Perfect Pizzeria Case Study

Table of Contents Executive Summary†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 3 Problem Statement†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦4 Analyzing Case Data†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 4 Managerial Employees†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 4 Non-Managerial Employees†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 6 Key Decision Criteria†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 6 Alternative Analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 7 Recommendations†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦10 Criteria 1†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦10 Criteria 2†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦10 Criteria 3†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 11 Criteria 4†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦11 Criteria 5†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦11 Criteria 6†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦12 Criteria 7†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦12 Action and Implementation Plan†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 13 Employee Handbook†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 13 Reward and Bonus Program†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 14 Training Program†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 14 Softball Team†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 15 Quarterly Evaluation†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 16 Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 17 Chart†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 17 References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 18 Executive Summary Perfect Pizzeria is experiencing managerial and employee problems that are negatively affecting the chains second largest franchise located in located in Southern Illinois. The overall issues that we will address in our case study for Perfect Pizzeria are: the lack of formal training, systematic criteria for the selection of managers and employees positions; the high turnover rate; the lack of incentive/rewards for employees aside from management; low profit rate due to high percentage of damage or unsold goods, lack of employee loyalty and motivation, no room for advancement beyond management unless employees invest in the franchise. And lastly, the lack of organizational structure with respect to not having an official handbook outlining the company’s policy and procedures, goals and objectives of the company. Additionally, we will address the Rational Choice Decision-Making Process, the Exit-Voice-Loyalty-Neglect (EVLN) model as well as the Expectancy Theory which is based on â€Å"the idea that work effort is directed towards behaviors that people believe will lead to desired outcomes†. Mcshane & Von Glinow, 2011) It is our goal to provide you with our case study that will give you a detailed analysis of Perfect Pizzeria and our recommendations on how to successfully get them back on track in terms of gaining higher franchise profits, attracting and retaining qualified workers, establishing a respectable managerial and employee relationship, allowing for an inclusive receipt of bonuses and rewards for outstanding job performances by any employee, not just management. Problem Statement Perfect Pizzeria currently does not have a systematic selection criterion for hiring managers. Managers demonstrate low expectancy to performance and do not properly execute their role as a manager. Hence, managers lack the leadership and problem resolution techniques to properly communicate with their employees. Consequently, the lack of communication between managers and employees has lead to low morale and ennui within their organizational structure. The objective of this case analysis is to address the multiple symptoms within Perfect Pizzeria which are 1) improve managerial skills, 2) improve employee morale, 3) improve profitability, 4) increase communication between employees and management, 5) improve work quality 6) monitor employee progress and 7) provide feedback to the employee. Perfect Pizzeria is experiencing managerial and employee problems that are negatively affecting team morale, loyalty, and causing a more consistent rise in the percentage of food and beverages unsold or damaged leading to low profits for the franchise. In view of that, the work environment appears to show that the employee’s lack job satisfaction and motivation. Analyzing Case Data Management Employees The case study of Perfect Pizzeria outlines several management criteria that were not in the best interest of the organization. The lack of hiring procedures and guidelines plays an instrumental role in their management system. Perfect pizzeria is staffed primarily from college and high school students; however, when hiring for management positions there is no systematic criteria in which to select the best-qualified person for the job. Those currently occupying leadership positions do so without the proper leadership training or experience to handle the open communication required to build team cohesion in a food franchise environment. While managers in general implement policy and procedures in most franchise environments, Perfect Pizzeria lacks the control mechanisms to monitor employee behavior. Thus, not providing the appropriate negative consequences for any employee that may exercise opportunistic behavior while not under direct supervision. The lack of guidance for management positions has integrated personnel within the organization lacking the skill sets necessary to control the behavior of their shift employees. The behavior demonstrated by unqualified mangers hired at Perfect Pizzeria contradict Kaafi and Noori’s (2011) conclusion that â€Å"a manager’s primary outcomes are job performance, organizational commitment and quality of work life†. To further illustrate the lack of policy and guidelines managers are not afforded the opportunity of initial or continued training in which they can maintain their skills. To illustrate, Perfect Pizzeria recruits within its ranks for assistant and night shift mangers based on the capability of performing the duties of regular employees. Employees promoted to assistant and night managers maintain the same pay scale as non-managerial employees. In contrast the manager is the only employee that is provided with a bonus incentive if the percentage rate of unused/damaged food is low at the end of the month inventory check. A necessary way for managers to smoothly start establishing any new changes to the way they conduct business is for them to be aware of the different workplace emotions around them, internally and externally. Acknowledge what’s going on with their employees, as well as the emotions of the customers, so that everyone’s needs or concerns are addressed. Not acknowledging them has lead to counterproductive workplace behavior by employees and a loss of loyal customers. Emotions in the workplace have a large impact on the company’s immediate and long-term goals, whether it is positive or negative because it determines just how productive an employee will be. Non-Managerial Employees The working conditions the employees at Perfect Pizzeria display are contrary to company goals and objectives. Manager-employee relationships within Perfect Pizzeria have declined; employees no longer share the ethical values to help them choose to do what’s right when making a decision that can negatively impact the franchise. Employees take advantage of food compensation provided by management while on shift without fear of reprimand from managers. Such acts as eating the food at the pizzeria without paying or simply being careless and damaging food or beverages, directly contributes to the increase of unused/food waste numbers. Perfect Pizzeria employees demonstrate ennui, which directly affects their outward behavior. While the negative disposition may not be directly shared with all employees on shift it is reasonable to say that it is a dilemma that can be contagious to other employees. Research provided by Manzoor (2012) states that employers ultimately need employees that work well with others. While a team member performs a specific job that is equally important to the overall success of the team. The current employees at Perfect Pizzeria lack the proper monetary motivation to commit to their duties and organizational goals resulting in high turn over rates. Key Decision Criteria In order to improve the events that have occurred at Perfect Pizzeria, the decisions that are made must: 1) improve managerial skills 2) improve employee morale and decrease turnover rate 3) improve profitability 4) increase communication between employees and management 5) improve work quality 6) monitor employee progress 7) provide feedback in order to help the employee’s to grow and develop skills useful to the organization. Alternative Analysis Effort| Performance Options| Outcome| 1. Improve managerial skills| * Mangers training program * Hire qualified management * Direct by explaining the process| Enhanced Leadership| Effort| Performance Options| Outcome| 2. Improve employee morale & decrease turnover| * Use a hiring agency or change the hiring process * Reward bonuses & incentive program * Allow the opportunity to become leaders| Self-motivated employees| Effort| Performance Options| Outcome| 3. Improve profitability| * Train employee’s about environment & food safety * Employee training programs * Limit free food according to the numbers of hours worked| Decrease damaged/unsold food percentage rate| Effort| Performance Options| Outcome| 4. Increase communication between employees & management| * Meetings on a regular basis * Interacting with employees inside & outside of work * Allow positive & negative feedback| Build positive relationships| Effort| Performance Options| Outcome| 5. Improve work quality | * Reward for accountability * Assure employees with positive communication * Management needs to help when needed| Increase production| Effort| Performance Options| Outcome| 6. Monitor employee progress| * Measure job performance * Implement cross-training for skill variety * Leadership opportunities| Job enrichment| Effort| Performance Options| Outcome| 7. Provide feedback to the employee| * Listen to employee comments * Quarterly assessments * Being honest about performances| Job satisfaction| Recommendations Criteria 1: Improve Managerial Skills Alternative: Hire Qualified Management Based on a professional association of practicing managers, American Management Association, managers need certain skills to perform the duties and activities associated with being a manager (Jones 2009). When hiring potential managers, Perfect Pizza should not only look at the human skills of the individual but also ensure that potential managerial candidates also have communication skills, effectiveness skills, interpersonal skills, and conceptual skills. Communication skills is the ability to transform ideas into words and actions. It is the set of skills that enables a person to convey information so that is it received and understood. Effectiveness skills is contributing to the company’s mission/departmental objectives, customers focus, and multitasking (Jones 2009). Interpersonal skills is coaching and mentoring, diversity. Being able to work with diverse people and culture, networking within the organization, networking outside the organization, and working in teams. Conceptual skills is the ability to use information to solve the company’s problems, recognizing problem areas and implementing solutions, and understanding the company’s business model. Criteria 2: Improve employee morale & decrease turnover Alternative: Reward, bonuses & incentive program According to the research of John Gray, if an employee incentive program is run correctly, it can increase the employee morale and productivity and performance (Gray 2006). When employees in the organization are happy, it can lead to positive outcomes. Criteria 3: Improve profitability Alternative: Employee Training Programs A common mistake made by many organizations is the failure to adequately invest in the continued training of their employees after they are hired. Based on research from the Management Association of Illinois, one of the biggest factors in maintaining employee satisfaction levels and the company’s profitability is the amount of training companies provide (Silverman 2009). The training and development of employees through training programs is an essential part of their satisfaction and longevity and should be made a priority of the organization. Training programs not only help to bolster employee satisfactions and the company’s profitability, but also produce tangent benefits for the company. Criteria 4: Increase communication between employees & management Alternative: Interacting with employees inside & outside of work Many companies do not realize that interacting