Implementation Business Global Managementâ€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Examine About The Implementation Business Global Management? Answer: Presentation: As expressed by Lave (2013), hazard evaluations have consistently been the best practice for Business Continuity Management (BCM). Expanding pressure from the current and potential clients, corporate administration and the back up plans have constrained the associations to concentrate on the business congruity the board as a piece of their hazard the executives methodology. In the view purpose of Haimes (2015), business progression the board is tied in with recognizing the piece of the business that the association can't bear to lose. These incorporate data, stock, premises just as the staffs to arrange for how these specific things can be kept up on the off chance that if any occurrence happens (Christensen et al. 2016). This specific assessment report centers around the execution of hazard appraisal as a piece of the business congruity the executives. Worldwide Aerospace Logistics (GAL) has been chosen as the association for the contextual analysis. A point by point examination of how the association centers around the hazard evaluation as a piece of their business progression the executives will be carried on in this investigation. As remarked by Aven (2015), with the expanding weight of improving the profitability and the effectiveness of the association, there has been less strength towards adapting up to the crises and the developing dangers because of a level authoritative structure. The associations need to give more noteworthy consideration so as to comprehend the basic factors that influence the representatives, their families and the networks too (Harrison 2016). Among every one of these variables, notoriety is another factor that is critical to deal with before the inward and outside partners. As uncovered by Covello et al. (2013), great corporate administration consistently request a successful and straightforward administration arrangement that ought to be known to all so as to moderate any sort of hazard that may happen anytime of time. Hazard appraisal and hazard the executives is a set up hierarchical order that ought to turn into a significant plan of the business. To consider the business progre ssion the board, there are ordinarily when dangers emerges as an occasion of interruption in the association and the administration will be liable for whole hazard evaluation and dynamic procedure (Collier and Lakoff 2015). Review of Global Aerospace Logistics (GAL): Worldwide Aerospace Logistics (GAL) is the Abu Dhabi based auxiliary of the Emirates Defense Industries Company. Lady gives proficient aviation administrations including flying upkeep, fix, redesign and concentrated help benefits by the methods for astounding assistance quality, wellbeing, dependability and incentive for the clients. The administration portfolio incorporates Engineering and Technical Services, Maintenance and Technical Services, Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Components and System Repair, Aircraft Sales and Aviation Consulting and Project Management (GAL.ae 2017). The vision of the association is to turn into the main association by adding to the protection business of the UAE by building another age of national pioneers and by building a prosperous future for the individuals of UAE that would in the long run assist them with turning out to be pioneers in the field of flight administrations. Their central goal is to give world class administrations and items bolstered by exceptionally qualified experts satisfying the necessities of the clients. Ladies top administration is exceptionally dedicated to give an economical great assistance in a mindful manner in a physical issue free, protected and secure way (GAL.ae 2017). Lady is answerable for advancing a solid and wellbeing condition at the working environment and has faith in researching and forestalling any occurrence that would hurt their security. Points and goals of the examination: The point of the assessment report is to assessment of the hazard evaluation as a piece of the business coherence the board (BCM), concentrating on Global Aerospace Logistics (GAL). The thought is to assess the hazard evaluation forms that can assist the association with finding the holes of execution and help the implementers to close these holes and alleviate chances in BCM as best practice. The goals of the examination are: To evaluate the diverse hazard appraisal measures to comprehend its significance as a best practice to beat the difficulties looked by an association To discover the holes of usage of the hazard evaluation To suggest better ways that would help in hazard evaluation for the business coherence the board Basis of the investigation: Brindley (2017) remarked that a business or an association is powerless against both inside and outer dangers. Recognizing the potential dangers can spare an association from significant disturbance to the business activity. Presentation to both inward and outer dangers has become a difficult issue for the associations. Business congruity and calamity recuperation has direct effect on an association. The disappointment of an association to address the issue may make downstream effect on the association. So as to complete things in a convenient way, it is imperative to center upon the basic choices of the business and concur upon a point that would assist them with overcoming the issues and issues looked by the association (Kapucu and Hu 2016). The expansion rivalry and the expanding level of desire for the shoppers have made it significant for the associations to consider the training that they could receive that they don't need to confront any sort of inner or outer dangers (Boin et al. 2016). This examination will concentrate on the assessment of hazard evaluation for the business coherence the executives. So as to do as such, the investigation will concentrate on the different dangers evaluation measures that are embraced by an association as a methods for best practice to defeat the difficulties looked by the association. Worldwide Organization of Standardization (ISO) of hazard the board: ISO 31000 is considered as a group of norms identifying with chance administration that is systematized by the International Organization for Standardization. The thought is to give standards and conventional rules on hazard the executives and appraisal (Sylves 2014). ISO 31000 gives a worldview that is generally perceived among the organizations and specialists so as to supplant the heap of the current guidelines and strategies that really contrasts among the various ventures and districts. The reason for ISO is to be appropriate to any open, private and network undertaking or affiliation, gathering or an individual (Archer 2014). The thought is to give the best practice structure and direction to the tasks that are legitimately worried about the hazard the board. ISO 31000:2009 gives a conventional rule that really configuration, execute and keep up the whole hazard the board procedure in an association. The extension is to be given to all the vital, the executives just as operatio nal assignments of an association all through various undertakings and capacities that to be adjusted to chance administration targets. In this