Texas Roadhouse Won't Skimp on Making Employees Happy Essay

Texas Roadhouse Won't Skimp on Making Employees Happy - Essay Example Everybody in the company was very motivated by the financial rewards and incentives the firm offered. â€Å"Financial incentives are extrinsic rewards and are tangible visible to others and contingent on performance† (Hubpages, 2012). After a couple of payment cycles the employees noticed that their pay checks did not include the performance bonuses. The company said that the administration had decided to eliminate the bonuses. The employees were outraged. The firm also claimed that the contest for prizes was also cancelled. The employees in the firm rebelled and formed a union. The productivity of the workers drastically decreased because the employees had no incentive to produce more. The actions of the employees hurt the customers of the firm because the services backlogged due to lower productivity. Texas Roadhouse restaurant uses extrinsic rewards to motivate the employees of the company. The firm believes deeply in the importance of keeping employees happy. Some of the r ewards that the firm offers its employees include a yearly contest of $20,000 for the best meat cutter, $500 allowance given to the managers to be spent in activities for the employees, annual four day motivation conference at a luxurious hotel with the benefit of bringing the employees’ spouse to the event. There are other ways to motivate employees that can be used at Texas Roadhouse to improve the performance of the company. An effective technique to improve motivation in the workplace is the use of intrinsic rewards. â€Å"Intrinsic rewards are positively valued work outcomes that the individual receives directly as a result of task performance† (Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, 2003, pg. 118). An example of an intrinsic reward is receiving a pad in the back and a positive comment from the manager or supervisor for a job well done. The motivation of the employees can increase by improving the job satisfaction of the workers. Another method that can be used to increase t he motivation of the workers is by implementing feedback systems. â€Å"The importance of feedback in the workplace cannot be over-estimated - it is a key source of employee motivation† (Practical-management-skills, 2012). The firm must invest in improvements to the information systems of the company to improve the capabilities of the human resource module. A way to simplify the payroll cycle is by switching antiquated time card systems, with electronic systems in which an employee logs in using a thumbprint. These electronic systems will reduce the work done by HR specialist and the payroll department by digitalizing information which eliminates the need of manual data entry. Today human resource departments must give emphasis to a knowledge based administration using technology as a tool (Peterson, 2010). The use of intrinsic rewards is a great method for motivating employees that can be implemented at cero costs. The managers and supervisors have to be aware of the work pe rformed by the employees in order to identify situations that merit giving the employees an intrinsic reward. The con of the intrinsic reward strategy is that it requires a lot of observation from supervisors and managers which wastes time. A lot of the time of management should be spent performing strategic functions. Improving job

