Managing People and Organization

Managing People and Organization Abstract Sweeping changes threaten to make yesterday’s managers outdated while an awareness of the changes and how to take advantage of them offer tomorrow’s managers countless opportunities. From the extensive research on corporate culture, the challenges and barriers facing new managers wishing to change an existing organizational culture are identified.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Managing People and Organization specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More These managers are vulnerable to different environments, national cultures, organizational trends and organizational behaviors adopted in particular firms. Embedded in this research is the fact that people enter into organizations carrying cultures of the surrounding communities that also influence the existing corporate cultures. As a matter of fact therefore, the managers are tasked with learning the societal cultures especially when most of the firms h ave internationalized their operations. This paper points out that the changing social and cultural environments are exposing managers to numerous challenges related to organizational culture. A manager seeking to change an already changing culture has the responsibility of shifting the changes towards the core initiative. It is noted that the force of nature exerts much pressure on organizations to the disadvantage of management initiatives. That is, if globalization is the trend towards winning competitive advantages, managers have no other option but to develop a culture that responds to such changes. Again, if technology adoption is the answer to successful business, then it must be a priority to the management. Unfortunately, very few corporate cultures will support such initiatives and hence high resistance towards such changes. This paper provides an extensive discussion on the difficulty of changing an existing culture that is characterized by developmental changes over time . Introduction Sweeping changes threaten to make yesterday’s managers outdated. However, an awareness of the changes and how to take advantage of them offer tomorrow’s managers countless opportunities. Even though the nature of managerial function varies across organizations and changes continually, one general thread pervades nearly all managerial activities: interacting with different people. Therefore, the behavior of people and management process in firms are clearly intertwined (Scheffknecht, 2011, p.76). This paper relates the wider field of management to the specific area of organizational culture. It argues that a new leader coming into an organization will have a difficulty in changing an existing organizational culture. In that respect, the paper explores the three important environments that are considered important in changing organizational culture: social and cultural environment, global environment and technological environment.Advertising Lookin g for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Social and cultural environment Organizational culture and the general social and cultural environments can be considered to interlock in that people enter organizations from surrounding societies and bring their culture and social life with them. Therefore, the changing social and cultural environment influences corporate culture and is a big challenge to managers endeavoring to change the culture. Forces in this environment are those that effect changes in how people live and work. Mohanty and Rath (2012) think that managers must be responsive to those changes that take place in the surrounding societies as they affect all aspects of corporate culture, yet new managers will have little knowledge about those changes. For instance, new leaders are tasked with the development of corporate ethics and well-being in order to initiate change. Sims (2009) consider s corporate ethics as one element of corporate culture that is hard to change, as ethics are defined differently by individual organizations. No wonder huge ethical scandals such as Enron and Hewlett-Packard have plagued hundreds of United States firms. Unethical behaviors damages firm’s reputation and cost the firm the goodwill of employees and customers. Moreover, the losses could lead to financial and economic damage of the firm. Managers who wish to change such a culture are required to establish an ethical code that defines acceptable behaviors and develop a framework of rewards and punishments to implement ethical codes. However, to some firms, social or ethical responsibility means doing any action provided that it is legal. In such a culture, developing a code of ethics that helps the firm to protect their reputation and ensure the goodwill of employees and customers is hard for a newcomer. As Sims (2009) notes the challenge is to build an organizational culture where members oppose the temptation to act in ethical manners that promote individual interests at the cost of the firm or promote the interest of the firm at the cost of the society. Indeed, many executives have been unable to take effective measures when confronted by an ethical scandal. For example, Citigroup suffered dearly from a scandal and the executives could only chose corporate silence in order to maintain the reputation of the company (York, Gumbus and Lilley, 2009). Workforce diversity is also a big challenge to managers wishing to change an existing organizational culture. In as much as an organization is legally and socially committed, it must include employees from different diverse environments. However, some organizations are not sensitive to the diversity issue while others have overemphasized on the issue. As a matter of fact, the number of women and minorities being hired by firms is increasing.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Managing People and Organization specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The demographic composition of workers has changed considerably as more female workers and minorities enter the workforce. This means that new managers must address this factor when changing organizational culture. Studies have shown that workforce diversity is an important resource to improve performance and that quality of decision making is richer and broader in terms of diverse employees (Moran, Harris Moran, 2010). While this is an important consideration to managers, some existing organizational cultures discourage such efforts to an extent of justifying that diversification lowers the quality of management. Such believe makes it difficult for managers to change the culture as it requires the commitment of both the manager and employees. Global environment The global business environment is changing drastically thus requiring new approaches to business (Brakman, 2006, p.9). Apart from the changes in regulations, diversity and consumer behaviors, the global economic factors have experienced significant economic changes thus influencing organization cultures greatly. For many organizations, the focus is to create a culture that might improve competitive advantages and eventually the profitability in a threatening economic environment. Therefore, the organizational