Gi Bill of 1944

A Building Block for the Future: The G. I. Bill of 1944 â€Å"We’re finally home boys! † shouted one of the young invigorated soldiers as the plane landed on the runway. The young men arriving from the European and Japanese fronts were filled with excitement but among them there resonated a feeling of unknown. World War II had finally come to a conclusion and what the future held for many young men in the middle of the 1940’s was completely unknown. The only feeling of security that the soldiers returning home was the feeling of winning.The feeling of satisfaction persisted among the American soldiers that they had avenged the tragedy of Pearl Harbor. The same feeling of satisfaction existed on the European front as they had helped the other European powers stop the Fascist Nazi’s. Among the men there was a contagious energy in which many had never had the opportunity to experience in many of their lifetimes. These men and women had just accomplished one o f the most incredible feats of the twentieth century and it was now time for them to return to America and start the rest of their lives.Most of the soldiers involved in the war grew up during the Great Depression of the 1930’s and had never known anything that resembled a comfortable lifestyle. As soldiers returned home from the Pacific and European fronts many questions arose about what their futures would hold. Among many Americans there was a general fear that the economy would return to its pre-war state in which people were starving and the unemployment rate was at an all-time high. Most believed that the war was responsible for the economic turnaround that had occurred in America due to the influx of money spent by the U.S. government for an arms buildup. This build up of arms provided many jobs to women and non-white races that had not had the opportunity to find a job before the war but the question that persisted was were these men going to return to work and put th ese people back on the streets? Many questions lingered in Americans minds, but a question that stood out for many Americans at this time was with the war effort now over and production down will America again fall into the deep depths of the depression?This question was answered with the passing of a bill and the pen of Franklin Roosevelt on May 19, 1944 when the American government made a down payment for their future. When President Roosevelt signed the Readjustment Act he was betting on the returning soldiers to have a lasting impact on America; the soldiers would not disappoint as many men used the bill to brighten their futures and in doing so made America a stronger nation. The G. I. Bill influenced America in many different ways in which all had positive effects.First, when soldiers returned home from the European and Pacific fronts many were still trying to get the horrific images that they had to endure out of their heads. Not only did many experience the loss of many of t heir closest comrades, but many were trying to overcome the symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. The G. I. Bill offered financial aid for a year that would allow those soldiers that were struggling psychologically. These men were struggling with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder either could not find a job or didn’t have the ability to initially work after the war.The bill provided reasonable unemployment allowances that were payable each week for up to a maximum period of a year. As a result of the Great Depression and pre-war America the state of the economy was of utmost importance to President Roosevelt. He and the rest of the political leaders of America knew something needed to be done to create new jobs and stimulate spending. The leaders also knew that something had to be done to protect the future of the returning soldiers as such a large group of young men were returning home. Roosevelt’s core idea of the G. I. ill is exhibited by Altschuler when he writes, â€Å"To Roosevelt, this was neither educational opportunity nor government-guaranteed residential loans but the successful transitions of millions of veterans from military service to civilian work. He singled out ‘satisfactory employment’ as the most urgent need of service personnel and concluded the GI Bill would help that need. † Not only were the returning soldiers fearful of a return to the Great Depression, but clearly our political leaders were fearful represented by Roosevelt’s urgent need to stimulate jobs.Another portion of the G. I. Bill that had a considerable positive effect on the American economy was the government establishing provisions for the returning soldiers for fifty percent of certain loans made to them. These loans to the soldiers could be used for the purchase or construction of homes, farms, and business properties. This part of the act made it easier for entrepreneurs to try to start their own businesses resulting in a swellin g in the number of small business in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Not only did the G.I. Bill have a lasting effect on small businesses but also it transformed the way Americans lived in the cities. As veterans received the financial benefits from the G. I. Bill and began to make their way into higher paying jobs a housing boom occurred and suburbs began to quickly develop. The housing boom of the 1950’s affected not only the people that were living at this time, but the lifestyle of Americans forever. No longer was the middle class of America only relegated to living within the cities.With the housing boom of the 1950’s as well as the development of mass production of vehicles people could now live in the Suburbs and commute to their jobs in the cities. Vehicles before the 1950’s had been mass produced, but the difference between the 1950’s and before is the amount of people being able to afford vehicles increased drastically in the 1950’s. People could now afford to buy vehicles as a result of the education or benefits that they had received from the government years before due to their service during World War II.During the 1940’s and the ten years following the development of housing communities increased rapidly. According to Altschuler, who used the 1670 U. S. Census report writes, â€Å"the rapid movement of big-city dwellers to new homes outside the central city increased that proportion to 41 percent and in the 1950’s it grew again to 49 percent. Major cities did see growth at this time just not at the same rate. Sometimes during the early 1960, the area outside the nation’s largest cities surpassed these cities in population, and the balance has continued to shift. People at this point were establishing a pattern that is still followed in today’s society of living out in the suburbs and commuting to the city for work. After the invention of the suburbs there was a need for better roads at the middle of the 1950’s. President Eisenhower firmly believed America needed to modernize their roads in the form of an Interstate system that would be globally unrivaled. Eisenhower wanted a roads system that was even unrivaled by the Germans which is saying something because in the 1930’s there interstate system gave them a distinct advantage during the second war.Eisenhower believed a National Interstate System was essential to the United States not only as a result of the suburbs but also militarily. Eisenhower is quoted as saying, â€Å"together the uniting forces of our communication and transportation systems are dynamic elements in the very name we bear- without them we would be an alliance of separate parts. † Once the Interstate system was created the majority of America’s middle class was now living in the suburbs and a large percentage of the middle class that were building houses out in the suburbs were recipients of the G.I. Bill. The Bill transformed cities and it also provided a foundation for an increase in birth rates as a result of families being secure financially. The G. I. Bill along with families settling down in the suburbs are two major reasons for the large increase birthrates of the 1950’s and 1960’s and the Baby Boomer Generation. Even today, the period of the Baby Boomers in the 1950’s and 60’s is unrivaled when comparing birth rates during different times. Creation of jobs through great loan rates and unemployment are very important portions of the G. I. ill, but what helped to lay the groundwork for America more than anything was the financial aid that was offered for the returning soldiers to attend college. The bill stated the returning soldiers had access to tuition charges of up to $500 per school year; furthermore, the right to receive a monthly living allowance while pursuing their studies at universities. The school portion of the Readjustment Act created so mething many soldiers would have never had access to: the opportunity to rise to a higher socioeconomic status level as a result of a college degree.This opportunity is exemplified by Private Leslie Faulk and his incredible story. If it weren’t for the G. I Bill Mr. Faulk would most likely have returned home from Europe and would have come home to work in his native smoky western Pennsylvania industrial town where the days of the Great Depression were still apparent. Kiester writes, â€Å"Then he would look for work. If he were very lucky, he would move up from his high school occupations of caddying at the local golf course and racking balls in Kindler's poolroom.Maybe he'd even find what the town considered a â€Å"good job. † That meant he might be stoking a steel-mill open-hearth furnace or winding copper armatures in the Westinghouse generator plant. † However, with the opportunity that America granted Leslie he had the opportunity to go pursuit a college e ducation and eventually become an engineer for the United States military leaving the western Pennsylvania town behind. Thanks to the government’s aid Leslie along with hundreds of thousands of soldiers now had the opportunity to become an engineer, lawyer, or even a doctor.Before the Readjustment Act of 1944 someone that was from the lower class never even had the option to attend a university or trade school because to them it was just too expensive. For this reason of creating opportunity to a class of people that had never had such opportunity the G. I. Bill is one of the most significant pieces of legislation in American history. Kiester believes that there were two periods in American history when expanding education has eventually resulted in an economic gain for the United States.The two periods in which education has worked to expand the economy are the Land Grant for colleges of 1860 and the period of the G. I. Bill. He asserts, â€Å"G. I. Bill statistics are awes ome. Out of 14 million eligibles, 2. 2 million veterans jumped at the chance to attend college. At a cost of $5. 