Group work in Primary Schools

Group work, known to others as collaborative or concerted acquisition, is defined as a â€Å" state of affairs in which, two or more people learn or attempt to larn something together † [ Wikipedia Contributors, 2010 ] . This paper focuses on how on the job collaboratively impacts both instruction and acquisition in primary schools. It describes the background to the development of collaborative acquisition and high spots the techniques frequently employed. The rules to effectual group work are explained, with both advantages and disadvantages noted. Collaborative acquisition is a pedagogical scheme which utilizes a assortment of larning activities to heighten a pupil ‘s apprehension of a peculiar subject. This is an betterment to traditional acquisition theoretical accounts besides defined as non-interactive talks, where cognition is gained from direct talks or the reading of books and articles. Traditional larning bids really small interaction or engagement from the pupils, hence a batch or really small may be learnt depending on the person. Collaborative larning accordingly stands as a constructivist attack to acquisition, and is identified as arising from a constructivist epistemology, as pupils are asked to take part and lend to their ain acquisition and development. The thoughts of bookmans such as Burner, Kohlberg, Piaget and Vygotsky are used in the development of collaborative acquisition, which basically implies that both the pupil and the environment are actively dynamic entities in the acquisition procedure as the pupil tries to portray the lessons. This procedure requires that cognition be discovered and translated utilizing linguistic communication and other larning Plutos to which the pupils can actively associate. Lawrence Kohlberg researched the moral determinations made by kids. His probe is such that â€Å" he developed an interview procedure offering a figure of scenarios, each with a moral quandary † for which he had pre-determined replies. He realized that six phases of moral development existed and that some people are unable to make most advanced degrees of ethical reading. He thereby concluded that ; â€Å" the development of moral concluding happens in a peculiar sequence, and that each measure of the manner is a precursor to the following † [ KidsDevelopment.co.uk, 2010 ] . Jean Piaget ‘s theory of Cognitive Development suggests that persons go through a series of phases on their manner to independent thought. Piaget provinces that â€Å" all cognition refering world consequences from actions or operations upon it, which makes it alter, uncovering its stable and variational belongingss † ( Piaget, 1980 p222 ) . Lev Vygotsky believed that socialisation increases cognition and frequently clip changes a kid ‘s ideas and behaviors. Vygotsky suggests that larning is achieved in three ways ; imitative, instructed and collaborative. Imitative larning involves the pupil merely copying what was taught and instructed acquisition involves the pupil following waies antecedently given. Vygotsky ‘s work was focussed on two of import thoughts. First being the Zone of Proximal Development ( ZPD ) ; this describes the degree of distinction between a job that a pupil can work out independently and a job in which a pupil will necessitate the aid of others. ZPD is frequently identified as an person ‘s degree of existent competence relation to their degree for possible development. The 2nd thought is known as staging and describes the facet of support given to pupils when it is desired. Group work allows pupils to work together in little squads, uniting people with changing backgrounds, experiences, proficient and rational competences, towards the attainment of a specific aim. Each member of the squad has the duty of larning the stuff for himself, while besides assisting other members to clearly understand the lesson therefore making an â€Å" ambiance of accomplishment † ( Palmer, Peters and Streetman. 2008 ) . Students thereby derive both cognition and societal accomplishments. The usage of group treatments helps pupils to explicate constructs and thoughts by supplying immediate feedbacks. Students learn how to trouble-shoot hand in glove in order to happen the best solution to a job. â€Å" When pupils formulate their ain solutions in this mode, they are genuinely believing critically ( Davis, Mahler & A ; Noddings, 1990 ) . Swortzel expresses that there are two major theoretical attacks to group work â€Å" Motivational and Cognitive † ( Swortzel, 1997 ) . Group work is seen as motivational because pupils recognize that their success or failure in the attainment of the specified end is dependent on them being able to work together as a squad. They thereby encourage each other to acquire the assigned undertakings done decently and on clip, in so making â€Å" concerted acquisition additions pupils ‘ motive to make academic work † ( Johnson, Johnson & A ; Holubec, 1986 ) . The cognitive attack suggests that through group work pupils go more critical with their thought. Students are stimulated to believe ‘outside the box ‘ , therefore geting increased degrees of perceptual experience, consciousness, and concluding and judgment abilities. Group treatments are really synergistic with each person showing their point of view. Within a diverse group, there will be doubtless changing sentiments accordingly foregrounding attacks to the same subject. A collaborative model must foremost be established before the execution of collaborative larning techniques. The instructor should research collaborative acquisition and observer other instructors who have already implement the usage of group work. The instructor should hold on a good apprehension of the advantages and disadvantages to group work and must develop a acute grasp for the technique of scaffolding. The instructor so needs to make up one's mind if collaborative acquisition is ideal for the topic being taught, the type of pupils and take into history schoolroom limitations, if any. Teachers implementing collaborative acquisition are expected to be competent in the undermentioned countries: Stipulating instructional aims Determining group size and assign pupils to groups Determining Group Size and Assign Students to Group Classroom agreement Planing instructional stuffs to advance Interdependence Delegating group functions Delegating undertakings Structuring positive mutuality and answerability Explaining the standards for success Stipulating desired behaviors Before implementing collaborative larning the instructor should explicate to the pupils their determination for the usage of group work and explicate the advantages and disadvantages. The finding of group sizes may change depending on the nature of the undertaking and the work load. Groups can be homogenous or heterogenous, grouping pupils with similar involvements and strengths or they may be wholly indiscriminately selected. Once groups are established they normally do non alter really frequently, so as to let pupils to develop a constructive working relationship with each other. It is of import that the furniture in the schoolroom be organized in a manner which allows the pupils to work as a unit, sooner confronting each other, whilst leting for their flexible motions. Teachers should take into history the bing resources needed for successful undertaking completion and guarantee that they are readily accessible by the groups. The instructions and stuffs a instructor chooses for a group should guarantee that each member of the group makes a meaningful part and that single assignments within the group will be equally distributed. Teachers should construction positive mutuality and answerability by regularly proving both the groups and the members of the group for apprehension of the capable affair. Members should be encouraged to be able to actively support the stance of the group and their ain. The standards for success of the group should be clearly communicated and measures put into topographic point to measure the group ‘s public presentation as a unit every bit good as the single public presentations of the members. Once the groups have been established, instructors need to supervise the behavior of the pupils and aid with demands while monitoring. In so making, instructors may help with the answering of inquiries and supply and jump point of position or sentiment. Teachers may besides supply feedback on the work completed or the advancement made. Should struggles originate within the groups, instructors should step in to guarantee that such struggles are rapidly resolved and explicate the deductions of unwanted behaviors. It is besides really of import that instructors provide approbation and, or motive where it is deserved. Students play the most of import function in the art of collaborative acquisition. Their functions include and are non limited to, working together, actively listening to each other, maintaining records of work and advancement, oppugning each other, presuming personal duty and finishing the assigned undertaking. An article written by Dillenbourg and Schneider provinces that there are a few mechanisms to collaborative acquisition: Conflict or Disagreement, proposing that when equal to peer struggles originate, societal factors cause scholars to disregard the dissension and to some extent forces them to happen a executable solution to the job. One facet of this theory states that diverging point of views normally lead to academic additions, while the other provinces that â€Å" when struggles are non verbalized they do non foretell positive results † ( Dillenbourg and Schneider, 1995 ) . This article draws two decisions relative to this mechanism one being that â€Å" little misinterpretations can be every bit efficient as a clear struggle between two agents who severally believe P and non P † and the 2nd being that â€Å" verbal interactions generated to work out struggle are related to larning results † ( Dillenbourg and Schneider, 1995 ) . Alternate Proposal besides referred to as the â€Å" verification prejudices † by Dillenbourg and Schneider ( 1995 ) . In so making pupils actively develop thoughts that support their suggestions and wholly disregard thoughts that do non. They frequently times can non abandon their thought or suggestion because another suggestion may non be forthcoming ; nevertheless other group members make alternate suggestions. ( Self- ) account ; the Self-Explanation consequence, as it is in known in many cognitive scientific discipline literature, describes that in a state of affairs where one pupil is more cognition that the other, the latter will automatically larn from the signifier, and besides that the former will hold on a better apprehension of the subject being explained as he endeavours to interpret into to footings to with the latter pupil can actively associate. Having successfully explained the more knowing pupil would hold improved upon his accomplishments to interrelate and gained improved assurance. Had there been any uncertainnesss in the account, person even more knowing might be able to clear up. Internalization ; the article explains this mechanism as one in which pupils explain or justify their suggestions to each other, the verbalisation of such impacts all involved and that the constructs communicated are integrated into the hearers concluding. â€Å" Thinking is viewed a treatment that 1 has with oneself and which develops on the footing of treatments we had with others † ( Dillenbourg and Schneider, 1995 ) . The article besides states that for this mechanism to be effectual a few conditions must be met, â€Å" One status is that topics can merely absorb constructs which are within their ‘zone of proximal development ‘ , i.e. within the vicinity of the current cognitive degree. Another status is that the less able equal is non left as a inactive hearer, but participates into the joint job work outing scheme † ( Dillenbourg and Schneider, 1995 ) Appropriation, this is explained as one pupil detecting the thoughts or accounts of another and taking those thoughts or accounts and edifice on it to do their ain. Learning is double as the first pupil reinterprets his actions relative to that of the 2nd, and the 2nd pupil got a sound foundation on which to construct. Shared Cognitive Load, this involves the distribution of undertakings which will come together to accomplish the overall aim of the group. When the work load is even shared between pupils, each pupil can work meticulously on the assigned undertaking, thereby extinguishing redundancies and bettering the efficiency of the group. Common Regulation, by using any of or a combination of the mechanisms antecedently described, pupils frequently have to modulate the actions of each other to guarantee that the stipulated guidelines are adhered to for the attainment of their ends. Social Grounding, described limpidly by Dillenbourg and Schneider as â€Å" the mechanism by which an person efforts to keep the belief that his spouse has understood what he meant, at least to an extent which is sufficient to transport out the undertaking at manus † ( Dillenbourg and Schneider, 1995 ) . This mechanism requires the talker to look into for apprehension, and where misunderstand is seeable to clear up, thereby constructing a portion apprehension of the job. George W. Gagnon. Jr. , and Michelle Collay developed another design for collaborative acquisition and in this theoretical account teachers develop a series of stairss that their instruction construction follows every bit listed below: â€Å" They develop a state of affairs for the pupils to explicate † ( Gagnon and Collay, 2004 ) â€Å" They select a procedure for groupings of stuffs and pupils † ( Gagnon and Collay, 2004 ) â€Å" They build a span between what pupils already cognize and what the instructors want them to larn † ( Gagnon and Collay,2004 ) â€Å" They anticipate inquiries to inquire and reply without giving away an account † ( Gagnon and Collay, 2004 ) â€Å" They encourage pupils to exhibit a record of their thought by sharing it with others † ( Gagnon and Collay, 2004 ) , and â€Å" They solicit pupils ‘ contemplations about their acquisition † ( Gagnon and Collay, 2004 ) . A comparing of there collaborative techniques, is illustrated in Appendix 1. Johnson, Johnson, and Smith ( 1991 ) high spots three cardinal undertakings instructors should follow for the rating of the efficiency and effectivity after there group work is completed. First, instructors should supply a closing through summarisation. That is, to sum up the lessons of import points or to hold each group explain their work and the points they found of most significance. Second is to measure the pupils larning, by measuring how they have attained or failed to achieve the coveted result and supplying the feedback required, leting pupils to better on their ability to work as a group and therefore personal development. Third, instructors should do note of the techniques that worked and why they worked and if necessary adjust their lessons. A popular definition of constructivism is that â€Å" Constructivism is a theory of cognition which claims that cognition is non passively received but actively constructed by the scholar, and that the map of knowledge is adaptative, functioning to organize experience, instead than detect world † ( online, 2010 ) Group work has academic, societal and physiological benefits to both pupils and instructors. Academic benefits include: the development of critical thought and the active engagement of pupils in the acquisition procedure. The societal benefits include: the development of societal larning systems for pupils and physiques diverseness apprehension among pupils and instructors. The physiological benefits include: increased self-esteem through peer-to-peer instructions and it reduces the anxiousness of pupils. Although collaborative larning seems to be dependent on the actions and willingness to larn, which should for many be a natural procedure, there are many disadvantages as there are advantages to is execution. A few of the obstructions faced are ; some pupils prefer to work competitively instead that collaboratively, instructors lack the ability to readily measure the work produced, instructors sometimes do non cognize how to mensurate the effectivity of their instructions in a collaborative scene, sometimes the assigned undertakings are non applicable to a pupils ends or abilities, and sometimes the undertakings are non â€Å" hard plenty to dispute but non so hard as to stonewall a conversation. † Some groups may be comprised of ‘slow scholars ‘ who may be viewed as others as priceless, thereby advancing ‘superior ‘ behaviour by the ‘fast scholars ‘ . Table 1, Appendix 2, illustrated assorted group constructions and the advantages and disad vantages to these groups. Nigel Hastings and Karen Chantrey-Wood from Nottingham Trent University explores the many schemes instructors utilize in group work activities, many of which are strongly endorsed by a commission known as the ‘Plowden Committee ‘ . â€Å" By disbursement clip with groups of kids, instructors could set their instruction to the demands of the persons of that group to a greater extent than when working with an full category of pupils as a whole. This besides ensures that all kids have a sensible sum of direct contact with their instructor regardless of the fact that they are working in groups † [ Hastings & A ; Wood, 2002 ] . This suggests that collaborative acquisition enhances the happening of individualised attending given to pupils, by presenting â€Å" one-on-one † interactions between pupils and equals and pupils and instructors. The article besides illustrates that schoolroom agreement is really of import in guaranting that collaborative acquisition is efficient and effectual. It shows that collaborative acquisition in widely accepted and really normally practiced across the Earth ; â€Å" In primary schoolrooms throughout the UK, it is standard pattern for kids to sit around sorted tabular arraies – normally with four to six kids in each group. Such agreements are besides common in primary schools in other English-speaking states, Australia and USA for illustration. Precisely because this constellation is so normal and so good established in our schools, it is unusual to inquire about its principle or to oppugn its rightness † [ Hastings & A ; Wood, 2002 ] . An abstract written from an experiment conducted by Gillies and Ashman, â€Å" One hundred and 92 Grade 6 kids participated in a survey which compared the effects on behavioral interactions and accomplishment of ( a ) co-op acquisition in which group members were trained to join forces to ease each other ‘s acquisition, and ( B ) co-op acquisition in which members were non trained but were simply told to assist each other. Graded random assignment of participants occurred so that each gender-balanced group consisted of one high- , two medium- , and one low-ability studentaˆÂ ¦ † ( Gillies & A ; Ashman, 1999 ) . The observations showed that the pupils who worked in the ‘Trained ‘ groups where more antiphonal and helpful to each other, giving accounts where necessary to help as they worked together. It showed that pupils in the ‘untrained ‘ groups were a batch less helpful towards or concerted with each other. From the consequences it was besid es concluded that â€Å" the kids in the ‘trained ‘ groups exercised more autonomy with their acquisition and obtained higher acquisition results than ‘untrained ‘ equals † ( Gillies & A ; Ashman, 1999 ) . This survey is one of the many to certify to the success of group work. Despite some drawbacks Collaborative acquisition has legion benefits, as is explained, runing from academic to physiological and it execution in primary schools is rather a positive move. Students at the primary school degree are rather waxy and there is no better clip for them to develop the really valuable competencies that working in a group has to offer. At the primary school degree they are mature plenty to hold an apprehension of what group work requires. Many of the surveies conducted were centralized around childhood developments. Students who can successfully work in groups from the primary school degree are normally better equipped for when come ining higher degree larning establishments. They would hold learnt to comfortably associate with equals and grownups, such as instructors or other authorization figures, they would hold learnt the value of self-expression and self-explanation, actively listen and esteem the positions of others. These pupils realize that as persons w e have different backgrounds, experiences and traditions and as such may hold diverging attacks to the same job. These pupils will besides be better able to distinguish between the demand to work collaborative and the demand to work competitively and in so making will cognize when best to use the several attacks. This research has revealed that both the instructors and the pupils play a polar function in the success of collaborative acquisition. Teachers are non expected to merely delegate undertakings and sit back while the pupils work on their ain. Teachers must play an active function throughout the procedure. They must be after for the assignment with clearly structured undertakings that will advance collaborative interactions, promote mutuality and excite cognitive thought among pupils. Teacher must supervise the procedure supplying ongoing feedback and be readily able to decide struggles should they originate. Teachers should be able to actively scaffold their pupils, cognizing when their support is needed and that it should bit by bit be withdraw. Students in order to successfully accomplish their aims in groups must appreciate the benefits of group work. They must hold a clear apprehension of the coveted aim and the sub-task demand to successfully accomplish the aim. They must be able to actively and reflectively listen to each other and utilize creativeness and objectiveness to work positively together. In so making they will larn to further positive work attitudes with others, thereby bettering on their interpersonal accomplishments as they prepare for the work universe. Appendix 1 Three Constructivist Design Models [ 1 ]1. The Learning Cycle2. The Learning Step developed by George W. Gagnon. Jr. and Michelle Collay 3. The Information Construction ( ICON ) theoretical account created by Robert O. McClintock and John B. Black, and is really similar to Dillenbourg and Schneider. Appendix 2 Table 1: Forms of Cooperative Groups [ 2 ]Name OF GROUPWHAT IS THIS?WORKS BEST FORBenefitsDrawbackPair-share 2 pupils with one job portion their thoughts or inquiries. Each individual speaks, listens, & A ; gives feedback. Content that requires treatment, contemplation, or account. Increased engagement clip, Helps those who are diffident Fewer positions and solutions Saber saw Each member of the little group researches one portion of the inquiry /content for a certain sum of clip. The members of the group come back together. Each member teaches his/her portion to the remainder of the group. Content with four or five parts to research. Students gain learning and research accomplishments Some pupils feel pressured by a clip bound Split-class treatment The category is split into half. Each side discusses /debates their cognition /beliefs, etc. Arguments or treatments Students may alter their sentiment or develop a different position Some pupils may talk less with such a big group. Random groups of 3 Class is split into groups of 3. The groups discuss the subject. Predicting what will go on, reacting to a state of affairs. Receive a assortment of feedback, group members are accountable Easy to go forth out or team up against a diffident pupil or one who has a different sentiment Ability/Interest/Friendship Group Students are divided into groups based on some quality that they all have in common. Making plays/skits or an activity in which pupils must work together outside of category. Students can work at a gait that best suits them, pupils are seldom world-weary and frequently motivated It is unrealistic to happen a wholly homogenous group, weaker or unpopular pupils may be excluded. Diverseness Groups Students are formed into groups where they come from a broad assortment of backgrounds, involvements, etc. Researching geographics, history, and diverse life styles. There are many chances to derive different positions Minorities may go anomic Multi-aged groups Students are divided into groups in which there are a mixture of ages Older pupils learning younger pupils ( i.e. scientific discipline experiments ) . Older students- there is less force per unit area to vie with equals, Younger pupils fell of import that an older individual is passing clip with them Older pupils may be a bad influence ; Older pupils may non cognize how to work with a younger kid or an â€Å" at hazard † pupil Peer-led Conferences Students prepare and take a treatment of stuff with parents, teachers, pupils, etc. A major undertaking in which pupils set up Stationss for several intelligences. Students get the chance to genuinely learn, pupils learn self assurance. Students whose parents are inactive in the school may be alienated from those whose parents participate ; some pupils may non be involved in interactions. Notes: These diagrams were obtained from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/implementation_sub1.html This tabular array was obtained from: hypertext transfer protocol: //projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php? title=Cooperative_Learning # Frequently_Asked_Questions_about_Cooperative_Learning