cultures that are witnessed today have nothing to do with the traditional emphasis on aligning corporate cultures with national cultures. Firms including small-to-medium enterprises (SME) are internationalizing their operations in search for business opportunities (Schuler, 2000). As a matter of fact, today’s managers are challenged by a myriad of factors stemming from the changing global environment. First, as noted earlier, cultural differences influence corporate culture in different countries. Management functions directed to corporate culture become more complex as the firm’s activitie s expand internationally, and coordination of organizational and decision-making issues becomes significantly difficult (Moran, Harris Moran, 2010). Managers fight in vain to create a corporate culture that balances between the needs of the foreign markets and the impact of the cultural disparities on important organization issues such as evaluation, compensation packages and promotion policies. Second, understanding global difference is a challenge to new managers in appreciating the changing global environment. There are issues related to understanding corporate behavior in diverse global settings. Corporate culture becomes especially complicated at global level since desires, attitudes and values of employees differ across countries (Moran, Harris Moran, 2010).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Again, the issues of coordinating activities to match organizational environment become more complicated as firms expand internationally. In addition, many organizations are locating in a specific region because this permits them to increase efficiency, but in this manner, also affects on corporate culture. Third, global learning or the process of attaining and learning the knowledge, skills and corporate behaviors that have helped organizations abroad to become strongly positioned in the global market is also a challenge to new managers. For this challenge, managers will be required to create a corporate culture that might allow the firm to rotate employees to other foreign operations in order to learn the opportunities and problems that lie overseas. Apparently, this is difficult for the managers and costly to the firm. No wonder many researches on expatriation have pointed the key challenge to successful expatriation as the capacity of the organization to create a culture that ar ms the employees with the necessary skills and knowledge to fit in foreign cultures (du Plessis Beaver, 2008; Franke Nicholson, 2002). Technological environment One element of organizational culture that firms have focused on is innovation. Almost every organization creates a culture that might make the employees more creative. The most significant driver to innovation is information technology (IT) and its integration in business operations. In as much as IT is important to organizational activities, it poses a major challenge to today’s managers (Cronley Patterson, 2010). They have no other alternative but to involve IT when changing the organizational culture. In order to promote organizational learning and create knowledge, they must use IT to define, acquire, arrange, organize, input, manipulate, transmit and store information. Organizational learning can only occur if the employees can manage knowledge and information to attain a better understanding of the need to c hange. Regarding technology Melitski, Gavin and Joanne (2010) shed a light on organizational culture and its adoption. According to them, organizations are increasingly operating in uncertain, decentralized, networked environments, where adoption of IT has become essential to organizational change (p.546). Indeed, organizational cultures institutionary shape the way in which firms choose to use technology. The researchers also showed that there are environmental factors which influence employee’s willingness to adopt new technology (p.563). When the organizational culture is supportive, the probability of adoption is substantially higher. Employees who work in firms where work is well organized, their opinions are considered and they are well informed about the relevant issues in the firm will likely be more willing to adopt new technologies. Unfortunately, many organizations do not have a supportive culture that can enhance the willingness of employees to adopt new technolog ies. Recently, changes in organization culture have taken many directions with respect to technology, work and employment relationships. Technology adoption has been associated with downsizing, the growth of temporary workers or contingents, outsourcing and employees no longer spending their full careers with one firm. As a result, new managers have to work with employees whose confidence with the firm is fainted by changes taking place within and hence are likely to resist change. Conclusion Organizational culture change means changing the corporate philosophy, the values and images that tell action and this new approach to understanding the corporate life must be passed into the process of management. The reason why it is difficult to implement change of an existing culture lies in the challenges posed by changes in global, technological, social and cultural environments. References Brakman, S 2006, Nations and firms in the global economy: an introduction to international economic s and business. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Cronley, C Patterson, D 2010, â€Å"How well does it fit? An organizational culture approach to assessing technology use among homeless service providers.† Administration in Social Work, vol. 34 no. 3, pp.286-303. du Plessis, A Beaver, B 2008, â€Å"The changing role of human resource managers for international assignments.† International Review of Business Research Papers, vol.4 no.5, pp.166-181. Franke, J Nicholson, N 2002, â€Å"Who shall we send? Cultural and other influences on the rating of selection criteria for expatriate assignments.† International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, vol. 2 no.1, pp. 21-36. Melitski, J, Gavin, D Gavin, J 2010, â€Å"Technology adoption and organizational culture in public organizations.† International Journal of Organization Theory Behavior, vol. 13 no. 4, pp.546-568. Mohanty, J Rath, B 2012, â€Å"Influence of organizational culture on organizationa l citizenship behavior.† Global Journal of Business Research, vol.6 no.1, pp.65-76. Moran, R, Harris, P Moran, S 2010, Managing Cultural Differences: Global Leadership Strategies for Cross-Cultural Business Success. Routledge, New York. Scheffknecht, S 2011, â€Å"Multinational enterprise-organizational culture vs. national culture.† International Journal of Management Cases, vol. 13 no. 4, pp.73-78. Schuler, R 2000, â€Å"The internationalization of human resource management.† Journal of International Management, vol.6 no.8, pp.239-260. Sims, R 2009, â€Å"Toward a better understanding of organizational efforts to rebuild reputation following and ethical scandal.† Journal of Business Ethics, vol.90 no. 4, pp.453-472. York, C, Gumbus, A Lilley, S 2008, â€Å"Reading the tea leaves-Did Citigroup risk their reputation during 2004-2005?† Business and Society Review, vol.113 no.4, pp.199-225.