Agency Problem Essay Example for Free

Agency Problem Essay Financial Management (Agency problem) Prepared by: Sami Hassan Saeed Singabi August 2008 Introduction Economic science teaches us that due to their subjective needs, individuals have subjective preferences, and hence different interest. Occasionally different subjective interests give rise to conflicts of interest between contracting partners. These conflicts of interest may result in turn, in one or both parties undertaking actions that may be against the interest of the other contracting partner. The primary reason for the divergence of objectives between managers and shareholders has been attributed to separation of ownership (shareholders) and control (management) in corporations. As a consequence, agency problems or principal-agent conflicts exist in the firm. Agency theory deals with such problem. Agency theory is concerned with how these agency problems affect the form of the contract and how they can be minimized, in particular, when contracting parties are variously informed (or uncertain). Agency problem A problem arising from a conflict of interest between principals such as investors and agents acting for them, such as brokers or managers. Agency problem refers to a conflict of interest arising between creditors, shareholders and management because of differing goals. It exists due to problems in corporate governance. A typical problem is that of senior management of a company, who are charged with running the business in the interests of shareholders; choose instead to operate to maximize their own interests. A simple example is the hired anager who fills his pockets at shareholders expenses. For example, an agency problem exists when management and shareholders have conflicting ideas on how the company should be run. Agency problems that arise in a corporation have troubled economists for some time. There are a number of mechanisms that have been used to try and reduce these agency problems. Many of these mechanisms try to link the managers compensation to the performance of the firm. Typical examples include performance shares, restricted stock grants, and executive stock options. This dissertation is an empirical study of whether the use of executive stock options has in fact reduced the agency problems between managers and stockholders. In this dissertation, two different testing methodologies are used to address the agency problem reduction issue. One methodology looks at some significant event such as a merger or divestiture to see if an executives holding of stock options affect what decisions are made. For example, do larger holdings of stock options motivate managers to take on riskier investments? By increasing the risk of the firm, managers can increase the value of the stock options. Another question of interest is whether in taking on risky investments; do executives increase the leverage of the firm? By increasing the leverage of the firm, the executive might increase the risk of the firm and thus the value of the option holdings. An agency relationship An agency relationship arises whenever one or more individuals, called principals, hire one or more other individuals, called agents, to perform some service and then delegate decision-making authority to the agents. The primary agency relationships in business are those :- (1) Between stockholders and managers and 2) Between debt holders and stockholders. These relationships are not necessarily harmonious; indeed, agency theory is concerned with so-called agency conflicts, or conflicts of interest between agents and principals. These relationships are not necessarily harmonious; indeed, agency theory is concerned with so-called agency conflicts, or conflicts of interest between agents and principals. Expansion increase potential agency problems, if you expanded to additional locations you could not physically be at all locations at the same time. Consequently, you would have to delegate decision-making authority to others. Creditors can protect themselves by: (1) Having the loan secured. (2) Placing restrictive covenants in debt agreements. (3) They charge a higher than normal interest rate to compensate for risk. Agency cost A type of internal cost that arises from, or must be paid to a manger acting on behalf of shareholders. Agency cost arises because of core problems such as conflicts of interest between share holders and management. Shareholders wish for management to run the company in away that increases shareholders value, but management may wish to grow the company in away that maximize their personal power and wealth that may not be in the best interest of shareholders. Agency costs are inevitable within an organization whenever shareholders are not completely in charge; the cost can usually be best spent on providing proper material incentives and moral incentives for agents to properly execute their duties, thereby aligning the interests of shareholders (owners) and agents. The principals (the shareholders) have to find ways of ensuring that their agents (the managers) act in their interests. This means incurring costs, ‘agency costs’, to (a) monitor managers’ behavior, and (b) create incentive schemes and control for managers to pursue shareholders’ wealth maximization. Various methods have been used to try to align the actions of senior management with the interests of shareholders, that is, to achieve ‘goal congruence’. Linking rewards to shareholder wealth improvements: Owners can grant directors and other senior managers share options. These ermit the managers to purchase shares at some date in the future at a price, which is fixed in the present. If the share price rises significantly between the dates when the option was granted and the date when the shares can be bought the manager can make a fortune by buying at the pre-arranged price and then selling in the market place. The managers under such a scheme have a clear interest in achieving a rise in share price and thus congruence comes about to some extent. An alternative method is to allot shares to managers if they achieve certain performance targets, for example, growth in earnings per share or return on shares. Sackings: The threat of being sacked with the accompanying humiliation and financial loss may encourage managers not to diverge too far from the shareholders’ wealth path. However this method is seldom used because it is often difficult to implement due to difficulties of making a coordinated shareholder effort. Selling shares threat and the take- over: Most of the large shareholders (especially institutional investors) of quoted companies are not prepared to put large resources into monitoring and controlling all the firms of which they own a part. Quite often their first response, if they observe that management is not acting in what they regard as their best interest, is to sell the share rather than intervene. This will result in a lower share price, making the raising of funds more difficult. If this process continues the firm may become vulnerable to a merger bid by another group of managers, resulting in a loss of top management posts. Fear of being taken over can establish some sort of backstop position to prevent shareholder wealth considerations being totally ignored. Corporate governance regulations: There is a considerable range of legislation and other regulatory pressures (e. g. the Companies Act) designed to encourage directors to act in shareholders’ interests. Within these regulations for example, the board of directors is not to be dominated by a single individual acting as both the chairman and chief executive. Also independently minded non-executive directors should have more power to represent shareholder interests; in particular, they should predominate in decisions connected with directors’ remuneration and auditing of firm’s accounts. Information flow: The accounting profession, the stock exchange, the regulating agencies and the investing public are continuously conducting a battle to encourage or force firms to release more accurate, timely and detailed information concerning their operations. An improved quality of corporate accounts, annual reports and the availability of other forms of information flowing to investors and analysts such as company briefings and press announcements help to monitor firms, and identify any wealth-destroying actions by wayward managers early. Conclusion Diffuse ownership of publicly held companies reduces the owners’ ability to monitor managers because they would have to bear the full monitoring costs while gaining only a small marginal benefit. Managers may therefore act to maximize their wealth through personal use of corporate assets, stock manipulation and sub optimal decisions at the owners expense. Thus agency theory practical mechanism is weak, because it is unable to provide practical conclusions with regard to agency problems. References: 1. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. htm 2. www. referenceforbusiness. com 3. Financial-dictionary. The free dictionary. com

