed and outstanding citizens in cadets.Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on Stanislaus Military Academy developmental model and plan specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The program also seeks to develop the trainee’s leadership skills by strengthening their character and comprehending the fundamental aspects of the national security. Through the training, the military academy will help in the formation of self-disciplined individuals who will not only be in a position to develop respect for the authority in a liberal society but also understand the factors that under pin the constituted authority in the American society. Stanislaus Military Academy faces challenges in implementing the program that will see the cadets receive the training in line with the articulations of the constitution. With its main objectives being to instill virtues of discipline, respect, courage, commitment and honor among the cadets, the organization has apparent challenges in the achievement of these ends. The institution should be in a position to conduct impeccable training by identifying the challenges and implement the proposed changes in the organization (Michael, DiPaola Wayne, 2008). Notwithstanding the problems that the organization is facing, it has been in a position to solve real problems affecting the youth by developing their skills and forming their character in line with the needs of the country and dynamic American society. Nonetheless, identification process and lack of consent by parents has been in the forefront in impeding the organization’s ability to adopt necessary changes. Therefore, the main problem affecting the organization is the apparent lack of responsiveness to the needs of the young people and society. Addressing the needs will lead to improvement in the training process and achievement of desirable outcomes. Research theories related to the problem From the outset, Stanislaus Military Academy is categorical that it does not aim at training the young people as an entry point to a military career. It recruits young people in 9th grade through 12th grade. The young people stand a chance to learn in an environment that has high-level discipline and that which emphasizes on character modeling and high academic performance. While we consider that that the institution is able to train cadets, it is a necessity that the academy be in a position to engage cadets in matters relating to training and have them understand the content and ways that the training can address their pertinent issues. To that end, it is imper ative to consider the cadets as active learners and not just mere recipients of the training content (Michael et al., 2008).Advertising Looking for proposal on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Involvement of young people and cadets in the training activities facilitates the achievement of objectives since they comprehend the expectations of the society, institution and the community. According to cognitive and learning theorists, it is of fundamental importance to ensure that learners comprehend what the trainers expect from them (Buchanan Huczynski, 2007). This draws them closer to the main theme of the learning, which in turn arouses curiosity for them to perform to the expectations of the training. Therefore, the institute ought to equip the potential cadets with information on the content of the program instead of introducing new methodologies to them upon enrollment. To equip the cadets with the information prior to the enrollment procedure, the organization ought to ensure it embraces changes to meet this demand. According to Buchanan Huczynski (2007), there is the need to enhance institutional responsiveness to the process of change. The rationale is that numerous people rarely accept changes and is upon the change agents to convince the stakeholders on the necessity of changes. In this respect, the staff at the military academy should be in a position to explain to all people that the changes that it is implementing are long overdue and are aimed at increasing the organization’s ability to achieve its goals (Michael et al., 2008). In addition, it is important for the change agents to expect resistance to change since many people have emotional attachment with the status quo. During the recruitment process of the cadets, the institute ought to be aware that the youths require cognitive development. This will enable them to attain professional progression and self-development. Michael et al. (2008) say that cadets’ skills development is largely dependent on the amount of time that the trainers use to develop the cadets’ academic needs. This allows them the ability to bring out innovation and creativity in dealing with life situations and particularly, in military academy. To achieve these ends, the academy should have measurable results and monitor the progress of the changes and objectives. Hoy Hoy (2009) argue that evaluation and monitoring approaches that assess the skills development among the cadets are appropriate in highlighting the ‘real’ achievement rather than theoretical comprehension of the skills. This will enhance the ability to make important real life decisions and attain problem-solving skills. Better still, the academy will be in a position to nurture a holistic individual who will not only suit the military but also in other careers.Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on Stanislaus Military Academy developmental model and plan specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is essential to design a learning context that depicts the aspirations and expectations of the society. The society constitutes a high-level stakeholder of the military academy and as such, it should influence the learning environment of the cadets. To achieve this ends, the institute ought to ensure that the content and the environment it designs should be in a position to solve problems and address community needs. Indeed, cognitive theorists argue that any learning experience ought to have the objective of solving problems and imparting suffice knowledge on the trainees (Hoy Hoy, 2009). Stanislaus Military Academy will therefore be in a position to have many community members of the county seeking to get training from the institute owing to improved ability of graduate cadets to solve community, social and personal problems. Stanislaus Militar y Academy should focus on challenges and embrace the appropriate corrections. This should start right from the recruitment and selection of potential cadets. Theorists assert that recruitment process is vital for identifying the right candidates for the position (Hoy Hoy, 2009). It should transcend the few aspects that are mandatory for qualification and pay focus to social background of the cadets. The rationale is that socialization process influence people differently and affects the patterns of interaction and knowledge acquisition. The Senior Military Instructor (SMI) ought to utilize the skills of recruitment in order to have a cohesive and an objective group of trainees who also share same goals and expectations. This should begin by informing them on what the program entails and what it may be able to solve both in the short term and in the long term. This will be a good start that the cadets can evaluate the importance of the program and consequently be able to manage thei r expectations. Measurable objectives related to the problem For a development plan to be effective, it ought to have measurable goals that will act as indicators of the progress or failure that organization has made. To assess the problems, there is also the need to assume empirical approaches to have the information on the current problems that the institute faces. First, the implementation of MCJROTC should be measurable through the responsiveness of the organization to the program. The instructors should be in a position to observe the differences that the students have made in terms of improving their leadership skills, respect, honor, courage, discipline and commitment.Advertising Looking for proposal on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Michael et al. (2008) point out that the comprehension of the content of the training is an indicator of the goals that the organization seeks to achieve. Hence, a needs analysis, implementation and evaluation of the program should be backed by sound research and problem identification process. Second, the organization should have a consistent method of measuring the achievement of its goal of enhancing responsiveness to the community needs and expectations. Through the implementation of the changes, the military academy should be in a position to assess the expectations of the community and design its training in line with the community needs (Buchanan Huczynski, 2007). This starts with assessing the community needs, which should reflect the training objectives. The rationale is that Stanislaus County has expectations of the academy to form characters within the society who will be able to steer development within the context of the community. It is imperative to ensure that the o rganization has a scientific method of measuring the levels to which the program has met the needs of the community and their expectations. Third, the organization ought to enhance its measurable objectives of ensuring that the organization is in line with its aspirations of recruiting young, motivated and informed cadets. The recruited cadets should meet the set criterion and ensure that the organization is able to achieve its goals of equipping them with the requisite leadership skills to mention but one aspect. ability to recruit cadets from secondary schools having the right attitude and basic requirement procedure should be a measurable indicator of the progress that the organization has made (Hoy Hoy, 2009). Besides, the level of suspensions of cadets also serves as an indicator of the underlying problem of recruitment. This is imperative in ensuring that the changes that the organization will be implementing will be evaluated in comparison with the goal. Participants and cha nge agents Any success in the process of change comes about owing to the ability of involving all stakeholders of the military academy. Buchanan Huczynski (2007) pinpoint that the most important participant in the process of organizational change will be the community. The community ought to provide the institute with a framework of the training program shaped by their expectations. This is in lieu of the fact the society will be in a position to evaluate the cadets after their graduation. The individual they see from the institute ought to be able to solve community problems and address the apparent needs in the community. The graduates should add value to the lives of other societal members after the training. They should also be in a position to take up leadership roles available in the community and exercise their skills to inspire change and development within the community. Second, the military academy should be able to involve all the internal stakeholders of the organizatio n in rallying them to embrace change. Organizations are able to achieve success by ensuring that the employees, instructors and the heads of the academy comprehend the need for organizational development that is only achievable through the change process. According to Hoy Hoy (2009), the internal stakeholders of an organization make up a group that has high influence on the implementation of changes. The ability to reduce the ever-present resistance to change reflects high skills of the change agents to institute new ways of operating. Further, it is important to involve all the cadets who are the primary beneficiaries of the military training. The organization should adopt alternative methods of imparting leadership skills on an individual and involve the trainees in the development of the content with an aim of achieving even more improved outcomes (Michael et al., 2008). The cadets ought to have full information regarding the objectives of the training and expectations of the in structors and the community. Lack of involvement of the cadets could result to impaired skills development and shift in the organization’s goals. Other stakeholders include both the federal and state governments whose influence is apparent. The military academy operates with the laws entrenched in the constitution and adopted by state authorities. Implementing far-reaching changes will therefore imply that the organization ought to be in line with the laws that govern the military training. Besides, the state and federal government remain the major oversight bodies mandated to ensure that the process of MCJROTC achieves the national goals and is in line with the government’s expectations. In addition, it is important to notice that the government formulates policies and rules that provides the schools with a framework to offer military training. Hoy Hoy (2009) say that the change agents should be wary of a plan that distances the academy from the goals of the federal and state governments. Finally, the change agents will include the instructors and heads of departments who have the mandate to inspire the process of change and improvement. Chester Thomson (2003) explain that the change agents should motivate others to work together to improve the outcomes of the academy. They should also be in a position to employ their leadership skills and styles to achieve the objective with success. Problem Diagnosis The current problem within the academy should draw inspiration from continuous process of evaluation and assessment. This implies that the organization should evaluate the achievement regularly and possibly after very semester. This is important since it provides a platform through which the change agents are able to make necessary changes and draw the academy closer to achievement of the goals. This is in terms of the implementation of training problem that helps the cadets to solve real life problems and improve the community welfare. The asse ssment process for the entire four years since the recruitment of the cadets should draw comparison from the current situation. The disparity that exists between the aspired position and the current situation ought to reduce as the implementation of the changes gains momentum. This is in terms of recruitment procedures, content development and adherence to regulatory bodies and frameworks (Chester Thomson, 2003). This will lead to amicable solutions to the apparent organizational needs and enhance improved outcomes. Another aspect of the problem deals with designing the objectives of the military academy to match the expectations of the community. The expectations of the community are that the military will be in a position to train young people and equip them with the necessary skills to become responsible, respectful and knowledgeable citizens. Deviation from these objectives should be a cause of alarm and should call for review of the outcomes envisaged by the academy. There sho uld be a distinction in character and behavior of the graduates of the military academy and conventional graduates. The graduates of the school ought to exercise their acquired skills for personal and community development (Michael et al., 2008). This should be the yardstick of evaluating other underlying problems exhibited in the organization. To that end, Stanislaus military academy ought to ensure that it strives to achieve this end to not only increase its reputation but also to provide the correct learning context that produces the desired behavior and character of the cadets. Procedure of solving problem At the outset, the organization should have a systematic way of resolving its outstanding issues. It ought to begin by getting a basic framework of understanding the expectations of the cadets and the community. Chester Thomson (2003) articulate that this is important since it helps the organization to design a change management process that addresses the issues raised by the stakeholders. If the stakeholders accent to the proposed move, Stanislaus should assume a strategy that coincides with the opinions, expectations and the desires of all stakeholders. Secondly, the explication of the ways in which the proposed changes will affect the employees should be a mandatory process for the plan to achieve its goals. This helps the change agents to explain the idea behind any change process and ways that the organization stands to benefit from it. This also reduces the risk of resistance to change which could challenge the implementation of the program. This is in light of the view that organization’s internal stakeholders such as the employees and instructors have familiarized themselves with the routine of operating and it may take time for them to internalize the proposed changes (Chester Thomson, 2003). Throughout this process, the change agents and leader should adopt appropriate leadership style typical of support and honesty. This is in additio n to keeping all the stakeholders informed on progress that the organization has made regarding the changes. Third, the organization should begin the implementation process where the review of the training content and manuals ought to begin. The academy should also upgrade the skills of the existing employees and instructors to suit the current training needs exhibited by the cadets. The implementation phase may seem to be the most difficult stage of initiating change since practical changes begins to appear within the processes of the academy (Hoy Hoy, 2009). Besides, it may lead to changes in skills development and other aspects of the employees who had familiarized themselves with the conventional routines, roles and duties. Monitoring and evaluation is important to enhance the measurement of the objectives and the outcomes of the process of change (Michael et al., 2008). This continuous process utilizes scientific models and approach to analyze and interpret the change outcomes . Evaluating the gains and losses that the organization may have made is critical to appraise the change. This way, the organization is able to understand the effect of the changes and make possible changes where necessary. References Buchanan, D. Huczynski, A. (2007). Organizational Behavior. London: Prentice Hall. Chester, B. Thomson, K. (2003). Organization and Management. New York: McGraw Hill Publishers. Hoy, A., Hoy, W. (2009). Instructional Leadership: A Research-Based Guide to Learning in Schools. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. Michael, F., DiPaola, M. Wayne K. (2008). Principals improving instruction: supervision, evaluation, and professional development. Mason OH: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

