Research Topics

An Overview of Corporate Governance

An Overview of Corporate Governance Introduction             A number of perspectives have emerged on the concept of corporate governance that also justifies its importance. One perspective considers corporate governance as the “system of authoritative direction, or government”[1]. This means that corporate governance involves the exercise of authority by the leaders or top executives of the corporation to direct the company towards the achievement of its goals. Corporate governance as the exercise of authoritative direction involves the application of the fundamental principles of accountability, honesty, integrity, responsibility and trust in implementing a system of governance able to balance conflicting interests and priorities to improve financial and non-financial areas[2]. In practicing corporate governance, the company should be able to achieve effectively its goals because of the control and direction that company leaders provide. Concurrently, when there is weak leadership or poor direction, then the company would likely not achieve its goals and in the worst case, it can even result to the collapse of the company.             Another perspective considers corporate governance as the management of relationships. Corporate governance is the “connection of those relationships to the corporation and to one another”[3] with those relationships pertaining to the relationships between and among “directors, managers, employees, shareholders, customers, creditors and suppliers, as well as the members of the community and the government”[4] and these relationships involve constituents. Corporate governance as encompassing the management of relationships involves the development and maintenance of effective internal and external relationships within a defined cultural orientation as a means of motivating the corporate stakeholders to contribute to the achievement of firm goals.[5] Corporate governance is important in ensuring firm viability through sustained capital investments and profitability by providing that companies should develop effective practices such as accountability and reporting that foster the building of good relationship with shareholders as the source of capital for the company. Otherwise, poor practices could destroy the trust of shareholders resulting to a withdrawal of investments that could result to the collapse of the company.             The different perspectives represent the multidimensional aspects of corporate governance. On one hand, it involves the exercise of authority to direct the corporation towards its goals. On the other hand, it also revolves around the management of different levels of relationships occurring within the corporation and between the corporation and external parties such as suppliers. When taken together, corporate governance is the application of principles of leadership and authority and the management of multilevel relationships to achieve corporate goals.             Effective corporate governance makes a big difference in corporate outcomes since the business firms that have been able to develop effective corporate governance systems are also the firms that have become industry leaders in the domestic and even in the international market. A typical governance model of successful business firms includes a board of directors who fulfil their jobs competently and reliably, a competent CEO selected by the board and accorded sufficient authority to manage the business, a system in line with laws that enables the firm to fulfil its obligations to various stakeholders, and a system of accountability and disclosure of corporate affairs.[6]             Concurrently, failures in corporate governance lead to the collapse of firms for a number of reasons. One is the loss of efficiency when leaders neglect their roles and responsibilities in running the company and managing the firm’s relationship with its shareholders. When leaders violate regulations, effectiveness of the board suffers as expressed in unmet targeted goals, irresponsibly allocated resources, and eroded investor relations. Another is the inability to achieve firm sustainability because of disruption in the normal flow of business, heavy losses, and poor public reputation.[7] When these happen, the firm loses its investors and without investors, it cannot continue its operations. The result is bankruptcy as shown in the cases discussed in the succeeding sections.             Since part of corporate governance is accountability and disclosure to various stakeholders, this justified the development of corporate governance laws and regulations applicable in different jurisdictions. Provisions on corporate governance usually include responsibility of leaders or the board to provide public access to vital information to enable investors to gain freedom of choice and practice accountability through a limited tenure of the directors, quorum rules in the decision-making process, approval systems for investment policies, and rules of financial reporting. These rules not only develop efficiency but also protect stakeholder interests through corporate affairs guided by sound principles. Corporate Governance in the U.S. and U.K.             Corporate governance in the United States works through the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002 that introduced corporate governance initiatives infused into federal securities statutes while corporate governance in the United Kingdom operates through the combined code that focused on board composition and functions. These initiatives constituted significant changes in the law and departed from the previous system of regulation[8]. Sarbanes-Oxley constituted a response to the widespread fraud that occurred in the United States involving corporations such as Enron, Tyco and WorldCom. The provisions of the law also enhanced corporate governance in national securities and shareholdings by widening the function of the audit committee of the corporation.[9] With the new law, corporate governance in the United States placed stress on the key areas of internal control certifications, internal control assessment, and disclosures. The combined code coincided with the reviews made in the United States in the 1990s that ended with the establishment of the combined code due to the merging of the three review committees, Greenbury, Cadbury and Hampel committees. The combined codes was a response to the case of Maxwell Communications Corporation, which involved the diversion of pension funds of the firm to fund the firm’s operations after the company’s engagement in high risk investments that resulted to huge losses and placed the corporation in debt. Since then revisions have been made in 2003 coinciding with the Sarbanes-Oxley development in the United States, with subsequent changes in 2006.[10] The combined code establishes standards for good practice relative to issues on board composition and board-related development, remuneration responsibilities, and processes of audit relative to shareholders.             An important corporate governance rule in these two jurisdictions is internal audit. In Sarbanes-Oxley, corporations take responsibility not only in filing periodic reports but also in certifying that the officer signing the document has reviewed the document and the report contains true accounts of facts on the financial condition of the company.[11] The CEO and CFO takes responsibility for quarterly certifications included in the financial reports, disclosure of all known deficiencies in control in the previous reporting period, and disclosure of fraudulent acts. Internal audit is also requires corporations to include a report on internal control that states the responsibilities of management in establishing and maintaining sufficient internal controls and processes in financial reporting and provides assessments of the level of effectiveness of the internal control system based on the financial reporting in the most recent fiscal year. In addition, the public accounting firms need to provide an attestation on the assessment of the corporation.[12] This obliges corporations to regularly assess and report on internal controls together with the attestation of the independent accountant. Under this provision, corporate management and the independent auditor takes responsibility over certification of internal controls assessment with an attestation by the independent accountant, and quarterly change reviews. In the combined code, accountability and auditing involves the board taking responsibility in deriving a clear and balanced assessment and reporting of the position and prospects of the firm. Corporations take responsibility for maintaining a sound internal control system as a means of safeguarding the assets of the firm and the investments of shareholders. The corporation should also establish a three-person audit committee and develop formal business relations with the committee.