Consider a Career in Immigration Services

Consider a Career in Immigration Services For those interested in a career in U.S. immigration services, consider the three immigration agencies that are within the Department of Homeland Security: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). These positions include border patrol agents, criminal investigators or agents who enforce immigration policy through apprehension, processing, detention or deportation of illegal aliens, or assisting immigrants through the process of achieving legal status, visas or naturalization. Homeland Security Careers Information Information about careers within the U.S. federal government can be found at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. This office contains further information for federal job seekers including employee pay scales and benefits. U.S. citizenship is a requirement for a majority of these federal jobs. Read the requirements carefully before applying.   Customs and Border Protection According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the CBP is a premier law enforcement agency that safeguards America’s borders. Every day, CBP protects the public from dangerous people and materials attempting to cross the border, while enhancing the nation’s global economic competitiveness by enabling legitimate trade and travel at ports of entry. On a typical day, CBP makes more than 900 apprehensions and seizes more than 9,000 pounds of illegal drugs.  The  CBP offers a comprehensive careers section on its website including job recruiting events. There are approximately 45,000 employees across the U.S. and overseas. There are two major categories in Customs and Border Patrol: frontline law enforcement and mission-critical occupations, such as operational and mission support positions. Current CBP opportunities can be found on USA Jobs. USA Jobs is the official job site of the U.S. Federal Government. Annual salary ranges in CBP in 2016 were: $60,000 - $110,000 for a customs and border patrol officer, $49,000 - $120,000 for a border patrol agent and $85,000 to $145,000 for a management and program analyst. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, its homeland security mission is carried out by a wide variety of law enforcement, intelligence and mission support professionals all of whom have the opportunity to contribute to the safety and security of the U.S. In addition to the core law enforcement occupations, there are also a wide range of professional and administrative functions that support the ICE mission. ICE offers an extensive  careers information  and recruitment calendar  section on its website. Find out when ICE will be in your area for a recruiting event. ICE classifies its job opportunities into two categories: criminal investigators (special agents) and all other ICE opportunities. Positions in ICE include financial and trade investigations; cyber crimes; project analysis and management; litigating removal cases in immigration court; working with foreign authorities; intelligence gathering; investigations into arms and strategic technology violations; human trafficking; and child exploitation. Other roles include security for federal buildings, perform crowd control and surveillance, and work with other federal state and local authorities or enforcement duties that include the apprehension, processing, detention, and deportation of illegal or criminal aliens. Finally, there are a number of technical, professional, administrative or management occupations directly supporting its law enforcement mission. ICE has up to 20,000 employees working in 400 offices nationwide and over 50 locations internationally. Entry-level criminal investigators are recruited directly through recruiters. Contact special agent recruiters at the nearest Special Agent in Charge (SAC) office to apply for a criminal investigator position, but only when ICE is actively recruiting. Check the career section of ICEs website to find out if the department is recruiting. All other ICE job opportunities can be found on USA Jobs.   Annual salary ranges in ICE in 2017 were: $69,000-$142,000 for a special agent, $145,000-$206,000 for senior attorneys, and $80,000-$95,000 for a deportation officer. U.S. Customs and Immigration Services According to U.S. Customs and Immigration Services,   the agency oversees legal immigration to the United States. The agency helps people build better lives while helping to defend the integrity of the nation’s immigration system.  The USCIS Careers site has information on becoming a USCIS employee, pay and benefits offerings, training and career development opportunities, upcoming recruiting events and some frequently asked questions. There are approximately 19,000 federal and contract employees at 223 offices worldwide. Positions include security specialist, information technology specialist, management and program analyst, applications adjudicator, asylum officer, refugee officer, immigration information officer, immigration officer, intelligence research specialist, adjudications officer and immigration services officer. Current USCIS opportunities can be found on USA Jobs. In addition to the website, USCIS has access to job opening information through an interactive voice response telephone system at (703) 724-1850 or by TDD at (978) 461-8404. Annual salary ranges in USCIS in 2017 were: $80,000 to $100,000 for an immigration officer, $109,000-$122,000 for an IT specialist, and $51,000-$83,000 for an adjudications officer.

E-commerce of on Supply Chain and Logistics Essay

E-commerce of on Supply Chain and Logistics - Essay Example According to Berger, a study conducted by Momentum Research Group found that US organizations involved in internet business solutions realized cumulative cost savings of US $ 155 billion in a three year period starting in 1998. Johnson and Whang stated that the key aspect of supply chain management has been management of information flow, with the transfer of information between companies their suppliers and customers through internet the importance of information management has created an effective supply chain. E-business is defined as a "marriage between the internet and supply chain integration." This marriage has led to transformation of many processes within a supply chain from procurement to product design and customer management. Various forms of e-business applications can be categorized into e-commerce, e-procurement and e-collaboration (2002). According to Berger "e-commerce can be defined as the conduct of business communication and transactions over networks and through computers or as the buying and selling of goods and services, and the transfer of funds, through digital communications. It can include all inter-company and intra-company functions (such as marketing, finance, manufacturing, selling and negotiation) that enable commerce." E-commerce communicates through e-mail, EDI, file transfer, facsimile, videoconferencing, workflow or interaction with remote computer. E- commerce has also associated with portals, e-marketplaces, e-auctions or virtual inventory. E-commerce impacts upon the three major factors of supply chain namely Physical, Financial and Informational flows. Impact of E-Commerce According to Berger e-commerce essentially gives the companies an access to markets and customers without moving the products and inventory physically, thus the physical movements can be avoided and product information made available through internet. With e-commerce solutions and information access being made available '24x7x365', product tracking and tracing information are made simple thus eliminating traditional paper based approach. Hence information flow also gets affected by e-commerce. Similarly financial flows too get affected by faster payments and settlement at every stage of the supply chain by e-commerce solutions. On further analysis it is observed that e-commerce impacts on supply chain for five principle reasons, which are as follows: 1. Major companies cannot afford to sit silent for underperformance, thus "the performance gap can no longer be hidden." 