Determine Which Benefits to Offer

In the United States, employees are entitled to various benefits. One of the essential benefits is the job-protected leave, which might be as long as 12 weeks. During the leave period the employees, take care of themselves or immediate family members. Both part-time and full-time employees in the US are eligible for Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) after completing a specified number of working hours. The purpose of the leave or the vacation is to offer their employees benefits to meet their needs. The Human Resource practitioners work alongside the employee’s managers to ensure a successful leave education as one of the benefits in the bid to meet staff needs. In order to comprehensively enjoy these vacations, organizations need to put together all the benefits that boost health and productivity, compensation plans, and tax and other reforms, which will only be achieved through setting robust policies, including pension benefits, which govern organizational practice to promise best practice. These benefits are highlighted in the chart be

Figure 1: A chart representing the benefits that leadership offers to employees and their cost-effectiveness.

1. Benefits required by law. There are various requirements by the law that govern the benefits that are entitled to any employee in the United States. Among many others, an employee in the US enjoys employee benefits and executive compensation provisions of the tax cut and reform provision. A very critical example of this benefit was evident on December 22, 2017, where the president, Trump, signed into law, Tax Cut and the Reform Act. The purpose of this Act was to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (Code). This act had comprehensive benefits on employees, including creating new excise tax on tax tax-exempt organizations and offering reasonable compensation (Andrioff, 2017). More importantly, the Act aimed at the creation of new employer tax credit for paid family and medical leave credit under Code Section 500A(b).
2. Benefits preferences by the employees. These are those benefits that workers term as priorities. These are determined based on employee’s opinions. One of the benefits that employees prioritize is the pension benefits, which most employees have described as important to them. Pension benefits are wide in definition, narrowing down, most of the employee prefer health insurance the essential benefit, regardless of age group (Fronstin & Helman, 2015). Taking various instances into consideration, Millennials, Baby Boomers, and Generation Xers affirm that health insurance is the essential pension or retirement plan.
3. Competing for talents. There is high competition for the best employees in the organization. Employees always prefer working with organizations where they feel better and where their rights are well catered for. Employees first have to understand the policies that organizations have put in place concerning employees’ welfare. In the workplace, the employees benefit from effective policies; they also help manage employee obligations and reduce exposure to potential liabilities (Raleigh et al., 2016). Policies offer employees advantages that surpass the expected behavior performance, making some organizations better than others. Some of these advantages include offering education to new staff, attracting and retaining new employees by offering them additional benefits, especially the leaves and valuable resources such as motor vehicles. Other policies include eliminating all practices such as discrimination and all forms of harassment, more importantly offering equal opportunities to employees.
4. Retention of talents. In the effort to retain employees, it is essential to work toward ensuring their satisfaction. This can be achieved by putting some key aspects together. Some of these aspects include integrating disability, leaves or vacations, health, and other management initiatives into one complete program. These are in the effort to lower costs and create an efficient process, resulting in high productivity and employee satisfaction (Trumbull, 2014). In the US, a lot of transformation occurs in the healthcare sector, where most of the organizations are now appreciating the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), integrating it as a solution to employee health. Employees under the ACA benefit from better tracking and reporting concerning their health status, easier and consistent administration across programs, improved regulatory compliance, enhanced employee experience, reduced costs, and stronger productivity. These benefits make employees like their organization over their competitors.
5. Cost-effective benefits. Benefits are deemed cost-effective if they can be purchased and managed effectively by an organization. In order to achieve this aspect in the organization, there is a need to appreciate the importance of developing a more robust cross-cultural competence (Davis, 2021). Cost-effective benefits can be realized if the voice of all stakeholders, regardless of the position, are taken into account. In order to grow and do a good business, a company needs to draw viewpoints from all dimensions. This will ensure that organizations embark on best practices that will have the best results on organizations. Some of these strategies include making a diversity of training, establishing metrics and tracking progress, focusing on diversity in the entire talent pipeline, and networking intensively with business unit managers.

References

Andrioff, J. (2017). Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Provisions of the Tax Cut and Reform Act. Retrieved 26 May 2021, from.

Davis, S. (2021). SHRM's International Diversity & Inclusion Study Reveals Global Trends and Best Practices. Retrieved 26 May 2021, from.

Fronstin, P., & Helman, R. (2015). Pension Benefits. Employee Benefit Research Institute And Greenwald & Associates, EBRI Notes,. Retrieved 26 May 2021, from.

Raleigh, A., Counsel, S., & Hogan, B. (2016). The necessity of having effective workplace policies: Potential risks for employers. Retrieved 26 May 2021, from.

Trumbull, K. (2014). Putting It All Together-Benefits Integration Boosts Health, Productivity. Retrieved 26 May 2021, from.

Team Assignment #01

Discussion Questions

Question One

There are various challenges that arise when a company's workforce grows more diverse. In my opinion, the expansion of the workforce has both positive and negative impacts on productivity and cost implications. The size of the organization and the workforce available pose managerial constraints to ensure a smooth running of all the workers and ensure success. In cases where the workforce is well-coordinated, much success is attained; based on productivity, a large workforce helps in quicker delivery of products and helps in cost reduction, especially if their focus is on important activities. However, apart from these positive impacts that foster flourishment or expansion of the organization, some challenges are faced with a diverse workforce; some of these challenges include problems with colleagues, especially when there is miscommunication across the stakeholders. Communication problem is a challenge which is dominant with big companies that house a huge number of employees; some of the employees engage in gossips, bullying, troubles, and whiners, which have a negative implication on the overall performance and productivity of the company. Another challenge in the diverse workforce is the lack of a competent HR department that helps in addressing the well-being and the challenges that might arise within the employees. The HR is paramount to ensure that employees working rights are adhered to, thus boosting morale and employee satisfaction, which is seen in successful operation.

Question Two

In the present world, steep competition is on the rise, which worries many companies' management. The greatest competition is on prices, where the price margins have significantly declined, thus a need to come with strategies that would help organizations remain competitively advantaged. For this organization, the strategy that the CEO has proposed is cost reduction and containment initiative across the company.  The purpose of this containment is to control expenses and limit the expenditure, which can be achieved by staying within specified budget limits; after this process, the organization will improve its profitability and avoid long-term damage to the company.

The primary focus of this organization is to help in addressing the workforce. The body of management should be concerned with dealing with the available employees, increasing operation and productivity without increasing the budget allocation on labor inputs. Some of the useful aspects include outsourcing work to domestic workers who work out of their homes and urging employees to take time off either no pay or reduced pay. Another promising strategy is to consider hiring part-time employees. Additionally, now that a lot of concern has been put on health to offer insurance covers, company management might decide to dismiss employees; this applies to employees hired by a leasing company and contracting with the same company to lease back the employees. The purpose of the containment exercise is to streamline operations and increase efficiency by eliminating all the negative costs that the organization might incur. At the end of the operation, the organization will meet and exceed customers’ expectations while keeping the operating costs within the defined limits, tracking all the expenses, and looking for improvement opportunities.  

Question Three

There is a difference between these two terms (company’s corporate strategy and business strategy) can be highlighted in this contest. Primarily a strategy is a procedure for making decisions to achieve long-term goals. In organizations, it is the role of HR to support the implementation of corporates business strategy. The latter strategy refers to ways organizations plan to achieve their outlined objectives within a particular business. The main focus of the strategy is to monitor how the company competes against other corporations (Yuan et al., 2020). This is the concept whose concern is the choice of products, customer satisfaction, and competitive advantage. The purpose of a business strategy is to highlight market opportunities for businesses to explore, and new ventures get conviction to invest in the business.

On the other hand, cooperate strategies are based on management plans whose impact is directed towards the entire business organization. The master plan in this strategy is to help the organization achieve success in the market. The purpose of cooperating strategies is to determine the company's growth objective while highlighting the business patterns, goals concerning strategic interests, customer groups, and product lines. The ultimate objective of this strategy is to ensure the business remains sustainable.

Question Four

Based on a complaint from an individual, we need to address the issues on a strategic HR approach that is deemed inadequate to partner with the organization. The plan is strategic if it encompasses all the procedures concerning making goals and actionable strategies. A robust strategy is termed strategic human resource management (SHRM). The nature of this strategy is to ensure that patterns of human resources deployments and activities enable the organization to achieve all the set goals. The importance of the SHRM is primarily to combine strategic planning and HR planning (Delery & Roumpi, 2017). More so, SHRM has strategic formulation, which provides inputs on possible given types and numbers of people available, and strategic implementation, which makes resource allocation decisions towards the implementation of devised strategies. The alignment of the strategy is to ensure alignment of the HRP and the Strategic Planning, which incorporated two processes; one is the firm’s HR strategy which follows and supports the business strategy, which is essential in the implementation. The purpose of the strategic planning was to address people’s culture and the climate of a company constraints a firm’s ability which would be useful to achieve strategically.

