Honour Killing Women

Sample details Pages: 14 Words: 4340 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? What is honour killing? Every year, hundereds of women are killed in the name of honour by their family members because they have brought shame to the family and the community. Honour killing is defined murdering a member of the family in the name of honour, it is usually the female who is murdered for bringing shame to the family. In rare cases, men are also murdered if they bring dishonour to their family or community. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Honour Killing Women | Cultural Studies Dissertations" essay for you Create order It is believed that honour killing is a private family affair and it should remain between the four walls of the house, no accurate statistics are available on this social evil. It should be noted that honour killing is a gender-neutral concept but overwhelming majority victims are women. The only fundamental difference is that the male accussed of dishonouring might be given a chance to explain his situation before the triabl leaders and can escape the death penalty by giving compensation to the family who has been dishonoured. Women are rarely given oppurtunaties to explain their side of the story and the only possible way to restore the honour is by killing the women who has brought shame to the family. Where does it take place? Pakistan consists of four provinces known as Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and North West Frontier Province(NWFP). The menance known as honour killing frequently all four provinces of Pakistan. In Sindh, the practise of honour killing is known as Karo Kari, meaning black female and black male. In Balochistan it is known Siahkal. The majority of the honour killings take place in rural areas, however, there have been some reported incidents of honour killings in urban cities of Pakistan such as Karachi and Lahore. How can one be dishonoured? Honour killings for a choosing a marriage partner According to the article 16 of Universal Declaration of human rights, both men and women of full age, irrespective race, religion and nationality can enter into marriage with any partner of their choice. It is our fundamental to marry a partner of our choice, however in Pakistan, women are not encouraged to have this right because women are seen as personal property of a man, therefore women should exercise their right. Women are seen as commodity owned and controlled by their fathers, husbands and brothers. Women are not suppose to express any desires and feelings contrary to the wishes of their fathers, husbands, and brothers. Traiditionally women are not allowed to choose their partners for marriage. The head of the family, usually the father, chooses the groom. the bride does not have any say in the process and any defiance against the process is considered a taboo. Women who have been succesful in marrying partners of their choice are often threatened by their father that charges of zina(unlawful sexual relations) would be brought against them. Under the islamic law of marriage, the wali(the closest male adult relative) has the responsibilty and authority with respect to marriage, the wali is usually the father and if it can be proved that the father did not give consent to the marriage then it will be considered invalid, if marriage is invalid then any sexual relations which took place between the man and the women would amount to zina. Most of the time, family members take matters into their own hands instead of going to court. A women who married a man of her choice was murdered outside Peshawar court by her brother in the name of honour. Women seeking divorce The article 16 of Universal declaration of human rights states that men and woman should have equal rights regarding dissolution of marriage. Under Islamic marriage law, a man is allowed to divorce his wife anytime, the divorce can be given verbally but a women cannot divorce her husband, she can apply for Khula(Separation) in the court of law. Divorce is seen as a very serious problem in the muslim world and muslim women are enouraged to avoid divorce at any cost, even if it means by putting up with a severely abusive husband. In 1999, Saima Sarwar was shot dead in a lawyers office because she attempted to obtain divorce from her husband severely abusive husband. The killing was instructed by her uncle but he was soon released Qisas and Diyat laws which states that the person(s) involved in killing will go free if he is pardoned by the Wali of the victim.Her uncle went unpunised as he was pardoned by her husbad and father in the capacity of Wali. It should be noted that Saima Sarwar belonged to a upper-class prominent family, her father is a entrepenuer and the mother is a doctor, this case shows the social evil in question is a cause of concern for both rural and urban population. The local newspapers in the region overwhemingly supported the killing, arguing that it was accordance to the tradition and therefore it cannot be a crime. Honour killings for rape A woman brings shame to the family if she becomes a victim of rape. In 1999, a 16 year old mentally-retarded girl was raped on many occasions by junior clerk of the local government department of agriculture in hotel in Parachinar, NWFP. The uncle of the girl lodged a complain, the accussed was taken into protective custody and the girl was handed to her tribe. The Jirga(tribal court) decided that she has brought shame to her tribe and the honour can only be restored by killing her. She was shot dead in front of tribal gathering. Get rich quick scheme? Ratio of honor killings is higher in those provinces where agriculture lands are abundant. Land is the main reason behind a majority of honor killing incidents in Sindh and Punjab. In overwhelming majority of cases, there is always a ulterior motive such as lust for money, land, lust for another women or to conceal other crimes. Many individuals exploit the concept of honour killing for gaining compensation or land. If both accused of karo kari are murdered then the matter usually ends but if only kari is killed and karo escapes, the karo has to compensate the affected man by giving him money, land or another women. Nafisa Shah, a leading human rights activist describes honour killing as industry which has range of stakeholders including tribes people, police administration and tribal mediators, honour killing is used as an excuse to hide sins and gain money. Police accept bribes of about 7000 rupees(equivalent