Sammy Quits A&P on a Whim

Sammy, an immature and impulsive 19-year old in Updike’s short story, â€Å"A&P,† allows infatuation with a scantily clad girl to override his common sense and good judgment.His juvenile thoughts spur a chivalrous act that may have long-term consequences on his career and the relationship with his parents.   Sammy’s foolish decision to quit his job as a supermarket cashier is based merely on lust, and he almost instantly regrets his futile move to woo the fleeting girl.Sammy’s base impulse is to ogle and crudely assess three young girls who enter the Boston-area A&P where he runs the register.   These girls, in their summer bathing suits, captivate and stun the seemingly adolescent Sammy.   He assesses the first young girl as a â€Å"chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can.†Ã‚   This crude reaction indicates that Sammy may have misogynistic tendencies.   Stunned by sexual thoughts, Sammy makes an eagle-eyed spendthrift ’s day when he double-charges her for an item.   Then, his misogyny is confirmed when he humorously surmises that if his perturbed customer had â€Å"been born at the right time they would have burned her over in (nearby) Salem.†Sammy then trains his probing eyes upon the majestic young girl, the â€Å"queen,† who will quickly become his undoing.   He is infatuated by the bare top of her chest that glistens, unshielded by her downed bathing suit straps.He is smitten with her looks and the way she carries herself, but he demeans and minimizes any thoughts and intelligence this girl may possess.   Sammy’s chauvinistic, superior attitude is glaringly exposed when he wonders â€Å"how girls’ minds work (do you really think it’s a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glassjar?)†Ã‚   Based on his upcoming actions, perhaps Sammy is the one with the tiny, insect-like brain.The lustful, arrogant Sammy is among his kind as he observes most of his male co-workers.   His married, slightly older cohort, Stokesie, and the older meat counter attendant, McMahon, seem just as prone to ogle and demean any cute young things who enter the store.Sammy holds other customers in contempt as he mocks them as dull compliant â€Å"sheep† that mindlessly follow their dreary, meaningless routines.     Only the store manager, Lengel, is mature and immune to instinctive male sexual impulses.   He bluntly confronts the bikini-clad girls and says â€Å"this isn’t the beach.†Sammy then stupidly succumbs to his juvenile mindset by defending the girls and challenging the judgment of his boss.   His primitive, simple-minded instincts overwhelm any reasonable thoughts that might suggest restraint and responsibility.When the â€Å"queen† pays the smitten Sammy with a folded dollar bill that has been sweetly lodged between her luscious breasts, his fate is sealed.   Sammy reflexively blurts, â€Å"I quit.†Ã‚   The prudish Lengel gives the impulsive Sammy a chance to reconsider his brash career decision, but Sammy is committed to his wrong-headed thrust.   Almost instantly, his queen flees out of his sight and out of his life forever.Sammy, recently unemployed, is stranded in the supermarket parking lot with the realization that an impulsive act of chivalry fueled by lust may have altered his life forever.   A likely bleak reality emerges as his â€Å"stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter.†   

Essay on Journeys Essay

A journey is a path of hardship which leads an individual to accept the past and move towards the future. This concept is embodied through the play ‘Away’, by Michael Gow, which explores the spiritual journey of characters through the transition of a physical journey. This idea of a physical journey provoking a spiritual change is portrayed through the poem ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ by William Wordsworth and â€Å"Running out of time† by anonymous. Each respective composer conveys their interpretation of journeys, evident through Gow’s characters of Coral and Tom, introducing the theme of acceptance. A journey is a process which allows an individual to experience hardships and difficulties, leading to the theme of acceptance. This theme has been demonstrated through the character of Coral, the mother of a fallen son in war, resulting in her depression and isolation. The events experienced through Corals physical and inner journey is therapeutic by which her understanding of acceptance is shaped. Corals inner journey is evidently overcome in Act 5, scene 1, which reveals Corals renounced sense of understanding and acceptance as she, â€Å"Lifts out a handful of shells† (Page 56). The significance is placed on Coral physically letting go of the sea shells. This action symbolises her ability to ‘let go’ of the skeletons of her past, representing her deceased son. Gow also utilises the symbolism of shells to demonstrate the significance of acceptance towards an individual’s wellbeing. This connotes to the idea of change and allows the audience to understand Corals experiences of struggle and strength to accept the past. The idea of acceptance and moving on is further portrayed when Coral and Roy leave the shells behind them. The perception of change is further reinforced through the following stage direction in Act 5, scene 1, and â€Å"Coral comes in carrying her hat upside down† (Page 65). Corals hat being flipped conveys how there is no need for disguising herself from the world anymore, depicting the composer’s purpose of illustrating the inner journey undertaken by the experiences of Coral. Contrastingly, the idea of self-acceptance is often challenged when an individual embarks on a journey, clearly evident throughout the poem, â€Å"I wandered lonely as a cloud†, by William Wordsworth. Through this physical ourney, an inner journey of self-isolation is apparent. The persona’s failure to move on from his solitude is reflected through his inner thoughts and perceptions, evident through who perceives, â€Å"A crowd/ a host of golden daffodils†. Wordsworth personifies a crowd of people to that of daffodils to create a sense of curiosity and interest within the reader. The poet further communicates the persona’s solitude through the lines, â€Å"I wandered lonely as a cloud†. This simile is emphasized through the use of repetition in the title and the first line, to identify the personas lonely nature which highlights both his physical and inner journey. Towards the end of the poem, the personas earlier solitude is now blissful solitudness. Correspondently, the play ‘Away’ by Gow highlights how each character undergoes a journey of self-discovery, hardship, bonding and overcoming the dealings of reality. The inner journey of Corals solitude and depression creates a connection with the persona in the poem, â€Å"I wandered lonely as a cloud†, allowing both composers to effectively portray similar ideas involving concepts of journeys. The concept of journeys can be portrayed when a individual fails to accept the past and move on. Ideas of acceptance are reinforced through the character of Tom in the dramatic play ‘Away’. Tom is a 14 year-old school boy who struggles with his inner journey, as he finds it difficult to accept the fact that he has terminal cancer, he does not have long to live. By Tom covering up his illness and isolating himself from others, it is immediately evident that he does not accept his current situation. As the play progresses however, the theme of acceptance begins to unfold. Tom finally realises the reality of his illness and through the help of Meg, accepts his current situation. His acceptance is clearly demonstrated in Act 3, scene 5 where, after the storm, Tom wears a Hawaiian shirt at the beach, â€Å"Tom is wearing board shorts and a Hawaiian shirt† (Page 41). This stage direction symbolises a new beginning of change for Tom and his parents. Through Tom wearing a ‘colourful’ shirt on the beach, it is evident that he is finally overcoming his barrier of fear and isolation. The imagery of colours conveys that the storm has passed and things have gotten brighter and better. Through costume and colour, it is undeniable that acceptance is formed. This allows the audience to effectively identify a change in Tom’s journey of acceptance. The composer’s purpose of conveying the theme of acceptance is shaped through the character of Tom. The inner thoughts and perceptions of an individual begin to unfold when the theme of acceptance is evident. The concept of acceptance is evident throughout the poem, â€Å"Running out of time† composed by anonymous. The composer demonstrates towards the reader, the persona’s inability to move on and accept current situations, reinforced in the following line, â€Å"While still more and more pain inside†. The composer utilises repetition to further highlight and suggest that the persona is attempting to mask his depression and melancholy attitude.. Through this, it is clear that the persona is undergoing some form of an inner journey of self-isolation. The persona’s inner journey is further depicted through the gloomy tone created by the composer. Keep hiding behind the smile, pretending to be happy†. The use of the depressing tone symbolises the way Tom is not accepting the dealings of reality and that he is going to die. Tom is disguising himself and hiding away the truth from others, further relating back to how the persona is covering up his illness. The composer of â€Å"Running out of time† creates a connection with the character of Tom and the persona, further illustrating how an individual’s inner thoughts may shape the ability to accept the present.

