Cuban missile crisis Vietnam war

The most dangerous passage to Cold War was the Cuban Missile crisis during the 1960’s. This is a confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States in Cuba. Robert F. Kennedy’s Thirteen Days is the portrayal of the tensions surrounding the Cuban Missile crisis and the analysis of the said conflict. Two sides of the conflict was presented during the conflict between Union Soviet and United States. One side of the ordeal was the Communists of the Soviet Union desire to bring entire European countries under their supremacy and conquer the world.The other side of the conflict was the goal of Americans to the vindication of right and to stop the spead of Communism. During the Cuban Missile crisis, two significant people played important roles. They were America’s president John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev. Both leaders were pressured with what is happening that time. They performed different tactics and strategies on how to deal with the sc enario. Drama took place and a lot of negotiations were arranged for the Cuban Missile crisis.The pressure was triggered after Berlin and Germany were separated and divided among the victorious countries, Allies were formed and three different blocs occured. Nations that has been established after the war remained neutral while western countries which were governed by America and Soviet Union together with their new allies had formed the other two blocs. Soviet Union established allied countries around them and spread and imposed communism to each and every country.America was alarmed and imposed the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan to control Soviet Union in spreading communism. However according to Robert F. Kennedy’s Thirteen Days; two things came to pass that sent threat and tension through the U. S. First was, the Chinese government was overthrown by Communism, which is a big alarm for the threat of superiority of Communism. And the second was the â€Å"CUBAN MISSILE C RISIS† â€Å"page # 2† knowledge and ability of Soviets when it comes to nuclear and atomic issues. There was a fear in the U. S. because of the threat of a nuclear war.The crisis began when Soviet Union Leader Nikita Krushchev plans to install missiles in Cuba because of the American’s Missile were installed in Turkey which is adjacent to Soviet Union and he did not want that America would take over Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro’s communist government. The Soviet Union leader also considered newly elected John F. Kennedy’s reaction to his plans. Krushchev conclude that Kennedy was a weak, faulty and could not bear pressures and tensions. He (Krushschev) was a leader who based his premises on hasty generalizations because he pre-judged Kennedy because he was a newly elected president.On the other hand, John F. Kennedy was reluctant about what is happening around him. His administration issued a warning about the impending crisis in Cuba. This is t he Memo 181; it states study of probable military, poitical and social impacts in the installment of missiles in Cuba which could reach the United States. Kennedy made a decision which was effective because he first consulted people around him and querried for facts so that his plans would be perfect and would not lead onto decisions which will lead to more seroius problems like a world nuclear war.He also kept the informations for himself first before broadcasting it to the American nation because he wanted that his administrations plan would be a secret and would not leak for the enemies. When National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy learned a bad news that Soviets were constructing an offensive missile in Cuba was positive. He did not first told the president about what’s taking place in Cuba. Instead he gets more information and he wanted the president to have a rest for a more challenging decisions for America. On October 16, the Thirteen Days had began, Bundy told the p resident about the construction of missiles and theâ€Å"CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS† â€Å"page # 3† president immediately ordered a meeting for the senior officials which he termed as Ex Comm. They planned secretly and develop their strategies on how to destabilize the construction of ballistic missiles. John F. Kennedy was a leader who wants everything to be clear and concise. After the deliberations and discussions were done, strategies were finally made and ready for execution. But first Kennedy briefed his people and made his first decision: to hold all military military equipment under ship to Cuba.This was the Proclamation 3504 known as the quarantine order. And during his speech on October 22 he said to the Soviets, â€Å"And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or submission. † JFK exudes a leader whose strong and tough with his decisions which Krushchev miscalculated when he planned to test Kennedy with his plans. Then the crisis even worsens each day passed. Secret negotiations were made. And trying to avoid the war the two leaders resorted by changing of letters. A naval blockade was implemented by America in the Carribbean and Cuban coast which triggered the Soviet nation.Because of it, on the 26th day of October, Krushchev seemed to be willing to remove the missiles in Cuba in exchange for America’s commitment not to invade Cuba. But on the next day, Krushschev proposed a different argument and that is if Soviets will remove their missiles in Cuba, it follows that US must also remove their missiles in Turkey. This proposal from Krushchev was just, but he is so demanding about this matter. He was insistent about the matter because of the loss of arms and military equipment in Cuba which disband their operations and still he remained confident with his decision.Thus, Kennedy made the right decision. Kennedy did not support Krushchev’s second proposal, instead he wrote Krushchev and made a de al to remove the blockade and agree not to invade Cuba if Krushchev would remove the missiles in Cuba. JFK also secretly proposed the dismantling of US missiles in â€Å"CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS† â€Å"page # 4† Turkey. The Soviet leader agreed and the crisis ended. The result was Krushchev lost prestige while Kennedy gained. Cuba remained under communist dictatorship and US left it.Both Leaders were good leaders and have their own political and social will. They both fights for what they know what is right for their country and beliefs. I can say that John F. Kennedy was one of the best presidents of US because of his courage and making rational decisions. While Nikita S. Krushchev fights for what he believes in and his people but he failed. Essay2 (Vietnam War) United States played a big role in the Vietnam War and it was the biggest and longest military conflict of the nation. Many lives were affected not only in Vietnam but also in America.US army troops were sent to S outh Vietnam to fight against North Vietnam and National Liberation Front because they want to unify the North and South Vietnam to become a Communist Republic. And protesters from the US were greatly affected. The main issue during the Vietnam war was the opinion of the american people toeards the issue which had caused a lot of speculations in the government and also the US academic institutions. According to Turley (1986), even at the start of US escalatory moves in the beginning of 1965 there were limits to American public and congressional tolerance of the war's expenses and duration.Turley (1986) moreover explained that these limits were worsen by the administration under Johnson: its refusal to arouse popular emotion on the war's behalf, its failure to make an effective strategies for massive US intervention, its public misrepresentation of the war's denelopment and of its own political and social intentions, and its refusal to make solid and tough political choices. American s treated Vietnam War as unpopular and insignificant and yet it is the longest war americans fought for. To sum it all it is the most disastrous war that involved the Americanâ€Å"CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS† â€Å"page # 5† people. Many soldiers have lost their lives during those time. Many people in the United states protests on the intervention of US in the said war and also many americans supported the war for Vietnam not to be under a communist government. During those times US was so divided and turmoil and chaos happened, wounds that Vietnam caused will never heal for many of the more than two million American veterans life from the war was given to fight against communism in Vietnam (Herring, 2002).More or less sixty thousand Americans lost their lives in fighting for the war. The United States spent about $150 billion dollars. American got involved in the war during 1955 when the first american advisors arrived in Vietnam. Then, American combat troops arrives in 196 5 and had finished fighting for the civil war in Vietnam up to the end when cease-fire was ordered and reconciled on January of 1973. I can say now that Vietnam War was a story of the olden times for the new generation americans.Cambodian Invasion was a played a big scene in the Vietnam this is when President Richard Nixon ordered an attack against North Vietnam and NLF (National Liberation Front), the main goal why Nixon ordered an attack, according to Turley (1986), was to demolish bases of communism and provide arms and military support to the war in Vietnam, for the protection American troops, and to make sure of the withdrawal of America from Vietnam.Students and faculties in different universities in US that time who were not in favor of the Vietnam War felt that President Nixon had deceived them, that the hated war was to be expanded and be pursued (Turley, 1986). Students from Oberlin, Princeton, and Rutgers demonstrated against Vietnam War and Nixon that very night. Many ac ademic institutions had closed and a lot of organizations who opposed Vietnam war had formed demonstrations all over the country. â€Å"CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS† â€Å"page # 6†Different ways of expressing their sympathy for the Americans who catered their lives for Vietnam and dismay for the decision of the president was obvious by that time. Many protest across the country took every possible form and were carried out under every ban, slogan and chant. Strikes, boycotts, and shutdowns were carried out together with rallies in the campus, marches and convocations; across the country there was massive flag lowering, wearing of black armbands, several memorial services, portrayal of funerals and vigil; there were seminars with workshops, and research projects.Vigilant students have also had an interaction with the public especially with the residents and invited each and every household to come in their campus and talk about the issue of Vietnam War. American students and a cademic institutions played a big role in protesting against the Vietnam War. The heart of the young american people was awaken for the love of their country and countrymen. They displayed brotherhood, camarraderie and oneness during the Vietnam War protests.America stood as one in fighting for each and every american whose fighting for the right for Vietnam and all nations as well. Many lives were transformed during the war. And still many lives were taken. Vietnam War was an untold story for Americans. But it made United States a country with strong people and united nations. References: Herring, George C. (2002). America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950–1975. retrieved April 21, 2007 from http://www. vietnamwar. com/ Kennedy, Robert F. (1969).Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis; ISBN 0-393- 31834-6. retrieved April 20, 2007 from http://www. lawbuzz. com/movies/thirteen_days/thirteen_days_ch1. htm Pope, Ronald R. , Soviet Views on the Cuban Missile Crisis: Myth and Reality in Foreign Policy Analysis; University Press of America, 1982. from http://www. lawbuzz. com/movies/thirteen_days/thirteen_days_ch1. htm Turley, William S. (1986) The Second Indochina War: A Short Political and Military History, 1954–1975.. Retrieved April 21, 2007 from http://www. vietnamwar. com/politicalprotests. htm.