[13]             Another important corporate governance rule covers the board of directors. Sarbanes-Oxley prohibits members of the board from arranging or obtaining personal loans or other internal arrangements such as cashless options or insurance arrangements. The board of directors cannot engage in insider trading and due reports should be made with the SEC. In addition, CEO and CFO of the firm have to reimburse the firm for payments or profits earned in case the firm needs to restate financial statements because of reasons such as misconduct. In the combined code, the structure and composition of the corporate leadership, particularly on the important role of the board in taking responsibility over the success of the firm was stressed. There should also be a clearly defined division of responsibilities in order to prevent the concentration of power on one person or a small group of people. Achieving this involves the inclusion of executive and non-executive officers. In the appointment of officers, this should be made by applying a formal, thorough and transparent process of selecting directors and other members of the board. Competence has to be developed by the members of the board in considering new business related and regulatory information important to the performance of their jobs and update their skills and knowledge, with the performance of the board subject to formal evaluations. The directors are subject to re-election into their position but this should be supported by sustained satisfactory performance. The remuneration of members of the board of directors is also tackled, with the amount sufficient to attract qualified people and the system of remuneration should have links with the system of performance. A formal remuneration system should also exist so that the directors themselves do not have control over the determination of their respective remuneration.[14]             Still another salient corporate governance rule is disclosure or transparency. In Sarbanes-Oxley, the corporation reports additional information to the public regarding all material changes in its financial condition as these materialises. The report should use plain English since the intended audience is the public.[15] Real time disclosure protects investors and the public who could experience effects of the changes in the corporation financial condition. Management and independent auditor takes responsibility in monitoring emerging operational risks, reporting material events, and indicating the real time implication of these events. In the combined code, it is the responsibility of the corporate leadership to maintain communications and a good business relationship with shareholders in order for shareholders to gain important data pertaining to their investments.             Corporate governance in the United States after the enactment of Sarbanes-Oxley draws corporate management to practice truthful and responsible accounting through the assumption of responsibilities over reporting, internal controls assessments, and disclosures as well as independent accountants and auditors to take responsibility in reviewing financial reports and internal control assessments through attestation requirements. The regulatory provisions for corporations covered by the combined code provide best practices on board composition and remuneration as well as shareholder relations that constitute corporate responsibilities. Key Differences in U.S. and U.K. Corporate Governance             Although the corporate governance regulations in the United States and United Kingdom have similarities, there is a major difference in the nature and application of corporate governance in these two jurisdictions. In the United States, corporate governance rules carry the nature of being legislative and prescriptive while in the United Kingdom, corporate government regulations comprise a ‘comply and explain’ system. This means that corporate governance rules in the United States apply to corporations in a mandatory manner while the regulations in the United Kingdom work through the voluntary action of corporations.[16] This is supported by the inclusion of provisions on criminal penalties for non-compliance to the corporate governance rules in the United States while the combined code in the United Kingdom does not have similar penalties clause. In addition, the tone of Sarbanes-Oxley is prescriptive and imposing when compared to the combined code that only provide general guidelines and exact voluntary compliance largely dependent on the self-regulatory actions of the corporate leaders. As such, in the United States non-compliance results to prosecution while the United Kingdom a possible violation of best practices entails an explanation by corporate leaders.             There are also specific differences between the corporate governance regime in the United States and United Kingdom. First is the condition in the United Kingdom for the roles of CEO and Chairman to be separated in order to achieve checks and balances in the board composition. This condition is not prescribed in the United States. Second is the requirement for the composition or inclusion of independent non-executives as members of the board. In the U.K., majority of the board should be made-up of independent non-executives but in the U.S., all the members of the board should be independent non-executives to ensure accountability. Third is the prescription of internal audit committee under the U.S. corporate governance regime but there is no requirement for such committee in the U.K. but firms should explain the lack of this committee.[17] The differences are due to the variances in the corporate governance failures experienced in these two jurisdictions as shown in the cases discussed below. Corporate Governance Failures Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI)             BCCI was founded in 1972 by Agha Hasan Abedi. The primary goal of the bank is to provide support to the destitute segments of the population in the developing countries[18].             The problem of the bank started with BCCI’s response to the situation of Gulf Group, one of its primary clients, a shipping company that got into financial trouble in repaying its debts and BCCI went too far in settling Gulf Group’s loan with external creditors. This took its toll on the finances of BCCI so that the company had to offer high rates of interest to attract customers to make deposits. Evidence suggests that Abedi and Mr. Naqvi, his assistants who became CEO, falsified BCCI accounts in order to hide the drain in the accounts of the bank and make the reserves report reflect a healthy firm.[19]             In 1988, police and customs office in the United States arrested seven officials of BCCI officials in Tampa for the crimes of drug trafficking and money laundering, which I think was a good warning for the bank of England to look at BCCI operations.[20]             In 1987, Abedi agreed to appoint Price Waterhouse as its sole auditing company. According to the Bingham report, which the U.K. Prime Minister John Major commissioned to investigate and report on the problems within BCCI, Price Waterhouse acted as the sole auditor of BCCI as well as consultants charging BCCI for their services.             Price Waterhouse received information of fraud within BCCI from senior employees covering doubtful loans and wrongful information stated by BCCI management to its auditors. This prompted Price Waterhouse to make a report to the Bank of England. However, Bank of England did no make any action on the report. After a month, Price Waterhouse again sought a meeting with the Bank of England and provided evidence providing Naqvi’s admission of the falsifying documents and deceiving the auditing firm. Again, the Bank of England did not make any action on the matter. Finally and after receiving a report on the details of the fraud from the auditing company that Bank of England made the decision to close BCCI, which includes details of the fraud from Price Waterhouse, the bank decided to close BCCI. It took the Bank of England five days from the receipt of the first report to act on the matter.[21]             This case shows a clear example of corporate governance failure, and it shows why we need to apply corporate governance rules or codes of best practice. One of the obvious examples is the power of the Chairman and the chief executive officer Mr. Abedi and Mr. Naqvi in which they had too much power that they were acting like they were the only owner. It seems that the board of directors were so week that they were not concerned about being asked of the reasons or explanations for what they were doing. This reminds me of the reasons of having non-executives in the board to make sure that the company is in the right track and make sure that every thing goes according to the strategy and the plan.             The second main problem with BCCI is the complexity of the BCCI structure, in which the founder Mr. Abedi registered the parent company in Luxembourg and a major subsidiary of BCCI overseas was registered in Cayman Islands. This causes complexity since there is no central regulation on oversees operations and no official lender of last resort. This caused many people to question the reasons of splitting the operations between Luxembourg and Cayman Island. Is it because of the relaxed regulations? I doubt it because in that time there were various countries with relaxed regulations than these two countries in which BCCI already got branches. U.S. and U.K. corporate governance agrees on the point that an audit company can not work as an auditor and as a consultancy at the same time because that will lead to a conflict of interest, which happened in this case.             