Chromatography

Student name: Amal Al-Hamdani Teacher name :Alia Alfi Group name: 2 Year: 2018 Chromatography  is  a physical method  used in lab  for  separation of  a mixture of chemical substances into its individual components, so that the individual components can be thoroughly analyzed.  it has numerous applications in  biological  and  chemical  fields.  it  is widely used in  biochemical  research for the separation and identification of  chemical compounds  of biological origin. Chromatography  consists of two  phase;  a  mobile phase  (a liquid or a gas)  , which  Ã‚  flows through  the  stationary  Ã‚  phase  , and a  stationary  Ã‚  phase  (a solid) .the stationary phase has certain physical and chemical characteristic that allow it to interact in various ways with different compound . A common types of  Ã‚  stationary  Ã‚  phase  Ã‚  are ;ion exchange chromatography, Affinity Chromatography, Gas Chromatography, liquid Chromatography†¦etc.Gas ChromatographyGas Chromatography  (GC)  or,  gas-liquid chromatography (GLC)  is a useful  tool  technique  that, allows us to separate and identify individual components in the mixture.  also, Gas Chromatography  can measure the concentration  of various components in the mixture for samples that have volatile  components  and,  separate mixture  by adherence to a surface. Method: 3590925369570000 A gas chromatograph uses a flow-through narrow tube known as the column, through which different chemical constituents of a sample pass in a gas stream (carrier gas, mobile phase) at different rates depending on their various chemical and physical properties and their interaction with a specific column filling, called the stationary phase. As the chemicals exit the end of the column, they are detected and identified electronically. The function of the stationary phase in the column is to separate different components, causing each one to exit the column at a different time (retention time). Other parameters that can be used to alter the order or time of retention are the carrier gas flow rate, For example, internal standards it is commonly used way in  Gas Chromatography to calculate  the  concentration of an analyte. for any particular detector, the relative response factor for the  analyte compared  to the  internal standards must be determined first. calibrating the linearity of the response factor for the  analyte compared  to the  internal standards requires making a series of the solutions with the same concentration of the standards, and a varying concentration of analyte. Plotting the response of the analyze relative to the standard (peak area of analyte/peak area of standards) versus the concentration of the analyte relative to the standard ([analyte]/ [ standard]) should produce a straight -line graph whose slope in the response factor.C+O2? CO2 +heatThis is a fast reaction and there a lot of physical method to slow down and stop fast reactions for example:Reducing the temperature at which a reaction occurs i.e. cool things down.adding a reagent which will react with the remaining reactantUsing reagents that have a small surface area i.e. the substance is in large lumps.Using a catalyst – the right catalyst can slow down the rate at which a chemical reaction occurs.The rate of reaction for a concentrated strong acid with a concentrated strong base is most affected by what three things the use of a catalyst, a change in temperature, a change in reactant concentration.We are going to use temperature temperature normally speed the reaction and i t also slow it down by lowering the it because the rate and the temperature has a Positive relationship so if temperature is high the reaction speed increase and if the temperature is low the reaction speed decrease and that is according to  van't Hoff's law,  an increase in temperature will cause an increase in the rate of an endothermic reaction. The effect of the temperature can be explained by the fact that increasing temperature will move the particles at higher speeds and the impact of the collisions leading to the interaction is large, which increases the speed of the reactionand also, at higher temperatures, higher percentages of collisions produce a chemical reaction because higher percentages of molecules have greater velocity, and enough energy is available to react. Explanatory examples tell the effect of temperature on the rate of chemical reaction rateIncreased temperature helps to speed the maturity of food.Increasing the pressure in the pressure vessels leads to an increase in temperature inside the so the food is cooked very quickly.Keeping food in the refrigerator help not to spoil it because the temperature of the refrigerator is low, and this leads to a decrease in the speed of geochemical reactions that cause food corruption.The temperature change in the chemical balanced reaction, leading to the interaction in the opposite direction, which cancels the effect of this change Interpretation In the case of heat-reactive reactionsI-Reduce the temperature The interaction is facilitated in the direction that reduces the effect of lowering the temperature (which reduces the effect of this effect), ie, the reaction in the direction that causes the increase in temperature is the random directionII-when raising the temperature. The interaction in the direction that reduces the effect of raising the temperature (which reduces the effect of this effect) is facilitated by the interaction in the direction that causes the temperature reduction and is the reverse direction So, in the reaction I did chose it is a exothermic so when we raising the temperature it will slow down the reaction because it is exothermic and when it dose slow down the molecules in the reaction will be slower in moving and the collisions and if it was endo thermic the opposite will happen. And we cannot calculate the rate law because it is experimentally calculated so we can only write the rate low for the reaction C+O2? CO2 +heat Rate low ReferencesPage 1^ â€Å"Gas Chromatography†. Linde AG. Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2012.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harris, Daniel C. (1999).â€Å"24. Gas Chromatography†. Quantitative chemical analysis (Chapter) (Fifth ed.). W. H. Freeman and Company. pp.  675–712. ISBN  0-7167-2881-8.Page 2 Chromatography Search the web. Some interesting sites are listed below. Note that some of these sites go into much more depth than is reasonable for this course. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Chromatography http://ull. chemistry. uakron. edu/analytical/Chromatography/ http://orgchem. colorado. edu/hndbksupport/TLC/TLC. html this is for TLC – similar to paper http://users. rcn. com/jkimball. ma. ultranet/BiologyPages/C/Chromatography_paper. html http://jchemed. chem. wisc. edu/JCESoft/Programs/CPL/Sample/modules/paprchrom/paprchromdesc. htm http://jchemed. chem. wisc. edu/JCESoft/Programs/CPL/Sample/modules/paprchrom/paprchromdesc. tm This site shows the colors of many of the food colorings and lakes http://www. dynemic. com/food%20colour. htm This site has colors and correct names for many of the colors. You can get the structures from the names with CRC or a good organic chemist. http://vm. cfsan. fda. gov/~lrd/colorfac. html this is a general site with information on food colorings â€⠀œ discusses difference between dyes and lakes Procedure – Extract the color from the candies 1. Label each of the beakers with one color of the candy. 2. Place one sample in each cup. 3. Put as few drops of water as possible (around 5) in each cup. 4. Stir carefully to extract as much color as possible without disturbing the white coating or the centre of the candy. 5. Remove the sample as soon as the white coating appears. 6. Add each sample in turn to its appropriate cup until as much color has been extracted as possible. Note: Repeat the steps for each kind of candy. Be sure to include the color and kind of candy on your label. Prepare chromatogram 1. Cut a piece of chromatography paper in half to form a rectangle with dimensions 10 cm x 20 cm. 2. Draw a line approximately 1 cm from the long edge of the paper with a pencil. 3. Mark dots along the pencil line approximately 1-1. cm apart and label as food dye colors yellow, green, blue, and red. Mark two additional dots for your choice of two different colored candies. 4. Using a toothpick, carefully wet the spots you have marked with the appropriate food color or the color extracted from your candy. As the spots dry, rewet them with more sample until you have a dark spot. (If yo u do not load enough sample onto the chromatographic paper it will be difficult to detect the spots. ) 5. Curl the paper into a cylinder with the short edges just touching and staple together. 6. Place the chromatogram into a beaker with approximately ? m of solvent on the bottom. Be sure that the entire lower edge of the chromatogram is touching the solvent, but the solvent does not reach above the pencil line. Allow the chromatogram to sit in the beaker until the solvent front is 1 cm from the top of the paper and remove. Draw a line at the solvent front with your pencil. 7. Repeat this process for any additional solvents you wish to use. Analysis of chromatogram. 1. Circle each spot that you see on the chromatogram. 2. measure the distance between the starting point and the center of the spot for each component on your chromatogram 3. easure the distance between the starting point and the solvent front on your chromatogram 4. Calculate the Rf value for each component. 5. Draw con clusions regarding the identity of each component in the chromatogram. 6. Propose reasons why different components had higher or lower Rf values based on the structures below and your knowledge of intermolecular forces. Colors ProductRedYellowGreenBlue Crown Colony KitBlue #1 Red #3 Red #40Yellow #5 Yellow #6Blue #1 Yellow #5Blue #1 Crown Colony SinglesRed #40Yellow #5 Red #40Blue #1— DurkeeBlue #1 Red #3 Red #40Yellow #5Blue #1 Yellow #5Blue #1 McCormickRed #3 Red #40Yellow #5 Yellow #40Blue#1 Yellow #5Blue #1 Red #40 FDA Certifiable colors: (name/common name) NameCommon nameComment FD&C Blue No. 1Brilliant Blue FCF FD&C Green No. 3Fast Green FCF FD&C Red No. 3Erythrosine FD&C Red No. 40Allura Red AC . It usually comes as a sodium salt, but can be also in the form of calcium and potassium salt. It is soluble in water. FD&C Yellow No. 5Tartrazine FD&C Yellow No. 6Sunset Yellow FCF Questions 1. Does the type of solvent used for paper chromatography affect the Rf values of the food dyes? 2. Which dye molecules were in your candy coating? 3. If the solvent front moved 112 mm and a component of a mixture moved 48 mm

Biblical Injunctions against Homosexuality

Homosexuality remains one of the hottest topics in the modern society. We argue, whether homosexuality has the right to exist in society, and try to explain homosexuality notions in Biblical terms. Objectively, neither proponents, nor opponents of homosexual relations have ever suggested any single relevant system of arguments to defend their position. We try to rely on religion, and we try to interpret our views on homosexuality through the Biblical injunctions against homosexuality. Yet, we still fail to properly interpret Biblical provisions.As a result, proponents and opponents of homosexuality use different (and even opposite) interpretations of the same Biblical texts to support their arguments. John Corvino vs. Vatican: Homosexuality and the Bible It is always interesting and useful to review the two opposite viewpoints, when it comes to evaluating the relevance of both arguments. Such comparison is even more useful, when the arguments are based on the Biblical texts – the texts which still lack single unilateral interpretation.John Corvino has become a well known advocate for the rights of homosexuals. He has used the major Biblical provisions to support his approval of homosexuality. In his work The Bible Condemns Usurers, Too he has used the analogy between homosexuality and the process of lending money for interest. In the Book of Exodus, we read: â€Å"if you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you shall not exact interest for them† (Childs 33).However, contemporary society actively utilizes the principles of interest in traditional banking practice (with the exception of Islamic banking which still relies on lending without interest). Does this mean that while the Bible prohibits homosexuality it still has the right to exist? In Corvino’s view, it does. Moreover, Corvino uses one of the strongest Biblical injunctions against homosexuality to suggest that the Bible has probably been erroneous! The Bible explicitly re fers to â€Å"dishonorable passions.Their women exchanges natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men† (Ziesler 97). Corvino tries to suggest, that although the Bible condemns homosexuality, the times and social conditions have changed. â€Å"Suppose that in Paul’s time homosexual relationships were typically exploitative, paganistic or pederastic† (Corvino). For Vatican, though such suggestions are at least weak.First of all, Vatican unilaterally condemns homosexuality. Second, Vatican grounds its position on the same Biblical injunctions against homosexuality. It is remarkable, that Vatican primarily uses the same letter of Paul to Romans to support its strong condemnation of homosexuality: â€Å"Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one anot her. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised.Amen† (Vatican Statement on Homosexuality). It is not difficult to guess what the Church would respond to Corvino: the Church would certainly defend the holy union between a man and a woman. The letter of Paul to Romans is the direct condemnation of homosexuality, and it is difficult not to deny that the Bible takes homosexual behavior as immoral. In 1997, Vatican released a Statement on Homosexuality. That Statement has become the brightest and the most understandable interpretation of Vatican’s position towards homosexuality.â€Å"To choose someone of the same sex for one’s sexual activity is to annul the rich symbolism and meaning, not to mention the goals, of the Creator’s sexual design† (Vatican Statement on Homosexuality). Even in the light of such strong Church’s arguments, Corvino’s pos ition remains unchanged. He persistently tries to assure the public that we misinterpret Biblical provisions. Corvino grounds his position on the irrelevance of contemporary Biblical interpretations, and on the fact that many Biblical injunctions against homosexuality are at least outdated. Vatican would hardly agree with that position.When the Bible says â€Å"By their fruits ye shall know them† (Ziesler 99), this does not mean that the Bible stands for homosexuality. Moreover, Vatican openly recognizes that it has appeared under the serious pressure to accept homosexuality. While Corvino suggests that the Church refuses to see homosexual relations as good, Vatican responds that â€Å"there is an effort in some countries to manipulate the Church [†¦] to conform to these pressure groups’ concept that homosexuality is at least a completely harmless, if not an entirely good, thing† (Vatican Statement on Homosexuality).For Vatican to reject homosexuality means not only to rely on certain Biblical passages; it means to evaluate the position of homosexuality proponents, and to re-direct the proponents’ arguments against themselves. Conclusion We have seen that both Vatican and John Corvino ground their research of homosexuality on the Bible. Moreover, Vatican and Corvino evaluate the same Biblical injunctions against homosexuality to prove that each of them keeps to a more correct path in the homosexuality debate.The Bible openly condemns homosexuality. John Corvino suggests that the Biblical injunctions against homosexuality are outdated and require re-consideration in the light of the changing societal conditions. Vatican keeps to the thought that homosexuality cannot be good, it cannot be harmless, and takes Corvino’s position as threatening to the religious stability of the society.Both arguments deserve attention; both require detailed re-evaluation in terms of Biblical interpretations, and the analogies drawn by John Co rvino. It would be incorrect to state that either Vatican or Corvino have failed to justify their position towards homosexuality. It will be better to say that as long as both positions exist and are defended in the society, we will be able to produce a more objective view on what homosexuality is, and whether it has the right to exist as a notion.Works Cited Corvino, John. â€Å"The Bible Condemned Usurers, Too. † Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review, 24 (1996): 29-32. Childs, Brevard S. The Book of Exodus: A Critical Theological Commentary. Westminster John Knox Press, 1974. â€Å"Vatican Statement on Homosexuality†. 1997. Catholic World News. 06 March 2008. http://www. cwnews. com/news/viewstory. cfm? recnum=4548 Ziesler, John A. Paul’s Letter to the Romans. New Testament Commentaries. CRM Press.