with employees inside and outside of work will increase communication with employees and management. According to research from the American Management Association, participating in activities, creating a sport team, community service, and volunteer services outside of work will help employees and managers unwind and get to know each other better (Jones 2005). Criteria 5: Improve work quality Alternative: Assure employees with positive communication More emphasis should be placed on employee standards and job matching responsibilities. Perfect Pizzeria employees are interdependent of one another in order to produce their product. Hence, in order to promote job consistency employees need to be educated on what their duties and expectations. An employee cannot work up to the expected standard if they are not aware of what is required of them. The following pointers will help attain this goal. * All staff regardless of their roll must have a clear understanding of what the business actually does and know  the names of all the products and its main competitors * Ensure they have  a good enough understanding of who does what to be able to find someone to help a customer when the need arises. The management must take time to explain the organization’s aims and objectives to the employees. * Set measures for the business that they can all contribute to * Provide a clear and simple report to show them how the business is doing Criteria 6: Monitor employee progress: Alternative: Leadership opportunities Perfect Pizzeria should implement a deliberate internal program that encourages a sense of ownership with their employees. Keeping the staff informed, prepared and up to date with all company operations is key. The following pointers will help attain this goal. * Staff must have a clear understanding of product * Explain the organization’s aims and objectives to the employees * Set measures for the business that they can all contribute to * Provide business progress report These steps are in line with the expectancy theory which is a motivation theory based on the idea that work effort is directed toward behaviors that people believe will lead to desired outcomes. Criteria: Provide feedback to the employee Alternative 7: Quarterly Assessments Feedback to employees about their performance through quarterly assessments helps improve their performance, motivates self-improvement, and builds trust (Lun 1999). Action and Implementation Plan Employee Handbook Based on the recommendations listed above, Perfect Pizzeria needs to overhaul the way that it is currently doing things to be competitive in their market. The most important thing that needs to happen is Perfect Pizzeria needs to come up with official documentation that sets the standard for the company policy and procedures. This can be achieved by developing a new employee handbook that will be given to all employees. It will also be given to all the newly hired employees as part of their orientation process. According to Felsberg (2004), an employee handbook will be carefully drafted and periodically reviewed by the Human Resources department. The handbook will be reviewed and updated at least every two years. If policies or laws change, updates can occur more frequently. The employees will be required to date and sign the handbook acknowledging that they have reviewed it. This ensures that the employee understands the company’s policies and practices. The section of Perfect Pizzeria’s handbook that would need the most change is the employment policies. The responsibilities of the employees need to be clearly laid out so the supervisors and the rest of the team know where they fit in the organization. The supervisor’s responsibilities are not only to represent the company’s management to its employees, but to represent the company’s employees to its management. The team’s responsibility also needs to be revamped because every phase in producing the company’s product is important. Reward and Bonus Program According to Hsieh (2011), employees who perceive a greater fit with their employer are less likely to leave the firm, are more committed to it, and have higher work satisfaction. Reward practices logically serve as motivators, shaping employee behaviors. Rewarding employees for ideas that minimize or eliminate costs is more important in an overall cost leadership strategy. A rewards system is an important part of an organization’s human resource strategy. The old bonus system of rewarding the manager does not work in today’s business environment. With the old system, if the percentage of food unsold or damaged in any way is very low, the manager gets a bonus. Modern organizations must make their rewards system to help achieve higher performance at not only the managerial level but at the team level. The perfect system helps the company give the right amount of reward, to the right people, at the right time, for the right reasons. The new system will continue to reward the managers for the low percentage but an employee reward and bonus system will also be created. An Employee of the Quarter program will be created and based on performance perceived by the managers and fellow employees and quarterly evaluations. The Employee of the Quarter will be recognized in a company newsletter, a plaque, and also a cash bonus. This will make sure that the manager are not the only ones being rewarded and will motivate the team to not only work harder, but smarter. Training Program New employees will go through a formal training program where all employees should be able to complete a number of tasks to make sure that they can do their job proficiently. Psychologist David McClelland recognized that a person’s needs can be strengthened through reinforcement, learning, and social conditions. McClelland examined three â€Å"learned† needs: achievement, power, and affiliation. McClelland’s research supported his theory that needs can be learned, so he developed a training program for this purpose. Perfect Pizzeria will incorporate his achievement management program for employees. Trainees will write achievement-oriented stories and practice achievement-oriented behaviors in business games. This training period will also include new managers. Managers will learn about McClellan’s â€Å"need for power. † This need is where people want to control their environment, including people and material resources, to benefit themselves and others. It will be mandatory for managers to attend a program, which will include management classes. The management classes will provide management expectations, operational procedures, and the basic concepts to be successful. Serving the customers is the cornerstone of Perfect Pizzeria. In the training program, managers will learn how to communicate with all types of customers, vendors and co-workers. Out of everything they learn, customer service is the one skill they will use every minute of every hour of every day they are at Perfect Pizzeria. The training program will cover proper management techniques to problem solving. Once they have completed the program, they will be able to handle any situation. Softball Team To increase communication with the employees and management, Perfect Pizzeria will form a team and join the local company softball league. With all the reasons for starting a softball team, such as physical fitness, stress relief, and fun, the most important reason is strengthening relationships. Playing softball together helps co-workers form and strengthen friendships, and instills a sense of camaraderie among company players. Co-workers who don't communicate outside of the workplace will get a chance to interact and get to know each other, and close associates can enjoy seeing different sides to the people they work with every day. A softball team will also support employees’ â€Å"need for affiliation. † This need is where people seek approval from others, conform to their wishes and expectations, and avoid conflict and confrontation. Employees with a strong need for affiliation project a favorable image of themselves. They actively support others and try to smooth out workplace conflicts. They also work well in coordinating roles to mediate conflicts and cultivate long-term relationships. Quarterly Evaluations Throughout the year, the employees’ performance will be tracked. According to DelPo (2007), a log for each employee will be kept on a computer. Memorable incidents involving that employee, whether good or bad, will be noted. If an employee is going above and beyond what is expected or they really mess something up, immediate feedback will be given orally or in writing. The manager will let the employee know that they noticed and appreciate the extra effort or that they are concerned about the employee's performance. If a manager gives oral feedback, they will make a written note of the conversation for the employee's personnel file. Every three months, a manager will formally evaluate each employee by writing a performance appraisal and holding a meeting with the employee. The appraisal will include each standard or goal that is set for that employee, the manager’s conclusion as to whether the employee met the standard or goal, and the reasons that support their conclusion. At the meeting, the manager will let the employee know what they did well and which areas could use some improvement. The manager will explain his or her conclusions about each standard and goal. They will also listen carefully to the employee and ask the employee to write them down on the evaluation form. Conclusion Overall, Perfect Pizzeria can overcome their managerial and employee problems as well as prevent a high percentage of profit loss by carefully implementing new organizational changes. The changes outlined within our action and implementation plan will lead to employee motivation, high morale, low turnover rate, qualified applicants, respect for managers, and effective systematic criteria for the selection of managers and employees, and formal training classes for managers. Therefore, it is imperative that these positive changes be made immediately in order for Perfect Pizzeria to prosper. Chart 1 References Appelbaum,  S. H. , Iaconi,  G. D. ;  Matousek, A. (2007). Positive and negative deviant workplace behaviors: causes, impacts, and solutions. Corporate Governance,  7(5),  586. Retrieved November 7, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID:  1381003221). Delpo, A. (2007). The Performance Appraisal Handbook: Legal and Practice Rules for Managers. California: NOLO. Felsberg, E.. (2004). Composing effective employee handbooks. Employment Relations Today,  31(2),  117. Retrieved November 15, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID:  665846591). Gray, John. (2006). â€Å"Motivating Employees. † John Gray. Accessed December 3, 2011 From www. johngray. com Hsieh,  Y. ,  ;  Chen,  H.. (2011). Strategic fit among business competitive strategy, human resource strategy, and reward system. Academy of Strategic Management Journal,  10(2),  11-32. Retrieved November 15, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID:  2439526121). Jones, C.. (2009). Developing Management Leaders by Teaching Managerial Skills. New York: American Management Association. Kaifi,  B. ,  ;  Noori,  S.. (2011). Organizational Behavior: A Study on Managers, Employees, and Teams. Journal of Management Policy and Practice,  12(1),  88-97. Retrieved November 4, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID:  2399209841). Luthans,F. , Rosenkrantz, S. A. ; Hennessey, H. W.. (1985) â€Å"What do successful managers really do? An observation study of managerial activities,† J. AppliedBehav. Science, 21, 255-270. Luo L. â€Å"Work motivation, job stress and employees' well-being. † Journal of Applied Management Studies; Jun 1999; 8, 1; pg. . ABI/INFORM Global. Porras, J. I. & Anderson, B.. (1981). â€Å"Improving managerial effectiveness through modeling-based training,† Org- Dynamics, 9, 60-77. Manzoor,  Q.. (2012). Impact of Employees Motivation on Organizational Effectiveness. Business Management and Strategy,  3(1),  1-12. Retrieved November 4, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Docu ment ID:  2485742121). Mcshane, T. , Mchane, T. L. , & Glinow, M. V. (2011). Organizational Behavior: emerging knowledge and practice for the real world. (5th ed. , pp. 494-495). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Mcshane, S, & Von Glinow, M.. (2011). Organizational Behavior: emerging knowledge and practice for the real world. (5th ed. , p. 109, 199). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Mellewigt,  T. ,  Ehrmann,  T. ,  &  Decker,  C.. (2011). How Does the Franchisor's Choice of Different Control Mechanisms Affect Franchisees' and Employee-Managers' Satisfaction? Journal of Retailing,  87(3),  320-331. Retrieved November 4, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID:  2476250611) Silverman, Joy. (2009). Discovering and Acting on Employee Opinions. Management Association of Illinois, 2009.