Statement of Purpose Essay Example for Free

Statement of Purpose Essay Dream hard; I dream hard because I want to fulfill my dream! Study hard; I study hard because I want to achieve a higher and bigger success! Work hard; I work hard because I want to become a useful and successful person! My life begins with three words, Dream hard, Study hard, and Work hard. Being a successful person, I kept saying to myself everyday the best preparation for tomorrow is to do todays work superbly well. Today it is an honorable day. I am here to apply the Pre-Associate Program in Hong Kong Baptist University. I am gladly and greatly to request to be a student in HKBU. To reveal myself, I realize time is important but will and faith are more important. Will and Faith, these two words were once my favorite words. Without them, I wasnt here today. I was once a very lazy and a person who makes a lot of mistake, therefore, I failed in my IGCSE examination. My father told me a very important fact. A person who fails, he needs to get back up. This is the true meaning of the word fail. Everyone has to pass the turning point, nobody wins forever. Therefore I succeed. In 2009, I have successfully got 2 certificates of Travel and tourism and Business in the course BTEC. The more will and action, the more you success! English, this is the significant in the world. English is the key to enter the world; therefore, I had applied the TOEFL examination which I will be taken in June. I expect myself to earn a high standard result. I will prove myself is an intelligent and diligent person. Before I apply HKCU, I gave 3 years time to improve my English skills and business skills. If I have the chance to study in HKBU, I must do every task of win-win solution. So I can be the best of best. In my academic field, I am a progressive and aggressive person in joining and participating extra-curricular activities. In my high school, I help and assist the school to win a badminton competition and a violin competition. Then I became the leader of violin club in my school. More than these, being the leader of Student Council which increase and upgrade my determination and critical thinking. I grew in knowledge and knowledge grew in me. Knowledge is the power in the world. Reading and learning are my keys to knowledge and knowledge is the key to success. We must always strive hard, struggle hard and fight hard to understand knowledge. My father is a successful man who does every thing perfectly and superbly well. My dream is to marvelous and fabulous than my father. One day I will pass through the line of the end, yet, I need to study harder and fight harder in order to pass the line of the end. Dreaming the dream, I have the will, the heart and the faith to strive and struggle for my dream. Hong Kong Baptist University is the perfect and positive place to develop and nourish my dream. I will grow, I will change, I will become and intelligent, diligent, excellent person. Being a man who fulfill his dream, he is proud of he can fulfill his dream! Being a man who succeeds, he is gladly that he exchanges what he wants!