Question Five

The execution and implementation of the company strategy and measure of the results encompass some key processes. These strategies offer an overall scope and direction of a corporation, and its various business operations achieve set goals. The execution process entails visualization of the process, measure the strategy, which entails the key elements of the visualized strategy. Also, the process involves report on the progress of the budget, which should be reviewed regularly and take control of the performance. What follows is decision-making on strategy execution toward the stated destination and identifying the strategy projects, depending on the organization scores, where they get a firm grasp on the type and range of the projects. With many strategies, we, therefore, need to manage the projects, where the organizations develop a capability to execute the strategy effectively. In the implementation process, the essential process is communication with the leaders and other stakeholders (Brui, 2018). Also, we need to align the roles of all the individuals and thus make a meaningful contribution to their organizations' success. Then lastly, the last execution process is to reward performance; this happens after the whole process is done. At the end of the strategy, it is important to align with the workforce, the senior managers, and the corporation is assured of success at the end of the process.

References

Brui, O. (2018). Implementation of strategic management based on the balanced scorecard in a university library. Library Management.

Delery, J. E., & Roumpi, D. (2017). Strategic human resource management, human capital and competitive advantage: is the field going in circles?. Human Resource Management Journal, 27(1), 1-21.

Yuan, Y., Lu, L. Y., Tian, G., & Yu, Y. (2020). Business strategy and corporate social responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 162(2), 359-377.

 Evaluating the Internal and External Weaknesses in the Organization’s Progress Toward Goals

The United States Postal Service is facing a challenge in implementing its proposed changes to its national approach in response to technological changes that have emerged over the past several years. Upper management, middle management and the employees of USPS need to proactively cooperate with ensuring that the organization can keep up with its mandate which is to safeguard the right of every citizen of the United States to receive and send mail. There are several issues systemwide that need to be addressed including the prevention of the escalation of the prices of sending and receiving mail, security concerns during the transportation and distribution of mail, and ways to keep up with customer requirements that are becoming more varied.

The most significant challenge will be achieving a synergetic system where the whole organization can work together smoothly and harmoniously. The board of directors of USPS is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the ideas that will see the corporation transition and achieve digital transformation to remain competitive in this era of the Internet of Things (Marchisotti, Domingos, & Almeida, 2018). This will necessitate the creation of a platform where employees, mid-level management and upper-level management will work together to retain the recognition of USPS as a top-tier service provider in the United States.

To meet these goals, the United States Postal Service should come up with ways to promote growth by providing services that have added value to the customers. This can be done by expanding the provision of services to align with customers’ preferences, reduce overhead costs to lower prices and use continuously updated customer databases to increase efficiency.  The next step would be to enhance operational efficiency by implementing researched policies supported by the latest scientific findings.

Operational efficiency can be improved by adopting an automated process to reduce costs, studying a variety of practices to find the ones that work best in specific regions, and adopt working business practices to increase flexibility (Phelps & Madhavan, 2021). The final step towards achieving synergy within the organization would entail creating and sustaining an organizational culture that is performance-based. A performance-based organization can be achieved by implementing policies that allow better employee retention and lower employee turnover. It can also be achieved by increasing training events for all levels of workers and improving the working environment making it satisfying, safe, diversified and secure (Rached, Bahroun & Campagne, 2016). The table below outlines further recommendations and suggestions to revitalize the organization and make it more adapted to the current business environment. The scale indicates the anticipated effectiveness of each suggestion in meeting the goal of achieving organizational synergy with 1 indicating the lowest effectiveness and 10 indicating the highest effectiveness.

At higher management level more training opportunities will be provided to equip this part of the organization with skills to navigate the decision making process with ease even during high-stress circumstances as recommended by Oberlin (2018) which when combined with organization-wide training for all employees will improve the chances of the organizational success in meeting its objectives (Oberlin, 2018). Below is a draft email that can be used by USPS Chief Executive Officer to obtain employees’ buy-in for implementing the suggested changes:

“Dear Mr./Mrs._________

USPS values and recognizes the hard work you put in for the organization. Over the next few months, you will notice some changes in the way we operate and you may be called upon to work in ways you are not used to. However, I’d like to assure you that these changes are meant to make our offices, safer, increase convenience to our staff and create a more open platform for dialogue. These steps will make the organization a more prestigious place of work for many years to come.

Louis DeJoy

Post Master General”

Implementing these suggestions will bring advantages to the organization, its employees, and its customers. For more consultation freely contact me at your convenience.

Thank you

Name of Student

References

Oberlin, R. (2018). Improving disaster outcomes with better decision making. Journal of business continuity & emergency planning, 11(3), 279-286.

Marchisotti, G. G., Domingos, M. D., & Almeida, R. L. (2018). Decision-Making At The First Management Level: The Interference Of The Organizational Culture. RAM. Revista De Administração Mackenzie, 19(3). doi:10.1590/1678-6971/eramr180106

Phelps, C. E., & Madhavan, G. (2021). Decision Rules. Making Better Choices, 32-41. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190871147.003.0003

Rached, M., Bahroun, Z., & Campagne, J. (2016). Decentralised decision-making with information sharing vs. centralised decision-making in supply chains. International Journal of Production Research, 54(24), 7274-7295. doi:10.1080/00207543.2016.1173255

Compensation and Benefit

Value of compensation and benefit to the employee.

The employees take the aspect of compensation to be valued by the organization, thus increasing productivity, loyalty, and motivation. Compensation promotes employees working and performance and allows them to work longer with a company as they trust their working environment (Sudiardhita, et al., 2018). The motivation is achieved through the organization's security aspect by ensuring they feel protected by the company's compensation plan. The company's management provides the employees with a better understanding of the plan by improving their productivity and efficiency in their work; making the employees happy increases their productivity and profitability. Thus, they take the company's strategic planning and apply the plan alongside the employee’s compensation needs and interest in their working environment.

The employees place the compensation as a morale booster in the employee's working environment of the employees. Promoting workplace happiness is effective in the employee’s value proposition and promotes productivity, and enhances the organization's ability to attract prospective employees (de la Torre-Ruiz, Vidal-Salazar, & Cordón-Pozo, 2019).  The employees take the company's compensation and benefits policies as they put the people in a better financial position, thus making them safe. The policy attracts people with different salaries concerning the value the policies and compensation plan places in them. Thus, the employees search for a good policy concerning their specific salaries, thus providing them the right salaries and wages. A good compensation policy attracts employees and helps retain others as they are favoured by the company's policy, making the employees take the compensation strategy as an assurance policy in good salary payment.

The employees demonstrate and exercise their loyalty to the business; they are paid well, thus staying in the company as they need and salary specifications are met. Thus, the employees take the plan as an assurance policy of remaining in the business and demonstrating loyalty to the business. Generally, a proper compensation policy will enable the employees to be retained in a business, thus promoting employee satisfaction and engagement in the workplace. The availability of benefits to the employees provides them with the ability to demonstrate loyalty to the workplace as their needs and interest are met. Policy and benefit plans like retirement, medical and nonmedical benefit are the benefits that promote the employee’s loyalty as they take it as security in their workplace. In this context, the employees whose value has been recognized are more motivated and demonstrate loyalty and higher performance than those lacking.

Factors to consider when aligning organizational strategy with compensation design.

The organization's consideration should be placed on the country's economic condition and business to identify the employees' best design. Economics is viewed as an aspect in the labor market determinate that is thus an essential aspect in the compensation understanding and the aspect of a good working environment promoting a sense of community. (Meijerink, & Keegan, 2019).  The organization should consider the various groups of workers working under the organization and the needs and interests that need to be covered by the compensation plan. An organization's strategy should ensure that all the organization workers are protected concerning their economic demands and qualification. As the compensation is used as a reward to the employees, they should ensure that it does not affect its functioning and operation. The compensation plans and organization strategy differ according to the employee’s occupation in the organization and their skills levels affecting the compensation; they offer thus the organization consideration.

             The government legal structure has been put in place to reduce the organization's probability of exploiting the employees based on their wages and salary and the compensation design and plans. The determination of the employee’s wage is under the control of the payment of wages act that controls the amount of money they should get as compensation (Bennedsen, et al., 2019). Despite the government policies and regulations, the aspect is also controlled by the demand and supply of the human resources in the market. In return, the organization strategy has to consider the government policies and regulations before coming up with a compensation design for the workers. The government enacted laws for the employers' laws to control the employees' compensation plan allows the employees to have the compensation according to their level of qualification and level of education.

The organization's demand and supply require the human resources in the organization to determine the compensation design. The high number of employees at a certain level does not determine the wages level as the same is controlled by the job market and the government policy that protects the employees. Considering the demand and supply of the human resource in the market, the organization determines the design for the employees' compensation regarding the probability of losing employees and an ability to attract new ones. If low in the market predicts that an organization's compensation design by the organization should be high as the organization strives to maintain the employee they have in place. Thus, the compensation design is determined by the availability of human resources in the market, thus compensating its employees.

                        Global implications when considering a compensation design.