Causes and Consequences of Reduced Biodiversity Essay

Causes and consequences of reduced biodiversity in tropical rain forests In many tropical countries, the majority of deforestation results from the actions of poor subsistence cultivators. However, in Brazil only about one-third of recent deforestation can be linked to cultivators. A large portion of deforestation in Brazil can be attributed to land clearing for pastureland by commercial and speculative interests, misguided government policies, inappropriate World Bank projects, and commercial exploitation of forest resources. For effective action it is imperative that these issues be addressed. Focusing solely on the promotion of sustainable use by local people would neglect the most important forces behind deforestation in Brazil. Brazilian deforestation is strongly correlated to the economic health of the country the decline in deforestation from 1988-1991 nicely matched the economic slowdown during the same period, while the rocketing rate of deforestation from 1993-1998 paralleled Brazil’s period of rapid economic growth. During lean times, ranchers and developers do not have the cash to rapidly expand their pasturelands and operations, while the government lacks funds to sponsor highways and colonization programs and grant tax breaks and subsidies to forest exploiters. Clearing for Cattle Pasture Cattle ranching are the leading cause of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. This has been the case since at least the 1970s: government figures attributed 38 percent of deforestation from 1966-1975 to large-scale cattle ranching. However, today the situation may be even worse. According to the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), between 1990 and 2001 the percentage of Europe’s processed meat imports that came from Brazil rose from 40 to 74 percent and by 2003 for the first time ever, the growth in Brazilian cattle production 80 percent of which was in the Amazon was largely export driven. Factors * CURRENCY DEVALUATION—The devaluation of the Brazilian real against the dollar effectively doubled the price of beef in reals and created an incentive for ranchers to expand their pasture areas at the expense of the rainforest. The weakness of the real also made Brazilian beef more competitive on the world market [CIFOR]. * CONTROL OVER FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE—The eradication of foot-and-mouth disease in much of Brazil has increased price and demand for Brazilian beef. * INFRASTRUCTURE—Road construction gives developers and ranchers access to previously inaccessible forest lands in the Amazon. Infrastructure improvements can reduce the costs of shipping and packing beef. * INTEREST RATES—Rainforest lands are often used for land speculation purposes. When real pasture land prices exceed real forest land prices, land clearing is a good hedge against inflation. At times of high inflation, the appreciation of cattle prices and the stream of services (milk) they provide may outpace the interest rate earned on money left in the bank. * LAND TENURE LAWS—In Brazil, colonists and developers can gain title to Amazon lands by simply clearing forest and placing a few head of cattle on the land. As an additional benefit, cattle are a low-risk investment relative to cash crops which are subject to wild price swings and pest infestations. Essentially cattle are a vehicle for land ownership in the Amazon. Colonization and subsequent subsistence agriculture A significant amount of deforestation is caused by the subsistence activities of poor farmers who are encouraged to settle on forest lands by government land policies. In Brazil, each squatter acquires the right (known as a usufruct right) to continue using a piece of land by living on a plot of unclaimed public land (no matter how marginal the land) and â€Å"using† it for at least one year and a day. After five years the squatter acquires ownership and hence the right to sell the land. Up until at least the mid-1990s this system was worsened by the government policy that allowed each claimant to gain title for an amount of land up to three times the amount of forest cleared. Poor farmers use fire for clearing land and every year satellite images pick up tens of thousands of fires burning across the Amazon. Typically understory shrubbery is cleared and then forest trees are cut. The area is left to dry for a few months and then burned. The land is planted with crops like bananas, palms, manioc, maize, or rice. After a year or two, the productivity of the soil declines and the transient farmers press a little deeper and clear new forest for more short-term agricultural land. The old, now infertile fields are used for small-scale cattle grazing or left for waste. Infrastructure Improvements Road construction in the Amazon leads to deforestation. Roads provide access to logging and mining sites while opening forest frontier land to exploitation by poor landless farmers. Brazil’s Trans-Amazonian Highway was one of the most economic development programs ever devised, and one of the most spectacular failures. In the 1970s, Brazil planned a 2,000 mile highway that would bisect the massive Amazon forest, opening rainforest lands to settlement by poor farmers from the crowded, drought-plagued north and development of timber and mineral resources. Colonists would be granted a 250-acre lot, six-months’ salary, and easy access to agricultural loans in exchange for settling along the highway and converting the surrounding rainforest into agricultural land. The plan would grow to cost Brazil US$65,000 1980 dollars to settle each family, an amazing amount for Brazil, a developing country at the time. Commercial agriculture Recently, soybeans have become one of the most important contributors to deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Thanks to a new variety of soybean developed by Brazilian scientists to flourish in rainforest climate, Brazil is on the verge of supplanting the United States as the world’s leading exporter of soybeans. High soybean prices have also served as an impetus to expanding soybean cultivation. Logging In theory, logging in the Amazon is controlled by strict licensing which allows timber to be harvested only in designated areas. However, there is significant evidence that illegal logging is quite widespread in Brazil. In recent years, Ibama Brazil’s environmental enforcement agency has made several large seizures of illegally harvested timber including one in September 2003 when 17 people were arrested for allegedly cutting 10,000 hectares worth of timber. Logging in the Amazon is closely linked with road building. Studies by the Environmental Defense Fund show that areas that have been selectively logged are eight times more likely to be settled and cleared by shifting cultivators than untouched rainforests because of access granted by logging roads. Logging roads give colonists access to rainforest, which they exploit for fuel wood, game, building material, and temporary agricultural lands. Fires Virtually all forest clearing, by small farmer and plantation owner alike, is done by fire. Though these fires are intended to burn only limited areas, they frequently escape agricultural plots and pastures and char pristine rainforest, especially in dry years like 2005. Many of the fires set for clearing forest for these purposes are set during the three-month burning season and the smoke produced creates widespread problems across the region, including airport closings and hospitalizations from smoke inhalation. These fires cover a vast area of forest. In 1987 during a four-month period, about 19,300 square miles of Brazilian Amazon were burned. The burning produced carbon dioxide containing more than 500 million tons of carbon, 44 million tons of carbon monoxide, and millions of tons of other particles and nitrogen oxides. An estimated 20 percent of fires that burn between June and October cause new deforestation, while another 10 percent is the burning of ground cover in virgin forest Mining Mining in the Brazilian Amazon presently results in limited deforestation due to crackdowns on informal miners known as garimpeiros. The pig iron industry may have the largest role in mining-driven deforestation by consuming wood to produce charcoal to fuel steel production.

Narrative style of the novel Essay

Comment on how the language contributes to the understanding of the character, plots, theme and narrative style of the novel Chapter 6 is presented to the audience entirely in the past with no hindsight. Once again it develops the plot showing the children developing closer to adulthood, yet still not quite there, not understanding the consequences of their actions : â€Å"was it you two? â€Å", â€Å"I look away†. The language from the passage in the hard back page 111 to 113 contributes to the understanding of the characters, plots, themes and narrative style of the novel. The section about the hierarchy in trees only further reinforces the naivety and stupidity to the character Stephen. Stephen has an obvious sense of hierarchy and in this case the â€Å"sour smell of the elders† and â€Å"its humiliating position at the very bottom of the hierarchy of trees†. This continues into the â€Å"familiar world† â€Å"out here at the end of the Lanes†, ie: the hierarchy of humans where the levels convey Stephen’s actual opinion of the concept of hierarchy and social status. This shows how immature Stephen is and however evident is his naivety. See more: what is a narrative essay In hindsight Frayn exposes the audience to the intentional irony of the â€Å"sliver framed heroes† at the highest to the lowest – â€Å"an old derelict taking refuge† who are the same person. Frayn has emphasised this hierarchy from the beginning. Stephen feels in triumph that for once he perceives himself higher than someone else in the â€Å"human precedence† and the language emphatically robusts this. This only reinforces that younger is obsessed with hierarchy – only after the discussion of hierarchy is there a sense of realisation. The language in this passage contributes the understanding in the theme of mystery and adventure. Stephen relies on this adventure to prove himself to Keith and in doing so show â€Å"Keith that he’s not the only one who can think of plans and projects†. The use of personal pronoun ‘I’ used more frequently than other times (7) conveys Stephen’s awareness that at this point in the adventure, wherein he can contribute, is a way he can gain approval of others even at the exploitation of the tramp. The passage for the first time shows an all time low in the adventure and â€Å"rain blows† as deliberate violence. This marks a key turning point in the plot as they have to fine some reason for their expedition as they have lost Mrs Hayward. The language used to describe the â€Å"old mans† feelings are just some of the feelings evoked that explain exactly what the boys have been doing bullying, and in doing so, the language also introduces the theme of memory. Frayn draws attention to this key theme by making older Stephen interrupt his story to remind the audience that the Stephen who was once a victim of bullying is now the perpetrator. This narrative style is a device that suggests implausibly that older Stephen is telling the story and also draws attention to memory as a concept and theme. Not only that, but it helps the reader understand that the reason â€Å"I (Stephen) throw down my iron bar†, is to reflect what Stephen knew at that point in time is that what he was doing was bullying. In this passage Frayns presents the language as a way of children going on to do adult things but without adult hindsight and therefore reminds the audience that they are still developing unable to foresee the consequences of their actions. The language is deceptively simple in style, but the passage in Chapter 6 shows a subtlety in language. From the beginning of the passage Stephen shows this middle class social ranking which leads him into his so called heroism that is particularly associated with middle class values. This duty he is estranged with towards Keith was particularly powerful conception in times of war and for Stephen it shows a development in his character and what he is prepared to do out of duty for Keith. Thus, Frayn cleverly uses linguistic devices and in this case exploits the language in order to contribute to the understanding of the characters, plot, themes and narrative style of the novel.

German Foreign Direct Investments in China Coursework - 3

German Foreign Direct Investments in China - Coursework Example Majority of the studies have revealed that there is more benefit coming from FDI to both the host and the home country compared to the risks generated. It is noted that in FDI, a rational firm commits itself to invest in another firm or a different locality if only it is anticipating a viable profit that is to come from the operation (Dunning 1980, p. 9-31). Â  From the various sources, clear indications have been shown to support that there is an increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) in China. This is not surprising at all in regard to the huge market size and the opportunities for exploitation of resources in existence. In addition, the policies of open market China has been pursuing over the last twenty years and the efforts that have been converted to attract FDI has acted as a springboard to the growth of FDI, and the ultimate interest in the scientific analysis. The continuous development of China’s economic development largely does depend on the extent of policy-making and FDI that will help in facilitating inward investment. Moreover, foreign development and investment f specific industrial sector are seen as an essential way to establish the superstructure and the infrastructure of today’s economy of the market (Chang & Rosenzweig 2001, p. 747-776). Â  For several years, the model of OLI has been a significant framework min analyzing the multinational enterprise's activities as well as the economic rationale that takes place in the international operations. This model is also known as the eclectic model, and it was first postulated in the year 1976 after having been proposed by J. H. Dunning.

