A Character Study Of Patrick Bateman Essay

This character study centers around is Patrick Bateman, the wannabe hero of â€Å"American Psycho†, a frequently misconstrued parody of the high society American way of life by Bret Easton Ellis. The book is set in New York during the 1980s, and let the peruser see through the eyes of the hero himself by utilizing first account. Subsequently when perusing the novel it feels as though one is perusing a journal, in spite of the fact that there are no exacting time stretches between every section. The storyline is straightforward. The epic delineates the regular daily existence of Patrick Bateman with consistently detail. We are placed directly into a run of the mill scene of Bateman’s life immediately toward the beginning when we see him and his companions at an elegant evening gathering. Quickly we get the possibility that he is extremely rich and carries on with his life in style. The nourishments at the evening gathering are outlandish and Bateman couldn’t help continue flaunting his â€Å"platinum American Express Card†. Like his companions, he wants to taunt vagrants and those less lucky than him. One of his preferred stunts is to imagine giving a dollar note to a homeless person and afterward removing it in the last second while taking delight from the mistake of his casualty. He additionally has some great characteristics. For instance, he is amazingly shrewd and shows disturb in separation of any sort, given that those individuals are on the equivalent â€Å"level† as him. He even criticized an associate for his enemy of Semitic remarks. Anyway these great characteristics are really a fai ade, concealing his actual character. As opposed to what shows up, he is emphatically homophobic, supremacist, hostile to Semitic and out of line to ladies. This can be exhibited by his assessment of rap music, depicting it as â€Å"too niggerish†. His perspectives on ladies were â€Å"they are just there to assist men with carrying on the human race†. Patrick Bateman is additionally very wellbeing cognizant. With the exception of an incidental stogie, he doesn't smoke and abhors other people who do. He additionally forces a severe sound nourishments system on himself. His system is to some degree like a vegan’s. He eats generally products of the soil never meat, with a unique accentuation on extraordinary nourishments. His top picks incorporate kiwi organic product glue and Japanese apple-pears, costing him an over the top sum for each. To supplement his dietary system, Bateman much of the time uses his selective, private wellbeing community named Xclusive. Besides, he utilizes a wide scope of human services items and prescriptions. These are really Ellis’ embellishment of what occurs, in actuality, where the social elites urgently attempt and keep themselves solid, with any methods conceivable. During the day Bateman can be viewed as an ordinary high society individual, however during the night things are totally unique. At the point when gotten some information about what he does during the night, he answers â€Å"I need to restore some video tapes†. This has become the doublespeak of his evening time exercises. Around evening time, he entertains himself with killing honest people and assaulting shocking people. Some of the time the stun of doing these things gets to him, and he begins to have alarm assaults. It’s during these fits of anxiety we see actually how feeble he is. He frequently admits his violations to add up to outsiders. Anyway they generally disregard him and think it’s a joke. This, joined with how characters in the book regularly confuses one individual with another, is Ellis’ method of speaking to how in the cutting edge world we don’t truly care about who we are conversing with. One thing that can't be disregarded about the novel is the manner by which express it is. Assaults, murders and twisted activities are portrayed with nothing forgot about. For instance, in one of the scenes Patrick Bateman drinks his own pee and in another scene, he removes the eyes of a vagrant. To give you a thought of what the language resembles, here’s a concentrate from the book: â€Å"I drive the serrated sharp edge into its [a dog’s] stomach and rapidly cut open its smooth tummy in a spurt of earthy colored blood, its legs kicking and ripping at me, at that point blue and red digestion tracts swell out and I drop the pooch onto the sidewalk†¦. He [the owner] simply gaze with dismay saying ‘oh my god gracious my god’ as the sharpei hauls itself around, its tail swaying, screeching, and it begins licking and sniffing the heap of its own digestive organs, spilled out in a hill on the walkway, some despite everything associated with its stomach. † From this you can perceive how graphical the book is. Sadly this is just a little bit of the entire story and this concentrate is the most powerless regarding nausea in the book. This just implements how unhinged and maniacal Patrick Bateman is. The incongruity of the novel is that Bateman does totally different things while demanding what he does is in every case right. For instance, he regularly derides his partners for offering oppressive remarks, however he is subtly similarly as biased. While he abnormally keeps himself fit and solid, he manhandles cocaine and antidepressants. This is the center of Ellis’ parody, where he ridicules the high society, which demands their flawlessness however really is oblivious on how blemished they are. Likewise in the novel Bateman devotes a solitary section in addition to numerous pieces of different parts enumerating his material riches. Likewise he enthusiastically looks at his things to those of another person. In fact in one scene he found that another person’s business card was of a superior quality and structure than his and subsequently began to have exceptional desire for that individual. This can be deciphered as Ellis’ parody coordinated at the voracity of people and our urgent battle to have the best of everything. After he submits his last homicide, Bateman doesn't feel better and â€Å"high† as he depicted it. Rather, he feels nothing. Not in any event, slaughtering can fulfill him now. It is astonishing how he was never associated with any of the various homicides he submitted. Toward the end we find that he may have envisioned every one of his demonstrations of monstrosity. This purposeful vagueness is the main kindness Ellis has for this genuinely underhanded character. Regardless of this, I feel sorry for Patrick Bateman, for he attempted to discover joy, similar to we as a whole do yet in different manners, and neglecting to do as such. At long last, he is left â€Å"hollow† with no feeling left at all. It’s desolate how one can turn out to be intellectually disturbed on one’s journey for individual increase.

Strategizing optimum location Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Planning ideal area - Essay Example The initial two will plan fabricating worries of the abattoir, while the last one is a help guide. Investigation and hypothetical instructions: The standard structure of an abattoir goes to some degree like this: a 60 m2 by 30 m2 rectangular Plan comprising chiefly of 1)Production module (Pi): P1 butcher floor, P2 lairage (store territory for creatures before butcher), P3 chiller, P4 tripe room, P5 meat cutting and preparing. 2)Service module (Si): S1 water flexibly, S2 profluent removal, S3 strong waste and blood removal, S4 stow away and skin handling, S5 electric light and force. For our contextual analysis, we limit our conversations on a shortsighted level as it were. Let us look at how standard Operation strategies apply for this situation. Utilizing straight programming, we have to basically decide the amount and assortment (for example dairy cattle, pigs, sheep and goat, and so forth.) of butcher required/day dependent on advertise request; in this model the goal work is showcase income (Ri) out of meat (x1) and pork (x2), and the imperatives are space necessities, and market request.

