Education and youth integration into European labour markets the case Study

Education and youth integration into European labour markets the of Balkan countries - Case Study Example e employers recruits & selects the most efficient and smart candidate who is a blend of adaptability, flexibility, vision, critical thinking and charisma. Hence, it is justified to argue that the above mentioned consequences are fruits of globalization that potential employees of 21st century have been reaping in an extremely challenging, complex and unstructured business environment. Education, in this scenario, plays vital role because it informs and shapes the mindsets of youths, who are would-be employees. In fact, the purpose of education is to provide students an insight over contemporary challenges in their society, sharpens their critical thinking / intellect and mentally prepares them for any adverse or favorable future outcomes. For instance, the students learn how they could assimilate pressure and upgrade themselves to comply with modern rules, expectations and demands. This paper will throw light in detail how different kinds and levels of education shape the access of y oung people to jobs of varying advantage and the smoothness of the transition from school to work. The researcher will specifically take into consideration the educational policies, frameworks and models presently implemented in European Union to enhance educational level and prepare students to successfully commence their careers in an uncertain and unpredictable external business environment. It should be emphasized that education may resolve financial problems that are actually the root cause of societal unrest and uncertainty. In other words, the uneducated have become outliers since they barely find any respectable employment opportunity, thereby contributing to growth of unprivileged classes. However, it should not be confused that only free market economic system and capitalism has...The interaction and coordination among people has improved tremendously in last 3 decades after the advent of internet and subsequent use of desktop PCs, laptop notebooks, Personal Digital Assist ants, mobile devices etc. Indeed, there has been greater focus today on research and development function because every nation has understood that a country, with technological backwardness, may not succeed and prosper in today’s extremely challenging external environment.The importance of education in personal and financial development could not be denied. Without education, a person in 21st century could face oneself insecure and unsafe because of complexities, unpredictability and challenges. The educational systems across Germany and United Kingdom have focused on school-based and work-based training sessions, thereby reducing youth unemployment rates and contributing to youth integration in labor markets to a greater extent. Similarly, Austria, Denmark and Netherland also have low youth unemployment rates and greater integration levels. In contrast, France, Italy, Greece and Spain are among notable countries that have very high youth unemployment primarily because of les s focus on vocational specialization and work-based training. Most of the poor and economically unsound Balkan countries have been grappling with grave issue of unemployment, and provide limited educational facilities to every youth.

Theories of International Trade and Investment Essay Example for Free

Theories of International Trade and Investment Essay Objectives: 1. Theories of international trade and investment 2. why do nations trade? 3. How can nations enhance competitive advantage? 4. Why and how do firms internationalize? 5. How can internationalizing firms gain and sustain competitive advantage? Mercantillism: belief popular in 16th century National prosperity results from maximizing exports and minimizing imports Nonmercantillism: today some argue nation should run a trade surplus labot unions protect domestic jobs farmers keep crop prices high manufacturers some rely on exports Free Trade: absense of restrictions to the flow of goods/services among nations ** Best because it leads to: more/beter choices for consumers/firms lower prices of goods for consumers/firms higher profits/better worker wages imported input goods usually cheaper higher living standards for consumers costs are lower greater prosperity in poor countries Competitive Advantage: foundation concept of international trade. Answers how nations can achieve and sustain economic success/prosperity Superior features of a country that provide it with unique benefits in global competition comparitive advantages are derived either from natural endowments/deliberate national policies **In a firm: Distinctive Assets/competencies/capabilities that are developed or acuired Ex: Saudi