British Gas Business Essay

A review of the British Gas Businesses current approach to collating, storing and using HR data within the organisation. Findings Below you will find an overview of some of the data that the HR function within British Gas Business collects. Within this report I will identify two reasons why British Gas Business needs to collect HR data, and the current methods in which we store the data. I will also briefly touch upon some key legislation which if compliant, will reduce any financial or legal risks to the organisation. Absence Performance – appraisals, Learning and Development (L&D) activity Employee Engagement results Equality/Diversity – To meet legal requirements Recruitment – Contractual information Employee Information â€Å"Accurate personnel records will help the organisation in many ways – increasing the efficiency of recruitment, training and development, and promotion. They can also provide the raw data to monitor equal opportunities issues and the legal requirements placed on all organisations† [ACAS: Online 30th November 2014]. One of the areas where there is need for collation of data is we are able to track volumes of employees currently being performance managed within the organisation to then further identify whether this is a behavioral or skill issue where further training is required. This then helps us to define our learning programmes moving forward and tailor the content around any shortfalls which may have been identified through Training Needs Analysis (TNA) within performance management. Another area that the HR function collates data for is for Absence. â€Å"This is one of the longest-running causes of serious concern to managers. Unapproved absence from work causes a multitude of problems to managers and involves the organisation in significant extra costs†. (Currie et al, 2010, p.293). All absence data within each business unit (and then business wide across British Gas) is centralised using the data base Absence Manager. This helps us to track against our performance and resourcing for people and establish  whether recruitment or redundancy plans would benefit the long term strategy of the organisation. The Human Resource function currently use an Information System (HRIS) which runs alongside our main billing system called SAP. Within SAP all Line managers have access to view employee information (direct reports only), process secondments or job role changes, and change manage details. The benefit of this is that the data is easily accessible and is consistent in line with any people movements within the business. Alongside this system there is also a requirement for some documentation to be stored manually. This is then kept for 6 years, regardless of whether that individual is still in employment with British Gas Business. This is beneficial for any documentation which requires employee signatures or verification. This could be disciplinary documentation to any learning that has taken place. Using the internal HRIS British Gas Business complies with the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, which covers the security and confidentiality of the retention of data. We do this by ensuring that access to the HR online system is done only registered through authorised access and then a further password security check. British Gas Business also ensures that it keeps written documentation for no longer than 6 years in line with the Principles of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). Once documentation reaches this age we contract to a disposal company to safely dispose of all confidential waste. The HR function also complies with all Subject Access Requests (SAR’s) which is governed by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI Act). Customers are able to place requests in writing to access all information held about them or their business on the organisations systems. The customer pays a one of fee of ten pounds and they are then issued with the information within 40 days of their request. Key Findings British Gas Business is fully compliant with all key legislation in collecting and storing data within the organisation. I see no risk, financially or strategically from the methods we are currently using. Bibliography Web ACAS. (2014). Personnel Data. Available: http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=717. Last accessed 30th November 2014. Books Currie, D (2010). Introduction to Human Resource Management. 2nd ed. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel Development. 293 Introduction – Activity 2 Analysis of absence data for the Customer Care function of British Gas Business from high level reported case volumes, to understanding the gender split of the absence recorded. Summary By analysing the data collated from our absence records, we can establish trends to enable the organisation to look to implement preventative measures to reduce overall long term absence levels. key findings Absence from the British Gas Business – Customer Care function is currently at its highest levels since 2010. The average number of days taken as absence within the short term sickness (STS) criteria (under 20 consecutive days), has increased from 4.6 to 5.5 days per employee per rolling 52 weeks. The increase in long term sickness (LTS) registered within the organisation has increased by 0.8% over the past 4 years. LTS cases for 2014 are split into the following reasons for absence and then subsequently by gender for all Stress (Work related) / Mental Illness reported absences. Of the 45 LTS stress (Work) related cases registered in 2014, 23 were for male employees. This shows us a change in trend from previous years. For the first time in over 4 years we can see the greater proportion of stress (Work) /mental illness related absences is now reported by the male employee population. conclusions In 2011 British Gas Business began its journey in implementing a new billing system. We can see a noticeable trend in the years following on from the  start of this journey, with the volume of work induced stress related absences reported within the function. Throughout the function we have also seen a high natural attrition in the leadership team in 2014. This means that we now have less experienced leadership population who are progressing our people through their long term sickness absences. Recommendations Identify potential learning gaps through Training Needs Analysis (TNS) – â€Å"Test and Play† drop in sessions for all employees – Full review of the learning documentation and the online learning environment Wellbeing events throughout the system change timeline to be ran throughout the function i.e. exercise programmes, healthy eating, fitness checks, stop smoking programmes. Engagement temperature checks amongst the employee population Team leader workshops in identifying stress and supporting employees Review the benefits package for the leadership population to reduce churn Validation of the process within the leadership teams from day 1 of absence registered, through the fruition of policy outcomes Wellbeing days across function for all levels to understand support tools references – Data British Gas Business – Absence Manager Data sample from 2010 – 2014. Accessed on the 17th November 2014. British Gas Business – HR Function – Team Leader Exit data – 2014. Accessed on the 19th November 2014.