Monopoly as a source of market failure Essay

Abtsract. Environmental problems also occur when one of the participants in an exchange of property rights is able to exercise an inordinate amount of power over the outcome. This can occur, for example, when a product is sold by a single seller, or monopoly. A firm that has no competitors in its industry is called a monopoly. Monopolies are not all evil. Neither are they utterly good. Monopolies are much maligned because their profit incentive leads them to raise prices and lower output in order to squeeze more money out of consumers. As a result, governments typically go out of their way to break up monopolies and replace them with competitive industries that generate lower prices and higher output. Our study examines Arcelor-Mittal: the uncontrolled growth of this steel giant often at the expense of peoples’ health in a rapidly globalizing world has given people all around the world common cause for resistance. We have focused on Arcelor-Mittal Temirtau Kazakhstan which as we think is the best example of monopoly of market failure. Our paper work on â€Å"Monopoly as a source of market failure† explores global steel giant’s environmental and social impacts in 2008-2009 that have emerged from the Environmental&Natural Resource Economics. First, we provide the background information about the theory of natural monopoly as a source of market failure. Then we show the certain case of such monopoly – ArcelorMittal Temirtau Kazakhstan. Our research analysis is divided to two parts: background information and social&environmental impacts of global steel giant’s work in our homeland. Considering the situation and the current conditions of Arcelor-Mittal we then provide following solutions to the company that have to be implemented in order to enable it to overcome and or limit the potential problems in the foresseable future. This topic is very crucial and relevant not just only for our country to be mentioned and finally to be solved but also for the whole world as Arcelor-Mittal is operating worldwide. However it still neither has taken into account the seriousness of the problems that it has induced to the environment nor all of the responsibility. Introduction: The rise of a steel giant. We are all shareholders, maybe not in the company, but 1 / 13 indeed in our environments, and shareholders of corporations such as ArcelorMittal need to be aware of this reality. Company shareholders are often blinded by the glossy reports, company greenwash and figures detailing rising profits. This paper work seeks to create a new awareness amongst ArcelorMittal’s shareholders, and calls on them to act on the evidence presented. Many perceive the rise of Mittal Steel – now ArcelorMittal – from a small mill to a global steel giant as one of the great wonders of the business world. The success of the company has coincided with the exploitation of weaker national laws and political wrangling. In the last three decades Mittal has bought up old, run-down state-owned steel factories in places like Trinidad, Mexico, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, South Africa and Algeria. The cost of Mittal Steel’s success has largely been paid by the communities living and working near the company’s plants. Mittal Steel has a global reputation for prioritising productivity over the environment, communities and fair labour practices in countries where it operates steel mills, such as Romania, Poland, Czech Republic South Africa, Kazakhstan and the United States, in spite of frequent company statements about its attention to and investment in these areas. No longer can they be uninformed shareholders reaping annual profits. They need to accept responsibility for the negative impacts their investments have on peoples’ lives along with accepting the profits they reap on their shares. It is critical to understand that the local injustices presented in the report will not just ‘go away’. They need careful deliberation and shareholder resolutions for ethical investment that calls for improved operations on the ground in order to deliver environmental justice to local people. Economic monopolies have existed throughout much of human history. In ancient and medieval times dire scarcity of resources was common and affected the lives of most human beings. When resources are extremely scarce, little room exists for a multiplicity of producers for many products and services. Monopoly is a well-defined market structure where there is only one seller who controls the entire market supply, as there are no close substitutes for his product and there are no barriers to the entry of rival producers. However in this dynamically changing world there is no such situation where the commodity does not have a substitute. So for a monopoly to be effective there must be no practical substitutes for the product or service sold, and no serious threat of the entry of a competitor into the market. This enables the seller (â€Å"monopolist†) to control the price. The term monopolist is derived from the Greek word â€Å"mono†, meaning â€Å"single†, and â€Å"polist† meaning seller. Thus the monopolist may be defined as the sole seller of a product which has no close substitutes. At the beginning we state the background information about the theory of natural monopoly as a source of market failure. Then we show the certain case of such monopoly – ArcelorMittal Temirtau Kazakhstan. Our research analysis is divided to two parts: background information and social&environmental impacts of global steel giant’s work in our homeland. Considering the situation and the current conditions of Arcelor-Mittal we then provide following solutions to the company that have to be implemented in order to enable it to overcome and or limit the potential problems in the foresseable future. The Theory of Natural Monopoly. Market failure occurs when resources are misallocated, or allocated inefficiently. There are five important sources of market failure, each of which results from the failure of one of the assumptions basic to the perfectly competitive model. Each also points to a potential role for government in the economy. One of the causes of market failure is imperfect competition, particularly monopolies. An imperfectly competitive market is one where the assumption of many buyers and sellers does not hold. These types of market organizations include monopoly, monopsony, oligopoly, and monopolistic competition. The operations of monopoly or natural monopoly often result in misuse of market power and inefficient allocation of resources, which reduce community welfare. For this reason, governments generally regulate monopoly and enforce laws preventing cartels. This type is a major rationale for a comprehensive competition policy. A monopoly is a market with one seller and many buyers. A monopoly may exist because of special 2 / 13 government regulation or because the monopolist is the sole owner of a resource (due to a patent or some other reason). A monopoly has the following characteristics: †¢There is only one producer in the market †¢They sell a single product with no close substitutes †¢Monopolies are price makers. The monopolies demand curve is the market demand curve; therefore the firm can sell the product at a higher price but only if it reduces output. It has control over the price or quantity sold, but not both. †¢There are very strong barriers to entry. This might include: High capital costs; High ‘sunk’ costs. Sunk costs are those which cannot be recovered if the firm goes out of business, such as advertising costs – the greater the sunk costs the greater the barrier. Technological knowledge, when one firm acquires the technological know-how that other firms do not have Patents and copyrights, protecting other firms from copying their product; Government regulations and restrictions; The monopoly can execute predatory pricing which involves dropping price very low in a ‘demonstration’ of power and to put pressure on existing or potential rivals and/or limit pricing. Limit pricing is a specific type of predatory pricing which involves a firm setting a price just below the average cost of new entrants – if new entrants match this price they will make a loss! A natural monopoly. A natural monopoly is a firm that can supply a good or service to an entire market at a lower price than if there were two or more firms. It has some similarities to a monopolist. It is an imperfect competitor, the sole producer in a market, and able to retain this position because of barriers to entry, such as government regulation, technological leadership or large start-up capital, It is able to restrict output in order to increase price and earn supernormal profits. However, a natural monopoly has a downward-sloping average cost curve (AC) over the relevant range of outputs, which results from economies of scale. Economies of scale develop in the long run, which is a period of time when all inputs are variable and the constraints imposed by diminishing returns no longer apply. The graph below shows the long run as being made up of a series of short-run periods, shown as a series of short-run AC en shown together illustrate economies of scale. Figure 1. Economies of scale. Source Senior Economics Workbook: NCEA Level 3. Geoff Evans, Ben Cahill, John Rogers. Pearson Education New Zealand Limited, 2005. Chapter 10. Page 93. A â€Å"natural monopoly† because it is economically efficient for there to only be one supplier. The following diagram can help to illustrate just why: Figure 2. A natural monopoly. Source Senior Economics Workbook: NCEA Level 3. Geoff Evans, Ben Cahill, John Rogers. Pearson Education New Zealand Limited, 2005. Chapter 10. Page 109. Given the downward sloping supply curve, and ignoring the demand curve for a minute, having an equilibrium at point E1, which gives us price P1. We could assume that this is a monopoly equilibrium, where Q1 represents the entire size of the market – it represents everybody who wants to buy the good. But in the case of a duopoly market, where there are two suppliers, we could assume that each seller in the market has exactly half of the market. This corresponds to the equilibrium E2 on the above diagram, which gives us quantity Q2 and price P2. We can assume the Q2 = 0. 5 x Q1, and that each of the two firms supplies Q2 of the good in question. And here a major problem arises. If we have one firm only, the marginal cost of supply is P1, which is lower than the duopoly price, P2. This means that having two firms in a market ends up with the firms having to charge a higher price than if only one firm existed. In this case, it is efficient, or â€Å"natural†, for there to only be one firm in 3 / 13 the market. This is why declining-marginal-cost industries are called natural monopolies. Because natural monopolies tend to be utilities, which are services like gas, electricity, water and telephones, which the public generally holds to be necessities of life, we are not comfortable allowing these firms to charge monopoly prices (i. e. , the pricing where MR = MC). Because these are staples or necessities, the demand curve for these goods is very inelastic – it is very steep. This means that the monopolist price would be much higher than the free-market price, and a large volume of people would be denied basic necessities of life. Instead, we use the power of government to regulate prices in these markets. The normal avenue for regulation of natural monopolies is the public utilities commission. These exist at the state-level in the United States, and at the national level in many other countries. Utilities commissions are given the task of making sure that utility companies make enough money to stay in business, but not enough to enjoy monopoly profits. They make sure that everybody is served, and served well, in theory. Since utilities are monopolies that are not subject to market forces and competition, they have little pressure to be responsive to market forces, which means that they do not have to treat their customers well, because their customers do not have the ability to switch to a different supplier. The costs of monopoly: †¢Less choice. Clearly, consumers have less choice if supply is controlled by a monopolist – for example, the Post Office used to be monopoly supplier of letter collection and delivery services across the UK and consumers had no alternative letter collection and delivery service. †¢High prices. Monopolies can exploit their position and charge high prices, because consumers have no alternative. This is especially problematic if the product is a basic necessity, like water. †¢Restricted output Monopolists can also restrict output onto the market to exploit its dominant position over a period of time, or to drive up price. †¢Less consumer surplus A rise in price or lower output would lead to a loss of consumer surplus. Consumer surplus is the extra net private benefit derived by consumers when the price they pay is less than what they would be prepared to pay. Over time monopolist can gain power over the consumer, which results in an erosion of consumer sovereignty. †¢Asymmetric information There is asymmetric information – the monopolist may know more than the consumer and can exploit this knowledge to its own advantage. †¢Productive inefficiency Monopolies may be productively inefficient because there are no direct competitors a monopolist has no incentive to reduce average costs to a minimum, with the result that they are likely to be productively inefficient. †¢Allocative inefficiency Monopolies may also be allocatively inefficient – it is not necessary for the monopolist to set price equal to the marginal cost of supply. In competitive markets firms are forced to ‘take’ their price from the industry itself, but a monopolist can set (make) their own price. Consumers cannot compare prices for a monopolist as there are no other close suppliers. This means that price can be set well above marginal cost. †¢Net welfare loss Even accounting for the extra profits derived by a monopolist, which can be put back into the economy when profits are distributed to shareholders, there is a net loss of welfare to the community. Welfare loss is the loss of community benefit, in terms of consumer and producer surplus, that occurs when a market is supplied by a monopolist rather than a large number of competitive firms. 