Arabia has a natural abundance of oil petroleum products Ex: France climate/soil for producing wine Absolute Advantage: country should produce only those products in which it has absolute advantage or can produce using fewer resources that another country Comparative Advantage: Beneficial for two countries to trade even if one has absolute advantage in the production of all products. **Efficiancy in which it can product the product is the most important Ratio of production costs is key This pplies to all goods shows how countried use scarce resources more efficiently Limitations of Early Trade Theories: Fail to account for international transportation costs Govts distort normal trade / selectively imposing protectionism (tarrifs) or (subsidies) Services some cant be traded. Others can be traded freely over internet Factor Proportions Theory: Factor Endowments Theory each country should produce and export products that need high production Import goods that and don’t need production ** Leontief Paradox revealed that countries can export products that use less resources and be successful International Product Life Cycle Theory Each product and its associated manufacturing go through 3 stages of evolution: introduction inventor country enjoys a monopoly in manufacturing/exports. Ex: TV Set maturity Products manufacturing becomes standardized other countries start producing and exporting the product standardization manufacturing ceases in innovator country becomes net importor of the product. Totally under globalization cycle occurs quickly New Trade Theory economies of scale are an important factor in some industries for superior international performance. Even in absense of superior comparative advantage some succeed best as their volume increases Ex: commercial aircraft industry has very high fixed costs need high volume sales to achieve profit Critical Role of  Innovation in National Economic Success Innovation is KEY source of competitive advantage Firms innovate in 4 major ways: 1. new product/improve an existing product 2. new manufacturing 3. new marketing 4. new ways of organizing Many innovative firms in a nation leads to national competitive advantage Critical Role of Productivity in National Economic Success productivity is the value of the output produced by a unit of labor or capital it is a key source of competitive advantage for firms the greater the productivity of the firm, the more efficiently it uses its resources aggregate productivity is a key determinate of the nations standard of living Michael Porters Diamond Model: Sources of National Competitive Advantage Diamond Model Factor Conditions: quality and quantity of labor, natural resources, capital, tech, know-how, entrepreneurship, other production Ex: an abundance of cost-effective and well educated workers give china a competitive advantage in the production of laptops Related Supporting Industries: presence of suppliers, competitors, complementary firms that excel within a given industry Demand Conditions at home: strengths and sophistication of customer demand firm strategy, structure, and rivalry: the nature of domestic rivalry, and conditions that determine how a nations firms are created, organized, and managed Industiral Cluster suppliers/supporting firms from the same industry located within the same geographic area strong cluster can be sxport platform for a nation Proactive economic development plan employed by the govt. nurture/support promising industry sectors with potential for regional or global dominance Tax Incentives Monetary fiscal policies Rigorous educational syst em Investment in national infrastructure strong legal regulatory systems

Ryanairs Corporate Culture

Ryanairs Corporate Culture 1. Summary This report attempts to analyse the corporate communication strategies currently employed by Irish budget airline Ryanair with respect to the various communication frameworks in place, whilst focusing on both external and internal stakeholders. Finally an analysis of Ryanairs corporate culture and HRM strategy with respect to their influence upon employees within the organisation. 