The Impact Of Healthcare Reforms Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Impact Of Healthcare Reforms - Essay Example However, Avraham, Dafny, and Schanzenbach (2012) found a positive and significant impact of reforms aimed at improving healthcare quality in HMOs, which resulted in an increase in coverage among workers and reduction of tort related lawsuits. Precisely, reforms on the general set of ports between 1998 and 2006 reduced payable premiums of employer-sponsored self-insured health care programs by about 2.1%. While no significant reductions were found in fully insured plans under HMOs, caps on noneconomic damages and collateral source reforms had the greatest impact. Therefore, this suggests that American workers have benefited from the reforms by spending less on aggregate health costs/premiums as a percentage of personal income. Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS, 2010) noted that collaboration among health plans to share client details through regional and statewide information systems significantly helped to reduce time and office practice expenses. Mission Statement for Aetna International Aetna International is global healthcare provider with its head quarter in USA and continental offices in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The company has been providing healthcare services in the last 3 decades with demonstrated excellence and customer satisfaction. Within America, Aetna is one of the many HMO service providers and offers both self-sponsored managed medical care plans as well as travel insurance.  The company offers three categories of healthcare plans including individual, corporate, and blended healthcare plans.

Ventur and Competition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ventur and Competition - Essay Example States is the Federal Sherman Act 1890, with each state having reciprocal antitrust provisions effectively mirroring the Sherman Act (Hovenkamp, 2005). The essence of the Sherman Act is the prohibition of agreements that unreasonably restrain trade, monopolies, attempted monopolies and conspiracies to monopolize (Sherman Act 1890, section 1). The relevant enforcement body is the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, state attorneys and general or private parties affected by any proposed anti-competitive measure (Posner, 2001). If a joint venture or partnership agreement is found to fall within any of the Sherman Act 1890 prohibitions, the penalties for violation include the following: The main reason that healthcare joint ventures can fall foul of the antitrust provisions under the Sherman Act is that often the partners will be competitors within the same market with the overriding purpose being to pool resources to maximise economic benefits (Elhauge & Geradin, 2007). However, if additional to this, the venture partners continue to compete outside of the joint venture agreement, the antitrust legislation imposes restrictions on conduct between the partners (Hovenkamp, 2005). Secondly, one of the partners in the venture may have market power or the result of the venture will be to increase market power, which can be anti-competitive if the partners to the venture are then enabled to set prices above a competitive level. Furthermore, in considering the proposed joint venture the company should consider the following four issues in particular: In considering compliance with Sherman Act provisions, it is vital for the company to consider the relevant market (Posner, 20010. The relevant market comprises the relevant service market and relevant geographic market (Elhauge & Geradin, 2007). The service market is where the market of services is â€Å"reasonably interchangeable† and the relevant geographic market is â€Å"the area of effective

William Hill portfolio diligence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7500 words - 1

William Hill portfolio diligence - Essay Example Purpose, findings, and research questions that will guide the study are generated from the shareholders’ effects and the motives for acquisition. The data for this study will be the secondary data from Journal of Financial Economics. In the background study, I analyse the reasons for William Hill’s takeover and stipulate the post-takeover performance of the company. Motives for acquisition of Stanley Leisure and shareholders’ value are critiqued in the following project. In this project, I have used the capital assets pricing model (CAPM) in methodological analysis and OLS Regression for data sources. I can resolve if William’s merger was worthwhile through liquidity-based explanations. Mergers and acquisitions involve the amalgamation of two or more firms or the purchase directed to current firm within the foreign country. This was established by Whiting (1976) that acquisitions are effected through capital transfer, use of marketing skills, and presence of skill for management to increase the efficiency of the companies concerned. The development of better information systems in the global trade can enable a company increase its level of performance and meet its customer needs better. I will discuss in detail the research questions that will assist William Hill in acquisition of Stanley Leisure; due diligence need by William Hill is to enable the shareholders with adequate concept of underlying William acquisition portfolio than the prevailing market allocation of betting services.

Are Drug Courts in United States Successful in Reducing Drug Crime and Term Paper

Are Drug Courts in United States Successful in Reducing Drug Crime and Recidivism - Term Paper Example Drug related crime is a vital issue which leads to injustice and curtails socio-cultural and economic development in the society. Within this context, drug related crime in America curbs the development process of the society as a whole. When individuals indulge in drug related crimes, the best possible way to get rid of the same is rehabilitation and follow up programs. One can easily identify that severe punishment cannot reduce drug crime because the individuals who are indulged in drug related crimes is not aware of its seriousness. Within this context, the drug courts in United States play an important role in reducing drug crime and recidivism. Thesis statement: The innovative measures adopted by the drug courts in United States prove successful in reducing drug crimes and recidivism (special references to the measures adopted by the drug courts to reduce drug crime and recidivism). I. Brief introduction to drug crimes and drug courts in US As pointed out, drug abuse leads to a number of crimes but it is not the grass root level cause for crimes. In general, illegal drugs like crack-cocaine, morphine etc leads to a number of criminal acts within the society. Within this context, drug trafficking, production and distribution leads to increase in organized crime. Stimmel (1996) opines that â€Å"Among the most prominent social effects of both illicit and licit drug use is its relationship with crime† (p.13). When more and more individuals consider drug trafficking as an easy way to earn money, the problems related to the same show increase. From a different angle of view, the drug crimes in US are interconnected with lack of economic and social support to the needy (say, the victims of drug abuse). But the traditional mode of treatment provided to the defendants is insufficient to meet their needs because it is based on punishment and long time sentencing in prisons. But Goldberg (2009), opines that â€Å"In gene ral, people are in favor of treatment for drug abusers but do not want drug treatment centers in their neighborhoods† (p.299). Besides, the victims of drug abuse are not in need of sympathy. But effective treatment can help them to the re-enter the mainstream society without further problems in their personal and public domains. Within the context of drug crimes in US, the drug courts play an important role in reducing drug abuse related crimes. Franco (2010), states that â€Å"Drug courts were quickly adopted by communities and states struggling with the challenges that stemmed from the growing abuse and trafficking of illegal drugs† (p.5). The drug courts in US consist of number of committees, which help the offenders to have easy recovery. For instance, the judiciary, mental health department, social service organizations etc co-operate to help the offenders to be away from the clutches of drug abuse and crimes. The history of drug courts in US is interconnected with the drug court in Miami- Dade County, which was established in the year 1989. One can see that the primary aim of drug courts in US is to provide drug treatment services to the needy and to promote public safety. Besides, rehabilitation services and evaluation of the measures adopted to reduce drug related crimes are other functions of drug courts in US. Within this scenario, local support and community support are important for the smooth functioning of drug courts. In short, the drug courts aim to provide treatment facilities to the non-violent offenders and help them to re-enter the mainstream society. II. Measures taken by drug courts in reducing drug crime and recidivism First of all, the traditional legal processing in US was inefficient and inadequate to reduce drug crime and recidivism. For instance, the traditional legal processing system in US gave importance to punishment, not treatment for the victims. Within this context, treatment provided by the traditional system wa s effective, but high rate of dropping out reduced the

Ethics as it pertains to Information Technology Essay

Ethics as it pertains to Information Technology - Essay Example The advantages outweigh the disadvantages; that is probably why individuals choose to overlook the problems associated with information technology (Henderson, 2005). This paper will examine one ethical issue that faces the information technology field, and if the problem can be rectified. All fields, in the world today, are faced with challenges that come with their territory. These problems arise as a result of negligence, or malpractice among members of the fields involved. Security among many computer-based information systems is questionable, but many individuals consider the field as the future of the modern world. The world cannot find a way to operate in modern time without these systems. If there is a failure in the controlling systems, the world might come to a standstill. However, the recent cases of insecurity that arise from information systems have had many folks question their role in the field of engineering (Henderson, 2005). People of certain ages, sex, race, or religion are being targeted, and it is causing unrest among individuals. The internet creates an avenue for various activities to take place. People responsible for monitoring the activities on the internet do not have control over what transpires over the internet. It is through this channel that many individuals take the time to find out about other individuals. Privacy contracts are being broken through professional hackers, and the information sold to the highest bidder. Online predators are among the most dangerous individuals of the technological era. They use this advancement in technology to ensure they find out about people they are targeting. The world has to face the fact that; everything is technological (Henderson, 2005). Everything is saved or computerised to save on time and manpower. The problem with this is the use of such information to satisfy the needs of predators. Predators come in many forms. Individuals are preying

Economics of Labor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Economics of Labor - Essay Example Strikes can also divide the workforce of a given organization into two factions thus reducing their ability to work as a team towards common organizational objectives. In the event that a strike is organized and some of the workers do not co-operate due to the fear of consequences that may follow, an enmity is created between these two groups of workers. The arising element of distrust will hinder future collective bargaining by the employees resulting in poorer working conditions. It is thus important to note that an effective management of a given organization or government department requires the development of good relations between all the stakeholders of an organization. The employees of the organizations need to have a union that advocates for theirs. The union acts as a link to the authority that ensures a formal procedure in addressing the issues. The employees should be loyal to the union and abide by its provisions. Besides, the management principles as defined in economic s require that the managers give room to the needs of the employees of the organization, and this is the key to effective management. The managers should address the issues as they are raised by the worker's unions to avoid the future negative reactions by the employees. On the other hand, the employees need to adopt the organizational cultures that require the formal solution of arising issues. The fact that all these fail to take place and a strike are witnessed means an irresponsible behavior by either the management or the employees.... The educators calling for a salary increase can simply decide to put pens and chalks down while going to the learning institutions as usual or they may intensify it and take to streets. The nurses in public hospital may decide to boycott their duty to attend to patience. Alternatively, an authoritarian manager of an organization can be forcefully evicted out of office by the angry employees. The effects of such strikes are adverse on the economic development of a given region (Addison & Teixeira, 2006, p.4). Common causes of strikes There are different factors that often lead to strikes by employees in a given organization. The strikes by the workers through the unions are geared towards streamlining the monopoly that might be exercised by the management of organizations. Achieving this requires a union made of leaders with the capability of managing teams and can deal with various emerging issues (Griffin & Stacey, 2005, p.29). One common cause of strike is poor working conditions a t the work places coupled with a lot of workload leading to job depression and stress. The employees often complain of long working hours and workload imposed on them probably due to understaffing. This is followed by a pressure from the management to meet strict deadline leading to job stress. Related to the poor working conditions is the cry for salary and wages that are proportional to the tasks that are carried out by the employees. This, however, takes different directions depending on who determines the wages of the employees (Addison & Teixeira, 2006, p.5). The employees often complain that despite the long working hours and the heavy workloads, they are not provided with remunerations