5 billion, the first G. I. Bill turned out 450,000 engineers, 240,000 accountants, 238,000 teachers, 91,000 scientists, 67,000 doctors, 122,000 dentists, 17,000 writers and editors, and thousands of other professionals. † As these professionals entered the American workforce the impact was immediate, and it was a substantial impact.The more successful the G. I. graduates were the more of a return the America government had as a result of the taxes that these people would pay into the government for many decades to come. Ironically, the returning veterans had better access to the more prestigious schools which contributes largely to the high number of engineers, doctors, and dentists. According to statistics taken by the U. S. Office of Higher Education in 1948, â€Å"With tuition paid by the government, veterans attempted to enter the best institutions their record s would permit.In the fall of 1948 the majority of veteran men enrolled in privately controlled institution, while the majority of nonveteran students registered at publically controlled institutions. † This represents that returning soldiers were drawn to better known institutions and since the government was granting them a healthy sum of money for their schooling they could afford the best schools in the country. Those who opposed legislation of the Readjustment Act of 1944 feared that passing the bill would be another step in Roosevelt’s New Deal policy.Many right wing conservatives objected at the idea believing that the origins of the bill arouse from liberal ideologies. Liberals responded with their argument claiming the different nuances of the Readjustment act which included: compensation education and training benefits were designed in no measure to breathe new life into the New Bill. Liberals go on to make the point that the Readjustment Act of 1944 was put i n place for one reason only and that was to mitigate the effects of a postwar depression or recession.Many questions came about when different legislators were discussing the different mandates for the G. I. Bill. Question such as should every veteran receive the benefits or only those soldiers returning that are under the age of twenty five years old? Or another question that arose that is described in Altschuler’s book is â€Å"After one year, should government officials in the VA or the U. S. Office of Education select the best students in fields (like engineering) where shortages were anticipated- and authorize them to complete undergraduate, professional, or graduate degrees? Many more questions were being debated among legislators and it was a common perspective from right wing conservatives that the bill had ties to the Roosevelt’s New Deal. However, in the end the Republicans understood the importance of the bill to the returning soldiers and that is why the b ill was able to pass. The most pressing matter was the matter of the Readjustment was the part of the bill granting unemployment. Among the legislatures there was a debate over what was a fair number of weeks that a veteran could receive the unemployment benefits from the Readjust Act.Some argued for fifty two weeks and others objected claiming that if veterans returned home to America and were able to receive money for a year then they would become very complacent and not want to put forward the effort after a year to go find a job. When using a digestion of minutes by Ross during the Nation Executive Committee Meeting during the dates of November 18th through November 20th 1944, Ross makes the point, â€Å"Within six months of discharge, about 70 percent of veterans without disabilities had found full-time employment. Another 8. 8 percent had regular work in less than a year.Thus, â€Å"52-20† and job placement services, which was once the key issue sponsors and supporters would now see the issue as less pressing by the end of 1945. † With the resolution of the issue of unemployment resolved the bill could move forward in its debates. It is ironic to think that the most pressing issue of congress was the debate over the unemployment which in the end was the portion of the bill that had the least amount of impact and users. This strong debate over unemployment demonstrates the legislatures underestimating the amount of soldiers that would take advantage of the college portion of the G.I. Bill. When trying to gain an understanding of the mindset of people in the 1940’s I had a discussion with my grandmother on the G. I. Bill. Her husband Harold, who passed away before I ever had the opportunity to meet him, was directly affected by the Readjustment Act. She made the point to me that she was in high school as the war in Europe was coming to a close but he had actually been able to attend Colorado State University due to his years over in Eu rope and he made the point that the Readjustment Act was crucial to him to be able to go to school. When I asked her what she he told her about the G.I. Bill? She responded by saying, â€Å"He was just always very thankful for what the government had provided him with. Harold did not come from a lot of money and when he was drafted to the war he had a nervous feeling he used to describe to me. Once he got out he did know what he was going to do but the G. I. Bill allowed him to get a good education that provided him with a career opportunity. † My grandmother’s description of what her husband had told her about the G. I. Bill solidified to me the importance of the bill to so many different returning soldiers.It didn’t matter what region you were from or what your socio-economic status was at the time if a returning soldier wanted to better them through education it was now a possibility. Similar to Leslie Faulk from Western Pennsylvania, my grandfather had also risen out of poverty through the use of education that was made possible by the Readjustment Act of 1944. When conducting the interview with my grandmother Elizabeth, it showed me that as a history major that enjoys twentieth century American history I should be talking to my older family members to acquire more information.It would be interesting because it would be from my own family’s perspective on different issues I have acquired information about in my college history courses. The G. I. Bill had a lasting impact on so many individuals and is probably not recognized in history enough for the lasting impact that it had on the United States people and the government. The G. I. Bill’s largest weakness is not allowing the equal opportunity for returning women or at least telling them about it as they were being discharged out of the war. The Veterans Administration made no special efforts to inform women of their benefits to which they were entitled.Men were briefed a bout the bill when they were discharged; furthermore, once they were discharged they were provided with educational and vocational counseling. Metter explains the gender back that existed in the Readjustment Act, he writes, â€Å"it was provided only sporadically to women. † Going Back to Civilian Life, a pamphlet issues by the War Department, did not refer to women. Moreover, since women were far less likely than men to join a veteran’s organization, they lacked access to another important source of information and encouragement. † A woman not being given equal treatment to the distribution of the G.I. Bill funds is no surprise as over the course of history there are many different instances where women have not been on an equal playing field. As a result of this statistic education and training under the bill, were far less significant for female veterans. The difference in treatment of women at this point in history is demonstrated by the occupational segregat ion and wage differentials that were being place on all women jobs. For jobs that carried a certain amount of influence or high status within a community women rarely got hired for these positions and if they did they would make less much money.That factored into women not trying to pursuit a higher education because even if they were more qualified than a male candidate there was a good chance that the male would get hired due to gender discrimination. The uneven distribution of the G. I. Bill had a significant impact on the percentage of women in college. The uneven distribution of women in colleges is shown by Hartman when he writes, â€Å"Constituting 40 percent of all college graduates in 1940, women made up a mere 25 percent of degree candidates in 1950.Since veterans received preferential treatment in the most selective, private colleges, women often had to choose between a public institution or no institution at all. † By 1959 women accounted for a third of the colleg e graduates but there still existed a large disproportion between genders. Keith Olsen, the author of The G. I. Bill, Veterans, and Colleges actually does a case study on the University of Wisconsin and he uses a quote from the President of the University of Wisconsin that was taken in 1950. The President states, â€Å"For the past four years we have gone â€Å"all out: to be of service to the ex-G.I. s but the transaction has not been one-sided. Our 30,000 student veterans have been a stabilizing influence in Wisconsin Student life. Their maturity had enabled them to raise scholarship levels. Their great sense of responsibility has improved student-faculty relationships. † The overall excitement and satisfaction of the President of Wisconsin exemplifies many of the beliefs that most in the academic world expressed at most of the returning soldiers were responsible and cared about their academics. One of the headlines of the Daily Cardinal which was the paper in Madison read , â€Å"U.W. Will Admit All Students It Can House. † The want ads of the Madison newspaper demonstrated the shortage of housing that occurred on many other campuses nationally. In Madison tents were set up to provide veterans a place to sleep while searching for a room. While the amount of housing was eventually solved with temporary housing being brought in, the impact that these students had on the colleges still has a lasting impact. Olson writes, â€Å"In addition to their superior performances, the veterans left a heritage to the college generation that followed.They made the married student an accepted part of academic life and demonstrated the feasibility of a massive federal aid program to higher education. † Other impacts that the G. I. Bill had on colleges is it increased state financial support of universities around the nation. These first students graduated under the G. I. Bill laid the ground work for the path that many kids choose today. Those kids that come from lower socio–economic status or possibly didn’t do that well in school can now go to the military and receive financial aid for their military service. The G. I.Bill transformed America in so many different ways and the importance of the bill should never be overlooked. The veterans who made their way into the classrooms first wanted to be treated as students that were known for fighting in World War II. They wanted to be absorbed into college communities with as little disruption as possible and receive an education. With their hard work within the classroom and their aid on the two different fronts during World War II these men were able to provide a better life for themselves and their families and they succeeded in doing just that.The G. I. Bill allowed many people to live their own version of the â€Å"American Dream. † Bibliography Altschuler, Glenn C. , and Stuart M. Blumin. 2009. The GI Bill: a new deal for veterans. Oxford: Oxford University Pr ess. P. 66 Dwight Eisenhower quotes out of Snyder, Logan Thomas. 2006. â€Å"THE CREATION OF AMERICA'S INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM. † American History 41, no. 2: 32-39. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed April 19, 2011). E. B. Fred, Report of the President, November 1950 from the book Olson, Keith W.The GI Bill, the Veterans, and the Colleges (University Press: Kentucky 1974) p. 74 Education Interests College G. I. s, â€Å"School and Society† (Feb. 10, 1945); Mettler, Soldiers to Citizens, 149-150 Hartmann, Home Front and Beyond, 107. Interview of Elizabeth Berckefeldt on March 12th, 2011 in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Grandmother of Dustin Gochenour Kiester Jr. , Edwin. 1994. â€Å"The G. I. Bill may be the best deal ever made by Uncle Sam. † Smithsonian 25, no. 8: 128. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed April 18, 2011). Olson, Keith W.The Gi Bill, the Veterans, and the Colleges (University Press: Kentucky 1974) p. 98 Ross, Preparing for Ulysses, 235- 236; â€Å"Digest of Minutes,† National Executive Committee Meeting, American Legion, Nov. 18-20, 1947, American Legion Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana U. S. Bureau of the Census, U. S. Census of Population: 1960. Vol, I Characteristics of the Population. Part 1 United States Summary (Washington D. C. : U. S. Government Printing Office, 1964 1-106) U. S. Office of Education, â€Å"1948 Fall Enrollment in Higher Educational Institutions,† Circular no. 248, 15 November 1948.

