Legal Implications for Human Resources Management

Human resources are the most important resources in an organization and there is a need for human resource management to consider legal implications for every decision they make in regard to employee benefits. Today, organizations are faced with numerous challenges in sustaining a well-motivated workforce. To ensure that an organization retains the best human resources, several measures are put in place key of which is employee benefits, which is given to the top or executive employees as a motivation to ensure that the organization retains such employees. Employee benefits range from organization to organization but generally, they include short-term benefits, long-term benefits, termination benefits as well as post-retirement benefits. (Armstrong, 2002). Pay gap is one of the greatest issues that companies face with regard to employee benefits. Although the pay gaps can be explained by human capital differences, the travel patterns of different employees, there is also the other dimension of occupational segregation as well as workplace segregation, which has been found to bring disparities in regard to employee benefits. (Lowman, 2002). Pay gap can be a source of demotivation of staff as well as a leading cause of lack of unity of purpose in an organization. Whenever an organization decides to reward men differently from women this can be a source of conflicts in the organization and it is therefore, major challenge organizations are faced with today. Pay gap characterized by gender is a legal problem as it boils down to discrimination in the workplace. This has implications both for the employees involved as well as the organization given the fact that, these differences in employee benefits allotment creates a feeling of discontentment. In situations where the difference in pay is as a result of level of education or work experience, then this is understandable. However, often employee benefits have been found to be abused by human resource managers in designing rewards. (Thrope, 2000). Discrimination especially based on race, gender, nationality and color is a major issue that companies face with regard to employee benefits. It is evident that, the economic security of employees is very much dependent on other variables such as race, color and nationality something which can be seen as a major issue that companies face with regard to employee benefits. The fact that there are very many immigrant workers in the USA, has created an enabling environment whereby employers can abuse the rights of employees in regards to employee benefits without having to worry about legal implications since most immigrant workers do not have valid papers and it is therefore, not possible for such employees to take legal actions against employers even whereby there are cases of discrepancies in awarding of employee benefits. (Lowman, 2002). The other challenge facing companies with regard to employee benefits is the requirements by the law for a minimum wage rate. This is an issue in that, many companies have been forced to disregard employee benefits citing the mandatory minimum wage limit as being burdensome and being non-responsive to changing market situations. For instance, the wage limits fail to bear in mind that times are changing and competition is becoming stiff with globalization and pegging rewards on other factors other than market forces is likely to have a negative impact on employers decisions regarding to employee benefits. As a result, many employers are less willing to award employee benefits solely because they consider the minimum wage limit requirement as burdensome and exorbitant. (Armstrong, 2002). Over emphasis of pay as a form of motivation is a major issue that companies face in regards to employee benefits. Many companies offer employee benefits in terms of monetary value in total disregard of evidence showing that money is not always a motivator to every employee as there are some employees who work for different reasons other than money. The challenge companies face in this regard is to reform their employee scheme to reflect different needs for their employees. (Thrope, 2000). Finally, there is the dilemma of just how effective are employee benefits in increasing performance? Employees’ benefits as administered in many companies are meant to boost the morale of employees as the prospects of employee benefits is thought to have a positive impact on employee loyalty and commitment to duties. However, the issue arising here is the fact that, by just giving post-retirement benefits or long-term benefits as well as travel allowances, this does not automatically guarantee that employees will remain loyal and committed to the organization. To deal with the issues raised above, organizations need to work on programs, which are agreeable to both employers and employees by involving employee unions in designing of employee benefits packages. This will ensure that every interest is taken care of. Another important thing that organizations ought to do to deal with the issues above is to address human capital differences, especially those differences arising from other factors other than level of education or work experience. There is also a need for organizations to put in place strict rules and regulations as well as workplace policies to do away with any form of discrimination in the workplace, which ultimately reflects on the awarding of employee benefits. It is also important that organizations de-emphasize employee benefits as a form of motivation and opt for other types of rewards, which have little monetary connections. If the above is done, the problem of ineffectiveness of employee benefits will be dealt with and organizations will address the challenges of employee benefits. Potential future issues that organizations will encounter regarding employee benefits may include; high demand for tuition reimbursement considering the fact that due to rapid spread of information technology, new knowledge is released into the market at a fast rate, which means employees have to keep updated through employee training. Another area or potential future issue that organizations may encounter in regard to employee benefits is any new legislations especially aimed at either legalizing the immigration status of all immigrant workers or expelling the immigrant workers. (Lowman, 2002). In conclusion, it has emerged from the above discussion that, major issues that companies face with regard to employee benefits include; pay gap, gender discrimination, over emphasis of employee benefits as a form of motivation as well as lack of clarity on the effectiveness of employee benefits to employee performance. It has become evident that organizations need to de-emphasize on employee benefits as a form of motivation and in addition, there is a need for employers to deal with the problem of discrimination as well as the discrepancy in pay gap. Lastly, employers need to reposition themselves in readiness for future legislations, which may have impact on employee benefits such as legislations on immigration and minimum wage limit. References Armstrong, M. 2002. PP.110-120. Employee Reward. 3rd Ed. CIPD. Lowman, R. 2002. PP.104-109. California School of Organizational Studies Handbook of Organizational Consulting Psychology. Jossey-Bass. Thrope, R. & Homan, G. 2000. PP. 89-93. Strategic Reward System. FT. Prentice Hall. Â  