4 / 13. †¢Monopoly welfare loss A ‘net welfare loss’ refers any welfare gains less any welfare loses as a result of an economic transaction or a government intervention. Using ‘welfare analysis’ allows the economist to evaluate the impact of a monopoly. †¢Less employment Monopolists may employ fewer people than in more competitive markets. Employment is largely determined by output – the more output a firm produces the more labour it will require. As output is lower for a monopolist it can also be assumed that employment will also be lower. The benefits of monopoly:Monopolies can provide certain benefits, including: †¢Exploit economies of scale As we have already mentioned above, the natural monopoly exploits economies of large scale. This means that it can produce at low cost and pass these savings on to the consumer. However, there would be little incentive to do this and the savings made might be used to increase profits or raise barriers to entry for future rivals. †¢Dynamic efficiency Monopolists can also be dynamically efficient – once protected from competition monopolies may undertake product or process innovation to derive higher profits, and in so doing become dynamically efficient. It can be argued that only firms with monopoly power will be in the position to be able to innovate effectively. Because of barriers to entry, a monopolist can protect its inventions and innovations from theft or copying. †¢Avoidance of duplication of infrastructure The avoidance of wasteful duplication of scarce resources – if the monopolist is a ‘natural monopoly’ it can be argued that competitive supply would be wasteful. Natural monopolies include gas, rail and electricity supply. A natural monopoly occurs when all or most of the available economies of scale have been derived by one firm – this prevents other firms from entering the market. But having more than one firm will mean a wasteful duplication of scarce resources. †¢Revenue Monopolists can also generate export revenue for a national economy. A single firm may gain from economies of scale in its own domestic economy and develop a cost advantage which it can exploit and sell relatively cheaply abroad. Remedies for monopoly:If a monopolist can gain a foothold in a market it becomes very difficult for new firms to enter, with the result that the price mechanism is restricted from doing its job. Resources cannot be allocated to where they are most needed because the monopolist can erect barriers to other firms. These barriers will not ‘naturally’ come down. The failure of markets to ‘self regulate’ is at the heart of monopoly as a ‘market failure. There are a number of ways in which the negative effects of monopoly power can be reduced: Regulation of firms who abuse their monopoly power. This could be achieved in a number of ways, including: †¢Price controls Setting price controls. For example, the current UK competition regulator, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), has developed a system of price ‘capping’ for the previously state owned natural monopolies like gas and water. This price capping involves tying prices to just below the current general inflation rate. The formula, RPI – X, is used, where the RPI (the Retail Price Index) is the chosen index of inflation and ‘X’ is a level of price reduction agreed between the regulator and the firm, based on expected efficiency gains. †¢Prohibiting mergers Prohibiting mergers – in the UK the Competition Commission can prohibit mergers between firms that create a combined market share of 25% or more if it believes that the merger would be against the ‘public interest’. In making their judgement, the ‘public interest’ takes into account the effect of the merger on jobs, prices and the level of competition. †¢Breaking up the monopoly Breaking up the monopoly into several smaller firms. For example regulators in the EU are currently 5 / 13 investigating potential abuse of market dominance by Microsoft, which is under threat of being broken up into two companies – one for its operating systems and the other for software. †¢NationalisationBringing the monopoly under public control – which is referred to as ‘nationalisation’. The ultimate remedy for an abusive monopoly is for the State to take a controlling interest in the firm by acquiring over 50% of its shares, or to take it over completely. The monopolist can still be run along commercial lines, but be made to operate as though the market were competitive. †¢Deregulation In those cases where a monopolist is already State controlled, such as the Post Office, it may be necessary to engage in deregulation to enable it to become more efficient. Deregulation could be used to bring down barriers to entry and open up a previously state controlled industry to competition, as has happened with the British Telecom and British Rail monopolies. This may help encourage new entrants into a market. Do Monopolies Undermine The Environment? As monopoly and natural monopoly tend to have a perpetual ownership of a scarce resource, they do not only ‘tie-up’ the existing scarce resources making it difficult for new entrants to exploit these resources, but also they often cause some environmental problems. Furthermore for many skeptics of the environmental benefits of market economies it seems that the fear of monopoly control over natural resources is one of their greatest concerns as well. The reality is actually much more complicated, because of the following: 1. Most natural resource industries are not controlled by monopolies, and are in fact characterized by a high degree of competitiveness. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing industries are almost everywhere characterized by markets with hundreds or thousands of players, some of them big but with plenty of smaller players as well. While limited degrees of market power exist in some of these industries in some areas, on the whole they are actually some of the more competitive industries in the world. Even energy and mineral industries are fairly competitive and where they are not they are characterized by oligopoly structures, almost never a monopoly. 2. Monopolies restrict output and raise the price of goods above their marginal costs (which leads to a loss of social welfare), which is why economists (mostly) consider them bad. But from an environmental perspective, they may actually be quite good since they lead to lower resource use and higher prices. For example, if oil was a completely competitive market the price would be lower and we would burn even more of it than if OPEC kept the price artificially high! The problem the environmentalist faces is not that monopolies keep prices high and limit output (that’s called conservation), but that this has a regressive effect and hurts the poor. (By the way, this is one of the biggest issues that confront environmentalists more generally, who for the most part would like to see resource prices rise. ). 3. As to examples where monopolies restrict R&D or limit technological innovation, there certainly are examples of this, but in general, the profit motive is sufficient to overcome this. Bottom line: the cheap prices of resources are the greatest threat to advances in efficiency and monopolies lead us in the opposite direction. 4. There are examples of what economists call â€Å"natural monopolies† where fixed costs are so high that only one company can be profitable providing a given service in a given region; examples are water, telecommunications, and electricity (imagine if every provider of water had to build their own pipe system? ). In cases where natural monopolies arise it is much more efficient for society to grant the company limited monopoly rights and regulate them. These are often called public utilities and abound in America (PG&E is my public utility in CA). The problem with public utilities is that often the regulators force them to charge very low prices that favor consumers but again lead to increased uses of resource; that is, if the monopolies were unregulated we would see lower resource use. 5. Let us not forget that the biggest monopolies in the history of humanity are state-owned. The monopolies in the former Soviet Union were certainly the biggest ever (and the worst environmental 6 / 13 offenders the world has ever known), and even today state-run monopolies for all sorts of resources (primarily oil, gas, and telecommunications) abound. Almost without fail, they are characterized by high prices, poor service, and abysmal environmental records. 6. Since competitive markets are one of the foundations of a prosperous economy, market-based societies have developed various forms of anti-trust legislation to ensure relatively high degrees of competitive in most markets. Laws regulating market share, anti-competitive pricing, etc. are commonplace in all of the advanced market systems, and have a relatively good record of success. Probably the greatest success has been in the telecommunications industry where deregulation has led to real price declines of almost 95% in telecommunications fees over the past 25 years. (Examples of the failure of states to break up monopolies abound in Latin America, particularly in telecom. I have written about how the Telmex in Mexico is one of the most egregious examples of robbing from the poor to give to the rich and how it is a great impediment to Mexico’s economic development. What the Mexiccam telecommunications industry desperately needs is more market-based competition to break Telmex’s grip, but unfortunately, due to immense corruption the average Mexican must continue to spend large shares of their meager earnings on phone calls. ) 7. Probably the biggest pro-competition policy is free trade and globalization. The greatest threats to regional and national monopolies come from trade from abroad and the innovation that trade accelerates. Contrary to popular wisdom, globalization does not increase the power of corporations over individuals, but just the reverse; people can shift their business to the other companies more easily as their choices increase. If you doubt this, just look at how lists of the â€Å"Fortune 500† companies continually shift every few years, and even more so in this more globalized age. In summary, while economists have long ago identified the pros and cons of monopolies, how they interact with environmental outcomes is not entirely straight-forward. What is obvious is that in non market-based economies we witness the worst forms of monopoly abuse and the resulting environmental degradation. ArcelorMittal: Going nowhere slowly. Background. ArcelorMittal Temirtau Kazakhstan(formerly Mittal Steel Temirtau, Ispat Karmet and Karaganda Metallurgical Plant). Arcelor Mittal Temirtau (AMT), founded in 1950, is one of the largest integrated steel plants in the world. The steel plant, along with all its infrastructure facilities, captive coal, iron ore and power plant, was acquired by ArcelorMittal – then Ispat – from the Kazakhstan government in 1995. Located in the city of Temirtau, population 170 000, in the Karaganda Region of Central Kazakhstan, it covers about 5 000 hectares and has a steel-making capacity of about 5. 5 million tonnes per annum. AMT operates eight coal mines in the region, producing a total of 12 202 million tonnes of coal in 2007. In the same year AMT’s output of rolled steel was 3. 581 million tonnes. The plant exports about 90 percent of its output, mostly to Russia, Iran and China. The towns of Temirtau and Karaganda as well as the surrounding area (about 1 million people) indirectly depend on the plant, which used to account for nearly 10 percent of Kazakhstan’s GDP . As of 2006 it employed 55 000 people and generated 4 percent of the country’s GDP. Figure 3. ArcelorMittal Temirtau exports the majority of its steel output but local residents pay the costs. Photo by CEE Bankwatch Network. Table 1. Mittal’s plant in Temirtau has received several direct and indirect loans from IFIs in the last 12 years: Year1997 Financial InstitutionEBRD PurposeTo restore productive capacity and improve efficiency in the steel mill and coal mines; develop value-added, higher quality steel, and to implement three environmental action plans that would improve environmental and health & safety impacts and bring the company into compliance with World Bank environmental guidelines. AmountUSD 54 million 7 / 13 RecipientAMT (former Ispat Karmet Steel Works) Year1997 Financial InstitutionIFC. PurposeTo restore productive capacity and improve efficiency in the steel mill and coal mines; develop value-added, higher quality steel, and to implement three environmental action plans that would improve environmental and health & safety impacts and bring the company into compliance with World Bank environmental guidelines. AmountUSD 132. 5 million RecipientAMT (former Ispat Karmet Steel Works) Year1999 Financial InstitutionIFC PurposeTo support the development of small and medium enterprises directly or indirectly associated with AMT and/or to assist workers formerly employed by AMT and/or to provide for the growth of the private sector in the Karaganda region. AmountUSD. 2. 5 million RecipientIndirect financial help to AMT through Kazkommertsbank. Year2001 Financial InstitutionIFC PurposeTo stimulate the relationship between the large corporate sector (in this case AMT) and the private SME sector. AmountUSD 3. 4 million equity investments. RecipientAMT. Year2004 Financial InstitutionIFC corporate loanPurposeTo enable LNM to improve the environmental performance of its present and future subsidiaries and bring them up to World Bank Group and/or European Union standards; – to assist LNM in creating and maintaining an environmental and worker health and safety system on a corporate wide level, to bring all its current and future operations in compliance with WB and/or EU standards;- to rehabilitate, dbottleneck and provide working capital and cash support to LNM’s present and future subsidiaries.      