High School and Basic Education Essay

According to the K to 12 DepEd Primer (2011), â€Å"K-12 means â€Å"Kindergarten and the 12 years of elementary and secondary education. † Kindergarten points to the 5-year old child who undertakes the standardized curriculum for preschoolers. Elementary education refers to 6 years of primary school (Grades 1-6) while secondary education means four years of junior high school (Grades 7-10 or HS Year 1-4). In addition to this, two years are now allotted for senior high school (Grades 11-12 or HS Year 5-6). Prof. Lorina Calingasan of the College of Education in UP Diliman explains that â€Å"K-12 means extending basic education by two years, so instead of having a high school graduate at 16 (years old), we will have high school graduate at 18. † The DepEd discussion paper (2010) on the enhanced K-12 basic education program explains that this new setup â€Å"seeks to provide a quality 12-year basic education program that each Filipino is entitled to†. Furthermore, the purpose is not simply to add 2 more years of education â€Å"but more importantly to enhance the basic education curriculum†. What is the rationale for this program? There is an urgent need to enhance the quality of basic education in our country as seen in the education outcomes of Filipino students and the comparative disadvantage of the Philippines with regard to other countries. The following data would support this explanation: At present, the Philippines is the only country in Asia and among the three remaining countries in the world that uses a 10-year basic education cycle. According to a presentation made by the South East Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO-INNOTECH) on Additional Years in Philippine Basic Education (2010), the comparative data on duration of Basic and Pre-University Education in Asia shows that the Philippines allots 10 years not just for the basic education cycle but also for the pre-university education while all the other countries have either 11 or 12 years in their basic education cycle. Achievement scores highlight our students’ poor performance in national examinations. The National Achievement Test (NAT) results for grade 6 in SY 2009-2010 showed only a 69. 21% passing rate while the NAT results for high school is at a low 46. 38%. Moreover, international tests results in 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science study (TIMSS) show that the Philippines ranked 34th out of 38 countries in HS Math and 43rd out of 46 countries in HS II Science. Moreover, the Philippines ranked the lowest in 2008 even with only the science high schools joining the Advanced Mathematics category. Some reasons why not disagree with K- 12 education plan in the Philippines First if K- 12 will be implemented, students will be able to get sufficient instructional time to do subject- related tasks which makes them more prepared and well- trained on that subject area. On the other hand, if we remain on the old system, Filipino students would continually get low achievement scores. For instance, international test results revealed that we often come at the tail end in the exams compared to other countries. Second reason why we should support K- 12 is that the graduates of this program will be more prepared to enter the labor force. As we all noticed, high school graduates of the current curriculum are not yet employable for the reason that they are not yet competent and well – equipped with the skills needed in the workplaces. In addition, most high school graduates are not yet reaching the legal age of 18. With the new curriculum, senior high school students can choose a field that they are good at and that they are interested in. As a result, they will be equipped with the skills needed for a specific job even without a college degree. At the age of 18, the age when they graduate from high school, they will be employable and competitive already. Thus, adding up to the nation’s manpower. Finally, with K- 12, Filipino graduates will be automatically recognized as professionals abroad because we are following the international education standard as practiced by all nations. There will be no need to study again and spend more money in order to qualify to their standards. With this, Filipino professionals who aspire to work abroad will not find a hard time in getting jobs in line with their chosen field and will be able to help their families more in the Philippines as well as the country’s economy with their remittances, property buying, and creation of businesses. Filipinos are known to be competitive in the international community. While this may be true, our current education system hinders us in becoming more competitive among other countries. The K- 12 education plan offers a great solution to that problem. However, it is undeniable that there seems to be problems arising as we implement the program such as lack of government budget, classrooms and school supplies as well as the teachers. But, if we focus on the long- term effect of K- 12, we can conclude that it is very beneficial to us Filipinos. Therefore, we must have the strong will in supporting K- 12 Educational Plan for the betterment of our education system and economy. Remember, if we want change in our society, we must start it with our education system. Definition of Terms Curriculum refers to the lateral integration of school-based subjects to meet the qualifications demanded by industry. South East Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) is a chartered international organization that aims to promote cooperation among Southeast Asian nations through education, science and culture. It operates through specialized regional centers, three of which are hosted by the Philippine government and include the Regional Center for Educational Innovation and Technology (INNOTECH). National Achievement Test (NAT) is an annual examination given to both Grade ninth and tenth students in the Philippines. The students’ knowledge and mastery over the subjects Mathematics, Science, Filipino, and Araling Panlipunan is measured using a multiple choice type test. The examination is administered by the Department of Education’s National Educational Testing and Research Center (NETRC). Trends in International Mathematics and Science study (TIMSS) provides reliable and timely data on the mathematics and science achievement of U. S. 4th- and 8th-grade students compared to that of students in other countries. Methodology Living this modern world we gather this information by conducting research through internet. We read all the articles that describe k – 12 basic educations. By the help of this modern technology we determine how and why k – 12 basic education help Filipinos to be employed and reduces poverty in our country. Summary of Findings World of K -12 K – 12 Basic Education Program is adding 2 years from K – 10 Basic. Education Program of our country. K – 12 are divided from kindergarten, elementary education (grade 1 – 6), secondary education or junior high school (grade 7 – 10 or HS year 1 – 4 ), and additional 2 years which refers to senior high school (grade 11 – 12 or HS year 5 – 6 ). After 12 years of basic education graduates of this curriculum are prepared to belong to the labor force of the Philippines. Also K – 12 graduates are recognized as professionals abroad because we are now following to the international education standard are practice by all nation. Reference Velasco P. T. (2012). A Primer on the New K-12 Philippine Education Curriculum.

Curriculum Development and Teaching Strategies for Gifted Learners Essay

Curriculum Development and Teaching Strategies for Gifted Learners - Essay Example For practices to be developmentally appropriate, they must be individually appropriate. Developmentally appropriate programs must reflect the importance of establishing a caring, inclusive community in which all children can learn and, importantly, where the potential of gifted preschoolers may be realized and given the opportunity to flourish. The question, thus, becomes, how can teachers identify gifted children and what are the guidelines for designing a curriculum for gifted children With the importance of individualized learning environments for gifted children, the problems of curriculum design, resources and balancing between the child's socio-emotional and intellectual needs express themselves. Schools are in a position where they have to undertake the identification of gifted children, design appropriate curriculum for each (ideally) and personalize teaching approaches to suit the needs of the individual, potentially gifted, preschooler. Needless to say, it is virtually impossible to satisfy all of the stated. The objective, thus, becomes the accurate identification of the gifted, the subsequent design of a curriculum and selection of teaching approaches which would address the needs of the gifted child without overlooking the child's social and emotional needs on the one hand, and which are founded on a realistic assessment of the school's resources. 3 Defining Giftedness Over the past century, the meaning of gifted' has changed from a single-dimensional (High IQ) definition to one in which multiple abilities and intelligences are recognized (Sternberg, 1993). This understanding has opened the door to a greater understanding of gifted students and their needs in schools. The most commonly used definition of gifted and talented is provided by the Educational Amendment of 1978. It is, according to Sternberg (1993), a multi-dimensional definition based on the report to the U.S. Congress by the U.S. Commissioner of Education, Sidney Marland. As stated in this report, gifted children include those with demonstrated ability or achievement, or with the potential for achievement in any one, or combination, of the following (Sternberg, 1993): General intellectual ability Specific academic aptitude Creative or productive thinking Leadership ability Visual and performing arts Psychomotor ability By specifying six areas of achievement, the report suggests that giftedness is a complex phenomenon which can assume many forms, or several overlapping ones (Sternberg, 1993). 4 Identification of Gifted Children Identifying gifted children is always difficult. At the preschool/kindergarten level, formal testing procedures to identify gifted and talented children are not common. Therefore, early childhood educators should be aware of the behavior and traits displayed by gifted children. In this way, teachers can recognize developmentally advanced or potentially gifted children under their care. To facilitate the identification process, Saylor (cited in Sternberg and Grigorenko, 2003) summarized the characteristics of gifted young

Clinical Leadership Outline Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Clinical Leadership - Outline Example Heart problems are usually chronic in nature and difficult to manage, which makes it one of the biggest reason for hospital admissions involving patients above the age of sixty five years (Rocchiccioli & Tilbury, 2012: p21). As a clinical leader, it is important to develop new ways that help the cardiac patients manage their ailments through management of teamwork and motivating healthcare staff to care for the patients. As a nursing leader in this area of practice, it is one’s responsibility to manage nursing administration. Inadequate manpower due to the round-the-clock nature of cardiac patient care results in lack of adequate leave for the nurses, which results in conflict and lack of motivation. In cases where the cardiac department is preparing for change involving the use of bedside reporting, it is important to consider decision making skills, interpersonal skills, and conflict resolution as a leader (Rocchiccioli & Tilbury, 2012: p22). It is important to be politically aware, especially since political factors influence the environment in which the clinical leader will operate in making the decision (Jasper & Jumaa, 2012: p32). In this case, being aware of legislation concerning annual leave is important. Political awareness enhances the ability to influence multi-level policy making, as well as enabling the leader to explain to the staff about the changes they are witnessing. In clinical practice areas that require as much effort as cardiac care, it is important to ensure that the staff is motivated to provide quality care. Motivation will enable the team members to enjoy their challenges, initiate optimism, and passionately go about their work (Jasper & Jumaa, 2012: p33). Motivating the entire staff to work as a team is a great challenge. Transformational leadership involves the motivation and inspiration of nurses in the cardiac

Central government advertising campaigns are designed to persuade Essay

Central government advertising campaigns are designed to persuade rather than to inform citizens about policy - Essay Example This essay describes why advertisement campaigns of the Central Government in the UK are persuasive, but not informative. In order to establish the reasons there are 5 are certain examples of the kind of advertising by the Central Government in the UK. This "Central government advertising campaigns are designed to persuade rather than to inform citizens about policy" essay outlines five UK's Government's advertisement and why they are not effective. 1. NHS Anti Smoking: Smoke, and your body takes a beating – The main purpose of this ad would be to inform the people that smoking is bad for their health. It shows us a man who is smoking a cigarette and it seems like he is being beaten very badly by an invisible person (UTalk Marketing 2009). The ad ends with the warning: ‘Smoke, and your body takes a beating.’ But by showing just how drastic an effect smoking can have on one’s body, the campaign ensures that it has the attention of smokers and non-smokers and might be able to convince them to leave the habit, or not take it up in the first place. 2. Change4Life: Me-sized meals – This ad focuses on the rising problem of obesity and its various effects such as cancer, type two diabetes and so on. The problem of obesity begins at the infant stage, when mothers over-feed their young children in the name of ensuring they get enough nourishment, and therefore make them fat at a young age. The ad goes on to convince them to give their children meals that are proportionate to their size, and not serve them grown up portions. (Department of Health 2009). By using a child to convey this message, this ad ensures that the parents get the message, loud and clear. 3. Swine Flu: Going down – Some people need to be reminded of simple things such as you should cover your nose and mouth when you sneeze so you do not spread the germs. (Search For Truth 2009). This ad shows how a simple act such as sneezing and not covering your mouth can infect everyone around you. The ad conveys this message very well by showing the chain reaction one man might set off by sneezing in a public space like an elevator. The best part is when a child offers the ill man a tissue, showing that it’s just that simple. 4. Speed limit: Kill your speed or live with it – Speeding has always been a major concern to every government. This ad is simple and effective. It shows you the consequences of speeding – which you have to live with for the rest of your life. A man sees the dead body of a young boy he has killed because of over speeding, everywhere, all the time (ThinkUK 2009). He ca not do anything to change what he did, he just has to live with it. The ad very cleverly uses the concept of survivor’s guilt and sends a strong message to the audience. 5. Drug Drive TV: Eyes – Everyone reminds people about drunken driving. This ad talks about Drug driving, and how the eyes of a person have an involuntary reaction to drugs, that can be spotted by the policemen (ThinkUKa 2009). It goes on to warn the teenagers that drug driving is a serious offence and has the same consequences as drunken driving. The ad is simple, and effective. And it shows the target that they cannot hide the fact that they are under the influence. Based on the ads described above, it is understandable why the central government’s advertising is more persuasive than informative. All of the causes that have are being advertised – smoking, obesity, swine flu, over speeding, drug driving – are problems that not many take seriously. People are of the opinion that there should be a lot more discipline in the way the government’s finances are used especially when it comes to advertising. In the opinion of Parliament: Select Committee on Communications (2009), ‘advertising should focus on areas when there is a clear public benefit such as safety or public health campaigns’. Thus, it is essential that the government not just get people’s attention and inform them of the consequences

