Company Comparison: Raytheon (Rtn) and Textron (Txt) Essay

Raytheon was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1922, as the American Appliance Company, by Laurence K. Marshall, Vannevar Bush, and Charles G. Smith. Marshall and Bush were engineering students, while Smith was an inventor and scientist, but they were all entrepreneurs. After failures to market an idea for a new refrigerator the trio began to focus on electronics. (Raytheon, Wikipedia.com) An idea that Smith and Bush had worked on years earlier, â€Å"a new kind of gaseous tube that would allow radios for the first time to be plugged into a wall socket and operate on electricity rather than batteries†, would be their new direction. (Raytheon Company, fundinginguniverse.com) After acquiring a patent for the idea and because an Indian company already had rights to the name American Appliance Company, Raytheon Manufacturing Company was born. (Raytheon Company, fundinginguniverse.com) The consumer demand for electronics was booming and the new radio-receiver power supply (gaseous rectifier), which immediately allow radios to be in every household for pennies of what it cost to continuously replace batteries. (History, Raytheon.com) As the competition for radio-receiving tubes began to intensify Raytheon, mainly Laurence K, Marshall, saw the need to diversify. (Raytheon Company, fundinginguniverse.com) Raytheon’s philosophy soon became to acquire companies that could take Raytheon to new heights in the competitive electronics market and to reinvest profits back into the company for research and to development and improve products. They acquired Acme-Delta Company in1933 a producer of transformers, power equipment, and electronic auto parts and Raytheon soon became â€Å"the world’s largest vacuum tube manufacturing companies†. (Raytheon, Wikipedia.com) During World War II Raytheon had the opportunity to help Allied Forces with the mass production of magnetron tubes, which improved the capability of radar to detect enemy planes. As the war ended Raytheon continued to search for acquisition opportunities in an attempt â€Å"to consolidate independent component manufacturers into one company†. (Raytheon Company, fundinginguniverse.com) They acquired Belmont Electronics, who was developing televisions for commercial use, for $4.6 million in 1945 and Russell Electric for $1.1 million later the same year. (Raytheon Company, fundinginguniverse.com) A merger with Submarine Signal Company in 1946 helped Raytheon make it thru tough times after WWII and it â€Å"was decided that Sub-Sig would specialize in sonar devices and that Raytheon would continue to develop new radar systems†. (History, Raytheon.com) The relationships Raytheon developed during WWII helped it grow the company and the productions of magnetron tubes lead them to their next great invention, the ability to use microwaves to cook food. In 1947 Raytheon demonstrated the first microwave, but it was their acquisition in 1965 of Amana Refrigeration, Inc, a manufacturer of refrigerators and air conditioners that made the microwave oven actually affordable and 1967, â€Å"Raytheon introduced the first countertop, domestic 100-volt microwave oven†. (History, Raytheon.com) The microwave brought great profits to Raytheon. This led to acquisitions of many more companies over the next decade. In 1948 Raytheon developed the first missile guidance system â€Å"in which both the radar transmitter and receiver were carried in the nose of the missile itself. (History, Raytheon.com) This lead to Raytheon receiving a contract from the U.S. Army in 1967 to develop its much needed missile defense system, later named the Patriot Missile System. The missile guidance system, much in demand during the Cold War of the 70’s and 80’s and Persian Gulf Wars, became a major part of Raytheon’s business. Raytheon has continued to acquire companies, including Beech Aircraft in 1980 and the defense businesses of Texas Instruments Inc. in 1997, it deems necessary to achieve its goals and expand its business. Raytheon is currently composed of six major business divisions: †¢Integrated Defense Systems  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Intelligence and Information Systems †¢Missile Systems †¢Network Centric Systems †¢Raytheon Technical Services Company LLC †¢Space and Airborne Systems (wikinvestment.com) Raytheon’s current CEO and Chairman, William H. Swanson, was named CEO in 2004. He graduated from California Polytechnic State University with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and acquired his MBA from Golden State University. (Leadership, Raytheon.com) He joined Raytheon in 1972 and held a â€Å"wide range of leadership positions, including manufacturing manager of the company’s Equipment Division, and general manager of Raytheon Electronic Systems† . (William H, Swanson, wikipedia.com) Swanson is the member of numerous military advisory boards and continues Raytheon’s pursuit to be the leading supplier for defense systems and continued innovations. He has continued to acquire companies that will allow Raytheon to achieve its goals more efficiently. Raytheon’s November 4 acquisition of Trusted Computer Solutions (TCS), an industry leader in cross-domain and cyber security software and services, and acquiring Technology Associates Inc, a company that delivers full life-cycle computer engineering to mission-critical programs in the U.S. intelligence community, in October 2010, are examples of Swanson continuing the philosophies of Raytheon’s founders. (Leadership, Raytheon.com) Textron (TXT) Mission statement: â€Å"to be one of the World’s Best Managed companies; Excellent Managers of Shareholder Resources; A Multi-Industry Company with Global Leadership Positions in Each of Our Businesses†. (Textron Inc., fundinguniverse.com) Background and History Textron was founded by Royal Little in 1923, as the Special Yarns Corporation in Boston, Massachusetts and was a textile company. A Harvard Graduate, Royal Little was an outspoken advocate for â€Å"non-related† diversification, so any down turns of one business would have minimal to no affect on other components of the company. (Textron Inc., fundinguniverse.com) With the acquisition of Franklin Process Company, a cotton yarn processing company in 1928, they became the first multi-industry company. (Textron, Wikipedia.com) Changing its name to Atlantic Rayon Corporation during World War II, business flourished from the demand for parachutes. (Company History,Textron.com) Little was extremely hands on and as revenue slowed at the end of WWII he moved to producing lingerie and other consumer goods. (Textron.com) In 1943 the name was changed to Textron and in 1947 it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Royal Little was known for hostile takeovers and his â€Å"irrepressible impulses to acquire more companies†. (Textron Inc., fundinguniverse.com) In 1956, in an attempt to balance his own business style, Little hired banker Rupert Thompson. This partnership became known as the first conglomerate. (Textron Inc., fundinguniverse.com) Thompsons’ main objectives, as the director and head of Textron’s non-textile operations and as Little’s successor, were to balance Textrons’ acquisitions and minimize the affects an economic downturn in one portion of company would have on the rest of the company. Thompson believed the company should sell any division of the company at the first sign of adverse performance and this included the selling of Textrons last textile holding, Amerotron, in 1963. (Textron Inc., fundinguniverse.com) Through the 60’s and 70’s Textron made many more acquisitions. Perhaps the most impressive was the purchase of Bell Aircraft Company for $32 million in 1960. Bell was best known for its helicopters, it gave Textron entrance into the aerospace industry, and Bell Aerospace became the name of this Textron division. (Textron, Wikipedia.com) Royal Little also retired at the end of 1960, but with Rupert Thompson taking over Textron continued growth through acquisition. In 1984 Textron acquired Avco Corporation which doubled the size of Textron and in 1992 the acquisition of Cessna Aircraft Company balanced the Bell Aerospace division’s defense-related business activity. Mission statement: â€Å"to be one of the World’s Best Managed companies; Excellent Managers of Shareholder Resources; A Multi-Industry Company with Global Leadership Positions in Each of Our Businesses†. (Textron Inc., fundinguniverse.com) Background and History Textron was founded by Royal Little in 1923, as the Special Yarns Corporation in Boston, Massachusetts and was a textile company. A Harvard Graduate, Royal Little was an outspoken advocate for â€Å"non-related† diversification, so any down turns of one business would have minimal to no affect on other components of the company. (Textron Inc., fundinguniverse.com) With the acquisition of Franklin Process Company, a cotton yarn processing company in 1928, they became the first multi-industry company. (Textron, Wikipedia.com) Changing its name to Atlantic Rayon Corporation during World War II, business flourished from the demand for parachutes. (Company History,Textron.com) Little was extremely hands on and as revenue slowed at the end of WWII he moved to producing lingerie and other consumer goods. (Textron.com) In 1943 the name was changed to Textron and in 1947 it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Royal Little was known for hostile takeovers and his â€Å"irrepressible impulses to acquire more companies†. (Textron Inc., fundinguniverse.com) In 1956, in an attempt to balance his own business style, Little hired banker Rupert Thompson. This partnership became known as the first conglomerate. (Textron Inc., fundinguniverse.com) Thompsons’ main objectives, as the director and head of Textron’s non-textile operations and as Little’s successor, were to balance Textrons’ acquisitions and minimize the affects an economic downturn in one portion of company would have on the rest of the company. Thompson believed the company should sell any division of the company at the first sign of adverse performance and this included the selling of Textrons last textile holding, Amerotron, in 1963. (Textron Inc., fundinguniverse.com) Through the 60’s and 70’s Textron made many more acquisitions. Perhaps the most impressive was the purchase of Bell Aircraft Company for $32 million in 1960. Bell was best known for its helicopters, it gave Textron entrance into the aerospace industry, and Bell Aerospace became the name of this Textron division. (Textron, Wikipedia.com) Royal Little also retired at the end of 1960, but with Rupert Thompson taking over Textron continued growth through acquisition. In 1984 Textron acquired Avco Corporation which doubled the size of Textron and in 1992 the acquisition of Cessna Aircraft Company balanced the Bell Aerospace division’s defense-related business activity. (Company History, Textron.com) Textron has been consistent in acquiring companies that offer complementary products, markets, or manufacturing processes and this has allowed them to easily merge their various companies into one large division. Examples of this are their Textron Automotive Company which merged six different automotive businesses and Textron Fastening Systems Inc. which merged five fastening companies. (Company History, Textron.com) Textron currently consist of the following five major business divisions: †¢Cessna (32%)  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Bell (27%) †¢Textron Systems (18%) †¢Industrial (12%) †¢Finance (11%) (wikinvestment.com) Textron’s current CEO and chairman is Scott C. Donnelly. He has been with Textron since2008 and became CEO in December of 2009. Donnelly, who was formerly the president and CEO for General Electric (GE) Aviation, got his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Colorado. (Company History, Textron.com) Donnelly’s’ philosophies are similar to Textron’s past CEO’s as he continues to implement restructuring and new product development. His work with GE Global Research, the world’s largest and most diversified industrial research organization, will help him keep Textron diversified, which was always the goal of the founder.

