Evolution of Theoretical Knowledge of nursing Essay

The ultimate goal of the nurse is to maintain, and restore the health of the patient. Nursing is considered both a â€Å"science† and an â€Å"art†. The application of nursing knowledge and the technical aspects of the practice is considered the â€Å"science†. The establishment of a caring relationship through the application of nursing knowledge and judgment is used in a compassionate manner and is seen as an â€Å"art†. (College of Nurses 1999 June Nursing and You Volume1, number 3 p3) This paper will attempt to explain the four concepts of the nursing metapardigm as it relates to the person environment, health and nursing. A person is seen as an individual possessing their own uniqueness, personalities and having their individual needs. A person should be treated with respect and dignity regardless of their cultural, religious, socio-economic class, marital status or sexual preferences. The individual should not encounter any bias or discrimination in school, employment or when the need arises for medical care. Each person has their basic needs that must be met while progressing through the different stages of development. One should be given choices, and be allowed to have an input in their care or treatment plan. They should be allowed to excel and strive to achieve their goals. Be able to reside and work in their chosen location and field as long as they are qualified for the job. They are usually part of a family belonging to a cultural group, living within a community or region of their choice. The environment can be open or closed. It can contribute to the building or endangering of the persons self esteem. One might adapt to the environment depending on one’s personal preference. A person might be seen in the eyes of others as the product of their environment that might be interpreted as a negative or a positive statement. Depending on one’s interpretation of the statement. Some environments have sub-cultures within the environment. Each group has different beliefs, such as religion, diet, attire, and dialects. The environment sometimes contributes to some medical problems, for example respiratory problems. Nurses unfamiliar with the laws and customs of the environment might need to familiarize themselves with cultural practices. What is appropriate and inappropriate for that culture for example male  nurses not allowed to give care to fema le patients in that environment and vice versa. Nurses might need to observe the environment for safety precautions and life threatening situations. Which will contribute or cause an illness, or preventing recovery. The environment is considered home and that is were the person resides. It is a familiar surrounding for the individual. Health can be defined as freedom from either a mental or physical condition, which impedes one from performing activities of daily living or preventing the person from functioning at their optimum level, for that individual. The person is considered mentally or physically stable or unstable depending on the diagnosis he/she is assigned. Health is when a person is in a state of well-being. The individual has been free of pain and disease. The patient is always the focus; therefore it is called â€Å"patient focused care†. Health is considered the quality of life, when an individual is independent and able to function without any obstacles of impedement. Nursing can be defined as one being trained in both theory and practice. Virgina Henderson also stated that â€Å"nursing is an independent unique health profession carrying out activities with or on behalf of the patient that contributes to health or recovery (or to a peaceful death) that the patient would perform unaided given the necessary strength, will or knowledge†. (Nursing Foundation (1999) Basic Elements of Selected Conceptual Models p 314). In nursing the nurse should be able to critical think, be caring, competent, compassionate and have a conscience according to Roach. (Roach 1992). Nursing would include, doing a nursing assessment, nursing diagnosis, nursing care plan, and a nursing interventions. Starting with short-term goals, and upon achieving short-term goals for the patient, then proceed to long-term goals. Goals should be realistic. Then evaluate and reassess if the needs arises. Problem solving and treating the patients as human, the same way you would like to be treated. Working in a mental Health hospital, the client is seen as a whole person, a human being. A person who is unable to cope, survive or function at their optimum level in the community, due to mental illness. Patients diagnosed with a mental illness, and are being cared for in the hospital. Their mental  status is monitored, and they are assessed on an ongoing basis. Patients are encouraged by nursing staff to verbalize their concerns, so staff can be aware of their needs, which will promote stabilization of the patient, diagnosed with a mental disorder. The environment in which the patient resides should be non-threatening therapeutic and be conducive to healing. The environment might be seen as open or closed depending on one’s perception. Health is interpreted differently, depending on the cultural, religious background of the person and their knowledge base, regarding health. With mental illness, the patient’s medication might need to be adjusted. Which will modify the behaviour and stabilized the patient at the same time. Assisting the patient to function at their optimum level, giving choices and promoting independence. My thinking represents a combination of worldviews. I looked at the whole person; reflect on the things that I could have done better. I attempt to understand the behaviors and practices of certain cultures. Gaining an understanding of the culture by using the deductionist path of science along with historical views of the person within the environment. As environment shape behaviors at times, I look at a combination of worldviews to determine each metapardigm.

Organizing Agatha Essay

The Enduring Appeal of Agatha Christie is an enthralling essay written precisely and effectively about the powerful author. The introduction to the essay is brief, yet very informative, giving the reader a bit of background information. It refers to popular literature abounds such as Stephen King and Edgar Allen Poe. I personally have never heard of Agatha Christie, therefore the information contained regarding other legends aided in my understanding of how popular and legendary she truly is. In addition to this, the thesis statement is succinct and presents the author’s opinion regarding Agatha Christie’s brilliance clearly. This was very helpful, as I was informed almost immediately as to what I was going to read about. Overall, the introductory paragraph gave me a great ordeal of background information, as well as three concise topics concerning the writing legacy, Agatha Christie, and her writing intelligence. This essay is effectively written as it has a rational flow of ideas and is very cohesive. Each paragraph begins with an enthralling topic sentence, giving myself, the reader, an appealing fact followed by the main idea of the writing. A great example of this can be viewed in the opening sentence of the first body paragraph which reads, â€Å"[n]ext to Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poiret and Miss Jane Marple are two of the most recognizable detectives in fiction because of their distinctive attributes.† Although this is an engaging topic sentence, the author did not include all of the points he/she wished to include in the actually body paragraph as Ariadne Oliver was excluded. On an opposing note, however, I do feel that points of each body paragraph are not strong enough to fully support the thesis statement. For example, in paragraph one the reader is suddenly bombarded with names of Christie’s characters without an explanation of who they are, or what novels they come f rom. It was slightly confusing for myself as I needed to do a bit of research in order to figure out who Hercule Poirot, Miss Jane Marple, Ariadne Oliver were. Therefore, it would have been more effective if the author had included a bit of brief, background information as this would make for a greater understanding of the body paragraphs and thesis. Similarly, I feel that the arguments of the essay are not in appropriate  order in terms of strength. I believe that the second paragraph should lead the essay as it provides more background knowledge of Agatha’s characters, novels and is an overall stronger argument. Moreover, the second body paragraph needs to be introduced with a more refined topic sentence that reflects upon the thesis of the essay. The thesis states that Agatha Christie engages the audience with her interesting settings, but the topic sentence of this paragraph is, once again, talking about various characters. Also, the supporting arguments in this paragraph are not written in the same order as the introductory sentence, which is an issue that ultimately leads to perplexity. On the contrary, the passage uses connective words which aided in signalling changes and movement in the text.. Aside from the minor glitches, the three body paragraphs work as a unified whole; for example, they contain links between and within all sentences and paragraphs. Basically, it is easy to follow and uses appropriate language to maintain the argument’s focus and to direct the reader. All three of the paragraphs are detailed and legitimate- clearly referring back to each idea throughout the text. For example, in paragraph two of the essay Agatha writes, â€Å"†¦[d]espite their varied locales, the common element that runs through Christie’s novels is the â€Å"closed† society. These worlds are cut off culturally, economically, or physically, as in the case of Ten Little Indians, which is set on an island off the Devon coast.† The author clearly states his/her point and follows this by a strong example of Margaret Christie’s work. Overall, the body paragraphs follow a structural pattern and present ideas in an efficient manner which actually enhance the reading material. Finally, the conclusion does a great job summing up all of the information contained throughout the entire essay. The author begins by restating the thesis and summarizing the three argumentative topics (Christie’s morality, her settings and characters) .The application of Christie’s opinions and morality in comparison today’s society really makes one think about what life would be like if her ‘world of moral certainty’ truly existed. Aside from the structural accuracy, the content and comparison to the present day is what truly captivated myself as a reader and made the essay effective.