Models of decision making and problem solving Essay

Models of decision making and problem solving - Essay Example Decision making is about choosing from several options or ideas and taking action to generate a particular result. It is usually considered to be a rational and logical thinking process. It is defined as a process of choosing a course of action for dealing with a problem or opportunity (Schmerhorn, 2003, p 174). Problem solving is one of the steps involved in decision making. Decision making is a part of everyday life for all of us. However this essay is confined to analysis of the process of decision making in an organizational context. In an organization, decision making is one of the key managerial activities. Decisions taken in a timely manner, making optimum use of information and a sound implementation are the hallmarks of organizations which perform effectively. This essay covers aspects of decision making processes in an organization and the models which can be used to describe them. The roles of creativity in individual as well as organization decision making, intuition, gro up and collaborative decision making and leadership that makes the decision making and problem solving in organizations efficient is also discussed.It is important to understand the context under which decisions are made in the organization. Decision making within organization can be broadly classified as happening at four levels. The first is the long-term strategic decision making process. ... The operations level managers will be involved. Speed and implementation of decisions will be very important here. Very often problems to be solved will be routine in nature. The last is the corrective decisions that an organization will have to make based on the monitoring it does of its decisions and the feedback that it receives through such monitoring. Another type of classification on the decisions within an organization are those that can be differentiated as programmed decisions , those which are routine and can be solved by standard methods and the other un-programmed, those which cannot be solved by routine responses, but which require tailor made solutions. Decisions are usually made by managers as individuals, but in organizations, the particular decisions or policies chosen by decision-makers can often be explained through organizational culture and practices. These practices may be decision making by committees and groups, or by adopting fixed or standard operating procedures. Culture of the organization will decide whether decisions are taken autocratically, creatively or through participation. Decisions are often not made by an individual alone in an organization alone. Decisions are made through a complex set of interaction between different people at different parts (functions) and levels of organizations, since the stakeholders of the outcome of decisions will be many. In real life in organizations it is rare to find decision making and other processes where social and political activity does not play a significant part (Teale et al, 2003, p 289). Decision making depends upon the environment under which decisions are made. Schermerhorn, (2003, ch. 17) describes these as certain, risky and uncertain environment. "Certain"

Internal combustion engine Essay Example for Free

Internal combustion engine Essay Electric cars should be used instead of cars that run with gasoline because electric cars do not harm the environment, are quieter, quicker, does not require gasoline and include a significant reduction to air pollution. Firstly, electric cars have a lot of benefits. One of them is that they are quiet, quick and smooth, making most regular cars look clunky and outdated. What surprises people the most is the torque (axle-twisting power) offered by the electric cars. Step on the accelerator and power is delivered immediately to the wheels, providing a thrilling driving experience. Secondly, after a while with an electric car you will forget that gas stations existed. Imagine never going to a gas station and spending all that money for fuel. All you have to do is pull your vehicle in your drive way or garage and plug it in to the charging inlet. It is very convenient to just wake up the next morning and have a fully charged vehicle that can go up to 100 miles. In addition they are cheaper to operate. Almost everywhere in the world, electricity is very cheap. So when you compare an electric vehicle to a regular car, the cost per mile to fuel an electric vehicle is approximately one-third to one-quarter the cost of gasoline (on a cost per mile basis). Nevertheless, owning a car is associated with the responsibility of maintaining it. Regular cars require frequent maintenance but this is not the case in electric cars. These cars do not suffer same level of stress as traditional engines acquire and do not require frequent oil changes and other regular maintenance. On the other hand, electric cars have a lot of disadvantages too. First of all the limited range of the electric cars is probably the biggest disadvantage. Most affordable electric cars only have about 80 to 100 miles of range. Which is not enough if you are for instance going on a long road trip. People who have electric cars need to properly plan, assuring that they will not go over the limited range. Not to mention, they also have a long refueling time. It is not like going to a gas station and adding a couple of hundred miles of range in five or ten minutes. To recharge a completely empty electric car would take about 10 hours depending on the voltage. With 120 volts (which is the current voltage in every house) it will take ten hours. With 240 volts it takes about four to five hours to fully charge the electric vehicle. Also, you would have to have the right place to charge your electric vehicle. You cannot go more than the car’s limit but you the right place to charge it. For instance people who are living in apartments cannot own electric cars because they do not have a garage to charge their vehicle. Big electric car companies have charging stations where you can get your vehicle fully charged in 1-2 hours but there are not a lot like gas stations. Furthermore the higher cost is probably what keeps people away from electric vehicles. The current electric cars are priced between 30. 000 and 40. 000 dollars. While you can buy, for instance the Honda Fit, Ford Focus etc. for less than 20,000 dollars. Last but not least, electric cars are costly to maintain and repair if there is a big problem with the car. Since electric cars are in a class of their own, owners may wind up paying more on repairs and maintenance because not every mechanic is trained to repair and maintain electric cars. In conclusion, when considering the pros and cons of electric cars, it is clear that there are some major advantages and disadvantages of owning an electric car. At the end, if these cars help people save a tremendous amount of money and help the environment, the pros of owning an electric car will outweigh all of the cons.