Analysing The Sustainability Of The London Olympics Environmental Sciences Essay

Analysing The Sustainability Of The London Olympics Environmental Sciences Essay The theme and heart of the Olympics and the Paralympic Games 2012 is sustainability. The sustainable approach will lead to long lasting environmental, social and economic benefits through regeneration and legacy (Pointer and Mercury, 2009). The Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 was launched on 23 January 2007 to independently assure Londons 2012 pledge to host the sustainable Games. Source: http://www.london2012.com The reason for London to host the 2012 Olympic Games was the sustainable aspect of the Games and the site. The London Olympic Games are set to make history on carbon reduction issues and is the first of its kind concerning the infrastructure and worldwide publicity of Games. The venue of the 2012 Games will be the two hundred and forty-six hectare Olympic Park in east London and the western edge of the Thames Gateway. East London is the most diverse and most deprived community in the UK, the idea behind the project was to regenerate the whole city. To clean and clear the Olympic Park, sustainable techniques were utilised to recycle and reuse ninety percent of the demolition material and eighty percent of soil on site. The government is putting their best effort to achieve short and long term goals. A good progress is being made in the area of sustainable design and construction to achieve energy efficiency. The Olympics committee have planned to minimise the environmental impact and have set a zero carbon policy for 2012. The organisations responsible for London 2012 Games are the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) to plan and stage the Games and the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) to build the venues and infrastructure for the Games. The London 2012 Olympic offers opportunities for London to improve infrastructure being environmentally sustainable. The London 2012 organising committee has developed a policy to set out the idea of sustainability, One Planet Living and has a plan to achieve these goals. The committee wants United Kingdom TO BE the worlds leading sporting nation, MAKE the Olympic Park a guide to sustainable living, TRANSFORM east London to a better place, INSPIRE young people to take part in social and cultural activities, DEMONSTRATE the country is a welcoming place to all. In 2006, few construction commitments were developed for the Olympics 2012. The committee wanted an integrated project team that works together to achieve the best possible outcomes and which includes designers, builders, architects, environmental analysts and sustainability developers to achieve designs that are innovative, creative and capable of meeting necessary objectives, using modern methods of construction, with the theme of sustainability and ensuring health and safety standards. The Olympics 2012 plan involves three main phases i.e. the preparation, event staging and building an ever lasting heritage. The 2012 games preparation involves design and construction of the Olympic Park and infrastructure, keeping sustainability the theme of the project, to create an influence on the construction techniques for the country as sustainability is a relatively new concept. The 2012 games must secure a legacy for the Olympic Park area and the UK to be a platform for sustainable regener ation programme. The important factor for the planning and construction is the sourcing of materials, waste management, construction impacts and benefits, employment and bio-diversity affects. Reducing Carbon footprint of Olympics I Energy The main key to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is the provision of renewable energy with high level of efficiency, the authorities want to produce clean energy wastes and sewage. The Olympic committee and the London development authority are setting a new energy recovery plant that uses waste to generate renewable energy, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The main concern for the games is the carbon footprint of permanent venues and the embodied energy of the structures for temporary venues. II Waste One of the issues is to eliminate and handle waste and try to reuse, recycle or compost it, it has been ensured that no waste arising during Olympics will be directly send to landfill. The recycled material will be used for food packaging systems to avoid contamination. Source: London 2012 sustainability plan III Water resource management The sustainability issue for the games includes provision of clean drinking water, recycling grey water, managing flood risks. This will be achieved by imposing water saving technologies, reducing demand of water and designing efficient landscape for the city. IV Air Quality Good air quality is a priority consideration for the games to ensure the best conditions for world athletes to compete in, the pollution will be reduced to a minimum during the games. V Biodiversity Biodiversity conservation is a part of the development of many 2012 venues, ensuring no significant adverse effect on habitats or species. VI Materials Selection of materials is a main part of the sustainable sourcing, the purpose and use is identified, keeping in mind the local source of the material, cost and value for money, its pay back time, environmental and social impacts and the scope to reuse or recycle. VII Transport The London 2012s sustainable transport schemes encourage people to travel to London venues by the sustainable modes public transport, walking or cycling and use of rail over air transport to minimise the carbon emissions and impacts on air quality generated by the transport. VIII Food The vision for the food during games is to provide diverse and good quality British food and drinks at affordable prices which will leave a strong, sustainable legacy for UK by nurturing commercial partnerships. VIII Health and Safety London 2012 is committed to promote healthy living among the workforce by provision of healthy food in the site canteens, auditing caterers on the park by Environmental Health Offices (EHOs), not allowing alcohol on the sites and delivering health and safety educational programme for children residing near the site. IX Equality and Diversity The London Olympics 2012 will raise job opportunities in London by 70,000 by 2012 (job volunteer London 2012), the community believes in equality among men, women, races and disabled people. The London Olympics 2012 have set five priority themes for sustainability. For change in climate issues, their aim is to minimise carbon footprint of Games and the development as a whole, which will be achieved by minimising embodied energy affects, optimising energy efficiency and use of renewable energy resources. The Olympics are trying to develop a waste management infrastructure reuse, reduce, recycle, compost and use waste to produce energy. The area hosting Olympics will be developed by physical, social and economic regeneration and by enhancing ecology of the venues to conserve nature. The Games and the legacy will promote a healthy lifestyle for British and make them aware of the sustainability aspects (London 2012 sustainability plan). The Olympics will provide a platform to solutions for developing infrastructure, energy and water resource management, transport, local food production, carbon mitigation and adaptation.