Dividend Policy & Capital Structure

â€Å"Comparative Analysis of Dividend Policy & Capital Structure† Prepared For: Lutfur Rahman Senior Lecturer, Department of Business Administration, East West University. Course Code: FIN-435 Course Title: Managerial Finance Prepared By: Md. Habibur Rahman Utpal Kumar Ghosh ID: 2006-2-10-175 ID: 2006-2-10-179 Date of Submission: August 11, 2009 East West University 43, Mohakhali C/A, Dhaka-1212 Introduction ? ? Origin of the Report: Mr. Lutfur Rahman, Senior Lecturer, East West University, has assigned this report to us, as this report is a requirement of the course â€Å"Managerial Finance†. Objectives of the Report: The broad objective of the report is to build a strong familiarity about the Dividend policy & Capital Structure to measure the performance of the company. By preparing this report we are trying to acquaintance of the overall dividend policy & capital Structuring. Moreover the superficial objective of the report is to acquire knowledge about the insights of interpreting the ratios. Preparing this report such kind of topic is extremely beneficial for us as the students of finance. Scope of the Report: This report is based on the dividend policy & capital Structuring. Through this report we are try to focus on the area related to the financial performance of the companies. We particularly focus on dividend policy & capital Structuring and related ratios; as those are the major indicator of the performance assessment of a firm. Methodology: For execution of the report we use MS office software. Topic of the report is not permitting us to input data from primary sources. As the report must be factual, the data source of this report is basically secondary sources. We gathered our relevant data from the different periodicals published by the two cement companies. We also collect our relevant information from different books as well. We also collected some data from the internet to broaden our scope of analysis. Dhaka Stock Exchange websites, Meghna Cements mills website, Confidence Cement Ltd, websites are few of them. Limitations: †¢ Inadequate knowledge in studying reports. †¢ Lack of in-depth understanding of certain terms and concepts prevented us from going into details. †¢ Lacks of research. †¢ Unavailability of updated data. †¢ Time limitation is also been there. †¢ Lack of information and coordination. Confidentiality of data was another imperative barrier that was faced during the conduct of this study. †¢ Power Crisis. ? ? ? 2|Page Dividend Policy ? Dividend: Dividends are payments made by a corporation to its shareholders. It is the portion of corporate profits paid out to stockholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, that money can be put to two uses: it can either be re-invested in the business (called retained earnings), or it can be paid to the shareholders as a dividend. Many corporations retain a portion of their earnings and pay the remainder as a dividend. For a joint stock company, a dividend is allocated fast as a fixed amount per share. Therefore, a shareholder receives a dividend in proportion to their shareholding. For the joint stock company, paying dividends is not an expense; rather, it is the division of an asset among shareholders. Public companies usually pay dividends on a fixed schedule, but may declare a dividend at any time, sometimes called a special dividend to distinguish it from a regular one. Cooperatives, on the other hand, allocate dividends according to members' activity, so their dividends are often considered to e a pre-tax expense. Dividends are usually settled on a cash basis, as a payment from the company to the shareholder. They can take other forms, such as store credits (common among retail consumers' cooperatives) and shares in the company (either newly-created shares or existing shares bought in the market. ) Further, many public companies offer dividend reinvestment plans, which automatically use the c ash dividend to purchase additional shares for the shareholder. ? Forms of Payments: ? Cash dividends (most common) are those paid out in the form of a check. Such dividends are a form of investment income and are usually taxable to the recipient in the year they are paid. This is the most common method of sharing corporate profits with the shareholders of the company. For each share owned, a declared amount of money is distributed. Thus, if a person owns 100 shares and the cash dividend is $0. 50 per share, the person will be issued a check for 50 dollars. ? Stock dividends are those paid out in form of additional stock shares of the issuing corporation, or other corporation (such as its subsidiary corporation). They are usually issued in proportion to shares owned (for example, for every 100 shares of stock owned, 5% stock dividend will yield 5 extra shares). If this payment involves the issue of new shares, this is very similar to a stock split in that it increases the total number of shares while lowering the price of each share and does not change the market capitalization or the total value of the shares held. ? Property dividends are those paid out in the form of assets from the issuing corporation or another corporation, such as a subsidiary corporation. They are relatively rare and most frequently are securities of other companies owned by the issuer, however they can take other forms, such as products and services. ? Other dividends can be used in structured finance. Financial assets with a known market value can be distributed as dividends; warrants are sometimes distributed in this way. For large companies with subsidiaries, dividends can take the form of shares in a subsidiary company. A common technique for â€Å"spinning off† a company from its parent is to distribute shares in the new company to the old company's shareholders. The new shares can then be traded independently. |Page ? Types of Dividend Policies: ? Constant-Payout-Ratio Dividend Policy: A dividend policy based on the payment of a certain percentage of earnings to owners in each dividend period. ? Regular Dividend Policy: A dividend policy based on the payment of a fixed-dollar dividend in each period. Often firm that use this policy increase the regular d ividend once a proven increase in earning has occurred. ? Low-Regular-and-Extra Dividend Policy: A dividend based on paying a low regular dividend, supplemented by an additional dividend when earnings are higher than normal in a given period. Argument for Dividend Relevance : Gittman (10th edition) divided stock into two types, such as common stock and preferred stock. He also showed that dividends are the outcome of investment. So, common stocks are an ownership claim against primarily real or productive asset (Higgins, 1995), but he also said that if the company prospers, stockholders are the chief beneficiaries, if it falters, they arc the chief losers. Smith (1988) presented that stocks arc one of the most popular forms of investment. People buy stocks for various reasons: Some are interested in the long-term growth of their investment by buying low priced stock of a new company in the hope of substantially growth of share price over the next few years. Another reason he suggested that in a well established firm stockholders expect the stock growth will be stable over the long run. (Smith. 1988). Stockholders expect dividend but it is not promised (Gitman, 10th edition). Common stocks are hold by true owners of the business. Sometimes they are known as residual owners’ as they receive whatever left after winding up of the company (Gitman, 10th edition; Higgins 1995). Another type of stock is known as publicly owned stock. Common stock owned by a broad group of unrelated investors or institutional investors is called as publicly owned stock. However, all common stock of a firm owned by a small group of investors is denoted as closely owned stock. When all the stock is owned by a single person is known as privately owned stock. Due to the limit of number of share, stock can be classified in to four types. Such as authorize share, outstanding share, treasury stock and issued stock (Gitman, 10th edition). Authorized shares represent the maximum number of shares a firm allows to issue. Outstanding shares are hold by public. Treasury stock is repurchased by firm itself and it is no longer considered as outstanding share. Issued shared are the shares that have been put into circulation. Recently stock repurchase option is very popuLar as it is able to increase stock value by decreasing outstanding stock number (Port. 1976). Port also suggested that firms should avoid issuing stock to pay dividend as they slow down company growth. According to Short and Wclsch (1990), Johns (1998) and Port (1976), a dividend is a usually distributed in cash form to stock holders of a corporation approved by the board of director. It may also include stock dividend or other forms of payment. A stock dividend represents a distribution of additional shares to common stockholders (Higgins, 1995). On the other hand. Ross et al. (2005) divided earnings into two parts; either it is retained or paid as dividend. Whereas Wild et al. (2001), Johns (1998) and Kieso et al. (2004) argued that retained earnings are the primary source of dividend distribution to the stockholder. Dividends are only cash payments regularly made by corporations to their stockholders (Johns, 1998). He also specified that they are decided upon the declaration by the board of the directors and can range from zero to virtually any amount the corporation can afford to pay. 4|Page Jones (2005) said that dividends are the only cash payment a stockholder receives directly from firm and these are the foundation of valuation for common stocks. Stock price response to an unexpected dividend change announcement is related to the dividend preferences of the marginal investor in that firm where other things remaining same (Denis et al. , 1994). In addition, a company. Which changes dividend policy, is expected to xperience upward or downward trends in share returns (Gunasekarage et al. , 2006). They also said that for the initiating firms, the share prices continued to rise even after the initial public offering (IPOs). Higgins (1995) said that if the company will have less money to invest or it will have to raise more money from external sources to make the same investments stockholders cl aim on future cash flow, which reduces share price appreciation. Moreover, during dividend announcement period stock price also fluctuate due to announcement of dividend. Mulugetta et al. 2002) examined the impact of Standard and Poor are ranking changes on stock prices. In addition, Affleck-Graves & Mendenhall (1992) found that stock price reacts after 8 days on average up to 54 days of such earning announcement. With this believe, Hampton (1996) said that value of stock increase by more dividend and share remain undervalued by lower dividend policy. In addition, he also showed that there are two schools of thought regarding with the effect of dividend on stick price, one is dividends do not affect market price and the another one is dividend policies have profound effects on a firm’s position in the stock market. Benartzi et al. (1997), Ofer and Siegel’s (1987) and Bae (1996) found a positive correlation between share price and dividend. Furthermore. Campbell and Shi ller (1988) found a relationship between stock prices, earnings and expected dividends and he drives a conclusion that earnings and dividends is powerful in predicting stock returns over several years. Wilkic analyzed a 76 months share price index and dividend announced. He found a correlation coefficient. Which was under 0. 