Differences between essentialism and perennialism

Differences between essentialism and perennialism Perennialists believe that the focus of education should be the ideas that have lasted over centuries. They believe the ideas are as relevant and meaningful today as when they were written. They recommend that students learn from reading and analyzing the works by historys finest thinkers and writers. Essentialists believe that when students study these works and ideas, they will appreciate learning. Similar top perennialism, essentialism aims to develop students intellectual and moral qualities. Perennialist classrooms are also centered on teachers in order to accomplish these goals. The teachers are not concerned about the students interests or experiences. They use tried and true teaching methods and techniques that are believed to be most beneficial to disciplining students minds. The perennialist curriculum is universal and is based on their view that all human beings possess the same essential nature. Perennialists think it is important that individuals think deeply, analytical ly, flexibly, and imaginatively. They emphasize that students should not be taught information that may soon be outdated or found to be incorrect. Perennialists disapprove of teachers requiring students to absorb massive amounts of disconnected information. They recommend that schools spend more time teaching about concepts and explaining they are meaningful to students. Perennial means everlasting, like a perennial flower that comes up year after year. Espousing the notion that some ideas have lasted over centuries and are as relevant today as when they were first conceived, Perennialism urges that these ideas should be the focus of education. According to Perennialists, when students are immersed in the study of those profound and enduring ideas, they will appreciate learning for its own sake and become true intellectuals. For Perennialists, the aim of education is to ensure that students acquire understandings about the great ideas of Western civilization. These ideas have the potential for solving problems in any era. The focus is to teach ideas that are everlasting, to seek enduring truths which are constant, not changing, as the natural and human worlds at their most essential level, do not change. A Perennialist views nature, human nature, and the underlying principles of existence as constant. The principles of knowledge are enduring. Truth never changes Teaching these unchanging principles is critical. Humans are rational beings, and their minds need to be developed. Thus, cultivation of the intellect is the highest priority in a worthwhile education. The demanding curriculum focuses on attaining cultural literacy, stressing students growth in enduring disciplines. The loftiest accomplishments of humankind are emphasized- the great works of literature and art, the laws or principles of science. The study of philosophy is thus a crucial part of the Perennialist curriculum. Perennialists regard essentialism, and its view that knowledge stems primarily from the empirical findings of scientists, as undermining the importance of our capacity to reason as individuals; that is, to think deeply, analytically, flexibly, and imaginatively. Perennialists emphasize, though, that students should not be taught information that may soon be obsolete or found to be incorrect because of future scientific and technological findings. Perennialists criticize the vast amount of discrete factual information that educators traditionally have required students to absorb. Perennialists urge schools to spend more time teaching about concepts and explaining how these concepts are meaningful to students. Particularly at the high school and university levels, Perennialists decry undue reliance on textbooks and lectures to communicate ideas. Perennialists suggest that a greater emphasis be placed on teacher-guided seminars, where students and teachers engage in Socratic dialogues, or mutual inquiry sessions, to develop an enhanced understanding of historys most timeless concepts. In addition, Perennialists recommend that students learn directly from reading and analyzing the Great Books. These are the creative works by historys finest thinkers and writers, which Perennialists believe are as profound, beautiful, and meaningful today as when they were written. Perennialists lament the change in universities over the centuries from places where students (and teachers) pursued truth for its own sake to mere glorified training grounds for the students careers. They believe that there is a common core of knowledge that needs to be transmitted to students in a systematic, disciplined way. The emphasis in this conservative perspective is on intellectual and moral standards that schools should teach. The core of the curriculum is essential knowledge and skills and academic rigor. Schooling should be practical, preparing students to become valuable members of society. It should focus on facts-the objective reality out thereand the basics, training students to read, write, speak, and compute clearly and logically. Schools should not try to set or influence policies. A Perennialist asks, What are the essential things a student must know? Within a Perennialist curriculum, activities are tied to the past and not to what is essential right now. The Perennialist values the past but he or she likes the back to basics movement inasmuch as the basics are the learnings of the great minds of the past. Students should be taught hard work, respect for authority, and discipline. Teachers are to help students keep their non-productive instincts in check, such as aggression or mindlessness. For the Perennialist, a great education is a study of the classics. A Perennialist teacher holds fast to a constant curriculum and holds fast to concrete materials that define what he or she will teach (rather than assessing the class and meeting the students needs). A great proponent of Perennialism is Mortimer Adler, Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. He wrote the Paidea Proposal. His basic tenant is that an individual learns best by studying the classics. The Paideia program seeks to establish a course of study that is general, not specialized; liberal, not vocational; humanistic, not technical. Only in this way can it fulfill the meaning of the words paideia and humanities, which signify the general learning that should be in the possession of every human being. The child should be taught certain basic subjects that will acquaint him/her with the worlds permanencies: English, languages, history, mathematics, natural sciences, the fine arts, and philosophy. The child should learn reading and writing, how to speak and how to listen. He is a social being and lives in a community of men. Thus he must use his reason his powers of rationality to communicate with other men. The three Rs ARE important. Perennialists hold that subject matter should be the center of the curriculum. They feel that greater educational opportunities have lowered standards in the schools. They are particularly critical of the progressives who have placed emphasis on the interests of the child and teaching through activity and freedom. Education should introduce the pupil to the universal concerns of mankind thorough the study of the great works of literature, philosophy, history, and science. Such works represent mans finest insights into his own nature. The insights presented in these works are eternal. They do not change; they are never dated. In this way, s/he learns truths that are more important than any s/he could find by dipping into this or that in the contemporary scene, or by pursing his own interests. Education requires hard work and effort. If the student is interested in the subject, well and good, but if not, s/he still must be required to do the tasks. After all, the student does not know what s/he will need in the future. Motivation is fine, and if the teacher can provide it, well and good, but if not, the student must work at the task regardless. Discipline in the classroom is essential to learning. A noisy classroom is not a desirable place for learning to take place. Order is vital. Students cannot always think of the future. Consequently, teachers and parents must help students overcome their desire for immediate ends and direct them to future objectives. Self-discipline is fine, but most of the times it is insufficient. Adults therefore must give direction. The classroom is teacher-centered. The teacher as a professional is far more likely to know what her students will need to know in the future than do they. S/he is responsible for the education and intellectual growth of his/her students. Education requires the mastery of content, of subject matter. Education requires mental discipline. Study is hard work. Concentration and effort is required. Students must therefore being culturated in the process. Essentialism Educational essentialism is an educational philosophy whose adherents believe that children should learn the traditional basic subjects and that these should be learned thoroughly and rigorously. An essentialist program normally teaches children progressively, from less complex skills to more complex. An Essentialist will usually teach some set subjects similar to Reading, Writing, Literature, Foreign Languages, History, Mathematics, Science, Art, and Music. The teachers role is to instill respect for authority, perseverance, duty, consideration, and practicality. Essentialism strives to teach students the accumulated knowledge of our civilization through core courses in the traditional academic disciplines. Essentialists aim to instill students with the essentials of academic knowledge, patriotism, and character development. This traditional approach is meant to train the mind, promote reasoning, and ensure a common culture. Essentialism tries to instill all students with the most essential or basic academic knowledge and skills and character development. Essentialists believe that teachers should try to embed traditional moral values and virtues such as respect for authority, perseverance, fidelity to duty, consideration for others, and practicality and intellectual knowledge that students need to become model citizens. The foundation of essentialist curriculum is based on traditional disciplines such as math, natural science, history, foreign language, and literature. Essentialists frown upon vocational courses. In the essentialist system, students are required to master a set body of information and basic techniques for their grade level before they are promoted to the next higher grade. The content gradually moves towards more complex skills and detailed knowledge. Essentialists argue that classrooms should be teacher-oriented. The teacher should serve as an intellectual and moral role model for the students. The teachers or administrators decide what is most important for the students to learn with little regard to the student interests. The teachers also focus on achievement test scores as a means of evaluating progress. The essentialist classroom is centered on students being taught about the people, events, ideas, and institutions that have shaped American society. Essentialists hope that when students leave school, they will not only possess basic knowledge and skills, but they will also have disciplined, practical minds, capable of applying lessons learned in school in the real world. Essentialism is different from what Dewey would like to see in the schools. Students in this system would sit in rows and be taught in masses. The students would learn passively by sitting in their desks and listening to the teacher. An example of essentialism would be lecture based introduction classes taught at universities. Students sit and take notes in a classroom which holds over one h undred students. They take introductory level courses in order to introduce them to the content. After they have completed this course, they will take the next level course and apply what they have learned previously. English 101 and English 102 are a specific example of essentialism.

