Four-Step approach for international assignment trainings

            It is important for international firms to educate their assignees before sending them to foreign nations. However, only a few companies actually provide systematic selection and training for oversea assignments. One firm specializing in such programs suggests a four step approach.

            Level1 training is the familiarization of cultural differences and their impact on business outcome. Cultural misconception can lead to misunderstanding between both parties. It can leak outside the organization through foreign nation’s media and ruin company’s reputation. It may lead to boycotts, or it may result in low motivation/productivity in the branch.      

            Level 2 is the behavioral training that aims at getting participants to understand how attitudes are formed and how they affect behavior. For example prejudice against a certain group can negatively influence a manager’s behavior toward that group.

            Level3 training provides factual knowledge about the target country. That can include the demography of the country, laws and regulations, terrain, economy, politics, deceases and health concerns, history, sports and leisure, arts and music, costume, food and beverage, weather, wild life, risks, and relevant suggestions and restrictions.

Level 4 provides linguistic and adaptation skills. Even though there might be local and contractor interpreters on sight, it will be useful to learn the basics of the target language. It can have a survival value or basically help building stronger rapport with locals. Adjustment and adaptation skills can be learned even though they are partially instinctive.

            Globalization is an unavoidable fact in 21^st century and American organizations find new international frontiers every year. Terrible things have happened in international business and military affairs due to insufficient training of assignees. More systematic trainings can help build cohesive international business relations that could lead to prosperity.    

Reference:

Dessler Gary. Human Resource Management. Pearson prentice hall .Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: 11^th Edition. 

The Seven Traits Associated With Leadership

Throughout 20^th century multiple researches were conducted in order to identify leadership traits. The aim was to find characteristics that would differentiate leaders from non-leaders. One research identified seven traits associated with effective leadership that are described below.

The first trait is the drive. Leaders are ambitious, energetic, they demonstrate high effort level, they are passionate, persistent, and they show initiative. The Second trait is the desire to lead. Leaders are not afraid of taking responsibility. They have a strong desire to influence others and lead the way. The third trait is honesty and integrity. Leaders are trustworthy and they show consistency between their words and their deeds. They know it is important to build trusting relationship with subordinates.

Self-Confidence is the fourth trait associated with leadership. Leaders must show self-confidence in what they say, in what they do, and in what they decide so the followers feel that they are stepping on a solid ground. The fifth trait is intelligence. Leaders must be ready to multi task and solve multiple problems at once. They should process and interpret vast amount of information and make correct decisions.

It is typical of an engineer to complain about a manager who set unreachable objectives without knowing the technical obstacles. Job-relevant knowledge is the sixth trait of leadership. Effective leaders have a high degree of knowledge about the company, industry, and technical matters. A leader who has slim knowledge about his/her department often loses his/her self-confidence and drive as well. The seventh trait of leadership is extroversion. Leaders are rarely silent or passive. They are often full of energy, sociable, assertive, and good communicators.

Jobs can fall into three categories. Jobs that deal with things, jobs that deal with people, and jobs that deal with ideas. Generally top managers would deal with ideas and people, middle managers would deal with people and ideas, and supervisors would deal with people and things. However an Ideal leader is someone who have sufficient experience in each single category and inherited the seven traits of leadership.  

      

Resource:

Robbins Stephen P, Coulter Mary; Management. Pearson prentice hall .Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: 10^th Edition.

Modernity as a shaping force in nineteenth-century.

Europe and North America started to prosper during the age of industry (1850-1910). They entered a new age of material production and commodities. Rural areas and small towns turn to big cities, and utilitarianism philosophy spread across the west. Despite economical/technological advancement many artists and philosophers started to criticize this new era, addressing problems such as unfair social stratification, human alienation, and spiritual costs of materialism.

Evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin changed the biblical view of creation and were used as a confirmation to the Victorians creed of social progress. Paintings evolved from realism to impressionism and then to variations of post impressionism and Art Nouveau. Music gradually transformed from majestic operas of Verdi and Wagner to atonal and dream-like symphonies of Debussy. Urban planning and building defined the spirit of modernity. New cities were built from scratch, and old cities went through infrastructural changes. Architectural designs were changed drastically in order to serve the new urban images. The new steel cage skyscrapers of Chicago became popular in New York City and still industry went booming.