7 for the period 76 months and he also get that the maximum value of the regression coefficient being reached after 79 months. Moreover. ShilLer (1984. 1989) recommended investors in his study to buy the stocks when price is low relative to dividends and to sell stocks when it is high payoffs. On the other hand to their opinion, Jensen and Johnson (1995) suggested that, dividend cut results reduction in share price. More interesting matter is that if capital markets are perfect, dividends have no influence on the share price (MilLer and Modgliani, 1961). MiLler and ModgLiani (1961) also states that if the market is imperfect, dividend may affect stock price. ? Current Practices of Dividend Policy in Bangladesh: As Bangladesh is a developing country, the corporate culture is growing very slightly in our country. Dividend policy is a major financing decision that involves with the payment to shareholders in return of their investments. Every firm operating in a given industry follows some sort of dividend payment pattern or dividend policy and obviously it is a financial indicator of the firm. Thus, demand of the firm’s share should to some extent. Dependant on the firm’s dividend payment pattern. Many investors like to watch the dividend yield, which is calculated as the annual dividend income per share divided by the current share price. The dividend yield measures the amount of income received in proportion to the share price. If a company has a low dividend yield compared to other companies in its sector, it can mean two things: (1) the share price is high because the market reckons the company has impressive prospects and isn’t overly worried about the company’s dividend payments, or (2) the company is in trouble and cannot afford to pay reasonable dividends. At the same time, however, a high dividend yield can signal a sick company with a depressed share price. Dividend yield is of little importance for growth companies because, retained earnings will be reinvested in expansion opportunities, giving shareholders profits in the form of capital gains. 5|Page MEGHNA CEMENT limited (MCML) ? OVERVIEW OF THE COMPANY The Meghna Cement Mills Limited (MCML) was the first undertaking Bashundhara Group in the manufacturing sector. This enterprise produces world-class cement and, as a testimony to this, stands the fact that the concern has been awarded the ISO-9001 certification for sustained quality control effort. The Company markets its cement under the registered trademark of King brand†. ? Basic Information: Market Category: A 400. 0 225. 0 100 2250040 Foreign 0 Public 10 Listing Year:1995 Authorized Capital in BDT (mn) Outstanding Capital in BDT (mn) Face Value Total no. of Securities Share Percentage Sponsor/Director 58 Govt. 0 Institute 32 Graph 1: The Market price of share of MCML in 2008-2009 (Highest Value: 678. 25, Lowest Value: 336. 25) 6|Page ? Dividend Policy Followed By Meghna Cement Ltd: EPS Dividend Payout Cash Ratio 24. 15 279 216% 25. 00 22. 80 348 164 25. 00 7. 37 246 75 25. 00 5. 93 277 54 25. 00 5. 35 352 46 30. 00 65. 6 1502 75 130 13. 12 300. 75 26 Table 1: Financial Data of MCML from 2004-2008 P/E ratio Share Price(MKT. ) Dividend Bonus Share 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 25. 00 25. 00 25. 00 25. 00 30. 00 130 26 Year 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Total Average 11. 57 15. 25 33. 38 46. 71 65. 86 172. 77 34. 554 Interpretation: According to the above information it is visible that the company is following regular dividend policy (according to definition as given above). From 2004-2007 though the profit has increased subsequently but it was not sufficient for payment of dividend at a rate of the preceding years to all share holders of the company. For upholding the benefit and interest of general public the sponsors shareholders/Directors have decided to give up their dividend during those years under review of maintaining 31 consistent dividend policy for the 30 general public shareholders. So the 29 board of directors of the company 28 pleased to recommend cash dividend 27 26 @ 25% on par value of shares for the 25 public share holders taking into 24 consideration the profit and liquidity 23 position of the company during that 22 period under reviewed. 004 2005 2006 2007 2008 But In 2008, the EPS increased by almost Total Dividend 25 25 25 25 30 Paid 50% from previous year. So the directors ? Dividend decided to increase the dividend percentage to 30% instead of 25%. The company paid 25tk per share as dividend from 2004-2007 but in 2008 as the income increased by almost 50% than the previous year it paid a dividend of 30tk for the earnings of 2008. Total Dividend Paid Share Price(MKT. ) 400 350 Share Price (MKT. ) 300 250 20 0 The dividend policy that followed by the company has an impact on its share price. 150 As the graph shows the share price has 100 an increasing trend. As the company 50 declared 25% dividend per share from 0 2004-2005 this was more than its EPS so 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 the share price increased and reached to Share Price(MKT. ) 279 348 246 277 352 350tk. But in 2006- 2007 the dividend was lower than its EPS so the share price declined and again increased in 2008 with an increase in dividend. 7|Page Confidence Cement Limited (CCL) ? OVERVIEW OF THE COMPANIES Confidence Cement Limited is the first private sector cement manufacturing company in Bangladesh established in early 90's with having 4,80,000 M/T annual production capacity at Chittagong, 16 K. M away from Chittagong port, besides Dhaka Chittagong highway. CCL is the first ISO-9002 certified cement manufacturing in Bangladesh. It has a unique management system in quality Assurance, Marketing, Sales, and Procurements. It manufactures ordinary Portland cement. Our company aims to be the number one cement manufacturing company in Bangladesh, through continuous development and by producing high & consistent quality cement to meet all customers requirement at all time. To achieve these objectives CCL uses modern machineries, calibrated testing equipment's, computerized packing & raw materials mixing devices in its production process. Additionally the company frequently arranges internal & external training program for the staff of all level to develop the potentiality and skill of its human resources. CCL is always keen to keep the customers satisfied by proving the best possible service. ? Basic Information: Market Category: A 500. 0 209. 0 100 2090000 Govt. 0 Institute 25. 37 Foreign 0 Public 49. 17 Sponsor/Director 25. 46 Listing Year:1995 Authorized Capital in BDT (mn) Outstanding Capital in BDT (mn) Face Value Total no. of Securities Share Percentage Graph 2: The Market price of share of MCML in 2008-2009 (Highest Value: 627. 25, Lowest Value: 268. 5) 8|Page ? Dividend Policy Followed By Confidence Cement Ltd: Earnings per share -12. 65 10. 95 21. 65 27. 73 -14. 98 Diluted Earnings per share n/a n/a n/a n/a -13. 62 Net Asset Value Per Share 319. 83 326. 28 332. 93 345. 66 330. 67 Diluted Net Asset Value Per Share n/a n/a n/a n/a 300. 62 Net Profit After Tax (mn) -24. 04 20. 81 41. 13 52. 8 -28. 46 Year End P/E -9. 50 10. 78 6. 40 13. 30 n/a % Dividend % Dividend Payout Ratio 46% 69% 54% Year 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 5. 00 5. 00 15. 00 15. 00 10%B Interpretation From the above information it is visible that the company follows the regular dividend policy. That is the policy of the company is to pay a perticular dividend amount and if there’s higher earning for perticular year and if earning pe r share increases they also increase their Dividend amount. In 2004, due to tough competition the company couyld not earn desiered profit. This year EPS is tk(12. 65). However considering the 16 interest of shareholders the board of 14 directors decleared 5% dividend from 12 dividend equalization fund. In 2006 and 10 2007 , as the EPS increases than the 8 previous year so the board of director 6 decided to pay dividend of 15% per 4 share. But in 2008 the company 2 decleared a 10% bonous dividend which indicates the company has used 0 2004 2005 2006 2007 their earnings for farther investment so the company didn’t give any cash % Dividend 5 5 15 15 dividend. Dividend From the graph it is easily indentifiable that the share price had strong relationship with dividend. In 2004 the company decleared a dividend of 5% per share when it had a EPS of (12. 65) the increased. In 2006-2007 for an increased dividend of 15% the share price also maxmized and again declined in 2008 due to 10% Bonous dividend decleared by the company. Share Price (MKT) 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 Share Price (MKT) 2004 289 2005 250 2006 225 2007 368. 