The Value Of Asset Liability Management Example For Free - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 15 Words: 4567 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Management Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? The Asset-Liability Management is one of the most crucial functions of a bank in the highly competitive and complex business environment today. Asset-Liability Management is a co-ordinated management of a banks balance sheet to allow for different interest rate, liquidity and optionality shocks. Post Liberalization in 1991, deregulation of various banking operations, freeing of interest rates, entry of new generation banks increasing the competition, diversifying of banking activities, integration of Indian banking into the world, introduction of new, complex products in the market, have all led to increase in the volatility in the financial market. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Value Of Asset Liability Management Example For Free" essay for you Create order In such a scenario, there are various opportunities, but they all come up certain risks, which if not handled carefully could wipe out a banks profits and may even result in its bankruptcy. The recent global financial crisis has further reinforced the importance of asset-liability management in banks and the current market scenario in India has meant that banks have been facing asset-liability mismatch in their balance sheets as well. The 2 major types of market risks a banks faces are Liquidity Risk and Interest Rate risks, which are primarily addressed by the Asset-Liability Management of a bank. The methods and approaches towards Asset-Liability Management have evolved over the years due to changes in the business environment and the governing body for commercial banks in India, RBI, has prescribed certain guidelines from time to time to make sure all commercial banks fall in line and follow a uniform method for the same. In its recent Monetary Policy Review, RBI expressed concern towards the current asset-liability situation in the banks and asked banks to curb their lending, which has gone well In excess of their deposits, leading to straight negative mismatch and liquidity crunch in the system. Also, the constant increases by RBI in the Repo rates (due to inflationary pressure) over the past 1 year has led to increase in cost of funds for the banks, hitting their Net Interest Margins. The banks recently have been forced to increase their deposit rates significantly to attract fresh deposits to address the liquidity problem, which will also lead to decrease in their profit margins in the ongoing and future quarters. The paper will also discuss how the Asset-Liability Management is carried out at State Bank of India, Indias largest bank. WHAT IS ASSET LIABILITY MANAGEMENT (ALM) ALM is the management of total balance sheet dynamics with regard to the size and quality. It is a process of adjusting bank liability to meet loan demands, liquidity needs and safety requirements. Asset liability management is a philosophy under which the bank can target assets growth by adjusting liabilities to suit their needs. Its focus is on Profitability Long term operating viability It is a co-ordinated management of a banks balance sheet to allow for different interest rate, liquidity and optionality shocks. It involves: On balance-sheet match of the assets and liabilities being re-priced. Off balance sheet hedging of the on balance-sheet risks. Securitization, to remove the risk from the balance sheet. Alignment of branch level targets with broader goals of bank. Centralization of liquidity and interest rate risks. It is a process to match Assets and liabilities In terms of maturities and interest rate sensitivities to minimize Interest rate r isk and liquidity risk. ALM involves Quantification of risks Conscious decision making with regard to asset liability structure in order to maximise interest earnings within the frame work of perceived risks. BENEFITS OF ALM There are various benefits of having a proper Asset-Liability Management: Awareness of various risks in the banking book, beyond credit risk. Risk appetite for the banking book and at the portfolio level is clearly defined once hidden risks are known to the bank. Strategies to manage or mitigate intermediation risks. Hedging with capital or derivatives. Enhancement of net worth. Limits based on risk/ return trade-off much larger low-risk positions can be assumed with the knowledge of ALM. Entry into lucrative high-risk businesses with the guidance of ALM, if (i) they are weakly related to the existing portfolio or (ii) bank has access to options. EVOLUTION OF ALM ALM was in response to much sharper stock market, exchange rate, price and interest rate volatility since the early 1970s. The following events led to its evolution globally: The SL crisis Savings and Loans Associations (SL) in California, USA offered LT, fixed-rate, mortgage-backed housing loans, funded by ST deposits. Money market funds offered higher deposit rates, to reduce SL deposits on a large-scale, in the 1970s. SL deposit rates were deregulated. Cost of funding went up much faster than rise in yields on advances. NII simulations showed high book value of capital decline in reported NII was gradual. Regulatory capital lowered to 3% of assets. Restrictions on SL lending lifted. Large-Scale book insolvency by mid-1980s. Lessons from SL crisis The result of high exchange rate, price and interest rate volatility. High bailout cost ($154 billion) result of regulatory laxity and political connections. Exposure to interest risk, even in the non-tradable banking book, with volatile rates. Maturity mismatch between assets and liabilities. Focus on opportunity costs even for non-tradable products, like loans, rather than their book values. Orange County Disaster Composition of Orange County Investment Pool (OCIP) in 1994: Long-term securities, with maturities between 3 and 5 years around 47%. Long-term inverse floaters, with maturities between 3 and 5 years around 33%. For an inverse floater, the coupon falls as rate rises. They were both funded by short-term deposits and repo ( 180 days) borrowing. Assumption of steady or declining rates worked till end-1993 huge NII gains and profits for OCIP. Rise in market rates Fed Funds and Long-term by 250 bps in 1994. Sharp fall in value of assets and repo collateral funding liquidity crunch. On December 1, 2004, Orange County announced a loss of USD 1.6 billion and filed for bankruptcy. The plea that Assets and Liabilities were HTM was rejected and assets liquidated at low market value. Asian Crisis Near Collapse of LTCM Sharp rise in funding costs (IRR) Þ liquidity squeeze (Funding liquidity Risk) Þ distress sales Þ collapse in Market Value of Assets and Equity (Market Risk and Asset Liquidity Risk). Failure of NII gap simulations to consider erosion in Market Value of Equity. Introduction of complex derivatives for risk reduction interdependent credit, market and ALM risk Shift to MTM valuation of Assets and Liabilities. Duration and Duration Gap analysis for sensitivity of risky and riskless cashflows. Portfolio VaR for probabilities and correlations. Emphasis on simulations and Economic Capital. Rapid decrease in the cost of computer storage capacity and sharp rise in speed and precision. Widespread use of Monte Carlo (MC) simulation. ALM MILESTONES IN INDIA Early-mid 1990s: Interest Rate deregulation. 10.2.1999: First ALM circular. Focus on funding liquidity Risk and NII Gap analysis. No discussion of Trading Book. June 2001-April 2004: Steady decline in market rates. Focus on long-term G-secs. Huge trading profits. October 2002: Market Risk Guidelines. Inclusion of Banking Book Liquidity Risk and IRR. May 2004 -: Sharp rise in rates. Huge trading losses. 24.6.2004: Market Risk Capital Charges. Shift to Duration Analysis for Trading Book. June 2004: Introduction of Basel II. Liquidity and Banking Book IRR in Pillar 2. Separation of banking and trading books. 2.9.2004: Permission to shift SLR investments, upto 25% of NDTL, to the HTM category. 17.4.2006: Draft guidelines on ALM. Focus on Duration Gap Analysis. Addition of three regulatory buckets in RSG statement. October, 2007: Revised ALM guidelines, dividing the Liquidity statements first maturity bucket into 3 buckets. IMPLEMENTATION OF ASSET-LIABILITY MANAGEMENT Organizing a Planning Team Developing a Strategic Plan Establishing an Asset Liability Committee Developing an Annual Budget or Profit Plan Developing a process for reviewing performance The Planning Team Team Usually Consists Of Staff Members Who Have Basic Skills And Knowledge And Will Be Headed By CEO. It does the following: Developing Strategic Plan Initiate planning process Assigns responsibility for developing overall plan Review the components and recommend actions to board of directors. Setting Goals For Risk Management Profit Planning The Strategic Plan This plan has 5 key components: Mission statement Strategic financial goals Situation analysis Swot analysis Action plan supported by financial plan ALCO It is the apex committee of a bank for asset-liability management. ALCO comprises staff members and the CEO. ALCO meets more frequently. ALCO develops , implements and manages banks annual budget or profit plan and risk management programme. Timely, accurate data and analysis is a must for ALCOs success Budget or Profit Plan This is a tool to keep the bank on track to achieve its strategic financial goals. ALCO helps to oversee the making of the financial budgets It makes recommendations if necessarry The ALCO considers all details like time covered by the plan , contingencies that may cause the plan to change, and the action plans, goals and timetables so as to effectively implement the plan. Review System Review helps to find out the short comings and alter it if necessary As and when the plan is written the frequency of the reviewing is also decided This helps the banks to be consistent with the banks short and long range goals. LIQUIDITY RISK MANAGEMENT IN BANKS A bank faces liquidity risks of the following types: Funding Risk It happens when there is a need to replace net outflows due to unanticipated withdrawals of deposits or non-renewal of deposits, delayed payment or default on loans, unexpected new loan demands from existing or new customers and so on Time Risk It happens when there is need to compensate for non-receipt of expected inflows of funds Call Risk It happens due to Crystallization of Contingent Liabilities like Letter of Credit, Bank Guarantee etc. The bank is forced to make immediate arrangement of funds if the claims on these liabilities are made. The maturity buckets given by RBI initially in its February 1999 guidelines were as follows: 1.1 to 14 days 2. 