Supersize Me

As a person who spends a lot of time online watching Youth videos or just browsing, I've noticed a lot Of advertisements and some of them really stood out to me. I recall McDonald's having multiple advertisements before the start of the Youth telling you about their â€Å"all natural 100% Canadian Beef'. Having this before a video encourages the viewer to counting to watch the ad in order to see the video that you actually want to see. Another way McDonald's markets their foods is just by pictures with cleaver slogans or â€Å"good deals† on it.Pictures of hamburger that take ours to prepare and â€Å"make† and even longer to Photos frequently appears in magazines and billboards are all part of marketing tactics. The huge blown up pictures of fries found in the subway stations and on the giant screens at Tarantula square are all there to convince you to go to McDonald's and spend money. Even something simple as having the golden arches appear in a movie increase the sa les of McDonald's. 2) How does McDonald's specifically target children?As a child, remember begging my parents to take me to a specific McDonald's which was 20 minuets away from our house because there was a lay place there. The colorful tunnel/jungle gym set draws in children of all ages to come in and purchase something just so they could go down the slide. Building these play places with the giant signs are clearly targeting children convincing them to come in and buy something. The happy meal with the collectible toys, the colorful packaging and the cartoons are some of the other ways children are drawn in.As shown in the video, children could easily identify the McDonald's Clown with ease while some struggled to identify George Washington. This is mainly due to the fact that through arresting techniques and advertising through television, the McDonald's clown has become one of the most well known characters in the child's mind. 3) What makes this movie persuasive? Unlike some O f the other documentaries out there that only point out the negative aspects of fast food, this particular video isn't one faced and it tell us both sides of the situation.It is a well known fact that fast food is very unhealthy and this documentary just reinforced this point finally giving everyone physical evidence all set out telling you what the effects about. This commentary showed us regular updates from the doctors telling us the actual numbers has been gaining allowing us to have a very specific comparison. However, Morgan has mentioned many times that he did enjoy some of the meals at McDonald's and he did say that they taste good. He admitted that he got addicted to eating McDonald's and it physically made him feel better.No matter how much you look at the negative effects, many of us will still go to McDonald's just because it tastes â€Å"good†. Overall I think this documentary gave me personally an insight to the scary effects McDonald's on your body even though it tastes good. 4) In what ways do we need to be critical of the movie and its message? Even though this movie shows us the effects of the 30 day diet, we have to carefully consider the regulations and rules that specify what is allowed in the diet and what isn't.It is understandable that the producers of the film want to raise awareness towards the deadly effects McDonald's Can have on someone. However, feel that the outlines of the diet were bias towards a more negative result. For example, during the 30 days, Morgan was only allowed to eat what was on the McDonald's menu and he was to consume 3 squares a day like a â€Å"typical American†. However if you think about this thoroughly, whenever you go to McDonald's, do you order something different every time?Something else to consider is the fact that since your getting fast food in the first place, how you will have the time to get 3 squares at McDonald's. I know that there are some people out there who do consume everythin g at McDonald's on a daily basis. And also know that the filmmakers needed to emphasis the effects of McDonald's but to a normal person, the rules of the diet were exaggerated. Another reason why the message and result of the film may have been manipulated is the locations where he ordered McDonald's from.Throughout the film, he was asked to supervise the meal 5 times in Taxes. The movie also has him go California, New York and many other locations all over the United States. Because of this, the results of the diet come from a variety of places. In my option, if he were to have filmed this in the skinniest states in America rather than the fattest, he may have had less supervises and maybe even healthier â€Å"local specialties†. 5) Does this film reflect Canadians? Even though this film was created in the United States, I think this does reflect Canadians to some degree.Canada has considerably less McDonald's and fast food restaurants than the United States. Because of this , some may think that Canadians are a lot healthier than the Americans. However mainly due to the media and other influences, Canada has also adopted some of America's bad food habits and our diets have also been getting progressively unhealthier. Personally, I think that Canadians in general have more information displayed in the stores allowing people to have access to that information. (on the walls and on the sides of the boxes).I also noticed that in Canadian McDonald's promotes the healthier options more than the unhealthier options. Other than that, Canadian McDonald's can be just as unhealthy as American McDonald's and its up to the consumer to choose. 6) How did McDonald's change after the movie Even though McDonald's denies that the movie influenced any of the company's actions, McDonald's did change a few things after the movie was created. Possible one of the most important changes they made was to take out the supervise option in their menu.

Psychology and Language Essay

Language is a form of communication that allows humans to express emotion, opinions, thoughts, and beliefs. Language is communicated through sounds, gestures, and symbols. It is a developed system for communicating in a society. Languages will vary from one culture to the next and will take on different forms. Languages do not have to be spoken but can be expressed through hand gestures and written symbols. The lexicon is the vocabulary contained within the language. It is the knowledge of the words contained in the language. It is a compilation of all words known, understood, and expressed by the individual. The language is compiled and understood by others contained in the same culture and supports how the language is expressed. Key Features of Language The key features of language are semanticity, arbitrariness, displacement, and productivity. An expression of language occurs when an individual expresses a sound or makes a gesture. The information being sent will be received by the listener or observer. Language is used to gain the attention of another individual through speaking or using hand gestures. Key features of language are the mode of communication that will be used (Hyde, 1998). How a language is expressed is the mode of communication such as speech and hand gestures. The next key feature is broadcasting the message and then rapid fading of the message. The message will fade and then cannot be heard. The next feature is interchangeability. This is the ability to both receive and send the message. Total feedback is occurs when the speaker can hear his own speech and can monitor the language performance as they go and specialization involves producing the speech through the specialized body parts adapted for this role (Hyde, 1998). Semanticity is another key feature of language. It matches the communication with its specific meaning. It involves the primary similarities in all languages. For example all elements on the periodic table are universal but the way the mineral or metal will be expressed by language will differ. In one language water may be expressed as agua but will still have the same meaning in another language even if the word is expressed differently. Arbitrariness is when a sound is emitted with specific direction. The communication or noise it just expressed and no one to interpret the message or no meaning for the expression of the language. If a monkey shrieks while sailing through the trees this is an arbitrary sound. It is a noise that has no destination or it is not focused towards someone else. Displacement is when a speaker expresses a language concerning something that is not present. It expresses things from the past, present or future or things that are physically separated from the communication. For example displacement is when an individual is talking about another country that is far away or a past experience that he recalls into the conversation. Productivity is the ability to express a language or communication that is understandable to others. It is productive to be capable of learning, processing, and emitting a learned language. Traditional transmission is the ability of the human being to learn a language in order to communicate. Humans are born with the necessary physical and mental tools to express a language but that language must first be learned. Children are able to express needs with by communicating by crying but they will need to learn the language to express in words or gestures what they need. Dual of patterning is a feature of language that involves the ability to develop patterns of language and the creation of new forms of the language. Four Levels of Language The four levels of language structure and processing include the sounds emitted or the phonetics and phonology, the meaning, syntax, and utterances. In general phonology is concerned with describing rules used to combine sounds into permissible sequences (Debajuoti, 2000). The sound is produced and then perceived. This is the basics fundaments of language. It is the ability to understand the language and perceive the differences. Changes in the sound that is emitted could change the communication or how the sound is perceived. Different ranges in sound can be applied differently in different languages or cultures. For example yelling in one language could be considered an expression of anger whereas in other languages or cultures it could be an expression of joy. The meaning of the language or the lexicon studies the relationship to the language and the words. It involves the derivation and inflections involved in the language. It represents the multiple meaning behind the words and the ambiguity of the structuring of the language. Syntax involves the forming of sentences within a language. It is how the language is pieced together in proper grammatical sequences. The utterance is when the language is expressed through sounds and in some cases through learned gestures. This expression of the language can involve nonverbal expressions, gestures, and facial expressions. The utterance is the text of the language and how the words are linked together and what is said. Language Processing in Cognitive Psychology The role of language processing in cognitive psychology involves perceiving the information, producing a response, reasoning, judging, conceptualizing, and imagining. A language uses symbols, which are sounds, gestures, or written characters that represent objects, actions, events, and ideas (Debajuoti, 2000). These processes help the individual to plan, apply, and problem solve. Language develops from many cognitive processes such as memory and learning. Language helps to determine how people will think. It is influenced by thought. How we perceive or process information helps to determine the ability to form a language. Human thought processes are closely linked to language and the cognitive process. Language is learned or input into the brain through the cognitive process. Humans commonly use mental representations such as concepts, prototypes, and cognitive schemas. Cultural differences and variations in language can change the perception or how the information in processed. How the information is acquired, stored, processed. The brain contains the human capacity to recognize and learn a language. Human learn through their environment, memory, modeling, and gaining knowledge. Cognition then stores, process, and interprets the information to form a language.