  The dark side of modernity was its unfair social stratification. Novelists such as Dickens and Flaubert depicted the injustice and hypocrisy of middle class society and desperate lives of ordinary citizens in their novels. Dramatists such as Ibsen and Chekhov exposed the alienation of middle class society and the complexity of human character using the devices of realism. Dostoyevsky in his novels implored moral freedom through darkness of materialism whereas Nietzsche rejected traditional morality and declared the freedom of self-defining ‘superman’.

Some philosophers believe that the agricultural revolution was the worst mistake in the history of human race because it created social stratification and epidemic diseases. Similarly, industrial revolution and modernity have been criticized for they changed traditional morality and caused alienation for ordinary citizens. However it is fair to acknowledge that we could never reach where we are today but going through industrial revolution and modernity.

Resource: Bishop Philip E. Adventures in the Human Spirit prentice Hall, Pearson .Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: 5^th Edition.

Litigation public relations, and its pro and cons.

                Litigation public relations (LPR) is the profession of influencing events surrounding legal cases, using mass communication techniques. LPR specially comes to play when a case becomes popular and extends beyond the courthouse to the people of the street. LPR uses public relations practices such as focus groups, surveys, and court room exhibit preparation.

Involvement and influence of pervasive media on public opinion and court cases has its pro and cons. This conflict can also be traced in the US constitution. The first amendment guarantees freedom of speech and press whereas the sixth amendment guarantees fair and open trials. Some states have more strict laws on pretrial public communications. Most of these regulations derived from rule 3.6 of the ABA’s model rules of professional conduct.

Public relations practitioners who are assigned for LPR tasks, work for attorneys and aid them in pretrial concerns. The aid includes using public opinion polls and focus groups, coaching lawyers and clients in dealing with media, and most controversially, influencing the jury pool before the trial takes place.   

Whether LPR is a good or bad practice remains controversial. This controversy can even be found in the constitution; as guarantees of freedom of press do not necessarily accommodate the guarantees of fair trial. LPR can be beneficial because it gives the person/organizations a chance to preserve their reputation in the court of public opinion. The drawback of the LPR remains its nature of influencing court proceedings by expressing extrajudicial statements and by stirring up public opinion.       

Resource: Guth David W, Marsh Charles. Public Relations A value-driven approach, Pearson: 4^th Edition.

How Organizations Determine Future Human Resource Needs

Upon determination of organization’s goal/mission, managers begin HR planning. The first step is to take inventory of the current employees. After reviewing the job analysis, HR managers take a query from the company planning program (PeopleMatch for example) and determine whether the company has enough qualified candidates to fill the open positions. If the company is understaffed, new employees will need to be recruited.

Demand for employees results from demand for the organization’s products or services. Let’s think of a supply store that is planning to open a furniture department. In order to fulfill its goal, the store will probably need to buy or rent delivery trucks and hire truck drivers. When demand for products or services dynamically changes in an organization, more job opportunities are created. This will cause more job rotation within the organization and more hiring.

Managers must predict the future needs of the organization and assess current capabilities in order to estimate HR needs. They can then estimate areas in which the organization will be understaffed or overstaffed. For example an organization may realize the need to work on its information system infrastructure. The managers may have to assess the IS department and see if it is capable of doing the planned infrastructure. There might be a need to work with an outside contractor, beside the organization may need to hire new employees who are expert in utilizing the new system. 

            Businesses are becoming more and more dynamic with the force of competition, and with the development of information/communication technologies. Few businesses can afford to resist today’s dynamic market and stick with their old routines. Successful businesses would try to lead the comparative advantage by predicting the future, strengthening the research and development department, creating new jobs, and attracting talents after determining future human resource needs.

Resource:

Robbins Stephen P, Coulter Mary; Management. Pearson prentice hall .Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: 10^th Edition.