An Analysis Of The Financial Annual Report Of Victrex Plc Accounting Essay

1.0 IntroductionThis paper comprises of two subdivisions. The first subdivision involves an analysis of the fiscal one-year study of Victrex Plc in 2010, and appraisal of the public presentation of the concern in 2010 in comparing to the old twelvemonth 2009. The analysis will be carried out by reexamining the fiscal information provided in the company ‘s one-year study allocated for this paper. The type of information included in said one-year study are the Chairman ‘s statement, the Chief Executive Officer ‘s reappraisal, Financial Director ‘s study, the Director ‘s study & A ; the fiscal statements such as income statement, balance sheet and hard currency flow statement. An overview of the concern public presentation over the last five old ages will besides be discussed. The relevant ratios will be computed in order to analyze the public presentation of the concern and suggestion decisions and tax write-offs where appropriate. Other relevant informati on such as corporate administration and accounting policies will be considered and discussed. The 2nd subdivision of this paper will analyze the relevancy of working capital direction in a concern and discoursing how the author playing the function of financial officer impacted on working capital.Furthermore, techniques such as fringy costing and budgeting and their benefits in the decision-making procedure will be compared to the existent universe state of affairs.1.1 COMPANY OVERVIEWVictrex Plc is a taking planetary maker of high public presentation thermoplastics polymers which began utilizing the VICTREXA ®PEEK in Western Europe and United States to turn to the demands in the automotive and transit sector. As concern became planetary, Victrex expanded into high turning markets such as Japan, China, India, Russia, and Brazil. The company has over 30years experience in the production of polyketone. Within this clip of operation, Victrex Plc has a production, engineering, client service and distribution squad that spans over 30 states worldwide. Victrex Plc portions are li sted in the London Stock Exchange. Victrex Plc comprises of two divisions viz. the Victrex Polymer Solution and the Invibio Biomaterial Solutions. Victrex Polymer Solution focuses on the conveyance, industrial and the electronic markets. This division specialises in the development and industry of high public presentation polyaryletherketones such as VICTREXA ®PEEKa„? polymer, VICOTEA ® coatings and APTIVa„? movies. On the other manus, Invibio Biomaterial Solutions focuses on supplying specialist solutions for medical device makers. This division provides entree to extremely specialized biocompatible PEEK- based stuffs and services for medical device makers. Their trade names are PEEK-OPTIMA, MOTIS, PEEK-CLASSIX and ENDOLIGN. VICTREXA ®PEEK Polymer is behind most of today ‘s invention in markets runing from automotive, energy, electronics, aerospace, semi music directors, medical, nutrient processing and fabrics.1.2 FIVE Year FINANCIAL SUMMARY REVIEWThe one-year study 2010 of Victrex Plc has some information over the last five old ages of the public presentation of the Organisation. Information in the one-year study high spots consequences on gross, net income before revenue enhancement, balance sheets, hard currency flow ratios and sale volume. However, this study shows that the gross of the company for the past five old ages increased by 6.9 % between 2006 ( ? 122.5m ) and 2007 ( ? 131.0m ) . This growing was due to an addition in gross revenues of their industrial market which went up 16 % above the old twelvemonth due to increase in demand for oil and gas and chemical processing clients. The conveyance market besides increased by 6 % as a consequence of increased commercial aerospace gross revenues. Regionally, United States was up 9 % due to growing in the automotive, commercial aerospace and oil and gas sections, but was partly offset by a decrease in semiconducting material gross revenues. Asia Pacific gross revenues were up 13 % as a growing in addition gross revenues of conveyance and electronics ( Victrex, 2010 ) . In the old ages 2007 and 2008, the company experienced an addition of 7.7 % from ?131.0m in 2007 to ?141.1m in 2008. This growing was as a consequence of addition in gross revenues in Japan and the United States. Besides addition in the commercial aerospace gross revenues in United States and Europe led to the growing in gross ( Victrex, 2010 ) . In Year 2008 and Year 2009, Based on the impact of clients destocking, there was a lessening of ( 26.4 ) % in gross from ?141.1m in 2008 to ?103.8 in 2009. This decrease was as a consequence of decrease of gross revenues volume based on the economic downswing. Transport gross revenues decreased by 41 % in 2009 due to important diminution in automotive gross revenues across all parts. Industrial sale volume besides decreased by 35 % in 2009 as a consequence of reduced oil and gas demand, this besides became resilient based on the economic downswing ( Victrex, 2010 ) . Finally, the study shows that the greatest addition in gross within the five twelvemonth period was between 2009 and 2010 as gross addition was 82.6 % from ?103.8 in 2009 to ?189.5 in 2010. This was as a consequence of addition in gross revenues volume from 1547 metric tons to 2535 metric tons. The benefit of improved implicit in exchange rates as the sterling weakened against their currencies during the twelvemonth besides had a positive impact. Increased gross revenues in electronics were up by 96 % over 2009 which reflected strong gross revenues into the client electronics and semi music director fabrication sector. High demand of merchandises resulted in an addition of gross revenues in the geographical and industrial market which allowed for high stock list degrees and fabrication rates. The addition in gross revenues was as a consequence of restocking tendencies. Other markets such as transport gross revenues volume increased by 59 % over 2009, Industrial gross revenues increas ed by 53 % over 2009. Aerospace showed strong growing due to a combination of higher production degrees and new aircrafts orders driven by positive tendencies and prognosis for both concern and touristry travel, and new application development for the merchandises to assist run into demands ( Victrex, 2010 ) . From the one-year study given for the operating net income ( Net income before involvement and revenue enhancement ) , it can be seen that in twelvemonth 2006 it was ?46.1m and increased in twelvemonth 2007 to ?52.0m, amounting to an addition of ?5.9m. Besides in old ages 2007 and twelvemonth 2008, there was an addition of ?3.0m with operating net income in 2007 as ?52.0m and in 2008 as ?55.0m. However, there was a lessening of ( ?29.9m ) in twelvemonth 2008 and 2009, with operating net income of in 2008 as ?55.0m and in 2009 as ?25.1m. In twelvemonth 2010, the company made the greatest addition of ?49.8m in operating net income between twelvemonth 2009 as ?25.1m and twelvemonth 2010 as ?74.9m ( Victrex, 2010 ) . These figures are illustrated in the diagram belowFigure 1: Victrex Plc ‘s Five Year Gross and Net income before Interest and TaxFrom the chart, it can be deduced that the company had an addition in gross and net income before involvement and revenue enhancement from Y ear 2006- 2008, a decrease in Year 2009 and a important addition in Year 2010.2.0 VICTREX ANNUAL REPORT ANALYSISIn measuring the fiscal state of affairs of Victrex Plc, it is required to look at its Amalgamate Income Statement, Consolidated Balance sheet and Cash Flow Statement. The Ratio Analysis is deduced utilizing four wide countries such as Profitability Ratios, Efficiency Ratios, Liquidity Ratios and Investment Ratios ( White et al. , 2003 ) . For the intent of this paper, the figures used are from the 2010 Annual Report and are calculated in ?million ( m ) .2.1 INTERPRETATION OF ACCOUNTSRatios are indexs to an penetration on countries that need to be examined in more inside informations by comparing the old twelvemonth ( 2009 ) to the undermentioned twelvemonth ( 2010 ) of Victrex Plc ( Perry, 2011 ) . Hence, the ratios are interconnected and used to pull decisions from the analysis by measuring a company ‘s public presentation. To this terminal, Victrex Plc will be ana lysed utilizing the four wide countries of ratio analysis.2.1.1 GrossThe company ‘s income statement shows that gross was up by 82 % to ?189.5m in 2010 from ?103.8m in 2009. This addition was as a consequence of addition in gross revenues volume by 64 % due to a strong recoil in demand across all markets in Europe, Middle East and Africa ( ‘EMEA ‘ ) , America, Asia Pacific and United Kingdom. Besides there was depreciation in sterling as this resulted in the addition of gross of other markets, which enabled the company benefit from the exchange rate derived function. The one-year study shows that the changeless exchange rate of the gross was up 47 % compared to 2009 ( Victrex, 2010 ) .2.1.2 PROFITABILITY RATIOProfitability ratios are used to find how productively the concern is runing. Thus Net income is a step of a concern success ; therefore these ratios are watched by both internal users and external users such as direction and stockholders ( Jones, 2006 ) . Pro fitability ratios comprises of Return on Capital Employed, Return on Total Assets, Return on Shareholders Fund, Gross net income Ratio, Operating Profit Ratio and Mark-up Ratio ( Perry, 2011 ) .2.1.2.1 RETURN ON CAPITAL EMPLOYEDThis ratio considers how efficaciously a company uses its capital employed ( Jones, 2006 ) .According to Perry ( 2011 ) , Return on Capital Employed is defined as: ROCE= Net income before Interest & amp ; Tax ( Operating Profit ) x 100 Entire Assets- Current Liabilities ( Capital Employed ) In 2010, it was 74.9m Ten 100 = 74.9m A-100 = 31.67 % 279.0m – 42.5m 236.5m In 2009, it was 25.1m Ten 100 = 25.1m A- 100 = 12.89 % 221.0m – 26.3m 194.7m From the computation above, it shows that there was an addition of 18.78 % in 2010 compared to 2009. This was due to the operating net income, entire assets and current liabilities. In footings of the operating net income, the addition was up 198 % to ?74.9m in 2010 from ?25.1m in 2009 and this was as a consequence of an addition in gross net income which was impacted by the addition in gross and cost of gross revenues. The gross net income increased 87 % with the gross border at 63.6 % of the gross in 2010.The gross border was 62.1 % in 2009 and was up 63.6 % in 2010. The 1.5 % difference was due to positive impact of currency partly offset by an addition in ‘cost per metric ton ‘ as gross revenues were mostly out of stock list produced in 2009. There was a lessening in production volumes in 2009 as a consequence in increased fixed production costs per metric ton. Gross saless, selling and administrative disbursals increased by 16 % to ?45.7m in 2010 from ?39.4m in 2009 as a consequence of elements of staff wage being linked to the fiscal public presentation. There were besides investings in resources to drive new application development across both divisions. The one-year study besides shows the changeless exchange rate was up 53 % compared to 2009. The Entire Assets besides increased by 26.2 % to ?279m in 2010 from ?221m in 2009, this was as a consequence of an addition in hard currency with ?77.2m in 2010 from ?18.6m in 2009 which reflects the strong recoil in gross revenues generated from operations which was shown on the hard currency flow statement. The current liabilities were up due to an addition in trade and other payables that were affected by accumulations of ?18.7m in 2010 from ?8.8m in 2009 which implies the company still has hard currency to pay to their creditors ( Victrex, 2010 ) .2.1.2.2 RETURN ON TOTAL ASSETSThis ratio shows how good a concern is profitable in relation to its invested assets and what it has taken to fund it ( Dys on, 2007 ) . Harmonizing to Perry ( 2011 ) , Return on Total Assets can be defined as: ROTA = Net income before Interest and Tax A- 100 Entire Assetss In 2010, it was 74.9m A- 100 = 26.85 % 279m In 2009, it was 25.1m A- 100 = 11.36 % 221m The computation above shows that there is an addition of 15.49 % in 2009 to 2010. But this addition was due to an increased operating net income every bit good as an addition in entire assets. As discussed in ROCE, the operating net income increased due to increase in gross net income of 87 % within 2009 and 2010, cost of gross revenues of 75.3 % in 2009 and 2010 and gross of 82 % in 2009 and 2010. Besides in footings of the entire assets, there was an addition in hard currency and hard currency equivalents of 315 % between 2009 and 2010, addition in trade and other receivables which implies addition in money owed to the company by debitors of 21.6 % between 2009 and 2010 and an addition in deferred Tax assets of 36.6 % between 2009 and 2010 ( Victrex, 2010 ) .2.1.2.3 RETURN ON SHAREHOLDERS FundssThis ratio measures how good the direction turned the return on capital employed to a return on the financess invested by the stockholders ( Millichamp, 1997 ) . Harmonizing to Perry ( 2011 ) , Return on Shareholders Fundss can be defined as: ROSF = Profit after Tax ( Net incomes ) A- 100 Stockholders Fundss In 2010, it was 54m A- 100 = 25.60 % 211m In 2009, it was 17.8m A- 100 = 10.60 % 168m From the computation above, there was a 15 % addition between 2009 and 2010 in the return of stockholder ‘s financess. This addition is due to an addition of gross which was as a major accelerator in hiking gross revenues and besides depreciation in the sterling which increased the gross from other markets. Besides there was an addition in the stockholders financess of ?43m between 2009 and 2010, due to the fact that the managers recommended the payment of a concluding dividend of 18.6p per ordinary portion and a particular dividend of 50.0p per ordinary portion, as a consequence of this, there was an addition in the portion premium. Based on the ROSF, it is likely the stockholders will appreciate the consequences, as this shows an addition from the old twelvemonth and the company is doing net income in 2010 ( Victrex, 2010 ) .2.1.2.4 GROSS PROFIT MARGINThis ratio calculates the net income earned through trading, it is utile in a concern where stock is purchased, marked up and so resold ( Jones, 2006 ) . Harmonizing to Perry ( 2011 ) , Gross Profit Margin can be defined as: Gross Profit Margin = Gross Profit A- 100 Gross saless In 2010, it was 120.6m A- 100 = 63.64 % 189.5m In 2009, it was 64.5m A-100 = 62.14 % 103.8m As can be seen above, the Gross net income border difference between 2009 and 2010 is 1.50 % . This addition was based on increased Cost of gross revenues every bit good as in addition in gross. The gross net income increased 87 % with the gross border at 63.6 % of the gross in 