Performance Appraisal

Performance appraisal is a process of identifying, observing, measuring and developing human performance in organizations and has attracted the attention of both academicians and practitioners. The process is also viewed as making an important contribution to effective human resource management as it is closely interlinked to organizational performance (Erodogen, 2002). Performance appraisal is a management tool that helps management in its drive towards optimizing performance, primarily individual performance and therefore, organization performance now and in the future. The aim of performance appraisal can be achieved through assessing how effectively employees are working in their present jobs and what they need to do and know to perform even better (Bono, 2003). (Gupta 2006) defines performance appraisal as a process of assessing the performance and progress of an employee or of a group of employees on a given job and his potential for future development. He further argues that performance appraisal consists of all formal procedures used in work organizations to evaluate personalities, contributions and potentials of employees. (Torrington et al. 2005), define performance appraisal as a system that provides a formalized process to review the performance of employees. Performance appraisal varies between organizations and covers personality, behavior or job performance and it can be measured quantitatively or qualitatively. Performance appraisal involves unstructured narrative on performance of the appraiser. Political behaviors in an organization consist of actions that are taken by individuals or group (Mintezberg, 1983). Their direction is pointed toward the goal of one's own self-interest without focusing on regard for the humans and others in the organization (Kacmar ; Baron, 1999). These actions are informal and are considered a part of an organization's culture, help to maintain interpersonal relationships. As Mayes and Allen (1977) noted, that the actions can implement a dynamic power of influence. When this influence is practiced within organizational boundaries, the behaviors are not considered political. Self-promotion and ingratiation are considered to be examples of political behavior in the workplace include (Godfrey, Jones, & Lord, 1986). Self-promotion actions are mostly proactive. Their purpose is to earn the attention, to build an image of oneself as a competent committed employee. Ingratiation behaviors are less proactive then self-promotion. They emphasis on â€Å"attention- giving† to a targeted person or persons relative to â€Å"attention is getting† from others. A recent study found that politically skilled employees who were involved in ingratiatory behavior toward their supervisors were not only graded positively by them, they were subsequently rewarded for doing this (Treadway, Ferris, Duke, Adams, & Thatcher, 2007). In fact, career success is typically affected by an ability to make accept others that one has the necessary skills needed to perform higher level jobs effectively (Rafaeli, Dutton, Harquail, & Mackie-lewis, 1997). Self-promotion is one important way to do this.Organizational Affective commitmentOrganizational Affective commitment refers to an emotional attachment. Employee beliefs and values regarding their job and role in the organization measure their organizational commitment (Swailes, 2012). Affective Organizational commitment is the measure of employee's identification with the mission and values of the organization perspectives (Mowday, 1982) and supervisor. It is the commitment approach that provides a clearer and more focused scale of organizational commitment (Jaros, 1997) . In addition, recent measures of organizational commitment are attitudinal (Ko, Price ; Mueller, 1997; McGee ; Ford, 1987), and the build validity of affective (attitudinal) commitment is provided support . With strong supervision from their current employers the level of employee knowledge understanding and their commitment level in operations will be higher (Okpara, 2014). Process in evaluating the performance of employees is one of the most important determinants of organizational justice (Greenberg, 1986; Folger et al., 1992). Affective organizational commitment is beneficial to the employee as well. Employees that have affective commitment at their higher levels, experience less stress levels even if they work for longer and harder hours than those not committed. Affective commitment helps in employee's motivation (Meyer & Allen, 1997) and low downs psychological physical, work-related stress (Reilly & Orsak, 1991).Employees are committed to the organization, their jobs and careers exists comfortable, and are able to spend more quality time to their families and hobbies (Reilly & Orsak, 1991). The employee's commitment is the perception of employees procedures used to evaluate their performance is fair (Greenberg, 1990; Colquitt et al., 2001). Further review in the literatures indicates that fair practices in human resource management, particularly in terms of performance appraisal has a predictive role in the employees' attitude such as the organization's commitment (Jehad, 2011). Performance appraisal is viewed as an important mechanism for changing employees' attitude and behaviors such as affective commitment (Morrow, 2011). Moreover, a study by (Tam 1996) indicates that the commitment of government employees is higher in the federal government agencies that implement a fair and transparent assessment.In our study the psychological attachment of the employee with the organization i.e. organizational commitment (Tella , Ayeni, Papoola, 2007). It can be due to the comfort level with the current organization, cost and fear associated with leaving of the organization and joining the other and social disruption caused by new acquaintances in the new environment and leaving the old ones. This particular component which is the need component is known as effective commitment. It may also be due to the feeling that after joining the organization the employee is ought to be loyal and faithful to it (Bruckner 2002). This sense of obligation towards the organization is also termed as the normative commitment. The attachment of the employee can be due to some emotional reasons by which the employees identify him with the goal of the organization. This shows that the employee is affectively committed towards the organization (Hyde, 2000). There can be many antecedents of organizational commitment as suggested by (Comelier 2012) who after investigating a state owned IT industry in Malta, Europe indicated that the employees with lesser educational qualification, having a higher position in the organizational hierarchy and with lesser ambiguity in the role performed, with lower role conflict and positive impact of overall state of roles played within an organization are more committed to their organization. It increases all the normative, continuance commitment and affective components of the organizational commitment (Delaney and Hustled, 1996; Becker and Gerhardt, 1996). Performance Appraisal A DISSERTATION PROJECT On â€Å"STUDY ON PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SYSTEM AT WAY TO WEALTH† Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for MBA Degree of Bangalore University BY JYOTSNA Register Number 04XQCM6037 Under the guidance of Prof. S. Santhanam M. P. Birla Institute of Management Associate Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Bangalore-560001 2004-2006 DECLARATION I hereby declare that the report titled â€Å" STUDY ON PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL AT WAY TO WEALTH†is prepared under the guidance of Prof. S. Santhanam in partial fulfillment of MBA degree of Bangalore University, and is my original work.This project does not form a part of any report submitted for degree or diploma of Bangalore University or any other university. Place: Bangalore Date: JYOTSNA M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 2 PRINCIPAL’S CERTIFICATE This is to certify that Ms JYOTSNA, bearing registration No: 04XQCM6037 has done a project and has prepared a report â€Å"STUDY ON PERFORMANCE APRAISAL S YSTEM AT WAY TO WEALTH â€Å"under the guidance of Prof. S. Santhanam, M. P. Birla Institute of Management, Bangalore. This has not formed a basis for the award of any degree/diploma for any other university. Place: Bangalore Date: Dr . NAGESH. S.MALLAVALLI PRINCIPAL MPBIM, Bangalore : M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 3 GUIDE’S CERTIFICATE This is to certify that Ms JYOTSNA, bearing registration No: 04XQCM6037 has done a project and has prepared a report â€Å"STUDY ON PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SYSTEM AT WAY TO WEALTH â€Å"under my guidance. This has not formed a basis for the award of any degree/diploma for any other university. Place: Bangalore Date: Prof. S. Santhanam M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to all those who guided me in the right direction to complete this report.I would like to thank Dr. Nagesh Malavalli ,principal for his support and also to thank my guide Prof. S. San thanam, faculty member, for his guidance and support for making this project a success. I would also thank my family and my friends for supporting me during the project. Place: Bangalore Date: (JYOTSNA) M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 5 CONTENTS Sl. No Page No CONTENTS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION METHODOLOGY STATEMENT OF PROBLEM OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY LIMITATIONS COMPANY PROFILE DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION SUMMARY & CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY 9 10 11 14 16 26 27 32 54 59 M. P.Birla Institute Of Management 2 LIST OF GRAPHS Sl. No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Graphs Graph showing whether PA is conducted every year in the company Graph showing whether job increments & promotions are based on PA Graph showing whether PA objectives are clearly defined Graph showing the purpose of PA Graph showing Feedback on Pa is collected Graph showing the Opinion of the present PA system Graph showing whether PA system needs to be improved Graph showing methods that can be suggested for PA Page No 33 34 35 36 38 39 42 43 PA: Performance Appraisal M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 3 LIST OF TABLES Sl. No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11Tables Table showing whether PA is conducted every year in the company Table showing job increments &Promotions are based on PA Table showing whether PA objectives are clearly defined Table showing the purpose of PA Table showing Ranking of methods employed in PA Table showing whether Feedback on PA is collected Table showing the Opinion on present PA system Table showing factors covered in PA Table showing Improvements to be done in PA Table showing whether Pa system needs to be improved Table showing methods that can be suggested for PA Page No 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 PA: Performance Appraisal M. P.Birla Institute Of Management 4 ABSTRACT It is a well-established fact the people differ in their abilities and aptitudes. These differences are natural to a great extent and cannot be eliminated completely by giving them education and trainin g. There will always be some difference in quality and quantity of work done by different employees. Therefore it is necessary for the management to know these differences so that it may develop certain programs in the organization for those employees who posses better potentials so that they may be developed to accept the challenges of higher jobs or wrong placement of employees may be rectified .The individual employee may also like to know his capability in terms of his performance on his capability in terms of his performance on the job qualitatively and quantitatively in comparison to his fellow employees so that he improve upon it. No firm has a choice as to whether or not it should appraise its personnel and their performance but the choice lies between the systematic and the unsystematic or casual appraisal. The system of appraising the man is not new but the systematic approach of evaluating the man is by any means a new development .The technique of appraising the man by s upervisors or others is widely known as â€Å" Performance Appraisal† . It is also sometimes termed as Personnel Performance Evaluation, Merit Rating. Thus main objective of the project is to study the Performance Appraisal process being practiced in WAY 2 WEALTH and evaluate its effectiveness. This project aimed at finding out effectiveness in terms of familiarity, and satisfaction level of performance appraisal among the employees WAY 2 WEALTH. The project also focuses on finding out how performance appraisal is matching in meeting the company’s goals and objectives.M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 5 METHODOLOGY The research methodology used in the project is the descriptive approach and it is done among 200 employees . The main sources through which data is collected are 1. Primary data 2. Secondary data The data collected for this research is through primary data collection method. The instrument used for collecting primary data is structured questionnaire fille d up by the employees Statistical tools were used to find inferences between the variables and analyzing the results.The following are the tools used. 1) 2) 3) Kalmograv Smirnov Test Chi – Square test (? 