Impact of Corporate Culture on IT Company Growth and Profits

Impact of Corporate Culture on IT Company Growth and Profits The Impact of Corporate Culture on the Growth and Profitability of IT Companies: The Case of Google Abstract In todays global economy, companies from different industries are trying to create a unique competitive advantage to stay in business and maximize their shareholders equity. In doing so, companies should analyze their largest expenses and try to minimize these costs while utilizing their resources in order to make the most from these expenditures. The largest operating expense in U.S. companies is salary. To maximize this expenditure, businesses should devise ways in which to motivate their employees to be more productive. Controlling employees to come to work is easy, but how can companies motivate their employees to work to their full capacity? One way in which this can be accomplished is by creating a suitable, attractive, and tension-free working environment for employees. In doing so, companies can create a strong corporate culture which could offer a competitive advantage. As an example, Google has become one of the largest IT companies in the world in fewer than two decades from its establishment. Not only has Google grown to be one of the largest IT company in the world, it has also developed unique and innovative products, a high job growth, and a secure position as one of the top five companies for which to work. Google has managed to achieve this not only by developing appropriate business strategy, but also creatin g a strong corporate culture that concentrates mainly on employees and customers. In this research, I will try to analyze Googles achievements. I will conduct a small survey to examine the adaptability of Googles flexible corporate culture in IT companies located in Utah. Introduction Statement of the Problem The old saying, â€Å"You can lead a horse to water, but you cant make him drink† may hold true for employees as well; you can make employees come to work, but it is not easy to make them work to their full capacity. Companies may use different methods to control their employees to make them work to their fullest working capacity, but this does not always succeed. To understand employees work satisfaction and engagement in their work, it is useful to analyze a survey conducted by the Gallup Management Journal (GMJ) (Houser, 2009). The GMJ surveyed U.S. employees to understand how engaged they are in their work and their attitudes toward their managers. According to the study, there are three types of employees: 1. Engaged employees: Those who work with passion, motivation, and have deep feelings toward their company. These people are the ones who move the organization. 2. Not-engaged employees: Those who are physically present in the company but mentally absent. These employees are not motivated, and they dont care about their company. They come to work simply to put in hours. The survey refers to them as â€Å"walking through their workday.† 3. Actively disengaged employees: Those who are not only unhappy, but they express their unhappiness in different ways. They may undermine what their engaged coworkers accomplish. The study results showed that 26% of respondents are engaged in their work, 56% of the respondents are not engaged in their work, and 18% of the respondents are actively disengaged in their work. The following chart illustrates the finding of this study. The respondents of the survey were asked if they would fire their manager, given the opportunity. Respondents indicated that 24% would fire their manager if they were given the chance. Of this number, 6% of those respondents were engaged in their work, 23% of the number were not engaged in their work, and 51% of the respondents were actively disengaged in their work. Therefore, less engaged employees tend to dislike their managers, and would fire them, given the opportunity. According to the study, this lack of productivity costs companies billions of dollars. Approximately 24.7 million employees age 18 and over are actively disengaged; this represents 18% of the total workforce. From 2000 to 2007, actively disengaged employees in the U.S. cost the countrys economy from $334 to $431 billion every year in low productivity. The Cost Of Disengagement In this study, I will analyze the different reasons why employees are disengaged from their work, and I will suggest recommendations to solve this problem by taking as an example a successful company in the U.S. Purpose of the study Today, different companies are trying to find a unique competitive advantage. One competitive advantage that was overlooked for many years is an attractive organizational culture. Not only will a superior organizational culture help in attracting and retaining the best employees, it can also be used to create a loyal customer base. In this paper, I will investigate the organizational culture of Google, Inc. in the information technology (IT) industrial sector. I will analyze how Google has capitalized on its organizational culture to become one of the largest search engines and IT companies in the world. I will conduct a small survey on organizational culture on IT companies located in Salt Lake City, Utah to determine useful recommendations by analyzing the results of the survey and comparing these to Googles organizational culture. Before analyzing organizational cultures, it would be beneficial to answer some questions as to why this topic was selected as well as other related issues. Why I Focused on Organizational Culture Many companies have tried to come up with a competitive advantage to maximize the shareholders profits. For years, an attractive corporate culture was not considered as vital to the success of an organization. Unlike external factors of business, which are not directly controlled by organizations, corporate culture is an internal environmental force which can be manipulated by organizations in their favor. Why I Emphasized the Employees Employees are the executers of the plans and strategies of the organization. Most companies consider employees as their asset, but, in my opinion, employees are much more than this. According to a study conducted by the United States Census Bureau, companies largest operating expense is salary. (U.S.CensusBureau, 2000) (See charts below). By taking care of their employees, organizations can get the best results from them. The following charts show the breakdown of operating expense for different industries in 1997 as it was studied by the U.S. Census Bureau under the Economic and Statistics Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce. Even though, this study was conducted more than a decade ago, I have included it, because I believe it shows the general trend of the breakdown of operating expenses within U.S. industries. Merchant wholesale companies have five major operating costs. Of these, payroll was by far the largest operating expense. If payroll expense and fringe benefits, which are operating expenses toward employees, are combined, more than half of the total operating expenses go toward employee salaries. The breakdown of operating expenses of retail trade has the same tendency as that of the merchant wholesaler. In fact, the only difference is that the expenses for rent by retail trade businesses are a little bit higher than that of the merchant wholesaler. The breakdown of operating expense for business services, which include IT industries, shows a larger expense toward employees. Payroll, consisting of 51% of total operating expense, contract labor, consisting of 5% of total operating expense and fringe benefits, consisting of 8% of total operating expense makes up a total of 64% of the total operating expense. The breakdown of the operating expenses for legal services follows the same trend as for business services. The following chart compares payroll expenses of different sectors of business According to the above chart, business services, health services and legal services pay the highest portion of operating expenses to payroll. Clearly, if companies are paying the majority of their operating expense toward the salaries of their employees, they should try to get the most from their workforce. Another study conducted in 2007 by the AmericanTimeUseSurvey through the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (AmericanTimeUseSurvey, 2007) showed that of the total working people in U.S., those who were between the ages of 25 to 54 living in households with children under the age of 18 spent most of their time either working or in work-related activities. The survey was provided from data taken on non-holiday weekdays. Out of the total 24 hours, those between the age of 25 to 54 living in households with children under the age of 18 spent 8.7 hours working or on work-related activities, 7.6 hours sleeping, 2.6 hours on leisure and sports, 1.2 hours caring for others, 1.1 hours on household activities, 1.1 hours in eating and drinking and the remaining 1.7 hours on other activities. The following chart illustrates these hours in percentiles. Based on this survey, people with children between the ages of 25 to 54, who were part of the labor force, spent the majority of their time at the workplace or doing work-related activities. If companies created a suitable and stable environment, this labor force would be motivated to work harder to help companies maximize their profits. This study will research and analyze how companies could create a competitive advantage by attracting and retaining the best employees through a superior corporate culture. Why I focused on IT IT, by any comparison, is the fastest growing industry in the world. Companies are spending billions of dollars every year, which has made the IT industry one of the most profitable industries in the world. According to a study conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2005 and published in 2007 (U.S.CensusBureau, Information and Communication Technology: 2005, April 2007), the information industry by itself contributes 52.4 billion dollars to the IT industry through purchases of hardware and software annually. The finance and insurance sectors spent $44.2 billion; the manufacturing, professional, scientific, and technical services sectors spent $32.5 billion; the health care sector spent $27 billion; and the social assistance business sector spent $19.9 billion on IT hardware and software components in 2005 alone. Based on this study, more than $200 billion was spent on IT hardware and software by different business sectors in 2005. According to this study, the noncapital and capital expenditures for computer software were higher compared to IT hardware. It is a general assumption that if companies are investing more on computer software, the software industry is generating a lot of money. In 2005 alone, the noncapital expenditure for computer software was $54.2 billion, whereas the capital expenditure for the same sector was $49.8 billion. Therefore, this research will focus on computer software companies. Why Focus on Google? Google is one of the fastest growing companies in the world. It has grown sevenfold over the last decade. According to Fortune, Google was listed as the fourth best company to work for in 2009 (100 Best Companies to Work for 2009: Google GOOG from Fortune, 2009). Even though Google was listed as the fourth best company to work for in 2009 by Fortune, it has the highest job growth rate when compared to the other companies listed in the top ten. While Google has a 40% job growth rate, NetApp, which was listed in first place, only has a 12% job growth rate. Edward Jones and Boston Consulting Group, listed second and third, have only a 9% and 10% job growth rate respectively (100 Best Companies to Work for 2009: Google GOOG from Fortune, 2009). Google has shown tremendous growth over the past few years. As the following chart indicates, from 2004 to 2008, the net income of the company increased tenfold. Even when the world economy was in a recession at the end of 2007 and 2008, Google managed to secure a high net income (GoogleInc, 2008). Google has an interesting workforce distribution. As of December 31, 2008, 40% of Googles total workforce was in sales and marketing, 36% in research and development, 15% in general and administrative positions, and the remaining 9% in operations (Google Inc., 2008). According to this data, Google places nearly as large an emphasis on research and development as it does for sales and marketing. Having a large staff in research and development will ensure a strong future market when it is supported with an appropriate corporate strategy. Even if it is difficult to conclude that Google will have a bright future based on the distribution of its workforce, it is certain that this strong contingency of Googles research and development team has proven to be valuable by developing new and exciting technologies, making it difficult for competitors to catch up. Literature Review In todays globalized and integrated world, change within industries and organizations occurs rapidly. Understanding the impact of an organizations environment could assist organizations in coping with this change. The organizational environment includes all elements existing outside the boundary of the organization that have the potential to affect the organization (Daft, Organization Theory and Design, 8th ed., 2004). The organizational environment consists of the external environment and the internal environment. The external environment is made up of those forces that exist outside of the organizations boundaries and have an effect on the organization. The external environment is further divided into the general environment and the