Gun control Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Gun control - Essay Example 1). It is the responsibility of the governments to reduce firearms violence by developing gun control programs that make it more difficult for people to acquire and use guns. Federal, state, and local governments and law enforcement agencies need to better understand the gun violence problem so their limited resources can be effectively employed. This paper argue that gun control policies can significantly influence the number of deaths and injuries from firearms Gun Control Gun control is the government enacting some type of legislation to restrict availability of firearms or ammunition. The majority of governments that have implemented gun control legislation have focused on firearms ownership restrictions and background checks in attempt to reduce firearms violence. The common objective is to reduce a criminal's access to firearms in the hope that violent crime will be reduced. Currently, large urban areas of the United States are attempting to deal with a host of issues related t o firearms violence. Governments have used different types of laws and enforcement techniques in an attempt to eliminate or reduce firearms violence. The large numbers of homicides that occur in these areas have resulted in public pressure to effectively deal with the problem. Jurisdictions have attempted to lower the amount of firearms violence by enacting a number of laws on a whole range of issues related to firearms. ... 63-79) studied gun availability's effect on violent crime and found that a reduction in gun availability reduced the homicide rate and there was some change in the robbery rate. Why Gun Control in Necessary? Firearm injuries and deaths have reached an epidemic level in the United States. No other industrialized country in the world has comparable rates of mortality, morbidity, or financial costs incurred from firearm ownership and use (Fingerhut and Klein, 3290-3295). Firearm injuries are the second leading cause of injury death in the United States, and since 1972 have killed on average more than 30,000 people each year (Marwick, 1). More than 80 Americans die every single day as a result of firearms (Egendorf 74). While trends for the leading cause of injury death, motor vehicles, have been declining, deaths from firearms have increased. In some regions of the country, firearm deaths far exceed motor vehicle fatalities (Hoyert, Kochanek, Murphy 1). A study by Cohen & Steiner (p. 1- 8) ranked firearms as the 11th leading cause of death in the United States. Unlike motor vehicles, firearms are much less regulated. Firearms are not subject to any manufacturing standards or government oversight. For example, in many states, the purchase of guns does not require any licensing, education on how to use them, regulations for storage, or limitations on design or manufacturing (Egendorf 74). In 1998, five out of six handguns made in United States lacked basic magazine safeties to prevent the firearm from firing when the clip is removed or load indicators that would indicate when a bullet is in the gun (Vernick et al., 427-440). Gun manufacturers are producing more and more guns. About 4.5 million new firearms, including two million handguns are sold each year in the

