Sykes Enterprises Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sykes Enterprises - Case Study Example His primary focus has been financial return and he has used finances as the basis for expansion, retraction and other strategies. However, it is necessary for the top management to reconsider some of the strategies from a financial point-of-view so that it can streamline its current operations. It may not be necessary that a call center should require closure if it is not doing well. There can be consolidation of operations as well as optimization of activities that would result in cost-reduction. Initiative by the top management will be the only reason why call center managers would want to look at their operations and search for cost-minimization strategies. The change should come from the top management to the bottom and this would be the driving factor amongst call center managers for cost reduction. Convergys is the largest market holder in the call center and order processing business. Sykes Enterprises scale of operations is only a fraction of the two market leaders in this business. However, this cannot be attributed to any exceptional strategy on the part of Sykes' competitors. Sykes' aggressive strategy has been in terms of the number of call centers and its cost competitiveness. Sykes Enterprises did not see order processing and bill processing as a major industry and thus its corporate clients were always looking for Sykes when they needed a cost-effective solution. Reliability is one of the key features that is missing from the brand positioning of Sykes in the industry. Thus, Sykes needs to re-consider its position in the industry and work towards improving it from just another low-cost solution to a reliable and smart solutions company - that would work at lower costs not just because of low quality but because it has found the key to strategically reducing costs of its operations. Review of Mission and Objectives Sykes' existing mission and objectives are not very much suited to its operational strategy. Instead of focusing on the low-cost attractions to the corporate world, Sykes should focus on a moderate strategy on using its services and quality of operations as the focal point of attracting corporate customers. It should revise its mission and objectives to incorporate these ideas in its mission and objectives. Further, it should make sure that its strategies reflect this mission. 4.0 Strategic Alternatives and Recommended Strategy Strategic Alternatives It is obvious that Sykes can take more than one action to improve its revenues and build a profitable business. The closure of its operations in India have resulted in consolidation of its costs in the United States. The competitors of Sykes have resorted to opening up call centers in South East Asian nations such as the Philippines to counter the high turnover costs and possible wage rises in Indian cities due to growing economies. It is important for Sykes to focus on its costs and revenues. Sykes needs to increase its revenues and reduce its costs. Sykes can focus on increasing the number of services that it offers from its existing call centers so that the costs of the services do not rise, however, there will be a rise in the revenues for the services. Another recommended

Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining Essay Example for Free

Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining Essay Are 2-tier wage systems fair and justified?† Provide supporting data to justify your response. The two tier wage system is usually established by management and sometimes in agreement with a union for three main reasons. The first reason being that the employer wants to pay senior, experienced and productive worker more without increasing overall wage cost. The second reason for the implementation of this system is so that the employer can establish a merit wage scheme that compensates employees without increasing overall costs. The last reason could be that the employer wants to reduce overall cost by hiring new employees at a lower wage than incumbent workers. Unions usually agree to this type of wage system as a tactic that would allow employer to hire future employees at lower wages than senior workers, so as to reduce cost to employers and prevent future layoffs and wage cuts. Unions realize that preserving the jobs, wages and benefits of active union members is first priority. The two tier wage system may be considered fair and justified as in the recession of recent times. This system can be implemented as a strategy to resist the need to lay off workers, and reduce the wages of current workers. Unless there is a recession, the two-tier system is unfair and unjust. During non-recession economic times, employers, especially those in the private sector, may use this system as a way of minimizing cost and maximizing profits, which is unfair to workers. Each worker should be viewed as equal and should be rewarded equally. The two-tier wage system may be viewed as discriminatory, and denies employees the opportunity to thrive and get ahead. Employees who perform the same work should be paid the same the amount. This is the main reason for the labor movement and the reason why people join union. Employees who are being paid more will be constantly in fear of losing their job and be in fear of being replaced by lower-tier employees which will therefore reduce overall morale. Employees who are paid less to do the same work will be in conflict with those who are paid more and this may lead to lower productivity from these workers. In the case that there is a recession it would be beneficial to current employees to agree to a two-tier wage system, so as to preserve their jobs and benefits. The seasoned employee would not have to worry about being paid at the lower level as only new employees are affected. The system should be reversible and should be reversed, once the employer has become profitable again. It would be unfair to keep this system around if the company can afford to revert to the previous system. The United Auto Workers and GM, Ford and Chrysler in 2007, agreed to a two tier wage system, with new employees being paid the lower tier. The CEO of Ford believed that this change in the wage system was necessary to retain jobs. In 2010 under the new wage system Ford hired 1,200 new employees, rather than laying-off workers and closing plants. Two tier wages system can be as strategy for maintaining job security and benefits for current workers during difficult times but should be reversible once the company is again profitable.

