...Date: 04/04/2013 Subject: ACCTG 642: Case 08-6, The Rump Organization Statement of Relevant Facts The Rump Organization is a commercial real estate company that purchases and constructs commercial property. On the basis of the corporate restructuring plan, Rump’s CEO, Ronald Rump, and Rump’s board of directors on December 27, 2005 approve a plan to involuntarily terminate 100 of the company’s employees. The plan provides for each terminated employee to receive a lump-sum cash payment equal to one month’s salary only if the employee voluntarily signs a waiver of any right to legal action against Rump. Consistent with Rump’s past practice, employees that refuse to sign the litigation waiver will not receive any of the severance benefits. The employee will be terminated whether or not the waiver is signed. The following additional facts are given: 1. The plan was approved on December 27, 2005 by Rump’s board of directors and Rump’s CEO, Ronald Rump. 2. The corporate restructuring plan identifies 100 employees to be terminated, the job classifications and locations of each employee to be terminated, and the expected completion date of January 31, 2006. 3. On December 31, 2005, each affected employee was e-mailed a summary of all the plan’s terms, which included the amount of severance benefits the employee would receive upon termination, subject to signing the litigation wavier by January 31, 2006. 4. Rump believes it is unlikely that significant changes will...
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...08-6, The Rump Organization Statement of Facts The Rump Organization (“Rump”), an SEC registrant, is a commercial real estate company that purchases and constructs commercial property. Under the company’s restructuring plan, Rump’s CEO, Ronald Rump, and Rump’s board of directors approve a plan to terminate 100 of Rump’s employees. Under the plan, each terminated employee is to receive a lump-sum cash payment equal to one month’s salary but only if the employee voluntarily signs a waiver of any right against Rump. The following additional facts are given: * The plan was approved on December 27, 2005 by Rump’s board of directors and Rump’s CEO, Ronald Rump. * The corporate restructuring plan identifies 100 employees to be terminated, the job classifications and locations of each employee to be terminated, and the expected completion date of January 31, 2006. * On December 31, 2005, each affected employee was e-mailed a summary of all the plan’s terms, which included the amount of severance benefits the employee would receive upon termination, subject to signing the litigation wavier by January 31, 2006. * Rump believes it is unlikely that significant changes will be made to the plan or that the plan will be withdrawn before its execution. * The plan allows employees to leave Rump at any time, but no later than January 31, 2006. The employees must sign the waiver no later than January 31, 2006. Identification of questions and alternatives Should Rump recognize...
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...Medical Association announced in 2008 "The AVMA opposes ear cropping and tail docking of dogs when done solely for cosmetic purposes. The AVMA encourages the elimination of ear cropping and tail docking from breed standards" (Nolen, 2008), the American kennel club came out that they will continue to support their policy "The American Kennel Club recognizes that ear cropping, tail docking, and dewclaw removal, as described in certain breed standards, are acceptable practices integral to defining and preserving breed character and/or enhancing good health" (AKC Staff, 2008). These two statements have set the stage for whether ear cropping is unethical or not and with two of the biggest organizations of opposite sides who dog owners believe? Well I choose to believe science on this topic. Organizations such as the AKC and many others will tell you that ear cropping helps prevent ear infections. Although the facts remain that there is no scientific evidence to support that claim. As a matter of fact "Approximately 80 percent of dogs never get an ear infection, and that estimate includes all dogs whether their ears are cropped or not" (Gabbard, 2016). Those who are more prone to infection such as the Cocker spaniel and the Bassett hound are genetically predisposed to the condition because they have more apocrine glands that produce ear wax. With no scientific evidence to prove that ear cropping does any good that leads to the conclusion that it is elective cosmetic surgery. A surgery...