2. Introduction Corporate communication distinguishes itself from other forms of communication such as management by the means in which it bases itself upon the organisations corporate perspective, the stakeholders it addresses and the management activities within its scope (Cornelissen, 2005) According to Argenti Foreman (2002) corporate communication can take the role of two forms; as a ‘function which may be dispersed across an organisation, or as a ‘process to reach all of its constituencies. An appropriate definition from Argenti (2002) avers Corporate Communication as â€Å"the corporations voice and the images it projects of itself on a world stage populated by its various audiences; corporate reputation, corporate advertising and advocacy, employee communications, investor relations, government relations, media management and crisis communications†. A consequence of these characteristics is that they are complex in nature especially when referring to multi-national organi sations (Cornelissen, 2005) such as Ryanair therefore effective communication strategies demand an integrated approach to communications management. Successful communication strategies clearly identify the organisations differentiating factor, or the profile which it wants to portray to its stakeholder groups. In the case of Ryanair its differentiating factor is its ability to consistently offer â€Å"lowest cost scheduled airline tickets† (Hagele, 2006). Micheal OLeary (CEO) says of his corporate strategy â€Å" Its the oldest, simplest formula; Pile‘ em high and sellem cheapWe want to be the Wal-Mart of the airline business. Nobody will beat us on price. EVER†. A powerful but contraversial message communicated by OLeary, which as the paper will discuss later synonmous with Ryanairs communications strategies. The objective of this paper is to identify what global communication framework/ s Ryanair are currently using; analysis of both internal and external corporate communication strategies and their subsequent impact with reference to engaging both internal and external stakeholders. Finally identification of Ryanairs corporate culture and its influence upon people within Ryanair. The aim of this paper therefore after discussing the objectives is to decide whether the frameworks and communication strategies Ryanair use are effective in maintaining their position as the European low-cost budget airline for both internal and external stakeholders. 3. Communication strategy Integrated Corporate Communication framework within Ryanair Corporate Communication as an integrated framework for managing communication (Cornelissen, 2005) Ryanair holistically combines both marketing, advertising, technology and public relations practitioners together in an integrated communications framework model (Cornelissen, 2005) drawing upon management strategy, consumer behaviour and organizational theory (see appendix) to manage the companys reputation and maintain brand equity. Integrated communication is created at the corporate brand level for Ryanair with the goal of enhancing its positioning within the market as Europes ‘lowest price airfares whilst maintaining its competitive strategy. Unlike other organisations that have placed corporate communications managers into executive teams (Cornelissen, 2005) OLeary does not follow this example, preferring instead to ‘council its head of corporate communications Stephen MacNamara and head of marketing Dara Brady, and rather instead maintaining control over Ryanairs communication strategy in its entirety. OLeary orchestrates Ryanairs communication strategy from the ma nagement team down with a hierarchical approach, enabling communication from a corporate strategic level which is reflected within its corporate culture. What makes Ryanair such a success is its inherent ability to consistently communicate the same ‘offering and its core strategy to stakeholders of ‘low price regardless of the ‘landscape it finds itself within. O Leary is able to leverage negative publicity associated with an event or incident at Ryanair and exploit this free opportunity to promote greater exposure of the brand and re-iterate how successful they really are. For example by utilising existing media channels such as an internet bloggers page who has posted a negative blog regards Ryanair, the companys integrated communication framework enables a quick response from MacNamara who instead re-enforces how successful their business model is in providing the cheapest fares around. What makes Ryanair unique within the airline industry is their ability not to waiver from their strategy of low cost, even if this means the ‘customer is not always right (O, Leary, 2007). This approach to communication strat egy is strengthened by the ‘Input-Output model of stakeholder management discussed later in the paper and shown in the appendix. 