to 70) for not investigating claims of honour killing. The International Law International human rights law recognises honour crimes as a form violence against women, therefore it is a direct violation womens right to life and security; freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; and the right to equality before the law and equal protection of the law. Honor crimes also violate rights guaranteed to women by the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), such as the right to freely choose ones spouse and the right to equality in marriage. CEDAWs General Recommendation Number 19 defines gender-based violence as a form of discrimination against women and makes explicit reference to honor crimes. CEDAW obligates States to protect women from gender-based violence, including violence committed by family members and to prevent, investigate, and punish acts of violence against women. The Convention also requires States to disqualify honor as a legal defense for acts of violence against women. The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women echoes these obligations and states that, States should condemn violence against women and should not invoke any custom, tradition or religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination (Article 4). International human rights law is enforced through the state and by way of treaties. A state becoming the party to a international treaty will be bound by th treaty and it is the states responsibility and duty to protect the rights of the citizens. Pakistan is a party to a Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the treaty has been ratified and as a result of that, the Pakistani government ammended the Criminal Act 2004 which makes Honour killing a punishable offence. Apart from making the ammendment to Criminal Act 2004, Pakistan has taken several other intitaves to curb honour killings and domestic violence against women: Establishment of Gender Crime Cell Gender Crime Cell was established in National Bureau on 1st April 2006 to curb violence against women. The function of the Cell is to gather, collate and analyse data on cases of violence against women. The cell will act as central repository of relevant data on cases of violence against women and it will assist top-policy makers in developing holistic and effective policy countermeasures to control the social evil volence against women. Gender and Human Rights Sensitization To sensitize the police and to further improve law enforcement response to human rights situations, a comprehensive program has been included in the cirruculum of police training schools, police training colleges and national police academy. Cooperation/Collaboration with NGOs/ Civil society National Police Bureau has welcomed visits from NGOs who monitored severall police stations across the country, the main aim was to look into the business procedures, handling of public complaints against police, infra-structure, and facilities in lock-up of the stations. According to the Government of Pakistan, all these measures will help directly or indirectly contribute against curbing crimes against women. After reading the responses submitted to UN by the Government of Pakistan regarding the issues relating to violence against women, one would get the impression that Pakistan is trying to tackle the problem, some measures have been to curb the problem mentioned but the measures taken are not adequate enough to protect women, controversial laws such as Qisas still exist which are often exploited by murderers. Qisas Law Qisas law is relates to offences involving bodily injury or loss of life. The aim of the Qisas law is to put the victims family in control, ir is up to the family members of the victim to decide whether to bring an action against the murderer or pardon the murderer. Under the law, murdering a family member virtually carries no punishment as the other family members have the right to pardon the killer. In June 2002, Zakir killed 18- year Sabiha on suspicion that she had become pregnant, Zakir was pardoned by uncle of Sabiha, therefore his crime went unpunished. In a situation like such as this, courts and law enforcement agencies cannot take further action if the pardon is granted by the family member of the victim. n 90 percent cases of honor killings, the culprits are close relatives and therefore they are easily forgiven by the family of the deceased, in order successfully tackle this social evil, Qisas and Diyat Ordinance should not be in practise at all as it allows murderers to walk away free. It is evident that more needs to be done to tacke the menance known as honour killing, but the question what can the further steps can UN take to ensure that Pakistani Government makes further ammendments to the law to ensure that no murderers goes unpunished? The role of United Nations The human rights machinery in the UN systems works in three areas: information, analyis and policy development; provision of support to human rights bodies and organs; and promotion and protection of human rights. In order for this machinery to be successful, the UN has developed human rights institutions at the country level. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights(OHCHR) assigns human rights advisers to country teams and their aim is to advance human rights through legislative, judicial and other enforcement mechanisms. The UN has created commitees to oversee implementation of implementation human rights but the commitees have a limited power to investigate or monitor violations of human rights. The UN machinery is merely way of recording information. If a state fails to comply with demands of UN then procedures usually range from coaxing to naming and shaming, it is very rare that sanctions are imposed for human rights violations because of the undesirable consequences. UN is also having monetary problem, many of the major member states have refused to pay their assesed share of costs, the guaranteed budget of OHCHR has fallen less than half. United nations is not effective in curbing human rights violations, it has no other to make sure that the human rights are not violated, they do not have effective mechanisms to make sure that human rights are enforced and they do not have the necessary resources. Simply by signing and ratifying a treaty does not ensure that the State will carry their duties and protect human rights. The only serious measure which the UN can take is impose sanctions. It is possible to impose sanctions solely on the basis of human