There were a lot of problems regarding corporate governance at BCCI but what really caused the bank to collapse was the miscalculation of the risk when they agreed to pay the creditor of Gulf Group and which took most of the cash that the bank had. It seems that this problem has nothing to do with corporate governance but in reality, it has, because this kind of decision should be referred to the board. But since the board committee in BCCI was weak and were depending on only one-sided opinion, this led to a wrong calculation of the risk.             In my view the reaction of the bank of England was not only late but also wrong. There were a lot of signs that the bank of England did not give attention to, one of the signs were the Tampa trail in which the bank of England should take some precautions toward it and investigate to make sure that everything is alright. Besides the first and the second meeting that the audit company had with the bank of England seems enough to me to open a door for investigation, but the bank was fearing that the job might be too big and complex, which was proven by the worsening of events before the bank of England finally took a decision. This was a fatal decision to shut down BCCI without examining the opportunity of restructuring and saving BCCI. This constituted a difficult decision but not impossible and worth looking at, at least to save the confidence of the investor in the banking sector. Enron Corp (Enron)             Enron is an energy company that established its headquarters in Houston, Texas. Prior to December 2001, Enron enjoyed the seventh position among the top corporations in the United States and recognition as a highly innovative firm.              Enron’s problem started when the board engaged in questionable practices. Enron wanted to expand its operations by diversifying the range of its products and engaging in online trading. However, instead of becoming a broker between buyers and sellers, which is the usual practice, Enron directly traded in gas and other products. This meant that buyers bought directly from Enron and Enron purchased directly from suppliers. This means that the continuity of its trading operations largely depended on its credit rating. When its credit rating dropped, buyers and sellers halted trade.[22] Enron’s board approved a very risky strategy that did not afford the company security in case of a decline in its credit rating and the slow down of trading.             Another activity that the board approved is the special purpose entities (SPEs), which is uses third parties to collect investment funds from people and firms not related to Enron. Even if third parties collected the funds, Enron became the guarantor of the payment of the borrowed funds and this was done by offering shares to investors. Massive external borrowing affected Enron’s credit rating because external borrowing was read as a sign of problems within the firm. In addition, economic downturns together with the extreme provisions included in the debt arrangements made through SPEs made it difficult for Enron to manage its debt.[23]             In December 2001, Enron declared bankruptcy resulting to the decline in share prices from 83 dollars to less than a dollar. This was due in part to a series of corporate governance problems that eventually caused the decline of the firm.                      The cause of the collapse of Enron can be traced to poor corporate governance practices.             Enron’s board of directors did not have independence or oversight of its operations because of the structure, roles and remuneration of its board. Enron had fourteen members of the board comprised primarily of external members, which made it harder for the firm to control and direct its operations towards shareholder interests. Most of the external directors owned significant Enron shares and only one external director had stock options as part of compensation. In addition to the compensation of the board of directors, they received consulting fees. Many of the directors also engaged entities with which they have personal or business links and approved donations to organisational with which they have affiliations.[24] These created areas of conflict of interests implying the compromise of the board’s independence, which in turn meant a problematic internal control system.               The firm’s compensation system created the problem of earnings manipulations because it was dependent on performance thresholds[25]. In this system, the manipulation of earnings favours the board since higher earnings meant greater compensation. This encouraged Enron’s non-inclusion of substantial SPEs in its balance sheet to increase the amount of earnings. This occurred due to lack of oversight of Enron’s board.             Enron had an external auditor but the auditor failed to apprise comprehensively the board and regulatory authorities regarding the emerging and potential irregularities in Enron’s transactions including the remuneration systems and other transactions with external entities. This was due to the comprised independence of the auditor who was entitled to receive large amounts as consulting fee from Enron as the client. This prevented the conduct of an independent external audit or review.[26] WorldCom, Inc. (WorldCom)             Bernie Ebbers, who received a degree in physical education successfully built a motel chain and acquired a reputation for careful appropriation of corporate financial and skillful management of business deals. Together with associates, they set up a telecommunications company called LDDS or long distance discount services. After some time, the company experienced financial difficulties. Ebbers was appointed CEO by the board and within a few months he was able turn around the situation and make the company a profitable venture. [27]             Since then, the company acquired a reputation for aggressive practices during mergers and takeovers that started with WilTel, which was one of the major suppliers in 1995. The merger created WorldCom, which continued in its aggressive strategy. The company bought UUNET Technologies and within weeks, it took over another company known as MFS. As if that was not enough, it was able to outbid BT for a company called MCI. WorldCom continued its expansion in 1998 by taking over two large companies, Brooks Fiber and CompuServe.[28]             WorldCom problems commenced in 2000 when it received many complaints on its customer service and the lawsuits piled up. The approximate cost of the lawsuits reached million. The basis of the lawsuits included excessive customer charges on calls, tricking customers to sign-up for long distance services, and billing customers for service charges given without the authorization or permission of customers. In 2002, WorldCom extended 1 million to Ebbers as personal loan at a 2.16 percent interest, which was lower than the cost to WorldCom in investing or loaning the money.[29]             Cynthia Cooper, the internal auditor for WorldCom gave the report that the ordinary operating expenses of the company were listed under capital investment, which means instead of writing the expenses in the profit and loss account, which will reduce the profit they were being taken off and written over a much longer period. The audit committee was not able to act on this information. Later, it was discovered that WorldCom was able to overstate its cash flow by more than .8 billion. WorldCom gave Salomon Smith Barney, a brokerage company, an exclusive right to administer the stock option plan, in which they were charging large fees for the portrayal of a positive picture and rating WorldCom’s stocks highly, even if WorldCom’s stocks were actually falling.[30]             The strategy that WorldCom was using showed that the company has weak corporate governance. It was not able to control the subsidiary companies since each telecom acquisition had different technical structures, billing structures, and sales plans. They reached the point that they were not able to get control over all these companies, beside when they were not able to maintain their profit, they started tricking and deceiving there customer, which costs them a lot of money in law suits.             The generous loan that the board of WorldCom gave to Ebbers has no explanation, especially when it was a large amount of money and the interest charged was lower than the cost to WorldCom of actually borrowing the money and was made at a time that the company was in need of cash.               The audit committee failed to act upon the information that the internal audit has found, and I think if the audit committee and the board acted at that time there is a possibility of saving WorldCom.             