regard, Hopkinn (2017) featured that the ISO is proposed to a more extensive gathering of partners that incorporate official level partners, chance examiners and the board officials, line chiefs and venture supervisors and the individual experts too. As called attention to by Lam (2014), that by utilizing ISO 31000 an association is probably going to accomplish its goals and improve the distinguishing proof of the chances and any sorts of dangers and they will have the option to effectively apportion and utilize the assets required for rewarding the hazard. In particular, this specific standard gives direction to the inward and the outside review program. Any association can without much of a stretch contrast their hazard the board rehearses and any universally perceived benchmark and concoct a sound rule for viable administration and corporate administration (Sadgrove 2016). This standard is lined up with a grouping of steps that bolsters the congruity of progress and conquer any hazard. ISO proposes four stages to the hazard evaluation. These are; planning a hazard the board structure, usage, checking and investigating the hazard evaluation plan and a nonstop improvement dependent on the progressions that should be done so as t o stay viable in the business (Bromiley et al. 2015). Fig: Steps of hazard evaluation (Source: Bromiley et al. 2015) The extent of executing the ISO standard is to give conventional rules to the structure, usage and the support of the total hazard the board procedure all through the specific association. The extent of this administration is to line up with a lot of normal hazard the board goals that empower all key, the board and the operational assignments of an association (Kadar 2014). National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority (NCEMA): NCEMA gives a Business Continuity Management Standard that helps in building the capacity of an association that it proceeds with its capacity and convey its organized exercises if the companys tasks are upset because of certain crisis or emergencies (Spremic et al. 2013). The authority is answerable for the steadiness of the nation and the catastrophe the executives as a piece of the business coherence the board standard structured in 2012. The point was to improve the standard with the universal standard by detecting best practices and rules. As indicated by Pritchar (2014), this specific norm, rules and toolbox have been created so as to fabricate the elements methodicallly to construct the business progression capacity during or after any sort of fiasco happened in an association. A definitive point of this activity is to guarantee that the progressing execution of organized administrations and capacities if there should arise an occurrence of both private and open division shoul d improve the national solidness of UAE (Watanabe 2014). In the event of any hazard fac

Business Accounting Methods and Uses

Question: Talk about the Business Accounting Methods and Uses. Answer: Presentation The money related examination gives a knowledge into the qualities and shortcomings of the organization which is critical for financial specialists to settle on venture choice. A large portion of the fundamental data which is being utilized to settle on out a speculation choice is contained in the three essential segments of the budget summaries. These three essential segments of the budget reports are pay explanation, articulation of money related position, and income proclamation (Stickney et al., 2009). Further, proportion investigation strategy is utilized to settle on the data increasingly applicable for dynamic. The speculators search for the proportions, for example, acquiring per share, cost to profit proportion, return on value, profit yield, and net resources esteem per share. These proportions give essential data to the financial specialists to settle on a speculation choice (Tracy, 2012). In this specific circumstance, a report has been introduced here which manages the m onetary examination and stock value investigation of Boardroom Limited. This report targets discovering significant qualities and shortcomings and gives a proposal with respect to interest in the companys stock. Money related Analysis of Boardroom Limited The Boardroom Limited, recorded on Singapore stock trade, is an organization occupied with giving business administrations. The administration arrangement of the organization incorporates secretarial administrations, consultancy, warning, and bolster administrations. The organization was consolidated in the year 1968 and has developed altogether from that point forward (Yahoo Finance, 2017). At Present, the organization is headquartered in Singapore with activities spread out in numerous nations abroad. In this report, monetary examination of the organization for the most recent money related years, for example, 2015 and 2014 has been led with the assistance of proportions. The proportions decided on money related investigation of the organization have been talked about and deciphered as underneath: Income per Share Ratio The procuring per share means the overall gain accessible to the value investors of the organization on per share premise. This implies the measure of salary owing to the value proprietors for one offer they hold. It is figured by separating the overall gain accessible to the value investors with the quantity of offer stayed extraordinary during the year. The investigation of winning per share is urgent in light of the fact that it uncovers the companys ability to produce pay for the financial specialists (Tracy, 2012). With respect to Boardroom Limited, the investigation of EPS for the two most recent monetary years for example 2014 and 2015 has been introduced beneath: Figure 1: Analysis of EPS of Boardroom From the graph introduced above, it could be seen that the EPS is demonstrating declining pattern. The profit per portion of the organization were $0.07 in the monetary year 2014 which diminished to $0.03 in the year 2015. The purpose behind this substantial destruction in the EPS is the joined impact of decrease in the income and increment in the quantity of offers remarkable. The net benefit of the organization tumbled down from $10,205,345 in 2014 to $6,722,000 in the year 2015 (Appendix-3). Further, the quantity of offers extraordinary expanded from 145,582,668 of every 2014 to 205,565,749 out of 2015. Value Earnings Ratio The value income (PE) proportion is figured by partitioning the present market cost with the profit per portion of the organization. The PE proportion is viewed as the most vital in leading valuation of the companys stock and discovering that whether the stock is underestimated or exaggerated. The financial specialists can work out the reasonable estimation of the stock by duplicating the business normal PE proportion with the present profit per portion of the organization (Tracy, 2012). In regard of Boardroom Limited, the examination of PE proportion is led as under: Figure 2: Analysis of PE Ratio From the information introduced in the outline appeared above, it could be seen that the cost to profit proportion of the organization is upgrading in the year 2015. In the earlier year for example 2014, the organization had a PE proportion of 8.13 occasions which expanded to 18.35 occasions in the present year. It could be seen that the stocks