task environment. The general environment is the outer layer that is widely dispersed and affects organizations indirectly (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). The general environment includes technological, socio-cultural, economic, legal/political, and international factors. On the other hand, the task environment is closer to the organization and includes the sectors that conduct day-to-day transactions with the organization and directly influence its basic operations and performance (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). The task environment includes customers, labor market, suppliers and competitors. The internal environment includes the elements within the organizations boundaries (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). It includes employees, management and culture of the organization. In this paper the focus is on the culture of the organization and its affect on the performance of the organization. A corporate culture is defined as the set of key values, beliefs, understandings, and norms shared by members of an organization (Martin, 2002) (Kilmann, Ralph H.; Saxton, Mary J.; Serpa, Roy, 1986) (Smircich, 1983). It could also be defined as an â€Å"interdependent set of beliefs, values, ways of behaving, and tools for living that are so common in a community that they tend to perpetuate themselves, sometimes over long periods of time. This continuity is the product of a variety of social forces that are frequently subtle, bordering on invisible, through which people learn a groups norms and values, are rewarded when they accept them, and are ostracized when they do not† (Bemowski, 1995) (Wilhelm, 1992). Corporate culture is derived from both the management and the organization itself. The management, through its philosophy, values, actions and the organization through its roles, structure, systems and technology comprise the corporate culture. Feedback is received from the corporate culture to the management and organization. The following illustrates this process. Classification Schemes There are different classifications of corporate culture defined by different authors. The different views of four authors will be considered in the following: 1. Henry Migliore After studying 24 organizations, Henry Migliore included 20 cultural factors, which he referred to as the â€Å"Corporate Culture Index† (Migliore, Henry; R.T. Martin; Tim Baer; and Jeffrey L. Horvath, 1989). These factors include the following characteristics. * Member Identity: the degree to which employees identify with the organization as a whole in their type of job or field of professional expertise * Team Emphasis: the degree to which work activities are organized around teams rather than individuals * People Focus: the degree to which management empowers the employees within the organization * Autonomy: the degree to which departments within the organization are encouraged to operate in a coordinated or interdependent manner * Control: the degree to which rules, regulations, and direct supervision and used to control employee behavior * Risk Tolerance: the degree to which employees are encouraged to be aggressive, innovative, and risk-seeking 2. Geert Hofstede Geert Hofstede believes the behavior of organizations is affected by a national and regional cultural grouping. To study this point, he looked for a national difference among over 100,000 of IBMs employees in different parts of the world. He came up with five dimensions of culture that influence national regional groupings (Hofstede, 1980). These are: * Power distance: the expectation of society on the levels of power an individual possess in the society. A high score of power distance reflects the expectation of the society that some individuals possess more power than others. A low score of power distance reflects the expectations of the society that all people have equal rights * Uncertainty avoidance: the degree to which a society accepts uncertainty and risk * Individualism vs. Collectivism: the degree to which people stand up for themselves or act as part of a group * Masculinity vs. Femininity: the degree to which the society gives value to the male or female * Long vs. Short-term Orientation: the degree to which a society values long term or short term orientation 3. Deal and Kennedy According to Deal and Kennedy, organizational culture is the way things get done in an organization (Deal Kennedy, 1982). They measured an organizations culture using different elements. These elements include: * Feedback: response from the organization * Risk: the degree of uncertainty in the organization Using these two elements, Deal and Kennedy suggested four classifications of corporate cultures (Deal Kennedy, 1982). These are: * The Tough-Guy Macho Culture: The feedback, which is the response from the organization, is quick and the reward is high. * The Work Hard/Play Hard Culture: Few risks are taken, but the feedback, which is the response from the organization, is rapid. * The Bet Your Company Culture: This involves high risk, but it may take a long time to know the outcome of the decision or action. * The Process Culture: This is associated with bureaucracy in the organization. It is common in organizations where there is little or no feedback. 4. Charles Handy Charles Handy developed Roger Harrisons work of 1972 which linked organizational structure to organizational culture (Handy, 1985). According to this idea, there are four types of culture. These are: * Power Culture: A few will rule the organization from the middle. * Role Culture: Employees have clearly delegated authority and the structure of the organization is highly defined. * Task Culture: Teams are formed to solve particular problems; this is a common organizational culture for a matrix structure. * Person Culture: Employees focus on individualism rather than team work. These organizations will face a hard time staying above water. A corporate culture has two levels, visible and invisible. The visible level of culture can be seen at the surface level. It includes symbols, stories, heroes, slogans and ceremonies. The invisible level is deeper values and shared understandings held by organization members who include expressed values, assumptions and deep beliefs. The following illustrates the levels of corporate culture. It is difficult to express the invisible level of corporate culture since it cannot be seen as compared to the visible level of corporate culture. The visible level of corporate culture has different entities. These include: * Symbols: an object, act, or event that conveys meaning to others. Symbols can be considered a rich, non-verbal language that vibrantly conveys the organizations important values concerning how people relate to one another and interact with the environment (Pratt Rafaeli, 2001). * Stories: narratives based on true events that are repeated frequently and shared among organizational employees (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). * Heroes: s who exemplify the deeds, character, and attributes of a strong corporate culture (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). * Slogans: a phrase or sentence that succinctly expresses a key corporate value (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). Companies use slogans to convey their core values and missions. Examples of slogans are Googles â€Å"Dont be evil,† and Microsofts â€Å"Our passion, your potential.† * Ceremonies: a planned activity that makes up a special event, and is conducted for the benefit of an audience (Trice Beyer, 1984). According to research conducted at Harvard on 207 U.S. firms (Kotter Heskett, 1992), corporate cultures can be divided into adaptive and unadaptive corporate cultures. The study found that a strong corporate culture by itself does not guarantee company success. However, when strong corporate culture adapts to the external environment, it will bring success to the companys business. In both adaptive and unadaptive corporate cultures, there are visible behaviors and expressed values. In the adaptive corporate culture, managers are concerned with their customers (external environment) and employees (internal environment). On the other hand, in an unadaptive corporate culture, managers are concerned only with themselves. Therefore, they dont want change or risks. A strong corporate culture should always be adapted to the external environment (Kotter Heskett, 1992). Table 1: Adaptive and Unadaptive Corporate Culture Adaptive Corporate Cultures Unadaptive Corporate Cultures Visible Behavior Managers pay close attention to all their constituencies, especially customers, and initiate change when needed to serve their legitimate interests, even if it entails taking some risks. Managers tend to behave somewhat insularly, politically, and bureaucratically. As a result, they do not change their strategies quickly to adjust to or take advantage of changes in their business environments. Expressed Values Managers care deeply about customers, stockholders, and employees. They also strongly value people and processes that can create useful change (e.g. leadership initiatives up and down the management hierarchy). Managers care mainly about themselves, their immediate work group, or some product (or technology) associated with that work group. They value the orderly and risk-reducing management process much more highly than leadership initiatives. Types of Cultures There are four types of corporate culture, which can be further classified into two matrixes. These are the needs of the environment, which could be flexible or stable, and the strategic focus, which can be external or internal. The four categories associated with this are adaptability, achievement, involvement, and consistency (McDonald Gandz, 1992) (Denison Mishra, 1995). The four types of corporate cultures are: 1. Adaptability culture: A culture characterized by values that support the companys ability to interpret and translate signals from the environment into new behavior responses. It emerges in an environment that requires fast response and high-risk decision making. Managers encourage values that support the companys ability to rapidly detect, interpret, and translate signals from the environment into new behavior responses. Employees have autonomy to make decisions and act freely to meet new needs, and responsiveness to customers is highly valued. Managers also actively create change by encouraging and rewarding creativity, experimentation, and risk taking (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). 2. The achievement culture: A results-oriented culture that values competitiveness, personal initiative, and achievement. It is suited to organizations that are concerned with serving specific customers in the external environment but without the intense need for flexibility and rapid change. This is a results-oriented culture that values competitiveness, aggressiveness, personal initiative, and willingness to work long and hard to achieve results (Hooijberg Petrock, 1993). 3. The involvement culture: A culture that places high value on meeting that needs of employees and values cooperation and equality. It has an internal focus on the involvement and participation of employees to rapidly meet changing needs from the environment. This culture places a high value on meeting the needs of employees, and the organization may be characterized by a caring, family-like atmosphere. Managers emphasize values such as cooperation, consideration of both employees and customers, and the avoidance of status differences (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). 4. Consistency culture: A culture that values and rewards a methodical, rational, orderly way of doing things. It has an internal focus and a consistency orientation for a stable environment. Following the rules and being thrifty are valued, and the culture supports and rewards a methodical, rational, orderly way of doing things, since there is no stable environment. It is rather difficult to have this kind of corporate culture (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). The Start of Search Engines Most people agree that the first pre-web search engine was Archie created by Alan Emtage in 1990, while he was a student at McGill University. At that time, the Internet was used by learning institutions to store different kinds of documents on shared machines. Since there were no search engines at that time, if one did not know the exact machine address and file name, it would not be possible to find the document. Emtage created an interface for the search engine, calling it Archie, and used an indexed filing system. In order to use Archie, a user would log in to an Archie server via a command line interface and type in keywords that matched the file title being searched. The result from Archie would display the possible machine locations in which the file could be found. The user then had to log in to each machine and look for the individual file. Archie provided the machine name where the file could be found, but the user had to know a keyword in the title of the file being search ed. This may seem useless today, but it was the best technology available at the time. In 1993, students at the University of Nevada created another search engine similar to Archie, which they called Veronica. The main difference between Archie and Veronica was that Veronicas search results showed the possible document names. As the Internet started to grow larger, from 130 sites in 1993 to 600,000 in 1996, the glory of Archie and Veronica also faded. Matthew Gray, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, created a web based search engine known as WWW Wanderer. The Wanderer had a list of indexed