EU Law assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

EU Law assignment - Essay Example had reviewed the role of the national courts and maintained that the spirit of the EC law would be harmed if individuals were deprived of availing themselves of redressal for damages suffered due to the infringement of EC law by national highest courts of last instance of the respective member states. The ECJ specified that the national courts that constitute the very last forum were truly the last judicial entities available to individuals. At that stage individuals attempt to assert the rights provided by Community law. Thus the judicial bodies that are in effect the last resort of individuals at the national level should invariably follow the provisions of Community law. The ECJ also pointed out that Article 234 EC is an indicator of the spirit of the Community and the Treaty Scheme that protects individual rights conferred by the Community law. Therefore, the national courts of last instance should not infringe Community law3. The ECJ’s ruling in Kobler paved the way to initiate elaborate discussions on several legislative issues concerning state liability. The Advocate General asserted that judges of national courts should not confine themselves to the national law alone, but that they have to act within the purview of the EC law, in order to maintain the spirit of the EC Treaty. This requires national judges to critically assess the scope of national law and the application of the EC law over national law, since EC law has supremacy over national law. Moreover, they have to ensure that their national law is in conformity with the Community law. This would result in the judges of the domestic courts, ignoring pieces of national legislation that were enacted lawfully under the national procedure for enacting laws, in order to give preference to EC law. In such situations the fundamental doctrine of separation of powers would have to be infringed. This role allotted to the judiciary is akin to the r ole allotted to the higher courts that have to uphold the

Analyze effective communication practices within diverse contemporary Essay

Analyze effective communication practices within diverse contemporary families - Essay Example People are not as close to each other as they once were. The much older folks prefer their people close to them. This is unlike the younger ones who prefer the distance between family members to be relatively large. Mobile phones are the only connection that enables people to communicate. This paper will review some stages present in the family life cycle. Also, it will look into the effects that effective communication plays in the different family settings that exist today. There are different stages that are present in the family life cycle. This is the transition that different families undergo during certain phases in their lives. This means that a family can undergo changes in their lives as times change, and the need to adapt to their immediate environment arises (Tutwiler, 2005). The first stage in the family cycle is the where young adults leave their homes. This is maybe in search of emotional and financial stability. This they may achieve on their own or maybe through help. At this stage, they struggle to create their own identities by becoming self-reliant. The comfort that comes with achieving independence is what drives them. The second stage that comes in the family life cycle is the joining of a couple. This is either through marriage, or living together. Here, a couple gets to adapt to the changes by learning to live with their spouse, and all the people in the other person’s life. Commitment is the fundamental foundation on which this stage is based on (Gonzalez, 2005). Without commitment, the people in this arrangement may not have the ability to stand the test of time let alone have the time to create a family of their own. The third stage is the introduction of children into the family. Children bring a whole new dimension to the family structure. Room and time have to be created so as to accommodate them. They bring the family structure closer. This is sometimes

Technology in Air Pollution Reduction Research Paper

Technology in Air Pollution Reduction - Research Paper Example The paper "Technology in Air Pollution Reduction" discovers Technology in Air Pollution Reduction. Particulate matter can also be removed using an Electrostatic Air Cleaner (or Electrostatic Precipitator). An Electrostatic Air Cleaner is used in industries such as pulp mills, oil & fired utilities and oil refineries. Putantunda suggests that this air pollution control method uses the energy generated by an induced electrostatic charge, to collect particulates from any flowing gas. The filtration devices are efficient and effective in trapping particles, like dust and smoke, from a stream of gas. The mechanism of Electrostatic Precipitators (ESPs) involves: gas ionization, electric charging of the gas particles, transportation of the particles to the collection surface of the ESP neutralization of the charge of the gas particles and removal of dust particles from the collecting surface. The ESP is advantageous because it is can be modified during manufacture so that it has a near perf ect efficiency of collecting particulates. The electrostatic precipitator can also work automatically when fitted with control devices. An important consideration when determining whether to engage in technology is cost. The ESP has a very low maintenance cost demands. However, the capital required to apply this technology is substantial. This technology is only restricted to trapping particulates only. It is impossible to trap air pollutants like the sulfur oxides using ESP. Sulfur oxide (SO2) is removed.... The incoming exhaust gas is sprayed with limestone generating carbon dioxide and solid calcium sulfate (Kumar, n.d.). The lime scrubber method is also used to remove sulfur oxide where lime instead of limestone is used instead. The scrubbing liquid is usually water. The particulate collection process can be follows four steps: transportation of the particles, collision of the particles with water droplets due to surface tension and the removal of water droplets from the particles. Wet scrubber technique is useful in trapping air pollutants in the form of solids and gases. It is however expensive to maintain because it easily corrodes. Another demerit of using this technology is that, it has a waste system consisting of the scrubbing liquid laden with the pollutants. After it has been used, this liquid poses a danger of water pollution if not properly disposed. Compared to the ESP technology, the wet scrubber uses more energy in terms of electricity. This is because energy is used in the flowing scrubbing liquid that traps air pollutants. However, for the ESP, the only energy applied is for the particulates being collected. Catalytic converters The Advanced Clean Air Technologies (ACAT) unveiled an advanced catalytic converter that can reduce emissions drastically; testing parameters depict a high efficiency in reducing of particulate matter released to the atmosphere and a subsequent air pollution reduction. Catalytic converters involve unsophisticated technology for the appropriate tuning of vehicle engines to control vehicle emissions. For catalytic converters to function properly, they require platinum and palladium catalysts which are attached to a ceramic material. This technology is very effective in controlling car emission as it provides a high

French Literature in Translation (Tristan and Iseult) Essay

French Literature in Translation (Tristan and Iseult) - Essay Example Analyzing the translations of the French version of Tristan and Iseult, one can see that there were two main versions from the French poets of the twentieth century: Beroul and Thomas. These two versions differ in their presentation, style and in some of the scenes, though the theme and the plot were still the same. â€Å"Berouls romance was considered to be the uncourtly version, because it was less refined, and some of the scenes and the behaviors of the characters were brutal at times†¦On the other hand, Thomas wrote courtly version of the romance. Thomas was much more interested in the inner thoughts of the characters† (Joe, 1999). It makes clear the fact that there are differences between these two French versions. The reader/audience can feel the driving force which is yearning for union beyond the restrictions of time, physical passion and their own separate material existence while going through Tristan and Isolde. Through their death, lovers achieved the realization of divine love. In other words, through the world of divine love they receive the status of immortality. Death is presented as a great opportunity to reach the state of oneness forever. Iseult embraces death with full passion and she joins her lover in a mystical background. In the old stories the lovers were buried on the side of a chapel and believed to be regained life with self realization. Wagner, in his opera, demonstrates the events with necessary improvisations and as a result reader can see the historical elements of Western ideologies and principles about love and death is presented clearly in Tristan and Iseult. Wagner’s work underlines the fact that the story discusses serious sociological and psychological layers. The human relation (love between Tristan and Iseult) explores the elements of a great symphonic texture. Merging of the lovers is a perfect example of the

Identifying Consumers' Trends in Canada Research Paper

Identifying Consumers' Trends in Canada - Research Paper Example This report analyzes and examines the changing behavior of the consumers and how important it is for businesses to analyze the consumer trends. Moreover, the report also analyzes how to identify consumer trends and discusses about consumer trend drivers. The report then discusses about changes in the consumer trends towards the food products and how Canadians have been spending on their households, transportation, food and health care. With the changing environment and market, consumer needs and preferences are also changing and one of the changes in the consumer trend that has occurred is in the recent years is towards mobile phones. With the advancement in technology, there has been an increase in ecommerce and online transaction and this report discusses about the trends of online shopping in Canada and also identifies the barriers that could hurt the growth of ecommerce. 1.1. The Importance Of Identifying Consumer Trends Consumers have a very important role to play as their behav ior, actions, thinking can not only influence the businesses but it could influence the overall society as well (Higham, 2003, pg. 9: 2-3). This is the reason why understanding the consumer behavior and identifying the trends of the consumers is very important for businesses (Higham, 2003, pg. 9: 6-7). Consumers are the ones for which businesses offer goods and services, if they are not willing to buy the products, then there is no reason why businesses should sell the products (Higham, 2003, pg. 9: 8-9). So, understanding the consumer needs and preferences is very important. However it is not an easy task as the consumer preference and taste changes and businesses in order to keep up with the changing consumer preferences and trends come up with new products every now and then (Higham, 2003, pg., 9:12-13). According to Mintel’s New Product Database, twenty thousand new products are introduced every month (Higham, 2003, pg. 10:1). However, introduction of new products is not good enough to meet the changing consumer as businesses have to identify the changes in the consumer trends and offer products accordingly. As it has been found that 83% of the products are not able to meet their marketing objectives (Higham, 2003, pg. 10:5-6) and one of the main reasons for this failure is to not understand the consumer trends and what consumers are willing to buy (Higham, 2003, pg. 10: 8). Therefore it reflects how important it is for businesses to understand and identify the consumer trends and how these trends and preferences would shape up in future in order to make sure that their products are able to match with the consumer needs, preferences and taste (Higham, 2003, pg. 10:15:16). Otherwise, the products would not be able to achieve their objectives. 1.2. The Benefits Of Identifying Consumer Trends Businesses offer goods and services for consumers, if there are no consumers then who will be buying the products and services of the business. Consumer trend has been defined as the changes in the behavior of the consumers in the long run that could create opportunities for businesses (Higham, 2003, pg. 16:15). Therefore marketers need to recognize and identify the consumer trends and it is the most important principle that a marketer needs to understand