cost didn't change by a major edge as it was $0.57 in 2014 and stayed at $0.60 in 2015 (Appendix-3). In any case, in spite of this reality, the PE proportion expanded significantly. This was fundamentally because of decline in the EPS of the organization. The EPS went down from $0.07 in 2014 to $0.03 in the year 2015. Profit Yield Ratio The profit yield is registered by partitioning the profit paid out to the financial specialists (per share premise) with the market cost of the stock. This suggests the profit got as a level of market costs of the stock. The profit yield is likewise one of the most vital contemplations for the speculators concerning venture choice. The profit yield speaks to a piece of the arrival on speculations made by the financial specialists (Tracy, 2012). In regard of Boardroom Limited, the profit yield has been introduced in the diagram given beneath: Figure 3: Analysis of Dividend Yield The outline introduced above shows that the profit yield of the organization has gone down in the present year when contrasted with the earlier year. In the year 2014, the organization gave a profit yield of 8.77%, notwithstanding, it diminished essentially to 3.33% in the year 2015 (Appendix-3). The explanation behind destruction in profit yield has been distinguished as the consolidated effect of decrease in profit per offer and increment in the market cost of the stock. Net Asset Value Net resources esteem is processed by deducting the all out resources from the complete liabilities controlled by the business. Further, to get net resources esteem per share the distinction of all out resources and liabilities is isolated by the quantity of offers. The net resources esteem speaks to genuine worth of the business. Further, another way it additionally shows the value of the companys stock. In any case, it is figured dependent on the chronicled estimations of the advantages ignoring the market worth and future desires, accordingly, the venture choices can not be exclusively founded on the net resources esteem (Tracy, 2012). In regard of Boardroom Limited, the examination of net resources esteem per shares is introduced in the outline given underneath: Figure 4: Analysis of Net Assets Value per Share It could be seen that the total assets of the organization has decreased in the year 2015 when contrasted with the year 2014. It diminished from $0.48 per share in 2014 to $0.35 per share in the year 2015. The decline in the net resources estimation of the organization is a negative sign. The essential explanation behind abatement in the net resource esteem per share has been recognized as increment in the quantity of offers. In the year 2014, the quantity of offers was 145.58 million which expanded forcefully to 205.57 million in the year 2015 (Appendix-3). Offer Price Performance vis- - vis Stock Market Aside from breaking down the key perspectives, it is additionally urgent to complete a specialized investigation of the stock. The specialized examination helps with recognizing the pattern in the stocks cost and contrasting it and the general financial exchange (Edwards, Magee, and Bassetti, 2012). The financial specialists can be made mindful of the interest of the stock in the market by directing specialized investigation. The specialized investigation additionally delineates the speculators trust concerning interest in a specific stock (Edwards, Magee, and Bassetti, 2012). Thinking about these basic perspectives, the specialized expect an incredible significance in the speculation examination. In regard of Boardroom Limited, the specialized investigation of its stocks cost has been directed as delineated in the diagram demonstrated as follows: Figure 5: Stock Price Analysis of Boardroom and SES The graph introduced above shows pattern in the profits earned on the Boardrooms stock and the general market (spoke to by Singapore Stock Exchange). It could be seen that Boardroom has been more steady than the general market. With respect to meeting room, the pattern line shows that the developments in the stocks cost are slow. Nonetheless, the pattern of market shows development at a major scale. This demonstrates Boardroom is less hazardous than the general market which is additionally affirmed from the investigation of standard deviations of the two. The standard deviation of Boardroom has been seen as 2.38% while that of generally showcase is 3.65%. Further, since the stock is less dangerous its arrival is likewise lower than the general market. The normal yearly return for 2015 has been seen as 7.15% on the load of Boardroom which is lower than 14.57% of the general market (Appendix-4). In any case, the profits are lower on the load of Boardroom, however the positive sign is t hat these are steady. The security consequently is the most pivotal factor which the speculators look for while dissecting a stock for venture. In this manner, from that view point, it could be deduced that the load of Boardroom could be a decent decision for the speculators and specifically for the hazard unwilling financial specialists. Qualities and Weaknesses of the Company The organization is working with $107.76 million resources which delineates that it has a solid asset base (Appendix-3). Further, the organization is looking tried to decrease the liabilities with the goal that obligation weight could be brought down. This gives a decent indication that the organization is endeavoring to be free. Further, the stock value examination shows strength in the developments which shows certainty of the financial specialists in the organization. The certainty of the financial specialists is one of the most essential qualities that the organization has right now. Be that as it may, there certain shortcomings likewise saw from the investigation. The most concerning thing in this respects is the tumble down in benefit. In the present year, the organization lost benefits by a major edge. End and Recommendations An examination into the money related execution and stocks cost has been directed in this report. The realities and discoveries of the investigation portrays that the monetary presentation of the organization has not been so acceptable in the present year. The benefits of the organization slopped descending from $10.21 million to $6.72 million

Literacy Analysis of Symbolism in The Necklace free essay sample