The overstatements of cash and the strategy that Ebbers was using shows the weakness of the board and the one sided opinion of the decision in the company, which is a failure in corporate governance. Barings plc             Barings bank was the oldest merchant banking firm in the United Kingdom that operated for nearly 200 years since it played a part in funding the Napoleonic wars and even the Erie Canal. In 1989, Nick Leeson joined Barings bank as the general manager of the Singapore operations. In his previous employment, he gained a reputation for having a through understanding of the brokerage settlement process and this was the reason that Barings gladly hired Leeson. In 1992, Leeson, acted as general manager of the bank’s engagement in the futures market. He took over the organization of the accounting and settlement department and acted as head of the trading operations in SIMEX, Singapore’s stock exchange.[31]             According to Leeson, Barings bank in the London headquarters allowed him to establish error accounts to cover any trivial items emerging in Singapore. After only a few weeks, he was asked to retain only one error account.[32]             During his tenure as general manager, Leeson applied for and received a trading license in SIMEX, which would allow him to become a stock exchange trader. Headquarters did mind his assumption of the trader role. However, although he was supposed to trade only on behalf of clients in executing their orders, he soon began to start trading on his own behalf. He used the error account to cover up his unauthorized trading activities. Leeson engaged in risky transactions because he failed to apply hedging. Consequently, from the perspective of Barings, Leeson was becoming a successful trader because they receive reports o trading successes but not his losses.[33]             Although receiving pieces of information on the situation in Singapore, Barings ignored the warning signals, which could have been highlighted by the extremely high demands for cash from the Singapore office. When asked, Leeson responded that the money is tied up at SIMEX so that there would be a delay in reporting. In addition, Leeson went to the extent of forging documents to provide support his claims.[34]             Barings case shows a clear example of weak internal control. Leeson was able to deceive not only the managers in Barings but also the internal auditor, which raises a question of the authority and the trust that Barings manager gave to Leesons. There was a time that Barings managers did not give attention to the signs and did not question the huge money that Leeson has been asking for. This raises the question about their corporate governance and their weak strategy.             When Leeson got his license to act as a trader in SIMEX, Barings managers did not show any objection. While it is an obvious example of conflict of interest since Leeson could act as trader and at the same time responsible for accounting for those trades in the back office.             It is worth saying that Leeson’s reason for fraud was not for personal gain.  However, this leads in the end to the same conclusion. Northern Rock             Northern Rock held the position as the top-five mortgage lender in the United Kingdom with a respectable share price in the stock exchange. However, in September 2007, Northern Rock experienced runs in its bank branches, as its clients feared losing their money after the publication of Northern Rock’s huge loan from the Bank of England. Although the situation leading to the problems experienced by Northern Rock was due to the credit crunch that affected the world, there were still issues of corporate governance that occurred on the part of Northern Rock as well as the Bank of England and the regulatory authorities[35].             On the part of Northern Rock, the failure of corporate governance was due to the board approving a high-risk money making system. Standard practice is to obtain funds from depositors, payable in the medium or long-term to allow the firm to loan the amount at a higher interest rate. The difference between the interest paid to depositors and the interest gained from loans constituted the profit of the firm. However, Northern Rock used a different strategy. It obtained credit from depositors and other banks payable in the short term and loaned these to be payable in the long-term. As money borrowed by the firm matured, this is paid off by obtaining other short-term loans while awaiting the maturity of its long-term mortgage loans. This means that as long as depositors and other banks extent approve the borrowings of Northern Rock, it can continue to make money. However, in mid-2007, the monetary policy committee raised interest rates to address inflation and crisis broke out in the mortgage market resulting to banks unwilling to extend any more loans. As such, Northern Rock could no longer pay its short-term borrowings. [36]  This constituted poor corporate governance practice since the board approved a risky system that violated its responsibilities under corporate governance to enforce an internal control system intended to safeguard the assets of the firm and the investments of shareholder as well as to maintain open communications for purposes of disclosure to stakeholders.             Investigations also uncovered excessive remunerations received by the top executives of Northern Rock even if the firm is facing collapse. This constituted poor corporate governance since remunerations should be enough to constitute incentives for productivity but not to the extent of allocating unreasonable assets for this. In addition, the extended tenure of a non-executive director of Northern Rock’s board also came up during the investigations as a violation of the combined code.[37] This could constitute poor corporate governance since this could affect the independence and balance of power of the board to act independently and outside of the control or influence of one or two people. Moreover, the independent accounting firm handling the auditing of Northern Rock’s finances was put to question because it gained large sums from Northern Rock, indicating a breach in the independence of the accounting or auditing firm or group.             On the part of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Bank of England, there was also poor implementation of corporate governance rules. FSA knew that Northern Rock was facing trouble as early as August 2007, two months before the bank runs. However, there were no recommendations to improve corporate governance in the firm, especially with the raised interest rates. In addition, although the Bank of England paid off Northern Rock’s loans, albeit at a time when the firm was already at the brink of collapse, the government also announced its guarantee of ensuring deposits, which heightened the alarm of depositors. Furthermore, the deposit insurance system established by FSA came into question because it only had a limited guarantee. This showed that the corporate governance rules in the U.K. have limitations and flaws that not only allowed irregular firm practice but also poor handling of business failures largely due to poor corporate governance.   Conclusion             In the conclusion, it is worth saying that using case studies has proven the importance of corporate governance regulation and afforded a deeper understanding of the issue. The analysis of the cases discussed and other cases assist social scientists and economist in coming up with the theories and legislations that we already have and no matter which codes and regulation we are using it is difficult to foresee or visualize a system which is completely free from the possibility of corporate governance failure. The point is that we have to learn and keep our legislation and codes updated and learn the lessons from mistakes. But it seems that some people can not learn from their mistakes like the Bank of England, who did not learn the lesson from BCCI and repeated the same mistake in Barings and was about to repeat it again in Northern Rock. My point is that the Bank of England was late, in the three cases, in interfering and making right decisions. It was late in BCCI and did not look at the warnings or acted on it. Not only that but the Bank of England also did not take the allegations seriously when the audit company approached the Bank of England to express doubts over BCCI accounts. It also repeated the same mistake with Barings by leaving the bank to collapse, which makes people loose their confidence in the U.K. banking sector which pressured Bank of England to interfere and finally act as a last resort in Northern Rock, but people could not trust neither the bank of England nor northern rock on their deposits.             However, I agree with the way the combined code of best practice works but In my opinion it has some weaknesses in U.K. corporate governance because the regulatory bodies, like financial stock exchange and the Bank of England, do not interfere until its too late, which is in my opinion wrong.             