sites at the back end and a search interface that allowed users to search the index at the front end. In 1994, Brian Pinkerton, a researcher from the University of Washington, developed a more powerful search engine by the name of WebCrawler. WebCrawler could index the full text of a web document it found and also use a linking of different web pages, just as Googles PageRanking algorithm does. Alta Vista was the next stronger search engine invention. Unlike other search engines, Alta Vista was created to test the performance of the superfast Alpha processor. After Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) made a superfast Alpha processor, the company was looking for a way to test its performance. One of DECs researchers, Louis Monier, was working at Western Lab in Palo Alto, California, and came up with the idea of building a search engine that could load the entire Internet onto the Alpha computer to show the processors speed. Not only did Monier come up with the idea, he also built the search engine. However, the management of DEC did not realize the magnitude of this discovery. Some believe that the management could not understand the marketability of Alta Vista, because they considered DEC to be a hardware, not a software company. In January 1998, Compaq purchased DEC for $9.6 billion dollars. Compaq recognized the marketability of Alta Vista and started to invest more into it. Rod Schrock, a Compaq executive, was given the responsibility of Alta Vista, and developed the site to look like Yahoo. In June 1999, Compaq sold Alta Vista to CMGI, an Internet holding company, for $2.3 billion dollars, mostly in stock. CMGI could not hold on to Alta Vista for long since it lost 90 percent of its value. In 2003, CMGI was forced to sell Alta Vista to Overture Services, Inc. for $140 million. Yahoo acquired Overture Services, Inc., and Alta Vista became owed by Yahoo, its former fierce competitor. Yahoo had opened its doors two years prior in March 1995. Yahoo was started as a project to win a fantasy basketball league by two Stanford PhD candidate students, Jerry Yang and David Filo in the early 1990s. Both were studying electronic design automation, which was a popular field when they began studying but the subject got cold when these students reached their fourth year of their doctoral work. â€Å"The prospects of finishing and getting on with life were pretty grim. The real story is that we were bored with our PhDs and we did everything we could to avoid writing our thesis,† (Battelle, 2005) Yang recalls. To win a fantasy basketball league, Filo came up with an Internet crawler that collected data from basketball sites using protocol and compiled the data based on different categories like players performance, trade amount, history, etc. Yang and Filo won the fantasy basketball league using their project (Battelle, 2005). After the first browser was released in 1993, Yang started surfing the Web and maintaining a list of sites he was most interested in. Filo continued to develop software, and later wrote â€Å"Jerry and Davids Guide to the World Wide Web,† which helped to automate the list of sites Yang was collecting. Yang created a home page for the software Filo developed and called it Akebono, named after a famous sumo wrestler (Battelle, 2005). â€Å"Jerry and Davids Guide to the World Wide Web† became quickly famous, first among Stanford graduate students and then throughout the Web. In 1995, Yang and Filo realized the potential of â€Å"Jerry and Davids Guide to the World Wide Web,† and decided to invest more time into it. First and foremost, they wanted to have a catchy name for the site. Both, Yang and Filo, were inspired by computer science acronyms that started with â€Å"YA† for â€Å"yet another.† They began to search the dictionary, and when they got to â€Å"Yahoo,† they knew they had a winner (Reid, 1997). The dictionary defined the term as â€Å"a rude, unsophisticated, uncouth person,† but the word also lent itself to reverse engineering by way of an acronym: Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle (Battelle, 2005). Filo and Yang tried to sell their project, Yahoo, to different companies. However, they were unable to find Impact of Corporate Culture on IT Company Growth and Profits Impact of Corporate Culture on IT Company Growth and Profits The Impact of Corporate Culture on the Growth and Profitability of IT Companies: The Case of Google Abstract In todays global economy, companies from different industries are trying to create a unique competitive advantage to stay in business and maximize their shareholders equity. In doing so, companies should analyze their largest expenses and try to minimize these costs while utilizing their resources in order to make the most from these expenditures. The largest operating expense in U.S. companies is salary. To maximize this expenditure, businesses should devise ways in which to motivate their employees to be more productive. Controlling employees to come to work is easy, but how can companies motivate their employees to work to their full capacity? One way in which this can be accomplished is by creating a suitable, attractive, and tension-free working environment for employees. In doing so, companies can create a strong corporate culture which could offer a competitive advantage. As an example, Google has become one of the largest IT companies in the world in fewer than two decades from its establishment. Not only has Google grown to be one of the largest IT company in the world, it has also developed unique and innovative products, a high job growth, and a secure position as one of the top five companies for which to work. Google has managed to achieve this not only by developing appropriate business strategy, but also creatin g a strong corporate culture that concentrates mainly on employees and customers. In this research, I will try to analyze Googles achievements. I will conduct a small survey to examine the adaptability of Googles flexible corporate culture in IT companies located in Utah. Introduction Statement of the Problem The old saying, â€Å"You can lead a horse to water, but you cant make him drink† may hold true for employees as well; you can make employees come to work, but it is not easy to make them work to their full capacity. Companies may use different methods to control their employees to make them work to their fullest working capacity, but this does not always succeed. To understand employees work satisfaction and engagement in their work, it is useful to analyze a survey conducted by the Gallup Management Journal (GMJ) (Houser, 2009). The GMJ surveyed U.S. employees to understand how engaged they are in their work and their attitudes toward their managers. According to the study, there are three types of employees: 1. Engaged employees: Those who work with passion, motivation, and have deep feelings toward their company. These people are the ones who move the organization. 2. Not-engaged employees: Those who are physically present in the company but mentally absent. These employees are not motivated, and they dont care about their company. They come to work simply to put in hours. The survey refers to them as â€Å"walking through their workday.† 3. Actively disengaged employees: Those who are not only unhappy, but they express their unhappiness in different ways. They may undermine what their engaged coworkers accomplish. The study results showed that 26% of respondents are engaged in their work, 56% of the respondents are not engaged in their work, and 18% of the respondents are actively disengaged in their work. The following chart illustrates the finding of this study. The respondents of the survey were asked if they would fire their manager, given the opportunity. Respondents indicated that 24% would fire their manager if they were given the chance. Of this number, 6% of those respondents were engaged in their work, 23% of the number were not engaged in their work, and 51% of the respondents were actively disengaged in their work. Therefore, less engaged employees tend to dislike their managers, and would fire them, given the opportunity. According to the study, this lack of productivity costs companies billions of dollars. Approximately 24.7 million employees age 18 and over are actively disengaged; this represents 18% of the total workforce. From 2000 to 2007, actively disengaged employees in the U.S. cost the countrys economy from $334 to $431 billion every year in low productivity. The Cost Of Disengagement In this study, I will analyze the different reasons why employees are disengaged from their work, and I will suggest recommendations to solve this problem by taking as an example a successful company in the U.S. Purpose of the study Today, different companies are trying to find a unique competitive advantage. One competitive advantage that was overlooked for many years is an attractive organizational culture. Not only will a superior organizational culture help in attracting and retaining the best employees, it can also be used to create a loyal customer base. In this paper, I will investigate the organizational culture of Google, Inc. in the information technology (IT) industrial sector. I will analyze how Google has capitalized on its organizational culture to become one of the largest search engines and IT companies in the world. I will conduct a small survey on organizational culture on IT companies located in Salt Lake City, Utah to determine useful recommendations by analyzing the results of the survey and comparing these to Googles organizational culture. Before analyzing organizational cultures, it would be beneficial to answer some questions as to why this topic was selected as well as other related issues. Why I Focused on Organizational Culture Many companies have tried to come up with a competitive advantage to maximize the shareholders profits. For years, an attractive corporate culture was not considered as vital to the success of an organization. Unlike external factors of business, which are not directly controlled by organizations, corporate culture is an internal environmental force which can be manipulated by organizations in their favor. Why I Emphasized the Employees Employees are the executers of the plans and strategies of the organization. Most companies consider employees as their asset, but, in my opinion, employees are much more than this. According to a study conducted by the United States Census Bureau, companies largest operating expense is salary. (U.S.CensusBureau, 2000) (See charts below). By taking care of their employees, organizations can get the best results from them. The following charts show the breakdown of operating expense for different industries in 1997 as it was studied by the U.S. Census Bureau under the Economic and Statistics Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce. Even though, this study was conducted more than a decade ago, I have included it, because I believe it shows the general trend of the breakdown of operating expenses within U.S. industries. Merchant wholesale companies have five major operating costs. Of these, payroll was by far the largest operating expense. If payroll expense and fringe benefits, which are operating expenses toward employees, are combined, more than half of the total operating expenses go toward employee salaries. The breakdown of operating expenses of retail trade has the same tendency as that of the merchant wholesaler. In fact, the only difference is that the expenses for rent by retail trade businesses are a little bit higher than that of the merchant wholesaler. The breakdown of operating expense for business services, which include IT industries, shows a larger expense toward employees. Payroll, consisting of 51% of total operating expense, contract labor, consisting of 5% of total operating expense and fringe benefits, consisting of 8% of total operating expense makes up a total of 64% of the total operating expense. The breakdown of the operating expenses for legal services follows the same trend as for business services. The following chart compares payroll expenses of different sectors of business According to the above chart, business services, health services and legal services pay the highest portion of operating expenses to payroll. Clearly, if companies are paying the majority of their operating expense toward the salaries of their employees, they should try to get the most from their workforce. Another study conducted in 2007 by the AmericanTimeUseSurvey through the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (AmericanTimeUseSurvey, 2007) showed that of the total working people in U.S., those who were between the ages of 25 to 54 living in households with children under the age of 18 spent most of their time either working or in work-related activities. The survey was provided from data taken on non-holiday weekdays. Out of the total 24 hours, those between the age of 25 to 54 living in households with children under the age of 18 spent 8.7 hours working or on work-related activities, 7.6 hours sleeping, 2.6 hours on leisure and sports, 1.2 hours caring for others, 1.1 hours on household activities, 1.1 hours in eating and drinking and the remaining 1.7 hours on other activities. The following chart illustrates these hours in percentiles. Based on this survey, people with children between the ages of 25 to 54, who were part of the labor force, spent the majority of their time at the workplace or doing work-related activities. If companies created a suitable and stable environment, this labor force would be motivated to work harder to help companies maximize their profits. This study will research and analyze how companies could create a competitive advantage by attracting and