â€Å"The Necklace,† by Guy de Maupassant, is set in mature age France and is about a white collar class lady who is extremely insatiable and driven and wants to get into the high society through her significant other who is an administration representative and her rich companion however winds up obliterating her life futile. All through the story, the precious stone jewelry, the focal point of the story, is appeared by the creator to represent and speak to numerous topics, for example, riches and high societal position alongside the possibility that desire can prompt fate and above all, the possibility that appearances can be deceiving.In the story, the creator utilizes the jewel accessory to speak to numerous things, of which two of the most clear and direct are riches and high economic wellbeing. In reality a neckband for the most part speaks to excellence, yet the precious stone jewelry for this situation speaks to more than that. Despite the fact that Madame Loisel looks extraordinary with another, wonderful dress worth â€Å"four hundred francs,† she needs the accessory since she has no gems and imagines that it is â€Å"humiliating† to glance â€Å"poor† in rich ladies. We will compose a custom article test on Education Analysis of Symbolism in The Necklace or on the other hand any comparative theme explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page That can be a sign of the jewelry speaking to extraordinary riches as she chooses the precious stone accessory over certain arm bands, a pearl neckband and a lovely â€Å"Venetian cross† in â€Å"gold and diamonds. † The jewelry can likewise be utilized to speak to high societal position. Other than to look rich, Madame Loisel additionally needs the accessory since she says the gathering will have numerous significant and high class individuals and she doesn’t need to watch strange. Another bit of supporting proof is that Madame Forestier presumably consistently goes to parties with notable individuals. To speak to her social class, she imagines that she needs a â€Å"string of diamonds,† regardless of whether they were all impersonation. Taking a gander at the story straightforwardly, the jewel neckband represents riches and high social status.If you plunge further into the story, nonetheless, the precious stone accessory can likewise speak to more thoughts, for example, in the event that you are excessively covetous, vain or aggressive, it could prompt your fate. Madame Loisel is vain, accepting that she is â€Å"born for each delicacy and luxury† and feels that â⠂¬Å"she was made for† lovely gems and garments. She has an eagerness for acclaim, wishing excitedly to enchant and be looked for after. As a result of every one of those qualities, she obtains the accessory from Madame Forestier for the gathering to fulfill her aspirations and covetousness. In any case, when she returns home, she loses the jewelry and needs to get huge measures of money to purchase a substitution. That fates her and her husband’s lives as they need to try sincerely and live in â€Å"abject poverty† for a long time to take care of the obligation. Hence, the precious stone jewelry can likewise by implication represent desire prompting fate as a result of what befell Madame Loisel.Furthermore, the precious stone neckband can likewise by implication speak to the possibility of appearances being misdirecting. The thought is all around showed in the story with two models. The primary model is simply the jewelry. All through the story, practically the entirety of the characters (counting the peruser) feel that the neckband is veritable. In any case, at the end, Madame Forestier uncovers that the accessory is really an impersonation and worth just 500 francs. Another delineation is Madame Loisel. At the gathering, she gives off an impression of being rich, high class and is the â€Å"prettiest lady present,† however as a general rule, she isn't rich, the gems have a place with Madame Forestier and she is in reality just working class. In general, the neckband can be utilized to represent the possibility of appearances can be misleading on the grounds that appearances normally don't speak to the reality.The jewel accessory in the story can speak to a wide range of thoughts both straightforwardly and in a roundabout way. Out of the numerous thoughts examined in this exposition, the best is the possibility of appearances being beguiling. The entirety of different thoughts riches, high social class, desire prompting fate, can likewise apply to the story without the last line where Madame Forestier uncovers that the accessory is really impersonation. In any case, the creator purposely uncovers reality toward the finish of the story which echoes that the precious stone neckband represents the possibility of appearances being misdirecting. It is most likely what the creator expected the neckband to represent. Taking everything into account, the accessory can be utilized to speak to an entire scope of thoughts despite the fact that the possibility of appearances being deluding is viewed as truly outstanding.

Tourism and economic developement policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

The travel industry and financial developement strategy - Essay Example ensive and broad research article basically and in a general sense digs profound into the points of interest and difficulties of the base up way to deal with the travel industry improvement in impacting and fortifying the financial development of the locale. The authentic and geographic setting of the travel industry improvement is likewise crossed in this examination, therefore with inside and out investigation into the financial and legislative inclusion and noteworthiness and the general adequacy and advantage of feasible the travel industry. In this setting the investigation is focused on one of the most encouraging rising economies †India explicitly its province of West Bengal. Going back to the Roman Empire, the rich and the prosperous network just could stand to visit spots to advance encounters, to spend too much in extravagance and relaxation, Baiae being one such coastline excursion place. â€Å"Tourism† was instituted in 1811 and â€Å"tourist† by 1840. Though in 1936 the â€Å"tourists† were extravagantly delineated by the then ‘League of Nations’ as one venturing outside of nation for at least twenty-four hours †which was adjusted by the United Nations toward the finish of World War II in 1945 and imagined the travel industry as which extended for the timespan of greatest a half year. The idea of eco-the travel industry was started in 1989. In the current situation the travel industry is considered to be the most quickly advancing and immensely extending worldwide business with a surmised development pace of 4 percent to 5 percent for every annum which is liable for 10% of worldwide total national output (WTO). The progressed just as developing countries have pulled in a huge flood of outside travelers with a gauge of 760 million out of 2004 and another 1.6 billion foreseen by the World Tourism Organization (WTO 2005a) continuously 2020. With globalization and open-entryway approaches being executed around the world, an ever increasing number of developing and propelling countries are turning into the hot tourists’ hot attractions since 1950 at which time there was a record deluge of 25 million

Analysing the issues of a Credit Union - Free Essay Example