Advantages and Disadvantages Between Controlled Media and Uncontrolled Media

            Public relation practitioners deliver their messages through controlled and uncontrolled media. Controlled media are the kind that can be created and controlled by the firm such as advertisement, speeches, paid programs, and employee newsletters. Uncontrolled media are the kind that cannot be controlled by the firm such as television, radio, and newspapers. Controlled and uncontrolled media each have their advantages and disadvantages.

            The advantages of controlled media include the ability to program the channel subjectively by selecting the exact words and images that get sent and also by controlling when and how often the message is repeated. Disadvantages of controlled media include lack of credibility, and cost. When listening to an advertisement or a promotional speech, receivers know that you’re controlling the message so they may not be convinced easily due to lack of credibility.

            Uncontrolled media have lesser problem with credibility and costs. Uncontrolled media broadcast their message to a large scope of people and receivers know that the message is not controlled by the subject. Using uncontrolled media is significantly less expensive but still the firm may need to provide news releases or meet with reporters frequently. News media can provide a third party endorsement or independent endorsement of a news story. The disadvantage of uncontrolled media is that they are not controllable. Public relation practitioners may be able to influence the media but cannot directly control the words and images.

Controlled and uncontrolled media each have their advantages and disadvantages. A combination of the two is generally used in public relation campaigns. Controlled media provide precise messages that would lead to reaching company’s objectives; uncontrolled media offer stronger credibility and are less expensive.

 Resource: Guth David W, Marsh Charles. Public Relations A value-driven approach, Pearson: 4^th Edition. 

Romanticism the era of sensibility

            Romanticism first appeared in England and Germany and then in France and North America around 1800 to 1850. In this era, feeling and imagination were placed above reason, and powers of creative genius were prized. This era was shaped by series of revolutions, influence of heroic/genius men and women, and a sensibility that responded to social and historical circumstances. Thus romanticism was the era of artistic and philosophical concerns, not a unified movement or style.

            Romanticism in its beginning was thrilled by American and French revolutions and affected by industrial revolution especially in the towns of England. Desperate scenes of urban oppression can be seen in the early poetry of William Blake. He believed that he “must create a system or be enslaved by another man’s”. Another significant writer was Mary Wollstonecraft author of the first feminist manifesto. Her words were echoed by later generations of feminists.       

             Nature assumed a new significance, as western societies became more urbanized. Poets and writers of this era such as John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Wordsworth, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau often depicted imaginations of nature in their poems and writings. John Constable was one of the greatest painters of this era. His paintings skillfully depicts nature scene of commonplaces. Joseph Mallord William Turner, and Thomas Cole are other significant painters of this era whose paintings deliver improvised imagination of nature.

            Another element of romantic era is the romantic escapes. In this era western artists, architect, musician, and poets started to borrow ideas and concepts from the past and from the east. Some examples are: Gothic decoration of gigantic houses of parliament in London, Gothic style towers of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, Islamic and Asian design of John Nash Royal Pavilion in Brighton England, and the Turkish Bath painting of Jean Auguste Dominique.

            A great number of romantic works contain evil and demonic settings (Gothic Novel). American author Edgar Allan Poe for example created spectacular Gothic atmospheres in his The Pit and the Pendulum and The Fall of the House of Usher. Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley is the best known Gothic novel today which combine Gothic atmosphere with the romantic themes of genius and the noble savage.

            As we study elements of romanticism, we realize there is no set pattern or uniform style for this era. Geniuses like Beethoven created a bridge to romanticism by breaking set classical rules. Artistic rules and regulations were loosened up in this era and as the result we see more diversity in art, music, and literature as oppose to a unified style. 

Resource: Bishop Philip E. Adventures in the Human Spirit prentice Hall, Pearson .Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: 5^th Edition. 

The five habits shared by highly reliable organizations (HROs)

                                                                      

Suggested by Karl Weick, an organizational psychologist, organizations that can spot the unexpected and quickly adapt to the changed environment are highly reliable organizations (HROs) which share five habits.

1.      They’re not tricked by their success. HROs are very responsive to anything that doesn’t fit with their expectations. They are preoccupied with their failures and alert to the smallest deviations.