            Before the globalization of the compensation design, the organization should first deal with the organization's staffing and the development of the local pay practice and the business philosophy. The strategy development t has to be tested against a business strategy used in more than one nation in the market to prove its practicability.  The strengths and weaknesses are outlined in the test to enable the design to pass to development areas. The design should also have areas where additional development is to be made as it should allow the compensation to be flexible in relation to the situation at hand and an explanation of how the philosophies created are to affect future development in the design. The compensation design to pass the test and become a global one should include all the rewards and the cash component and the incentives to be achieved in the long run.

            The making of the strategies global in the compensation design, pay strategies considerations should be made for the dollar's fluctuation and inflation. For the companies in the united states making payments to overseas companies, their effects are felt as they make payments with the strong dollar effect, thus reducing the compensation cost (Tsai, 2020).  The dollar's fluctuation affects the employees worldwide as the dollar affects payment to the other companies oversee. They do so by reducing the compensation affecting companies in those countries where the US dollar makes a long-term investment. The compensation design should ensure that global rewards are adjusted to overcome the dollar's effect to stabilize the situation. The review will enable the design to deal with the effect if the opposite happens where the dollar is affected.

            The consideration of the benchmarking pay affects the company’s compensation design as it affects both the local and the global as its greatly influenced by the pay practices from both ends. Maintaining the pay equity and doing the compensation worldwide can be achieved by exchanging the local to the global pay practices (Siddiqi, & Kol, 2021).  The effect is also present when countries are doing payment amongst themselves where the exchange affects them, thus creating inequality in the pay concerning the country making payment. The aspect of equality is only made possible at the local market where the geographical location favours the compensation made cash by the executives, and the payment made at the local level. Most payments made at the global level are affected because the global pay is complicated and harmonizing the pay with the local pay is complex, causing the practice to be costly.

Values employees have for different components of compensation and benefits plans.

            Salaries and wages form the largest component of the compensation plan for the workers. It is determined by the personal skills and education that determine the responsibility and role one plays in an organization. The bigger the role and education, the higher the salary one is accrued to, but the changes are made concerning the employees’ value and performance level that determines their contribution to the company resources. The salaries are followed by bonuses given to the employee as an incentive for their hard work. The bonuses are paid annually, and the sharing is done regarding the company dividend and profit-sharing plan, but the same is done concerning individual performance. The federal pay requirement is paid to the employee as a federal law request to protect the workers through overtime pay. The payment is made according to the hours the employees work overtime, but the overtime is associated with employees who work for more than forty hours as it is measured in weeks and not in days.

Other compensations include miscellaneous compensation, which includes minor things like assistance to the employees, time off; this is when the employees are off from their duties; they include vacations to the employees, sick days, and other days off duty. Sometimes the compensation plan may apply as an insurance policy to the employee by the employer. The plan is considered helpful if the employee gets it from the employer as the policy is less costly to the employee. Retirement is a plan that is easy to offer, and because it’s considered cheaper because the employers offer the plan once after retirement. The other plans are considered expensive because they involve payment after every achievement, thus expensive and costly.

The company is fighting to keep the compensation plan to enhance the advantages through the years instead of sharing annually. This plan will increase the number of benefits and the organization's budget meaning more benefits will be reaped in the coming year. In the reword section, some organizations are increasing the organization's number of rewards to ensure that the organization's expectation is met through the employee's encouragement through the compensation plan. The plans bring about different groups in the organization, enhancing the performance of the organization. In the compensation plan, the education program's incorporation helps the employees gain education advancement through the program.

References.

Bennedsen, M., Simintzi, E., Tsoutsoura, M., & Wolfenzon, D. (2019). Do firms respond to gender pay gap transparency? (No. w25435). National Bureau of Economic Research.

de la Torre-Ruiz, J. M., Vidal-Salazar, M. D., & Cordón-Pozo, E. (2019). Employees are satisfied with their benefits, but so what? The consequences of benefit satisfaction on employees’ organizational commitment and turnover intentions. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 30(13), 2097-2120.

Meijerink, J., & Keegan, A. (2019). Conceptualizing human resource management in the gig economy. Journal of managerial psychology.

Siddiqi, K., & Kol, E. (2021). Benchmarking Project Manager’s Compensation. In Collaboration and Integration in Construction, Engineering, Management and Technology (pp. 95-100). Springer, Cham.

Sudiardhita, K. I., Mukhtar, S., Hartono, B., Sariwulan, T., & Nikensari, S. I. (2018). The effect of compensation, motivation of employee and work satisfaction to employee performance Pt. Bank Xyz (Persero) Tbk. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 17(4), 1-14.

Tsai, I. C. (2020). Alternative explanation of the money illusion: The effect of unexpected low inflation. International Review of Economics & Finance, 69, 110-123.

Case study two John Buckingham, the new guy on the job.

1

The dressing concept in the community is based on their cowboy lifestyle despite their formal location or the informal places. The dressing design is based on the dressing of the people in the community and their cultural values on dressing; for instance, the dressing of cowboy style is used to identify themselves as heroic (Noulty, 2020). John dressing identifies him as an outsider as the people in thru community dress differently, thus causing john to be excommunicated outside and later accepted as one of them after dressing accordingly like the people in the community.[

2.

 John’s coworkers develop affinity biases towards him as they don’t share the same dressing with the people from the community; this is based on his different dressing from the others. The community people are using the objective schema to understand his character where they use his way of dressing as the divining feature of the self, thus forming a metal structure where they characterize him as an outcast (Szwedek, 2017). They use the halo effect by creating an impression on his dressing, thus defining his character as indifferent.

3.

John changed the dressing code from the suits to the dressing in the cowboy style to enhance the interaction with the people in the community and workplace. The change in dressing as the stat of communication has, they treated him as an outsider earlier. In decision-making, he uses the evaluation process to evaluate the dressing code in relation to the people and alternative present but choose the change to fit in the community and workplace.

4.

The dressing difference created the feeling of an outsider in the community as they considered him different from them. The feeling is eliminated by changing the dressing bringing about the affinity biasness in terms of their dressing as a community.

5.

The company is supposed to have the new employees be informed of the people’s culture and believe in their dressing code to avoid the biasness expressed to john. The company should, in this case, provide the new employees with the rubrics on the dressing code, basing it on the community needs to avoid discrimination among the new employees. The dressing code should also be incorporated in the workplace as the official attire as the community people will not relate with people in different attires.

Case study 1, the woman who dreams of stress.

1.

I would explain the case on coincidence dreams where on dreams when the minds are conscious, thus dreaming of the experiences that one is having at the time. The dream is based on the difficulty that she is facing in the program development, thus viewing the task with difficulty thus unable to work even in her dreams. Lang, 2020). The problems in our subconscious minds are presented in our dreams as the things that are disturbing our mind's thoughts, thus making us preoccupied with them.

2.

Continual-activation theory explains a scenario where dreaming, in this case, is a result of the brain's memory activation and synthesis of the thought. The brain in the night undergoes consolidation, where it involves the process where sleep is the process where encoding and the transfer of data from the short memory other long memory happen (Guo, & Chen, 2017). This happens that the dreams she’s having are due to the interaction of the short memory and long memory causing the dreams. The theory assumes that the brain's unconscious part is usually busy processing the procedural memory during sleep.

3.

Meditation will help Arlene in that it will help her relax the mind to bring about a new perspective of the stressful situation. In this case, she will develop a new skill to help her manage her stress of the program development, giving her a chance to rest without thinking of the project. The meditation will help her reduce the negative emotions associated with her feeling of failure, enabling her to work with a positive mind.

4.

 I would advise her to stick to the same sleeping schedule to have her body get used to sleeping and waking up at a specific time. She should relieve the work sores through mediation to allow her brain to rest, thus reducing fatigue's sleeplessness. The reduction in caffeine consumption will help reduce the brain's activeness, thus allowing her to rest as the caffeine is a stimulus that activates the brain to think.

5.

The high caffeine consumption for Arlene has come to a case where it cannot be stopped at once as she will experience headaches due to the lack of the stimulus. The process of stopping caffeine consumption is done gradually by reducing the amount one consumes per day to an extent they no longer take the caffeine. The high consumption of caffeine was associated with insomnia as caffeine helps people to stay awake

References

Guo, F., & Chen, Z. (2017). The bizarreness and reality of dreams. Chinese Science Bulletin, 63(1), 22-31.

Lang, A. (2020). Dreams and Ghosts. Courier Dover Publications.

Noulty, J. (2020). Dress up for big boys: Cowboy culture of the urban rodeo (Doctoral dissertation, Arts & Social Sciences: Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies).

Szwedek, A. (2017). The OBJECT image schema.

Negligence in Fire Services

 Abstract

In this study, the focus has been emphasized on the consequences resulting from negligence in relation to Fire Services.  To start with, the study focuses on understanding the meaning of negligence and the factors that are considered for a situation to be counted as negligence. Furthermore, the study also entails research on the relevance of immunity protections for firefighters and fire departments.  Finally, the study researches three court cases involving fire service concerning negligence from the Fire Law blog. The study addresses how the court addresses the filed cases concerning the facts, issues, holding, and rationale in deciding on the judgment of the case.