15 to 28 days 3. 29 days and upto 3 months 4. Over 3 months and upto 6 months 5. Over 6 months and upto 1 year 6. Over 1 year and upto 3 years 7. Over 3 years and upto 5 years 8. Over 5 years But, RBI realized that the first bucket (1-14 days) was not good enough to capture the liquidity requirements adequately and the bucket had to be more granular. So, RBI mandated splitting the bucket into 3 time buckets i.e Next Day, 2-7 days and 8-14 days. In every bucket, the bank has to calculate the cash inflows and cash outflows depending on the residual maturity of its assets and liabilities and then find out the mismatches in each bucket. If the Maturing Assets (M.A) Maturing Liabilities (M.L), there is a positive mismatch If the Maturing Assets (M.A) Maturing Liabilities (M.L), there is a negative mismatch In case of positive mismatch, there is excess liquidity in the bank for the concerned maturity bucket and this excess liquidity can be deployed in money market instruments, interbank lending in call money market, bill discounting, creating new assets, investment swaps etc. In case of a negative mismatch, there is shortage of liquidity in the bank for the concerned maturity bucket and this can be financed from interbank borrowings in call money market, bill rediscounting, Repo borrowings, liquidation of investments, deployment of foreign currency converted into Rupee and so on. This is the statement of Structural Liquidity which a bank must prepare daily and report to RBI atleast once every month, as on the 3rd Wednesday of every month. RBI has prescribed limits for the negative mismatches in the first 4 buckets. The net cumulative negative mismatches during the Next day, 2-7 days, 8-14 days and 15-28 days buckets should not exceed 5 % ,10%, 15 % and 20 % of the cumulative cash outflows in the respective first 4 buckets. However, a bank may keep additional limits at their own discretion in addition to these limits. A sample statement of Structural Liquidity that a bank prepares is as follows: INTEREST RATE RISK MANAGEMENT IN BANKS The deregulation of interest rates and the operational flexibility given to banks to price most of their assets and liabilities has led to the need of Interest Rate Risk Management. Interest Rate Risk arises when the change in the market interest rates adversely affect the banks financial condition by hitting its profits. The immediate impact of changes in interest rates is on banks earnings (i.e. reported profits) by changing its Net Interest Income (NII) and Net Interest Margin (NIM). A long-term impact of changing interest rates is on banks Market Value of Equity (MVE) or Net Worth because the economic value of banks assets, liabilities and off-balance sheet positions get affected due to fluctuations in market interest rates. The Interest Rate Risk can be viewed from 2 perspectives: Earnings Perspective The risk from the earnings perspective is measured by changes in the banks Net Interest Margin (NIM) and Net Interest Income (NII). There are many techniques for measuring the same such as Gap Analysis, Duration Gap Analysis, Simulation, Value at Risk (VaR) and so on. Traditional Gap Analysis The focus of the Traditional Gap Analysis is to measure the level of a banks exposure to interest rate risk in terms of sensitivity of its NII to interest rate movements. It involves bucketing of all Rate Sensitive Assets (RSA) and Rate Sensitive Liabilities (RSL) and off balance sheet items as per their residual maturity/re-pricing date in various time bands. It may also involve computing Earnings at Risk (EaR) i.e. loss of income under different interest rate scenarios over a time horizon of one year. In every time bucket given by RBI, the RSA and RSL are computed and the positive or negative Gap is found out. If RSARSL, there is a Positive Gap and in such a scenario, an increase in market interest rates will lead to increase in the banks NIM as there are more assets which are re-pricing in the concerned time bucket than the liabilities which are re-pricing. If RSARSL, there is a Negative Gap and in such a scenario, an increase in market interest rates will lead to decrease in the banks NIM as there are more liabilities which are re-pricing in the concerned time bucket than the assets which are re-pricing. Hence, if the bank feels that the interest rates are going to rise under the current scenario, it is favourable for the bank to maintain a positive Gap and if it feels that the interest rates are going to decline in the near future, it is favourable for the bank to maintain a negative Gap. Economic Value Perspective Duration Gap Analysis (DGA) The focus of the DGA is to measure the banks exposure to interest rate risk in terms of sensitivity of Market Value of its Equity (MVE) to interest rate fluctuations. The DGA involves bucketing of all RSA and RSL same as done in Traditional Gap analysis and computing the Modified Duration Gap (MDG). This can be used to evaluate the impact on the MVE of the bank under different interest rate scenarios. Modified Duration (MD) of an asset or liability measures the approximate percentage change in its value for a 1% change in the rate of interest. The larger the Modified Duration Gap, the more is the bank exposed to interest rate shocks. Interest Rate Sensitivity Time Buckets Earlier, the maximum bucket for sensitive items was over 5 years, but it has been revised now to Over 5 yrs, 5 yrs to 7 yrs, 7 yrs to 10 yrs, 10 yrs to 15 yrs and over 15 yrs as the banks have forayed greatly into long term assets like home loans, infrastructure loans and so on which have a maturity well in excess of 5 years. Sample Statement of Interest Rate Sensitivity Analysis ASSET LIABILITY MANAGEMENT AT STATE BANK OF INDIA (SBI) The Asset and Liability Management Committee of the bank (ALCO) is given the primary role of Liquidity Management and Interest Rate Risk Management. ALM department provides various data, reports and information to ALCO to enable them to monitor the same and provide necessary guidelines. The Global Market Department gets the various reports, data from Asset Liability Management Department on a daily basis and takes decisions regarding liquidity management and interest rates on various instruments in consultation with ALCO. ALCO can meet as and when required but at least once in a month. ALCO The Asset -Liability Management committee (ALCO) presently has the following members: Managing Director Chief Credit and Risk Officer Managing Director Group Executive (Associates Subsidiaries) Deputy Managing Director Group Executive (Global Markets) Deputy Managing Director Group Executive (Mid Corporate) Deputy Managing Director Group Executive (National Banking) Deputy Managing Director (Corporate Strategy and New Business) Deputy Managing Director Group Executive (Rural Business) Deputy Managing Director Chief Financial Officer Chairman Deputy Managing Director Group Executive(Corporate Banking) Deputy Managing Director Group Executive (International Banking) Chief General Manager (Financial Control) Member Secretary LIQUIDITY RISK MANAGEMENT AT SBI The bank measures the mismatches in cash inflow and cash outflow by calculating the Maturity Gap Analysis over several time buckets. While computing the gap, assets (inflow)/liabilities (outflow) are placed as per their remaining maturities. In the case of assets/liabilities without any contractual maturity (SB/CA/CC etc.,) the maturity patterns are based on behavioral study of these portfolios with the approval of ALCO. A large portion (presently taken as 40%) of retail term deposits due for maturity are assumed to be rolled over and accordingly put in longer time bucket of outflow. Similarly a small portion of our Non Fund-Based business (for LC 5% and for BG 1.5%) are assumed to devolve and placed in outflows across several buckets. For example, Current Account and Savings Account balances are bifurcated into core and volatile portions and volatile portion is placed in the short-term buckets while core portion is placed in longer term buckets of outflow. This g ap analysis has to be done on daily basis but reported to RBI on 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of every month. RBI has prescribed limits only for negative net cumulative mismatches in the first 4 buckets in short-term period (5% for 1 day, 10% in 2-7 days, 15% for 8-14 days, 20% in 15-28 days). ALCO has however prescribed the upper limit of 20% for all other time buckets. Structural