Management by Exception Definition, Principles, Examples

Management by Exception â€" Definition, Principles, Examples © Shutterstock.com | udra11Being a manager is a tough task. You need to be able to divide your attention between different things, each looking like the most important thing to solve. As a manager, you need to juggle many tasks to guarantee the business succeeds. In order to get things done and keep employees motivated, you might employ different tactics or management styles.One such style is management by exception, which can help the management understand where their attention is to most needed. Let’s delve deeper into the concept, the way it works and what its principles are. I’ll also look at the advantages of the popular method, as well as outline some of the drawbacks you must be aware of before opting for the framework.THE DEFINITIONSo what does management by exception mean? Firstly, it’s one of the many management practices or styles. It provides you with a specific type of framework that guides the way your management goes about planning, organizing, and controlling, i.e. the core management functions. It provides a set of processes and principles you choose to follow and implement in your management.The second point to know is about the core idea influencing the principles. The principles are built around the concept of ‘exception’. As you might have guessed, this means the focus of the manager is on things deviating from the norm. As a manager, your attention will be on noticing the things that are not quite right â€" the things deviating from the norm, i.e. the exceptions. These deviations are examined in the various operational, and especially financial areas of the business.For example, if the norm performance of the business calls for expenses to stand at $50,000, the style would focus on examining the results when the deviation is significant. The style would alert the management when expenses are $70,000 or even $30,000. This would be a situation of significant deviance; your business is suddenly either spending a lot more money or h as suddenly seen the spending drop. In either case, you would like to know why the deviation has happened and use the information to correct or to improve the situation. Remember that management by exception always calls for this strong or significant deviation. If the expenses stood at $49,000, the difference wouldn’t really matter as much. The $1,000 difference could simply be due to constantly changing electricity prices, for example.If you put the above together, you can define management by exception in a similar vein to the Business Dictionary, which states that management by exception is a,“practice whereby only the information that indicates a significant deviation of actual results from the budgeted or planned results is brought to the management’s notice”.Furthermore, the definition goes on to explain how the goal of the framework is the facilitation of management’s focus on essential tactical and strategic objectives. This refers to how the framework focuses on financial and operational processes â€" these are considered to be the most significant in terms of ensuring smooth functioning.Indeed, if you think about it, deviations in business finances can be a sign of problems or great success. If your business is suddenly spending a lot more or the cost of making a product has changed, you naturally will see the effects ripple down to other areas. You won’t make enough profit or you can’t produce as many items, for example.Management by exception, therefore, makes the management’s job a little easier by directing its focus on the key areas and telling the management to only pay attention when the situation drastically changes. In a way, the framework says, “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it”, or if you don’t have a noticeable problem, don’t spend energies analyzing or monitoring it.Remember to not mix management by exception with exception management. This is a different concept, which essentially focuses on managing all exc eptions. It’s not a management specific process or a management style, but a framework where attention is given to all exceptions and deviations. These can occur outside of the operational or financial framework, in areas like infrastructure, legal issues and so on.THE PROCESS OF MANAGEMENT BY EXCEPTIONSo, what does the process of management by exception look like? What does the above mean in real life?The whole concept is actually simple to understand, although as I’ll explain in the next sections, not the easiest to implement adequately. The process requires just a few objectives: setting the objectives or norms, assessing the performance of the chosen objectives, analyzing the possible deviations, and solving the exceptions. Let’s look at each section on its own:Setting objectives or normsThe process begins by establishing the norms for the chosen procedures. Consider you are running a hamburger shop and you’d like to monitor things such as sales, expenses and so on. You would need to establish the norm or the objective for each task and procedure. The norm should be something easily quantifiable and achievable. It could be the general number of burgers you sell each month, for instance. This would be the number you need to sell in order to meet the expenses and grow at a steady rate. So, you would set up the norm, which in this instance could be 15,000 burgers sold.When you are setting the objective and the norm, you want to focus on predictable and estimated results. You shouldn’t just pick a number or other norm from thin air. You can’t say “I’ll set the norm at 20,000”, if you can realistically only sell about 10,000. Finding the right norms and objectives won’t be easy, and you should spend enough time analyzing data to understand what the baseline for management and operations could be.As well as setting up the norms, you are also outlining the deviations. What constitutes as an exception? You now have the norms, but what would be a variance that would cause you to investigate it further? You might initially think, “any exception is surely worth looking into”. But that’s not the case, as explained above. You wouldn’t have time to do anything as a manager, if you examined each change in performance.The key is to understand the variances that require attention. For example, you might notice that on a hot day, the workers don’t produce quite as many finished cakes. This little occurrence might cause a change in sales for the month, but it’s probably not big enough to cause alarm. On the other hand, if the electricity price goes up and the expenses go up by 3% for the whole month, you definitely have a situation at hand.The deviations worth noticing depend on your business and the norms. As a general clue for financial exceptions, a variance of less than 0.1% of the norm is not a significant change. To find out the right deviations, you need to use mathematical formulas, such as statistical control ch arts, and study your business metrics carefully.Assessing the performance and comparing it with the normOnce you’ve established the norms, you can begin using management by exception. The most crucial part of the process is monitoring the relevant data sets and assessing whether the actual performance matches with the norms. You need to ensure you are gathering all the relevant data and monitoring systems in real time.The monitoring process can be different depending on how big your business is and what type of data you are monitoring. You can use automated monitoring programs that collect and compress data for you, providing you insight into the results. On the other hand, you could manually check the reports to notice the deviances.As you start gathering data regarding the current performance, you can start comparing it with your chosen norms. You want to do this to ensure you notice any deviations from the norm and can then move on to dealing with them.Analyzing the deviationTh ere are two possible outcomes to comparing your performance data with the norms. You either:Find no significant deviation, in which case you don’t take any action. As mentioned above, you don’t need to respond to small changes.Find a significant deviation, in which case you take the following step of informing the appropriate management level about the issue. This could be the manager right above you or a high-level manager. If you are a manager, you need to either respond to the deviation or report it higher up in the chain, depending on the procedure.Deviations shouldn’t just be accepted as they show and corrective action should only be taken once you are clear about the reasons behind the exceptions. You need to remember two things. First, a human error might have been behind the problem or other anomaly changed the results. This might mean the deviation is not actually as acute as it might seem. The second thing to keep in mind is that deviations are not necessarily always to be corrected. In certain instances, the variance might occur because of improvements in a specific procedure. So, never start solving your problem without analyzing the root causes behind the deviation.Solving the exceptionIt then becomes an issue for the responsible management to deal with the deviation and to respond appropriately. As I just mentioned, understand what is behind the deviation before you solve it. Did the sale of hamburgers drop just because there was a human error in entering the sales on one day? Did the burger sales decline, while chicken nuggets suddenly went up?As a manager, you need to know the root causes for the anomalies before you can solve them. Remember that in certain instances, you might need to tweak your norms. For example, if you include a new product to your product line, the expenses have to up and so on. So don’t just implement your management by exception formulas, but continually review them.PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT BY EXCEPTIONSo, the pr ocess of management by exception is essentially about ensuring the management focuses on the policy strategies and decisions, getting involved with the day-to-day activities only when large deviations occur. What about the principles? What are some of the core characteristics you need to ensure are in place for the system to work?A systematic approachManagement by exception requires a systematic approach to work. What this means in practice is that all the operational needs and requirements of the organization must be properly understood and outlined. Essentially, the organization must be aware of everything going on and have a clear set of standards it follows. Management by exceptions cannot be achieved without a proper set of standards and procedures. Quite simply, you can’t notice deviations, if you don’t even know what the standard or the so-called norm looks like.The framework requires a rather meticulous approach to implementation. In order to establish a systematic appro ach and guarantee positive results, your should take the following steps:Analyze operational needs and requirements, as well as data.Create and maintain a set of policy standards.Collect, classify, draft and interpret reports.Make decisions based on the pre-determined requirements.If you have a set of goals for the management style, you focus on determining the deviations your organization should be alarmed by, and you establish a routine for collecting and analyzing data, you can make the system work in a systematic way.A comprehensive organizational policyA big part of the systematic approach is focused on the principle of organizational policy. The organization has to have a pre-determined and pre-established policy, which determines the objectives and the policies management and other levels of the organization must follow. Having a comprehensive policy in place will make it easier to determine the deviations, but also to guarantee all levels of the organization follow the same set of rules.The key thing about a good organizational policy is that it should focus on accountability. You need to ensure each level of management has to subscribe to the rules and follow the same procedures. If there are differences in responsibility and other such issues, these should be clearly stated in the policy and everyone should be aware of them.You do not want to be in a situation where certain people are in the dark about what is expected of them or what the process might be for others. The instructions and expectations must be clearly outlined and expressed. You can find great tips for organizational policy online at Clack Nuber.A good understanding of exceptionsLinking to the above principle, management by exception requires the whole organization to be aware of the deviations. You can’t run the system by keeping the exceptions as a secret or only something the reporting team will know of. The more the team understands what is expected of them and what should cause alarm bells, the easier it is to spot the problems or to guarantee they don’t occur in the first place.Since management won’t be involved until there is a major deviation, a good understanding of the exceptions can guarantee the subordinates are able to perform corrective actions throughout the process. Furthermore, although certain deviations might be reported directly to the higher management levels, with the decision-making power in their hands, managers must be aware of the exceptions as well. Again, it can all help in you understanding the issues and keeping an eye on it throughout the process. It can also guarantee a more amicable solution to problems.Let’s say you were the manager and you would know the expenses are not a problem until they would deviate around 5% from the norm. If you’re subordinates are unaware of this, they might not think too much about the reported changes in third supplier products. On the other hand, if they are aware of this, they can take pre -emptive action and report their findings to you or the floor manager might strike a new deal with the supplier to cut the costs.A part of the understanding of exceptions deals with the difference between routine and exceptional activities. In the context of management by exception, managers need to know what tasks and processes are routine, i.e. can be dealt by the lower levels of management or the subordinates.For example, these could refer to checking if orders go through normally and whether third party supplier deliveries are in order. The deviations in these routine tasks and processes can generally be dealt with by the lower level management. For example, if the order expenses are exceeding the pre-determined sum, the lower levels of management can find out what is causing this and whether they can sign a new deal with the supplier or change to a new one. On the other hand, the exceptional activities require the attention of the higher level of management.These would be the m ore crucial activities in terms of the whole organization. For example, the overall human resource cost might go up, threatening the bottom line. The top levels of management would be the one to decide on the appropriate action and whether the best way is to lay off staff or find other cuts elsewhere in the budget. In general, the exceptional activities often include more than one possible solution.A proper delegation of authorityFor the process and framework to work, a principle of proper delegation of authority must be established. As I mentioned above, the deviations can generally be divided into the routine and the exceptional activities. There must be a clear understanding of this division and a well-set command structure for authority. When there is a problem or an exception occurs, the subordinates and the managers need to know what they are supposed to do.You don’t want to end up in a situation where a deviation occurs, but the correct authority is not informed. This princ iple is almost like running a ship. If there is a problem with one of the engines, the first worker to notice this would probably be required to report it to his or her floor managers and not run directly to the captain. If the management notices that the engine failure is threatening the ship, then they know the authority lies with the captain. Knowing who is able to make specific types of decision and who to contact at different times is important for ensuring management by exception works smoothly.A continuous development of subordinatesFinally, like with many management theories and styles, you need to include subordinate development as part of your management by exception framework. I’ll delve into the benefits and problems of the style later on, but you need to know the system is not the easiest on the employees.Since the management only proactively engages subordinates in the event of problems, you need to guarantee the workforce is as skilled as possible. You should provid e training, not just about the style itself, but of other areas related to the subordinate and his or her role. Furthermore, the training should also focus on improving the person’s management capabilities. This will provide your organization smoother succession options and ensure the next managers come from the in-house team.Development and training are also keys for guaranteeing motivation. Since management by exception can be a job that provides subordinates with more options to take responsibility, you can boost the motivation by ensuring the job feels rewarding and their roles supported by the high-level management. The introductory video to training and development by the Indiana University of Southeast is great for learning a bit more about this important element in management: EXAMPLES OF THE FRAMEWORKBefore I explain the advantages and disadvantages of the system, let’s consider a few real life examples of the framework. What are some high impact situations where manage ment by exception can prove to be useful? The examples should hopefully also highlight to you what the process can look in action.Call centre managementThe system can work well in a call centre environment. If you are a floor manager at a call centre, instead of dividing your time between dealing with customer service complaints and monitoring individual performances of the employees, you could just focus on the service. The system would be set up so that major deviations, such as a big complaint, would be picked up by the system, but the actual call performance probably wouldn’t.As a manager, you wouldn’t be micromanaging how well the sales are going or monitoring the individual performance of the employees. Instead, your time would be spent on dealing with the biggest deviations; those that could also have the gravest consequences: customer service complaints. Whenever a customer complaint would be lodged, you would turn your attention from calling to solving the issue. The fr amework frees up a lot of time, reducing management expenses. Instead of guiding and monitoring employees, you spend the time solving the most important problems.Project managementThe management by exception model can also be used in terms of project management. What does a project manager generally do? Well, organises regular meetings to keep up with the progress of the project. But under a management by exception system, the regular scheduling of meetings and a catch-up of current work would be completely stopped.Instead, the manager would only organise a meeting if an important issue or a deviation would show up. The conditions would be pre-determined and could be calculated based on certain financial metrics. You might automate a system where a meeting is held if a deadline is missed by 5%, for example.Just like with call centre management, the framework will free-up time for the manager to focus on other things. In terms of meetings, it also ensures the whole team doesn’t was te time going through the project when there is no real need to do so. The time saved for the meeting is spent of working on the actual tasks and not discussing them. Nonetheless, if big problems occur in the project, the management is ready to tackle them.Sales managementFinally, a good example of a situation where management by exception can be used is sales management. If you implement the framework, you move the management’s focus from the sale process, towards solving problems and improving marketing and product development. Just like with call centre management, the managers won’t be interested in micromanaging the sales or monitoring individual performances.Instead, the management with set a group of sales Key Performance Indicators or KPI’s, which are explained in the image below. If there is a deviation in the pre-determined figures, the management can take a closer look at the problem.Therefore, you become involved with the sales proceedings only if the team is clear ly underperforming. The system can be useful in allowing the management to direct its attention to boosting revenue in meaningful ways, instead of trying to boost individual performances just by a bit.