2. The Y2K problem compelled most of the companies to implement newer technologies and software. The e-commerce revolution has lead to the adoption of ERP systems, which manage operations not only internally but also with customers and suppliers. But some companies are in the initial stages of implementation of above steps and thus are unable to enjoy the benefits of these investments. 3. Last few years has seen an unprecedented investment by technology companies leading to "an acceleration of development of new software technology to support supply chain management." 4. Change of supply chain is a tough task and thus most of the companies have been avoiding some areas of supply chain. "The supply chain is one of the last major areas of business benefit." 5. The development of internet technologies have made world smaller and supply

What is the role of the British Museum in the history of modern Essay

What is the role of the British Museum in the history of modern sculpture in Britain - Essay Example Its collection of great art and antiquities has been collected from around the globe and is an excellent portrayal of all the continents. This collection documents and illustrates in great detail the story of human culture from the very beginning till the present day, encompassing 2 million years of human history (British Museum, n.d.). The British Museum’s establishment was based on the belief that a collection based on human history should be accessible to the general public for free. Another idea behind the Museum was that the different human cultures can understand each other through mutual engagement regardless of any differences between them. The purpose behind the Museum was to have a place where human cross-cultural investigation could take place (British Museum, n.d.). ... The main topic that Moore worked on included fallen warriors, the mother-and-child and family groups as well as most the reclining human figure (Mark Barrow Fine Art, 2005). After much criticism of his early work, Henry Moore finally received the International Prize for Sculpture which helped his worldwide reputation to increase and grow. Moore also became well known for his sketches which depicted people of London sheltering underground during the Second World War. His sketches of working miners also gained a lot of popularity (Mark Barrow Fine Art, 2005). It was in 1921, when Henry Moore was attending the Royal College of Art in London, that the young artist began visiting the British Museum (Phelan, 2001). In his own words ‘the Museum was a revelation to me. I went at least twice a week for two or three hours and one room or another caught my enthusiasm. The wonderful thing about the British Museum is that everything is stretched out before you and you are free to make your own discoveries’ (Finn, 1981) Moore worked his way through the different many departments of the British Museum. The galleries housing the Antiquities of Africa, Asia, Egypt, Greece, Prehistoric and Roman-Britain, Rome and the Orient were a great favorite of the artist. In the time of Moore, the Ethnographic Galleries which housed the artifacts of Oceania was also located within the British Museum (Phelan, 2001). As an aspirant modernist sculptor, Moore had always been a fan of Roger Fry's ‘Vision and Design,, a collection of essays. This book is considered the most prominent and significant work of art criticism that was written in England

Summarizing experience Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Summarizing experience - Essay Example For example, my personality profile is 42 percent extroverted and 58 percent introverted. Here, I was able to pinpoint useful information such as my ability to concentrate for long periods of time, my independence and ability to pursue self-guided projects. Then, I was also classified as Intuitive and Perceiver and was given several pointers in regard to maximizing such nature. Another important feature of the assessment test was the comprehensive outline of careers that matched my personality - from the job description, related occupations, job requirements, salaries, video presentation, to important pointers. These variables were specifically tailored not only on my educational background, but also on my temperaments, motivation, interest and character. All in all, the website was straightforward and easy to use. I was able to peruse the content I was given and I was satisfied. The experience was helpful in the sense that I learned more about myself in the context of embarking on a career, which was my objective in using the

Cooperative Movement in India | Development

Cooperative Movement in India | Development Introduction In the todays growing world Co-operatives do activities for the development of agriculture, small industry marketingandprocessing, distribution and supplies. The progress report of co-operatives in the State is very good and contribution to agricultural progress has particularly been significant. For the purpose of Green Revolution, these Co-operatives introduced various schemes for the conversion of villages into towns and also the construction of go downs. The Co-operative Movement was introduced into India by the Government to overcome the burden of debt of farmers and they can sell their products easily and can get the maximum profit. The Co-operative Credit Societies Act, 1904 was passed by the Governmentof India and rural credit societies were formed. Through the appointment of registrars and through vigorous propaganda, the Government attempted to popularize the Movement in the rural areas. Within a short period, the Government realized some of the shortcomings of the 1904 Act and, therefore, passed a more comprehensive Act, known as theCo-operative Societies Act of 1912. This Act recognized non-credit societies also. But the rural credit societies have continued to be predominant till now. Agricultural Credit/Service Societies The structure of Agricultural Co-operative credit in the Punjab State is divided into two sectors i.e. Dealing with the short-terms and medium-terms finance and the other with the long-term credit. The short-term and medium-term credit structure is based on a three-tier system i.e. the Apex Co-operative Bank at the State level, the Central Co-operative Bank at the district level and the Primary Agricultural Credit Societies at the village level. The major role of these services which is provided to the farmers is to make the funds available to the farmers for their agriculture production, for the purchase of machinery, fertilizers etc. Type of societies Co-operative Weavers society Co-operative Consumers Societies Co-operative Housing Societies Co-operative Womens Societies Co-operative Milk-Societies Problems for Co-operatives Lack of supervision leads to the misuse of the financial resources. Lack of inspection by Registrar Government is hesitating to entrust any important government work since it does not have any participation. The Co-operative Banks and other important institutions are located far away from the reach of the farmers. NABARD and RBI are not agreeing for conversion of Central and Urban Co-operative Banks. R.B.I. has also objection about the use of word Co-operative since Banking Regulation Act uses the word Co-operative Society. Wrong persons may take advantage of the situation to cheat the general public. When the Government