My Last Duchess Essays (724 words) - My Last Duchess, Free Essays

My Last Duchess Essays (724 words) - My Last Duchess, Free Essays My Last Duchess The Haunting Aristocrat In his dramatic monologue, Robert Browning uses irony, diction, and imagery to achieve a haunting effect. Robert Browning frequently wrote dramatic monologues to enhance the dark and avaricious qualities in his works. Brownings use of this particular style is to evoke the unconstrained reaction of a person in a particular situation or crisis (Napierkowski 170). A poem may say one thing, but when mixed with dramatic monologue, it may present a meaning at odds with the speakers intention(Napierkowski 170). This change may show the reader more insight into the poem without directly stating the underlying facts. The reader is allowed to isolate a single moment in which the character reveals himself more starkly (Napierkowski 171). Brownings use of dramatic monologue disposes the reader to suspend moral judgement (Napierkowski 171) causing a haughtiness to hover over many of his works. Browning uses irony in conjunction with dramatic monologue to produce a sinister and domineering effect. Irony, much like dramatic monologue, can make the reader question the true underlying meaning of the passage. This brief confusion causes an eeriness to be brought about in the work. In My Last Duchess, verbal irony is demonstrated when the Duke says to his guests, even had you skill in speech . . . which I have not(35-36). Throughout the poem the Duke proves that he is quite a polished speaker(Markley 172). The Duke is not a modest man, but him making this seemingly humble statement in the midst of all his power stricken remarks establishes situational irony. Dramatic monologue can make an unforseen ironic statement have an ominous surrounding that totally encompasses the readers attention. An individual may initially become very disturbed if an unannounced late night visitor knocked on their door, just as the Dukes unanticipated remark brought a weary feeling to the reader. Throughout My Last Duchess, Browning uses diction to further increase the haunting effect of his dramatic monologue. His precise and scattered word choice is meant to make the reader recognize the underlying haughtiness in his speech to the Counts emissary. The Duke refers to his former wifes portraits depth and passion in order to place a cloudiness over the realism of the painting. This, along with the faint and half-flush appearance that dies along her throat, brings about an overcast appearance to the poem. The Dukes trifling lack of countenance is evident in his jealousy of the Duchesss kindness toward others. Her benevolence disgusts the Duke, and causes him to stoop down to spouting off commands in her direction. The Dukes abrasive word choice intensifies the dominating effect in the poem My Last Duchess. Brownings use of imagery escalates the haunting effect in My Last Duchess. Throughout the poem the Duke proves to be the type of man that has to be in control. His need for control is displayed when he tells his guest that no one may draw the curtain . . . but I(10). A portrait of his previous wife is covered by this curtain. The Duke paints his own image of her through this dialogue. Everything the reader hears about the lady is filtered through the mind and voice of the Duke(Charles 278). He is obsessed with being in control. He didnt have full control over his previous wife, and that is why he refers to her as looking as if she were alive(2) in the portrait. The dominating image the Duke paints of himself by describing his last wife creates an eerie effect. The poem My last Duchess concludes with one distinct domineering image. The Duke draws his guests attention to a statue of Neptune taming a seahorse in order to show that he will demand complete obedience from his future wife. The Duke sees himself as a God(Charles 279), who will not yield to a subordinate for any reason. The image of the powerful god, taking control of the seahorse demonstrates the Dukes desired relationship between him and any woman. Also, the Duke is showing the emissary that he will rule his kingdom . . . with an iron fist(Charles 279) just like Neptune. The Dukes overbearing statements prove that he will put fear into his wife through his haunting tactics. Robert Browning presents a creepy feeling through his dramatic monologues. In My Last Duchess, he shows the reader the Dukes overbearing need for control and power through imagery, and he causes a weariness to overcome the reader through irony. Brownings use of precise diction also contributes to the eerie developments throughout the poem. By combining dramatic monologue, irony, precise diction, and

The Epic Of Gilgamesh Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Epic Of Gilgamesh - Essay Example Right from his birth, his adventures under the influence of Enkidu to his last days the readers find that there is always a divine connection in his actions and speeches. The relationship between Gilgamesh and gods can be compared with the relationship of Abraham and God in the Book of Genesis. In both the stories God has a sinifcant role to play in the development of the character. Epic of Gilgamesh goes on to prove that desire of God and destiny of man often comes in conflict. The clash between mortality and desired immortality heightens the tragedy of the epic poem. The prologue of the epic â€Å"Whoever you may be, governor, prince or anyone else, whom the gods may choose to exercise kingship† (George, xxxvi) comments that god has impartial view of mankind. In the poem Gilgamesh is portrayed with lot of glamor. The lines which denote his lordly appearnce and stature are: â€Å"Supreme over the kings, lordly in appearance/ he is the hero, born of Uruk, the goring wild bull†. (Kovacs, Tablet I) His appreciation is evident when it is said â€Å"Gilgamesh is awesome to perfection† His bravery and courage is reflected in the following lines: His physical greatness is complemented by his leadership abilities and his camaraderie with his fellow subjects; â€Å"He walks out in the front, the leader/ And walks at the rear, trusted by his companions/ Mighty net, protector of his people†. (Kovacs, Tablet I) The story of Epic of Gilgamesh is clasified into epsiodes namely a) the meeting of Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu, b) encouter with fickle and voluptuos goddess Shamhat, c) journey through the Cedar forest, d) death of Enkidu and e) search for immortality. The journey through the Cedar forest has high importance because Gilgamesh and Enkidu duo kills the monster Humbaba and also defeat the Bull of Heaven. Ishtar, the goddess of sex and warfare supervises their combats. Companion’s death urges him towards quest for life of eternity. Utnapishtim offers him a chance to