On the other hand, U.S. regulation is very strict as a one size fits all approach. Sarbanes-Oxley does not only fail to give attention to the nature of the business but also cause problems to arise. While Sarbanes-Oxley was able to address the regulatory problems that resulted to the cases of WorldCom and Enron, its operation also gave rise to new problems. This means that while Sarbanes-Oxley was responsive to the previous problems, it created other problems. One problem is the inconsistencies experienced by foreign companies between the regulatory policies in their home country and that of the United States, with the regulatory system considered as overreaching and excessive relative to other regulatory systems. This caused a number of firms to withdraw planned entry into the United States and operate in other jurisdictions considered to have more reasonable regulatory standards. Another problem is the limited effectiveness of its strict regulations. Another problem is the failure to influence change on other key cultural areas of corporate governance to prevent future failures in corporate governance. Sarbanes-Oxley made it the responsibility of the CEO and CFO to ensure the accuracy of financial reports and even imposed criminal penalty on these officers for failing in their duty. However, the top management culture of basing incentives and pay on performance and company earnings means the incentive to increase reported earnings remains, which motivates the directors to raise earnings. This creates a situation that could be subject to abuse. Although Sarbanes-Oxley has applied measures to prevent the repeat of WorldCom and Enron, this does not guarantee that these corporate governance failures would not happen again. Directors driven by the need to raise earnings just have to look for loopholes to report higher values than the actual earnings.             The U.S. regulation is, in a way, more responsive by providing measures that address the problems that allowed WorldCom and Enron to occur. However, the emergence of new problems could put into question the effectiveness of this strict regulatory regime in preventing corporate governance failure relapse or improving the regulatory regime in the United States.    References Arcot, S.R. & Bruno, V.G., 2006. In letter but not in spirit: An analysis of corporate governance in the UK. Available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=819784 [accessed 22 April 2008] Colley, J.L., Stettinius, W., Doyle, J.L. & Logan, G., 2005. What is corporate governance?. New York: McGraw-Hill.   Financial Reporting Council., 2006. The combined code on corporate governance. Available at http://www.frc.org.uk/documents/pagemanager/frc/Combined%20Code%20June%202006.pdf [accessed 22 April 2008]   Gillan, S.L. & Martin, J.D., 2002. Financial Engineering, Corporate Governance, and the Collapse of Enron.  U of Delaware Coll. of Bus. and Econ. Ctr. for Corp. Governance Working Paper No. 2002-001. Available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=354040 [accessed 22 April 2008]   How UK and U.S. differ on corporate governance., 2005. Finance Week. Available at            http://www.financeweek.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=1862 [accessed 24 April 2008] Lynes, D., 2007. The Northern Rock story simplified – Why did it happen?. Ezine Articles. Available at http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Northern-Rock-Story-Simplified—Why-Did-It-Happen?&id=840080 [accessed 24 April 2008] Mardjono, A., 2005. A tale of corporate governance: Leesons why firms fail. Managerial Auditing Journal, 20(3), p. 272-283.   Monks, R. & Minow, N., 2003. Corporate governance. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.   Peek, L.E., Blanco, H. & Roxas, M., 2004. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002: Corporate governance and public accounting firms oversight in NAFTA countries. American Accounting Association 2004 Mid-Atlantic Region Meeting Paper. Available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=489046 [accessed 22 April 2008]   Romano, R., 2004. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Making of Quack Corporate Governance. NYU, Law and Econ Research Paper 04-032. Available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=596101 [accessed 22 April 2008]   The Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002. Available at http://www.law.uc.edu/CCL/SOact/toc.html [accessed 22 April 2008]   Tirole, J., 2001. Corporate Governance. Econometrica, 69(1), p. 1–35.   Wearing , R., 2005. Cases in corporate governance. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage   Publications.   [1] Colley, J.L., Stettinius, W., Doyle, J.L. & Logan, G., 2005. What is corporate governance?. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 3 [2] Tirole, J., 2001. Corporate Governance. Econometrica, 69(1), p. 1–35. [3] Monks, R. & Minow, N., 2003. Corporate governance. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. p. 9 [4] Monks & Minow 2003, p. 9 [5] Tirole 2001 [6] Colley et al. 2005 [7] Mardjono, A., 2005. A tale of corporate governance: Leesons why firms fail. Managerial Auditing Journal, 20(3), p. 272-283. [8] Romano, R., 2004. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Making of Quack Corporate Governance. NYU, Law and Econ Research Paper 04-032. Available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=596101 [accessed 22 April 2008] [9] Peek, L.E., Blanco, H. & Roxas, M., 2004. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002: Corporate governance and public accounting firms oversight in NAFTA countries. American Accounting Association 2004 Mid-Atlantic Region Meeting Paper. Available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=489046 [accessed 22 April 2008] [10] Arcot, S.R. & Bruno, V.G., 2006. In letter but not in spirit: An analysis of corporate governance in the U.K.. Available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=819784 [accessed 22 April 2008] [11] The Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002 [12] See Above [13] Financial Reporting Council., 2006. The combined code on corporate governance. Available at http://www.frc.org.uk/documents/pagemanager/frc/Combined%20Code%20June%202006.pdf [accessed 22 April 2008]   [14] Financial Reporting Council 2006 [15] The Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002 [16] Arcot & Bruno 2006 [17] How U.K. and US differ on corporate governance., 2005. Finance Week. Available at http://www.financeweek.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=1862 [accessed 24 April 2008] [18] Wearing , R., 2005. Cases in corporate governance. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.   [19] Wearing 2005 [20] See Above [21] See Above [22] Gillan, S.L. & Martin, J.D., 2002. Financial Engineering, Corporate Governance, and the Collapse of Enron.  U of Delaware Coll. of Bus. and Econ. Ctr. for Corp. Governance Working Paper No. 2002-001. Available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=354040 [accessed 22 April 2008 [23] Gillan & Martin 2002 [24] Gillan & Martin 2002 [25] See Above [26] See Above [27] Wearing 2005 [28] See Above [29] See Above [30] Wearing 2005 [31] Wearing 2005 [32] Wearing 2005 [33] See Above [34] See Above [35] Lynes, D., 2007. The Northern Rock story simplified – Why did it happen?. Ezine Articles. Available at http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Northern-Rock-Story-Simplified—Why-Did-It-Happen?&id=840080 [accessed 24 April 2008] [36] Lynes 2007 [37] Bettelley, C., 2005. Northern Rock defies governance code. Finance Week. Available at http://www.financeweek.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=370 [accessed 24 April 2008] Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

An Overview of Corporate Governance

An Overview of Corporate Governance

Anthem for the Doomed Youth

Sacrifice as a Justification of War as portrayed in the war poems, Rupert Brooke’s “The Soldier” and Wilfred Owen’s “Anthem for the Doomed Youth”   War is decidedly one of the events that truly inflict a personal trauma to a human being.  No one can be more directly affected by the horrors and fatalities of war but the soldiers in the battlefield.  No one can be more physically, mentally and psychologically scarred than the men who march in the battlefield in the risk of ending up dead or suffering dreadful injuries.  War heightens the seeming meaninglessness of human life at the face of heavy artillery and modern equipments of warfare.  A single bomb or missile explosion results to the death of thousands in one snap.  They die, so to speak, “as cattle” true to Wilfred Owen’s description in Anthem for Doomed Youth.  All hopes and dreams perish by a single gunshot or a massive catastrophe.  The effects of war had been nothing but dire, depressing and doomed for those who participate in the war and for everyone who had to witness such event.  While extrinsic scars and wounds may be healed, there is no proper treatment or cure for the wounds in the heart and mind.  Yet, many survive this ordeal despite with difficulty and despite being ruthlessly changed.  Humans are coping beings and this is perhaps because their rationality allows them to channel all their grievances and sentiments in a manner that will provide therapeutic healing or at the very least, acceptance.  