Social Work With Children And Families

Social Work With Children And Families Evaluate critically the role of child death inquiries as a vehicle for policy development, and consider the implication for social work with children and families.   The purpose of this assignment is to show a critical understanding of the role of child death inquiries as a vehicle for policy development. This assignment will explore the purpose of child death inquiries. It will show a critical understanding of the complex relationship between family and the state, the tensions between the duty to safeguard children, the parents and childs rights and when the state should intervene. The types of child death inquiries will be investigated examining their purpose, limitations and values. The assignment will examine the impact of changing child welfare policy on organisational structures with reference to multi disciplinary teams. This assignment will show reference to critical evaluation and the bias that may precede it. Finally concluding given the weight of evidence how useful child death inquiries are as a vehicle for policy development. Recently the benefits of child death inquiries and serious case reviews have come under particular scrutiny, this assignment will use evidenced based information and practice to find other approaches or how to improve the form of the inquiry so its benefits outweigh its limitations. The United Nations estimate that every week two children in the United Kingdom die from abuse or neglect (UNICEF, 2003). The United Nations Convention, article 3 on the rights of the child places a duty on countries to protect children from abuse or neglect, the best interests of the child must be the primary concern when making decisions which may affect them, article 6 focuses on the importance of safeguarding their right to life (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1992). There are two types of child death inquiries; serious case reviews and public inquiries. A serious case review takes place when a child dies and abuse or neglect is suspected. They also take place in other circumstances where serious situations have occurred for example where a child has suffered from serious sexual abuse. The purpose of child death inquiries according to Working Together, 2010 is for agencies and individuals to learn where problems have arisen and to learn from these to improve their practice. The lessons learnt should be given to all individuals who work in this area to ensure they safeguard children in the correct way. When agencies already know where certain problems lie they should improve upon them before the serious case review is finished. A public inquiry for example The Colwell Report (1974), The Climbà © inquiry (2003) is a inquiry ordered by the government to review events, in this case child deaths. To conclude where practice could be improved upon, rec ommendations can be given and lessons can be learnt. Under regulation 5 of the local safeguarding childrens board requires that the local safeguarding children board undertakes reviews of serious cases. Serious case reviews must establish lessons to be learnt, identify which lessons are within agencies and which between and how long they have to act upon the changes to be undertaken. The reviews must also improve upon inter and intra agency working to promote and safeguard the wellbeing of children (chapter 8, Working Together, 2010). Laming (2009) states that serious case reviews are an important tool for learning lessons. Currently there is debate regarding the approach used in serious case reviews some believe that there are different approaches to take to learn lessons from social work practice. Effective safeguarding practice is an approach considered, to learn from what is already proven to work. The obvious aim of child death inquiries is to try and avoid future tragedies. There is a repetitive circle within child protection. Families collide with professionals and most of the outcomes involve protection. The tensions involved between families and professionals involve competition of rights. The Human Rights Act, 1998 article 8 stipulates the familys right to a private family life and to be able to conduct their lives according to their culture and understanding. The opposite to this argument is to ensure all children are protected. When should professionals become involved? Parton (1991) describes the dilemma of how can the state establish the rights of the child and still promote the family to be an independent body in which to raise their children how they see fit and not intervene in all families and consequently reduce its autonomy. Depending on the theoretical viewpoint the professionals and current Government takes would impose when the state should intervene. A laissez-faires government would have little intervention, the professionals would only intervene when abuse or neglect had taken place. However State paternalism is a perspective which favours more involvement of state intervention to protect children from abuse. This theory regards the childs welfare as more important than family autonomy. This perspective was reflected in the Children Act, 1989 as it introduced the expression likely for the child to be in significant harm. If there is a likelihood of significant harm there are possibilities of child protection orders being produced, and in other extensions of state power. Tensions between the duties that social workers have to safeguard children, the familys right to a private family life, the rights of the child, working in partnership with the parents and understanding when the state should intervene cause problems within social work practice. Knowing when to intervene has always been a problem for social workers within this area. Malcolm Hill (1990) found that published child abuse inquiry reports identified working with parents as a common problem. He found that papers noted access difficulties, in a number of cases parents didnt cooperate when the social worker needed to see the child at risk. Hill (1990) concluded that papers found social workers were too ready to believe parents. Hill (1990) concluded that the Colwell report (1974) found that social workers should focus on parents demonstrating their parenting skills and not to assume all was well because the parents said so. Social workers also need to look at the care the child is receiving holistically not focus on single areas of the family where they are showing positive steps, for example social workers may be satisfied as the family are participating in counselling but they need to still look at their parenting at home whilst this continues. Thus depending on the theoretical viewpoint the social worker takes decides when they should intervene. This assignment will adopt a state paternalism perspective, this perspective although draws conclusions that the child is likely to suffer significant harm which may affect the family relationships and autonomy its better to intervene now then wait until abuse or neglect has taken place and then safeguarding the child. This perspective takes a view that children have a high priority in society, they have rights to high standards of care and using this approach ensure that they are protected at all costs by the force of the law (Fox Harding, 1997). Child death inquiries are seen as an important tool used to improve local practice, also implementing wider community health approaches to improve upon infant mortality rates. Bunting and Reid (2005) found that there numerous benefits to serious case reviews taking place these included more effective multi agency working, improved communication between agencies, they found that death certificates had become more informative they also found that from participating in serious case reviews practitioners had more knowledge surrounding child death and the causes of them ensuring a further focus on preventative measures of child death rather than focusing on child abuse. Corby, Doig and Roberts (1998) have found that there is a great concern on the impact of child inquiries on professionals especially social workers, they found that over the inquiries taking place there has been a continual criticism of social workers. The Maria Colwell case made social work practice public and put it under great scrutiny. Professionals within this case became points of focus of criticism, their work was scrutinised in incorrect contexts focusing on training of social workers affecting their morale significantly (Corby et al, 1998). The impact of child death inquiries on social workers and other professionals in this area can be