The Phases of Negotiation and the Strategies Used in the Dairy Co Essay

The Phases of Negotiation and the Strategies Used in the Dairy Co - Essay Example The first issue that we had to deal with was reaching a basis for increase in wages during the life of the agreement. The objective of this issue before the negotiation was â€Å"Productivity benefit to be shared 60%-40% between the company and the workers†. The outcome after the negotiation was â€Å"Productivity benefit to be shared 70%-30% between company and workers†. The second issue was to reach common grounds over workplace agreements such as the process by which employees will be identified for and be nominated for training. The objective of the team before the negotiation was â€Å"Get the management to agree to pay training fees for employees. Vacancies should be first given to employees who are trained.† As for the outcome, the negotiation objective was achieved. The third issue that was raised was an agreement over hours’ roster, including implications for shifts and for over time. For this issue the objective before negation was : â€Å"emplo yee will be paid across 1 week. Average weekly working hour would be 38 hours. There will be 6 working day per week (Mon-Sat). Working hour for over 2 hours in one working day, the payment will be 1.5 times.† However the objective was not achieved during negotiations and the outcome was: â€Å"Employee will be paid across two weeks. Average weekly working hour would be 38 hrs. There will be 6 working days per week (Mon-Sat). ... The fifth and the final issue was regarding the establishment of a joint work place committee-most of the practical arrangements (size, facilities etc) have been agreed and only two issues remain - whether the committee should be a negotiating body or a consultative one; and whether any company information can be kept confidential from the committee.Objective before negotiation was : â€Å"Employee can know have little access to financial information to make sure company have ability to pay their money. Employees can delegate small number of employees to join company's meeting. However, employees have to sign the contract with Dairy Co. to keep the information confidential.† The objective was achieved as both sides reached an agreement over it. There are various strategies that people can employ to negotiate. It is very important to make sure that the right strategy is chosen so that the results that follow are effective. The deal is to ensure that both manger and the employee s can benefit from the strategy. (Jordon & Roloff ; 1997) Managers at Dairy Co want to sustain long term relationship with employees. This helped a lot during our preparation and our way through most of the phases of this negotiation. The management tried to be co-operative and hence an integrative strategy was opted for. Integrative bargaining is based on the premise that the table is open for both parties to co-operate and interact with each other to find a viable solution which upholds the interest of both parties. (Fells, 1998) The goal is essentially to maximize benefits for both sides or as they call it a, lead the negotiations to a â€Å"win-win† situation. The first phase that we identified was the â€Å"begin phase†. In this phase a lot of meetings were

Corporate Social Responsibility in India Essay Example for Free

Corporate Social Responsibility in India Essay The basic principle of the sustainable development and Corporate Social Responsibility is the combination of needs important both from the point of view of an institution, as well as a group of entities operating in its environment (employees, shareholders, stakeholders, borrowers, local society) within its business policy. Thus, the goal of a contemporary organisation should be to maximise its shareholders’ value satisfying, at the same time, expectations of other stakeholders (stakeholders’ value) by integrating economic, social and environmental operations. There are many factors that make us interested in Corporate Social Responsibility 2: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ New problems and expectations of citizens, customers, public authorities and investors in the context of globalisation and significant industrial changes; Social criteria have bigger and bigger influence on investment decisions made by units and institutions playing both the role of consumers as well as investors; Bigger and bigger care for damages caused to natural environment by business activities; Transparency of business activities supported by media and IT technologies. Corporate Social Responsibility principles, as well as the quality of information in their web sites and annual reports, the main sources of knowledge about the company for potential investors, counterparties and local communities. In the near future, we should also expect that as a result of the globalisation of financial markets, Polish listed companies will meet investors that are more aware of Corporate Social Responsibility and consumers that invest and co-operate better with companies supporting environmental and social development. The analysis of awareness rates and progress in implementing the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility in the sector of Polish companies covered all joint stock companies listed in the Warsaw Stock Exchange4, excluding listed banks (covered in the analysis of the banking sector) and national investment funds. Results of the study are based on information disclosed and presented in web sites and annual reports of the analysed companies and they refer to the following aspects: †¢ †¢ †¢ reporting on Corporate Governance principles adopted by the company, including audit rules; reporting on the company’s environmental policy, reporting on the company’s social policy. The study covered possibilities of an access for investors, local communities, potential business partners to the information about the company’s financial standing, and strategies in progress. The principles for reporting on Corporate Governance were stipulated in the resolution of the Stock Exchange Council of October 16, 2002 (58/952/2002) on best practice in public companies in 2002. Pursuant to this document, companies were obliged to publish and deliver, by July 1, 2003, their first statement confirming their will to observe the newly introduced rules. The study carried out by the Institute shows that over 90 percent of companies publish their reports on incorporating (adopting) principles of Corporate Governance in their business strategies. However, we have to point out that the quality and availability of the information presented in web sites and in annual reports of companies for potential investors and society is relatively low. 4 The analysis was carried out from August – October 2003. 5 The Gdansk Institiute for Market Economics Among the listed companies under the study, only 40 percent disclose and publish detailed information about the structure of their Corporate Governance, and mostly in web sites, where companies present the information about the composition and structure of their management board (74. 4 %) and the composition and structure of their supervisory board (62. 2 %). Chart 1. 1. 1 Do domestic companies publish detailed information about the structure of their supervisory bodies? 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Board structure Supervisory board structure Responsibilities of board member Definition of independence 25,6% 37,8% 51,7% 87,2% 99,4% 99,4% 74,4% 62,2% 48,3% 12,8% 0,6% Any supervisory board Commities 0,6% Individuals responsible for implementation, oversight and audit of economic, social and environmental policies YES NO Source: Own study based on research carried out by the Gdansk Institute for Market Economics. The Institute’s studies on the companies’ informing about the structure and responsibilities of their main bodies in charge of Corporate Governance also show that: †¢ domestic listed companies have not appointed persons in charge of implementing and supervising their policy related to Corporate Social Responsibility, yet (only 0. 6%), †¢ companies usually do not disclose the information about the existing committees at their supervisory boards. Potential investors and business partners willing to establish co-operation with a given entrepreneur want to know external auditors analysing the company’s financial statements and know whether they are reliable. 6 The Gdansk Institiute for Market Economics The Institute’s study shows that 88 percent of domestic public companies presents information related to their audit policy in their web sites. The companies usually give procedures for selecting external auditors, principles for rotation (changes) of external auditors and point out that external auditors are independent of the company. Nevertheless, in Poland, companies still do not present statements on audit costs and costs of other services performed by auditors. The Institute’s analysis also shows that most listed companies under the study (86. %) have undertaken to respect such shareholders’ rights specified in the Best Practice like: †¢ †¢ right to express their opinion and make motions to the company’s management board; right to see minutes and reports from previous meetings (usually available to the shareholders at the company’s office); †¢ publishing information on future General Shareholders Meetings and their agenda. Chart 1. 1. 2 Do domestic companies publish information about audit, shareholders’ rights, implemented principles of their Code of Business Conduct / Code of Ethics? 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 12,8% 13,3% 98,9% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 87,2% 86,7% 1,1% 0% Does the Company disclose audit related Does the company disclose its policy on information? shareholder rights? Does the company disclose and report on its internal Code of Business Conduct/ Code of Ethics? YES NO Source: Own study based on research carried out by the Gdansk Institute for Market Economics. Assessing the awareness and progress in implementing the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility by Polish listed companies, it is worth underlining that still a small percentage of companies has developed and adopted the Code of Ethics and the Code of Business Conduct, 7 The Gdansk Institiute for Market Economics where the companies define, for example, principles for social, environmental policy, issues related to the protection of human rights, employment policy. The managements have to guarantee that the Code of Business Conduct is effectively implemented, monitored and improved. Therefore, the European Commission promotes companies which adopt and implement the Codes of Business Conduct prepared by international corporations. In the opinion of the European Commission, the Code of Business Conduct should 5: †¢ Be based on guidelines of the Convention of the International Labour Organisation, defined in the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work from 1998 and OECD’s guidelines for international companies related to social partners and their stakeholders; †¢ †¢ †¢ Incorporate mechanisms required to assess and verify the Code implemented; Involve social partners and other groups of stakeholders influencing the company’s operations in the dialog about the shape of the Code; Expand the experience related to best practice in European companies. The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility also assumes that the company should purposefully get involved in environmental protection. The study shows that domestic listed companies do not find it purposeful to present information about actions taken to protect t e natural environment. On the one hand, it h results f rom the fact that the companies are not aware of potential benefits they could obtain, according to the assumptions of Corporate Social Responsibility, for example if their environmental actions are positively perceived by their stakeholders. The research carried out by the Market and Opinion Research International (MORI) under the CSR Europe campaign on the sample of 12 thousand citizens representing 12 countries shows that around 70 percent of consumers buying a product or a service take into account the level which a given producer is involved in social and environmental activity to. At the same time, every fifth consumer is ready to pay more for goods produced by a socially responsible company. On the other hand, the lack of information about environmental actions taken by the companies results from relatively low financial expenses borne by these companies for environmental purposes.