Cohesion and Discipline of the Party in Government

Parties matter in part because they influence the actions of elected officials. But scholars also note that lawmakers from the same party may not vote together. Party cohesion has varied over time – sometimes party members stick together on many key votes, at other times they are no more likely to vote with fellow party members than with the opposition. Parties have various means at their disposal to encourage members to cooperate in achieving a party program. Sometimes these tools are sufficiently compelling that individual members may back the party program at the expense of their constituents' interest.However the case is quite different in European Parliamentary systems of government where party cohesion is essential for the implementing of government policies that the party in power wishes to impose. Although party cohesion in American government has risen because of intraparty heterogeneity and the realignment of the South (Hetherington and Larson), the party discipline and unity is not nearly as cohesive as those found in Parliamentary systems. This is in large part due to the fact that the tools of the party leaders in each system are different.In Parliamentary systems, because the risk of not voting in terms of party could lead to the collapse of the present regime and government system, party leaders tend to have more effective tools at their disposal to use in encouraging party cohesion/discipline. Party discipline or cohesion  is the ability of a  political party  to get its members to support the policies of their party leadership. Party discipline is essential for all systems of  government  that allow parties to hold  political power  because it determines the degree to which the governmental organization will be affected by the political processes.Party cohesion is closely related to party discipline (Aldrich). Distinctly, however, it is essentially â€Å"coordinated† behavior reflecting the interacting incentives of individual legislators, whereas party discipline is the outcome of a strategic game played within political parties, in which legislators who are party members respond to rewards and punishments determined by some internal party decision-making regime. In political systems other than American presidential democratic system, straying from the party lines can result in the fine and/or expulsion of members such as in the  People's Republic of China (Aldrich).Party discipline tends to be extremely strong in  Parliamentary systems such as in  European countries in which a vote by the legislature against their party is understood to cause the governmental â€Å"collapse† of the present regime (Huber). In these situations, it is extremely rare for a member to vote against the wishes of their party. Party leaders in such governments often have the authority to expel members of the party who violate the party line.Weak party discipline is usually more frequent in congressional s ystems  such as the  United States Congress where power within in the party is more democratic than the authoritarian system seen in parliamentary governments, with leaders dictating order to the members to follow suit. In these American legislatures, it is routine for members to cross party lines on a given vote, typically following the interests of their region (constituents) or following other members of a borderline group within their party.In America the risk is not that high, with party disagreement just results in the upsetting of the party elites without true damaging costs except for the withdrawal of their support. Party cohesion and party discipline are very distinctive under parliamentary government, where a lack of cohesion and/or indiscipline among parliamentarians belonging to government parties may jeopardize the very existence of the government. Certainly from the perspective of making and breaking governments, levels of party discipline are very high in Europea n parliamentary democracies.There are very few examples indeed of parties that have been â€Å"half-in, half-out† of government, in the sense that legislators from the same government party have voted in different ways on key legislative motions of confidence and/or investiture. In this sense parties do go into and come out of government in a unified manner. In the American democracy, this just isn’t the case. Politicians have more allegiance to their regions and constituents than to their party. Because of the way the nomination system works. Party nominations no longer rest in the hands of party elites but in those of the public.Thus it’s better for one’s political career to appeal to the public and not to party. According to other scholars enhance this opinion by adding â€Å"the main influence of party discipline is not on the votes on specific roll calls but on the choice ideologically of the party† (McCarty, Poole and Rosenthal). This suggest s that members will vote in line with their ideals rather than their leadership. To come to this conclusion they observed changing patterns of roll call voting among party-switchers and inferred that legislators appear o coordinate on roll calls because they change policy preferences to reflect those of their parties. Thus the question becomes, why do members of political parties even bother to behave in cohesive manners? Political scientists and elites have attributed this behavior to a trinity of solutions. Electoral incentives for legislators that arise from the value of a party label, strategic incentives within the legislature that reward legislators who behave in a coordinated fashion, and the ability of party leaders to implement a system of rewards and punishments are all attributed reasons (Hix and Simon).Political scientists argue that electoral incentives might generate emergent party cohesion. By creating a type or brand that politicos can blanket themselves under in ord er for voters to infer information about candidates in elections. Recognized legislators join political parties to signal policy positions to voters, doing this so long as it increases their chances of election or re-election. Voters make inferences about candidates’ policy preferences only by observing their party membership.Identifying candidates with their party and ignoring what candidates might actually say about their own policy preferences. Candidates in these models do have underlying policy preferences and thus prefer to join parties comprising like-minded colleagues (Krehbiel). This is because the party policy positions that are part of the brand with which each member is associated are influenced by the positions of all party members.In this system it benefits a candidate to vote along party lines in order to be associated with a specific regime policies, outcomes, and therefore successes. Party membership involves costs that arise from this incentive. There are co sts arising from associating with a party label indicating a unique policy position that differs from the ideal point of the member – and of being associated with a party that will actually implement this position if it is in a position to do so(Snyder and Ting).Since the primary focus of this type of work is on the electoral phase of the political game, and despite occasional references to â€Å"party discipline†, this approach involves no explicit model of intraparty politics– except for the assumption that the party policy platform is chosen by either a dictatorial leader or simple majority voting by party members (Snyder and Ting). In addition, this incentive assumes that politicians are allowed to join, and to remain within, any party they choose. The only â€Å"filter† on party entry in such odels is party policy itself which, combined with the deadweight costs of party membership, discourages legislators with very divergent policy positions from jo ining the party (Snyder and Ting 2002: 95) This means that the underlying process being modeled is a type of sorting or the partitioning of voters between parties, but the logical engine of this model could also be applied to explain the sorting of politicians between parties on the assumptions that party positions are some function of the positions of party members and that politicians want to affiliate to the party with the closest position.While this large body of work gives us useful intuitions about electoral incentives for legislators to affiliate to parties, the main lesson is that electoral incentives may well make a party label a valuable commodity. Thus, if a party’s decision-making regime can intensely threaten to withdraw the party label from party legislators if they fail to abide by party decisions about legislative behavior, then this will make those decisions easier to enforce.On this perspective, party discipline is about legislators responding to explicit or implicit threats by party leaders to impose electoral costs by withdrawing the party label, by casting votes in otherwise costly compliance with party policy. The resources party leaders in both parliamentary and US federal government and parliamentary government context can deploy to structure the incentives of legislatures in a way that ensures party discipline include control over electorally valuable party labels (party identity) and control over sought-after perquisites in the legislature.However, this incentive structure has an important new dimension under parliamentary government, arising from the fact that the legislature typically functions as a recruitment pool for the executive, and political ambition of its members are at the forefront. In Parliamentary governmental system, party leaders have the tools at their disposal to make or break candidates if they dissent, because the stakes are so high. If government parties cannot maintain firm party discipline, then they can not retain a secure hold upon office.When legislative parties do move into government, control over the allocation of important government jobs, whether these are cabinet or junior ministries or other key patronage appointments, typically rests in the hands of a very small number of senior party politicians, who can and do use these offices to reward loyal party members and who can and do punish mavericks by denying them the rewards of office. However, in American politics party leaders do not have the authority to simply dismiss a candidate.They may only throw their endorsement or support candidates with funds and become â€Å"king makers†. It is unrealistic to think that Nancy Pelosi can tell a conservative democrat to go away. She can allow withhold resources (money and her name recognition support). But this won’t be enough if the candidates’ constituents carry him through to victory. Legislative incentives also coexist which derives from improved expectatio ns in relation to a range of legislative payoffs that accrue to legislators who belong to larger rather than smaller cartels or coalitions of legislators.A large part of the relevant literature has been concerned with the role of party in the US Congress, and how the main concern of those elected is to pass legislature and having a single legislative party commands a majority position. The main legislative resource is the ability to capture a majority coalition of legislators. This is achieved by controlling the allocation between legislators of agenda setting legislative offices, such as committee chairs.On this argument, the power to make such allocations is delegated by party members to the party hierarchy, which can use this power to enhance party discipline, which in turn feeds back to enhance the value of the party label in the electoral game. This is important because the legislature is the main political arena in which legislators seek to fulfill their objectives, policy and otherwise. US parties impose discipline on their members by manipulating scarce agenda-control resources is in contrast an alternative influential argument, ( Krehbiel (1993, 1998).This holds that what looks like legislative party discipline is an essentially emergent phenomenon. US legislators choose which party to affiliate to on the basis of their intrinsic policy preferences – in effect joining a party of like-minded individuals and then quite voluntarily behaving in the same way as these on the floor of the House without the need for any â€Å"externally† imposed party effect. Legislators are voting the same way because they like the same policies, or because they are responding to the same non-policy incentive structure put in place by the party hierarchy.There are two roll calls put in place to ensure this outcome (Snyder and Groseclose). On one hand there are â€Å"lop sided† roll calls. In which first, legislators will treat these as a forgone conclusi on and, second, that party leaders will see them as offering no rationale for the (by assumption costly) deployment of party discipline. On the other hand there are â€Å"close† roll calls, for which coordinated legislator behavior makes the difference between winning and losing. There is strong evidence suggesting that the â€Å"party effect† is much higher for close than for lop-sided roll calls.They infer from this that US parties can and do influence the behavior of their legislative members when this makes a real difference, and do not attempt to do so when it does not. Cohesion seems to be closest when the party leadership has publicly identified as a priority, and find much more of a party effect on these than on issues that are not party priorities. Party cohesion in parliamentary government is important to the proper function of government because it essentially in lamest terms â€Å"makes or breaks government†.Under the constitutional regime of parliam entary government, that is pervasive in Europe, almost certainly the most important role for the legislature arises from the fact that the executive gains and retains office as long as it maintains the confidence of the legislature. This requirement is constitutionally manifested in the parliamentary vote of confidence/no confidence in the government (Huber 1996; Lijphart 1992, 1999). The executive under parliamentary government, furthermore, the â€Å"cabinet† of ministers bound together under the constitutionally embedded rule of collective cabinet responsibility.The stability and effectiveness of the government thus depends upon the ability of government parties to maintain disciplined behavior by party legislators. Effective party discipline means that a government is not defeated – either on votes of confidence/no confidence or on key pieces of legislation – because some legislators who belong to government parties vote against the government. Thus, while t he vote of no confidence is the constitutional foundation of parliamentary government, the behavioral foundation can be seen as party discipline.If the government parties maintain firm discipline on the part of their legislators, and if they control sufficient legislative support to take office in the first place, then they can maintain themselves in office, with firm control over the entire political process and facing few legislative impediments to the implementation of their policy and other objectives. Conversely, if government parties cannot maintain firm party discipline, then they cannot retain a secure hold upon office. The key point in all of his concerns the huge incentive in a parliamentary government system for senior party politicians – who themselves will often be members of the government – to maintain firm discipline over the members of their party. What is so striking about incentives for party cohesion and discipline under parliamentary government, as opposed to presidential government, is that these incentives cast the role of party leaders in a completely new light. â€Å"Party leaders† tend to play explicit and implicit roles. Party leaders tend to be seen as managers who essentially offer coordination and enforcement services to party members.As agents of their party, such party leaders have incentives to shirk. Imposing party discipline, by whatever means, is thus the fulfillment of obligation The reason such models of party discipline can look bizarre and unrealistic in the context of parliamentary government is that an â€Å"agency/expensive-discipline† model of party leadership (Cox McCubbins) seems implausible in a constitutional environment where party leaders are senior politicians who are the key players in a series of interlocking at the essence of the political process.Not only do party leaders make the really key decisions – about making and breaking governments, elections, but they also enjoy the benefits of office when this is achieved – whether these are perquisites such as the hefty check, the government jet, or the ministerial Mercedes, or opportunities to shift policy outputs in preferred directions as a result of controlling vetoes and agendas. In a nutshell, maintaining tight party discipline is highly incentive compatible for party leaders under parliamentary democracy.Indeed it is difficult to think of reasons why party leaders in a parliamentary government system would not want to maintain tight party discipline. Except in the matter of a voting on a highly divisive, sensitive, and cross-cutting issue, such as gay marriage or stem cell research for which it is against party interests to be identified with a single unambiguous position – then a legislative â€Å"free vote† can be declared on the matter and legislators can be allowed to vote with their â€Å"consciences†. But the orderly ability to switch free votes on and off is an i ndicator of firm party control over the behavior of party legislators (Aldrich).Parties are institutions in their own right. They are endogenous institutions, but parliamentary governmental parties are more deeply embedded into the constitutional rules of the political game of parliamentary government than a mere behavioral coalition of legislators. They are â€Å"political clubs† with their own set of rules to abide by. They are guided by their own system of rewards and punishment. In parliamentary government, membership of the party is completely dependent on the party label and the incentive of legislatives to be associated with the party brand or label. Cohesion and coordinated voting produce this benefit.In which individual members have an incentive to take part in coordinated behavior if they can get away with doing so. As mentioned before, if members choose not to act in this fashion, they can be exiled from the party and thereby denied access to the party label. Actin g in accordance to party can result in the placement of one’s name on the party ballot. Parties have the right to endorse particular candidates as official party candidates. Under the list-Proportional Representation electoral systems that are very common in parliamentary democracies, parties absolutely control access to and candidate placement on the party list.Therefore, parties in parliamentary democracies directly control access to the party label on the ballot. If denied this, a putative candidate must be admitted to and endorsed by another party, or must form a new party, or must run as an independent. In addition, access to legislative perquisites, whether these are physical office accommodation, speaking time on the floor of the house (perhaps to impress constituents at the next election), or paid positions with access to considerable resources, such as committee chairs.There are thus plenty of opportunities for party hierarchs to reward and punish individual legislat ive party members as they go about their daily lives. No doubt in the U. S. A. the movement towards the establishment of a disciplined and responsible party system is largely confined to the academic world. In the presidential system in US government rewards and punishment do indeed exist but not on the same level as in the parliamentary government (Cox and McCubbins). Party elites cannot simply cast away political hopefuls directly due to the constitution and the format of the political system.Power is not solely in the hands of elites, but the major American parties, national and state, are not based on mass memberships. â€Å"Only here and there in the United States are attempts made to fix a large-scale party membership on a regular dues-paying basis and thus to correspond to the European parliamentary scale (Jackson Moselle). † Party cohesion is absent even among the party workers and all the discipline that exists among party organizers before elections ceases to exist after elections. The problem stems from American attitudes about party.Most Americans identify themselves with a particular party but do not feel that they are obliged thereby to work actively for that party’s nominees (Laver). Anyone can legally qualify himself as a party member just by going through some registration procedure. Unlike the parliamentary system where you must pledge party allegiance before even having one’s name considered on the ballot. No state demands work on behalf of a party’s candidates or contributions to its campaign funds as prerequisites for becoming a legal party member (Giannetti and Laver).Structure of the American party has impact on party cohesion. The party structure in America consists of â€Å"a hierarchy of permanent party committees from precinct to national committee†. The National Committee which stands at the apex is made up of one man and one woman from each of the states picked by some kind of machinery within its State organization. The seemingly hierarchical structure does not produce party cohesion for power is decentralized and each unit is independent and needs not approval form the others.For example, the Chairman of the County Committee does not depend for his post on the State Committee and the latter hardly depends for its tenure or powers on the National Committee. To add to decentralization of power is the absence of uniformity in structure. The most striking feature in the party organization in the U. S. A. is that it is regulated by State laws while in all other democracies party structure is determined by the party itself. Diversity in State laws regarding party organizations naturally does not give scope for political discipline for the parties in America.In addition, primaries took the power of selection away from a band of leaders and activists and placed in by law in the hands of the voters. Unlike in Parliamentary systems where the local party organization selects the cand idates, the national party organization is finally obeyed. V. O. Key express the view that â€Å"by the adoption of the direct primary the organization was stripped of its most important function, that of nomination†. Every political party has two divisions, the organizational and legislative, and party discipline is as essential in the latter as in the former.If party cohesion is judged on the basis of the roll-call vote and the frequency with which members of a party differ among themselves, the index of cohesion in U. S. A. may be said to be very low. â€Å"The relatively low cohesion among Republican and among Democratic Congressmen† is mainly due to the non- parliamentary system of Government. The Congressman in U. S. A. need have no fear that division in the ranks of the party will lead to the dissolution of the legislature unlike in the Parliamentary system. So the significant feature with the roll-call vote in the American Congress is the absence of party cohes ion.Each of the two parties is divided into several factions and the factions in the two parties join or oppose one another irrespective of party labels, depending on the issue put for voting (Krehbiel). The decentralized structure of the parties makes a member depend for his success in elections more on his constituency than on his party. However, party cohesion in American government is not nonexistent, even though it is not as strong as those under the parliamentary democracies system. Each party selects a floor leader, whips and a Caucus Chairman creating a somewhat centralized structure that in practice increase party cohesion.Commonly, the party groups cohere more tightly on some party dividing issues than on others. For example 4,658 members of the House in 11 selected modern sessions only 181 or less than 41 per cent voted with the opposing party more often than with their own. The proportion was slightly higher in the Senate. Out of 847 senators in 9 sessions, 63 percent se cured their parties on a majority of the votes. (Jackson and Moselle)† For there is a tendency for most Republicans to be in voting opposition to most Democrats on controversial issues, showing strong party discipline.Indeed, American party cohesion is on the up rise. Realignment of the South played a role as the South has consistently voted conservatively since the Nixon years (Hetherington and Larson). Another key piece is the ideological differences among the two major parties (Democrats and Republicans) are greater today than they have been in years pass. Scholars have noted that the more ideologically extreme, the higher the cohesion. As parties have more interparty heterogeneity, each party has developed more intraparty homogeneity, which has given rise to roll-call voting (Hetherington and Larson).Strong party leaders also play a role in this phenomenon. Members in each party endow their respective party leaders with powers to advance the policy agenda. Ideological unit y in the 1970s with House Democrats, cause them to place the Rules Committee under the control of party leaders. Thus giving the house Democratic Caucus more power to oust wayward committee chairs who stood in the progress of the party’s initiatives. Demonstrating, American parties have been adjusting to their weak party model, and adapting in a way to influence party cohesive as exhibited so strongly in the American government.It is the clear consensus that Parliamentary government is indeed stronger in party discipline and cohesiveness than its American presidential system counterparts. The main reason for this phenomenon rests in the power of the political elites in each party system and the tools the system provides for their disposal-party label, patronage, etc.. In American politics, elites can only indirectly influence party-line voting as granted to the present political system. However, in parliamentary government, elites directly have the authority to dismiss or ele vate the position of their members, thus encouraging party cohesion.Bibliography Aldrich, John H. 1995. Why Parties? The Origin and Transformation of Political Parties in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Cox,Gary, and Mathew McCubbins 1993. Legislative Leviathan. Berkeley: University of California Press. Cox, Gary, and Mathew McCubbins. 2005. Setting the Agenda: Responsible Party Government in the US House of Representatives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming. Gallagher, Michael, Michael Laver and Peter Mair. 2005. Representative Government in Modern Giannetti, Daniela and Michael Laver. 2005. Policy positions and jobs in the government.European Journal of Political Research. 44: 1-30. Hetherington and Larson. Parties, Politics, and Public Policy in America. 11th edition. 2009 Hix, Simon. 2001. Legislative behaviour and party competition in the European Parliament: an application of Nominate to the EU. Journal of Common Market Studies 39:4 (November 20 01), 663-688 Huber, John. 1996. Rationalizing parliament: legislative institutions and party politics in France. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Jackson, Matthew O. and Boaz Moselle. 2002. Coalition and Party Formation in a Legislative Voting Game Journal of Economic Theory, Vol. 103, No. 1, pp 49-87.Kollman, Ken, John Miller and Scott Page. 1992. Adaptive parties in spatial elections. American Krehbiel, Keith. 1993. â€Å"Where’s the Party? † British Journal of Political Science 23 (1): 235–6 Political Science Review. 86 (December) 929-937. Laver, Michael. 2005. Policy and the dynamics of political competition. American Political Science Review, forthcoming. Snyder, James M. , Jr. , and Tim Groseclose. 2001. â€Å"Estimating Party Influence on Roll Call Voting: Regression Coefficients versus Classification Success † American Political Science Review. Vol. 95, No. 3, 689-698 V. O. Key:  Politics, Parties and Pressure Groups. p. 12.