Keywords: Duty, Breach, Negligence, Defendants, Plaintiffs, Fire Department.

Negligence in Fire Services

Introduction

A Study on Negligence

In the contemporary world, negligence prevalence has caused negative consequences to other individuals (plaintiffs). Negligence has emerged as a failure to take responsibility and care thus leading to loss to other individuals as well as causing injuries and damages. Primarily, the negligence law states that compensation should be provided to those individuals that are affected by another person’s negligence. Furthermore, studies from laws establish that gross negligence resulting in deaths is punishable in the criminal courts. When it comes to civil liability, negligence to emergency response is one of the biggest areas of concern.  According to Dobson (2015), research papers report that the negligence law in the United States begun to be effective during the 1830s and 1840s. This was a liability theory that emerged as a result of carelessness causing harm to others. In addition, the essence of this theory of liability was that a person is held responsible and should be subject to liability for their carelessness that brings harm to another. Since negligence is an act that results from something happening by accident, five elements must be met in order for a problem to be considered negligent.

Therefore, for an individual or organization to be accused of negligence, the plaintiff must raise a complaint proving the occurrence of the five negligence elements. These elements that account for negligence include duty, breach, cause, damage, and harm (Ehrenzweig, 2020). The elements work together to form a cause-effect relationship between the defendant’s wrong and the harm induced to the plaintiff. Besides, there is a link between the defendant’s breach of duty and the damages the plaintiff encountered. Therefore the five elements of negligence will be discussed briefly to get a better understanding of its aspect.

1. Duty

Duty is termed as an obligation of one person to another and has been used in religious, social, and in philosophical aspects for many years. Most importantly, duty is an element that binds individuals to one another in the community. Every negligence claim must include duty element as it provides a front door to the recovery for accidental harm. However, the element of duty plays an important role in court as it encourages fairness, justice, and social policy.

2. Breach

It is also referred to us as the defendant's breach of duty, for instance, it reflects on the defendant’s inappropriate acts and omissions that lead to harm to other persons. An individual who acts carelessly and unreasonably breaches the duty of care, and this implies negligence as he risks the safety of others. Determination of breach is evaluated by comparing the defendant’s contact to good behaviors (objective), which measures how reasonable a wise person would have reacted in a given situation in relation to risking other people’s lives.

3. Cause in Fact

For negligence law to be effective, the plaintiff must establish a cause-effect relationship between negligence and the harm caused. Also, Plaintiff must link the damages caused to the defendant’s negligence (breach of duty). For instance, if a pedestrian steps into a roadway and is hit by a high speed moving car, the plaintiff (pedestrian) must claim that the defendant (driver) was driving carelessly and also the cause in fact in this case should be the excess car speeding that triggered negligence and hence causing harm.

4. Proximate Cause

Proximate cause is linked to cause in fact but slightly differs in that the proximate cause addresses the defendant’s negligence and the plaintiff’s injury. It proves a direct relationship between the defendant’s wrong and the injury resulting from the action. This element requires that the defendant compensates the plaintiffs for the damages and injuries caused in terms of monetary value for property repair and medical care among others (Shiffrin, 2017). However, defendants are also protected from the remote consequences of the negligence they cause in case the negligence is unusual or abnormal and also when the connection between the defendant’s breach of duty and harm is very weak.

5. Harm

This is the last element of negligence, whereby the plaintiff suffers damage and injuries resulting from the breach of duty by the defendant. Here, the victim proves that he or she suffered injuries, loss, and expenses from the defendant’s negligence. The defendant compensates and restores what the plaintiff lost as a result of the defendant’s wrong.

Discussion

Immunity Protection for Firefighters and Fire Department.

Many cases such as that of Kentucky supports immunity for firefighters and fire departments. However, in many governments, immunity protection is vital as it serves as a shield for the fire departments from the liabilities incurred by the court, plaintiffs, and juries (Kim & Bae 2017). Firefighter volunteers should enjoy the immunity protection found under the federal Volunteer Protection Act. This law immunizes fire departments and firefighters from being liable to damages caused during their duty. For instance, in a case of Grayson County outside the city of Caneyville, the Greens own motorcycle business and it happened that the business caught fire on 3^rd of December 2003. The CVFD, a volunteer fire department responded to the call to distinguish the fire.

However, the Appellees (plaintiffs) brought a complaint that CVFD was negligent in failing to extinguish the fire in time and this led to great and severe property damages. The decision of the court is reversed as the amount claimed was found to be constitutional. In addition, fire departments do not insure property owners from losses resulting from fire. Similarly, the CVFD lacked sufficient manpower and equipment to combat the problem just like for any other fire department and therefore was not responsible for the harm of the property (Weir et al., 2019). From this case, we understand that there is a need to support immunity protection jural rights for firefighters and fire departments so as to avoid compensation of unnecessary liabilities.

Court Cases Involving Fire Service Related Negligence

1. Illinois Fire Department and Wrong Death Suit Case

In this case, the family of Amanda Gary filed a suit against the Calumet Fire Department alleging that the negligence of the fire department paramedics led to her death.  The family claimed that the paramedics were late by 14 minutes in intubating her; they inserted the tube in the esophagus instead of her trachea. Also, the medics fail to control Gary’s blood oxygen level, which contributed to the inappropriate insertion of the tube.

The issue arising from this case was that the city denied the plaintiff of the accusation of being negligent. Besides, the defendants supported this using the Illinois EMS Act of immunity under section 3.150(a). Besides, another issue comments on the statement made by the plaintiff that the defendants were “reckless misconduct” differs completely from negligence. The court holds the immunity protection Act which stated that any organization, which provides emergency or non-emergency health services with good faith as they conduct their normal duties, would not be liable to losses. Most importantly, the rationale of the court was based on the extensive efforts the paramedics did to save Gary’s life. In addition, the plaintiff presented no evidence and also Amanda’s physicians supported that she had health issues before her death. The court identified that the plaintiff should have present evidence against the city failing to recognize this problem through negligence or recklessness.

1. The Injured Jacksonville Firefighters and the Ship Fire

In this case, the plaintiffs, Jacksonville Fire & Rescue (ten firefighters) filed a suit against six defendants claiming that they were responsible for their injuries. The plaintiffs won the case in the court as the judge alleged four negligence practices found under the extension of the Admiralty Act implemented in IN 46 U.S.C. & 30301. The case was brought to court under this general maritime law to protect the rights of the plaintiffs and their spouses. The Hoegh Shipping was alleged of committing a tort by causing injury to individuals arising from outside omissions. Besides the defendant was responsible for organizing and preparing the used and wrecked cars for loading and transportation. The defendants (Hoegh and Grimaldi) failed to provide well trained and prepared crew and this caused a 2-hour delay. The plaintiffs prevailed in this case as the defendants breached the duty of reasonable care. The neglected duties that made the court make decisions included failure to maintain ship safety, reasonable systems (fire protection), unskilled crew, insufficient tools, cargo plan, and violation of industry conditions.

2. The Case of Man Who Lost Wife and Daughters in Gatlinburg Fire and the Park Service

Michael Reed filed a suit in US District Court for the Eastern District against the National Park Service. He lost his wife, two daughters, and accuses the USA (defendants) of negligence and wrongful death. Reed was later joined by another plaintiff (James England), who lost his house during the fire and the total suit was 15million dollars. The suits claimed that the officials failed to address the chimney tops that led to fire outbreak. The court should therefore consider negligence to provide timely and accurate notifications and warnings. Also the local government officials, fire departments should be warned about the status presented by chimney Top 2 fire. The plaintiffs pray that the court validates their claims that it finds the defendant liable to the claims according to Federal Tort Act.

Conclusion

In general, negligence in Fire Services leads to negative impacts on other individuals' lives in terms of property damage and body injuries as well as death. In addition, negligence practices that lead to death are punishable in the court of law. The five elements of negligence which include duty, cause in fact, proximate cause, damage, and harm help in identifying negligence issues in the community. Moreover, the elements also play a significant role in court rulings in matters concerning negligence and the related consequences.

References

Dobson, E. (2015). Negligence. Legaldate, 27(1), 4-5.

Ehrenzweig, A. A. (2020). Negligence without fault. University of California Press.

http://www.firelawblog.com/2018/05/28/man-who-lost-wife-and-daughters-in-gatlinburg-fire-sues-park-service-for-14-million/

http://www.firelawblog.com/2020/09/01/injured-jacksonville-firefighters-sue-over-ship-fire/

http://www.firelawblog.com/2020/10/27/illinois-fire-department-prevails-in-wrongful-death-suit/

Kim, M. S., & Bae, M. J. (2017). A study on a fire extinguisher with sound focus. International Information Institute (Tokyo). Information, 20(6A), 4055-4062.

Shiffrin, S. (2017). The moral neglect of negligence. Oxford studies in political philosophy, 3, 197-228.