2010. The gross border grew to 63.6 % in 2010 from 62.1 % in 2009.The 1.5 % difference was due to positive impact of currency partly offset by an addition in ‘cost per metric ton ‘ as gross revenues were mostly out of stock list produced in 2009. There was a lessening in production volumes in 2009 as a consequence of increased fixed production costs per metric ton. Besides, there was an addition in gross revenues which led to the addition in gross to 82 % to ?189.5m in 2010 from ?103.8m in 2009. Besides depreciation in sterling besides helped the company ‘s growing as the gross of the other markets increased ( Victrex, 2010 ) .2.1.2.5 OPERATING Net income MarginThis is an of import fiscal ind ex ; it is calculated after disbursal in the net income and loss history. It is largely used for internal comparing due to the fact that differing accounting policies applied by different concerns make external comparing complicated ( Perry, 2011 ) . Operating Net income Margin can be defined as: Operating Net income Margin = Net income before Interest and Tax A- 100 ( Perry, 2011 ) Gross saless In 2010, it was 74.9m A- 100 = 39.53 % 189.5m In 2009, it was 25.1m A- 100 = 24.18 % 103.8m The operating net income border difference between 2009 and 2010 is 15.35 % as this was as a consequence of the addition in the operating net income which was up 198 % to ?74.9m in 2010 from ?25.1m in 2009. This was as a consequence of addition in the gross revenues, selling and administrative disbursals and gross net income, every bit good as increased gross revenues. Gross saless, selling and administrative disbursals increased by 16 % to ?45.7m in 2010 from ?39.4m in 2009 as a consequence of elements of staff wage being linked to the fiscal public presentation. There were besides investings in resources to drive new application development across both divisions. The one-year study besides shows the changeless exchange rate was up 53 % compared to 2009. As discussed above, the addition in gross to 82 % to ?189.5m in 2010 from ?103.8m in 2009 was as a consequence of addition in gross revenues. Besides depreciation in sterling besides helped the company ‘s growing as the gross of the other markets increased ( Victrex, 2010 ) .2.1.2.6 MARK UP RATIOThe Mark up Ratio is another manner of mensurating the profitableness of a concern. It besides measures the sum of net income added to the cost of gross revenues, in add-on it can be the cost of goods sold peers to the gross revenues gross ( Perry, 2011 ) . Mark up Ratio can be defined by Dyson ( 2007 ) as: Mark up Ratio = Gross Profit A- 100 Cost of Gross saless In 2010, it was 120.6m A- 100 = 175.04 % ( 68.9 ) m In 2009, it was 64.5m A- 100 = 164.12 % ( 39.3 ) m The Mark up ratio difference between 2009 and 2010 is 10.92 % . This implies that the gross net income increased 87 % with the gross border at 63.6 % of the gross in 2010. The gross border grew to 63.6 % in 2010 from 62.1 % in 2009. The 1.5 % difference was due to positive impact of currency partly offset by an addition in cost per metric tons as gross revenues were mostly out of stock list produced in 2009. There was a lessening in production volumes in 2009 as a consequence of increased fixed production costs per metric ton. Besides, there was an addition in gross revenues which led to an 82 % addition in gross to ?189.5m in 2010 from ?103.8m in 2009. Besides depreciation in Sterling besides helped the company ‘s growing as the gross from other markets increased. Although, Cost of Goods increased by 75.3 % between 2009 and 2010 and this was as a consequence of addition in demand of Victrex Peek Polymers across all markets, the company still made an addition in gross ( Victrex , 2010 ) .2.1.3 EFFICIENCY RATIOThis ratio is besides known as the activity ratio. The efficiency ratio is used to mensurate how efficaciously a concern endeavor is runing. It is concerned about the chiefly usage of assets ( Jones, 2006 ) . This ratio is used to find how a concern uses its assets to keep its activities and gross revenues ( White et al. , 2003 ) . Four of the efficiency ratios will be used to analyze Victrex Plc.2.1.3.1 SALES PER ?1 CAPITAL EMPLOYED ( NET ASSET TURNOVER )This ratio is besides known as Asset Turnover Ratio. It indicates how efficaciously the stockholders financess are bring forthing money ( Perry, 2011 ) . Harmonizing to Perry ( 2011 ) , It can be defined as: Gross saless per ?1 Capital Employed = Gross saless = Gross saless Capital Employed Total Assets – Current Liabilitiess In 2010, it is 189.5m = 189.5m = 0.80 times 278.9m -42.5m 236.5m In 2009, it is 103.8m = 103.8m = 0.53 times 221.0m – 26.3m 194.7m The consequences above show that the stockholders financess generated more money in 2010 than in the old twelvemonth. There was an addition in gross due to an addition in gross revenues and a depreciation of Sterling besides helped the company ‘s growing as the gross from other markets increased. Capital employed increased by ?41.8m between 2009 and 2010. This was as a consequence of addition in hard currency and hard currency equivalents, trade and other receivables, deferred revenue enhancement rates & A ; trade and other payables. Giving a proper account, the entire assets besides increased by 26.2 % to ?279m in 2010 from ?221m in 2009, this was as a consequence of an addition in hard currency with ?77.2m in 2010 from ?18.6m in 2009 which reflects the strong recoil in gross revenues generated from operations which was shown on the hard currency flow statement. The current liabilities were up due to an addition in trade and other payables that were affected by accumulations o f ?18.7m in 2010 and ?8.8m in 2009 which implies the company still has hard currency to pay to their creditors ( Victrex, 2010 ) .2.1.3.2 NON- CURRENT ( FIXED ) ASSET TURNOVERThis ratio provides an analysis of how expeditiously the fixed assets are at bring forthing gross revenues. It is effectual as an internal index when comparing one period with another ( Perry, 2011 ) .According to Perry ( 2011 ) , it can be defined as: Non- Current ( Fixed ) Asset Turnover = Gross saless Non-Current ( Fixed ) Assetss In 2010, it was 189.5m = 1.31 145.1m In 2009, it was 103.8m = 0.71 146.8m Looking at the consequences above, Victrex Plc used its fixed assets more efficaciously in 2010 compared to 2009 therefore the concern is less at hazard in 2010 than in 2009. This can be explained stating â€Å" for every GBP ( ? ) tied up in non-current assets, the sum generated from gross revenues was higher † . This can be farther explained due to the addition in gross which was due to a encouragement in gross revenues and depreciation of the Sterling as before discussed in the old subdivision. There was a lessening in fixed assets and this can be explained looking at the lessening in belongings, works and equipment which was ?125.3m in 2010 from ?129.5m in 2009, this lessening was as a consequence of depreciation over the utile economic life of the assets. Besides Intangible assets besides decreased in 2010 to ?10.1m from ?10.3m in 2009 due to the good will of the acquisition of Victrex Polymer Solution being tested for damage, therefore cut downing the good will of the ac quisition. Besides the impact of the know-how of the acquisition associated with the natural stuff BDF was to the full amortised by 2010 ensuing to no consequence on the intangible assets ( Victrex, 2010 ) .2.1.3.3 INVENTORY TURNOVER RATIOThis ratio is besides known as stock turnover ratio. This ratio efficaciously measures the velocity with which stock moves through the concern. This varies from concern to concern and merchandise to merchandise ( Jones, 2006 ) . Harmonizing to Perry ( 2011 ) , it can be defined as: Inventory Turnover Ratio = Cost of Goods Sold Inventory In 2010, it was 68.9m = 2.00 times 34.5m In 2009, it was 39.3m = 1.06 times 37.2m The computation above shows that the stock list turnover increased 2.00 times in 2010, this implies that for every sale of two, there was one stock list held while in 2009, for every sale of one, there was one stock list held. Thus Victrex Plc was more effectual in 2010 at buying and merchandising of goods, farther explicating that there was more sale compared to the degree of stock list held and the company was able to turn over its stock list better compared to the old twelvemonth ( 2009 ) .This consequence is affected by the addition in cost of goods sold which was ?68.9m in 2010 from ?39.3m in 2009 as there was a higher demand of merchandises in 2010 and the betterment over the period reflects the favorable effectual exchange rates together with a lower implicit in cost of gross revenues per metric ton in the 2nd half ensuing from lower fixed costs per metric ton as production volume increased. Inventory decreased to ?34.5m in 2010 from ?37.2m in 2009, although natural stuffs inc reased due to the company carrying natural stuffs to enable them keep supplies during any short term break but finished goods decreased in 2010 compared to 2009 because there was a short term rush in the demand for goods ( Victrex, 2010 ) .2.1.3.4 RECEIVABLES COLLECTION PERIODThis ratio seeks to mensurate how long clients take to pay their debts. Therefore, the quicker the concern collects and Bankss the money, the better it is for the company. This ratio can be used monthly, hebdomadal or day-to-day footing ( Jones, 2006 ) . Harmonizing to Perry ( 2011 ) , it can be defined as: Receivables Collection Period = Receivables A- 365 Gross saless In 2010, it was 19.1m A- 365 = 36.79 yearss 189.5m In 2009, it was 15.7m A- 365 = 55.21 yearss 103.8m Looking at the computations above, this implies that the concern was more efficient at retrieving its debts from clients as the consequences were lower in 2010 with 36.79days compared to 55.21days in 2009. This was as a consequence of addition in gross revenues of goods produced in 2010 compared to 2009. This besides indicates that in 2010 there was better hard currency flow as it took a shorter clip to have money owed by clients compared to 2009 ( Victrex, 2010 ) .2.1.4 LIQUIDITY RATIOThese ratios are derived from the balance sheets and seek to prove how easy a company can pay its debts. These ratios are of import to loan creditors such as bankers who have loaned to the concern ( Jones, 2006 ) . There are two types of ratios viz. the ‘current ratio ‘ and the ‘acid trial ratio ‘ ( Perry, 2011 ) . These ratios will be used to analyze Victrex Plc ‘s liquidness.2.1.4.1 CURRENT RATIOThis ratio tests whether the short term assets cover the short term liabilit ies. If this is non the instance, so there will be deficient liquid financess instantly to pay to the creditors ( Jones, 2006 ) . Harmonizing to Perry ( 2011 ) , Current ratio can be defined as: Current Ratio = Inventory + Receivables + Cash and Cash Equivalents Payabless + Short Term Borrowings In 2010, it was 34.52m + 0.74m + 19.11m + 2.24m +77.27m = 133.88m = 3.15: 1 ( 25.15 ) m + ( 15.11 ) m + ( 2.27 ) m ( 42.53 ) m In 2009, it was 37.17m + 1.02 m+15.66 m+ 1.70m +18.56m = 74.11m = 2.82: 1 ( 6.30 ) m + ( 5.42 ) m + ( 14.58 ) m ( 26.3 ) m From the computation above, current ratio increased from 2.82 in 2009 to 3.15 in 2010. Therefore in 2010, for every ?1 in current liabilities, there is ?3.15 in current assets compared to 2009 during which for every ?1 in current liabilities, there is ?2.82 in current liabilities. This implies that the concern has adequate hard currency to cover its liabilities. If the current assets exceed the current liabilities, this could bespeak sufficient hard currency in the concern ( Dyson, 2007 ) . However, the major impact on the addition in current ratio was as a consequence of addition in hard currency of ?58.7m between 2009 and 2010, which reflects the strong recoil in gross revenues and the Group has a committed bank installation of ?40m, all of which was undrawn at the twelvemonth terminal and this expires in September 2012. Besides looking at the hard currency flow statement, the company generated hard currency from operations. There was an addition in receivables of ?3.4m between 200 9 and 2010. The current liabilities were up due to an addition in trade and other payables that were affected by accumulations of ?18.7m in 2010 from ?8.8m in 2009 which implies the company still has hard currency to pay to their creditors and besides an addition in current income revenue enhancement liabilities of ?9.7m between 2009 and 2010 ( Victrex, 2010 ) .2.1.4.2 ACID TEST RATIOThis is besides known as the Quick Ratio. It is a step of utmost short -term liquidness, therefore the acerb trial ratio excludes stock lists, which is the least liquid of the current assets to get at an immediate trial of the company ‘s liquidness ( Jones, 2006 ) . The importance of this ratio is that it has a clearer image of the state of affairs as a house may non be able to dispose of its stock lists instantly ( Dyson, 2007 ) .According to Perry ( 2011 ) , Acid Test Ratio can be defined as: Acid Test Ratio = Receivables + Cash and Cash Equivalents Payabless + Short Term Borrowings In 2010, it was 0.74m + 19.11m + 2.24m +77.27m = 99.36m = 2.34: 1 ( 25.15 ) m + ( 15.11 ) m + ( 2.27 ) m ( 42.53 ) m In 2009, it was 1.02m +15.66m + 1.70m +18.56m = 36.94m = 1.40: 1 ( 6.30 ) m + ( 5.42 ) m + ( 14.58 ) m ( 26.30 ) m Looking at the computation above, there is an addition in Acid trial ratio of 2.34 in 2010 from 1.40 in 2009, even after the stock lists were removed. This means that the concern has adequate hard currency to cover its liabilities. This implies that the stock lists did non hold an impact in the ratio as the major part to this alteration were the addition in hard currency every bit good as the addition in trade and other receivables, addition in payables and current income revenue enhancement liabilities, as these were explained above in the current ratio ( Victrex, 2010 ) . Therefore an acerb trial ratio above one ( 1 ) implies the company can still change over hard currency at easiness.2.1.5 FINANCIAL GEARING RATIOSThese ratios measure the ability of the concern to run into its longer-term duties and they indicate the sum of hazard to which stockholders are exposed through the sum of debt nowadays in the concern capital construction ( Jones, 2006 ) . Gearing ratio and Interest Cover will be used to analyze Victrex Plc.2.1.5.1 GEARING RATIOThis ratio measures the relationship between equity and debt capital of a company. The geartrain of a concern demonstrates how reliant the concern is on borrowed money, instead than portion capital. ( Perry, 2011 ) . Harmonizing to Perry ( 2011 ) , pitching ratio can be defined as: Gearing Ratio = Net Borrowings ( Debts ) A- 100 Stockholders Fundss ( Equity ) Harmonizing to Annual Report, the geartrain ratio could non be calculated as there were no net adoptions in 2009 and 2010. Based on the fact that the Group had a committed bank installation of ?40m, all of which was undrawn