rights, imposing sanctions for breaches of human rights is rare. Should the UN impose sanctions to pressurize the Government? UN can impose sanctions such as diplomatic isolation , restrictions on international travel, trade and financial transactions. Sanctions is regarded a tool created to ensure that States comply with demands of UN. Imposing may seem as attractive option but it can discredited on the basis of its harsh consequences on the citizens of the state. Sanctions have a bad history as they inflict undeniable pain on the citizens which the UN is trying to protect. If UN was to impose trade and financial sanctions to pressurise Pakistan to do more to curb honour killlings, then it is highly unlikely the sanction will work because Pakistan already a poor country, 17% of the population lives under $1 a day. Pakistan economy nearly went bankrupt as a result of sanctions imposed by UN for carrying out nuclear tests. Economic sanctions means that the Pakistan economy will suffer and therefore the people of Pakistan will suffer, the overall level of poverty will increase and it is likely that honour killings will increase as well because honour killings are often carried to gain compensation or land. Sanctions will have a counter-productive effect on Pakistan, therefore it should be avoided. The role of NGOs Traditionally NGOs are considered to be more effective than United Nations, in the sense that they are better at monitoring than UN. NGOs tend to focus on one issue at a time compared to UN which focuses and many issues at a time, thus there is overload of work within the UN, therefore the procedure of monitoring is not effective. NGOs do not have any authority, it can pressurise Government by way of protest, NGOs can run aware campaigns and provide support and counciling services to the victims. NGOs cannot directlty enforce human rights, for human rights to be enforced, NGOs rely on courts, there are still loopholes in the law which favour the murderer, unless the loopholes are closed, the NGOs will not be effective. Majority of honour killings take place in remote areas such as NWFP due to poor infrastructure, as a result of poor infrastructure, it can be very difficult for NGOs to monitor remote areas of Pakistan. According to Khawar Mumtaz, a leading human rights activist said there were many as eight NGOs working in the NWFP and for betterment of women. The organisations were targeted by religious extremists, the houses of workers and directors were destroyed. The NGOs had to close their operations and flee from NWFP because of security concerns. Who else can help? Apart from the United Nations and NGOs, countries such as United Kingdom can help to tackle problems such as honour killings in Pakistan by giving them aid, which then can be used to improve the situation of human rights in Pakistan. The United Kingdom donated 2m in 2006 to set up a gender and justice protection fund, the main aim of the fund is to curb violence against women. Many critics argue that the aid which is given is not always spent on protection of human rights due to high levels of corruption within the the Government. How can we fight this social evil? Legal measures The Government of Pakistan must repeal the Qisas law as it provides a loophole for murderers to exploit, the fight against the menance cannot be won unless Pakistani Government makes further ammendments to law. Adopt a legislation which would criminalise all forms of domestic violence, The UN has developed a framework for a model legislation which can be adopted. Honour killing should be treated as a crime against the state and Preventive measures Run campaigns to inform citizens of their human rights througout the country. Currently Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights is running a human rights mass awareness campaign throughout the country. The campaign is approached through print and electronic media, the campaign is delivered in the form of jingles, talk shows, commercials, slogans and promotional material in the Newspapers. In remote areas such as NWFP and interior Sindh, the people dont usually have access to electronic media or newspapers. The literacy levels are low in pakistan, the literacy rate for women in 16%, this means that media is ineffective in remote areas because there is no televisions and majority of the women cannot read and write. The women who live in remote areas are most vunerable. Honour killing crimes are under-reported, as a result it is not possible to estimate the real magnitude of the problem. Monitoring and collecting information would help the Government to understand the problem better, and therefore it will enable the Government to come up with better strategy. Protective measures Provide adequate protection to human rights activists and lawyers, often leading human rights activits such as Hina Jilani and Asma Jehangir. In one incident, the two daughters of Asma Jehangir were assaulted and illegally held for several hours along with their friends by armed persons because they were making a video clip. The police did eventually arrive but failed to take any action againt the perpertrators, the police asked Asma Jehangir to remain quiet otherwise the girls would be kidnapped, raped and killed. If activists are not adequately protected by law enforcement agencies then they will not be able to fight for protection of human rights. Long term strategies Honour killing is not a recent phenomoen, similar practices have been known since ancient Roman times, when the Pater Familias (senior male within a household) retained the right to kill an unmarried but sexually active daughter or an adulterous wife. In order to fully eradicate this menance, we should look at the true root causes in order to curb this heinous crime against women. The three main factors are: Male domination Financial dependency Lack of education Male domination Both men and women should be represented equally in all public institutions, most importantly there should be proportiante representaion of women in the Government. The National Assemebly of Pakistan(equivalent to Parliament) has a total number 342 seats and 60 seats are reserved for women, only 17.5% of seats are occupied by women, in order to protect rights of women, it is imperative they are represented proportionaly in the Government. At the moment, there are few women in the Government who are holding key Government ministry, Sherry Rehman is the only women who is holding the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting which considered