retaining the best employees through a superior corporate culture. Why I focused on IT IT, by any comparison, is the fastest growing industry in the world. Companies are spending billions of dollars every year, which has made the IT industry one of the most profitable industries in the world. According to a study conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2005 and published in 2007 (U.S.CensusBureau, Information and Communication Technology: 2005, April 2007), the information industry by itself contributes 52.4 billion dollars to the IT industry through purchases of hardware and software annually. The finance and insurance sectors spent $44.2 billion; the manufacturing, professional, scientific, and technical services sectors spent $32.5 billion; the health care sector spent $27 billion; and the social assistance business sector spent $19.9 billion on IT hardware and software components in 2005 alone. Based on this study, more than $200 billion was spent on IT hardware and software by different business sectors in 2005. According to this study, the noncapital and capital expenditures for computer software were higher compared to IT hardware. It is a general assumption that if companies are investing more on computer software, the software industry is generating a lot of money. In 2005 alone, the noncapital expenditure for computer software was $54.2 billion, whereas the capital expenditure for the same sector was $49.8 billion. Therefore, this research will focus on computer software companies. Why Focus on Google? Google is one of the fastest growing companies in the world. It has grown sevenfold over the last decade. According to Fortune, Google was listed as the fourth best company to work for in 2009 (100 Best Companies to Work for 2009: Google GOOG from Fortune, 2009). Even though Google was listed as the fourth best company to work for in 2009 by Fortune, it has the highest job growth rate when compared to the other companies listed in the top ten. While Google has a 40% job growth rate, NetApp, which was listed in first place, only has a 12% job growth rate. Edward Jones and Boston Consulting Group, listed second and third, have only a 9% and 10% job growth rate respectively (100 Best Companies to Work for 2009: Google GOOG from Fortune, 2009). Google has shown tremendous growth over the past few years. As the following chart indicates, from 2004 to 2008, the net income of the company increased tenfold. Even when the world economy was in a recession at the end of 2007 and 2008, Google managed to secure a high net income (GoogleInc, 2008). Google has an interesting workforce distribution. As of December 31, 2008, 40% of Googles total workforce was in sales and marketing, 36% in research and development, 15% in general and administrative positions, and the remaining 9% in operations (Google Inc., 2008). According to this data, Google places nearly as large an emphasis on research and development as it does for sales and marketing. Having a large staff in research and development will ensure a strong future market when it is supported with an appropriate corporate strategy. Even if it is difficult to conclude that Google will have a bright future based on the distribution of its workforce, it is certain that this strong contingency of Googles research and development team has proven to be valuable by developing new and exciting technologies, making it difficult for competitors to catch up. Literature Review In todays globalized and integrated world, change within industries and organizations occurs rapidly. Understanding the impact of an organizations environment could assist organizations in coping with this change. The organizational environment includes all elements existing outside the boundary of the organization that have the potential to affect the organization (Daft, Organization Theory and Design, 8th ed., 2004). The organizational environment consists of the external environment and the internal environment. The external environment is made up of those forces that exist outside of the organizations boundaries and have an effect on the organization. The external environment is further divided into the general environment and the task environment. The general environment is the outer layer that is widely dispersed and affects organizations indirectly (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). The general environment includes technological, socio-cultural, economic, legal/political, and international factors. On the other hand, the task environment is closer to the organization and includes the sectors that conduct day-to-day transactions with the organization and directly influence its basic operations and performance (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). The task environment includes customers, labor market, suppliers and competitors. The internal environment includes the elements within the organizations boundaries (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). It includes employees, management and culture of the organization. In this paper the focus is on the culture of the organization and its affect on the performance of the organization. A corporate culture is defined as the set of key values, beliefs, understandings, and norms shared by members of an organization (Martin, 2002) (Kilmann, Ralph H.; Saxton, Mary J.; Serpa, Roy, 1986) (Smircich, 1983). It could also be defined as an â€Å"interdependent set of beliefs, values, ways of behaving, and tools for living that are so common in a community that they tend to perpetuate themselves, sometimes over long periods of time. This continuity is the product of a variety of social forces that are frequently subtle, bordering on invisible, through which people learn a groups norms and values, are rewarded when they accept them, and are ostracized when they do not† (Bemowski, 1995) (Wilhelm, 1992). Corporate culture is derived from both the management and the organization itself. The management, through its philosophy, values, actions and the organization through its roles, structure, systems and technology comprise the corporate culture. Feedback is received from the corporate culture to the management and organization. The following illustrates this process. Classification Schemes There are different classifications of corporate culture defined by different authors. The different views of four authors will be considered in the following: 1. Henry Migliore After studying 24 organizations, Henry Migliore included 20 cultural factors, which he referred to as the â€Å"Corporate Culture Index† (Migliore, Henry; R.T. Martin; Tim Baer; and Jeffrey L. Horvath, 1989). These factors include the following characteristics. * Member Identity: the degree to which employees identify with the organization as a whole in their type of job or field of professional expertise * Team Emphasis: the degree to which work activities are organized around teams rather than individuals * People Focus: the degree to which management empowers the employees within the organization * Autonomy: the degree to which departments within the organization are encouraged to operate in a coordinated or interdependent manner * Control: the degree to which rules, regulations, and direct supervision and used to control employee behavior * Risk Tolerance: the degree to which employees are encouraged to be aggressive, innovative, and risk-seeking 2. Geert Hofstede Geert Hofstede believes the behavior of organizations is affected by a national and regional cultural grouping. To study this point, he looked for a national difference among over 100,000 of IBMs employees in different parts of the world. He came up with five dimensions of culture that influence national regional groupings (Hofstede, 1980). These are: * Power distance: the expectation of society on the levels of power an individual possess in the society. A high score of power distance reflects the expectation of the society that some individuals possess more power than others. A low score of power distance reflects the expectations of the society that all people have equal rights * Uncertainty avoidance: the degree to which a society accepts uncertainty and risk * Individualism vs. Collectivism: the degree to which people stand up for themselves or act as part of a group * Masculinity vs. Femininity: the degree to which the society gives value to the male or female * Long vs. Short-term Orientation: the degree to which a society values long term or short term orientation 3. Deal and Kennedy According to Deal and Kennedy, organizational culture is the way things get done in an organization (Deal Kennedy, 1982). They measured an organizations culture using different elements. These elements include: * Feedback: response from the organization * Risk: the degree of uncertainty in the organization Using these two elements, Deal and Kennedy suggested four classifications of corporate cultures (Deal Kennedy, 1982). These are: * The Tough-Guy Macho Culture: The feedback, which is the response from the organization, is quick and the reward is high. * The Work Hard/Play Hard Culture: Few risks are taken, but the feedback, which is the response from the organization, is rapid. * The Bet Your Company Culture: This involves high risk, but it may take a long time to know the outcome of the decision or action. * The Process Culture: This is associated with bureaucracy in the organization. It is common in organizations where there is little or no feedback. 4. Charles Handy Charles Handy developed Roger Harrisons work of 1972 which linked organizational structure to organizational culture (Handy, 1985). According to this idea, there are four types of culture. These are: * Power Culture: A few will rule the organization from the middle. * Role Culture: Employees have clearly delegated authority and the structure of the organization is highly defined. * Task Culture: Teams are formed to solve particular problems; this is a common organizational culture for a matrix structure. * Person Culture: Employees focus on individualism rather than team work. These organizations will face a hard time staying above water. A corporate culture has two levels, visible and invisible. The visible level of culture can be seen at the surface level. It includes symbols, stories, heroes, slogans and ceremonies. The invisible level is deeper values and shared understandings held by organization members who include expressed values, assumptions and deep beliefs. The following illustrates the levels of corporate culture. It is difficult to express the invisible level of corporate culture since it cannot be seen as compared to the visible level of corporate culture. The visible level of corporate culture has different entities. These include: * Symbols: an object, act, or event that conveys meaning to others. Symbols can be considered a rich, non-verbal language that vibrantly conveys the organizations important values concerning how people relate to one another and interact with the environment (Pratt Rafaeli, 2001). * Stories: narratives based on true events that are repeated frequently and shared among organizational employees (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). * Heroes: s who exemplify the deeds, character, and attributes of a strong corporate culture (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). * Slogans: a phrase or sentence that succinctly expresses a key corporate value (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). Companies use slogans to convey their core values and missions. Examples of slogans are Googles â€Å"Dont be evil,† and Microsofts â€Å"Our passion, your potential.† * Ceremonies: a planned activity that makes up a special event, and is conducted for the benefit of an audience (Trice Beyer, 1984). According to research conducted at Harvard on 207 U.S. firms (Kotter Heskett, 1992), corporate cultures can be divided into adaptive and unadaptive corporate cultures. The study found that a strong corporate culture by itself does not guarantee company success. However, when strong corporate culture adapts to the external environment, it will bring success to the companys business. In both adaptive and unadaptive corporate cultures, there are visible behaviors and expressed values. In the adaptive corporate culture, managers are concerned with their customers (external environment) and employees (internal environment). On the other hand, in an unadaptive corporate culture, managers are concerned only with themselves. Therefore, they dont want change or risks. A strong corporate culture should always be adapted to the external environment (Kotter Heskett, 1992). Table 1: Adaptive and Unadaptive Corporate Culture Adaptive Corporate Cultures Unadaptive Corporate Cultures Visible Behavior Managers pay close attention to all their constituencies, especially customers, and initiate change when needed to serve their legitimate interests, even if it entails taking some risks. Managers tend to behave somewhat insularly, politically, and bureaucratically. As a result, they do not change their strategies quickly to adjust to or take advantage of changes in their business environments. Expressed Values Managers care deeply about customers, stockholders, and employees. They also strongly value people and processes that can create useful change (e.g. leadership initiatives up and down the management hierarchy). Managers care mainly about themselves, their immediate work group, or some product (or technology) associated with that work group. They value the orderly and risk-reducing management process much more highly than leadership initiatives. Types of Cultures There are four types of corporate culture, which can be further classified into two matrixes. These are the needs of the environment, which could be flexible or stable, and the strategic focus, which can be external or internal. The four categories associated with this are adaptability, achievement, involvement, and consistency (McDonald Gandz, 1992) (Denison Mishra, 1995). The four types of corporate cultures are: 1. Adaptability culture: A culture characterized by values that support the companys ability to interpret and translate signals from the environment into new behavior responses. It emerges in an environment that requires fast response and high-risk decision making. Managers encourage values that support the companys ability to rapidly detect, interpret, and translate signals from the environment into new behavior responses. Employees have autonomy to make decisions and act freely to meet new needs, and responsiveness to customers is highly valued. Managers also actively create change by encouraging and rewarding creativity, experimentation, and risk taking (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). 