Weir, J. R., Kreuter, U. P., Wonkka, C. L., Twidwell, D., Stroman, D. A., Russell, M., & Taylor, C. A. (2019). Liability and prescribed fire: Perception and reality. Rangeland Ecology & Management, 72(3), 533-538.

Expanding a Business into office consultation Services

Most businesses have moved to the service delivery to the customers, causing the services' supply to be more in the market, causing the business to face competition from other service delivery companies. The competition is in both the customers and the staff required to offer the services to the customers as their demand is high. The competition is in terms of delivering efficient services to the customers on the consultation business where the competition is enhanced service management model to ensure they compete favorably through innovation, enabling them to equipped in the adoapting to the changing market environment (YuSheng, & Ibrahim, 2019). In the business, the service delivers companies putting on restrictions in the business, having them control the service delivery affecting the businesses that want to get into the market through their name brand in the market for long, thus having effects on the customers trusted brand. In the business service provision, some businesses may share the products and services, causing them to compete on the customers' service delivery.

The business involvement in the service delivery and the consultation services to the customer is meant to increase their interanion with the customers, thus increasing the sales. The services delivery in the market is more marketable and will help improve its product sales and provide them with a competitive advantage from the other company offering the services through innovation. Despite the increase in sales, the interaction between the customers and the business will help improve the services they offer to the customers and provide them with the feedback from the customers on their product, helping them improve on them. This will help them improve the service delivery and the quality of the goods they deal with, increasing their satisfaction to the customers’ needs and interests, allowing them to increase their sales and increase productivity.

In the 4ps marketing mix, the business involvement in the sericea delivery is associated with the product itself, promotion, price, and place where it is located. The development of a home sleeping product that enhances the sleeping product through the lightweight, soft with a supportive neck allows them to have a competitive advantage over other companies in the market (Ngarava,  & Mushunje, 2019). The market price is driven by the competition in the market and the production cost of the product, and the demand where the price charged is equivalent to the price of the competitor to avoid the loss of customers and enhance competition. The promotion to increase the [products exposure in the market is done through promotion using catalogs and business magazines increasing the demand of their products in the market, the more advertisement is made through their logo that advocates that the company makes life easier for the customers. The business location should be located in the city to enhance their office equipment delivery exposure, making them suitable in the market competition.

The service's launching can be done by providing free business service and consultation to the customers to get exposure in the market. The advertisement on the launching day where the consultation services will be introduced to the market as a new business for the company will be associated with a celebrity to attract the customers' attention (Krämer, & Kalka, 2017). Their idols attract the customers, thus increasing the exposure of the services to the customer. During the launch, the free service delivery provides the customers with the ideas on what services the company will be dealing with, thus helping the company enter the business through customer satisfaction. The new service will be promoted through the online platforms to increase the new ideas' exposure to the customers, increasing the customer grounds on the business services.

References

Krämer, A., & Kalka, R. (2017). How digital disruption changes pricing strategies and price models. In Phantom ex machina (pp. 87-103). Springer, Cham.

Ngarava, S., & Mushunje, A. (2019). Marketing mix strategy determinants in pork-based agri-businesses: Experiences from Zimbabwe. Acta Commercii, 19(2), 1-9.

YuSheng, K., & Ibrahim, M. (2019). Service innovation, service delivery and customer satisfaction and loyalty in the banking sector of Ghana. International Journal of Bank Marketing.

1

Description of the Five Components of Vertical Structure

 Authority in organization

 Hierarchical levels

 Span of control

Delegation

 Decentralization

Description

Authority in organizations

  According to (Bateman, & Snell 222), the authority of organizations states that the functioning of every organization depends on the use of authority, the legitimate right to make decisions, and to tell other people what to do.

Hierarchical levels

 The authority structure is the glue that holds vertical levels together and it is comprised of multiple levels (Bateman, & Snell 223).

 Span of control

 The number of subordinates who report directly to an executive or supervisor (Bateman, & Snell 223)

 Delegation

 As work is spread out over various levels and spans of control, delegating work becomes paramount (Bateman, & Snell 224).

Decentralization

Delegating responsibility and authority decentralizes decision-making (Bateman, & Snell 225).

2

Paraphrasing the Definitions in Other Terms

Authority in organizations

 This refers to the legitimate right to make decisions or to forcefully command others to accomplish certain tasks for the organization. Normally, a position contains power hence, a person who occupies a certain position accesses the authority or power that comes with the position. The role of vice president is more authoritative than that of other positions irrespective of the number of people occupying other positions (Bateman, & Snell, 2019). For example, the owner of a company has definitive authority. In most small-sized organizations, the owner performs the roles of the manager. Occasionally, the owner appoints an individual to the company’s managerial position. Additionally, the owner oversees the company through the manager, however, the manager remains responsible for the entire decision-making process and reports everything to him. Most of the formal positions rely on authority to drive the daily business of the company. A command moves from the upper sections to the lower sections of the entire organization. As this takes place, the organization attains its immediate objectives. Nevertheless, sometimes authority is not dependent on the position held but on

Hierarchical levels

 An organization is made up of a series of departments known as a hierarchy. This structure facilitates most of an organization’s functions and ensures other activities remain sustainable. For the sake of coming up with more than one way of effectively managing corporate activities, hierarchical levels pertain to corporate administration together with security and exchange issues (Bateman, & Snell, 2019). In the current corporate world, businessmen are trying to reduce the hierarchical level size to create a comparatively flat structural system. The underlying reason for reducing hierarchical size is to increase effectiveness, reduce expenditure and fasten the completion of processes.  This can be illustrated through financial institutions as it increases operational proficiency than other institutions which have a larger hierarchical level.

Span of control

 This refers to a workforce that gives the executive feedback after the performance of certain tasks. Therefore, the role of the span of control is to increase the effectiveness of an organization's input and output. The span of control does not affect the organizational structure of the entire organization because the role of the span of control is simple and straightforward. Nevertheless, an organization’s size can produce a narrow span made up of numerous reporting levels. Additionally, wide spans generate flat organizational structures with lesser reporting levels (Bateman, & Snell, 2019). Therefore, a span of control can either be wide or narrow. The ideal span of control increases efficiency due to its narrow size consequently allowing administrators to sustain and regulate all the direct reports. However, if it is too narrow, the managers will be able to extensively regulate it hence causing more managers to supervise a minute number of people. According to experts, an ideal number of direct reports is five. Most of the administrators prefer number five as the best ideal number for the span of control.

Delegation

 This is assigning work from the higher levels of the hierarchy to the lower levels of the organizational hierarchy (Bateman, & Snell, 2019). Delegation does not need any specialization as its main aim is completing excessive work. More so, delegation is one of the most basic procedures in the organization as it assists to spread work from the top to the bottom of the hierarchy. This process takes place between two or more people.

3

Examples

Authority in an organization

 A manager yields the authority to order people subordinate to him. He can give deadlines, hire or fire, and even rectify mistakes made in the line of duty. Also, the workforce is to perform duties according to the strategies outlined by the manager.

 Hierarchical levels

 The chief executive officer is at the top of the hierarchy followed by the duty and then the other managerial positions (Bateman, & Snell, 2019). This way, each position can effectively coordinate with one another and bring about the desired result.

 Span of control

 Six environmental officers are called into the minister's office each Friday. These officers report on weekly occurrences in the department.

 Delegation

  The chief executive officers told the human resource department to generate a list of names that would receive a monthly bonus.

Decentralization

 All the team members guided each other on how to achieve the operations.

4

 The CEO is the highest level and all other duties are coordinated and handled according to the specific roles of each department. Also, the department span control from one department to another.

 References

Bateman, T., & Snell, S. (2019). Management: Leading & Collaborating in Competitive World, 13e.

                                        Understanding Motivation and Human Behavior:

Developing a Plan of Work

 Abstract

Abraham Maslow designed a motivational theory in psychology which suggests that human needs are met or satisfied in a five-tier hierarchical sequence where the levels are arranged in a pyramid. According to the theory the needs placed lower down or at the bottom must be met, satisfied, or fulfilled before attending to the ones higher up the pyramid. These five categories of needs from bottom upwards include: physiological needs, safety needs, the need for love and belonging, esteem, and finally self-actualization needs. The first and second categories are basic needs, the third and fourth are psychological, while the fifth are self-fulfillment needs. The five categories can also be divided into two broad categories: the first four are deficiency needs while the fifth category comprises growth (being) needs (D needs and B needs respectively). In order to understand an employee’s level in life and their performance in the workplace, the human resource must understand his/her position in Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. This paper examines the case of Gloria, an employee at Jones University, employed through Higher Learning Systems in Connecticut and having originally worked with the Higher Learning Systems in Canada.