Property Law Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Property Law Assignment - Essay Example the existence of a resulting trust in situations where the plaintiff has clearly made a contribution towards the purchase price of the property, despite the fact that they have not been entered onto the property register. This equitable presumption is based on the notion that the person contributing towards the property must have expected to acquire an interest in that property, in proportion to the money expended2. Lord Diplock in Gissing v Gissing3 made the point that A resulting, implied or constructive trust†¦is created by a transaction between the trustee and the cestui que trust in connection with the acquisition by the trustee of a legal estate in land, whenever the trustee has so conducted himself that it would be inequitable to allow him to deny the cestui que trust a beneficial interest in the land acquired. It should be noted that in this particular case Alice did not contribute to the purchase price of the property, even though she did spend her inheritance on improvements within the property. As there was no direct contribution towards the purchase price Alice would have to rely on the principle of constructive trusts to assert her claim. Under the law of constructive trusts the applicant must prove that they expected to acquire an interest in the property, either by their actions or by money paid towards the maintenance or improvement of the property. Cases that have succeeded are those were the applicant has paid towards household bills or has spent their own money on repairs within the property5. in determining whether a constructive trust can be averred the court will often take into account the conduct of the parties. The court will look for evidence to support an assertion that the applicant has acted in their detriment in reliance of an expectation of having a beneficial interest in the property. The court determined this to be the case in Lloyd’s Bank Plc v Rosset6, in which the court found that work carried out by the applicant on the

Book Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Book Report - Essay Example This illustrates that it is not easy for a person to make it without being ready to face obstacles. The other lesson that I learnt is that celebrities people adore also struggled in the initial stages of their careers (Poe 12). This is because someone had to give challenge them before offering the chance. Success requires passion to guide one towards attaining the dream regardless of other’s opinions or negative feedbacks. It is apparent that some newcomers in the music industry assume that the celebrities did not face criticisms and struggles when venturing into the show business. I also learnt that one song can enable an artist to break into the music industry if it has good quality and contents. This implies that the first song or piece should portray creativity and originality in that it needs a fresh approach from the mainstream pieces (Poe 14). Art is an expressive element unique to the individual owners and it should always manifest in upcoming artists contents. The important music business lesson I have learnt from the book entails having the correct networks within the industry that can give guidance. For example, Poe knew a member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band who enabled introduced him to Willie (Poe 13). It is appropriate to have connections with people who have experience in an industry to avoid making of errors. Another important lesson learnt is that song plugging does not apply in all situations. Poe suggests that one should know when to plug a song when interacting with people because some will ignore the moment. It indicates being able to identify the people who are ready to develop talent against those who ignore the upcoming. The other important thing I learnt about music business is that time consideration is an essential component (Poe 19). A person should not rush things with the view of making it instantly, but take precautionary steps.

Read the attached book chapter (Sandel (2009) Doing the Right Thing, Essay

Read the attached book chapter (Sandel (2009) Doing the Right Thing, Justice). its only 3 pages - Essay Example Each of these ideas points to a different way of thinking about justice†. (Sandel 6) Advocates of price gauging laws promote the need of a third party (the government) to step in to ensure that practices such as these do not direcly effect the consumer in a negative way. However, those that argue for freer markets such as Thomas Sowell merely state that such practice is a necessary action of a market that attempts to justify supply and demand in a crisis situation. In other words, these are prices that consumers are willing to pay to suppliers so an equalibrium is met within the markets. This in effect boils down to a question of welfare versus freedom of the market/consumer and/or supplier. As such, arguments for regulation point to the fact that in times of a crisis or emergency there is no â€Å"free† market as individuals are forced to consume necessities such as lodging, food, and fuel and are at the mercy of suppliers awho lord over them in an extortionary way. Furthermore, the brief write up grapples with the fact that our current economic system is dominated by greed; accordingly, it attempts to juxtapose this fact with the claim that greed is not in and of itself evil – yet too much greed is. What is of interest to this particular author is the fact that from an free market economic standpoint it is rational to allow the practice of price gauging to take place as it is merely a represetnation of dynamic supply and demand and the complex interplay between consumer and supplier with regards to what equilibrium they can agree to meet. However, when one realizes that the economic system under which our nation operates is quite a far cry from a true free market, the need for and positive benefits that regulation provide can only then be fully

Evans vs H. M. Attorney General Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Evans vs H. M. Attorney General - Essay Example The publication of other information might influence the conduct of talks. If tactical any information is released, then it may put troops in danger. An instance is what transpired when Wikileaks published emails and internal memos that seemed to criticise allies of the United States. However, it also taught government officers on how they should be interacting properly, as well as effectively. In general, this act agitates for accountability of elected and appointed government officers to the general public that they serve.The United Kingdom Court of Appeal listened to the case of Evans and H. M. Attorney General whereby it acknowledged that the two parties might each have diverse but rational views of a reply to an issue such as the balance of public interests. However, if one of those parties is an independent, neutral tribunal or a court that had carried out a full examination of the claims, for the defendant (AG) to have â€Å"rational grounds† to assume a different perce ption, he should be in a position to demonstrate that the tribunal had evidently erred in fact or law, or that there had been a significant shift of circumstances. However, none of this applied in this case. The declaration of reasons was therefore illegitimate. Therefore, the Court of Appeal used a likeness from cases assuming this approach in the immigration and planning context. This case goes a long way to show that access to information is limited when the court shows that it will hurt the public interest.

Convoy Operations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Convoy Operations - Essay Example Implementation of a good communication plan is a process that requires proper arrangement. The basic step for the implementation is ensuring that all the necessary components of effective communication are present. Once all the communication components have been put in place, the subsequent phase is choosing a common language that is convenient for the parties involved in the communication process. The language should be free from bias and the participants in the communication should have perfect knowledge about it. The final phase involves devising safety mechanisms for privacy purposes. Information safety is an essential consideration in the implementation of an effective communication plan. Receipt of information by unknown people might result in adverse consequences such as mission failure and poor performance in an operation. In summary, a good communication plan is necessary for smooth running of operations. In essence, before commencing an operation, all the necessary tools fo r effective communication should be well

The 1958 Lituya Bay Megatsunami Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The 1958 Lituya Bay Megatsunami - Term Paper Example since about 1940, but in the years after that, the fiord – like bay had increasingly been used by fishermen ‘as an overnight anchorage for their trolling boats and as a refuge in bad weather’ (Miller, 1960). As the second half of 1958 dawned, a catastrophic event on an unprecedented scale occurred in what used to be a safe anchorage, causing a massive trail of destruction and taking two human lives. The eyewitnesses’ accounts, the subsequent observations and measurements docum-ented by Miller in great detail in his comprehensive report published by the U.S. Geological Survey, as well as the extensive survey conducted by Captain Elliot B. Roberts, all together, shed light on what had happened that day. On July 9, Pacific Standard Time, a major earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale, although being reported by some sources as much as 8.3, occurred along the Fairweather Fault. The epicenter had been reported at latitude 58.6`N and longitude 137.1`W, at a point about 7.5 miles east of the surface trace of the Fairweather Fault and 13 miles southeast of the head of Lituya Bay (Brazee & Cloud, 1960). Based on the eyewitness accounts and on the field observations of his own on July 10, 1958, Miller stated that within 1 to 3 minutes after the earthquake, a giant wave front moved out from the head of the bay and ‘swept 7 miles along the shores to the mouth of Lituya Bay in about 4 minutes, destroying the forest over an area of 4 square miles and sinking two boats’ (Miller, 1960). Further in the same paper, Miller specified that due to the wave, the trees had been washed out to a maximum height of 1Â  720 feet, which is considered about eight times the maxim um altitude of damage ever attributed to a tsunami or to a localized wave of any kind (Miller, 1960). The proposed mechanisms responsible for the giant, 1Â  720 feet wave have been an object of subsequent research and analyses, like those of Pararas-Carayannis (1999), Mader (1999), Mader

Personal statement for medical residency Essay Example for Free

Personal statement for medical residency Essay Family residency has been my passion for a long time. This is not farfetched. I have been nursing an ambition to be a family physician for a very long time, this is unconnected with a series of experiences that I have had in the past. A few days before commencing my medical training in Poland, my mother had a major heart attack and she had to be admitted for emergency surgery heart bypass surgery. The way she was attended to by the medical personnel, especially the resident physician endeared me to this particular specialty. Moreover, my experience in the medical school was a pleasant one as I learnt to deal with real life situations as they occur. i enjoyed rotating through all the units. However, the one rotation that i still cherished most was that on Family Medicine. Working with the consultants also had a lasting impression on me as I also learnt how to interact with diverse groups of individuals, from the infants to the aged. This experience was one that i would always remember because of the potential inner satisfaction that I could derive from being a Family Physician. I foresaw a future where I would be able to forge long term relationships with people with the aim of improving their health and contributing to their healthy lifestyle. This dream will be achieved if I am accepted for this residency program. I have been opportune to traverse many countries in Europe including Poland, where had my medical education. I have seen people suffer from lack of adequate medical attention. I had some clinical rotations in Chicago in a medically underserved area. This made me see people that would otherwise not have suffered had it been that they have adequate medical attention. My teachers have been my role model all the while, tutoring me for the challenges ahead. I want to be able to affect the lives of people positively in way of being their physician. I have a strong passion for this specialty. I strongly believe that this residency program will further improve my skills at becoming the physician I have always wanted to be. The total health of the patient is my concern – not only their medical health but also their emotional well being. I want to be an excellent family Physician.

Improving Communication for Patient Safety

Improving Communication for Patient Safety Abstract: Communication is a very important aspect of medical training. Poor communication is the root cause for the majority of complaints against the National Health Service (NHS) (Pincock S. , 2004). Communication is especially important at handover to ensure continuity of appropriate medical care and to ensure safety of patients. The added constraint in medical handovers is that the process is limited by time. The SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation) tool is intended for effective transfer of information between health professionals in a concise, factual and standardised structure. This article assesses the importance of teaching communication in medical education with particular emphasis on handover, the available literature on SBAR and the authors view on SBAR as a communication tool for medical students and trainee doctors. Introduction Communication lies at the heart of good medical practice. The General Medical Council has mandated the need for good communication skills to ensure that patients are kept informed of their condition, progress, investigations, treatment and progress. Good communication skills are also necessary to ensure continuity of patient care and to ensure patient safety. The introduction of the shift system has made effective communication more important (General Medical Council). Poor communication is the root cause for the majority of complaints in the National Health Service. Poor communication between health professionals, failure to take informed consent and improper handling of complaints are the major reasons and effective communication could have reduced the disputes and complaints (Pincock S. , 2004). Teaching communication to medical students in UK medical schools The UK council of communication skills in undergraduate medical education was established in 2005 with the aim of raising awareness, to improve current teaching, to improve and to develop consensus on the communication training provided to medical students (The UK council of communication skills in undergraduate medical education). This in the authors opinion represents a major step towards recognition of the need for training medical students in communication skills training. In addition to the benefits which better communication has in relation to patient safety and reducing complaints, research has indicated that teaching communication skills to medical students improved their overall performance (Smith, Hanson, Tewskbury, 2007). The medical handover: communication is vital The National patient safety agency (NPSA), London has defined handover as The transfer of professional responsibility and accountability for some or all aspects of care for a patient, or group of patients, to another person or professional group on a temporary or permanent basis (National Patient Safety agency, 2007). Medical handover is one of the most important procedures and has the potential for causing errors and harm if done improperly. It is also a very frequent occurrence with the advent of the shift system of working. The General Medical Council has also recognised the importance of a good handover and explained that keep colleagues well informed when sharing the care of patients (General Medical Council). Benefits of a good handover Good handover has several benefits both for the doctor and the patient. For the doctor the handover session can be used to improve communication skills and can also be used to teach clinical medicine. A good handover also makes working less stressful as the doctors on the shift have will have good knowledge about the patients and their management plans. The British Medical Association has also opined that clear communication at handover will protect the doctor against blame for errors (British Medical Association, 2004). Good handover also benefits the patient by providing continuity of care, providing safety, decreasing repetition and in providing better service satisfaction. There are several critical incidents of patient safety being compromised because of the lack of clear handover between teams (British Medical Association, 2004). Constraints to good handover There are several constraints to a detailed handover. In the authors own experience of handover in an intensive care area, the time allocated for handover is often insufficient to handover all details of patient care. Although the morning handover is led by the consultant on call and attended by a multidisciplinary team involving the physiotherapist and the in charge nurse, evening handover often involves only the junior doctors on call. Because of the complex problems which most patients on intensive care have, the handover often extends beyond the allocated time of 30 minutes. This means that the doctors who are leaving are unable to do so on time and those who are starting are not able to get on with their duties on time; both these situations lead to a sense of dissatisfaction with the job. The handover venue varies from the patients bedside to the doctors office and therefore lacks uniformity and continuity. Further the handover can be interrupted by non-emergency calls from dif ferent parts of the hospital. On some occasions handover is taken by one team while the other team is setting up the ventilator and this results in an unsatisfactory handover. Because of the presence of personnel from paediatric, intensive care, anaesthetic, nursing and other allied health back grounds at the morning handover, there are significant differences in the style, length and the importance which different people place on different aspects of the handover. Also the experience levels of the different trainees are variable and they vary in the ability to highlight important aspects of patient care and in their ability to summarise the progress of a patient in a concise way. Need for a structure to handover One of the criticisms of handover among healthcare professionals is the hint and hope approach where one person hints at what might be going on without giving any specific details and hopes to get a specific response or action (Featherston, 2005). The handover process needs to be streamlined to allow transfer of a large amount of information regarding very sick patients with complex needs in a time limited manner. This means that there is a need for a system of handover which is structured, complete, relevant and concise to ensure uniformity of the process and to ensure continuity of patient care. Literature of handover in other hospital settings A study of handover of clinical care from ambulance crew to the emergency department personnel showed that there were concerns regarding the quality and quantity of handover, the staff perception of handover and staff education. This study also identified the need for a standardised handover process which would enable smooth transfer of patient care and also provide opportunity for the receiving team to assess and prioritise their work (Bost, Crilly, Wallis, 2010). The British Medical Association (British Medical Association, 2004), The General Medical (General Medical Council) and the National patient safety agency (National Patient Safety agency, 2007) have all emphasised the need to develop a system of effective handover. SBAR SBAR (Situation, background, assessment, recommendation) is a communication technique that provides a structure for communication between healthcare professionals. SBAR was developed by Dr. Leonard and colleagues in 2006. It is useful for handover from nurse to nurse, doctor to doctor and doctor to nurse. SBAR enables healthcare professionals to communicate in a specific framework. When applied to handover communication, S stands for situation which is a short description of the problem, its severity and when it started. B stands for pertinent background describing the admission diagnosis, results of investigations and other clinical information. Details of current resuscitation status could also be included in this. A stands for the handing over team assessment of the patient status and R stands for recommendation on how the patient should be managed. Recommendation can also be used to update the team receiving the handover on how quickly a patient needs to be seen and this can help them prioritise their tasks. Literature on use of SBAR SBAR is relatively new and there have only been a few studies looking into its impact on communication and patient safety. One study demonstrated that staff found SBAR tool helpful in team and individual communication. As a result of this the study team using SBAR perceived an improvement in patient safety culture. The study group also showed an improvement in reporting of incidents and near misses in the team and in the institution where study was done (Velji, Baker, Fancott, 2008). Another study found fewer missed information at handover and suggested that this improved patient safety. The authors of this study opined that this was the result of information transfer in a concise and organised format (Haig Sutton, 2006). Other studies have reported mixed results. A study from Texas found no or slightly negative impact on the nurse confidence while talking to physicians, safety on the unit and satisfaction with working on the unit. However there was some benefit on communication openness and in feedback about errors. It must be noted that this study was based on a comparison of key outcome measures following a four hour classroom training on SBAR which the authors themselves describe as inadequate. The authors have advised caution regarding the widespread use of SBAR despite the lack of evidence of its effectiveness (Carroll, 2006). The SBAR collaborative communication evidence based practice study (SBAR EBP) showed that use of SBAR resulted in transfer of evidence, knowledge and clinical skills. The second outcome from this study was the benefits noted in communication, teamwork and safety environment. However as the authors of this study note, there are no studies so far which demonstrate benefits in patient outcomes or patient collaboration. This study also noted that no physicians participated in the SBAR collaborative-communication education. The authors also noted that physicians felt that SBAR teaching was meant for nurses and that doctors do not need to attend nursing classes (Beckett Kipnis, 2009). Summary of the evidence and opinion It is the authors view that SBAR as a tool for handover will act as a uniform model around which staff can communicate at handover. It also encourages critical thinking around the time of handover. It allows precise, complete and concise transfer of information at handover. This is likely to improve better team working and ultimately improve patient safety. However there are likely to be impediments to the implementation of SBAR for handover. Doctors especially at more senior levels are likely to ask for evidence regarding the positive effects of SBAR on patient safety before they support its implementation on a wider basis. Therefore there is a need for large well designed studies to demonstrate a significant benefit from use of SBAR not only on the staff perceptions and communication skills but also on patient safety. Teaching SBAR to medical students and trainee doctors It is authors opinion that communication models on medical handover should be taught from medical school days. The transition from student to doctor is huge and medical students should be trained to have the skills to make this transition as smooth as possible. There is limited literature available on teaching SBAR to medical students. One study using a simulated clinical setting found that medical students who went through 40 minute training on a modified SBAR model (ISBAR), performed significantly better than controls on a content and clarity global rating score (Marshall, Harrison, Flanagan, 2009). There is literature available on teaching SBAR to nursing students and the benefits it has had (Thomas, E, Johnson, 2009), (Wood, 2008) (Kesten Karen, 2011). The uptake of SBAR seems to be more robust amongst the nursing professionals than the medical professionals. As the uptake of SBAR increases it would become more important that medical professionals also become proficient in the use of SBAR as a model of communication. Therefore there is a need for both doctors in training and medical students to be trained in the use of SBAR. Recommendations on training in SBAR for use in medical handover Based on the experience of handover in an intensive care setting and after review of the above literature, it is the authors opinion that systems for handover need a radical overhaul to ensure patient safety and to improve communication within teams. One of the steps is a structure to the handover progress in the form of the SBAR. As a first step junior doctors need training in the use of SBAR for handover. Prior to the intervention, a baseline assessment of communication skills using an appropriate tool would help monitor progress. This can be in the form of an interactive small group discussion where the process of SBAR is fully explored. It is also important to present the available evidence on SBAR and how it can improve communication outcomes and potentially patient outcomes. A simulation exercise at the end of the discussion will also help doctors understand the skills needed. This teaching session needs to be done on several days and at times and location which facilitate and encourage junior doctor participation. The aim is to ensure that all the junior doctors in the particular unit or institution have the opportunity to attend this session. A separate session needs to be organised for the consultants who will be supervising the junior doctors as they implement SBAR. Consultants will need to play a major role in enforcing the use of this tool and also to monitor the effectiveness of this tool. Consultant supervision is essential to support the handover process using SBAR and also to facilitate the involvement of multidisciplinary teams at the handover. Handover based on SBAR should also be accompanied by robust changes like having a dedicated time and place for the morning and night handovers, making sure that the handover is not interrupted for non-emergency reasons and to ensure the availability of electronic resources which can facilitate handover. After a pre-defined period where SBAR process is implemented, there needs to be an evaluation of the effect SBAR has had on the handover process in particular and communication in general. Evidence of improvement in the handover process will encourage staff to improve further on their skills. The process of implementation should be dynamic and continuous until the process becomes a part of the working culture. Summary and conclusions Inadequate handover poses significant risks to the personnel involved, their organization and their patients. Handover therefore needs to be complete, specific, concise and structured to allow effective transfer of information. Use of SBAR will provide a structure to the handover progress. There is evidence that use of SBAR has positive benefits on team working and communication and it is likely that this has a positive effect on patient safety. The process of implementation of SBAR will involve training of staff with supervision and mentoring from senior members of the team. There is also a need to conduct well designed studies to assess the impact of SBAR on medical handover and to determine potential benefits to patient safety.

MNE Selection Techniques for International Assignments

MNE Selection Techniques for International Assignments Chapter1 Introduction The world has become the global village and globalization has become an important tool for the organizations to be successful in this rapidly changing world. So the coordination between different cultures and people with different backgrounds is increasing in a different multinational organization day by day. So it is very important to study that how the organizations deal with the multicultural set ups within an organization. During the past few decades the rapid changes in economic, social and political environment of the world has led organizations towards the globalization. According to Harvey Novicevic the increasing international activities and global competition resulted in increase in globalization. The process of recruitment and selection has always been very important in any organization. According to Dowling (1999) hiring and placing people in positions where they can perform effectively for the benefit of the organization is the goal of most organizations whether they are domestic or international. Heraty et al (1997) suggested that, in these new changing global condition increasingly, many organizations are transforming jobs into new structures which are more likely based on self directed work teams, made up of empowered individuals with the diverse background are replacing traditional specialized workers. So in this new challenging environment competition is increasing day by day and organizations need such personalities who can adjust themselves with the change. Burack and Singh (1995) also suggested that firms need adaptable people who can rapidly adjust themselves to the changing environment. So the people who are ready to change with the environmental changes always give advantage to the organization, and these kinds of people are very fruitful for the organization. According to ones and Viswesvaran (1997) in this rapidly changing world where the change is taking place every minute the organizations have been sending their members to other parts of the world to complete their assignments. According to Aycan and Kanungo expatriate is an employee of a business or government which is sent abroad to accomplish their organizational goals for temporary period which is more than six months and less than five years. International assignments not only give benefit to the individual expatriate but it also give the competitive advantage to the organization in the global environment. For many organizations sending of expatriate to the other countries to gain competitive advantage in global environment is the part of their overall human resource plan. (Caligiuri Lazarova, 2001). So keeping in view the importance of an expatriate the selection process of an expatriate is also very important step for an organization. According to Dowling the failure of expatriate is due to the selection error. This tells that selection plays an important role for a successful expatriate. So with the changing world it is need to have such staff who can adjust itself with the change. In this paper an effort is being made to give the importance of selection techniques for expatriates within a multinational organization. 1.1 Key purpose of study The world is globalizing day by day and now it is also called global village and specifically UK has become one of the biggest multicultural countries and there are a lot of multinational organizations working in UK With the changing world more of MNEs are sending their expatriates in other parts of the world to accomplish their goals and to gain competitive advantage in global world. As the selection is the most important step for any organization to choose its expatriate and it is always important for MNE’s to choose or select the right person for the given task. In fact an expatriate failure is often result of a selection error, and often compounded by in effective expatriate management policies. (Dowling Welch Schuler, 1999). The key purpose of this study is to show the importance of selection techniques for a MNE when selecting an expatriate for an international assignment. 1.2 Aims The aim of this study is to explore the proper selection techniques which can improve the performance of an expatriate and help him to retain. 1.3 Objectives: To outline the factors that influences the selection of expatriates. To examine different selection methods used for expatriate selection. To discuss in detail, issues of cross cultural variation in selection process of expatriates. 1.4 Hypothesis The hypothesis which is developed for this study is stated as below Without doing proper selection of expatriate much will be poor for the company and result in loss of company. 1.5 Theory an overview There has been a lot of work done on selection techniques of expatriates in last couple of decades. Selection is the most important part of the success of any expatriate, and if the selection is not according to the needs of organization then the failure chances of expatriate. Dowling says that redirecting future performance potential when hiring or promoting staff is challenging at the best time but if operating in foreign environment certainly adds other level of uncertainty. So if the process of selection is beholds specific importance within a domestic organisation then it must have some extra importance while choosing an international staff. 1.6 Selection The selection is kind of prediction of the organization’s peoples or decision makers keeping in view the profile of the candidate for the particular job (Hackett, 1991). The selection is a complete process of analyzing and viewing the profile of the employee and then selecting for the required job. Moore (2006) discussed this as the selection is the whole process which includes choosing the right candidate for the position from those persons who have been recruited. This involves testing and evaluating the skills of an individual is required for the particular job. According to desler (2000) the selection is the process in which the recruited individual is whittled down by using screening tools like assessment centers, interviews, and different tests. 1.7 Methods of Selection: There are various selection techniques available, and for the selection procedure all of these depending on the situation and culture of the organization. Some of these selection methods are given below. Interviews Tests Assessment centres (Beardwell and Holden, 2001) So the above mentioned procedures are used by different organizations depending upon the nature of job and the normal practice they use within the organization. 1.8 Approaches for the Multinational There are four approaches for the recruitment and selection in any multinational organization. These four approaches are given as follows. Ethnocentric: It is the type of the recruitment approach in which all the key positions and top management is filled by the nationals of the parent company. According to this approach all the top management decisions and the key strategies of the companies is made by the parent country headquarters. Polycentric: It is the type of recruitment approach in which the host country fills all the key positions in the subsidiary. Each subsidiary is treated as the separate national entity. But all the key financial decisions are taken by the parent country headquarter. Regiocentric: It is the type of recruitment approach in which regional talent is preferred. For example if the person is required on for the development of any product then the person who will be recruited will be from the host country. Geocentric: This is the kind of approach where the persons are recruited without seen any race, religion or region. This approach is international based and is getting in practice in most of the developed countries like UK, USA etc. 1.9 Methods of international selection The different methods of selection for the expatriate selection which most of the multinational organizations use is as follows Psychometric Tests Assessment Centres Coffee Machine System 1.10 Selection of an Expatriarate The selection of expatriate is a bit different from the local selection of a local manager. For the selection of an international manager there are a lot of extra factors which needs to be considered by the selectors. The expatriate selection process results in higher cost to the multinationals including relocation process, allowance and accommodation apart from the training costs. (Hailey 2000, pg; 90). During the expatriate selection process, 02 conflicting forces operate within the expatriate’s mind. One that pulls the employee into moving to the new place, the other tends to stop him from going. (Baruch 2005, pg 129). 1.11 Factors involve in selection of an Expatriate. According to Dowling and Welch the factor involve to determine an appropriate expatriate selection process are as Country-cultural requirement Language MNE requirements Technical Ability Cross Cultural Suitability Family Requirements (Dowling, Welch, Schuler, 1999) So keeping in view all the above mentioned factors an expatriate should be selected by a multinational organization. 1.12 Culture: (Kluckholn Strodtbeck 1952) define culture as, â€Å"a set of basic assumptions-shared solutions to universal problems of external adaptation (and internal integration- which have evolved over time and are handed down form one generation to the next.’’ 1.13 Corporate culture Corporate culture includes the behavioral patterns, concept, values, ceremonies and rituals that take place in the organization. It gives the members of the organization meaning as well as the internal rule of behavior when these values and beliefs customs’ rules and ceremony are accepted shared and circulated throughout the organization. (Trompenaars Turner 1997, pg 157-181) 1.14 Why consider culture? Adjusting in a new culture is always difficult and it causes problems for both expatriate and family members, therefore it is important for an International HR to look for the similarities of the two cultures in order to deal with the challenges in the business world key activity. dowling, welch,schuler, 1998 pg 132 Recent research shows that the expatriates who are unable to cope with the challenges find it difficult to adjust and incur costly implications. (Caligiuri, 1997, pg: 45-67). The factor of culture is very important for an expatriate selection process and HR managers will have to select such expatriate who is adjustable with the different cultured people and work with them for the cultural dimension Hofstede and Trompenaars cultural dimensions are given as follows 1.15 Hofstede’s four dimensions (1967-1973): Gooderham Nordhang (2003). ‘Culture is always a collective phenomenon, because it is at least partially shared with people who live or lived within the same environment, which is where it was learned. It is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another.’ Hofstede surveyed 116,000 IBM employees in 40 different nations about their preferences in the work environment. The analysis revealed the results creating 4 dimensions: Power distance: The dimension indicates the extent to which a society expects and accepts a high degree of inequality in institutions and organizations. Uncertainty avoidance: This refers to the degree to which a society prefers predictability, security and stability. Individualism-Collectivism: this dimension relates to the extent to which people prefer to take care of themselves and their immediate families rather than being bound to some wider collectively such as extended family. Masculinity-Femininity: Masculine societies value assertiveness, competitiveness and materialism as opposed to the feminine values of relationships and the quality of life. 1.16 Trompenaars’ cultural dimensions: Trompenaars concluded four cultural dimensions that relate to the question of inter-personal relationships and work-related values Gooderham Nordhang (2003). Universalism vs. Particularism Communitarism vs. Individualism: Specific vs. diffuse Achievement vs. ascription: So these four dimensions of Trompenar also affect the selection process of an expatriate for international assignments. 1.17 Strategic choices in expatriate selection: Organizations normally have some strategic choices while selection of an expatriate. These strategic choices are mentioned below. Internal recruitment versus external recruitment Individuals versus teams Technical qualification versus other selection criteria Extrinsic rewards versus intrinsic rewards. Chapter 2 Literature Review: In this chapter researcher tried to discuss all the related studies which are done in past and are available in literature. A lot of work has been done in the literature on the topic of selection. Before proceeding to the actual topic it is necessary to look at the different methods of selection which an organization uses and see that what are the different techniques and criteria which are used for the selection of staff. 2.1 Selection: Moore (2006) discussed this as the selection is the whole process which includes choosing the right candidate for the position from those persons who have been recruited. This involves testing and evaluating the skills of an individual is required for the particular job. According to Dessler (2000) the selection is the process in which the recruited individual is whittled down by using screening tools like assessment centers, interviews, and different tests. 2.2 Expatriate selection: According to (Dowling, Welch, Schuler, 1999, pg: 154) Multinationals take great care in their selection process, however predicting future performance potential of the concerned staff is challenging at the best of times especially operating in foreign environments adds another level of uncertainty. The expatriate selection process results in higher cost to the multinationals including relocation process, allowance and accommodation apart from the training costs. (Hailey 2000, pg; 90). During the expatriate selection process, 02 conflicting forces operate within the expatriate’s mind. One that pulls the employee into moving to the new place, the other tends to stop him from going (Baruch 2005, pg 129). 2.3 Importance of an Expatriates and International Assignments: The world is globalizing very rapidly and change has become necessary for the organization to survive and to gain competitive advantage internationally. According to Harris and Brewster, 1999. The rapidly globalizing world has increased the need for the international assignments and many of the organizations started considering international management experience for the top management. So the international assignments are becoming an important part for the success of an organization to gain competitive advantage. As discussed by Chen, Tzeng Tang, 2005 that organizations internationalize their operation to gain success and to increase its market value internationally and for this purpose an organization needs effective expatriate who can perform its task properly. In this new era the importance of expatriate has increased because expatriates are the ones who can give an organization proper international exposure and make the organization successful. 2.4 Selection Process: One of the most studied areas for the expatriate selection is the selection process of the expatriate. The selection of expatriate has always been difficult procedure for the multinational organizations. Swaak quotes one HR executive who said. â€Å"My job is to find people in a hurry.