8 2008 318 9|Page Capital Structure Capital structure refers to the way a corporation finances its assets through some combination of equity, debt, or hybrid securities. A firm's capital structure is then the composition or ‘structure' of its liabilities. For example, a firm that sells $20 billion in equity and $80 billion in debt is said to be 20% equity-financed and 80% debt-financed. The firm's ratio of debt to total financing, 80% in this example, is referred to as the firm's leverage. In reality, capital structure may be highly complex and include tens of sources. Gearing Ratio is the proportion of the capital employed of the firm which come from outside of the business finance, e. g. by taking a long term loan etc. The Modigliani-Miller theorem, proposed by Franco Modigliani and Merton Miller, forms the basis for modern thinking on capital structure, though it is generally viewed as a purely theoretical result since it assumes away many important factors in the capital structure decision. The theorem states that, in a perfect market, how a firm is financed is irrelevant to its value. This result provides the base with which to examine real world reasons why capital structure is relevant, that is, a company's value is affected by the capital structure it employs. These other reasons include bankruptcy costs, agency costs, taxes, information asymmetry, to name some. This analysis can then be extended to look at whether there is in fact an optimal capital structure: the one which maximizes the value of the firm. 10 | P a g e Capital Structure Meghna Cement Mills LTD. Items Total Current Asset Fixed Asset Total Asset Current Liability Long term Debt Total Debt/ Total Liability Total Equity Share Outstanding Net Income Earnings Before interest and tax Retained Earnings Interest Charges/ Financial Expenses Market Price Per Share Debt to Total Assets Long term Debt ratio = Debt to Equity = Year 2004 1,003,252,653 1,422,581,752 2,500,368,171 952,991,742 923,377,280 1,885,115,488 615,252,683 2,250,040 26,021,799 195,208,573 390,248,683 162,297,008 279 Financial Information Year Year 2005 2006 979,316,891 1,427,560,032 2,406,876,923 970,701,416 812,529,812 1,783,231,228 623,645,695 2,250,040 34,311,762 176,319,775 398,641,695 67,785,759 3 48 2004 75. % 2005 74. 1% 1,189,929,096 1,397,087,008 2,587,016,104 1,197,987,718 718,168,213 1,916,155,931 670,860,173 2,250,040 75,106,875 201,332,892 445,856,173 118,067,797 246 2006 74. 1% Year 2007 1,064,749,181 1,378,737,392 2,443,486,573 1,128,318,964 787,868,674 1,916,187,638 527,298,935 2,250,040 105,096,707 236,610,206 88,286,676 120,127,996 277 2007 78. 4% Year 2008 1,588,397,601 1,307,816,629 2,896,214,230 1,443,833,003 833,152,269 2,277,035,172 619,228,958 2,250,040 148,181,023 278,378,580 57,399,542 99,849,906 352 2008 78. 6% Long Term Debt Solvency 6. 9% 33. 8% 27. 8% 32. 2% 28. 8% 3. 06 2. 86 2. 86 3. 63 3. 68 Times Interest Earned = 1. 20 2. 60 1. 71 1. 97 2. 79 Interpretation: According to the above information we can say that the company has a higher debt in its capital structure. As its Debt/Asset ratio shows from 2004-2008 it has been maintaining almost same amount of debt which is 75% of total assets in its capital structure. It indicates the company is a hi ghly leveraged firm and more risky in terms of debt. According to Long term debt ratio the company maintained a long term debt of around 33% from 2004 – 2008, which also indicates that the company had higher short term debt than it’s long term debt. Time interest earn ratio indicates that the company has enough liquid asset to payback its interest expenses. However Debt/Equity ratio shows the company had a capital structure containing higher debt than its equity. The total debt amount fluctuates throughout this given 5 years but it remains almost three times than its total equity. 11 | P a g e Capital Structure: Confidence Cement Mills LTD. Financial Information Items Year 2004 Year 2005 482627000 570818000 1053645000 429290000 4421000 52985936 433711722 619933000 1900000 20814000 176,319,775 208362754 21573000 250 Year 2006 424937956 580334331 1005272287 362205475 10501799 61807398 372707274 661065000 1900000 41132000 201,332,892 220862754 17559894 225 Year 2007 535307861 564884690 1100192551 413902667 1040702 97073198 414943369 685249000 1900000 52684000 236,610,206 240862754 19968848 368. 8 Year 2008 564074297 590057449 1154131746 525841496 0 58606753 525841496 628290000 1900000 -28459000 278,378,580 221862754 26294826 318 Total Current Asset Fixed Asset Total Asset Current Liability Long term Debt Account Payable/ Trade Creditors Total Debt/ Total Liability Total Equity Share Outstanding Net Income Earnings Before interest and tax Retained Earnings Interest Charges/ Financial Expenses Market Price Per Share 357315000 579526135 936841360 329088697 83293 39197784 329171990 607669370 1900000 -24039000 195,208,573 207412754 25264715 289 12 | P a g e Long Term Debt Solvency Debt to Total Assets = 2004 35. 1% 2005 41. 2% 006 37. 1% 2007 37. 7% 2008 45. 6% Long term Debt ratio = Debt to Equity = 0. 00% 0. 4% 1. 0% .01% 0. 00% 0. 05 0. 02 .02 .01 .01 Times Interest Earned = -1. 951485 -0. 035183 2. 54968 2. 9453453 -2. 0823 Interpretation: According to the above information we can say that the company has a lower debt in its capital structure. As its Debt/Asset ratio shows from 2004-2008 it has been maintaining increasing amount of debt in its capital structure which was 35. 1% in 2004 & reached to45. 5% in 2008. It indicates the company is a moderately levered firm and risky in terms of debt. According to Long term debt ratio the company maintained nonexistence long term debt only 2% in 2006, which also indicates that the company had higher short term debt than it’s long term debt. Time interest earn ratio indicates that the company has did not had enough earning to payback of its interest other than the year of 2006 &2007. However Debt/Equity ratio shows the company had a capital structure containing lower debt than its equity. The total debt amount remained almost constant throughout this given 5 years which is very negligible than its total equity. 13 | P a g e Comparative Analysis 14 | P a g e Divedend Policy Comparative Financial Data Analysis The financial data we gathered to find out the relationship between various variables with price of two different cement companies arc given. We attempted to explore some conclusion on the behavioral pattern of changing the share market price due to dividend, dividend policies followed. The data are extracted from annual reports of two selected companies that are The Meghna Cement Mills Limited (MCML) and Confidence Cement Limited . The annual data of these companies has been taken from the annual reports and other annual publications of Dhaka Stock Exchange. Confidence Cement Ltd Net Net Year % Asset Profit End Dividend Value After P/E Per Tax Share (mn) Meghna Cement Ltd Net Year % Profit End Dividend After P/E Tax (mn) Industry Average Net Year % Profit End Dividend After P/E Tax (mn) Year Earning per share % Dividend Payout Ratio Earning per share Net Asset Value Per Share Dividend Payout Ratio Earning per share Net Asset Value Per Share % Dividend Payout Ratio 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 -12. 65 10. 95 21. 65 27. 73 -14. 98 319. 83 326. 28 332. 93 345. 66 330. 67 24. 04 20. 81 41. 13 52. 68 28. 46 -9. 5 10. 78 6. 4 13. 3 n/a 10%B 5 5 15 15 46% 69% 54% 11. 57 15. 25 33. 38 46. 71 65. 86 273. 44 26. 02 277. 17 34. 31 298. 15 320. 42 275. 20 75. 11 105. 10 148. 18 24 . 21 25. 00 20. 61 25. 00 216% -0. 54 164 13. 1 75 27. 515 54 37. 22 46 25. 44 301. 72 315. 55 333. 04 302. 93 27. 56 58. 12 78. 89 59. 86 15. 69 7. 02 9. 61 5. 35 15 20 20 30 105 72 54 46 296. 63 0. 99 7. 5 15 216 7. 64 5. 92 5. 35 25. 00 25. 00 30. 00 15 | P a g e Interpretation: Earnings Per Share: The industry average of EPS is tk. (. 54), 13. 1, 27. 51, 37. 22, and 25. 44 for the year 2004, 2005,2006,2007,2008 consecutively. In 2004 EPS of Meghna Cement Ltd was 11. 57 & after that EPS has increased and reached up to 65. 86 in 2008, So that, the graph shows that the EPS of Meghna Cement is well above of the industry average EPS. In 2004 EPS of Confidence Cement Ltd was (12. 65) & after that EPS has increased and reached up to 27. 63 in 2007. After that EPS has decreased again and reached to (14. 8)So that, the graph shows that the EPS of Confidence Cement is well below of the industry average EPS. Comperative EPS 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 -10 -20 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Confidence -12. 65 10. 95 21. 65 27. 73 -14. 98 Cement Ltd Meghna 11. 57 15. 25 33. 38 46. 71 65. 86 Cement Ltd Industry Average -0. 54 13. 1 27. 515 37. 22 25. 44 So, according to our Comparative EPS analysis, we can easily say that Meghna Cement Ltd. is in the best position where Confidence Cement Ltd is the worst position. Price Earnings Ratio: The industry average of P/E ratio is tk. 7. 5, 15. 69, 7. 02, 9. 61, and 5. 5 for the year 2004, 2005,2006,2007,2008 consecutively. In 2004 P/E ratio of Meghna Cement Ltd was 24. 21 & after that P/E has decreased gradually and reached to 5. 35 in 2008, so according to Industry average, the graph shows that the P/E ratio of Meghna Cement is well above up to 2006 of the industry average P/E, then in 2007 it’s ratio falls below the industry average and in 2008 equal to industry average due nonexistence of P/E ratio of Confidence Cement in 2008. Comparative P/E Ratio 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 -5 -10 -15 Confidence Cement Ltd 2004 -9. 5 2005 10. 78 2006 6. 4 7. 64 2007 13. 5. 92 2008 Meghna 24. 21 20. 61 Cement Ltd 5. 35 In 2004 P/E ratio of Confidence Cement Ltd was Industry 7. 35 15. 69 7. 02 9. 61 5. 35 Average (9. 5), after that EPS has increased to 10. 78 in 2005, then again decrease in 2006 and in 2007 it has increased to 13. 3. In 2008 there is no existence of P/E due to no cash dividend declared by the company. So, according to Industry average, the graph shows that the P/E ratio of Confidence Cement is well below up to 2006 of the industry average P/E, then in 2007 its ratio rise above the industry average and in 2008 no P/E as discussed earlier. So, according to our Comparative P/E ratio analysis, we can easily say that Meghna Cement Ltd. is in the best position where Confidence Cement Ltd is the worst position. 