one of the important ministries. Recently Dr Fehmida Mirza was elected as the Speaker of National Assembly, she is the first woman is Pakistan to be elected as the Speaker of Natioanl Assembly. Late Benazir Bhutto was the first female prime minister of a muslim country. To end male domination, women should participate in politics, proportiante representation would mean that it will not possible to pass discriminatory laws in future against women such as Hudood ordinance as women would have a greater say in the law making process. Financial dependency Agriculture is the largest of economy of Pakistan, 79.8% of rural women are engaged in some sort of agricultural work. Majority of rural women have dual responsibilties, they have to look after house and work in agricultural land as well but they are grossly underpaid, in many cases they are not paid at all. Most women living in rural areas of Pakistan are not aware of their rights such as equal pay, the Government should run campaigns to empower women and inform them of their rights. The Government should run courses to give women vocational training, this would improve womens capacity to earn by increasing womens access to source of livelihood, in particular cottage industry, livestock production and agriculture. Only 9% of the jobs in the services industry of Pakistan are done by women. The Government should encourgae equal employment oppurtunities, it was only 2001 when an Act was introduced which ensures equal remunaration for men and women for work of equal value. Study carried by a NGO confirmed the widespread occurrence of sexual harrasment of women at the workplace, the Government of Pakistan been able to implement laws which adequately protect women at the workplace. Government should undertake measure to make places more safe so women could work without fear of discrimination and harassment. Lack of education Only 16% of women in Pakistan are literate. Illiteracy rates are very high Pakistan. The education sector in suffering from inadequate financing and infrastructure. The budget allocated to education sector is low, Pakistan is one of the twelve countries who spend 2% of their GDP on eduction sector. Education needs to be improved, more schools are needed in Pakistan so more girls could attend school. How practical is it to enforce rights in Pakistan? Lack of eductation and financial independence are the main factors which stop from going to relevant law authorities for protection of their human rights, low literacy rate and lack of awareness does stop women for seeking protection against violations of human rights. Also approching the judiciary through a lawyer can be a expensive proposition, therefore women do not attempt to take any action. Democracy and human rights It is believed that military regime are the worst offenders of human rights, from November 1999 to Feburary 2008, General Pervez Musharraf, a army general has enjoyed absolute power over Pakistan. In his term many human rights abuses took place such lal masjid killings and he sacked 12 judges out of 17 judges to install his own hand picked judges. General Pervez Musharrafs human rights record has been poor. Elections took place on 18th Feburary 2008, most specators believe that elections were free and fair and democracy was restored. Recently the new Government ratified a key UN human rights treaty and signed two others, this suggests that the new democratic Government is serious about human rights issues and the position of human rights should be better under the Government of Pakistan Peoples Party. For many years, a military general had absolute power over Pakistan, the military regime was rarely criticised by USA or UK because of Pakistan position against war on terror, infact he was praised by George W Bush and Tony Blair for his role despite the fact that he committed various violations of international law during his tenure, UN never imposed any economic sanctions on Pakistan, infact economic sanctions were lifted which were on Pakistan for conducting nuclear tests in 1997 after he promised support to hunt Osama bin Laden. Human rights violations in Pakistan are often ignored by major member states such USA and UK. The major member states did provide immunity to a dictator against human right violations, If USA and UK would have not supported Musharraf and would have taken steps earlier to restore democracy in Pakistan then the human rights situations would have been far improved by now. Jirga system Jirga is defined a tribal assembly consisting of male elders of the tribe. Majority of the cases relating to honour killings are decided in Jirga instead of a formal court. Jirga should be banned because the system is unfit to provide justice to women, male elders are biased towards women, trial by jirga is the prime protector of the tradition of honour killing. The tribal assembly usually consists of uneducated male elders who do not have the knowledge and the skills to judge. They do not have any jurisdiction to impose capital punishments. Sindh is the only province of Pakistan where the panchayat(equivalent to Jirgra system) have been banned, Jirga system still operational in Baluchistan and North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. Jirga system should be be completely banned throughout Pakistan, the only reason why Jirga system is still operational in rural parts of Pakistan because it seen as a cheaper alternative. Any hope? Pakistan is grappling with many crisis at the moment, the burning of judiciary is still unsolved. There is shortage flour and food prices are rising dramatically. There is severe shortage of basic neccesaties such as electricity and clean water in Pakistan. Recently, one of the most popular leader of Pakistan was shot dead. The new Pakistani Government is facing many problems and as result of that, they are not able to fully concentrate human rights issues, honour killings have rarely received any attention from the media or the new Government. We can only hope that the new Government takes positive steps to curb this social evil, so far there has been no progress made by the new Government to address this problem. Pakistan as a suffering from increasing unemployment, increasing inflation and growing anger and frustrations with the system, lack of opportunities, all these factors can lead to violence against women, all tend to build aggravation in men. At the end of the day, its the women who are at the receiving end of the vented frustration, thus violence against women occurs as a direct result.