A Functionalist Perspective On Prison Sociology Essay

A Functionalist Perspective On Prison Sociology Essay Choose a social institution (i.e. family, education, religion, prison, economy, mass media) and explain it using the three major sociological perspectives: Functionalist Perspective Conflict Perspective Interactionist Perspective Sociological Perspectives 3 Abstract The social institution that I chose is prison; I chose the prison system because I wanted to see how prisoners are seen by society and why according to these three major perspectives. Functionalist Perspective – Functionalists such as Charles Darwin and Emile Durkheim view society as a system of highly interrelated structures or parts that operate harmoniously. (Tischler, pg. 21) The functionalist, interactionists they more so are subjective to the aspects of social life, instead of the objective structural aspects of social systems. The interactionists, is shifted away from stable norms and values, and toward continually readjusting the social process. Conflict theorists, on the other hand, such as Karl Marx and David Hume, view society as constantly changing in response to social inequality and social conflict. (Tischler, pg. 21) Sociological Perspectives 4 Crime-Functionalist Theory Functionalists believe that crime and deviance are inevitable and necessary for a society. Crime shows other member of the society what is right and wrong. Social consensus decides how right and wrong is determined. Crime can lead to social change, say the functionalists, because the existence of crime proves to the people in society that the government does not overly control the citizens. Crime can also help the economy of a society by creating jobs for law enforcement officers, psychiatrists, probation officers and the like. Even in the functionalist society, too much crime can be bad for the group, causing it to lose the standard harmony and eventually causing the society to collapse. (www.criminology.fsu.edu) Crime-Conflict Theory How conflict theorists see crime, and the laws governing them, are products of a struggle for power and control. According to the conflict theorist, a select few powerful individuals and groups make the laws, and those laws are enforced to outlaw any behavior that threatens their interests. The poor and powerless are much more likely to be arrested and convicted for serious crimes such as rape and murder, than the more powerful and wealthy. The crime rate among the poor is very high because of a lack of opportunities that were meant to improve the economical status and living conditions. The poor also lack education, skills, and a strong support system that is necessary for individuals to become productive, valued members of society (www.unc.edu).) Sociological Perspectives 5 Symbolic Interactionist Theory Sociology has another theory that could also explain race relations according to dominant and subordinate groups like whites and blacks in America is the Symbolic Interactionist theory. This theory focuses on how we â€Å"learn conceptions and meanings of racial and ethnic distinctions through interactions with others and how meanings, labels, and definitions affect racial and ethnic groups† (Mooney 176). One example the author uses is simply the difference in terms that use the word white and black and the difference in the connotations of these terms. For example, typically words that contain the word black are negative, such as blacklist, blackball, and black sheep. Studies clearly still demonstrate that whites are seen as more intelligent, harder working and more self-supporting than blacks. This labeling helps lead to the very thoughts we have about minorities, which in turn helps perpetuate their subordinate place in society.

Goals and Approaches of health care operations management Essay

Goals and Approaches of health care operations management - Essay Example The scope, in healthcare, targets improved services and reduced costs. One of the purposes of operations management in health care is to improve services towards the core objective of promoting well being. The branch of management aims at coordinated processes and resources for optimal quality and quantity outputs. Coordination of personnel from different departments and promoting personnel’s technological skills, and identification and use of necessary technologies are examples of targets for operations management in the healthcare environment. The management also aims at improving patients movements into and within a care facility to eliminate time wastage. In addition, change is a necessity in any environment and often faces resistance despite potential benefits. Operations management aims at identifying and implementing necessary changes for improved services while at the same time ensuring personnel utility during such changes. Planning and coordination of internal and ex ternal activities to a healthcare setting are other objectives of operations management in the care sector (Langabeer, 2008). Mathematical models such as simulation and programming helps to determine targets for planning and actions (Denton, 2013). This week’s media segments on objectives of operations management in the health care set up informed me of the need for effective leadership in the management role. While operations management aims at analyzing the environment of a health care set up, developing frameworks for improvements and implementing proposed changes, challenges to adjusting to new technology and processes require leadership roles for ensuring that personnel support operations management decisions. Differentiated leadership potential for a contingency approach is the best because of diversity of personnel and dynamism of work environments. Such leadership styles as transformational leadership,

Summary and Personal Response Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Summary and Personal Response - Assignment Example The campaign slogan has not however passed the critics. Some term it as a nonsensical message that has got nothing to do with the safety of the people. For example, Harvey Molotch, NYU Sociologist, has different views about the campaign slogan, â€Å"See Something, Say Something†. According to Harvey, over 2000 residents of New York had actually â€Å"seen something and said something† but nothing tangible had come out of it. He recalls that in 2006 and 2007, over eighteen terrorism related cases were â€Å"seen† and reported. However, it turned out that the reported incidents had nothing to do with terrorism. They were just normal criminal activities such as violations of immigration rules, possession of unregistered guns, and selling of fake commodities. Harvey goes further to state that â€Å"it is not easy to stop terrorism related activities just by using campaign slogans†. Nonetheless, it is unfair to say that reporting does not help at all. A street vendor who alerted the police was able to save Times Square bombing in 2010. The fact that many people in New York are busy doing their own activities is also an impediment in doing what the program advocates. The fact that there are people working on projects that involves wires and gadgets, and the Muslims carrying some machines into their worship places is also another challenge to the â€Å"See Something, Say Something† program. Reporting such harmless incidents will not only charm the law-enforcement system, but also create unnecessary tension. At times, â€Å"see something, say something† can be a nuisance slogan, especially when people report incidents that they are not sure of without involving investigators. The continual reporting of such incidences will also give police officers or investigators hard time to figure out what exactly is needed. â€Å"See something, report something† program also has a â€Å"Chicken Little† upshot. For instance, if New