[slideshare id=37448772doc=25ntkkeyperformanceindicators-140729020920-phpapp01w=640h=330]THE ADVANTAGES OF THE PROCESSI’ve now shown you the process and principles of management by exception, but you might be still wondering its validity. What makes management by exception an advantageous framework to use? Well, there are plenty of reasons you should consider the style and I’ve outlined them in the below graph.The advantageCreates a more efficient use of management’s timeHow?Since management by exception only focuses on the notable deviations, managers aren’t wasting time evaluating and monitoring areas where things are running smoothly. Their undivided attention is only on issues that are not performing as required, not spending time on things that are.Not only is the manageme nt spending their time on fixing the problems that require the most fixing, they also free their time from unnecessary decision making. The framework will establish the ideas of what constitutes as a deviation beforehand. The management has clear guidelines and reporting systems to notify when these situations occurs. Instead of having to make a judgment call or think whether you must act to fix a thing, you know exactly what requires your attention. Let’s say the sales have grown blow the required 5% and only hit 4% margin. Under many other management styles, you’d need to look into it and figure whether to act on it or not. With management by exception, you know if the deviation is strong enough to cause a reaction. In fact, you probably wouldn’t even look at the figures unless the metric had been set to count as a deviation.The advantageIdentifies problems quickly and finds solutions fastHow?It can automate the process of noticing a deviation, especially in the areas of fin ancial reporting. This means the deviation is spotted immediately and not after someone manually goes through the books. You can set the parameters â€" for instance, a deviation in expenses is 10% increase or decrease to current level â€" and you’ll automatically receive a notification when this happens. Since you learn about the deviations instantly, you can solve the issue more quickly.The advantageBoosts the motivation across the organizationHow?Management by exception is a more relaxed way of managing and it allows employees to make decisions as well. Since management is only involved in situations that require attention, employees are able to make decisions and follow their chosen methods, as long as the methods are effective. Therefore, the employee feels less monitored and controlled, which can boost motivation.The boost for motivation also happens because the framework allows flexibility and creativity. Since the focus is only on exceptions and deviations, the way you reac h results doesn’t matter. Employees are able to try new ways of working, which might help yield positive results. The creativity of your employees is not stifled. You aren’t saying to them, “You must do this”, but rather allowing them to find the best way that yields the right results.Management by exception can work well in situations where being proactive is not required. It can streamline business operations, creating efficiency within the management. If your business is up and running already, with effective and well-defined processes in place, you can utilize the style to your advantage. You already know what works and so, you’re only interested when something out of the ordinary happens.THE DISADVANTAGES OF THE PROCESSYou might be thinking the above sounds a bit too good to be true. Surely, no management framework or process has just the benefits on its side? That’s the right conclusion to make. While management by exception is extremely beneficial in certain circu mstances, you need to keep a few drawbacks in mind before implementing the system.The disadvantageRequires s well formulated and systematic systemHow?Management by exception is not an easy system to implement. Since it’s largely based on financial reporting and data, you need to include proper monitoring and reporting software to business activities, as well as use financial analysts to help get started. As you are focusing on identifiable metrics, you need to ensure these metrics and the so-called deviations are appropriately calculated. If your deviations are not formulated properly, you’ll end up causing more problems. Let’s say you’ve calculated the problematic deviation from growth to be 5%. But the actual deviation for slower growth figures might be 4%. But due to your calculations, you won’t start paying attention until the deviation hits 5%, meaning you might have lost a lot more profit. You can probably see, how crucial the right formulation and implementation is? Furthermore, the approach tends to focus on an existing budget in many of its calculations and formulas. What this means is that you use a current budget as a the point of which results are compared. But as mentioned above, your budget could have a single variant wrong, causing you to create a system that focuses on irrelevant deviations. If you calculate your spending wrong, the mistake can haunt your management by exception anymore from the spending changes to profit growth.Why is all of this a disadvantage? Well, implementation can take a lot of time since you need to ensure the formulas are correctly calculated. It can also require outside expertise and extra software, all of which can impact your bottom line. Management by exception is not a cost-free solution to management.The disadvantageIncludes lots of monitoring and a centralized management structureHow?Although you won’t need the management to monitor or control quite as many things on the day-to-day basis, the system i tself has to check upon a lot of data. The monitored financial and operational information must be comprehensive to guarantee the most accurate results. Depending on the business and its size, this can be difficult to organize and achieve â€" not to mention adding to the costs.Furthermore, you are following a centralized management structure, where the key decisions are reserved only in the hands of the manager. While the problem is brought to the attention of the management quickly, having to wait for the management’s decision and then implementing it can take longer than if an employee or a low-level manager would have just fixed the problem. The system is build around command-and-control structure, which does have it’s own challenges.The disadvantageEmphasizes management’s ability to solve problemsHow?While the system allows employees a certain level a flexibility, which can have a motivating effect, there is another side to the coin. Management by exception still reserves the main decision taking for the managers. When the deviation occurs, the frontline staff (who might notice the occurrence in the first place) is not able to do anything without consulting the management.And it’s not just about taking away decision-making abilities. If you’re performance deviates from the norm, you are going to be in trouble, especially if the deviation is not ‘good’. The management will react to deviations and this can cause employee motivation to drop or lead to a creation of fear. Employees might be scared to try something different or go through with certain decisions just because they are unsure of the results and the repercussions. What if you suddenly decrease the sales? What if you take a sick day and it causes the system to flag you as ‘deviance’? These kinds of thoughts and behaviors can start limiting your ability to go through job duties and hinder motivation.For certain businesses, the reactive rather than proactive approach can be difficult . Not all problems in business can be efficiently dealt with only after the problem has occurred. In many instances, you need a forward-looking approach, where risks need to be limited before things go wrong.FINAL THOUGHTSManagement by exception is a great management method to ensure the manager’s attention is fully on the most pressing of issues. It can help direct focus and create an environment where real problems take priority. In fact, management by exception can be a handy tool for prioritizing work, from sorting out day-to-day activities to creating proper authority structures. It can help ensure the business performs to its highest standard.But the style requires a lot of resources and a highly systematic approach to work. If you aren’t able to determine your norms correctly, you can end up missing vital problems. Furthermore, the style isn’t a proactive way to manage your team, but rather a reactive solution to solving problems. In certain instances, you won’t mind reacting, but on the other hand, you don’t always want the problem to become a noticeable deviation before you tackle it.