Humans know how to move on with life because of this.  The past is a period in life to learn from, not to die from.  One of such channelling methods known to every participant and witness to war is through the writing of war poetry. War poetry belongs to a categorization or genre in its own.  They do not only reek with significant literary analyses but also, historical.  War poems are primary sources and reports of a historical event, as directly seen in the eyes and felt in the senses of those who undergo through such experience.  It does not only reveal the facts existent in a given historical event but it also portrays the emotional status of the person writing.  All poetry attempt to come to terms with the highly dehumanizing experience such that war can brings.    In the case of the two poems mentioned in this paper, they are similar in their attempts to find reason and meaning in a cause that mass slaughters human beings.  They attempt to restore the humanity and substance in every human life put at stake.  It attempts to differentiate between the death of an animal to the death of a human being.      In Rupert Brooke’s The Soldier, the persona of the poem is aware that he may die in the war along with the thousands others who se lives will simply be whiffed off like candles.  But the poetry attempt to at least immortalize the intentions, dreams and thoughts of this one poet.  The poet would like to make a difference in what would seemingly be one insignificant death.  Through the poetry he would like to recognize that his death will be for the good of all, which will thus bring greater gravity to his death.  The fact that he will be offering it to England and to its freedom (and thus to the benefit to all its constituents) will mark him a true hero than just a mere soldier of war.  This emphasizes not only the gallantry of every participant of war but also their inherent patriotism.  In fact, the poem rationalizes war all for the sake of love for a nation, this being England.  The poem would like the addressee to think not of his death, but to the greater good of an entire nation “If I should die, think only this of me:/That there’s some corner of a foreign field/That is for ever England…”  In this way, the persona is assured and comforted that he will die not out of purpose but in fact he may just willingly do so for a cause that will benefit his countrymen.  Thus the poem is overwhelmed with descriptions, praises and glorification of England rather of the self.  The self will only be revealed in the end, but will only punctuate such selfless dedication to England: “And think, this heart, all evil shed away,/A pulse in the eternal mind, no less/Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;/Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;/And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,/In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.” Clearly, the persona is more than happy to give himself to the land he so loves.  War is thus a celebration of his love for his nation rather what could be a meaningless end to his life. Wilfred Owen’s Anthem for Doomed Youth also similarly attempts to give meaning “for those who die as cattle…”  Owen presents the facts saying how each man is silenced by “the monstrous anger of the guns” and “the stuttering rifles rapid rattle”.  One shot can end everything in an instant.  There will be no slow motion, no lamentation, no good-byes, no mourning.  A single clap, blink and sound would already finish a human’s history.  Clearly, the poetry presents the seeming senselessness of the fatalities of war.  But Owen would like to give justice to these fallen soldiers such as what Brooke provided.  This time, he humanizes the deaths by providing them a proper send-off to the after-life.  He justifies thus by their eyes which “Shall shine the holy glimmer of good-byes.” And only the thoughts of their lady loves dear in their mind thus giving each soldier a happy and even peaceful death for dying with such a thought of beauty and grace.  Owen presents the emotional and the true human aspects of a war which is portrayed by the human sensibilities of love and devotion.  Because of one’s love and devotion for something and someone, death is no longer meaningless and insignificant.        This is what joins Brooke and Owen’s poetries together: the love and devotion towards an entity which brings purpose, significance, sense, meaning and reason to war.  Brooke’s poem speaks of love for the nation while Owen’s poem speaks of love for the lady love:  Both different in their objects but similar in their means, that which is the greatest love of all: sacrifice. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Anthem for the Doomed Youth

Sacrifice as a Justification of War as portrayed in the war poems, Rupert Brooke’s “The Soldier” and Wilfred Owen’s “Anthem for the Doomed Youth”

Research Paper on Organizational Behavior

Background of the Study The Personal Interests, Attitudes, and Values (PIAV) assessment explores one’s “passions” in life and how it affects their relationship with others. It assesses the interests, attitudes, and values that drive one’s behavior. These passions are formed by genetics and life experience that influence how someone sees the world, how they value certain activities, and what impels a person into action (Coughlin, 1993). These powerful motivating forces are the drivers of one’s behavior that will motivate someone to take a specific action. These attitudes are more fixed than other human characteristics. They are derived at birth, from the experiences growing up, and out of the basic needs, interests, and values. In this sense, why do people behave the way they do? Furthermore, people choose what they want based on their inherent attitudes. Identifying individuals’ values is an important component in understanding what makes them effectual, satisfied, and personally successful. A person’s attitudes play a major role in motivation. The PIAV profile depicts the major categories of motivation in terms of interests, attitudes, and values. Most people will take action chiefly to fulfill their important motivators—whether inside or outside the job. Getting people to understand their own motivational attributes—and those of others—creates the possibility of adaptation and improvement. The insights gained through the usage of the PIAV profile shows why people are moved to work hard on the job or not. Understanding people’s motivators helps managers handle employees in a more productive manner in order to get the best possible result out of them. The Six Attitudes Six attitudes lay the foundation for the PIAV, and these six major attitudes form a sort of window through which individuals view the world and seek fulfillment in their lives. These are their driving force in their lives, their passions. The six major attributes are: Theoretical – A passion to discover, systematize, and analyze; a search for knowledge. Someone whose dominant interest is the discovery of truth. Utilitarian – A passion to gain return on the investment of time, resources and money that was utilized. This type of individual is all about what is useful, what will work, and how much money will be gained. Aesthetic – A passion to add balance and harmony in one’s own life and protect our natural resources. Someone whose highest value is form and synchronization. Social – A passion to eliminate hate and conflict in the world and to assist others in helping them achieve their potential through the investment of one’s time and resources.  Someone whose highest value is love of people. Individualistic – A passion to achieve position and to use that position to influence others. It is all about one’s advancement, getting to the top, and the assertion of the self. Traditional – A passion to pursue the higher meaning in life through a defined system for living, according to an unquestioned set of rules.   Different people are motivated in different ways. And with these different motivations produce different actions. To understand the relationship between the two is the solution in determining what motivates them. An understanding of values will reduce conflicts, improve talent selection, increase retention, expand efficiency, increase productivity, and energize a group working toward common goals. With years of research and validation, PIAV reports provide accurate information of a person’s attitudes – Information that should be an integral part of human capital management efforts worldwide (Coughlin, 1993). The DISC Report                                                                          Behavioral assessments (DISC) is a behavioral personality assessment. DiSC is based the work of William Moulton Marston, the developer of the D.I.S.C. Model. Marston’s model examined the behavior of “normal” people and how their behavioral preferences are affected by their personality and the environment or situation they find themselves in. The DISC profile consists of the following four primary categories:       Dominant– Demanding, decisive, direct, and fast-paced.       Influential– Social, enthusiastic, fast-paced, and persuasive.       