European Union Financial Transaction Tax Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

European Union Financial Transaction Tax - Essay Example The proposed transaction tax is different from a resolution levy or bank levy. Some governments have it in mind to impose bank levy in order to insure banks against future bailouts. However, this issue remains a matter of controversy amongst member states of European Union. The executive of the European Commission was to carry out a study to determine if it is appropriate to impose the tax on European Union alone. Tobin-style taxation method was imposed on EU’s sector of finance for purposes of generating direct revenue. The European Commission also suggested reduction of levies existing in the 27 state members. The new transaction tax was to ensure that the financial sector paid its fair share since it had been under-taxed for long (Collins 2011). The proposal effectively introduces a new minimum of rating taxes and harmonizes different taxes that exist in the EU’s financial transactions. This initiative will further aid in reducing competitive single market distortion , will discourage trading activities that are risky, and it will complement measures for regulations that are meant for avoiding crises in the future (Davidson 2002). The taxes will be levied on every transaction between institutions of finance as long as any of the involved parties in the transaction is within the EU location. The targeted institutions include; insurance companies, investment firms, pension funds, banks, hedge funds amongst others. House mortgages, insurance contracts contributions, bank loans to medium and small enterprises, spot transactions of currency exchange and issuance of shares and bonds on primary market will not be subjects to taxation (Mooslechner, Schuberth and Weber 2006). However, taxes will be imposed for secondary markets bond trading (Stigler 1971). The institution of finance is required to pay the rate of tax as per its residential country regardless of the actual trade location. The tax will cover all the transactions involving Europeans firms w ithout considering where the transactions took place. In this case, the brokers transacting on behalf of clients, are in a position to pass the tax unto the client. The European Union is composed of 27 state members amongst whom some are for the implementation of the transaction tax while others like the United Kingdom are opposing it. The government of the United Kingdom threatens to use its veto power to stop the proposal implementation unless it is introduced globally. The member states that are for the implementation suggest that the taxing should be implemented within the few member states euro zone and exclude the states that are reluctant. The general public opinion is that the financial transaction tax should be implemented be it global or within the European Union. People feel that it is a high time the sector of finance helped in repairing the damage resulting from economic crisis. The commission had launched consultations with the public in order to obtain feedback from t he stakeholders on the financial sector taxation initiative. The consultations are to aid in testing assumptions, collecting evidence relating to the definitions of problems, assessing impacts of set policy options and consulting on detailed aspects of the design and feasibility of policy options. Critics are stating that, Britain would disproportionately shoulder the negative consequences of the financial tra

The transportation Industry Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The transportation Industry - Assignment Example The 2011 RynAir financial statements are illustrated in Appendices A-D. The report will also include a discusssion of the accounting cycle. The accounitng cycle is a systematic system used by accountants to keep track of economic activities in order to prepare the financial staments of the company. The flow chart below shows the steps of the accounting cycle. RynAir Corporation must pay close attention to its accounting cycle. It all starts with the receipts and source document that are used to analyze the journal transactions. The firm could implement a new system that digitalizes all receipts. This system would improve the accountability of the system since it would create a backup of all receipts. Accountants instead of sorting through a bunch of small paper receipts they can get a digital image of each receipt in front of their computer monitor. The accountants would be able to work faster because inefficiencies in the journal recording process would be reduced. The income statement is a statement that reflects the profitability of a company during an accounting period. In 2011 RynAir had total revenues of â‚ ¬3629.5 million. In comparison with fiscal year 2010 the company increased its revenues by 21.46%. The net margin of RynAir in 2011 was 10.32%. The firm achieved earnings per share of â‚ ¬25.21. The operating expenses of the company were â‚ ¬3141 million, which was higher than the 2010 total of â‚ ¬2586 million. A cost factor that increased a lot in 2010 was the fuel and cost expenses. Traditional fuel and oil expenses are the biggest cost factor in the airline industry. In 2011 the company spends â‚ ¬1,227 million in fuel and cost which is an increase of 37.26%. Since the company increased its revenues at a higher rate than its expenses the overall profitability of the company was better. The balance sheet of the company is often referred to as the statement of

Mobile devices in the workplace Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mobile devices in the workplace - Research Paper Example This paper seeks to explore the use of mobile devices in the workplace. It aims at determining the level of use of mobile devices during office hours and the effects of such application on effectiveness and efficiency of employees’ output. This is because of the emerging trend in technology that increasingly develops the mobile devices. These devices are also technologically capacitated to offer services that were previously available on computers only. While low portability of computers would previously limit such application in the workplace, the current mobile devices allow employees, while on duty, to access recreational services. The problem promises a worse situation from the trend in manufacturing and sale of the mobile devices. There was for example an almost 90 percent increment in importation of mobile devices from the fourth quarter of the year 2009 to the same period in the year 2010. The increasing competition among the many manufactures of the devices also predic ts increase in utility that will attract more of employees’ time to the mobile devices. In the year 2010 for instance, more than 40 percent of employees used mobile devices for texting and this percentage is expected to have currently exceeded 50 percent (Notifycorp, 2010). Such trends pose both adverse and beneficial impacts on organizations. While they facilitate communication among members of the organization and may be used to facilitate official communications within organizations, the mobile devices, especially when used for personal applications, consumes a lot of organizations’ time, in quality and quantity (Notifycorp, 2010). The applications such as social networks and entertainment distract employees leading to loss of productivity time at personal levels. While cumulative employees’ application of the devices leads to a general lost time at the workplace, some employees’ applications may be a hindrance to other employees to adversely affect th eir output levels (Lussier, 2011). This research report therefore intends to change the trend in application of mobile devices in the workplace. It shall achieve this by statistically identifying the adverse impacts of application of the devices for adequate managerial decision making for controlling office use of mobile devices towards improved efficiency and effectiveness of employees. The developed ideas promise a deeper insight into human resource management through identifying significant inefficiencies due to application of mobile devices. This will lead to developed policies towards a more dedicated labor force. The research’s major limitation is, however, employees’ negative attitude on the research that may lead to dishonest responses. As a result, the true impacts of application of mobile devices may not be established. Proposed task The investigation proposes to employ a quantitative research approach. Under the method, the task will involve a series of step s that will begin with establishment of a theory, from reviewed literature. The proposed theory is that, application of mobile devices reduces productivity in the workplace. The theory will be followed by development of research hypothesis. This will be followed by designing the research before developing data collection instruments. Sampling will then be done followed by data collection and data analysis towards conclusion and a final documentation of the report (Bryman and Bell, 2007). The

Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 9

Research Paper Example Often, online reviews and responses are invaluable promotional resources for most companies. Streitfeld, 2013, addresses serious questions on the credibility of promotional strategies applied by companies based on online review rankings. The article addresses most pertinent issues to online marketing and promotions based on review ratings. First, it addresses challenges of an increase in online retail purchases prompted by increase in cases of industry of fibbers and promoters focused on buying and selling raves for a pittance. Streitfeld, 2013, maintains that there increasing instances of falsified online reviews to help companies promote their goods and services. High necessity for positive reviews by businesses and companies rendered the review system a struggle of superiority because no corporation accepts low ratings. The article highlights challenges of a high demand for positive reviews by businesses and companies as a struggle of supremacy in which every enterprise intends to ensure favorable competition. Streitfeld, 2013, uses an example of Sandra Parker, who served under contract by a company to fabricate Amazon reviews for $10 each. Parker’s role was to neutralize the effects of insincere reviews posted by customers for various companies to with favor and expand market dominance. According to Streitfeld, 2013, reviews lose meaning if illegitimate reviews get the same prevalence similar to those that are honest. The algorithm was successful because it was possible to distinguish honest reviews and fake reviews. According to the algorithm, false reviews are narratives addressing their experience at the firm using many superlatives without a vivid description of the facts. There is a high prevalence in the use of illegitimate and misleading reviews on company or business websites. Consequently, it is misleading for consumers and influences their product choice. Relevant regulations should be in place to regulate misleading reviews set

California Vaccine Mandate Bill Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

California Vaccine Mandate Bill - Research Paper Example Initially, the philosophical exemption law protected some groups of Americans against mandatory vaccination based on their religious and philosophical perspectives of them. It means that while it is almost necessary that children are vaccinated before they enter school, some children were exempted. However, the California vaccine mandate bill will eliminate the privilege starting 2016 (McGreevy, 2015). Therefore, the implication of the new bill is that families with negative religious beliefs will no longer be exempted. The new bill demands that a greater number of Californian children is vaccinated before they enter schools. According to the LA Times (April 22, 2015), the Senate passed the legislation on Wednesday 28, 2015 and will become a law beginning 2016 (McGreevy, 2015). The bill also provides that have negative perception of vaccines as a way of protecting their interests. There is a question of how suitable the proposed legislation is towards safeguarding of the rights of re ligious minorities in the state. While there is an acknowledgement of the rights of minority groups in the state, the new legislation will undermine such a privilege. The rationale for the deduction is that as some parents already complained, the number of children in schools will go lower. The reasoning is simple because parents with such beliefs will opt to keep their children away from schools as a way of protecting their interests. Some may argue that the legislation provides for parents with such opinions to home school their children.