2) Spearman’s Rank Correlation M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 6 M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 7 INTRODUCTION An organization’s goals can be achieved only when people put in their best efforts . How to ascertain whether an employee has shown his or her best performance on a given job?. The answer is Performance Appraisal. Employee assessment is the fundamental job of HRM, but not easy one though.Thus â€Å"Performance Appraisal† is the systematic evaluation of the individual with respect to his or her performance on the job and his or her potential for development . The performance is being measured against such factors as Job Knowledge, quality, initiative, leadership abilities, supervision, co-operation, versatility etc. It is systematic in th at it evaluates all performance in the same manner utilizing the same approach so that the ratings obtained to separate personnel are comparable. It is undertaken periodically according to plan .The essential purpose is the accurate measurement of human performance It attempts to reduce, if not eliminate human bias and prejudice, by means of a system that is subject to impartial review and check. Often such personnel performance appraisal are labeled as ratings where an individual employee, after comparison with another, is rated or ranked as â€Å"Excellent, normal or average† and are commonly used for determining an employees eligibility for promotion or transfer and widely being used for the development of the individual.Any appraisal program will involve time and money . The wise manager should plan up a program with the minimum cost to give maximum benefit . The rationale for using any particular method should be determined by the size ,financial resources ,and philosoph y of the organization . M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 8 Appraisal can be made by one or more superiors or subordinates or by the peers . There can also be committee of members from various related departments to appraise an employee.There may even be a system of self –appraisal in which each employee evaluates his own performance and potential. M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 9 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM To evaluate is to assess the worth or value. In social life, we generally evaluate or appraise the behavior of others in relations to our own needs or goals. Appraisals are judgments of the characteristics ,traits and performance of others. On the basis of these judgments, we assess the worth or value of others, and identify what is good and bad.In industry, performance appraisal is a systematic evaluation of personnel by supervisors or others familiar with their performance because employers are interested in knowing about employee performance. Employees also wish to know their position in the organization. Appraisals are essential for making many administrative decisions: selection, training ,promotion ,transfer ,wage and salary administration ,etc . Besides ,they aid personnel research . Performance appraisal thus is a systematic and objective way of judging the relative worth or ability of an employee in performing his task . Performance ppraisal helps to identify those who are performing their assigned tasks well and those who are not and the reasons for such performance . Differentiating between individuals is easy provided one knows what aspects to take into account. Identifying performance measures is easy if job is clearly defined but difficult if it is broad. At the lower levels of an organization, there are specific jobs and certain tangible and objective standards of performance can be identified. Further up in the hierarchy, jobs become more complex and clear–cut, tangible standards of performance are difficult to specify.Irr espective of the level by and large, most companies use various parameters for measuring the performance like quality of work, quantity of work, job Knowledge, meeting the job requirements, initiative, team working, communicative etc. And they would be rated in accordingly quarterly, half yearly or annually depending on company’s policies. M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 10 Many companies would have a standard format for appraising the performance. Ironically many of the employees would not know the norms of the appraisal and to the surprise many of them may not be fully familiar with contents of the appraisal form.This would be great hazel for the company as well as to the employees because if the employee is not aware of what basis he is appraised, he may not put up all his efforts for better improvement which indirectly effects the companies profits by not meeting the companies objectives and targets. Thus this project â€Å" A Study On Effectiveness of Performance Sy stem† aims at complete study on performance appraisal system and finding out effectiveness of the system in terms of familiarity and satisfaction level of the employees in WAY 2 WEALTH, ChennaiM. P. Birla Institute Of Management 11 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY PRIMARY OBJECTIVES ? To find out the effectiveness of PA system in way-2-wealth ? To Know employee satisfaction on PA system in way-2-wealth ? To suggest the way-2-wealth improve the employee satisfaction on PA system SECONDARY OBJECTIVES ? To find the opinion of employees on various factors involved in PA system ? To find out the openness of personal department in PA ? To find out the scope of critical attributes and other factor coverage of PA system ?To know post appraisal measures taken b way-2-wealth M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 12 REVIEW OF LITERATURE Once the employee has been selected, trained and motivated, he is then appraised for his performance. Performance appraisal is the step where the management finds o ut how effective it has been at hiring and placing employees . If any problems are identified steps are taken to communicate with the employee and to remedy them. A â€Å"Performance Appraisal† is a process of evaluating an employee’s performance of a job in terms of its requirements.It is the process of evaluating the performance and qualifications of the employees in terms of the requirements of the job for which he is employed, for purposes of administration including placement, selection for promotion, providing financial rewards and other actions which require different treatment among the members of a group as distinguished from actions affecting all members equally. _ Heyel Performance Appraisal seeks to provide an adequate feedback to each individual for his or her performance. It purports to serve as a basis for improving or changing behavior toward some more effective working habits .It also aims aat providing data to managers with which they may judge future job assignments and compensation -Levinson M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 13 Performance Appraisal determines who shall receive merit increases; counsels employees on their improvement ,determines training needs ,determines promo ability, identifies those who should be transferred -Ronald Benjamin PURPOSE OF APPRAISAL It can serve as a basis for job change or promotion ? By identifying the strengths and weakness of an employee it serves as a guide for ? formulating a suitable training and development program It serves as a feedback to the employee ?It serves as an important incentive to all employees ? The existence of regular appraisal system tends to make the supervisors and ? executives more observant of their subordinates Performance appraisal often provides the rational foundation for payment of ? salaries and bonus M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 14 ESSENTIALS OF GOOD APPRAISAL SYSTEM It must be easily understandable ? An appraisal plan must be integrated into the or ganization so as to have clear cut ? relationships between the appraisal plan and organization policies relating to performance of the employees.It must have the support of all line people who administer it ? The system should fit the organizations operations and structure ? The system should be both valid and reliable ? The system should have built in incentives that is a reward should follow satisfactory ? performance The system should periodically evaluated to be sure that it is continuing to meet its ? goals What should be Rated? The seven criteria for assessing performance are: 1. Quality 2. Quantity 3. Timeliness 4. Cost Effectiveness 5. Need for supervision 6. Interpersonal impact 7. Training M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 15Trends in employee Appraisal ITEM Terminology Purpose FORMER EMPASIS Merit Rating Determine qualifications for wage increase, transfer, promotion, lay- off Application For hourly –paid workers Heavy emphasis on personal traits Techniques Ratin g scales, Statistical manipulation of data for comparison purpose PRESENT EMPHASIS Performance Appraisal Development of the individual, improved performance on the job, and provide emotional security For technical, professional and managerial employees Factors Related Results, accomplishments, performance Mutual goal–setting, critical incidents, group appraisal, performance standards, less quantitative Post Appraisal Interview Superior communication his rating to employees and tries to sell his evaluation to him; seeks to have employee conform to his view Superior stimulates employee to analyze himself and set own objectives in line with job requirements superior is helper and councilor M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 16 Approaches to Performance Appraisal: 1.A casual ,unsystematic and haphazard appraisal: This method was commonly used in the past . The basis of this method are seniority or quantitative measures quantity and quality of output for the rank and file personn el 2. The traditional and highly systematic measurement: This measures the employees characteristic and employee contributions or both. It evaluates all the performances in the same manner ,utilizing the same approach so that the ratings obtained of separate personnel are comparable 3. The behavioral approach ,emphasizing mutual goal setting: here emphasizes has been laid upon providing mutual goal setting and appraisal of progress by both the appraiser and the appraise .This approach is based on the behavioral value of fundamental trust in the goodness ,capability and responsibility of human beings. The Evaluating Process The process of performance appraisal follows a set pattern viz, a man’s performance is periodically appraised by his superiors. Questions are raised . Is his potential the greatest as a manager or as a staff specialist? What are his strengths and weakness? Where can he make his great contribution? Next sometimes in consultation with the man himself, tentati ve decisions are made on what might be done to advance his development. M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 17 Thus the process would involve following steps ESTABLISH PERFORMANCE STANDARDS COMMUNICATE PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS TO EMPLOYEES MEASURE ACTUAL PERFORMANCECOMPARE ACTUAL PERFORMANCE WITH STANDARDS DISCUSS THE APPRAISAL WITH THE EMPLOYEE IF NECESSARY, INITIATE CORRECTIVE ACTION M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 18 TOOLS/METHODS FOR APPRAISING PERFORMANCE: Several methods and techniques of appraisal are available for the measurement of the performance of the employee . The methods and scales differ for obvious reasons 1. They differ in the sources of traits or qualities to be appraised. 2. The variations may be caused by the degree of precision attempted in an evaluation. 3. They may differ because of the methods used to obtain weightings for various traits. M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 19 Methods of Performance appraisalTraditional Methods ? Straight Ranking ? Man-t o-man Comparison ? Grading ? Force choice Description ? Graphic Rating Scales ? Forced distribution Method ? Check Lists ? Free Form Essay Method ? Critical Incidents ? Group Appraisal ? Field Review Method y Modern Methods Assessment Centres Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 20 COMPONENTS OF APPRAISAL EVALUATION ? â€Å"Who† of the Appraisal ? â€Å"What† of Appraisal ? ? ? Common Pitfalls in Appraisal: ? There is often tendency to rate not only the employee but also the job ? Errors are introduced in the appraisal because of a defect or bias in the person conducting the appraisal ?As Appraisal are in fact opinions ,it is difficult to remove from the subjective element whilst making the judgment ? Performance appraisal do require a lot from the supervisor as they require periodic observation of subordinates performance by them which becomes difficult in case of a first line superior have a large number of subordinates ? There is of ten a large variations in the standards and ratings because some raters are tough where as others are lenient ? There is often lack of communication where by the employee does not know how he is rated ? Often Superiors are reluctant to give a low rating to ineffective subordinate and gives him an average rating ?Sometimes communication of the rating of the employee if done properly would be taken as criticism and may even result in his performing more poorly The â€Å"Why† of Appraisal The â€Å"When† of Appraisal The â€Å"where† of Appreciation M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 21 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY The researcher has made efforts for an errorless study but the following limitations were occurred ? The survey was restricted to only in Way 2 Wealth and the sample size was 200 ? There may be some changes if the sample size and the geographical segmentation were increased ? Time was a handicap for a detailed study ? A few respondents might have been given biased information, which may affect the reliability of the results ?Unwillingness and inability of the respondent to provide information M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 22 COMPANY PROFILE Way2Wealth is a premier Investment Consultancy Firm that has been launched with the aim of making investing simpler, more understandable and profitable for the investors. Way2Wealth brings a wide range of product offerings from Fixed Income Securities, Life Insurance and Mutual Funds to Equity and Derivatives (on the National Stock Exchange) for the convenience and benefit of it customers. Way2Wealth has over 40 easily accessible Investment Outlets spread across 20 major towns and cities in the country. Mission Way2Wealth is a premier Investment