I joined the Legacy Credit Union Contact Centre in mid 2005 and it was rated as the poorest performing section of the Credit Union. After a short time it was very apparent that an urgent shift in culture was required before the extreme option of closing it down and outsourcing the section was tabled before the Board. I was asked to join the Contact Centre to assess the issues and develop a plan to address the changes needed to be put in place which included staffing, resources, hardware, software, systems and business processes. The Contact Centre received more than sixty thousand calls per month with a drop off rate of over sixty to seventy percent. Customers were constantly directed to call the Contact Centre during and outside of normal business hours by the branch staff and the marketers, but then the Centre did not open outside of normal business hours. The Credit Union has four hundred staff and a client base in excess of a hundred thousand people and few of these had the confidence in the Centre staff being able to assist in their needs or even answer basic questions about their accounts. The Contact Centre was managed by a small team of individuals who appeared to co-operate on first appearances but upon deeper investigation, they were extremely dysfunctional and would go to great lengths to create complications for each other at every opportunity. The Centre staff were not given any authority to make any decisions that affected clients accounts or were outside of standard operational policy an d therefore felt impotent most of the time. The Senior Management saw little value overall being added to the organisation by the Contact Centre as there were few positive results and therefore paid little attention to it. The availability of resources and staffing was set as a low priority and the Centre and its team were rarely acknowledged as a vital resource to the Credit Union. The attitude of the team members clearly reflected that of the team leaders. The Manager and the three team leaders were tasked with meeting the needs of any clients unable to reach a branch. Due to their roles not being clearly defined they began to exhibit behaviour which over shadowed any of their previous good work. Over time the team leaders had begun morphing their individual roles by only performing the tasks they wanted to do and not what they were initially assigned. Performance targets and actual results were only discussed when targets were not reached. What was illogical to this day is that the targets and reports were closely guarded in the Managers office and were not to be divulged to the staff. Results were only released in the Monthly Review but it was always from the broadest perspective of the Centre and no individual knew his/her individual targets/results. There was little or no diversity within the Centre as the staff of thirty five consisting of:- approx. 90% female Approx 50% were single and under the age of twenty five years Remainder being females 40 years to 55 years of age). All Australian (white) No other ethnic backgrounds evident Considered to be low to medium socio-economic income earners Low education little formal tertiary education There is a large percentage of the team that appears to consist of staff transferred from the branch network or Head Office who have at some stage created an issue for the Credit Unions management. These people appeared to have then gravitated to the Team Leader they liked based o n the personalities involved. Under these Team Leaders they would only perform a limited number of tasks that were deemed important to the relevant team leader. There was little focus on overall team performance and the working as a team towards the companys mission statement The behaviour of this work section came to a head where the organisation can no longer ignore the issues at hand and must face the choice of either closure or re-building the Centre from within. The overall performance of the staff and the Centre was directly attributed to the management team in place at the time. Their performance and attitudes were directly attributed to that of the Centre Manager who is unable to articulate to the team what is required. This would have enabled the team to move forward and to be in a position to deliver what is required to meet the needs of the organisation, its stakeholders and most importantly, its customers. There was also a complete lack of documented business processes in place. These appeared to have been ignored or dispensed with to avoid any staff taking responsibility when an issue arose. If there were an established set of guidelines that was adhered to, then the staff would not have been able to deny responsibility or claim ignorance. Weisenfeld Hewlin (page 36) suggest that sets of identities that share attributes and audiences are likely to cluster together. identities that do not fit within a cluster are eventually sloughed off. Many staff were randomly moved from section to section within the Centre without warning to fill a gap when another staff member exited or changed roles within the Centre. There was no formal training except some minor explanation and a quick overview. This often differed from person to person depending on the mentors own skill level. The new staff member was invariably overwhelmed and could not begin to cope with the intricacies or requirements of the position and the demands of the customers. A t the same time knowing full well that the Management team will not support them if something goes wrong. There was no formal training processes with each staff member being required to be formally accredited at each section before proceeding to the next level. This progression appeared to be more of a popularity contest and was ad-hoc at best. To use an analogy, the human body is the organisation and the healthy cells (positive staff) within the body are those that bind tightly together forming stable layers (the Sections/departments) within the body (the Organisation). Understanding how cancer cells start to spread is tremendously important for cancer research.It is the ability of tumours to invade into other tissues and spread around the body that makes them so dangerous. (Adapted from https://www.aicr.org.uk/HowCancerCellsStarttoSpread.stm) Cancerous cells (negative staff) are the cells that do not bind tightly allowing the spread of tumours (negative attitudes) and contribute to the break-down of the functional parts of the body. The protein E-cadherin (is the equivalent of a great Manager) helps bind the team together and blocks the action of those cancerous cells and tumours. Without this the cancer would set about breaking down the bodily functions and eventually kill off the body. Weisenfeld Hewlin (page 40) hypothesise that Managers who experience greater identity threat will be less likely to behave in ways that yield synergies across conflicting identities Adapted from Wood Et Al (page ..) Organisational behaviour lists the performance equation as the balance of organisational support, work effort and the attributes of the individual/team on a consistent and ongoing basis. To have one or more of these elements perform poorly will see the overall job performance plummet and in many cases be irrecoverable. The staff turnover for the Centre was estimated at about sixty percent (60%) per annum. With such a high turnover the team were in a constant state of turmoil and could never be afforded the chance to manage the day to day business, but are also unable to develop professionally with training, updating skills or connect the other sections of the business. It is at these times, the Senior Management must consider if surgery or a long protracted recovery is in the companys interests. Motivating Effecting Cultural Change (Task 2) To better understand which Motivational theories would best suit these people we need to address the causes of their poor performance. In lay mans terms it is evident that most of these people are displaying various forms of behaviours that would ultimately develop into serious depression. Each member of the management team has become disenchanted with the business and each has lost their sense of purpose. With the constant negative influences and results, the team leaders are spiralling towards a depressive state. Figure Adapted from the Kubler-Ross