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...Cropping and Docking Non-working Dogs Emily Carel ITT Technical Institute Cropping and Docking Non-working Dogs What is the purpose of cropping and docking non-working dogs? Cropping and docking dogs is a practice that aids working dogs or keeps working dogs safe. Cropping is when a part of a dog’s ears are cut off and then stretched and bound so they stand straight. Docking is when a large portion of a dog’s tail is cut off. I understand that it is done to working dogs for various reasons. Such as working terriers need their tails docked so that they are not injured in the field when they are pulled out of holes, such as foxholes, by their tails. But over the years, it has become the norm for certain breeds of dogs, just because. I believe that cropping and docking non-working dogs should be banned. It is painful or inhumane to put any dog through a cropping or docking procedure. The basics of the cropping procedure are first the dog is sedated, because what comes next is painful. Then part of the ears are cut off, which includes cutting through the many nerves in the ears. The edges of the ears are stitched to stop the bleeding. The ears are then stretched straight and bound to keep them in the position that is desired. The dog is then sent home with pain meds, as this will hurt them for a while. After about two weeks the stitches are removed. Finally, after around 7 weeks the ears are unbound. So I don’t see why anyone would put a dog through that without a valid reason....
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...and was made up of the Rump and the Nominated Assembly. At the time there were many issues that needed reform such as religious, legal, electoral, taxation and the constitution. It is fair to say that the Commonwealth did fail because of their lack of reforms to some extent; however this was not for lack of trying. The Rump did fail to reform, but the Nominated Assembly trued to reform but was dissolved by its own members before it could. However this was not the main reason why eh Commonwealth failed seeing as they were unpopular and seen as illegitimate. The failure of the two branches of the Commonwealth was confirmed in the Rump when Cromwell walked into Parliament in April 1653 and ejected the Rump. The failure of the Nominated Assembly was confirmed when Cromwell accepted the resignation of the moderates and became Lord Protector in 1653. It is fair to say that the Commonwealth failed due to lack of reform as shown by the Rump. Here there was no legal reform as the Hale Commission was ignored and furthermore, 20% of the Rump were lawyers by profession and therefore weren’t willing to offer their services for free. Furthermore, there was no religious toleration as shown by the reintroduction of a form of censorship with the Blasphemy and Adultery Acts; in 1650 this shows the Commonwealth’s preference of tradition and conservatism and therefore unlikelihood to favour reform in general. It also seemed that there was no electoral reform by the Rump as there were only planned...
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...“Monarchy returned mot because of its own strengths but because of the weaknesses of the regimes it replaced.” Assess the validity of this view with reference to the years 1658 to 1660 Following the death of Oliver Cromwell England needed a ruler that could gain support of the army, who, since the execution of Charles I in 1649 had been the most influential groups in the country. The successor of Oliver was his son, Richard who seemingly did not possess the characteristics of his late father. The key to control of the country and the regimes following those of Oliver lay in whether a leader had the military prowess similar to that of Oliver. Furthermore the issue of whether monarchy came to power as a result of its own powers or due to the failures of various regimes that preceded it is only answered by taking into consideration the weaknesses of the regimes and the strengths of the monarchy. Following the death of Oliver Cromwell, Richard Cromwell became Lord Protector under the terms of the Humble Petition and Advice. Unlike his father Richard found it difficult to keep a balance with the remands of the army, religious radicals and traditionalists. Due to the amount of power held by the army, the power of the Protector was dependent upon the army. The lower ranks of the army resented the fact that Richard was not a soldier; on the other hand the higher ranks supported such a leader mainly because they could easily manipulate him and use him to voice their views. It is...
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...The English Revolution was a period of armed conflict and political turmoil between 1642 and 1660. This included the execution of the Charles 1st, the rise of the Commonwealth followed by the Protectorate under Cromwell and then the eventual restoration of the Monarchy. Richardson is correct to state that the events that occurred were “inherently controversial… momentous and far reaching” which are still debated today. This debate rages on whether these events can constitute a Revolution. It is dependent on what definition of the word Revolution is enacted. Historians such as Jeff Goodwin provide interpretations of what it means to have a Revolution, which shall be further explored, however what ultimately accounts is how the events and interpretations of the time fit into these interpretations. Ultimately there are two ways to look at Revolution, firstly there is the struggle or initial violent uprisings of the populous against the established state. The other way of looking at a revolution is to also examine the more long term changes or effects in the mind-set of the contemporise. In other words the changes in the way men think. Richardson pushes the idea of the initial struggle constituting a Revolution whereas others such as Hill believe that the long-term effects are more significant. Both arguments both valid against differing definitions of Revolution. Similarities between the French and English Revolutions will also provide a stark comparison of the English situation...