Poetry of the World War I Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6750 words

Poetry of the World War I - Essay Example The men’s poetry that is more prevalent and has come to play the dominant role in the view offered about World War I. Part of this reason is that a considerable part of the 500 odd poems that have been written by women as surmised by Khan have not formed a part of the body of mainstream poetry. The poetry of the World War I is especially significant because of the new poetic form that arose – trench poetry. These poems were written in stark, simple rhyme, not mincing words in portraying what the war was really like. Therefore these poems served to bely the existing notions of patriotism linked with war and cast doubts upon the notion that war was necessary in order to restore man’s faith in God. Such large scale and destruction could scarcely be justified as a godly act, neither could the deaths of so many soldiers be said to have occurred for a cause that justified those deaths. Therefore, trench poetry represents a landmark in English poetry – it led to the emergence of a new realistic form of poetry that was quite different from the romantic, flowery idealistic kind of poetry that existed before the War. It may also be argued that Georgian poetry set the foundations for the emergence of trench poetry, with its emphasis on reporting only what was actually seen with the eyes.

Marketing 521 - Discussion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Marketing 521 - Discussion - Assignment Example Moreover, if the employees are made to perceive the organization positively, they become motivated to work in the organization increasing their productivity. The management of an organization may decide on the values and characteristics the organization wants the public to associate it with. When the desired values have been established, they should be translated in to appealing marketing language. The Public relation’s department should then popularize the values among the employees in the organization before publicizing it eternally. Ethics refer to the moral values and principles that guide a person in decision making (Brenkert, 2008). Several ethical issues exist in the field of marketing. Predatory pricing in developing countries by large corporations to drive out competition is an ethical issue. Through this pricing method, competitors are denied their livelihood by large organizations by being driven out of business. Price fixing is another illegal activity in marketing. This happens when traders conspire to regulate prices of commodities so as to remain at a particular level for their mutual benefits. They manipulate supply and demand so that prices favor their profitability. The consumers are left on the receiving side since they have no choice, but to buy commodities at the exaggerated

Differentiation of Microorganisms Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Differentiation of Microorganisms - Lab Report Example The researcher tells that in culture media experiment the test included a synthetic medium, tryptic soy broth, SF broth, Macconkey Agar, and nutrient agar. The liquid media like the nutrient broth was used in the reproduction and isolation of organisms. McConkey Agar was a solid medium that examined colony morphology and the isolation of the organisms. Most of the culture media were complex; their chemical composition was unknown. Additionally, the culture media were selective. They selected certain microbe types by supplying the growth conditions. An example of this media was SF medium; it was designed to select Enterococcus faecallis in warm-blooded animals. In Enzymes experiment, the tests included the Caseinase which hydrolyzed casein to peptides to amino acids, gelatinase hydrolyzed gelatin, and   Catalase protected the cells from the hydrogen peroxide. In addition, Oxidase indicated the presence of cytochrome in the microorganisms, during oxidation the compounds turned red or blue. In fermentation experiment, the fermentable compounds were sugar (glucose, sucrose, and lactose). Consequently, an indicator dye was used to change the color from red to a yellow color when the PH is below 7. In motility, experiment flagellum was used a bacterial motility. The experiment used several ways to determine motility i.e. hanging drop and motility agar. In the course of the experiment, if the culture tested is strict aerobe, then growth will occur on the tube surface. The hanging drop slide was used in motility viewing when the oxygen is depleted. In the experiment that dealt with differentiation of enteric bacteria, most bacteria used were facultative anaerobes and anaerobes. The enteric bacteria used here encompassed facultative anaerobic rods, gram negative, and non-spore forming bacteria. The Coliforms were characterized by their fermenting ability. Other tests that were used to identify the enteric bacteria included H2S, KCN, MB agar, TSI agar, SS agar, and MacConkey agar. Discussion The culture media experiment used the following microorganism: Escherichis Coli, Enterococcus faecalis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The two culture media in the experiment were synthetic medium and tryptic Soy Broth. The

Write a letter protesting an injustice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Write a letter protesting an injustice - Essay Example ted the indiscriminate use of terror to ward off unwanted and defenseless residents, women and children alike, from a land conceived as a defender and a refuge of the oppressed. Back home, in a poor country in the south where I came from, life in America is everyone’s dream. It seems to be the only passport to a better and a more comfortable life. It seems to be the only place that holds the promise of a secure future, and the way out of poverty. I can still remember how my parents and the other elders in the family implanted in me the vision of living a prosperous life in America and set before me the mission to finish my studies and work in America. Later I discovered that the vision and mission America is not only for me, it is a common direction shared by most families hopeful of a good future for the entire family. Getting here was not easy, and for many of us who have been working here for years, reaching America cost our families some fortune, some relationships, some life. There are those who sell properties or parcel of land to finance travel expenses and the cost of living here while looking for an employer. There are those who left behind aging parents, spouses, young children, and siblings. There are those who risked their lives crossing borders in search of an asylum and escape from oppression or slavery. Most are wishfully hoping that after a time, with the green card or with favorable circumstances, all would be reunited and lived a good life in the land of the free. There is this dark side of couples and families separated for quite a long time. Such long separation created a vacuum, an emotional void making one vulnerable to temptation, to infidelity, and thus breaking up what used to be a strong and happy family. As this happened, the children suffer, and left behind to fend for themselves. The long period of separation disintegrated the family, the very basic unit of society. The hope of a bright future and the American dream suddenly

Globalization and Illustrates in India and Nicaragua Research Paper

Globalization and Illustrates in India and Nicaragua - Research Paper Example After a rigorous analysis here we have an example of a county being negatively affected by the effects of globalization. Resultantly, the individuals i.e. the Youth in Nicaragua is now determined to put in play new and autonomous forms of outfit in an attempt to trigger massive positive change in their very own localities. To determine all this, a wide variety of sources, including geographic data, ethnographic data and all other sources of economic data have been used. The reasons why globalization made one country to prosper and the other to deteriorate both socially and economically have been well analyzed and integrated into the conclusion. Since the partition from Pakistan and Freedom from Colonial rulers, Indian Economy has been striving really hard to stabilize itself. The partition from Pakistan also affected the economy negatively as all the economic assets like; printing presses, manufacturing units, fertile agricultural lands, and the irrigation system. This division affected the economy adversely and it took almost two decades to recover from the after math of that economic and political shock. British traders still have a strong influence on the Indian economy as in the late nineties the industrial development stagnated and the market had to be saved for the foreign traders. Analysts support that the efforts to free the country’s economy from state interventions contributed a lot to the stable growth that came on the face in the 1980s. As a known fact, the open economy and a free-market economy has lesser governmental interventions. Thus, bringing in more creativity by waiving off more and more restrictions to let people trade in the way they want to. In India, the economically active class of the society had strived to their wits to free the market from unnecessary governmental interventions. However, that period was also marked with heavy foreign borrowing.