at the twelvemonth terminal and this expires in September 2012 ( Victrex, 2010 ) .2.1.5.2 Interest ScreenThis ratio is of peculiar involvement to those who have loaned money to the company ( Jones, 2006 ) . Harmonizing to Perry ( 2011 ) , it can be defined by demoing the relationship during the trading period between runing net incomes and the involvement charges ensuing from the degree of debt during the period. The expression is: Interest Cover = Operating Profit = Operating Net income Net Interest/ Finance charges Finance Cost – Finance Income In 2010, it was 74.9m = 74.9m = 1.63 ( 93 ) m -139m ( 46 ) m In 2009, it was 25.1m = 25.1m = 0.81 ( 60 ) m – 91m ( 31 ) m Deducing from the computation above, the involvement screen has increased in 2010 to 1.63 from 0.81 in 2009. This addition implies that the company is bring forthing adequate gross to pay its debts. This addition in 2010 is due to the fact that the operating net income increased which is as a consequence of addition in gross as there was more demand of the merchandises taking to an addition in gross revenues compared to the old twelvemonth ( 2009 ) . Therefore in 2009, the concern could hold been in a fiscal hazard as at that place might non hold been sufficient hard currency to sit out sudden downswing as a consequence of the lessening in gross. The finance income increased in 2010 to ?139m from ?91m in 2009. The Finance Cost increased by ?33m between 2009 and 2010. This ratio is of import to stockholders ( Victrex, 2010 ) .3.0 DecisionRatio Analysis is a really of import manner of measuring the overall public presentation of an Organisation. Many administrations use this technique to compare the company ‘s public presentation over clip or compare it with the fiscal public presentation of other companies. However, holding analysed Victrex ‘s Plc ‘s, it can be said that Victrex Plc is a traveling concern as it has sufficient hard currency and resources to command its operational being. Looking at the five twelvemonth fiscal sum-up, it can be said that that twelvemonth 2010 has proven to be the best fiscal twelvemonth over the period. These analysis show that the company had an addition in hard currency and hard currency equivalents, addition in gross revenues volume, high gross border and besides an addition in the operating net income. Therefore, in footings of its profitableness, the company had an addition in the gross border demoing an betterment which was based on addition in gross with the the major accelerator to this being the favorable exchange rates and increase in gross revenues. The operating border besides increased as a consequence of the addition of gross revenues, selling and disposal disbursals which emanated from elements of staff wage being linked to the fiscal public presentation. There was besides an addition in the return of capital employed, return on entire assets and besides return on stockholders financess. This addition in 2010 indicates that the company has done better overall compared to the old old ages in footings of a step in the concern success doing the company attractive as an investing. Looking at the efficiency ratio, the stock list turnover increased as a consequence of high demand of merchandises across different markets. The non-current assets ratio increased although Property, works and equipment decreased as a consequence of depreciation of the assets, Besides the receivables aggregation period reduced bespeaking that the company is better at recovering its debts from its debitors, and eventually Net plus turnover besides increased as a consequence of addition in hard currency and hard currency equivalent as its impact reflected on the capital employed. Therefore, this addition in 2010 indicates that the company is better at utilizing its assets efficaciously in bring forthing gross revenues compared to the old old ages. Sing the liquidness of the company, a decision can be drawn based on the current plus ratio and the acerb trial ratio which indicate an addition due to hard currency and hard currency equivalents and besides the addition in the trade and other receivables, therefore bespeaking that the company will be able to pay off any debt if a state of affairs occurs in twelvemonth 2010. In footings of the fiscal geartrain ratios, this helps to bespeak how stable the company is, looking at Victrex Plc, there was no pitching ratio calculated as the house had no net adoptions but there was an addition in involvement screen this was as a consequence of the addition in operating net income and besides based on the addition in portion premium, therefore this addition in 2010 will let stockholders to appreciate the growing of the concern compared to the old twelvemonth. Conclusively, Victrex Plc appears to be a well positioned company for continued growing in its section of the market in twelvemonth 2010 compared to the old twelvemonth. The direction of Victrex Plc have a good apprehension of the markets they operate in by proactively expecting the expected demands of their clients and go oning to take advantage of chances within the market topographic point and spread out its skylines as a market leader in the production of high public presentation thermoplastics polymers.WORD COUNT: 5579Section 24.0 THE ROLE OF WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT IN MANAGING A BUSINESSWorking Capital can be defined as the current assets less current liabilities. The major constituents of the current assets are stock lists, trade and other receivables and hard currency and hard currency equivalents while current liabilities constituents are trade and other payables, bank overdraft and short term adoptions ( Mclaney & A ; Atrill, 2008 ) . Working Capital Management can be defined as the direction and control of the current assets and current liabilities which are the chief components of the on the job capital ( Mathur, 2002 ) . The importance of working capital direction is an indispensable portion of a concern short-run planning procedure. Management should do determinations on how much of each constituent should be held ( Mclaney & A ; Atrill, 2008 ) .According to Vijayakumar ( 2001 ) , the significance of working capital direction comprises of two grounds viz. 1 ) A significant part of a entire investing is invested in the current assets and 2 ) degree of the current assets and current liabilities will alter as a consequence in fluctuation in gross revenues. Working capital direction is of import to the fiscal wellness of the concern from all industries. The on the job capital demands of a peculiar concern are likely to alter over clip as a consequence of alterations in the concern environment, giving room for determinations to be made invariably ( Mclaney & A ; Atrill, 2008 ) . Therefore Working Capital has acquired a great significance and sound place for two duplicate objects of profitableness and liquidness. The importance of working capital direction and its satisfactory proviso can take non merely to material nest eggs in the economical usage of capital but besides assist in fostering the ultimate purpose of the concern by maximizing the fiscal returns on the minimal sum of capital that needs to be employed ( Vijayakumar, 2001 ) . If on the job capital is mismanaged, it can take to loss of net incomes in the short-term but will consequences to a ruin of the house in the long-term. Thus the adequateness of working capital together with efficient managing determines the endurance or death of the house. In the existent universe scenario, a house can be and last without doing net income but it can non last without working capital financess, therefore this could take to bankruptcy and closing over a period of clip. Therefore in footings of the working capital direction, one should see the short-run liquidness place of the house. The investing determination in the current assets trades with a few jobs with working capital direction as profitableness and liquidness are dependent on the current assets direction. Therefore an appropriate degree of current assets and current liabilities in the concern determines the degree of working capital that affects the house ‘s liquidness ( Vijayakumar, 2001 ) . The victorious game was a simulation during the fiscal analysis and control faculty, the author ‘s function in this game was a financial officer. The financial officer ‘s duty in the game was to rede the squad on hard currency planning, to manage, control and record hard currency motions and fix the hard currency flow statement. After readying of the hard currency flow statement, the financial officer reconciled the hard currency records to the existent hard currency place throughout the twelvemonth. The financial officer worked closely with the fiscal director to jointly command all hard currency motions whether receivables or payables. The financial officer besides advised the squad to win gross revenues from the place market as receivable period was one one-fourth and the sale to the foreign markets was two quarters. Selling to the place market helped increase the hard currency flow state of affairs as hard currency was gotten faster for goods sold. The beginnings of financess were through loans, discounting and bing stockholder ‘s equity. The squad merely indulged in the discounting option one time as seen in twelvemonth one in the income statement as it was seen as less profitable. However, high sums of loans were borrowed in twelvemonth two to back up the technology and quality in order to be able to win commands as this can be shown in the balance sheet for twelvemonth one and two. Overall, looking at the direction of the on the job capital of the game, one can infer that as a consequence of hapless squad determination doing which led to high stock list degree based on purchase of natural stuffs which were non planned decently, the purchase of new equipments increased the work in advancement, we did non profit in gross revenues as we had insufficient contract to run into capacity and besides big unfilled contracts led to increase in the degree of stock list. Receivables were besides delayed due to the type of contract we bided for and besides dependant on the foreign market which took a long clip to have hard currency. Therefore in the existent universe state of affairs, the financial officer should give considerable clip in effectual control and the supervising of working capital constituents as this generates growing and net income of the concern.WORD COUNT: 7785.0 MARGINAL CostingFringy costing can be defined as a technique which divides costs in two classs viz. fixed cost and variable cost when bring forthing an excess unit of a merchandise. A fixed cost can be defined in the short tally as it does non change in entire when end product fluctuates, for illustration ; rent for a mill, while variable costs are those that entire cost varies pro rata with the volume of end product, for illustration, Direct Material and Direct Labour ( Mott, 2008 ) . Harmonizing to Perry ( 2011 ) , a circumstance whereby a merchandise is already being produced and an extra merchandise is demanded by a client, the cost of bring forthing the extra merchandise is referred to as Marginal Costing. In the winning border game, the fringy costing enabled the squad to do determinations based on what type of merchandises to be manufactured and what is required in the production. In Year 3 of the game, the squad explored chances in order to increase profitableness by puting in merchandise support to guarantee all merchandises are sold. It besides helped in optimizing part by measuring the difference between the best and worst scenarios of the terrier and the tiger ‘s sale values, variable cost and unit part. Therefore, the benefit of the fringy costing in the game helped the squad purpose at winning orders closer to the best terminal of the part where it was profitable. In the existent universe state of affairs, Marginal Costing is used by direction to assist do determinations to the best cost of action in the short term ( Millichamp, 1997 ) . Decisions made by direction by the aid of fringy costing can be classified harmonizing to Mott ( 2008 ) as: Make or Buy Decisions One -off pricing Decisions The effects of a alteration in Product Mix The Volume requires to interrupt even or do a specified net income A pick between Alternative Cost StructuresWORD COUNT: 3126.0 BUDGETINGBudgeting can be defined as an of import tool for pull offing and commanding a concern ( Mclaney & A ; Atrill, 2008 ) . Harmonizing to Perry ( 2010 ) , a budget aim identifies where the concern demands to be at the terminal of a fiscal twelvemonth. A budget should be prepared as a resource program to enable that both fiscal and market aims are achieved. Therefore Harmonizing to Drury ( 2004 ) and Millichamp ( 1997 ) , the intent of budgeting are classified into several features ; some of these features would be used by the author to discourse the budgeting technique used in the winning border game. These Features are as follows: Planning: Budgets are used for future planning of activities in a company. It is used to benchmark to guarantee companies run into their ends. In the winning border, the squad made programs based on what merchandise should be produced, what market to put in and programs based on fiscal issues such as loans to enable be aftering on hard currency influx and escape. Profitableness: Budgets can be used for measuring future profitableness of direction programs. This is used in comparing the budget program to the existent consequences as this was done in the winning border in twelvemonth two in ciphering the production budget and gross revenues budget which was compared to the existent program. Coordination: The benefit of a budget is to enable assorted sections to collaborate and compromise when there is limited resources. In the winning game, the squad cooperated in respects to the production capacity as to what contract to travel for, what market to put in and what stock to buy and this helps observe any coordination jobs and better efficiency. Communication: Budgeting enabled different sections in the winning border game exchange information and thoughts as the financial officer recorded hard currency motions, fiscal director handled the fiscal policies, the buying director was in charge of stock list, the commercial director was cognizant of what market to put in and the production director was cognizant of what equipment to purchase. Resource Allocation: Budget aid in easing resource allotment in a company. In the winning border, resources were distributed across the assorted sections as hard currency escape was as a consequence of technology and quality, merchandise support and equipments. In the existent universe, Budgeting can be used to advance frontward thought and it is a short term agencies of working towards a concern aims.WORD COUNT: 394