3.1. Internal Communications The organisation defines itself as a low-cost airline; the consequence of this is that unlike other airlines that can pass on additional cost increases to the customer such as increasing fuel prices Ryanair are unable to do so. Therefore their communication frameworks revolve around low-cost channels such as face-to-face, traditional print media and a heavy emphasis on technology and web-based communications system such as the Ryanair intranet, enabling employees such as flight crew, maintenance and ground staff, amongst others to access critical information and maintain quality management. Ryanair attempts to communicate with its employees (Annual Report, 2009) through a variety of communication channels; an internal staff newsletter called â€Å"The Limited Release† provides employees with up-to-date plans, issues and challenges within the aviation industry, where further daily news bulletins are broadcast on Ryanairs internal TV network. Additionally the organisations Employee Representative Committee (ERC) (one per department) liaises with Ryanairs European Works Council to provide guidance on current aviation issues pertinent to employees. Therefore using an integrated framework encompassing word-of- mouth, electronic channels, and periodical print media has enabled the organisation to minimise tangible costs. Only recently OLeary was quoted in the media for criticising employees for ‘stealing Ryanairs electricity by charging their mobile phones! (ref). 3.2. External communications As an entrepreneurial organisation Ryanair believes it possesses the right to play outside the box and follow its own path, challenging the status quo of corporate communication and pushing the aviation industry boundaries. As a result OLeary, MacNamara and Grady follow an external communications strategy which more often or not is designed to provoke the audience rather than to attract (see appendix). What is consistent is Ryanairs approach which is synonymous with ‘old school Public Relation strategy; in that it focuses on communicating the same message repeatedly; ‘low fares through online, print and . channels in an attempt to reinforce the notion of ‘good value with consumers. However, whilst it can be argued that this strategy may seem archaic it actually proffers the advantage that Ryanairs positioning strategy is absolutely clear to its stakeholders; in that its offering is ‘low priced airfares and absolutely nothing else. OLeary has a reputation as a hard-nosed businessman choosing his words carefully but with the intent to cause as much controversy as possible which ultimately creates a paradox of both artistic creativity and destruction. ‘Screw the share price, this is a fare war† â€Å"We bow down to nobody. Well stuff every one of them in Europe, we wont be second or third and saying: didnt we do well? In business, honesty is a dirty word. People say the customer is always right, but you know what theyre not, sometimes they are wrong and they need to be told so† (Michael O Leary, 2007) Using a provocative vocabulary ensures that during crisis management strategies in the event of negative publicity OLeary is able to leverage as much exposure as possible for Ryanair which ultimately leaves the company at the forefront of consumers minds. The most recent examples of these have been the (perhaps?) ‘faux-pas of Ryanair employee responses back to online bloggers regards disag reements in online content complaints about customer service (see appendix) 3.2.1 Values To complete 3.2.2. Key stakeholders According to (Johnson Scholes, 2008), organisational stakeholders are those individuals or groups who depend on the organisation to fulfil their own goals and on whom, in turn , the organisation depends. Furthermore (Wall Rees, 2004) and (Johnson Scholes, 2008) suggested that stakeholders are other societal groups who are affected by the activities of the firm and whom in turn, the organisation depends. This section identifies the major stakeholders of Ryan Air and how they are important to the firm however Ryanairs stakeholders encompass a wide range of groups which can be classified as both 1) societal 2) economic (organisational) with each group unique in their expectation as stakeholders of Ryanair. The former range from pressure groups, competitors, suppliers and customers, where for example customers are legally entitled to fair trading practices; differs from the latter (organizational) comprising of shareholders and employees, who are entitled to extra rights under the rul e of corporate governance. The model which aligns most closely within Ryanair for both internal and external stakeholders, if OLearys approach to corporate communications is followed is the ‘Input-Output model of strategic management (Cornelissen, 2005) (see appendix). This emphasises that power lies within the organisation, upon which other stakeholder groups are dependent in respect to their relationship with Ryanair; this is illustrated by OLearys clear disregard for stakeholder perception across all groups. Internal Stakeholders Employees within Ryanair are according to OLeary ‘a cost (2006) until they are able to contribute fully to the business, demonstrated by the corporate culture of reducing overheads by externally sourcing cabin crew and making new employees pay for their training with the organisation until fully qualified and an ‘asset to the company. Further to this a compensations structure following