Catcher in the Rye Essay: Holden and the Complexity of Adult Life

Holden and the Complexity of Adult Life What was wrong with Holden, the main character in The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D.Salinger, was his moral revulsion against anything that was ugly, evil, cruel, or what he called "phoney" and his acute responsiveness to beauty and innocence, especially the innocence of the very young, in whom he saw reflected his own lost childhood.   There is something wrong or lacking in the novels of despair and frustration of many writers. The sour note of bitterness and the recurring theme of sadism have become almost a convention, never thoroughly explained by the author's dependence on a psychoanalytical interpretation of a major character. The boys who are spoiled or turned into budding homosexuals by their mothers and a loveless home life are as familiar to us today as stalwart and dependable young heroes such as John Wayne were to an earlier generation. We have accepted this interpretation of the restlessness and bewilderment of our young men and boys because no one had anything better to offer. It is tragic to hear the anguished cry of parents: "What have we done to harm him? Why doesn't he care about anything? He is a bright boy, but why does he fail to pass his examinations? Why won't he talk to us?" A remarkable and absorbing novel, J. D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye," may serve to calm the apprehensions of fathers and mothers about their own responsibilities, though it doesn't attempt to explain why all boys who dismay their elders have failed to pass successfully the barrier between childhood and young manhood. It is profoundly moving and a disturbing book, but it is not hopeless. Holden Caulfield, sixteen years old and six foot two inches in hei... ...Boy, I was shaking like a madman." The Catcher in the Rye is not all horror of this sort. There is a wry humor in this sixteen-year-old's trying to live up to his height, to drink with men, to understand mature sex and why he is still a virgin at his age. His affection for children is spontaneous and delightful. There are few little girls in modern fiction as charming and lovable as his little sister, Phoebe. Altogether this is a book to be read thoughtfully and more than once. It is about an unusually sensitive and intelligent boy; but, then, are not all boys unusual and worthy of understanding? If they are bewildered at the complexity of modern life, unsure of themselves, shocked by the spectacle of perversity and evil around them - are not adults equally shocked by the knowledge that even children cannot escape this contact and awareness?