Grief Cycle Each disappointment precedes yet another point of confirmation in their own minds that the Centre and its team are not worthy on the organisation network. Depression could be a response to lossdepression can also be caused by a threatened loss.job lossmarriage Cembrowicz Kingham (pages 60-61). Cembrowicz Kingham (pages 60-61) cite psychologist Seligmans Learned theory who found that, if he reared rats that had little or no control over their environment, they are poor at getting out of bad situations even when given an opportunity to escape, they do not take it. Failure leads to a feeling of helplessness and belief that whatever you do, you will not change anything. Cembrowicz Kingham (pages 60-61) also state in their Cognitive theory that people can unknowingly build up a depressive way of dealing with life.leading to a self fulfilling prophecy All organisations have established required behaviours, or rather standards of behaviour that is expected of all staff. This applies to the newest casual to the Chairman of the Board. These behaviours extend to minimum standards applied to work hours, dress code, ethical behaviour, leave requirements, career development, industrial laws, training, etc. Emergent behaviours are then materialise when the staff members take ownership of their part of the organisation and become self managed. The Emergent behaviour soon becomes the norm and will become a compass for the team members to follow. Group roles will become established out of the emergent behaviour. People will move into their roles within the group and be supportive of one another. As each role will be inter-dependant, the team must perform their individual tasks in order for the team to succeed. One section cannot fulfil its duties/complete the project unless the other team completes theirs. Therefore they are dependent on each other and will either fail or succeed together. Once the group norms have been established, the standards of behaviour and professional ethics will ensue. Higher standards of behaviour and performance will become the standard and the overall sense of achievement will increase. Applying Mazlows theory to this situation saw the current management team bereft of nearly all sections Figure Adapted from Wood Et Al Page 84 To effect a real change in culture and motivation, the most appropriate courses of action are:- Empowerment This tool is probably the most powerful tool in a Managers kit. It allows the Manager to delegate tasks and engenders a mutual respect between a Manager and staff. A Manager will begin to sample out small tasks and begin to build the confidence in his/her team that they are capable of making decisions and find solutions for any situation. Empowerment will recognise that every staff member is a capable, intelligent professional who adds real value to the organisation as opposed to a one who will only do the bare minimum of what he/she is told to avoid responsibility. Empowerment will engender into the team that they are valued and have a very real effect on the organisation and its future achievements. Empowerment creates a self determining culture to the team members with them becoming self managed as they begin to hold each other to account on their performance, attitudes and commitment to the common goal. Intrinsic rewards vs Extrinsic rewards Pride, high self esteem, positive values, honour, self worth, recognition, credibility, knowledge, expertise, experience, reputation, satisfaction and fulfilment are all intangible achievements but are longer lasting than the material rewards as they become the moral tenets that we operate with and that benchmark ourselves against. The Extrinsic rewards are fleeting at best with pay increases being the most popular demand. Unfortunately in the organisation the results of the Centre is a collective reflection of the individual performance of each and every staff member. Therefore there is little effort by the organisation to entertain rewards for non-performance but the efforts have not been reciprocated to the organisation. Equity Expectancy An example of the Equity theory is represented in this case study as one Team Leader hand picks her team based on her own values. There is no application or interview process. Just simply a tap on the shoulder and the staff member is moved into the section where all other requirements are now void. To all other staff this is extremely unfair and is inequitable as it is based on friendship as opposed to work quality, commitment or skills levels. Polzer, Et Al (page 97) states When social categorisation processes undermine trust and cooperation, group members are unlikely to realise the potential value in their diversity for improving group performance. The Expectancy Theory is applied to every task but has become a 0 in most cases as there is no rewards foreseen whether the task is achieved or not. As each task become less and less important to each member, the valance for each task also diminishes. To change these behaviours, there must be transparency and fair processes w here all who wish to, can compete fairly in order to meet their own goals. With this, confidence and trust in a fairer system for advancement, the team members will place a higher value on their daily tasks in order to be the best candidate for the next opportunity. Content Process Theories The theories of Content Process discussed by Wood Et Al (page 83-84) need to be applied to all aspects of the Centres operations in particular to the duties of the staff. By beginning with the documenting of every business process the following benefits can be generated:- Responsibilities can be assigned to the various duties required for the Centre to function efficiently denoting service level agreements, procedures and authority levels. Policies and processes can be updated to meet current market and legislative requirements Staff can be trained with a consistent series of procedure manuals which will clearly document the correct processes that are within the framework of the Credit Unions policies. Staff are required to contribute to these processes so there is ownership by the team in their performance and daily work. Standards of behaviour are to be established and become part of every staff members annual staff review and assessment prior to moving to a new p osition. Transparency of all reporting and performance targets. All targets to be displayed openly and the Teams performance is to be measured against this weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually Provide all staff with a career structure mapping out their potential pathways. This career path within the Centre is a hop on-hop off structure allowing staff to move forward at their own pace with confidence. Conditioning Classical Conditioning relies on creating reactions (stimuli) to behaviour (e.g. a manager frowns/grimaces if a staff member does not perform adequately.therefore the staff member will avoid that behaviour again but will not delve further to get a better understanding of why the Manager frowned). This type of conditioning appears to focus on negative reinforcement and will often lead to the micro management of the staff member. Operant Conditioning however focuses on encouraging staff members using their initiative and to perform or act in a positive behaviour by ensuring that once that good behaviour