the premise of ‘pay on the basis of transactions undertaken; meaning sectors flown (Mayer, 2008) ensures that cabin crew absorb a lot of the cost impact to delayed flights creating an incentive through commission to market other Ryanair products. Further to this the absence of any trade union or regulatory body at the request of O Leary ensures that whilst these stakeholders are ruled under ‘fair corporate governance they are seen to be disposable commodities. External Stakeholders -to complete Unlike more conventional stakeholder models OLeary does not apportion importance to external governmental or regulatory influences rather choosing instead to challenge them .i.e. the European Union over competition policy in 2006 (ref) and British airport accusations over ‘unfair charging practices over recent years. This strengthens the notion that the ‘Input-Output model of stakeholder management is correct; in reference to the power lying ‘within Ryanair rather than with its stakeholders. However effective communication is a key success factor of this organisation is respect to its approach of its relationship with new airports. MacNamara uses a tactic which involves generating awareness of potential new routes by announcing instead the new jobs it will create and the anticipated increase in volume of passengers Suppliers bargaining power for fuel is high, medium for aircraft and medium low for airports; sourcing, purchasing and procurement is done face-to-face negotiation like most b2b business. 3.2.3 Corporate Culture, brand, image and identity Corporate Culture Melewar (2006), corporate culture is impacted by history of the company, the founder of the organization and country of origin of the organization. There is link between corporate culture and corporate history because the interaction among the group can develop culture. Melewar (2006) stated that the founder of the company can affect the corporate culture The corporate culture of Ryanair is very much influenced by OLeary, strengthening the notion that the CEO can dictate the corporate culture of the airline. Schein (1992) posits culture to be â€Å"accumulated shared learning of a given group, covering behavioural, emotional and cognitive elements of a group members total psychological functioning† addressing a shared understanding of culture; contrasting with Johnson and Scholes (2002) who aver that â€Å"the basic assumption and beliefs that are shared by members of an organisation, that operate unconsciously and define in a basic taken for-granted fashion an organisations view of itself and its environment† addressing instead repeated behavioural patterns. When attempting to analyse Ryanairs corporate culture the former analogy becomes more prominent. Ryanair corporate culture is more focus as an airline company based in Ireland, representing the Irish culture: Organise, reliable, and kindly (Ryanair.com, 2009). Corporate brand Balmer (1995), corporate brand refer to corporate reputation, corporate image and concern on perception. It focus on all internal and external stakeholders, and boarder mix than traditional marketing mix, and it require commitment from all staff, senior management as well as financial support. From Balmer (2001), the favorable corporate brand came from organizational identity. Ryanair brand core is the ‘low cost flights for all. This brand core is applied to focus on the cost of Ryanair brand which is available at different levels for differents types of customers (Ryanair.com, 2009). It also emphasizes on the promise that the brand communicate to the stakeholders. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the communication depends on the gab between the performance and promise although in Ryanair we see more students, leisure people than business people. Nevertheless people from any background can afford to use the service. Corporate image Abratt (1989), Grunig (1993), and Van Riel (1995), there are three approached of corporate image which include psychology, graphic design and public relation. From Balmer (2001), the corporate image came from managing business identity. Moreover, corporate image related to immediate mental perception to the organization held by individual group. Corporate identity Abratt (1989), Balmer (1998) Olin (1990) and Van Riel (1997), corporate identity focus on culture, strategy, structure, history, business activity and business scope. Corporate identity is the mix of elements which give the organization their distinctiveness. And the key questions are who are we, what are structure, strategy, business, reputation, performance, business and history. Ryanair corporate identity is based on ‘bleueness (The corporate colour): meaning they are ‘up for it, ‘passionate, ‘sharp ‘mad about safety and ‘mad about cost. Bleue is what make Ryanair different. 