Regulatory and Conceptual Framework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Regulatory and Conceptual Framework - Essay Example International accounting standards will enhance the quality and transparency of accounting information. According to the principles of corporate governance, corporate reporting should ensure that the information is fair and transparent (AAA, 2003). Consequently, this results in the numbers getting beyond reproach in terms of integrity. It is very easy for companies to reduce the costs of transactions because there is a reduction in risk estimations by the market. However, the standards have the effect of increasing costs for small companies since they have few resources to implement the changes including training of accountants. Second, international accounting standards enhance flexibility in financial reporting because it is principle-based as opposed to the use of rules. This means that companies have many ways to arrive at a valuation that is reasonable and suitable to particular situations. This makes it very easy to read and interpret financial statements (FASB/IASB, 2008). On the downside, international accounting standards can promote manipulation because companies can selection a method of valuation of their choice. Most companies will decide to report only desired results while hiding financial problems. The result is that a company may appear more profitable than its real performance. Third, the use of international standards has the advantage of creating uniformity in financial reporting which improves comparability. It would be more accurate to compare the financial performance of companies using a uniform accounting standard than using different standards. It makes it easier for an investor to select an investment. On the downside, the international standard has not been accepted especially in the U.S. This has influenced other countries to hold out because they use the accounting standards adopted by the U.S. as a gold standard of measure. The situation is worse for foreign firms doing business in the U.S. because they

Sam Houston Book Review Essay Example for Free

Sam Houston Book Review Essay Houston and the American Southwest were written by Randolph B. Campbell. Currently Professor Campbell teaches at University of North Texas in Denton. He has written many other books including Gone to Texas The history of the Lone star state. This is one of my favorite books; Sam Houston had a very interesting life. As a child he was relentless and rebellious. He had little formal education, but loved to read. He eventually tired of Tennessee and ran away. He crossed the river and lived among the Cherokee Indians. While living with the Indians Sam Houston learned a valuable lesson that would soon come to use to him later in life, peace first and war second. He lived among the whites and the Indians for a time. When the War of 1812 broke out Sam did not volunteer to join, he instead wanted to study mathematic but in 1813 he decided against a teaching career and joined the 7th US Infantry where he quickly became third Lieutenant. In the battle of reek War he courageously charged toward a well-guarded Creek fortification. He was wounded with arrows twice in the shoulder and once in the thigh, they won the war. Afterwards he petitioned to remain in the army. Andrew Jackson and Sam became good friends he later appointed him as a Federal Agent, and assigned him the task of removing the Cherokees from Tennessee. He resigned from the army in 1818 at age 25. He became an attorney in a mere six months when he returned to Tennessee. He remained friends with Andrew Jackson and even supported his campaign in 1822-1824 and 1823. He was even elected to the House of Representatives. He was even challenged to a dual, he won and the other person was shot but did survive. In 1827 he campaigned for and won governorship of Tennessee. He married Eliza in 1829, a girl 15 years younger than him, and sadly soon after their union she left Sam and after he went into a voluntary exile. In 1829 he officially became a part of the Cherokee nation, and served as a representative in Washington D. C for them. Sadly during this time Sam Houston became an alcoholic and the Indians even named him â€Å"Big Drunk†. He married and Indian wife, Tiana although he was never formally divorced from Eliza. She refused to return to Texas with him so he left her. He later married Margaret Lea in 1840; this was his third and final wife. She was a great influence on him, convincing him to stop drinking all together. He and Margaret had 8 children, one of which was named after his dear friend Andrew Jackson and he became a Senator for Texas. I think it is so neat to see that no matter where life to Sam Houston, he always remained so committed to Texas. No matter what he always made it back to Texas and fought for it! He was a man of many talents and he held the position of Lieutenant, lawyer, teacher war hero, Congressman, and even President of Texas! He also ran for Governor of Texas in 1857, but due to his unpopular views he was defeated. This book is so interesting to me. I think that this book was written for anyone who wants to know more about the history of Texas and Sam Houston. It is also written for college students. It is a great read. He was once quoted saying â€Å"It is a matter of great satisfaction to me to hope that my children will be in circumstances to receive a good education. Mine was defective and I feel the inconvenience, if not the misfortune of not receiving a classical education. Knowledge is the food of genius, and my son, let no opportunity escape you to treasure up knowledge. He knew the importance of good education and it honestly intrigues me of how intelligent he was and well-rounded despite his lack of one. On his tombstone it reads: A Brave Soldier†¦A Fearless Statesman†¦A Great Orator– a Pure Patriot A Faithful Friend†¦A Loyal Citizen†¦A Devoted Husband and Father†¦A Consistent Christian– an Honest Man. After reading this book I would have to agree with that and I wish we had more people like Sam Houston in government today!