has been recognised, the staff member will continue this behaviour without the need for constant re-assurance from the Manager. Learning Styles Cognitive learning is often referred to as a suck it and see method of learning. If you do this, this is what will/will not happen. People who use only this method of learning will often not develop and can be relied on to only do the bare minimum and requires a high level of management. Social learning relies on the interaction between people and the sharing of experiences (eg. Corporate team building events employed by many companies to enable the various team members to come together as a team utilising their various skills, attitudes and intelligence to achieve their goals). Learning vs Teaching Organisations. The Contact Centre will have to initially be a Learning organisation in order to set the foundations for the Teaching organisation. To further explain this, Wood Et al (Pages 141 -145) describe the subtle yet powerful differences. Learning organisations focus on learning new knowledge and the development of the individual. This by design will engender change in the individual and therefore will extend to the organisation. The Contact Centre will evolve into a Teaching organisation as the team becomes more developed. It will eventually be seen as an exemplar within the organisation as what is required to achieve high levels of performance in all aspects of its role. Other sections within the organisation, and perhaps the business community will see it as a Business Unit that can teach another what can be achieved if the team remains a high performing one. Group Dynamics (task 3) Managing Attitudes Perceptions The Senior management had to immediately take into account the following issues within the Contact Centre in order to assess the actual status of the business unit:- Justification Henry Ford stated Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success. Adapted from https://www.leadership-tools.com/team-building-quotes.html The self destructive tendencies of this management team is counter-productive but also limits the Centre from reaching its true potential. Constructive Conflict where there is compromise and collaboration is an acceptable norm within a high pressure environment, but it must be managed and dealt with in a professional manner. The basic building block of good teambuilding is for a leader to promote the feeling that every human being is unique and adds value. Unknown Adapted from https://www.leadership-tools.com/team-building-quotes.html Managing the Current Management Team. Staff Member Current Motivation/s Action Recommended Lucinda Exhibited a strong martyr complex where she feels poorly done by the Credit Union on all issues Removal as Manager and possibly the organisation. Barney Running a small business using the Centre facilities and staff for deliveries. Dismissal due to behaviour that would be tantamount to theft of resources of the business. Betty Established a Friends clubwhere entry to was by invitation only. All staff(club members) seen regularly exiting for two hour lunches with no one left to run the section Retention of staff member who requires clear operating guidelines and authority levels. Staff member is to adhere to new standards of behaviour and operational requirements. Wilma Is extremely uncomfortable in dealing with staff and avoids conflict. Is exceptional on mapping and planning but is unable to translate this to into action. Retention of staff member who requires clear operating gui delines and authority levels. Staff member is to adhere to new standards of behaviour and operational requirements. Justification We are most effect as a team when we compliment each other without embarrassment and disagree without fear. Unknown Adapted from https://www.leadership-tools.com/team-building-quotes.html Breaking cycles of bad behaviour The attitudes, performance and ethos of the Centre will not change until the people driving these poor habits change or are removed from the area. The current management team are determined to continue on with their poor behaviour and indoctrinate all new staff into their ways. This further continues the cycle of negativity and becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. The way forward is to remove these teachers of bad habits and establish the required behaviours at the start (i.e. Staff Induction and Training). Once the ethos has been established and the staff are held to these new standards, they will have no option but to comply or move on. It is too late trying to change attitudes months after the staff member has started and they have been inducted into the negativity and poor performance. Improving the Group Dynamic Diversity- Workforce Diversity Age, gender, race, demographics, geographic, physical abilities, etc all contribute to the balance of a positive, focussed, goal orientated team of people. With a strong diversity of people with different abilities, backgrounds, qualifications, skill sets and needs will utilise the varied experience, qualifications, knowledge and skills available in a diverse group. Polzer, Et al (page 94) states that When establishing a group it is wise to designate as precisely as possible what types of diversity will maximise the groups performance potential based on the particular complexities of the group task. Stages of the group Figure Adapted from Wood Et Al Page Intergroup dependencies will become standardised as each section specialises in a set of processes within the Centre. The workflow interdependency will then become integral to the success/failure of each transaction as the task moves through each section until the client is completely satisfied. Areas of Concern Current Status Recommended Action Task Performance No evidence as such Assess each members skill levels in their current roles and determine what support and training each needs in order to meet the standards required. Human Resources Large number of issues outstanding with little effort in resolving them. Review each staff member and establish a set of standards that will be adhered to by the team member. All must agree and also establish regular periods of review to determine progress. Productivity No evidence as such Establish targets for the individual, Section Centre using the Credit Unions targets. Quality of Work life No evidence as such Establish a series of circuit breakers and work life measures to ensure that staff do not burn out. Stress relief measures could be as simple as ordering coffees to having activities outside of the workplace to engender team bonding in a social atmosphere. Material Resources Poor -little light, dim and all furniture in poor condition Ensure the work environment is user friendly by making it compliant with Workplace Health and Safety. Install colour, light, even music to create a positively charged environment Diversity No evidence as such Encourage people from different cultures and backgrounds to join the team via the networks and linked businesses. Job Design No evidence as such Evaluate the current roles and determine if they are relevant in todays market. Slight amendments or radical changes may be required. Rotation No evidence as such Establish a period for rotation within the Centre to ensure that all staff are multi-skilled in all facets of the Centre and its various roles. Work