3.2.4 HRM Strategy -to complete 4. Conclusions To complete 5. Bibliography Abratt, R. (1989), â€Å"A new approach to the corporate image management process†, Journal of Marketing Management, 5(1), 63-76. Annual Report, Ryanair.com. (2009), ‘Annual report 2009, [Online] at: URL: http://www. Ryanair.com/ [Last accessed 22nd March 2010] Argenti, P. (2003) ‘Corporate Communication, 3rd edition; Mcgraw Hill Argenti,P. (2009) ‘Corporate Communication, 5th edition, McGraw- Hill Education. Balmer, J.M.T. (1995), â€Å"Corporate branding and connoisseurship†, Journal of General Management, 21(1), 24-46. Balmer, J.M.T. (1997), Corporate identity past, present and future, works paper, University of Strathclyde International Centre for Corporate Identity Studies, Glasgow. Balmer, J.M.T. (2001), â€Å"Corporate identity, corporate branding and corporate marketing: seeing through the frog, European Journal of Marketing, 35(3-4), 248-291. Cornelissen, J. (2005) ‘Corporate Communication, Theory practice; Sage Publications Davies, A. (2002) ‘Public relations Democracy Part 2; Guirham, M. (1999) ‘Communicating Across Cultures; McMillan Harris et al, (2003) ‘International HRM; CIPD Johnson, G; Scholes, K. (2002) ‘Exploring Corporate Strategy, Prentice Hall Mitchell, Aigle Wood. Johnson, G; Scholes, K; Whtittington, R. (2008) ‘Exploring Corporate Strategy, Prentice Hall Mitchell, Aigle Wood. Oliver S. (2001) ‘Corporate Communication; Kogan, Page Mayer, S. (2008) ‘RyanAir and its Low Cost Flights in Europe: Marketing Plan Akamdemische Schriftenriehe; GRIN Verlag Melewar, T.C. (2006) ‘Seven dimension of corporate identity: a categorization from practitioners perspective, European Journal of Marketing, 40(7/8), 846-69. Tourish D Hargie O. (2004) ‘Key issues in organisational Communication; Routledge Van Reil Cees.B.M. (1992) ‘Principles of corporate Communication; FT Prentice. Van Riel, C.B.M. and Balmer, J.M.T. (1997). â€Å"Corporate identity: the concept, its measurement and management†, European Journal of Marketing, 31(5-6), 340-350. Wall, S and Rees, B (2004) ‘International Business, 2nd Edition , Pearson Education Limited. 6. Appendix Proposed Stakeholder model with Ryanair Input Output Model of Strategic Management (Cornelissen, 2005) Ryanairs response to an Irish blogger Jason Roe who highlighted flaws over the website layout; rather than thanking Mr.Roe instead staff commented: (source: ‘ Ryanair calls blogger lunatic; The Telegraph, 25th February 2009)

How Democratic Is the American Constitution? Essay -- Book Reviews Rob

Robert Dahl's book How Democratic is the American Constitution, reminds us that the American Constitution wasn't the only possible base for a democratic system in America. In this book Dahl explains some of the democratic and undemocratic aspects of the American constitution. He also explains what should be changed to improve it. In chapter 2, Dahl begins explaining about the Framers of the constitution who had the task of basically creating a new government that combated all of the problems of the new United States of America. The Framers desperately needed to gather knowledge on how to go about creating a new society but, there was very little information that would help them. Dahl then listed a few events in history that if the Framers knew about it would have significantly changed the way the constitution was created. First, there was a peaceful democratic revolution which altered the way the constitutional system would work. Second, during this revolution new political institutions would be created, this would significantly alter the way the Framers setup their framework of...

Discretionary family trust Essay

In the general life, wealth management is necessary on attaining a sustainable and a desired level of living standard over someone’s lifetime. Following this desire, individual persons take various steps that are aimed at ensuring the future flow of income on the effective utilization of the current levels of income and in making the necessary investments that will ensure the future flow of income. This can take an individual person perspective or as a family. This results into the formation trust funds. The trustee is the owner of the trust; however there are other participants depending on the nature of the trust. The paper is meant to compare and contrast the role, responsibility and duties of a trustee of a self managed superannuation fund and a discretionary family trust. It takes an approach of describing the Discretionary Family Trust and the role of the trustee, and the from the identified roles, responsibilities and duties of a trustee, they are confronted with the roles, responsibilities and the duties of a trustee under the role, responsibility and duties of a trustee of a self managed superannuation fund on coming up with the