Body Art :: Social Issues, Tattooing

The number of people getting tattoos seems to be on the rise. According to the most recent Harris Poll, conducted in the summer of 2007, approximately 40% of Americans ages 25-40 have at least one tattoo, as compared to 3% 20 years ago (Hawkes, Senn, & Thorn, 2004). The increased popularity of the tattoo is apparent if you compare those findings to the 1936 Life magazine estimate that 10 million Americans, or approximately 6% of the population, had a tattoo (Swan, 2011). According to Kang and Jones (2007), tattooing is especially popular among teenagers and college students. At a stage when young people are seeking to assert their independence, tattoos may provide a way to ground a sense of self in a seemingly changing and insecure world. Tattooing has a long history; it was thought that tattooing was primary an ancient Egyptian practice dating from circa 2000 B.C. (Nadler, 1983). It was brought to the New World in 1769 by sailors returning from voyagers to the South Pacific (Post, 1968; Sanders, 1991). The practice of tattooing became more widespread and socially acceptable in the Western world after that time (Sanders, 1991). In ancient times tattooing was a projection of Jungian psychological elements, which was used be projected onto holy symbols, onto the self as a manifestations of self-expression coinciding with a decline in traditional religious adherence (Mercury, 2000). Piercing has almost as long of a history as tattooing. It was practiced by Egyptian pharaohs, Mayans, and Romans (Armstrong, 1996). Body piercing is sometimes studied along with tattooing, partly because people with tattoos often have piercings (Buhrich, 1983; Frederick & Bradley, 2000). For women, ear piercing has come to be viewed as a mainstream practice but piercing eyebrows, nose, cheeks, or other areas appears to symbolize one’s disaffection from society, much like tattooing (Sanders, 1988). Regarding piercings, 69.7% of women compared to 28.2% of men reported having piercings (Huxley & Grogan, 2005). The gender difference was significant. A way of being mischievous for a woman or going over the edge or developing a sexual identity is to have a piercing: navel, nipple, and nose (Saunders & Armstrong, 2005). The piercing can also draw attention to areas that the woman wants attention drawn to. Risquà ©-piercing may enhance the desire to use piercing for sexual attention . It may be that women may become pierced more for reasons of rebellion and men may become pierced more for reasons of self-identity (Caliendo, Armstrong, & Roberts, 2005).

Running Head: Airline Industry

Globalisation of world economies is forcing countries and companies alike to improve their competitiveness in the global market. This being the case, the American airlines industry is set for a shake-up given that thee sector is heavily shielded from external competition by the American government (Marketplace, 2008).This is because the ever increasing demand for national and international travel is creating bigger markets for airlines that can efficiently meet travellers needs, something that American companies become disadvantaged. In order to position themselves better in the global market, global airlines have been merging in order to take advantage of economies of scale and increase connectivity among their routes (Haran, 2008).The biggest merger so far has been between the Holland based KLM and the Paris   based Air France. With regard to American airline companies, the government has protected the industry for too long such that they are loosing out on the good fortunes that have befallen the industry. As a contribution to the debate of current trend in the Unites States' airline industry, this paper shall concentrate on the recent merger indications between several US based airlines that were sparked by Delta and Northwest Airlines.The first section shall deal with the current situation in the industry, the second with the increasing need to open the industry to internal and global competition, and the third section, with reasons behind the current merger trend between within US Aniline companies. The sections shall be followed by a conclusion listing all the microeconomic issues discussed in the paper.Current State of the IndustryThe US airline industry has for long been an oligopolistic market dominated by several airlines. However, the increasing entry of budget airline in the industry has given the bigger players a run for their money, meaning that oligopolistic traits are increasingly being replaced by the competitive characteristics.The bigger a nd old players in the market face the headache of dealing with ageing aircraft that need constant repair (George, 2008). This means that costs of production has been increasing with rime, as the planes get older. Secondly, these big players find themselves being captive of labor unions representing employees, some of whom have operated with the airlines for decades. These kinds of increases in the cost of their operating mean that consumers of their services would pay more for travel.Contrary, budget airlines find themselves with newer aircraft that do not require constant repairs, reason being that they are relatively new in the market. In this regard, the budget airlines are able to operate at lower costs and therefore charge competitive fares for their services, much to the detriment of bigger and well established players.Budget airlines are less affected by union demands. In addition, the older airlines have for many years invested in other facilities whose maintainable increase s the cost of operating their businesses, which further means that budget airlines would continue   to out-compete their well established rivals.