† So this system is highly crisis-oriented and unsophisticated. Swaak , 1995. Further confirming the problems for the nature of the selection process Still and Smith (1997) report the results of Australian research, which shows that there were a number of different ways through which expatriates were selected. They studied that the most impressive and important form of selection or evaluation of the expatriate was recommendation of the person by the line manager including chief executive officer or specialist persons. Mostly expatriates in the multinational organizations in a knee-jerk reaction to the need to fill a new or unexpected vacancies overseas. Actually there are well informed intercultural trainers or a good HR professional who selects the expatriates but basically it is HR department within multinational organization who selects the expatriate finally. Managements choose the most technical and competent candidates which makes the expatriates successful internationally. (Shilling, 1993 pg 58). 2.5 Types of selection Process: Psychometric Tests Assessment Centers Coffee machine system 2.5.1 Psychometric Tests: According to Passmore, 2008 Psychometrics are the widely used testing method for the selection of the employee and personal development. The psychological test is always important for the selection of the employee especially for the selection of an international manager. According to the validity of psychological tests is disputed. According to Sparow and Brewster (2007) the psychologists the variation between the different natured job test is very small (Schmidt and Hunter , 1998). According to a survey done by The Graduate Recruitment in 2007 two third or about 67 percent of 219 respondents surveyed said that the results of psychometric test had some influence on recruiting and selection decisions, and 24 percent said that it has strong influence, and only 2 percent said that these test does not have any influence. So the above figure shows the importance of psychometric tests. According to Sparow and Brewster (2007) psychological assessment increasingly involves the application of tests in different cultural contexts, either in a single country or different countries. Now a day the demand of cross cultural assessment test is increasing due to the increasing factor of globalization to gain competitive advantage in international market. According to Mendenhall and Oddou, 1985 one of the important option for evaluating the selection process is the use of psychological tests and evaluation dvices. There are number of instruments available to measure the stress level of an individual. Figure: 2.1 (Source: article by Jonathan Passmore, Bread and butter â€Å"How to use psychometrics for coaching†) In figure 2.1 the real importance of psychometric test is shown. Psychometric tests are reliable that the selected person will be the one on whom one can rely. And obviously these kinds of tests are valid for any kind of job. The most important point in this test is that it does not include any biasness and the selectors cannot show the biasness while selecting on the basis of psychometric tests. These tests are also standard for different jobs. So all the above mentioned qualities and factors involve in the psychometric tests. In other words one can say that almost all the abilities present in an individual’s mind can be noticed, and the end result will always ends up in the right selection of expatriate. 2.5.2 Assessment Centre: As the assessment centers are considered to be one of the best selection techniques so according to Sparow and Brewster assessment centers will be the best idea as a selection technique to assess the competency of international managers. This is rarely the case, however. According to sparrow (1999) Even where assessment centers are used to select the managers in international settings, the key cross cultural assessment centers seems to be to design the assessment process so that it is very adaptable to local environment in which it will be operated. So there is need of cross culture assessment centers in which international managers can be assessed accordingly with the changing environment. Krause and Gebert (2003) have done study on international literature on the conception, operation and evaluation of assessment centers. He examined 281 German firms whose language was German and he compares them with the previously studied firms of United States of America. Study showed that both the American and German firms use the assessment centers but the purpose of some of them was different from the basics. For example the competencies assessed for job analysis might be identified through the use of interviews with job incumbents in 79% of US firms and only 39% of German firms. Most of the German firms rely on interviews for the selection of international managers or expatriates. so the assessment centers are considered to be an important process for expatriate selection. 2.5.3 Coffee Machine System This system was the idea of Harris and Brewster (1999) the key findings of the study show the reality of the selection process for expatriate selection in the organizations. In many organizations the selection process falls under what we call ‘coffee machine system’ and this system is the most common form of expatriate selection. What happens is that the senior line manager is standing by the coffee machine when he/she is joined by the colleague: ‘How’s it going?’ ‘Oh, you know, overworked and underpaid.’ Actually Jimmy in Mumbai has just fallen ill and is being flown home. I don’t know who I can choose to work over there at very short notice of time. It is driving me crazy. ‘Have you met Simon on the fifth floor?’ he is working in the same line of work. He is very good and bright and looks like going a long way. He was telling me that he and his wife had great holiday in Goa a couple of years ago. He seems to like India. Could be worthy to speak to him. Hey, thanks I will check and speak to him. ‘No problem. They don’t seem to be able to improve this coffee though, do they?’ What happen in the organization next is that the manger will take some decision and will have informal discussion with his seniors about Simon and then that man will be called and interviewed and selected for the required position. Accordingly HR department and financial department will be involved in the process and the formal and systematic process will be started. This method is rarely used in the organizations in particular cases when there is an urgent need to fill the position of expatriate. 2.6 Niche Assessments According to Bolt (2008 ) Many assessment venders specialize in certain niches and offer off-the-shelf products to meet clients’ testing needs. However, vendors can find such persons or individuals for the company who can fit in the organizations new environment and can coop with the new organization’s culture. Testing is the most important part of the application process of the candidate because testing gives the good idea of the individual’s abilities and competencies. 2.7 Factors involved in selection Process: There are number of factors which affect the performance of expatriate. Dowling, Welch, Schuler, (1999) recognised some of the important and most affective factors and these are the factors which involved to determine an appropriate expatriate selection process. All the factors are shown in a model below. Cross-cultural Suitability MMNE requirements SELECTION DECISION FFamily requirements LLanguage TTechnical Ability CCountry-cultural requirement Figure: 2.2 Source: (Factors in expatriate selection, pg 77 Dowling, Welch, Schuler, 1999). Figure 2.2 shows the factors which are required for an expatriate each of the above mentioned factors is discussed in detail below. 2.7.1 Technical Ability: According to Hays, 1971 All expatriates are assigned abroad to complete some task weather its building a dam, running some business, or teaching it all depends on the personal technical ability to perform that task. Obviously it is important to consider the individuals’ personal ability to perform the required task assigned to the expatriate. So in selection it is another important area which needs to look at. Different research findings show that the multinational organization give a lot of importance to the technical abilities of the individuals going abroad for international assignments at the time of their selection. According to Harvey and Novicevic,(2001) that technical and functional expertise has been the primary criterion for selecting expatriate managers for assignments. Hixon found that the selection was based on technical ability and willingness to reside abroad. If the individual is selected without keeping in view its technical ability. It can create the big problems for the multinational organizations to complete its related task or assignment. Reinforcing the emphasis on technical skills is the relative ease with which the multinational may assess the potential candidate’s potential, since technical and managerial competence can be determined on the basis of past performance of the individual who is going to be selected as expatriate. In fact domestic selection cannot be equal to the international selection but person can be selected on the basis of past domestic records which he has performed domestically as the basic criteria is always the same in all the multinational organizations so on the basis of past abilities there should not be any problem for the organizations to select the expatriates. This approach is also found by Foster and Johnsen,(1996) who report the results of the research into the expatriate selection practices for the newly internationalized UK organizations which shows that organizations keep in view the technical skills, and previous domestic records while selecting expatriate for international assignments. 2.7.2 Cross Cultural Suitability: The environment and the culture where an expatriate is going is an important factor for an expatriate. So the selectors of the expatriates should always consider the factor of culture for the expatriate. Although these factors does not guarantee for an expatriate for his successes but if these factors are not considered it can lead it towards the failure of expatriate. If the culture is considered then it is always important to study the Hofsted’s dimensions for cross culture and Trompenaar’s dimensions so these researches are explained in detail as follows. 2.7.3 Culture: Culture is always important for any expatriate selection, so it is very necessary for HR managers and selectors to keep the factor of culture in view while selecting expatriate for international assignments. There have been a lot of studies on culture and there are a lot of different definitions of culture some of them are given below. (Kluckholn Strodtbeck 1952) define culture as, â€Å"a set of basic assumptions-shared solutions to universal problems of external adaptation (and internal integration- which have evolved over time and are handed down from one generation to the next.’’ The life style of people living in the society is called culture it includes the social, economical, political, religious, life style of the individuals in the country. According to Drennan, 1992 â€Å"whatever is going around is called culture.† Culture is the way of life of a group of people. There are obvious differences between the different cultures such as language, dress, religion, beliefs, and behaviours of the people, and there are also implicit differences between the two cultures such as in values, assumptions about how things should be. so these different degrees of explicitness are often called the culture.(ScullionLinehan,2005). So the culture is very important factor for the selection of expatriate because the individuals move from one culture to another culture for the completion of their assignment. 2.7.4 Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Greet Hofstede’s culture’s consequences (1980, 2001) explores the differences in thinking and social action at the country level between members of 50 nations and three regions. Hofstede originally used IBM employees’ answers to company attitude survey conducted twice, around 1968 and 1972. The survey generated more than 116,000 questionnaires with the number of respondents used in the analysis being approximately 30,000 in 1969 and 41000 in 1973. Hofstede identified and validated four cultural dimensions from respondents patterned answers. For each dimension, he presented possible origins as well as predictors and consequences for management behavior. Hofsted’s four dimensions are as follows Power Distance Uncertainty Avoidance Individualism versus Collectivism Masculinity versus Femininity Another dimension which is fifth dimension presented by Michael Bond is Long term versus Short term Orientation was subsequently developed from a research to accommodate non-western orientations and has been adopted from the Chinese Culture Connection study. Power distance: The dimension indicates the extent to which a society expects and accepts a high degree of inequality in institutions and organizations. It refers to the relationship between supervisors and subordinates. It reflects the extent to which the less powerful members of organisations expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. In organisations an illustration of a high power distance score is generally represented as a highly vertical hierarchical pyramid. Subordinates are often told or ordered about a particular task but they are not normally entitled to discuss the decision made by the top management so basically the meaning of power distance is that higher the person in hierarchy the more difficult will be this person to approach. So there are some barriers for that person to see their top management. The barriers can be of different ways like the person barriers or the employee is not allowed to see the top manager or they are not allowed to attend the high managerial level meetings in which decisions are made. So basically power distance shows the distance between a supervisor and his employee. Uncertainty avoidance: This refers to the degree to which a society prefers predictability, security and stability. According to Hofsted the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain or unknown situations. He argued that high uncertainty avoidance is expressed for example by a company’s need for regulations which tends to minimize in the behaviour of its employees. Company rules are such thing which cannot be broken by the employees even if he think that breaking the rule is in company’s best interest in such sort of environment the work stress is more and uncertainty avoidance is high. On the other hands if the employees are less affected by uncertainty is called low uncertainty avoidance. Individualism-Collectivism: this dimension relates to the extent to which people prefer to take care of themselves and their immediate families rather than being bound to some wider collectively such as extended family. Hofsted ask the IBM individuals that how important is to keep in view his work goals rather than the organisation. If there is preferred work goals stress dependence on organisation. For example good physical working condition, good ventilation enough space individualism in the work place can be seen. Collectivism can be seen in preference of collective organis