A Study on the Purpose of Marine Biology and the Effect of the Ocean Phenomena on Aquatic Animals

A Study on the Purpose of Marine Biology and the Effect of the Ocean Phenomena on Aquatic Animals Taking into account that around 70% of the earth is covered in oceans, marine biology is evidently a vital discipline in the protection of life in the waters. Marine biology is the scientific study of oceanic organisms or brackish and aquatic bodies in the water. This also includes plants and the terrestrial environment which has a direct impact on the sea waters. There are several disciplines in marine biology such as biological oceanography, physical oceanography, astronomy, chemistry, zoology, embryology, taxonomy, cellular biology, natural history and geology, molecular biology, morphology, and meteorology. A new aspect of marine conservation has lately drawn new scientific disciplines such as biogeography, marine ecology, botany, anthropology, zoology, fisheries biology, genetics, economics and law. This paper seeks to look at the principal aim of marine biology and discovering how aquatic organisms are controlled by ocean phenomena. Marine biology is concerned with various aspects of living in the waters. E.g. the way in which various organisms are adapted to the physical and chemical properties of oceanic water, the currents and movements of the ocean, the availability of light to various oceanic depths, and the solid surface of the sea floor. The marine is also a huge source of food supply, e.g. fish and shrimps. The weather and climatic conditions are also affected by the ocean circulation, and a lot of income is generated through international commerce, tourism and recreation. The dynamics of existence is also of essence in the study of marine biology. For instance the oxygen cycle by coral reefs, the predator- prey relations and the food chains, population and distribution, overfishing, invasive and endangered species. Another aspect of interest is the effects of pollution to the life of organisms in the oceans, especially oil spillages caused by shipping, inorganic wastes, sewage effluents, fertilizers and pesticides run-off from terrestrial land sources and silting owing to coastline construction activities. The marine is home to various aquatic beings. These include seabirds such as penguins and auks, various types of fish, invertebrates like the jellyfish, mammals such as whales and dolphins, reptiles such as sea snakes and sea turtles, marine fungi such as algae, plants like the mangrove, sea grass and seaweeds, and other microscopic organisms such as the zoo and phytoplankton. These organisms survive in different habitats in the ocean. There are two major categories of marine habitats namely pelagic or coastal habitat and demarsal or open ocean habitat. The pelagic habitats are those at the surface of the water while demarsal habitats are found deep in the sea. Marine organisms are consequently categorised depending on their habitats. i.e. pelagic organisms and demersal organisms, (Trist, 1999). Various technologies are used in marine biology to help in discovering the nature of survival and providence and the importance of marine life to man, e.g. in the provision of not only food and water, but also medicine, raw material and hydraulic energy. There are special tools that marine researchers use so as to effectively study marine life. These include trawling, which is used in collection of marine specimen and plankton nets to catch microorganisms in the water. These methods are mainly used for sampling. Tracking methods are also used and these encompass photo- identification research, critter cams, and hydrophones for detecting and recording acoustic signals in the ocean. The sound data is effective in monitoring the waves, ships, marine mammals and other oceanic activity. The sonar, which is similar to sounding, is essential in tracking larger objects in water and measuring the bathymetry (ocean depth). The sonar works by detecting echoes under water since sound waves in wa ter last longer than in air. Satellite tags are also used for tracking marine life. They are usually tagged with sensors that determine their migratory patterns. The satellites are also useful in measuring oceanic geographical data such as the colour and temperature of the water. These data helps in analysing oceanic characteristics such as the climate, the cold upwelling the warm water and the currents. There are also observational equipment used under the sea, these include the Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) which are unmanned robots that transmit data to researchers where diving is considered a health hazard. The ROVs are usually fitted with specimen retrieval tools, still and video cameras as well as other mechanical equipment necessary for carrying out measurements. Fibre optics is also an observational tool that uses LED light and cameras with low light, which are not distractions to deep marine life, to capture behavioural and characteristic aspects of sea creatures. Some sophisticated computerized technology is as well used in the collection, procession, analysis and display of data captured from sensors positioned strategically in marine environment to enhance measurement of temperature, salinity, navigation, depth and meteorological data. Researchers also operate under the waters. They live and work beneath water surfaces for lengthy periods. This was termed as the Aquarius by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (NOAA). The impact of humans on the ocean is often more damaging than constructive. This is through pollution which causes severe and diverse changes to the marine life, which subsequently results to a hazardous ecosystem. Pollution causes acidifying and warming of the ocean, expansion of dead zones within the oceanic depths and changes in water circulation. As a result, there is little abundance of sea grasses, mangroves, coral reefs and fish. The aquatic food chains are also altered as the distribution takes a new angle. More pests and diseases also become apparent in marine life, (Global Change Institute, 2010). However, what humans do not realize is the importance of marine life in the existence and survival of man and the earth at large. Most notably is the role of marine biology in land formation through erosion and displacement. This is quite relevant to the creation of the earth. According to history, the earth was initially a huge mass of land called the Pangaea. This super continen t had a ridge at the middle known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The hot spots in the ocean floor, holes underneath the ocean, released hot magma and lava from the core of the earth which caused a big crack. The cooling of the magma and lava formed a solid known as land. This is said to be a continuous process as the hot spots continue releasing colossal amounts of lava each year. Currently the frozen solids formed on the ocean surfaces are called islands. This shows how influential the ocean can be in the entire ecosystem. The air quality on earth is also influence by coral reefs, which are said to produce approximately 82% of the world’s oxygen while there is dissolution of carbon dioxide in the water. Coral reefs are also a source of food for marine life and a natural habitat for them. They are also a source of income as they are a site to the tourists, (Pandolfi, 2003). Therefore, lots of conservation needs to be done on marine life. There are various positive impacts of the marine life to humans. For example, it is a hub for future medical and pharmaceutical advancements. This is seen in cone snails (conidae) which are highly venomous. They produce neurotoxins which have a relaxing effect to the muscles. i.e. they are nerve inhibitors. This inhibitory action may be potential in providing alternative medications to the morphine which are significantly powerful and non-addictive. Another research advancement made in the biomedical applications is the identification of a special type of glue from a particular marine worm that tends to harden aqueous environments and seal veins and bones. This invention came from the discovery that this particular worm builds its habitat underwater by gluing up sand particles. Sponges have also been known to heal wounds faster and are thus used in surgical operations. Raw materials from the sea could also help in provision and supply of industrial and building materials, (Guldberg, 2010). Marine biology is palpably a vital discipline in realising the dependence of all terrestrial life and the planet as a whole on the ocean. It is thus, important to prevent more damage mainly caused by human ignorance and work to conserve and restore the damaged marine ecosystem and preserve vulnerable marine species.