2. The achievement culture: A results-oriented culture that values competitiveness, personal initiative, and achievement. It is suited to organizations that are concerned with serving specific customers in the external environment but without the intense need for flexibility and rapid change. This is a results-oriented culture that values competitiveness, aggressiveness, personal initiative, and willingness to work long and hard to achieve results (Hooijberg Petrock, 1993). 3. The involvement culture: A culture that places high value on meeting that needs of employees and values cooperation and equality. It has an internal focus on the involvement and participation of employees to rapidly meet changing needs from the environment. This culture places a high value on meeting the needs of employees, and the organization may be characterized by a caring, family-like atmosphere. Managers emphasize values such as cooperation, consideration of both employees and customers, and the avoidance of status differences (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). 4. Consistency culture: A culture that values and rewards a methodical, rational, orderly way of doing things. It has an internal focus and a consistency orientation for a stable environment. Following the rules and being thrifty are valued, and the culture supports and rewards a methodical, rational, orderly way of doing things, since there is no stable environment. It is rather difficult to have this kind of corporate culture (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). The Start of Search Engines Most people agree that the first pre-web search engine was Archie created by Alan Emtage in 1990, while he was a student at McGill University. At that time, the Internet was used by learning institutions to store different kinds of documents on shared machines. Since there were no search engines at that time, if one did not know the exact machine address and file name, it would not be possible to find the document. Emtage created an interface for the search engine, calling it Archie, and used an indexed filing system. In order to use Archie, a user would log in to an Archie server via a command line interface and type in keywords that matched the file title being searched. The result from Archie would display the possible machine locations in which the file could be found. The user then had to log in to each machine and look for the individual file. Archie provided the machine name where the file could be found, but the user had to know a keyword in the title of the file being search ed. This may seem useless today, but it was the best technology available at the time. In 1993, students at the University of Nevada created another search engine similar to Archie, which they called Veronica. The main difference between Archie and Veronica was that Veronicas search results showed the possible document names. As the Internet started to grow larger, from 130 sites in 1993 to 600,000 in 1996, the glory of Archie and Veronica also faded. Matthew Gray, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, created a web based search engine known as WWW Wanderer. The Wanderer had a list of indexed sites at the back end and a search interface that allowed users to search the index at the front end. In 1994, Brian Pinkerton, a researcher from the University of Washington, developed a more powerful search engine by the name of WebCrawler. WebCrawler could index the full text of a web document it found and also use a linking of different web pages, just as Googles PageRanking algorithm does. Alta Vista was the next stronger search engine invention. Unlike other search engines, Alta Vista was created to test the performance of the superfast Alpha processor. After Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) made a superfast Alpha processor, the company was looking for a way to test its performance. One of DECs researchers, Louis Monier, was working at Western Lab in Palo Alto, California, and came up with the idea of building a search engine that could load the entire Internet onto the Alpha computer to show the processors speed. Not only did Monier come up with the idea, he also built the search engine. However, the management of DEC did not realize the magnitude of this discovery. Some believe that the management could not understand the marketability of Alta Vista, because they considered DEC to be a hardware, not a software company. In January 1998, Compaq purchased DEC for $9.6 billion dollars. Compaq recognized the marketability of Alta Vista and started to invest more into it. Rod Schrock, a Compaq executive, was given the responsibility of Alta Vista, and developed the site to look like Yahoo. In June 1999, Compaq sold Alta Vista to CMGI, an Internet holding company, for $2.3 billion dollars, mostly in stock. CMGI could not hold on to Alta Vista for long since it lost 90 percent of its value. In 2003, CMGI was forced to sell Alta Vista to Overture Services, Inc. for $140 million. Yahoo acquired Overture Services, Inc., and Alta Vista became owed by Yahoo, its former fierce competitor. Yahoo had opened its doors two years prior in March 1995. Yahoo was started as a project to win a fantasy basketball league by two Stanford PhD candidate students, Jerry Yang and David Filo in the early 1990s. Both were studying electronic design automation, which was a popular field when they began studying but the subject got cold when these students reached their fourth year of their doctoral work. â€Å"The prospects of finishing and getting on with life were pretty grim. The real story is that we were bored with our PhDs and we did everything we could to avoid writing our thesis,† (Battelle, 2005) Yang recalls. To win a fantasy basketball league, Filo came up with an Internet crawler that collected data from basketball sites using protocol and compiled the data based on different categories like players performance, trade amount, history, etc. Yang and Filo won the fantasy basketball league using their project (Battelle, 2005). After the first browser was released in 1993, Yang started surfing the Web and maintaining a list of sites he was most interested in. Filo continued to develop software, and later wrote â€Å"Jerry and Davids Guide to the World Wide Web,† which helped to automate the list of sites Yang was collecting. Yang created a home page for the software Filo developed and called it Akebono, named after a famous sumo wrestler (Battelle, 2005). â€Å"Jerry and Davids Guide to the World Wide Web† became quickly famous, first among Stanford graduate students and then throughout the Web. In 1995, Yang and Filo realized the potential of â€Å"Jerry and Davids Guide to the World Wide Web,† and decided to invest more time into it. First and foremost, they wanted to have a catchy name for the site. Both, Yang and Filo, were inspired by computer science acronyms that started with â€Å"YA† for â€Å"yet another.† They began to search the dictionary, and when they got to â€Å"Yahoo,† they knew they had a winner (Reid, 1997). The dictionary defined the term as â€Å"a rude, unsophisticated, uncouth person,† but the word also lent itself to reverse engineering by way of an acronym: Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle (Battelle, 2005). Filo and Yang tried to sell their project, Yahoo, to different companies. However, they were unable to find

Organ Donation Essay examples -- Papers Organ Donor Medical Health Ess

Organ Donation Organ donation is a topic which contains many conflicting views. To some of the public population organ donation is a genuine way of saving the life of another, to some it is mistrusted and to others it is not fully understood. There are some techniques that can be used to increase donation. Of these techniques the most crucial would be being educated. If the life threatening and the critical shortage of organs was fully understood by the public, organ donation would more likely be on the rise. An effort is needed throughout the world to make people aware of the benefits this process contains. Advances in medical technology have made it possible to save someone?s life by a process of organ donation. However, the scarcity of available organs is bringing the beneficial process down. By becoming an organ donor, people engage in improving someone else?s life at no cost. Although the question of religious or moral cost comes into effect, virtually there is no physical cost of becoming an organ donor. Organ donation should be seen as the "gift of life" but there are not enough logical explanations to explain this phrase. Whether people are donors, non-donors or recipients, all the public should be aware that organ donation is for the common welfare. Organ Donation-Why People Become Donors The main reason an individual becomes an organ donor is to give someone the "gift of life." By giving someone this privilege a person feels they are adding to another person?s life. Some reasons people give this gift is simply from having a kind heart, they may find the other person?s use for the organ more important than their need or maybe just because they just have no use for t... ...ic is underway. This effort is referred to as the Coalition on Donation and Advertising Council. The goal of this coalition is to ensure every individual in the U.S. understands the need for organ donation and accepts it as a human responsibility. Organ Donation-Ways to Increase Awareness organ donation is in serious need for more participants. Medical technology has made it possible to give people a second chance at life and our public population is bringing this chance down. Educational efforts remain most important to increase the success of donation. The public needs to recognize the benefits of such a process. The role of a family must also improve. Although families have the authority to refuse donation of their deceased one, they also have the opportunity to give a person a second chance of life, or better said the ?gift of life."

The Effects of Political and Demographic Variables on Christian Coalition Scores :: Christianity Christian Religion Essays Research

The Effects of Political and Demographic Variables on Christian Coalition Scores One of the most interesting phenomena in American politics is the recent rise of the Christian right. First termed the "Moral Majority" by Jerry Falwell in the late 1970s, the Christian Right has undergone a name and a leader change. The Christian Coalition is currently led by Pat Robertson who seeks to continue much of the early work pioneered by the Moral Majority. The Moral Majority sought to reintroduce Christian principles into the political sphere. The Christian Coalition focuses on continuing these efforts in an attempt to reverse "the moral decay that threatens our great nation" (Christian Coalition, 1996). The purpose of this research is to measure the political and demographic variables on House representatives' frequency of voting with the Christian Coalition agenda. This is measured by the Christian Coalition's Congressional Scorecard as the percentage a representative supports the position held by the Coalition. The independent variables used in this research include: party affiliation of the representative, how the district voted in the 1988 presidential election, the percent minority in the district of voting age, percentage of district who had attended some college, and the median household income of the district. These are examined to analyze their independent and collective effect on the representative's frequency of supporting the Christian Coalition (CC) agenda. The following hypotheses are the expected empirical patterns based upon logic and conventional wisdom. It is expected that party affiliation will be a major factor in the frequency of a representative voting with the CC agenda, regardless of the non-partisan claim made by the CC organization. Specifically, if a representative were a Republican, she or he would vote more consistently with the CC agenda than a Democrat. Additionally, it is hypothesized that the greater a district's vote for Republican George Bush in the 1988 presidential election, the higher their representative's support for the CC agenda. This assumption is based on the belief that a Republican vote for president would generally translate into the election of a Republican or at the least, a conservative Democrat representative. With regard to the percent minorities in a district, it is hypothesized that because high concentrations of minorities tend to live in urban areas, which tend to receive a large portion of social services and entitlements, the elected representative would not vote in favor of the CC agenda which often seeks to limit federal spending in these areas.