Zappos Recruitment Policy - 728 Words

Zappos Recruitment Brian Hains Kaplan University Abstract ââ€"  Select a recruitment policy that might best fit the culture of Zappos. Why is this policy a good fit for the organization? What might be the impact of the recruitment policy on the organization? The new recruiting â€Å" No job postings† website is truly unique. First off, you have to give the Zappos team credit for eliminating anything in recruiting, because we have a long history in recruiting of adding but never subtracting approaches. The new talent community declares the end to job postings and the painful transaction between applying for a specific job and getting a cold rejection. It further offers the opportunity to become â€Å"a corporate insider,† where you join the†¦show more content†¦Senior human resources manager Christa Foley says one of her favorite questions is â€Å"What’s the biggest misperception people typically have about you?† She uses the question to identify candidates who are sincere and honest. Besides traditional interview questions, Zappos has some unconventional ways to learn about candidates. One of the company’s values is â€Å"Be humble.† To gauge humility, HR directors talk to someone candidates didn’t know they were supposed to impress: the drivers of the shuttle buses that bring candidates to the company’s offices. The HR directors find out whether the candidates treated the driver with respect; if not, the candidate is elim inated from consideration. Another value is creativity and open-mindedness. To test for this, the interviewer gives candidates a mockup of a newspaper and asks how many photos it contains. On one page of the newspaper, a headline states the answer. The assumption is that people who are open-minded will be paying attention and notice the headline. The recruiting team also goes to lunch with the candidates and observes how they interact with other people. 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Disadvantages of Decentralisation free essay sample

The success of decentralization will depend upon the quality of personnel manning the decentralized units. In those cases where the training, experience, education etc of the employees are inadequate, decentralisation of authority and of decision making would be harmful for the enterprise. There will be wrong decisions, confusion, contradictions etc. (2) Decentralisation becomes uneconomic and unwieldy unless the organisation is large and strong enough at the top to cope with a decentralised structure. Particularly for a small organisation decentralisation is not at all desirable because it would be easier and more economical to administer the enterprise on a centralized basis. (3) When an organisation expands through internal growth, decentralisation is not necessary and may be harmful. Unlike external expansion, in this situation no desire for absolute autonomy pre-exists. (4) In situations of emergency or trouble, decentralised administration is ineffective. It is costly and time consuming to control an emergency situation which affects a vital business area under a decentralised plan. Such decisions have to be taken at the top, and excessive decentralisation may lead to too much of consideration and delay before the problem is brought to the attention of the central or top authority. (5) In the absence of adequate information, decentralised administration tends to become weak. Decentralised decision making depends upon the quick availability of information pertaining not only to the particular decentralised unit but also to the other related activities and unit. In the absence of this ancillary information decisions will lack coordination and unity amongst the different organizational units. 6) If it is not possible to break up the business suitably into profit centers or investment centers, then decentralisation may result in inadequate appraisal and control. In conclusion we may quote H. A. Simon, that some measure of centralisation is indispensable to secure the advantages of organisation, coordination, expertise and responsibility. On the other hand, the costs of centralisation must not be forgotten. Decentralization in Organizations: Learning Objectives: 1. Define and explain the term decentralization. 2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of decentralization in business organizations? 3. What are business segments? 4. Define and explain cost, profit, and investment centers. Definition and Explanation of Decentralization A decentralized organization is one in which decision making is not confined to a few top executives but rather is throughout the organization, with managers at various levels making key operating decisions relating to their sphere of responsibility. Decentralization is a matter of degree, since all organizations are decentralized to some extent out of necessity. At one extreme, a strongly decentralized organization is one in which even the lowest-level managers and employees are empowered to make decisions. At the other extreme, in a strongly decentralized organization, lower-level managers have little freedom to make decisions. Although most organizations fall somewhere between these two extremes, there is a pronounced trend toward more and more decentralization. Advantages/Benefits of Decentralization: Decentralization has many advantages/benefits, including: 1. Top management is relieved of much day-to-day problem solving and is left free to concentrate on strategy, on higher level decision making, and coordinating activities. 2. Decentralization provides lower level managers with vital experience in making decisions. Without such experience, they would be ill-prepared to make decisions when they are promoted into higher level positions. 3. Added responsibility and decision making authority often result in increased job satisfaction. Responsibility and the authority, that goes with it makes the job more interesting and provides greater incentives for people to put out their best efforts. 4. Lower level managers generally have more detailed and up to date information about local conditions than top managers. Therefore the decisions of lower level management are often based on better information. 