Streetcar Named Desire and The Wasp Factory Essay Example for Free

Streetcar Named Desire and The Wasp Factory Essay Disturbing behavior is clearly shown throughout both The Wasp Factory and A Streetcar Named Desire with representations of how the outside world effects and distorts the human mind through characters Blanche, Stella and Stanley in A Streetcar†¦ and Frank, Eric and their father in The Wasp Factory. I aim to explore and compare the two depictions of the disturbed mind by finding similar themes within the play and the book, such as obsession, alcoholism and the ultimate disconnection with reality. Blanches disconnection with reality in A Streetcar Named Desire is foreshadowed multiple times throughout the play with her statement â€Å"I ought to go up there on a rocket ship and never come down† and the general disjointment of her speech which is a metaphor for her instability. This foreshadowing results in Blanche eventually losing her sanity resulting in forced admittance to a mental asylum similar to Williams’ sister Rose who was also mentally unstable. Compared to in The Wasp Factory Frank’s disconnection with reality is clear within first few pages of the book when he claims to have predicted the future by means of an unknown factory â€Å"I already knew something was going to happen; the factory told me†. We later find out that this factory Frank speaks of is a contraption he has made resulting in a wasp’s gruesome death and a vague ‘futuristic prediction’ that Frank twists into becoming reality. An example of this would be when the factory predicts fire, Frank is attacked by a rogue male rabbit and breaks one of his many beloved inanimate objects – his slingshot The Black Destroyer – which results in him blowing the entire Rabbit grounds into heaps of smoke and mud. This shows Frank’s ability to mold his own reality an ability of which Blanche from a A Streetcar†¦ also possesses when she I s seen talking to herself at the beginning of chapter ten â€Å"how about taking a swim, a moonlight swim at the old rock-quarry?† she says the herself whilst placing a rhinestone tiara on her head. Although Blanche seems more aware of her ability to pretend and disconnect with reality she undoubtedly share this trait with Frank (The Wasp Factory). Although both characters have clearly disconnected with the reality they both do it in very unlike ways.  Blanche is lost and fragile due to the unfortunate suicide of her late husband which links to Williamsâ €™ personal experiences as in the suicide of his own lover. Likeminded Randolph Goodman feels that the play can thus be read as an allegorical representation of the authors view of the world he lives in. The second count of disturbing behavior linking both The Wasp Factory and A Streetcar Named Desire is the forbidden sexual connection between Blanche and Stanley and the disturbed near sexual gratification Frank achieves from death and destruction. During scene two of A Streetcar†¦ Stanley pillages through Blanche’s trunk while she is bathing, â€Å"he hurls the furs to the daybed. Then he jerks open a small drawer in the trunk and pulls up a fistful of costume jewelry† this shows Stanley’s disregard for Blanche and her things and foreshadows a later invasion of privacy and violent act that is Blanche’s rape. Constance Drake, in Blanche Dubois: A Re-Evaluation, finds Williams â€Å"presenting the pessimistic view of modern man destroying the tender aspects of love†. However Blanche and Stanley have spirts of flirtation throughout the play signifying that perhaps there was more to the buildup of the rape then just an act of hatred and violence. As Stanley is constantly portrayed as animalistic Blanche picks up on this when she says â€Å"a little on the primitive side I should think. To interest you a women would have to† to which Stanley retorts slowly â€Å"layher cards on the table†. This behavior is disturbing as Blanche is Stanley’s sister in law and neither of them seems to have any regard for Stella excluding when they both of them are ordering her around. As opposed to in The Wasp Factory Frank’s ‘disability’ disables him from receiving sexual satisfaction so alternatively he seeks it out and finds pleasure in death and destruction for example when he destroys the rabbit grounds he mentions â€Å"The catapult was avenged, the buck†¦soiled and degraded, taught a hard lesson and it felt good†. Contrasting to previous an unnamed critic countries â€Å"Frank is fixated on fate and although he unwittingly controls it he is infatuated with the act of playing God†¦Ã¢â‚¬  this critics outlines franks disturbed and almost sexual pleasure he gets from having control over the lives of other beings. Similarly in both texts characters find disturbing pleasure in things that they shouldn’t such as rape (Stanley) and Dea th (Frank) these fit  contextually to the mass amount of murder in the 1980s around Scotland and the power given to men during the 1940s. In conclusion disturbing behavior is clearly apparent in both texts with clear contextual links and apparent similar themes displaying such behavior. I believe both texts are the result of a disturbed mind or at least the viewing of one with Williams’ mentally ill sister and alcoholic father and Banks’ desperation to get one of his book published. The themes of alcoholism, obsession and dependency run deep throughout both texts.