The Consequence of Communication Failure Essay Example for Free

The Consequence of Communication Failure Essay In the history and evolution of professional communication practices, there are several instances that have greatly impacted our understanding of the necessity for clear and effective technical communication. Few, however, have had such eye-opening impact that they continue to be discussed decades after their occurrence. Two such incidents to have reached this height are concerning the Three Mile Island nuclear plant and the Challenger shuttle launch. (Martha Cooper. Three Mile Island. 1979. The Washington Post. Web. 3 July 2012) (Martha Cooper. Three Mile Island. 1979. The Washington Post. Web. 13 July 2012) In March of 1979, the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear power plant of Middleton, PA faced near meltdown. People feared an unseen enemy: radiation. B. M. Dunn had some vital information to the possibility of this incident prior to its occurring. Dunn relayed this information to D. F. Hallman. Hallman’s memo and the involvement of those who did or did not receive it have been under a microscope since this historical event. On January 28, 1986, another incident of failed communication occurred. The Challenger space shuttle was set to launch and indeed it did, but it did not make it to the intended destination as it exploded in mid-air. Prior to the launch, Roger Boisjoly had made efforts to address an issue of a possible equipment malfunction that had been pointed out by. Unfortunately, nothing was done to ensure the avoidance of this malfunction. In both instances, catastrophe could have been prevented. There were attempts made to address serious concern on both parts. There remains no question that something more could have been done. However, a question of great weight and of ongoing discussion is whether that missing link lies in the communication processes, the documents themselves, or the actions of those involved in the chain of communication. A Matter of Nuclear Proportion In a relatively short memo written by D. F. Hallman, manager of Plant Performance Services at TMI, he relays the concerns of B. M. Dunn. A problem with the practices and procedures of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant is addressed. Dunn is the manager of the Emergency Core Cooling System Analysis department of Babcock Wilcox (BW), the same company that designed the nuclear reactor for the Three Mile Island power plant. (Mathes) Short, Sweet, and to the Point? Quite frankly, this memo leaves much to be desired, given the weight of the situation. In its entirety, it is a few brief paragraphs addressing the situation and a few questions that need to be answered promptly. It is somewhat formal yet lacks the urgency in tone necessary to move the reader to action. There are, however, some references attached that provide the information in more detail. These attachments aside, Hallman seems to have minimal concern for the efficiency of the actions required. (Hallman) Upon some background research, it is clearly seen that Hallman was not the proper person for Dunn to contact with such vital information. For a decision such as this one, the concerns should have been sent to another department, one with the authority, ability and experiential knowledge to understand the gravity of the situation. Can one blame Hallman for not knowing? Could it be that he was aware of the proper destination of such information and failed to relay it there? Some questions are left unanswered. A Matter of Astronomical Consequence (Associated Press. Space Shuttle Challenger Wreckage Entombment; About. com; Web. 13 July 2012) (Associated Press. Space Shuttle Challenger Wreckage Entombment; About. com; Web. 13 July 2012) Roger Boisjoly wrote a memo addressing his concern with the possibility of O-rings that were vital in the safe launch of the Challenger space shuttle. Boisjoly was an engineer for Morton Thiokol, the manufacturer of those very O-rings. His memo was well written, with a clear layout and was directed to the proper recipient for effective action in such circumstances. The subject matter is clearly stated in the heading. After proper notation of the parties involved, Boisjoly writes with clarity of intent and the necessary tone to relay the seriousness of such a scenario. Textbook Effective In this memo, he does well to stress the fact that he believed this O-ring corrosion may lead to a â€Å"catastrophe of the highest order loss of human life. How else could one covey such urgency? Boisjoly admits an â€Å"honest and very real fear† that if immediate action was not taken to solve the problem with these O-rings, this entire shuttle mission stands in â€Å"jeopardy of losing a flight along with all the launch pad facilities. † The choice of words seems very intentional and appropriately weighty given the possible outcome. (Boisjoly) So what was done with this information? Apparently, it was merely dismissed as being non-crucial to flight success. The morning of the shuttle launch was particularly cold and this played a major factor in the performance or failure of these O-rings but this too was addressed by Boisjoly. Could he have done more to ensure that necessary action was taken to address the situation? Concluding Thoughts It seems very clear that from these two examples of communication one stands as lackadaisical or complacent and the other effectively and appropriately written. It may very well be that Hallman was not the appropriate recipient for the previous memos. It may also be said that Dunn was responsible for insuring the proper destination of this information. Whatever the case, this memo written by Hallman was ineffective both in composition and in handling. In contrast, Boisjoly wrote clearly and effectively. Why is it that the proper actions were still not taken? The bottom of this question may not ever be reached but it is a clear example of the need for serious handling of information—for both the writer and the reader. Without these two factors, we may have yet to see the worst examples of failed communication.

Leadership Process Essay Example for Free

Leadership Process Essay First Section Leadership is a process by which one person influences the thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors of others. Leaders set a direction for the rest of us; they help us see what lies ahead; they help us visualize what we might achieve; they encourage us and inspire us. Level 5 leadership refers to the highest level in a hierarchy of executive capabilities that we identified during our research. Leaders at the other four levels in the hierarchy can produce high degrees of success but not enough to elevate companies from mediocrity to sustained excellence. And while Level 5 leadership is not the only requirement for transforming a good company into a great one—other factors include getting the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) and creating a culture of discipline—our research shows it to be essential. Good-to-great transformations don’t happen without Level 5 leaders at the helm. They just don’t. (Traylor, 2001) The Level 5 leader sits on top of a hierarchy of capabilities and is, according to our research, a necessary requirement for transforming an organization from good to great. But what lies beneath? Four other layers, each one appropriate in its own right but none with the power of Level 5. Individuals do not need to proceed sequentially through each level of the hierarchy to reach the top, but to be a full-fledged Level 5 requires the capabilities of all the lower levels, plus the special characteristics of Level 5. (HBR, 2001) It differs from other leadership styles as the leaders come from the grass root of the organization. Meaning, it is the leader who has grown and developed from the ground level of the organization and has gradually escalated towards the top most level. This allows an employee to go through all phases and nurture to the top level of the organization i.e. CEO level. A few years ago in Strategy Leadership, Michael Raynor debunked the premises on which the shareholder-first model rests, and a few months ago Michael Porter criticized the current belief that looking beyond the business is bad for business. In the January/February Harvard Business Review he argues that companies should be considering other stakeholders, and so generates economic value by creating societal value. These respected thinkers offer another answer to the question about the purpose of a business: the firm should see itself as an interdependent part of a community that consists of multiple stakeholders whose interests are integral to business success. In this view, an enterprise can be seen as a system of long-term cooperative relationships between affected parties. (Collins, 2001) These include the firm’s managers and employees, customers and clients, investors, suppliers, the towns, states and nations where the firm is located or sells goods and services and even future generations of stakeholders. In such a system, stakeholder influence generates pressure for the organization to behave in ethical and environmentally and socially responsible ways, and in turn, this interdependency helps the firm be sustainable and resilient. This alternative approach to leadership is variously referred to as ‘‘sustainable,’’ ‘‘Rhineland’’ or ‘‘honeybee’’ leadership. By sustainable we don’t just mean a firm is being green and socially responsible. Research and observations in over 50 firms around the world, including in many listed corporations, suggest that sustainable leadership requires taking a long-term perspective in making decisions; fostering systemic innovation aimed at increasing customer value; developing a skilled, loyal and highly engaged workforce; and offering quality products, services and solutions. (Caroselli, 2003) Second Section In 2005, Lee Scott, ex-CEO and President of Wal-Mart Stores and now Chairman of its Executive Committee, announced that the company would essentially adopt sustainable leadership principles going forward, although he did not use that term. Financial performance was solid, but the company was the target of many complainants – employees, local communities, suppliers, and environmentalists. Scott decreed that Wal-Mart, one of largest Fortune 500 corporations, would become more ethical, and more socially and environmentally responsible. The company would use its political might to benefit ordinary Americans in healthcare and energy savings, and make people’s lives better. Scott even advocated paying more for products from ethical suppliers – an extraordinary reversal by an enterprise built around a low-cost strategy. In the years since, Wal-Mart has experimented with environmentally-friendly stores and other socially-responsible measures. Interestingly, its bottom line has not suffered during this process, posting net sales increases for the past five years, according to Wal-Mart’s 2009 annual report. In recent months, in a move to improve the healthiness of its products, the firm announced plans to reduce the fat and salt in its house brand groceries and cut prices on fresh produce. (Shaw, 2005) A considerable body of evidence shows that sustainable practices are more likely to enhance business performance than the shareholder-first approach. First, various writers have examined and compared the Anglo/US system with its Rhineland counterpart, concluding that Rhineland principles are more sustainable and lead to better outcomes than the shareholder-first approach. Second, Avery and Bergsteiner have gathered extensive evidence for each of the individual practices in their pyramid model, showing how they are more likely to contribute to positive business outcomes than their counterparts under the shareholder-first model. For example, a major difference between shareholder-first and sustainable practices lies in whether they retain people or lay them off when times get difficult. Staff retention is regarded as a foundation element in the pyramid because conditions aimed at keeping staff can be initiated at any time. However, retaining staff supports various higher order outcomes in the pyramid; it allows knowledge to be retained, and supports quality, trust, and innovation, for example, and enhances financial performance, as well as staff and customer satisfaction. Similar cases can be made for the other 22 elements. (Cooke, 2008) What senior executive would reject these as legitimate goals for an enterprise seeking to both thrive and endure? To some cynics, sustainable leadership – a management approach aimed at delivering better and more sustainable returns, reducing unwanted employee turnover and accelerating innovation – sounds too good to be true. They dismiss it as just another form of humanistic management, merely good management practices, or as following old-fashioned values. There is some truth in each of these characterizations. Certainly, sustainable leadership embraces aspects of humanistic management in that it includes valuing people and considering the firm as a contributor to social well being. The individual practices of sustainable leadership are not new: B Warren Bennis advocated recruiting, training, and employing an effective top leadership team rather than just relying on the heroic CEO. He also proposed that firms become financially transparent as a step to becoming more ethical. B Peter Drucker wanted managers to promote change and allow innovations to come from all over the organization, thereby enabling ordinary people to make extraordinary things happen. B Stephen Covey urged using the knowledge and engagement of a firm’s employees. What is new is the understanding that these practices form a self-reinforcing leadership system that enhances the performance of a business and its prospects for survival. What is also significant is that sustainable leadership practices are diametrically opposed to the typical shareholder-first approach, which business schools, management journals, the media, and many practitioners continue to promote. (Branson, 2010) Sustainable leadership in practice Sustainably-led organizations have been identified across different sectors, countries, institutional contexts, and markets. Examples of successful enterprises that consistently embrace sustainable leadership principles abound, particularly among privately-held firms and SMEs. Unlisted companies displaying virtually all of the 23 characteristics of a sustainable enterprise include: in the USA, WL Gore Associates (Goretexw and other products) and SAS (software); in Germany, Giesecke Devrient (bank notes and securities) and Ka ¨rcher (cleaning solutions); and in Switzerland, Endress Hauser (flow technologies) and Migros (retail conglomerate). However, it is likely to be more difficult for listed corporations or private equity groups to operate on sustainable principles because of the pressures on them to achieve short-term performance goals. Yet numerous listed enterprises manage to operate sustainably, if necessary by standing up to or managing their relationships with the financial markets. Well-known examples include Germany’s Munich Re from the finance industry; Colgate (consumer goods) based in the USA; Britain’s BT Group (telecommunications); the Thai construction corporation, Siam Cement Group, and its competitor from Switzerland, Holcim. (Streshly Gray, 2010) Third Section There are many obstacles in changing to sustainable leadership. First, sticking with conventional wisdom is comfortable and easy – it’s business as usual. Second, change is disruptive and initially creates both financial and intangible costs, although as the Wal-Mart case shows these may not slow growth and profits. Third, most people disregard hard evidence and make their decisions on the basis of ideological beliefs. Managers are no exception to this human foible despite their training and experience in decision making. Fourth, major change involves risks, bringing with it the chance of a drop in short-term performance, so stakeholders need to be prepared to focus on the long term. Finally, radical change can take a long time to embed and then maintain. A major Australian bank converted from a shareholder-first strategy to a sustainable leadership model. The change took a decade to take hold, with outstanding results, but unraveled in only a few years to under a new CEO with a different agenda. The choice to adopt a more sustainable strategy, one that research and practice show leads to higher resilience and performance over the long term, remains in the hands of each executive team. Unfortunately, executives remunerated on a short-term basis may have no incentive for seriously pursuing long-term change, to the detriment of shareholders and other stakeholders. This is where the fundamental short-term focus of the shareholder-first or business-as-usual model begins to destroy shareholder value and endanger a firm’s very survival. (Brown, 2005) References Branson, D. M. (2010). The last male bastion: gender and the CEO suite in Americas public companies. Taylor Francis. Brown, M. T. (2005). Corporate integrity: rethinking organizational ethics, and leadership. Cambridge University Press. Caroselli, M. (2003). The business ethics activity book: 50 exercises for promoting integrity at work. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Collins, J. C. ( 2001). Good to great: why some companies make the leapand others dont. Harper Business. Cooke, P. (2008). Branding Faith: Why Some Churches and Non-Profits Make a Difference and Others Dont. Gospel Light. Shaw, K. A. (2005). The intentional leader. Syracuse University Press. Streshly, W. A., Gray, S. P. (2010). Leading Good Schools to Greatness: Mastering What Great Principals Do Well. Corwin Press. Traylor, P. S. (2001). IT Takes Two. CIO Magazine , Vol.15, No.4, November 15