Steady- -Patient, sincere, calming, and dependable.       Compliant– Accurate, precise, slow-paced, and analytical (Couglin, 1993)             This four-quadrant behavioral personality profile test provides an understanding of people through awareness of temperament and behavioral styles. Personal and professional success requires understanding people’s model of the world. Research indicates the insight achieved through the understanding of one’s personal behavior on themselves and others. It is used to develop and enhance productive communication, rapport, and relationships for people at the workforce. Moreover, knowledge of an individual’s values through the use of the DISC personality assessment tells a person why they do what they do. Because values lie beneath observable behavioral styles, values are not discovered until individuals are known for a long period of time. Values can be measured and motivations of employees can be known by partaking and with a highly validated personality profiling.  Values: The Latent Motivators   Why do employees sell, manage, or service customers and clients the way they do? What prompts their enthusiastic responses – a happy customer, a big sales contract landed, a tough problem solved? What can a manger do to capture their enthusiasm and leverage their unique talents? The answers to these questions are all based on Values (Lingham, 2007).  What people value are the drivers behind their behavior. Abstract concepts in themselves, values are principles or standards by which someone acts. Values are beliefs held so strongly that they affect the behavior of an individual or in an organization. An individual’s experiences, references, education, and training tell us what they are capable of doing. Organizational Values Organizational values define the acceptable standards, which govern the behavior of individuals within the organization. Without such values, individuals will pursue behaviors that are in line with their own individual value systems, which may lead to behaviors that the organization does not wish to encourage. In a smaller, co-located organization, the behavior of individuals is much more visible than in larger, disparate ones. In these smaller groups, the need for articulated values is reduced, since unacceptable behaviors can be challenged openly. However, for the larger organization, where desired behavior is being encouraged by different individuals in different places with different sub-groups, an articulated statement of values can draw an organization together (Wenstøp & Myrmel, 2006). Clearly, the organization’s values must be in line with the organization’s purpose and mission, and the vision they are set to achieve. An articulated and well-thought out values of an organization can provide a framework for the collective leadership of an organization to encourage common norms of behavior, which will support the achievement of the organization’s goals and mission. In addition, moving any organization along the ethical continuum involves some well-defined and meaningful processes in terms of consistency in outcomes, attitudes, organizational commitment, and organizational learning. Every single effort done toward moving an organization headed for ethical excellence and creating organizational values involves either defining, re-confirming, or creating the foundation of values. Recurrently, organizations either make comment or at the very least tacitly imply that their people are their most valuable resource. This cannot be simply a catch phrase; indeed, it must be a demonstrable reality within the various levels of the organization. If the values of the organization are to be subscribed to by all members of the organization, there must be a process designed whereby the significant levels of the organization will have a meaningful, observable input into the creation of the values. One may be tempted to simply adopt a set of values that appears to fit. With a modest amount of research, the values of a variety of organizations can be obtained and be adapted to the organization. Although this may appear to be more effective in the short term, but in the longer term, this process has some inherent weakness, not the least of which is a total lack of buy-in and ownership throughout the organization (Fitches, 2005). A well-defined value system is considered as the moral code. It refers  to how an individual or a group of individuals organize their ethical or ideological values.The organizational culture may benefit from a focus on shared values, one of its measurable core elements. A typology of value systems based on the content (functional-elitist) and source (traditional-charismatic leadership) of values permits a contingency approach for the analysis of the emergence, change, and maintenance of a culture as well as the contributions culture makes to organizational effectiveness (Wiener, 1988). A corporate value system consists of three value types. These are considered complementary and juxtaposed on the same level. The first value type is the core values, which prescribe the attitude and character of an organization, and are often found in sections on code of conduct. The philosophical antecedents of these values are virtue ethics. The second type is protected values, which is about the protection through rules, standards, and certifications. They are often concerned with areas such as health, environment, and safety. And the third type created values is the values that stakeholders, including the shareholders expect in return for their contributions to the firm. These values are subject to trade-off by decision-makers or bargaining processes. In most cases, the suitable organizational values system is the core values. Demonstrating all the perceived behaviors by the employee because of what the organization stands for typically happens. If exposed to a certain mood or character of an organization, it is not far that one is going to adapt that certain characteristic. Mostly, it depends on the personality of the person. The Big Five Personality Dimensions             Traits are consistent patterns of thoughts, feelings, or actions that distinguish people from one another. Traits remain stable across the life span, but characteristic behavior can change considerably through adaptive processes. A trait is an internal characteristic that corresponds to an extreme position on a behavioral dimension (Pervin & John, 1999). There have been different theoretical perspectives in the field of personality psychology over the years including human motivation, the whole person, and individual differences. The Big Five Personality falls under the perspective of individual differences. These are: Extraversion – means a person is, talkative, sociable, and assertive. It is an energetic approach to the social and material world. .Agreeableness – this means that a person is good natured, altruistic, co-operative and trusting. Conscientiousness – describes a person with tight impulse control that facilitates task and goal-directed behavior, such as thinking before acting, delaying gratification, following norms and rules and the like.  The person is responsible, orderly, and dependable. Neuroticism –the reverse of emotional stability. This means a person is anxious, prone to depression and worries a lot. Openness – means a person is imaginative; independent minded and has divergent thinking. Self-Monitoring Behavior             Self-Monitoring involves learning to pay careful and systematic attention to a problem in behaviors and habits, and to the stimuli that trigger them into action. Some people are sensitive to how other sees them, whilst others are not. People who are high self-monitors constantly watch other people, what they do and how they respond to the behavior of others. Such people are hence very self-conscious, like to ‘look good’, and will hence usually adapt well to differing social situations. On the other hand, low self-monitors are generally oblivious to how other see them and hence march to their own different drum (Dombeck & Wells-Moran, 2009). These self-monitoring behaviors or the use of empathy relate in the personality dimensions and organizational values in ways that how you act or deal with a certain situation can be its “make or break”. When a person is in a particular environment, he is bombarded on how to act in a certain way, or why he is to act that way. In an organization, to better understand the plight of oneself or the others, one must do some “self-checking” or “self-regulation” and assess the options on how to act accordingly.              