16 | P a g e Comparative Dividend Dividend Per Share: The industry average of DPS is tk. 15, 15, 20, 20, and 30 for the year 2004, 2005,2006,2007,2008 consecutively. From 2004 to 2007 DPS of Meghna Cement Ltd was 25 & after that DPS has increased to 30 in 2008 due to extra earning as discussed before. So according to Industry average, the graph shows that the DPS of Meghna Cement is well above up to 2007 of the industry average DPS. In 2008 DPS is equal to industry average due nonexistence of Dividend of Confidence Cement in 2008. 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Confidence Cement Ltd Meghna Cement Ltd Industry Average 2004 5 25 15 2005 5 25 15 2006 15 25 20 2007 15 25 20 2008 30 30 From 2004 to 2005 DPS of Confidence Cement Ltd was 5 & from 2006-2007 DPS has increased to 15 in 2008 due to extra earning as discussed before. So according to Industry average, the graph shows that the DPS of Confidence Cement is well below up to 2007 of the industry average DPS. In 2008 there in no DPS of Confidence Ltd. due nonexistence of Dividend. So, according to our Comparative DPS analysis, we can easily say that Meghna Cement Ltd. is in the best position where Confidence Cement Ltd is the worst position. Dividend Payout Ratio: The industry average of Payout ratio is 216, 105, 72, 54, and 46 for the year 2004, 2005,2006,2007,2008 consecutively. In 2004 Payout ratio of Meghna Cement Ltd was 216 which is equal to the industry average payout ratio because of non existence of payout ratio of Confidence Cement Ltd. in 2004. After that payout ratio has decreased gradually and reached to 46 in 2008, so according to Industry average, the graph shows that the payout ratio of Meghna Cement is equal to the industry average payout ratio in 2004, then it’s ratio rise above the industry average up to 2006 and in the last two years equal to industry average. Compative Payout Ratio Compative Payout Ratio 250 250 200 200 150 150 100 100 50 50 00 Confidence Confidence Cement Ltd Cement Ltd Meghna Meghna 216 216% Cement Ltd Cement Ltd Industry Industry 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 46 46 164 164 69 69 75 75 54 54 54 54 46 46 46 46 16 216 105 105 72 72 54 54 Average Average In 2004 there was no Payout ratio of Confidence Cement Ltd as mentioned earlier. After that payout ratio has increased in 2006 and then again decreased in 2007. In 2008 there is no payout ratio because there is no cash dividend. So according to Industry average, the graph shows that the payout ratio of Confidence Cement i s well below compare to the industry average payout ratio in 2005 & 2006, and then its ratio is equal to the industry average in 2007. In 2008 there is no payout ratio as discussed before. So, according to our Comparative DPS analysis, we can easily say that Meghna Cement Ltd. is in the best position where Confidence Cement Ltd is the worst position. 17 | P a g e Capital Structure Interpretation: Debt/Asset Ratio: The industry average of Debt/Asset Ratio for the year 2008 is 62. 1%. Debt/Asset Ratio of Meghna Cement Ltd is 78. 6% and Confidence Cement Ltd. is 45. 6%. So, according to industry average Confidence Cement is in the best position while Meghna Cement Ltd is in the worst position. Long Term Debt Ratio: The industry average of Long Term Debt Ratio for the year 2008 is 14. %. Long Term Debt Ratio of Meghna Cement Ltd is 28. 8%, and Confidence Cement Ltd. Is 0%. So, according to industry average Confidence Cement is in the best position and Meghna Cement Ltd is in the worst position. Debt Management Ratio 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 Debt to Total Assets Confidence Cement Mills LTD 2008 Industry Average 0. 456 Long term Debt ratio 0 0. 288 0. 144 Debt to Equity 0. 01 3. 6 8 1. 845 Times Interest Earned -2. 0823 2. 79 0. 35385 Meghna Cement Mills LTD 0. 786 0. 621 Debt to Equity Ratio: The industry average of Debt/equity Ratio for the year 2008 is 184. 5%. Debt/equity Ratio of Meghna Cement Ltd is 368%, and Confidence Cement Ltd. is 1%. So, according to industry average Confidence Cement is in the best position Meghna Cement Ltd is in the worst position. Time Interest Earned: The industry average of Time Interest Earned for the year 2008 is 0. 5385. Time interest earned for Meghna Cement Ltd is 2. 79; Confidence Cement Ltd. is -2. 0823. So, according to industry average Meghna Cement is in the best position and Confidence Cement Ltd is in the worst position. Return on Assets: The industry average of Return on Assets for the year 2008 is 2%. Return on Assets of Meghna Cement Ltd is 5. 1%, and Confidence Cement Ltd. Is (2. 5%). So, according to industry average Meghna Cement is in the best position Confidence Cement Ltd is in the worst position. Return on Equity: The industry average of Return on equity for the year 2008 is 0. 26%. Return on Equity of Meghna Cement Ltd and Confidence Cement Ltd. Is (4. 5%). So, according to industry average Meghna Cement is in the best position Confidence Cement Ltd is in the worst position. Profitability Ratio 30. 00% 25. 00% 20. 00% 15. 00% 10. 00% 5. 0% 0. 00% -5. 00% -10. 00% Meghna Cement Confidence Cement industry Average Return on Asset 5. 10% -2. 50% 2% Return on Equity 23. 90% -4. 50% 26% 18 | P a g e References ? Intermediate Accounting ( 11th Edition),Donald E. Kieso ? The Analysis and Use of Financial Statements(3rd Edition),Gerald I. White ? Scott Besely & Eugene F. Brigham, â€Å"Essentials of Managerial Finance†, Thirteenth Edition, ? ? ? ? Thomson South-Western, Ohi o, 2006 www. bashundharagroup. com/mcml/ www. confidencegroupbd. com/cement/ www. dsebd. org www. wikipedia. com 19 | P a g e

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Classroom Management Essay Example for Free

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Withitness is the ability of a teacher to know everything that is going on in his/her classroom at all times to prevent discipline problems before they occurred. However, as important as it is for teachers to achieve this skill, it is just as important for students to believe they their teacher is â€Å"withit. † Students will still act disruptively if they feel the teacher does not notice them. Some ways that teachers can display this technique are: consistently suppress misbehaviors of exactly those students who began the problem; dealing with the more serious of two discipline problems occurring simultaneously; and decisively handling off-task behavior before it gets out of hand or imitated by other students(â€Å"Whom are We Talking About: Jacob Kounin,† 2008). Similar to withitness, overlapping involves the ability to attend to multiple classroom events at one time, and avoiding fixating on one event at the expense of all other classroom activities. For example, if a teacher is conducting small group assignments, and a pair is off task, a teacher may address them from a distance while still conducting the activity. (â€Å"The Kounin Model,† 2008). Momentum is keeping the lesson moving briskly, requiring the teacher to plan effectively to avoid slow downs. Kounin believes that teachers should not lecture for a long period of time to allow students to gain knowledge by moving around and maximizing their allotted time. By minimizing delays and interruptions, causes students will not lose interest and misbehave. (Charles, 1989). In conjunction with momentum is smoothness. While lecturing, a teacher must maintain direction and not drift off on tangents, be diverted with irrelevant questions and information or fall victim to â€Å"flip flops,† â€Å"dangles,† or â€Å"truncation. †Otherwise, students will be confused and act out from loss of interest. (â€Å"Classroom Management Theorist and Theories/Jacob Kounin,† 2009) Lastly, Kounin refers to group focus as the ability to engage the whole class. Some techniques he offers are: building suspense or ask community questions Though community questions may appear random, it draws the group’s attention and intrigue. The teacher must incorporate procedures to handle multiple situations at once to maintain group focus. For example, if a student completes an assignment early, he/she must have a back up plan such as providing another assignment or enrichment activity while he/she helps other students that are struggling (â€Å"Classroom Management Theorist and Theories/Jacob Kounin,† 2009). Kounin’s Model of Classroom Management is an important topic for teacher’s today, because it is one of the most difficult skills to acquire. Student-centered classrooms and discovery lessons are becoming much more popular in our classrooms, leading to a more active learning environment. Being able to handle multiple situations at once, keeping students engaged, maintaining momentum and smoothness in your lessons and transitions takes experience. These are the most difficult techniques for a first year teacher to learn; therefore, making them a habit during that year will allow for mastery of these skills to occur. I believe that Kounin’s Model is important to develop an effective classroom environment; however, discipline problems will occur, no matter the amount of preventive planning a teacher makes. Kounin does not address his procedures for disciplining, if he would or would not discipline children differently, nor does he address misbehaving as a response to some factor that is outside of the teacher’s control. As a teacher, I would incorporate Kounin’s theory in my teaching planning and practices, though remembering that each student may require different accommodations. References Charles, C. M. (1989) Building Classroom discipline: from models to practice. New York City, New York: Longmans Inc.. Teacher Matters, (2008). The Kounin Model. Retrieved May 31, 2009 Teacher Matters http://www. teachermatters. com/index. php? option=com_contentview=articleid=9:kounin-modelcatid=4:models-of-disciplineItemid=4 WikiBooks, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (2009). Overview/History of Jacob Kounin’s Work. Retrieved May 28, 2009, from http://en. wikibooks. org/wiki/Classroom_Management_Theorist_and_Theories/Jacob_Kounin WikiEd. (2008). Whom are we talking about: Jacob Kounin. Retrieved June 8, 2009 from http://wik. ed. uiuc. edu/index. php/Kounin,_Jacob.