Liquidity report is compiled as above on a daily basis and put up to top management {CGM (FC) and DMD CFO}. Important Liquidity Ratios Liquidity Ratios Percentage Liquid Assets to Total Assets Range Liquid Assets to Total Deposits Range Liquid Assets to Near Short-Term Liabilities 100% No regulatory definition of liquid Assets and benchmarks. Accordingly, liquid assets are defined internally and the benchmarks are set matching with these definitions keeping in view with the banks risk appetite The definition of liquidity ratios that are monitored and the bench marks are approved by ALCO. ALM Department monitors these ratios INTEREST RATE RISK MANAGEMENT AT SBI The Gap Analysis statements prepared daily by ALM department and sent to Global Markets Department. Also, list of all deposit and lending rates of all commercial banks is prepared daily and sent to Global Markets Department, who may take decisions on changes in interest rates. Details of Growth in Advances and Deposits prepared daily and sent to Global Markets Department, who may look at the market conditions, the need for the bank and tweak rates on things like bulk deposits almost every day. The major changes in interest rates are done in consultation with ALCO. CONTINGENCY FUNDING PLAN (CFP) RBI guidelines say that all banks must prepare a contingency plan to measure the ability to withstand any unexpected liquidity crisis. Trigger Events: ÂÂ  As per the ALM policy, trigger event is said to have occurred if:Â Bank becomes a Net Borrower (Repo / CBLO / Money Market) continuously for 30 days and During that period the unencumbered excess SLR securities fall below 2% of fortnightly average deposits of previous quarter continuously for a period of 10 days. Quantitative Warning Signals Deposits decline by more than 5% of aggregate domestic deposits without corresponding decline in loans and other assets during previous 3 months. Loan portfolio increase by 5% without any significant increase in total deposits in last 3 months. Cumulative negative gaps in the time bucket 29 days up to 90 days exceeds 35% of cumulative outflows in that time bucket. The performance of the Bank as reflected from quarterly results has not been satisfactory. Qualitative Warning Signals Depositors request for early withdrawal of their funds. Accelerated run off of large fund providers. Real or perceived negative publicity Downgrade or announcement of potential down grade of rating by rating agencies. A decline of asset quality. The overall economy is witnessing a tight liquidity position. The Contingency Funding Plan is reviewed every quarter. It is monitored by ALM Department and report submitted to ALCO every quarter. SBI RESULTS Q3FY 2011 The CASA ratio is quite healthy at 48%, which has primarily led to cost of deposits coming down to 5.20% NIM is above 3% which is a manageable figure Provision Coverage Ratio is still well below stipulated 75%, stands at 64% and SBI has asked for extention in period to comply with the same. To get this to 64%, there has been huge amount of provisions made. In the current quarter also, the profit would be hit due to provisions. Net Interest Income has grown substantially both as compared to Q3 FY10 and also compared to 9M FY10, which is a good sign. As can be seen, Loan Loss provision has increased by more than 200% which has hit the profitability greatly. Deposits growth has been driven by strong growth in CASA (27%). Still deposit growth is just 14% YOY, which is much less than Advances growth of 22%. This has been the problem faced by most banks as the people have shifted from bank deposits to mutual funds and equity due to negative rate of return offered by bank d eposits. This has led to concern as Credit-to-deposit ratio has increased across banks significantly. In some banks, it has crossed 100%, which has alarmed RBI and RBI has warned banks to see to it. The credit-to-deposit ratio for SBI is 77%, increased from 71% and has also entered into caution area (tolerable is 60-70%) The lack in deposit growth has meant tight liquidity condition for all banks in past few months. Also, there is straight asset liability mismatch as the deposit growth was mainly due to CASA and advances growth was led by long term infrastructure funding, as much as 21% of total corporate advances. NIM reached 3.40% from 2.56% a year earlier. CAR of the bank remained at a healthy level of 13.16%, well above the min requirement of 9%. DEPOSIT RATES IN SBI Tenors Existing w.e.f. 03.01.2011 Â Revised w.e.f. 14.02.2011 7 days to 14 days 4.00 7 days to 14 days 4.00 15 days to 45 days 5.00 15 days to 45 days 5.00 46 days to 90 days 5.50 46 days to 90 days 5.50 91 days to 180 days 6.00 91 days to 180 days 6.00 181 days to less than 1 year 7.75 181 days to less than 1 year 7.75 1 year to 554 days 8.25 1 year to 554 days 8.25 555 days 9.00 555 days 9.25 556 days to less than 2 years 8.25 556 days to less than 2 years 8.25 2 years to 999 days 8.75 2 years to 999 days 8.75 1000 days 9.00 1000 days 9.25 1001days to less than 3 years 8.75 1001days to less than 3 years 8.75 3 year to less than 5 years 8.25 3 year to less than 5 years 8.25 5 years to less than 8 years 8.50 5 years to less than 8 years 8.50 8 years and up to 10 years 8.75 8 years and up to 10 years 8.75 As we can see, SBI, like all other Indian banks has had to increase its deposit rates to attract fresh deposits to bring their deposit growths and credit growth closer in line and bring their Credit-to-Deposit ratio to a tolerable level. This increase in deposit rates will affect the NIM of the bank in the ongoing quarter, but this was a necessary step to address the liquidity problem and not having to rely on repo borrowings to fund their credit growth. The economy, as a whole, has faces a liquidity crunch due to huge outgo of funds from the banking system to the Government on account of 3G auction, Broadband wireless spectrum auction, disinvestment programme by Government and also the fact that the people have shifted away from bank deposits to more lucrative investments like Mutual funds and equities. This is because the bank deposits have been giving negative real rate of returns in the current high inflationary scenario. RATIOS COMPARISON Banks Base Rate CASA RoE CAR State Bank of India 8.25% 48% 18% 13.16% Central Bank of India 9.50% 37% 11% 12.23% HDFC Bank 8.20% 51% 11.58% 16.3% Bank of Baroda 9.00% 38% 13% 14.36% ICICI Bank 8.75% 44.2% 10.77% 19.98% As we can see, SBI and HDFC have the lowest Base Rates and they have been able to achieve this due to their high CASA ratios, as compared to other banks. The Base Rates of all banks have gone up in the past few months as the RBI has increased the Repo Rates (the rate at which banks borrow short term funds from RBI) due to inflationary pressures in the economy. The Repo rate as of today is 6.50%. The CAR of all banks is well in excess of the stipulated minimum level of 9%. CONCLUSION The Asset-Liability Management is one of the most crucial functions of a bank in the highly competitive and complex business environment today. Asset-Liability Management is a co-ordinated management of a banks balance sheet to allow for different interest rate, liquidity and optionality shocks. ALM involves quantification of various market risks and conscious decision making with regard to asset liability structure in order to maximize interest earnings within the frame work of perceived risks. The apex governing body for commercial banks in India, RBI has given certain guidelines for ALM and the banks have to follows these to prepare the Structural Liquidity Statements and Interest Rate Sensitivity Statements. The Indian economy, as a whole has been facing liquidity crunch in the banking system due to large outgo of funds to Government due to 3G and Broadband auctions and Disinvestment initiatives by Government. Also, the deposit growth has been very low as compared to credit gro wth in banks due to negative real rate of return offered by bank deposits in current high inflationary scenario. This has meant negative liquidity mismatch for the banks, who have had to resort to short term Repo borrowings to fund their credit growth, leading to very high Credit-to-Deposit Ratios, which is a serious cause of concern as highlighted by RBI in its Monetary Policy Review. This has led to increase in deposit rates by most banks to attract fresh deposits from public. State Bank of India is the largest bank in India, having a very elaborate and complex ALM process. The Contingency Funding Plan (CFP) is also quite comprehensive and the Quarter 3 results showed that the ALM at SBI has been quite successful in keeping its NIM above 3%, CASA at more than 45% and CAR in excess of 13%. The only cause of concern has been the provisions made on NPAs, which have hit the banks profits a little bit. And, still the Provision Coverage Ratio is below the stipulated limit of 70%, whi ch means that huge provisions will have to made in the ongoing quarter as well, leading to lower profitability for the bank. SBI has also increased its deposit rates in the past 2 months to attract fresh deposits, which has been the case with all other banks. SBI hopes to bring its credit growth and deposit growth closer to each other in the ongoing and coming quarters to make its Asset-Liability position better and reduce its Credit-to-Deposit ratio, which is slightly higher than a tolerable level at present. Hence, Asset-Liability Management comes with its various challenges and complexities, but a bank has to give a lot of importance to this task, as it has a direct impact on a banks profitability and sustainability.