5. It is difficult to evaluate a managers performance if the manager is not given much latitude in what he or she can do. Disadvantages of Decentralization: Decentralization has four major disadvantages: 1. Lower level managers may make decisions without fully understanding the big picture. While top level managers typically have less detailed information about local operations than the lower level managers, they usually have more information about the company as a whole and should have a better understanding of the companys strategy. 2. In a truly decentralized organization, there may be a lack of coordination among autonomous managers. This problem can be reduced by clearly defining the companys strategy and communicating it effectively throughout the organization. 3. Lower-level managers may have objectives that are different from the objectives of the entire organization. For example, some managers may be more interested in increasing the sizes of their departments than in increasing the profits of the company. To some degree, this problem can be overcome by designing performance evaluation system that motivate managers to make decisions that are in the best interests of the organization. 4. In a strongly decentralized organization, it may be more difficult to effectively spread innovative ideas. Someone in one part of the organization may have a traffic idea that would benefit other parts of the organizations, but without strong central direction the idea may not be shared with, and adopted by other parts of the organization Read more at http://www. accounting4management. com/decentralized_organizations. htm#kX2TyKXfLDTQ2pML. 99 Decentralization: Inspecting the Tradeoffs Decentralization generally comes into account to accouterment the disadvantages of centralization. Although a decentralized command anatomy does advice to affected the cons of absolute administration such as abridgement of buying and authority, as you go bottomward the hierarchical alignment structure, it has its own different set of pros and cons. Let us analyze these claim and demerits of decentralization and put into angle the tradeoffs complex back adopting this administration concept. Advantages of Decentralization * The top administration and promoters of the close accept broadcast the controlling ascendancy and are therefore, larboard with added time to accompany the action for acumen the organizations abiding vision. Day-to-day botheration analytic is no best the better affair for the higher-ups. * Operational ability makes it easier for the alignment to abound overall. Activities such as franchising, about-face and hiring of advisers at the authoritative levels do not charge connected action from the top management. Consequently, amplification becomes easier, adopting basic and inducting added workforce become beneath time-consuming. Decentralization abundantly allowances huge organizations advance over several thousand advisers and geographic locations. Increased controlling ability anon translates into greater accountability. Bounded managers and alike added advisers added bottomward the accumulated ladder are motivated to booty buying of their work. Leadership qualities acquisition announcement alfresco the boardroom aural the silos and cubicles as well. The all-embracing atmosphere tends to addition agent assurance arch to greater job achievement than the austere borders of a centralized set up. Grooming approaching leaders is additionally abundant easier in such an atmosphere. Theres no best aloof one centermost of arete in the alignment but several pockets of arete abounding of accomplished bodies advance out beyond the organization. Ascendancy is delegated at the bounded level, which agency decisions are added abreast and accelerated admitting not consistently strategic. * Decentralized ability agency greater accuracy which in about-face ensures that beneath mistakes are made. A accommodation is usually a autonomous and participative aftereffect and if theres a fail up in progress, affairs are abundant that addition will atom it. While theres buying of success, decentralized ascendancy additionally ensures that there are beneath scapegoats. A aberration cannot be mapped to one distinct being (this can be a bankrupt beneath some added circumstances). * Perhaps, one of the best able outcomes of decentralization is the achievability of accessible innovation. With aptitude advance out beyond all levels and locations and the consistent networking possibilities, ablaze minds get calm with ideas, arch to addition rapidly. There are no authoritative bottlenecks or hindrances to barter of ideas. In a decentralized setup, it becomes accessible to atom the anemic links that are consistently affecting the basal lines. Therefore, it becomes easier to bung the leaks in time and accomplish abiding that the acquaint abstruse are finer conveyed to all added subunits aural the organization. * The acceptance of authoritative standards and best practices is additionally facilitated by a decentralized setup. Accuracy in action en sures that it is accessible for the assorted bounded teams to challenge and accept the methods and processes that brought success to a aggregation amid elsewhere. One of the above advantages of decentralized way of demography decisions is witnessed during a abrupt change in the bounded business ambiance such as the access of recession or bill devaluation, etc. Businesses are able to acknowledge and acclimate bound to these changes back ascendancy is decentralized. * Retail businesses like Walmart and auberge chains generally account from accepting a decentralized appearance of management. Businesses, area quick decisions amidst fast-paced changes in ambiance are the adjustment of the day, angle to account from decentralization. Disadvantages of Decentralization * Too abundant accent on localized way of demography decisions may end up abashing the bigger picture. As you go bottomward the accumulated ladder, advisers assume to lose afterimage of the authoritative vision. * A awful decentralized alignment can be the battlefield for ailing antagonism amid bounded managers arch to abridgement of co-operation and coordination. As a result, commutual functions may ache and absolute interdepartmental