Conflicts in Organizations Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Conflicts in Organizations - Research Paper Example d structure is rigidly followed can create conflict when a given shareholder is required to discuss certain aspects of a project or a given task with individuals outside of their direct chain of command. Naturally, evidence of conflict can constitute itself in a vast array of different ways. Most notably, conflict can be visibly evidenced by verbal means or be the fact that formerly close colleagues and/or departments are not longer working together with a level of efficiency that was previously realized. However, more nuanced aspects of conflict can be evidenced by the fact that existing processes are not being followed and workflow is either not getting done at all or is being performed by alternative means. Although there are a number of visible means by which conflict can be evidenced on the surface, the sublevels of conflict can also rob an organization of its competitive advantage. Whereas visible conflict is usually easy to note, hidden conflict is much more difficult to find and determine the root cause of. Similarly, due to the fact that many shareholders are naturally reticent to be completely honest with management regarding the true source of the conflict, hidden conflict is one of the means by which an organization can secretly be drained of efficiency, potential, and talent (Mukhtar 44). Within a situation in which hidden conflict is evidenced, one of the most obvious means by which that this is evidenced is the fact that a greatly lower level of moral is seen among the shareholders. Although this is not always indicative of hidden conflict, it is a key indicator that can be utilized to call the leader’s attention to the fact that underlying levels of conflict may be robbing the organization of efficiency, satisfaction, and talent. More importantly than merely recognizing that conflict exists is of course the measures that can be taken to root it out and ensure that it does not further affect the determinants of the organization which have

INTERNATIONAL HRM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

INTERNATIONAL HRM - Essay Example Based on Hofstede’s (1980) cultural dimensions, the UK and Canadian culture are that of small power distance and with weak uncertainty avoidance, which is completely opposite to Turkish culture with large power distance and strong uncertainty avoidance. The UK and Canadian cultures are highly practical, and exhibit risk-taking behaviours Turkish people try to avoid uncertainties and risky actions. Turkish culture wishes to involve others to arrive at consensus unlike UK and Canada. On Hofstede’s (1980) individualism/collectivism scale, Canada and UK have small power distance and individualistic nature, whereas Turkey has large power distance and is collectivistic in nature. Therefore, UK and Canada are more participative in nature; have less hierarchical dependency; highly democratic and provides equal rights to all individuals. Turkish culture is highly autocratic and follows hierarchically defined roles and responsibilities. Individualistic nations such as UK and Cana da expect every individual to be accountable for self, whereas collectivistic Turkey regards any task or activity to be a collective responsibility. Turkish people are emotionally dependent on each other and morally committed to the organisation, unlike individualistic cultures. In Turkey, rules, policies, duty and security are more important than innovation, autonomy, pleasure or individual financial security like in UK and Canada. Values differ according to the groups in collectivistic cultures whereas individualistic cultures follow universal values for all. Canada and UK fall under weak uncertainty avoidance and masculine nature whereas Turkey has strong uncertainty avoidance and feminine characteristics. In Canada and UK, money is regarded as very important whereas Turkish culture regards people and environment as important. Setting up operations in Ankara,

Organisations and Behaviour Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Organisations and Behaviour - Assignment Example 12 Works Cited 13 Name of the Student Name of the Professor Name of the Course Date 1.1 Comparison of the organizational structure of John Lewis Partnership Company and Bradford College The governance structure in this Partnership business was established by the founder of the organization, John Spedan Lewis. It was formed by staying in compliance with the Company’s constitution. The organizational structure of John Lewis Partnership Company provides the management with the independence and opportunity to become entrepreneurial as well as competitive while carrying out business operations for the achievement of long term success. The owners or the partners of the company are given the ownership responsibilities of the corporation by means of active involvement within the businesses. In contrary, the organizational structure of Bradford College is framed in such manner that the responsibilities are allocated equally to all the staff members. The organization allocates the dutie s, responsibilities and the managing power to the employees in order to ensure coordination and completion of tasks without any redundancy. The Director is the head of the organization. The Director allocates responsibilities to various departments including Finance, marketing and Businesses and Service Departments. The organizational structure of the institution helps in increasing its performance as well. Comparison of the Organizational Culture of John Lewis Partnership Company and Bradford College The organizational culture of John Lewis Partnership Company circulates around the employee ownership which is highly distinct and successful. The business owners of the corporation have themselves explained that their perspectives regarding the benefits from this type of partnership business is highly competitive in the retail environment. As the employees are given the decision making authority and the right to a share of profit, it encourages them to perform well and drive the sales as well as the customer service up high. The employee ownership has a motivational impact on their performances. The partners run the business by means of a self-governing framework consisting of a set of committees who communicates the opinions of the partners back to the Partnership Board, Partnership Council and Chairman. In contrast to this, the organizational culture of the college is based on 7 E’s which are Employability, Equality & Diversification, Enrichment, Enterprise, Environment, Excellence and Engagement of the Employers. The vision of the institution is to provide knowledge and skills to the students in order to help them in achieving their desired career and improving their standard of living. The employers provide the students with wide knowledge and skills related to high levels of numeracy, literacy and Information Technology literacy. It is a place where diversification and equality is encouraged and at the same time,

The Internet and E-Business Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

The Internet and E-Business - Assignment Example Factors, which might hinder communication between people in different countries, are language. It is evident that a person from Australia and a person from Portugal cannot communicate. Nevertheless, internet has come to rescue situation where language becomes a communication. Through internet, such people can translate the language communicated. Therefore, the translated language makes it easier for the people to understand each other. Other than making communication easy, internet has made business more effective internationally. Businesspersons involve internet in their activities in a process commonly known as e-business. E-business is an acronym of electronic name. Therefore, executives involve electronic gadgets in their business activities. Through e-business, executives can engage consumers from all over the world. E-business has enlarged the scope of business activities both nationally and internationally. Just like a normal business organization, e-business online is not eas y to manage. It requires hard work and persistent in order to manage all activities taking place. Statistics has that e-business online is sometimes difficult to manage more than the normal business organization. Moreover, people participating in e-business online pass through many challenges compared to organization managers from normal business organization. All e-business online business has different purposes and responsibility. Nevertheless, they rely on a similar platform to pass information to consumer. They all require a website. Unfortunately, creating a suitable is not easy; it requires time and dedication before establishing a website, which will satisfy the intended consumer. A website is a collection of pages and events in a single entity service single or multi purposes on the internet Just like any other business, e-business online has its unique business environment. Nevertheless, transactions in e-business

Are we free or determined Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Are we free or determined - Research Paper Example On the contrary, when people talk about freedom to do something, it is constructive freedom (Fromm 12). It is, therefore, reasonable to argue that freedom can as well be determined by the objective of the people at a particular time. On the other hand, to be determined is the opposite of being free. Being determined primarily means that the people cannot act out of free will since they are controlled by some socio-political systems. This paper seeks to address the question on freedom and human determination in light of the views of Descartes Rene, Erich Fromm, and James Rachels and Stuart Rachels. In his 1994 book, German-born psychologist and prominent sociologist Erich Fromm looks into the dynamic link between man and the concept of freedom. Fromm addresses the concept of freedom from both the positive and negative side. The sociologist gives the relationship between man and freedom a psycho-sociological approach. His point of reference is the promotion of Nazism in German and Euro pe at large. According to the psychologist, the negative sense of freedom refers to any freewill associated with emancipation. Emancipation involves struggles by a nation to overcome undesirable management by some government or social organization. The struggle colonies were involved in during the freedom struggle is the most apt illustration of this freedom. According to Fromm, this freedom can be disastrous if it does not contain significant aspect of the positive sense of freedom (Fromm 21). In his opinion, Fromm thinks that fighting for emancipation is not a way of running away from trouble but rather a way of moving from one trouble to another. This way, human beings are said to be running away from freedom because doing away with an unwanted government will lead to the creation of another rule that is the same as the former. The sociologist explains that the manner in which Adolf Hitler rose to power can be explained by the struggle for emancipation, without bearing in mind wh at exactly is suitable for a country (Fromm 34). By Hitler rising to power, the Germans had not solved a problem. In any case, they had left a terrible situation and plunged their country into more serious problems. The rise of capitalism made human beings realize that they could work independently to determine their futures. They realized that they were being transformed into slaves whose work was to meet socio-economical duties. At this point, people stopped thinking of the idea of going to a state office, which was characterized by unnecessary red tape management, as being viable. It is at this point that human beings began focusing on self employment and identity management. According to Fromm, it is during this time that people realized the need for open and liberalized thinking. Employing such individualized ideas affected people’s perceptions of religion (Fromm 56). People began to develop individuated thoughts about the Supreme Being. It is for this simple reason that up to this day, some people still question the existence of God. Still, the churches and other religious institutions influence people’s thoughts on the existence of God and various religious doctrines. Fromm explains that the human race is not free. Like Rachels and Rachels in their book Problem Form Philosophy, he argues that the human race is influenced and determined by various socio-political structures and systems. The sociologist

Obesity and chemistry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Obesity and chemistry - Essay Example The government spends more than $7000 in medical treatment and lost productivity of a single obese person. Obesity is blamed for more than 160,000 deaths a year. Understanding the factors that lead to obesity Shedding extra weight is very difficult despite the seemingly simple formula of consuming fewer calories than being expended. Dieting is not effective for two thirds of dieters who end up heavier two years after dieting. The National Institutes of Health is spending $800 million annually to understand the underlying causes of obesity with focus on metabolism, genetics and neurology. Highlights of the researches are protein function, signaling pathways in the brain and other organs, obesity genes, and effects of environment on metabolism and weight gain. The large body work has led to understanding of protein interactions that result in energy extraction and distribution; fat production and storage; hunger signals emanating from the brain, and genetic inclination towards obesity. In the brain, the hypothalamus, brain stem, limbic system, and the pre-frontal cortex are involved in controlling hunger and fullness. Metabolic studies show that brown fat is associated with lower weight or leanness in some persons; while the prevalence of white fat is for storage of excess energy, and hence increased weight. Genetic studies identified more or less twenty genes that correlate with predisposition to weight gain, although the effects were later quantified to be modest. Genetic regulators for obesity were identified in mice, but human homologues are not yet known. Possibly, the environment has a large effect on the switching on of genes that predispose an individual to obesity. However, since the results of biological studies have not been translated to a solution for the problem on obesity, the article proposes that the best approach is behavioral psychology methods that have been used for over than 50 years and proven to work in treating autism, alcoholism and stut tering. Behavioral psychology as a solution to obesity In the hope of finding a quick means to losing weight, the public is easy to follow recommendations from researches that are played up by the media. However, the results of the different studies are sometimes in conflict. It is clear that the obesity problem cannot be fixed by a single simple action because of the contribution of many factors. The combination of social, biological, economics and marketing factors make simple solutions to obesity fail. Diets and exercise regimens are also bound to fail because they become more punishing as weight is lost, since more effort is exerted to retain that loss. Furthermore, as the diet and exercise become more severe, the reward (reduced weight) recedes. A less punishing regimen will make more people stick with it. Changing behavior has had the most success in losing modest amounts of weight and keeping off that weight with diet and exercise. This approach involves making small sustaina ble modifications in the eating and exercises habits with the encouragement of people and environment surrounding the individual. The basis for the behavioral approach goes back to more than fifty years when BF Skinner, Harvard university psychologist, developed the science of behavioral analysis. The foundation for the approach is the belief that the workings of the brain are unknown despite advanced science, but physical behavior is measurable and so is the