Diverse International Business Practices - 852 Words

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Benefits Compensation in Small Businesses Free Essays

This paper is based on the benefits and compensation in small businesses as this is one of the important factors the small businesses have to consider and likewise have to struggle to compete for top quality employees with big businesses. It is very important for any business to hire good and hardworking employees and for this; they have to plan out proper strategies. Moreover, it is not just important to hire diligent employees but the business also has to make strategies as to how to retain them especially in the case of the small businesses because the competition is very high and it is essential for them to retain them. We will write a custom essay sample on Benefits Compensation in Small Businesses or any similar topic only for you Order Now Organizational culture The culture followed by an organization highlights its personality. Culture basically comprises of the assumptions, the values and norms the business has, its financial position and about its members and their behaviors. Whenever a new member is added to an organization, they don’t take much time to study and learn about the type of culture being followed, however every company has its different culture and although new employees may take time to adjust but they soon get to know about it and work accordingly. There are always some things that are quite obvious for others to understand what type of culture a business has adopted. The way the interior of an organization such as the setting and the furniture being used, what the people working in an organization wear and how and what they talk about tells about the culture of an organization. This is one of the factor that is considered as important by the employees and so the business must set a kind of culture that is easy and favorable for the employees to adjust and is basically the task of the HR department to make the employees feel comfortable. Can HR system make a difference to the creation of such culture? The human resources are required by all the organizations in order to compete in the extremely aggressive world today. This reason defines the purpose of the HR system extremely necessary, increases efficiency and also enables the company to achieve a competitive advantage over its competitors. HR also helps to identify how and in what ways an individual attributes to affect is organizational effectiveness. The key purpose of HR strategy is to guide the process by which organizations develop and position organizational and human capital to augment their competitiveness. Nowadays, HR is used as a model that reflects an era of strategic management. It emphasizes on the knowledge-based competition. Therefore, these systems are designed in a way to develop and support ideas of intellectual capital and knowledge management that propel strategy formation. (Pynes, 2004). Problematic areas of Human Resource development activities One of the major problems being faced by the HR department is because of the diversified workforce at an organization. Many people feel uncomfortable to working with people of a different age, sex, or culture. Despite the fact that employing people from different groups is good but it can lead to a clot of conflicts. The management has to manage a diversified workforce effectively or it can effect employee satisfaction and productivity negatively and the employees who recognize themselves as valued members of their organization are more diligent, concerned, and innovative and this tends them to work harder. Another problem can be the economic unrest prevailing. People from diversified groups would be having different definition of ambition. The outcome of ambition is mostly unpredictable, some ambitions begun in selflessness end in rancor; others begun in selfishness end in large-heartedness. It can at times be uncontrollable as well and some people may not be able handle ambition serving it as a grief to others. It also leads to jealousy. Other than that, people might opt any way to achieve their goals and these might be unlawful as well. (Evans, 2003). Role and function of HR department To define human resources in the simplest words we can say that they are the â€Å"resources for humans† within the workplace. The task of the HR department is to meet the needs of the employees and it also serves as a connection between all the people who are involved. The HR system of an organization comes into existence depending on the company size. The Human Resource Department can be formed just by appointing Personnel who can manage a small workforce, In case of a small company but in the case where a larger, complex organization is concerned that employs hundreds of people with many departments and divisions, the task becomes more demanding. Employee Compensation Benefits This includes the remuneration and bonuses such as paid leaves, sick leaves and insurance policies, etc and it is Human Resources Department that is in charge to develop and to manage the benefits compensation system for the staff that serves as an inducement to guarantee the recruitment. Their goal does not just finish after recruitment but they also have to work on retaining employees and make them continue working for the company. After recruiting an employee, the Benefits Coordinator of the business must meet the selected candidates one-on-one or in small group settings and explain their benefits package. (Brockbank Ulrich, 2005). Employee Relations These might include age and gender, race discrimination, etc. and it is mandatory for the HR Department to make sure a fair treatment of employees. Employees should know that they are safe and they can approach someone in case they are unfairly treated by anyone. The HR Department acts as an negotiator and works to establish cooperation between the legal entities, regulatory agencies, supervisors and employees to properly tackle and determine the issue is persisting. Policy Formulation Every company whatever its size is has a set of rules and policies. This is essential so that proper regulation can be maintained at the work place. These policies also help the managers to hire individuals and evaluate the performance of an employee currently working for the firm. Maslow’s model Abraham Maslow was the one who proposed the hierarchy of needs model. The model consisted of the five basic needs that every employee requires from the organization in order to sustain well. The most imperative need is the physiological need of an employee that includes the basic needs without which he cannot survive such as food, water, clothing and shelter. Next comes the safety needs of an employee, that are also essential to make him perform well in an organization and this is followed by the need of belongingness. As man is a social animal, he always needs family and friends, etc. Third is the self-esteem needs that can be explained by admiration as a person always needs recognition from others for encouragement. The last is the need of self-actualization i. e. enhancing ones capabilities. However, some factors also put restrictions to this model and one of them is the differences in thinking levels of the employees belonging to different cultural backgrounds. Rewards and Benefits Rewards and benefits are major set of HRM activities. The business should provide their employees rewards and benefits like pay, fringe, etc. The most common rewards they can give to the employees are worker’s compensation, social security and unemployment insurance. By focusing the employee’s performance it provides benefits to its employees, which are considered by the staff members, executives and managers of the company. Conclusion The leaders are the ones who should encourage their juniors to suggest ideas that could lead to creativity and innovation. The employees should be rewarded, supported and proper amalgamation should be provided for the processes. Fund learning should be encouraged. This can be done by prioritizing it into budgets and work plans and to make it accessible to the employees or it would be of no use. Trust and respect should be placed on all the levels of the organization. Free communication and personalization should be allowed. Constant training or at least monthly or yearly training programs should be held for all the staff to keep on learning new things. The return on investment should be taken care of. The employees should know how much they are contributing to the company. These are some more factors that could help UN to retain their current employees. (Anderson Anderson, n. d. ). Reference Anderson, D. Anderson, L. (n. d. ). A. Awake at the Wheel: Moving beyond Change Management to Conscious Change Leadership. March 9th, 2009. Retrieved from: http://www. changeleadersroadmap. com/freeresources/P1D. 7. 17. aspx Brockbank, W. Ulrich, D. (2005). The HR Value Proposition. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Evans, C. (2003). Managing for Knowledge – HR’s Strategic Role. 1st Edn. Butterworth- Heinemann. Pynes, J. E. (2004). Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations. (Jossey Bass Nonprofit Public Management Series). 2nd Edn. Jossey-Bass. How to cite Benefits Compensation in Small Businesses, Papers