The Damage Of Theft To A Company Business Essay

The Damage Of Theft To A Company Business Essay Employee theft is always been costly to any business. This is still more appropriate in case of big retail chain organizations. The enhanced security arrangements in the recent times have made this topic more important than ever. This research is conducted to investigate the possible reasons for employee theft in supermarkets in Malaysia. It identifies the relationship between various factors with the employee theft behavior. It aimed to develop a model to help big retail chain organizations to design effective internal control systems to prevent/reduce employee theft. This chapter covers the following sections: 1. Background to the research 2. Malaysian retail industry and retail shrinkage 3. Research problem, issues and objectives 4. Justification for research 5. Whats new in this research? 6. Organization of this thesis 7. Definition of terms and 8. Summary 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH Retailing crime continues to be a challenge for businesses in the USA and elsewhere (National Retail Security Survey, 2003). Retailing crime is financial loss attributable to a combination of various factors like customer theft, employee theft, internal error (administrative or process error) and supplier-vendor frauds. The recent worldwide shrinkage survey revealed 42.4% of the retail shrinkage was due to customer theft, 35.3% due to employee theft, 16.9% due to internal error and 5.4% due to suppliers-vendors frauds. Total global shrinkage in the 42 countries surveyed costs retailers U.S. $107.3 billion ($107,284 million), equivalent to 1.36% of retail sales: a serious threat to retailers bottom lines particularly at a time when many retailers are beginning to feel the pinch of an economic downturn. A key point to be noted is that the cost of shrink is ultimately borne by not only retailers, but also by consumers and society at large. Here Shrinkage or shrink refers to an accountan cy figure, reflecting the difference between the financial revenue the business should have received (based upon inventory and purchases) and the amount actually received. (The Global Retail Theft Barometer, 2010). The Barometer further confirms that retail shrink is a global issue: it is a common problem across all countries, regions and market sectors. The Barometer further points out that In 2010, thieves stole a very wide range of merchandise, but tended to focus on expensive popular branded items including: razor blades/shaving products; cosmetics/face creams and perfumes; smart phones and electrical gadgets; alcohol; fresh meat/expensive foodstuff; electric toothbrushes, electronic monitoring devices; infant formula and coffee; DVDs and electronic games; fashion (especially branded items, leather, handbags and accessories); sports-branded goods and sports shoes; electronic goods; branded sunglasses and watches. The survey tells that over 6.2 million customer and employee thiev es were apprehended last year. Employee theft is second major component of retail shrinkage due to the huge retail space in supermarkets and big size retail organizations. Employee theft can be defined as the theft of anything of value from the retailer by an employee or accomplice. The term anything of value includes cash, merchandise, property, services and information. Employee theft occurs mostly at the checkout area followed by the sales area and the customer desk/courtesy area (Hollinger and Clark, 1983). The theft methods include stealing merchandise, stealing cash, retaining receipts to show stolen items were paid for, voiding a sale or making a no-sale after a customer has paid and pocketing the cash, overcharging, shortchanging, coupon stuffing, credits for nonexistent returns and sliding product through the lane without charging. Other examples include warehouse personnel stealing stocked items, and cleaning and maintenance personnel removing valuables with the trash. Employee theft also takes place at the point-of-receipt of merchandise and includes losses due to payment for goods not received. Employee theft is any use or misuse or stealing of employers assets by the employees without permission to do so (Justice J. Walsh, 2000). Money is the most common asset that is stolen from employers. Theft of time happens when an employee is paid for the time which he/she did not work. Usually this happens by falsifying of time records. Technically, theft of time also includes employees who are not working while on the job, although legally this is very difficult to prove. Theft of supplies is another usual form of employee theft. Examples of this form of theft are office supplies (computers, papers, cabinets, etc.) and restaurant supplies (food, silverware, condiments, etc.). Another example of theft of company property is product displays. Overcharging the customers and subsequently pocketing the extra cash can totally affect a business credibility, because it affects not only the employer but also the customers. If the customers find out that a business is overcharging, it can hu rt that business growth. This is very familiar in restaurants because many restaurants do not keep a close eye on their employees actions. Stealing information is perhaps the most damaging form of theft. Familiar examples of this nature are theft of trade secrets and product designs. A number of studies have been conducted in United States, Canada and in European countries about the employee theft in retail organizations and super markets. The US Chamber of Commerce estimates that US employers lose $20 billion to $40 billion a year due to employee theft. It also states that 30% of all business failures are caused by employee theft (David J Shaffer and Ronald A Schmidt 2006). For every dollar stolen, supermarkets need to sell at least $50 more of goods to make up the loss (George H Condon, 2003). Happy employees steal less in United States (Jennifer Korolishin 2003). Shrink losses due to employee theft can equal the profits in Canada (George H Condon 2003). 1.2 MALAYSIAN RETAIL INDUSTRY AND RETAIL SHRINKAGE Malaysias retail trade touched at RM122.54 billion for the year 2009, up 106.37 per cent from 2005. Growth has averaged 26.59 per cent yearly from 2005 to 2009. Retail sales touched RM59.38 billion during 2005, increased to RM71.69 billion during 2006, gone up to RM95.67 billion in 2007, improved to RM116.10 billion during 2008 and risen to RM122.54 billion in 2009. In the first quarter of 2010, it touched the ever seen highest amount of 32.33 billion (Department of Statistics, Malaysia). From 2006 to 2008, increased urbanization and education saw Malaysians become even more sophisticated and demanding with their shopping experiences. This brought about the development of quality, world-class malls across the country in this period, such as 1Borneo; these malls house a strong array of international brands which are uniquely suited to the discerning needs of consumers. Therefore, new lifestyle retail concepts have become more popular in Malaysia, with retailers offering unique merchan dise to cater to the needs of specific consumers. For instance, Robinsons Malaysia has 50 to 60 exclusive brands for shoppers, whilst Tangs in the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur claims to be the Generation Three Tangs store, a store that encompasses Tangs signature shopping concepts alongside being localized to meet the needs of Malaysian consumers. Store-based Retailing Achieves a Better Performance Inevitably, store-based retailing maintained its dominance from 2006 to 2008, with slightly stronger growth than non-store retailing. The development of shopping malls across the country from 2006 to 2008, especially in secondary towns, such as the opening of The Spring in Sarawak and East Coast Mall in Kuantan, further boosted the performance of store-based retailing. Direct selling continued to dominate non-store retailing, with internet retailing exhibiting the strongest current value growth, albeit from a small base. Interestingly, non-store retailer Dell also opened its first physical counter at Tec Asia in early 2008, representing an increased crossover by non-store retailers in an effort to expand their growth. Employee retail theft in select retail businesses in Malaysia during 2009-2010 The Global Retail Theft Barometer was released in October, 2010 for the period between July, 2009 and June, 2010. In Malaysia, 19 retailers with a combined sale of US$1.974 billion participated in the survey. The findings of the survey reveal that as a percentage of total sales, retail shrinkage in Malaysia was 1.53 per cent. In this, the customer theft amounts to 51.6% (US$132.10 million) This was followed by employee theft at 22.3 % (US$57.09 million) and supplier or vendor theft at 5.9% (US$15.19 million). The remaining 20.2% of financial loss amounting to US$51.71 million was due to administrative errors. As per the findings of The Global Retail Theft Barometer, the methods of employee retail theft in select Malaysian retail businesses are as follows: Table 1.1 Main methods of employee retail theft in select retail businesses in Malaysia: Cash, coupons and vouchers 18.6% Merchandise 38.3% Refund fraud, false markdown 27.3% Large financial frauds 6.9% Collusion 8.9% Total 100 Source: The Global Retail Theft Barometer, 2008 RESEARCH PROBLEM, ISSUES AND OBJECTIVES It is a difficult job to correctly approximate the amount of revenue lost through employees theft by way of cash, goods, and services because much of these activities remain undetected, unnoticed or unpublicized. It has been estimated that as much as 75% of losses attributable to employee theft is undetected because of the difficulty in separating inventory shrinkage into its major internal (theft) and external (shoplifting) component parts (Green, 1997). Like the Global Retail Theft Barometer, many other studies have also made an attempt to identify the base rate for employee theft (see Ash, 1988; Brooks and Arnold, 1989; Jones et aL, 1990; Slora, 1989; Wimbush and Dalton, 1997). The results have shown a wide-range of estimates ranging from 3 to 62 percent. Thus it could be seen that employee theft is an expensive problem for an organization; it has been reported as 10 times as costly as Americas street crime (Greenberg, 1997). The amount of property theft alone has been estimated to be $40 billion per year (Shapiro, Trevino, Victor, 1995), and about one third of employees admit that they steal from their employers (Kamp Brooks, 1991). Researches on antecedents and other correlates of employee theft have focused on two broad categories of factors: individual (personality) factors and situational factors. Both of these factors are important and have practical implications for businesses. Individual factors are variables that employers mostly cannot control; employers may only be able to respond to them. Situational factors such strong policies about theft, safeguards, etc., are much more under the control of employers. The central objective of this research is to investigate the key research problem: What are the factors contributing to workplace theft behavior of the employees of retail floor of super markets in Malaysia and how the internal control systems help to prevent/reduce the workplace theft behavior in case of the employees of Supermarkets in Malaysia. The following are the research objectives to investigate this key research problem: Objectives: a) General objective: To study the various factors contributing to the intention to steal in the supermarkets in Malaysia and also to study the relationship between the internal control systems and workplace theft behavior in the supermarkets in Malaysia. b) Specific objectives: 1) To identify the possible reasons leading to the intention to steal by the employees in supermarkets in Malaysia. 2) To find out the relationship between the individual factors and the intention to steal in supermarkets in Malaysia. 3) To find out the relationship between the organizational factors and the intention to steal in supermarkets in Malaysia. 4) To find out the relationship between the intention to steal and the workplace theft behavior of the employees of supermarkets in Malaysia. 5) To determine the moderating effects of internal control systems between the intention to steal and workplace theft behavior of the employees in supermarkets in Malaysia. 6) To identify the effective internal control systems to prevent/reduce employee theft in supermarkets in Malaysia. The research issues and related objectives to investigate the research problem are described in Table 1.2 Table 1.2 Research Issues and Objectives Research issue Research objective 1. What are the reasons contributing intention to steal by the employees in retail floor of supermarkets in Malaysia? To identify the possible reasons leading to the intention to steal by the employees in supermarkets in Malaysia. 2. What is the relationship between theindividual factors and the intention to steal in supermarkets in Malaysia? To find out the relationship between the individual factors and the intention to steal in supermarkets in Malaysia. 3. What is the relationship between theorganizational factors and the intention to steal in supermarkets in Malaysia? To find out the relationship between the organizational factors and the intention to steal in supermarkets in Malaysia. 4. What is the relationship between the intention to steal and the workplace theft behavior of the employees of supermarkets in Malaysia? To find out the relationship between the intention to steal and the workplace theft behavior of the employees of supermarkets in Malaysia. 5. What are the moderating effects of internal control systems between the intention to steal and workplace theft behavior of the employees in supermarkets in Malaysia? To determine the moderating effects of internal control systems between the intention to steal and workplace theft behavior of the employees in supermarkets in Malaysia. 