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in heaven Essay

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in heaven - Essay Example The characters have been generalized to emphasize on the importance of this cultural conflict. For example in the very beginning, the grave shift workers are described in the same way, whether they are Indians or Americans,â€Å"The graveyard shift worker in the Third Avenue 7-11 looked like they all do. Acne scars and a bad haircut, work pants that showed off his white socks, and those cheap black shoes that have no support.†The concept of assimilation also comes in that is the minorities try to adapt to the ways of the prevailing culture. When the narrator goes in the store that is owned by the White grave shift worker, he is immediately tagged as a robber, because he is an Indian â€Å"†¦ clerk †¦ searching for some response that would reassure him that I was not an armed robber. He knew this dark skin and long black hair of mine was dangerous. I had potential.†The theme of conflict is described when the narrator goes to a posh area, by mistake and the rich ones call the police because he â€Å"didn’t fit the profile of the neighborhood†. Moreover, the narrator also wants to tell the policeman that he did not equate or gel in the â€Å"profile of the country† but knows that it would be a reason for his troubles. The narrator constantly feels that he does not belong in this world. He cannot relate to anything. There is this continuous feeling of nothingness and as if everything has been lost. He says that there are times that he does not remember where he is and is lost. He drives for extended time periods to find something he can associate with but fails. He goes on to say that he feels as if his entire life has been spent looking for that something familiar. In between the lines, we also see that the minorities are afraid to take a risk. They have accepted the cruel behavior because they think that nothing is ever going to change. They are not ready to stand up for themselves. For example, when they are playing basketball and there is a white kid

The Competing Value Framework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Competing Value Framework - Essay Example It is important in determining the effectiveness of the organization and also is regarded as one of the important subjects in the organizational development which helps in improving the environment of the organization. It is regarded important for increasing the performance of the employees of the organization. The feasibility of the framework has been tested by various leading organizations and also by various business schools. It has served useful in understanding the marketing activities and also helps in successful integration of the marketing activities. The CVF framework helps in serving as a purposeful guide for the organizational mechanism and also regarded as a sense making device for the generation of new ideas, learning system etc. The study will give an insight into the CVF framework and its related activities, benefits, disadvantages. Finally, the study will conclude with recommendations which can improve the existing organizational system through the CVF framework. Back ground of Competing Value Framework The CVF framework evolved 25 years ago during the research and development on organizational effectiveness and culture (Walsh, 2002). The concept of organizational effectiveness is difficult and does not help in determining the different aspects of the organizational culture. ... The first aspect relates to focus of the employees in attainment of organizational objectives which lays emphasis on the welfare of the employees of the organization. The second aspect relates to the design of a strong organizational structure which lays emphasis on flexibility and stability. Both these dimensions relates to effectiveness criteria and authors Quinn and Rohrbaugh (cited in Cameron & Quinn, 2006) had named the four models as human relational, internal process, open system and rational goal model (Reed & Gordon, 2000). It was observed by this author that the CVF framework helps in resolving the organizational conflicts and then resume on the configuration of the coalition structure and also the dominant perception of success. The effectiveness of criteria of these varied dimensional models is based on the fact to improve the organizational structure (Ofori & Ranasinghe, 2000). The framework basically lays emphasis on the fact that whether they can deal with the problems and also evaluate the effectiveness in solving the problems. There is a close relationship between the organizational development and the four stages of organizational life cycle. The four stages include the entrepreneurial, collectivity, formalization and control stage and also the elaboration of the structure stage. As per author’s observation the different stages of organizational life cycle helps in facilitating the process of informal communication smoothly, development of a strong organizational structure and also promoting sense of cooperativeness among the organizational members (Rokeach, 2000). As per the observation of the authors the CVF framework helps in bringing stability in the organization, innovation and creativity

Synthetic Financial Products Speech or Presentation

Synthetic Financial Products - Speech or Presentation Example Note that an increase from 1 to 2 is 100 per cent increase, from 1 to 3 a 200 percent increase, and so on. Therefore, a 300 per cent cap would be a rise from 1 to 4 (in case of an index, from 100 to 400.) Analysis: Where So is less than St is less than 400 [initial index value times performance cap 300%]. Here the initial index value has to be 1.333 in order for the performance cap to be 300, per problem statement, considering that ÃŽ · has to be 300, in order to yield 400.[300 x 1.33 = 400] Analysis: Based on the ELN theory, the Face value or principal of the investment -- here $1,000,000 – has to be reduced to its present value (PV), and the difference between the present value figure and the Face amount is the amount available for exposure in the equity index options market. The present value of the amount is held either in a zero coupon bond or another risk-free investment vehicle such as a savings account earnings a fixed return. At 5%, the amount of $216,301 is available to be invested in European call options, as required by the problem. . European options can be exercised only at the end of their contract life, unlike American options which can be exercised at any time prior to expiration date to take advantage of a profitable situation. While the problem statement states otherwise, ELN theory says that only long call options are used, as short positions - - the writing of call options -- is not consistent with the theory. It should also be noted that most index options are American options, and the restriction in favor of European options limits the investor’s decision choices. It is therefore suggested that the writing of options be dispensed with as unnecessary to the ELN concept. Information provided by an annual Dun and Bradstreet publication indicates that the index options market is a cheap way of obtaining an opportunity to profit from the movement of an index such as the OEX