psychological and emotional. Corby et al (1998) argues both sides of the case although child death inquiries highlights poor practice and the need for the public to know why children already known to social services and other departments can still go on to be abused and killed. However the emotional and psychological effects on social workers can be so detrimental because of the scrutiny they are under, their work will be affected, and affecting further work they do. Corby et al (1998) investigated child abuse cases and inquiries and how useful they are and what changes have been made by using child death and abuse inquiries as an approach. Of the seventy inquiries they used between 1945 and 1997 they all produced main recommendations in areas of improving inter agency co-ordination, training of professionals, improving child protection systems and using more experienced staff. Using this information to highlight that changes made between 1945 and 1997 because of the recommendations given havent been obvious because they are still proposing the same issues. Child death inquires do have their place in the public eye specifically when practice goes wrong, nevertheless they have a number of limitations. Child death inquiries affect personal confidence of the social workers and other professionals when they become embroiled within the investigation. Due to the nature of the child death inquiries the public only see the negatives of social workers, social workers fear the association of such inquiries. Practice will not change when inquiries focus solely on the structure of children and families department. If social workers feel like the target when involved in inquiries their work will be affected therefore affecting the work they do further on for example other children may be more at risk because social workers have no confidence in the work they are practicing. To use child death inquiries as a vehicle for policy development may not be the most effective approach to take. Child death inquiries are very expensive. If a more effective approach was to be taken and social workers and other professionals were able to learn more from this different process it would be more beneficial to take this approach than to carry on wasting money and concluding the same issues from all inquiries. Parton (2004) has found that the same issues have been identified on numerous times without any obvious changes in social work practice (Devaney, Lazenbatt and Bunting, 2010). Devaney et al (2010) found that child death inquiries can still be effective but more emphasis needs to be more on recommendations and implementing the recommendations and acting upon them. Devaney et al (2010) also argue that policy makers need more understanding of the difficult situations in which children are at more risk from abuse or neglect. Devaney et al (2010) argue that this can hel p the policy makers express what social workers can do and make a distinction between that and what should be done. Child death inquiries make assumptions that something has gone wrong and that the inquiry can find out what and give recommendations to learn from the mistakes. It assumes that practice will change because of the recommendations given and many inquiries dont focus on acting upon the recommendations, if they did then future inquiries wouldnt produce the same recommendations. Inquiries assume that the method they use is sophisticated. However, research into inquiries and literature has shown that other approaches could be more effective and less intrusive in practice and less strain can be put on professionals. Inquiries assume that multi agency working will be more effective, though if tensions between professionals are tense already these will be difficult to resolve. Inquiries cannot assume that these tensions can be worked at by the professionals they need a superior management style to overlook the different professionals to be able to work effectively together. As well as the implications for social workers individually and for policy makers regarding the process of child death inquiries, organisational structures will be also be impacted upon when changing child welfare policy. Due to changes within organisations, for example changes in roles of professionals involved in child death inquiries the foundations of interprofessional multi agency work are not secure, concluded because inquiries focus excessively on the role of social workers rather than the antecedents of child death or abuse. With regards to the case of Maria Colwell (1974) the Secretary of State Barbara Castle concluded that social workers alone cannot solve the underlying problems. All professionals in this field of child welfare need to understand their role but if child welfare policy continues to change constantly the role cannot be undertaken as professionals have poor ideas of what their role is and how they should practice. All professionals need to work effectively to gether and have an understanding of delivering comprehensive services to diverse communities so no children are lost in the system or ignored. The importance of effective interprofessional multi agency work is such that until there is a balance of role and practice then the safeguarding of future children may be affected. Contemporary social work values may be affected, social workers have their own values personally and from learning from experience. Social workers must focus on human rights and social justice as their motivation for social work. Some critiques may argue that depending on the theoretical framework for example state paternalism some social workers may not be able to justify their motivation to impose this framework in their practice by not letting the family have a right to private family life (Human Rights, article 8) and be too quick to intervene. To ensure anti discriminatory practice social workers must understand different cultures have different behaviours when it comes to parenting. The social worker may thing its not appropriate, the family however believes differently. This can lead to the social worker not act at all. The social worker must ensure anti discriminatory practice, they need to see things from the perspective of the culture the family employs. Though still mainta ining the values and knowledge they have regarding child abuse and when they should intervene. They must keep each case individual and make judgements based on evidence, not on their assumptions. To evaluate how useful child death inquiries are as a vehicle for policy development evidence needs to be considered whilst investigating journal papers to gain an understanding of where bias may occur. Using a wide range of sources gives a broader idea of what has been proven to work in social work practice (Roberts and Yeager, 2006). Research evidence is more valued than other sources, those papers that are repeatable use a large amount of participants are more likely to have less prejudice in concluding how useful child death inquiries are as a vehicle for policy development. Higgs and Jones (2000) propose that evidence is knowledge derived from various sources, which has been tested and found credible. Having read all the information the weight of evidence suggests that changes need to be made to the approach of child death inquiries. The limitations and implications to practice are too substantial to ignore. Professionals and public havent seen any major changes because of the recommendations give by the inquiries. Corby et al (1998) found that of seventy public inquiries between 1945 and 1997 the main focus of recommendations was on improvements on inter agency co-ordination and improving the training of staff. The gap between the time of the death of the child and receiving the results of the inquiry is detrimental to social workers. Corby et al (1998) also argue that the cost inquiries have and the negative impact on social workers affects their future practice and may create more risk to other children they are safeguarding because they dont have the confidence to practice anymore. The most effective approach to take would be one that focuses with less scrutiny on the social w orkers so their confidence is not affected and acts upon the recommendations it has made. Policy can develop by using a different vehicle instead of child death inquiries. At the minute the impact of changing child welfare policy on social workers and organisational structure is considerable. An improved approach to child death inquiries can be more effective in changing policy than the constant changes that are currently happening because of the results from child death inquiries.