possible similarities and differences. Discretionary family trust Discretionary family trust forms one of the common business structures that are adapted in Australia . The business structure is adapted with an aim of benefiting the family members. The benefits that accumulate in the family arise from the reason that, it enables the family members to share a tax burden. It also used as a step towards protecting the family assets. It becomes significant in situations when a family holds assets that realize capital growth and the assets that generate income overtime. The discretionary family trust is comprised of the trustee, appointer, trust fund, and the beneficiaries. The trustee is the legal owner of the trust, the appointer it the person who is responsibility of hiring and firing the trustee, trust fund implies the assets, and the beneficiaries imply the persons who are likely to benefit from the trust. The appointer can be the trustee at the same time. The main objectives for taking the discretionary Family Trust as a business structure follows from its features the enable it to perform its expected tasks. Some of the features that are attributed to discretionary Family Trust include the following: Discretionary family trust enables the family to avoid the family business from going bankruptcy and insolvency. Discretionary family trust is also attributed as being the most cost effective business structure to adapt following its low cost of maintaining and simplicity in operation. As a strategy, the business structure enables the transfer of income to the family members with a low tax rates according to the Australian tax rates, which imply that the family is likely to reduce its tax burden following the reduced tax revenue that is paid by the family as a whole. This business structure is also used as a means of streaming income to the family members, that is , a given type of income can be streamed to one member of the family whereas the other types of will also be streamlined to the other members of the family. The Discretionary family Trust is estimated to be lasting for a time of up to eighty years . Following the features of the discretionary Family Trust provided above, it can be perceived that a trustee has a responsibility of ensuring an improved welfare for all the family members that are included in the trust fund scheme. Therefore, he or she can be perceived as a custodian for the family property on ensuring mutual benefit to the family members. He or she is the custodian of the family business, which is certain to benefit the family in the long-run. There were amendments in all the family trust in Australia in 2002. The amendment introduced the Capital Gain Tax Small Business Role over relief that was meant to reduce the Capital gain Tax which the discretionary family Trust was expected to pay at the selling of the assets or business. The main reason for introducing this relief was to provide the discretionary family trust to plan for longer time in consultation with tax lawyer and adviser over the tax tariff to take. Therefore, the trustee can be perceived to had taken an initiative planning for the family business in the long run. On undertaking a discretionary family trust, different business vehicles can be taken that involve operating the business as a sole trader, a partnership or a company but in this case through a Discretionary Family Trust . One is expected to make a rational decision on choosing a business vehicle. The changing of a business vehicle is perceived as change of ownership and for that reason tax is imposed on every change. Therefore, it’s advisable to choose a business vehicle rationally on avoiding the tax impositions. This means that a flexible business vehicle should be chosen. The trustee has a responsibility of choosing the best vehicle that will enable an efficient and cost effective transfer of ownership of the family business. The beneficiaries of the trust are determined by the trustee, that is, it not all the family members that should benefit from the trust. The decision on who should benefit from the trust is done by the trustee, but should get advice on who should benefit from the appointer. When a trustee fails to define who gets the income from the income, the default beneficiaries are given the annual income flows from the trust . The other beneficiaries, that is, the ones who are not default beneficiaries receive income from the trust only on the acknowledgement of the trustee. The settler, that is, the financial advisor, lawyer or accountant is not a beneficiary of the trust. The role of the settler is only to start the trust. Therefore, a trustee can be perceived to having a duty of determining on who should benefit from the trust, that is, he or she ensures that rightful beneficiaries get their dues.