Cow

Cattle (colloquially cows) are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius. Cattle are raised as livestock for meat (beef and veal), as dairy animals for milk and other dairy products, and as draft animals (oxen or bullocks) (pulling carts, plows and the like). Other products include leather and dung for manure or fuel. In some countries, such as India, cattle are sacred.From as few as 80 progenitors domesticated in southeast Turkey about 10,500 years ago,[2] an estimated 1. 3 billion cattle are in the world today. [3] In 2009, cattle became the first livestock animal to have a fully mapped genome. [4] SpeciesMain article: Bovini Cattle were originally identified as three separate species: Bos taurus, the European or â€Å"taurine† cattle (including similar types from Africa and Asia); Bos indi cus, the zebu; and the extinct Bos primigenius, the aurochs. The aurochs is ancestral to both zebu and taurine cattle.Recently, these three have increasingly been grouped as one species, with Bos primigenius taurus, Bos primigenius indicus and Bos primigenius primigenius as the subspecies. [5] Zubron, a cross between wisent and cattleComplicating the matter is the ability of cattle to interbreed with other closely related species. Hybrid individuals and even breeds exist, not only between taurine cattle and zebu (such as the sanga cattle, Bos taurus africanus), but also between one or both of these and some other members of the genus Bos – yaks (the dzo or yattle[6]), banteng, and gaur.Hybrids such as the beefalo breed can even occur between taurine cattle and either species of bison, leading some authors to consider them part of the genus Bos, as well. [7] The hybrid origin of some types may not be obvious – for example, genetic testing of the Dwarf Lulu breed, the on ly taurine-type cattle in Nepal, found them to be a mix of taurine cattle, zebu, and yak. [8] However, cattle cannot successfully be hybridized with more distantly related bovines such as water buffalo or African buffalo.The aurochs originally ranged throughout Europe, North Africa, and much of Asia. In historical times, its range became restricted to Europe, and the last known individual died in Masovia, Poland, in about 1627. [9] Breeders have attempted to recreate cattle of similar appearance to aurochs by crossing traditional types of domesticated cattle, creating the Heck cattle breed. Word origin†Cattle† did not originate as the term for bovine animals.It was borrowed from Old French catel, itself from Latin caput, head, and originally meant movable personal property, especially livestock of any kind, as opposed to real property (the land, which also included wild or small free-roaming animals such as chickens — they were sold as part of the land). [10] The word is closely related to â€Å"chattel† (a unit of personal property) and â€Å"capital† in the economic sense. [11][12] The term replaced earlier Old English feoh â€Å"cattle, property† (cf. German: Vieh, Gothic: faihu). The word â€Å"cow† came via Anglo-Saxon cu (plural c? ), from Common Indo-European g? ous (genitive g? wes) = â€Å"a bovine animal†, compare Persian gav, Sanskrit go, Welsh buwch. [citation needed] The genitive plural of cu is c? na, which gave the now archaic English plural of â€Å"kine†. The Scots language singular is coo or cou, and the plural is â€Å"kye†. In older English sources such as the King James Version of the Bible, â€Å"cattle† refers to livestock, as opposed to â€Å"deer† which refers to wildlife. â€Å"Wild cattle† may refer to feral cattle or to undomesticated species of the genus Bos. Today, when used without any other qualifier, the modern meaning of â€Å"cattle† is usually restricted to domesticated bovines. citation needed] Terminology Look up cattle or cow in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. A Hereford bullIn general, the same words are used in different parts of the world, but with minor differences in the definitions. The terminology described here contrasts the differences in definition between the United Kingdom and other British-influenced parts of world such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the United States. [13] An â€Å"intact† (i. e. , not castrated) adult male is called a bull. A wild, young, unmarked bull is known as a â€Å"micky† in Australia. 14] An unbranded bovine of either sex is called a â€Å"maverick† in the USA and Canada. An adult female that has had a calf (or two, depending on regional usage) is a cow. A young female before she has had a calf of her own[15] and is under three years of age is called a heifer ( /? h? f? r/ HEF-? r). [16] A young female that has had only one cal f is occasionally called a first-calf heifer. Young cattle of both sexes are called calves until they are weaned, then weaners until they are a year old in some areas; in other areas, particularly with male beef cattle, they may be known as feeder calves or simply feeders.After that, they are referred to as yearlings or stirks[17] if between one and two years of age. [18] A castrated male is called a steer in the United States; older steers are often called bullocks in other parts of the world,[19] but in North America this term refers to a young bull. Piker bullocks are micky bulls that were caught, castrated and then later lost. [14] In Australia, the term â€Å"Japanese ox† is used for grain-fed steers in the weight range of 500 to 650 kg that are destined for the Japanese meat trade. [20] In North America, draft cattle under four years old are called working steers.Improper or late castration on a bull results in it becoming a coarse steer known as a stag in Australia, Ca nada and New Zealand. [21] In some countries, an incompletely castrated male is known also as a rig. A castrated male (occasionally a female or in some areas a bull) kept for draft purposes is called an ox (plural oxen); â€Å"ox† may also be used to refer to some carcass products from any adult cattle, such as ox-hide, ox-blood, oxtail, or ox-liver. [16] A springer is a cow or heifer close to calving. [22] In all cattle species, a female twin of a bull usually becomes an infertile partial intersex, and is a freemartin.Neat (horned oxen, from which neatsfoot oil is derived), beef (young ox) and beefing (young animal fit for slaughtering) are obsolete terms, although poll, pollard or polled cattle are still terms in use for naturally hornless animals, or in some areas also for those that have been disbudded. Cattle raised for human consumption are called beef cattle. Within the beef cattle industry in parts of the United States, the older term beef (plural beeves) is still use d to refer to an animal of either sex. Some Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and British people use the term beast, especially for single animals when the sex is unknown. 23] Cattle of certain breeds bred specifically for milk production are called milking or dairy cattle;[13] a cow kept to provide milk for one family may be called a house cow or milker. The adjective applying to cattle in general is usually bovine. The terms â€Å"bull†, â€Å"cow† and â€Å"calf† are also used by extension to denote the sex or age of other large animals, including whales, hippopotamuses, camels, elk and elephants See also: List of animal names Singular terminology issue A herd of CattleCattle can only be used in the plural and not in the singular: it is a plurale tantum. 24] Thus one may refer to â€Å"three cattle† or â€Å"some cattle†, but not â€Å"one cattle†. No universally used singular form in modern English of â€Å"cattle† exists, other t han the sex- and age-specific terms such as cow, bull, steer and heifer. Historically, â€Å"ox† was not a sex-specific term for adult cattle, but generally this is now used only for draft cattle, especially adult castrated males. The term is also incorporated into the names of other species, such as the musk ox and â€Å"grunting ox† (yak), and is used in some areas to describe certain cattle products such as ox-hide and oxtail. 25] A Brahman calf†Cow† is in general use as a singular for the collective â€Å"cattle†, despite the objections by those who insist it to be a female-specific term. Although the phrase â€Å"that cow is a bull† is absurd from a lexicographic standpoint, the word â€Å"cow† is easy to use when a singular is needed and the sex is unknown or irrelevant – when â€Å"there is a cow in the road†, for example. Further, any herd of fully mature cattle in or near a pasture is statistically likely to consi st mostly of cows, so the term is probably accurate even in the restrictive sense.Other than the few bulls needed for breeding, the vast majority of male cattle are castrated as calves and slaughtered for meat before the age of three years. Thus, in a pastured herd, any calves or herd bulls usually are clearly distinguishable from the cows due to distinctively different sizes and clear anatomical differences. Merriam-Webster, a US dictionary, recognizes the sex-nonspecific use of â€Å"cow† as an alternate definition,[26] whereas Collins, a UK dictionary, does not. [27]Colloquially, more general nonspecific terms may denote cattle when a singular form is needed. Australian, New Zealand and British farmers use the term â€Å"beast† or â€Å"cattle beast†. â€Å"Bovine† is also used in Britain. The term â€Å"critter† is common in the western United States and Canada, particularly when referring to young cattle. [28] In some areas of the American Sou th (particularly the Appalachian region), where both dairy and beef cattle are present, an individual animal was once called a â€Å"beef critter†, though that term is becoming archaic.

Chess Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Chess - Coursework Example But it is unfortunate that in countries like united Nation it was recognized in the late years. It improves the cognitive ability rational thinking and reasoning even to those children that show low performance in class. Traditional education has not reached the latent energy discovered by the chase. It farther improves logical thinking, instills in the children sense of worth and improves the communication pattern which determines the outcome of the learning process. A part from improving the communication patterns, chess teaches the values like hard work, concentration and objectivity and commitment among the pupils. The concentration level coupled with commitment and objectivity are the basic foundation for good performance. The idea of improved performance is farther supported by the empirical observation in the experiment done in Marina in which it was observed that 55% percent of the students shown significant improvement in the academic performance after smattering chess instruction. Other experiment dines on the same yields the same result. It is therefore evidenced and clearly elaborated to agree with the chess to improve performance base on the above aforementioned

Introduction to sustainable development Research Paper

Introduction to sustainable development - Research Paper Example Generally, sustainable development is a situation where people use the necessary resources to obtain the immediate required needs but does not tolerate any factor that might interfere with the future of the others (Purvis and Alan 82). In short, sustainable development goal is to assist people worldwide attain satisfaction of their basic needs; improve their quality of lives without having to compromise the quality of the upcoming generations. This paper will seek to write a research paper on introduction to sustainable development. It is understandable, in present day; that it will be impossible achieve the â€Å"intergenerational† equity if activities undertaken by some people in some world parts continue to jeopardize the well-being of others living in different parts (Rogers, Jalal, and Boyd 41). Preferably, people should probably refer to â€Å"sustainable† development as balanced and equitable state of affairs (Ukaga and Chris 20). This is because, according to econometrics, for development to continue being sustainable indefinitely, it should be in a position to balance the interests of the many different groups of people, who are among and within similar generations, and attain so at the same time in three crucial interrelated areas. These areas include social, environmental, and economical (Jennifer 84). Therefore, sustainable development is all about equity. Equity in this case refers to comprehensiveness of goals and objectives as well as equality of opportunities of well-being (Dresner 78). Under these three categories, there are so many objectives that sustainable development should put into consideration. For instance, there is objective for full employment, security, equity, stability, efficiency, healthy human environment, conservation of both non-renewable and natural resources among others (United Nations 24). Obviously, it

