The Business Cycle and Policy Response in UK Coursework

The Business Cycle and Policy Response in UK - Coursework Example This paper will examine closely the business cycle properties of the UK and government policy through assessment of the role of GDP and monetary policy conditions in modeling the cycle. Figure 1 Accessed on October 22, 2011 from, http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/images/2008/uk-GDP-growth-and-house-prices-feb08.jpg Figure 2 Accessed on October 22, 2011 from, http://tutor2u.net/economics/revision-notes/macro-uk-economic-cycle_clip_image002.gif There are definitional uncertainties that inevitably hamper GDP and its patterns decomposing into cycles and other components like circular flow. Figure 2 is a representation of the UK’s economy annual growth since 1980. Evident in the chart, two recessions have been experienced for the last 25 years. UK experienced the worst downturn in the 1980s. Later between 1990 and 1991, a recession was then followed by cumulative positive economic growth. The 1990s economic growth remains the longest period of economic expansion before the slowdown tha t was experienced in 2005. Not UK alone, but all other countries experience an economic cycle that causes national output and unemployment to fluctuate in a notable manner. Worth noting, the two main concerns of economic are growth and stabilization. As evident in the graphs, devising government policies have a considerable interest towards influencing the prospects for the growth of the economy and mitigate the frustrations associated the downturns. It is important to evaluate the benefits and costs of any policy with knowledge of the growth and business cycle determinants (Mankiw & Taylor, 2006:405). For the last few years, theoretical and empirical researches have undergone an explosion into growth of the economy. For the theoretical part, there have emerged two economic growth determinants. The first is human capital in which abilities, skills, and knowhow of workers are comprised. From this idea, regular improvement of stock of human capital is the fundamental base for economic growth. In other words, there is need to improve stock of human capital if at all the output of the good being produced are to increase for a fixed quantity of workers. Evidently, there exist a homogeneous impact between economic ability to produce goods and growth resulting from the accumulation of human capital. The second is research and development since growth can be realized if returns are non-decreasing. As technology advances as a result of research and development result to a consequential increase in production of the factors of production. Economists believe that changes in technology homogeneously impact produced goods. According to OECD Publishing (2007:23), the fact that there are fluctuation of production, changes in incomes, and changes in spending habits over time means that business cycle must be experienced. As the structure of economy evolves, the cycles will change thus GDP will influence these cycles. The business cycle in the country has been unstable due to the fluctuations caused by inflation. The increased costs of energy have contributed increasingly to the high rate of inflation, which soared from 4.2% in August 2011 to 5.2% September 2011. Being followed by a sharp downward trend, cutting down interest rates became the only tool to boost the economy and prevent any further financial