are exploring the possibility of regulating the Non-governmental organizations having vast experience, it is doubtful as to whether the mutually aided Co-operatives in various field can give desired result. Introduction to NABARD NABARD is set up by the Government of India as a development bank for facilitating credit flow for promotion and development of agriculture and integrated rural development. It also helps in all other economic activities in rural areas, promoting sustainable rural development and for the prosperity of the rural areas. With a capital base of Rs 2,000 crore provided by the Government of India and Reserve Bank of India, it operates through its head office at Mumbai, 28 regional offices situated in state capitals and 391 district offices at districts. Present Scenario Initiates measures toward institution-building for improving absorptive capacity of the credit delivery system, including monitoring, formulation of rehabilitation schemes, restructuring of credit institutions, training of personnel, etc. Coordinates the rural financing activities of all the institutions engaged in developmental work at the field level and maintains liaison with the government of India , State governments, the Reserve Bank of India and other national level institutions concerned with policy formulation Prepares, on annual basis, rural credit plans for all the districts in the country. These plans form the base for annual credit plans of all rural financial institutions Undertakes monitoring and evaluation of projects refinanced by it Promotes research in the fields of rural banking, agriculture and rural development Functions as a regulatory authority, supervising, monitoring and guiding cooperative banks and regional rural banks Role and Functions COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT FUND (CDF) In pursuance with the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Cooperative Development Fund was constituted by NABARD in the year 1992-93 under the provisions of Section 45 of NABARD Act, 1981 with a view to strengthening and providing assistance to Co-operative Credit Institutions for improving their infrastructural facilities. The initial Corpus of the Fund was Rs.10 crore which was subsequently raised to Rs.75 crore. The cumulative assistance sanctioned to cooperative institutions from the Fund for various purposes unto 31 March 2007 amounted to Rs.76.35 crore against which Rs.67.66 crore has been disbursed. National Conference of Urban Credit Cooperative Societies Saturday, 22 April, 2006, Pune (Talking Points) Dignitaries on the dais, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Cooperative Movement in India has contributed to the rural development of the country. Though the movement has developed in different States of the country not in the uniform manner, some of the States like Maharashtra, Gujrath, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh have shown tremendous growth of the Cooperative Movement in these States. The cooperatives were considered as the balancing force between the private sector and the public sector. The advantages of the private sector and the public sector could be very well achieved through the cooperative sector and the disadvantages associated with the private sector and the public sector could be eliminated in the cooperative sector. The societies, which were promoted by the leadership having vision and who managed these cooperatives well, have become successful; whereas the cooperative societies, which suffered from the lack of dynamic leadership were mismanaged and these cooperative societies became failure. Maharashtra State is one of those States in our country, which can boast of claiming that the cooperatives in the State are managed by the elected representatives by the members and the elections do take place regularly except in few cases where there are problems of mismanagement. Out of the total number of 1.75 lakhs cooperative societies in Maharashtra there are hardly few hundred cooperative societies, where the administrators are functioning. This shows the Cooperative Movement in Maharashtra is functioning purely on democratic principles. The Cooperative Movement in Maharashtra has made tremendous progress during the last 45 years. The number of societies in 1960 was hardly 30,000 in 1960, which has gone upto 1.75 lakhs in 2005. The number of membership of all these societies increased from 42 lakhs in 1960 to almost nearing 5 crores in 2005, whereas the members capital was only 53 crores in 1960, which has increased to around 13,000 crores in 2005. Though the figures indicate that the cooperatives have made tremendous progress in Maharashtra some of the sectors in cooperatives have been highly successful, whereas some of the sectors could not make any success. The examples of successful societies are found in large number in the areas of Cooperative Sugar Factories, Dairy Cooperatives, Urban Banking, whereas almost 50% of the Primary Agricultural Credit Coop. Societies and 50% of the District Central Cooperative Banks are in a very bad financial position. The Agro Processing Cooperatives also could not make any progress, though there is a tremendous potential for these cooperatives, considering the huge production of the fruits and vegetables (production of fruits is about 100 lakh tonnes and that of vegetables is around 50 lakhs tonnes, which is likely to be doubled in the next 5 years) as well as other agricultural produce in Maharashtra. The Government of Maharashtra has recently passed various amendments in the Maharashtra Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation) Act, 1963, on the lines of Model Act prepared by the Govt. of India and has introduced the provisions for establishment of Private Markets, Farmer Consumers Markets, Direct Marketing, Single Licence for the Traders and the Contract Farming. These amendments will have very good effect on the growth of agro-processing sector, exports of fruits and vegetables and value added produce from agriculture and the development of retail chain management, as these sectors will be able to source the requirement of their produce directly from the farmers. This will also have good impact on large private investment coming in to agricultural sector, development of infrastructure like pre-cooling units, cold storages, cold chain for transportation of perishable produce, putting up of the processing industries etc. The employment generation in agriculture and allied sectors will also be improved. It is envisaged that because of these changes the overall economy will grow and the farmers will get better returns for their produce. This will also have the positive effect on quality and productivity improvement in agriculture. Besides 20,000 Primary Agricultural Credit Coop. Societies, 34 District Central Cooperative Banks and the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank, there are about 25,000 Urban Cooperative Credit Societies in Maharashtra. While the Primary Agricultural Credit Cooperative Societies give loans to the farmers for agriculture and for crop production, the urban credit societies cater to the needs of the urban population, particularly to meet their requirements of credit for consumer articles. The total membership of these societies is around 1.10 crores. The share capital of these societies is around Rs.3,500 crore and their own funds amounting to Rs.5700 crore. The deposits of these societies are around Rs.10,000 crore and they have given loans of about Rs.15,000 crore. The working capital of these societies is around Rs.25,000 crore. The cooperative credit sector is operating in both Urban and Rural areas. The Urban credit societies cater to the needs, primarily, of the urban