conflicts is difficult back ascendancy has been delegated. In addition, there is cher duplication of assignment (activities, processes and outcomes) that may appulse abridgement of scale. * Decentralization is not consistently a acceptable action to activate with, abnormally back the alignment is still to acquisition its basement in the market. Pushing decisions bottomward the bureaucracy after assessing if those levels in actuality accept the appropriate abilities and capabilities, is a aberration that could prove to be costly. * While decentralization promotes the advance of standards and best practices, altered managers apperceive them differently. Therefore, accomplishing of compatible organization-wide constant behavior becomes problematic. In case of emergencies that crave acceptance of organization-wide standards, the circulation of ascendancy and absolute opinions and accomplishments affectation a above hindrance. * Decentralization generally gives acceleration to an agent citizenry composed mainly of generalists and actual few specialists. External specialist consultants generally charge to be approved back the charge arises, added abacus to the costs. Assignment allocation and achievement appraisal are not constant in a acerb decentralized establishment. A subunit that is a amount centermost ends up accepting a raw deal, admitting acquirement breeding units acquire the allowances of a acceptable achievement by their subunit. It is difficult to admeasurement the achievement of amount centers and the associated advisers as they do not accomplish profits. * Businesses like fast aliment chains such as McDonalds area speciali zation is important and bendability in account is vital, angle to account from a added centralized assignment culture Source: http://www. shvoong. com/business-management/business-ideas-and-opportunities/2263925-advantages-disadvantages-decentralization/#ixzz2Oc5y6AfP Advantages of Decentralization The top management and promoters of the firm have distributed the decision-making authority and are therefore, left with more time to pursue the strategy for realizing the organizations long-term vision. Day-to-day problem solving is no longer the biggest concern for the higher-ups. Operational independence makes it easier for the organization to grow overall. Activities such as franchising, diversification and hiring of employees at the departmental levels do not need constant intervention from the top management. Consequently, expansion becomes easier, raising capital and inducting additional workforce become less time-consuming. Decentralization greatly benefits huge organizations spread over several thousand employees and geographic locations. Increased decision-making power directly translates into greater accountability. Local managers and even other employees further down the corporate ladder are motivated to take ownership of their work. Leadership qualities find expression outside the boardroom within the silos and cubicles as well. The overall atmosphere tends to boost employee morale leading to greater job satisfaction than the strict confines of a centralized setup. Grooming future leaders is also much easier in such an atmosphere. Theres no longer just one center of excellence in the organization but several pockets of excellence full of talented people spread out across the organization. Authority is delegated at the local level, which means decisions are more informed and accelerated though not always strategic. Decentralized power means greater transparency which in turn ensures that fewer mistakes are made. A decision is usually a democratic and participative outcome and if theres a goof up in progress, chances are great that someone will spot it. While theres ownership of success, decentralized authority also ensures that there are fewer scapegoats. A mistake cannot be mapped to one single person (this can be a demerit under some other circumstances). Perhaps, one of the most powerful outcomes of decentralization is the possibility of open innovation. With talent spread out across all levels and locations and the resulting networking possibilities, bright minds get together with ideas, leading to innovation rapidly. There are no bureaucratic bottlenecks or hindrances to exchange of ideas. In a decentralized setup, it becomes easy to spot the weak links that are consistently affecting the bottom lines. Therefore, it becomes easier to plug the leaks in time and make sure that the lessons learned are effectively conveyed to all other subunits within the organization. The adoption of organizational standards and best practices is also facilitated by a decentralized setup. Transparency in process ensures that it is easy for the various local teams to emulate and adopt the methods and processes that brought success to a team located elsewhere. One of the major advantages of decentralized way of taking decisions is witnessed during a sudden change in the local business environment such as the onset of recession or currency devaluation, etc. Businesses are able to respond and adapt quickly to these changes when authority is decentralized. Retail businesses like Walmart and hotel chains often benefit from having a decentralized style of management. Businesses, where quick decisions amidst fast-paced changes in environment are the order of the day, stand to benefit from decentralization. Disadvantages of Decentralization Too much emphasis on localized way of taking decisions may end up blurring the bigger picture. As you go down the corporate ladder, employees seem to lose sight of the organizational vision. A highly decentralized organization can be the battleground for unhealthy competition between local managers leading to lack of co-operation and coordination. As a result, interdependent functions may suffer and resolving interdepartmental onflicts is difficult when authority has been delegated. In addition, there is costly duplication of work (activities, processes and outcomes) that may impact economy of scale. Decentralization is not always a good strategy to begin with, especially when the organization is still to find its footing in the market. Pushing decisions down the hierarchy without assessing if those levels in fa ct have the