Write a discution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Write a discution - Essay Example tough environment to retain or get the right skilled employees, and it is for this reason, that organizations are continuously seeking for the best skills in their HR teams. My experience in HR has been great; the feeling of identifying and managing talent has been the best and on top of my professional goals. I always feel proud to create a connection between the employees and management. I agree with you on the point that the most important resource an organization has are its employees. Therefore, having a good management system to attract and retain skilled employees really improves the performance of the organization. Finally, helping the employees get benefits and rewards for their efforts, while at the same time proving to the management that the organization is performing at its optimum point is an important task for the HR. I agree with you on the role of HR towards the employees. They should be able to address employee issues, and create a conducive environment that will allow the employees improve their performance. A happy employee is a positive sign towards a company’s performance and the HR should always be responsible in ensuring the employees are happy and

Metaphors Analysis Essay Example for Free

Metaphors Analysis Essay Economists have an image of practicality and worldliness not shared by physicists and poets. Some economists have earned this image. Others myself and many of my colleagues here at Chicagohave not. Im not sure whether you will take this as a confession or a boast, but we are basically story-tellers, creators of make-believe economic systems. Rather than try to explain what this story-telling activity is about and why I think it is a usefuleven an essentialactivity, I thought I would just tell you a story and let My changes you make of it what you like. story has a point: I want to understand the connection between in the money supply and economic depressions. One way to demonstrate that I understand this connectionI think the only really convincing way would be for me to engineer a depression in the United States by manipulating the U. S. money supply. I think I know how to do this, though Im not absolutely sure, but a real virtue of the democratic system is that we do not look kindly on people who want to use our lives as a laboratory. So I will try to make my depression somewhere else. The location I have in mind is an old-fashioned amusement parkroller coasters, fun house, hot dogs, the works. I am thinking of Kennywood Park in Pittsburgh, where I lived when my children were at the optimal age as amusement park companions a beautiful, turn-of-the-century place on a bluff overlooking the Monongahela River. If you have not seen this particular park, substitute one with which you are familiar, as I want you to try to visualize how the experiment I am going to describe would actually work in practice. 2 Kennywood Park is A useful location for my purposes because it is an entirely independent monetary system. One cannot the park. At the gate, visitors use U. S. dollars then enter the park and spend the tickets. Rides spend U. S. dollars inside to purchase tickets and inside are priced at so many tickets per ride. Ride operators collect these tickets, and at the end of each day theyare cashed in for dollars, like chips in a casino. For obvioua reasons, business in park fluctuates: Sundays are big days, July 4 is even bigger. On most concessions I imagine each ride in the park to be independently operatedthere is some flexibility: an extra person can be called in to help take tickets or to speed people getting on and off the ride, on short-notice if the day is unexpectedly big or with advanced notice if it is predictable. If business is disappointingly slow, an operator will let some of his help leave early. So GNP in the park (total tickets fluctuate from want to call a spent) and employment (the number of man hours worked) will one day to the next due to fluctuations in demand. Do we slow daya Monday or a Tuesday, saya depression? Surely not. By an economic depression we mean something that ought not to happen, something pathological,not normal seasonal or daily ups and downs. This, I imagine,is how the park works. (I say imagine because I am just making most of this up as I go along. ). Technically, Kennywood Park is a fixed exchange rate system, since its central bankthe cashiers office at the gate stands ready to exchange local currencyticketsfor foreign currencyUS dollarsat a fixed rate. In this economy, there is an obvious sense in which the number of tickets in circulation is economically irrelevant. No-onecustomer or concessioner really cares about the number of tickets per ride except insofar as these prices reflect U. S. dollars per ride. If the number of 3 tickets per U. S. dollar were doubled from 10 to 20, and if the prices of all rides were doubled in terms of tickets6 tickets per roller coaster ride instead of 3and if everyone understood that these changes had occurred, it just wouldnot make any important difference. Such a doubling of the money supply and of prices would amount to a 100 percent inflation in terms of local currency, but so what? Yet I want to show you that changes in the quantity of