population. It also caters to the household needs of the rural population. Recently the urban cooperative credit societies in rural areas have started financing the agricultural needs of farmers. This effort was initiated and promoted by the Government by issuing the Govt. Resolution on 22.12.2005. The loans to the tune of about Rs.15,000 crore to 1.12 crore member itself speaks of volume of work of these cooperative credit societies, who necessarily reach the urban and rural masses. The presence of credit societies in the vicinity provides confidence of easy availability of funds, to both urban and rural masses. The credit societies are now intending to diversify by extending their  services such as cash transfers and other permitted banking operations. The credit societies Federation is trying to play a prominent role to have joint venture operations along with the similar international organisations. The State Federation of Urban Credit Societies in Maharashtra has decided to extend the insurance to the Depositors of Urban Credit Societies, by forming their own Deposit Insurance Scheme. This is a unique revolutionary decision and it will go a long way in building confidence of the depositors in these societies. There are 2,106 Urban cooperative Banks in the country having deposits of Rs.1.10 lakh crore. Out of these, there are nearly 650 Urban Cooperative Banks in Maharashtra, having the total deposits of Rs. 65,000 crore. The Urban cooperative Banks are also catering to both the rural and urban population. The huge membership base available for both the urban cooperative banks and cooperative credit societies must be utilized for the ultimate upliftment of both the members and the organizations. This base can be utilized as channels both forward and backward in respect of different managerial aspects such as marketing, distribution, services etc. For achieving this, both these organizations should have integrated approach in functioning and their policy framing like Rates of Interest on deposits, Rates of Interest on loans etc. It is necessary that borrowers get loans at reasonable rate of interest so that any business becomes viable and borrower is able to repay loans. The financial involvement of both the urban and rural masses in the  cooperative credit societies by way of deposits always demanded its safety. The involvement of Insurance Agencies was well solicited. However, the effort in this direction was uniquely made by the Maharashtra State Cooperative Deposit Guarantee Corporation which happens to be a cooperative society. It has to go a long way but a good start has been made to cover up 70 credit societies guarantying their deposits up to the limit of Rs.50,000/-. The consolidated effort to qualitatively strengthen the organisation and increase its scope is the need of this hour. The cooperative credit societies are facing innumerable problems some of them can be listed as follows. Accepting deposits at higher rate from depositors Huge expenses on administration. Lack of management skill Lack of training and education to the employees and Board of Directors Poor performance in recovery Loans are sanctioned without proper scrutiny These problems needs to be addressed by all the concerned with the focus on the overall quality to be maintained by these cooperative organizations. The cooperatives including the urban credit cooperative societies should function in such a manner that they have the highest operational efficiency and professional management so that they can deliver the desired results to the members and the common man. Unfortunately the professional management and operational efficiency is lacking in many societies. As I have already mentioned earlier the societies, which have been managed efficiently and have been able to serve their members and public in a most desirable manner the example of the cooperative sugar factories in Maharashtra is an eye opener to a person who looks at these societies very closely. Out of 200 cooperative sugar factories in Maharashtra almost 50% have excellent results whereas 50% of these factories are in problems. Some of the cooperative sugar factories, which are excellently managed could pay almost Rs. 1100 to 1200 per tonne as a sugarcane price, whereas many of the badly managed Cooperative Sugar Factories could not pay even statutory minimum price. For paying the statutory minimum price, these factories are required to borrow from banks by creating short margin and with the Govt. guarantee. The Govt. of India is helping these factories with the package for rehabilitation. Though this is required in the larger interest of the farmers, the sugar factories, which are performing well should also be given incentives by the Govt. of India. Same policy should be applied to the other successful cooperative societies also. The urban cooperative credit societies in the State and in the country must remember that they have to face competition with big Multi-National Banks and the Commercial Banks. These societies should therefore, be vigilant in advancing loans and in no case loans, which cannot be recovered should ever be sanctioned. These societies must adopt the modern management practices including computerization in their working, professional training to their employees and to their members of the Board and should keep their level of functioning very competitive. This only can bring success to these societies. Thank you. Jai Hind .!!! Jai Maharashtra ..!!!! Interpretation: In the above article, the man stress is on using the modern techniques of working, professional training should be given so that they can handle each and every single problem and most important all work should be done thorough computers so that the commitment of errors should be minimum. Whatever the loans provided to the farmers, the record of that and the documents should be maintained properly so that it will be easy for the working of the employees as well as for the farmers to know every single point. With this proper documentation recovery department can easily comes to know about the person from they have to collect the particular amount. Proper education training should be given so that the employees can give their 100% to the work and they should no charge higher rate for accepting the deposits. The loans which will be given to the farmers should be given after the enquiry of that particular person that whether the person really need the loan and the information he is provid ing is true or not. AGRO-INPUTS DISTRIBUTION IN AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES R.C.Gupta Agricultural Cooperatives in India are very actively and intimately involved in several agriculture related activities. The most important activities are the disbursement of production credit and distribution of fertilisers and other inputs viz seeds, pesticides and agricultural implements. Agricultural Cooperatives are also involved in procurement of farm produce, processing and marketing of oilseeds, Cotton, sugar, milk and milk products, distribution of essential commodities, clothes, kerosene oil and merchandise etc. Coop. movement in India started way back in 1905. Till 1939, Agricultural Cooperatives in India were distributing only the credit to the farmers. Its activities got diversified to consumer articles and also some agricultural inputs in the rural areas over a period of time. Subsequently, based on the suggestions made by different committees and commissions, the cooperatives were given a significant role in distribution of fertilisers. Currently, cooperatives are playi ng a significant role both in production and marketing of fertilisers. Cooperatives Role in Agricultural Credit Disbursement Cooperatives play a very important role in