2.      They defer to the experts on the frontline. Experts on the frontline are personnel who are actually occupied working directly with customers, product, and suppliers. For example store managers of retail chain stores or none-commissioned officers in the military. HROs would get their input and let them make decisions.

3.      They let unexpected circumstances provide the solution. HROs do not always go by predefined procedures to resolve a problem. In special circumstances HROs may come up with a solution that is actually the contrary of routine procedures.

4.      The embrace complexity. We instinctively try to make a simple model when analyzing a complex situation. For HROs it’s the contrary. They believe it takes complexity to sense complexity. They believe that the business is complex so they take a complex route to deal with things. They keep asking “why” and try to aim for deeper understanding. They try to explore deeply in the heart of the problem and consider all the criteria.       

5.      They anticipate but also recognize their limits. HROs anticipate in small scales and they think by acting and by doing things. It is like playing chess. You can’t anticipate everything from the beginning. You have to go by the game and anticipate in small scales in order to win.

Decisions of a High Reliable Organization are supposed to be more reliable because of the organization’s habits and practices, but yet business is complex and involves risk. Decision makers are risk takers because so often times, there is a fine line between a good and bad decision, and between victory and defeat.

Reference:  Coulter Mary, Robbins Stephen; Management, Prentice Hall, Pearson, 10^th edition.

Analyzing the Color-Coded System Introduced by Department of Homeland Security

In 2003 Department of Homeland Security came up with an anti-terrorism system called Color-Coded system. The system would categorize severity of the threat by a color identifier. Shortly after introducing the system, the department was mocked and criticized by public and mass media. Many believed that the department had caused unnecessary panic among American people.

The intention of Department of Homeland Security under the leadership of Top Ridge was to prepare public officials and private citizen for possible terrorist attacks. The color coded system would introduce a common vocabulary by which different government agencies could easily communicate with each other and to the public. Also the plan could save lives by enhancing situational awareness of citizens.

 “Using a “common vocabulary” is sound crisis management practice!” (Guth 160) This program created a chaos in the nation because even though everyone would be alerted by the same colored code, they would not know what they are supposed to do!  

 Despite the Congress chiding Homeland Security for its flawed warning system, in February 2003 officials warned people of a possible threat and changed the color to orange (high condition) without having any evidence of a threat. They instructed people to store food and water and gave them a packing list without providing enough supplies to the stores. The process made people panic and created a chaos in the nation.

Department of Homeland Security introduced the Color-Coded system with the intention to protect American people and to create a nationwide situational awareness, however the plan backfired as it did not properly predict the people behaviors and how it should be carried out. Chris Cox called these warnings “senseless, unfocused, nationwide response” too often created by “unspecified threat alerts.”

Resource: Guth David W, Marsh Charles. Public Relations A value-driven approach, Pearson: 4^th Edition.

Tracing the theme of love through the arts of the later Middle Ages

                 The later Middle Ages in Europe (1150-1400) is also called Gothic Awakening, when Medieval towns and cities gained freedom from Feudal obligation. The Gothic era brought by itself new styles of architecture, music, literature, and art. Both secular and religious love themes can be traced in this era.

            Much of Gothic architecture was influenced by Abbot Suger who tried to make a connection between God and his form of architecture. Reflected light in precious gems and golden reliquaries would represent God’s spiritual being and walls of colored glass would represent the return of Christ.

            Worldly love depicted in later Middle Ages’ arts and music was influenced by the Courtly Love for the most part. The Courtly Love described a code of behavior between men and women. According to the Courtly Love the young man would express his love, devotion, and servitude to his beloved, but the noblewoman would reject it by overcoming her emotions. The male troubadour’s songs and poems would either praise the beloved’s beauty or complain about her cruelty. The female troubadour would often praise lover’s character and warn him against betrayal. Capellanus, Marie de France, Dante, Chaucer, and Giotto are some of magnificent characters of later middle ages art and literature. Their works contain romantic, religious, mystic, social, and political themes.

            By the fourteenth century, secular songs were enriched rhythmically and harmonically, and gradually replaced monophonic songs of troubadours and trouvere. Developed in northern France, this new style was called the Ars nova. Guillaume Machaut was considered to be the master of Ars nova. The majority of his music was composed for dukes and kings. Doulz Viaire Gracieus is a love song written by him which can interchangeably be addressed to the Virgin Marry or a lady love.