Project Management Methodologies for Principles - myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theProject Management Methodologies for Principles. Answer: Defining project management methodologies Project management methodology is referred to as a process or guideline for those who are involved to the development of any project. Based upon the scope and requirement of the project it is necessary for the project managers to choose the most suitable project management methodology to accomplish the project. According to Kerzner and Kerzner (2017), project management methodology is practice, technique rather procedure that helps any organization or business during the development of any product or service in terms of project. There are some methodologies that define principle such as agile but some methodologies are there which defines full stack framework methodologies of different themes, principles and processes like prince2. Again there are some standard extensive list that defines all standard processes like PMIs PMBOK or XP and certain very simple process such as Scrum. For achieving the business goal and preliminarily planned results within the estimated schedule, budget and time the project should necessarily adopt the most suitable project management methodology (Joslin Mller, 2015). From the project initiation up to the project closure phase regardless of the trade field the project manager is required to assort methodologies to accomplish the project. Again Spundak (2014) stated that, project management methodology is a model or framework that project managers use for project planning, designing and integrating, implementing and closure to reach project objectives. It can be said that the overall performance level and capacity of the employees improves after the adoption of proper project management methodology. Chofreh et al. (2014), opined that project management methodology framework helps the project managers to make proper decisions. Serrador and Pinto (2015), stated that, methodology also helps to estimate the duration of the tasks and to break down a huge project in small segments. It helps to reduce the work load from the project team members and complete the task within lesser time and budget. With the implication f project management methodology the functions and operation of the project can be improved. In order to form improved functionality and project operations, methodology provides a systematic approach to the project managers and project management team members (Sohi et al., 2016). If the systematic phases are followed accordingly by the project team members then it can be said that the project will be completed successfully. In the project management practices different types of project management methodologies such as adaptive project framework, agile software development, and crystal methods, extreme programming, feature driven development etc and are frequently applied by different business organizations. According to Spundak (2014), methodology offers supportive and iterative approach to the project manager and project team members to meet the requirements and objective of the project. It is much focused on developing faster and higher level quality product. In order to develop the timeliness of any project, prototyping is the process which is widely used for re-using the components. Compare and contrast agile and project management body of knowledge Based on the project activity and requirements different project managers use different methodologies. In this section agile project methodology is nominated to make compare and contrast. PMBOK is a traditional project management methodology whereas; agile is one of the modern, iterative and modern project management methodologies. PMBOK is referred to as a sustainable framework that is widely used by the project manager for project scope management, contract management and many other aspects that are arguably lesser robust in case of PRINCE2 methodology. PMBOK fails to support successful decision making approach. Not only the project managers but also the senior managers and other parties also fail to make proper decision making with the PMBOK. However, with PMBOK project managers are seems to become the primary decision maker, project planner, issue solver and human resource managers also (Spundak, 2014). Figure 1: Agile project development methodology (Source: Joslin Mller, 2015, pp-1378) The phases followed in PMBOK methodology contain initiation, planning, execution and closure. Whereas; Agile project manager is referred to as a distinct program from the PMBOK and PRINCE2. Agile methodology is a flexible one that helps to produce better deliverable regardless of the need of sustainable changes. The overall risk of a project can be substantially reduced because it helps to segment an overall project in small segments. However, the main issue associated to agile model states that, if it is not completely grasped then the methodology itself will lead the project to unattainable expectation. Identification of the way through which agile methodology is related to Project Life Cycle (PLC) From the project management and program management perspectives it can be said that, project management methodology acts as a contrivance for deploying a successful project. The Agile methodology is consists of requirements, project planning, designing, development, execution, tracking, monitoring and closure which implies that the Agile methodology expands the scope of a project and provides detail outcomes. This is focused on continuous improvement and mainly used for developing software projects (Galvan et al., 2015). Agile methodology shows iterative improvement and the phases followed in this methodology include iterative planning, continuous review and testing, adaptive teams, dynamic requirement gathering and dynamic testing. It reduces the overall complexity of any project through breaking down the project structure in smaller segments. Agile software development lifecycle is consists of 6 different phases such as concept, inception, iteration, transition, production and retirement those are needed to be followed accordingly by the project manger to make sure that a project is completely successful (Sohi et al., 2016). In this methodology it is not necessary all time that after completion of one step the next step will be started rather as it is a iterative methodology continuous and frequent changes are managed with this methodology. References Chofreh, A. G., Goni, F., Shaharoun, A. M., Ismail, S. (2015). A review on sustainability transformation roadmaps using project management methodology.Advanced Science Letters,21(2), 133-136. Conforto, E. C., Salum, F., Amaral, D. C., da Silva, S. L., de Almeida, L. F. M. (2014). Can agile project management be adopted by industries other than software development?.Project Management Journal,45(3), 21-34. Galvan, S., Mora, M., OConnor, R. V., Acosta, F., Alvarez, F. (2015). A compliance analysis of agile methodologies with the ISO/IEC 29110 project management process.Procedia Computer Science,64, 188-195. Joslin, R., Mller, R. (2015). Relationships between a project management methodology and project success in different project governance contexts.International Journal of Project Management,33(6), 1377-1392. Kerzner, H., Kerzner, H. R. (2017).Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley Sons. Serrador, P., Pinto, J. K. (2015). Does Agile work?A quantitative analysis of agile project success.International Journal of Project Management,33(5), 1040-1051. Sohi, A. J., Hertogh, M., Bosch-Rekveldt, M., Blom, R. (2016). Does lean agile project management help coping with project complexity?.Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences,226, 252-259. Spundak, M. (2014). Mixed agile/traditional project management methodologyreality or illusion?.Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences,119, 939-948.

6 steps to reduce stress and anxiety during your commute

6 steps to reduce stress and anxiety during your commute Commuting to work is a job in itself. There is always an incident that occurs, unexpectedly. Whether we’re dealing with people on the crowded train or stuck in rage inducing  traffic, we can all agree that our commute takes a major toll on us. While we may  not be able to predict with 100% accuracy what will occur during our commute, we can reduce the stress it inflicts on us by taking calculated precautions. Here are 6 steps to reducing commuter stress.Source [Success]

Free Essays on Persuasive Speech Analysis

Informative Speech â€Å"Student Advocates for American Sign Language† Sweaty palms, shaking legs, and a high pitched voice are just a few of the ways my body reacts to formal public speaking. In an informal situation I am very vocal and speak my opinion. However, in formal settings, especially concerning school, I get very nervous. I have the voice necessary for excellent public speaking and with work and practice feel that one day I might excel. For this particular assignment I chose to give an informative speech on the new club that I am trying to develop on campus, â€Å"Student Advocates for American Sign Language.† At the end of my speech I informed the audience on how they could help me turn this idea into a reality. Constructive criticism is essential in any work in order to progress and become better. The particular speech analyst that I worked with was not very good at providing such criticism. I know that my speech was less than mediocre and feel that more advice was necessary. I am flattered that she felt like I did not need much advice, but I know that is not true. I really had to prompt her on her advice with me. I knew what I was lacking in and what I needed to make stronger, but she never touched on those things. The introduction to my speech was not as attention grabbing as I would have liked, but I could not think of anything great for this particular speech topic. I stuck with the traditional â€Å"Why am I here?† technique to inform my audience who I was and what I was planning on informing them about. My initial audience was just the analyst and my good friend, Allison Brady. The second speech I was a lot more nervous because a male classmate was also in there. Based on the information my audience gave me although I did not have a great attention grabber, my topic interested them enough to want them to keep there ears open and hear more about what I had to say. The central idea of my speec... Free Essays on Persuasive Speech Analysis Free Essays on Persuasive Speech Analysis Informative Speech â€Å"Student Advocates for American Sign Language† Sweaty palms, shaking legs, and a high pitched voice are just a few of the ways my body reacts to formal public speaking. In an informal situation I am very vocal and speak my opinion. However, in formal settings, especially concerning school, I get very nervous. I have the voice necessary for excellent public speaking and with work and practice feel that one day I might excel. For this particular assignment I chose to give an informative speech on the new club that I am trying to develop on campus, â€Å"Student Advocates for American Sign Language.† At the end of my speech I informed the audience on how they could help me turn this idea into a reality. Constructive criticism is essential in any work in order to progress and become better. The particular speech analyst that I worked with was not very good at providing such criticism. I know that my speech was less than mediocre and feel that more advice was necessary. I am flattered that she felt like I did not need much advice, but I know that is not true. I really had to prompt her on her advice with me. I knew what I was lacking in and what I needed to make stronger, but she never touched on those things. The introduction to my speech was not as attention grabbing as I would have liked, but I could not think of anything great for this particular speech topic. I stuck with the traditional â€Å"Why am I here?† technique to inform my audience who I was and what I was planning on informing them about. My initial audience was just the analyst and my good friend, Allison Brady. The second speech I was a lot more nervous because a male classmate was also in there. Based on the information my audience gave me although I did not have a great attention grabber, my topic interested them enough to want them to keep there ears open and hear more about what I had to say. The central idea of my speec...