How the Authors Create a Feeling of Fear and Terror in The Ostler, The

How the Authors Create a Feeling of Fear and Terror in The Ostler, The Red Room and The Superstitious Man's Story In order to answer this question I read the relevant stories, i.e. 'The Ostler' by Wilkie Collins, 'The Red Room' by H.G. Wells and 'The Superstitious Man's Story' by Thomas Hardy in great detail. I will now attempt to compare the methods the authors have utilised to create the impact mentioned above. In order to see which one has been more effective in conveying fear and terror, suspense and the extraordinary, in my opinion. Furthermore, I will endeavour to point out the similarities and differences in tense, style and prose between the stories, using quotations where appropriate. Moreover, I will discuss the roles the various characters play. These people are important, as the reader needs to identify to some extent with the narrator and his description and interpretation of his 'human props' as well as the setting they are placed in. The opening to any story is crucial, since the reader may not decide to continue with his intention to 'read all' if he/she is not sufficiently interested in the first few sentences. In 'The Superstitious Man's Story' the reader is struck immediately by an air of mystery, and somehow feels privy to a secret. This is a story steeped in 'hearsay'. The narrator (the seedman's father) painstakingly talks us through every minute detail 'putting away the irons and things, and preparing the table for his breakfast in the morning.' By placing so much emphasis on mundane issues the impact of the extraordinary is in stark contrast. It is almost as if the reader is lulled into a sense of security, ... ...e unknown is intriguing to many. Even though the three stories have a different approach they all centre of the supernatural. They are all written pre-1914 - well before the advent of technology, which has accelerated at an alarming rate. Nowadays, our culture revolves around technology and people require proof. It is essential for an author to set the scene, draw the reader in and when that is accomplished deliver the punch line. All of the authors succeed in doing this. 'The Superstitious Man's Story' is too stark, and puts the reader 'on guard' as to its content. I prefer the gradual style of the other two stories. In 'The Red Room' and 'The Ostler' the settings and the characters enhance the plot immensely. The characters are not developed enough in 'The Superstitious Man's Story', and the setting is rather boring.

Limbo, Nothings Changed, and Blessing Essay -- Poetry Tatamkhulu Afrik

Limbo, Nothings Changed, and Blessing â€Å"Write about the various ways in which the poets present their ideas and give the reader an insight into different cultures.† The three poems that will be studied are: Limbo by Edward Kamau Braithwaite Nothings changed by Tatamkhulu Afrika Blessing by Imtiaz Dharker The cultural location and inspiration (for the writers) of these poems is of great curiosity (to many readers) and also of high deviation, thus the way in which we are given an insight into the different cultures will be considered very carefully. Limbo Edward Kamau Braithwaite, the writer of Limbo is creating tension and anxiety, while at the same time expressing his view of slavery in the poem, he is trying to create the effect of a ship filled with evil and is trying to make the reader see that slavery is far from good but actually very, very cruel, he tells the story of afro Caribbean slavery in a rhyming & rhythmic dance. He has made it a very motivating and complex poem. I feel that there are two meanings or storylines to the poem the first and main narrative being a play being acted out on the ship showing the cruel and evil history of Afro Caribbean slavery, and the second being a more upbeat and blissful side to the poem which is portraying the actions of the limbo dance. The first three quarters of the poem deal with slavery and the limbo dance combined together while the last quarter of the poem is like the sun breaking and light coming out, it only deals with the happiness that there is around the limbo dance in much more detail and describes how their is light at the end of the tunnel for the slaves. The poem has a very strong beat, signifying the dance that is being po... ...heme that has been incorporated into the poem. Rhythm has not been used in the poem, it is very brief, and gives the effect of ordinary speech. We have a clear sense of Imtiaz Dharker’s culture; water is valued very highly, (as people’s lives depend on this supply). Personally I feel that In Britain we constantly take water for granted and should not and that the poet maybe trying to convey to us a very important message. The poem ends with a picture of the littlie children naked and screaming. The sense of their beauty is overshadowed by the idea of how weak, fragile and helpless they are. Overall I feel this poem is the best poem (of the three) to give the reader an insight into different cultures in a brief and logical way, however I feel that Tatamkhulu Afrika Who wrote â€Å"Nothings Changed† present his ideas in the most vivid and original way.