Fiscal Decentralization and Economic Growth in Pakistan

FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN PAKITAN A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of MBA (Finance) (2009-2011) Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar Chapter 1: Introduction According to James Edwin Kee, Fiscal decentralization is the devolution of certain administrative and fiscal powers and functions to the sub-national governments.It also means the shifting of responsibility to the low-level governments with concomitant accountability. The extent of Fiscal devolution can be measured in terms of the powers of low-level governments to raise revenue or to incur expenditures. Fiscal devolution in the public sector has received great attention during the last two decades for many reasons. The implications of financial autonomy on the performance of sub level government and economic growth has been studied widely both for the developing and the developed world.In transition countries, with the disintegration of centralized system, fiscal federalism emerged; and in many developing countries, like India, Brazil and Argentina, financial decentralization was debated regarding its effects on economic stabilization. Some studies have, however, suggested that the relationship between the two has not been conclusive. [Financial devolution] is reckoned as a key policy tool that ensures economic efficiency and good governance through financial autonomy of the [federating units].It leads to the integration of provinces and enhances their participatory role in the economic development of a country. It relieves the central government from paying attention to the details of financial matters, thereby enabling it to undertake the tasks at national level in a more effective and efficient manner. Also, if the central government for some reasons becomes inefficient, then devolution can be a possible solution. It accelerates growth and empowers the low-level governments through financial autonomy and administrative empowerment.The devolution makes the federating units more responsible as it brings the government closer to the people. Decentralization policy has a positive effect on economic growth as it helps implement social policies in a better manner. In decentralized set ups, the lower tiers of governments know more about the necessities and developmental needs of the people, which leads to economic efficiency in service delivery, thereby accelerating the growth rate at national and regional levels. This is also called the â€Å"Oats Decentralization Theorem†.It says that if the people in one municipality are not provided with adequate public services, they may opt for shifting to other municipalities having more facilities. Financial autonomy reduces the wasteful utilization of resources by the central government. According to Bird and Smart (2002), for effective service delivery it is important that the recipient of funds has clear man date, sufficient resources and powers to make decisions. Through decentralization, responsibilities as well as resources are devolved to the lower level governments (Rondinelli,1981).In this way , the federating units are empowered which enable them to use the resources to good effect , raise living standard of the people and distribute the work load (Gordin, 2004). In Pakistan’s case, the significance of Fiscal devolution cannot be overemphasized. Pakistan is a federation having a centralized taxation system. The major chunk of revenue is collected by the central government, which is then distributed among the provinces to remove financial disparities.Article 160 of the constitution empowers the president that he shall constitute National Finance Commission after every five years for the distribution of funds, taxes and other monetary assets among the federating units. The decision of the commission is called National Finance Commission Award. The commission is comprised of the finance ministers of the federation and the provinces and such other persons as may be appointed by the president in consultation with the governors of the respective provinces. So far, seven NFC Awards have been announced, the latest being the 7th NFC Award of 2010.Except for the 1974 Award, there has been a growing tendency in the transfer of revenue from the centre to the provinces. The 4th NFC Award was a significant move forward towards fiscal decentralization as it enhanced the share of the provinces by 18% and accepted their right over hydel profit, developmental surcharge and excise duty on crude oil. The 7th NFC Award accepted the demands of Baluchistan, KPK, Sindh by devising a formula, wherein poverty, inverse population density and under development have also been given due weightage.Moreover, the provincial share has been enhanced from the previous 47. 5% to 56%. The provinces were also given the powers to collect Sales Tax on their own. Following this decision, the Sindh Province has already undertaken this task and claims to have collected 50% more Sales Tax in the first five months of the financial year compared to the corresponding period last year [Dawn, Dec 10, 2011]. The 8th Financial Award is scheduled to be held on 16th Dec, 2011.Apart from the resource distribution Through NFC Award, Article 161 of the Constitution provides for transfer of Royalty on natural resources to the respective provinces in the shape of surcharge on gas and crude oil. This will lead to greater transfer of funds from the centre to the provinces. With the 18th Constitutional amendment, the concurrent list has been abolished, and with it entry No. 49 in the 4th Schedule to the Federal Legislative list has also been amended. As a result, the GST Services in Federal Excise mode have been assigned to the provinces.Despite the presence of this constitutional mechanism for resource distribution, the smooth allocation of funds was interrupted due to deadlocks among th e provinces over the distribution formula, and, resultantly, the NFC Award failed to narrow down the vertical and horizontal resource gaps. At the district level, The National Reconstruction Bureau launched a decentralization programmed through Government Plan 2000, wherein it was acknowledged that without Fiscal Decentralization no authority is devolved, which further emphasizes the importance of transfer of funds to the lower tiers of government.The above paragraphs portray only one side of the picture. There are many studies which suggest that there is no direct relationship between fiscal devolution and economic growth and efficiency at the level of sub-national governments. As a matter of fact, there is also a strong case against the Fiscal federalism. It may lead to social inequalities as for instance, incomes and taxes may not be equitably distributed among the various regions of a country. Also, fixed costs are associated with running administrations of low-level governments .So, in low-income countries it may not be justified to spend substantial amount of the available funds on these expenses (Homme,1995). The relationship of Fiscal devolution and economic growth has been studied extensively in recent years. So, large volume of literature is available on the topic. Different relationships were studied to establish any clear relationship between Fiscal devolution and economic growth, but inconsistent results were obtained both for the developed and the developing economies.Some studies have shown positive relationship, others negative and still others no relationship at all between economic growth and fiscal autonomy. For Pakistan, too, studies have yet to find any clear relationship between financial decentralization and economic growth. Important contributions on this subject have been made by Zang and Zou(1998) ,Xie , Zou and Davoodi (1999) , Lin and Liu (2000) , Thieben (2001) , Martinez-Vazquez , McNab(2001) , Felenstine & Iwata (2005) and Kardar (2006) etc.This study identifies strengths and weaknesses of the existing Resource Distribution System (RDS) through historical review. It is generally believed that that proper information about the existing RDS will lead to better policy formulation, which will ultimately put the country on the road to prosperity. In this connection, it is also worthwhile to analyze the implications of the current resource distribution policies on the economic growth of the country. Thus, this study helps ascertain the extent of financial autonomy of the provinces and measures its long term benefits.Rest of the study is arranged as follows: Chapter 2 pertains to Literature review i. e. study conducted previously by other researchers on this topic; In chapter 3 theoretical background and econometric methodology for our estimation is being discussed; chapter 4 discusses sources of our data and construction of variables; chapter 5 covers results and interpretation thereof results and chapter 6 is abo ut the conclusion of research. Chapter 2 Literature Review 2. 1 IntroductionIn this chapter, we discuss the empirical studies related to our study i. e. work done previously by other researchers on this topic. 2. 2 Previous empirical studies The significance of relationship between the financial autonomy and economic growth can be gauged from the volume of literature available on this topic. Various important relationships were studied to establish clear relationship between the two, but inconsistent results were obtained both for the developed and the developing economies.For Pakistan too studies have yet to find any clear relationship between financial decentralization and economic growth. On leafing through the pages of available literature, one comes across valuable work on the topic, some of which is discussed in the following paras: Davoodi and Zou (1998) developed a theoretical model for studying the relationship between Fiscal autonomy and economic growth on the basis of ave raged panel data of 46 countries. The study showed a negative relationship between the two for developing countries.Zhang and Zou (1998), while using China’s provincial panel data for the period 1978-1992, found a negative association between provincial economic growth and the degree of financial autonomy over the past fifteen years. Philips and Woller (1997) studied the above referred relationship for seventeen developed and twenty three less developed countries on the data collected for the period 1974 to 1991. A negative weakly significant relationship was found for the developed world. However, no such relationship could be proved between the two variables for the less developed countries.Xie , Zou and Davoodi (1999) observed that there is a highly insignificant relationship between Fiscal Decentralization and economic growth for the United States, which the authors attributed to the fact that the country had already reached optimal level of fiscal autonomy and thus no fu rther progress on this line was possible. Thieban (2001) made use of OECD countries cross sectional data for the period 1975 to 1995, but the study failed to establish any link between revenue decentralization of the low-level governments and economic growth of these countries.Martinez –Vazquez and Mc Nab (2001) concluded that the relationship between fiscal decentralization and economic growth is still unclear, and that little attention has been paid to indirect factors through which fiscal devolution may influence economic growth. In contrast to the above findings, Lin and Liu (2000), while using panel data of 28 provinces for the period 1970 to 1993, arrived at the conclusion that there exists a positive relationship between fiscal decentralization and economic growth in China. The authors noted that the impressive growth of china for the last twenty years can be linked to fiscal reforms.Ebel and Yilmaz (2001), observed that Fiscal design of OECD countries is unable to exp lain Fiscal decentralization in true sense. Martinez –Vazquez and Mc Nab (2003), on the basis of panel data, covering the period 1972-1997, studied the direct and indirect relationship between fiscal decentralization, economic growth and macroeconomic stability . They arrived at the conclusion that devolution minimizes the inflation rate, has no direct influence on economic growth, and has positive indirect effect on growth as it results in on macroeconomic stability.Justin Yifu and Zhiqiang (2000), investigated the implications of fiscal decentralization of economic growth in China, and found that it has made remarkable contribution to economic growth. This finding is in conformity with the hypothesis that Fiscal devolution enhances economic efficiency. Fielstentein and Iwata (2005), while using VAR (Vector Auto regressive) model found that there is a relationship between decentralization and macro economic performance in China. They concluded that Fiscal decentralization is positively related to growth in the period after the war, and has negative effects on the inflation rate after the 1970s.While using the cross country data for 78 countries, Mello and Barenstein (2001) observed that as the share of receipts, including non-tax revenue, grants and transfer of funds, from the federal government increases in the total provincial revenues, the relationship between financial devolution and governance grows stronger. Shah (1991) pointed out that poor performance in most of the developing countries in the last 40 years can be attributed to highly centralized regimes.Huther and Shah (1998) noted that good governance and fiscal decentralization are positively related, which in turn may enhance economic growth. Akai and Sakata (2002) used single country data and predicted that fiscal decentralization plays a role in economic development. They pointed out that in the United States, high government spending was required in the initial phases of economic develop ment, therefore, any analysis that took into consideration this period is bound to overestimate the role of central government in the economic development.This led Xie et al (1999) to declare that decentralization has adverse effect on economic development. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez and Mark Rider (2006) pointed out the structure of financial system plays a pivotal role in determining the conduct and performance of low-level governments, which indirectly influence economic growth of a country. According to them, though both China and India show great financial decentralization, the central governments restrict the fiscal autonomy of the sub-national governments through conditional grants and inadequate powers to raise revenue.Thus, the regional governments are forced to use extra budgetary allocations to overcome their financial constraints, which results in waste of resources. These structural infirmities in the financial systems entail profligacy and unproductive expenditure policies , which may hamper the growth rate in the future in both the countries. Nobuo Akai, Yukihiro Nishimura and Masayo Sakata (2007), while using panel data of the fifty states of the US, showed that fiscal decentralization minimizes the variance of GDP growth due to decentralization among various levels of government.They also observed that there exists a negative relationship between fiscal devolution and economic volatility. Hiroko Uchimora and Yurika Suzuki (2009) studied Fiscal Decentralization in the Philippines after the promulgation of Local Government code (1991) . This study examined the fiscal relationship between the central and sub national governments by using the indicators of Fiscal decentralization. According to their findings, in the Philippines, the responsibility to incur expenditures by the local governments is not accompanied by corresponding strengthening of the fiscal capacity.As a result, local governments rely heavily on fiscal transfers from the central governm ent and Internal Revenues Allotment, which render the local finance unstable. Atushi Alimi(2004) Although , in theory, decentralization promises efficient provision of public services at local level, empirical evidence gives a mixed picture regarding its implications on economic growth. They attempted to resolve this inconsistency by using instrumental technique on the data for the period 1997 to 2001.In this study, fiscal decentralization is measured in terms of the ratio between local expenditure to total government expenditure. The result showed a significant positive relationship between per capita growth rate and Fiscal decentralization. Perraton, J. and Wells, p. (2003), in their paper, ‘Multi level governance and Economic cohesion’ noted three general trends in economic policy making: the transfer of powers to supranational institution in economic policy formulation, e. g. he formation of the European Union and World Trade Organization; secondly, almost all devel oped countries have established regional organizations, to which powers of economic policy-making have been devolved. In the transition states, there is a growing tendency towards decentralization to curtail expenditures and to make the governments more accountable; thirdly, the governments are now inclined to reduce their sizes and make alternate arrangements for governance through NGOs. This concept of governance is referred to as multi-level governance.In Pakistan’s case, Fiscal Federalism has been studied in detail. According to Anwar Shah, World Bank (Dec, 2006), there are two ways of transferring funds from the Centre to the provinces: assigning share of the federal revenues to the provinces at a pre-determined rate and direct transfer of funds (other than revenue) from the Centre to the provinces. According to him, the revenue sharing system in Pakistan affects the transfers in a lump sum and predictable manner to the federating units, which are at liberty to use these funds the way they choose.The author further argues that NFC places greater responsibility of revenue collection on the Federal government, thereby making the tax machinery efficient and tax compliance cost effective. The Revenue sharing system may have its merits, but it is also associated with certain demerits. For example, the provinces enjoy vast discretion in the utilization of funds, but have no control over the amount of funds they receive from the centre ; the federal government cannot influence the provinces to set priorities for achieving uniform standards in reas like health and Education; the provinces receive the funds without any strings attached to it , therefore, they feel less accountable while spending the funds; the share received by the provinces have no relation with the expenditures they incur, as usually the expenditures outgrow the rate at which the Federal revenue grows. Nighat Bilgrami and Mahpara Sadaqat (2006) have given an account of evolution and worki ng of NFC Award ever since its introduction in 1951. According to the authors, with the exception of 1974 Award, there is a growing tendency in increase of revenue transfer to the provinces.The major step forward in this direction was the 1991 NFC Award, wherein new taxes were included in the divisible pool. In addition, as envisaged in Article 161 of the Constitution, royalty on crude oil and surcharge on gas were also transferred to the provinces. This caused greater decentralization of funds, which over a period of time played a pivotal role in improving service delivery in health, education and irrigation etc sectors. The paper identifies various forms of fund transfers from the Federal government to the provinces.These include Revenue Sharing Transfers, Straight transfers, Recurring Grants, Development Grants and loans. The authors have also elucidated that how resources are transferred in Pakistan from the federal government to the provinces in four ways: from the centre to th e provinces, from provincial to local governments, from the federal government to the local governments and from local to local governments. The paper also gives a rationale for transfers of resources from the federal to provincial and municipal governments.At the end of the paper, the authors have suggested that smaller provinces be provided with soft loans and factors like backwardness and poverty be also considered while allocating the resources. Moreover, the provinces should be allowed to generate revenues that fall within their domain. Iftikhar Ahmed, Usman Mustafa and Mahmood Khalid (2007) have dilated upon the evolution of resource distribution over time. According to them the divisible pool has been expanded by the inclusion of more taxes.However, as population is the sole criteria for the distribution of resources through NFC awards, it has given birth to serious differences among the provinces. The paper says that resources are transferred from the centre to the provinces in two ways: Systematic or Formula Based transfer, comprising of revenue sharing and Random transfer, including grants, executive discretionary funds and Parliamentarian funds etc. According to the authors, with the passage of time the federal government has become more centralized, thereby adversely affecting the efficiency of the provincial governments.The federal government has got engaged in activities that purely fall within the purview of provinces. These include irrigation, roads, culture, tourism, youth affairs etc. This has increased the burden on federal government. The Federal government collects 93 % of the revenue but expends only 72%, whereas the provinces generate just 7% but spend 28%. The argument behind greater revenue collection by the centre is that it is more efficient in revenue collection than the provinces. But this argument is flawed as the provincial and local governments are left with lesser opportunities to collect revenue.This results in the dependency of the provinces on the federal government for transfer of resources. In this paper, NFC Award has also been criticized in that the criteria for resource distribution are mainly population. Elsewhere in the world, other factors like backwardness, population density, and revenue generation are also considered while devising a formula for distribution of resources. According to the authors, the major shift towards fiscal decentralization appeared in the 1996 NFC Award, whereby all duties and taxes were included in the divisible pool.By so doing transparency and predictability in resource distribution was though enhanced, yet the resource distribution formula between the federal and provincial governments changed little. The paper says that resources distribution has never been taken seriously. Only one criterion, that is population, has been followed for resource distribution, that’s why the NFC Award has failed to resolve the problem of Fiscal Decentralization. Usman Mustafa ( 2011) has highlighted the importance of federal form of government and has argued that even European Union has the characteristics of federalism.While referring to works of notable authors on the subject, it has been argued that Fiscal Decentralization increases efficiency, transparency and accountability. According to the author, in Pakistan’s case, there are pre-federalism (from 1947-71) and post federalism (from 1973 onwards) periods. In the first perid, the authority was centralized (one unit), whereas the second period is characterized by the march towards decentralization of powers from the centre to the provinces. In this context, the author argues that NFC Award is a step forward towards decentralization.He, however, criticizes population being suitable criteria for resource distribution between the centre and the provinces. In order to remove the grievances of the smaller provinces, a historical decision was taken in the 7th NFC Award on Dec, 2009 at Gawadar, to whic h all the provinces agreed. In this award, the demands of the smaller provinces were accepted, and a multifactor formula was devised. In the formula, factors like poverty, underdevelopment and inverse population density were also included for resource distribution. Moreover, the Federation sacrificed more that 10% of its share in favour of the provinces.It was also agreed that collection charges received by the Federal government on revenue would be curtailed from the existing 5% to 1%. This will increase the volume of net transfer of revenue from the federal to the provincial governments. All these decisions taken in the 7th NFC Award will contribute favourably towards Fiscal Decentralization in Pakistan. According to Kardar (2006), local governments have significance both in the context of Devolution plan and failure of central and provincial governments to deliver quality services to the masses ever since the emergence of Pakistan.He further argued that though legislation on devo lution is a landmark achievement, the biggest challenge is to settle the row over powers between the provinces and district governments. Dr. Shahnawaz Malik, Mahmood-ul-Hassan and Shahzad Hussein analyzed the relationship between Fiscal decentralization and economic growth for the period 1971-2005. They obtained mixed results on the basis of different variables used in analysis. The study further showed that with the continuous rise in the share of provincial government revenues and expenditures, economic growth slows down.Naeem-ur-Rehman Khattak, Iftikhar Ahmed and Jangraiz Khan, while using time series data, for the period 1980 to 2007, analyzed the resource distribution, and studied the impact of financial decentralization on the economic growth of Pakistan. According to them, the divisible pool has expanded over the years by the inclusion of more taxes in it. They pointed out that the resource distribution mechanism failed to affect economic growth positively, and suggested that the distribution formula be revisited, having regard to factors like tax collection and backwardness of the provinces.They further suggested that more powers be delegated to the provinces to raise their own revenues. Chapter 3 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND ECONMETRIC METHODOLOGY 3. 1 Introduction In this chapter we discuss the theory which guides our research, variables of our model, type of statistical relationship and the model we will use for estimation. 3. 2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Various forms of Decentralization. It refers to the delegation of powers and functions from the central to low-level governments. There are three main forms of decentralization (JICA 2008): . 2. 1. Decentralization It is the weakest type of decentralization, and refers to the transfer of decision making powers along with financial and management responsibilities from the officials in the centre to those serving in the local /regional offices. 3. 2. 2. Delegation Here the powers are delegated to the auton omous bodies, including corporations, housing authorities’ etc. , working under the supervision of the central government. These organizations enjoy vast discretion and decision making powers. 3. 2. 3.Devolution It is the gradual transfer of administrative, financial and political authority to the local bodies, which exercise their powers and functions within certain geographical confines. It has three main constituents, as discussed below: a) Political decentralization It refers to the shifting of powers and authority to local bodies, run by local political representatives. It has a well-established system of political decision-making and accountability at the local level. b) Administrative decentralizationIt is the form of devolution whereby staff of line ministry is dissociated from their corresponding ministries and brought under the control of the local administration. This is done through establishing local pay roll, which empowers them to reward and punish the staff. c ) Fiscal decentralization It refers to the shifting of authority and responsibility to the sub-level governments with regard to decision-making on distribution of financial resources. This also includes the powers to raise local revenue.Fiscal decentralization has attracted great attention, among the economic circles, especially for improving service delivery at the local level. The main objectives of Fiscal decentralization include efficient utilization of resources, effective service delivery, macroeconomic stability and economic growth. With these objectives in view, the developing world is following the principle of Subsidiarity, which emphasizes that authority should rest with the lower tiers of government for effective use, and that the responsibility of incurring expenditures should match with adequate financing.Decentralization leads to efficient utilization of funds through improvement in governance, as lower strata of government can better assess people’s problems a nd know their priorities. Decentralization enhances participation of local population as the beneficiaries are directly involved in planning the allocation of funds. Increased decentralization gives birth to democratization, which keeps the government close to the masses, thereby making it more accountable. 3. 3 Various theories regarding decentralizationThe above narrated advantages, and many more not discussed here, emphasize the importance of Fiscal decentralization. But it was since the publishing of Tiebout’s article, â€Å"A pure theory of local Expenditure† that this concept has gained great popularity among the theorists, and the volume of literature on this topic has increased tremendously. According to Tibeout (1956), Fiscal decentralization improves production efficiency through greater mass mobilization. In 1959 Musgrave pointed out that the role of government is to bring stability to the market and effect the redistribution of income.He further argued that efficient utilization of resources can be secured only when local tastes and choices are taken into consideration. Oates (1972) pointed out that people living in different localities have peculiar tastes and preferences for public service, therefore, local governments, as against central government, being better informed, will provide better services to its citizens. This concept is called Oates â€Å"Decentralization Theorem†, according to which economic efficiency can be enhanced by decentralizing the availability of public goods and services.Thus, the central government should be responsible for devising a national policy and providing efficient levels of government for distribution of goods . (Oates,2005) So, equipped with the requisite paraphernalia , the sub-national governments are in a better position to put in place welfare-maximizing policies. Cremer, Estach and Seebright (1994), stated that government at the centre cannot reach the information about local tastes a nd choices. Thus, it is through Fiscal Decentralization that local agents can bring about efficient supply of goods and services to their constituencies.Almost identical views were expressed by Qian and Weingast (1997), who opined that decentralization puts a check on budget expansion by promoting competition and strengthening accountability, which effects supply of goods and services in an efficient manner. Having said this, there is always a tendency among the local political agents to enlarge the scope of public goods and services at the cost of other jurisdictions. Rodden (2003) attributed this predilection to the type of decentralization being followed.If decentralization is dependent on self-generated tax revenue, smaller governments emerge; and if transfer of funds occurs from the centre, it results in budget expansion. Though from economic and political point of view there are many benefits of Fiscal decentralization, yet it is not a cure for all ills. For instance, Fiscal D ecentralization entails loss of Economies of Scale and loosens control over scarce resources. From it follows that centralization and Decentralization are not alternatives, rather the countries should find a balance between the two as per their requirements. . 