Essay --

The Modernist movement period was change in the world that took place between the end of the nineteenth century and throughout the twentieth century. Modernism is something that has happened and no longer represents the now or the contemporary of the world. Modern design is developed of all that came before it and through experimentation, innovation, and individualism, which forward society. Great leaders in the modernist movement were intellectuals, artists, philosophers and scientists. Modernist such as Kafka, Woolf and Toomer influence literature constantly reform reshape society with a variety of theme of their of personal life and life during the 19th, 20th. In order to understand the modernist movement and the influence in society we have to analysis Franz Kafka. Kafka modernist patterns and system were unique, disturbing, symbolic fictions in his works made him one of twentieth century's influential writers. Kafka use of troubling, ironic, expressionistic in his novels often dealing with alienation trapped his central character in complex situations beyond their knowledge and control. Kafka novel The Metamorphosis starts with Gregor waking up into bug. As the story change Gregor appears to accept that he is a bug. Gregor never stops to question how such a transformation could understand why it occurs. Although the story presents the change as fact, one might argue that it serves as a metaphor to illustrate why he was a bug. The Metamorphosis was not surprising when Kafka used metaphors to explain the story of Gregor, which were key to the understanding Gregor family reaction when he became a bug. The metaphor Kafka tried to convey wa s alienation of life in Gregor, which led to void humane gratitude, cold affection, and f... ...s of new music patterns styles with forms of improves instruments and music language. Sound control is also important to understand how pitch, tempo and octaves to put together a song. Music no longer is limited to concerts and opera houses it is available for everyone that enjoys music. In conclusion â€Å"The Modernist† movement was a period of change in the world that took place between the end of the nineteenth century and throughout the twentieth century. Modernism is something that has happened and no longer represents the now or the contemporary of the world. Modern design is developed of all that came before it and through experimentation, innovation, and, which forward as a society. Modernist such as Kafka, Woolf and Toomer influence literature constantly reform reshape society with a variety of theme of their of personal life and life during the 19th, 20th.