MNE Selection Techniques for International Assignments MNE Selection Techniques for International Assignments Chapter1 Introduction The world has become the global village and globalization has become an important tool for the organizations to be successful in this rapidly changing world. So the coordination between different cultures and people with different backgrounds is increasing in a different multinational organization day by day. So it is very important to study that how the organizations deal with the multicultural set ups within an organization. During the past few decades the rapid changes in economic, social and political environment of the world has led organizations towards the globalization. According to Harvey Novicevic the increasing international activities and global competition resulted in increase in globalization. The process of recruitment and selection has always been very important in any organization. According to Dowling (1999) hiring and placing people in positions where they can perform effectively for the benefit of the organization is the goal of most organizations whether they are domestic or international. Heraty et al (1997) suggested that, in these new changing global condition increasingly, many organizations are transforming jobs into new structures which are more likely based on self directed work teams, made up of empowered individuals with the diverse background are replacing traditional specialized workers. So in this new challenging environment competition is increasing day by day and organizations need such personalities who can adjust themselves with the change. Burack and Singh (1995) also suggested that firms need adaptable people who can rapidly adjust themselves to the changing environment. So the people who are ready to change with the environmental changes always give advantage to the organization, and these kinds of people are very fruitful for the organization. According to ones and Viswesvaran (1997) in this rapidly changing world where the change is taking place every minute the organizations have been sending their members to other parts of the world to complete their assignments. According to Aycan and Kanungo expatriate is an employee of a business or government which is sent abroad to accomplish their organizational goals for temporary period which is more than six months and less than five years. International assignments not only give benefit to the individual expatriate but it also give the competitive advantage to the organization in the global environment. For many organizations sending of expatriate to the other countries to gain competitive advantage in global environment is the part of their overall human resource plan. (Caligiuri Lazarova, 2001). So keeping in view the importance of an expatriate the selection process of an expatriate is also very important step for an organization. According to Dowling the failure of expatriate is due to the selection error. This tells that selection plays an important role for a successful expatriate. So with the changing world it is need to have such staff who can adjust itself with the change. In this paper an effort is being made to give the importance of selection techniques for expatriates within a multinational organization. 1.1 Key purpose of study The world is globalizing day by day and now it is also called global village and specifically UK has become one of the biggest multicultural countries and there are a lot of multinational organizations working in UK With the changing world more of MNEs are sending their expatriates in other parts of the world to accomplish their goals and to gain competitive advantage in global world. As the selection is the most important step for any organization to choose its expatriate and it is always important for MNE’s to choose or select the right person for the given task. In fact an expatriate failure is often result of a selection error, and often compounded by in effective expatriate management policies. (Dowling Welch Schuler, 1999). The key purpose of this study is to show the importance of selection techniques for a MNE when selecting an expatriate for an international assignment. 1.2 Aims The aim of this study is to explore the proper selection techniques which can improve the performance of an expatriate and help him to retain. 1.3 Objectives: To outline the factors that influences the selection of expatriates. To examine different selection methods used for expatriate selection. To discuss in detail, issues of cross cultural variation in selection process of expatriates. 1.4 Hypothesis The hypothesis which is developed for this study is stated as below Without doing proper selection of expatriate much will be poor for the company and result in loss of company. 1.5 Theory an overview There has been a lot of work done on selection techniques of expatriates in last couple of decades. Selection is the most important part of the success of any expatriate, and if the selection is not according to the needs of organization then the failure chances of expatriate. Dowling says that redirecting future performance potential when hiring or promoting staff is challenging at the best time but if operating in foreign environment certainly adds other level of uncertainty. So if the process of selection is beholds specific importance within a domestic organisation then it must have some extra importance while choosing an international staff. 1.6 Selection The selection is kind of prediction of the organization’s peoples or decision makers keeping in view the profile of the candidate for the particular job (Hackett, 1991). The selection is a complete process of analyzing and viewing the profile of the employee and then selecting for the required job. Moore (2006) discussed this as the selection is the whole process which includes choosing the right candidate for the position from those persons who have been recruited. This involves testing and evaluating the skills of an individual is required for the particular job. According to desler (2000) the selection is the process in which the recruited individual is whittled down by using screening tools like assessment centers, interviews, and different tests. 1.7 Methods of Selection: There are various selection techniques available, and for the selection procedure all of these depending on the situation and culture of the organization. Some of these selection methods are given below. Interviews Tests Assessment centres (Beardwell and Holden, 2001) So the above mentioned procedures are used by different organizations depending upon the nature of job and the normal practice they use within the organization. 1.8 Approaches for the Multinational There are four approaches for the recruitment and selection in any multinational organization. These four approaches are given as follows. Ethnocentric: It is the type of the recruitment approach in which all the key positions and top management is filled by the nationals of the parent company. According to this approach all the top management decisions and the key strategies of the companies is made by the parent country headquarters. Polycentric: It is the type of recruitment approach in which the host country fills all the key positions in the subsidiary. Each subsidiary is treated as the separate national entity. But all the key financial decisions are taken by the parent country headquarter. Regiocentric: It is the type of recruitment approach in which regional talent is preferred. For example if the person is required on for the development of any product then the person who will be recruited will be from the host country. Geocentric: This is the kind of approach where the persons are recruited without seen any race, religion or region. This approach is international based and is getting in practice in most of the developed countries like UK, USA etc. 1.9 Methods of international selection The different methods of selection for the expatriate selection which most of the multinational organizations use is as follows Psychometric Tests Assessment Centres Coffee Machine System 1.10 Selection of an Expatriarate The selection of expatriate is a bit different from the local selection of a local manager. For the selection of an international manager there are a lot of extra factors which needs to be considered by the selectors. The expatriate selection process results in higher cost to the multinationals including relocation process, allowance and accommodation apart from the training costs. (Hailey 2000, pg; 90). During the expatriate selection process, 02 conflicting forces operate within the expatriate’s mind. One that pulls the employee into moving to the new place, the other tends to stop him from going. (Baruch 2005, pg 129). 1.11 Factors involve in selection of an Expatriate. According to Dowling and Welch the factor involve to determine an appropriate expatriate selection process are as Country-cultural requirement Language MNE requirements Technical Ability Cross Cultural Suitability Family Requirements (Dowling, Welch, Schuler, 1999) So keeping in view all the above mentioned factors an expatriate should be selected by a multinational organization. 1.12 Culture: (Kluckholn Strodtbeck 1952) define culture as, â€Å"a set of basic assumptions-shared solutions to universal problems of external adaptation (and internal integration- which have evolved over time and are handed down form one generation to the next.’’ 1.13 Corporate culture Corporate culture includes the behavioral patterns, concept, values, ceremonies and rituals that take place in the organization. It gives the members of the organization meaning as well as the internal rule of behavior when these values and beliefs customs’ rules and ceremony are accepted shared and circulated throughout the organization. (Trompenaars Turner 1997, pg 157-181) 1.14 Why consider culture? Adjusting in a new culture is always difficult and it causes problems for both expatriate and family members, therefore it is important for an International HR to look for the similarities of the two cultures in order to deal with the challenges in the business world key activity. dowling, welch,schuler, 1998 pg 132 Recent research shows that the expatriates who are unable to cope with the challenges find it difficult to adjust and incur costly implications. (Caligiuri, 1997, pg: 45-67). The factor of culture is very important for an expatriate selection process and HR managers will have to select such expatriate who is adjustable with the different cultured people and work with them for the cultural dimension Hofstede and Trompenaars cultural dimensions are given as follows 1.15 Hofstede’s four dimensions (1967-1973): Gooderham Nordhang (2003). ‘Culture is always a collective phenomenon, because it is at least partially shared with people who live or lived within the same environment, which is where it was learned. It is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another.’ Hofstede surveyed 116,000 IBM employees in 40 different nations about their preferences in the work environment. The analysis revealed the results creating 4 dimensions: Power distance: The dimension indicates the extent to which a society expects and accepts a high degree of inequality in institutions and organizations. Uncertainty avoidance: This refers to the degree to which a society prefers predictability, security and stability. Individualism-Collectivism: this dimension relates to the extent to which people prefer to take care of themselves and their immediate families rather than being bound to some wider collectively such as extended family. Masculinity-Femininity: Masculine societies value assertiveness, competitiveness and materialism as opposed to the feminine values of relationships and the quality of life. 1.16 Trompenaars’ cultural dimensions: Trompenaars concluded four cultural dimensions that relate to the question of inter-personal relationships and work-related values Gooderham Nordhang (2003). Universalism vs. Particularism Communitarism vs. Individualism: Specific vs. diffuse Achievement vs. ascription: So these four dimensions of Trompenar also affect the selection process of an expatriate for international assignments. 1.17 Strategic choices in expatriate selection: Organizations normally have some strategic choices while selection of an expatriate. These strategic choices are mentioned below. Internal recruitment versus external recruitment Individuals versus teams Technical qualification versus other selection criteria Extrinsic rewards versus intrinsic rewards. Chapter 2 Literature Review: In this chapter researcher tried to discuss all the related studies which are done in past and are available in literature. A lot of work has been done in the literature on the topic of selection. Before proceeding to the actual topic it is necessary to look at the different methods of selection which an organization uses and see that what are the different techniques and criteria which are used for the selection of staff. 2.1 Selection: Moore (2006) discussed this as the selection is the whole process which includes choosing the right candidate for the position from those persons who have been recruited. This involves testing and evaluating the skills of an individual is required for the particular job. According to Dessler (2000) the selection is the process in which the recruited individual is whittled down by using screening tools like assessment centers, interviews, and different tests. 2.2 Expatriate selection: According to (Dowling, Welch, Schuler, 1999, pg: 154) Multinationals take great care in their selection process, however predicting future performance potential of the concerned staff is challenging at the best of times especially operating in foreign environments adds another level of uncertainty. The expatriate selection process results in higher cost to the multinationals including relocation process, allowance and accommodation apart from the training costs. (Hailey 2000, pg; 90). During the expatriate selection process, 02 conflicting forces operate within the expatriate’s mind. One that pulls the employee into moving to the new place, the other tends to stop him from going (Baruch 2005, pg 129). 2.3 Importance of an Expatriates and International Assignments: The world is globalizing very rapidly and change has become necessary for the organization to survive and to gain competitive advantage internationally. According to Harris and Brewster, 1999. The rapidly globalizing world has increased the need for the international assignments and many of the organizations started considering international management experience for the top management. So the international assignments are becoming an important part for the success of an organization to gain competitive advantage. As discussed by Chen, Tzeng Tang, 2005 that organizations internationalize their operation to gain success and to increase its market value internationally and for this purpose an organization needs effective expatriate who can perform its task properly. In this new era the importance of expatriate has increased because expatriates are the ones who can give an organization proper international exposure and make the organization successful. 2.4 Selection Process: One of the most studied areas for the expatriate selection is the selection process of the expatriate. The selection of expatriate has always been difficult procedure for the multinational organizations. Swaak quotes one HR executive who said. â€Å"My job is to find people in a hurry.