Consultancy Firm, launched with the ission â€Å"to be the pre-eminent destination for personalised financial solutions helping individuals create wealth†. Philosophy We believe that â€Å"our knowledge combined with our investors trust and in volvement will lead to the growth of wealth and make it an exciting experienc Sivan Securities started in 1984, has a long and illustrious track record of being amongst the premier Financial Intermediaries in the country as well as being an incubator for IT start-up firms. The Venture Capital division came to be known as Global Technology Ventures (GTV has provided venture capital to companies such as Kshema Technologies, MindTree, Ivega etc. ) and the Financial Intermediary Division was spun off as Way2Wealth in the year 2000. M. P.Birla Institute Of Management 23 Way2Wealth is promoted by Sivan Securities and Global Technology Ventures Ltd. Prudential ICICI AMC provides further strength to Way2Wealth as strategic equity partner. Over the years, Sivan has developed a strong reputation for navigating its investors through all the ups and downs in the market. Way2Wealth has inherited these same values in addition to a base of 75,000 individual customers, over 300 corporate/institutio nal clients. Other companies in the group include Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company Ltd. (one of the largest Coffee Exporters in India) and Cafe Coffee Day, a chain of youth hangout coffee parlors.Way2Wealth has very credible management teams, who have well over 100 man-years of experience amongst themselves Way2Wealth Investment outlets are designed to be places where retail investors can come in touch with Investment opportunities in an atmosphere of convenience and comfort. The look and feel of the offices across India project a consistent branch image for the company. The features that enable a unique facility for retailing financial services include among others: ? Most branches are located in the ground floor sporting huge glass frontage promoting easy accessibility and reflecting our attitude of complete transparency. ? The major portion of the branch area dedicated for customer use.The furniture is in CKD formats to add flexibility in using the branch for Investors pur poses. ? ? Connectivity to NSE for trading facilities. TV and other electronic mediums to facilitate real time update and dissemination of information to our customers. ? Each branch comprises of trained and qualified Investment advisors to take care of the needs of the customers. M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 24 The Way2Wealth Research Desk Research is at the core of the advice. It believes that sound investment decisions are made on sound analysis of facts, past performance and credible market information. The research cell focuses on providing data and analysis to help customers make sound investment decisions.The Research cell is managed by a highly qualified team that is handpicked and trained extensively in the proprietary Way2Wealth Investment Philosophy centered on finding the best investment solutions for our customers. Based in the commercial capital enables the team to have a pulse of the trends allowing dissemination of the most up-to-date and latest information. ? Personalised Investment Solutions: All the customers receive individual attention ? Full choice of Investments: Mutual funds, Life Insurance, Fixed Income Instruments, Equity and Derivatives ? Processing support: take care of all the paper work and provide service at the doorstep. ? Investor eligibility criteria: Customers with a minimum investment amount as low as Rs. 2500 per month can avail of the services.This unique Way2Wealth concept can be easily experienced through the innovative and customer friendly network of Investment outlets that spans 20 major towns and cities in the country. M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 25 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The following points are considered in carrying out the research. A. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: A research design is purely ad simply the framework a plan for a study that guides the collection and analysis of the data. Descriptive Research Here the research is been done on 200 members through a media of questionnaire B. DATA COLLECTION METH OD: The main sources through which data is collected are 1. Primary data 2. Secondary data The data collected for this research is hrough primary data collection method. The instrument used for collecting primary data is questionnaire from the employees. M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 26 E. SAMPLING TECHNIQUE Non – probability (non random ) sampling method is used in this project. F. STATISTICAL TOOLS USED: Statistical tools were used to find inferences between the variables and analyzing the results. The following are the tools used. 1)spearman’s rank Correlation 2) Kalmograv Smirnov Test 3) Chi – Square test (? 2) M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 27 M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 28 DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION TABLE 1 TABLE SHOWING WHETHER PA IS CONDUCTED EVERY YEAR IN THE COMPANY S.NO 1 2 YES NO TOTAL OPINION NO OF RESPONDENTS 60 0 60 PERCENTAGE (%) 100 0 100 100 80 60 40 20 0 YES NO INFERENCE: All the respondents feel that PA is conducted eve ry year in the company. M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 29 TABLE 2 TABLE SHOWING WHETHER JOB INCREMENTS AND PROMOTIONS ARE STRICTLY BASED ON PA S. NO 1. 2. YES NO OPINION NO OF RESPONDENTS 41 19 PERCENTAGE (%) 68 32 100 TOTAL 60 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 YES NO INFERENCE: Majority of the respondents feel that job increments and promotions are strictly based on PA is 68%and whereas few of them feel that it is not strictly based on PA 32%. M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 30 TABLE 3 TABLE SHOWING WHETHER PA OBJECTIVES ARE CLEARLY INFORMED S. NO 1. 2. 3.CHOICE CLEARLY INFORMED PARTIALLY INFORMED NOT INFORMED AT ALL TOTAL NO OF RESPONDENTS 22 28 10 60 PERCENTAGE (%) 36 46 18 100 50 40 30 20 10 0 PERCENTAGE CLEARLY INFORMED PARTIALLY INFORMED NOTINFORMED AT ALL INFERENCE: Majority of the respondents feel that PA objectives are partially informed, some of them feel it is clearly informed and whereas few of them feel that it is not informed at all. M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 3 1 TABLE 4 TABLE SHOWING PURPOSE OF PA S. NO 1 2 3 4 CHOICE SALARY INCREASE PROMOTION TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT FEEDBACK TOTAL NO OF RESPONDENTS 18 22 14 6 120 PERCENTAGE (%) 30 36 24 10 100 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 PERCENTAGE SALARY INCREASE PROMOTION TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT FEEDBACKINFERENCE: Majority of the respondents feel that purpose of PA is for promotion, some of them feel it is for salary increase and whereas few of them feel it is for training and development. M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 32 TABLE 5 RANKING OF METHODS EMPLOYED IN PA NO OF RESPONDENTS FACTORS 1 GRADING RANKING METHOD CHECKLIST METHOD FORCED CHOICE METHOD 15 22 13 11 2 18 17 16 10 3 12 16 20 13 4 15 6 11 26 INFERENCE: From the table it is seen that the ranking of methods employed in PA is give below: FACTORS GRADING RANKING METHOD CHECKLIST METHOD FORCED CHOICE METHOD RANK II I III IV M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 33 TABLE 6 TABLE SHOWING WHETHER FEEDBACK ON PA IS COLLECTED S. NO 1. 2. YES NO OPI NION NO OF RESPONDENTS 25 35 60 PERCENTAGE (%) 42 58 100 TOTAL 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 PERCENTAGE YES NOINFERENCE: 58% of the respondent feel that feedback on PA is not collected ad whereas some of them feel that feedback on PA is collected. M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 34 TABLE 7 TABLE SHOWING OPINION ON PRESENT PA SYSTEM IN THE COMPANY S. NO 1. 2. 3. 4. OPTIONS VERY GOOD GOOD AVERAGE POOR TOTAL NO OF RESPONDENTS 6 24 18 12 60 PERCENTAGE (%) 10 40 30 20 100 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 PERCENTAGE VERY GOOD GOOD AVERAGE POOR INFERENCE: Majority of the respondents opinion regarding present PA system in the company is good, some of the respondents opinion is average and whereas few of the respondents opinion is poor. M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 35 TABLE 8TABLE SHOWING OPINION ON THE FOLLOWING FACTORS COVERED IN PA FACTORS Job knowledge Quality of work Quantity of work Ability of work Hard work Manner & obedience VERY GOOD 6 7 6 7 10 10 GOOD 21 29 14 24 26 24 AVERAGE 22 13 18 16 12 14 POOR 9 6 12 8 7 9 VERY POOR 2 5 10 5 5 3 INFERENCE: Majority of the respondent’s opinion regarding the factors covered in PA is good, some of them feel it is average and whereas few of them feel it is poor. M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 36 TABLE 9 TABLE SHOWING IMPROVEMENTS TO BE MADE IN PA FACTORS Strongly agree 12 9 10 5 6 7 11 Neither Agree Agree nor disagree 27 25 24 22 20 24 25 11 14 8 14 18 13 14 6 7 11 13 11 11 6 Disagree Strongly disagree 4 5 7 6 6 5 4Confidentiality Critical attributes Role related attributes Post appraisal actions Introducing bars in PA Feedback on PA White paper on PA & after PA INFERENCE: Majority of the respondents agree that improvements has to be made in PA, some of them neither agree nor disagree ad whereas few of them disagree that improvements has to be made in PA M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 37 TABLE 10 TABLE SHOWING WHETHER PRESENT PA SYSTEM IS TO BE IMPROVED S. NO 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. OPTIONS STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEITHER AGR EE NOR DISAGREE DISAGREE STRONGLY DISAGREE TOTAL NO OF RESPONDENTS 11 20 15 9 5 60 PERCENTAGE (%) 18 34 24 16 8 100 35 30 25 20 18 15 10 5 0 PERCENTAGE 34 24 16 8 STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEITHER AGREE NOR DISAGREE DISAGREE STRONGLY DISAGREEINFERENCE: Majority of the respondents agree that present PA system is to improved, some of them neither agree nor disagree ad whereas few of them disagree. M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 38 TABLE 11 TABLE SHOWING METHODS THAT CAN BE SUGGESTED FOR PA S. NO 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. OPTIONS ESSAY METHOD FIELD REVIEW METHOD BARS APPRAISAL BY RESULTS 360 DEGREE APPRAISAL TOTAL NO OF RESPONDENTS 9 8 11 14 18 60 PERCENTAGE (%) 16 12 18 24 30 100 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 PERCENTAGE ESSAY METHOD FIELD REVIEW METHOD ARS APPRAISAL BY RESLTS 360 DEGREE APPRAISAL INFERENCE: Majority of the respondents suggest 360 degree appraisal for PA, some of them suggest appraisal by result and whereas few of them suggest essay method. M. P.Birla Institute Of Management 39 TOOLS USED F OR ANALYSIS KALMOGROV SMIRNOV TEST The Kalmogrov Smirnov Test (KS – Test) tries to determine if two data sets significantly. The KS – test has the advantage of making no assumption about the distribution of data. (Technically speaking it is nonparametric and distribution free). It is a goodness of fit used to examine the distribution function of the random variable (X). Test statistics T = = Sup | F (x) – S (x) | Supremum of the absolute value of the difference between F (x) and S (X) H0 is rejected if T exceeds the 1 – a quantile (W1 – a) of the Kalmogrov Smirnov’s Statistic. M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 40TO FIND OUT THE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENT’S RATING PATTERN ABOUT â€Å"WHETHER PRESENT PA SYSTEM IS TO BE IMPROVED† H0: H1: Response Pattern obtained is uniformly distributed Response Pattern is not uniformly distributed Null Hypothesis S (x) 1/5 2/5 3/5 4/5 5/5 Opinion F (x) Cumulative Percentage 0. 18 0. 52 0. 76 0 . 92 1 Cumulative Percentage 0. 2 0. 4 0. 6 0. 8 1 Difference F(x) – S(x) -0. 02 0. 12 0. 16 0. 12 – STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEITHER DISAGREE STRONGLY DISAGREE 0. 18 0. 34 0. 24 0. 16 0. 08 TEST OF UNIFORM DISTRIBUTION Calculated Value is: T (F (x) – S (x)) Tabulated Value is = 0. 16 T (tab) = 1. 22 / ? n When n = 5, T (tab) = 0. 5456 for 5 % significance level. Calculated value is less than tabulated value. H0 is accepted. INFERENCE: Response pattern obtained is uniformly distributed. M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 41 PAIRED ‘T’ TESTTO IDENTIFY THE COMPARISON BETWEEN THE STATEMENTS THAT ARE GIVEN FOR OPINION ON THE FOLLOWING FACTORS COVERED IN PA Ho: Job Knowledge is very good than Quality of Work H1: Quality of work is very good than Job Knowledge VERY GOOD JOB KNOWLEDGE QUALITY OF WORK 16 24 GOOD 12 96 AVERAGE 80 44 POOR 24 20 VERY POOR 8 16 N=5 X1 16 72 80 24 8 Y1 24 96 44 20 16 D1 -8 -24 36 4 -8 d=0 d1 – d -8 -24 36 4 -8 (d1 – d )2 64 576 1296 16 64 2016 d = 1Od N = 0 where N = 5 M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 42 S2 = 1 O (d1 – d) 2 (n – 1) = S T = = 10. 13 3. 19 d S/ vn = Degree of freedom 0 = n-1 =4 Table Value = 2. 132 Calculated Value is less than Tabulated Value, Ho is accepted INFERENCE: Job Knowledge is very good than Quality of Work M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 43 SPEARMAN’S RANK CORRELATION The rank correlation co – efficient is a measure of correlation that exists between two sets or ranks.Spearman’s Rank Correlation Co – efficient is calculated as follows: r = 1 – 6 O di2 n (n2 – 1) where n is number of packed observation d is the difference between one paired observation. The value of Spearman’s Rank Correlation will always lie between –1 and +1. If the coefficient is HO the ranks given by two sets of judges show perfect positive correlation. If it is –1, the ranks given by two sets of judges have a perfect negative correlation between them. NULL HYPOTHESIS HO: There is no correlation between the ranking of Checklist Method and Ranking Method among respondents i. e. ,  µr = 0 H1: There is correlation between the ranking of Checklist Method and Ranking Method among respondent’s i. e. ,  µr > 0 M. P.Birla Institute Of Management 44 RAN S. NO K (X) RANK (Y) RANK DIFFERNCE (RANK X – RANK Y) DIFFERENCE SQUARE di2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 3 4 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 4 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 1 4 3 3 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 3 3 4 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 3 2 2 2 1 -2 1 -1 1 1 -1 3 1 1 -1 -1 2 2 1 -1 2 2 2 -1 -1 -1 4 4 4 1 4 1 1 1 1 1 9 1 1 1 1 4 4 1 1 4 4 4 1 1 1 O di2 =59 M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 45 X = CHECKLIST METHOD Y = RANKING METHOD Spearman’s r = 1 – 6 O di2 n (n2 – 1) = 1 – 6 x 59 25 (252 – 1) = 1 – 0. 