Policy making in South Africa Essay

Introduction. Government exists in order to organise a society or nation into a manageable unit. It seeks to formulate laws for the purpose of instituting a fair, equitable and just society in which individual citizens expect to live safely being organised both to contribute to and to benefit from sound governing policy. Broadly speaking policy consists of three overhead functions which are: policy making, policy implementation and policy analysis and evaluation. The task of this assignment is to concentrate only on policy-making with particular reference to the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. The policy-making process has three main steps, namely policy initiation; policy formulation and policy approval. Policy making, is one of the six administrative enabling functions which should be done in an orderly manner. Firstly, the nature and place of policy for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa is explained and discussed by using definitions to explain the various terminologies in order to understand to concept of policy-making. Secondly, the first step of policy making process, namely, policy initiation for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa, is discussed. Policy initiation has three steps, namely becoming aware of the problem, describing the problem and the collection of information regarding the elimination of the high crime rate. Thirdly, the second step of the policy making process namely, policy formulation with reference to the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa needs to be examined. Policy formulation has six steps, namely, liaison with interested parties, the processing of information, the setting of objectives, determining the priorities, considering the alternatives, the survey of financial resources. Fourthly, the final step of policy making is discussed, namely policy approval for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. A scientific approach is used in this assignment. Each step contains facts followed by an explanation of the facts, the application of the theory by using the elimination of high crime in South Africa as an example and lastly deductions are made at the end of each section. Sources that were used were taken from various books and via the internet. In order to understand the policy-making process the nature and place of policy for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa is to be discussed. 1.The nature and place of policy for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. Policy-making is one of the six administrative enabling functions. In order to understand public policy-making it is necessary to define and explain the following concepts: administrative enabling function: public policy and policy making. 1.1.The meaning of administrative as an enabling function. Meiring (2001:48) explains that the â€Å"enabling functions can be divided into six main groups, for example, policy-making: the creation of structures and posts; financial provision; personnel provision; determining work procedures and determining control measures and standards. Meiring (2001:47) further states that â€Å"no activity can be carried out, no goal pursued or objective achieved without the continuous provision of indispensable and specific means†, for example resources. In order for service delivery to take effect, policies need to be instituted. Policies are the objectives of government and therefore it is necessary for the resources to have a continuous uninterrupted flow. Resources are the commodities used in the production of goods and services. In this case the  government supplies a service to the community and therefore needs the resources to fulfil this obligation. Resources referred to would be human and capital resources. Capital resources are, for example, buildings, vehicles and finance. The uses of auxiliary functions, for example, the usage of computers, are supportive in role and a necessity in order for the South African Police Service to be efficient and effective in the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. 1.2. The meaning of public policy. The nature of policy is a multidimensional and there are various definitions of what public policy is. According to Fox, Schwella and Wissink (1991:27-28) the following basic fundamentals of public policy can be identified and are summarised below:Policy is developed by government role players, â€Å"although non-government role players may influence the policy formulation and development† and public policy is a â€Å"purposive or goal-orientated action rather than random or chance behaviour† (Fox, Schwella and Wissink: 1991:27). Hanekom (1987:7) further elaborates and describes policy-making as â€Å"the activity preceding the publication of a goal† and it is therefore a â€Å"formally articulated goal that the legislator intends pursuing with society.† Botes et al (1992:191) further describes public policy making as being the â€Å"systematic actions† which should be taken to achieve the goals of the relevant institution. Fox, Schwella and Wissink (1991:27-28) further state that public policy generally consists of a series of decisions taken jointly by politicians and/or officials rather than individual decisions. Public policy is a â€Å"future-orientated†, changing document which is aimed at the general welfare of the public (Fox, Schwella and Wissink: 1991:29). Thus, public policy is a systematic goal-orientated action that is developed by governmental bodies and officials in consultation with the public, which emerges in response to public demand. Public policy is a future-orientated document which not only shows the statement of intent by government but interprets the values of society. Therefore the policy for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa would be to enhance a safer and more  secure environment for its citizens. 1.3. The meaning of policy making. Cloete (1998:139) explains that for the â€Å"purpose of public administration the term policy-making should be used to refer to the functions performed to obtain policies. Functions are the smallest activity that a person can do in order to obtain the goals set out. So therefore, policy-making consists of the performance of a group of generic administrative process† which â€Å"must be undertaken in an orderly manner† (Cloete: 1998:139). Therefore the functions to eliminate South Africa of the high crime rate, for example, would be for a police constable to patrol the neighbourhood (visible policing). Chapter two is concerned with the first step of policy making, being policy initiation for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. 2.Policy initiation for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org) defines the word initiation as being derived from Latin and implies a beginning. â€Å"The related term, initiate means to begin or start a particular action, event, circumstance, or happening†. Therefore â€Å"initiation† in this context means the activation of the public making process. It is therefore necessary to do a methodical investigation when a problem arises so that an effective and efficient rational policy could be implemented. Such investigation requires three steps within policy initiation which consists of the following: becoming aware of the problem; describing the problem and collecting information for solving and or preventing the problem. The first step in policy initiation would be discussed, namely, becoming aware of the problem of the high crime rate in South Africa. 2.1.Becoming aware of the problem of the high crime rate in South Africa. The recognition of a problem is reliant on the accessibility of information on the needs that move the citizen to gain the attention of the government, who in turn would decide to act or not to act. Meiring (2001:53) further explains that â€Å"by referring to â€Å"something† as a problem, the presumption is made that a value-judgement on a specific condition in a specific place and time, is seen by a person or group(s) of persons, as being unsatisfactory†. If the government is unaware of the problems affecting society various stakeholders or interest groups would take the initiative and make government aware of the problem. Usually within a democratic environment the politicians and officials attempt to find solutions to the problem affecting society. Meiring (2001:53) further explains that when government wants to implement change that the characteristic of the policy making is â€Å"dynamic† and that the â€Å"awareness of the problem refers to a threefold activity.† The threefold activity as explained by Meiring (2001:53) has the following implications in the policy initiation stage. Firstly it creates an awareness and refers to a â€Å"new field of action and the need to undertake a search for development possibilities to promote the â€Å"good life†Ã¢â‚¬  Meiring (2001:53). The second implication refers to the awareness of an â€Å"existing problem in the community and the need to undertake a search for a possible solution to solve the problem† Meiring (2001:53). The third implication refers to the â€Å"awareness of a potential problem and the need to undertake a search for a quantifiable solution to prevent the problem† Meiring (2001:53). The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) held a seminar in Pretoria on the 9th March 2007 following events in the past few months that have raised questions about a growing wave of public dissatisfaction with crime and government’s response to it. Examples that were mentioned were and â€Å"include statements in the media and parliament by the president and cabinet ministers, the aborted FNB media and letter-writing campaign, and increased media reports of vigilantism† (http://www.iss.co.za). The ISS seminar reviewed the â€Å"links between crime and perception, based on the latest  available quantitative data† (http://www.iss.co.za). The topic under discussion was: â€Å"Crime Trends and Public Perceptions: What the Latest Statistics Show† (http://www.iss.co.za). In brief and relating to the topic of this assignment one of the summations were that â€Å"crime and unemployment remained the only two out of the twenty-three critical areas in which government has constantly achieved less than a â€Å"pass mark† (http://www.iss.co.za). Further more the South African Police Service has various existing policies in place for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa, for example, the South African Police Service Act (No.68 of 1995); National crime prevention strategy and the implementation of the development of community policing policy (http://www.iss.co.za). Therefore it is apparent that the government is aware of the problem of the high crime rate and is attempting to deal with it. It is of utmost importance that the policy makers do not treat the symptoms, but the actual cause of the problem. Crime has multiple causes as it falls within the socio-economic environment. The social environment is â€Å"multifaceted and consists of a number of interrelated factors† (Van Der Waldt et al: 2002:168). Recent studies suggest that there is a link between poor economic condition (the high unemployment rate) and crime (Fox, Van Wyk and Fourie: 1998:179). The deduction is made that the policy-making process would always involve interactions between the citizens and the state institutions, for example political office bearers and officials, who have to perform the policy-making functions. It is due to the actions of the stakeholders, whether political and or civic, that the government becomes aware of the problem. The high crime rate is a socio-economic problem which has a complex and unified factors. The factors, for example are the high unemployment rate and poverty. Further more the deduction could be made that there are existing policies in place for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa but that the implementation of the policies are severely lacking. The second step in policy initiation would be discussed, namely, describing the problem for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. 2.2.Describing the problem for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. In order to describe the problem correctly, the information needs to be obtained in an orderly manner and it must documented in a written format. Information is needed, as per Meiring (2001:54), â€Å"regarding the results that are desired, obstacles that are experienced and the limitations of the situation and thus of a solution†. Meiring (2001:55) further states that the â€Å"diagnosis and description of a problem is a cyclical process which requires continuous analysis and evaluation if the policy makers wish to take realistic decisions to meet the demands of a changing environment†. In order to seek a solution to the problem it is necessary to describe the nature and scope of the problem. As Meiring (2001:55) further states that by describing the problem it leads to an â€Å"observable presentation or description which could be seen as the image of the real situation†. Meiring (2001:55) further states that it is the effectiveness of how the â€Å"written description or presentation corresponds to the real problem that would depend on the abilities of the participants in the process as well as the quality of information that is available†. The method in obtaining and processing information is therefore linked to the â€Å"human factor and is influenced by the values and perceptions of those participating in these activities.† Meiring (2001:55)†The situation is further complicated by the perceivable/observable reality which changes with time and which in turn results not only in a change of needs or in problems, but also values†. Meiring (2001:55) For example a couple of years ago, domestic violence was perceived to be a private matter. Currently, due to various action groups, domestic violence is no longer a private issue but has become a national issue. In order to eliminate the high level of crime in South Africa the description  of the problem must be specific. So therefore, for example, the elimination of the high crime rate within the central business district of Johannesburg could be described as follows. The geographic scope would be large, covering the areas that fall within the central business district. More categories could be created, â€Å"for example the inner city and former black townships† (http://www.csvr.org.za). As per the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), the nature of the crimes could range from â€Å"housebreaking, street crime, property crime and violent crime† (http://www.csvr.org.za). Further more the nature of the crimes are different and vary depending on the area in question. Therefore it can be deduced that there are various occurrences which should be taken into account when describing the problem. The factual information; the values and perceptions of the participants or the values and perceptions between the officials and politicians. To complicate matters further, there may be different views held by the state and the citizens. For example, the citizens believe that the crime rate is on the increase and the state believes the opposite to be true. The policy-making process is a complex matter and the description of the problem must be accurately recorded. The third step in policy initiation would be discussed, namely, the collection of information for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. 