MANAGING GROUPS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

MANAGING GROUPS - Essay Example However, these situations point at a lack of proper communication and leadership. At this point of time when Dave, Joe, and Ryan are in trouble and are thinking of plans to shape their future, it is important to learn from their mistakes. Having regular meetings with each other is good and is essential. But in future it should be not three of them rather it should be with the six of them. Managing groups and teams in the workplace is a key area of competence required by any company and this is the area in which Dave, Joe, and Ryan need to specialize. Taking into confidence the three new comers should have been in the priority list, however none of the three took initiatives towards this. They were more worried regarding their position in the company. Though they had good communication with each other, they were not able to communicate with Cliff, Darlene, and Margaret. There should be frequent open discussion between the six of them. Such meetings would be fruitful in taking decisions on whether to partner with OfficeOne. Besides these meetings would be a stage to bring out clearly the positive and the possible negative impact on Socaba.com. Each meeting needs to have specific goals/agenda set. This makes the team focus on one issue rather than making it a place for solving conflicts. The strength of a company is its people, working together with a common purpose. Although methods, equipment, and procedures are important, and should constantly strive to improve them, the most valuable assets are loyal and capable people. The top management is responsible for creating a workplace of fairness, dignity, and respect. The diversity of our workforce results from a sincere effort to hire and retain dedicated people from the communities. Conflict can be defined as a â€Å"difference of opinion.† With that definition, it is easier to see conflict as something that is natural to a working group. Conflicts occur as a result of lack of proper

Logic and perception to knowledge Essay Example for Free

Logic and perception to knowledge Essay Knowledge is a theoretical or practical understanding of information, in a particular subject. In order to obtain this understanding; one may use the various processes. Perception and logic are both tools for acquiring knowledge. Without the invaluable tools of logic and perception, in many cases, the conclusions, understandings, interpretations and lessons gained through knowledge may be unattainable. Perception is defined as a mental consciousness, a way of intuitive understanding, regarding, or interpreting knowledge. Perception is broken down into two methods, subjective and objective. From this, we can see the value of perception as it creates a connection from information to knowledge. Humans use perception to interpret knowledge from ones individual perspective using emotion, and opinion. Perception is crucial for determining an individuals knowledge of the subject at hand. Perception allows for various interpretations of a piece of information as each individual has different insights on a single subject. This is valuable in the world of obtaining knowledge as it creates contradictions between individuals perceptions which leads to further exploration within a subject and thus bringing out all perceivable conclusions from the subject. For example, in the world of business, people meet and discuss a topic and draw conclusions as each party perceives the idea at hand. This is essential for proving knowledge and portraying the concept to others and thus exploiting the importance and value of perception to knowledge. Logic is defined a way of thinking or explaining something and enables one to take information and employ it as useful knowledge. From the definition itself, we can see the link from logic to knowledge as it has great value in understanding information. Logical thought is broken down into two methods; induction and deduction. The base of deductive logic is comprised of part A, B, and C. Fundamentally; all information processed trough deductive logic goes through this process. If A and B are true, then C must be true. For example, if two pieces of information are presented, A: All people are mortal, and B: I am a human, and this is processed through logical deduction, one can determine that C: I am mortal. This process is employed through more complex information; however it is extremely important and valuable in creating knowledge from information. The other form of logic is induction. Induction is comprised of simple methodology, but it often creates a degree of uncertainty. New knowledge through induction is created by taking past events and occurrences and creating new knowledge. For example if every time I walk through Middle Inglis, no body is ever there, I can, using inductive logic deduce that no one lives there. I have taken past occurrences and processed them through logic and determined new information. Logically, I have determined that in order to create or realize new knowledge using facts and information, one must employ the various tools to do so. As, new knowledge is constantly desired, the value and use of perception and logic is ubiquitous.