Management Control System of a Commercial Bank XY

Management Control System of a Commercial Bank XY This paper attempts to examine the management control system in a Pakistani commercial bank. The commercial banking sector in Pakistan is very competitive. The majority of commercial banks have customer retention on its top priority. Commercial banks are encouraging employees to upgrade their knowledge and skill. The working environment is also congenial in Pakistani commercial banks. Management control systems are essential tool to help management to steer an organization towards its strategic objectives. Designing and implementing an appropriate management control system based on Pakistani national culture can improve both the short and long term performance of commercial banks. This will make commercial banks more efficient and cost effective in extending banking services to all the customers. However, the future research needs to examine the relationship between management control system and effectiveness of the commercial banks of Pakistan. Introduction The introduction part begins with historical background of management control and management accounting. This leads further to an establishment of the purpose of the study and its limitations. 1.1 Historical Background The Management Control and Management Accounting The need for management control arose after the Industrial Revolution and gave companies the opportunity of greater growth and expansion than what had been possible earlier. Larger parts of the value chain were situated within these new and greater companies instead of being spread on different locations in smaller companies or single persons. After these great changes, companies started to require financial measures as business ratios and transfer pricing, and from that point the development of different types of management controls and accounting controls began ( Kaplan Johnson 1987). The Dupont Company is often considered to be the inventor of the modern management control (Kaplan 1984). In the early 1900s, DuPont decided to organize itself by dividing the organization into separate functions, e.g. manufacturing, sales and purchasing. Every single one of these functions had their own manager who could be very specialized in how to manage the specific function. Hence, the senior managers did not have to be involved much in those activities and could fully focus on things as long- term strategies. It was this type of decentralized organization that made Dupont realizes that they needed a performance measurement system. They launched a new accounting measure, return on investment (ROI), because they thought it would be more accurate to use than the old measures which measured earnings and profits as a percentage of sales or costs. Dupont along with General Motors are considered as the pioneers in this area and were also involved in creating different types of decent ralized organizations, budgeting and planning cycles (Kaplan, 1984). In an article from 1984, Kaplan discussed what had happened in the development of the area from 1925 to that point. He considered that not as much as expected had happened between 1925 and 1984. Of those new ideas that had been presented, many were just academic theories which had little or no influence on the real organizations, who should be the beneficiaries. As of today the opposite problem from what Kaplan said in 1984 can be spotted. Today there are almost too many choices in accounting and management control, and they are not as well studied as the older theories and tools (Malmi and Granlund, 2009). There is also another problem with the new theories and tools, companies and organizations seem to have too much faith in them and use them in an uncritical way. They are considered as the solution of all management problems. Examples of these new theories and tools are, activity- based-costing (ABC), business process reengineering (BPR), balanced Score cards (BSC) and total quality management (TQM). These systems are often expensive to acquire and use, and companies perhaps, do not evaluate the relation between costs and benefits of the systems they use, or why they use it at all. Are they used just because they are modern and all the competitors use it, or do they really create value for the company (Siverbo and Akesson 2009). 1.2 Contribution of the Study The banking sector serves as the main source of resource mobilization in developing economies. Commercial bank play significant role in the economic development. Today and more precisely in future, companies, organizations (banks) and other decision making entities whether profit making or not, will face major management challenges. Irrespective of whether the main goal of the organization is to make profit or not, it becomes necessary to institute a mechanism in those entities to control the activities of managers so that they remain on track of the proper routes as established by management. In order to keep activities of the organization in track a management control system is essential (Rijal S., 2006). With the background just proposed I find it interesting to see how a company like a commercial bank XY has commenced its banking operations from November Ist, 1997 as a public limited company is currently operating a large network through 223 branches in Pakistan, with the registe red office at B.A. Building, I.I. Chundrigar, Karachi. The bank perceived the requirements of customers and matches them with quality products and service solutions. During the past five years, bank has emerged as one of the foremost financial institution in the region endeavoring to meet the needs of tomorrow as well as today. To continually upgrade the quality of service to the customers, training of team members in all the integral aspects of banking, customer service and MCS was specially focused. The portfolio concentrates on all aspects of conventional banking as well as the financial needs of corporate sector. Dynamic and high value product includes Car Financing, Home Financing, Rupee Travelers Cheques, Credits Cards, Debit Cards, Online Banking, ATM and consumer Durables. In addition to this, Islamic Banking Division is a recent initiative, which operates as separate branch. With such a huge expansion of branches network, the importance of a well-functioning management cont rol system becomes crucial for their success. People have different beliefs and goals that they want to achieve, which makes it challenging for the management of the company to make every employee take actions in line with what is desirable(www.scribd.com). In this case study author aim to describe the management control systems of a commercial bank with its virtual name XY from Pakistan, since it is expanding and growing with good speed as compared to other banks due to its good MCS system. 1.3 Problem Formulation Bank XY is a commercial bank in Pakistan that is growing rapidly and expanding its branches network in the country. Bank XY has had a huge success and uses almost the same control systems in every branch all over the country (Telephone Interview, 2010), which makes it interesting for me to describe and analyze one of them. My principal research question is that, What management control systems are used at different levels of the commercial bank XY in Pakistan? 1.4 Purpose of Study The main objective of this study is to analyze and describe the management control system of commercial Bank XY in Pakistan. I shall also try to explain how the different management control systems are used in the bank. 1.5 Limitation of the Study The focus of this study is to describe the management control systems used by managers to direct employees, behavior. Considering the size of Bank XY,s organization and the time I have deliberated to this study, it is reasonable for me to limit the study to include few bank branch and the management control systems controlling these branches from higher levels of the organization. I shall also focus on the internal environment, which means I shall not consider most of the external environment that is not crucial to the understanding of the management control system within the bank branch. Data and Methodology This case study will be written by the qualitative school of thought, since author aim is to understand the management control system of the certain company he has chosen. Author has no ambitions to make any general assumptions based on this single study, in contrast to if he had chosen to do a quantitative research study on several companies. The type of case study he has chosen to use is the abductive ase study, since he wanted to have the opportunity to return to the theory even after empirical materials had been collected (alvesson Skoldberg, 1994). The paper is based on both primary and secondary data. Primary data have been collected by phone interview developed for branch manager and employees at different branches. The responses were received from the 12 managers and supporting employees of 12 bank branches. Secondary data have been collected from the website of Bank XY, Pakistan. The data, collected from various sources have been analyzed with the support of previously developed theory. Theory In this chapter, I shall examine the main theories of management control. Before explaining the definitions of management control systems (MCSs), Author shall try to explain management and management control. 3.1 Management and Management Control Literature written on the subject, management is defined in several ways, but all have something to do with the process of allocating resources and direct activities to fulfill the organizations overall objectives. Management is a broad subject and can be divided into smaller elements such as operations, finance, marketing/sales and product development. The management process can also be separated into smaller parts that are objective setting, strategy formulation and management control. Objective setting is a necessary process to formulate and sometimes reconsider the direction and destination of the company. If the objectives are not set it is impossible to determine if the resources are allocated in the right way and if the right activities have been performed. Strategy formulation is the process where organization finds out how to use their resources to meet their objectives. The management processes of objectives setting, strategy formulation and management control is a process of continuum (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007). 3.2 Merchants Management Control Alternatives According to Merchant and Van der Stede (2007) companies and other organizations have four management control alternatives i.e., result control, action control, personnel controls and cultural controls. 3.2.1 Result Controls The basic idea of results controls is that you do not tell your employees how to do things but what you want them to achieve and how they will benefit if they achieve it. For example, a manager tells an employee that he wants him to produce ten units a week, and if he succeeds he will receive a reward of $50. By these actions the manager may control his employees to do what he desires without interfering too much in their work practices. The process of result controls include four steps, the first is defining the dimensions on which results are desired, the second is measuring performance on these dimensions, the third is setting performance targets for employees to strive for and the last is providing rewards to encourage the behaviors that will lead to the desired results. Results controls are usually used on professional employees who are considered to be able to work effectively without being told how to do things, but instead work efficiently towards targets (Merchant and Van de r Stede, 2007). 3.2.2 Action Controls Action controls are somewhat the opposite of results controls, employees are told what to do and how they should do it, e.g. by rules and procedures. The difficulty with this is that the rules and procedures must be optimized, or else the employees will do everything wrong, despite their doing what they were told by their managers (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007). 3.2.3 Personnel Controls Personnel controls refer to the assumption that employees by nature want to control themselves. Managers do not have to tell employees what to do and then monitor their every moves to be sure that they do the tasks that that where intended. The assumption is that employees like to perform well for themselves and this should result in a well performing company. Unlike, or at least not as much as results and action controls, these types of controls require more careful selection of employees. Everyone have to fully qualified for the position they occupy on the organization to make it possible to use personnel control. Motivation is another important aspect to make this work; managers have to keep their employees constantly motivated. This may be achieved by training, further work related education or different types of rewards (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007). 3.2.4 Cultural Controls When personnel controls trust the ability that people want to perform well, cultural controls rely on the ability that group to keep up the values and approaches the organization aims at. In the group organization everyone is supposed to take responsibility and care of everyone else and the peer pressure is important. The idea is that the group should motivate itself; the assignment of the managers is in this case to instruct the group in what to be motivated to do. To their help managers can use things as codes of conduct or group rewards and if the group performs well the group will receive a reward. If only group rewards are provided the individual employee will try to do his/her best to make the group perform well, instead of just caring about themselves (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007). 3.2.5 Control System Tightness The benefit from any well functioning MCS is that the likelihood that the company will achieve its objectives increases. This benefit can be described in terms of MCS tightness (or looseness), where a tight MCS increases the probability that the employees will take actions that is desirable by the organization. Managers often use more than one kind of management control alternative to tighten control. Sometimes these controls overlap and sometimes they are complementary, which enables the combination of them to create tight control over all of the factors critical to the organizations success (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007). Whether a results control is tight or loose depends on the characteristics of the definitions of the desired result areas, the performance measures, and the reinforcement or incentives provided. According to Merchant and Van der Stede (2007), for management control to be considered tight in a results controls system, the results dimensions must be congruent with the true organizational objectives, the performance targets must be specific, with feedback in short time increments, the desired result must be effectively communicated and internalized by those whose behaviors are being controlled, and if results controls are given exclusively in a given performance area, the measures must be complete (PP 118 119). Congruence problems can exist because the management does not understand the organizations true objectives or the measure dimensions do not reflect the organizations true objectives (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007). For a results control system to be tight, the performance measures also have to be precise, objective, timely and understandable. If the performance measures used do not possess these characteristics the control system cannot be considered tight since behavioral problems are likely. Furthermore, if rewards (or punishments) are directly and definitely linked to the accomplishment or non-accomplishment of the desired targets, the MCS is more likely to be tighter (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007). Action control systems can be considered tight only if it likely that employee will consistently perform the actions desired to achieve the companys objectives and not take any undesirable actions. The tightness of the action accountability controls depends on characteristics of the definitions of desirable and undesirable actions, the effectiveness of the action-tracking system and the reinforcements (rewards and punishments) provided. An effective action tracking system is where employees can be certain that their actions will be noticed relatively quickly. Punishment is more common in action control contexts than in a result control context, since they often include employee violation of rules and procedures (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007). Tight personnel/cultural controls are most likely to be found in charity and voluntary organizations where employees feel some kind of satisfaction by doing good, in family businesses, where the interest of the family employees are same as the organizations (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007). Empirical Data The first section of this chapter includes history and other essential facts of a commercial bank XY, Pakistan. The next section includes the empirical information author obtained during his telephonic interviews with the managers and employees at Bank. 4.1 History and facts about Commercial Bank XY Bank XY was founded in June 21st, 1997 its banking operations started from November1st, 1997. The bank engaged in commercial banking and related services. The bank is currently operating through 223 branches. Bank XY target market conceits of individual client as well as number of business organization. Bank XY has segment the market on demographic, psychological and behavioral style to target maximum number of segments with different varieties of products suitable for each segment. Dynamic and high value product includes Car Financing, Home Financing, Rupee Travelers Cheques, Credits Cards, Debit Cards, Online Banking, ATM and consumer Durables. In addition to this, Islamic Banking Division is a recent initiative, which operates as separate branch. This facilitates their commitment to a culture of innovation and seeks out synergies with clients and service providers to ensure interrupted services to its customers. The bank perceived the requirements of customers and matches them wit h quality products and service solutions. During the past five years, bank has emerged as one of the foremost financial institution in the region endeavoring to meet the needs of tomorrow as well as today. To continually upgrade the quality of service to the customers, training of team members in all the integral aspects of banking, customer service and MCS was specially focused (www.scribd.com) 4.2 Telephonic Interviews at Bank XY All the empirical material in this section was obtained during the telephonic interviews. Author interviewed managers at different levels with involvement in personnel, sales, financial and business related areas at Bank XY. Author also made phone interview with an employee at the Bank XY Head Office. 4.3 MCS in Commercial Bank XY 4.3.1 MCS for Selection of Employee Every new employee is carefully selected to fit the profile of how Bank wants them to be and the employees need to know how important the core values are for the bank. The education and banking experience have important consideration during selection of new employees. The personality and which values you have are also important. Hence, selection of employees is important and tries to employee people that already have the right values and beliefs to fit the culture. They also think it is important that the applicants have an interest for bank job. They believe that if the applicant has visited their own website to look for employment, they have taken the first step to show to show interest in bank job. When a new person is employed he or she undergoes an introduction education and training for few days. 4.3.2 Generic Strategy of Commercial Bank The generic strategy of commercial bank XY is divided for two main areas of business, deposit and lending. The different branches of the same commercial banks at the different geographical location are adopting result, action, personnel and culture controls jointly. In case of lending majority of branches uses result and action control simultaneously. 4.3.3 Marketing of New Services Most of the commercial bank branches promote their products/services very aggressively by using result and action control. The majority of the commercial bank branches are concentrating in maintaining customers and only some branches are competing for customer acquisition. 4.3.4 Target setting Practice The commercial bank set target for their branches for the purpose of planning and controlling the activities. In most of the branches target is fixed in terms of number of clients, amount of deposit and the amount of lending. Individual target are also set and properly communicated to them. 4.3.5 Performance Measurement The commercial bank compares actual performance with predetermined target of their branches frequently. 4.3.5 Reward System In commercial banking sector, benefit/reward/salary/promotion is mostly determined by performance followed by education, experience, new relationship/ customer marketed in deposit or lending and factors respectively like majority get benefit for better performance and some did not get performance benefit. The commercial bank provided bonus to their employees out of profit. The amount of bonus is based on the amount of salary the employees are getting. Some bonuses are related to outstanding performance also. 4.3. 5 Encouragement to employees to learn new Skills The commercial bank is encouraging his employees to discharge better performance and enhance educational qualification and attain trainings. The majority of employees working in the bank get leave sanctioned from their bank to attain training related to their jobs. It also supports that the commercial bank is encouraging employees to learn new skill and knowledge. 4.3.6 Cooperation Majority of the employees feel they get complete cooperation from their coworkers. It indicates the working environment is very conducive in the bank to discharge better performance. Analysis In this chapter author has analyzed the empirical data collected at the interviews on the basis of the theories described in the theory part. 5.1 The Combination of Merchant,s Control Alternatives at Bank XY As described by Merchant and Van der Stede (2007) the benefit from a MCS can be expressed by the tightness or looseness of the MCS. As specified, a tight results control system must include results dimensions that are congruent with the organizations true objectives, performance targets that are specific, feedback in short time intervals, effective communication of the desired result and complete measures if the results control system is used exclusively (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2007). As author shall argue below, he thinks that all these factors are met at the Bank branch. First, the measures that the branch working seem to be congruent with the true organization objectives since they measure advances/loans, deposits and costs such as personnel, branch office and operational cost very carefully. They also use non-financial performance measures such as the customer satisfaction index which enables them to overcome the shortcoming of the financial performance measures. Since they take customer satisfaction into consideration they decreased the possibility of increasing result at the expense of decreasing customer satisfaction, which is congruent with their true organizational objectives. Secondly, the targets they use seem to be specific since they use detailed measures to evaluate their performance, e.g. they not measure the number of borrower and depositor, but also borrowed and deposited amount per each customer. Furthermore they set specific targets of how high percentage of customers should be satisfied with their services e.g. the turnaround time for loan application, the waiting time in the counters. Thirdly, the employees get feedback in short time intervals since performance is communicated on a daily basis as well as more detailed feedback weekly at meeting, and yearly when they e.g. see the target achievement report. Lastly the desired results are communicated effectively through their regular meetings and the process of setting the business and action plans. According to Merchant and Van der Stede (2007), a tight results control system also have comprise performance measures that are, precise, objective, timely and understandable. Furthermore they argue that the results control system is likely to be tighter if rewards or punishments are directly and definitely linked to the accomplishment or non-accomplishment of the desired targets. I think that the performance measures of Bank Alfalah meet the characteristics described by Merchant and Van der Stede (2007). The salary system used by the bank is also linked to their performance on the desired targets. Hence, it seems like the results control system of the bank can be considered as tight. The action control systems of a commercial bank does not include as many rules, but instead they have a quite strict organization and governance structure. They also use daily, weekly, monthly performance follow up sheets and manuals to control the actions of employees. According to Merchant and Van der Stede (2007) examples of action controls are behavioral constraints, preaction reviews and action accountability. They further argue that the action control systems can be considered tight only if it is likely that employees will consistently perform the actions. Bank branch does not use as many physical constraints but rather more administrative constraints such as restricting some decisions making to higher levels of the organization. However, in general, the bank branch managers and supporting employees have quite a high influence on their own department of the branch and can make many decisions on their own. The employees actions are supervised by their closest manager and since bank has many different organization levels and each has their own manager it is likely that the managers can track their subordinates actions quite carefully. Furthermore, since the results control system is tight it is also reasonable to believe that undesirable actions will be discovered fairly quickly. Reinforcements used are group rewards such as one basic or two basic salaries that will be paid if the bank employees have achieved the targets. To sum up, there is no doubt that bank uses action controls and action control systems but I would not consider them either tight or loose, but rather moderate or average. As concluded by Merchant and Van der Stede (2007) the personnel/cultural control systems are rarely tight, except in organizations whose corporate cultures are strong. Bank culture includes customers care-consciousness, equality, advances/loans and deposits target focus. These values are prominent and present in their vision, mission as well as in everything they do. They also emphasize the importance that every employee should share their values to fit in. This implies that bank corporate culture is strong which enables me to conclude that their personnel/cultural control is tight or at least moderately tight. Conclusion The Pakistani commercial banking sector is very competitive. The commercial banks are competing mainly in services in order to put in competitive position, to retain customers services at top priority. The majority of the commercial bank branches have been using results control system. All the commercial bank branches are applying the concept of management control system by setting targets for their branch and at individual and comparing it with actual performance. The target for a branch is fixed in terms of number of clients, amount of deposit and lending. Target is also fixed for the majority of the individuals employees. The target of the branches and individuals level is frequently monitored against their performance. The manager of the different branches of the commercial bank desire to evaluate the performance of the branch. According to individual employees responses, their financial and non financial benefit is based on performance followed by education and training and experience respectively. But the yearly bonus is based on salary they are getting. The managers of different bank branches encourage employees to participate in decision-making process. The commercial bank encourages employees to upgrade their knowledge and skill as the benefit is based on educational qualification and training after performance, they provide paid leave to participate in training and for further education. The working environment in commercial bank is very congenial as the majority of the employees felt that they get very much cooperation from their coworkers. However, the future research needs to examine the relationship between management control system and effectiveness of the commercial banks in Pakistan.