International business law Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

International business law - Article Example The article relates to the material being used in class, specifically in terms of asserting the need to abide and observe human rights, especially in war-ridden areas. The news report disclosed that through these chemical attacks, â€Å"the Assad regime continues to carry out war crimes in its slaughter of innocent men, women, and children† (Reuters par. 11). Even though the victims were noted to be rebels of the Syrian government, it is important to observe proper legal procedures in applying jurisdiction and justice, than resorting to chemical warfare that undermines their right to live. I strongly believe that each country face problems in terms of the ideologies professed by rebel groups which obviously run counter to government policies and legislation. However, as government officials, elected by the people, I affirm that resorting to unfair warfare tactics, like chemical warfare, grossly violates the rebels’ right to express themselves and to live. As such, if these rebels also violate legal, moral, or ethical codes of conduct, they too, should be subjected to similar legal procedures that each and every citizen of the country is allowed to undergo. Therefore, the allegations reported that the Syrian government allegedly uses chemical warfare in rebel-held areas are obvious violations of human rights and should be rightfully examined by international courts. The fact that the government had already breached the chemical weapons agreement is already an indication of disrespect for justice and observance of human rights. The reason why I disagree to the Sy rian government’s alleged use of toxic chemicals in rebel-held areas is that the action obviously disrespects the right of these rebels to live. Further, by using these chemical weapons, unsuspecting and hapless victims include women and children, who are supposed to be protected from these abusive incidents. The rebels could just be

Politics by Aristotle Mere Life and Good Life Essay

Politics by Aristotle Mere Life and Good Life - Essay Example According to Aristotle, freedom is affected by the constrains that arises in our normal life. On the other hand good life is positive in one way as it empowers the youth to be in a position to take leadership roles and accept to be ruled. Through this, we can be in a position to give our priorities right or wrong. According to Aristotle, good life comprises varied ideals in its ethical concerns. In philosophy, there is broad attachment of ethical virtues to external produce. What affects the public people’s life, are the basic ethical virtues. These include ambition, and courage. In achieving these virtues, then it calls for need to be politically active and take political roles and getting involved in court proceedings. External goods refers to useful factors that accompany ethical virtues like power, honor and wealth. The best source of happiness in human beings is friends and family members (Aristotle 23). Aristotle defines politics in various scopes of participation in politics. Good life does not necessarily root from citizenship. To maintain a good life, one needs to create an atmosphere that is politically stable. A politically stable community is a community that has life and property security. In life, if one is denied or has no access to political nature, then it implies that you are staying alone or staying in a community that does not recognize importance of the politics in life (Aristotle 76). Human beings differ and some may decide to live a political society despite the law and order and moral law that the society provides and the opportunity that is engaged in participating in politics. Household arises out of the essential natural instincts that demands reproduction and material survival. This is because Aristotle did not put more emphasis in politics and he does not relegate household values. Household is not confiding to the standards of meeting the natural instincts. Thus for a household to be

Role of education leaders Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Role of education leaders - Essay Example The main functions of the school district are to employ teachers and take corrective actions, solve disciplinary matters and taxation. Maryland is an exception in this case. All schools are controlled by the county. In general, it is possible to distinguish the following forms of control: (1) school district governments; (2) state-dependent school systems; (3) local-dependent school systems and (4) education service agencies (Dembowski 1999). Educational standards and practices are the engine driving the changes public schools are experiencing today. These bodies control schools and establish education standards and procedures. The school district provides qualified teachers, adequate instructional materials, and sound facilities. As such standards for opportunity to learn are articulated, the accountability question arises as to how to monitor and report on them. The school district articulates a means of observation in schools and classrooms in order to determine the degree of adherence to these standards (Sergiovanni et al 2003). Two aspects of this must be considered: the quality of individual teachers and the quality of the school as a whole. The control is exercised through school review process.

Women's Issues Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Women's Issues - Thesis Example Denying the self in order to fit into roles that are defined by male dominance does not provide for freedom, but is a continuing diminishment of those roles that can only be taken on by the female gender. The female gender has been fighting a battle that cannot be won, defeating their own essential instincts in order to create a world in which male dominance is continued through female adaptation to male roles. In Kate Chopin’s (1884) The Story of an Hour, freedom is described by the absence of a husband. Having done as society required and married, when her husband died Mrs. Mallard was given freedom from both social constraint and the oppression of marriage. The oppression of marriage was not defined by love or a lack of love, but by a society that pushed women’s desires to the back in deference to their husband. It could be said that in the hour she spent within that freedom, she had established true equality. She could be female and express herself through those traditions that were decidedly feminine, but she would no longer be subject to the scrutiny or opinion of her husband. Although she would still be constrained by the conventions of the 19th century, the essential message was that she was no longer oppressed within the space of her home, her ideas, beliefs, desires and ambitions freed within the boundaries of her position in life. The point of this story is that fo r an hour she experienced this freedom, and this can be used as a structure from which to discuss the problems with feminism as it has attempted to free woman from the oppression of male dominance. Reading Mary Wollstonecraft (1792) allows the feminist with an open mind to begin to re-envision her place within a modern world. It is not the modern message that women must be both male and female to be considered successful, but that women should be given equal standing for the value of their gender. She discusses the idea that women should be companions, not merely subjugated wives,

Examine the ways in which feminism has contributed Essay Example for Free

Examine the ways in which feminism has contributed Essay Examine the ways In which femlnlsm has contributed to our understanding of families Feminists take critical views of the family as they argue it oppresses women and therefore creates issues such as unequal divisions of domestic labour and domestic violence against women. Feminists believe that there is a triple burden of paid work. domestic labour and emotional work. Also gender Inequality Is not regarded as natural or Inevitable, but something that has been created by society. Feminists also argue that the oppression of women is due to patriarchy. The New Right has been criticised by feminists such as Ann Oakley (1997) as it has a conservative and anti-feminist perspective on the family. The New Right is firmly opposed to family diversity. The New Right sees the nuclear family as the natural family and Is based upon fundamental biological differences between men and women. In their view, the nuclear family has clear-cut divisions of labour between the breadwinner-husband and homemaker-wife. Therefore leading to criticisms from feminists. Ann Oakley argues that the New Right wrongly assumes that husbands and wives roles are fixed by biology. She also believes that the New Right view of the family is a negative reaction against the feminist campaign for womens equality. Even more so, other feminists argue that the traditional nuclear family favoured by the New Right Is based on the patriarchal oppression of women and Is a fundamental cause of gender inequality. In this view, it prevents women working and keeps them financially dependent on me. Feminism is often referred to as feminisms as it is acknowledge that the feminist label Is broad and a cover many types of feminist. The main types of feminists are; Liberal, Marxist, Radical and Dfference. Liberal feminists such as Jenny Somerville (2000) believe that the main obstacle for women is the equality in attitudes, practices and law in which can be changed without any fundamental changes to the structure of society. They also are concerned with campaigning against sex discrimination and for equal rights and opportunities. Through people favouring and challenging the gender role soclallsatlon In childhood, attitudes can then be changed towards roles In the family. Liberal feminists argue that womens oppression is gradually being overcome hrough the changing attitudes and changes in laws such as the Sex Discrimination Act (1975) which outlaws discrimination in employment. Even more so Liberal feminists hold a similar view to theorists such as Young and Willmott, although they do not believe full gender equality has been achieved in the family, they argue It has been a gradual progress. Through the gradual progress of changing attitudes, the ways In wnlcn cn110ren are soclallsea In tne Tamlly Is now OITTerent. Daugnters are socialised more equally to sons in the modern day compared to the past. However, ther feminists such as Marxist and Radical, criticise Liberal feminists for failing to challenge the underlying causes of womens oppression and for believing that changes in law or attitudes will be enough to bring equality. Marxist feminists and Radical feminists believe instead that far-reaching revolutionary changes to deep- root social structures are needed. Another type of feminist is Marxist feminism, and they argue that the main cause of womens oppression in the family is not men, but capitalism. Several functions are performed through womens oppression for capitalism, firstly that women reproduce he labour force, through their unpaid domestic labour and by socialising the next generation of workers and maintain the servicing of the current generation. Another function is that women absorb anger that would otherwise be directed at capitalism. Wives are describe as takers of shit by Fran Ansley (1972) who acknowledges that women soak up the frustration of their husbands feelings due to the alienation and exploitation they suffer at work. This is a primary example for Marxists, as it explains male domestic violence against women. Abbot and Wallace (1990) note that the main ause of domestic violence is the male perception that the partner is failing her duties. Dobash and Dobash (1979) also found that these duties tended to be about sex, money and home making. Due to the male perception of the partner failing her duties, it is often resulted in the women believing that they deserved to be beaten. Also women are a reserve army of cheap labour, meaning that when extra workers are needed women shall be taken on to work, but as soon as they are no longer needed the employers let them go to return to their primary role as unpaid domestic labour. However, Radical feminists have been critical based on the emphasis is being put on capitalist forms of exploitation. They argue that patriarchy predates Capitalism which makes it a more significant explanation of female exploitation and oppression. Radical feminists argue that all societies have been founded on patriarchy and for radical feminists the key division in society is between me and women. Radical feminists see men as the enemy as they are the source of womens oppression and exploitation. Also that the family and marriage are the key institutions in patriarchal ociety. Men benefit form womens domestic labour and from their sexual services, and they dominate women through domestic and sexual violence or the threat of it. Radical feminists argue that the family is the root of womens oppression, so therefore must be abolished. They also argue that the only way to achieve this is through separatism, where women must live independently of men. Even more so, radical feminists argue for political lesbianism, which is the idea that heterosexual relationships are inevitably oppressive because they involve sleeping with the enemy. Germaine Greer (2000) argues for the creation of all-female or matrilocal households as an alternative to the heterosexual family. However, for liberal feminists such as Jenny Somerville (2000), radical feminists fail to recognise that womens position has improved considerably with better access to Jobs, divorce and control over tnelr own Tertlll ty Somerville also argues tnat separatlsm Is unlikely to work as heterosexual attraction makes it unlikely that the conventional nuclear family will disappear. On the other hand, Somerville does agree that women have yet to chieve full equality. The feminist approaches already considered tend to assume that most women live in conventional nuclear families and that they share a similar experience of family life. However, difference feminists argue that women have very different experiences of the family from one another and so therefore cannot be generalised. For example, working-class and middle-class women, black and white women and lesbian and heterosexual women all share different experiences so therefore cannot be compared. Black feminists argue that by regarding the family solely on a source of ppression, white feminists neglect black womens experiences of racial oppression. The black family is positively viewed as a source of support and resistance against racism by black feminists. However other feminists argue that this approach neglects the fact that, despite such differences, women do in fact share many of the same experiences. For example, women face a greater risk of domestic violence and sexual assault and low pay compared with men. Feminism is criticised for ignoring the increased family diversity of families in the modern day, and although the nuclear family remains important, it is by no means the only family type.