Human Resource Management Strategies

Human Resource Management Strategies Introduction The importance of international human resource management is getting increase everyday as we have globalisation and internationalisation over the world. As a result, numbers of the multinational companies are getting increase. According to Brewster et al. (2007), the multinational companies are increasing and there is economic dominance as 80% of the industrial output for the world is produce by the worlds 1,000 largest companies. Brewster et al. (2007) also mentioned that as the number of multinational company increases, global transferring is increasing such as sending works between team members of the company based everywhere over the world. In addition, through this trend, diversity is increasing within the organisation and the multiculturalism must be carefully considered by the organisation to utilise its human resources effectively in their organisation. The one of crucial role of human resource manager is developing effective human resource management policies and practices for organisation such as recruitment, reward, training, development, flexibility, work-life balance, employee relations and communications (Brewster et al, 2007). However, these policies and practices can be varied between national cultures. Rosenzweig and Nohria (1994) argued that HR is the area of management most likely to be subject to national differences (Cited in Brewster et al, 2007). In these days, many large companies are trying to expand the company from their own country of origin to all over the world. These multinational companies are all facing same issues, which are developing policies and practices for the human resource management in their subsidiary overseas operations. In this paper, as a senior human resource manager of a multinational company in the Great Britain, will be discussed the main factors which will be considered while developing policies and practices for subsidiary in Latin America and also differences of policies and practices between the UK and the Latin America subsidiary operations. Culture Before start its operations, it is crucial that company looks for cultural differences between home and subsidiary countries. Briscoe et al. (2009) defined the culture, Culture is the characteristic way of behaving and believing that a group of people have developed over time and share. Brewster et al. (2007) argued that it is important managers to know how organisation formation and process, leadership idea, human resource practices can be affected by national cultural differences in this borderless world. These differences could make crash when the company start operations in various countries. According to Briscoe et al. (2009), these differences will become striking challenge for the company when people in the company has less knowledge or uncomfortable with these differences. In result, both operations and their human relations within the company will be failed. Briscoe et al. (2009) also added that when company uses their home country practices for activities such as recruiting in their overseas subsidiary, it will lead alienation and lack in trust and could be further more consequences. As many authors and scholars mentioned, it is important to look at the cultural differences between home country, which is the Great Britain, and overseas operations in Latin America. For the point of departure, Elvira and Davilla (2005) recommended to use the Hofstedes research as it is widely known, accepted and used to explore the cultural differences. Briscoe et al. (2009) also mentioned that Hofstede made the first major study and best known of the studies of the differences in national cultures. Hofstede discovered that the cultural differences could be divided and described by four factors: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, and masculinity (Brewster et al, 2007). Power distance The power distance dimension shows the level of equality within a society. According to Elvira and Davilla (2005), that the larger the power distance, the lesser the equality in a society, and the small the power distance the higher the level of equality in a society. It can be clearly defined that the Latin American countries are highly scored in the Hofstedes power distance index ranking table (Hofstede, 1991 cited in Brewster et al., 2007). According to the Hofstedes ranking table, five of ten countries at the top of table are all Latin American countries; it is Guatemala, Panama, Mexico, Venezuela, and Ecuador. The rest of Latin American countries also highly placed in the ranking table. Lucas et al. (2006) argued that high power distance countries like the Latin American countries, there are strong trend of hierarchical organisations and monocratic leadership. This argument can be proved by Hofstedes mentions, that the high power distance societies are more likely to be centralised and pyramid shape and a lot of superiors existed, large income gap between professions, a large scale of unskilled labours, and a higher respect for office jobs than jobs in manufacturing sector (Hofstede, 1982 cited in Elvira and Davilla, 2005). By contrast, the Great Britain scored low, which is rank 42 in the ranking table with Costa Rica, the one of Latin American countries. Not like the others, Costa Rica has lower power distance in their society. The Great Britain, however, scored low compare to the most of Latin American countries. Lucas et al. (2006) explained that the low power distance countries like the Great Britain mostly have horizontal structures and more democratic style of management. This kind of societies often called as equal society. Uncertainty avoidance Uncertainty avoidance dimension refers to the degree which members of a society desire structures, which has clear rules for appropriate performance (Elvira and Davilla, 2005). Brewster et al. (2007) also argued that the uncertainty avoidance is about the degree, which societies feel threatened by indefinite situations and try to escape ambiguous situations. According to Hofstedes uncertainty avoidance index ranking table (Hofstede, 1991 cited in Brewster et al., 2007), Latin American countries such as Guatemala, Uruguay, Peru, and Chile has highly ranked, which was in the top ten of table. The rest of Latin American countries also have highly ranked in the table. The companies in high uncertainty avoidance countries like Latin American countries, has strong bureaucracies, task-oriented, rules, and job constancy. In result, in Latin American countries, they fight with uncertainty situations through these strong bureaucratic management styles an in addition, Hofstedes mentions can support this argument that they are less willing to make individual or risky decisions, ritualised, and dependent on power to control uncertainty (Hofstede, 1982 cited in Elvira and Davilla, 2005). By contrast, the Great Britain clearly divided into different category from the Latin American countries, which can be seen from the table. They placed in rank 47 in the rank table, which is nearly bottom of table, it means they are totally different from the Latin Americans. Lucas et al. (2006) argued that the companies in the low uncertainty avoidance countries are encouraging more diversification in the views and have more flexible structures. In result, companies in the Great Britain are not relying on the power or others in their organisation to deal with the uncertainty situations, totally opposite from the Latin American. Individualism Individualism is the degree to which people prefer looking after themselves and performing individually rather than group working (Elvira and Davilla, 2005). Great Britain has ranked high in the Hofstedes individualism index ranking table (Hofstede, 1991 cited in Brewster et al., 2007), placed in third place following the USA and Australia. Great Britain is one of the highly individualist cultures in the world. According to Lucas et al. (2006), in highly individualist cultures like Great Britain, people in the society cares themselves and their family, and it is important for them to make achievement for themselves. By contrast, most of Latin American countries has ranked lower in the table, especially, Venezuela, Panama, Ecuador and Guatemala has places at the bottom of table. It means that they are low in individualism, which can be said that they are highly collectivist countries. According to Elvira and Davilla (2005), companies in collectivist countries, they concern individual as well as family welfare and people have a sense of duty and loyalty for the company. Hofstede (1991) argued that there are strong relationship between high power and collectivism. Hofstede added that if people dependent on each other in the group, they usually dependent on power distance figures. However, Hofstede explained that there are exceptions, for instance, France, which has high power distance with strong individualism (Hofstede, 1991 cited in Brewster et al, 2007). Masculinity Masculinity is the opposite of femininity (Lucas et al., 2006). According to Brewster et al. (2007), masculinity measures the extent to which the dominant values are male, such as assertiveness, the acquisition of money and goods, and not caring for others. Elvira and Davilla (2005) also argued that these values are related to the social role of men overcome other values like life quality, human relations, service, caring for the weak and goals related with womens roles. According to Hofstedes masculinity ranking table (Hofstede, 1991 cited in Brewster et al., 2007), Latin American countries has a dispersed scale of highs and lows. Venezuela, Mexico and Colombia highly ranked in the table, which is in the top eleven, however, Costa Rica and Chile ranked nearly bottom of table while the others are placed in the middle of table. Great Britain also expressed moderate value in the table; ranked at the ninth, which can be said it is a bit highly masculinity culture. Policies and practices So far, discussion of the cultural differences between home and overseas operations has been made. Theories and analyses of cultures and cultural differences are clearly studied and it will lead to help on developing the companys policies and practices in Latin America. However, in advance, defining and studying of the general policies and practices in Latin America will make this development further forward. Elvira and Davilla (2005) argued, at present, human resource management policies and practices in Latin America are mostly influenced by dominant global theories or imported practices from foreign countries. In result, these imported policies and practices are often cause failure when they implementing on their original plan. Montano (1991) also argued that these policies and practices would not fit to the general Latin American workers (Montano, 1991 cited in Elvira and Davilla, 2005) Another trends in Latin American countries are, that there are strict manufacturing processes and management control systems that stop workers development by reducing their decision making rights. In addition, there is an informal structure that symbolically compensate is going on for the impersonality of firm bureaucracies (Elvira and Davilla, 2005). Montano argued that theories are not needed to control the Latin American workers, while informal structure exist, Latin American companies will staying at the market (Montano, 1991 cited in Elvira and Davilla, 2005). Recruiting, staffing promotion In Latin America countries, recruiting is normally based on personality characters and physical characteristics (Elvira and Davilla, 2005). Abarca et al. (1998) highlighted, in Chilean companies, it is crucial that they primarily consider the physical characteristics such as appearance, age, and gender for selecting managerial staffs. In addition, it is vital to have good relationship with rich families, colleagues, or geographical bonds because it is most effective way to be promoted