Divorce Reform Act

Divorce Reform Act In 1963 the law still denied divorce except to those who could provide evidence sufficient to convince a court of a partners adultery or other matrimonial offence. In that year, a determined attempt was made to change the law to allow divorce where a couple had lived apart for at least seven years. The attempt failed. But less than a decade later the Divorce Reform Act 1969 allowed divorceif the parties had lived apart for two years (and both consented) or five years (if one did not consent). How did such a dramatic change come about in what, in this context, seems a remarkably short time? (Castles, 1994) One answer no doubt lies in what could be called the spirit of the age. 1963 was, after all, the year in which (according to Philip Larkin) sexual intercourse began. It was also the year of the so-called Profumo affair in which a Minister of the Crown admitted lying to Parliament about his relationship with a woman; and unprecedented press publicity was given to the surrounding events and rumours. (For example, another Minister was said to indulge in weird sexual practices involving his appearing nakedsave for a maskat parties.) Lord Dennings exhaustive investigation into these matters (concluding that although there had indeed been orgies where guests indulged in sexual activities of a vile and revolting nature and that it was true dinner had been served by a naked masked man yet there was not a shred of evidence that the man in question was a Minister) did little to calm the fevered atmosphere. In the circumstances, it became increasingly difficult to believe that civilisation woul d be endangered by allowing the thousands of (often elderly and usually eminently respectable) couples living together in what came to be called stable illicit unions to crush the empty legal shell of an earlier marriage so that they could become in law what they had long been in fact (Castles and Flood, 1991). Increase in divorce The massive increase in divorce associated with the two twentieth-century World Wars had been a source of grave anxiety to conventional opinion, which saw in the insidious growth in the divorce rate a tendency to take the duties and responsibilities of marriage less seriously than formerly and a threat to the whole stability of marriage as the basis of a secure and stable family life. At a somewhat less lofty level, those concerned with the administration of the family justice system became preoccupied with avoiding its collapse under the apparently relentless pressure of dirvorce petitions. 1But even amongst those who firmly believed the ideal of marriagein particular as a way of providing children the settled and harmonious life on which so much of their future happiness depends to be the traditional union for better for worse, for richer for poorer . . . till death us do part there was concern about the lot of the hundred thousand or more people living apart from their legal spous es in stable unions to which the law denied recognition. The impossibility of legalising such relationships against the will of an innocent legal spouse denied many men and women (and in particular the children they bore) adequate social and financial protection (Ceschini, 1995). In 1951 in an attempt to meet this concern, Mrs Eirene White had introduced a Private Members Bill into the House of Commons, avowedly intended to deal with marriages in which the spouses have lived separately for seven years, but in which no hitherto recognised ground for divorce exists or in which one partner, having grounds for action, declines to take it and keeps the other partner tied against his or her will, generally for life. The Bill did this by invoking a new principle, in that it looks to the breakdown of the marriage as the ground for divorce (whilst not prejudicing the right of an injured party to seek divorce under the existing matrimonial offence provisions). This was to be achieved by adding seven years separation to the existing grounds for divorce; but divroce was only to be granted on the separation ground if the court was satisfied, first, that there was no reasonable prospect of cohabitation being resumed; and secondly, that a petitioning husband had made adequa te provision for his familys maintenance (Chesnais, 1996). Everyone who spoke on the Bill conceded that the existing law, particularly by denying the freedom to remarry to those whose marriages were long functionally dead, was capable of causing considerable hardship and unhappiness. But opponents of change claimed that in relieving this unhappiness the Bill would weaken the institution of marriage and thereby produce much more unhappiness in the future (Smith, 2002). The Labour Government The Labour Government accepted that the problem of the stable illicit union was a real one. But the Attorney-General suggested that there were many other problems with the marriage laws, that it would be wrong to select one of them and deal with it in isolation, and that the right course would be to set up a Royal Commission to make a comprehensive study of the marriage laws. Although the House of Commons gave a second reading to the White Bill by 131 votes to 60, Mrs White eventually acceded to Government pressure and withdrew her Bill on terms that the Government would set up the Royal Commission it had proposed. In reality, as Lord Chancellor Jowitt told Archbishop Fisher, he had agreed to the Royal Commission in the hope of avoiding (the White Bill] which had given rise to it (Clark, 1999). The Royal Commission, established as one of the last acts of the Attlee Labour Government in September 1951 under the chairmanship of Lord Morton of Henryton was thus a temporising measure of a once traditional kind; and its Reportthe fruit of four years deliberation certainly did not satisfy the hopes of those who had seen a Royal Commission as the only chance of getting a real reform of the divorce laws, much less the expressed wish of Archbishop Fisher that a full inquiry would lead to a settlement lasting fifty years (Chester, 1977). On the main issue of the ground for divorce, the Commission was hopelessly divided. On only one proposition was there any broad agreement. All save one of the Commissioners agreed that the existing (and much criticised) law based on the doctrine of the matrimonial offence should be retained. Nine of the nineteen signatories went further and took an even more conservative view: they rejected the introduction of the doctrine of breakdown of marriage in any form. For this group such a doctrine would inevitably entail recognition of divorce by consenta change disastrous to the nation encouraging people to abandon their marriages on the flimsiest provocation–whilst divorce simply on the basis of a period of separation would have even more damaging consequences for the institution of marriage . . . it would mean that either spouse would be free to terminate the marriage at pleasure . . . [and] people would enter marriage knowing that no matter what they did or how their partners fel t, they could always get free. For these nine members, the proper function of the law was to give relief where a wrong had been done, not to provide a dignified and honourable means of release from a broken marriage. The matrimonial offence doctrine might indeed be artificial in its application to some cases, but it none the less provided a clear and intelligible principle; and the external buttress of a system of law specifying the circumstances in which individuals had the right to seek the dissolution of marriage helped them to strengthen their good impulses and weaken the bad (Smith,1992). Commissioners Another nine Commissioners did take a more positive view of reform. This group did not accept that divorce should only be available on proof of a matrimonial offence; and recommended making divorce available when a marriage had broken down irretrievably as demonstrated by the fact that the spouses had lived apart for seven years or more. But five of this group would have refused divorce for separation if either party objected; and even the four prepared to accept separation divorce against the will of one spouse would have insisted on an applicant in such a case demonstrating that the separation was attributable to unreasonable conduct of the other spouse. Only one member of the Commission, the Scottish judge Lord Walker, was prepared to take his stand on the ground of principle that the law should favour the dissolution of marriages which had indeed broken down, irrespective of the guilt or innocence of the petitioner; and that divorce should be available to a spouse who had lived a part from the other for at least three years and could establish that the facts and circumstances were such as to make it improbable that an ordinary husband and wife would ever resume cohabitation (Castles, 1994). Although the (Conservative) Government was sensitive to charges that Royal Commissions were a recognised and timely method of shelving inconvenient questions no one, in the light of the divergent views put forward in the Morton Report, could possibly expect any government to introduce legislation permitting divorce (even by consent) after a separation of seven years and any kind of official support for legislation permitting a man who had gone off leaving a guiltless wife for seven years [to] come back and divorce her against her will seemed even less likely (Smith, 1997). Not surprisingly, this setback was a bitter disappointment; and the criticisms made of the Morton Report by Professor O. R. McGregor have been influential in creating an enduring and strongly unfavourable perception of the Morton Commission. In McGregors view, the Morton Report contributed nothing to our knowledge; and had proved to be a device for obfuscating a socially urgent but politically inconvenient issue. It was ( McGregor conceded) a matter of opinion whether the Morton Commission was intellectually the worst Royal Commission of the twentieth century (although since he thought there could be no dispute that [it] is the most unreadable and confused it would seem the competition for the wooden spoon was, in McGregors view, not severe) (Simotta, 1995). This is not the place for a detailed examination of McGregors polemic; but subsequent events suggest that at least one of McGregors criticisms had touched a sensitive nerve. McGregor claimed that Lord Morton and his colleagues were hostile to the social sciences, that as a result of their ignorance of evidence which social scientists could have providedextending, apparently, to actual knowledge of the types of divorce law most likely to promote marital and familial stability the Commission was unable to penetrate to the heart of the problems set before them. The view that the assistance of social scientists was essential to inquiries became part of the conventional orthodoxy; and, as we shall see, considerable efforts were made to secure a social science input for the group established seven years later by the Archbishop of Canterbury (Peters, 1992). McGregor also seems to have regarded as a weakness the fact that the Morton Committeein contrast to the 1912 Gorrell Commission (whose chairman was known to have strong views in favour of divorce law reform, but whose membership also included some known to take a strongly conservative view)did not include either a representative of the Church on the one hand or any active proponent of reform on the other. It is certainly true that the Government devoted considerable effort to achieving a balanced and impartial membership; but if this was an error it was one which was not repeated. As we shall see, there was no nonsense about impartiality as a criterion in choosing sources of advice in the years leading up to the 1969 reforms (Meisaari-Polsa, 1997). Whatever may be thought about McGregors triumphalist beliefs in the potential of social science research for policy making, in one respect he can be shown to have been plainly wrong. He asserted that it was a safe prediction that divorce reform will take a long, long time; but in fact, little more than a decade later, the Divorce Reform Act swept the concept of the indissoluble marriage into history. Six years after the Morton Report divorce reform was given another chance. A Bill providing for divorce on the ground of seven years separation was brought forward by Mr Leo Abse Mp. The House of Commons gave the Bill a second reading and it passed through its Committee stage. But opponents of separation divorce let it be known that any Bill containing such a provision would be talked out; and, faced with this formidable opposition, Abse withdrew the clause adding separation to the grounds for divorce in exchange for an agreement that the other provisions in the Bill (designed to remove obstacles to reconciliation attempts ) would reach the statute book. An attempt in the House of Lords to reinstate the separation divorce provisions also failed (Kooy, 1977). A significant factor in this apparent further reverse for the cause of reform was thenow much more sophisticatedopposition of the Church, organised behind the scenes with great efficiency by the first holder of the post of Lay Secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Beloe. Beloea distinguished educationalist and in that capacity a member of the Morton Commission had special responsibility for organising episcopal representation in the House of Lords and moved easily and confidently between Lambeth Palace, the Palace of Westminster and Whitehall. It is true that the contents of the Abse Bill at first took Beloe by surprise; but intelligenceon such matters as the religious affiliations and marital status of Cabinet Ministers was rapidly gathered and put efficiently to use. During the passage of the Abse Bill through the Commons, Beloe took an active part in the efforts to organise MPs opposed to separation divorce. He scrutinised the list of MPs nominated to serve on the Stan ding Committee considering the Bill (and he appears to have been successful in getting one change made). Finally, he masterminded the publication of a firm statement of the Churches opposition to separation divorce (Haskey, 1992). But Beloe really came into his element when the Abse Bill got to the House of Lords and Lord Silkin and others made a determined attempt to reinstate the clause permitting separation divorce. Beloes briefing paper for the Archbishop was prophetically headed How to secure rejection of Mr Abses clause; and to that end he skillfully organised opposition. Ramsey made a speech in the debate uncompromisingly rejecting the proposed addition of seven years separation to the existing grounds for divorce, and the Lords defeated the proposal on a division. Beloe appreciated that this could not be the end of the matter. He had been warned by the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Home Office that a Bill providing for separation divorce was almost certain to be introduced by a private member the following session; and he was concerned that the Conservative Party faced with the need to modernise its image in the run-up to a General Election might see divorce reform as one means of doing so (Smith, 1 997). Divorce provision Everyone agreed to be an unsatisfactory law and of not being prepared to face reality in its approach to social questions, while the way in which Abse had been forced to drop the separation divorce provision had given rise to a great deal of anti-clerical feeling. Against this background, the Church clearly needed to take some action; and the links and understandings established by Beloe during the progress of the Abse Bill became of crucial importance in apparently restoring the Church to its position of influence over policy (Simotta, 1995). The Churchs Board for Social Responsibility had in fact already initiated conversations about the