moneyin the number of tickets in circulationhave the capacity to induce depressions or booms in this economy (just as I think they do in reality). To do so, I ’ want to imagine subjecting Kennywood Park to an entirely operational experiment. Think of renting the suitable compensation, and taking office Neither the operators of park from its owners for one Sunday, for over the functions of the cashiers concessions nor the customers are to. be informed of this. Then, with no advance warning to anyone inside the park, and no communication to them as to what is going on, the cashiers are instructed for this one day to give 8 tickets per dollar instead of 10. What will happen? We can imagine a variety of reactions. Some customers, discouraged or angry, will turn around and go home. Others, coming to the park with a dollar budget fixed by Mom, will just buy 80 percent of the tickets they would have bought otherwise. Still others will shell out 20 percent more dollars and behave as they would have in the absence of this change in exchange rates. I would have to know much more than I do about Kennywood Park patrons to judge how many would fall into each of these categories, but it is pretty clear that no-one will be induced to take more tickets than if the experiment had not taken place, many will buy fewer, and thus that the total number of tickets in circulationthe money supply of this amusement park economy willtake a drop below what it otherwise would have been on this Sunday. Now how does all of this look from the point of view of the operator of a ride or the guy selling hot dogs? Again, there will be a variety of reactions. In general, most operators will notice that the park seems kind of empty, for a Sunday, and that customers dont seem to be spending like they usually do. More time is being spent on freebies, the river view or a walk through the gardens. Many operators take this personally. Those who were worried that their ride was becoming passe get additional confirmation. Those who thought they were just starting to become popular, and had had thoughts of adding some capacity, begin to wonder if they had perhaps become over-optimistic. On many concessions, the extra employees hired to deal with the expected Sunday crowd are sent home early. A gloomy, depressed mood What I have The reduction in and employment. settles in. done, in short, is to engineer a depression in the park. the quantity of money has led to a reduction in real output And this depression is indeed a kind of pathology. Customers are arriving at the park,eager to spend and enjoy themselves. Concessioners are ready and waiting to serve them. By introducing a glitch into the parks monetary system, we have prevented (not physically, but just as effectively) buyers and sellers from getting together to consummate mutually advantageous trades.. That is the end of my story. Rather than offer you some of my opinions about the nature and causes of depressions in the United States, I simply made a depression and let you watch it unfold. I hope you found it convincing on its own terms that what I said would happen in the park as the result of my manipulations would in fact happen. If so, then you will 5 agree that by increasing the number of tickets per dollar we could as easily have engineered a boom Sunday after our manipulations boom in the park. But we could not, clearly, engineer a Sunday by this method. Our experiment worked only because caught everyone by surprise. We could have avoided the depression by leaving things alone, but we could not use monetary manipulation to engineer a permanently higher level of prosperity in the park. The clarity with which these effects can be seen is the key advantage of operating in simplified, fictional worlds. The disadvantage, it must be conceded, is that we are not really interested in understanding and preventing depressions in hypothetical * amusement parks. We are interested in our own, vastly more complicated . society. To apply the knowledge we have gained about depressions in Kennywood Park, we must be willing to argue by analogy from what we know about one situation to what we would like to know about another, quite different situation. And, as we all know, the analogy that one person finds persuasive, his neighbor may well find ridiculous. Well, that is why honest people can disagree. can do about it, except keep trying to tell better I dont know what one and better stories, to provide the raw material for better and more instructive analogies. How else can we free ourselves from the limits of historical experience so as to discover ways in which our society can operate better than it has in the past? In any case, operating much of that is what economists do. We are storytellers, the time in worlds of make believe. We do not find the realm of imagination and ideas is an alternative to, or a retreat practical reality. On the contrary, it is the only way we have found think seriously about reality. that from, to 6 In a way, there is nothing more to this method than maintaining the conviction (which I know you have after fouryears at Chicago) that imagination and ideas matter.. I hope you can do this in follow. It is fun and interesting and, really, there is alternative. Robert E. Lucas, Jr. December 9, 1988 the years that no practical.