in the company hierarchies rather than their talent and ability (Abarca et al., 1998 cited in Elvira and Davilla, 2005). Husted and Serrano (2002) also argued that many companies in Latin America have been run as family business for several generations (Husted and Serrano, 2002 cited in Elvira and Davilla, 2005). In result, labour markets are small in Latin American countries and it means that people finds difficult to find jobs. As mentioned earlier in the precious section, about the Masculinity, quite many Latin American countries seem as high masculinity society and this fact is partially supported by Elvira and Davilla (2005) as they mentioned that women in Latin American countries are mainly works in manufacturing sector rather than authority positions because of few reasons and the one is companies in Latin America has negative attitude toward women in authority roles. Reward recognition It is crucial to develop motivation schemes for workers in the company to utilise their ability well. Before actually build the motivation scheme, it is important to consider the meaning of work for them. According to Elvira and Davilla (2005), in Latin America, family is central in workers lives. Generally, important aim for work is seen as to provide high life quality for the workers family. For this reason, companies in Latin America try to provide support and benefirs for workers family. According to Elvira and Davilla (2005), companies in Latin America provide health care, scholarships, support for purchasing education materials, and mortgage credit. Due to a family-oriented culture in Latin America, companies are never giving up thinking motivation schemes for workers as well as families. Elvira and Davilla (2005) also mentioned that many companies in Latin America hold many family events such as yearly family-day visits to the company, organise picnics, many different parties for the family, celebrate Mothers Day and Childrens Day, and offering some training courses as well. Training development Wilkens and Pawlowsky (1997) reported that 90 percent of the workers in an assembly plant in Mexico were unskilled or at most semi-technically skilled. This is due to lack of investment on training programmes by companies (Wilkens and Pawlowsky, 1997 cited in Elvira and Davilla, 2005). Chantell et al. (1999) and Lawrence and Lewis (1993) also argued that it is serious problem for Mexican workers that they have shortage of knowledge, education, and analytical and communication skills. Because this shortage delays the functioning of management practices, for instance, Just-In-Time production systems (Chantell et al., 1999 and Lawrence and Lewis, 1993 cited in Elvira and Davilla, 2005) The companies consider training the workers in modern management practices, however, they know that not all practices would match which local characteristics and some might be refused by workers or could be modified according to the Latin Americans style and experience (Chantell et al., 1999 and Sargent and Mattews, 1998 cited in Elvira and Davilla, 2005). Peterson et al. (2003) found the good example of training that US subsidiary taught Mexican employee to express their opinion at the company because they use to have fear of being sanctioned (Peterson et al., 2003 cited in Elvira and Davilla, 2005). Relations communications The information or communications flows mostly from top to bottom, as there are hierarchy and vertical structures at the companies in Latin America. There are often communication barriers exists for managers as Latin American managers prefer and favoured centralisation preferences (Wilkens and Pawlowsky, 1997 cited in Elvira and Davilla, 2005). The companies in Latin America, they consider personal contact vey seriously as they importantly consider the harmony and good labour climate. Elvira and Davilla (2005) argued, Social interaction and friendship are important conditions for good and stable labour relations here. Thus, someone who is courtesy and diplomacy can be highly valued. Conclusion To develop the human resource management policies and practices, it is crucial that we clearly define the cultures of the home and subsidiary countries as well as cultures of the company. Defining is not just enough to be success. The company needs to find out best matches of policies and practices for both subsidiary and company itself. In other word, we need the policies and practice, which can make both subsidiary and company in home country happy about it. There are often big difference between national cultures and company cultures. It is not great idea company to push their subsidiary to adapt original company culture and also conversely, it is also not great idea company to adapt whole culture of the subsidiary country. The headquarter might seriously consider the various different types of approaches that it mentioned earlier in this paper such as ethnocentric, polycentric, geocentric, or regiocentric. Based on research, company could decide which approach is the best answer for them. The best-known culture of Latin America is the paternalism management, in other word, family style of management. Each members of company are dependent on each other, cares each other and they higher valued for group loyalty. This is what we dont have in the home country in Great Britain. The company can utilise this advantage culture with what they are good at. However, company also need carefully consider about employees priorities such as family-oriented living or religiosity. It might be a too obvious suggestions, however, it is crucial to clarify what is good about Latin American culture and also same for companys culture and should be well mixed them to make synergy effect. There is no one best answer, however, at least this study found reasonably good answer based upon research and analysis. Human Resource Management Strategies Human Resource Management Strategies It is very difficult to define Human Management Resources. This term basically work with in two different approach. It is used to explain the body of management movements covered in books as a one way and other way it is a term equally and extensively used to contribute meticulous loom to the managing persons which is obviously diverse from the first aspect i.e. of personnel management. Armstrong, 2007 Aims of HRM: The main and the primary aim of the human resource management is to achieve the sucsess in organization by the pople. According to Ulrich and Lake (1990), HRM systems can be the roots of organizational potentialities that allow firm to learn and capitalize on new chances. Armstrong, 2007 Introduction How well did your manager manage your stress? The basic and the important task of the Human Resource Management is to manage the employees and get the work done properly by satisfying the employees by giving them bonus or some kind of awards if they are working good for the company and in short we can say that company should give rewards to the employees which are working hard and should give something in returns to the employees so they will be more interested in the working of the company. Basically the topic says that how manager manage your stress. That clearly means that manager is the person who is answerable to the head persons for the work and task been performed. Thus manager is the person who will manage everything and make sure that the work is been done on time and with the perfection. Thus manager manage stress by giving him/her extra complements about the work and will give a good feedback to the head persons which will give rise to the extra bonus and rewards to the particular person. Atkinson, William. Electric Light Power, Vol. 82. Zofi, Yael Sara, For the Continuing Care Professional, Vol. 58 Ross, Judith A., Harvard Management Update, Apr2009. Specific HR Strategies: The specific HR strategies set out what the organization intends to do in areas such as: Continuous improvement Providing for continuous and focused incremental innovation sustained over a period of time. Talent management How exactly the firm intends to win the war of talent. Resourcing Retaining and attracting high-quality people. Knowledge management Capturing, creating, sharing, acquiring and using instruction to improve the performance and learning. Reward There should be a perfect goal of the organization that what organization need to do in the longterm implement and develop the reward policies, processes and practices will help the further accomplishments of the business objectives and needs of stakeholders. Learning and developing The employees should be encouraged to develop and learn by providing them such an environment. Employee relations Determine the aim of the organization about the basic requirement that they want to achieve i.e. which they want to get it done and what are the needs that are to be distorted in the traditions in which the business runs its connection with employees and their trade unions. Susman. Broker Magazine, Jun/Jul2004. Miller, Jeffrey. Insurance Advocate, 3/10/2008. Lacey, Holda. Travel Trade Gazette UK Ireland, 6/10/2005. Bolton, Brian. Personnel Psychology, Spring80, Vol. 33. Let us take an example to understand it more clearly; here we will focus on the current stress management system employed by KFC and its analysis. KFC hasnt employed any particular system to monitor stresses of their employees but they are compliant to the local labor and health safety law. This permits them to discount their stress management system. As compliance with those laws make them to stop doing any unethical and unlawful activities. There are other issues which are also related to stress management this things are not part of any law but these are the management practice by the KFC authority. These are presented below: Employees are allowed to take leave in case of stress related physical disorders and this leave are on payment. In case of burglary or something unwanted on the work place which can cause stress on their employees mind they send them to leave on  payment. They solve other minor stress related issues by counseling the problem and supporting morally or physically whichever is needed or both (varies to demand of the situation). As these topics indicate that they are protected by the law mentions above which gives a substantial protection against stress. And this also allows KFC to maintain good level of satisfaction. In spite of not having a proper stress management system but complying with these laws control the stress at workplaces. How well did your manager manage your stress? The manager is a person in the job unit who takes all my stress away as when I have a stress of going college he is the person who manages my job properly and give me an alternative way. The manager is a person whom you can directly approach and who is answerable to the employees and the head authorities as well. Manager at the market place has all the authority to do but he always does the thing which will give the maximum benefit to the company and will give up maximum to the organization as if organization gets good profit than obviously that manager will get a reward out of it and will probably get a promotion as well. The manager is a person who manages the employees stress at the work place as well. There are so many kind of stress seen at the work place like too much work, sometimes have to work overtime, sometime the target is very high to achieve. Thus this are the ways to be taken into consideration by the manager at the workplace as the manager wants to decrease the stress of the employee on the workplace. The stress is reduced by the manager to get the accuracy in the work and to get the things done with perfection. The stress on the employee makes the employee to work less and because of this the work done will never be perfect because while doing the work attention is very necessary to be kept in doing things properly. The manager manage the stress and give bonus or rewards to the employees at times