2.3.The collection of information for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. The collection of information is interwoven with the previously mentioned steps, namely, becoming aware of the problem and describing the problem. The policy-makers who take policy decisions must be served with adequate information systems. In order to deal with the problem, Meiring (2001:55) states it is of utmost importance that such problems are defined in â€Å"quantifiable terms.† The term quantifiable means that the collecting of information must be dealt with in  a scientific manner. Cloete (1998:139) declares that â€Å"it is the functions involved in obtaining information which should be performed systematically to deliver information with which the matter to be decided upon can be quantified and qualified†. Once an issue (problem) is recognised, various decisions need to be taken. While making decisions cognisance must be taken of both factual information and value judgements pertaining to the issue. Meiring (2001:56) explains that â€Å"factual information relates to the observable, measurable information that can be collected†. Meiring (2001:56) further explains that â€Å"values on the other hand relate to the inherent human feelings for what is, for example, valuable, wanted or ursu ed†. A middle ground must be found between factual information and the values of the people. It must also be kept in mind that there may not be a significant amount of information available and therefore the cost effectiveness of such an exercise must be scrutinised. Collecting information is also time-consuming. It goes without saying that during this stage there is interaction and communication with all the relevant role playersInformation could be gained through research and data gathering. Some of the information could be obtained from structured interviews with Station Commissioners at randomly selected police stations. The community and businesses may be approached with the same structural questionnaire. Various statistics may be gathered from other organizations, for example, CSVR to confirm whether the crime rate has decreased or increased or what the opinions are of the community. This information gathering would involve an analysis of the information which is time consuming and which may disclose differences in notions perceived as per example the notion of â€Å"crime† which is socially constructed. The deduction is made that on collection of information, not only is quantifiable data collected but perceptions and values as well. It is at the analysis of information that differences between factual data and values are shown. Chapter three is concerned with the policy formulation for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. 3.Policy formulation for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. Policy formulation is the second step within policy making. Policy formulation consists of six steps which are: liaison with interested parties; processing information; setting of objectives; determining priorities; considering alternatives and the survey of financial resources. Anderson, (1984:93) defines policy formulation to â€Å"the crafting of proposed alternatives or options for handling a problem†. Meiring’s (2001:56) definition is more pertinent at defining formulation, which is, â€Å"the clear, precise and accurate wording of processed information so as to achieve a specific aim†. The information gained must be â€Å"classified, described and processed into the required proposals† (Meiring: 2001:56). Policy formulation must be a written description of the problem in order to make a choice on the â€Å"available alternatives to solve or prevent the problem (Meiring: 2001:56). The various actions which comprise policy formulation are often described as agenda setting. An agenda is usually a list of items to be dealt with within a meeting and are usually prioritised according to importance. Cloete and Wissink (2000:98) elucidate that it is â€Å"necessary to set a policy agenda because of the deluge of policy-related issues and problems that any government faces, normally with insufficient resources to address these problems effectively.† And therefore policy agenda setting is of the utmost importance to determine which policy problems should receive priority. It is imperative to mention that decision making is an important part of policy formulation as policy makers have to decide the best policy amongst the alternatives. Not only do policy-makers decide on facts they must also make decisions on values and still remain impartial. Policy formulation would give proposed alternatives to the problem of the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa and consists of various steps which are listed below. The first step in policy formulation would be discussed, namely, liaison with interested parties for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. 3.1.Liaison with interested parties for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. It is of utmost importance to liaise with key interested and relevant parties in order to â€Å"determine the public perceptions of a specific matter and to find the correct solutions† to these problems (Meiring: 2001:56). Interest groups are beneficial to policy makers because â€Å"they are committed to their cause† and are â€Å"willing to supply information and advice† (Craythorne: 1993:69). Various interested parties are identified by Kuye et al (2002:77) as non-governmental organisations, civilian-based organisations, research institutes, public officials, political parties, media, departmental and interdepartmental committees. The above list is not exhaustive. Meiring further states that the â€Å"factual information and non-quantifiable values can also be tested in such a liaison† (Meiring: 2001:57). The real needs of the citizens must be suitably identified and an acceptable solution agreed upon to eliminate the high crime level in South Africa. Craythorne (1993:69) cautions that interested groups are so zealous about their cause that they will supply information that is beneficial. It is of utmost importance for a compromise and a solution to take place so that the end result of the policy would be to promote the general welfare of all citizens. In June 2006, Business Against Crime signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the Industry Alignment Forum Aggravated Robberies Initiative. Nine parties indicated in principle support for the initiative, which are: Business Against Crime; Cash in Transit Forum; Casinos Association of South Africa; Consumer Goods Council of South Africa; Security Industry Alliance; South African Banking Risk Information Centre; South African Council of Shopping Centres; South African Property Owners Association and the South African Reserve Bank. (http://www.bac.org.za.). Business Against Crime acknowledges that the cooperation of government and its agencies are  critical to the success of this initiative and that they were pleased by the SAPS interest and support (http://www.bac.org.za.). The deduction that can be made is that democracy can be strengthened if everyone works in a coordinated manner to address the challenge of the high crime rate through effective liaisioning. The second step in policy formulation must be discussed, namely, the processing of information for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. 3.2.The processing of information for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. The data is collected from various surveys and once compiled into various reports, the data becomes information. The information is compiled in various reports, agendas and memoranda forwarded to various commissions of enquiry; departmental and interdepartmental committees, selected committees and various caucuses and councils. One of the most important guidelines in drafting a policy is that it must be done in a rational manner. Hanekom et al (2001:27) explains that â€Å"rationality in decision-making, as in policy-making, pertains to the making of reasoned, careful selections from alternatives in order to achieve predetermined ends.† Hanekom et al (2001:27) quote common barriers to rationality, which are mentioned as follows. â€Å"The personal value preference of both politicians and administrators may influence their objectivity in deciding on policy matters† (Hanekom et al: 2001:27) and therefore the decisions become subjective. The â€Å"expenditure already approved for a specific project is not easily reversed† and is known as â€Å"sunken costs† (Hanekom et al: 2001:27) The third barrier to rationality is known as the â€Å"conflicting consequences† whereby â€Å"the anticipated consequence of a policy are often in conflict with the unanticipated consequences of that policy† (Hanekom et al: 2001:27). Lastly, since â€Å"policy-making is aimed at the future and the future is unknown, a certain amount of speculation is involved† and this is known as  the â€Å"expectations of the future† (Hanekom et al: 2001:27). The other guideline in drafting a policy is that a policy must be defendable which relates to accountability. The policy-makers should be accountable to all role players in that they should be able to explain and defend the proposed policy. Meiring, (2001:57) further suggests that policy should conform to the â€Å"will and wishes of the majority of the citizens†. For example, all the data gathered from the survey done in the Johannesburg city centre has been compiled into various reports agendas and memorandum. In order for further clarity and recommendations to take place a series of public hearings are organised and held. These public hearings are held to in â€Å"order to justify policy attention and it forms the focus for further clarification, formulation and restructuring before the importance of acting on it by the policy system is conveyed to the policy-makers†. (Cloete and Wissink: 2000:98)The deduction could be made that the process of information must be defendable and rational and that this process is cyclical in nature and in order for policy to succeed all relevant parties must be consulted. The third step in policy formulation would be discussed, namely, the setting of objectives for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. 3.3.The setting of objectives for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. In this step it becomes possible for policy-makers to identify objectives of the intended policy. The objectives would indicate what the intensions are; how to go about achieving the objectives and by what means the objective would be achieved. In other words, what resources and capital would be needed to achieve the intended policy?Cloete and Wissink (2000:117) explain that â€Å"objectives set forth specific aims†. In other words objectives are â€Å"measurable in quantifiable terms† (Cloete and Wissink: 2000:117). The nature of objectives is normative as it states â€Å"what ought to be achieved by a particular policy and contains elements of forecasting† (Cloete and Wissink: 2000:117). Cloete and Wissink (2000:117-118) elucidate that  objective setting is linked with forecasting â€Å"by a natural progression, and is concerned with a desired future†. It must be noted that policy is a â€Å"dynamic phenomenon† and â€Å"objectives, by themselves, are static† (Kuye et al: 2002:74). This statement implies that â€Å"policy containing broad guidelines of governmental action† must change according to the needs of the citizens, â€Å"whilst objectives remain static in terms of time†. (Kuye et al: 2002:74)Meiring (2001:58) states â€Å"that when an objective has been set and made known in the public sector it is normally said that the policy has been made. It is imperative that clear objectives are set out â€Å"in order that all persons involved will know exactly the target at which activities are aimed† (Meiring: 2001:58). Therefore to reiterate, clear unambiguous objectives need to be set. The objectives within policy-making would indicate what the intensions are; how to go about achieving the objectives and by what means the objective would be achieved in order that all persons involved know what activities are aimed at. For example, the specific objective to eliminate the high crime rate within the city of Johannesburg alone would be to increase the number of visible policing from four to six policemen per city block over a period of one year who would sign a roster at every business within their â€Å"beat†. The Police Service would work in co-ordination with Business Against Crime and the public by having regular meetings to inform and educate. Cameras could be installed at various strategic places within the central business district. Increased street lighting needs to be installed in residential areas. A Zero crime tolerance campaign could be launched that would emphasise the arrest of petty criminals. It could be deduced from this section that the setting and prioritising (which will be discussed within the next step) of objectives is a process called policy making. Clear objectives need to be set and that objective setting is a statement of a desired future. The fourth step in policy formulation would then be discussed, namely, the establishment of priorities for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. 