Elasticity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Elasticity - Essay Example An equilibrium point of quantity is obtained when the two demand curves are drawn on a single graph. The inelastic demand for the veteran smoker clearly conforms to demand rule; when the price for cigarettes goes up, demand falls and vice versa. (See fig (3) on scanned document) The government always increases the value added tax on cigarettes in order to reduce demand and also contain incidence of increased lung cancer due to smoking. Looking at fig (4) where the current equilibrium price is at three dollars and the quantity demanded is. When the price increases to six dollars, the supply curve  shifts upwards and moves to left to create a new supply curve. This shift and movement show how the markets, specifically suppliers, are reacting to the positive change in price. The quantity demanded by the veteran smoker and the new smoker proportionately reduces. (See fig (5)). The consumer that evidently changes there smoking behavior drastically is the new smoker. As per figure five, when the price rises to six dollars, the shift in supply curve form  to causes the quantity of cigarettes demanded by the veteran smoker to reduce from  as the supply curve moves upwards along the  curve. On the other hand for the new smoker, the shift in supply curve form  to causes the quantity of cigarettes demanded to reduce from. Since, , it is justifiable to say that the new smoker reduces his or a rate of consumption as a result of increase in cigarette price. One can also say due to the fact that the veteran smoker is used to smoking a given number of cigarette packs, changing his or her norm due to price changes will considerably be negligible. The burden of increased price, in most cases is transferred to the consumer in form of value added tax. Increased tax, will usually lead to increase in the cost of raw materials and in turn the producers and suppliers will want to transfer this cost to consumers in form of value added

Rhetorical Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Rhetorical Analysis - Essay Example The emaciated child from the horn of Africa on United Nation High Commission for Refugees is no exception is a good example of rhetorically driven advert. The advert is articulately structured to appeal to the audience for financial support. It is aimed at ensuring people contribute towards alleviation of poverty in the horn of Africa. The image of emaciated child is meant to have a certain appeal to the audience. The argument used is empathetic. The image used has a strong urge to the audience. The image shows of situation in the horn of Africa. It appeals to the audience to contribute whatever they have to save children who are usually vulnerable to drought situation. This image manages to convince the whole world on food situation in horn of Africa. The image used captures the audience interest and they are prompted to read the text. The strategy used is affective as seen from the contribution of various nations. In conclusion, rhetorical analysis when used on advertisement can he lp in identifying the strategy used by the author. Rhetorical analysis is profoundly used in literature. It is generally used to analyze the author intention to a particular audience. Mostly the content is used to teach a particular group of audience on particular values in a certain society. In order to understand the intention of a particular author it is good to have a detailed account of the information used in the story line. This paper seeks to discuss use of rhetorical analysis in literature. An example is children literature. Children literature is aimed at teaching and persuading them on particular issues such as basics of life. Most of the children literatures are environmentally focused. The real authors of children’s books are highly valued in the society and have higher level of ethics. The author is expected to provide a moral and ethical story line and the content is supposed to invoke a positive mentality. Generally, animals are used in the story line

Success of Marriott in the Hospitality Research Paper

Success of Marriott in the Hospitality - Research Paper Example As a payback to the company, Marriott’s employees provide great service and satisfy Marriott’s customers; thereby providing a type of symbiotic relationship. Marriott’s mission thereby works to lead a company-wide approach to their vision. This is but one of the reasons why Marriott is able to provide effective progress to be the best hospitality company in the world and create a public perception that this company builds its corporation in positive ways. The success of Marriott in the hospitality world does not come only from the dedication of its employees, however. Besides showing a great deal of concern for these shareholders, Marriott is an innovative corporation. In this way, the film follows the trend of recent innovations and technological changes in the current world. By being flexible to transform their regulation and company regulation based on the recent global economic situation, hospitality trends, and behaviors of the employees, the firm has stayed fresh whereas others have faltered. The board of the directors of Marriott believes that the world is changing, thus Marriott has to follow suit if it intends on staying competitive. After doing research on final presentation in my ethics class, there was a lot of interesting facts concerning Marriott; however, for purposes of this paper, this author will be addressing but two of these major positive factors in detail. Additionally, a scandal will also be discussed. In addition, besides discussing those positive factors that have briefly been referenced above, my group research shows Marriott has committed into fraud scandal. First, with all, the very basic aspect of building a big company is encouraging their workers to put their best on doing jobs.  

Greasy lake by T. Coraghessan Boyle

Greasy lake by T. Coraghessan Boyle Greasy Lake by T. Coraghessan Boyle and Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates are two works that have the generalized theme of death in them. They may differ in contextual ways, but the deeper theme they share is present. The more in depth comparisons are about teenagers trying to find their way through life as portrayed through their looks and actions, and the thought of how you perceive yourself can get you into trouble. Greasy Lake contains teenage bad boys trying to find their self identity, and Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been surrounds a girl who doesnt know the power of attention she attracts, until its too late. In Greasy Lake the main characters call themselves bad characters. They are putting on a faade of leather jackets, mischief and rock and roll. These main characters were Digby, Jeff and the narrator, who really didnt know what they were getting into late one night at Greasy Lake. What started out as a joke led to a string of unfortunate events, and how the three boys in the end realized that they were indeed, not bad characters anymore; hence the teenage self exploration. From a fight, to attempted rape, to the smashing of the narrators mothers car, one night was all it took for those boys to see that they werent who they thought they were. This all ties in with the theme because of the things that are going through the narrators head as he leads the readers through the events. The whole scene is dark to begin with. Its late at night when the boys arrive at the lake, they end up in trouble with a big greasy character, as they call him, and the whole lake is surrounded by death and decay. This can be an immediate connection to death. Another way to show discovery is how at the end of the story it reads as this, when the boys are ready to drive home: I just looked at her. I thought I was going to cry. (403) I believe at this point the narrator realizes that there will always be someone out there that will be tougher than you, and that will get you in the end. He realizes that sure, they were big and bad to themselves, until they met their match. This shows change in the characters which is a big indication of theme. Another indication would be the title, because greasy is generally something that is used in a bad way, so it doesnt in any way reflect life. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? is also, like stated before, about teenage perception and how it can or will get you into trouble. There is a girl, named Connie, who thinks that she is so pretty and is a completely vain character. She believes that she can get any guy she wants, and wants any guy she can get, until she attracts unwanted attention. This is a story in part created through a serial killer. Being about a serial killer alone shows darkness and death, but there are other examples of this theme. One would be how Connie would always sneak out with her friends to the burger joint across the street. This is an act of defying parents. She defies her parents because they treat her as if they dont care about her at all. This is also something that is negative and could relate to death. Connie ends up being so nave about who she may be showing off too, that she becomes trapped, alone, in her own home with a man outside, coming to kidnap her. This is another similarity to Boyles story, because there is a change in the character here as well. Connie changes because she goes from getting any guy she wants, and thinking that shes invincible, to be completely vulnerable in her own home. An example of how full of herself she is, is right in the first couple of sentences: She was fifteen and she had a quick nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to look into mirrors, or checking other peoples faces to make sure her own was alright. (427) This alone shows how all she cares about are looks. An example of confidence and then vulnerability comes when the kidnapper, Arnold Friend, comes to her house to get her. At first she is excited and plays it cool, thinking she can handle any situation. The feeling quickly changes though, when she realizes this is one situation she cant get herself out of, becoming vulnerable. Therefore, both Greasy Lake and Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? have a shared theme, being that how you perceive yourself can get you into trouble. The boys from Greasy Lake met their match and learned that they really werent bad characters and Connie from Where Are You Going had a more unfortunate demise when she realized being too confident can get you into a bad situation. The stories also had recurring instances of death, from the decaying lake to Arnold Friend being a dark and scary character to Connie. All in all, even though the plots may have been different, the theme of death and teenage self exploration are present in these works.