Oil and Gas Accounting Essay Example for Free

Oil and Gas Accounting Essay If operation is conducted under Lease or concession agreement, it is unlikely that the contract would contain provisions that would permit cost recovery of these costs If the operation is conducted under a psc or risk service agreement, the contractor may be permitted to recover GG related expenditures incurred after license acquisition and possibly GG costs incurred before license acquisition Support equipment and facilities Cost of acquiring support equipment and facilities should be capitalized Any related depreciation or operating costs become an exploration, development or production cost, as appropriate. Entries: Db GG expense –depreciation Cr Accumulated Depreciation Db GG expense-operating costs Cr Cash Reprocessing Seismic How to account for cost of re-evaluation or reprocessing of the data? If the reprocessing relates to the search for oil then it should be accounted for according to SE provisions regarding prospecting and nondrilling exploration costs. If the purpose is to determine how best to develop the reserves in the field, then they should be capitalized as development costs. License acquisition costs Costs of evaluating business environment, signature bonus, negotiating, etc should be capitalized Entry: Db Intangible assets-unproved property Cr Cash Development and production bonuses If the payment is actually a deferred signing bonus, the appropriate accounting treatment is to capitalize the development bonus as a license acquisition cost. Accrue once the operations are apparently proceeding to the development phase. Entries: To record signature bonus: Db Intangible Assets – unproved property Cr Cash To transfer unproved property costs to proved due to commercial discovery: Db Proved property Cr unproved property To record accrual of production bonus: Proved property Cr production bonus payable To record payment of production bonus: Db Production bonus payable Cr Cash Internal costs relating to acquisition Can allocate capitalized costs to individual licenses acquired, on an acreage basis or an a potential licenses basis Costs of carrying and retaining unproved properties Costs relating to maintaining unproved properties be charged to expense as incurred Ex: delay rentals paid on lease mineral properties until specified work is commenced, property taxes, accounting costs, legal costs Impairment of unproved property Impairment has occurred if there is some indication that the capitalized cost of an unproved property is greater than the future economic benefits expected to be derived from the property. Under SE, loss should be realized. Negative GG data and dry holes would typically suggest that part of the property’s historical cost has expired and impairment should be recognized Db Impairment expense Cr Allowance for impairment FASB permits impairment of individually insignificant properties on a group basis. Apply the impairment percentage to the total cost of the group of individually insignificant unproved properties. This determines the desired balance in the allowance for impairment account. Next the difference between the current balance and the desired balance is recognized as impairment expense. Entry: Impairment Expense Cr Allowance for impairment, group basis Abandonment of unproved property Full abandonment: When an individually significant license area is abandoned, its net capitalized acquisition costs should be charged to surrender and abandonment expense Ex: Db Surrender and abandonment expense (equal to acquisition cost) Db Allowance for impairment (balance) Cr unproved property Partial Abandonment or Relinquishments If the partial abandonment reflects a diminishment in the company’s assessment of the future economic benefit of the property, then the entire  property should be assessed for additional impairment. Unproved property classification An unproved property should be reclassified to a proved property status if and when commercial reserves are discovered on the property. Ex: Db Tangible Assets- proved property (acquisition costs) Db Impairment Allowance (balance) Cr In tangible assets- unproved property Sales of unproved property If the property was individually significant, a gain or loss should be recognized on the sale. Ex: Db Cash (sale price) Db allowance for impairment (balance) Db/Cr(gain or loss) Cr unproved property If the property was individually insignificant, a gain should be recognized only if the selling price exceeds the original cost of the property. Loss recognition is not allowed. CHAPTER 5 Accounting for Exploratory Drilling and Appraisal Costs Under SE, general nondrilling exploratory costs are to be charged to expense as incurred; exploratory drilling type costs are initially capitalized. Exploratory Well- well drilled to find and produce oil or gas in an unproved area to find a new reservoir in a another reservoir or to extend a known reservoir. Stratigraphic test well- drilling effort to obtain information pertaining to a specific geological condition. â€Å"Exploratory type† if drilled in a proved area, â€Å"development type† if drilled in a proved area. Exploration well- well drilled to discover whether oil or gas exists in a previously unproved geological structure Appraisal well- well drill to determine the size, characteristics, and commercial potential of a reservoir by digging an exploratory well. Classifying Drilling costs Separate intangible drilling costs (IDC) from equipment costs. IDC deducted in year incurred for US tax law. Equipment costs may be depreciated over 7-10 years. Besides tax purposes, distinction has no significance Targeted Depth When evaluating after drilling : if commercial reserves have been discovered, the drilling in progress account balances are transferred to another type of  asset account that will be subject to depreciation The first successful exploratory well’s cost will be reclassified from an unproved to a proved property account If well is unsuccessful, plug and abandon hole and charges these costs to dry hole expense, net any equipment salvaged from well. If the license area is also relinquished, the net carrying value must be written off. Capitalized GG SE- GG costs are to be charged to expense as incurred. Current methods may capitalize 3D and 4D seismic methods used to determine drill sites. Time Limit on exploration and evaluation or appraisal costs In order for cost to be capitalized in SE, there must be identifiable future benefit. IF an exploratory wwell has found oil reserves in an area requiring major capital expenditure to be classified as proved. In this case, the cost of drilling the exploratory well shall continue to be carried as an asset as long as 1. The well has found a sufficient quantity of reserves to justify its completion and 2. Drilling of the additional wells is under way or planned for the near future All other wells, sshall not be carried as an asset for more than one year following completion of drilling Post-balance Sheet Period GAAP provisions that relate to information about conditions that existed at the balance sheet date or that became known after the end of the period but before the financial statements are issued. If well is determined dry, capitalized costs are written off to dry hole expense If commercial reserves are found, the capitalized drilling costs are transferred to the wells and equipment accounts All the capitalized costs of an exploratory well are typically reclassified as dry hole expense or as wells and related equipment Cost approval, budget and monitoring AFE- Authorization for expenditure CHAPTER 6 Drilling And Development Costs- US SE Development costs- costs incurred to obtain access to proved reserves and to  provide facilities for extracting, treating, gathering and storing the oil and gas. More specifically, development costs, including depreciation and applicable operating costs of support equipment and facilities and other costs incurred to: Gain access to and prepare well locations for drilling, including surveying, draining, road building, etc Drill and equip developmental wells, including costs of platforms Acquire, construct and install production facilities such as lease flow lines, separators, etc Provide improved recovery systems Development well- well drilled within the proved area of an oil or gas reservoir to the depth of a stratigraphic horizon known to be productive Service well- completed for the purpose of supporting production in an existing field. Development type stratigraphic well- stratigraphic test well drilled in a proved area Capitalization of Development-Related GG Exploration Costs Requires capitalization of GG in development activities. Unless it is performed on a development land area but to an unknown structure- expensed. If 3d seismic is being used to study the reservoir and perhaps where addition development wells should be drilled, theoretically the cost should be capitalized to the field as development cost. Overhead As a general rule, all GA is expensed, however where the company has a defined method for allocation is permitted to capitalize these costs as part of development Capitalization of Depreciation of Equip and Facilities Depending on nature, costs can be expensed or capitalized Capitalization of Financing Costs â€Å"Capitalization of Interest† requires that a portion of interest costs incurred during the construction phase of assets should be capitalized as a part of the cost of the self-constructed asset. Interest capitalization only applies to qualifying assets: 1. Assets that are constructed or otherwise produced for an enterprise’s own use 2. Assets intended for sale or lease that are constructed or otherwise produced as discrete projects (ships or real estate developments) Amount to interest to capitalize- the portion of  interest costs incurred during the period when the asset is being constructed that could have been avoided if