0226 = 0. 977 or tabulated or (t), n = 25 at 5% level of significance or calculated or (c) = 1 vn – 1 = 1 v25 – 1 = 0. 20Upper limit (U1) =  µr + or (t) x or (c) = 0 + 0. 3977 x 0. 20 = 0. 08 INFERENCE: Since the ‘r’ value = 0. 977 it lies in the rejection region therefore we reject the null hypothesis at 5% level of significance and we accept the alternate hypothesis. Hence, we conclude that there is positive correlation between the ranking of Checklist Method and Ranking Method among the respondents. M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 46 CHI – SQUARE TEST Chi – Square is an importance non – parametric test and as such no test are necessary in respect of the type of population. We require only the degree of freedom (implicity of course the size of the sample) for using this test.As a non – parametric test, Chi – square can be used (i) as a test of goodness of fit and (ii) as a test of independence. Since the researcher used test of independence only the details about test of independence is given below. TES T OF INDEPENDENCE o2 test enables us to explain whether or not two attributes are associated. In order that we may apply the chi – square test either as a test to judge the significance of association between attributes, it is necessary that the observed as well as theoretical or expected frequencies must be grouped in the same way and theoretical distribution must be adjusted to give the same total frequency as we find in case of observed distribution.Karl Pearson developed a test for testing the significance of discrepancy between experimental values and the theoretical values obtained under some theory or hypothesis. This test is known as o2 test of goodness of fit. Karl Pearson proved that the statistic o2 = ? (O – E) 2 / E O – Observed Frequency E – Expected Frequency o2 is used to test whether difference between observed & expected frequencies are frequent. M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 47 To find o2 table value degree of freedom should be cal culated. Degree of freedom is calculated using the formula (r – 1)(c – 1). The table value for this degree of freedom is seen using 5% or 1% of significant level. If o2 table value is greater than o2 calculated value, Null Hypothesis is accepted or Null Hypothesis is rejected.To determine whether there is significant difference between gender & whether PA is inherently unfair Ho: There is no significant difference between gender & whether PA is inherently unfair H1: There is significant difference between gender & whether PA is inherently unfair GENDER CHOICE MALE FEMALE TOTAL NO OF RESPONDENTS YES 28 20 48 NO 104 48 152 TOTAL 132 68 200 Expected Frequencies are: (48 * 132) / 200 = 31. 68 (152 * 132) / 200 = 100. 32 (48* 68) / 200 = 16. 32 (152 * 68) / 200 = 51. 61 M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 48 CALCULATION OF O2: Observed Frequency (O) 28 104 20 148 Expected Frequency (E) 31. 68 100. 32 16. 32 51. 68 (O – E) 2 13. 54 18. 66 18. 66 13. 54 (O – E) 2 / E 0. 427 0. 168 1. 14 0. 261 2. 01 Calculated o2 = ? O – E)2 / E O – Observed Frequency E – Expected Frequency = 2. 01 Calculated o2 = 2. 01 Degree of Freedom = (4 – 1)(2 – 1) = 3 d. o. f at 5 % level of significance Therefore, Tabulated o2 = 7. 815 Since Calculated o2 < Tabulated o2 Therefore, we accept the hypothesis. i. e. , There is no significant difference between gender & whether PA is inherently unfair M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 49 M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 50 FINDINGS OF THE STUDY. ? All the respondents feel that PA is conducted every year in the company. ? Majority of the respondents feel that job increments and promotions are strictly based on PA and whereas few of them feel that it is not strictly based on PA. Majority of the respondents feel that PA objectives are partially informed, some of them feel it is clearly informed and whereas few of them feel that it is not informed at all. ? Majority of the respondents feel that purpose of PA is for promotion, some of them feel it is for salary increase and whereas few of them feel it is for training and development. ? From the table it is seen that the ranking of methods employed in PA is give below: FACTORS GRADING RANKING METHOD CHECKLIST METHOD FORCED CHOICE METHOD RANK II I III IV ? 58% of the respondent feel that feedback on PA is not collected and whereas some of them feel that feedback on PA is collected. Majority of the respondents opinion regarding present PA system in the company is good, some of the respondents opinion is average and whereas few of the respondents opinion is poor. ? Majority of the respondents opinion regarding the factors covered in PA is good, some of them feel it is average and whereas few of them feel it is poor. ? Majority of the respondents agree that improvements has to be made in PA, some of them neither agree nor disagree ad whereas few of them disagree that improvements has to be made in PA. M. P. Birla Inst itute Of Management 51 ? Majority % of the respondents prefers PA by the HR department, some of them prefer by third party and whereas few of them prefer through top level management. Majority of the respondents agree that present PA system is to improved, some of them neither agree nor disagree ad whereas few of them disagree. ? Majority of the respondents suggest 360 degree appraisal for PA, some of them suggest appraisal by result and whereas few of them suggest essay method. M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 52 SUGGESTIONS The top management should take up periodic programs to explain the objectives and the related issues to the executives and queries should be thoroughly cleared It is necessary to improve the performance analysis and review system in following areas ? There should be clear definition of rewards basing performance ?PA’S should have direct bearing in promotions ? PA should be incident specific & productivity linked & not as per personal linking. ? Self-a ppraisal discussion with the assessing officer & then the officer recording his appraisal will be ideal. Awareness is less in catering department ? Employees to work hard to achieve & a panel of officers with which interaction happens during the course of your job should be appraising officer ? Every year a appraisal letter should be given to employee because that can make a employee to show great affection to their job ascertained ? Subordinate & peers also should have a role in individual’s assessment ?Before or during PA, the reporting officer may discuss with the employee about his plus or minus points in order to educate & improved the employee’s performance in future ? Most of the assessment is based on personal interaction with evaluating officer ? Instead of giving overall rating in the paper good workers should be appreciated by the way of given extra perks or increment ? The decision obtained at performance analysis should be implemented. M. P. Birla Institut e Of Management 53 CONCLUSION The effectiveness of a system is to be determined by the people in it, the system cannot become effective automatically. Simply by basing upon few assumptions about the people involved in it.The same is the case with the executive appraisal system of Way 2 Wealth a considerable number of them have come under Halo effect and stereotyping Objectives of the appraisal system are not clear to most of the employees and behavioral dimensions are not clearly understood Unsatisfactory opinion in respect of existing system and self-assessment Wide gap between formal appraisal system and self-assessment Training needs are not met by the organisation inspite of doing serious exercise in identifying them There is lot of paper work in this system of appraisal by which the appraisal is time consuming The analysis has shown that most of the executives are in favour of a better appraisal system, which is more transparent and has provisions for unbiased assessment of per formance M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 54 M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 55 BIBLIOGRAPHYPERSONNEL MANAGEMENT STATISTICAL METHODS MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES HUMAN RESORCE MANAGEMENT – C. B. MAMORLA, S. V. GANKAR S. P. GUPTHA BOHLANDER ASHWATHAPPA M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 56 QUESTIONNAIRE 1. Gender : Male ? Female ? 2. Employee Category: 3. Age Group: 4. Experience: 5. Is every year PA is conducted by the company? Yes ? No ? 6. Job increments and promotions are strictly based on PA? Yes ? No ? 7. PA objectives are Clearly informed Partially informed Not informed at all 8. Is PA inherently unfair M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 57 ? ? ? Yes ? No ? 9. PA serves the purpose of Salary increase Promotion Training and development Feedback ? ? ? ? 10.What methods are employed in PA Grading Ranking method Checklist method Forced choice method ? ? ? ? 11. PA forms/procedures are Management oriented Employee oriented M. P. Birla Institute Of Management ? ? 58 12. After PA, Feedback on PA is collected Yes ? No ? 13. The opinion on present PA system in the company? Very good Good Average Poor ? ? ? ? 14. Your opinion on the following factors covered in PA? FACTORS Job knowledge Quality of work Quantity of work Ability of work Hard work Manner & obedience VERY GOOD GOOD AVERAGE POOR VERY POOR M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 59 15. What is to be improved in PA? Strongly agree Neither Agree Agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree FACTORSAppraisal by result Confidentiality Critical attributes Role related attributes Post appraisal actions Feedback on PA 16. Among the following which one do you prefer? PA by the HR department PA by the third party PA by top level management Assessment center ? ? ? ? M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 60 17. Is the present PA system is to be improved? Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree ? ? ? ? ? 18. What method you can suggest for PA? Essay method Field review metho d BARS Appraisal by results 360 degree appraisal ? ? ? ? ? M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 61 M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 62 M. P. Birla Institute Of Management 63

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Israel and Gaza - Research Proposal Example A Jewish state in the Middle East remains a divisive and controversial subject. In 2008 Jews around the world celebrated the 60 year anniversary of the establishment of the modern Israeli state but while people around the world celebrate its birth, others not only decry the policies of the Israeli government but also challenge the very existence of the state itself. Condemned by its neighbors as an unnatural colonial implant, Israel is frequently subject to international sanction and scrutiny. The status of the Palestinian people, seemingly on the cusp of statehood not long ago, remains increasingly complex and forever unresolved. The Palestinian community has also recently been fractured by the Fatah/Hamas split, adding a new and potentially explosive dynamic to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Despite decades of attempts at resolving this conflict, we are at an impasse and without a resolution in sight. What explains the persistence of conflict for more than a century? What role has Arab intransigence regarding a two-state solution – a persistent feature of the conflict since the days of the British Mandate in Palestine – played in the continuation of a conflict which seemingly could have been resolved years ago? Seeking to explore Arab intransigence and their continued rejection of a two-state solution to the conflict, this essay will chart and discuss Arab rejection of any solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. The following will explore Arab intransigence chronologically and will argue that a legacy of unwavering rejection by the majority of the Arab countries in Middle East has been the major impediment to a resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict remains one of the most enduring and complex disputes of modern times. Although many believe that current fighting began with the creation of the state

Human Beings and Human Doings Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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Budget prioritization issues, budget cuts, increases tuitions affect higher education - Essay Example Students always have a strong back-up on their demands: they could possibly organize a strike to paralyze all the operations of an institution if not heard. There are pressing issues and injustices that college students face in the course of their studies that ought to be addressed (Munoz 70). Activism is the act of lobbying for social, economic or political transformation using laid down policies, peaceful negotiations or forceful campaigns by an individual or group of people. Other scholars have also defined activism as the practice that advocates for enthusiastic actions in pushing for or when against a debatable issue. Many times, activism has been associated with objection, opposition or some absurd behaviors against established authorities (Munoz 72). However, activism has been a tool for facilitating positive actions and behaviors in the society. People involved in activism mostly have an accepted thought and vision for their society. Organizations, trade unions and political parties have used activism to lobby for international, regional and national actions about different issues in the society. Students, for the sake of this research, have also actively used their unions to lobby for changes in different sectors in the colleges and universities in which they lea rn. Examples of such include the East LA student Walk Out of 19 68, the Gidra-Asian American UCLA student publication in the 1960s and the 3rd World liberation front strike interested in creation of ethnic studies. Other actions included the Students’ non-violent Coordinating Committee, the push for women’s centers and LGBT centers on campuses and the Free Speech Movement among others (Yamane 14). All these were combined efforts of students in colleges to ensure that the interest of the colleges’ leadership was on proper use of finances for equality in education. The interest of this paper would be to find out whether the issues raised by the students were acceptable, reasonable and