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...Organizational Theory Taxonomy Organizational Theory Taxonomy Title and Theorist Name | General Description | Example of Theory | Other Attributes | Agency Theory, Jensen & Meckling, 1972-1976 | The agency theory applies classical economic thinking to problems of organizational control and design (Tosi, 2009). Agency theory offers a useful way of understanding the complex authority relationship between top management and the board of directors. An agency relationship is when one personal “the principal” delegates decision-making authority or control to another “the agent” (Jones, 2010). | In 2005, Time Warner came under attack because top management had made many acquisitions such as AOL that did not led to increased innovation, efficiency, and higher profits which creates an agency problem that the agency theory addresses (Jones, 2010). | Agency theory views a firm as a legal entity that serves as a nexus for a complex set of formal and informal contracts among different individuals. A typical firm consists of the shareholders or the boards of directors are principals, and top managers or CEOs are agents (Jones, 2010). Agency theory dictates that principals will try to bridge the informational asymmetries by installing information systems for monitoring (Shapiro, 2005). | Contingency Theory, Burns & Stalker, 1961 | The contingency theory shows how some organizational designs will adapt to the environment, depending on the nature of the environment. The contingency...
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...clarifies why such a program will become a mainstream requirement for successful small and midsized businesses in the future. Summary: According to Harpst, excellence is the enduring pursuit of balanced strategy and execution. Strategy requires choosing what promises to make to all stakeholders and a roadmap for delivering on those promises. Execution requires getting there, while overcoming unending surprises. Excellence is a journey – not a destination. A business excellence model tells organizations as to how they should operate relative to the two dimensions of strategy and execution. (See figure 1, Exhibit 1) Quadrant I: Strong Strategy/Weak Execution: In this quadrant, a business has a strong strategy, which means a competitive advantage. Regardless of whether a company is a start-up or a seasoned business, strong strategy usually leads to growth in sales. A key point to understand is that success and the results of growth start the journey but this often leads an organization into Quadrant IV. | Quadrant II: Strong Strategy/Strong Execution: Quadrant II...
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...Increases Performance 3 Excess control often stifles innovation. 4 Employee motivation: The crisis of bureaucratic control 5 Summary 8 Reference 10 Abstract In this paper I will critically evaluate the statement “Organizations seek to control” from both mechanistic and culture perspective, using my own placement experience in Great Eastern Life Assurance (Singapore) as an example to examine the extent of compatibility and conflict between these two perspectives in the sense of control. Introduction Control is a set of activities to determine an actual state of affairs, compare it to appropriate models, and then formulate conclusions which should contribute to assure efficient and effective functioning of an organization. A mechanistic view of organizations assumes that organizations operate in a consistent machine-like manner. Control in mechanisms perspective, primarily aimed at detecting irregularities. A culture view of organizations treats organizations as mini societies which have a system of strongly-held shared value among members. Control by corporate culture views people as emotional, symbol-loving, and needing to belong to a superior entity or collectivity. Great Eastern Life Assurance provides an interesting case study in mechanism and culture perspectives for third primary reasons: First, its structure is...
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...improve the performance of the organization or functions of the organization, such as a group or a practice. The goal of organizational change is to increase the effectiveness of the change effort, while decreasing employee opposition and the cost associated with the change. Change is inevitable in today’s business community if an organization wants to remain competitive and to increase profits. With an increase in globalization and advancements in technology, companies are forced to make changes if they want to stay in business. Unfortunately, most change efforts fail due to resistance and lack of support. Most people are afraid of change, and managers have to be very skilled in getting the employees to commit to implementing the changes. Successful change efforts are based on individuals at the organization responding positively to the transformation. So what can an organization do to bring about successful change? Research suggests that change is more effective when it’s driven from within by the upper management team of the organization. Employees are more than likely to buy into the effort if they feel it’s being supported by the top brass. If the employees get a sense that upper management is not championing the cause, then they will not support it. In addition, the change effort must also tie in with the culture of the organization. Management must find a way to connect it with the values, beliefs and behaviors of the organization. Otherwise, the effort will...