Motivational Factor at Tesco Essay Example for Free

Motivational Factor at Tesco Essay These theories concentrate of the benefits and importance of motivation, however researcher found it necessary for this research to consider that as it is mentioned by Vercueil, 2001 incorrectly implemented motivation management causes a harmful affect on the employees. Watt, 1998 refers to Anon saying that in the past motivation could be identifies as a way to make people want what we want and differs it from manipulation that makes individuals do what we want. However today as it mentioned by Bruce and Pepitone, 1999 modern employees are much more sophisticated and are in search for a greater satisfaction from the job they are doing. Artificial reward or money alone are nor enough. Therefore modern organisations need to learn and understand human nature as it indicates why people in these case employees behave in a particular manner. Managers need to motivate the employee leading to a grater working performances and mainly managers have to understand their employees needs and their life organization in order to meet the employees expectations and motivate ones performance more efficiently. Staff retention is a significant element of every successful business. It is characterized by the employees desire to sustain in the organization and continuing contribution to the business. In times of economic crisis more and more individuals have to stay at their jobs even if conditions are not favorable due to a risk of being unable to provide for a family. However more and more individuals are raising the importance of staff motivation management. Organizations today have realized that a modern employee needs to be rightly motivated and encouraged, not only money wise, to ensure staff retention. Motivation is a force that stimulates people to perform an action. Therefore motivation is a force which compel people go to their work every day and that is why people bring improvement in themselves to satisfy the desire of becoming or accomplishing what they have set out to become or accomplish in their life. More over with motivation any complicated situation can be converted into a simple and learning experience. In his research Watt, 2003 also states that managers must understand that individuals want to be treated fairly and have equal opportunities to advance. He highlights the problem of motivation today. Often organizations do not recognize that the motivation management requires different approaches depending on the industry sectors. The problem of motivation and staff performance as it is stated by Green et al, 1999 might stay undetected, hidden and unresolved by the managers. Therefore managers often don’t realize that it is important not only to appeal to the individual’s intellect but to their hearts as well. Green et all, 1999 also identifies three main problems for motivation: Lack of confidence Lack of trust Lack of satisfaction Well designed and implemented motivation strategy leads to employee’s retention therefore employee’s loyalty. Loyalty is a significant and vital part of any organization. As it is mentioned by Daft and Marcic, 2011 management should learn to allow all it s employees make a contribution and use its talents and potential in order to progress and improve their skills. This sort of motivation creates employees retention and ensures ones constant grow and contribution to the company. TK MAXX has a well developed reward and development management. Organization believes that its people should be growing as well as the business. From the first time the employee joins the company organization provides a comprehensive induction programs and ensures that whether it is about moving up the career ladder, learning and development of new skills or gaining experience working in different countries there are plenty of available opportunities for the employees. Company has a strong rewards and benefits system, pension scheme, holidays, private healthcare and voluntary benefits as a part of its employee motivation and ensures of employees happiness and satisfaction. All this provides companies growth and efficient performances with a high rate of employee’s retention. Researcher believes that T. K. Max is a real example of a right motivation management. Organization aims at ensuring satisfaction of its employees and at the same time ensures a solid growth and development for the business. Therefore the researcher wanted to examine the motivation strategies used by T. K. Max and analyze its effect on the employees. 1. 3. The Company Background The organization that we have chosen for our research is one of the most successful retailers in the market today. T. K. Max management in the Uxbridge branch were excited and happy to participate in our research and granted us with a permission to use the organization’s name in this investigation. T-K Maxx is a chain of clothing and accessories stores. The company was launched in 1994. It is a subsidiary of TJX Companies Inc. (TJXtra, JUNE 2010) TK MAXX always aimed to deliver frequently changing and best quality products at a price which is 20-60% less than other department and specialty stores regular prices. TK MAXX has label of â€Å"Always up to 60% less† and has target customers who is middle to upper-middle income shopper. But simultaneously who are fashion and value conscious. T. K. MAXX is now 7th largest fashion retailer in the U. K. It introduced the off price concept in the UK and it is now the only major off-price retailer in Europe. It was operating in UK and Ireland. Later on T. K. Maxx opened first stores in Germany in 2007 and also entered in Poland in 2009 (TJXtra, JUNE 2010) The reason why we the researcher choose TK-Maxx as an organization is its market share and the enormous global scale that it’s operate. Having its unique position in UK market T. K.

Costs, revenue and breaking even Essay -- Business and Management Stud

Costs, revenue and breaking even INTRODUCTION In this part of the coursework I will be looking at costs, revenue and breaking even. To do this we will have to work out our fixed costs, variable costs, expected total revenue, the amount of cars needed to break even and whether we make a profit or loss. A Business Plan Material and Equipment Fixed costs All of these materials and supplies will be bought from a local D.I.Y shop. * 4 sponges incl. 1 revolving sponge: -  £32 * 4 buckets: -  £10 * 4 scrubbing brushes for wheels: -  £4 * Advertising Leaflets: -  £5 * 4 chamois leather: -  £12 Total fixed costs: -  £63 Variable costs The washing up liquid can be bought from any local shop, but the water will be supplied from each of us from our homes although we wont be actually paying for the water it is included for business purposes. * Washing up liquid (10 cars per bottle): -  £2.50 * Water: -  £0.20 (per car) Total Variable Costs: -  £0.45 (per car) Breakeven This is a table to show a break-even analysis for a high price of  £4.00 per car. --------------------------------------------------------------------- No. f. Costs v. Costs t. Costs Revenue Profit/ Loss Of cars. ( £) ( £) ( £) ( £) ( £) 0  £63 0  £63 0 ...