4. Rationale for Fiscal Transfer in Pakistan The first reason is the general perception that the federal government is better equipped to collect major taxes, but is inefficient to collect smaller taxes. Also, the federal government may undertake major projects, but fail to deliver on smaller projects. Hence, the efficiency criteria must be followed while deciding allocation of means and responsibilities. The second reason for resource transfer from the centre to the provinces is that the latter lack the resources to finance the provision of even basic services.In the last ten years, the average revenue generated by the centre, provinces and municipalities stand at 89%, 5% and 6% respectively. As against the revenue generation , the share in recurring expenditure of the federal, provincial and municipal governments is 74%, 23% and 4% respectively. As regards developmental expenditure, the share of these governments is as follows: Federal government 65%, provincial government 25% and municipal governments 6%. These figures indicate that the provinces have limited resources vis-a-vis the amount of expenditure they incur.This necessitates the transfer of resources from federal to lower-tiers of government. Another reason that can be attributed to the allocation of resources among the different levels of government is Adequacy of Revenue. This concept refers to the capability of government not only to generate the initial revenue required to start a project but also to its ability to sustain it. In Pakistan’s case, Adequacy of revenue does not exist; hence transfer of resources to the lower tiers of government is necessary if they are to undertake any such projects.The fourth reason of transfer funds f rom the centre to the provinces is that there are taxes which though provincial in nature but is collected by the federal government, for example Sales Tax. Another rationale for transfer of funds is that federal government uses certain taxes for the overall stabilization of the economy; hence they should be under the control of the federal government. [NFC AWARDS Commentary and Agenda, Nighat Bilagarami, Jaffery and Mahpara Sadaqat (2006)]. 3. 5 ECONMETRIC METHODOLOGY 3. 5. 1Augmented Dicky Fuller (ADF) Test In this study a time series data is being used.Since this kind of data is usually non-stationary in nature, we first test it for stationarity or non-stationarity. For this purpose, an enhanced version of Dicky fuller Test, known as Augmented Dicky Fuller Test, is being employed. The ADF includes extra lagged terms of the dependant variable so as to remove auto-correlation. The following equations denote the three possible forms of ADF Test. i) Without any constant and trend ?yt =? *yt-1+i=1p? i? yt-i+et ii) Constant with non trend ?yt=a+? *yt-1i=1p? i+? yt-1+et iii) Constant with trend ?yt=a+? t+? *yt-1+i=1p? i+? yt-1+etOf the above equations, (iii) represents a more generalized form of ADF Test. Mackinnon(1991) gave critical values for the DF test The critical values for the ADF Test are the same as those for Dickey Fuller Test. If the DF Statistical value is smaller than the critical value, Null hypothesis of a unit root is rejected, which suggests that the yt is stationary process or the variables are stationary. If on running the ADF Test the variables are found non-stationary in their original levels of series, the variables are made stationary in their first difference level of the series. . 5. 2 Ordinary least square model (OLS) Once the variables are made stationary, estimation is made by employing Ordinary least square model (OLS). This model is suitable for ascertaining linear interdependencies in a time series data. Here it is also worthwhile to discuss Regression model. A multiple linear regression model estimates value of dependant variable (also called response variable) on the basis of independent variables (also called explanatory variables). But there is always a difference in estimated and observed values.Therefore, a Regression model also possess unexplained variable, also called error term, which measures the difference between observed and estimated values. y= b+b1 x1+ b2 x2+ b x3 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ +ei A regression model will be â€Å"best fit† if the difference between observed and estimated value is minimum. We cannot take error term by simply adding all the difference between observed and estimated value because it may contain both positive and negative values which can cancel the effect of each other. So, we take the square of error terms which leads us to OLS . i. e. minimum squared difference.OLS is useful for structural inference and policy analysis. For the purpose of Structural Analysis of data, cert ain assumptions regarding the causality of data are made. These are : error term (i) is normally distributed (ii) has zero expected value of mean (iii) has constant variance in each time period and for all values of X and (iv) its value in one time period is unrelated to its value in another time period. OLS is a very simple technique by which we can calculate the coefficient of each variable in other words it gives us the impact of one variable on another variable, which is summarized by impulse response function. | | | | | Chapter 4 DATA AND VARIABLE 4. 1 INTRODUCTION This chapter covers how data is collected, what are sources of our data and how variables have been constructed variables for our estimation. 4. 2 Data type For the purpose of studying the relationship between Fiscal decentralization and economic growth, secondary data is being utilized. 4. 3 Sources of data For the purpose of this study the following sources have been utilized. i) Issues of â€Å"Economic survey of Pakistan† ii)World Development Indicators iii)Ten years in Pakistan Statistics† (1983) iv)UNDP Human Development Report, 2007. )Hand book of Statistics on Pakistan Economy (2005)† 4. 4 Construction of variables Economic growth of the country is taken as dependant variable. It is measured in terms of per capita Log of per capita gross domestic product (LYP), which is rebased by the year 2000 market prices. The variable is expressed in real terms using GDP deflator to ascertain the pattern of economic growth over the years. The Fiscal decentralization is captured on the ratio of Provincial share in Total Revenue to the Total Revenue (PRFR). The data source for these variables is â€Å"Economic survey of Pakistan and covers the period from 1964 to 2008.As regards investment, it is captured by the Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) and data is taken from â€Å"Pakistan Economic Survey† Moreover, a variable for trade openness (OPN) is also used in the estimat ion model. This variable is obtained by adding imports and exports and dividing the same by LYP (at market prices). Here, too, the source of data is â€Å"Economic Survey of Pakistan† Other variables in the estimation model are Tax to GDP ratio (TGDP) and GINI co-efficient, the latter being used to calculate income equality and its source is UNDP Human Development Report. Chapter 5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION . 1 INTRODUCTION The section consists of results and their interpretation. In para 5. 1, 5. 2 and 5. 3 Stationarity of data, Autocorrelation and the results of OLS model respectively have been discussed. 5. 2 Unit Root test In a time series data, the major problem is the non-stationarity of variables. So, before estimation, a test is applied to make the variables stationary. For this purpose various tests can be employed, but in our case we have used Augmented Dickey Fuller test, the results of which are shown in table 5. 1 below. Table 5. 1 UNIT ROOT TEST| Non stationary var iables| ADF-value| 5% Critical value| Gfcf| -1. 693492| -2. 9303| Gini| -2. 462911| -2. 9303| Lpy| 0. 863730| -2. 9303| PRFR| -2. 206432| -2. 9303| TGDP| 0. 158213| -2. 9303| Stationary variables| | ADF-value| Critical value| Gfcf| -3. 997577| -2. 9320| Gini| -4. 766215| -2. 9320| Lpy| -4. 632922| -2. 9320| OPN| -3. 453532| -2. 9303| PRFR| -3. 662186| -2. 9320| TGDP| -3. 01612| -2. 9320| Gfcf- Gross fixed capital formation, Gini- Income inequality, Lpy- Log of GDP, OPN- Openness to trade (export+import/GDP), PRFR- Ratio of provincial shares in total revenue to total revenue, TGDP- Tax to GDP ratio.At the level, all the variables except â€Å"OPN† were found non-stationary, and were, therefore, stationarized at First difference level by using ADF Test. 5 . 3 TEST FOR AUTOCORRELATION Autocorrelation tells about the relationship between two or more error terms in the model. For unbiased estimation, autocorrelation must be zero. If there exists problem of autocorrelation, it has to be removed. For this purpose, two hypothesis are constructed : one, H0: Co-Var(u,u+1)=0,there is no autocorrelation between the error terms and second, Ha: Co-Var(u,u+1)not equal to zero, meaning there is a problem of autocorrelation.To check autocorrelation in our model, we have used Breusch-Godfrey Serial Correlation LM Test (BG TEST), as shown in table 5. 2. According to the table, probability of F-statistic is significant at 5%, so we reject the hypothesis that cov (ut, ut+1) is equal to zero. In other words, there is autocorrelation problem in our model. In order to remove the autocorrelation problem, we have applied ARMA model with autocorrelation through AR (1), AR (3) and MA (2). Breusch-Godfrey Serial Correlation LM Test:| F-statistic| 4. 781666| Probability| 0. 001241| Obs*R-squared| 20. 50376| Probability| 0. 002252|Probability of F-statistic is significant at 5%, so we reject the hypothesis that cov (ut, ut+1) is equal to zero. It means there is autocorrelation proble m in our model. 5 . 4 ESTIMATION The results of the estimation with OLS are tabulated in Table 5. 3 below: Dependent variable:LPYMethod: Least Squares| Date: 03/25/12 Time: 11:13| | | | | | Variable| Coefficient| t-Statistic| Prob. | | GFCF| 0. 004693| 3. 806074| 0. 0006| | GINI| -0. 324275| -2. 919698| 0. 0065| | OPN| 0. 000254| 0. 468847| 0. 6425| | PRFR| -0. 000173| -0. 517278| 0. 6086| | TGDP| -0. 003194| -0. 809929| 0. 4242| | | | | | | R-squared| 0. 97793| Prob(F-statistic)| 0. 000000| Adjusted R-squared| 0. 997081| | | Durbin-Watson stat| 1. 705104| | | | | | | In the model ‘’R^2’’ shows strength of the regression line, which means how much important variables are covered by a model or how well variation in independent variables explains the variation in dependent variable. For time series analysis â€Å"R^2’’ value must be greater than 0. 70 or 70%, which means the model must explain at least 70% of the total variation in dependent v ariable. In our results, â€Å"R^2=99%† value is greater than 70%, so 99% of variation LPY is explained by our variables i. . GFCF, GINI, OPN, PRFR, TGDP. But the values in the 3rd column against each variable show â€Å"t† values. If the t value, in absolute form, is greater than â€Å"2†, the relationship between the variables is significant. In our case, the financial autonomy is measured in terms of â€Å"Ratio of Provincial share in Total Revenue (PRFR)†, whereas the Economic growth is captured on the variable LPY. It is evident from the table that the relationship between LPY (dependent) and PRFR (independent) is insignificant because the â€Å"devalues, in absolute form, are less than â€Å"2†.It implies that LPY is not influenced by PRFR. In other words, in Pakistan’s case, Fiscal decentralization has no bearing on economic growth. The model shows that GFCF and GINI with variables have ‘’t’’ value greater than 2 in absolute form affect economic growth. Durbin-watson value in the table tells us about the problem of auto-correlation in the model. If the value of Durbin-watson test is between 1. 7 and 2. 2 there will be no auto-correlation. In our table its value 1. 7, so we say that the problem of auto-correlation has been removed.CHAPTER NO: 06 CONCLUSION This study focuses on identifying the impact of fiscal decentralization on economic growth through compilation of its historical trends. It is generally believed that that proper information about the existing fiscal decentralization system will lead to better policy formulation, which will ultimately put the country on the road to prosperity. In this regard, it is also worthwhile to analyze the implications of the current fiscal decentralization policy on the economic growth of the country.Thus, this study helps ascertain the extent of financial autonomy of the provinces and measures its long term benefits. In this study secondary d ata has been used, which covers the period from 1964 to 2008. Provincial share in total revenue (PRFR), GFCF- Gross fixed capital formation, Gini- Income inequality, OPN- Openness to trade (export+import/GDP), PRFR- Ratio of provincial shares in total revenue to total revenue, TGDP- Tax to GDP ratio are dependant variables, whereas LPY (Log of GDP) is dependent variable in the data.We used OLS model for our estimation, the results of which revealed that only GFCF and GINI have significant impact on GDP growth. On the other hand the influence of, OPN, TGDP and PRFR on economic growth (LPY) are insignificant. As PRFR and LPY measure the extent of fiscal decentralization and Economic growth respectively, we conclude that economic growth in Pakistan does not depend on fiscal decentralization. This may be due to the fact the Resource Distribution Formula has been mainly based on population. The results of other factors, included of late in the NFC Award, are yet to be seen.It is, therefo re, proposed that not only the impact of population in the distribution formula be diluted by the inclusion of other factors, being emphasized by the smaller provinces, but also the powers of the provinces with regard to revenue generation be enhanced. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. The words, Financial devolution, financial autonomy and Financial /fiscal decentralization are being used interchangeably in this study. [ 2 ]. In this discussion ,the words, federating unit, unit, province, sub-national government and low-level government will be used interchangeably.

