An Introduction to Workforce Diversity Management

Today, at the beginning of the 21st century, the world is submerged in a wide range of demographic trends which have the potential to radically change the demographic, cultural and ethical mixture of the population in many countries within just a few decades. Top managers often say that their company’s people are its most important asset. In a tight job market and a global economy a company that puts people first – regardless of their race, religion, gender, age, sexual preference, or physical disability – wins. Companies, especially big multinational players which have to deal with these changes, are growingly forced to react. Employees, once a homogenous group in many countries, are increasingly diverse and need to be integrated within and into working environments. Diversity can present an immense source of opportunities but it can also mean the opposite, a big threat. Diversity management is a managerial approach in response Continue reading

Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions

Dr. Greet Hofsted had conducted a comprehensive study and explained how culture influences the values at the work place. He worked as a psychologist in IBM from 1967 to 1973. In the time of working in IBM he has collected the analyzed data from aver 100000 individual from more than forty different countries. To the above study he made some additions and he developed four dimensions and later on he added fifth dimension that is long term outlook. Geert Hofstede’s dimensions investigation can support the trade individual in enhance understanding the intercultural variance within regions. “Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster.” – Dr. Geert Hofstede The different dimensions of the Geert hofstede are explained below they are Power distance index (PDI) Individualism (IDV) Masculinity (MAS) Uncertainty avoidance index (UAI) Long term orientation (LTO) Power Continue reading

Wage Issues under Collective Bargaining

Almost all contract negotiations pivot upon, and most grievances and  arbitration procedures thus ultimately deal with, four major areas : (1) wages  and issues that can be directly related to wages; (2) employee benefits or  economic “fringe” supplements to the basic wage rate; (3) “institutional” issues  that deal with the rights and duties of employers and trade unions; and (4)  “administrative” clauses that treat such subjects as work rules and job tenure. Probably no issues under collective bargaining continue to give rise to  more difficult problems than do wages and wage-related subjects. When  negotiations reach a stalemate, they frequently do so because management and trade union representatives are not able to find a formula to resolve wage disputes.  And wage controversies are, for that matter, by far the leading overt cause of  strikes; Over the past decade, for example, they have accounted for over 40  percent of all such work Continue reading

Importance and Limitations of Financial Statements

Importance of Financial Statements Financial statements are the important sources of information to all the users of accounting information like; management, owners, debtors, creditors, employees, government agencies, financial analysts, etc. The following are the points which highlight the importance of financial statements: Financial statements are the summary of information relating to profitability, and resources owned by the firm. Financial statements provide the information which can be compared with those of other firms. Employees can use financial statements to demand for increment in salary and other benefits. Bankers and other financial institutions can use financial statements to make the lending decisions. Government bases on financial statements of the companies for the calculation of tax revenue from the firms. Financial statements can be used as the basis for management decision-making purpose like planning, promotion, research and development decisions etc. Existing investors can use financial statements to assess how efficiently the firm is Continue reading

Case Study: The Financial Collapse of the Enron Corporation

Enron began its life in 1985 and appeared to be a rising star in the business world. In conjunction with the accounting firm Arthur Anderson Enron became one of the biggest accounting scandals in history. There were numerous ethical dilemmas in addition to the many illegal acts during rise and fall of Enron. The Enron scandal was the biggest bankruptcy in United States history which cost 4,000 employees their jobs. Once it was obvious that something was amiss with Enron’s bookkeeping, there was action on behalf of the Securities and Exchange Commission. By October 31, 2001 the inquiry had upgraded into a formal investigation and on December 2, 2001 Enron filed for bankruptcy. It was an event that will always be remembered as one of the most disastrous events in the financial world. In late 2001 Enron’s shares drastically dropped from over $90.00 to just pennies which was seen as Continue reading

The Electronic Clearing Service (ECS) in India

We have discussed about Indian Financial Network (INFINET), a high-tech communication facility established by RBI for the Indian Banking Sector. There can be no better measure of success of the INFINET than the facility for quick funds transfer. The Reserve Bank of India has, over the last few years, developed many new products for the benefit of banks which are all aimed at ultimately improving customer service and systemic efficiency. One of this – the Electronic Clearing Service (ECS) – is aimed at effecting electronically, repetitive credits or debits for a large population of customers spread across a large number of branches of many banks. ECS (Credit Clearing) This is a new method of payment whereby the institutions having to make a large number of payments (such as interest / dividend) can directly deposit the amount into the bank accounts of the share-holders/ depositors/ investors without having to issue paper Continue reading