the spending on the asset had not been made. Capitalization period shall begin when 3 conditions are met: Expenditures for asset have been made Activities that are necessary to get the asset ready for its intended use are in progress Interest cost is being incurred Once production begins- depreciate capitalized costs Sole Risk or Carried Interests If an asset requires a period of time in which to carry out the activities necessary to bring it to that condition and location, the interest cost incurred during that period as a result of expenditures for the asset is a part of the historical cost of acquiring the asset. â€Å" CHAPTER 9 Production Costs Costs of labor to operate the wells and related equipment and facilities Repairs and maintenance Materials, supplies, and fuel consumed and services utilized in operating the wells and related equipment and facilities Property taxes and insurance applicable to proved properties and wells and related equipment and facilities Severance taxes Depreciation, depletion and amortization Accounting for Production Costs All costs relating to production activities, including workover costs incurred solely to maintain or increase levels of production from an existing completion interval, shall be charged to expense as incurred. An expenditure that enhances original performance of the well should be capitalized Materials and supplies- capitalize if used in drilling or development. If used in repair or maintenance, they should be expensed. Recompletions- typically involve entering an existing well and deepening or plugging back in order to achieve production in a new formation or a zone in an existing formation. In a currently or previously producing formation or zone should be treated as an expense since the purpose is to restore  production without an increase in commercial reserves If the objective is to develop reserves in a new formation or find new reserves, the activity would be new drilling. (drilling costs could be exploratory or development rather than production) Costs should then be capita lized or expensed depending on SE or FC and on outcome of drilling Taxes (severance or production) should be expensed as production costs Crude Oil Production 1 Barrel = 42 gallons of oil at 60 degrees F API gravity (measure of density) of oil = the higher, the lighter the oil All crude contains BSW- basic sediments and water Disposition: outright sales, direct supply, indirect supply, exchanges, fraccers, or oil used in operations Gas measurement Measurement in mcf is affected by temperature., pressure, compressibility, gravity etc Standard pressure is 14.73 pounds per square inch at 60 degrees Fahrenheit Pre Acquisition Acquisition Exploratory Development Production List the four Oil Gas Agreements used on a worldwide basis and describe each one. 1. US Domestic lease agreement- an oil and gas lease grants to the oil and gas company the right and obligation to operate a property. This includes the right to explore for, develop and produce oil and gas from the property and also obligates the company to pay all costs. (Company is a working interest owner). All costs, all risk. Payment of a signature bonus to mineral rights owner or a royalty. 2. Concession agreement- encountered in operations outside the united states where the mineral rights owner is the local government. Sometimes the government is involved with a joint working interest. Payment of a bonus by the oil company to the government at the time the contract is signed. Payment of a royalty to the government. Responsible for paying all of the costs incurred in developing. 3. Risk service agreement- oil companies erform workovers aimed at restoring or stimulating production including application of current technology to currently producing fields. Bonus to national government at contract signing. Government retains ownership of reserve. Oil company incurs all costs and risks. Operating and capital costs incurred are recovered through payment of operating and capital fees. Government may participate in  operations as a working interest owner. 4. Production Sharing contracts- companies obtain the rights from the government to explore for, develop and produce oil and gas. Company pays bonus to national government at contract date. Pays royalties to government. Government maintains ownership of reserves. Companies incur all risk and costs. Company required to spend a predetermined amount of money, which is recoverable from future production. 2.) Describe the life cycle (Phases) of an Oil Gas Project. Include the Accounting Treatment (ie. Successful Efforts or Full Cost Pool) for each phase. 1. Pre-license prospecting- geological evaluation of relatively large areas before acquisition of petroleum rights. Analyzing GG data. Successful Efforts (SE) Method The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has issued FASB Statement No. 19 dealing with the successful efforts method. Under the SE method, costs incurred in searching for, acquiring, and developing oil and gas reserves are capitalized if they directly result in producing reserves. Costs which are attributable to activities that do not result in finding, acquiring, or developing specific reserves are charged to expense. The cost center for the SE method is a lease, field, or reservoir. The various types of costs are treated under the SE method as follows: 1. Acquisition Costs: They are capitalized to unproven property until proved reserves are found or until the property is abandoned or impaired (a partial abandonment). If adequate reserves are discovered, the property is reclassified from unproven property to proven property. For tax purposes, acquisition costs are handled the same way except the cost cannot be partially written off as an impairment expense. The property must be abandoned before any cost may be written off. 2. Exploration Costs: They are recorded in two different ways, depending upon the type of costs incurred. a. Nondrilling Costs: Examples of these type of costs are geological and geophysical (G G) costs, costs of carrying and retaining undeveloped properties, and dry hole and bottom hole contributions. These types of costs  are expensed as they are incurred. For tax purposes, nondrilling costs are capitalized to the applicable property. b. Drilling Costs: They are treated differently depending on whether the well drilled is classified as an exploratory well or a developmental well. An exploratory well is a well drilled in an unproven area. A developmental well is a well drilled to produce from a proven reservoir. 1) If an exploratory well is a dry hole, the costs incurred in drilling the well are expensed. If the exploratory well is successful, the costs incurred in drilling the well are capitalized to wells and related equipment and facilities. 2) The costs incurred in drilling developmental wells are capitalized to related equipment and facilities even if a dry hole is drilled. The costs associated with tangible well equipment and facilities are capitalized, regardless of the type of well drilled. For tax purposes, certain costs associated with such equipment are eligible for treatment as deductible IDC. Tax depreciation methods usually allow for a more accelerated rate of depreciation than book or financial depreciation. Also, book depreciation will be computed on 1-10the developmental dry holes and IDC which are capitalized for book purposes but expensed for tax purposes. Therefore, an M-1 adjustment will be required on the difference between the amount of book and tax depreciation. 3. Production Costs: These costs are expensed as incurred, which is the same treatment used for tax purposes. It should be noted, however, that many taxpayers erroneously expense overhead attributable to either acquisition or exploration activities as production costs. Overhead attributable to acquisition and exploration costs must be capitalized. 4. Depletion: This usually requires an M-1 adjustment. Although the cost depletion formula is the same for book and tax purposes, the amount for the basis used in the computation of cost depletion will vary due to the difference in capitalization. In addition, many taxpayers will be allowed to use a larger  percentage depletion deduction Full Cost Method Under the FC method, all costs incurred in exploring, acquiring, and developing oil and gas reserves in a cost center are capitalized. Geological and geophysical (G G) studies, successful and unsuccessful, are capitalized for book and financial purposes. For tax purposes, successful G G costs are capitalized and unsuccessful G G costs are expensed. An M-1 adjustment is required for the amount of unsuccessful G G costs expensed. Delay rental costs are capitalized for book and financial purposes. Exploratory dry hole costs are capitalized for book and financial purposes. For tax purposes, all dry hole costs (exploratory or developmental) are capitalized unless the taxpayer elects to expense them. Since most taxpayers expense these costs for tax purposes, an M-1 adjustment is required. Impaired or abandoned property costs remain capitalized in the cost center for book and financial purposes. For tax purposes, no deduction is allowed unless a property is totally worthless. An M-1 adjustment is required only when an abandonment is claimed for tax purposes. General and administrative costs which are not associated with acquisition, exploration, and development activities are expensed. However, overhead that can be associated with acquisition, exploration, and development activities is capitalized. The costs are handled the same way for tax purposes. Depletion usually will require an M-1 adjustment. In many instances, taxpayers may be able to claim a larger percentage depletion deduction in lieu of cost depletion. Even where cost depletion is claimed for book and financial purposes because of the different capitalization rules, the amount of cost depletion allowable will vary.