3.4.Determining the priorities for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. No government is in a position to continuously satisfy all the needs of its citizens as there is a limited amount of resources to accomplish all the needs. The most important scarce resource is finance. There is a difference between actual needs and the expected needs. Meiring (2001:58) further states that â€Å"needs are not equal and often difficult to compare or weigh up against each other†. The objectives, as stated before must be clearly defined. Meiring (2001:58) further elaborates that the â€Å"network of objectives should also be ranked in a priority list, whereby it becomes clear which objectives are more important than others. When policy makers rank and prioritise their objectives two questions are asked, â€Å"what should be done and what can be done, to solve or eliminate a problem (Meiring: 2001:58)?Cloete and Wissink (2000:122) state that the more â€Å"complex and comprehensive a policy is in terms of societal needs or demands, the greater the danger of multiple and sometimes conflicting goals and objectives can become†. Therefore Cloete and Wissink (2000:122) suggest different tasks that need to be fulfilled. One suggestion would be â€Å"establish a system of relative values and trade-off’s among the objectives† (Cloete and Wissink: 2000:122). In other words to â€Å"trade-off† one objective for another. The other task would be to â€Å"prioritise the objectives and then to optimise in sequence† (Cloete and Wissink: 2000:122). In practice this means that the selected objectives are not necessarily the best available objectives, but that the policy would satisfy t he larger section of society (Cloete and Wissink: 2000:122). For example to determine the priorities for the elimination of crime the final prioritised list would appear as follows:What should be done VSWhat can be doneEight policemen within one city block.Four policemen within a city block. Installation of cameras on every city block.Installation of cameras in problem areas only. Zero crime tolerance campaign.Only enough manpower to deal with serious crimeIt is extremely difficult to prioritise the objectives as the needs list is endless but the resource list is extremely scarce. The policy-maker needs to determine the actual needs from the expected needs which is very difficult to weigh up against. The fifth step in policy formulation would be discussed, namely, the consideration of alternatives for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. 3.5.The consideration of alternatives for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. Once the real issue is recognised, the next step would be to recognise alternative solutions. Craythorne (1993:63) cautions that it is at this step that a â€Å"particular danger arises, of becoming entangled in a search after an infinite number of solutions in order to find the optimum or best solution†. Craythorne (1993:63) further states that â€Å"firm leadership is required during this phase of policy-making to ensure that only those solutions are identified which are practical, feasible and likely to solve the problem in the most satisfying way and within the means available†. In order to consider which alternative would be the best a list should be drawn up including â€Å"the determining of all available consequences and a comparative evaluation of each consequence†(Meiring: 2001:59). The word consequence has a two fold meaning, effect and side effect. The effect of the policy refers to the policy output. Policy output as per, Fox, Schwella and Wissink (1991:32) â€Å"involves the production of policies in the form of formal legislation, administrative rules and regulations, judicial interpretation† and so forth. The side effect of a policy refers to the impact that that particular policy would have on the environment or on other policies. There are certain criteria that a policy-maker could use that would assist in the choice between alternatives. Considering the page limits on this assignment the most important criteria only are mentioned. The first criteria would be effectiveness which is â€Å"often measured in terms of units of products or services.† (Van Niekerk, Jonker and Van Der Waldt: 2001: 96) The second choice would be efficiency which addresses the costs of services. Adequacy would be the next criteria and usually â€Å"refers to the extent to which any given level of effectiveness satisfies the needs, values or opportunities that give rise to a problem.† (Van Niekerk: Jonker: Van Der Waldt: 2001: 96) It is important that the solutions are identified which are practical, feasible and likely to solve the problem in the most satisfying way and within the means available as resources such as finance and human capital are scarce. The alternatives to the solution should be listed and cognisance should be taken that the policy would have an effect on the legislation, administrative rules and any other effect. The side effects refer to the impacts on other policies and the environment. The criteria that would help a policy-maker are effectiveness, efficiency, and adequacy. Effectiveness refers to â€Å"doing the right things right†; efficiency refers to maximum output with minimum input and adequacy refers the extent that the policy satisfies the needs, values and opportunities of the citizens. Criticism, has been levied as to whether the Community Policing Forums (CPF) are still effective in enhancing public safety and if it still includes the assistance of community in combating crime. In a paper entitled South Africa’s changing community policing policy by the Institute for Security Studies the inception of the CPF in 1996 with the promulgation of the National Crime Prevention Strategy with the â€Å"intention to establish broad partnership with the community to improve police services and reduce crime† (http://www.iss.co.za.) is discusses. The CPF’ were created by legislation and were given the right to exercise public functions in terms of that legislation. Since then various other legislation and interim regulations had the effect of either â€Å"directly avoiding or downgrading the issue of state support for the CPF’s and even specifically outlawing some current practises of the CPF that facilitate support for their activities†.  (http://www.iss.co.za.). The result is two fold. Firstly, policy-makers who were formulating the subsequent legislation never thought what the effect and side effect would have on the CPF. Therefore, to date the CPF is a policy that exists on paper alone which is inadequate, inefficient, and ineffective and fails to respond to the needs of all the citizens. Thus it can be deduced that policy has a direct effect and an indirect effect, the effect of other legislation on CPF negated the positive impact of CPF. Policy needs to be reviewed regularly to ensure relevance and effectiveness. The sixth step in policy formulation would be discussed, namely, the the survey of financial resources for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. 3.6.The survey of financial resources for the eliminate the high crime rate in South Africa. â€Å"Budgeting is more than a set of procedures for controlling the volume of funds flowing to agencies and programs; it is also a means and a source of opportunities for shaping the direction and intensity of public policies and the scope of governmental activities† (Anderson:1984:179). Anderson (1984:182) further states that the budget is also a statement of policy and in reality conflicts over money are conflicts over policy. Public revenue needs to be raised to fund public services and new ways need to be found to increase the traditional sources of income. The four main sources of traditional income as per Van Der Waldt et al. (2002:9) are: income taxation, eg personal income tax; wealth taxation for example capital gains tax; consumption taxation for example value added tax and user charges, for example, consumer tariffs. Budget gives focus to specific issues of policy thus a particular ministry which received above inflation budget increases should render a better service year on year. For example the Minister of Finance granted the Ministry of Safety and Security a 43% increase between budget year 2003/04  and budget year 2006/07. One can deduce that finance supports policy. (The converse is all so true) Emphasis can be shifted from one program to another by shifting financial backing. Policy approval is the third and final step within the policy-making process for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. 4.Policy approval for the eliminate of the high crime rate in South AfricaPolicy approval is the final step in the policy-making process. Once policy makers have formulated a policy the policy is forwarded for consideration and authorisation of a policy. Meiring (2001:59) states that â€Å"policy is found in many forms, as well as various formats because policy making takes place on various levels and various participants play a co-operative role†. Public policy can be examined on four levels which are political, executive, departmental and operational policy. The policy on the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa would result in a specific policy and will have â€Å"political, executive, departmental and operational aspects†, which must be first determined â€Å".(Meiring: Personal Notes:9) Each aspect â€Å"must be formulated and approved, before a policy can be implemented† â€Å".(Meiring: Personal Notes:9) There would be an higher premium of value placed on the elimination of the high crime rate as it is a political policy. According to Meiring (Personal Notes:10) there is a specific procedure which is usually followed for the approval of policy. 4.1. The procedure for consideration and approval of the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa Bill. The specific procedure by Meiring (Personal Notes:10) is now recorded for the elimination of the high crime rate in South Africa. A public bill is introduced by the Minister of Safety and Security and is dealt with as follows:†¢Introduction and first reading where notice is given of the intention to submit a Bill on a specific subject on a specific day. On that day the measure is tabled and the short title is read, being The Elimination of the High Crime Rate†¢The second reading commences with the introduction of the policy formulated by the proposed Bill by the Minister of Safety and Security. The subjected is debated and alternative amendments are forwarded until the House accepts the policy. †¢The third phase is the Committee Stage. The Chairman of Committees, the deputy speaker, acts as chairman for the meeting where each section of the Bill is read and debated separately. In the committee stage, the contents of the Bill are thus discussed to ascertain whether the measure will succeed in carrying into effect the policy debated in the second reading. †¢Report stage. After the committee stage the speaker takes over as Chairman and the Chairman of Committees reports on the resolution of the Committee. †¢The third reading that follows seldom initiates further discussion and is executed to review the Bill in its entirety. †¢After approved by the House the Bill is referred to the President for signature. †¢After signature by the State President the Bill is published in the Government Gazette, after which date the Bill is an enforceable Act of Parliament. ConclusionGovernment exists to satisfy the needs of the community. In order to meet the needs and demands of the community, government has to develop policies to meet those needs and demands. Therefore the citizens expect service delivery which is linked to policy and policy implementation. Policy indicates what government intentions are. The policy-making process is a time consuming and complicated because of the structure of government. The policy-making is time and space bound and it takes place within a changing  environment. It is imperative that the citizens are consulted during the policy-making process so that policy is adequate, effective and efficient in addressing the needs of the citizen. Books Anderson, J.E. (1984). 3rd Edition. Public Policymaking: An Introduction. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston. Botes, P.S.; Brynard, P.A.; Fourie, D.J.; Roux, N.L. (1992). Public Administration and Management: A Guide to Central, Regional and Municipal Administration and Management. Kagiso Publishers. Pretoria. Cloete, F.: Wissink,H.: (2000). Improving Public Policy. Van Schaik Publishers. Pretoria. Cloete, J.J.N.: (1998). 9th Revised Edition. South African Public Administration and Management. JL Van Schaik Publishers. Hatfield, Pretoria. Craythorne, D.L.: (1993): 3rd Edition: Municipal Administration: A Handbook. Juta & Co. Ltd. Kenwyn. Fox, W.: Schwella, H.; Wissink, H. (1991). Public Management. Juta & Company LTD. Kenwyn. Fox, W.: Van Wyk, B.; Fourie, M. (1998). Police Management in South Africa. Juta & Company LTD. Kenwyn. Hanekom, S.X.: (1987). Public Policy: Framework and Instrument for Action. Sigma Press. Pretoria. Hanekom, S.X.: Rowland, R.W.: Bain, E.G. (2001). Revised Edition. Key Aspects of Public Administration. Oxford University Press. Southern Africa, Cape Town. Kuye, J.O. et al. (2002). Critical Perspectives on Public Administration: Issues for Consideration. Heinemann Publishers (PTY)Ltd. SandownMeiring, M.H.: (2001): 2nd Revised Edition: Fundamental Public Administration: A Perspective on Development. School for Public Administration and Management. University of Port Elizabeth. Van Der Waldt, G. et al. (2002): Managing for Results in Governement. Heinemann Publishers PTY (Ltd). Sandown. Other media sourcesMeiring, M.H.: Personal Notes: Unit 2 Policy Making in the Public Sector: Part 1: The Steps in Policy Making. http://www.bac.org.za. (Accessed 12/5/2007)http://www.csvr.org.za. (Accessed 6/5/2007)http://www.iss.co.za. (Accessed 6/5/2007)http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initiation (Accessed 26/4/2007)

Ideal Student

With scholarship, one may subdue savants in court; Brave in spirit, one may fight courageous battles; Born a king, one might rule over an Empire; One may even land on the moon; But of what use are all these achievements, If one is not able to control the mind and the senses, And uphold eternal human values? My Teachers, Fellow Students, Boys and Girls! The world badly needs today ideal students with exemplary character instead of wealth and prosperity. The progress of the nation depends on such students alone. It is such sacred practices alone that have protected ideal students through the ages.My Teachers, Fellow Students, Boys and Girls! Unfortunately, Islamic values declined in the course of time among us. Today’s student has completely forgotten all about our Islamic culture and human values. We need to find them in our self and must spread in our society. We always speak truth and follow the path of honesty and justice. This is the most important factor to become an ideal student. Fellow Students, Boys and Girls! True Knowledge is another barometer against which we can measure in an Ideal Student.Knowledgeable students always respect by the society and admire by the world. His knowledge always makes pride to his parents, family and school. Fellow Students, Boys and Girls! We are the future citizens of this country. We all could become ideal students for the glory of our nation. It can be revived only if we become the torchbearers because falsehood, injustice, bad conduct, and evil are widespread in our country. We need to fight against them getting excellent knowledge and taking an active role to spread joy and happiness among our society. Thank You and God bless you all†¦!