Causes of High Labour Turnover

Causes of High Labour Turnover Abstract â€Å"Employee turnover† is the term which is a big concern for many organisations in the UK and worldwide. Although there has been a lot of research and studies which were conducted on this topic, most of these studies and research focused on the causes of the labour turnover and little or no focus has been made on examining the effects and advising different strategies which can be used by the managers within their organisation to make sure that they dont loose their employee. The purpose of this research is to explore the possible reasons for the high level of labour turnover in the company X and to explore the perceptions of the managers of the company X on the strategic management of labour turnover within their organisation and also to suggest few recommendations to the managers and the organisation on how to handle this situation. Most of the theories and procedures discussed in this report will someway or the other suggests us on how to approach this situation of high labour turnover in the company X. Introduction Organisations need labour to function and these days organisations are quickly realizing that employees are their major source of competitive advantage to succeed in this highly competitive world. This notion applies equally to almost any organisation in the world. For an organisation to succeed it has to manage it resources effectively. When an employee leaves the organisation it not only has an impact on the organisation but also on the employee and wider society (Mobley, 1982). These impacts can be both positive and negative (Mobley, 1982; Hom and Griffeth, 1995), and a greater knowledge of the evolution of labour turnover can improve the extent to which organisations and employees within organisations can control these effects (Dalton et al., 1981). These days organisations invest a lot on their employees in terms of training and development, maintaining, and retaining them within their organisation. So, there is a need for the managers to lessen the employee turnover rates within their organisations. This research will look in to the company X, which is a part of the large retail outlet group. For the reasons of ethics the name of the company will not be revealed at any part of this report and will be referred throughout as company X. Company X is a part of large retail outlet with stores which are spread throughout the UK and worldwide. The business sector in which the company X is operating has a high level of competition and the company X is constantly thriving to maintain their competitive advantage in their sector and gain a huge amount of market share. The company X operates in a highly competitive environment, it has to continuously deal with the demands and expectations of the customers which is in turn very stressful for the employees in the company X. This high competition, high demands and high expectation creates a hard environment in the company X and which in turn will affect the employees. The North-East branches of the company X are being focused on this study. The company X has 6 branches in the North-East, each of the branches has a manager, 8 to 10 customer service employees (depending on the location of the branch), and 1 director. The director of the company was consulted regarding the research study and was asked whether there were any areas of concerns within the company which he wanted researching. As the director was working there for a quite long time, he was in a very good position to answer to this question. The director was aware of the reasons why his staff was leaving, but he wanted to know whether the present staff still had the same concerns. The director also wanted to know the possible ways in which these concerns could be resolved in order to retain his current staff. The director was fully aware that the turnover levels of the company had a negative impact on his present staff. The times of employee turnover resulted in longer hours for some staff members which affected the present staff both physically and psychologically because they have to now work for long hours. This was followed during the time when there was training for the new staff. The existing staff had to increase their workload during the times of training the new staff and this in turn affected the level of customer service provided by them. The director noticed that during this period some of their staff was demoralized and were asking for time offs which would further have more impact on the other staff. The hiring and training of new staff seem to have settled this problem. However there is some extent of discontent among the staff of company X regarding the company. Aims of the Study The main aim of this research is to assess the reasons for high labour turnover in UK and particularly in the organisation which I have chosen. Research Objectives: What are the reasons for high labour turnover in company X? How is this issue managed and addressed by the management of the company X? What does the staff and managers think about this problem of high labour turnover in their organisation? Try to suggest solutions in order to reduce the labour turn over in the company X. Literature Review Labour turnover According to Adams (1993) labour turnover is the rate at which staffs leave an organisation and are replaced by new employees. Too high a labour turnover rate may mean that there is something unsatisfactory about working for the organisation and that action therefore would need to be taken†. There are different kinds of methods in which we can measure the labour turnover. The term â€Å"turnover† is defined by Prince (1997) as: the ratio of number of organisational members who have left during the period being considered divided by the average number of people in that organisation during that period. The labour turnover index is the traditional method to measure the labour turnover. This method is a most common method because of the simplicity of usage and to understand. Causes of labour turnover There was a lot of research carried out by academics in the past to answer the question of what makes the employees to leave organisations (for ex, Beck, 2001; Kramer et al., 1995; Saks, 1996). There has been a lot of inconsistency in the findings of the academics which may be because of the variety of employed incorporated by the academics. There is no single or universal reason for why people leave the organisation. The reasons may be different from one organisation to other and from one person to another (Ongori, 2007), people may quit organisation because they might not be getting what they were expecting from the organisation or they might leave the organisation because of personal reasons such as family responsibilities or problems in personal relationships, nevertheless, all these factors have an impact on the employee and the organisation in which he is working. According to Firth et al., (2004), the strain associated with job, a variety of aspects that advance to job associated strain, absence of dedication with in the organisations; and job related frustrations make employee to quit the organisations. This apparently marks that these are particular decisions which makes an individual to leave the organisation. These days there are few jobs which are very stressful such as customer service jobs or a sales job which involves the employees to work both physically and mentally and this will have an adverse impact on the employee which might lead to turnover. Manu et al., (2004) argues that economic factors may be one of the reasons why employees leave organisations. They further argued that economic model can be used to predict the labour turnover in the market. One other reason for the labour turnover might be expectation of promotion or advancement of wages within the employee (Ongori, 2004). Employees working within an organisation might expect a promotion and might be demoralized if he couldnt manage to get a promotion and might lead to turnover, in the same way an employee working for a long time within an organisation might expect a pay rise and will be demoralized and downsized if he couldnt manage to get a pay rise and this might in turn lead to turnover. According to Feaster et al., (1990), to guarantee organisational commitment well-built organisations can provide employees with enhanced option of progression and higher wages. It is evident that huge organisations have many operations, job roles and are spread throughout the country, so there is high possibility that an employee might think about the chances of getting promoted and getting high pay. According to Tor et al., (1997), inadequate data on how to perform a specified job, obscure anticipation of managers, supervisors and peers, uncertainty of performance evaluation procedures, massive job related burdens, and absence of agreement on job duties may cause staff to feel less involved and less satisfied with their jobs, less committed to their organisation, and ultimately exhibit a tendency to quit the organisation. If the employees are not sure of their job role and responsibilities, and if these roles and responsibilities are not clearly mentioned by the management of the organisation, this in turn would lead to the high level of labour turnover within the organisation. Sometimes there arise some factors which are, in part, outside the jurisdiction of the management. These factors may include demise or inability of the employee (Ongori, 2004). Employees are normal human beings and they do grow, mature, and die. So, it is inevitable to control these natural factors. Sometimes due to some internal or external factors highly skilled employees do loose their ability and interest to work, these kind of factors are inevitable and out of control organisations. These factors fall under Voluntary turnover. Other factors have been classified as involuntary turnover factors by Ongori (2004) such as necessity to provide attention to offspring or elderly relatives. Employees do have family and children and often they tend to get deviated from work responsibilities because they are more concerned with their family and children. The employees might even have elderly parent and relatives whom they want to take care of and this might lead to shift of concentration from work and might lead to turnover. On the other hand Simon et al., (2007) argue that these days such factors should not be considered as involuntary turnover because both the regulations of the government and policies of the companies create the opportunities for such staff to return back to their work, or to continue their current work through flexible working or work at home concept. Many organisations these days do provide rehabilitation centers and counseling centers for their employees to take care of their employees. These counseling centers are responsible for handling the psychological aspects of the employee and make sure that they are in good state to work. These days many organisations in UK are providing return to work training for employees who went out for long leaves (for ex such as maternity leave or higher education). This training does help the employee to cope up with the current changes in the organisation and make them ready for work. Zuber (2001) argues that the level of instability of the organisations has an impact on the degree of high turnover. There is a high amount of probability that employees stay within an organisation when there is a foreseeable work environment and vice versa. In companies where there exists a high level of inefficiency there was also high level of labour turnover (Alexander et al., 1994). It is obvious as a human being when an employee suspects that his organisation is not stable anymore or if he suspects that there is going to redundancy within the organisation he might leave the job due to the feeling of insecurity on the other hand when the employee feels like that the organisation is stable he would not bother about quitting his present job. Therefore, in the cases of unstable organisations, employees are more likely to leave the organisation and try to join the more stable organisation, because people normally think that more stable organisations will provide them with more opportunity to advance in their career. According to Labov (1997), organisations with a good communication system have lower or less labour turnover because employees have a strong need to be informed. The employees are always eager to know whats going on within their organisation and a good communication system will keep them informed continuously so that they know whats going on in the organisation, so when an employee is not sure about whats going on within his organisation he might be in a panic state and might lead to turnover. Magner et al., (1996) observed that employees feel at ease to stay longer, in positions where they are involved in some level of decision making process that is employees should fully understand about the issues that affect their working atmosphere. When there is no level of empowerment involved in the organisation for an employee, if the employee has always nee to follow the written rules and never has given an opportunity to think beyond his job he might be demoralized and might lead to turnover. Costly et al. (1987) argues that a heavy labour turnover may mean down-and-out personnel policies, bad recruitment policies, unfavorable supervisory practices, fruitless grievance procedures, or lack of motivation. All these factors tend to heavy labour turnover in the sense that there is no acceptable management practices and policies on personnel matters hence employees are not recruited scientifically, promotions of employees are not based on spelled out policies, no grievance procedures in place and thus employees decides to quit. Griffeth et al. (2000) noted that pay and pay-related aspects have a decent effect on turnover. Their analysis also included studies that examined the relationship between pay, a persons performance and turnover. They concluded that when high performers are not handled and rewarded properly, they quit. If jobs provide sufficient financial incentives then employees are more likely to remain within the organisation and vice versa. There are also other factors which make employees to quit from organisations and these are poor hiring practices, managerial style, lack of recognition, lack of competitive compensation system in the organisation and toxic workplace environment (Abassi et al. 2000). When a person with less or no competencies is hired for a job which require a higher level of competency, knowledge and skill it is more likely that this person would quit or would be sacked from his job because of the inability and inefficiency, this is a result of poor recruitment strategy or poor hiring practices. In the same way people always compare what they get with other people of the same position and if they sense that they are not being paid well or under paid they might leave their current job for a better paid job, this is the result of lack of competitive compensation system within the organisation. The management style plays a crucial role in turnover; if the employee is not handled properly or not managed properly the employee may not give his best and in turn will be demoralized and might quit his job. According to CIPD (2007) the main reason why people leave their present job is that they look for high paying job or for a chance of promotion. The survey conducted by CIPD states that this was the reason for 68% of the employees leaving organisations. The survey also stated that 38% of employees quit their job for a change of career and other reasons included family commitments, health problems, amount of work load, timings, and difficulties with their colleagues at work place. It is evident from the survey findings that people continuously look for better opportunities, better pay and better position, so if an organisation fails to provide them then they might be attracted to the competition and lead to turnover. It is evident that a lot of people leave because of unsatisfactory pay levels, even though with the introduction of the minimum wage rule employees are still not satisfied with their wages because this minimum wage rule is only applicable for those jobs which are to paid hourly and not for the jobs which are paid annually. Taylor (2000) tried to explore whether there is a relationship between pension scheme and turnover. He states that the relationship between turnover and pension scheme is not high, however, he also stated that While pension schemes are frequently perceived to play a role both in the attraction of staff to an organisation and in reducing employee turnover, it is on the later that most attention has been focused in public research. Now-a-days people are not expecting a job for life unlike olden days. These days it is evident that people are mostly looking for transferable skills that they can apply in other jobs. However, some people prefer to stick to one job and one company many people try to move from one company to other in search of better jobs and opportunities. Labour turnover in UK The big issue the organisations within UK are facing these days is labour turnover. According to CIPD (2007) survey labour turnover rates and the cost of labour turnover are at an all time high. The surveys states that the labour turnover rate in 2006 was 18.3% and in 2007 was 18.1% which is almost the same, i.e., turnover is not under control and is affecting the organisations at the same pace, it is interesting to compare the findings of 2005 and 2007, where in 2005 the labour turnover rate was 15.7 and in 2007 it was 18.1%, so we can observe that there is a rapid growth in the labour turnover rates which is alarming to the UK organisations. The survey also reported that the private sector had a highest rate of labour turnover which was around 22.6%. The CIPD (2007) survey shows that change of career was deemed to be the most common reason for voluntary turnover. Around 52% of turnover was due to change of career. Other reasons included promotion outside the organisations (47%), level of pay (39%) and lack of career development opportunities (39%). These survey findings strongly support the views of the academics like Zuber (2001), Alexander et al (2004), Simon et al (2007), and Labov (1997) who continuously argued these reasons for the turnover of employees. So it is evident that the empirical studies and the views of academics do match when it comes to the reasons for why employees leave organisations. The survey conducted by CIPD in 2000 stated that the wholesale and retail trade has the highest turnover in the UK – at 56% the wholesale and retail trade lead the turnover table. The following is a graph which shows the turnover figures in the retail industry in UK during the year 1998-2000, which is broken down by the occupational class. Looking at the graph clearly states that there has been an increase in labour turnover of the administrative jobs during the year 2000. Even though the findings of sales jobs are encouraging it is observed that turnover rate of managers is the same during the year 1998 and 2000. This is alarming because it is hard and costly to find and replace a managerial position (IPD, 1997). The findings of routine, operative and sales jobs are very encouraging as it shows that the turnover rates are gradually decreasing year by year from 1998 to 2000. This is may be due to the reason that employees working in these positions are getting used to their work environment and are less likely to leave their present job, because these kinds of job roles have less or few opportunities to change careers and get promoted outside the organisation. However it is noticeable that replacing these types of jobs would be easy when compared to that of managerial position and administrative jobs, but it would cause some sort of disruptions and would also cost for the organisations to replace them. Costs for organisations The Charted institute of personnel management (CIPD) stated that it would cost around 3500 pounds per employee every time someone leaves the organisation; this was in the year 2004. In 2006 the costs of labour turnover was around 7,750 pounds per job leaver. The figure is almost doubled and it is alarming to the organisations. Organisations with high labour turnover rates not only suffer financially but also psychologically, because of the staff leaving the organisation there will a loss of customer service and this results in hiring new employees and training them who are having less experience. And during this period the organisation has to compromise on a lot of aspects of it functions. There might be also an increase in the level of risk of accidents in organisations where work is involved in risky areas. ACAS states that if labour turnover is excessive it can indicate management problems. These management problems have actually been identified as one of the reasons why employees were leaving the company X. The survey done by IPD (Institute of Personnel Development) in 1997 estimated that it takes an average of 10 weeks for an organisation to fill up a sales vacancy, and it costs around 3,640 pounds for the organisation to find and replace each sales person who left the organisation. The survey also mentioned that though people at managerial positions are less likely to quit an organisation, they cost much more to replace. The survey states that it would take around 13 weeks for an organisation to find and replace a managerial position and would cost around 5,008 pounds per person. However, ACAS does agree that high labour turnover can be expensive, and the actual costs are very difficult to estimate. They further stated that the costs also add up the expenses of advertising, recruiting and training, together with the cost of associated management and supervisory time. It also states that higher costs can be incurred through unnecessarily high staffing level and overtime payment, lost or delayed production, interruptions to flow of work, increased production costs, scrap levels and risk of accidents to inexperienced workers, long-term worker becoming unsettled and leaving, low morale resulting low productivity, damage to the organisations local reputation. However, some research findings oppose the statement that labour turnover has a negative impact for organisations. Some academics (for ex Jovanovic, 1979) states that employees who are less suitable for a particular job quit the job earlier and hence there is a notion that labour turnover does improve organisation performance as employees of poor worker job matches leaves and that vacancy can be filled by a employee with good worker job matches and this will in turn increase the organisations performance. This statement can further be supported by the survey which is done by CIPD in 2000 which states that around 55.5% of organisations experienced minor negative effects of labour turnover, around 26.9% of organisations experienced no effect at all and around 4.8% of organisations have experienced a positive effect due to the labour turnover. Different strategies and approaches to control and minimize turnover There is no one strategy or approach which when used by an organisation can reduce or control the turnover rate. This is because the reasons vary from person to person and organisation to organisation (Ongori, 2004). So it is evident that in order to reduce the turnover the organisations first need to understand turnover. Dalton et al., (1987) (Cited in Abelson, 1987) stated that for an organisation to completely understand the reasons for turnover it needs to differentiate avoidable and unavoidable turnover. Avoidable reasons might include employees leaving their current job to find a better job with better pay and working conditions else where. Unavoidable reasons are not under organisations control. These might include an employee moving from current location to another location, or leaving to fulfill family responsibilities. So it is evident that organisations need to identify voluntary turnover within their organisations and take necessary actions to manage turnover. Research does suggest that it is crucial for an organisation to look and analyze both the quantitative and qualitative information relating to turnover within their organisation (IDS, 2004). Quantitative information is required because it will help the organisation to record, measure and compare its turnover levels. Qualitative information is also important because with this the organisations can understand the reasons why the employees left the organisations and take measures to overcome them. According to CIPD (2004), it crucial that organisations have an understanding of their turnover rates and how it would affect its performance and effectiveness. Armstrong (2001) states that in order for organisations to improve their retention rates they need to analyze the number of employees who are leaving and the reasons why they leave. So it is crucial for an organisation to have established methods to investigate why people are leaving. The following is a graph which shows the various methods used by the organisations to investigate why people are leaving. It is evident from the graph that most of the organisations (90%) use exit interviews to investigate why people are leaving, but it is questionable whether these data collected is used to their full potential. Ongori (2004) suggest that in order to reduce turnover organisations need to provide empowerment to employees. This approach would motivate employee and the employee feels as a part of the organisation and would not quit his job because of the responsibilities. But on the other hand this approach is not applicable to all types of jobs. This approach might work in managerial and administrative jobs but may not hold good for routine and sales jobs. Causes of High Labour Turnover Causes of High Labour Turnover Abstract â€Å"Employee turnover† is the term which is a big concern for many organisations in the UK and worldwide. Although there has been a lot of research and studies which were conducted on this topic, most of these studies and research focused on the causes of the labour turnover and little or no focus has been made on examining the effects and advising different strategies which can be used by the managers within their organisation to make sure that they dont loose their employee. The purpose of this research is to explore the possible reasons for the high level of labour turnover in the company X and to explore the perceptions of the managers of the company X on the strategic management of labour turnover within their organisation and also to suggest few recommendations to the managers and the organisation on how to handle this situation. Most of the theories and procedures discussed in this report will someway or the other suggests us on how to approach this situation of high labour turnover in the company X. Introduction Organisations need labour to function and these days organisations are quickly realizing that employees are their major source of competitive advantage to succeed in this highly competitive world. This notion applies equally to almost any organisation in the world. For an organisation to succeed it has to manage it resources effectively. When an employee leaves the organisation it not only has an impact on the organisation but also on the employee and wider society (Mobley, 1982). These impacts can be both positive and negative (Mobley, 1982; Hom and Griffeth, 1995), and a greater knowledge of the evolution of labour turnover can improve the extent to which organisations and employees within organisations can control these effects (Dalton et al., 1981). These days organisations invest a lot on their employees in terms of training and development, maintaining, and retaining them within their organisation. So, there is a need for the managers to lessen the employee turnover rates within their organisations. This research will look in to the company X, which is a part of the large retail outlet group. For the reasons of ethics the name of the company will not be revealed at any part of this report and will be referred throughout as company X. Company X is a part of large retail outlet with stores which are spread throughout the UK and worldwide. The business sector in which the company X is operating has a high level of competition and the company X is constantly thriving to maintain their competitive advantage in their sector and gain a huge amount of market share. The company X operates in a highly competitive environment, it has to continuously deal with the demands and expectations of the customers which is in turn very stressful for the employees in the company X. This high competition, high demands and high expectation creates a hard environment in the company X and which in turn will affect the employees. The North-East branches of the company X are being focused on this study. The company X has 6 branches in the North-East, each of the branches has a manager, 8 to 10 customer service employees (depending on the location of the branch), and 1 director. The director of the company was consulted regarding the research study and was asked whether there were any areas of concerns within the company which he wanted researching. As the director was working there for a quite long time, he was in a very good position to answer to this question. The director was aware of the reasons why his staff was leaving, but he wanted to know whether the present staff still had the same concerns. The director also wanted to know the possible ways in which these concerns could be resolved in order to retain his current staff. The director was fully aware that the turnover levels of the company had a negative impact on his present staff. The times of employee turnover resulted in longer hours for some staff members which affected the present staff both physically and psychologically because they have to now work for long hours. This was followed during the time when there was training for the new staff. The existing staff had to increase their workload during the times of training the new staff and this in turn affected the level of customer service provided by them. The director noticed that during this period some of their staff was demoralized and were asking for time offs which would further have more impact on the other staff. The hiring and training of new staff seem to have settled this problem. However there is some extent of discontent among the staff of company X regarding the company. Aims of the Study The main aim of this research is to assess the reasons for high labour turnover in UK and particularly in the organisation which I have chosen. Research Objectives: What are the reasons for high labour turnover in company X? How is this issue managed and addressed by the management of the company X? What does the staff and managers think about this problem of high labour turnover in their organisation? Try to suggest solutions in order to reduce the labour turn over in the company X. Literature Review Labour turnover According to Adams (1993) labour turnover is the rate at which staffs leave an organisation and are replaced by new employees. Too high a labour turnover rate may mean that there is something unsatisfactory about working for the organisation and that action therefore would need to be taken†. There are different kinds of methods in which we can measure the labour turnover. The term â€Å"turnover† is defined by Prince (1997) as: the ratio of number of organisational members who have left during the period being considered divided by the average number of people in that organisation during that period. The labour turnover index is the traditional method to measure the labour turnover. This method is a most common method because of the simplicity of usage and to understand. Causes of labour turnover There was a lot of research carried out by academics in the past to answer the question of what makes the employees to leave organisations (for ex, Beck, 2001; Kramer et al., 1995; Saks, 1996). There has been a lot of inconsistency in the findings of the academics which may be because of the variety of employed incorporated by the academics. There is no single or universal reason for why people leave the organisation. The reasons may be different from one organisation to other and from one person to another (Ongori, 2007), people may quit organisation because they might not be getting what they were expecting from the organisation or they might leave the organisation because of personal reasons such as family responsibilities or problems in personal relationships, nevertheless, all these factors have an impact on the employee and the organisation in which he is working. According to Firth et al., (2004), the strain associated with job, a variety of aspects that advance to job associated strain, absence of dedication with in the organisations; and job related frustrations make employee to quit the organisations. This apparently marks that these are particular decisions which makes an individual to leave the organisation. These days there are few jobs which are very stressful such as customer service jobs or a sales job which involves the employees to work both physically and mentally and this will have an adverse impact on the employee which might lead to turnover. Manu et al., (2004) argues that economic factors may be one of the reasons why employees leave organisations. They further argued that economic model can be used to predict the labour turnover in the market. One other reason for the labour turnover might be expectation of promotion or advancement of wages within the employee (Ongori, 2004). Employees working within an organisation might expect a promotion and might be demoralized if he couldnt manage to get a promotion and might lead to turnover, in the same way an employee working for a long time within an organisation might expect a pay rise and will be demoralized and downsized if he couldnt manage to get a pay rise and this might in turn lead to turnover. According to Feaster et al., (1990), to guarantee organisational commitment well-built organisations can provide employees with enhanced option of progression and higher wages. It is evident that huge organisations have many operations, job roles and are spread throughout the country, so there is high possibility that an employee might think about the chances of getting promoted and getting high pay. According