written communication Essay example -- essays research papers

INTRODUCTION. â€Å"Man is an animal that lives in language as a fish lives in water and so written communication is just one of the ways that man can survive through† (English scholar Annie Dillard). Writing is a skill to give information. Like all skills, it is not inborn and so it needs to be learnt. To give information you need good communication skills including the ability to write simply, clearly and concisely (Harris & Cunningham, 1996). QUESTION A. Delineate the purpose of written communication, giving reasons for your answers. Different people have different reasons as to why they write. Some people write for their own private reasons or to attain their own individual goals. An example of this ‘private writing’ is exploratory writing. This is writing ideas that you do not want others to see. Introductory writing where you free write on a topic, before composing what you want to say. Examples of writing to explore a topic include keeping a journal, which helps one to take down information that will help him recollect and investigate ideas for a future write up. Another purpose in written communication may be to communicate something that happened, or narrating an experience to a reader. This is referred to as writing to reconstruct experience. To make the experience more vivid and interesting to a reader, you should give specific details, use concrete language (words that create a specific image in the mind of your reader for example: slowly tip-toe) and use of analogies (comparison words, for example hard as a rock). Examples of this purpose of writing include: - a witness writes a police statement to describe an occurrence. Or writers who write novels or books describing a true story they experienced. In most of our lives, we learn from those who can teach. Experienced elders or specialists teach us how to live, conduct ourselves, relate to one another and survive in different environments. My first day in USIU I was handed a student handbook which had all the rules and information about the university. That handbook was written with a purpose which was to instruct and advice. The purpose of instructions from this type of writing is to explain to readers about something or what they should do. Another purpose for writing is to inform. Information is power. In today’s society people need a lot of information to perform, thus making information qui... ...in formulating a written message. They are: - plan the message, free writing major points, compose your message and lastly evaluate your message in that order. REFERENCES. Hartley, P. (1996). Interpersonal communication. New York: Routledge. Denny, R. (2002). Communicate to win. London: Kogan Page Ltd. Verderber, S. K., & Verderber, F. R. (1976). Interact; Interpersonal Communication Skills. California: Wadsworth Publishing Co. Wolvin, A. & Coackley, C.G. (1996). Listening (5th Ed.). Dubuque: I.A. Brown & Benchmark. Hartel, C.W. & Schwartz, W.S. (1994). Ready for the real world; senior experience. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing company. Fielding, M. (1997). Effective Communication on organizations, 2nd edition, South Africa: The Rustica Press. Gibson, J.W. & Hodgetts, R. (1991). Organization communication: A Managerial Perspective. New York: Harper Collins Publishers. Chandler, F.G. (1995). Fundamentals of Business Communication. Richard D. Irwin Inc. Bienvenu, S. & Timm, P. R. (2002). Business Communication, Developing Strategy and Skills. Prentice Hall. Harris, J. & Cunningham, H.D. (1996). Guide to writing. New Jersey: Prentice hall.