Understanding Motivation and Human Behavior:

Developing a Plan of Work

Summary of the Scenario

Gloria is a data entry specialist at Jones University, employed through Higher Learning Systems in Connecticut. Prior to her current employment, Gloria had worked in Canada for the Higher Learning Systems for 5 years, but transferred to the United States with her husband through his military career and has now worked for 1 year in Connecticut. Gloria was on medical leave for 6 months due to her first pregnancy but because of complications, she was away from work for 3 months prior to the birth of her baby. Jones University, Connecticut, has a total of 12 data entry specialists. However, when Gloria went on an abrupt leave the remaining 11 specialists split up her duties amongst themselves. After delivery of her the baby, Gloria’s colleagues became upset that she took another 3 months off after giving birth despite having taken 3 months prior to the delivery of the child.

Gloria reported back to work, but in order to pump and securely store breast milk for her baby she took frequent breaks that exceeded the policy allowance. In order to compensate for Gloria’s breaks, the 11 other employees had to share Gloria’s workload until she stopped pumping and storing breast milk at work. The other university employees started to feel frustrated at Gloria for what they perceived as special treatment by the institution. Upon returning to work, Gloria immediately felt the frustration. This was despite the fact that Jones University policy indicated that the institution supported mothers on maternity leave and mothers who required extra time to pump breast milk after expiry of official maternity leave. As a result, Gloria felt disrespected by her colleagues and unappreciated by her supervisor and this discomfort in turn took a toll on her productivity at work. She started to lag behind. Gloria has been in the Higher Learning Systems for 6 years and does not want to quit her job with the company, so she opts to visit the Human Resource for help. The HR works with Gloria and her supervisor to create a plan to sort out the concerns.   

Human Resource Response

Scholars agree that proper Human Resource management systems and practices enhance the overall motivation of employees and enhance organizational performance (Amanchukwu et. al, 2015). Jones University is an employee-centric institution and recognizes the importance of human resource in the success of its operations and in achieving its organizational goals. As a result, the Human Resource has the best interests of all employees and aims at enhancing employee’s engagement and their commitment to deliver their best. Employee satisfaction is a fundamental part of productivity, and the institution has a Human Resource Management system that strives to give the university competitive advantage in the global market by optimizing its workforce (Basset-Jones & Lloyd, 2005). All employees, including the data entry specialists are part of the source of competitive advantage for Jones University, Connecticut. It is in this regard that the HR of the university accords Gloria the attention she requires so as to best leverage her performance to the betterment of her health, her well-being and the overall well-being of the organization.

Employee relations play a key role in both employee motivation as well as productivity improvements (Kaur, 2013). The HR of Jones University therefore takes with utmost seriousness the need for dispute resolution and to overhaul how the system of interest representation. It is imperative to note that for organizational success, a healthy employee relationship must be attained through creating a safe working environment for everyone, incentives to motivate employees, commitment and cent percent involvement by all employees, and effective communication among organization’s employees (Basset-Jones & Lloyd, 2005). The Jones University HR intends to reduce the costs associated with attrition, turnover and replacement/hiring of new workers especially that Gloria has productively served the institution for 6 years. Together with the department, an arbitration tribunal shall determine how best to address the deteriorating relationship between Gloria and her co-workers and to reinstate the crumbling relations between Gloria and the supervisor.          

Plan of Work

According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, human beings are motivated to satisfy or fulfil their needs starting from the most basic to the least basic or more advanced needs, in a hierarchical order. In the workplace, employee motivation is based on their level of needs. Customs, beliefs, and values may differ from one group to another but all individuals have similar needs. For this reason, in Gloria’s case the Human Resource must prepare a plan of work to assist with the areas of concern and must include measurable and attainable goals for Gloria, goals for the supervisor, and goals for the department. Needs are very powerful motivators. First, to note her concerns, Gloria felt disrespected by her workmates owing to her cultural beliefs on the importance of breast milk to an infant, and breastfeeding in general. It is therefore essential to first ensure Gloria’s physiological needs are met by allowing her enough rest. Gloria shall be closely monitored at the workplace until such a time that she will no longer to pump and store breastmilk for her baby.

Secondly, HR has to correct Gloria’s notion and her changed attitude towards her colleagues. Gloria started to dread going to work as the discomfort due to broken relationships at work had started affecting her performance at work. She often cried and felt that her supervisor did not appreciate her. Gloria also felt that the supervisor did not approve of her 3 months absence after delivery of her baby and that she equally did not approve of her frequent breaks to pump and store breast milk. In the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, after physiological needs safety needs must be satisfied. Gloria dreaded going to her workplace. This means she became kind of insecure. The Human Resource must therefore seek to meet these needs after the first three months of returning to work and after she stopped pumping breast milk. Safety needs include security, comfort and stability.

Gloria had often overhead her colleagues joke and make fun about her. This made her uncomfortable at the workplace and in turn affected her performance – she started to slow down on her tasks. The Human Resource must therefore seek to satisfy and fulfil this need, the need for stability and comfort, which is the second rank of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This must involve the supervisor, the department, and Gloria’s co-workers. As Gloria recovers physiologically over the first three months after reporting to the HR, she needs to undergo some counselling and emotional support from the supervisor and the department. To meet security needs, Jones University must minimize downsizing and layoffs and provide its employees with well-defined job descriptions. Over the next 6 months after Gloria returned to work, the HR should restructure how the workload is split among co-workers whenever one or more worker is out on leave or otherwise.

According to Maslow, security needs at the workplace include fair and just compensation. Gloria worked in a team of 12. When she was away on medical leave, the 11 other co-workers split and took up her workload. It was would have therefore been ‘fair’ enough for the organization to compensate Gloria’s colleague commensurate to the increased workload so that they do not feel frustrated or perceive that Gloria was receiving preferential treatment by the company. This in particular ought to apply after the first official parenting leave and medical leave. Moreover, security needs which are the second level in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs may also entail providing supportive fringe benefits for employees from time to time to motivate them and enhance maximum productivity at the workplace.   

Social needs encompass belongingness and love needs. At the workplace, every worker needs that sense of belonging and to be loved. After Gloria’s physiological and safety concerns have been addressed, the third level of needs that must be met is social needs. The need for interpersonal relationships at the workplace motivates behavior and enhances productivity. Social, belongingness and love needs at the workplace include friendship, acceptance, giving and receiving love and affection, intimacy, and trust. The relationship between Gloria and her colleagues, and Gloria and her supervisor has dwindled after her unexpected long maternity and medical leaves. Therefore, there is urgent need to restore and heal the broken office relationship. Gloria needs to feel loved, accepted, and feel part of the family comprising co-workers, her supervisor and the Jones University fraternity particularly the Higher Learning Systems family which she has been part for 6 years. The HR should achieve this within the first 12 months after Gloria’s return to work.     

Maslow argued that esteem needs often succeed love and belongingness needs. Essentially, due to her cultural beliefs about the value of breast feeding, Gloria lost some esteem as she thought her colleagues disrespected her. It is the institution’s policy that parenting mothers who may require extra care and extra time to pump and secure milk for their newborns are accorded the necessary support. Esteem needs may be in two forms: self-esteem (from achievement, dignity, independence, or mastery); and the desire for respect from others and for good rapport. When her productivity went on a downward spiral at the workplace, Gloria lost her esteem. Gloria’s supervisor should therefore make it clear that she approved of Gloria’s frequent breaks as well as the deserved 12 week break Gloria took after the birth of her baby. Lastly, the department on behalf of the institution should clarify to Gloria and the rest of the employees the applicability of the company policy about new mothers who require extra time and space to pump and secure milk for their babies postpartum. Overall, it should take Gloria, the supervisor, and the department a maximum of 12 months to ensure normalcy is reinstated at the workplace.

References

Amanchukwu, R., Stanley, G., Ololube, P. (2015). A Review of Leadership Theories, Principles   and Styles and Their Relevance to Educational Management. Management, 5 (1): 6-14.          doi: 10.5923/j.mm.20150501.02

Basset-Jones, N. & Lloyd, G.C. (2005), “Maslow’s Motivational Theory have staying       power”? Journal of Management Development,24 (10)pp. 57-56

Gregory, B.T. Harris, S.G. Armenakis,& A.A. Shook, C.L. (2009). Organizational culture and            effectiveness: A study of values, attitudes, and organizational outcomes, Journal of           Business Research, 62/2 673–679.

Kaur, A. (2013). Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory: Applications and Criticisms. Global Journal of Management and Business Studies, 3 (10): 1061-1064

Nyameh, J. (2013). Application of the Maslow’s hierarchy of need theory; impacts and     implications on organizational culture, human resource and employee’s performance.         International Journal of Business and Management Invention, 2 (3): 39-45

REAL ESTATE PROPERTY VALUATION

TO: Manager-Ms. Sally Shimmer

     The Owens Real Estate Group, your manager

From: Intern

Date:

Subject: EVALUATIVE REPORT – REAL ESTATE RESEARCH MEMO

The total amount of property taxes payable that is payable in any county will depend on the market prices of that property after being compared with the home market values of the recently sold homes. On the other hand, to effectively determine home value, assessors of each county will have to appraise every residential property so as to estimate the market value of each real estate property. Some of the factors that are used to compute this include the type of the property and the nature of the surrounding neighborhood (Gabrielli & French, 2020). Once the market values have been determined, the assessment ratio is then applied to commute its true (estimated) price.