required skills and capabilities, is a mistake that could prove to be costly. While decentralization promotes the spread of standards and best practices, different managers perceive them differently. Therefore, implementation of uniform organization-wide consistent policies becomes problematic. In case of emergencies that require adoption of organization-wide standards, the diffusion of authority and independent opinions and actions pose a major hindrance. Decentralization often gives rise to an employee population composed mainly of generalists and very few specialists. External specialist consultants often need to be sought when the need arises, further adding to the costs. Work allocation and performance evaluation are not consistent in a strongly decentralized establishment. A subunit that is a cost center ends up getting a raw deal, whereas revenue generating units reap the benefits of a good performance by their subunit. It is difficult to measure the performance of cost centers and the associated employees as they do not generate profits. Businesses like fast food chains such as McDonalds where specialization is important and consistency in service is vital, stand to benefit from a more centralized work culture. We have seen both the advantages and disadvantages of decentralization that hopefully makes clear what the tradeoffs could be in adopting this concept in an organization. However, most disadvantages of decentralization can be overcome by controlling the degree of authority delegated to the lower levels of the organization. Both centralization and decentralization have their extremes which is why, the key is to avoid those extremes and take the middle road. A combination of both concepts and a conscious deviation from the autocratic management style is recommended as a plausible strategy. Striking a balance between how much independence is given to individual business units and what kind of decisions remain under the central command could lead to a successful strategy. By Preeti Sunil Published: 2/13/2012

Plato Vs. Aristotle Essays (1056 words) - Philosophy,

Plato Vs. Aristotle Regime Change We have two great philosophers, Plato and Aristotle. These are great men, whose ideas have not been forgotten over years. Although their thoughts of politics were similar, we find some discrepancies in their teachings. The ideas stem from Socrates to Plato to Aristotle. Plato based moral knowledge on abstract reason, while Aristotle grounded it on experience and tried to apply it more to concrete living. Both ways of life are well respected by many people today. Plato started his teachings in remembrance of his good friend, Socrates. After his death he traveled back to Italy and studied under Pythagoras. Some years later he began The Academy. Much of the curriculum taught was dedicated to the teachings of Socrates. During this time he began to write down his thoughts about politics and development of a regime. Developing different aspects than Socrates. The Republic is the most important dialogue within Platos teaching of politics. It deals with the soul, which, as we know from the beginning, at the level where one must make choices and decide what one wants to become in this life, and it describes justice as the ultimate form of human, and the ideal one should strive for both in life and in state. Justice as understood by Plato is not merely a social virtue, having only to do with relationship between people, but virtue that makes it possible for one to build their own regime and reach happiness. The Republic is a political, and a work dealing with what traits or virtues one must have, as its whole purpose is to show that the one cannot be separated from the other. Politics is nothing more than the attempts of man to put order or disorder in his social life or regime. There is no way people can bring order in their social life if one does not first put order in their life, nobody is able to lead others unless one first leads oneself. Peoples soul are made up of several parts, as will be shown along the way, each man's main concern and occupation in life should be to build harmony and unity. Politics is the way a person expresses how his or her order in life can be used for everyone, the image of their own inner order or disorder reflected in his social life. A person cannot live alone, because one is a social animal, one must act; politics becomes an important part of the mind. Politics are simply the means of bringing order into the world of men through laws that are the pro duct of rational nature. It is the ultimate concern of the philosopher, the one of wisdom, to bring this order forward. Aristotle at the age of 17 attended The Academy founded by Plato. Recall that The Academy had been set up using the principles that were later set out in Platos major work, The Republic. Aristotle continued at The Academy until the death of Plato some twenty years later. Aristotle was recognized as a brilliant independent student of philosophy. Aristotles view of politics is expressed in his writing, Politics. Rather than focusing on the individual Aristotle is more intent on the regime, and the highest goal, justice. Another main point is that people must live together, thus having a united regime. The family unit was highly respected, for the household is where people originate. Aristotle's political science encompasses the two fields that modern philosophers distinguish as ethics and political philosophy. Political philosophy in the sense is roughly speaking the subject of his literature called the Politics. The most important task for the politician is, in the role of lawgiver, to frame the appropriate constitution for the regime. Aristotle defines the constitution as a certain ordering of the inhabitants of the city-state. Once the constitution is in place, the politician needs to take the appropriate measures to maintain it, to introduce reforms when he finds them necessary, and to prevent developments that might pose threats to the political system. This involves enduring laws, customs, and institutions for the citizens. Aristotle sees that every regime is a sort of community, and that every community is established for the sake of some good. Aristotle had different