Sapient - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 611 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/09/11 Category Advertising Essay Did you like this example? February 2005 Harvard Business School features Sapient as example of excellence in Leadership and Organizational Behavior â€Å"We need to be focused on our clients like no one else. And our desire for their success has to be unparalleled, it has to be. † Jerry Greenberg Co-Chairman and Co-CEO Sapient Harvard Business School (HBS) professors Joel Podolny and Rakesh Khurana recently chose Sapient to feature in a case study on leadership. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Sapient" essay for you Create order Sapient is now one of a select group of companies featured in the school’s core curriculum and is taught to all 900 first-year MBA students as part of the Leadership and Organizational Behavior class. The case study follows the company from its beginnings in 1991 through its record-breaking growth, perseverance through the difficult business climate of 2001 and 2002, and return to profitable growth in the years following. The case study is not about the growth itself, but how the firm’s leadership and unwavering attention to its â€Å"strategic context â€Å"— purpose, vision, goals, core values, and people- and client- value propositions — have enabled Sapient to adapt and thrive in a fast-changing market as they strive to build a great company that has a long-lasting impact on the world. Founded on a Single Promise From the start, Sapient’s single promise — to deliver the right business results, on-time and on-budget — was very appealing to executives who were extremely frustrated with projects going way over budget and schedule and, even worse, completed without the required business functionality. This is supported in the following excerpt from the case: Greenberg and Moore did not start a company simply with the purpose of moving with technological trends. From the beginning, they sought to build a long-lasting company that would help clients realize business impact from technology, something other consulting firms had not been able to consistently deliver. 1 Purpose and People The case study also describes how Sapient’s adaptability and success with clients can be traced to the company’s strong reliance upon and execution of its strategic context. From the earliest years of the company, Greenberg and Moore devoted tremendous time and energy to ensuring that all of Sapient’s people were keenly aware of how their actions onnected to this, as the following excerpt states: Their purpose and core values focused on client’s success. Sapient’s people understood that the purpose of a project was never to simply ensure that a technological system was put in place; rather the purpose was to meet some business goal, and a client engagement could only be considered successful when the business goal had been met, not when the â€Å"switch for the new system had been turned on. † 2 The case is available to the public via the HBS Publishing web site www. bsp. harvard. edu For more information on Sapient, visit www. sapient. com Committed to Building a Great Company To succeed for 14 years in this industry required that Sapient continually adapted to changing client demands and technology trends. Greenberg and Moore believe Sapient has demonstrated that it is possible to deliver a new level of value in this industry, but their ultimate objective is to build a long-lasting, great company that will make an impact on the world. While the case study serves as a retrospective of the company’s journey to date, Moore and Greenberg insist that the Sapient story is far from over. â€Å"We’re not satisfied with Sapient †¦ yet,† according to Moore. â€Å"We won’t be satisfied until we’ve built something that will stand the test of time, something that has no close second. It would be intolerable to settle for anything less. † 1 2 Khurana, Rakesh and Joel Podolny (2004), â€Å"Sapient Corporation,† HBS Case 9-405-04519, p. 1. IBID, p. 2.

Homophones Pail and Pale

The words pail and pale are  homophones: they sound alike but have different meanings. Definitions The noun pail refers to a bucket -- a container for holding and carrying something. The adjective pale means unusually light in color or weak. As a verb, pale means to become pale or to seem weaker or less important. As a noun, pale means a post, a fence, or a boundary (as in the expression beyond the pale). Usage Examples To wash his little red wagon, the boy brought a pail of water, a sponge, and some clean clothes.He was as black as coal, with a long, alert, intelligent, rakehell face. His eyes gleamed with mischief, and he held his head high. . . . Jupiter went where he pleased, ransacking wastebaskets, clotheslines, garbage pails, and shoe bags.(John Cheever, The Country Husband. The New Yorker, 1955)Marie walked along the path in the pale light of the dawn.Usually I spent the afternoons under the box  elder trees, or by the ditch behind the machine sheds, where dragonflies and pale blue moths circled just out of reach.(Grace Stone Coates, Wild Plums. Black Cherries, 1931)What passes for paella at most restaurants is a pale imitation of the real thing.I lit a cigar, and as I sat in my easy chair with the roses  beside me the light of the July  evening paled and paled till I sat alone in the darkness.(Bram Stoker, Bengal Roses, 1898) Idiom Alerts Beyond the Pale The idiom beyond the pale means socially or morally improper or unacceptable.The billionaire investor Peter Thiel, outed by the local arm of the Gawker media empire, secretly financed a lawsuit to destroy it. Silicon Valley did not rise en masse and say this was seriously beyond the pale.(David Streitfeld, What It Is Actually Like to Be in the Engine Room of the Start-Up Economy. The New York Times, July 5, 2016) Pale in Comparison The expression pale in comparison (with something) means to appear less important, serious, or worthwhile when compared to something else.[T]he financial benefits that come to men because of their greater investments in work early in life may  pale in comparison  to the sizable toll these investments have taken on mens relationships, especially with their children, by the time work careers subside or finish.(Victoria Hilkevitch Bedford and Barbara Formaniak Turner,  Men in Relationships. Springer,  2006) Practice Quiz (a) In the glare of the sun, Jennifers red hair seemed brighter than ever, emphasizing her _____ complexion.(b) The young woman carried a large _____ of milk on her head.(c) Colonel Kurtz was operating without any restraints, totally beyond the _____ of acceptable human conduct.(d) Pete weighed each _____  of oysters  on a scale and tallied the measures on a chalkboard next to each shuckers name.(Christopher White,  Skipjack.  Rowman   Littlefield,  2009)   Answers to Practice Exercises (a) pale(b) pail(c) pale(d) pail

Senior Seminar Research Proposal Free Essays

string(67) " on the corpse and begin looking for a place to begin pupariation\." Introduction Forensic entomology is used to determine such crimes as murder, suicide, and other criminal acts by examining various insects instead of using human tissues. This forensic tool is used to determine the postmortem interval of a corpse and the cause of death of a corpse when all other forms of human evidence (human blood, tissues, hair, etc. ) are not present at the scene. We will write a custom essay sample on Senior Seminar Research Proposal or any similar topic only for you Order Now Forensic entomologists prefer using insects to determine these factors of death because the insects produce similar results as human test materials such as human blood or tissues which yield the best analytical results for the forensic entomologist. The use of forensic entomological evidence has been accepted and used in many courts around the world (Anderson, 1999). The use of this tool in court can support or refute a suspect’s alibi and improves the criminal investigation against the suspect (Anderson, 1999). Even though forensic entomology is an efficient tool to use in criminal investigations there are some drawbacks to this analytical tool. Such disadvantages include improper collection of entomological evidence and improper analysis of insects after collection, resulting in incorrect entomological results and a possible false conviction of a suspect. The proposed research of this paper focused on insects being affected by different concentrations of ethanol during natural insect development and also focused on the detection of ethanol in insects using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) to determine if insects were significantly affected by ethanol exposure. The research also focused on the exposure of ethanol to the insects and how this exposure affected PMI (postmortem interval) determination. Forensic entomology is a commonly used tool to determine cause and time of death by examining various characteristics of insects that are collected at the crime scene. Such characteristics include size of the insect(s) and the life cycle stage of the insect collected. Forensic entomology becomes the most accurate and sometimes the only tool available for determining time of death, especially after 72 hours (Anderson and VanLaerhoven, 1996). Forensic entomology can also determine if a body has been moved from place to place, determine where the death occurred, determine the presence of various types of drugs and toxins present (if any), wound location, and determine who the suspect and victim are due to the presence of certain insects on the body (Grisales, et al. 2010). Background/Literature Review There are five levels of decomposition identified by a forensic entomologist when conducting an entomological investigation which include fresh, bloated, active, advanced, and remains (Grisales, et al. , 2010). These stages of decomposition are important to a forensic entomologist because insects appear on a corpse periodically throughout the decompositi on cycle which therefore determines the time of death of a corpse. During these levels of decomposition insects begin to reach the corpse either by flying (adult flies) or by burrowing through the ground (pupae). Some insects can also reach the corpse by hatching from eggs (larvae) that were laid on the corpse after death. The fresh stage of decomposition involves a drop in body temperature and the appearance of very few flies on the corpse. The insects that are collected are typically larvae and are collected from the mouth of the corpse. The bloated stage of decomposition involves a significant increase in the body weight of a corpse due to rainfall exposure. The insects that are collected at this stage of decomposition are larvae found on the back, head, ears, and anus of the corpse (Grisales, et al. 2010). The active decay stage of decomposition involves fly larvae feeding on a corpse which significantly lowers the body weight of the corpse and an increased amount of fly larvae found in the intestines/ organs of the corpse (Grisales, et al. , 2010). The advanced stage of decomposition involves the fluctuation of body temperature depending on the location of the corpse and an even bigger d ecrease in body weight due to increased consumption of body tissues by fly larvae (Grisales, et al. , 2010). There is an increase in adult flies that are collected at this stage of decomposition. In the last stage of decomposition, remains, there is no continued change of the corpse and the presence of insects found decreases (Grisales, et al. , 2010). The stages of decomposition and the insects present at these stages are also used to determine the postmortem interval (PMI) of a corpse. PMI, or postmortem interval, provides important detail of situations that occurred before time of death in cases of homicide and untimely death (Byrd and Castner, 2001). Arthropods that are found on the corpse can determine the length of egg to fly transformation then to the recovered developmental stage (Gennard, 2007). The best arthropods to use are the oldest ones that were yielded from eggs when the larvae were first deposited on the corpse because they have the longest feeding time on the corpse which allows them to fully develop and retain any evidence from the corpse much longer; this will produce a more accurate PMI. Such information can help to identify both the criminal and the victim by eliminating the suspects and connecting the deceased with other individuals. The predictable physical and chemical consequences of death are usually the most reliable PMI indicators, which means knowing what an insect should look like at which developmental level to determine when a dead body became a corpse (Henssge et al. 1995). PMI is also associated with the succession rate of various insects which is another tool that is used to determine the time of death of a corpse. The succession rate includes information about the time elapsed between death and the presence of a particular arthropod or insect species and stage (Byrd and Castner, 2010). A dead body will go through very recognizable decomposition stages (physical, biological, and chemical changes) that attract various types of arthropods in each decomposition stage that are needed to determine the succession rate (Monthei, 2009). The most common succession rate estimated by an investigator is the age of larvae and the time interval between death and the arrival of larvae on the corpse (Byrd and Castner, 2010). The knowledge of what insects are supposed to be present and absent based on the season also helps to determine PMI. Calculation of PMI involves five different arthropod life stages (eggs, larvae, pupae, adult, and carcass) for flies when collecting insects from corpses. The egg stage of the fly is characterized by the laying of between 150-200 eggs, with the exception of some flies lying between 2000-3000 eggs, found on the body in cluster form within areas that provide protection, moisture, and food (Gennard, 2007). Fly eggs are typically shiny and white; the eggs have a similar appearance to that of a grain of rice. The reason for specific placement of eggs on a decomposing body is the fact that the body contains a high quality of nutrients which are used as a feeding source for the fly eggs to grow, as well as the influence of growth on other species of insects that feed on the decomposing body. The larval stage of the fly species is characterized into three stages (L1, L2, and L3) which correspond to the number of slits present on the backs of the larvae (Gennard, 2007). These slits are used by entomologists to determine what stage of life the larvae are in when collected. In the third larval stage, where larvae are the largest, the larvae stop feeding on the corpse and begin looking for a place to begin pupariation. You read "Senior Seminar Research Proposal" in category "Free Research Paper Samples" Pupariation is the final stage of development in metamorphosis into the adult stage and is generally called the larval post-feeding stage (Gennard, 2007). Pupariation typically doesn’t take place on the corpse because insects in this stage prefer to be in a cool, dark place or underground, if possible. In some instances of fly larvae in pupariation, the insects were shown to pupate on the corpse. The adult stage, or the end of the life cycle, is initiated by the arthropod pushing itself out of the puparium case and once the adult fly is free from the puparium case, the insects make their journey upward through the soil. Once the adult fly has reached the top of the soil the insects release their waste and expand their wings to make their way to other corpses or decomposing material. The adult stage may be the final stage of the life cycle but the carcass of these adult flies can also be collected as evidence along will the carcasses of arthropods in each life stage. Entomotoxicology Entomotoxicology is the analysis of insects and insect remains for the presence of toxins that may have been present in the corpse before death (Goff and Lord, 1994). Detection of various toxins and controlled substances in insects found on decomposing human remains has contributed to the determination of both cause and manner of death by determining what times of toxins were present in the corpse before death (Lord 1990, Goff and Lord 1994, Nolte et al. , 1992). Entomotoxicology also serves as an alternative analysis tool to determine the presence of toxins or cause of death when certain specimens aren’t available for collection, such as human blood or tissues. The toxicological analysis of insect biological materials is conducted in the same manner as the toxicological analysis of human biological materials, making cause of death determination more accurate (Definis- Gojanovic, 2007). Many different species of arthropods, such as flesh flies and blowflies, are used when conducting an entomotoxicological analysis and these arthropods are used to determine the PMI or time before death. The use of entomotoxicology has many advantages, which includes determination of time before death (PMI) and identification of suspect, but this analytical tool also has several disadvantages. One disadvantage includes the issue of recording the exact temperature of the insects because if the information is incorrect then the outcome of the PMI will also be incorrect. Another disadvantage of this analytical tool is the fact that it is fairly new in the forensic science field so if an individual isn’t educated on how to use the technique then valuable entomological evidence related to the case may be lost. Lastly, if proper collection of entomological evidence isn’t conducted properly, the loss of highly important evidence relating to time of death and cause of death could be lost. Cause of death is usually determined by various types of toxins that are detected in the insect after an entomotoxicological analysis was conducted. Issues with Determination of PMI The determination of PMI can be affected by multiple factors but only two will be discussed in this research proposal which include: temperature and ethanol. Temperature involves the rise or fall of temperature to such a high or low that affects the growth or succession rate of insects. Air temperature and exposure to sunlight will raise the corpse temperature which will also increase the insect succession rate. Temperature can also be influenced by such weather conditions as rain, sun, snow, and wind which can greatly affect the amount of entomological evidence collected (insects) and the outcome of a legal investigation (Sharanowski et al. , 2008). Alcohol, or ethanol, is one of the oldest abused drugs in the world that is readily available and the most commonly abused drug in Western societies (Stripp, 2007). Ethanol is a product of fermentation due to yeast cells acting on sugars from fruits and grains that produces a clear, volatile liquid that is soluble in water (Stripp, 2007). Once ethanol enters the blood stream orally it travels in the blood into other tissues. The ethanol travels to tissues with greater water content because these tissues will receive greater ethanol distribution. The ethanol concentration will be different in both the corpse and the insects due to the different water amounts found in each species (insects and corpse). The rate at which ethanol is eliminated from the body is another important factor to a forensic entomologist because this can determine the time at which the individual started drinking. The focus of this experiment will involve different concentration levels of ethanol and the effects on the growth rate of the fly species Sarophagidae (flesh flies). Proposed Research The broad, long-term objectives that this research paper is focused on determining whether ethanol can affect the growth rate of entomological evidence and how much ethanol can be detected in the insects. This research is also being conducted in an attempt to make a comparison to the other research experiments to see if the results concerning growth rate of insects exposed to such drugs as morphine or heroin are similar or different to the growth rate results of insects exposed to ethanol. This research paper includes four specific aims that was accomplished as a way to make the broad objective a more manageable piece that could was easier to manipulate. Specific aim one included determining whether ethanol could be found in both test fly species after feeding on the ethanol infused beef liver. Specific aim two involved determining which concentrations of ethanol produced the most significant changes in the flies. Specific aim three involved tracking the growth rate of the fly species that were exposed to the ethanol infused beef livers (test subjects) and those who were not (control). Specific aim four involved observing any change in the growth rate data from the fly species test subjects that were exposed to three specific concentrations of ethanol. These specific aims will be used in sequential order as a way of getting closer to solving the broad objective. Experimental Methods Overview The research experiment hypothesized there would be significant changes in the growth rate of the fly species when exposed to the three specific concentrations of ethanol. The research experiment also predicted that there would be obvious physical changes in the flies when exposed to beef livers infused with specific concentrations of ethanol at different stages of life. The experimental design constructed for this experiment involves the fly species Sarophagidae (flesh flies) feeding on beef livers infused with ethanol over a period of eight to twenty-one days which is the general life cycle for flesh flies. The three beef livers had varying concentrations of ethanol (25 ug, 50 ug, and 100 ug) injected into them that the flesh flies were exposed to. The control group for the experiment was hand massaged with deionized water as a way to keep liquid consistency amongst the groups. At the end of the experiment, the insects were collected into a test tube and then exposed to GCMS or gas chromatography mass spectrometry in an attempt to determine the presence of ethanol in the test subject (insects). The insects were also analyzed for any type of stunted or heightened growth in regards to a normal fly life cycle. This analytical test was able to show that there was ethanol present in the fly species. Experimental Variables The independent variable in this experiment is the specific concentration of ethanol that is distributed amongst the three beef livers. The dependent variable in this experiment is the growth rate of both species after exposure to ethanol as well as the specific ethanol concentrations. The controlled group was the fly larvae that were not exposed to ethanol. The other controlled variables of this experiment were the 45 degrees Farenheit (temperature) the beef livers were maintained at and the amount of beef used (8 oz. as the feeding substrate for the fly species. The experimental groups in this experiment were three larvae groups exposed to ethanol and the control group was a larvae group not exposed to ethanol. Procedures/ Measurements The following experimental design was adapted from a previous research study conducted by George et al. , 2009. Three beef livers weighing 8 oz. each were prepared using the corresponding ethanol concentrations for the three experimental groups of the fly species tested (Experimental Group Two- 25 ug, Experimental Group Three- 50 ug, and Experimental Group Four- 100 ug). 0 mL of deionized water was distributed evenly into the control group (EG 1) to maintain liquid consistency amongst all groups. A cluster of fly larvae for the three experimental groups was collected and distributed evenly amongst the three experimental groups (2-4) as well as the control group. The beef livers were contained in a small plastic tub and refrigerated at a temperature of 45 degrees Farenheit when the beef livers were not being used to discourage spoiling of beef liver as well as to avoid evaporation of ethanol. The growth rate of the test subjects from both fly species exposed to ethanol is measured (any alteration in growth rate is the factor that is being measured) over a period of three weeks. At the end of three weeks, or longer if necessary, all of the perished insects from the experiment were collected for analysis using GCMS (gas chromatography mass spectrometry) to determine the presence or absence of ethanol in the insects. Material List Deionized water Ethanol solution Fly larvae of Sarophagidae (flesh flies) Four beef livers (8 oz. each) Graduated cylinder GCMS machine Microscope Pipette Plastic tubs Refrigerator References Anderson, G. S. (1999). Wildlife Forensic Entomology: Determining Time of Death in Two Illegally Killed Black Bear Cubs. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 44(4): 856-859 Anderson, G. S. and Van Laerhoven, S. L. (1996). Initial Studies on Insects Succession on Carrion in Southwestern British Columbia. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 41: 617-625 Brown, G. , Fuke, C. , Pounder, D. J. , Robertson, L. and Sadler, D. W. (1997). Barbiturates and Analgesics in Calliphora vicina Larvae. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 42(3): 481-485 Byrd, J. H. and Castner, J. L. (2001). Forensic Entomology: The Utility of Arthropods in Legal Investigations. CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL Definis- Gojanovic, M. , Britvic, D. , Kokan, B. , and Sutlovic, D. (2007). Drug Analysis in Necrophagous Flies and Human Tissues. Arh Hig Rada Toksikol, 58: 313-316 George. K. A. , Archer, M. S. , Green, L. M. , Conlan, X. A. , and Toop, T. (2009). Effect of morphine on the growth rate of Calliphora stygia (Fabricus) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) and possible implications for forensic entomology. Forensic Science International (Online), 193(1): 21-25 Gennard, D. E. (2007). Forensic Entomology: An Introduction. Wiley: England Goff, M. L. and Lord, W. D. (1994). Entomotoxicology : A new area for forensic investigation. American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, 15:51-57 Grisales, D. , Ruiz, M. , and Villegas, S. (2010). Insects associated with exposed decomposing bodies in the Colombian Andean Coffee Region. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia, 54(4): 637-644 Henssge, C. B. , Knight, B. , Krompecher, T. , Madea, B. , and Nokes, L. (1995). The estimation of the time since death in the early postmortem period. Arnold: London Lord, W. D. (1990). Case histories of the use of insects in investigations. In Entomology and death: A procedural guide, ed. E. P. , Catts and N. H, Haskell. Clemson, SC: Joyce’s Print Shop, 9-37 Monthei, D. R. (2009). Entomotoxicological and Thermal Factors Affecting the Development of Forensically Important Flies. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Virginia Nolte, K. B. , Lord, W. D. , and Pinder, R. D. (1992). Insect Larvae Used to Detect Cocaine Poisoning in a Decomposed Body. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 37(4): 1179-1185 Sharanowski, B. J. , Walker, E. G. , and Anderson, G. S. (2008). Insect succession and decomposition patterns on shaded and sunlit carrion in Saskatchewan in three different seasons. Forensic Science International, 179: 219-240 Stripp, R. A. (2007). Drugs of Abuse. The Forensic Aspects of Poisons. Chelsea House: New York How to cite Senior Seminar Research Proposal, Essays

Empirical Examination of Customer Retention

Question: Discuss about the Empirical Examination of Customer Retention. Answer: Introduction: In the current situation of the telecommunication industry in Australia, Telstra Group is the largest operator in the country (Telstra.com.au 2017). This company operates its business on worldwide basis. The company currently has many subsidiary companies and some of the subsidiary companies of Telstra are Foxtel, Boost Sim, Telstra Singapore Pte. Ltd, Ooyala, Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies Inc and NetGear Inc (Telstra.com.au 2017). The company has joint venture in china and Indonesia. In China, the joint venture of the company is Telstra PBS and in Indonesia, the joint venture is Telkomtelstra (Telstra.com.au 2017). The products and services of the joint venture of Telstra are in high demand. The management of the company has invested high amount of money in different acquisitions, different controlled entities like, Telstra Holdings Pty Ltd, Telstra Inc, Telstra International Limited, Telstra International (Aus) Limited, Telstra iVision Pty Ltd, Telstra Pay TV Pty Ltd and many others (Telstra.com.au 2017). The company has also invested in the joint ventures like, Foxtel Partnership, Customer Service Pty Ltd, Reach Ltd and others. The main business of the is based on the products and services like, fixed line telecommunication service, mobile telephony service, network service, internet and data service and digital television (Bhatti, Abareshi and Pittayachawan 2016). The parent company that is Telstra Corporation Limited prepares the consolidated financial statements when the subsidiaries of the company have separate legal entity. This is because, the AASB (Australian Accounting Standard Board) 10 and IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) 10 have suggested that the parent company requires preparing the consolidated statements in order to specify or prove its control over its subsidiaries (Aasb.gov.au 2017). As Telstra follows the accounting guidelines provided by AASB and IFRS, the company is bound to prepare the consolidated financial statements even if the subsidiaries of the company have separate legal entity. In Telstra Corporation Limited, the group of the companies is funded through share capital (Telstra.com.au 2017). The annual report of the Telstra group disclosed that there is no debenture used for funding the group of companies. At the same time, the company has also issued bonus share (Telstra.com.au 2017). The Telstra Corporation Limited owns the group of the companies. The group financial statements of reveal the policies of the company regarding its corporate governance, sustainability and solvency. As per the annual report of the company, the corporate governance of the company follows the principles and recommendations provided by ASX Corporate Governance Council (Telstra.com.au 2017). The corporate governance policies of the company ensures the health and safety of the people within the company, maintenance of the privacy of companys customers, inclusion of anti-bribery and anti-corruption strategies, proper strategies for avoiding the conflicts between the employees and management and maintenance of interests of each stakeholders of the company (Samudhram, Siew Sinnakkannu and Yeow 2016). At the same time, the corporate governance policies of the company also ensure proper disclosure of financial position of the company and maintenance of standard transparency level. The annual report of Telstra Group discloses that the company has aimed achieving the sustainability by creating positive impact on the employees, management, customers, shareholders and other stakeholders of the company (Telstra.com.au 2017). At the same time, the sustainability policy of the company also states that it is the objective of the company minimizing the overall environmental impacts (Merrett, Smith and Trindade 2016). The sustainability priorities of the company are - achieving environmental leadership, connecting everyone and full employee involvement. The financial statements of the company also indicate the solvency policies of the company. The solvency policy of the company states that the company follows a statistical approach in order to determine and manage the debt risk properly (Telstra.com.au 2017). At the same time, it also indicates that the company applies the historical impairment rates for better debt management. The prior information regarding the insolvency of the debtors and the information related to the other risks help the company maintaining its solvency properly (Featherstone 2016). The annual report of the company also states about the policies of the audit committee of the company. The Audit and Risk Committee of the company works based on the policies like, clear and open communication with the shareholders, appointing skilled, diverse and experienced board committee, clear delegation of authority, accountability and decision making, proper risk management system and maintaining and prioritizing the values and code of conducts of the company (Telstra.com.au 2017). Revealing the policies of the company related to the corporate governance, audit committee, sustainability and solvency is important because these indicate the transparency level of the financial reporting of the company (Liu et al. 2016). This actually helps the stakeholders, especially the shareholders and investors in taking investment decision. Along with that, proper information regarding the companys corporate governance, sustainability and solvency help the management setting the future goals (Perri and Shuli 2016). The non-controlling interests of the company can be identified under the consolidated income statement and statement of financial position of Telstra Group (Telstra.com.au 2017). The non-controlling interests represent the proportion of the equity ownership of the subsidiary companies of Telstra Group on which are not attributable to the parent Telstra Company (Merrett, Smith and Trindade 2016). However, the financial reports of the company do not provide any detailed information regarding the direct and indirect proportion of non-controlling interest. The company has gained goodwill on acquisition, which can be identified the Table A, where the summaries of the effects of the acquisitions done by Telstra Group are shown (Telstra.com.au 2017). In the annual report, this section can be identified under the Section 6 (Telstra.com.au 2017). The goodwill on acquisition indicates the proportion of goodwill that the company that is Telstra Group has gained by acquiring the subsidiary companies (Bhatti, Abareshi and Pittayachawan 2016). The financial report of the company discloses the impairment of the financial assets of the company. The annual report disclosed that in 2015, the total amount of impairment loss of the company was $1093 million (Telstra.com.au 2017). In the financial year 2016, the impairment loss of the company excluding the impairment of inventories, trade and other receivables was $266 million (Telstra.com.au 2017). In case of goodwill of Oolaya Holdings Group, the amount of impairment loss in 2016 was $246 million (Te lstra.com.au 2017). The Telstra Group has foreign subsidiary companies and it has conducted foreign currency transactions and the annual report of the company has disclosed that the company has translated the foreign currency transactions into proper and relevance functional currencies based on the spot exchange rate on the date of transaction (Telstra.com.au 2017). However, in the financial statements of the company do not show anything related to the foreign currency transactions. Moreover, by analyzing the annual report of Telstra Group, it can be stated that the company has disclosed most of the relevant financial and operational information. Though there are some information like, foreign current transactions, direct and indirect non-controlling interests should have been disclosed. The available financial information of the company indicates that the financial position of Telstra Group is stable. At the same time, the annual report of the company also indicates that the company is very conscious about the maintenance of proper business ethics and better relationship with its stakeholders. Reference list: Aasb.gov.au. 2017. Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) - Home. [online] Available at: https://www.aasb.gov.au/ [Accessed 17 Jan. 2017]. Bhatti, H., Abareshi, A. and Pittayachawan, S., 2016. An empirical examination of customer retention in mobile telecommunication services in Australia. InProceedings of the 13th International Joint Conference on e-Business and Telecommunications (ICETE 2016) vol(Vol. 2). Featherstone, T., 2016. The skills set.Company Director,32(5), p.34. Liu, Y.W., Liu, L.C., Wang, C.J. and Tsai, M.F., 2016, October. FIN10K: A Web-based Information System for Financial Report Analysis and Visualization. InProceedings of the 25th ACM International on Conference on Information and Knowledge Management(pp. 2441-2444). ACM. Merrett, A., Smith, R.L. and Trindade, R., 2016. tHe APPLicAtion oF Per Ses to smes the type 1 error no one notices?.Competition Law, Regulation and SMEs in the Asia-Pacific: Understanding the Small Business Perspective, p.123. Perri, R. and Shuli, I., 2016. Financial Statement Analysis In Albania-A Survey Of Its Applicability Among Different Users'class And The Differences From The Developed Countries.CEA Journal of Economics,4(2). Samudhram, A., Siew, E.G., Sinnakkannu, J. and Yeow, P.H., 2016. Towards a new paradigm: Activity level balanced sustainability reporting.Applied ergonomics,57, pp.94-104. Telstra.com.au. 2017. [online] Available at: https://www.telstra.com.au [Accessed 17 Jan. 2017].