Comparing Theories Of Veblen And Bourdieu Sociology Essay

Comparing Theories Of Veblen And Bourdieu Sociology Essay In Turkey or in the world, we generally come across with the news about shopping line in front of the stores to buy the brand new model of a kind of good. Mostly, report people go to these lines and make interview with the persons waiting on line. For example, again in such a line for the opening day to be first to buy iPhone, a man was interviewed. He was in line to buy the new iPhone. He looked like he was in his 60s and had had a few facelifts. When he was asked, he said this was his second day of waiting in line: The day before he had waited 12 hours and finally got a phone for his daughter. He had returned and spent nine hours to get a phone for him. He said he had the 3G, and wanted to upgrade to a 4G. In society, one establishes a status, not only by what one does or says, but also by purchasing and being seen to possess certain types of car, house, or clothes, or by being seen to live in a certain neighborhood or suburb, shopping in certain stores, going to certain theaters, decorating ones apartment in a certain way, taking certain vacations etc.   All of these are social symbols to which society has attached certain connotations of a superior, different, or normal  status. Conspicuous consumption makes individuals desire to compete to buy the symbolic advantages. Thus, I want to compare Veblens conspicuous consumption concept with Bourdieus cultural capital, habitus and taste concepts. First, I will try to examine Veblens theory of leisure class. Then I will try to examine Bourdieus theory of capitals, taste and habitus. Finally, I compare both thinkers to understand the role of consumption in stratification in society. Veblens Theory of Leisure Class and Conspicuous Consumption: In The Theory of the Leisure Class  (1899), Thorsten Veblen thought up the phrase conspicuous consumption to designate the act of purchasing and using certain goods and services, not in order to survive, but rather to identify oneself to others as having superior wealth and social standing.   These possessions and services are extras that are to some extent wasteful as showed in the example above. They symbolize ones ability to waste whatever one wants. Veblen starts his examination by first demonstrating the pre-historical progression from savage to barbarian culture, and then claiming that the latter stages after barbarian culture to modern cultures characteristics were still seen in the modern capitalist society. Veblens Account of the Development of Society: Peaceable Æ’Â  Predatory Æ’Â  Quasi-Peaceable Industry Æ’Â  Modern Savages Æ’Â   BarbariansÆ’Â   Moderns Changes in society are generated by changes in the material facts of life. The change from peaceable society to predatory society requires enough accumulated stuff to be worth fighting for (tools, weapons, etc). Barbarian civilizations are different from the earlier stages of savage society. With their tendencies to martial and aggressiveness, it results in the appearance of a dominant leisure class. Thus, a new order occurs and that is made possible a new class which can produce beyond the minimum subsistence level. When this happens, a group of people redistribute the outcomes of other group of peoples productive labor in their own sake. Thus, this new class has the ownership of private property. According to Veblen, this creates envy that middle and lower classes desire to the same un-industrious lives. That allows the leisure class to form. Thus the accumulation of possessions is priority number one for the leisure class. The emergence of leisure class coincides with ownership. The motivation behind ownership is emulation. In The Theory of the Leisure Class, he wrote: The motive is emulation-the stimulus of an invidious comparison especially in any community in which class distinctions are quite vague, all canons and reputability and decency and all standards of consumption are traced back by insensible gradations to the usages and thoughts of the highest social and pecuniary class, the wealthy leisure class (p.81). In that sense, it can be claimed that men are led to accumulation of wealth because of pecuniary emulation. Veblen claims that the pecuniary struggle is the driving force behind the development of culture and society. The struggle for wealth (private property) is due to pecuniary emulation. It can be said that it is not a struggle for subsistence. If it were a struggle for subsistence, there would come a definite point after which the reason to gather goods would stop. But there is no such point. Veblen held that consumption is motivated by a desire for social standing as well as for the enjoyment of the goods and services per se: The proximate ground for expenditure in excess of what is required for physical comfort is a desire to live up to the conventional standard of decency (p.81) People compare consumption but not leisure, and that they refer upwards, choosing their work and spending activities in order to be more like a higher income group. He indicates that a major source of this conduct is due to the pressures of invidious comparison, a process of valuation of persons in respect of worth. Veblen defines as a comparison of persons with a view to rating and grading them in respect of relative worth or value (1899: 34). Under modern conditions consumption is a more visible form of display. Individuals should find the ways to show off their wealth in order for invidious comparisons. Veblen pointed out two main ways to do this, conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption. He argues that wasteful conspicuous leisure and consumption were most effective ways of displaying wealth. As a result, strategies of conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption affected the class structure, and soon penetrated among non-leisure classes, leading to lower class people t o engage in conspicuous leisure and consumption. The exigencies of the modern industrial system frequently place individuals and households in juxtaposition between whom there is little contact in any other sense than juxtaposition. Ones neighbors, mechanically speaking, often are socially not ones neighbors, or even acquaintances; and still their transient good opinion has a high degree of utility. The only practicable means of impressing ones pecuniary ability on these unsympathetic observers of ones everyday life is an unremitting demonstration of the ability to pay. (p.71) Conspicuous consumption emphasis pecuniary emulation even more so than leisure, because the working classes engage in wasteful expenditures in an attempt to appear wealthy, even when their employments are not of the leisurely point of view. Overgenerous dress, gluttonous banquets, grand mansions, and iPhones, etc are all examples of conspicuous consumption. Any item that is without a productive function, or that has a price well above what is indicated by its practical utility alone, constitutes a good that is valued predominantly for the social capital that it brings. Take foie gras as an example. Suppose a group of people likes the taste of beef more than the taste of foie gras. Of course, foie gras is much more expensive than beef. It is not that people eat foie gras despite the fact it provides less utility than beef; rather, foie gras provides more utility, because utility is not based on taste alone. So what is providing the utility? The money was spent by this class with little regard for utility. Veblens theory was that people want to buy things because they want to signal wealth, power and taste to others in other words, signals about social status. People would not want to buy something which gave signals of a lower social status; they always want to aim higher. The idea is that you consume like the upper classes in order to be the upper classes, consciously or not. It can be stretched to apply to almost any example of consumption. I agree with the idea that people buy things as a display to others. I think it is also true that people buy things to identify with a particular idea of class or culture. Another aspect of leisure class is that it loses its contact with labor and its characteristic becomes conspicuous exemption from all useful employment. Leisure connotes non-productive consumption of time. Having the information about the past, antiques, ancient languages and sciences to know, horses, dogs, home decoration, these are all indicative of the industry that you do not do a job. Conspicuous leisure has the greatest vogue as a mark of reputability. The consumption of the more desirable things becomes honorable. Luxuries and the comforts of life belong to leisure class. Industrious class should consume only what may be necessary to their subsistence. The consumption of luxuries is a consumption directed to the comfort of the consumer himself and is a mark of the master. Women should consume only for the benefit of their masters. Master man consumes of the best food, drink, weapons, narcotics, shelter, ornaments. This kind of consumption is an evidence of wealth and it becomes honorific. As wealth accumulates the leisure class develops further in function and structure and there arises a differentiation within the class. This differentiation is furthered by the inheritance of wealth and the consequent inheritance of gentility. Veblens explanation of emulation has the root of ownership; in other words once our immediate material needs are met, we buy items for their conspicuous nature, to emulate those in higher earning strata, status. Veblen conceives of status among humans as a stratification system. Ownership became associated to power and dominance, and originated a new sort of social division: that separating owners from non-owners. Veblen asserts Wealth is now itself intrinsically honorable and confers honor on its possessor (Veblen, 1899: 18). Thus the struggle for survival became a struggle for pecuniary respect. In other words, competition for the accumulation of goods envisaged gaining the esteem of the community and enhancing ones reputation. Veblen established an objective relationship between social structure and class lifestyles, cultural values and ultimately, consumption practices. The acquisition of social repute and honour depended upon primarily by the ability to waste economic resources that had been acquired without effort. Some eighty years later, Pierre Bourdieu ([1979] 1984) a French sociologist also examined the relationship between social structure and economic and cultural dimensions of social life. Bourdieu analyzed consumption practices and taste to show how social position and lifestyles are related. In this account, instead of a dominant class culture, one finds class cultures. P. Bourdieu: Habitus, Field, Capital and Taste: Max Weber (1978) discussed the term social class to grasp the idea that, in addition to the economic conditions discussed by Marx, hierarchical social structure are also established and reproduced through styles of life. In that sense, it can be said that societies separate into different groupings based not only on economic conditions, but also on non economic criteria such as morals, culture, and lifestyle, etc. In that sense, it was  ¬Ã‚ rst analyzed in Veblens (1899) theory about the leisure class and Simmels theory of trickle-down status imitation (Coleman, 1983). In Distinction (Bourdieu, 1984), Bourdieu describes how these various capitals operate in the social  ¬Ã‚ elds of consumption. In Distinction, (Bourdieu, 1984) consumption practices and taste engender and maintain social relationships of dominance and submission (Campbell, 2005). Bourdieus views on taste and preferences are more complex than those of Veblens (Guimaras et all, 2010: 8). Despite bearing some similarities with Veblen (1899), Bourdieu built a broader and more complex theory secured with three primary concepts: habitus, capital, and field. The concept that Bourdieu proposed in order to connect his depiction of systemic structuration and his accounts of individual action is habitus (King, 2000). Thus, the habitus may be defined as the mental or cognitive structures through which people deal with the social world; a system of dispositions. The dispositions, produced by the habitus, are passed on through the generations, inculcated from an early age and socially reinforced through education and culture. Habitus refers, in Bourdieus own words, an acquired system of generative schemes objectively adjusted to the particular conditions in which it is constituted. In other words, habitus is thinking and acting in an innate way; is not a set of rules one consciously learns. Therefore, Bourdieu claims that habitus helps to transmit distinct culture of a class and reproduce that culture. It constitutes a component of a field of objective relations, which is independent of the individuals consciousness and will. The objectivity of fields is provided by the distribution of different species of power, which Bourdieu characterizes as economic, cultural, and social capital. Each field corresponds a tacit struggle over these resources. Fields determine relational positions which impose present and future situations on their more or less powerful occupants. A given population may occupy positions in multiple fields. Multiple fields may impose more or less consolidated relations of domination and subordination. (The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology, 2006). It reflects divisions in the class structure, age groups, genders and social classes. A habitus is required a long term occupation of a position within the social world. People who occupy the same position within the social world tend to have similar habitus. Habitus is both produced by the social life and also produces it. It is a structured structure; it involves both the internalization of external structures, and also the externalization of things internal to individual. It is because regularities are inherent in an arbitrary condition; tend to appear as necessary and natural. Bourdieu (1984: 170) states: The