Cost Club Human Resources Department

Scenario Two: Cost Club Human Resources Department University of Phoenix Carlos Flores HRM/546 Human Resource Law Instructor: Christopher Fletcher February 26, 2010 Abstract The new assistant manager (AM) receives an e-mail from his the HR manager Pat Fletcher requesting downsizing the HR department from eight employees to five. He wants recommendations of the three selected employees to be terminated. An explanation of what principles of employment laws that might apply to the three employees. What action should management take in preparation if any of the three employee file discrimination case and chances of the company win. Recommended Employees Indentified for termination I have identified the employee for termination based on their work experience and job function that could be assimilated by the rest of the five remaining employees in the Human resource (HR) department. The following are: †¢Diane/Ten years of service- records specialist handling the health care issues and compensation matters for the company. Greg/Five years of service- have learned to do complex work however, not trained in real HR work. He has helped in the tech hiring process for the company. †¢Horatio/Six months of service- has been place in the HR department and has learned the basic of health and insurance however, not a full experienced employee in this area. The three employees identified are 2 male and one female. The principle employment law that are relevant to all three employee s is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964- which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Possible Discrimination case against Cost Club The possible three types of discrimination cases filed from any of the identified employees would be: †¢Race Discrimination-Horatio is Hispanic and the newest member of the HR department. He would have to prove because he is Hispanic and limited English language that the company is terminating him because of this factor. Another fact would be that he was hired based on a settlement with the EEO case and not following up with our commitment. I see this second part would not have any grounds because the company gave him an opportunity and hired him. The company in good faith placed him avoid any conflict among other company employees to place him in an office environment instead learning HR practices. He submitted an application to work in one of the stores. I view both facts non relevant because we did hire him and have placed him in a position which he did not apply for and he accepted the position and training we have given him on site†¦ †¢Gender Discrimination-Diane is female and has been with the company for some time. Diane would have to prove that we are terminating her because she is female. This would be very hard to prove because we have not discriminated based on gender and there are two other employees male and one of them is minority in the process of being terminated. Another fact is that the HR department has two other female employees. Diane is also aware that she had a minor attendance performance where we worked with her and still kept her with the company. The company also has other females working in the stores and this indicates that we do not discriminate against gender. Religious Discrimination-Greg cannot work on weekends due to his religious beliefs. He may try to file discrimination because he cannot work on weekends due to his religious beliefs. This would be difficult to prove because the company has respected and have made provisions to accommodate for him to be off on all weekends compared to the rest of the HR department that has to work on weekends when needed. The company would win in such case because we have provided attention to his needs. Management actions and Incorporating legal references Top management and the HR department should work together and be ready for any discrimination claims that any of the three recommended employee might file claims due to their termination. The HR department should meet with each of them in private in our office to explain the reasons why the company has decided to terminate them. We should explain to each employee the laws that the company follows and that the terminations is based on our economy, cost factors and reduction in workforce. Since each employee can file a different discrimination case by providing the reasons and the company projections they should understand fully of the current company situation. We should explain to them that their position will be eliminated and taken over by the more experience remaining employees in the HR department. The company should give all three each employee’s advance notice of termination so they can make necessary arrangements in seeking employment elsewhere. The HR department should provide all information as to their rights, benefits with documentation to the labor department so they can take advantage of unemployment benefits. Since this termination is beyond our control we should ensure that the process is done in a timely and professional positive manner. The HR department should have in our meeting with the employees documentation signed by all in acknowledgement of the company decision and their acceptance. In the case that one of the employee’s do not agree further explanation and any references of any government agency if needed. Discrimination charge response process The process we should follow in even the one of the employees file a discrimination case would be the following: †¢Listen to the employee and assure them the company understands their thoughts. †¢Prepare all documentation on the employee as to name, date for hire, performance reports etc. being ready in advance of such claim. †¢Consult with our legal team in the event the employee wants to fight the claim in legal battle. †¢We should cooperate fully with any claims from the federal agency on any investigation, documentation if we get notification on any discrimination case files by the employee being terminated. The HR department will retain five of the eight employees due to their years of experience with the company and some of them have already assumed a management role to support the department. The remaining employees can assume the new duties in a very short time with no negative impact toward the company mission and goals. The following employees will be recommended to stay in the HR department: Abigail, Brad, Charles, Edith and Frank. Comparison Table Employee Name Employment YearsCompany Human Resource ExperienceRecommendation to remain in HRRecommendation for termination Abigail – 7 HR Experience / Management roleRemain Brad – 35 HR Experience / Management roleRemain Charles – 20HR Experience / Recruitment roleRemain Edith – 25HR Experience / Employee RetentionRemain Frank – 15HR Experience / Multiple HR rolesRemain Diane – 10HR Experience / Insurance Compensation roleTerminate Employment Greg – 5 LimitedTerminate Employment Horatio – 6 monthsLimitedTerminate Employment References Bennett-Alexander, D. D. & Hartman, P. L. (2007). Employment law for business (5th Ed. ). New York: McGraw–Hill. Retrieved February 26, 2010