No Cheating

When taking an exam it shows how much you have or have not improved during a semester. When people have worked so hard to and studied so hard on an exam they should get the grade that they deserve . So when someone else has the same answers as the on who have been doing what they need to do to the one who lacks in their work red lights should be going off. When someone cheats off another that person should get disciplined. It would not be fair to keep those in school that cheat they would need to be expelled from college. Any student caught cheating on an exam or paper should be dismissed from the college.In today’s generation some students want to get better grades without doing any work. Better grades could possibly mean better jobs and eventually more money. Student these days are cheating more than ever and that’s because getting a good education is basically a matter of economic life or death. Even some students with straight A’s cheat because they do not ha ve the time to do the work carefully. That's right, some students are just plain lazy and rather than study and work hard, they find it easier to cheat. These types of students do not want to read the chapters required for a test or they do not feel like typing a ten-page paper.Lazy students do not want to take the time to study and actually learn. They would rather sail through college on somebody else’s dime. Another reason students cheat is because of the pressure to succeed. Transitioning from high school to college is hard. The workload is overwhelming and more difficult, and some students often feel helpless and are afraid they will not do well. In college, the pressure to do well is even higher than in high school. It’s even harder for the nontraditional students to start back school when not being in school for so long to get it

Biography of Max Weber

Biography of Max Weber Max Weber was born in Erfurt, Prussia (present-day Germany) on April 21, 1864. He is considered one of the three founding fathers of sociology, alongside Karl Marx, and Emile Durkheim. His text The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism was considered a founding text in sociology. Early Life and Education Weber’s father was greatly involved in public life and so his home was constantly immersed in both politics and academia. Weber and his brother thrived in this intellectual atmosphere. In 1882, he enrolled at the University of Heidelberg, but after two years left to fulfill his year of military service at Strassburg. After his release from the military, Weber finished his studies at the University of Berlin, earning his doctorate in 1889 and joining the University of Berlin’s faculty, lecturing and consulting for the government. Career and Later Life In 1894, Weber was appointed a professor of economics at the University of Freiburg and then was granted the same position at the University of Heidelberg in 1896. His research at the time focused mainly on economics and legal history. After Weber’s father died in 1897, two months after a severe quarrel that was never resolved. Weber became prone to depression, nervousness, and insomnia, making it difficult for him to fulfill his duties as a professor. He was thus forced to reduce his teaching and eventually left in the fall of 1899. For five years he was intermittently institutionalized, suffering sudden relapses after efforts to break such cycles by traveling. He finally resigned his professorship in late 1903. Also in 1903, Weber became the associate editor of the Archives for Social Science and Social Welfare where his interests lied in more fundamental issues of social sciences. Soon Weber began to publish some of his papers in this journal, most notably his essay The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, which became his most famous work and was later published as a book. In 1909, Weber co-founded the German Sociological Association and served as its first treasurer. He resigned in 1912, however, and unsuccessfully tried to organize a left-wing political party to combine social-democrats and liberals. At the outbreak of World War I, Weber, aged 50, volunteered for service and was appointed as a reserve officer and put in charge of organizing the army hospitals in Heidelberg, a role he fulfilled until the end of 1915. Webers most powerful impact on his contemporaries came in the last years of his life, when, from 1916 to 1918, he argued powerfully against Germanys annexationist war goals and in favor of a strengthened parliament. After assisting in the drafting of the new constitution and the founding of the German Democratic Party, Weber became frustrated with politics and resumed teaching at the University of Vienna. He then taught at the University of Munich. Weber died on June 14, 1920. Major Publications The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904)The City (1912)The Sociology of Religion (1922)General Economic History (1923)The Theory of Social and Economic Organization (1925) Sources: Max Weber. (2011). Biography.com. biography.com/articles/Max-Weber-9526066Johnson, A. (1995). The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers.