Inequalities in Education Essay

The sociological study of education looks at the way different social institutions affect the process of education and how this impacts on students. Education is widely perceived to be a positive social institution where individuals can acquire knowledge and learn new skills. However, some would argue that this is not the case and that education produces an unequal society and is a negative institution where individuals are socialised to accept such inequality. This essay will explore the inequalities in education to establish how they occur. By examining Marxist, Functionalist and Interactionist perspectives, explanations for such inequalities can be understood. Historically, in Britain formal schooling was a preserve of higher social classes. Education was largely provided by private institutions, such as churches form the middle ages onwards, with an aim to provide the bureaucratic elite with a means to run government. The state first assumed full responsibility for education in 1870, with the Foster’s Education Act. In 1880, school attendance was made compulsory up to the age of 10, ensuring basic primary education for all. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) The state took responsibility for secondary education with the Fisher Education Act of 1918 and attendance was made compulsory until the age of 14. The formal leaving age was raised again on two occasions, in 1947 to 15, and to 16 in 1972. By 1900 only 1.2 per cent of pupils stayed in education after the age of 17 and by 1939, 5.8 per cent of pupils stayed in education past the age of 17, but it was not until the 1960s, when polytechnic universities were introduced, that everyone capable of benefiting from higher education was able to attend a higher education establishment. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) However, Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government of the 1980s began to view education in terms of the needs of the economy and started to reduce state economic investment. Thatcher’s government had a general mistrust of the liberal and free-thinking culture of higher education institutes and began to restrict spending in Arts based subjects. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) The 1988 Education Act introduced the common national curriculum, which provided guidelines for teachers about what they were required to teach. (Giddens, 2001) The National Curriculum was introduced to ensure that everyone would re ceive the same basic level of  education. In western societies there is a general agreement that education should be based on an equality of opportunity. However, there is evidence to suggest that people with certain social characteristics succeed more than others. (Kirby et al, 1999) Sociologists have focused on social background to explain the relative failure of working class children compared to middle class children. Evidence suggests that the higher a person’s social class, they are more likely to achieve greater education success. The most obvious explanation for differences is the intelligence of the individual. The 1944 Education Act established the tripartite system. Children were allocated to one of three types of school, grammar, technical or secondary modern, on the basis of the results of an intelligence test, taken at 11 years, the eleven-plus. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) Grammar schools provided an education for those who performed highly on the eleven plus, while other pupils who has a lower score were taught in either a technical or secondary modern school. The eleven plus examination showed a correlation between social class, where more middle class children scored highly and therefore gained places at grammar schools. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) However, Britain has a differential educational system that gives people the right to privately educate their children if they wish and can afford to. League tables of schools, which are published every year, show consistently show private schools, such as Eton, Cheltenham Ladies College and Harrow, are the best achieving schools. Hans Eysenck, was a bio-psychologist who believed that genetics play a fundamental part in determining IQ. Eysenck wrote â€Å"What children take out of schools is proportional to what they bring to schools in terms of IQ† (Eysenck, 1971: Cited in Taylor et al, 2000) From this viewpoint it is possible to argue that class differences in educational achievement are largely based from class differences in genetically based IQ. However, most sociologist emphasise the importance of environmental factors in determining IQ differences, namely motivation, knowledge and skills, which are learnt rather than genetically predetermined. In this case class differences in educational attainment may be due to class backgrounds rather than class  genes. (Taylor et al, 2000) Many sociologists have also argued that the language used in IQ tests favours the middle classes, as it is closer to their spoken language. A variety of figures demonstrate the continued inequality in educational achievement by social class. The Youth Cohort Study, conducted in 2002, collected data on 7,238 18-year-olds. The results of the study show that 75 per cent of those with professional parents were still in education as opposed to 55 per cent of those whose parents have few skills. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) Not only were those with higher-class parents more likely to continue to education, their qualifications likely to be higher as well. Just 22 per cent of children of routine workers had at level three qualification compared to 65 per cent of those children with professional parents. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) With the election of the Labour government in 1997, there was a return to the concern of equal opportunities in education. The Labour party was elected on a promise to improve the education system. However, by the late 1990s, the language had changed with concern being expressed for social exclusion and improving standards rather than class inequality. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) Social exclusion relates to the alienation of certain groups, connected to a person’s class, living standards and education. The close relationship between low levels of education and social exclusion has been highlighted in recent years. Failure to acquire basic skills such as literacy and numeracy can place a person at a distinct disadvantage. Functionalists view society as being structured with many integrated segments which work together to form society as a whole. Each of theses segments, such as the economy, judiciary and education, perform crucial functions to satisfy the needs of society and create a harmonious society. Functionalists view education as one of the most important components of society. According to Emile Durkheim, education is the â€Å"influence exercised by adult generations on those who are not yet ready for social life.† (Durkheim, 2003, Page 28) Durkheim asserted that moral values are the foundation of cohesive social order and that the education system has a responsibility to teach a commitment to a common morality. (Kendall, 2005) Education has an  important role in the socialisation by enabling children to internalise social rules which contribute to the functioning of society. Talcott Parsons argued that the role of education is to instil the value of individual achievement in a way t hat the family can not. Education is the main source of secondary socialisation in the same way that the family is the main source of primary socialisation. (Giddens, 2001) In the modern society, individuals are judged by what they have achieved and schools prepare pupils for this by measuring success with graded examinations. For Parsons, schools operate on meritocratic principles, where pupils are treated equally and if pupils work hard they will achieve the most merit. This teaches children through the values of achievement and the value of equal opportunity, which is important for functionalists because it ensures that the best people will fill the most important positions in future careers. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) Individuals will accept their position as they believe that everyone has been given the same opportunities through education. Pupils will achieve success through ability and hard work irrespective of other social factors, such as social background, ethnicity and gender. While the funct ionalist view of education is very positive, predominantly issues of inequality are denied. Marxists have a very different view of the purpose of education. Marxism is a structural perspective of society, which focuses on the class struggle and exploitative relationship between the ruling class and the working class. The struggle begins with the opposing interests of the ruling class, who control the economy, and the working class who sell their labour to earn an income. (Giddens, 2001) Bowles and Gintis write from a Marxist perspective, which is highly critical of the capitalist society. Like Karl Marx, Bowles and Gintis argue that work in capitalist societies in exploitative and alienating for the workforce. The main role of education in the capitalist society is in the reproduction of labour power. The first and major role of education is to provide the capitalists with a workforce with personality and attitudes most useful to them, or more simply, a subservient workforce. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) The education system helps meet these needs and objectives through the hidden curriculum. It is not what pupils learn from lessons and examinations that is important, but the form  the teaching takes and the organisation of the school day. The hidden curriculum shapes the future workforce by promoting subservience, encouraging an acceptance of hierarchy, fragmenting lessons and motivating students with external rewards as opposed to the pleasure of learning. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) With the acceptance of hierarchy, pupils learn to take orders, obey them and accept they have little control of the subjects they study, all in preparation for the relationships they will have with future employers. Bowles and Gintis believe that the formal parts of the curriculum correspond to the needs of capitalist employers by providing a surplus of skilled labour. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) Marxists reject the view that the education system is meritocratic and believe that social class is the most important factor influencing achievement. While Marxism and Functionalism focus on how society affects educational attainment, interactionist sociologists look at how individuals can shape their own experience. Labelling theory was developed by Howard Becker in his study of deviance but was later applied to the way teachers interact with their pupils. Becker wrote from an interactionist perspective, which is a non-structural approach to sociology and emphasises an individual ability to control actions. (Giddens, 2001) Becker interviewed sixty teachers from Chicago and found that they have a tendency to share the same picture of an ‘ideal’ pupil. The ‘ideal’ pupil is highly motivated, intelligent and well-behaved, pupils who were judged to be closest to this ideal were likely to come from middle class backgrounds. Those furthest away from the teachers ‘ideal’ were most likely to come from working class backgrounds (Taylor et al, 2000) As a result those from working class backgrounds were labelled as having a lack of discipline, unmotivated and unlikely to achieve. These labels can have a significant effect on their educational success in the result of a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’. A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true. For example if a teacher tells a pupil that they are not very good with English frequently, it is likely the pupil will underachieve in English classes and examinations. (Taylor et al, 2000) Although, labelling theory seems to hold true and have resonance in practical scenarios, it is probably too  simplistic to explain educational inequalities in full. The theory largely implies that individuals have control over their life and ignore structural influences on the individual. Meritocracy holds that all pupils have an equal opportunity to succeed irrespective of background; statistics seem to disprove this notion. The key factors leading to educational inequality seem to be related to economic background. Functionalists argue that schools operate meritocratically, a Marxist would say that this is just an ideology that does not work in practice. The ideology makes people believe that the educational system is fair but really only serves the interests of the ruling class. M.S.H Hickox questions the Marxist view that there is a close correspondence between education and economic developments. For example, compulsory education was introduced after the onset of industrialisation, so for a long time capitalists did not employ a workforce that had been shaped by the ‘hidden curriculum’. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004) The formal curriculum is not designed to teach the skills needed by employers or create uncritical passive behaviour, which would make workers easier to exploit. Subjects, such as A Level Sociology, do not promote an unthinking student but in actual fact promote critical thinking. However, Marxists argue that educational institutions transmit a dominant ideology which serves the interests of the ruling classes. (Giddens, 2001) Functionalists argue that if students work hard and are able they will achieve. However, the relationship between academic achievement and occupational reward is particularly close. Many students leave university and are unable to find suitable employment and income seems to be only weakly linked to qualifications. (Giddens, 2001) The hidden curriculum is supposed to promote subservience in pupils, this ignores the fact that many teenage pupils have little regard for rules and respect for teachers. Labelling theory may be more appropriate for understanding this type of behaviour. Durkheim assumes that societies share the same values which can be transmitted through the educational system, which is untrue in todayâ€℠¢s multi-cultural society. Many inequalities in education can affect achievement and success, which appear to be related to economics. Functionalists view education as a  meritocracy where all individuals have an equal opportunity to succeed irrespective of social differences. However, Marxists strongly disagree with this and believe that it is almost predetermined before a pupil starts school whether they will achieve or not. Interactionists believe that personal experience of schooling is important for determining success or failure. However, no theory offers a plausible and complete explanation for educational inequality. Personally, I believe that a compromise between social action and Marxist theory should be made to address educational inequality. I am personally not convinced that there is any particular merit to functionalist theory, as it appears to deny issues of inequality. References Durkheim E (2003) Moral Education, Reprint Edition, Dover Publications Inc, LondonGiddens A (2001) Sociology, Fourth Edition, Polity Press, LondonHaralambos and Holborn (2004) Sociology: Themes and Perspectives, Sixth Edition, Harper Collins, LondonKendall D (2005) Society in Our Times: The Essentials, Fifth Edition, Thomson Wadsworth, ChicagoKirby et al (1999) Sociology in Perspective, Heinemann Educational Publishers, LondonTaylor et al (2000) Sociology in Focus, Causeway Press, Bath

High School and Health Service

As a highschool student I'm starting to set my goals for my future. Through my highschool years Im planning on taking the health service pathway as my elective. This core is for students who plan to pursue careers in the health service industry. For my sophomore year I'm planning on taking health service career pathway, this core will help me gain essential knowledge and skills about major body system and more. This can also help me learn to apply effective communication skills and technologies in the delivery of health care. For my junior year I'm also planning to take clinical health, this core will help me combiand information common to all healh careers.Lastly for my senior year I'm planning on taking medical biotechnology, this core will help me learn the different technique used in biotechnology and genetic engineering by hands-on laboratory training. I am also planing on setting up a schedule to be an intern for a doctor from Queens Medical Hospital. I could watch and intervie w him on what he does as a OBGYN, this could help me expierince and see how my future can turn out. This my highschool goals that can set me up for my real life goals. Now it's time to plan the last stage before reality, things I'm going to do to reach my goals to have a good future. I'm planing to attend University of Hawaii Manoa or UH Manoa to get a doctor of medicine degree.UH Manoa is located at beautiful Manoa Valley, just outside downtown Honolulu, HawaiÊ »i on the island of OÊ »ahu, this school was founded on 1907. There's a total of 20, 426 students , 14,655 undergraduates , 5,771 graduates and professionals, and 905 unclassified. It cost $31,608 per year plus additional $670 for student fees, and also if I decide to dorm it, it would cost $2721 per year. To provide for my college funds and fees I can apply for finical aid. There's three types of financial aid, there's grants , loans, and scholarship.Grants is a financial award given by the government to an eligible stude nt. Loan is money you can borrow from the bank and you are responsisble to pay it back a year after you start working. Lastly, scholarship is an award of financial aid for a students who does well academically. I'm interested in receiving scholarship because I know I'm able to do good on my acedemics and that could provide me money to help me fund for my college. Im will start funding for my college by working part time jobs and applying for different types of scholarships and grants. This my last planning stage before I face the world and reality. This part is the hardest and the most fun stage,  reality.This is when everything I've work hard for is going to be worth it. This is the part where I work even harder and loving what I do. I'm going to be Dr. Renuma Elisha Arcega Reyes as OBGYN at the big hospital helping women shape the future and giving life to a beautiful individual. I'm also planning on opening up my own clinic where I can have a pediatrician across my office and a little play room for the kids. I want to help women take good care of their health as well as their offspring. I also wanted to buy my own two story house and buy my parents their own house. Now this is my plans for my future, the things that I want to have and achieve what I've work hard for.There's so much things in life that I want to achieve and discover. Planning what's ahead of me is very important, to have a better future for my family and I. Not only that, I also what to be a great helper and a good source of our community. I want be known as a great doctor that could provide service for the people and the community. I also want all the womens and their babies to have a good and health life styles. Those were my plans that could lead to a good life and better future.

Analysis Of Theodore Roethke s My Papa s Waltz Essay -- Poetry, Stanza

He tries to beautify the experience by making it a waltz. He also, by means of images and rhythm, shows the conflict between the readers, or the way any other ‘normal’ man will look at this experience, and how he sees it, or wants it to be seen ( although he does not show his father as completely innocent). It can also be looked upon as the Petty Herst syndrome – meaning having a ‘reality’ so intense and strong that one feels incapable of any other ‘reality’, fearing it can and will be worse. The poem is built of four stanzas (quatrain), each consisting of four lines. The rhyme scheme is, in the first stanza – abab, in the second – cdcd, in the third – efef, and in the fourth – ghgh. The meter is trecet iamb (stressed unstressed – three times per line). The central image in the poem is the metaphor in which the beatings are described as a waltz. The poet is led around the house, dancing – not beaten around. Which is also brought throu by the meter – trecet iamb – the beat of the waltz, thus the main image is shown through the meter as well, giving the reader more of the feeling of a dance in contrast to the ‘secondery images’ which are more associated with the rough experience of a beating. Given such parameters the poet installs some sort of relaxation in the reader (maybe even in himself), in order to make the subject – the beating – more readable, and lessening the effect of thewhen the person leaves this reality it will still, in retrospective, be the best situation he was ever been. It is possible that the narrator in this poem is ‘afflicted’ by this syndrome. He defends his father because to him it seems that this is the reality he should be in. He describes the beat ings as a waltz because he sees it as such. Although the poem is narrated retrospectively, from a grown up man point of view, something remains, the poet does not hate his father for the beating, on the contrary, he shows us that the love to his father is not, and never was lost. And twice during the poem – he talks about † But I hung on † in the first stanza, and † Still clinging to your shirt.† in the fourth stanza, which gives the feeling that he loved and stayed with his father during his childhood, and that he does that even now when his childhood is no longer with him.

Additional sample Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Additional sample - Assignment Example I constantly ask myself this question: Why only men are CEOs of large corporate companies? This brings us to the notion of gender stereotyping where women are often viewed as less equal to men. As such, I am advocating social change in that realm of equal employment opportunities between men and women in large organizations. My intended change is about total empowerment of women as well as promoting total equality in terms of equal employment opportunities. There are some societies that still believe that women are inferior to men and they should occupy less influential positions in large corporate organizations but this is not the case. Women are also capable of delivering even better results than their male counterparts. I am of the view that both women and men should be treated as equal in organizations since they are all capable of performing similar tasks. I think the element of gender disparity should be removed so as to empower women to realize their own goals as leaders of large organizations instead of being treated as followers. More often than not, I have noted that our societies still believe in patriarchy where men are seen as powerful and authoritative over women. However, I beg to differ with this notion since I believe that women also can be very good leaders. They only need to be given the opportunity to prove themselves rather than undermine them for no apparent reason. In my speech, I used irony to try to appeal to the targeted audiences to view my subject matter from a different perspective. Some people believe that it is natural for men to be chief executive officers for large corporations and they often think that women should occupy less influential positions. What is ironic is that these people may have the same level of education as well as experience but men get preferential treatment. I have carefully selected my diction to suit my purpose of conveying my views to the targeted audiences about what I

Mass Extinction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mass Extinction - Essay Example I think that this is the possible reason why Douglas Erwin said it is quite difficult to identify which is the real cause of the mass extinction in the past. There are these many factors that contribute; they are all giving different degrees of impact to the environment, which the scientists need to delve into each to know the actual influencing degree. The world population is growing exponentially but the land is so limited. Humans exploit virgin land, like the jungle and mountains. They cut down the jungle and make the mountains flat to make houses and farmland. The equivalence of the whole ecosystem is disturbed. Firstly the flora and fauna in the wild lost their habitat. They cannot even find food that they used to get. As a result, this leads to wildlife extinction. Loss of soil due to loss of plants also caused the river- and seabeds to become shallow. This is obvious with the increase of sea water level. The situation becomes worse when the pole's glacier starts melting due to greenhouse effect! Eventually, the increasingly warming atmosphere triggered the people's interest to study the global warming phenomena. This is how the greenhouse effect situation was discovered. It is estimated that about 15 to 37 per cent of the species will become extinct from now to 2050 if the climate keep on changing (Kirby, 2004). The causes of global warming were identified: excretion of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, water vapor and methane, use of aerosol products and depletion of jungle land and ozone layer. Carbon dioxide and methane will trap heat in the atmosphere. They are the by products from the use of fuel energy. Meantime, depletion of jungle land reduces the number of green plants that can convert... The world population is growing exponentially but the land is so limited. Humans exploit the virgin land, like the jungle and mountains. They cut down the jungle and make the mountains flat to make houses and farmland. The equivalence of the whole ecosystem is disturbed. Firstly the flora and fauna in the wild lost their habitat. They cannot even find food that they used to get. As a result, this leads to wildlife extinction. Loss of soil due to loss of plants also caused the river- and seabeds to become shallow. This is obvious with the increase of sea water level. The situation becomes worse when the pole’s glacier starts melting due to greenhouse effect! Eventually, the increasingly warming atmosphere triggered the people’s interest to study the global warming phenomena. This is how the greenhouse effect situation was discovered. It is estimated that about 15 to 37 percent of the species will become extinct from now to 2050 if the climate keeps on changing. The causes of global warming were identified: excretion of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane, use of aerosol products and depletion of jungle land and the ozone layer. Carbon dioxide and methane will trap heat in the atmosphere. They are the by-products from the use of fuel energy. Meantime, depletion of jungle land reduces the number of green plants that can convert the carbon dioxide gases back to oxygen. The increase of methane gave the similar effect to the environment, methane plays an important role in the previous mass extinction.

TURING AND AL Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

TURING AND AL - Essay Example What is the significance of this thought experiment? Turing’s game paves the way towards a defense of artificial intelligence. He continues explaining what machines are, their role in his experiment, and the universality of digital computers. Then he raises his initial question again and claims: â€Å"The original question, â€Å"can machines think?† I believe to be too meaningless to deserve a discussion† (Turing 324). Then he puts forth all his beliefs about the matter, which pointed to the fact that machines can indeed think. Hereafter, he discusses all the arguments that oppose his beliefs. The first of the objections is the theological objection (Turing 324-325), followed by the heads in the sand objection (Turing 325), then the argument from consciousness (Turing 325-326), arguments from various disabilities (Turing 326-327), lady Lovelace’s objection (Turing 327), and finally, the argument form informality of behavior (Turing 327-328). Towards the e nd, he does not defend his view from these objections, but tells the reader that his belief will transpire towards the end of the century, due to current problems in programming, engineering, mindset, education and experience (Turing 329). As Turing concludes: â€Å"We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done† (Turing 330). Work Cited Turing, Alan.

Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane - Article Example It is evident that the effect of DDT as an indoor residual insecticide (IRS) lasts longer i.e. for approximately 6 to 12 months unlike other insecticides used to control malaria vectors whose effect lasts for only 2 to 6 months. In addition, other disease causing vectors are repelled by DDT thus forced to migrate to other locations (Atkinson, 2009). Once DDT is absorbed into the body of insects and pesticides it immediately destroys them by affecting their nervous system. DDT inhibits the neurons where it opens up sodium ion channels. This causes the channels to fire up spontaneously leading to death of the affected pest or insect. DDT also acts on the shells of mosquito eggs thinning them to the extent of destroying the life of the pupa. This is because DDT manages to impair the shell glands that are supposed to excrete calcium carbonate to aid in the development of the egg (Hayes, 2010). Therefore, DDT provides a simple and sustainable pest control strategy that is suitable for mos t of the mosquito prone regions. However, due to health and environmental concerns brought forth by the use of DDT, this chemical should only be used with extreme caution to ensure all the stipulated requirements are followed and there is no other safer and affordable means that can be used. This is because the prolonged use of DDT causes environmental degradation, infertility, breast cancer, genital birth defects, brain damages and diabetes. DDT is quite stable and thus does not degrade that easily. In fact, it has the ability of remaining active for decades. On the other hand, it is not soluble in water therefore it is not washed away easily from the soil. These two facts are the core reasons for the development of the myriad controversies surrounding DDT in regards to its safety towards health of human beings, plants and animals and the safety and sustainability of the environment. As a result, it has raised a paradigm because it is not ethical to let people die from malaria and yet the effect of malaria can be curtailed by the use of DDT. On the other side, it is also not ethical to continue supporting the prolonged use of DDT since it poses a risk to the human population and the environment (Hayes, 2010). Unfortunately, the volume of sprayed DDT in households is gradually increasing to alarming rates. In fact, quite scary results were revealed according to a conducted study in the volume of semen and sperm count in males living in households that use DDT. The sperm count and semen volume of the male with high levels of DDT in their blood were extremely low when compared to others. Moreover, DDT is absorbed into body tissues and can even be transferred to infants through breast milk. In addition, DDT has a stable chemical structure thus making it possible for the chemical to stay in the environment for decades without degrading. These facts are supported by the adverse results that DDT had in America when it was sprayed to control the spread of mosquitoes and crop pests. Its effects nearly wiped out all the pelican and bald eagles (Atkinson, 2009). However, in most of the developing countries other alternatives of controlling mosquito vectors including the use of bed nets that have been treated with insecticides and use of anti-malaria drugs are not as effective as the use of DDT. This is in contrast to most developed countries where the DDT alternatives are relatively effective. This is

Difference between Mac and PC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Difference between Mac and PC - Essay Example PC, however, was made more for businesses outside of artistic fields, with many people favoring the word processing programs that PC has to offer (Pegoraro, 2006). The other physical aspect is the designs - Macs have only a handful of designs, each based on which model you buy, while PC has dozens of different models and customization options. The real differences can be found within the different computer models. Within a Mac, every component, wire, and chip is manufactured from the same company ("What is", 2009). Within a PC, everything comes from a different company. Less problems are had with Mac, including a substantial lack of viruses, due to the fact that everything is created and programmed by the same people. If something goes wrong with any piece, it just needs to be sent and repaired by one company. With a PC, unfortunately, while the computer can be sent back to the computers brand name company, it will still need repaired by the proper company depending on the damaged component. Due to the fact that Mac is created by one company and PC is created by many, Mac has less software to offer, as it needs to be manufactured by their name company. PC can accept just about any software, given the fact that it is more versatile. This is perhaps one of the reasons why more people do prefer a PC, with the exception of those that are using Mac solely for artistic purposes. As aforementioned, one of the perks about Mac only being capable of using Mac/Apple products is that the computer has a less chance of contracting viruses. Even when it does obtain a virus, it causes less harm than it would to a PC (Pogue, 2005). Furthermore, there are very few programs that are dual-compatible, meaning they work on both systems. These programs are few and far between, and have proven to be damaging to whichever system it is being used on, especially if it had been on the other operating system prior to its second

Risk managment and insurance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Risk managment and insurance - Essay Example Lencsis (1997) argues that the promotion of insurance solvency is the most vital goal of insurance regulation. It is of great importance to the regulators since it makes the outcome of insurance transactions certain and predictable. This is because, predictable results are the essence of insurance. As a result, the maintenance and promotion of the solvency of the insurer are at the regulators heart. The other explanation in this respect is that individuals insured are not capable of protecting themselves in respect of insurance transactions. This is due to the fact that insurance is more than a contingent promise that is to be provided in the future. As such, the promise is worth a company standing before it. Typically, a consumer cannot monitor or evaluate the solvency of an insurance company. Furthermore, insurance accounting and actuarial procedures are difficult and complicated, thus requiring a regulator to monitor the solvency of the insurance companies on behalf of the public (Lencsis, 1997). The other importance in respect of solvency regulation is that it ensures that the public is protected in case the insurance company becomes insolvent. Lencsis (1997) notes that the state of insolvency of an insurance company may cause a lot of tribulations and massive losses to the insured entities. Insurance solvency regulation is also of importance to the regulator especially with regard to life insurance, and to some extent property insurance, since they are responsible for sizable amounts of insured savings. Therefore, since the insurers’ operations parallel fiduciary operations, solvency regulation must be regulated for public interest (Lencsis, 1997). The solvency of an insurance company is very important to the regulators as it protects the insured from unscrupulous dealers and insurance companies that may become

Research Paper on Paul Robeson Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

On Paul Robeson - Research Paper Example It was the impact of this social and political contribution of his parents that greatly influenced the mind of Paul when he was being nourished. His parents put their possible parental efforts to nurture Paul in a way that one day he would become a beacon of hope and symbol of justice not only for his African American fellows but also to those who suffer the tyranny of cruel rulers of that time. Consequently, Paul greatly learned and became an owner of remarkable multi-faceted personality. In the subsequent part of this essay, first, Paul Robeson’s birth, his childhood, early life and portion such as why should he be remembered are accounted for before the conclusion. Birth, early childhood and early life Paul LeRoy Bustill Robeson was born on April 9, 1898 in Princeton, New Jersey (Britannica.com, web). He was born the last of eight children in the Robeson family. His father, William Drew Robeson, was a runaway slave, fighting for the North in the era of Civil War in the peri od of 1861 to 1865. And for nineteen years, William remained pastor at church in New Jersey (Robeson, Jr. 2001, p.3).At that time, the South was fighting against the North over the secession. Additionally, his father chose his career in religion and received a degree in divinity from the Lincoln University and became pastor at a Presbyterian church in Princeton. Additionally, Paul’s mother, Anna Louisa Robeson, was a distinguished member of a Bustill family of Philadelphia, in which patriots of the Revolutionary War (1775-83), were included at the time when the America was fighting for their independence from the colonization of the Great Britain. In addition, Paul’s mother was also greatly involved in the social movements such as the Free African Society, developed to help runaway slaves. This entire background in which young Paul was being nurtured depicts the entire future of Paul. At the age of six, Paul lost his mother when she died. After her death, Paul’s father decided to move the remaining family to Somerville, New Jersey. At Somerville, young Paul received the supervision and nourishment from his father. At his childhood, Paul constantly remained in touch with his father, he regularly used to work with his father in church where he sang songs. Almost on each day of his childhood, Paul utilized his entire day with his father and it was his father’s way of life and his thinking that considerably played its role to determine the future direction of young Paul. Additionally, it was the role of William Drew Robeson that taught young Paul the lessons of hard work, fighting for beliefs, pursing valuable goals and helping others to achieve their cause. Political and social role Paul Robeson considerably played these two roles during the period of 1930s throughout the Europe and United States of America (notablebiographies.com, web). And during the period of 1930 to 1950, Paul spoke out against injustice (Freedomways, 1998, p.22). In 1934, Paul made the first trip to the Soviet Union where he spoke out against the rule of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime in Germany. In which, Paul severely criticized the radical and racial German army and its role against the Jews and other minorities living under the cruel rule of the Hitler. Additionally, Paul did not support the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and raised his voice against such tyranny at the hands of the Italian forces. In order to support the Ethiopians

Extreme Poverty and the Rights of the Poor Essay Example for Free

Extreme Poverty and the Rights of the Poor Essay Extreme poverty and the rights of the poor has been a high priority of the UN ever since its creation, yet this dilemma are still happening in many underdeveloped and developing countries. To eliminate this problem, public awareness and a genuine cooperation in the global community is required. Extreme poverty and rights of the poor goes hand in hand, because in many third world and developing nations, poor people have no rights. France encourages nations to genuinely cooperate to increase the awareness of the issue and to abolish habits of â€Å"ignoring poverty and the rights of the poor. † The eradication of poverty must begin by providing help to those most affected by the problem. The poor and uneducated makes up the majority of those without any rights, they lack access to the fastest way of escaping poverty, education; therefore, they rarely ever have a voice in their communities. France is well aware that efforts have been made to fight poverty in many regions simultaneously, including Africa, Central and South America, and the Middle East. France strongly believes that the most essential step the UN should take in order to solve this problem is to encourage all nations to provide free education to everyone. In order to reduce poverty and guarantee rights to the poor, free education must be made available to everyone, especially to those that cannot afford it. If this is achieved, people most definitely are able to have a bigger and better access to economic opportunities, a major factor in escaping poverty. In France, it is required for children from the age of 6-16 to attend school. After ninth grade, students can choose whether or not to pursue a higher education, such as high school and college, if not, they can be admitted to a technical school, then graduate from such school and have a professional career. France believe that based on the high efficiency of this method, the UN should carry out similar actions to a global scale by encouraging nations to adopt the same principle. In conclusion, France strongly believes nations must genuinely cooperate effectively in order to reduce poverty and guarantee rights to the poor. The source of this problem is believed to be the lack of access to education due to poverty. Providing free education must be the first step nations should take in order to bring an end to this problem.

Research Hypothesis Essay Example for Free

Research Hypothesis Essay Null Hypothesis: The new developed drug has no considerable difference from the standard multi-drug regimen used by most cancer patients (Â µ1 = Â µ2). Alternative Hypothesis: The new developed drug is considerably better from the standard multi-drug regimen used by most cancer patients (Â µ1 Â µ2). The dependent variable in the study is the so-called ‘level of efficacy’ (or in simple term, the level of effectiveness of the drug). This independent variable may be measured by: 1) T-cell counts among AIDS patients, 2) improved blood circulation (measured by blood pumped per ounce per second), and 3) rate of antibody formation. For the sake of simplicity, we shall only consider the first measure of ‘efficacy’ (T-cell counts among AIDS patients). The independent variable in the study is the ‘type of drug’ used to treat patients with AIDS. Method For the purpose of theoretical efficiency, we can assume the existence of two groups. Group A is a population sample treated with the ‘new developed drug.’ Group B is a population sample treated with the standard multi-drug regimen. Note that both drugs are assumed to have a general effect on the mitigation of AIDS among patients. A higher population mean (measured by T-cell counts) would indicate a higher ‘level of efficacy.’ Biases Experimenter bias may be exhibited in the study as: 1) error in the specification of experimental maneuver, 2) error in the measurement of outcomes, and 3) faulty interpretation of data. Because of the complexity of the study, it is very likely for the researcher to commit the second error. Selection bias is not present in the study. Ethical Issues There are two pressing ethical issues in the study. First, it is generally unethical to use an untested drug (medical) to a group of AIDS patients (although it may be argued that the drug has been tested many times in the laboratory). Second, it is dangerous to test the efficacy of two sets of drugs to ‘actual’ patients.

Challenges to Managing Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)

Challenges to Managing Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) One of the major challenges facing Human Resource Management is the introduction and management of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). In dyads or tryads produce a group briefing paper for either; Directors of a company or a specific trade union, of your choice, regarding the changes taking place in the UK labourmarket and economy regarding the impact of outsourcing and/or offshoring. INTRODUCTION The current economic climate is forcing organizations to explore tactics to remain competitive. According to the traditional ‘make or buy decision framework, the fundamental value proposition behind BPO is cost reduction. The recent economic downturn forced HR departments to do more with less. Many HR organisations were asked to increase the scope of their capabilities without increasing overall headcount. As a result, some organisations viewed outsourcing as a way of combating current economic situation and achieving competitive advantage. In spite of the recent economic slowdown, Gartner Group stated that, the worldwide business process outsourcing (BPO) market, is continuing to grow by approximately 9.5. Organisations are increasingly seeking standardization as part of a re-emphasis on strategic business initiatives. They realise that they need to standardize HR processes and policies as a first step in their HR transformation. Business process outsourcing of certain functions is becoming an increasingly popular way to improve basic services while allowing HR professionals time to focus on issues vital to the businesss strategic initiatives, instead of being burdened with HR administration. Chaffey (2003) defines BPO as â€Å"the contracting out of specified services to a third party with a controlled, flexible relationship†. Lee (2002) refers to BPO as the ‘outsourcing of different managerial and operational functions. Specifically in HR, BPO is designed to ensure that a companys HR system is supported by the latest management information systems, with self-access and HR data warehousing options. The Business Issues (1995) further views BPO as ‘the delegation of one or more business processes to an external provider, who then owns, manages and administers the selected processes based on defined and measurable performance metric. The CIPD defines off-shore as ‘the process of outsourcing business activities or services overseas, as a direct or indirect employer. Off-shore does not always involve the services of an external provider . According to the Oxford Dictionary it means: ‘made, registered or situated abroad. The concept of outsourcing centres on David Ricardos theory of Comparative Advantage (cited in Mullins 2001) which states that even if a country could produce everything more efficiently than another country, it would still reap gains from specialising in what it was best at producing and trading with other nations. AIM OF BRIEFING The aim of this briefing is to brief the Directors of Name of our company the effect of outsourcing the HRM function and will encompass its influence on organisational performance and culture; and concurrently its impact on the UK Labour market and economy. The team will carry out a case-study on BT and will critically evaluate, analyse and highlight the advantages and disadvantages of HR outsourcing with the intention of reviewing the outcomes and where necessary suggest solutions where likely problems can be encountered. An analytical review will be carried out of the major HRM problems which can arise from organizational change and where required recommendations made. The team will use British Telecommunications as a case study to establish the impact of BPO. This briefing aims to provide a reasoned critique of existing literature based on surveys, textbooks, journals and official trade data. BACKGROUND British Telecommunications (BT) is a wholly owned subsidiary of BT Group Plc, a public limited company registered in England and Wales and listed on the London and New York Stock Exchanges . BT is one of the worlds leading providers of communications solutions and services operating in 170 countries. It principal activities include networked IT services, local, national and international telecommunications services, and higher-value broadband and internet products and services.Its main activities are web hosting, IT solutions, Internet services, telecommunications and broadband networks. In the fiscal year ended 31 March 2007 BT had a net turnover of  £9,499 billion. In the UK alone it has pool of 87,000 employees and 180,000 pensioners, whilst on a global scale it has 10,000 employees spread over the countries it operates within. For years, British Telecom ruled the UK market as a monopoly. It was the British Telecommunications Act of 1981 that brought this to an end and put in its place a duopoly, where BT competed with Mercury. The company was formed in 1981 as a subsidiary of Cable Wireless, mainly to challenge the monopoly of British Telecom. The privatisation of British Telecom in 1984 opened the industry to full competition and in 1991, this effectively brought the duopoly share by BT and Mercury to an end. With the liberalisation and opening up of the phone market to global competition came renewed pressure on BT from the telecoms watchdog Oftel to open up more of its network to competitors and cut its prices. The pressures on BT became greater than ever. The stiff competition in the telecoms market, the huge cost of paying for third-generation (3G) mobile phone licences, pressure from the industry regulator Oftel to lower its prices and informed, discerning customers meant BT had to deliver even higher levels of quality and service, at competitive prices in order to stay afloat. All these pressures necessitated mindset change and BT was forced to review its business processes. In order to meet up with the arrival of new competitors and the quickening pace of technological change in the industry, speed of action and reaction became critical success factors. With the competition that flooded the UK market in the 1990s, BT started considering cost reduction that will maximise efficiency without compromising quality. One of the major steps taken was to outsource the transactional side of its human resources operation to Accenture HR Services, which in turn off-shored to its India branch. BT believed that the competitive edge for any global communications provider is human capital and to survive and thrive, it requires world-class human resource (HR) competencies and the processes for managing them. Youndt et al. (1996) highlights that a HR system focused on human capabilities is directly related to multiple dimensions of operational performance. Huselid and Becker (1997) describe that a firms effectiveness is associated with HR capabilities and its attributes. ADVANTAGES OF OUTSOURCING / OFFSHORING Outsourcing enables an organisation to improve its focus on its core values allowing it to remain competitive on the market (Morello, 2003) . Prahalad and Hamel 1990 state that firms must concentrate on core competencies to gain competitive advantage. Through outsourcing specialist skills can be drawn out from a pool of expertise when and where needed whilst opportunities for enriched career development exist for the remaining staff. Organisations are able to turn over certain classes of risks to their suppliers, such as demand variability and capital investments. Unlike the buyer, the outsourcing buyer can spread these risks over multiple clients. Profitability can be achieved as outsourcing increases a businesss cashflow by creating cost reductions through cheap labour and reduced operational expenses i.e. office space, utility. Funds which would have been used for large capital investments can be released for other uses. Contracting out operational functions reduces the competition on capital as the outsourcing company provides the capital investment as part of its overheads. Companies can create an integrated market as it is a cost effective way of globalisation particularly when it selects the best available resources and labour. Figure [rumbi insert appendix] reflects the changes to operational costs which BT experienced when it outsourced. According to Som Mittal, former Managing Director of Compaq India has claimed that payroll processing to countries like India companies can achieve a 20-25% gain in productivity. Outsourcing can increase the service level given to clients. With offshoring an organisation has the ability to have a 24-hour a day workforce resulting in a more timely service which would not be possible if the organisation operated in once country. BT gained flexibility through outsourcing to Accenture as agility or quick response to business demands was made. Competitive advantage can be attained through cheaper prices. When the product prices cannot come down further operating in a highly skilled, low-wage labour area will be advantageous. (Frubel, Heinrichs and Kreye 1980) . As the product price falls consumers are willing to demand a larger amount of goods. The off-shored countries receive economical benefits. Nasscom Chairman Som Mittal remarked ‘Its a win win situation for countries which allow outsourcing and the countries which receive outsourcing (Ahmed 2004) . DISADVANTAGES OF OUTSOURCING/OFFSHORING: When outsourcing to a third party resentment can occur between permanent and contracted staff. Contract/temporary staff may fail to have a sense of belonging whilst permanent staff can remain aloof in order to protect their works hindering teamwork. Offshoring particularly on the outsourcing of work to India as the UK labour force believes that they are losing out on career opportunities. However the McKinsey Global Institute Report states that there are actually too many jobs and not enough people in the UK to fulfil them. Therefore fears of a widespread unemployment are unlikely and thus this resentment could be seen as unnecessary (Lander 2006) . The lack of direct communication between the organisation and the client can hinder the development of solid relationships and can result in the main organisation lacking control of the outsourced project. One of the key aspects of motivation is social interaction and self actualisation (Maslow cited in Mullins, 2001). Another perceived drawback of off-shoring is the decrease in levels of communication. When English is not the native language of the source area, poor command of the English Language leads to prominent resentment of offshored services (Ahmed,2004). Results of a survey carried out by the Nationwide building in 2005 reflected that 91% of UK adults would prefer their calls to be handled by UK-based call centres (Lander (2006). A major drawback is the expense of regaining a customer once lost, because it could cost up to 6 times more in marketing costs to gain a replacement. Cultural differences can be a disadvantage of offshoring i.e. Ryan Kinzy of K3 Group a large outsourcing company states that there are 3 months which are viewed as the most auspicious time for weddings in India, for example half the staff are out of the office. Ryan highlights that building up teamwork is a difficult challenge as employees may lack intuition due to their culture, Indian workers require a lot of direction. Their relationships are hierarchal, family and caste dependent and they have an educational system that emphasises routine learning over independent research. Outsourcing can prove expensive as payment of redundancy packages for the laid off staff can be a major drawback. As the number of companies offshoring to India rises, employee retention becomes a challenge due to the fact that as market competition increases, salaries are required to be competitive. Organisations will have to decide whether the cost-savings outweigh the revenue generated. Risks can be encountered due to the socio-economic conditions which can hinder the progression of operations i.e. maintaining trade risks. The chance of off-shore fraud also exist as the use of funds can be diverted. There is also the risk or data loss. BT faces the risk of fraud emanating from HR outsourcing as off-shore workers have full access to personnel details ranging from bank account numbers, home addresses and other personal details. Non-automated transactions and processing responsibilities enable off-shore workers to have access to highly confidential information. There is an increase in foreign organised crime groups who have targeted foreign off-shore enterprises to gain access data which they process. Organisiations can face compliance risks and their reputation being damaged due to negative publicity resulting from the third party being inconsistent in meeting ethical standards and internal policies. The organisation needs to carryout thorough audits to ensure control . Expertise levels need to be measured to ensure that required service levels of service are met. {Figure xxRumbi to appendix 2} reflects results of problems faced by several companies which have off-shored. The main problem met appears to be low control of performance and data. Offshoring has the limited disadvantage in that the core function of an organisation cannot be accomplished if passed onto an external source . A business which outsources a department still requires in-house technical experts to monitor activities (Greco 1997) Political infrastructure such as changes in government can affect can impact the outsourcing company. Shortly after the election of Sonia Ghandi stock markets plummeted on fears that her leftist allies would roll back fundamental economic reforms. Erratic power grids inexperienced officials and unmotivated employees can also prove to be a disadvantage. ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE BTs management believes organisational culture is innovative with teams that are strategically aligned to BTs operations. Advances in technologies have been applied to benefit BT and its customers to improve processes. Culture can be an object which is manipulated to achieve productivity and organisational improvements, and change over time (Tran, 2008) . In this context, culture is the character of an organisation. However if culture is accepted as being â€Å"†¦.the basic, taken- for- granted assumptions and deep patterns of meaning shared by organisational participation and manifestations of these assumptions†¦Ã¢â‚¬  ( Johnson, 2007) then in this respect culture can be difficult to change. In order to explain the content of cultural context in BT after HR outsourcing, the cultural web will be used. The table below shows the content of the organisational culture with HR outsourcing. Rumbi to appendix 1] According to the above table the organisational culture hinders collective learning in the organisation. Individuals see each other as rivals, rather than a partners. This paradigm creates various obstacles for learning within the organisation, that usually arise due to rivalry, power conflicts and absence of network communication channels (Mullins, 2001). The disadvantage of this power structure is explained by Mullins (2001) who claims that such approach decrease the effectiveness and efficiency of operations management, as participants are detached from the decision-making. BTs new organisational structure is bureaucratic, with the emphasis on standard procedures and operational routines. It might slow down the communication process, with the absence of feedback channels and unnecessary layers that might increase obstructions and cause various distortions in the communication process( Graham Bennet, 1998) . BT has placed its employees after revenues. The management has failed to take into account individual needs of each employee hence developing a coercive rather than participative approach. Within this approach people are being treated as liabilities rather than the core elements of the operations management process, where people become the primary determinant of the outcome quality (Armstrong, 2003) . The organisational culture implies for traditional type of performance appraisal system, which utilises various types of monetary techniques. Wright (2007) argued that the utilisation of monetary tools does not provide the development of a higher level of effective commitment or higher degree of intrinsic motivation and provides a blurred understanding of the relationship between their performance and corresponding appraisal. The communication component forms an important of the above mentioned changes. According to McGregor (1960, cited in Mullins, 2001) in order to get people to direct their efforts towards organisational objectives, management must tell them what to do, judge how well they are doing and reward or punish accordingly. There is also an informative and a motivational purpose. He claims that a clear and thorough description of individual duties and rights within the framework of the organisation may prevent the rise of unmet expectations. As it shows on the table, the communication in the company is of a top-down nature, without proper feedback. This type of communication scheme is good for conveyer-type organisations and not ideal for innovative market-led companies. CHANGE MANAGEMENT The new requirements for adaptation made it necessary for the company to undertake the reengineering of the whole business process, including both â€Å"hard â€Å"and â€Å"soft† elements. According to Senior (1997) â€Å"hard system† change implies â€Å" an attempt to use the benefits of a scientific method whilst recognising that in the real world of business where thing are happening fast, there may not be time to be as scientific as one would like†. In BTs case, â€Å"hard system† change referred to the introduction of new operations management systems, equipment and business facilities, designed to speed up existing operations and reduce the cost per a single transaction. It was designed to maximise the efficiency of every single operation within the business process. Senior (1997) indicates that â€Å"Soft System† changes imply for the change of the organisational culture. The main idea of this approach is listening to the organisation, good communication, developing a shared, vision, gaining real commitment to the change and the vision, education and training, and understanding the tools and techniques for the process. William et al.(1993) indicates that to facilitate effective adaptation of the employees to new working conditions, managers shall reduce restraining forces and reinforces driving forces. However, it shall be considered, that not all measures are equally effective. As Hetzbergs maintainance theory ( cited in Mullins, 2001) shows , the presence of certain factors may act as a powerful motivating factors, while the absence of other elements may produce slight dissatisfaction. At the same time strategic priorities shall reflect the current organisational aims. Under such conditions in order to improve the situation and meet objectives (create a better customer focus) the high involvement of senior managers, who acts as a link between operational and business levels of the organisation, is required. Senior managers shall act as major change agents. Taking the role of change agents, it is important for senior managers not to ignore employees natural resistance to new systems, but to create appropriate incentives to fasten the transactional process from resistance to commitment (Graham and Bennet, 1998). The ignorance of or resistance to changes will introduce different open conflicts, which will significantly worsen the organisation environment affecting its performance level and flexibility. This could result to failure to raise performance and attract or retain customers, which may lead to significant costs and even reduce the companys chances to survive and succeed in changing market conditions. According to Mintzberg Quinn and Ghoshall (1995) the overall rationale for any outsourcing activity is that outsourcing provides, greater economies of scale, flexibility, increase in levels of expertise, cost effectiveness, reduced costs and added value to any organisation. The rationale of BT outsourcing its HRM functions were to increase shareholder value, sustain progress and cope with the pace of change. Outsourcing of parts of the HR function has become more common. Lonsdale and Cox (1998) argue that outsourcing decisions can be classified under the following three headings: 1 outsourcing for short-term cost and headcount reductions; 2 core-competence-based outsourcing, where peripheral activities are passed to third parties and core activities are retained in-house; 3 iterative and entrepreneurial outsourcing, where periodic reviews of critical market activities are undertaken, with subsequent decision to retain or outsource. IMPACT ON UK LABOUR FORCE Human capital is emphasized as the most valuable asset of the 21st century business. The primary effects of outsourcing/offshoring on HR and Labour Relations are related to managing transition in HRM such as personnel changes, managing layoff, downsizing issues, and the costs/dynamics of actually managing an off-shore contract. The laying off of UK employees as a result of restructuring to effect the outsourcing contracts can have a negative impact on employees. Layoffs cause major morale problems among in-house ‘survivors and may lead to dissatisfaction and reduced delivery speed. Some UK companies experienced productivity dips and potential legal action from laid off employees resulting in costs of severance, retention bonuses and retraining being encountered. According to a survey by Deloitte and YouGov (2006) revealed that fear of job losses was prevalent in the UK with 82% of public perceiving offshoring as a threat . 1 in 3 people stated that UK companies should be forced to bring back jobs to the UK. Chief economist of the Work Foundation, Ian Brinkley commented ‘Fears have been stoked by claims that the Chinese and Indians are coming to get your lunch to describe the insecurity that offshoring has caused. With regards to knowledge transfer there is concern that some of the job experience is being exported. If low-level skill tasks are sent off-shore then so is the experience gained from performing those tasks. When the time comes to perform higher-level tasks where previous experience is mandatory, there is no alternative than to go off-shore because that is where the experience will available. In some instances company plans imply that higher-level tasks will remain performed on-shore, the lower-level tasks are performed miles away. The knowledge and experience of those ‘low-level jobs will be gone forever, and may impact the proper development of the ‘higher-level jobs. Forrester a US research group released a study that by 2015 Europe will have lost a collective number of 1.2 million jobs to off-shore locations increasing its reliance. Alan Blinder a US economist and former advisor to Bill Clinton has supported this thesis by stating that offshoring will lead to a ‘third Industrial Revolution. He views that off-shore is now a man-made comparative advantage and that workers will be forced to seek employment in personal services which remain non-tradable. There is a long-term impact on the types of jobs that people are training for, as well as the ‘transfer of knowledge relating to many job structures in the workplace such that there is a ‘domino effect. Steve Loy feels that these ‘outgoing tide of jobs could threaten fundamental technology research as well as jobs. The astute students will recognise the rapidly dwindling job opportunities in HRM and will choose other programs of study thus loss will be encountered in HR leading to a labour-force that has inadequate HRM knowledge to compete in a high knowledge based economy. The evaluation of the impact of off-shore is mainly based on estimations of collective data. Jobs most at risk are non-client facing and low knowledge content jobs those which use a lot of Information technology, creating outputs that can be transmitted via IT. An analysis by the CPRP concluded that 20% of non-client facing jobs are likely to be moved abroad. The potential is apportioned as a function of international trade and investment, the industrial structure of the economy, human capital, employment indicator, product market regulations indicator. Not all jobs created off-shore by UK companies automatically translates to job losses in the UK labour market. Employees are increasingly demanding services hence time difference plays a role in off-shore, offering them extended services. The lower price makes it possible for instance to offer services which would not be available otherwise i.e. 24 hr call centres. The information collated by the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) s hows that job loss due to offshoring is in fact very small. During the first quarter of 2007 ERM recorded 420 restructuring cases in Europe. They announced 137,762 job losses and 184,511 job gains. Only 5.5% of all jobs lost were due to offshoring activities. For the year 2005 the percentage of job losses due to offshoring was only 3.4% of the total job losses. To measure the extent of job loss due to restructuring we can use redundancy notification, the effects of offshoring does however vary with the country. In France, national Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies estimates in its 2007 report on the French economy that offshoring has been responsible for the destruction of 15,000 jobs per year between 2000 and 2003. This is to contrast with a job creation in the private sector of 200,000 per year . In the UK there is no significant decline as per the results of the LFS Redundancy Tables ‘Employment growth in the occupations considered susceptible to offshoring has been very strong. The redundancy levels for these occupations, although high relative to the whole economy, have been falling in the last four years. The overall employment rate for these occupations has also shown an increase showing the cost of moving low-skilled jobs abroad is either falling or positive job creation is highly prevalent in the IT enabled occup ations. This does not mean that jobs are not being off-shored, and it is entirely possible that in the absence of offshoring, employment in these areas might have been higher. The adverse impact is entirely triggered by much larger changes in domestic demand for such services, the UK in particular has been extremely successful in developing as a world leader in knowledge based international trade. Jobs created through the expansion of exports of services are likely to outweigh the contraction of jobs caused by import of services. According to a report by Amiti and Jin Wei (2005) job growth at divisional levels has not been negatively related to service outsourcing but has had a negative impact on the demand for unskilled labour. In the UK outsourcing has had no reflected effect on the labourforce. The Deloitte and Recruitment Employment Confederation Report states that both permanent and temporary staff billings continue to rise. National press recruitment advertising in the UK went down by 11.3% in July 2005 in both public and private sectors reflecting a positive direction in the labour market and no relevant changes in the economy. Outsourcing is increasing consultancy work in the United Kingdom hence is beneficial as it offers flexible working hours / days for UK employees. This is particularly favorable for women who are raising children as is allows them to earn a salary whilst at the same time having adequate time with their children. There is also the flexibility of home-working. Structural changes can occur in the economies of both the outsourced/sourcing companies and due to the debate on who is benefiting/losing racism can be allowed to rear its head. A report prepared for the Department of Trade Industry by Ovum (2006) concludes that even though the actual impacts of an increase in trade and the expansion of global sourcing have been quite modest to date, offshoring can change the skills structure of labour demand, increasing the vulnerability of low-skilled workers in particular. ECONOMIC IMPACT Concern over off-shoring has become a surrogate for wider issues about economic insecurity, said Work Foundation chief economist Ian Brinkley. An interesting corollary benefit of outsourcing is the benefit to the economy. Indias National Association of Software and Services Companies commissioned a report by Evaluserve that stated that for every $100 worth of work sent abroad by US companies, $130 to $145 will be reinvested in the US economy. Cost savings are said to create value in the UK economy. Ahead of monetary capital, knowledge economy has become a focal point in the policy of outsourcing and off-shore. Strategies have been devised i.e. the Lisbon Strategy centres to promote, research, innovation in the development of human capital. In the future, human capital is the only way that Europe can remain prosperous. The main beneficiaries in the UK are the educated high skilled workers and the losers will be semi/low skilled workers. The UK government needs to investment more in education to continue pushing towards a leading knowledge based economy to avoid vulnerability. It needs to investment in human capital and focus on domestic policy choices for the losers of rapid structural changes within the UK. As a result of off-shoring the UK government is losing funds which could possibly be raised by corporate and income tax. However, it has stated that it does not have plans in place as yet to prevent outsourcing. The Department of Trade Industry has stated ‘it is a commercial decision for companies to decide where to locate their business operations such as call centres. The absence of official statistics on off-shore outsourcing leads to speculation and there is also misinterpretation of indirect measures/evidence. The experience of an individual company may or may not select a trend in a specific sector but does not allow conclusions to be made on the economy as a whole. It is possible that the rise in rice prices caused by lower production could be a result of a shift by the working population in India from working in the agriculture moving to the services sector. A great deal of knowledge is tacit and therefore difficult to transfer. Its reproduction can be extremely costly and requires an environment in which it can be harnessed effectively. According to a recent World Bank publication India is at the bottom end ranking 98 out of 128 countries of an index that measures the ability to create, absorb and diffuse knowledge therefore its threat is minimal to the UK economy. The economy-wide measures such as a countrys balance of payments can assist us in understanding the patterns of cross border trade and establish the impact of offshoring. If the outsourcing of tasks by UK based companies to off-shore locations i.e. India is soaring then the UK should be importing more of these services from India. The CBI has stated that the UK companies have benefited from off-shore as they are now receiving improved work-force skills at a low rate making their enterprises more profitable. According to results obtained from the Office for National Statistics the redundancy rate for the three months to January 2008 was 4.4 per 1,000 employees, down 0.9 over the quarter and down 1.1 over the year. These figures on the redundancy rate reflect that though a large number of organizational services have been off-shored services this has not had a significant impact on the UK economy. The UK has emerged as a world leader in ‘knowledge services and between 1995 2005 exports of its services grew by over 100% compared to its exports of traditional service exports such as transport. India is ranked 6th for global ‘insourcing behind the US, UK, German France and the Netherlands who appear to be the top rec Challenges to Managing Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Challenges to Managing Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) One of the major challenges facing Human Resource Management is the introduction and management of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). In dyads or tryads produce a group briefing paper for either; Directors of a company or a specific trade union, of your choice, regarding the changes taking place in the UK labourmarket and economy regarding the impact of outsourcing and/or offshoring. INTRODUCTION The current economic climate is forcing organizations to explore tactics to remain competitive. According to the traditional ‘make or buy decision framework, the fundamental value proposition behind BPO is cost reduction. The recent economic downturn forced HR departments to do more with less. Many HR organisations were asked to increase the scope of their capabilities without increasing overall headcount. As a result, some organisations viewed outsourcing as a way of combating current economic situation and achieving competitive advantage. In spite of the recent economic slowdown, Gartner Group stated that, the worldwide business process outsourcing (BPO) market, is continuing to grow by approximately 9.5. Organisations are increasingly seeking standardization as part of a re-emphasis on strategic business initiatives. They realise that they need to standardize HR processes and policies as a first step in their HR transformation. Business process outsourcing of certain functions is becoming an increasingly popular way to improve basic services while allowing HR professionals time to focus on issues vital to the businesss strategic initiatives, instead of being burdened with HR administration. Chaffey (2003) defines BPO as â€Å"the contracting out of specified services to a third party with a controlled, flexible relationship†. Lee (2002) refers to BPO as the ‘outsourcing of different managerial and operational functions. Specifically in HR, BPO is designed to ensure that a companys HR system is supported by the latest management information systems, with self-access and HR data warehousing options. The Business Issues (1995) further views BPO as ‘the delegation of one or more business processes to an external provider, who then owns, manages and administers the selected processes based on defined and measurable performance metric. The CIPD defines off-shore as ‘the process of outsourcing business activities or services overseas, as a direct or indirect employer. Off-shore does not always involve the services of an external provider . According to the Oxford Dictionary it means: ‘made, registered or situated abroad. The concept of outsourcing centres on David Ricardos theory of Comparative Advantage (cited in Mullins 2001) which states that even if a country could produce everything more efficiently than another country, it would still reap gains from specialising in what it was best at producing and trading with other nations. AIM OF BRIEFING The aim of this briefing is to brief the Directors of Name of our company the effect of outsourcing the HRM function and will encompass its influence on organisational performance and culture; and concurrently its impact on the UK Labour market and economy. The team will carry out a case-study on BT and will critically evaluate, analyse and highlight the advantages and disadvantages of HR outsourcing with the intention of reviewing the outcomes and where necessary suggest solutions where likely problems can be encountered. An analytical review will be carried out of the major HRM problems which can arise from organizational change and where required recommendations made. The team will use British Telecommunications as a case study to establish the impact of BPO. This briefing aims to provide a reasoned critique of existing literature based on surveys, textbooks, journals and official trade data. BACKGROUND British Telecommunications (BT) is a wholly owned subsidiary of BT Group Plc, a public limited company registered in England and Wales and listed on the London and New York Stock Exchanges . BT is one of the worlds leading providers of communications solutions and services operating in 170 countries. It principal activities include networked IT services, local, national and international telecommunications services, and higher-value broadband and internet products and services.Its main activities are web hosting, IT solutions, Internet services, telecommunications and broadband networks. In the fiscal year ended 31 March 2007 BT had a net turnover of  £9,499 billion. In the UK alone it has pool of 87,000 employees and 180,000 pensioners, whilst on a global scale it has 10,000 employees spread over the countries it operates within. For years, British Telecom ruled the UK market as a monopoly. It was the British Telecommunications Act of 1981 that brought this to an end and put in its place a duopoly, where BT competed with Mercury. The company was formed in 1981 as a subsidiary of Cable Wireless, mainly to challenge the monopoly of British Telecom. The privatisation of British Telecom in 1984 opened the industry to full competition and in 1991, this effectively brought the duopoly share by BT and Mercury to an end. With the liberalisation and opening up of the phone market to global competition came renewed pressure on BT from the telecoms watchdog Oftel to open up more of its network to competitors and cut its prices. The pressures on BT became greater than ever. The stiff competition in the telecoms market, the huge cost of paying for third-generation (3G) mobile phone licences, pressure from the industry regulator Oftel to lower its prices and informed, discerning customers meant BT had to deliver even higher levels of quality and service, at competitive prices in order to stay afloat. All these pressures necessitated mindset change and BT was forced to review its business processes. In order to meet up with the arrival of new competitors and the quickening pace of technological change in the industry, speed of action and reaction became critical success factors. With the competition that flooded the UK market in the 1990s, BT started considering cost reduction that will maximise efficiency without compromising quality. One of the major steps taken was to outsource the transactional side of its human resources operation to Accenture HR Services, which in turn off-shored to its India branch. BT believed that the competitive edge for any global communications provider is human capital and to survive and thrive, it requires world-class human resource (HR) competencies and the processes for managing them. Youndt et al. (1996) highlights that a HR system focused on human capabilities is directly related to multiple dimensions of operational performance. Huselid and Becker (1997) describe that a firms effectiveness is associated with HR capabilities and its attributes. ADVANTAGES OF OUTSOURCING / OFFSHORING Outsourcing enables an organisation to improve its focus on its core values allowing it to remain competitive on the market (Morello, 2003) . Prahalad and Hamel 1990 state that firms must concentrate on core competencies to gain competitive advantage. Through outsourcing specialist skills can be drawn out from a pool of expertise when and where needed whilst opportunities for enriched career development exist for the remaining staff. Organisations are able to turn over certain classes of risks to their suppliers, such as demand variability and capital investments. Unlike the buyer, the outsourcing buyer can spread these risks over multiple clients. Profitability can be achieved as outsourcing increases a businesss cashflow by creating cost reductions through cheap labour and reduced operational expenses i.e. office space, utility. Funds which would have been used for large capital investments can be released for other uses. Contracting out operational functions reduces the competition on capital as the outsourcing company provides the capital investment as part of its overheads. Companies can create an integrated market as it is a cost effective way of globalisation particularly when it selects the best available resources and labour. Figure [rumbi insert appendix] reflects the changes to operational costs which BT experienced when it outsourced. According to Som Mittal, former Managing Director of Compaq India has claimed that payroll processing to countries like India companies can achieve a 20-25% gain in productivity. Outsourcing can increase the service level given to clients. With offshoring an organisation has the ability to have a 24-hour a day workforce resulting in a more timely service which would not be possible if the organisation operated in once country. BT gained flexibility through outsourcing to Accenture as agility or quick response to business demands was made. Competitive advantage can be attained through cheaper prices. When the product prices cannot come down further operating in a highly skilled, low-wage labour area will be advantageous. (Frubel, Heinrichs and Kreye 1980) . As the product price falls consumers are willing to demand a larger amount of goods. The off-shored countries receive economical benefits. Nasscom Chairman Som Mittal remarked ‘Its a win win situation for countries which allow outsourcing and the countries which receive outsourcing (Ahmed 2004) . DISADVANTAGES OF OUTSOURCING/OFFSHORING: When outsourcing to a third party resentment can occur between permanent and contracted staff. Contract/temporary staff may fail to have a sense of belonging whilst permanent staff can remain aloof in order to protect their works hindering teamwork. Offshoring particularly on the outsourcing of work to India as the UK labour force believes that they are losing out on career opportunities. However the McKinsey Global Institute Report states that there are actually too many jobs and not enough people in the UK to fulfil them. Therefore fears of a widespread unemployment are unlikely and thus this resentment could be seen as unnecessary (Lander 2006) . The lack of direct communication between the organisation and the client can hinder the development of solid relationships and can result in the main organisation lacking control of the outsourced project. One of the key aspects of motivation is social interaction and self actualisation (Maslow cited in Mullins, 2001). Another perceived drawback of off-shoring is the decrease in levels of communication. When English is not the native language of the source area, poor command of the English Language leads to prominent resentment of offshored services (Ahmed,2004). Results of a survey carried out by the Nationwide building in 2005 reflected that 91% of UK adults would prefer their calls to be handled by UK-based call centres (Lander (2006). A major drawback is the expense of regaining a customer once lost, because it could cost up to 6 times more in marketing costs to gain a replacement. Cultural differences can be a disadvantage of offshoring i.e. Ryan Kinzy of K3 Group a large outsourcing company states that there are 3 months which are viewed as the most auspicious time for weddings in India, for example half the staff are out of the office. Ryan highlights that building up teamwork is a difficult challenge as employees may lack intuition due to their culture, Indian workers require a lot of direction. Their relationships are hierarchal, family and caste dependent and they have an educational system that emphasises routine learning over independent research. Outsourcing can prove expensive as payment of redundancy packages for the laid off staff can be a major drawback. As the number of companies offshoring to India rises, employee retention becomes a challenge due to the fact that as market competition increases, salaries are required to be competitive. Organisations will have to decide whether the cost-savings outweigh the revenue generated. Risks can be encountered due to the socio-economic conditions which can hinder the progression of operations i.e. maintaining trade risks. The chance of off-shore fraud also exist as the use of funds can be diverted. There is also the risk or data loss. BT faces the risk of fraud emanating from HR outsourcing as off-shore workers have full access to personnel details ranging from bank account numbers, home addresses and other personal details. Non-automated transactions and processing responsibilities enable off-shore workers to have access to highly confidential information. There is an increase in foreign organised crime groups who have targeted foreign off-shore enterprises to gain access data which they process. Organisiations can face compliance risks and their reputation being damaged due to negative publicity resulting from the third party being inconsistent in meeting ethical standards and internal policies. The organisation needs to carryout thorough audits to ensure control . Expertise levels need to be measured to ensure that required service levels of service are met. {Figure xxRumbi to appendix 2} reflects results of problems faced by several companies which have off-shored. The main problem met appears to be low control of performance and data. Offshoring has the limited disadvantage in that the core function of an organisation cannot be accomplished if passed onto an external source . A business which outsources a department still requires in-house technical experts to monitor activities (Greco 1997) Political infrastructure such as changes in government can affect can impact the outsourcing company. Shortly after the election of Sonia Ghandi stock markets plummeted on fears that her leftist allies would roll back fundamental economic reforms. Erratic power grids inexperienced officials and unmotivated employees can also prove to be a disadvantage. ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE BTs management believes organisational culture is innovative with teams that are strategically aligned to BTs operations. Advances in technologies have been applied to benefit BT and its customers to improve processes. Culture can be an object which is manipulated to achieve productivity and organisational improvements, and change over time (Tran, 2008) . In this context, culture is the character of an organisation. However if culture is accepted as being â€Å"†¦.the basic, taken- for- granted assumptions and deep patterns of meaning shared by organisational participation and manifestations of these assumptions†¦Ã¢â‚¬  ( Johnson, 2007) then in this respect culture can be difficult to change. In order to explain the content of cultural context in BT after HR outsourcing, the cultural web will be used. The table below shows the content of the organisational culture with HR outsourcing. Rumbi to appendix 1] According to the above table the organisational culture hinders collective learning in the organisation. Individuals see each other as rivals, rather than a partners. This paradigm creates various obstacles for learning within the organisation, that usually arise due to rivalry, power conflicts and absence of network communication channels (Mullins, 2001). The disadvantage of this power structure is explained by Mullins (2001) who claims that such approach decrease the effectiveness and efficiency of operations management, as participants are detached from the decision-making. BTs new organisational structure is bureaucratic, with the emphasis on standard procedures and operational routines. It might slow down the communication process, with the absence of feedback channels and unnecessary layers that might increase obstructions and cause various distortions in the communication process( Graham Bennet, 1998) . BT has placed its employees after revenues. The management has failed to take into account individual needs of each employee hence developing a coercive rather than participative approach. Within this approach people are being treated as liabilities rather than the core elements of the operations management process, where people become the primary determinant of the outcome quality (Armstrong, 2003) . The organisational culture implies for traditional type of performance appraisal system, which utilises various types of monetary techniques. Wright (2007) argued that the utilisation of monetary tools does not provide the development of a higher level of effective commitment or higher degree of intrinsic motivation and provides a blurred understanding of the relationship between their performance and corresponding appraisal. The communication component forms an important of the above mentioned changes. According to McGregor (1960, cited in Mullins, 2001) in order to get people to direct their efforts towards organisational objectives, management must tell them what to do, judge how well they are doing and reward or punish accordingly. There is also an informative and a motivational purpose. He claims that a clear and thorough description of individual duties and rights within the framework of the organisation may prevent the rise of unmet expectations. As it shows on the table, the communication in the company is of a top-down nature, without proper feedback. This type of communication scheme is good for conveyer-type organisations and not ideal for innovative market-led companies. CHANGE MANAGEMENT The new requirements for adaptation made it necessary for the company to undertake the reengineering of the whole business process, including both â€Å"hard â€Å"and â€Å"soft† elements. According to Senior (1997) â€Å"hard system† change implies â€Å" an attempt to use the benefits of a scientific method whilst recognising that in the real world of business where thing are happening fast, there may not be time to be as scientific as one would like†. In BTs case, â€Å"hard system† change referred to the introduction of new operations management systems, equipment and business facilities, designed to speed up existing operations and reduce the cost per a single transaction. It was designed to maximise the efficiency of every single operation within the business process. Senior (1997) indicates that â€Å"Soft System† changes imply for the change of the organisational culture. The main idea of this approach is listening to the organisation, good communication, developing a shared, vision, gaining real commitment to the change and the vision, education and training, and understanding the tools and techniques for the process. William et al.(1993) indicates that to facilitate effective adaptation of the employees to new working conditions, managers shall reduce restraining forces and reinforces driving forces. However, it shall be considered, that not all measures are equally effective. As Hetzbergs maintainance theory ( cited in Mullins, 2001) shows , the presence of certain factors may act as a powerful motivating factors, while the absence of other elements may produce slight dissatisfaction. At the same time strategic priorities shall reflect the current organisational aims. Under such conditions in order to improve the situation and meet objectives (create a better customer focus) the high involvement of senior managers, who acts as a link between operational and business levels of the organisation, is required. Senior managers shall act as major change agents. Taking the role of change agents, it is important for senior managers not to ignore employees natural resistance to new systems, but to create appropriate incentives to fasten the transactional process from resistance to commitment (Graham and Bennet, 1998). The ignorance of or resistance to changes will introduce different open conflicts, which will significantly worsen the organisation environment affecting its performance level and flexibility. This could result to failure to raise performance and attract or retain customers, which may lead to significant costs and even reduce the companys chances to survive and succeed in changing market conditions. According to Mintzberg Quinn and Ghoshall (1995) the overall rationale for any outsourcing activity is that outsourcing provides, greater economies of scale, flexibility, increase in levels of expertise, cost effectiveness, reduced costs and added value to any organisation. The rationale of BT outsourcing its HRM functions were to increase shareholder value, sustain progress and cope with the pace of change. Outsourcing of parts of the HR function has become more common. Lonsdale and Cox (1998) argue that outsourcing decisions can be classified under the following three headings: 1 outsourcing for short-term cost and headcount reductions; 2 core-competence-based outsourcing, where peripheral activities are passed to third parties and core activities are retained in-house; 3 iterative and entrepreneurial outsourcing, where periodic reviews of critical market activities are undertaken, with subsequent decision to retain or outsource. IMPACT ON UK LABOUR FORCE Human capital is emphasized as the most valuable asset of the 21st century business. The primary effects of outsourcing/offshoring on HR and Labour Relations are related to managing transition in HRM such as personnel changes, managing layoff, downsizing issues, and the costs/dynamics of actually managing an off-shore contract. The laying off of UK employees as a result of restructuring to effect the outsourcing contracts can have a negative impact on employees. Layoffs cause major morale problems among in-house ‘survivors and may lead to dissatisfaction and reduced delivery speed. Some UK companies experienced productivity dips and potential legal action from laid off employees resulting in costs of severance, retention bonuses and retraining being encountered. According to a survey by Deloitte and YouGov (2006) revealed that fear of job losses was prevalent in the UK with 82% of public perceiving offshoring as a threat . 1 in 3 people stated that UK companies should be forced to bring back jobs to the UK. Chief economist of the Work Foundation, Ian Brinkley commented ‘Fears have been stoked by claims that the Chinese and Indians are coming to get your lunch to describe the insecurity that offshoring has caused. With regards to knowledge transfer there is concern that some of the job experience is being exported. If low-level skill tasks are sent off-shore then so is the experience gained from performing those tasks. When the time comes to perform higher-level tasks where previous experience is mandatory, there is no alternative than to go off-shore because that is where the experience will available. In some instances company plans imply that higher-level tasks will remain performed on-shore, the lower-level tasks are performed miles away. The knowledge and experience of those ‘low-level jobs will be gone forever, and may impact the proper development of the ‘higher-level jobs. Forrester a US research group released a study that by 2015 Europe will have lost a collective number of 1.2 million jobs to off-shore locations increasing its reliance. Alan Blinder a US economist and former advisor to Bill Clinton has supported this thesis by stating that offshoring will lead to a ‘third Industrial Revolution. He views that off-shore is now a man-made comparative advantage and that workers will be forced to seek employment in personal services which remain non-tradable. There is a long-term impact on the types of jobs that people are training for, as well as the ‘transfer of knowledge relating to many job structures in the workplace such that there is a ‘domino effect. Steve Loy feels that these ‘outgoing tide of jobs could threaten fundamental technology research as well as jobs. The astute students will recognise the rapidly dwindling job opportunities in HRM and will choose other programs of study thus loss will be encountered in HR leading to a labour-force that has inadequate HRM knowledge to compete in a high knowledge based economy. The evaluation of the impact of off-shore is mainly based on estimations of collective data. Jobs most at risk are non-client facing and low knowledge content jobs those which use a lot of Information technology, creating outputs that can be transmitted via IT. An analysis by the CPRP concluded that 20% of non-client facing jobs are likely to be moved abroad. The potential is apportioned as a function of international trade and investment, the industrial structure of the economy, human capital, employment indicator, product market regulations indicator. Not all jobs created off-shore by UK companies automatically translates to job losses in the UK labour market. Employees are increasingly demanding services hence time difference plays a role in off-shore, offering them extended services. The lower price makes it possible for instance to offer services which would not be available otherwise i.e. 24 hr call centres. The information collated by the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) s hows that job loss due to offshoring is in fact very small. During the first quarter of 2007 ERM recorded 420 restructuring cases in Europe. They announced 137,762 job losses and 184,511 job gains. Only 5.5% of all jobs lost were due to offshoring activities. For the year 2005 the percentage of job losses due to offshoring was only 3.4% of the total job losses. To measure the extent of job loss due to restructuring we can use redundancy notification, the effects of offshoring does however vary with the country. In France, national Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies estimates in its 2007 report on the French economy that offshoring has been responsible for the destruction of 15,000 jobs per year between 2000 and 2003. This is to contrast with a job creation in the private sector of 200,000 per year . In the UK there is no significant decline as per the results of the LFS Redundancy Tables ‘Employment growth in the occupations considered susceptible to offshoring has been very strong. The redundancy levels for these occupations, although high relative to the whole economy, have been falling in the last four years. The overall employment rate for these occupations has also shown an increase showing the cost of moving low-skilled jobs abroad is either falling or positive job creation is highly prevalent in the IT enabled occup ations. This does not mean that jobs are not being off-shored, and it is entirely possible that in the absence of offshoring, employment in these areas might have been higher. The adverse impact is entirely triggered by much larger changes in domestic demand for such services, the UK in particular has been extremely successful in developing as a world leader in knowledge based international trade. Jobs created through the expansion of exports of services are likely to outweigh the contraction of jobs caused by import of services. According to a report by Amiti and Jin Wei (2005) job growth at divisional levels has not been negatively related to service outsourcing but has had a negative impact on the demand for unskilled labour. In the UK outsourcing has had no reflected effect on the labourforce. The Deloitte and Recruitment Employment Confederation Report states that both permanent and temporary staff billings continue to rise. National press recruitment advertising in the UK went down by 11.3% in July 2005 in both public and private sectors reflecting a positive direction in the labour market and no relevant changes in the economy. Outsourcing is increasing consultancy work in the United Kingdom hence is beneficial as it offers flexible working hours / days for UK employees. This is particularly favorable for women who are raising children as is allows them to earn a salary whilst at the same time having adequate time with their children. There is also the flexibility of home-working. Structural changes can occur in the economies of both the outsourced/sourcing companies and due to the debate on who is benefiting/losing racism can be allowed to rear its head. A report prepared for the Department of Trade Industry by Ovum (2006) concludes that even though the actual impacts of an increase in trade and the expansion of global sourcing have been quite modest to date, offshoring can change the skills structure of labour demand, increasing the vulnerability of low-skilled workers in particular. ECONOMIC IMPACT Concern over off-shoring has become a surrogate for wider issues about economic insecurity, said Work Foundation chief economist Ian Brinkley. An interesting corollary benefit of outsourcing is the benefit to the economy. Indias National Association of Software and Services Companies commissioned a report by Evaluserve that stated that for every $100 worth of work sent abroad by US companies, $130 to $145 will be reinvested in the US economy. Cost savings are said to create value in the UK economy. Ahead of monetary capital, knowledge economy has become a focal point in the policy of outsourcing and off-shore. Strategies have been devised i.e. the Lisbon Strategy centres to promote, research, innovation in the development of human capital. In the future, human capital is the only way that Europe can remain prosperous. The main beneficiaries in the UK are the educated high skilled workers and the losers will be semi/low skilled workers. The UK government needs to investment more in education to continue pushing towards a leading knowledge based economy to avoid vulnerability. It needs to investment in human capital and focus on domestic policy choices for the losers of rapid structural changes within the UK. As a result of off-shoring the UK government is losing funds which could possibly be raised by corporate and income tax. However, it has stated that it does not have plans in place as yet to prevent outsourcing. The Department of Trade Industry has stated ‘it is a commercial decision for companies to decide where to locate their business operations such as call centres. The absence of official statistics on off-shore outsourcing leads to speculation and there is also misinterpretation of indirect measures/evidence. The experience of an individual company may or may not select a trend in a specific sector but does not allow conclusions to be made on the economy as a whole. It is possible that the rise in rice prices caused by lower production could be a result of a shift by the working population in India from working in the agriculture moving to the services sector. A great deal of knowledge is tacit and therefore difficult to transfer. Its reproduction can be extremely costly and requires an environment in which it can be harnessed effectively. According to a recent World Bank publication India is at the bottom end ranking 98 out of 128 countries of an index that measures the ability to create, absorb and diffuse knowledge therefore its threat is minimal to the UK economy. The economy-wide measures such as a countrys balance of payments can assist us in understanding the patterns of cross border trade and establish the impact of offshoring. If the outsourcing of tasks by UK based companies to off-shore locations i.e. India is soaring then the UK should be importing more of these services from India. The CBI has stated that the UK companies have benefited from off-shore as they are now receiving improved work-force skills at a low rate making their enterprises more profitable. According to results obtained from the Office for National Statistics the redundancy rate for the three months to January 2008 was 4.4 per 1,000 employees, down 0.9 over the quarter and down 1.1 over the year. These figures on the redundancy rate reflect that though a large number of organizational services have been off-shored services this has not had a significant impact on the UK economy. The UK has emerged as a world leader in ‘knowledge services and between 1995 2005 exports of its services grew by over 100% compared to its exports of traditional service exports such as transport. India is ranked 6th for global ‘insourcing behind the US, UK, German France and the Netherlands who appear to be the top rec