to Tor et al., (1997), inadequate data on how to perform a specified job, obscure anticipation of managers, supervisors and peers, uncertainty of performance evaluation procedures, massive job related burdens, and absence of agreement on job duties may cause staff to feel less involved and less satisfied with their jobs, less committed to their organisation, and ultimately exhibit a tendency to quit the organisation. If the employees are not sure of their job role and responsibilities, and if these roles and responsibilities are not clearly mentioned by the management of the organisation, this in turn would lead to the high level of labour turnover within the organisation. Sometimes there arise some factors which are, in part, outside the jurisdiction of the management. These factors may include demise or inability of the employee (Ongori, 2004). Employees are normal human beings and they do grow, mature, and die. So, it is inevitable to control these natural factors. Sometimes due to some internal or external factors highly skilled employees do loose their ability and interest to work, these kind of factors are inevitable and out of control organisations. These factors fall under Voluntary turnover. Other factors have been classified as involuntary turnover factors by Ongori (2004) such as necessity to provide attention to offspring or elderly relatives. Employees do have family and children and often they tend to get deviated from work responsibilities because they are more concerned with their family and children. The employees might even have elderly parent and relatives whom they want to take care of and this might lead to shift of concentration from work and might lead to turnover. On the other hand Simon et al., (2007) argue that these days such factors should not be considered as involuntary turnover because both the regulations of the government and policies of the companies create the opportunities for such staff to return back to their work, or to continue their current work through flexible working or work at home concept. Many organisations these days do provide rehabilitation centers and counseling centers for their employees to take care of their employees. These counseling centers are responsible for handling the psychological aspects of the employee and make sure that they are in good state to work. These days many organisations in UK are providing return to work training for employees who went out for long leaves (for ex such as maternity leave or higher education). This training does help the employee to cope up with the current changes in the organisation and make them ready for work. Zuber (2001) argues that the level of instability of the organisations has an impact on the degree of high turnover. There is a high amount of probability that employees stay within an organisation when there is a foreseeable work environment and vice versa. In companies where there exists a high level of inefficiency there was also high level of labour turnover (Alexander et al., 1994). It is obvious as a human being when an employee suspects that his organisation is not stable anymore or if he suspects that there is going to redundancy within the organisation he might leave the job due to the feeling of insecurity on the other hand when the employee feels like that the organisation is stable he would not bother about quitting his present job. Therefore, in the cases of unstable organisations, employees are more likely to leave the organisation and try to join the more stable organisation, because people normally think that more stable organisations will provide them with more opportunity to advance in their career. According to Labov (1997), organisations with a good communication system have lower or less labour turnover because employees have a strong need to be informed. The employees are always eager to know whats going on within their organisation and a good communication system will keep them informed continuously so that they know whats going on in the organisation, so when an employee is not sure about whats going on within his organisation he might be in a panic state and might lead to turnover. Magner et al., (1996) observed that employees feel at ease to stay longer, in positions where they are involved in some level of decision making process that is employees should fully understand about the issues that affect their working atmosphere. When there is no level of empowerment involved in the organisation for an employee, if the employee has always nee to follow the written rules and never has given an opportunity to think beyond his job he might be demoralized and might lead to turnover. Costly et al. (1987) argues that a heavy labour turnover may mean down-and-out personnel policies, bad recruitment policies, unfavorable supervisory practices, fruitless grievance procedures, or lack of motivation. All these factors tend to heavy labour turnover in the sense that there is no acceptable management practices and policies on personnel matters hence employees are not recruited scientifically, promotions of employees are not based on spelled out policies, no grievance procedures in place and thus employees decides to quit. Griffeth et al. (2000) noted that pay and pay-related aspects have a decent effect on turnover. Their analysis also included studies that examined the relationship between pay, a persons performance and turnover. They concluded that when high performers are not handled and rewarded properly, they quit. If jobs provide sufficient financial incentives then employees are more likely to remain within the organisation and vice versa. There are also other factors which make employees to quit from organisations and these are poor hiring practices, managerial style, lack of recognition, lack of competitive compensation system in the organisation and toxic workplace environment (Abassi et al. 2000). When a person with less or no competencies is hired for a job which require a higher level of competency, knowledge and skill it is more likely that this person would quit or would be sacked from his job because of the inability and inefficiency, this is a result of poor recruitment strategy or poor hiring practices. In the same way people always compare what they get with other people of the same position and if they sense that they are not being paid well or under paid they might leave their current job for a better paid job, this is the result of lack of competitive compensation system within the organisation. The management style plays a crucial role in turnover; if the employee is not handled properly or not managed properly the employee may not give his best and in turn will be demoralized and might quit his job. According to CIPD (2007) the main reason why people leave their present job is that they look for high paying job or for a chance of promotion. The survey conducted by CIPD states that this was the reason for 68% of the employees leaving organisations. The survey also stated that 38% of employees quit their job for a change of career and other reasons included family commitments, health problems, amount of work load, timings, and difficulties with their colleagues at work place. It is evident from the survey findings that people continuously look for better opportunities, better pay and better position, so if an organisation fails to provide them then they might be attracted to the competition and lead to turnover. It is evident that a lot of people leave because of unsatisfactory pay levels, even though with the introduction of the minimum wage rule employees are still not satisfied with their wages because this minimum wage rule is only applicable for those jobs which are to paid hourly and not for the jobs which are paid annually. Taylor (2000) tried to explore whether there is a relationship between pension scheme and turnover. He states that the relationship between turnover and pension scheme is not high, however, he also stated that While pension schemes are frequently perceived to play a role both in the attraction of staff to an organisation and in reducing employee turnover, it is on the later that most attention has been focused in public research. Now-a-days people are not expecting a job for life unlike olden days. These days it is evident that people are mostly looking for transferable skills that they can apply in other jobs. However, some people prefer to stick to one job and one company many people try to move from one company to other in search of better jobs and opportunities. Labour turnover in UK The big issue the organisations within UK are facing these days is labour turnover. According to CIPD (2007) survey labour turnover rates and the cost of labour turnover are at an all time high. The surveys states that the labour turnover rate in 2006 was 18.3% and in 2007 was 18.1% which is almost the same, i.e., turnover is not under control and is affecting the organisations at the same pace, it is interesting to compare the findings of 2005 and 2007, where in 2005 the labour turnover rate was 15.7 and in 2007 it was 18.1%, so we can observe that there is a rapid growth in the labour turnover rates which is alarming to the UK organisations. The survey also reported that the private sector had a highest rate of labour turnover which was around 22.6%. The CIPD (2007) survey shows that change of career was deemed to be the most common reason for voluntary turnover. Around 52% of turnover was due to change of career. Other reasons included promotion outside the organisations (47%), level of pay (39%) and lack of career development opportunities (39%). These survey findings strongly support the views of the academics like Zuber (2001), Alexander et al (2004), Simon et al (2007), and Labov (1997) who continuously argued these reasons for the turnover of employees. So it is evident that the empirical studies and the views of academics do match when it comes to the reasons for why employees leave organisations. The survey conducted by CIPD in 2000 stated that the wholesale and retail trade has the highest turnover in the UK – at 56% the wholesale and retail trade lead the turnover table. The following is a graph which shows the turnover figures in the retail industry in UK during the year 1998-2000, which is broken down by the occupational class. Looking at the graph clearly states that there has been an increase in labour turnover of the administrative jobs during the year 2000. Even though the findings of sales jobs are encouraging it is observed that turnover rate of managers is the same during the year 1998 and 2000. This is alarming because it is hard and costly to find and replace a managerial position (IPD, 1997). The findings of routine, operative and sales jobs are very encouraging as it shows that the turnover rates are gradually decreasing year by year from 1998 to 2000. This is may be due to the reason that employees working in these positions are getting used to their work environment and are less likely to leave their present job, because these kinds of job roles have less or few opportunities to change careers and get promoted outside the organisation. However it is noticeable that replacing these types of jobs would be easy when compared to that of managerial position and administrative jobs, but it would cause some sort of disruptions and would also cost for the organisations to replace them. Costs for organisations The Charted institute of personnel management (CIPD) stated that it would cost around 3500 pounds per employee every time someone leaves the organisation; this was in the year 2004. In 2006 the costs of labour turnover was around 7,750 pounds per job leaver. The figure is almost doubled and it is alarming to the organisations. Organisations with high labour turnover rates not only suffer financially but also psychologically, because of the staff leaving the organisation there will a loss of customer service and this results in hiring new employees and training them who are having less experience. And during this period the organisation has to compromise on a lot of aspects of it functions. There might be also an increase in the level of risk of accidents in organisations where work is involved in risky areas. ACAS states that if labour turnover is excessive it can indicate management problems. These management problems have actually been identified as one of the reasons why employees were leaving the company X. The survey done by IPD (Institute of Personnel Development) in 1997 estimated that it takes an average of 10 weeks for an organisation to fill up a sales vacancy, and it costs around 3,640 pounds for the organisation to find and replace each sales person who left the organisation. The survey also mentioned that though people at managerial positions are less likely to quit an organisation, they cost much more to replace. The survey states that it would take around 13 weeks for an organisation to find and replace a managerial position and would cost around 5,008 pounds per person. However, ACAS does agree that high labour turnover can be expensive, and the actual costs are very difficult to estimate. They further stated that the costs also add up the expenses of advertising, recruiting and training, together with the cost of associated management and supervisory time. It also states that higher costs can be incurred through unnecessarily high staffing level and overtime payment, lost or delayed production, interruptions to flow of work, increased production costs, scrap levels and risk of accidents to inexperienced workers, long-term worker becoming unsettled and leaving, low morale resulting low productivity, damage to the organisations local reputation. However, some research findings oppose the statement that labour turnover has a negative impact for organisations. Some academics (for ex Jovanovic, 1979) states that employees who are less suitable for a particular job quit the job earlier and hence there is a notion that labour turnover does improve organisation performance as employees of poor worker job matches leaves and that vacancy can be filled by a employee with good worker job matches and this will in turn increase the organisations performance. This statement can further be supported by the survey which is done by CIPD in 2000 which states that around 55.5% of organisations experienced minor negative effects of labour turnover, around 26.9% of organisations experienced no effect at all and around 4.8% of organisations have experienced a positive effect due to the labour turnover. Different strategies and approaches to control and minimize turnover There is no one strategy or approach which when used by an organisation can reduce or control the turnover rate. This is because the reasons vary from person to person and organisation to organisation (Ongori, 2004). So it is evident that in order to reduce the turnover the organisations first need to understand turnover. Dalton et al., (1987) (Cited in Abelson, 1987) stated that for an organisation to completely understand the reasons for turnover it needs to differentiate avoidable and unavoidable turnover. Avoidable reasons might include employees leaving their current job to find a better job with better pay and working conditions else where. Unavoidable reasons are not under organisations control. These might include an employee moving from current location to another location, or leaving to fulfill family responsibilities. So it is evident that organisations need to identify voluntary turnover within their organisations and take necessary actions to manage turnover. Research does suggest that it is crucial for an organisation to look and analyze both the quantitative and qualitative information relating to turnover within their organisation (IDS, 2004). Quantitative information is required because it will help the organisation to record, measure and compare its turnover levels. Qualitative information is also important because with this the organisations can understand the reasons why the employees left the organisations and take measures to overcome them. According to CIPD (2004), it crucial that organisations have an understanding of their turnover rates and how it would affect its performance and effectiveness. Armstrong (2001) states that in order for organisations to improve their retention rates they need to analyze the number of employees who are leaving and the reasons why they leave. So it is crucial for an organisation to have established methods to investigate why people are leaving. The following is a graph which shows the various methods used by the organisations to investigate why people are leaving. It is evident from the graph that most of the organisations (90%) use exit interviews to investigate why people are leaving, but it is questionable whether these data collected is used to their full potential. Ongori (2004) suggest that in order to reduce turnover organisations need to provide empowerment to employees. This approach would motivate employee and the employee feels as a part of the organisation and would not quit his job because of the responsibilities. But on the other hand this approach is not applicable to all types of jobs. This approach might work in managerial and administrative jobs but may not hold good for routine and sales jobs.