            Expression of love in the early Middle Ages’ arts and music were more religious, but towards the end of this era we see more secular love themes growing in the music and the literature. “ In place of a corrupt and discredited Church, Europe’s courts and cities had become leading centers of power and patrons of the arts” ( Bishop 179)   

Resource: Bishop Philip E. Adventures in the Human Spirit prentice Hall, Pearson .Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: 5^th Edition.

Max Weber’s model of bureaucracy

            Bureaucracy is a model of structural organization which is designed to execute tasks efficiently. Many of today’s large organizations use this model as their structural design. Max weber identified six key characteristics of the ideal bureaucratic organization: Division of labor, authority hierarchy, formal rules and regulations, formal selection, impersonality, and career orientation.

In the bureaucratic system, individuals have highly specialized tasks as oppose to individuals working in small businesses who are in charge of many different things at once. This characteristic of bureaucracy is called specialization or division of labor. The second element is the authority hierarchy which arranges individuals in a vertical ranking of offices. In this pyramid form of command, personnel are supervised by “higher ups” while supervising personnel in lower chains.

Another element of bureaucracy is its formal rules and regulations. Bureaucracy brings individuals of different cultures and backgrounds together and put them under the same formal umbrella. Formal selection is another element of bureaucracy that talks about the required technical ability of each position. Applicants must meet the requirement and once they get in they will be monitored for evaluation purposes.  

Impersonality is the 5^th element of bureaucracy which puts policies ahead of personalities so that all individuals be treated the same way. The last identified element is the career orientation which assigns managers as career professionals as oppose to units owners.          

Max Weber identified bureaucracy as a rational, productive, and highly efficient way to operate in the industrial world. However he detected some drawbacks. Weber was aware that bureaucracy is able to dehumanize people and lead the society to alienation. According to him formal organizations can reduce the human being to “a small cog in a ceaselessly moving mechanism”. Even though formal organizations intention is to serve humanity, Weber feared that humanity may well end up serving formal organizations!

Resource:

1.        Robbins Stephen P, Coulter Mary; Management. Pearson prentice hall .Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: 10^th Edition.

2.        Macionis John J. Sociology.Pearson prentice hall .Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: 12^th Edition.

What lessons should be learned from the government’s botched response to Hurricane Katrina?

Hurricane Katrina has been one of the most catastrophic and the most costly natural disasters in the history of United States. There’s been report of more than 1300 deaths and estimated property damage of $75 billion. The local, state, and federal government failed to respond properly to this disaster, making American people more doubtful about whether the emergency system can protect them when needed. From the government’s botched response we should learn how to conduct proper risk assessment research, plan in a timely manner, communicate effectively, and use our evaluation skills to learn from mistakes.

New Orleans is a Gulf Coast city that lies below sea level for the most part. Obviously the protective levee system was not capable of resisting a 125mph storm. Maybe we should do more research about the vulnerabilities of our urban protective systems and improve it to prepare for the worst.

A huge bureaucratic system can sometimes act like a dinosaur that can’t move in the mud. The leadership failed to lead, and no one knew who was in charge! Maybe we need to plan for the worst ahead of time. Maybe there should be leaner bodies within our system independent from the government to be ready to act fast in these situations.   

 “If you can’t or don’t communicate, the frustration and anger will get out of control.” Joe Trahan a noted New Orleans educator stated. The government was unable to communicate with people adequately and communication between public safety forces was disastrous. After the September 11 attacks, the 9/11 Commission report called for improved connectivity in public safety communication. Failure to execute this call also depicts the failure to evaluate properly after the incident. Maybe we should evaluate incidents more carefully, and maybe we should come up with better communication services among our public safety forces and within our government body.   

Katrina has showed us how fragile our system can be facing a huge natural disaster. Obviously no system is perfect and invulnerable but with better research, planning, execution, communication, and evaluation we can reduce botched actions. Remember what made this country great is the attitude of wanting to improve and learning from mistakes.