I Got the Blues

I Got the Blues I Got the Blues I Got the Blues By Maeve Maddox Blue is not only a favorite color for a lot of people, it is a word that occurs in many English expressions, some of them oddly contradictory. Obscene language is said to be blue, yet blue laws are those that forbid activities considered irreligious to take place on Sunday. A common blue law in the United States forbids the sale of liquor on Sundays. The sky is blue but the gray coats of some dogs are also called blue. A blue mood is a sad mood. To have the blues is to be sad, and the Blues refers to a type of music about unhappy love. People who talk so much that others can hardly get a word in edgewise are said to talk a blue streak. (One can also cuss a blue streak.) Bluegrass (Poa pratensis) is a species of grass that is not native to the United States, but is closely associated with Kentucky, which is known as the Bluegrass State. Bluegrass music is a sub-genre of country music which relies mostly on stringed instruments such as acoustic guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and banjo. A bluebird is what the name implies, a bird with blue feathers. Some have red breast feathers. The Eastern Bluebird is New Yorks state bird. In literature and art, the bluebird is a symbol of happiness. Blue chip stocks are Wall Street investments considered to be safe because they are issued by the most successful, most profitable companies. When the expression was coined, casino poker chips with the highest value were the blue ones. A blue blood is a person of aristocratic lineage. The expression is from Spanish sangre azul. It was coined to distinguish families of Castile that did not have Moorish or Jewish ancestors from those who did. The underlying idea is that blood veins are blue and the lighter the skin, the bluer the veins look. The term Bluestocking was coined in the 18th century. At first it was applied in a derogatory sense to both men and women who attended Elizabeth Montagus fashionable London literary salon. It was the men who wore the blue stockings, but the term quickly became a common tag for a woman who likes to discuss literature. To say that something happens in a blue moon is to say that it rarely happens. Then theres Ol Blue Eyes, a common epithet for singer Frank Sinatra. How many more blue expressions can you think of? More about Blue as color of dogs coat Kentucky bluegrass Bluegrass music Eastern bluebird blue moon Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:The Meaning of "To a T"The Difference Between "will" and "shall"Plurals of Proper Names

Correcting Needless Sentence Fragments in Paragraphs

Correcting Needless Sentence Fragments in Paragraphs This exercise offers practice in identifying and correcting needless sentence fragments during the editing stage of the writing process. Instructions The following descriptive paragraph contains three needless sentence fragments. First, identify the three fragments, and then correct each oneeither by attaching it to an adjacent sentence or by turning the fragment itself into a complete sentence. When youre done, compare your corrected sentences with those in the edited version of the paragraph below Anthony (unedited draft) My five-year-old son Anthony is built like a little wind-up toy. His black curly hair, bushy eyebrows, a cute button nose, and chubby cheeks, which people cant resist pinching. These make him look like a life-size teddy bear. Anthony loves to wear his favorite black leather jacket with the image of Mumble the penguin on the back. And jeans with patches on the knees as a result of the holes he puts in them while crawling on the floor, pushing his toy cars around. Indeed, he is a very energetic little boy. In one afternoon, he will ride his bicycle, play video games, complete a 200-piece jigsaw puzzle, and, of course, play with his toy cars. In fact, his energy scares me sometimes. For example, that time on the roof. He shinnied up a tree and jumped onto the roof. However, he wasnt energetic (or bold) enough to climb back down, and so I had to rescue my wonderful little wind-up toy. Here is the edited version of Anthony, the descriptive paragraph that served as the model for the sentence-fragment editing exercise. Keep in mind that there are multiple ways of correcting the three fragments in the exercise. Anthony (edited version) My five-year-old son Anthony is built like a little wind-up toy.  He has black curly hair, bushy eyebrows, a cute button nose, and chubby cheeks, which people cant resist pinching.  These make him look like a life-size teddy bear. Anthony loves to wear his favorite black leather jacket with the image of Mumble the penguin on the back  and his favorite jeans, the ones with patches on the knees. The patches cover the holes that came about from crawling on the floor, pushing his toy cars around.  Indeed, he is a very energetic little boy. In one afternoon, he will ride his bicycle, play video games, complete a 200-piece jigsaw puzzle, and, of course, play with his toy cars. In fact, his energy scares me sometimes.  For example, I will never forget that time he shinnied up a tree and jumped onto the roof.  However, he wasnt energetic (or bold) enough to climb back down, and so I had to rescue my wonderful little wind-up toy.

Spiritual Needs Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Spiritual Needs - Assignment Example The results show that those who had frequent involvements in spiritual matters were significantly more likely to have longer, healthier lives. (McCullough, Hoyt, Larson, Koenig & Thoresen, 2000 ) Thesis - Of course any patient needs treatment for his illness, but this should be given as part of a holistic approach which includes an attempt to both assess and to meet his spiritual needs, whatever his particular faith stance and practice. In order to do this effectively it is necessary to be aware of particular spiritual needs. For this reason each patient should be assessed spiritually. A number of question s should be asked in order to arrive at the truth regarding an individual’s spiritual state. The answers then provide clues or pointers to what is required – does the person want to see a minister, to receive the Eucharist, or perhaps need space to put down a prayer mat if they are a Muslim.... Rather they provide an inclusive framework. They may not necessarily be addressed directly to the patient , but may be based upon observation, if for instance the patient has difficulty speaking or when there is a language barrier. They may for instance be wearing a cross or a Sikh steel bangle The questions do not include words specific to particular religious groups e.g .church, temple, synagogue, sacraments. It isn’t that these may not be used, but rather that it is necessary to establish first of all if the patient does belong to a particular faith ]tradition e.g. If they ‘I go to the Episcopalian church in my town.’ the care provider might go on to ask if anyone from the church know you are in hospital? Would you like us to let them know? If they say ‘I am a Muslim’ they can then be informed of any specifically Muslim provision such as a prayer room or told that they can use the day rom at particular times . b) My assessment of Michael R. Michael is a 45 year old gentleman whom I have come to know well over several weeks. He originally came into hospital with what he thought was simple chest infection, but was told within a few hours that he required a lung transplant, something he found to be devastating. Since that time his kidney function has deteriorated and he had a near fatal episode a few days ago. Date of interview most recent interview 27th July 2012 . Significant discoveries. Michael has a young child and, because he feels his illness is self-induced he feels a great deal of guilt about his more youthful follies such as street drug use which now prevent him from being with his child . He doesn’t want his daughter to see him in his present state. c) What went well? At first Michael pretended he didn’t want