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...Power and Politics : Chapter 19 Power and politics are among the most important concepts in the study of organization behavior. Both power and politics are dynamic concepts and are a function of the interaction between different elements in organizations. Power has been defined as "the ability to influence and control anything that is of value to others." It is the ability to influence the behavior of other people in the organization and to get them to do what they otherwise would not have done. Although the terms power, authority and influence are often used synonymously, there is a difference between them. Power is the ability to effect a change in an individual or a group in some way. Power may or may not be legitimate. That is, power need not correspond with a person's organizational position. Authority, on the other hand, is legitimate. It is the power which is sanctioned by the organization and is often the 'source' of power. Influence is a much broader concept than both power and authority. French and Raven, social psychologists, identified five sources of power - coercive, reward, legitimate, expert and referent. Coercive power is based on fear and is the ability to influence another person through threats or fear of punishment. Reward power is a positive power which refers to the ability to get things done through others on the basis of one's power to grant rewards. Legitimate power depends on organizational position and authority. It refers to the power conferred by...
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...Decision making Individuals, in and out of an organization, have different attitudes towards many circumstances they face in life. With these attitudes towards an object or situation, whether positive or negative, the individual will have a set behavior for a certain circumstance, thus saying that behavior follows attitudes; which were assumed by researchers in the late 1960’s. But one researcher, Leon Festinger , argued that it is the other way around, that attitudes follow behavior and that people change what they say so it does not contradict what they do. Yet recent research, based on Festinger’s Moderating Variables, show how strong moderating variables tend to strengthen the link and prove that attitudes do in fact predict future behavior. Attitudes and behavior in this sense are intricately related. Managers must understand this complicated relationship in order to measure and determine job satisfaction and its relationship to employees’ job attitudes, involvement and satisfaction in order to optimum productivity. Attitudes are thoughts about a particular object in which then is reflected emotionally through an individual finally realizing a certain behavior. They reflect how we feel about something. Researchers have assumed that attitudes have three components which are; cognition component – the aspect of an attitude that is a description of or belief in the way of an attitude – affect component – is the emotional or...
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...Creating a Plan for Positive Influence Daniel E Fulgencio Mota University of Phoenix LDR/531 Organizational Leadership March 28, 2013 Prof. Miguel A Rodriguez, PhD Creating a Plan for Positive Influence Business model has change dramatically lately. These days are more common for the organizations to use team work or small subunits, also known as department or section formed specifically to perform specific task for achieving different goals in the company. This document proposes will cover several topics concerning to the design of an effective plan to increase team motivation, satisfaction and performance. How the different attitudes, emotions and, personalities may affect the good performance of group and the tools managers can use to alleviate this situations. Designing and effective Team Before defining a strategy to form and effective team it is important to know fundamentals aspects about team or groups. There are two types of groups formal and informal. This document focused on formal groups. Formal groups are those defined by organizations with the purpose of assigning task to the members of the team for achieving specifics goals. Other important aspect on forming and managing effective teams is the role a leader has for ensuring success of the team. Leaders may improve team performance by influencing and motivating each member of the group. Team performance is strongly related to the level of commitment and motivation members have to achieve...
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...emphasized. It is said that any thing minus management amounts to nothing. There is no more important area of human activity than management since its task is that of getting things done through others. Some underestimate the importance of management in business but the latest researches have shown that it is certainly not the case. The input of the labor, capital and raw materials can never become production without the catalyst of management. Management is a dynamic life-giving element in an organization. In its absence, the resources of production remain underutilized and can never become production. In fact, without efficient management, no country can become a nation. Business is basically a group activity and management plays an important role in making it more effective. The group as a whole cannot realize its objectives unless and until there is mutual cooperation and coordination among the members of the groups. Management creates teamwork and team spirit in an organization by developing a sound organizational structure. It brings the human and material resources together and motivates the people for the achievement of goals. The available resources of production are put to use in such...
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