6. What are the effective internal control systems to prevent/reduce employee theft in supermarkets in Malaysia? To identify the effective internal control systems to prevent/reduce employee theft in supermarkets in Malaysia. Employee theft in a retail organization can be defined as the theft of anything of value from the retailer by an employee or accomplice. The term anything of value includes cash, merchandise, property, services and information. In retail organizations employee theft occurs mostly at the checkout area followed by the sales area and the customer desk/courtesy area (Hollinger and Clark, 1983). Methods include stealing merchandise, stealing cash, retaining receipts to show stolen items were paid for, voiding a sale or making a no-sale after a customer has paid and pocketing the cash, overcharging, shortchanging, coupon stuffing, credits for nonexistent returns and sliding product through the lane without charging. Other examples include warehouse personnel stealing stocked items, and cleaning and maintenance personnel removing valuables with the trash. Employee theft also takes place at the point-of-receipt of merchandise and includes losses due to payment for goods not received. US reta ilers have recognized for years that employee theft is a huge and growing problem (Mathews, 1997). These losses were, on average, 1.72 percent of retail sales, comparable in magnitude to retail profit margins as a percentage of sales. Surveys by UKs Center for Retail Research (2001) and the Retail Council of Canada (2001) broadly corroborate these figures and demonstrate that concern about retail shrinkage is not restricted to US retailers alone. Together, with the amounts stolen, the cost of preventing theft imposes a substantial burden on retailers. Employee theft has been cited as a primary factor in 30 percent or more of all business failures (Snyder et al., 1991). Theft from retailers can result in bankruptcy or near closure. It results in lost raises and bonuses if not layoffs for employees, and higher prices for customers as the following quote argues: A store operating at 3 percent profit on sales would have to sell $1,216.66 worth of merchandise a year to make up for the da ily loss of a ten-cent candy bar. Just to cover a yearly loss of $1,000 in thefts, a retailer would have to sell each day over 900 candy bars, or 130 packs of cigarettes, or 380 cans of soup. Faced with such unreasonable selling volumes most small business people are forced instead to raise their prices and lower their ability to compete (Verril, 1999). Researchers and employers appear to agree generally on how to define employee theft. Researchers studying this phenomenon have defined employee theft broadly as an employees unauthorized taking, control, or transfer of money, goods, and/or services of an employer committed during the normal course of work activity (Merriam, 1977). Organizations create policies that fit this general definition and further identify the specific types of behavior considered to be theft in their particular context. By enacting such policies, organizations seek to shape the employee perceptions of inappropriate behavior. However, these policies often fail to generate a common perception among employees as to the types of behavior considered employee theft. While most employees agree that some types of behaviors (such as stealing cash) are theft, other types of behaviors are seen by employees as more ambiguous. For example, the unauthorized taking of food by restaurant workers would be included in the above definition of theft, but some employees may consider such stealing a perk of the job. Indeed, researchers suggest that employees are unlikely to share common definitions of employee theft (J. Greenberg, 1998; L. Greenberg Barling, 1996; J. Greenberg Scott, 1996; Hollinger Clark, 1983; Tatham, 1974). Hollinger and Clark (1983) found that several types of employee theft occur in organizations and that social norm consensus did not exist among the employees they interviewed with respect to acceptable and unacceptable (theft) behavior. Social norm consensus represents the amount of agreement among coworkers as to whether a specific type of behavior constitutes theft. This research also is consistent with Mischels (1973) work on cognitive social learning, which suggests that situations vary in the degree to which they determine and limit individuals attitudes and behavior. That is, situations with a high degree of social norm consensus serve to limit individuals to specific thoughts and actions. Social norm consensus is likely to play an important role in labeling an ob served behavior as theft. Although some theoretical work (J. Greenberg, 1998) indicates that lack of agreement among organizational members as to what is considered theft and non-theft is likely to affect whether a particular individual defines a specific incident as employee theft, this has not been empirically demonstrated. There has been some previous research on the matter of retail employee theft, although in recent times there seems to have been a dearth of interest in this topic. For example, Tatham (1974) conducted a survey of retail employees to determine their perceptions of theft from their employers. They classified the respondents into two groups: non-takers, that is, those who do not steal from their employers; and takers, those who engage in stealing. An interesting finding was that, though non-takers were less reluctant than takers to report fellow employees who engaged in stealing, in general, there was much reluctance by employees to report fellow employees who stole. Tatham also found that there was little effect of the value of the item taken on the employees admission to stealing. Hair et al., (1976) conducted a survey of some 254 retail employers to assess their perceptions of, and responses to, employee theft. They found that employers were likely to underestimate the level of emplo yee theft. As did Tatham (1974), they also found that the value of the item taken by the employees had little effect on the employees admission of stealing; however, it had a substantial influence on the employers perceptions of what constituted stealing. While Tatham (1974) found that some 50 percent of employees reported stealing from their employers, about 80 percent of retailers in the Hair et al.,(1976) study believed that employee theft accounted for less than 2 percent of their total shrinkage and that no more than 2 percent of their employees stole. Other researchers engaged in this stream of research have looked at such issues as: personnel selection and its contribution to reduction of employee theft (Brown and Pardue, 1985; Jones et al., 1990); the impact of product identification and posting of losses from shrinkage on employee theft rates (Carter et al., 1988); and the use of internal control procedures to stem employee theft (Kennish, 1985; Snyder et al., 1989). In more recent work, Oliphant and Oliphant (2001) used a behavior-based method in an effort to determine the level of shrinkage in a drug store outlet in the USA, and to assess reliability of the employers estimates of the level of shrinkage. Rather than posting shrinkage information on individual targeted items in the employee break and lunch area, the researchers posted the total dollar amount of shrinkage and the number of items missing due to shrinkage. During the eight-week period of their study, the store achieved an 82 percent decrease in the number of items stolen each week and a 74 percent decrease in monetary loss. Working in conjunction with the retail store, these researchers were able to assist with identification of and reduction in theft of store merchandise by employees. Bamfield (2004) surveyed 476 major European retailers regarding shrinkage and found variations in the shrinkage rates across countries. European retailers ranked employee theft second among the sources of shrinkage (29 percent), in contrast to the USA, where employee theft was perceived by retailers to be the leading source of shrinkage (47 percent). Though retail employee theft can take many forms (for example, giving of unauthorized discounts, theft of cash, theft of merchandise, time theft, violation of sick leave and time-off policies, and so on), the theft of cash and merchandise is most profound, and, so, is the focus of our attention. Retailers continue to struggle with this issue and continue to use a number of different policies in an effort to avert, or minimize, the problem. Among the policies are: pre-employment screening; policy and procedure manuals; loss prevention awareness programs; human resources programs, including decent retail wages and employee incentives; as w ell as various detection procedures (National Retail Security Survey, 2003). In spite of these factors, retail employee theft still continues to be the factor that contributes most to retail shrinkage in the USA. Hence, there should be focus on efforts to understand retail employee theft. The idea of employees stealing is such a difficult concept for many managers to comprehend that they do not use the words, theft or stealing, to describe the deviant actions of employees. Euphemistic or politically correct words such as inventory shrinkage, spoilage, pilferage, shortage, unaccounted loss, or defalcation are more commonly used to describe employee theft, which reflects an attitude of denial and avoids the image of criminal activity. Because an employee is considered part of the family, it is hard to accept that someone you hired and worked with would steal from you. When caught, employees are often treated less harshly than someone not employed who steals from the firm (Kennish, 1985). Many employers consider employee theft as an unpreventable, unpleasant situation which is just part of doing business (Kennish, 1985). They expect employees to steal. The problem of employee theft is further exasperated by what constitutes employee misconduct. Some employers believe a pencil here and there, use of the copier for personal use, or five dollars worth of long distance calls per month on the office phone are acceptable. When employers exhibit such an attitude, it establishes an organizational atmosphere that management condones employee theft (Kamp and Brooks, 1991). Thus, employees view stealing from the company as an acceptable and justifiable behavior. It also makes it difficult to prosecute stealing, since it is difficult to determine what level of stealing is unacceptable. Employers face the prospects of going out of-business if they cannot control the costs of lost services, cash, and products. Statistics provided by the US Chamber of Commerce indicate that 50 percent of all small business failures in the first year of business can be attributed to employee theft (Business Strategy, 1995). Insurance companies estimate one-third of all business failures can be attributed to employee theft (Miner and Capps, 1996; Snyder and Blair, 1989; Snyder et aL, 1989; Bourke, 1992). The alternative is to develop anti-theft measures (i.e. honesty tests, surveillance devices) to prevent employees from stealing which then add costs to doing business. The employer must decide which costs are greater; to catch a thief, or to accept it as the inevitable (Taylor, 1986) and pass these costs on to the consumer by raising the prices. However, to determine a cost benefit analysis, one must know the amount of employee theft being conducted. As stated earlier, it is difficult to determine the amount of business losses attributed to employee theft. For example, in the retail sector, shrinkage losses are attributed to shoplifting, employee theft, administrative error, and vendor fraud. Distinction among these categories is difficult to calculate. Most companies cannot measure the amount of employee theft accurately and the amounts that are calculated are at best, informed guesses (Baker and Westin, 1987). Robinson and Bennett (1995) used a broad category of deviant workplace behaviors within which theft may be investigated. Two dimensions of deviance, ranging from minor (m) to serious (s) and organizational (o) to interpersonal (i), can be combined to form four counterproductive behavior categories: property deviance (s, o), production deviance (m, o), political deviance (m, i), and personal aggression (s, i). In this study, they focused on the model dimensions of serious and minor incidents of organizational deviance, or production deviance and property deviance. These categories subsume specific behaviors of time theft (production deviance) and physical theft (property deviance). Property deviance includes employee behaviors that involve the unauthorized taking, control, or transfer of money or property of the formal work organization by an employee, either for the employees own use or for sale to another, during the course of occupational activity (Greenberg, 1997; Hollinger Clark, 1983b). It includes behaviors such as misuse of employee discounts; taking merchandise, supplies, or information for personal use or sale; filching money or production materials; and falsifying time records. The boundaries of employee theft as defined here do not include theft of coworker property. Production deviance includes what has been referred to as work withdrawal behavior. These behaviors can take the form of reduced productivity, increased absenteeism and tardiness, low job involvement, and low organizational commitment (Hanisch, Hulin, Roznowski, 1998). The production deviance construct also includes behaviors such as leaving work early and taking unauthorized breaks (Blau, 1998). Individuals engage in these behaviors to maximize or maintain social and organizational roles. When these motives conflict with formal job responsibilities or when employees are dissatisfied, individuals minimize time spent on formal job tasks (Hanisch Hulin, 1991). Production deviance behaviors that result in the reduction of time working (e.g. tardiness, absenteeism, abuse of sick time, unauthorized breaks, socializing, loitering) are considered to be time theft. Many researchers use attitudes such as dissatisfaction to predict deviant employee behavior (Bolin Heatherly, 2001). According to Murphy (1993), satisfied individuals tend to exhibit pro-social behaviors, whereas unsatisfied individuals tend to commit acts of property and production deviance. Hanisch and Hulins (1991) definition of work withdrawal assumes that dissatisfaction is the catalyst for behaviors such as time theft. Individuals involved in employee theft also are often involved in other deviant behaviors (Murphy). Hollinger and Clark (1983b) found relations between job dissatisfaction and property deviance among samples of retail and hospital employees, but not manufacturing employees. They also found a significant relation between job dissatisfaction and production deviance (i.e., work withdrawal or time theft) in all three industries. Differences between the strength of relation between satisfaction and property deviance and satisfaction and production deviance could occur because of perceived differences in organizational sanctions for these behaviors. Johns (1998) suggested that work context may constrain the exhibition of one withdrawal behavior while allowing the expression of another theoretically related behavior. Hanisch et al. (1998) suggested that the set of withdrawal behaviors that manifests as a result of negative job attitudes is a function of the situation and job constraints. These sanctions and constraints would be communicated by an organizations climate for theft. According to Murphy (1993), many researchers have acknowledged the importance of situational factors to employee deviance, but few have examined this relationship. Boye and Jones (1997) suggested that the effect of specific aspects of climate for theft should be examined. Climate for theft includes the opportunity to steal and the perceived and communicated norms of the organization, management, and work group. Included in these norms is the attitude toward theft, perceived extent of coworker and management theft, perceived certainty of sanctions for theft, and perceived severity of sanctions for theft. Hollinger and Clark (1983a) examined the conditions under which employees commit theft. They found that the perception of certainty and severity of organizational sanctions were related to employee theft. The perceived certainty of sanctions had a stronger relation with theft than did the perceived severity of sanctions. The least theft occurred in situations in which sanctions were p erceived as severe and certain. Greenberg (1997) suggested that norms, unwritten rules that guide behavior and contribute to an organizations climate, often condone or encourage employee theft. For example, managers who engage in theft may establish a norm that such behavior is tolerated. Managers also may encourage theft by allowing employees to use equipment and materials for personal use or rewarding extra behaviors with free or highly discounted products (Greenberg). If steal-friendly norms have been established and the organizational climate is perceived as permissive to such actions, employees may steal to fit in or get along with their coworkers. Consistent with this climate-based influence, Hollinger and Clark (1983b) found that the influence of coworker attitudes on theft behavior was stronger than that of management sanctions or employee fear of reprisal. Thus a number of studies are availa