Considering the client’s profile, the property tax that they will owe the owner/s will be based on the current property tax rates, the assessed value, and address or location. The price of such a property tax can only be estimated using the medium property taxes of the area of choice.  The primary reason is that each locality has multiple rates.

1. Provide Credible Evidence to Support your Claim

TABLE 1

Retrieved from: https://smartasset.com/taxes/georgia-property-tax-calculator#details-section

From the table above, each county has its medium market values. In return, the available social amenities and other infrastructure are used to compute the mortgage funds people pay as taxes.  Therefore, the property tax that each country levies is calculated through multiplying the current property tax with the corresponding value of that asset (Gabrielli & French, 2020). This is what will be the market value any family or individual will be willing to pay.

4. Connecting the evidence to the claim

TABLE 2

Suggested residential property

TABLE 3

Comparable residential properties

Through comparison, the above data indicates that the prices of the two residential properties are sold at a relative price. Furthermore, the cars are frequently used by the residents because they are cheap and easily accessible at any time. Both have ample parking lots. Therefore, it is always impractical for pedestrians to navigate the entire city considering that there are no common errands that commutes on a daily basis (Kara et al., 2020).  With an equity amounting to $110, 000 and a mortgage interest of 3 percent, the family can manger to pay their monthly bills for the stipulated period. On the other hand, owning any of the residential properties will be convenient for the family since they will be enjoying the quiet surrounding and the friendly neighborhood.

Additionally, the average property tax rate as at 2021 is 1.07% in Maryland.  Fulton County has medium annual property tax amounting to $ 2,901, which relatively lower than the national average.  From the table above, it implies that although Fulton has higher medium property tax, the family can manage to settle it considering their monthly income. Therefore, by comparing the three selected homes, the family can effectively manage to pay the house in Kings Contrivance in Columbia estate medium annual property tax of ($360,000*1.07%=$3,852).

Retrieved from: https://smartasset.com/taxes/georgia-property-tax-calculator#:~:text=The%20average%20effective%20property%20tax%20rate%20is%200.87%25.,tax%20payment%20is%20just%20%24571.

Schools  

In the modern world, parents always do desire their children to be schooling in places that are easily accessible and having the required facilities. Moreover, each day, the travelling patterns keep on changing depending on the mode of transport available. Since the family requires their new residential area to about 20 km from the place of work, it means that the two criteria to be used will be based on the amount they are willing to pay as rent. With regard to that, the distance that the children will have to travel (measured using the driving time) will slightly vary more by grade as compared to those in rural areas. Therefore, for the best schools to choose, individual opinion will rely on the school’s transportation policy, geography, and public transit available within that region. As a result of that, older students of that region do cover relatively large distance to school as compared to younger students.  This is also based on the amount the parents are willing to pay considering their monthly income. 

Where learners live near to their schools they are enrolled in is one of the most important factors to take into consideration for such a well-functioning school choice system. Another factor that seems to impact the academic excellence of the learners is how their families are informed about the school policies and other options such as centralized lotteries and how the school seeks to meet their academic demands (Gabrielli & French, 2020).  Ideally, there are no single factors that can be considered when selecting the best school for the children.  By ranking, the best two schools that the family can opt for are Bollman Bridge Elementary School and Patuxent Valley Middle School.

Retrieved from: https://www.estately.com/listings/info/9459-single-bird-lane

Amenities-recreation and shopping

From medical perspective, physical activity is ultimately influenced by both the natural and the built environment.  However, people are not well informed about the type of the built or natural environment to spend their free time in and the type of physical activities they can engage in while in such environments. Understanding the clinical impacts of the natural and the built environment require an insight of the different locations that offer certain physical activities. Fortunately, residing in Fulton is more enjoyable for those who haven’t visited this area. The Kings Contrivance has multiple recreational facilities for leisure and active services to its citizens. They include Owen Brown Community Center, and Kings Contrivance Community Association.  Individuals and their families are able to enjoy recreation centers, athletic fields, gym, pool, tennis courts, nature centers, soccer fields, and much more.

References

Kara, A., van Oosterom, P., Çağdaş, V., Işıkdağ, Ü., & Lemmen, C. (2020). 3-Dimensional data research for property valuation in the context of the LADM Valuation Information Model. Land use policy, 98, 104179.

Gabrielli, L., & French, N. (2020). Pricing to market: property valuation methods–a practical review. Journal of Property Investment & Finance.

https://www.estately.com/listings/info/9459-single-bird-lane

https://smartasset.com/taxes/georgia-property-tax-calculator#details-section

https://smartasset.com/taxes/georgia-property-tax-calculator#:~:text=The%20average%20effective%20property%20tax%20rate%20is%200.87%25.,tax%20payment%20is%20just%20%24571.

Ergonomic Risk Assessment in a Manufacturing Environment

Article Summary

 Introduction

This article highlights scoring methodologies used for the assessment of ergonomic risks. The suggested method comprises three stages- defining ergonomic threat aspects, outlining ergonomic threat outcomes, and computing and ranking ergonomic hazards. The first phase entails the identification of primary ergonomic risks based on procedures and mission plotting mechanisms (Shamsan et al., 2020). During the second stage, score levels align with specified ergonomic risk elements based on set ergonomic regulations. The third stage presents workplace ergonomic risks are determined and ordered to mitigate and put up appropriate action plans in place. The recommended methodology assists in making informed decisions, evaluating ergonomic risks in simplified mannerisms.

Body

The article assesses a manufacturing environment case study, and the outcome from this case study is used to define and isolate ergonomic risks. Hence, the report assists in the development of operational mitigation and regulation frameworks to combat the threats. Ergonomics is referred to as the evaluation of work to design jobs and machinery to fit human features (Shamsan et al., 2020). Therefore, ergonomics focuses on eliminating possible body-related and psychological stresses in the workplace surrounding. One of the benefits of ergonomics is the generation of safe, conducive jobs and reduced number of injuries, leading to superior production and competence, which in turn upgrades the quality of the jobs done. The features of specific jobs or operations that impose a worker's effects are considered ergonomic risk elements. The majority of the ergonomic risks are repetitive, body posture, and other indirect issues linked to the job.  A chance is made up of three occasions-initiative events, primary risk factors, and the subsequent event or the actual impact.

Discussion

 The article constricts its content to fit the narrative presented. For instance, the scoring methodology is based on previous assessing tools and mechanisms; hence, the writer does not give new information to make the article stand out to eliminate risk factors from the workplace surrounding. Therefore, the report defines the obvious and states the standard ergonomic risks; for example, forceful labors and poor postures are some of the article's apparent information instead of coming up with the present and up-to-date information that prove relevant in the current workplace environment. The use of standard information cannot be used to reduce ergonomic risks in the contemporary world extensively. On the other hand, the article correctly gives the reader a good starting point to evaluate ergonomic risk factors within the workplace (Shamsan et al., 2020). The combination of the previous research revealed the professional safety frameworks placed in various working environments around the world, thus giving the reader a broader view of expectations. For instance, the self-assessment software analysis to indicate ergonomic improvements and setbacks enabled the reader to understand how to handle ergonomic risk under different circumstances. Therefore, defining solutions through the lens of OSHA regulations effectively reduced the number of injuries because employers had to enact the OSHA regulations.

 One aspect of the article that stands out is workforce satisfaction to workplace safety and productivity. This way, risk assessment can be improved by applying simulation and modeling mechanisms such as digitizing activities and later anticipating the risks before they occur (Shamsan et al., 2020). Once a threat is defined and highlighted, risk reduction approaches are then formulated and executed to reduce the risks. How the article presents the scoring system is also familiar and relatable to the reader. A recommended scoring system assists in the decision-making process due to its evaluation capabilities. In simpler terms, the article does not shy away from exploring numerous score systems meant to define and mitigate ergonomic risk factors in the current workplace environment.

 In identifying the ergonomic risk elements, the article suggests that process mapping is the best procedure for defining actions and fundamentals. Identification of ergonomic risks gives an opening for collecting information and presenting this information in a visual representation manner (Shamsan et al., 2020). Process mapping is used in the ergonomic evaluation and identifies actions and processes that negatively impact other workers. The workplace is seen as a collective section that harbors ergonomic risks. The dissemination of risk exposures is typically assessed based on associated risk factors such as vibration and posture. Various sections within the workplace are presented as parts of ergonomic risks.

Conclusion

In summary, the article defines ergonomic risks through the mapping process. The risk scores assist in prioritizing ergonomic risks and designing the workplace based on the scoring system. This way, it gives the entire ergonomic risk assessment framework for mitigating risks and ensuring the risk factors contained from deteriorating further. Each ergonomic risk is number in terms of percentage, from 0-100. The risk scores are further divided into colors to distinguish risks and simplify the decision-making process. This framework and scoring system can be applied in various working environments to reduce ergonomic risks by measuring the workplace's present values. Software are used to predict ergonomic risks factors are facilitate the impact of each risks factor based on the sources and previous occurrence. Hardware devices are used to measure the actual value of the ergonomic risks factors which can then be used in the development of the risks.