Effects of Theatre Arts on Emotional Intelligence

Effects of Theatre Arts on Emotional Intelligence This study has attempted to examine the impact that an individuals involvement in Theatre Arts has on his or her Emotional Intelligence (EI). The hypothesis in the present research is thus, there is a positive relationship between ones involvement in theatre arts and their emotional intelligence. Participants of this study were residents of Bangalore city, India (N=80). The scale which was employed in this research to administer on the sample was the Emotional Intelligence Scale, developed by Anukool Hyde, Sanjyot Pethe and Upinder Dhar. The findings of the study were such that individuals who have been active participants of theatre arts had a higher EI (M=138.67) than those individuals who were not exposed to the theatre arts (M=129.65). These results indicate that exposure to, participation in and the understanding of the theatre arts is highly useful in emotional, and hence mental well-being. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND THEATRE ARTS Emotional intelligence (EI) is defined by Cooper and Sawaf (1997) as the ability to sense, understand and effectively apply the power and acumen of emotions as a source of human energy, information, connection and influence. It comprises of the power to perceive accurately, evaluate and express emotions; the ability to comprehend emotions and emotional knowledge and intellectual growth. It also is characterized by- self awareness, mood management, self motivation, empathy, managing relationships. The most extensively recognized definition of emotional intelligence, is that given by Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer, who have been leading researchers in the field, and is defined as the subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor ones own and others feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide ones thinking and actions (1990). What popularized the study of emotional intelligence is the publication of Golemans bestselling Emotional Intelligence in 1995. This model introduced by Daniel Goleman places its focus on leadership performance guided by a large collection of competencies and skills by means of emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1988). Golemans model demarcates four main EI constructs, namely, self-awareness, which is the ability to construe ones emotions and understand their influence while using intuitions and instincts to direct decisions; self-management, that which has to do with controlling ones emotions and impulses and adjusting in new situations; social awareness, the ability to discern, comprehend, and respond to others emotions; and relationship management, the ability to motivate, influence, and develop others while dealing with difficult situations (Bradberry, Travis and Greaves, Jean, 2009). The origins of this subject can be traced back to Darwins work on the importance of emotional expression for survival (Bar-On, 2006). In The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872), Darwin put forth that human emotional expressions have an adaptive and survival value, and that this feature has its consequences in its evolution. However, he posited that there are some human reactions which are not of significant survival value now, but were in the past, and that this, coupled with a similarity of emotional expression among all human beings suggests a common descent from an earlier pre-human ancestor (Encyclopaedia of Psychology, n.d.). In the twentieth century, publications began appearing with the work of Edward Thorndike on social intelligence in 1920, which described the skill of understanding and managing other people (Bar-On, 2006). Many of these early studies focused on describing, defining and assessing socially competent behaviour (Chapin, 1942; Doll, 1935; Moss Hunt, 1927; Moss et al., 1927; Thorndike, 1920). This was then followed by studies on the influence of non-intellectual factors on intelligent behaviour, by D Wechsler (as cited in Bar-On, 2006) and the concept of multiple intelligences as put forth by Howard Gardner in 1983 (Smith M.K., 2002). In the recent years the study of emotional intelligence has escalated. Research includes areas ranging from emotional intelligence and its relationship with work place and social competencies to its influence on a healthy and productive life as such (Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations, http://www.eiconsortium.org/about_us.htm) . For example, emotional intelligence has become increasingly popular as a measure for identifying potentially effective leaders, and as a tool for developing effective leadership skills (Palmer, Walls, Burgess, Stough, Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 2001). In the study mentioned, emotional intelligence correlated with several components of transformational leadership suggesting that it may be an important component of effective leadership. In particular emotional intelligence may account for how effective leaders monitor and respond to subordinates and make them feel at work. Further in a study conducted by the Center for Creative Leadership, in the USA, individual scores as obtained by a multi-rater feedback tool called Benchmarks were compared to self-reported emotional intelligence as measured by the BarOn EQ-I, and the findings were that key leadership skills and perspectives are related to aspects of emotional intelligence and the absence of emotional intelli gence was related to career derailment (Leadership Skills and Emotional Intelligence, Center for Creative Leadership, http://www.ccl.org/leadership/pdf/assessments/skills_intelligence.pdf, 2003). The study of emotional intelligence has been of high momentum in the field of healthcare as well. In the year 2000, study conducted by Joseph Cairochi, Frank P. Deane and Stephen Anderson, Department of Psychology, University of Wollongong, Australia, hypothesized that EI would make a unique contribution to understanding the relationship between stress and three important mental health variables, depression, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation. This was a cross-sectional study where university students were required to evaluate their life-stress, objective and self-reported emotional intelligence, and mental health. One of the findings revealed that stress was associated with greater suicidal ideation among those low in managing others emotions (MOE). MOE was shown to be statistically different from other relevant measures, suggesting that EI is highly essential in understanding the link between stress and mental health. Emotional Intelligence and Alexithymia- Alexithymia- literally without words for emotions, in Greek- was a term originally coined by psychotherapist Peter Sifneos in 1973 in order to describe a state of deficiency in understanding, processing or describing emotions (Bar-On Parker, 2000, p40-59, Taylor ,1997, p28-31). Alexithymia is defined by many factors, such as, difficulty identifying feelings and distinguishing between feelings and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal; difficulty describing feelings to other people; constricted imaginal processes, as evidenced by a paucity of fantasies; a stimulus-bound, externally oriented cognitive style. (Taylor,1997, p29). Logically, one would expect an inverse relation between the constructs of alexithymia and emotional intelligence. This expectation has been supported in the literature. Schutte et al (1998) found that in a sample consisting of University students, a self-report measure of emotional intelligence (the Self Report Emotional Intelligence Test) was significantly inversely correlated with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, which was used as the standard measure for alexithymia . Research with larger community samples has particularly found significant associations. For example, Parker, Taylor, and Bagby (2001) found a strong negative correlation between the Emotion Quotient Inventory and the TAS in a sample of 734 community members (Stys, Brown, 2004, A Review of the Emotional Intelligence- Literature and Implications for Corrections, 28). According to Johanna Vanderpol (n.d.)- author, speaker, coach and workshop provider in emotional intelligence and emotional well-being, Canada- art and play, which are forms of emotional expression, are the essential ways in which individuals, especially young children, expand their abilities and master their environment, further stating that emotional expression is but a part of developing emotional intelligence. One such study presented a series of experiential exercises designed to use visual arts and poetry in classroom settings to increase students awareness and recognition of emotion-two key components of emotional intelligence (Morris, Urbanski, Fuller, 2005). In a study titled Emotional Intelligence and the Performing Arts: Crossing Disciplinary Boundaries, an experiential training program that employed the Ability Model of emotional intelligence (Salovey and Mayer, 1990, 1997) was combined with performing arts and drama therapy to create a workshop program, whose aim was to increase the awareness of the role of emotions in working life, and provided interactive learning opportunities to engage with complicated emotional dilemmas arising from their leadership roles. Survey results from the workshops and a focus-group at three months follow-up revealed that participants used the learning experience of the workshop to address and resolve specific leadership challenges in their role (Rauk er, Skinner, Bett, 2009). The current study attempts to show a relationship between emotional intelligence and ones involvement in the Theatre Arts. Theatre, or Drama, as it is more commonly known, is the most integrative of all the arts: it can and often does, include singing, dancing, painting, sculpture, storytelling, puppetry, music, poetry and of course, the art of acting (Snow, DAmico, Tanguay, 2003, p73). Also it has been of wide contention that there is an innate healing function in theatre which goes all the way back to its origins in human culture (Bates, 1988; Emunah, 1994; McNiff, 1988; Pendzik, 1988; Snow, 1996). A wide range of study has been done on the influence of drama on psychological well being and the role it plays in psychotherapy, hence giving rise to the concept of Drama Therapy. Drama therapy is one of the several expressive or creative art therapies among which are art therapy, dance/movement therapy, music therapy, poetry therapy and psychodrama, concerning the therapist and the cli ent who attempt to evaluate their life experiences as they engage in a largely creative process, in this case through the media of drama and theatre (Landy, 2006, p135). One such drama therapy technique that has been studied is Dramatic Resonances. This method is based on the creative responses that participants offer from within dramatic reality to an input posed from outside dramatic reality (Pendzik, 2008, p217). Further, therapeutic theatre has been a growing field and which is an approach that involves a therapeutic development of a play and its presentation in front of an audience (Pendzik, 2008). It is defined as the therapeutic development of a play in which the roles are established with therapeutic goals in mind; the whole process of play production is, in fact, a form of group psychotherapy; it is all facilitated by a therapist skilled in drama; and finally the play must be performed for a public audience (Snow, DAmico, Tanguay, 2003, p73). However, according to Robert J. Landy, though the field of drama therapy has been growing by the numbers, university-based training programs in the USA are inadequate (Landy, 2006). This trend could be an indicator of a potential consequent decline in the study of this field. This paper aims to encourage a positive shift from such a trend and bring about a focus on an increasing awareness and attestation of the constructive relationship between Drama and emotional intelligence. Considering the significant research that has gone into the relationship between emotional well-being and the theatre arts, largely in the West, this study attempts to investigate the prevalence of a positive relationship between a thorough involvement in the Theatre Arts and emotional intelligence, among individuals residing in a theatre-active city in India. The study is conducted by means of a questionnaire that is based on the Emotional Intelligence Scale, as completed by a total of 120 individuals, all of whom reside in Bangalore, India, a city acclaimed for its active involvement in the theatre arts. Methodology Participants The study was conducted by means of a standardized questionnaire, viz. the Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS), as completed by a total of 80 individuals, all of whom reside in Bangalore, India, a city acclaimed for its active involvement in the theatre arts. Of these 80 individuals, 40 belong to the control group. This group consists of individuals who have not been exposed to the theatre arts. Of these 40 individuals, 20 belong to the age group of 20-25 years (M age-group= 21.5) while the rest belong to the age group of 30-35 years (M age-group= 32). The experimental group consists of 40 individuals who have been active members of theatre associations across the city. Of these 40 individuals, 20 belong to an age group of 30-35 years (M age-group=32.5); while the rest belong to an age-group of 20-25 years (M age-group=21.5). Ethical concerns were met with, as the participants were informed of the purpose of the study, were made to sign a consent form before participating in the study and were assured of confidentiality. Materials The questionnaire used was a standardized Emotional Intelligence Scale developed by Anukool Hyde, Upender Dhar Sanjyot Pethe, in the year 2001, published by Vedant Publications, Lucknow and consisted of 34 questions based on the Likert scale, in a way that the participant was asked to respond to each statement-question by choosing one of the five options- Strongle Agree, Agree, Uncertain, Disagree, Strongly Disagree. Design This study fundamentally deals with two variables which are involvement in the theatre arts and emotional intelligence, the dependent variable being emotional intelligence and the independent variable being involvement in theatre arts. Of the 80 individuals, 40 belonged to the control group, consisting of individuals who have not been exposed to the theatre arts. The experimental group consists of 40 individuals who have been active members of theatre associations across the city. Of these 40 individuals, 20 belong to an age group of 30-35years and have had experience in one or more of the various aspects of theatre such as acting, directing, story-telling, music, etc for a minimum of 10 plays; while the rest belong to an age-group of 20-25 years and have similarly participated in a minimum of 5 plays so far. This division of age groups was employed with an aim to represent a growth in the groups emotional intelligence. Procedure The experimental group was obtained at an auditioning program held by Evam, a leading dramatics association in Bangalore, when 40 individuals, some who were auditioning and some organizing, were approached to on a one to one basis, and made to fill out the EIS questionnaire each. Demographic details as their age, sex and experience in theatre were taken. The control group consisted of randomly selected individuals who reside Bangalore, and have had no experience of involvement in the theatre arts. They were similarly made to fill out the EIS, along with their respective corresponding details. The entire study was conducted in one city in an attempt to maintain a certain consistency in obtaining the results, and minimising any potential disparity. Results With the raw scores obtained, the statistical analysis that followed included finding out the mean, standard deviation, standard error of the difference between the means of two samples and employing of a non-parametric test as the Mann-Whitney U test. In the results obtained for the Mann-Whitney U test, the z values of sampling distribution of U an U, 2 and 5.68 respectively, were found to be significant at both 0.05 and 0.01 levels. The average mean for the experimental group was 138.67, and for the control group was 129.65. For the experimental group, the value of standard deviation was found to be 8.83. For the control group, the SD obtained was 1.11. In determining the significance of the difference between the two means of the two groups, the standard error obtained was 2.10, for which the z value was found to be 4.29. Thus, the computed z value was found to be significant at both 1% and 5% significance levels. Further, the Mann-Whitney U test was employed to the subgroups under the experimental group in order to show a positive relation between the two. While the z value obtained for U was found to be 1.48, implying insignificant at 0.05 and 0.01 significance levels, the z value obtained for U was 7.85, which meant significant at both 0.05 as well as 0.01 significance levels. Discussion This paper has attempted fundamentally to study the symbiotic relationship between ones involvement in the theatre arts and their emotional intelligence, and how, with time and experience, an increasing involvement in the same renders one to develop greater EI, which in turn implies an increased accuracy in perceiving, appraising, managing and expressing emotions. As Cooper and Sawaf demonstrated in 1997, the characteristic manifests of a high EI include self-awareness, mood management, self motivation, empathy and managing relationships. Thus, through investigating the levels of emotional intelligence of the participating individuals, and inquiring into their experience in the theatre arts, the researcher has arrived at findings which show a positive relationship between the two variables. From examining the results obtained, some of the deductions are, that young adults who involve in the theatre arts as drama (acting), music, story-telling, and direction, tend to have a high emoti onal intelligence as compared to young adults who do not engage in any of the theatre arts; and that with time and experience these individuals could possibly have a propensity to a consistent growth in their EI, again, as compared to individuals of their age, who have had no inclination towards the theatre arts. These two findings could further imply that these individuals would be likely to have more rewarding, productive and successful lives. One more supposition which could be drawn from the results of this study is that these individuals could be liable to do better coping with the stress and setbacks, implying a lowered risk of heart disease, anxiety attacks, psychological distress, sleep problems, high blood pressure, poor immune function, alcoholism, etc (Mikolajczack, Luminet, Menil, 2006; Hunt, Evans, 2002; Trinidad, Johnson, 2000). However, there are some probable challenges that can be posed to these conclusions. The entire study was based in one single city, and the cha llenge in this case is that the theatre-culture may vary from city to city, just as from theatre-group to theatre-group. Therefore, generalizing the results would have to be limited only to the city where the study was conducted. Further, the study did not consider the role gender could play in the relationship between ones EI and their involvement in the theatre arts, as there was no categorization of the two sexes while conducting the study. This could, in fact, entail future experiment on whether gender plays a role in the development of EI, by way of thorough involvement in the theatre arts. Additionally, the researcher has considered the theatre arts as a whole, comprising of its various aspects such as acting, music, story-telling, and direction. The participants of the study belonging to these categories were distributed unequally. Thus, the results obtained in the study are required to be considered generically and cannot be taken into account categorically. Probably, furthe r research could be carried out to study the individual aspects, such as acting, alone, for example, and studying the aspects relationship with the participants emotional intelligence. One possible source of error and an intervening variable could have been the environment of administering the test and the mental set of the participant while filling out the questionnaire. It must be noted that the study was conducted at an auditioning program of a theatre group and that most of the participants of the study had only just finished their turn at the audition. It can be assumed that the mental set of the participant at this stage, could have possibly affected his or her responses in the test. In other words, the participants perception of his or her own performance at the audition, which could either have been positive and affirmative or negative and uncertain of his or her chances to be successful in the attempted task, is likely to have influenced the responses he or she provided in the Emotional Intelligence Scale. A possible remedy for this, to neutralize the effects of the performance at the audition, could be that the researcher could provide the participant with a time-gap of approximately half an hour, following which, the test could be administered, assuming that consequently, the participant is less likely to be influenced by the audition-performance while responding to the given test. In conclusion, this study has successfully investigated the issue it primarily aimed to, and in spite of the potential challenges faced in the deduction of its findings, it has proved the hypothesis that there is a positive relationship between ones involvement in the theatre arts and their emotional intelligence. The findings of the study entail further research in the vast area of psychological health and the creative arts, of which the theatre arts are an integral part, especially in India, as the current study was conducted with an aim to bring about an awareness in the Indian society, of the great advantages of the theatre arts and its positive relationship with psychological well-being.