Advantages And Functions Of Clearing House

Advantages And Functions Of Clearing House In addition to the clearing of city and country checks, principally the former, and the settlement of balances, which may be called the primary clearing house functions, there are others not quite so much in general use but which nevertheless are of great importance. Many clearing house associations exercise a close supervision over their members, through the medium of the clearing house system of examination under the direct supervision of a clearing house examiner. The clearing house examiner supplements the work of Federal and State examiners. The National and State officers are limited in their powers of criticism to actual infringements on the law, and before they can take steps to correct such infringements capital has often become impaired and failure is threatened. Most bank failures are due to the gradual acquirement of undesirable assets over a period of years, and if some authority exists with power to make recommendations of a remedial character, with the further power to enforce such recommendations, if necessary, there is little doubt that many bank failures would be averted. The examinations include, besides a verification of the assets and liability of each bank, so far as is possible, an investigation into the workings of every department and are made as thorough as is practicable. After each examination the examiner prepares a detailed report in duplicate, describing the banks loans, bonds, investments, and other assets, mentioning specially all loans, either direct or indirect, to officers, directors, or employees, or to corporations in which they may be interested. The report also contains a description of conditions found in every department. One of these reports is filed in the vaults of the Clearing House, in the custody of the examiner, and the other is handed to the examined banks president for the use of its directors. The individual directors are then notified that the examination has been made and that a copy of the examiners report has been handed to the president for their use. In this way every director is given an opportunity to see the report, and the examiner, in every instance, insists upon receiving acknowledgment of the receipt of these notices. The detailed report retained by the examiner is not submitted to the Clearing House committee, under whose direct supervision he operates, unless the discovery of unusual conditions makes it necessary. A special report in brief form is prepared in every case and read to the Clearing House committee at meetings called for that purpose. The report is made in letter form, and describes in general terms the character of the examined banks assets, points out all loans, direct or indirect, to officers, directors, or employees, or to corporations in which they may have an interest. It further describes all excessive and important loans, calls attention to any unwarranted conditions, gross irregularities, or dangerous tendencies, should any such exist, and expresses, in a general way, the examiners opinion of each bank as he finds it. The examiners enter into an agreement not to enter the employ of any member or non-member of the association, or any other bank, banking institution, firm, or individual engaged in the business of banking, within a radius of miles, for a period of years after the expiration of services with the association. The Clearing House examiner is a very valuable man to the small bank or new institution. The officers of these banks very often do not have the facilities or experience necessary to pass upon paper which is submitted to them for sale or discount. They are apt to become loaded up with credits which have been rejected by their larger or better informed neighbors and must pay dearly for their lack of knowledge. The bank examiner is in a position to make valuable suggestions which often save failures and liquidations. Towns which are too small to be able to afford the services of a skilled examiner can combine with two or more other cities and thus secure a proper official. A great many associations have rules for the conduct of their members. These rules provide for uniform exchange charges on out-of-town checks, uniform maximum interest rates on balances, regulations regarding hours for business, advertising, etc. Most associations publish a weekly statement of condition of the members, and cooperate in every possible way for the general good of the members of the association and the community in which it is located. There are not enough clearing house associations in America today. Nearly every town and city having three or more banks could probably form one to advantage and the Clearing House Section of the American Bankers Association will be glad to furnish all information desired. Clearing House Services Benefits Some of the key drivers that result in the IATA Clearing House benefits are: 1. Netting Through multi-lateral, multi-currency netting of Members Associates receivables a netting ratio of more than 80% is achieved. This translates into an 80% reduction in the credit risk exposure of Members Associates, significant acceleration in collection of outstanding credit and reduction in the foreign exchange risk exposure. 2. Simplification one window operation Through a single net receipt from the Clearing House or payment to the Clearing House each month, Members Associates settle their accounts with all other participants. Cross-remittances, follow-up for credit collection and delays are eliminated. Members Associates receive full accounting and reconciliation statements. Clearing House provides the robust, cost-effective infrastructure for Members Associates to settle accounts with other airlines, travel partners and service providers to enable Members Associates to focus on providing integrated, quality services to their customers. 3. Clearance calendar The calendar of ICH clearances is notified to Members Associates up to one year in advance. Members Associates can plan their billing, receivables and cash management activities in advance. Clearing House notifies each Member Associate of its net accounts with all other participants and the net payable or receivable amount, in advance. Settlement is assured on the designated ICH dates. Members Associates are able to plan and optimize the usage of their financial resources. 4. Currency Exchange and Bank Transfers Multi-currency transactions are translated into the clearance currencies at the Clearing House Rates of Exchange. After netting, settlement of the net balance is effected by/to the Members Associates concerned through a single payment in the settlement. Members Associates avoid commissions/brokerage on multiple foreign exchange transactions, international bank transfer charges and float losses. 5. Protection on Devaluation of a Debtors Currency For miscellaneous transactions, use of the Clearing House ensures that in the event of a devaluation of a debtors currency the creditor is wholly protected, and any loss of exchange falls on the debtor. The debtors loss will be restricted, however, to the exchange loss on the balance after offset of miscellaneous charges. 6. Credit Control Although membership of the Clearing House implies no credit status whatsoever, Clearing House monitors the payment history of each participant. Where necessary, security deposits are taken to cover future transactions. In the event of a default in settlement by a member or associate of the Clearing House, all other members associates are notified concurrently and at an early date. To ensure continued wide interlining capabilities and efficient customer service, Members Associates tend to pay their Clearing House balance on priority over other bilateral arrangements. The enhanced security and efficiency of settling transactions through the Clearing House enables Members Associates to generate more credit than would otherwise be available to them thereby substantially improving their working capital management. 7. Exchange Controls A number of airlines are subject to stringent exchange control regulations and central bank approval requirements in their country of residence on remittance of hard currency funds. This leads to delays in settlement to interline and travel partners or service providers, resulting in business constraints. Membership of Clearing House greatly reduces the requirements and delays: by reducing the need to only one exchange control application to settle a net balance instead of numerous applications for greater individual sums and on account of the established reputation of the IATA Clearing House for settlement of interline dues. In certain instances, need for exchange control approval is entirely eliminated due to consistent net settlement balances in that Members favor. 8. Inter-clearance with ACH The IATA Clearing House has an inter-clearance agreement with the Airlines Clearing House (ACH) of the US, enabling Members Associates of both clearing houses to settle their respective claims by and against each other. For more than 300 Members Associates of the IATA Clearing House (ICH) and just under 100 members of the ACH, this means that each participant can settle with more than 400 other parties through these Services. http://riskinstitute.ch/135470.htm Institutional Differences Existing derivatives exchanges, SROs and governmental regulatory agencies all have rules intended to achieve the three basic regulatory goals. There are many similarities in the rules of different exchanges, regulatory organizations and agencies across different jurisdictions, but there are also many differences. These differences reflect, in part, differences in the way the markets are organized and operated. One such difference, for example, concerns the relationship between the exchange for equity derivatives and the equity exchange. In some instances, the two exchanges are part of the same organization. In others, the equity derivatives exchange and the equity exchange are entirely separate entities.. Another difference concerns the structure of the clearing house. In some cases, the clearing house is part of the exchange. In others, it is not. And some clearing houses clear for only one exchange while some provide clearing services for more than one exchange. Another fundamental institutional difference lies in the trading method itself. Most derivatives exchanges use open-outcry, but some use electronic trading systems. These differences appear to be so fundamental that there is a natural inclination to believe that a successful market or successful regulation of a market can only be achieved if the proper choice is made in each of these areas. In other words, the differences in organization and trading method appear to be so profound that some believe that a market or its regulators can only be successful if the best organization and trading method is used. Let us look at each of these issues more carefully. Exchange Structure This issue is of particular interest with respect to equity derivatives. There is widespread concern that the existence of a derivatives markets for which equities are the underlying product can lead to increased volatility in the equities market and that this volatility can be function of whether the derivatives exchange is a part of the equities exchange. In this regard , it should be remembered that the fundamental reason for the existence of a derivatives market is price volatility in the underlying market. In a well-functioning derivatives market, price volatility will be the result of changes in the demand for, or supply of, the underlying product. If both markets are working properly, prices in the two markets will move together and the futures and cash prices will converge as the futures contract expires. Large changes in supply or demand conditions, therefore, should cause volatility in both markets regardless of whether the derivatives exchange is part of the exchange on which the underlying instrument is traded. A poorly designed derivatives contract can cause volatility to be higher than it would otherwise be regardless of structural considerations. The key, therefore, to preventing derivatives from increasing volatility lies primarily in ensuring proper contract design and in having adequate protections against manipulati on rather than in separating or combining the derivatives and cash markets. Clearing House Structure There are two issues here. One is whether the clearing house should be a part of the exchange or a separate entity. This distinction itself is not very important. The critical issue is that the clearing house have the authority and commitment to impose and enforce prudential margining and collection standards for all market participants. Experience has shown that both types of structure can function very well. Moreover, it has not revealed that one type is more likely to function better than another. The other structural issue concerns whether a separate clearing house for each exchange (regardless of whether the clearing house is part of the exchange) or a common clearing house for the derivatives and equity exchanges is more likely to be efficient and to promote financial integrity. There are advantages to both arrangements. A common clearing house reduces costs to its members, makes more information about financial risk readily available, and makes it easier for regulators to monitor the entire portfolio of a member. A possible advantage of separate clearing houses (or disadvantage of common clearing) is that the consequences of inadequate margining or other mistakes would have more widespread consequences. There may also be operational disadvantages to common clearing. Margining arrangements for equity and derivatives markets are different as are requirements for marking to market. There is no generally accepted view as to which arrangement is better at ensuring financial int egrity, but there would seem to be little reason for regulators to require common clearing, although they certainly might permit it. The more critical issue is whether the appropriate rules for establishing financial integrity are in place and the proper procedures for monitoring and enforcing compliance with these rules are regularly carried out. Trading Method Most existing derivatives exchanges use the open outcry method in which a trade is executed only when the parties to the trade personally agree to its terms. A few use electronic or screen-based systems in which trades are executed by a computer based upon orders entered by the parties. This difference in trading methods raises the question of whether one system is superior with respect to achieving market and financial integrity and to providing fair treatment of customers. From a regulatory perspective, however, the difference between the two types of trading systems may not be as great as some believe. All modern exchanges, whether screen-based or open outcry, rely on electronics to a large and growing extent. An open outcry system can use electronic technology for such purposes as transmitting orders, recording trades, constructing audit trails, and monitoring compliance. This means that todays open outcry exchanges are able to construct and maintain much more accurate records than was the case previously. As a result, both SROs and governmental regulators can be more effective in monitoring trading activity and in detecting and deterring rule violations. The question of the type of trading system to use is fundamentally a business or economic issue rather than a regulatory issue. Both open outcry and electronic systems can achieve acceptable levels of integrity and fairness. Neither type of system is foolproof. No matter what type of trading method is used, problems can and will occur on occasion. Some people will violate the rules. Unforeseen circumstances will arise. When this happens SROs and other regulators must be prepared to discipline those who violate the rules and to modify systems and rules if necessary. From a regulatory perspective, the most important issue is not the type of trading system. It is to ensure that the exchange has rules which are appropriate for the trading technology used and systems for monitoring and enforcing compliance with the rules. In todays world these systems will necessarily rely heavily upon electronic technology even though the trading system itself may well rely upon open outcry.