Perfect Pizzeria Essay

Perfect Pizzeria Restaurants is a chain of 125 pizza establishments around the country with headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. There are three locations in Bloomington, Indiana however they have financial and employee problems particularly at the location near the Indiana University campus. Each location has one manager and two shift leaders. The employees are mostly college students, with a few high school students performing the less challenging jobs. Nearly all of the employees, with the exception of some managers, are employed part-time and most earned only the minimum wage or slightly above. To address the financial problems, the Perfect Pizzeria manager’s compensation plan was changed to now being based on food and beverage costs and profit targets. If the percentage of food unsold or damaged is very low, the manager gets a bonus. If the percentage is high, the manager does not receive a bonus; rather he or she receives only his or her normal salary. Their compensation is also reflected in the restaurant’s profit figures which also must reach a certain level for the manager to receive a bonus. Thus the managers knew the criteria being used for their evaluation and therefore where to focus their efforts. These profit and loss figures often fluctuate. Knowing the manager cannot be in the store 24 hours a day, some employees make up for their low paychecks by helping themselves to the food. When a friend comes in to order a pizza, extra ingredients are put on the friend’s pizza. An occasional slice or two of pizza by the 18 to 20 employees throughout the day/evening at the break table also raises the percentage figure. An occasional bucket of sauce may be spilled or a pizza accidentally burned. Sometimes the wrong size of pizza may be made. In the event of an employee mistake or a burned pizza by the oven person, the expense is supposed to come from the individual employee. Because of peer pressure, the night manager seldom writes up a bill for the erring employee. Instead the establishment takes the loss and the error goes unnoticed until the end of the month when the inventory is taken. That’s when the manager finds out if the food loss percentage is high and if there will be a bonus. (Next page) Over time these loss figures increased. To address these problems at the Bloomington location, the manager took retaliatory measures. Previously, each employee was entitled to a free pizza slice, salad, and all the soft drinks he or she could drink for every 4 hours of work. Management decided to raise this figure to 6 hours of work before any free food. Since the employees had received this â€Å"free food after 4-hours† benefit for a long time they frequently ignored the rule and took advantage of the situation whenever the manager was not in the building. Therefore, the Perfect Pizzeria manager decided to create an assistant manager position which could more closely supervise the shift leaders. Each shift leader was now responsible for a team of 3 – 4 employees who were given specific responsibilities for a particular job such as counter, delivery, food preparation, etc. Employee apathy grew within the pizzeria. There seemed to be a further separation between the store manager and his workers, who were once a closely knit group. The manager made no attempt to alleviate the problem, because he felt it would iron itself out. The employees who were dissatisfied would quit or they would be content to put up with the new regulations. As it turned out, there were many employee resignations. The manager had no problem in filling the vacancies with new workers, but the loss of experienced personnel was costly to the business. It didn’t take long for the new employees to become influenced by the more experienced employees and the unsold/damaged food percentage remained high. Then the manager took a bolder step. He eliminated all the benefits that the employees had – no free pizzas, salads, or drinks. The manager tried still another approach to alleviate the rising unsold/damaged food percentage problem and maintain his bonus. He placed a notice on the bulletin board, stating that: if the percentage remained at a high level, a lie detector test would be given to all employees. All those found guilty of taking or intentionally wasting food or drinks would be immediately terminated. This did not have the desired effect on the employees, because they knew if they were all subjected to the test, all would be found guilty and the manager would have to dismiss all of them. This would leave him in a worse situation than ever. As the manager sat in his office listening to his beloved Cub’s baseball game, he analyzed the month’s profit/loss statements and knew things were not going to be good. What he did not expect was that the percentage was actually increasing from previous months. Another problem developed at the Bloomington campus location when Jennifer, a recently hired night shift counter clerk filed a complaint with the regional manager. She stated in her complaint that she was always required to work the late shift and Bill the night manager was becoming a bit â€Å"too friendly†. In fact her complaint stated, the only way she could get off from work earlier than other employees was if she would agree to meet Bill on their nights off at Hoosier’s, a popular college student club down the street from Perfect Pizzeria. Additionally, there was a formal complaint from a group of male employees that only the attractive female workers were being promoted to assistant managers or shift leaders even though the men had worked at the restaurant longer than most of the promoted women. The case assignment questions follow†¦ PERFECT PIZZERIA – CASE QUESTIONS (Please type your responses by listing the question number/letter and then your answers to the questions.) 1. List two different managerial functions/activities the manager has performed. Then give specific examples or evidence from the case that explains these two management functions the manager has performed. 4. points) 2a. Which of the managerial skills was the manager best at? Explain. 2b. Which of the managerial skills did the manager need to improve? Explain. (4 points) 3. List and/or give examples of four (4) different forces or factors from Perfect Pizzerias’ external environment. Then give a specific example of how each of these could have an impact on Perfect Pizzeria. Please be specific.(4 pts.) 4a. The case mentions that some employees put extra ingredients on their friends’ pizza or take a nibble or two of pizza during their shift. Please discuss whether you feel this is ethical and your reasons why you feel this way. (2 pts.) 4b. What actions could an organization take to prevent these potential ethical violations from happening based on the concepts in the textbook? Explain by applying these ideas to this case situation. (4 pts.) 5. Review the organizational approaches to managing diversity from Chapter 6. Then discuss or give an example of how you would apply two of these concepts to address the complaints of the male employees regarding the unfair promotions? Be specific. (4 points) 6. Give an example from the case of a poor management action and discuss two (2) specific ways you would correct the situation if you were the manager. (3 points)