Statistical Handling Data Coursework on High School Students Essay

Statistical Handling Data Coursework: High School For this handling statistical data coursework I will be investigating the heights and weights of students of years 7 to 11 in High School. Although this is a fictitious school the data is based on a real school. I will look for a trend in the heights and weights of the students to see if the taller they are, the more they weigh. This is my hypothesis. My Null hypothesis is that there is no correlation between height and weight, and my Alternative hypothesis is that there is strong, positive correlation between them. I will then investigate the heights of boys in years 7 and compare them to the girls, and then do the same in year 11. I will then be able to compare these two sets of results. These are my second and third hypotheses. I am carrying this investigation out because from my hypothesis I want to know whether students in the older years should be separated from the younger students in the lunch queues. This could be necessary because if the taller students are heavier, then the shorter ones will get hurt in the queue to lunch since students usually push their way to the front. So if the taller students are the older ones, then the year groups should be separated in the queue in order to prevent anyone getting hurt. In order to carry out this investigation, I will need to collect the heights and weights of all the students in High School between and including years 7 to 11. Instead of collecting the data, I can find the information on an exam board website. This data is reliable because it is provided by the exam board and is based on real students, however, it may be unreliable because it is secondary data, not primary since I am not physically collectin... ...rect guesses. They also provided a lot of inappropriate data such as their names which is inappropriate since isn’t worth investigating. The data could be biased because it was only collected from one school and not from other areas in the country. The data may be biased because there may have been a lot of snack shops or fast food restaurants near the school, which may have affected the students’ weights. I could have investigated further by using more than one school’s data and compared them and I could have had more hypothesise. This would have given more precise results due to a larger range and a larger sample. I could have drawn more graphs and made more calculations to get more accurate results. For example I could have calculated the standard deviation for my three hypothesise to get a more accurate spread of data than the interquartile range.

An International comparison of funding and expenditures for education :: essays research papers

An international comparison of funding & expenditures for education (Canada, France, Japan, united states) I.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A Comparison of Educational Systems: A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Curriculum B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Duration of teacher training and certification programs C.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Existence of entrance/exit exams D.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ethic homogeneity (90% of entire population from one ethnic group) E.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Age for starting school F.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Average days in a school year G.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Average minutes of instruction in a school day H.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Student achievement I.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pupil/teacher ratios J.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Percent of schools with one or more problems II.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Where does the $ Come From? III.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Where does the $ Go? Duration of teacher training and certification programs Country  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Length of training (years)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Academic Program Canada  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  4 (A gradual move is being made  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  General education at the university   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  towards 5 years of teacher   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  and 1-year of professional training   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  preparation)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  and instruction in curriculum and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  teaching classes in contextual   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  dimensions. France  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Primary: 4  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Primary: First three year spent in a license   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Secondary: 5 or more  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Program on any subject; then one year   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Is spent on curriculum training. Secondary: first four years spent obtaining a degree in the subject to be taught; then 1-year teacher training on curriculum/instruction Japan  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First class elementary and lower  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First class elementary and lower secondary   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Secondary certificate: 4  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  teachers earn a Bachelor’s degree focusing   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First class upper secondary: 6  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  on general subjects and pedagogy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Second class elementary and  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First class upper secondary: Bachelor’s   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lower secondary certificate: 2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  degree with less focus on pedagogy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Second class upper secondary: 4  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Plus 2 additional years of training on   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Curriculum and instruction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Second class elementary and lower   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Secondary, Second class upper secondary:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Four years of general studies United States  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  4  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Particular emphases are shaped by   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Regulations, but usually include general   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Concentration in the academic subjects   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Teachers plan to teach (if they are in   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Secondary instruction) and in pedagogy Existence of Exit/Entrance Exams Country  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Existence of exit/entrance exams  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Name and type of examination Canada  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yes  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Exit exams from secondary   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  School in some provinces. France  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yes  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  a) Baccalaureat – Exit   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Examination from lycee   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (academic high schools) and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  university entrance exams. b)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Brevet des college: non- Compulsory exam at the end Of lower secondary school Japan  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yes  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  a) Entrance examination for   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Upper secondary school; b)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Test of the National Center For University Entrance Exam (TNCUEE); and c)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Entrance exams for Individual universities United States  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yes  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  SAT/ACT – University entrance   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Examinations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Minimum competence tests in   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some states. Other Characteristics Ethnic Homogeneity (90% of entire population from one ethnic group):   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Canada – No  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  France – Yes  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  United States – No  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Japan – Yes  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Average age for starting school:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Canada – 6  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  France – 6   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  United States – 6  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Japan – 6 Age of compulsory education:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Canada – 6 – 16  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  France – 6 – 16