Martin Luther King Jr. Essay -- American History

Martin Luther King Jr. On the first day of school, sophomore year, my history teacher presented me with the question of "Who is your hero?" I didn’t have a hero, and until then I hadn’t thought about the subject. Later in the year, my eyes caught a quotation from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the bulletin board which stated somewhat to this effect, "Do not merely be a thermometer that records the ideas and principles of popular opinion; but rather a thermostat that transforms the mores of society." Out of all the quotes that had been posted over the year, it was this one that caught my attention and captured my emotion. When I would read it, I felt as if something inside me had been sparked. Little did I know that this man whom I had come to know for the "I have a dream speech" and civil rights would come to be my hero. After reading "Pilgrimage to Nonviolence" while studying the civil rights movement I became intrigued in the beliefs of Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolence seemed like such a radical concept to me, yet I found myself agreeing with every point that he made. The va...

Alcohol Addiction Essay

It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the problem of addiction, which affects many individuals, families and communities everyday. This essay is going to look at the prevalence of addiction in Scotland and what the Scottish Government are proposing to do to reduce the damage caused by addiction. There are many other stakeholders in the scheme to make Scotland a better place these are: individuals themselves, friends, family, communities, local governments and the National Health Service. Everyone is working together to try and make Scotland a better and safer place to live. The definition of addiction has changed so many times over the years from when people believed that addiction was basically â€Å"a physiological adaptation to the presence of a drug in the body so that the absence of the drug leads to physiological dysfunction which is manifest to the sufferer as unpleasant or even life-threatening ‘withdrawal symptoms'† (West and Hardy, 2006). This definition howeve takes into consideration the idea that an addiction only has a physiological effect on the body rather than a psychological one. Now, addiction is to be defined as â€Å"a syndrome at the centre of which is impaired control over a behaviour, and this loss of control is leading to significant harm† (West and Hardy, 2006). One of the main reasons that the definition has changed so many times is the fact that addiction is socially defined rather than having a matter of fact definition of an object. It has been found that everyone is addicted to something; however, it may not be an illegal substance. It can range from anything that is immediately harmful like drugs to some other substances that become dangerous in larger quantities. Many people have become addicted to things such as exercise, food and gambling. Although these do not seem to be dangerous, addiction is more of a lifestyle and therefore addicts normally only live to get their next ‘fix’. So if done too often can become harmful, for example, putting on too much weight from eating a lot of food is psychologically damaging as well as bad for your mental health. Whereas shopping and gambling can put you in serious money debt, which in turn may cause a distress and psychological problems. Although there are many different types of addiction this essay is going to look at alcoholism in particular. An alcoholic is defined as a person who has â€Å"a tolerance for alcohol, they are dependent on alcohol, and the develop withdrawal symptoms when alcohol use is terminated† (Bennett and Holloway, 2005). Unlike other substances alcoholics tend to start in lower doses and work up to higher. In the UK, the recommended daily intake of alcohol, for men is 21 and women are 14 units. However, in 2008, it was found that â€Å"50% of men and 30% of women are regularly drinking of the sensible drinking guidelines†. Because of this, the Scottish Government has started to make many changes to the way alcohol is sold. This essay will look at the different effects that alcohol addiction has on a person’s life and what strategies the Government have put in to place. Many researches have taken place to determine whether or not there is a single gene that can decide whether a person will become dependant on alcohol in their life and without any proof it is understood that there is no genes that can influence this. However, there are countless factors that influence the prevalence of a person becoming an alcoholic from the environment they live in to the choices they make. In recent research carried out by the Scottish Government it was found that â€Å"One in 4 women consume alcohol during pregnancy†. Foetuses can become dependent on the alcohol that the mother is drinking throughout the pregnancy. This can also mean that the foetus can develop some kind of alcohol related birth defects, such a â€Å"malformations, growth retardation and abnormalities, which have ‘considerable individual variation'†. The environment that a child grows up in also plays a role in the way a person views alcohol. If a child grows up with parents who are either alcoholics themselves it is very likely that the child will start drinking at a younger age so therefore increasing their risk of alcohol dependency in later years. It has been found that male and females react differently to addiction, as women tend to start at lower doses than men, however they are increase their dosage at a higher rate than men. This is still the same when it comes down to dealing with addiction, women are more like to go and get help than men. With lack of quality education in the most deprived areas of Scotland many people are unemployed. It is these people with no real life prospects that turn to alcohol. With alcohol dependency being more of a lifestyle, an addicts life is very chaotic, only making sure they have enough money for the alcohol they need. Addiction can also be difficult for family and social life, as addicts are usually unable to look after children or other family member. This can lead to breakdown of families and communities, which can add more violence to an area. The government have estimated that â€Å"alcohol misuse costs Scotland  £2.25 billion every year†. This figure includes all of the social problems that alcohol misuse creates. For instance paying for the NHS to treat people who have had accidents while being intoxicated or domestic abuse cause by alcohol. In the policy the government aimed to reduce the alcohol related hospital admission by 2011. (Scot Gov, 2011) Scotland is well known around the world for the drinking and the whisky that the country produces. In a study that was carried out by Biggar Economics (Blackett, G. 2013) in 2012, it found that the whisky industry employs a massive 10,284 workers in Scotland and had a turnover of  £3,940 million in 2008. A survey was carried out to find if Scots enjoy a night better if they are drinking alcohol. It showed that 32% of people said that they found it easier and of the 32%, 42% of them were men. In the UK alone Scotland has the highest mortality rate out of each country. Scotland (26 deaths per 100,000 people) has double the amount of deaths by alcohol than England (13 deaths per 100,000 people). To reduce alcohol related violence the government put forward legislation to stop nightclubs from serving their drinks in glasses and serve them in plastic cups instead. This meant that let people were being injured from broken glass being thrown. â€Å"Changing Scotland’s Relationship with Alcohol: A Framework for Action (2009)† is a follow on policy from a, well received by the public, discussion paper, â€Å"Changing Scotland’s Relationship with Alcohol†, where they proposed different ways to reduce alcohol misuse in Scotland. The policy states that alcohol is a bigger problem than anybody realised with  many factor contributing to it such as, â€Å"socio-economic, cultural, educational, community-based, health-related, or linked to individual behaviors and choices† (Sturgeon, N. 2009). The main stakeholders of the policy are the Scottish Government, local Governments, health organisations (NHS), individuals and the alcohol trade market. The policy starts by stating the main reason that the alcohol misuse is becoming such a problem in Scotland, which is the fact that it has become so affordable, it is now â€Å"70% more affordable than in 1980† (Sturgeon, N. 2009). The main aim of the policy is to reduce alcohol consumption by supporting individuals and communities by improving their own attitude towards the ever-growing problem of alcohol misuse. The first thing that the government want to do is ban off-sales from selling alcohol as a loss leader to bring customers into their premises. The way to enforce this was to introduce a minimum price per unit of alcohol. This also meant that shops could no longer advertise alcohol based on price reduction alone. Another aim of the policy was to raise the legal age for buying alcohol from off sale to 21. There were mixed votes, with were in favour† (Sturgeon, N. 2009). In a test run of the project in Cupar, Stenhousemuir and Armadale, only running on Friday and Saturday evening, it was found that there was a reduction in anti-social areas in all three area. However, with so many people being against it the Scottish Government have refrained from putting this in force. â€Å"Plan for action on alcohol problems: update (2007)† is policy written by the Scottish government as an update of the â€Å"Plan for action on alcohol problems (2002)†. The main stakeholders of this policy are the Scottish Government, Local Government, the Scottish education system, individuals, health organisations (NHS) and the alcohol trade industry. One of the first aims of the policy is to educate young people about the dangers of alcohol and alcohol misuse. This is in hope that if they educate the young people then when they grow up and become the age of legally being able to drunk that they will have enough knowledge and education to be able to handle it with care and therefore reducing alcohol misuse in the future. The Scottish government have introduced the â€Å"Alcohol. Don’t Push It† campaign, set out to not only educating the young people but everyone of all ages not to abuse alcohol but rather to have it as part of a healthy, balanced li festyle. The  Scottish Government has put in â€Å" £13 million over 2005/06 and 2006/07 to support local alcohol treatment, support and prevention activities† (Kerr, A. 2007). This shows that they are trying to tackle local authorities to ensure that they have the knowledge and support to be able to educe their alcohol misuse problems themselves. It has been found that â€Å"the number of liquor licences in Scotland has increased by 23%†(Kerr, A. 2007). This is making alcohol more and more accessible meaning that people are able to drink to so much excess with alcohol being sold in off-licenses, supermarkets, pubs and little local shops. â€Å"Alcohol-related industries are estimated to employ around 155,000 people (6% of total employment in Scotland) (Kerr, A. 2007)† This means that a lot of people’s livelihood relies on the production and sale of alcohol in Scotland and if sales decrease too much these people lose out. The UK Government receives taxes of â€Å"7% of total Customs and Excise revenue† (Kerr, A. 2007) from alcohol alone. This means that if the alcohol sales were to go down they would lose out on money however, sa ying that they would also save the money that they currently spend on the restoring the problems that alcohol misuse cause, such as treating people that have illnesses relating to alcohol. When providing alcohol all premises have to have a license to allow the to do this. The Alcohol Etc. (Scotland) Act 2010 was written by the Scottish Government to ensure that all premises were following the laws and regulations of their license. The main stakeholders in this act are the Scottish Government and the alcohol sales industry. The act outlines the rule and regulations for the sale and pricing of alcohol. The act states that if â€Å"A package containing two or more alcoholic products (whether of the same or different kinds) may only be sold on the premises at a price equal to or greater than the sum of the prices at which each alcoholic product is for sale on the premises† (Anon. 2011). This means that if two products are packaged together that they must be sold for at least the price of the products if they were sold separately if they are also sold separately on the same premises. The act also states that a premise must have a scheme in place to make sure that age verification is being carried. Many place take the ‘Think 25’ approach, where they must ask verification of anyone who looks aged 25 or under. This is to ensure that young people who look older  than they are are being checked for identification. This is one way the Scottish Government are trying to reduce the underage drinking in Scotland. Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012 was put into place to ensure that alcohol was not being sold at too much of a reduced price. The reason for this is to stop alcohol being made too accessible, especially to people who are not able to afford the necessities such as food, water and safe shelter. An equation was put in to place to ensure that everyone was complying with the same legislation, it was: â€Å"MPU x S x V x 100† (Anon. 2011). MPU is maximum price per unit, S is Strength of the Alcohol and V is the Volume of alcohol. In conclusion of this essay, alcohol misuse is still a major problem in Scotland to this day but with the leadership of the government and the help of every individual, community and local government then hopefully in the future we can say that Scotland is still as social and hospitable as ever. The only change will be that there is a decrease in the deaths, injuries and social problems cause by alcohol. REFERENCES Bennett, T. and Holloway, K. 2005. _Understanding drugs, alcohol and crime_. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Drink Aware. 2013. _Alcohol Dependence_. [online] Available at: http://www.drinkaware.co.uk/check-the-facts/health-effects-of-alcohol/mental-health/alcohol-dependence. Unknown. 2003. _Percentages of Past Year Alcohol Dependence or Abuse among Adults Aged 21 or Older, by Age at First Use_. [image online] Available at: http://www.samhsa.gov/data/2k4/ageDependence/ageDependence.htm. Scot Gov. 2011. _Varying risk of crime – proportion of adults who were victims of crime by area deprivation_. [image online] Available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/10/28142346/5. West, R. and Hardy, A. 2006. _Theory of addiction_. Oxford: Blackwell Pub./Addiction Press. Ford, K. Unknown. Understanding of the use of alcohol in pregnancy amongst women in Scotland. Published by General Register Office. Available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/175356/0066306.pdf Kerr, A. 2007. Plan for action on alcohol problems: update. Published by the Scottish Executive. Available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/02/19150222/0 Sturgeon, N. 2009. Changing Scotland’s Relationship with Alcohol: A Framework for Action. Published by the Scottish Government. Available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/262905/0078610.pdf Anon. 2010. Alcohol etc. (Scotland) Act 2010. Published by the Scottish Government. Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2010/18/contents Anon. 2012. Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012. Published by the Scottish Government. Available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/Services/Alcohol/minimum-pricing Scot Gov. 2009. Tackling alcohol misuse. Published by the Scottish Government. Available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2009/03/02085300 Blackett, G. 2013. Contribution of the Scotch Whisky Industry to the Scottish Economy. Published by Biggar Economics. Available at: http://reidfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Whisky-and-the-Scottish-Economy-BiGGAR-Economics-Nov12.pdf 8