† So this system is highly crisis-oriented and unsophisticated. Swaak , 1995. Further confirming the problems for the nature of the selection process Still and Smith (1997) report the results of Australian research, which shows that there were a number of different ways through which expatriates were selected. They studied that the most impressive and important form of selection or evaluation of the expatriate was recommendation of the person by the line manager including chief executive officer or specialist persons. Mostly expatriates in the multinational organizations in a knee-jerk reaction to the need to fill a new or unexpected vacancies overseas. Actually there are well informed intercultural trainers or a good HR professional who selects the expatriates but basically it is HR department within multinational organization who selects the expatriate finally. Managements choose the most technical and competent candidates which makes the expatriates successful internationally. (Shilling, 1993 pg 58). 2.5 Types of selection Process: Psychometric Tests Assessment Centers Coffee machine system 2.5.1 Psychometric Tests: According to Passmore, 2008 Psychometrics are the widely used testing method for the selection of the employee and personal development. The psychological test is always important for the selection of the employee especially for the selection of an international manager. According to the validity of psychological tests is disputed. According to Sparow and Brewster (2007) the psychologists the variation between the different natured job test is very small (Schmidt and Hunter , 1998). According to a survey done by The Graduate Recruitment in 2007 two third or about 67 percent of 219 respondents surveyed said that the results of psychometric test had some influence on recruiting and selection decisions, and 24 percent said that it has strong influence, and only 2 percent said that these test does not have any influence. So the above figure shows the importance of psychometric tests. According to Sparow and Brewster (2007) psychological assessment increasingly involves the application of tests in different cultural contexts, either in a single country or different countries. Now a day the demand of cross cultural assessment test is increasing due to the increasing factor of globalization to gain competitive advantage in international market. According to Mendenhall and Oddou, 1985 one of the important option for evaluating the selection process is the use of psychological tests and evaluation dvices. There are number of instruments available to measure the stress level of an individual. Figure: 2.1 (Source: article by Jonathan Passmore, Bread and butter â€Å"How to use psychometrics for coaching†) In figure 2.1 the real importance of psychometric test is shown. Psychometric tests are reliable that the selected person will be the one on whom one can rely. And obviously these kinds of tests are valid for any kind of job. The most important point in this test is that it does not include any biasness and the selectors cannot show the biasness while selecting on the basis of psychometric tests. These tests are also standard for different jobs. So all the above mentioned qualities and factors involve in the psychometric tests. In other words one can say that almost all the abilities present in an individual’s mind can be noticed, and the end result will always ends up in the right selection of expatriate. 2.5.2 Assessment Centre: As the assessment centers are considered to be one of the best selection techniques so according to Sparow and Brewster assessment centers will be the best idea as a selection technique to assess the competency of international managers. This is rarely the case, however. According to sparrow (1999) Even where assessment centers are used to select the managers in international settings, the key cross cultural assessment centers seems to be to design the assessment process so that it is very adaptable to local environment in which it will be operated. So there is need of cross culture assessment centers in which international managers can be assessed accordingly with the changing environment. Krause and Gebert (2003) have done study on international literature on the conception, operation and evaluation of assessment centers. He examined 281 German firms whose language was German and he compares them with the previously studied firms of United States of America. Study showed that both the American and German firms use the assessment centers but the purpose of some of them was different from the basics. For example the competencies assessed for job analysis might be identified through the use of interviews with job incumbents in 79% of US firms and only 39% of German firms. Most of the German firms rely on interviews for the selection of international managers or expatriates. so the assessment centers are considered to be an important process for expatriate selection. 2.5.3 Coffee Machine System This system was the idea of Harris and Brewster (1999) the key findings of the study show the reality of the selection process for expatriate selection in the organizations. In many organizations the selection process falls under what we call ‘coffee machine system’ and this system is the most common form of expatriate selection. What happens is that the senior line manager is standing by the coffee machine when he/she is joined by the colleague: ‘How’s it going?’ ‘Oh, you know, overworked and underpaid.’ Actually Jimmy in Mumbai has just fallen ill and is being flown home. I don’t know who I can choose to work over there at very short notice of time. It is driving me crazy. ‘Have you met Simon on the fifth floor?’ he is working in the same line of work. He is very good and bright and looks like going a long way. He was telling me that he and his wife had great holiday in Goa a couple of years ago. He seems to like India. Could be worthy to speak to him. Hey, thanks I will check and speak to him. ‘No problem. They don’t seem to be able to improve this coffee though, do they?’ What happen in the organization next is that the manger will take some decision and will have informal discussion with his seniors about Simon and then that man will be called and interviewed and selected for the required position. Accordingly HR department and financial department will be involved in the process and the formal and systematic process will be started. This method is rarely used in the organizations in particular cases when there is an urgent need to fill the position of expatriate. 2.6 Niche Assessments According to Bolt (2008 ) Many assessment venders specialize in certain niches and offer off-the-shelf products to meet clients’ testing needs. However, vendors can find such persons or individuals for the company who can fit in the organizations new environment and can coop with the new organization’s culture. Testing is the most important part of the application process of the candidate because testing gives the good idea of the individual’s abilities and competencies. 2.7 Factors involved in selection Process: There are number of factors which affect the performance of expatriate. Dowling, Welch, Schuler, (1999) recognised some of the important and most affective factors and these are the factors which involved to determine an appropriate expatriate selection process. All the factors are shown in a model below. Cross-cultural Suitability MMNE requirements SELECTION DECISION FFamily requirements LLanguage TTechnical Ability CCountry-cultural requirement Figure: 2.2 Source: (Factors in expatriate selection, pg 77 Dowling, Welch, Schuler, 1999). Figure 2.2 shows the factors which are required for an expatriate each of the above mentioned factors is discussed in detail below. 2.7.1 Technical Ability: According to Hays, 1971 All expatriates are assigned abroad to complete some task weather its building a dam, running some business, or teaching it all depends on the personal technical ability to perform that task. Obviously it is important to consider the individuals’ personal ability to perform the required task assigned to the expatriate. So in selection it is another important area which needs to look at. Different research findings show that the multinational organization give a lot of importance to the technical abilities of the individuals going abroad for international assignments at the time of their selection. According to Harvey and Novicevic,(2001) that technical and functional expertise has been the primary criterion for selecting expatriate managers for assignments. Hixon found that the selection was based on technical ability and willingness to reside abroad. If the individual is selected without keeping in view its technical ability. It can create the big problems for the multinational organizations to complete its related task or assignment. Reinforcing the emphasis on technical skills is the relative ease with which the multinational may assess the potential candidate’s potential, since technical and managerial competence can be determined on the basis of past performance of the individual who is going to be selected as expatriate. In fact domestic selection cannot be equal to the international selection but person can be selected on the basis of past domestic records which he has performed domestically as the basic criteria is always the same in all the multinational organizations so on the basis of past abilities there should not be any problem for the organizations to select the expatriates. This approach is also found by Foster and Johnsen,(1996) who report the results of the research into the expatriate selection practices for the newly internationalized UK organizations which shows that organizations keep in view the technical skills, and previous domestic records while selecting expatriate for international assignments. 2.7.2 Cross Cultural Suitability: The environment and the culture where an expatriate is going is an important factor for an expatriate. So the selectors of the expatriates should always consider the factor of culture for the expatriate. Although these factors does not guarantee for an expatriate for his successes but if these factors are not considered it can lead it towards the failure of expatriate. If the culture is considered then it is always important to study the Hofsted’s dimensions for cross culture and Trompenaar’s dimensions so these researches are explained in detail as follows. 2.7.3 Culture: Culture is always important for any expatriate selection, so it is very necessary for HR managers and selectors to keep the factor of culture in view while selecting expatriate for international assignments. There have been a lot of studies on culture and there are a lot of different definitions of culture some of them are given below. (Kluckholn Strodtbeck 1952) define culture as, â€Å"a set of basic assumptions-shared solutions to universal problems of external adaptation (and internal integration- which have evolved over time and are handed down from one generation to the next.’’ The life style of people living in the society is called culture it includes the social, economical, political, religious, life style of the individuals in the country. According to Drennan, 1992 â€Å"whatever is going around is called culture.† Culture is the way of life of a group of people. There are obvious differences between the different cultures such as language, dress, religion, beliefs, and behaviours of the people, and there are also implicit differences between the two cultures such as in values, assumptions about how things should be. so these different degrees of explicitness are often called the culture.(ScullionLinehan,2005). So the culture is very important factor for the selection of expatriate because the individuals move from one culture to another culture for the completion of their assignment. 2.7.4 Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Greet Hofstede’s culture’s consequences (1980, 2001) explores the differences in thinking and social action at the country level between members of 50 nations and three regions. Hofstede originally used IBM employees’ answers to company attitude survey conducted twice, around 1968 and 1972. The survey generated more than 116,000 questionnaires with the number of respondents used in the analysis being approximately 30,000 in 1969 and 41000 in 1973. Hofstede identified and validated four cultural dimensions from respondents patterned answers. For each dimension, he presented possible origins as well as predictors and consequences for management behavior. Hofsted’s four dimensions are as follows Power Distance Uncertainty Avoidance Individualism versus Collectivism Masculinity versus Femininity Another dimension which is fifth dimension presented by Michael Bond is Long term versus Short term Orientation was subsequently developed from a research to accommodate non-western orientations and has been adopted from the Chinese Culture Connection study. Power distance: The dimension indicates the extent to which a society expects and accepts a high degree of inequality in institutions and organizations. It refers to the relationship between supervisors and subordinates. It reflects the extent to which the less powerful members of organisations expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. In organisations an illustration of a high power distance score is generally represented as a highly vertical hierarchical pyramid. Subordinates are often told or ordered about a particular task but they are not normally entitled to discuss the decision made by the top management so basically the meaning of power distance is that higher the person in hierarchy the more difficult will be this person to approach. So there are some barriers for that person to see their top management. The barriers can be of different ways like the person barriers or the employee is not allowed to see the top manager or they are not allowed to attend the high managerial level meetings in which decisions are made. So basically power distance shows the distance between a supervisor and his employee. Uncertainty avoidance: This refers to the degree to which a society prefers predictability, security and stability. According to Hofsted the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain or unknown situations. He argued that high uncertainty avoidance is expressed for example by a company’s need for regulations which tends to minimize in the behaviour of its employees. Company rules are such thing which cannot be broken by the employees even if he think that breaking the rule is in company’s best interest in such sort of environment the work stress is more and uncertainty avoidance is high. On the other hands if the employees are less affected by uncertainty is called low uncertainty avoidance. Individualism-Collectivism: this dimension relates to the extent to which people prefer to take care of themselves and their immediate families rather than being bound to some wider collectively such as extended family. Hofsted ask the IBM individuals that how important is to keep in view his work goals rather than the organisation. If there is preferred work goals stress dependence on organisation. For example good physical working condition, good ventilation enough space individualism in the work place can be seen. Collectivism can be seen in preference of collective organis