Resource: Guth David W, Marsh Charles. Public Relations A value-driven approach, Pearson: 4^th Edition.

Comparing Freud’s theory of human personality, Piaget’s approach to human development, and mead’s view of the development of the self.

The human development studies have come a long way since 19^th century when people in Europe presume human behaviors as solely biological and political leaders such as Thomas Jefferson in the States claims that blacks are mentally inferior to whites. Sigmund Freud, Jean Piaget, and George Herbert Mead have done a great deal of contribution for development of human studies. Freud’s theory of human personality, Piaget’s approach to human development, and mead’s view of the development of the self, have things in common and have things in contrast.

Freud’s theory of human personality identifies three parts in personality: The id, ego, and superego. The id represents human behaving under its basic instincts. Ego is a human conscious struggle to balance its primary enforcement with what society demands. Superego is tied with higher values that an individual sets for himself/herself such as culture and norms.

Piaget’s approach to human development recognizes four stages of cognitive development: The sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages. The sensorimotor stage is the human development at its basic sensual/instinctive level.

           The preoperational stage is the human development at its lingual/symbolic level. The concrete operational stage covers children between the ages of seven and eleven when they focus on

how and why things happen. In this stage individuals see casual connections in their surroundings for the first time. The formal operational stage is the abstract/critical level of human development.

George Herbert Mead in his social behaviorism theory explains individual’s personality in four points. The Self is the individual’s personality composed of self-awareness and self-image produced by social experience. Second point is the explanation of social experience as the exchange of symbols. Mean’s third point is the extension of the second; by using symbols we are capable of imagining our self in another person's shoes to understand his/her intention. Mean in his fourth point divides personal behaviors into two categories:  I and Me. I being the subjective behaviors which is active and spontaneous and Me being the objective behaviors which is passive and hesitant.

As we can see there is a fine line between the Freud’s id and Piaget’s sensorimotor stage. Also there are some similarities between Freud ego and Mean’s self, between Paget’s formal operational stage and Mean’s I and Me concept, and between Piaget’s preoperational stage and Mean’s exchange of symbols concept. However Mean’s model rejects Freud id and Piaget’s sensory motor stage by denying the biological effect on personality. Piaget’s model is time sensitive while Freud and Mean’s models can be applied in parallel.   All three scientists approach behaviorism but one can say Freud and Piaget’s models are social-biological while Mean’s model is more socially driven.

Resource:

Macionis John J. Sociology.Pearson prentice hall .Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: 12^th Edition. 

Analyzing Davis-Moore thesis.

The Davis-Moore thesis has been made by Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore in 1945. According to this thesis social stratification has positive consequences for the operation of a society. It makes the society productive and efficient.

According to Davis-Moore thesis, more important jobs shall offer greater rewards. Answering phone calls, bagging in a grocery store, or entering data on a computer are fairly easy and can be done by almost anyone but jobs such as web programming, accounting audition, or designing automobiles are more advance and require personnel with sufficient trainings and experience. Greater rewards create motivation for people in the society to educate themselves. This Process can create an educated/skillful society.  

One thing that can lose its value in an egalitarian society is the quality of work. According to Davis-Moore egalitarian society last as long as people let anyone perform any job. Workers in an equal society will have little incentive to do their best because everyone gets the same rewards regardless of any extra effort. Why would corporate workers have any incentive for promotion when they would get the same rewards with less responsibility? Why would factory workers work extra time when they don’t get compensated for it? And why would anyone want to work in a mine?

But to what extent the stratification is beneficial? An average full-time employee at Starbucks makes roughly $17,000 annually where as MR. Howard Shultz the CEO of Starbucks makes more than $41 million a year² the amount that would take 2,411 years for an average employee to make! Melvin Tumin(1953) criticized Davis-Moore theses based on three reasoning: First, the invalid assessment of job’s importance and misconnection between award given and contribution made. Second, disregarding the cast element of social stratification. Third, augmenting monetary values and diminishing humanitarian’s.    