Moreover, the question of who gets ahead and why it is of interest to most people who work in organizations fuels debate. Promotions and other employment changes can drastically alter the lives of both those who move and those who stay. Employment changes can lead not only to different job duties and rewards, but also to differences in where people live and whom they interact with. Such changes can indeed, transform people’s lives. The self-monitoring personality variable provides important insights into the dynamics of impression management in organizations (Kilda, & Day, 1994). Two Types of Employee Motivation: Internal and External Self-Motivators Internal self-motivators motivate themselves from within—they acquire drive or reason to do their jobs well based on what they feel within themselves. Recognition for a job well done is a strong internal employee motivation. Employees who are internally motivated demonstrate all the appropriate behaviors. It is inevitable that a confident, hard-working employee, who was recognized by the contributions he made and were rewarded by acknowledgement, will pass on those positive behaviors and aura to other employees. These positive behaviors will lead directly to the success of the organization. Externally motivated employees get inspired from awards, bonuses, titles, promotions, money, etc. Unfortunately, these external motivators do not last and are not a very reliable source of motivation. Let us say everyone is given a bonus. That bonus will run out and it is not possible that another bonus will be given again immediately. Therefore, the employee gets discouraged. External motivators fade easily. Employee motivation, like success, grows from the inside out, from within, and not from the external to the internal. Furthermore, the motivation and performance of a company can make or break organizational success. Ineffective understanding and communication with customers or employees can be disastrous. High employee turnover, low sales, low staff performance, low customer retention, union disputes, lawsuits, employee theft, low response to marketing efforts, executive and staff burnout ( Rao, 2004) are some of the consequences of not empowering employees. A good and well-equipped organization leader has to demonstrate the appropriate behaviors and create an environment that accentuates employee motivation. Usually, it is easier to theorize than practice employee motivation. Training the managers extensively on motivating employees will manufacture efficiency and success towards the organization, the employees, and consumers. The rewards for the organization could be less employee turnovers, high levels of motivation, increased productivity, commitment, and teamwork. Moreover, motivation–whether it is self-motivation or employee motivation, is the trigger to act (Trinka, 2003). The factors involved in personally motivating and inspiring employees are not necessarily the factors that motivate all individuals and will lead to overall employee motivation. In this sense, only the individual himself can discover the best methods in which to motivate him. More often than not, employee motivation comes from within the individual. Motivation that comes from the outside, from external factors, is the responsibility of the business leaders. The job of the manager in the workplace is to get things done through the employees. The employees then must be motivated by the manger to produce a stellar performance. The transparency of working together between the two is a surefire method to the success of an organization. The Importance of Organizational Behavior The core of any organization is in its personnel and the success depends on the people staffing the organization. The goal of a company is to increase profitability, increase growth, and innovation, and introduce new values and culture into the organization. In order for to remain competitive, the need to have “maximum quality, minimum cost, and maintain peak performance. The staff operates by a “hard-skills” ethic; they deal with the technical and functional aspects of the job but not the social. “Soft skills” work synergistically with the hard skills. The soft skills like team work, communication, problem solving, and leadership together with the hard skills of computer knowledge, filing, and financial analysis make for a well-rounded employee (Thompson, 2007). When workers and managers operate as if they own the company and their jobs, they will assume responsibility for the results they agree to create and be accountable for the results they deliver. In addition, the concept of organizational strategic planning is the guidance of members in an organization envisions its future and develops the necessary procedures and operations to achieve a successful future. The strategic plan sets the stage for creating the marketing plan and the financial plan. The risk analysis section of the strategic plan includes the development of a succession plan (Rusch, 1987). Strategic planning in an organization can be used to determine its mission, vision, values, goals, and objectives. Strategic planning is only useful if it supports strategic thinking and leads to strategic management – the basis for an effective organization (Allison & Kaye, 2005). Strategic planning or behavior is the making of an assessment using the three key requirements about strategic behavior: a definite purpose is in mind; an understanding of the environment, particularly the forces that hinder the fulfillment of that purpose; and the creativity in developing effective responses to those forces. It then follows that strategic behavior is the application of the three elements in effective business execution: the formulation of the organization’s future mission in changing external factors such as regulation, competition, technology, and customers. The development of a competitive strategy to achieve the mission and the creation of an organizational structure that will deploy resources to successfully carry out its competitive strategy. Finally, strategic behavior is a creative process—a disciplined in that calls for a certain order and pattern to keep everyone focused everyone and productive. Strategic planning and decision processes should end with objectives and a roadmap of ways to achieve those objectives. Strategy lies in making the tough decisions about what is most important to achieving organizational success.   Conclusion Employee motivation focuses on individual strengths (Magnini, 2007). Brainstorming before major decisions could be a motivator that could increase the sense of belongingness for an employee. When the employees are motivated—may it be internal or external—it definitely will put an organization into new heights. In addition, the assessment of PIAV and the Disc profile is designed to understand people’s drives and passions, recognize their passions, learn how they to motivate them into action appreciate differences and understand sources of conflict. Identifying the values drivers of individuals, teams, and organizations reduces conflicts, increases talent retention, improves efficiency and productivity, and energizes any group working together toward common goals. When combining the Employee Values and Motivators reports with Behaviors (DISC) and Personal Talents (PIAV), one can have the most complete picture of the person.   References   Books Hogan, R., Johnson, J. & Briggs, S. (Eds.) (1997). Handbook of personality psychology. California: Academic Press. Pervin, L. & John, O. (Eds.) (1999). Handbook of personality: theory and Research. New York: Gilford. Rusch, V. (1987). Principles of Marketing. Kent Publishing. Journals Dombeck, J. & Wells-Moran, Q. (1997). Techniques for Unlearning Old Behaviors: Self-Monitoring. Jang, K & Vemon, P. (1996). Heritability of the Big Five Personality Dimensions and Their Facets: A Twin Study Journal of Personality, 64, (3), 577-592.   Kilduff, M & Day, D. (1994). Do chameleons get ahead? The effects of self- monitoring on managerial careers. Academy of Management Journal, 15(3), 1-9.   Magnini, V.P. (2007).  The Service Recovery: Justifiable Theory or Smoldering Myth? Journal of Services Marketing, 21(3), 213-225. Thompson, K. (2007). Importance of organizational behavior, and its affect on the    company.  Academy of Management Journal, 42 (5), 8-14. Rao, J. (2004). Employee Performance Improvement: Understanding Your Role as a Manager. Corporate Executive Board, 24(5), 19. Trinka, G. (2003). Engaging Managers as Agents of Employee Development. Corporate Executive Board, 29(9), 14. Wenstøp, F. and A. Myrmel (2006). Structuring organizational value statements. Management Research News. 29(11): 673 – 683. Wiener, Y. (1988). Organizational Value System.  The Academy of Management Review, 13(4),  8-12.   Electronic Sources Coughlin, J. (1993, August 19).  Why do your people work? PIAV Profile. Retrieved February 9, 2009 from http://www.cgroupinc.com/piav.html.  Fitches, R. (2005, December 31). Creating Organizational Values. Retrieved February 8, 2009, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Creating-Organizational-Values&id=120862 Oriente, E. (1995, July 18).  PIAV Assessment.  PowerHour.  Retrieved February 9, 2009 from www.powerhour.com.   Lingham, L. (2007, February 3).  Values and Value systems. Human Resources. Retrieved February 9, 2009 from http://www.allexperts.com.     Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Research Paper on Organizational Behavior

Background of the Study The Personal Interests, Attitudes, and Values (PIAV) assessment explores one’s “passions” in life and how it affects their relationship with others. It assesses the interest…

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