The role of gold and the gold commander

The role of gold and the gold commander This chapter will examine the role of Gold, attempt to identify what makes an effective Gold Commander, and seek to establish the extent to which the interaction between Gold and Silver requires technical knowledge and understanding. The chapter will also explore the cultural component of Gold Command, and whether organisational culture places informal barriers in the path of direct entrants being accepted to undertake the role within the Fire Rescue Service. The author intends to define and explain the research question in the context of contemporary ideas and thinking, and to develop a good understanding and insight into relevant previous research and the trends that have emerged (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2003) The Gold Commander is expected to exercise leadership, which traditionally would have been developed whilst operating at the operational and tactical level (following the normal career progression path). However, the recent appointment of senior managers within the Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) who have joined as direct entrants since the introduction of new appointment and promotion regulations, which has allowed multi-tier entry (ODPM, 2004) will have evidenced leadership skills, which will generally have been developed as a result of working in other occupations. As has been mentioned in a previous chapter, Adam Crozier is an example of a businessman who has demonstrated an ability to adapt and excel in different occupations, and exercise effective leadership with support from subject matter experts. With jobs as diverse as the Football Association and Royal Mail, is it possible that given an appropriate level of support, and a nominal amount of training, Crozier could also demonstrate effective leadership as a Gold Commander? A business leader may lead a team and make difficult decisions through an economic crisis, in the same way that the Gold Commander is responsible for leading their team, albeit remotely from the personnel who will be working at Bronze and Silver level. As it is recognised that effective leadership processes represent a critical factor in the success of teams in organisations (Zaccharo et al., 2001, quoted in Flin et al., 2008: 132), it is clear that the role of the Gold Commander in leading the team is vitally important to a successful outcome. The leader needs to be effective in order to play a positive role in the resolution of an incident, and it is therefore necessary to define what effective actually means, Oxford Dictionaries online simply states its meaning as successful in producing a desired or intended result (http://oxforddictionaries.com accessed 24/11/10). However the measure of that success, and therefore effectiveness, is very subjective, indeed in the case of a tragi c incident involving loss of life, the quality of the leadership may be subject to scrutiny by judicial review or public enquiry. The Role of the Gold Commander During an emergency it may be appropriate to implement strategic or Gold command, however the FRS will rarely instigate a Gold Commander solely for an FRS operation, which has minimal impact on other organisations. However, whilst a Principal Officer1 may be the Incident Commander at a large, complex, or high profile incident, they will be operating at the tactical level when in command. In this situation Gold command is not applicable, although some co-ordination at Silver level is likely to be required. If the same incident required a higher degree of interoperability and a Strategic Coordinating Group (SCG) were formed (HMG, 2009), it will require the attendance of a commander, who may be a lower ranking officer, but who nevertheless should have an appropriate level of experience and authority to act. This individual, formally known as the Fire Gold Commander, will set tactical parameters for Silver to operate within, and will not be expected to direct or take charge of operations on the actual incident ground. As soon as circumstances permit the Principal Officer should assume command, indicating that the positions are role related (ICS, 2008, p.21-24). However, the Police will routinely designate Gold Commanders, who will assume overall command and have ultimate responsibility and accountability for the response to an incident. The Police Gold will have a secondary role to establish and chair the SCG in order to coordinate the emergency or major incident (ACPO, 2009 p.26). This would suggest a different expectation of the role of the respective Gold Commanders, with the levels of culpability/accountability appearing to contrast somewhat. If the Police Gold Commander is required to ratify and review the progress of Silver Commanders tactical plans (ACPO, 2009 p.25) and the Fire Gold Commander is required to set tactical parameters for Silver to operate within, and prioritise the personnel and resource demands (ICS, 2008), the latter suggests a more hands-off approach. This may explain why Police Gold Commanders appear to be more reluctant to accept direct entrants at the senior level. 1 Chief, Deputy or Assistant Officer 2 Gold Silver Bronze Experiential Decision Making The definition of an appropriate level of experience as stated above is subjective, and clearly open to debate. It raises the question of whether the skills required for effective command at the operational and tactical level, are identical to those required for strategic command? Since 1985, researchers have been trying to establish how decisions are made during stressful non-routine situations, with Fire Commanders being of particular interest (Klein et al, 1993). The study of Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM) is concerned with how experienced people, working as individuals or groups in dynamic, uncertain and often fast paced environments, identify and assess their situation, make decisions and take actions whose consequences are meaningful to them and to the larger organisation in which they operate Zsambok and Klein (1997) (cited in Flin and Arbuthnot, 2002. p. 207). It has been stated that decisions made under stress do not follow traditional decision-making processes, and inst ead fireground commanders rely on their well developed sense of intuition (Gasaway, 2007). The amount of information required to make a decision will depend on the experience and intuition of the commander, and this has been referred to as thin slicing by Gladwell (2005) which means making very quick decisions with small amounts of information, or the concept of thinking without thinking, or the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behaviour based on very narrow slices of experience. Gladwell contends that thin-slicing can have its uses or can be a mistake. If one takes a small amount of information to generalise or make decisions in whole then decisions may be made that really are incorrect. However, sometimes a small amount of relevant information is all that is required to make decisions and act. Gladwell hints that ultimately we should only rely on thin-slicing when our intuition has been honed by experience and training as truly successful decision making relies on a balance between deliberate and instinctive thinking. Clearly, the ability to thin slice derives from experience of the situation or similar environment, where the commander has successfully or unsuccessfully dealt with an incident and can anticipate the next problem that may arise, which links to recognition primed decision making (RPD). The question of whether thin slicing has its place in the SCG environment is debatable, as RPD is not usually associated with Gold level decision making, for strategic commanders may need to be discouraged from making decisions based on intuition, if a more analytical approach is more appropriate (Fredholm 1997, cited HMG 2008). Flin and Arbuthnot (2002, p. 214) considered the fields of aviation, military and the police, and suggested that Incident Commanders (IC) may adopt one of four decision strategies, depending on their assessment of the available time and level of risk: Recognition primed (intuition, gut feel) (If X then Y- little conscious effort need to retrieve Y) Procedures (written or memorised) (If X then Y conscious search) Analytical comparison of the different courses of action available (If X, which Y?) Creative (designing a novel course of action) (If X, have no Y, design new Y). The decision strategies are based on increasing levels of mental concentration, not just to retrieve information from the memory stores (long term memory), but to consciously operate on or think about the information retrieved (working memory) (Flin and Arbuthnot, 2002). Most of the studies involving NDM have related to decision making in dynamic environments where there is little time for the luxury of creative or analytical problem solving (HMG 2008). So how are prior operational and tactical experiences of a Gold Commander utilised, when faced with never before experienced occurrences such as the Buncefield Fire, the largest fire in Europe since 1945 which relied on creativity rather than prior experience to resolve successfully? (Wilsher, 2006) If decision making is dependent on the experiences of the decision maker, it must also rely on the ability of the Gold Commander to be self reflective. If an individual is unable to effectively reflect and learn from their experiences, they will be unable to apply the learning to future events. Considering Kolbs experiential learning cycle (as shown in figure 1), it could be that they have twenty years experience, or one years experience, twenty times. So time alone is not a pre-cursor to being an effective Gold Commander, its what has been learnt from the experiences during that time. Figure 1 Kolbs Learning Cycle (University of Leeds 2010) Leadership One of the key responsibilities of the Gold Commander is to work with partner agencies (ICS, 2008 p24). This will require a positive working relationship both before an incident occurs, as true interoperability is built on mutual understanding, familiarity and trust (ACPO, 2009). According to Goleman (2002: 51-52) relationship management relies on the most visible tools of leadership including persuasion, conflict management and collaboration. More recently, this was confirmed by Bradberry and Greaves (2005), and of course collaboration, and to a lesser extent persuasion, are components of leadership which will often be tested in the Integrated Emergency Management (IEM) environment. Much research has been conducted to quantify the desirable attributes required for effective leadership (Kets de Vries 1993; Higgs 2002, Parry and Meindl 2002). Although there are many different types of leaders, people will often prefer to work with a leader who has outstanding soft skills. Evidence in creasingly shows that the higher one goes in an organization, the more important EI can be (Kemper, 1999, p. 16). The Gold Commander should have developed self awareness, as the leadership of an organisation or team, can influence the work environment and affect everything from morale, to effective performance. The selection and development of leaders is amongst the oldest of personnel functions (Fiedler 2001), but much of early leadership selection was conducted by birthright (Northouse 2007). Throughout the past century considerable research has been conducted into leadership which can largely be placed into three primary categories; leadership traits, leadership behaviours and the situational context of leadership (Sashkin and Sashkin 2003). Northouse (2007) states that Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse. 2007: 3). Flin et al (2008: 129) suggest that leadership relates to the personal qualities, behaviours, styles and strategies adopted by the team leader. They further suggest that leaders come in various forms, with some being task specialists, and others good with people. Trait theories of leadership were popular during the early to mid 1900s, and worked on the assumption that great leaders are born great (Sashkin and Sashkin 2003) and that by defining the necessary traits of effective leaders the secrets of leadership could be unlocked (Densten 2003). If leadership was a result of definable traits then it would be reasonable to expect that a defined list of those traits would have been found after over 100 years of research. This has not been found. The main criticisms of the trait theories are that they fail to take account of the situational and contextual aspects of leadership, and many of the definitions of various traits are highly subjective (Northouse 2007). The debate continues as to whether an individual must possess a definite set of characteristics in order to be a leader in any given situation. Some authors have suggested that the traits necessary for battlefield leadership would be effective in a school environment, dismissing the impact of the situation (Sadler 1997). Research indicates that there are varying opinions on the level of requirement of these very different qualities. Annotating these qualities into a list form results in a comprehensive summation but does the Gold Commander have to possess all, or just some of them? Conversely, if the list is not exhaustive and it is possible that someone might have other leadership qualities. How does that equate? Emotional Intelligence Commanding an emergency clearly requires effective leadership, and by its very nature a dynamic incident will sometimes require an autocratic style, but is this always necessary? Is it the case that in the Gold environment, the application of softer skills is more advantageous, with Emotional Intelligence (EI) becoming a more important component? EI was first mentioned in an unpublished thesis in 1986, and was the subject of a US article published in 1990, where it is described as the ability to monitor ones own and others feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide ones thinking and actions (Mayer and Salovey, 1990). Since that time there has been a vast amount of research and published information on the subject of EI, evidenced when the author searched for books titled Emotional Intelligence on the website of an online bookseller, returning a total of 9507 results (Amazon UK November 2010). Golemans original work is open to some debate as he seems to contradict his theory by suggesting that emotion is a biological reaction on the one hand, whereas EI can be learnt and developed. Whatever the case, it is clearly more art than science, as the interpretation of EI is subjective. It would appear that the wide interest in the subject is due to the emerging recognition of the power of EI, both in terms of personal development, with the suggested opportunity to transform an individuals life experience, health and happiness, and for transforming the effectiveness of work organisations. The developing argument is that levels of emotional intelligence are inextricably linked to levels of performance, particularly in senior positions within an organisation, a viewpoint which is often repeated (Sparrow and Knight 2006). Some organisations have embraced the principles of EI, including the Royal Air Force, which in 2002 completed a comprehensive review of leadership development, leading to the establishment of the RAF Leadership Centre. The centres website informs that the RAF seeks a particular contribution from its leaders and lists nine attributes required for effective leadership. The second attribute listed, is concerned with the possession of EI, described thus; Emotionally Intelligent Self-awareness is one of the key foundations of effective leadership. Leaders who know themselves will be able to develop self-control and subsequently understand the needs of others. This will enable them to manage relationships at all levels better and remain calm under pressure. Thus individuals will be able to function as part of a wider team, invariably multidisciplinary, increasingly joint and often multinational, in the delivery of military capability http://www.raf.mod.uk/pmdair/rafcms/mediafiles/1E8488F4_5056_A318_A8AB0AC2CFC4589A.doc. (accessed 29/11/10). In 2006 the Centre for Leadership was established at the Fire Service College. The strategy for the development of tomorrows FRS leaders is enshrined within the leadership model Aspire (HMG 2008) which has been developed in response to the identification of the importance of excellence in leadership. The model is underpinned by the FRS core values, linking transformational models of leadership, and guiding behaviours to influence leadership actions and results. The Aspire model contains some elements which can be linked to EI, including; Openness to Change Situational Awareness Confidence Resilience Effective Communication The author finds it somewhat surprising that, whilst it is obvious that the RAF has recognised the connection between emotional intelligence and effective leadership, there is no direct mention of EI within the Aspire Leadership Model and Framework for the FRS. This is somewhat disappointing Notwithstanding the above, the FRS has recognised the value of people management competences, in addition to task competencies, and that both competency sets need to be included in assessing, training and evaluating effective incident commanders. The non-technical skills of an organisations emergency response personnel are as important as their technical expertise and knowledge and application of emergency operating procedures (Crichton and Flin, 2001). Competence A dictionary definition (www.dictionary.reference.com) of competence is: the quality of being competent; adequacy; possession of required skill, knowledge, qualification or capacity. Whereas Harvey (2004) describes it as the acquisition of knowledge, skills and abilities at a level of expertise sufficient to be able to perform in an appropriate work setting However acquiring skills are only part of the equation, for it is necessary to effectively perform a role as defined by Boyatzis: Effective performance of a job is the attainment of specific results (i.e. outcomes) required by the job through specific actions while maintaining or being consistent with policies, procedures conditions of the organisational environment. (Boyatzis, 1982:12) He further contends that maximum performance occurs when an individuals capability is consistent with the job demands and the organisational environment. (Boyatzis, 2007:2). Figure 2 Boyatziss model for competencies and effective performance Boyatzis model illustrates how an individuals personal values, knowledge, competencies and abilities contribute to performance in terms of the overlap with the job demands and the organisational environment. In simple terms this means that the bigger the overlap the better the performance. For the purpose of this research paper, Flins (1996) definition will be followed, which is the ability to perform consistently within an occupation to the standards expected in employment. The National Occupational Standard for a Fire Gold Commander working at the Strategic Level is EFSM 1 (www.skillsforjustice-ipds.com/nos/en/EFSM1.doc accessed 7/12/12). This standard details the technical skills and understanding which are required at this level. However, there is no mention of non-technical skills, as these are contained within the National Strategic Manager Personal Qualities and Attributes (CLG, 2009). In the emergency services, competency requirements for key decision makers are still very much based on rank rather than proven skill or ability though there is a move to change this. In the FRS, there is a shift from rank to role, where there is a role map of competences under the Integrated Personal Development System (IPDS) designed to be relevant to each level in the service. However, as with any cultural shift, it will take some time for this reality to assert itself through all ranks within the FRS (Devitt, 2009). The author finds it interesting to note that whilst there is a role map for Brigade Manager, strategic uniformed mangers within the FRS still prefer to title themselves, Chief Fire Officer. Does this perhaps suggest that the senior leadership of the FRS are not culturally ready to embrace modernisation in its truest sense? Culture Organisational culture is a system of shared values, and beliefs about what is important, what behaviours are appropriate and about feelings and relationships internally and externally. Values and cultures need to be unique to the organisation, widely shared and reflected in daily practice and relevant to the company purpose and strategy. (CIPD, 2011). In simple terms it can be referred as the way we do things around here. The leader will be affected by the culture in which they operate, and its values, structure, hierarchy and rules will dictate how they are likely to command an incident, and ultimately whether they will be judged to be effective or ineffective (Devitt, 2009 p.37). Devitt refers to the work of Reiner (1991) who studied senior police officers and identified four different types of Chief Constable, the barons, bobbies, bosses and bureaucrats. Reiner contended that their different leadership styles will be reflected in the culture of the organisation which may influence the Chair of an SCG, and thus the style and approach with which a strategic multi-agency response is operated. If the Chair of an SCG adopts the style of a boss, who controls mainly through authority not power, dont suffer criticism gladly, and see community policing as idealistic in the face of an overwhelming tide of crime, this will clearly affect the dynamics of the group Devitt (2009). Chan (1996) undertook a study of police culture, and refers to Bourdieus relational theory, which explains cultural practice as the result of interaction between cultural dispositions (habitus) and structural positions (field), situating culture in the social and political context of police work. Sackmann goes on to describe the essence of culture as the collective construction of social reality. Her cognitive model encompasses all forms of shared organised knowledge: the form of things that people have in their minds; their models for perceiving, integrating, and interpreting them; the ideas or theories that they use collectively to make sense of their social and physical reality (Sackmann 1991: 21). She classifies cultural knowledge within an organisation into four dimensions: dictionary knowledge, which provides definitions and labels of things and events within an organization; directory knowledge, which contains descriptions about how things are done generally in the organization; recipe knowledge, which prescribes what should or should not be done in specific situations; and axiomatic knowledge, which represents the fundamental assumptions about why things are done the way they are in an organisation. Axiomatic knowledge, often held by top management, constitutes the foundation for the shape and future of the organisation. These may be adjusted or revised from time to time as a result of critical evaluations or growing experience. Sackmann sees cultural cognitions as being held by groups rather than individuals. These cognitions are socially constructed, and may be changed or perpetuated by organisational processes through repeated applications. In time, these cognitions are imbued with emotions and acquire degrees of importance; they also become habits of thoughts that translate into habitual actions. With the FRS implementation of the modernisation agenda under the National Framework (although this has recently changed with the election of the coalition government), some senior fire officers are reluctant to readily accept that direct entrants or non-operational staff may be effective at undertaking a Gold Command role, whilst a number of Police Gold Commanders have expressed th eir opposition to the idea, as evidenced by the authors research..