disbursement of agricultural credit. Credit is needed both by the distribution channel as well as by the farmers. The distribution channel needs it to finance the fertiliser business and farmers need it for meeting various needs for agricultural production including purchasing fertilisers. The credit needed by the farmers for purchase of fertilisers and other inputs is called ‘short term credit or ‘production credit whereas credit needed by the distribution channel is called ‘Distribution Credit. Cooperatives also play a very important role in disbursement of ‘Medium Term and ‘Long Term credit needed by the farmers for purchasing agricultural equipments viz tractors, installation of tubewells and land development  works etc. ‘ Joint General Manager(Marketing), IFFCO, 53-54, Nehru Place, New Delhi -110019 Paper presented at 13th ICA-Japan Training Course on â€Å"Strengthening Management of Agricultural Cooperatives in Asia† 1988-99 at FMDI, Gurgaon, Haryana, India, on Jan 21, 1999 In India, 78 per cent of the farmers belong to the category of small and marginal farmers. They depend heavily on credit for their agricultural operations. These farmers will not be able to adopt the modern agricultural practices unless they are supported by a system which ensures adequate and timely availability of credit on reasonable terms and conditions. Credit in India is made available to the farmers through a multi-agency network consisting of cooperatives, commercial banks and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs). However, cooperatives accounts for a large proportion of the agricultural credit made available to the farmers. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) was established in the year 1982 by an Act of Parliament and was entrusted will all matters concerning policy, planning and operation in the field of credit for agriculture and other economic activities in the rural areas. Before that, this job was being done by Reserve Bank of India itself. NABARD works for progressive institutionalization of the rural credit and ensures that the demands for credit from agriculture including the new and upcoming areas like floriculture, tissue culture, bio-fertilisers, sprinkler irrigation, drip irrigation etc. are met. The medium and long term of loans are disbursed to the farmers through Primary Land Develo pment Banks (757) who draw their finances from Central Land Development Banks (20) who in turn draw their finances from NABARD. As for the short term credit, this is disbursed to the farmers through Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS-66,200) who draw their finances from Central Cooperative Banks (363) who in turn draw their finances from the State Cooperative Banks (29). The State Cooperative Banks draw their finances from NABARD. Cooperatives Role in Fertiliser Distribution: Introduction Agriculture continues to be the mainstay of Indias national economy. Its contribution to Indias Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is about 30 per cent. Nearly two thirds of the population still depends on this sector directly or indirectly. Self-sufficiency in foodgrains has been the basic objective of Indias policy on agriculture. Foodgrain production has increased from the level of 52 thousand tonnes in 1951-52 to 199 million tonnes in 1996-97. However, the foodgrain production declined to 193 million tonnes in 1997-98. The present population of the country is about 960 million and is likely to touch 1000 million by the turn of this century. To feed this level of population, India has to produce 208 million tonnes of foodgrains from the present level of 193 million tonnes which is, no doubt, a gigantic task The vital role of fertilisers in increasing agricultural production is well recognised. Since, the land man ratio is declining due to increasing population, the additional foodgrain production has to come by increasing the productivity of land under cultivation. Adoption of modern agricultural practices is the only way for increasing agricultural productivity. This calls for application of inputs like chemical fertilisers, high yielding seeds and pesticides besides use of mechanical equipments like seed-cum-fertilizer drills, sprayers, pump sets etc. Chemical fertilisers are very costly, particularly the phosphatic and potassic ones which have been decontrolled w.e.f 25th August, 1992. Urea, of course, is relatively low priced due to grant of subsidy by GOI. However, unless balanced nutrients are applied, the productivity cannot be sustained. Fertilizer Distribution Channels Fertilizers are produced/ imported at about 200 locations in the country and distributed to the farmers scattered through the length and breadth of the country in about 600,000 villages through a network comprising of private and institutional channels. Some quantities are also made available through manufacturers own outlets. Private trade accounts for about 60 per cent of the total fertilisers distributed in the country followed by institutional agencies at 35 per cent and remaining 5 percent through the manufacturers own outlets. Among the institutional agencies, cooperatives are the main agency which alone account for nearly 30% of the total fertiliser business. The total number of fertiliser salepoints in the country is 262,000; out of which about 71,000 (27%) are institutional agencies salepoints (mainly cooperatives) and the remaining 1,91,000 (73 %) are controlled by the private trade. Cooperative Channels Cooperatives are the main institutional agency in the country handling fertilizers. Cooperative network, at present, comprises of 29 state level marketing federations, 171 district level marketing societies and about 66,200 village level cooperative societies. These village level cooperative societies are generally called Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS). These societies are the backbone of the cooperative marketing system. These societies are well spread in the entire country covering 97 % of the 0.6 million villages and 95 % of the farming families. The other main institutional agencies engaged in the distribution of fertilizers are State Agro-Industries Development Corporations, Commodity Federations and State Departments of Agriculture etc. They operate both through their own sale depots as well as through the private dealers network. However, their share is only marginal. The cooperative structure differs from state to state and societies at different levels (distric t/taluka/village) perform different functions in different states. Generally, the cooperative network operates through a 3 tier system. However, in some states such as Haryana, the cooperative marketing system operates on 2 tier basis, while in some others like Gujarat a 4 tier system exists. At the state level, Apex Cooperative Marketing Federations act as wholesalers; marketing societies at district/taluka level as sub-wholesalers while PACS, PAMS (Primary Agricultural Marketing Societies) at grass root level act as retailers. The function of State level Apex Cooperative Marketing Federations differ from state to state. In some states, the Federations are actively involved in fertiliser business like Gujarat, Haryana, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh etc. and they act as the wholesalers for the entire State. In some States like Uttar Pradesh (U.P.), they are not directly involved in the fertiliser business and do the job of liaison and coordination only for which they are getting servi ce charges from the fertiliser suppliers. In U.P. , the State Federation is also doing warehousing as well as transportation job both for IFFCO and KRIBHCO (The only manufacturers in the cooperative sector). In the States where Federation is not involved