Death and Euthanasia Essay

Death and Euthanasia Essay Death and Euthanasia Essay The Ethicality of Euthanasia Lindsey Brewer Beckfield College In the medical field, there are countless issues that are highly debated in reference to their ethicality. From stem cell research to health care laws, the topics of discussion spread far and wide. One of the most controversial of these subjects is euthanasia. Euthanasia, defined as the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy, is often called assisted suicide or mercy killing (WEBSTER’S). It is a practice that many are familiar with, but most don’t accept as ethical. Euthanasia is such a multi-faceted issue that it is difficult to decide where to start a discussion about it. The author perceives it to be an ethical dilemma because it involves voluntary death or what some people may term â€Å"playing God.† With Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS), the terminally ill patient’s physician prescribes them a lethal medication to take at their leisure. Essentially, one’s doctor is giving them the chance to end their life, when a doctor’s real job is supposed to be to keep you healthy and alive. This seems like a reversal of duty, but what if the life the person has is not able to be celebrated because of a terminal illness that has wracked their body with pain? It is for this reason that the author thinks euthanasia should be a legal option for terminally ill people. If someone is of sound mind, the author doesn’t see why they shouldn’t be able to make the decision to end their suffering and therefore their life. It’s their right to choose. Having a physician prescribe a medicine they can take on their own terms is a much kinder way to go than committing suicide, which is really the only other option for the terminally ill. By allowing and promoting euthanasia as a choice, it gives them the chance to die with a little dignity. They can even make their final arrangements and plan their death with their loved ones. It gives control to those who don’t have control over their body because of the disease that ravages it. It doesn’t seem fair to me to force someone to live out their life when they are in a constant state of pain and uncertainty. Euthanasia is, in the author’s opinion, a more humane option, but most Americans disagree. According to a Zogby poll, only one third would choose assisted suicide if they were stricken with a terminal disease (ZOGBY). In fact, it is only legal as Physician Assisted suicide and only in five areas in the world, including Washington, Oregon, Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg (LEGAL). The lack of availability highlights how controversial this topic really is, but the author doesn’t think it speaks for how many would choose this route if given the legal option. While the author’s feelings on euthanasia are very strong, most people have opposing views. Some people say euthanasia is murder because someone’s life is being taken before their time. The term â€Å"playing God† is often used because doctors are deciding on when someone will die rather than letting nature take its course. Another reason some feel euthanasia is wrong is because of the potential for those who aren’t terminally ill to request it because they don’t want to live. Current laws under the Oregon and Washington Death with Dignity Act require the person requesting PAS to be of sound mind and suffering from a terminal illness that will lead to death within six months, but what if those laws are amended (DEATH)? Potential for changes to include any persons who just want to cease living is definitely something to fear. While these non-terminally ill patients do have the right to choose to die, the author doesn’t see the laws being modified to include them in the legalization of euthanasia. The author thinks that would cause a much bigger controversy than mercy killing itself. There are many reasons people have views opposite mine in regards to

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