 Reference

Shamsan, A., Qasem, A. G., & Aqlan, F (2020). Development of a Scoring Methodology for Ergonomic Risk Assessment in the Workplace. In Proceedings of the 5th NA International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management, Detroit, Michigan, USA, August (pp. 10-14).

Developing a Competitive Compensation, Benefits, and Incentive Program

Assessing Business Opportunities in New York City

Living in New York City is faced with mixed fortunes based on the limited opportunities and economy despite being the epitome of the American Revolution and having the more enduring industry. It is the host for the largest stock exchange globally that boosts of estimated more than $20 trillion market capitalization (US News, 2021). Therefore, running a large marketing firm in New York City can be a fascinating role based on the prevailing environment. A competitive compensation, benefits, and incentive program is the primary way for a company to ensure survival in the city.

An Incentive compensation program is vital for any organization seeking to promote efficiency and productivity among its employees. In this study, the marketing firm faces competition for the same employees, which can be challenging in creating a productive team. Therefore, the firms have to seek a way to maintain the efficiency of the current employees. In addition, such a move will be crucial in enhancing employee recruitment, engagement, and retention. High employee turnover is a menace in many forms (Lazear, 2018). It should be avoided by all means through well-formulated compensation programs to ensure the employees remain focused on the same employer. It will help the firm as a good employer brand that can attract employees from the competitors.

Developing a Competitive Compensation, Benefits, and Incentive Program

Firm X should focus on incentive compensation programs based on equity theory that advocates for keeping the firms' employees motivated. Therefore, the program is based on rewarding them for driving their behaviors towards being more loyal to the employer. The program will also ensure that the firm can attain the projected results in its marketing activities. As a result, the employees are rewarded for working hard to meet the targeted results. For example, the sales-based commissions are one of the programs that the firm can utilize because it fits most situations. However, some plans can reward the employees at the organizational level to motivate teamwork and grow together as an organization.

Therefore, a combination of sales-based commissions and organizational level is the preferred strategy for the marketing firm. This vital tool will help the firm improve its performance in the industry to enjoy a competitive advantage. It is unjustified to draw all the attention to the high performers only in the firm. In contrast, the lower performers are not appreciated for their efforts despite trying their level best (Bawa, 2017). Therefore, the firm should not focus on sales-based commissions alone if the goal is to have an excellent competitive advantage. Therefore, advanced research is critical to ensure there is a fair planning process. There will be tracking and evaluation of how the program is doing to determine if the incentive being offered is delivering the required results. An incentive compensation tends to be strong as a firm competes with other firms globally. As a result, if the program's performance is performing well, there is a tendency to attract employees both locally and internationally.

The Role of the Human Resource in a Competitive Program

HR plays a critical role in training, recruiting, and hiring new employees. Therefore, the success of the program will rely on the way the HR department treats the employees. A good relationship will bolster the better implementation of the program. The compensation program is a significant component of the HR function, which is also a part of their responsibility to ensure employees are taken care of in the remuneration and rewarding system. Therefore, HR should be involved, and they are liable to the management for the program's progress.

Therefore, the HR professionals will be mandated to oversee the program and communicate to the management at various phases on the progress, benefits, and hurdles being experienced. They will also have to give their expertise on the costs to be incurred by launching the program (Lazear, 2018). Advice on the possible program's improvements and assessing the worst-case scenario that can emanate from abandoning the incentive compensation program.

In addition, the program will have to be based on assessing the job levels or classes being offered by the marketing firm. Some of the job categories may require more attention in the formula employed in the incentive pay plan. The criteria for payouts will be considered among the HR. The eligibility rules to be used must be consistent with the laws, rights, and safety rules that impact them. The criteria will have to comply with employment laws and civil rights to avoid a backlash (Chams & García-Blandón, 2019). Therefore, effective communication must be effective on how the program can create trust among employees in line with the employer's goal. The program should be realistic towards having a positive impact on the financial success of the firm. Therefore, the designing and implementation team for this incentive pay plan will consider various fundamental factors for the plan to deliver the required results.

The development of the incentive pay plan will have to ensure a survey is conducted among the employees to get their preferred incentives to add value to them. In this case, they will be given a chance to choose from a lengthy list of short or long-term plans, such as annual incentives, gain-sharing, retention bonuses, profit-sharing, and sales-based commissions, among others (Chams & García-Blandón, 2019). Nevertheless, the short-term incentive plans are most common in most firms hence the marketing firm can seek opinions from the employees on which one to employ.

During the choosing process, employees will have a chance to be informed how each of these incentives work and the required performance level to qualify as a beneficiary. It should be a process such that even after establishing the incentive plan, the firm will be making a follow-up among the employees to determine if they are satisfied with the current plan (Bawa, 2017). Sometimes the employees may no longer be willing to work for the firm. If they opt to leave voluntarily, it is an excellent opportunity to ask them if the incentive pay program played a role in their decision to leave. Further, the upper-level management will have to be briefed regularly on how the plan is performing. Therefore, the incentive program's execution is all-inclusive and should be assessed periodically to determine if it is working accordingly.

Eligibility to the Incentive Compensation Program

The design and development of an incentive compensation program plan will have to be compliant with some criteria. The employees have a role in deciding on the best plan, but the implementation and level of benefits will not be the same among all the employees. Therefore, the benefits and the plan will have to consider factors, such as job category, classification, and payout (Kang & Lee, 2021). It all starts with the Job categories held by different employees in the firm. Some of the employees will be in sectors such as Information technology, production, sales, and social media management. It is expected that some will be required to play a larger role for the firm.

Given the average age of 35 years of most employees, the length of service will be another criterion. The level of experience among the employees will be crucial in delivering the services to the firm. In addition, the job classification in the various hierarchy that includes executive and administrative will determine the benefits. On the other hand, the payout's context in terms of bonuses, stock, or cash is a crucial eligibility aspect. Some employees may feel better being given money or bonuses, whereas others will embrace stock or any other form of incentive. Therefore, it is upon the firm to decide on who qualifies for each payout.

Managing the Program

Once the plan is chosen and running, various factors play a paramount role, and they should be considered. The firm will have to select the appropriate technology to run the program. The metrics technology is the focus, which will be used continuously based on the firm's employees' performance. However, there should be caution in running the program; hence, uncertainties should be managed and adapt to the circumstances that arise during the program. Further, communication between the firm and its employees and management about the program is required (Lazear, 2018). Lastly, evaluation of the program using the available data will be a major talking point when deciding on whether to change the incentive compensation program or not. The changes can be from midstream to endpoint or vice versa, depending on the data's performance.

Equity Theory and the Factors Incorporated Into The Plan

The equity theory, also known as Adam's equity theory, advocates for an equilibrium between the employees' efforts and output when working for a firm. The efforts by the employees determine the productivity in the way they relate with the management. Therefore, this theory will have an impact on the plan. The employees' input is determined by factors, such as hard work, motivation, and technical expertise. On the other hand, the compensation will be through the salary, bonuses, and awards.

Therefore, the equity theory will have a driving force in the incentive plan, especially in defining the input to the output ratio. This is a crucial factor to determine the eligibility of the employees to the incentives. However, if the employees have the same ratio, the firm can use the awarding system from a competing firm to determine the firm's best level (Bawa, 2017). The overall goal is to ensure a balance in the awarding system without favoring anyone in the firm. All the employees should be considered.

Conclusion

Motivating employees is a critical aspect in ensuring that a firm remains competitive in the industry. A competitive compensation, benefits, and incentive program is a tool that would ensure employees remain loyal to the firm and attract professionals from rival companies. The HR professionals should guide the management in consultation with the employees on the most preferred plan. A follow up is necessary to determine if the plan is working. If a plan is working, it can be adopted as the long-term plan for the firm. The eligibility and the plan's criteria should be followed to avoid discrimination when giving incentives to the employees. A balance should be present between the employees' input and outputs as defined in Adam's equity theory.

References

Bawa, M. A. (2017). Employee motivation and productivity: a review of literature and     implications for management practice. International Journal of Economics, Commerce       and Management, 12, 662-673.

Chams, N., & García-Blandón, J. (2019). On the importance of sustainable human resource          management for the adoption of sustainable development goals. Resources, Conservation          and Recycling, 141, 109-122.

Kang, E., & Lee, H. (2021). Employee Compensation Strategy as Sustainable Competitive           Advantage for HR Education Practitioners. Sustainability, 13(3), 1049.

Lazear, E. P. (2018). Compensation and Incentives in the Workplace. Journal of Economic             Perspectives, 32(3), 195-214.

US News, (2021). Overview of New York. Available from: https://www.usnews.com/news/best- states/new-york