habitus is both the generative principle of objectively classifiable judgments and the system of classification (principium divisionis) of these practices. It is in the relationship between the two capacities which define the habitus, the capacity to produce classifiable practices and works, and the capacity to differentiate and appreciate these practices and products (taste), that the represented social world, i.e. the space of life styles, is constituted. Habitus is the way society becomes deposited in persons in the form of lasting dispositions, or trained capacities and structured propensities to think, feel and act in determinant ways, which then guide them (Wacquant, 2005: 316, cited in Navarro 2006: 16). In this sense, life styles are defined as the products of habitus and, perceived in their mutual relations to the systems of the habitus, they become sign systems which are socially considered such as distinguished, vulgar and alike (Bourdieu, 1984: 172). Habitus is not a direct reflection of the conditions of existence of a class, but a sensibility acquired through a life-time and an upbringing in those conditions and the possibilities they include or exclude. Different from Veblen, Bourdieu claims that people acquired a culture of habitus based on both economic and cultural capital instead of Veblens concept of emulation. Thus, whether a person actually has money, skills, education or family, in practice turns out to be secondary to the habitus they have acquired, which may be at odds with the life-style and attitudes, the way of using the body, command of language, friends and contacts, preferences in art and aspirations, etc., which are normally associated with those conditions. Action, in Bourdieus perspective, is a product of class dispositions intersecting with the dynamics and structures of particular fields (Swartz, 1997: 141). To have economic capital is not enough as it does in Veblen, in Bourdieus theory, you should also have the cultural capital for it. Bourdieu attempted to explain the relationship between peoples practices and the context that is institutions, values and rules, in which these practices occur. This attempt led him to the idea of the field, which is a series of contexts which constitute an objective hierarchy and which produce and authorize certain discourses and activities (Webb, 2002: 21-22). Bourdieu classifies two aspects of a field: first of all that people in a specific field have its specific dispositions imposed upon them; and secondly fields can be characterized as area of struggle through which agents and institutions seek to preserve or overturn the existing distribution of capital (Wacquant, 2008: 268). Through capital Bourdieu understands both the material things and the symbolic and culturally significant attributes such as prestige, honour and status, in other words anything that is considered by an agent valuable enough to attempt to obtain it. Bourdieus field theory describes the field as a domain where specific activities are produced. This is to say that each field entails a specific game and specific interests, which are not reducible to the interests and to the game of other fields. Thus, to enter a field is to accept the rules of the game and to share the fields main goals. The notion of field is even more powerful when equated with capitals and habitus. In other words, the habitus is strongly related to ones position in the social structure. Across different studies, Pierre Bourdieu has synthesized Weberian, Marxist, Durkheimian to argue for a theory of social status, and that for which is competition for various types of capital within social  ¬Ã‚ elds. With Weber, Bourdieu based his theory on the idea that culture is a field like the economic world, in which some actors compete to get various types of resources or capital. While in the economic level actors fight over economic capital, in cultural level they contend to apt cultural capital goods and practices that are socially defined as distinctive and hence let individuals an impression of superiority. But Bourdieu points out that the cultural struggle for distinction is connected to the economic distribution of material goods, which it both legitimates and reproduces. An individuals material conditions of subsistence, determined by her economic capital, establish a habitus o r set of dispositions, which in turn produces cultural tastes. Gartman (2002) claims that the right tastes make possible the accumulation of cultural capital, which makes the individual look distinctive and hence justifies the economic capital that determined her cultural tastes to begin with. Consequently, culture is closely related with the economy that Bourdieu considers society as a social field that is the intersection of the economic and cultural fields. The positions in the social field are classes, each defined by its relative balance of economic and cultural capital and its overall volume of the two kinds of capital combined (Bourdieu, 1984: 169-75). Taste is a component of the habitus, thus, given the relationship between tastes and social structure. Bourdieu examines the taste and life-style in relation to social classes and class fractions and he analyses the economic and social determinants of tastes (1984: 101). In this sense, taste is a marker of social class or of class position, because tastes place individuals in relation to other tastes which express social divisions. Such divisions also express social distinction and reflect the struggle for social distinction. Moreover, Taste is an acquired disposition to differentiate and appreciate à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ to establish and mark differences by a process of distinctionBourdieu (1984: 466). Taste is therefore a way of ensuring social recognition and status. Different from emulation, taste is, nonetheless, also linked to necessity. The existence of an upper class culture and upper class taste does not supersede lower class values and tastes. Instead, he argued that while material need is dominant to the definition of higher-class taste, lower-class taste is born because of necessity. This is to say that lower class taste has restrictions caused by material deprivation. Such restrictions have limited access to cultural objects and practices that are highly valued and constitute the very realm of upper-class taste. As such, Bourdieu stresses that taste is the practical affirmation of difference; it is materialized class culture that unites all those who are the product of similar conditions. What is more, Bourdieu observed that the rich justified and naturalized their economic advantage over others not only by pointing to their bank accounts, but by being the arbiters of taste.   Bourdieu shows us that taste is not stable and peaceful, b ut a means of strategy and competition. Discuss: Comparing Veblen and Bourdieu: When we examine the concept of conspicuous consumption, Veblen stresses the function of it as the status symbols in order to show off ones social standing in the society. He focused on upper and unproductive classes which are not directly involved in economic production activities. Thus, Veblen talked about valued practices of upper classes and emulation by the other classes. To spend lots of money on wasteful products is the result of the conspicuous consumption as being a member of the leisure class. On the other hand, Bourdieu discussed about not only conspicuous consumption but also all kind of consumption. As it is discussed above, according to him, both economic and cultural capitals reinforce the class positions. In that sense, tastes and practices are determined by the position of somebody in social structure. Tastes are related to ones habitus which is related with ones social class. Another issue related to both thinkers is the trickle down and trickle up effect. Trickle down effect is, in its simplest way, emulation of upper class culture or taste by lower class. For example, many lower class people in Turkey have the brand new model of cellular phones although their monthly salary does not afford this kind of consumption. On the other hand, tickle up effect means that there can also be impression from bottom to up. For example, some women from upper class started to wear yemeni or Ã…Å ¸alvar which are signs of lower class culture. However, in Veblen theory, leisure classes use consumption in order to distinguish themselves from both lower classes and new money people. In that sense, they have accumulated culture which upper class people inherent it from the family that they belong to as a way of distinction like taste in Bourdieus theory. Bourdieu claims that lower classes also have taste. However, this taste is different from the upper classes since lower class taste is born out of necessity. Because of this necessity, lower class people, for Bourdieu, do not pay attention some cultural practices such as going to opera or museum, buying books, etc. Different from Veblen wasteful conspicuous consumption, for Bourdieu, lower class people avoid consuming because of necessity. Moreover, as it is in the example of Yemeni, upper classes can move down to popular taste. Another point should be mentioned. In Bourdieus theory, upper classes try to maintain their status as a distinction from the tastes of lower classes. Thus, they turn the popular taste. The artist agrees with the bourgeois in one respect: he prefers naivety to pretentiousness. The essentialist merit of the common people is that they have none of the pretensions to art (or power) which inspire the ambitions of the petit bourgeois. Their indifference tacitly acknowledges the monopoly. That is why, in the mythology of artists and intellectuals, whose outflanking and double-negating strategies sometimes lead them back to popular tastes and opinions, the people so often play a role not unlike that of the peasantry in the conservative ideologies of the declining aristocracy. (Bourdieu, 1984: 62) Thus, in Bourdieu theory, there is a struggle for good taste and bad taste which make people distinct from each other through cultural consumption. In Veblens theory, emulation is the possession of the certain goods but does not lead them to have the knowledge of the goods such as a work of art. On the other hand, upper classes have developed this kind of knowledge. In that point, for Bourdieu, key concept is cultural capital. The positions of individuals in the field are determined by the amount of and relative weight of the capital they posses. Bourdieu discusses 4 types of capitals. Economic capital: the economic resources possessed by an actor. Cultural capital: the various kinds of legitimate knowledge possessed by an actor. Social capital: the extend of the valued social relations possessed by an actor. Symbolic capital: the amount of honor and prestige possessed by an actor. According to Trigg (2001), cultural capital is the accumulated knowledge which is learned trough education and social upbringing. Through the practical applications and implications of taste, people classify objects and also classify themselves. In this frame, culture is a kind of economy, a marketplace that utilizes cultural rather than economic capital. This capital is usually peoples social class origin and educational experience. Thus, cultural capital is correlated to high-status class positions and makes them distinct from other classes. Thus, distinction is a broader notion than Veblens conspicuous consumption. Consequently, instead of a single dominant upper class lifestyle that lower classes try to emulate, in Bourdieu we find different class tastes and lifestyles. To sum up, according to Bourdieu, different consumption practices and the taste behind of them make distinction among classes and create hierarchical social relations. On the other hand, Veblen pointed on wealth and emulation of wealth as a source of distinction. Bourdieu did not concern on wealth as much as Veblen. He emphasized on cultural capital. Veblen used wealth as a source of social stratification with the display of wealth. In Bourdieu, however, the competition for status takes place within the fields. Conclusion: In this paper, my main aim is to compare and contrast the theory of Veblen and Bourdieu by examining of their main concepts such as conspicuous consumption, leisure class, emulation, habitus, field, cultural capital and taste. In that sense, first of all, I discussed Veblens theory which he concerns that consumption is a way of displaying wealth. He uses conspicuous consumption as a way of stratification. He describes emulation to examine the stratification among upper classes and lower classes. Secondly, I try to examine Bourdieus theory by focusing on the book of Distinction. Different from Veblen, he deals with all kinds of consumption and does not focus on wealth as much as Veblen does. He emphasizes the concept of taste in different classes. He uses cultural capital to distinct different classes. Finally, in the last part, I compare both thinkers. Briefly, I found the following ones: When we examine the concept of conspicuous consumption, Veblen stresses the function of it as the status symbols in order to show off ones social standing in the society. Bourdieu discussed about not only conspicuous consumption but also all kind of consumption. In Veblen, emulation moves down words. In Bourdieu, taste moves up and down words. Veblen discussed that accumulated culture is a way of social prestige which distinct upper classes from lower classes and new money. In his theory, he focused on individuals who caused the distinction by conspicuous consumption and social hierarchy. In Bourdieus theory, consumption and taste are involved which they help the reproduction of class structure. Bourdieu studied beyond the individual and pointed out that the habitus creates the class position with the help of accumulated knowledge, aka cultural capital. Taste is a marker of social class in Bourdieu and not just of wealth as Veblen thought. Veblens focused on the significance of economic capital. On the other hand, Bourdieu highlighted on the cultural capital.