in fertiliser business, the manufacturers are supplying fertilizers directly to the lower societies at the district/village level and the societies are getting full or near full distribution margin which has improved the financial health of these societies. Current Cooperative Fertilizer Distribution Status Presently, in Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, J K, H.P. and Assam, in the cooperative sector, fertiliser supplies are made to the Apex Coop. Marketing Federations only and they act as wholesalers. Direct supplies are not there at all. Only small quantities under the special scheme like IFFCO-NCDC scheme in Haryana and IFFCO societies adoption programme in M.P. are supplied directly to the societies. In these states district level societies operate as sub-wholesalers. In the states like Punjab, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa A.P. and Kerala, both the systems i.e. supply through federation as well as direct supply to the societies are prevalent. As a result, some of the societies at the lower levels are getting supplies directly from the manufacturers while others are getting from the Federations. However, in the states of U.P. and Bihar, supplies of fertilisers are made to the village level societies directly by the manufacturers. In states where state level federations act as wholesalers, the manufacturer has to deal with only one agency. Consequently, the job of sales planning, movement and stocks planning, realisation of sales proceeds etc. becomes very easy. In states where manufacturer deals with the lower tier cooperatives directly, the volume of work increases many fold and it becomes much more complex. The material has to be released to individual societies and the sales proceeds realisation has also to be done at that level only. This requires deployment of larger field force. Decentralised release system leads to establishing larger number of warehouses and correspondingly larger inventory. This all increases the operating cost. Manufacturers Own Outlets Some manufacturers viz. IFFCO, KRIBHCO, GSFC, GNFC and NFL have their own retail outlets called Farmers Service Centres or Service Centres or Farm Information Centres etc. In these outlets, agricultural inputs like fertilisers, seeds, agro-chemicals and agricultural implements etc. are made available to the farmers under one roof along with agricultural production technology literature. The main motto of these service centres is not only to provide all quality agro-inputs to the farmers but also educating them on scientific agricultural by providing technical know how in the field of agriculture. This help the farmers in increasing their agricultural p roductivity and profitability. Promotion activities are also carried out in the villages located around these centres ( within radius of 8-10 kms) which includes demonstrations, farmers meetings, soil test campaigns, crop seminars etc. In addition, social campaigns like tree plantations, medical check-up, veterinary check up etc. are also organized. They also serve the purpose additional/alternative distribution channel for the organization. A graphical presentation of fertilizer distribution channels in India the cooperatives and the private trade is given at Annexure- I. Linkage in disbursement of Production Credit and Agro-Input Distribution As already mentioned elsewhere in this paper a large number of farmers in India particularly the small and marginal farmers depend upon credit for purchase of fertilizers and other inputs. A very strong point with the cooperative is that the Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) which are involved in disbursement of agro-inputs Interpretation: Agricultural Cooperatives in India are the backbone of the cooperative system and involved in variety of function and serving the rural masses by providing credit, fertilizers, seeds, Agro-Chemicals, Agriculture Implements etc. Their role has been commendable and helped in making essential inputs availability to the rural masses. These need to be further strengthened. Conclusion: In the end we can say that these Co-operative societies plays a vital role in the growth of the rural areas as well as the growth of the Economy of the Country. These societies helps in the development of the farmers by providing funds to them for the irrigation purpose and also provide new machines for the farming so that they can produce maximum in the minimum time period and of the best quality and also they helps them in earning the good value of their produced products. Bibliography Websites: http://agriculture.indiabizclub.com/info/agriculture_cooperatives http://www.nabard.org/nabardrolefunct/nabardrolefunctions.asp http://www.nabard.org/nabardrolefunct/cooperativedevelopmentfund.asp http://www.nabard.org/developmentpromotional/developmentalinitiatives.asp http://www.maharashtra.gov.in/english/chiefminister/ccs.pdf http://www.iffco.nic.in/applications/Brihaspat.nsf/d111b7bb8d3d76bbe525656f00324885/ca039309da93bec0e5256778003cf811/$FILE/rcgica.pdf

A womans choice :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The abortion debate in America has been framed by something known as â€Å"A Women’s Right To Choose!† But of just what does the Women’s Right To Choose consist of ? It is premised, we are told, on a â€Å"right to privacy.† But exactly what is included in that right to privacy, and what excluded? I hold my own opinion to this subject as being Pro-Choice (Pro-Choice is defined as having the ability to choose).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Opponents of choice have been using inflammatory rhetoric about â€Å"infanticide† and â€Å"partial-birth† abortion in a nationwide strategy to further their goal of eroding women’s reproductive options. However, bans on abortion procedures are unconstitutional in at least three ways. First, the definition of what methods of abortion would be banned is vague and overboard – it would ban a variety of safe and common abortion procedures, not just the unsafe procedures. Second, by banning a variety of safe abortion procedures, the bans impose an undue burden on women seeking access to abortions by forcing them to rely upon less safe medical options, or even non-medical options. Finally, these bans are unconstitutional because they do not allow a women to obtain a banned procedure when it would preserve her health. The Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v.s. Wade is often misrepresented by those who oppose safe, legal abortion. It is o ften portrayed as giving women the right to terminate their pregnancy for any reason through all nine months of pregnancy. But contrary to the arguments of many abortion opponents, Roe does not provide for â€Å"abortion on demand.† The court held that a woman has the right to choose abortion until fetal viability – the time at which it first becomes realistically possible for a fetus to live outside the woman’s body – but that the states interest outweighs the woman’s right after that point. So what happened to our â€Å"right to privacy†?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Except in the story of the Emperor’s New Cloths, I cannot think of a more startling example of mass refusal to see the obvious than is presented by the current attitudes toward the population problem on the one hand and abortion on the other. The government continues to maintain strict antiabortion laws on the books of at least four fifths of our states, denying freedom of choice to women and physicians and compelling the â€Å"unwilling to bear the unwanted.† Yet as Dr. Christopher Tietze and Sarah Lewit point out in the Scientific American (January 1969), â€Å"Abortion is still the most widespread method of fertility control in the modern world.