possibility of some alternative basis for divorce, but progress had been slow. This led Beloe to float, at a meeting with senior officials from the Home Office and Lord Chancellors Department, the notion that the Archbishop might set on foot a somewhat more formal investigation into marriage and its dissolution; and the suggestion that the Archbishops mediation might be aimed at the possibility of substituting for all other grounds the ground that a marriage had come to an end emerged. Evidently this was favourably received; and in June the Archbishop announcedalbeit in a somewhat low key way that he had asked some fellow churchmen to seek to find a principle at law of breakdown of marriage . . . free from any trace of the idea of consent, which conserved the point that offences and not only wishes are the basis of breakdown, and which was protected by a far more thorough insistence on r econciliation procedure first (Peters, 1992). It is difficult to believe that this announcement brought much cheer to the supporters of divorce reform faced as they were with yet another failure to carry legislation through Parliament, or indeed whether the civil servants who had become involved had any real expectation that the Archbishops initiative would bear fruit; but in the event it proved to be of decisive importance in preparing the ground for the 1969 Reforms. The composition of what came to be called the Archbishops Group (chaired by Robert Mortimer, Bishop of Exeter was somewhat different from the group of churchmen originally envisaged by Ramsey, in part because both the Home Secretary and the Lord Chancellor took an active part in suggesting who should (and who should not) be asked to serve. It is true that membership was confined to those thought to be Christians, but no requirement of religious observance was imposed; and the selection process came to resemble that traditionally conducted in Whitehall trawls of th e great and the good, with slots being allocated to particular professions (for example, child psychiatry) and interests (for example, marriage guidance). There was one particular problem: criticism about the lack of social science expertise in the Morton Commission made it seem imperative that a sociologist be a member of the Archbishops Group; but considerable difficulty was experienced in identifying a sociologist who could be described as a Christian, even in the broadest interpretation of the word. Eventually Professor Donald MacRae accepted an invitation to join the group (Meisaari-Polsa, 1997). Invitations to join the group were ultimately sent out in January 1964; and the members held their first meeting at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies on 26 May 1964. It had been decided (after some discussion) to make public the existence and remit of the Group. Ramseys letter of invitation to join the Group had made clear the dilemma the Church faced. He and other church leaders were opposed to seven years separation as a ground for divorce since if it did not also require consent this would cause great injustice whilst if it did it would undermine the nature of the marriage contract as a life-long intention. For those reasons it had been right to reject the Abse proposal. But the law remained unsatisfactory not least because there is often recourse to a fictitious planning of matrimonial offences in order to obtain a divorce (Kooy , 1977). How was the Group to resolve the dilemma? At the outset, Mortimer made it clear that the ultimate objective was to try to put forward proposals which would be acceptable to humanists and Christians alike. The numerous letters he had received touched on (1) the desire of one party to a marriage to be free to legitimise a new union and its issue and the reluctance of the other party to permit this; (2) the general ignorance of and impatience with legal procedures, particularly those which submit an undefending spouse to hearing unexpectedly the material facts alleged against him without opportunity to reply; (3) the difficulty of obtaining payment of maintenance without burdensome and costly visits to court; (4) the fear that divorce for separation might endanger general acceptance of marriage as a life long contract (Haskey, 1992). The Group met on eighteen occasions between May 1964 and March 1966, and considered an impressive body of evidence from some distinguished and expert witnesses. It did not take long for it to reach a consensus. The law as it stood was universally agreed to be unsatisfactory; and there was a strong prima-facie case for the substitution of irretrievable breakdown as the sole ground for divorce, replacing the matrimonial offence. The court would have power to dissolve marriage if having regard to the interests of society as well as of those immediately affected by its decision, it judged it wrong to maintain the legal existence of a relationship that was beyond all probability of existing again in fact.This would involve the court giving a judgment on the state of the marriage; and its decree would no longer be against the respondent but rather against further legal recognition of the marriage (Haller, 1977). The Group remained adamantly opposed to divorce by consent: which (as Bishop Mortimer was to say ) was open to the grave, indeed overwhelming objection that it would reduce marriage to a purely private contract and would ignore the interest of the community. Hence, it was to be for the court, representing the community, to decide whether the marriage had indeed irretrievably broken down; and, although the agreement of the parties in wanting a divorce would not be a bar (and might even count in favour of a decree) in no case would such an agreement of itself suffice to effect divorce. It was, for the Archbishops Group, essential that the court should always examine the issue of breakdown according to the evidence; and it made it clear that its recommendation for amendment of the substantive law was conditional upon procedural changes to enable the court to conduct the inquest it believed to be necessary into the alleged fact and causes of the death of the marriage relationship and to get to grips with the realities of the matrimonial relationship instead of havingas it thought was the case under the offence based lawto concentrate on superficialities (Gray, 1998). The Group refused to accept that any of the well-rehearsed objections to the breakdown principle outweighed its advantages. No doubt (the Group accepted) critics would point to the economic deprivation caused by divorce; but the solution to that lay primarily in reforms of the law of property, pensions (a topic much discussed) and insurance. The Group was correct in its prophesyindeed, the problem of pensions after divorce remains a source of difficulty more than thirty years laterbut it did not see it as part of its remit to prescribe detailed remedies for these problems (Graham-Siegenthaler, 1989). What of the objection that breakdown divorce would allow the guilty to take advantage of their own wrong? The Group thought that the courts judgment could and should be seen as the recognition of a state of affairs and a consequent redefinition of status (rather than as a verdict of guilty after a law suit), and for that reason the maxim would have no general application. But even so, the Group accepted the need for a safeguardin the form of an absolute bar on divorcein cases in which to grant a divorce would be outweighed by other considerations of fundamental importance such as the public interest in justice and in protecting the institution of marriage (Goode, 1993). On one matter in particular the Group was adamant: the doctrine of breakdown was an alternative to divorce founded on the matrimonial offencethe lesser of two evils. On no account should breakdown be introduced into the existing law in the form of an additional ground for divorce. Indeed, the Group thought that rather than to inject into [the offence based law]a small but virulent dose of incompatible principle it would be better to keep the law based firmly on the matrimonial offence and to consider how the administration of the law could be improved (Glendon, 1989). The Established Church had traditionally opposed any further erosion of the great principle proclaimed by Christ holding marriage to be a life-long obligation terminable only by death with all the sacrifice which such an obligation imposed; but as long ago as 1937 the Church had come to accept that it was no longer possible to impose the full Christian standard by law on a largely non-Christian population. On that basis, Putting Asunder at the outset drew a distinction to which it attached great importance. How the doctrine of Christ concerning marriage should be interpreted and applied within the Christian Church is one question: what the Church ought to say and do about secular laws of marriage and divorce is another question altogether . . . Our own terms of reference make it abundantly clear that our business is with the second question only. Hence (as the Observer newspaper put it) the Report was not in any sense another theological tract written by theologians for the Churchs c ommunicants. (Glendon, 1987) The Commission accordingly produced a Paper, which was discussed at a meeting with Representatives of the Archbishops Group on 17 February 1966. Mortimer insisted that any presumption of breakdown arising from the various fact situations enumerated by the Commission should be capable of being rebutted in order to avoid any suggestion that the matrimonial offence was to be preserved under another name; and he repeatedly emphasised the need to ensure the effectiveness of the various safeguards proposed by the Group. However, the two sides agreed that there appeared to be no difference in principle between the Group and the Commission; and the Commission redrafted its paper to reflect those discussions (Fisher, 1992). In the meantime, opinion was being prepared for a breakthrough. The Lord Chancellor announced that the gap between the two bodies was being narrowed; and the Church Assembly on 16 February 1967after an important debate in the course of which Professor J. N. D. Anderson warned of the mounting and increasingly broadly based demand for reform which he thought it would be disastrous for the Church to ignore resolved to welcome Putting Asunder (Federkeil, 1997). Eventually on 2 June 1967the terms of the agreement between the Archbishops Group and the Law Commission were finalised and in due course published: irretrievable breakdown was to be the sole ground for divorce, but there should be no detailed inquest. Rather, breakdown was to be inferred, either from one of several specified facts askin to the traditional matrimonial offences or from the fact that the parties had lived apart for two years if the respondent consented to divorce or for five years if there were no consent. Mortimer had insisted on one alteration to what had been intended as the final draftnamely that the power to refuse a Decree where the Court thinks that in the circumstances it would be wrong to do so, shall be mandatory and not permissive. This amendment was duly made (whereas various other requests by the Group were not accepted by the Commission) (Friedberg, 1998). But all this was too late to influence events. On 12 October the Cabinet accepted Gardiners advice that a Bill to give effect to the concordat should be drafted by Parliamentary Counsel in the Law Commission and handed to a private member. The Government was to remain neutral on the merits of the Bill but would consider making government time available for the Bill in the light of the degree of support shown for it on Second Reading. The Law Commission settled Instructions to Parliamentary Counsel, and on 29 November the House of Commons ordered the Divorce Reform Bill presented by Mr William Wilson MP to be printed. Although there was inadequate parliamentary time for the Wilson Bill to get onto the statute book the Bill was taken over by another private member, Mr Alec Jones, and received the Royal Assent on 22 October 1969 (Ermisch, 1993). As has long been recognised, the publication of Putting Asunder played an important part in facilitating the reform of the divorce law effected by the Divorce Reform Act 1969not least influencing what has been described as the quite remarkable consensus on the broad lines of reformand Putting Asunder certainly had a decisive influence on the form which the legislation took. But how far did that Act truly give effect to the principles upon which the Archbishops Group founded their support for reform? (Council of Europe, 1998). First, the Group was adamant that irretrievable breakdown should be the only ground for divorce; and it is true that the Divorce Reform Act 1969 provided that the sole ground upon which a petition could be based was that the marriage had broken down irretrievably. But it soon became clear that this ringing assertion was little more than verbiage. However clear it might be that the marriage had broken down, the court could not dissolve it unless the petitioner could establish adultery, behaviour, desertion, or a period of living apart; and if any of those facts could be established the court was bound to dissolve the marriage unless the respondent could discharge the almost impossible task of satisfying the court that the marriage had not broken down. There is no reported instance of a respondent succeeding in so doing; and Mortimers assumption that the evidence of breakdown would be rebuttable rather than conclusive has been demonstrably falsified. The reality is that the effective g round for divorce under the 1969 Act was not breakdown at all but rather the three matrimonial offences referred to above and separation for the prescribed period: Andersons gloomy prophesy turned out to have been well founded. The remarkable consensus was obtained by concealing the truth (Commaille, J., et al, 1983). Moreover, experience soon showed that the divorcing population wanted the speedy divorce which could be obtained on the basis of an allegation of adultery or behaviour, and more than three-quarters of all divorces were granted in that way. This tendency was reinforced in 1977 when court hearings of divorce petitions were effectively abandoned. Far from burying the matrimonial offence, the reforming legislation ensured that it not only survived but flourished (Clark, 1999). Secondly, the Group was adamant that there should be no divorce by consent. The parties might indeed consent to the dissolution of their marriage but this was only to be brought about by court order after appropriate inquiry. Divorce was not only to remain the act of the court, rather than that of the parties; but it was central to the Groups thinking that the Court should first satisfy itself by inquiry that the marriage had truly broken down and (as Mortimer put it in the final debate) the courts must take seriously their duty to enquire into all the facts alleged and to be quite sure that they are satisfied that the marriage has irretrievably broken down. But in fact the court hearings under the Divorce Reform Act were rarely more than a perfunctory formality; and even the formality was effectively abolished in 1977. Yet again, the legislation failed to give effect to the policy on which Putting Asunder had been founded. Those responsible for formulating the concordat must have kn own that there would in practice rarely if ever be any inquiry into breakdown; but, unsurprisingly, they chose not to disabuse Mortimer and his colleagues of their belief that the court would carry out an inquest, at least in cases of doubt (Coase, 1960). Finally, the Group consistently insisted on the need for safeguardsboth of the interests of vulnerable members of the family and of the public interest in upholding the institution of marriage. So far as economic saf