Power within the United States congress Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Power within the United States congress - Essay Example In contrast to popular belief, the Congress and presidents have always been at loggerheads. This is because on numerous occasions the Senate, House of Representatives are controlled by different parties. Over the years, the Democrats have had a considerable advantage over the Republic with regards to this control. The above section clearly shows there are serious issues relating to the balance of power between the Congress and the Office of the President. There should be a clear definition of duties to minimize conflicts between the president and the congress (Denhardt et al., 2013). Secondly, they should meet on a regular basis to ensure that they are on the same page with regards to public policy as well legislation. Thirdly, there should be effective communication between the two parties to minimize conflict. Finally, the parties should work towards achieving the greatest benefits for the citizens. The above mentioned strategies can be employed to solve the issues relating to the balance of power (Heady, 2001). To start with, the clear definition of duties means that each of the parties will perform the tasks that they are required to with minimal conflict. Secondly, the regular meetings ensure that the two parties compare their duties and activities on a regular basis. Thirdly, effective communication ensures that any issues are dealt with on a timely basis (Schickler, 2001). Finally, when both parties work for the greatest benefit of the people there will be fewer conflicts since both work towards achieving similar goals. This entails the composition of the congress based on the political party membership. In the 113th parliament, between 2013 and 2015, there were a total of 100 members in the senate. Fifty four members are from the Democratic Party, Forty five members are from the Republic party and one member is from another party that is classified as others

Research Paper Thesis Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

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Electrolux Case Summary Essay Example for Free

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EasyJet strategy: SWOT and PESTEL analysis

EasyJet strategy: SWOT and PESTEL analysis This report will provide a detailed analysis of EasyJet’s current corporate appraisal or SWOT analysis. This will identify its strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This will help the companies decision makers understand where the organisation is now. A PESTEL analysis of the industry will examine the local, national and global influences of political, economic, social and technological factors to understand opportunities and threats well. This will provide an evaluation of the external business environment in which the company operates. This analysis will highlight the fundamental changes that the airline industry is undergoing, especially; in defence to the turbulent environment it faces from exogenous forces (terrorism, oil prices, SARS etc) and endogenous forces. Next we will use Porter’s Five Forces analysis of the industry and the increasing threat of other low-cost carriers (Ryanair, bmi baby etc) and also threats from the flag carriers (British Airways, Air France, KLM, Lufthansa etc). This will show how its critically important for EasyJet that strategic alliance, size and technological innovation have on its profitability. Overall the analysis will highlight the inherent threats and weaknesses suffered throughout the industry, and also the importance of innovation to maintain low cost advantage, alliances and size to success. Finally the report will examine the extent to which EasyJet’s current ‘no frills’ strategy is the appropriate strategic fit to its organisation both in terms of resource capability and business environment. An Internal and corporate analysis in terms of strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) will assist in gaining an understanding of where EasyJet is currently in terms of strengths and where improvement is required within the business and what outside environmental threats it may face as well as what new opportunities are available to the company in the short and medium term. We will start by looking at strengths: EasyJet serves diverse ranges of European routes with principle activities in both Leisure and business markets, offering 60 key European routes. Its current cash flow position is also strong, with cash flow from operating activities increased by 61 percent between the six months ended 31st March 2003 to six months ended 31 March 2004. The business has also enjoyed an increase turnover and trading profits resulting in continuous substantial growth in underlying profitability over the last 7 years (see table 1). This has resulted in a strong Balance Sheet – the companies’ net assets reaching the record level of  £724 million (aided by retained profit mainly). EasyJet is also Europe’s leading low-cost airline having completed a merger deal with Go to create Europe’s number one low-cost airline. Brand Awareness is another strength that is attributable to the company – In November 1999, selected as a business super brand by the Super Brand Council, recognising EasyJet as an outstanding brand name. The company’s Online booking facility in October 1999 aided Internet sales to pass the one million mark. This has lead to EasyJet customers enjoying ‘ Ticketless travel’ – this reduces the cost of issuing, distribution, processing and reconciling tickets. EasyJet also enjoys internal strengths in its operations in terms of efficient use of airports – by reducing turnarounds to 30 minutes and below, EasyJet can achieve extra rotations on the high frequency routes. EasyJet appears to have internal strengths in terms of brand awareness, cash flows, and operational efficiencies. But what are the internal weaknesses suffered by EasyJet? The primary weakness is the perception of low quality – low cost can also be seen as low quality service than that offered by the established national airline i.e. British Airways. Also, suffers weakness in the area of hospitality in terms of on board offer of ‘Free Lunch’, the eliminating of free catering on board may result in loss of potential customers. The existing competition also have strong brand image globally, EasyJet is recognised nationally and within the European markets, however, national airlines like British Airways is recognised worldwide and has stronger brand awareness. EasyJet also operates a flat management structure, which may lack a formal discipline that is needed as the organisation grows. The idea of remote working can also result in co-ordination and control weaknesses. It is difficult to co-ordinate the individual employee because in principle they operate independently of each other. It’s also hard to monitor the performance of each individual. So having considered the internal strengths and opportunities above, what are the potential opportunities available to EasyJet and what are the threats faced by EasyJet both from within the Airline industry and as a result of the world economy itself. Weaknesses identified earlier could also offer potential opportunities in terms of development of brand awareness globally. The EasyJet brand is established in the European market, but brand awareness is required outside the continent. There are potential opportunities in terms of new routes and expansion of services offered, EasyJet has already launched a number of new European routes, how about expansion into the Asian Pacific? Undertaking market shift to globalisation expanding outside the European market will be key to continuous enhancement of business performance. Follow on from market expansion will also create opportunities for new facilities or services ‘Free Lunch’ – offer on board catering facilities to compete with mainstream airlines. The increase growth of world tourism will offer opportunities in terms of undertaking joint venture with local/foreign travel companies; hence, Going places and Thomas Cooke are already providing such services to growing number of holidaymakers each year. Finally, opportunities may also exist in the area of innovation and alliances, how about a joint venture scheme with Ryanair to maintain and enforce the low cost competitive advantage. Figure1: EasyJet SWOT Analysis Having considered the possible future opportunities what are the potential threats that EasyJet needs to bear in mind? Firstly, threats in terms of new existing competition. Ryanair continues to lower costs, which enables it to persist lowering fares aggressively. Also, mainstream airlines are now lowering fares to engage in price competition. Another major industry wide threat is the volatility in price of fuel Oil price record high of $53 a barrel. this was the headline in the business pages of all the newspapers last November. EasyJet also faces potential threats in terms of unprecedented tragic events like September 11th. Potential threats in terms of changing social trends like holidays outside Europe (many now want to experience the eastern cultures and travel to holiday destinations like China and Japan) and also travelling via the EuroStar to Paris etc. Potential threats of economic recession, since air travel is effectively a commodity product, it is recession prawn. And, finally threats of any takeover bids from national airlines. Figure 2: Five Forces Model ACCA Paper 3.5 (2001) Porter explains that there are five forces inherent in a market, which will jointly determine the intensity of competition and profitability of EasyJet and the airline industry. The first is the threat posed by new entrants, as with the European deregulation of commercial aviation and the emergent of low cost carriers. The second is the threats from substitutes, rail travel v air travel, the growing demand in Eurostar and cruses. The third force is the threats from the bargaining power of buyers, is this strong for both EasyJet and the entire airline industry with a large number of alternative suppliers, hence, the aggressive pricing strategy. This results in a very strong competitive rivalry in the industry. This is intensified as a result of little or no differentiation in the service offered. Finally the threats from the suppliers bargaining power, this is very strong in the airline industry for two reasons, one is highly skilled labour can command a very favourable terms and seco nd is the price of oil. All of those (political, economic, social, technical, legal and environmental) factors will to some extent apply to the airline industry. POLITICAL – Following the European deregulation of commercial aviation, a fleet of low cost carriers are reshaping the local airline landscape. Ryanair uncompromisingly fought its way into the market with an aggressive pricing strategy. ECONOMIC the travel industry is vary recession prawn and also very sensitive to changes in oil prices. Since the events of September 11th the airline industry suffered heavily, stocks plummeted and ticket prices are at all time lows. The world economy is however, now on the up post September 11th. Consumers are optimistic and the travel and tourism industry are now booming again. SOCIAL – changes in consumer taste and lifestyle represent both opportunities and threats for the industry. Opportunities in terms of worldwide destinations are now popular with holidaymakers and also the growing trend in international business ventures, e.g. major banks and insurance companies’ relocation call centres in Asia. The threats are in terms of alternative holidays Disneyland Paris via Eurostar (Euro tunnel) and PO cruise. TECHNICAL – Changes in retailing methods as such ticket sales via the Internet is now a common place in air travel, passengers receive an email containing their travel details and booking reference when they book online. Paperless operation, the management and administration of the company are undertaken on IT systems, which are accessed through secure servers; provide flexibility in the running of the airline. The development of the next generation aircraft will also lead to technological opportunities in term of fuel efficiencies. LEGAL – The European deregulation of the commercial aviation provided both major strategic threats and opportunities, the national mainstream airlines faced severe price competition from discount carriers. Threats are also in terms of legislative environmental laws regarding pollution and use of more environmentally friendly fuel, which are at premium prices. ENVIRONMENTAL – The energy sources used, namely oil has vast ecological/environmental implications. The threats are in terms of fines and rise in cost of raw materials. A ‘no frills’ strategy is often associated with low cost airline companies like EasyJet. This form of strategy combines a low price, low perceived service benefits (no free lunch) and a focus on a price-sensitive highly competitive market segment. This strategy is focused on keeping costs down and EasyJet’s policy of ‘no free lunch’ and efficient use of airports by limiting turnaround to 30 minutes. Back in 1995 when EasyJet was lunched it was tipped by most to fail with its ‘no frills’ strategy. However, by year 2000 it has not only managed to survive but also increased its market shares and assets of aircrafts to 74 and servicing 105 routes and carrying over 20 million passengers a year. So the strategy has been very successful for EasyJet and appears to have been the correct strategic decision. Beneath the surface of EasyJet’s cosmetic cost savings of not offering free in-flight refreshments or different first, business and economy classes, was a philosophy of cost saving that permeated through the entire organisation. The 2002/03 annual report reconfirmed this business model of the airline: Dense point-to-point network to allow linking of major airports with large catchments areas with high level of frequency, as this will be attractive to business and leisure travellers. A strong and visible brand to create a high level of awareness with consumers. Supported by innovative and effective advertising. Dynamic fares with a simple structure and also ensuring that it are the cheapest fare on the route. Therefore, demand led with proprietary yield management system. 