Decision Making Tools and Techniques

Decision Making Tools and Techniques Decision Making Tools and TechniquesDecision-making is one of the most complicated and essential responsibilities of an executive. Making important decisions not only influences the success of the executive but of the entire corporation. Quite a few decision-making techniques have been developed to assist individuals and corporations make the most competent decisions achievable. For this document Professor Hossein Arsham's (2006), Tools for decision analysis: analysis of risky decisions is to be discussed. He makes use of a systematic approach to make valuable and noteworthy decisions.Dr. Arsham's hypothesis intimates that assessments are made by approximating the effectiveness and possibility, the assortment of alternatives, and organizing tactics for excellent decisions. A six-step system can be used to make the most out of a decision. The six steps include recognizing the decision circumstance and consider the objectives, recognizing choices, decomposing and modeling the problem, preferring the greatest substitute, performing an understanding investigation, and put into practice the selected alternative.B-ADSc from-information-based-to-decision-one-appr...Once the maker of the decision has accomplished the understanding investigation, he or she must establish whether further investigation is required. If more investigation is needed, then steps one through three may recur before progressing to the ultimate step: executing the selected option.The initial step to making a profitable resolution is identifying the decision circumstance and consider the objectives. Each decision requires a purpose. The decision maker is supposed to ask, what is precisely the dilemma to be resolved? In addition, why should the problem be resolved? By laying down apparent objectives, it is much easier to produce a decision model that will be compatible to implementing the established objectives. Since people can best comprehend, contrast, and influence facts, producing a model orga nization and conveying prospects and principles will pervade the model for calculation.The subsequent step is to recognize different solutions. It...

The Different Cultures Interaction on the Labor Day Carnival

The Different Cultures Interaction on the Labor Day Carnival The Labor Day carnival, which is a yearly multicultural extravaganza, is hosted at Crown Heights in Brooklyn New York. The parade takes place along the Eastern Parkway and attracts millions of participants and spectators.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Different Cultures Interaction on the Labor Day Carnival specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Despite this event taking place in the USA and being organized by Americans, it draws a crowd consisting of people from different cultures mostly from Caribbean islands, Belize in Central America and Guyana in South America. The parade involves a colorful display of costumes accompanied by Calypso and Soca music indigenous from Trinidad and Tobago. This flamboyant affair is organized and financed by the West Indian American Day Carnival Association (Moss, 2007). This gathering of people from different cultures is a clear indication of the growth of the American socie ty and illustrates how they have learnt to live together despite their different backgrounds. The interaction of different cultures is a proof of diversity at its best, and the success stories written about the carnival show intercultural maturity in the USA. These celebrations are done during the national Labor Day celebrations and are a show of solidarity of the American people with the rest of the world (Flower, 2010). The interaction between the different people has resulted in them understanding other people’s culture, and thus making them less judgmental of others. When such events take place, they leave very little room for any group of people to feel like they are outsiders in a foreign land. Thus, the event fosters togetherness in any society since life in a cosmopolitan city like New York consists of interactions between people from different places and all of them have their own way of life (Ruben Randy 2012).Advertising Looking for research paper on cultu ral studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The importance of people who are not natives from America being able to organize a multicultural event that allows other people of a different culture to showcase their cultural heritage is a reflection of how welcoming the American society is for other people regardless of their ancestral origin. America boasts of diversity that is unrivaled elsewhere in the world since its community is made up of people from all over the world (Flower, 2010). These annual celebrations have become a part of the new culture created by these interactions and as a result the celebration has found its way into the national calendar of events. The various people with different cultures that came together to interact have since led to the creation of a new culture that includes all the residents of New York. This has even attracted tourists to the event. Even though the event has had incidences of viol ence and some elements of insecurity the organizers have found a way of curbing them (Flower, 2010). The carnival is a tourist attraction and has led to the popularization of the event which has further inspired musicians such as Bob Marley and Jay Z to perform. The parade has shown how people can co-exist peacefully if only they can learn from each other’s culture and understand and at the same time appreciate the role that each of them plays in the society (Moss, 2007). Despite the carnival being suspended for five years due to the violence experienced then, the organizers were able to deal with the incidences and the celebrations were again permitted. The ability of this event to grow from the late 1940s to date shows how cultural resilience prospers and how the different cultures get over their differences and resume planning an incidents-free celebration (Ruben Randy 2012). In conclusion, the Labor Day carnival as a festival in New York is a very prominent indication of diversity in the American society. The various cultures brought together by this celebration clearly show the multicultural nature of this society and their efforts to integrate others in their society.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Different Cultures Interaction on the Labor Day Carnival specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Flower, Linda. Learning to rival: A literate practice for intercultural inquiry. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2010. Print. Moss, Frank. The American metropolis from Knickerbocker days to the present time. London, UK: McGraw Hill, 2007. Print. Ruben, Liz Leonard, Randy. â€Å"Two Men Fatally Stabbed and Two are Shot as Violence Follows Parade†. The New York Times. 4 September, 2012. Web.