            By studying Davis-Moore thesis one may object Tumin criticisms. First, the Davis-Moore thesis does not suggest what reward a society should give to any given job or how unequal the wealth should be distributed. The thesis merely suggests more rewards for more important positions in order to distinguish between different talents and create incentives. Second, it is true that children of rich families are more privileged but given a fairly equal educational opportunity everyone can have a chance to progress. Third, people need money in order to trade goods and services even in an egalitarian society. The only difference is the people in an egalitarian society are confined in limitation where as in meritocracy there is no limit.       

Resource:

1. Macionis John J. Sociology.Pearson prentice hall .Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: 12^th Edition.

2. <http://www.forbes.com/lists/2012/12/ceo-compensation-12_land.html>

What legal restrictions may limit the amount of dividends to be paid?

Paying dividends would attract more investors and satisfy stockholders including a manager who owns a big share of corporate stocks. Therefore management can find a way to pay extensive dividends to enjoy some personal profit. This is one reason why there are legal restrictions in place to make sure dividend paying would not go out of hand.      

The amount of dividends a firm may pay can be limited by certain legal restrictions. These restrictions vary from state to state. There are two categories that these constraints fall into: statutory restrictions and owners/creditors provisions.   

Statutory restrictions may constrain a company from paying dividends, (1) if the firm’s liabilities are greater than its assets, (2) if the dividend amount exceeds retain earning, and (3) If the dividend is being paid from capital invested in the firm.

Another form of legal restriction is resulted from owners/creditors provisions. These are the restrictions that are unique to each firm. Common stockholders are the legal owners of a corporation and they frequently inflict restrictive provisions on managers to minimize risk. For example they may refuse dividend’s deceleration before the debt is repaid or in order to raise capital gain. Preferred stockholders do not own the corporation and cannot make executive decisions but as creditors they have priority over common stock holders which enable them to refuse common dividends when preferred dividends are dis-satisfactory.        

As we can see corporate managers are not the only ones who make decisions regarding dividends. Federal and state government, common stock holders, preferred stock holders, and other creditors such as bond holders can supervise the amount of dividends a firm may pay.  

Resource

Resource: Keown Arthur, Martin John, Petty William. Foundations of Finance prentice Hall, Pearson .Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: 7^th Edition

Comparing the concept of God in the religions of the ancient Hebrews, early Christians, and Muslims.

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all monotheistic religions which believe in one single God. Despite the cultural and political tensions among them, their divine concepts are very similar. They all believe, that the whole universe is created by one omnipotent God that is imortal, and they all believe in life after death, but there are also many differences in the way they approach the same concept.  

                In the Far East, major religions such as Hinduism believe in multiple Gods, but in contrast religions of Near East (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) believe in one single God. Judaism is the oldest of the three dated perhaps 1250 B.C; Christianity, and Islam have confirmed and borrowed many of divine Judaism concepts.

            The Hebrew God named Yahweh. He was considered to be the original creator of the universe with no association with particular locals or aspects of nature. His creation evolved from primal world of nothingness to an orderly hierarchy of all creatures. According to Genesis God created man in his own image and made him the superior creature. God revealed ten commands to Moses and that became the fundamental laws of Judaism. The variations of these laws have also been brought up in Christianity and Islam.

Jesus confirmed that his mission is not to abolish laws and prophets, but to fulfill them.  Mohammad in Sura 12 Joseph indicates that “This is no invented tale, but a confirmation of previous scriptures, an explanation of all things, a guide and a true blessing to true believers” Christianity's view of God is very similar to Judaism. Very similar to Yahweh and Allah the Christian’s God punishes sinners and non-believers, but loves and forgives the faithful servants. In Islam this judgmental phenomena is more intense and visual. The righteous men would be escorted by angels in gardens of heaven where fine trees and streams are, whereas sinners and infidels would be lashed by hell’s flames of fire, over and over again.

                       Jesus and Mohammad have both confirmed monotheistic religions that had come before them, and have included tablets of Old Testament in their holy books. By reading Old Testament, New Testament, and Quran; one may realize that they essentially talk about the same thing with a different interpretation. Could it be that tensions between followers are more cultural and political?   

Resource: Bishop Philip E. Adventures in the Human Spirit prentice Hall, Pearson .Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: 5^th Edition.