100 per cent direct selling of fares; over 90 per cent of sales are online. This eliminates the need to any commissions to external sales agency. Highly utilised fleet of aircrafts that are large, modern, efficient and relatively environmentally friendly. This results in high levels of asset utilisation and reduced unit costs. Finally, the key to sustaining high levels of growth is the scalability of the operations. This also reduces the marginal cost of incremental growth; increasing scale brings valuable economies (Johnson, G., Scholes, K., Whittington, R., (2005). Another price-based strategy is the hybrid strategy this seeks to achieve an element of differentiation and a price lower than that of competitors. Implementing this strategy successfully depends on EasyJet’s ability to deliver enhanced benefits to customers over its competitors together with low prices. However, if EasyJet could significantly differentiate its service over its competitors then it could obtain higher prices. Therefore, the low cost strategy is the ideal strategic fit to its environment. Combining perceived low price with perceived added value can be a highly successful strategy but one that requires innovative thinking. EasyJet’s competitive advantages via low prices are sustained in a number of ways. EasyJet in its pursuing of low-price strategies may be prepared to accept the reduced margin either because it can sell more fares than competitors. EasyJet may be prepared and has to a large extend engaged in price war with competitors via its lower cost structure (economies of scales due to its larger operations) and also has the financial resource capability to fund short to medium-term losses with the aim of driving out competitors in the longer terms. A prime example of this was the subsequent takeover of Go by EasyJet. Price wars are becoming more prevalent as traveller use the Internet to compare prices and ‘shop around’. EasyJet has cost advantages through company specific capabilities, which drive down costs throughout the value chain. Porter comments on cost leadership as ‘the low-cost producer in its industry†¦ must find and exploit all sources of cost advantage’ (Porter M.E (1980)). We will consider the value chain for EasyJet in more detail later in our discussion. Cost advantages might be achieved because of EasyJet’s efficient use of airports. This will require a mindset where innovation (in cost reduction) is regarded as essential to survival. EasyJet is an international example, The introduction of Airbus A319 aircraft, combined with the retirement of ‘old generation’ Boeing 737 aircraft, will result in a two-type ‘new technology’ fleet, which will commonality and lessen complexity and deliver high level of asset utilisation and reduce unit costs. Finally, EasyJet has sustained its price-based advantage by focusing on market segments where low fares are critical and valued by customers. EasyJet’s first generic strategy is to achieve an overall cost leadership in the low cost airline industry. Therefore, it is vital for EasyJet to have a thorough comprehension of their costs and cost drivers. EasyJet is forever trying to attain a cost level that is low relative to its competitors. EasyJet cost efficiency is achieved in a variety of way as shown in the following diagram: The success of low-fare (cost) strategy is primarily dependent on the maintenance of a low cost base. This is critical for EasyJet having analysed the competitive rivalry position in the industry. With Ryanair maintaining high margins despite reducing yields through strict cost management. Lower costs are the only competitive advantage in the short-haul economy sector as air travel is effectively a commodity product. It is also anticipated that Ryanair will continue to lower costs, which will allow it to continue to engage in a price war, by lowering fares aggressively. Managing for value involves managing both value activities and cost drivers. This involves EasyJet retaining funds from operations; hence, a healthy Balance sheet in terms of retained profits. Significant investment in assets and managing financing costs. Funding strategies developments is clearly important in that the nature of funding must be appropriate and compliments the low cost strategy of EasyJet, by ensuring that interest costs are low. Strategies are largely determined by the extent to which they deliver best value to both customers in terms of being competitiveness in the marketplace (leading low cost airline) and also to provide value to shareholders. EasyJet’s no frills strategy does not only mean a cut in Cabin crew and â€Å"denial of food†, but also allows for a faster pre-flight preparation, thereby reducing the time grounded as well maintaining fare. As funding from operations are clearly a major contributor to value creation. In the long term, this is concerned with the extent to which the organisation is operating profitably. Table below provides an analysis of EasyJet’s sales revenue and profitability ratio since 1998. Investments in assets are also key consideration in value creation in that consideration of the extent to which assets and working capital are being utilised. EasyJet appears to have developed competences in supporting much higher levels of business from the same asset base than other rival airlines. This affects value creation as follows: The cost of capital investment The management of the element of working capital Table 1: Sales and Trading Profit of EasyJet Most theories argue that strategic success and improved wealth generation stem from two strategies. The first is to reduce the ‘bottom line’ costs of operation (low cost strategy) and the second is to increase the value of the organisation and its reputation to customers, so that they will demand more or pay more for what they receive (differentiation strategy) (ACCA Paper 3.5 (2001)). Porter through the use of the value chain illustrates how resources should be utilised to enhance least-cost production or differentiation strategies (the generic strategies suggested by Porter). The value chain analysis will show the total value added by the airline industry and EasyJet. All airline companies within the industry will have similar value chain, which will include activities such as obtaining fuel, designing fare structures, airport facilities, developing co-operative agreements, and providing customer service. Value chain analysis can provide important insights into what ma nagement need to focus on strategically. In terms of analysis, EasyJet’s distribution activities are important in terms of e-commerce, as EasyJet like to consider itself as the ‘webs favourite airline’. Standardisation in its activities as an airline leads to both economies of scale and a simpler product, which is cheaper and easier to distribute. The price of EasyJet’s tickets various as a function of the number of seats remaining, the time until the flight, and historical trends. This is done in order to maximise the yield from a flight, as many of the costs associated with running a flight are fixed relative to the number of passenger on board. Yield management is a form of risk management and therefore, adds value. The sales process is efficient, as EasyJet sells directly to customers, instead of using external sales teams. It has been streamlines by using e-commerce, firstly by telesales and now through the Internet. Marketing and sales will involve making customers aware of EasyJet’s services are price information and also selling. This will involve retention of best salespeople supported by HR management, engineering support in terms of maintenance of the web page supported by technology development to ensure that web site has the latest prices and route and flight information. This needs to be updated constantly as this will be a live system. EasyJet manages its sales process extremely efficiently, its sells its tickets directly. Previously it used telesales and now sales are through e-commerce web site. As Internet transactions have a lower cost associated with it EasyJet encourages its customers to book on-line by offering them a discount for on-line ticket reservations. Savings made from e-commerce is another source of value creation. In terms of competitive advantage, the internet offers overall cost leaders new abilities to reduce costs in primary activities such as marketing (i.e. e-commerce) and support activities such as fir infrastructure (e.g. quick order processing). EasyJet through its use of an overall cost leadership strategy can use internet-based technologies to reduce value chain costs in a variety of ways: On-line bidding and order processing to eliminate the need for sales calls and decrease sales force expense. Another benefit of Internet technology is lower transaction costs at multiple levels in value chain activities. Such lower costs benefit EasyJet initially as innovation is rewarded. However the sustainability of competitive advantages may be problematic: as rivals copy successful strategies, EasyJet will loose its initial advantages. And finally, service, activities that ensure that customers enjoy their flight by providing friendly on board service and assisting traveller with any special needs requirements. In terms of support activities, EasyJet takes advantage of technological developments in order to reduce costs. EasyJet also have a reputation for paying low wages in line with its low cost strategy. Procurement and firm infrastructure as a support activity does not add much extra value. In terms of strategy, many factors are outside the control of the company, such as use of high quality components and low defect rates for its aircrafts. This analysis outlines for EasyJet’s management how individual activities may be altered to reduce costs of operation or improve the value offered to customers. Those changes will ensure that EasyJet sustains its current market share and position and also increase margin. EasyJet may be especially good at outbound logistics lined to its marketing and sales operations and supported by its technology development. It is possibly not as good in terms of operations and its inbound logistics. This will assist management to decide as to what EasyJet should be concentrating on and what requires de-emphasising or even outsourcing. EasyJet’s overall cost leadership strategy uses low costs at each point in the value chain to lower costs. The customers of EasyJet have been using the Internet for making bookings. In addition to that, EasyJet has been offering no in-flight meals, no in flight movies. Also, only one type of aircraft is used, in order to minimise maintenance costs. The concept of the value chain is particularly useful in understanding an organisation’s strategic capability since its concentrates on value activities and the linkages between activities rather ran just resources. Therefore, capability is strongly related to the way that resources are used and controlled. The linkages with the value chains of channels and customers which are the essence of EasyJet’s capability and which can protect its market leadership and maintain cost leadership competitive advantage from competitors. This section we will investigate EasyJet’s resources as a means of assessing the organisation’s strategic capability. Analysis of financial resources in order to understand the strategic capability of EasyJet will need examination of financial capability and performance. Table 1 shows that EasyJet’s sales has increase year on year since 1998, with profit and gross margins also experiencing a positive trends. The company has also grown in terms of its acquisitions of GO and also increase in purchases of its own aircrafts. EasyJet also has a strong cash flow position primarily from its policy to retain profits and reinvest it back to the business. A Balanced scorecard approach is need to effectively conclude a balanced perspective on EasyJet’s resource capability in order to ensure that the low cost strategy is supported and is Cohabitation: The end of Marriage Cohabitation: The end of Marriage Introduction The following essay is aimed at discovering whether cohabitation has literally displaced marriage. It will focus on the processes of cohabiting as well as marriage, briefly touching on their historical backgrounds as well as the trends for each of the processes in different countries. Immediately after the war, marriage became practically universal phenomena but apparently, its popularity has declined towards the end of the twentieth century. Bumpass and Lu (2000) and Teachman, Tedrow and Crowder (2000) explain that patterns of family formation and also dissolution are changing in the United States. She clearly cites an increase in divorce, cohabitation and non marital