so that the employees are happy and do the work with which the company gets the best work done and because of that again the employees will be eligible to get the bonus out of it. Stress is the most common word in todays life as plenty of people like us great effort at get their work life balanced. This is a so called fact that stress has sometimes a contrary effect on the employees commitment to work, staff turnover, staff work and productivity, attendance levels, as well as on customer satisfaction and organizational image and reputation. Managers job is to manage the things going in the business and manage the whole staff and also supervise the whole floor to get the perfect accuracy in work. The people are sometime told to work more to get the work done but due to that also the employee feel stressed because of the hard professional life so this is to be taken into control to avoid the problems taking place in the future in the business unit. Middleton, Gemma. Accountancy Ireland, Apr2008. Donaldson-Feilder, Emma, Strategic HR Review, 2008. Noer, David. BusinessWeek Online, 7/27/2009. Urwin, Tony. Occupational Health, Aug2006. Guld, Michael. Supervision, Oct2008. Some of the present information about KFC regarding Stress Management is as follows: There are stressors which are common in nature as other organizations. These stressors mainly transfuse the stress into the employees of KFC. Among those stressors some of them very highly influence some varies from moderate to low degree influence. Other insignificant stressors are not considered for the simplicity if the model. There are also existing relations between the stressors which increase the complexity of the model. As task demand highly influence the role demand of a job and both of them are a stressor of KFC so this interdependence also plays a great role in determining the stress. Level of Stress: a) High High level of stress has been created by the task demand, temperature of the kitchen and nationality. It is seen in the survey that all the respondents give emphasis on the task demand as it puts a lot of pressure on them. Temperature is an issue when it is a rush time and kitchen are very busy at that time some of employees feel stress working in the kitchen and nationality plays a part as many of the migrant people work in KFC and in this study 2 of them are surveyed and it is found that there tolerance level to bear the stress is quite low than the British employees. b) Moderate Among Moderate level of influencer role demand space and sex of the employees are prominent. As role demand can create confusion which leads to the work place stress it is marked as moderate level of stressors for KFCs case and outcome of the survey and observation also supports this classification. Sex has been classified as moderate level of stressors as it is seen that male employees are more vulnerable to stress than the female employees. And also space is a factor which can create stress employees can feel suffocating working in a congested space. c) Low Noise and age are the two low level stressors. Age is an issue which can influence the level of stress in KFCs work place. Employees with lesser age like teen feel much stress than middle aged employees. And noise plays a very little role in altering the level of stress at existing workplace. Conclusion: From the above all discussion we can clearly conclude that there are basically four aspect of four kinds of stress that is to be controlled by the manager at the work place when the employees are stressed by work, mentally, physically, behavioral and cognitive. The stress is to be control to keep the business running smooth and perfect. Thus in short we can say that the stress factor is always to be kept in control by the manager for the smooth working of the organisation and the employees should have the bonus and rewards at times so that the employees remains stress free while working and do the maximum they can do. Thus this are all the aspect which is been controlled by the manager on the work place and keep the business running smoothly and accurately as well. Task 3 Introduction Defination of HR Scorecard: The measurement tool of measuring the performance and the offering of the human resource management practices to the financial performance of the organization is known as HR Scorecard. Bryan E. Becker Mark A. was the developer of HR Scorecard, which was presented in the books by Huselid and Dave Ulrich. The HR Scorecard basically keeps a eye on the human resource management practices as a strategic asset and provides a perfect road map of six steps which is designed to help the organizations integrate human resource systems with organizational strategy. Becker, Huselid and Ulrich, 2001. Rhodes, Jo; Walsh, Paul, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Jun2008. The 7 Stages in using HR Scorecard approach: There are basically seven steps which covers the HR Scorecard approach to get the strategic results oriented in the HR Systems. Defining the Business Strategy: The HR system starts from the basic decision called the business strategy, which will figure out the business plans of the business unit according to which the business is going to run and in accordance to which the task will be taking place. Outline the Companys Value Chain: To calculate the Value chain of the company and to achieve the business goals of the company the business should be basically engaged in certain strategically required activities. To achieve the goals and everything which is been decided by the business to achieve can be very much useful with the value chain analysis. Identifying the Strategically required Organizational Outcomes: There are strategic goals that are to be achieved by any of the organization and to identify the strategic goals perfectly and go accordingly is the organizational outcomes. Every company must produce critical, strategically relevant outcomes if it is to achieve its strategy. Identifying the required workforce competencies and behaviors: There are some of the HR experts, who refer to the required, and the necessary workforce competencies and behaviors like these as HR deliverables. The behaviors and the competencies such as working proactively, courteous behavior, personal accountability, commitment and motivation produce strategically relevant organizational outcomes, and thereby drive organizational performance. Identify the Strategically relevant HR Systems Policies: If it comes to the mind of the HR manager and he/she knows that how actually what is required from the employees competencies and the behaviors are than he or she can turn to the task of identifying the HR activities and policies that will help to produce tese competencies and behaviors. Design the HR Scorecard Measurement system: After getting the outcomes from the strategic role done and after completion of the final strategically required organizational outcomes and the employee competencies and behaviors, and specific HR system policies and activities the question is how exactly we should measure them all. And thus for this reason the HR scorecard is proved to be very crucial in this kind of measurement process. Periodically Evaluate the Measurement System: There are no such assumptions which should take place like the HR Scorecards diffirent propotion and attachment will always stay the same. In fact reducing grievances is not having the assumed affect on raising morale. Desseler, 2005. Walker, Garrett, Human Resource Management, Winter2001 Hagood, Wesley O., Public Personnel Management, Winter2002 Becker, Ulrich, Dave. Harvard Business School Press Books, Jan2001 Human Resources Department Management Report, Jan2003. Benefits of HR Scorecard: Basically in the construction taking place for HR Scorecard, avoid the temptation to merely fill in the boxes. The key questions for this are like what would you like this tool to do for you? Or, in another way we can say like how would you like managers outside of HR to think about your measures? Thus we believe that the scorecard will offer the following benefits: It reinforces the refinemnt between the HR deliverables and the HR doables. The deliverables which influences the strategy implementation and the doables which does not. It enables you to create value and control costs. The work of HR is always to keep a cost under control and at the same time serving in the strategic role means that HR must also create the value. Thus the HR scorecard is usefull to human resource managers to efficient balance those two goals. It assesses HRs contribution to strategy implementation and, ultimately, to the bottom line. The performance which is measured should be provided to the Chief HR Officer with the answer of the questions. The HRs contribution in the firms performance is the cumulative effect of the scorecards HR deliverable measure should provide that answer. It lets HR professionals effectively manage their strategic responsibilities. The HR Scorecard clearly gives the full view of the performance to the HR managers and with this they can focus that how exactly their decision affect to the successful implementation of the firms strategy. It encourages flexibility and change. The basic problem of the performance measurement is that they become institutionalized and actually inhibit change. In fact one criticism of management by measurement is that people become skilled at achieving the required numbers in the old system and are reluctant to change their management approach when shifting conditions demand it. Becker, Brian E, Richard W., Harvard Business School Press Books, Jan 01, 2005. Ulrich, Dave. Human Resource Management, Fall97. Singh, Kuldeep. IIMB Management Review (Indian Institute of Management Bangalore), Jun2005. Here, we will take an example of Tesco; we will see how the Tesco is following the various strategies to sustain its employees as well as the customers. Let us see the activity plans in Tesco; Provides tools for highly structured monitoring and evaluation of training development: Specific define actually what needs to do. Measurable has a object that can be measured contrary. Achievable is possible within the trainees current role, skills and experience. Realistic is achievable within the time and resources available. Time framed has a clear deadline. Tesco also uses a method 360-degree appraisal. All stake holders have contact with the employee, assess the persons performance and give feedback. For e.g.: a store departmental manager may get feedback from their manager, other dept managers, the HR department and their team. Helps to identify areas that may require further development. Tesco does casuall approach asking the employees to write down: 3 things that they are good   3 things where they could do better. Managers and trainees hold: Formal four weekly review sessions. A weekly informal review session. Conclusion: The HR scorecard has particularly seven stages and in which all the HR scorecard is maintained from the planning stage till the final sales. The HR scorecard is very necessary to get the exact figure and to get the exact outcome of the business unit. It gives the clear picture of the business and from which the HR manager can see that how accurately the business is going and find out all the details out of that. The scorecard maintained does not carry the exact outcomes but it gives the relevant outcome with which the HR manager can know that how the business in running and what need the changes and about the perfection of the business and the performance of the different employees as well. The employees contribution is also recorded in the HR Scorecard. HR scorecard gives the details of the employees in detail about their progress and their work efficiency and also how much they are been paid. Thus in short we can say that the HR Scorecard gives the every important detail about the employees of the company and also gives up the progress and the contribution of the employees.