children which clearly shows a shift from traditional marriage. According to Murphy and Young, (1999), marriage has been in steady decline since the early 70s in the United Kingdom. A McRae (1999) point out that marriage in 1995, which was 322,000, is thought to be the lowest on record since 1926. As the marriage rate dropped, so did the remarriage rate resulting in a steady rise of cohabiting. (Morgan 2000) Cohabiting according to Marshall (1998) refers to an arrangement whereby couples who are not legally married live together as husband and wife. In view of the above definition, the term, not legally married brings in another dimension as to the authenticity of cohabitation. This leads to the idea of common law marriage. There seems to be a huge misconception of the idea of common law marriage, with some authorities and according to Fairbain, (2009) there is no specific legal status for what many refer to as common law marriage. She also points out that many cohabiting couples are unaware of this fact. On the other hand, marriage, as defined by Horton and Hunt defined marriage as the approved social pattern whereby two or more persons establish a family. Majumdar takes it further by defining marriage as a socially sanctioned union of male and female or as a secondary institution devised by society to sanction the union and mating of male and female for purposesof establishing a househ old, entering into sex relations, procreating and providing care for the offspring There appears to be a clear distinction between marriage and cohabiting, judging from the definitions above which helps me conclude that they are not one and the same thing. The question which I will attempt to answer is whether on is displacing or replacing the other. Shaw and Haskey, (1999) seem to concur with the idea of a clear dichotomy as they point out that there has been a major trend towards a decline in marriage and a rise in cohabitation. Hasky, (1999) also points out that marriages popularity rose throughout the 1950s and the 1960s but notes that towards the end of the century, it fell, giving rise to cohabitation. It appears there was a shift in family formation from the traditional marriage to cohabitation. To further support the prevalence of cohabitation, Bramlett and Mosher, (2002) confirm that the increase of cohabitation is well documented showing that the majority of newly weds have cohabited before their first marriage. Levidon (1990) also argued that consensual unions, (cohabitation) appeared to constitute a new type of union. However, he mentions that the process was transitory, which points to the fact that marriage still was seen to be the end goal. A major development however was that there was more recognition of informal unions and as a social institution. (Haskey 1999)Kiernan, and Estaugh (1993), came up with the idea of nubile cohabitation which involved young people living together either as a prel ude to or as an alternative to marriage. This was further elaborated on by Bumpass, Sweet and Cherlin (2001); Smock, Huang, Bergstrom and Manning (2005) who cited one of the key reasons why cohabitation was on the rise, as a way of testing out a relationship and determine compatibility. Research however found out that there is a positive correlation between cohabitation and marital dissolution. (DeMaris and Rao 1992, Teachman and Polonko 1990 and Schoen 1992 cited in Smock (2000). They also found out that the link between cohabitation and marriage failure is complex, with other factors like, race, sexual history and ethnicity playing a significant influence. (Phillips and Sweeney 2005). According to Casper and Sayer (2000) and Brown and Booth (1996), cohabiters, are distinguished by factors like plans to marry It is noted that most of the cohabiters eventually plan to marry but not all cohabiters enter into cohabitation with marriage plans. (Manning and Smock 2005). In this way, cohabiters treated their cohabiting as an initial stage of the marriage process which clarifies that they did not see it as an alternative to marriage and likewise, those without marriage plans also viewed cohabitation as part of courtship or single hood. According to Brown (2004), cohabiters with marriage plans view cohabitation as a semi marriage and as a matter of fact, they share the same relationship quality as the married couples. Another factor that needs to be looked at is the individuals cohabitation history which researchers say in very significant. It was proven that women who cohabited only once with the same partner, being intimate, had the same relationship stability as those w ho never cohabited, (Teachman 2003). On the contrary, young adults who had multiple cohabiting partners are likely to encounter marital instability, (Teachman and Polonko 1990), (DeMaris and McDonald 1993). It is worth pointing out though that they concede that individuals who had multiple cohabitation before marriage could possibly have enough experience to enable them to make better marriage choices. Duncan et al (2005) states that cohabitation is often equated with do it yourselfand is no longer restricted to particular social groups. In line with this notion, Manning, Smock and Majumdar (2004) and Phillips and Sweeney (2005) maintain that race, and ethnic differences in cohabitation are likely to have an impact on cohabitation. It was noted that cohabitation had a negative effect on Whites marital stability but none on Blacks. This is likely so because of the view each ethnic group has on cohabiting. It was further observed that amongst cohabiting couples, Blacks had weaker marriage plans than Whites. (Manning and Smock 2002) Brown (2000) also argued that Blacks were less likely to go through to the actual marriage even with marriage plans. Between 1986 and 1990, there was a dramatic rise in cohabitation in Britain. 29% of unmarried females under 60 were cohabiting in 2001 and 2002. This was a three fold increase. As cohabitation rose, children being born to cohabiting couples were estimated to be over 25% by the beginning of the twenty first century. The fall decline of and delay in marriages, have all given rise to the phenomenon of cohabitation. Marriage does not stand out as the only means of commitment for life since some couples choose to cohabit, citing reasons like less commitment and the ease of opting out if things do not work well. (Kieman 2004). According to Duncan et al (2005) the shift from marriage to cohabitation suggests that individuals have found an option which meets their personal needs and has less or no hassles in terminating. Having looked at the history and trends of the two processes, marriage and cohabitation, this paper will focus on the individualisation theory. According to Beck, (1992) and Giddens (1992), we have entered a late modern era of de-traditionalisation and individualisation. Financial stability, education and provision through the welfare state tend to give individuals the latitude to move away from traditional customs. According to Lewis (2001), the pursuit of self fulfilment and individual happiness and freedom has brought up changes on the view of family. While the traditional institutions are still valued, there is less emphasis on marriage vows or private commitments and more emphasis on self projects. The project of self, places an emphasis on individual self-fulfilment and personal development, comes to replace relational, social aims. (Duncan and Smith 2006) The prevalence, historically, of economic and legal inequality, and the belief of there being accepted patterns of behaviou r is now getting weaker. (Lewis, 2001, p3) According to Lewis (2001), individualisation is thought to be a formulation of freedom of choice and personal preferences which competes with social structural traditions. However, in the eyes of the traditionalists, this may be viewed as a counter cultural revolution Beck (1992( suggests that social structures of gender, class, family and religion are gradually weakening due to individuals becoming more reflexive in making own choices, resulting in the creation of their own biographies. As a result, relationships now focus on individual fulfilment and consensual love, with sexual and emotional equality, substituting formal unions which have been historically prescribed within set gender roles. (Bauman, 2003, Duncan and Smith 2006). With reference to Majumdars definition of marriage, there is particular mention of it being a union of male and female or as a secondary institution devised by society to sanction the union and mating of male and female for purposesof establishing a household, entering into sex relations, procreating and providing care for the offspring. However, with reference to individualisation, the prescript nature of the marriage institution is challenged resulting in sexuality being largely freed from institutional, normative and patriarchal control as well as from reproduction. (Duncan and Smith 2006). This notion has led to the acceptance and rise of same sex relationships as confirmed by The Civil Partnership Act 2004 which was passed and came into effect in December 2005 created civil partnerships which gave same-sex couples who entered into them the same rights and responsibilities of marriage. From a feminist perspective, Lewis (2001) would argue that historically, marriage has reinforced the limiting of the self development of women. Marriage was seen as a restrictive union and could dictate emotions, feelings and behaviour. Cohabitation, from a different perspective could then be argued to be a form of liberation for women. (Morgan 2000). Marriage was viewed as being restrictive and confining, thereby limiting independence and autonomy. Morgan argues that marriage is an unencumbered life without binding commitments. This then presents the idea of cohabitation as a viable alternative which affords people choice to determine their own conditions for the establishment and dissolution of a relationship, Morgan (2000). The emergence of this contemporary family has been viewed positively and negatively. According to Giddens, (1992) and Weeks, (2001), the greater diversity of lifestyles and the opening up of choice leads to democracy in personal relations, and liberation from oppressive institutions. On the contrary, the work of Zygmunt Bauman (2003) and Francis Fukuyama (1999), stresses that the breakdown of traditional ties leads to a disintegration of families and the moralities once maintained by them; this demoralisation leads to individual alienation and social breakdown. Maslow (1954) maintains that people who engage in self actualisation were concurrently individualistic and altruistic. In order to meet their needs, individuals moving towards self actualisation, became higher selves and according to Maslow, this is healthy selfishness (p.156). In this process, the healthy self focuses more on the self Kilpatrick (1975) According to the pioneers of the individualisation theory, Becks and Gersheim (2002), society has shifted away from traditional structures where, people no longer have pre-given life worlds and life trajectories. (Heath, et al 2007). Generally, individuals are no longer expected by society to follow a set family pattern. According to Beck, (1992) this notion has altered the previous accepted family structures resulting in the dissolution of the social foundations of the nuclear family as more emphasis is placed on the family of choice Fukuyama (1999) argues that the institution of marriage has previously been viewed as the bedrock of society but due to the emergence of the family change and freedom of choice, traditional ties have weakened and as a result, there has been family degeneration. Gender roles have also shifted since from the categorization of men as breadwinners and women as house makers. The major change appears to be women emancipation advocated for by the womens moveme nts and this has altered societal and demographic values. Active participation by women on the labour market has significantly changed the notion of a family unit by bringing in more choice and autonomy women did not have in the past. The Legal Position of Cohabitation in Britain Heterosexual cohabitation has been socially and universally accepted as an alternative to marriage in the UK for over two decades but very little has been finalised as regards legal rights of the cohabitants is debatable. (Duncan et al 2001) The issue with cohabiting is that while it can be registered as a Civil marriage, it does not attract the same legal rights and privileges of a marriage. Traditionally, marriage has been regarded as Bauman, Z (2003) Liquid Love: on the Frailty of Human Bonds. Oxford, Polity. Beck, U. (1992) Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity, London, Sage. Bumpass, L., Lu, H. (2000). Trends in cohabitation and implications for childrens family contexts in the United States. Population Studies, 54, 29-41. Duncan, S. and Smith, D. (2002) Geographies of family formations: spatial differences and gender cultures in Britain Transactions Institute of British Geographers, 27, 4, 471-493. Fukuyama, F. (1999) The Great Disruption: Human nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order, New York, Free Press. Giddens, A. (1992) The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality, Love and Eroticism in Modern Societies. Cambridge, Polity Press. Horton, P. B. and Hunt, C.L. (1984) Sociology. 6th ed. Singapore: McGraw Hill Book Companies Kiernan, K. and Estaugh, V. (1993) Cohabitation Extra-marital Childbearing and Social Policy,Joseph Rowntree Foundation/Family Policy Studies Centre. Lewis, J. (2001) The End of Marriage? Individualism and Intimate Relationships, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Marshall, G, (1998) A Dictionary of Sociology cited on http://www.encyclopedia.com Accessed 20/11/2009. Weeks, J. (2001) Same Sex Intimacies: Families of Choice and Other Life Experiments. London, Routledge. Teachman, J. Tedrow, L and Crowder. K. 2000. The Changing Demography of Americas Families. Journal of Marriage and the Family 62:1234-1246.