Arrangements No evidence as such Discuss and action where possible flexible work arrangements to ensure that every staff member is able to contribute to the fullest. Parents, Carers, Disabled person, and people affected by various complaints all need to be accommodated for but on a win/win bas is with the business. Planning No evidence as such Forward planning needs to be established in order for the business to grow. Does the Centre have enough work stations for the staff? Does the Centre have enough staff to achieve its goals? What are the times lines and measures put in place to ensure progress is being made. Leading No evidence as such Manager and Team Leaders need to lead by example. The attitudes, behaviour and performance of the staff is a clear reflection of the management and its standards Controlling No evidence as such A set of protocols and auditing measures need to be established to ensure that all staff are compliant. The internal audit measures are Ethical Behaviour A selective few are taking advantage of the poor management and using it to their personal advantage. All staff are to be advised of the current policies of the Credit Union and what is acceptable behaviour. Anyone found to have deliberately breached these pol icies may face severe penalties. Values No evidence as such A set of Values is to be established and documented. All staff are to contribute and then agree to adhere to them. The team members will then hold each other accountable to those values to ensure there is no backsliding into old habits. Training and development No evidence as such A standardised Induction and Training plan for all staff is to be established. This training plan will then create a career path within the Centre allowing each staff member to move through the various sections based on their performance and attitude. Proposed new Structure for the Centre. Haridimos Tsoukas (page 204) lists amongst various other strategies, the Consensus Strategy is where many members come together naturally converge on the same theme, or pattern, so that it becomes pervasive in the organisation, without the need for any central direction or control. By adopting the structure below it ensures that each section is inter-dependant on each other for the Centres overall success. It also provides career pathways for each section as each requires a Team leader to manage the team of specialists for each of the core sections dealt with by the Centre. Each team member will be rotated through each section over a period of time, and only when they have met the desired standards for each section. The leadership of the Centre will then become distributed amongst the Team Leaders for each of the sections. Although it may at first appear to be top heavy with management, each specialised section must have a leader who is responsible for his/her sections daily performance. The Team Leader of each section is then responsible for the task activities of each of his/her team. The Team Leader is also responsible for the maintenance activities designed to motivate, co-ordinate and maintain the stability of his/her section. Maintaining the cohesiveness of the team (in each section and overall) will be a major task to ensure that in the high volume, stressful and time poor environment, people remain focussed on the task at hand and do not let petty misgivings cloud the mission at hand. A group becomes a team when each member is sure enough of himself and his contribution to praise the skill of the others. Norman Shidle Adapted from https://www.leadership-tools.com/team-building-quotes.html Reflection (Task 4) Completing this task has allowed me to reflect on how I also developed within the Centre during my time there. Prior to joining this group I had never been exposed to a large group of staff and certainly never with such an imbedded negative undercurrent to almost every aspect of their day to day work life. By analysing and breaking down the components to this workplace, I could in retrospect see how the Centre operated and even some aspects that I was oblivious to at the time. To take a strategic overview and see the Centre for what it really was compared to what the Credit Union wanted from it they were polar opposites (some would say bi-polar.) What I am surprised about is that without any formal qualifications at the time, I managed to opt for many more positive choices than negative ones. Whether this was by intuition or from applying what I learned in smaller teams and then applying to the larger forum I was thankful for the opportunity. I have learned that at tim es there will be some hard choices to make but to make them and stand by them is certainly character building. During my working life I have seen many people make unpopular decisions without taking any responsibility, but then are expectant of others to carry them out and manage the complaints. If youre going to lead, then lead from the front. As opposed to criticising your subordinates for not succeeding because the leader did not articulate their wishes clearly or did not support them when required to in times of opposition. Managing people and organisations is a lifestyle choice. At times it feels as if you are living and breathing the role and this can be a short term high, but a long term low. With all projects, as with life, things change. People move on and the dynamics change. With change, comes the reference to Kubricks grief cycle where people will adapt more readily than others. What makes us different is how we handle these changes, why they are occurring and ho w they are all managed through to a point where people are accepting of them.

2016 Plan Performance Rankings Q2

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rmance .see-more a{height:100%;display:inline-block;font-size:11px;padding:5px 0;box-sizing:border-box;text-decoration:underline;color:#000}#top-ten-performance .see-more a:hover{background:#fff!important;color:#f5a623!important}#top-ten-performance h2.plan-ranking-box{font-family:AvenirNextBold,sans-serif;text-align:left;margin:0 auto;font-size:13px;padding:10px 10px;text-transform:uppercase;border-top:1px solid #ced3e1;border-bottom:1px solid #ced3e1}#top-ten-performance tr.link:hover{cursor:pointer;background:#e8edfa}.enroll-now-button{text-transform:uppercase;font-family:AvenirNext-DemiBold;font-size:12px;padding:10px 16px;border:1px solid #14448b;background:#4268a6}#top-ten-performance .tab{width:10%;border:0!important}@media only screen and (max-width:767px){#top-ten-performance .tab{min-width:70px}.long-text{display:none!important}}@media only screen and (min-width:768px){#top-ten-performance .tab{min-width:90px}.short-text{display:none!important}}#top-ten-performance .tabs{w idth:100%;border:1px solid #ced3e1;height:35px!important;box-sizing:border-box;border-left:0;border-right:0;margin-bottom:0}#top-ten-performance .tabs.title{text-transform:uppercase;padding:7px 0;color:#14448b!important;font-family:AvenirNext-Bold,sans-serif!important;margin-bottom:0;border-bottom:0;padding-left:10px;font-weight:bold;display:table}.plan-details{text-transform:uppercase;text-align:center;padding:0 12px;font-family:'AvenirNext-DemiBold',sans-serif;text-decoration:underline}#top-ten-performance td:first-child{text-align:center}.mini-top-ten .tab{width:25%!important;min-width:0!important;float:left;display:inline-block}#top-ten-performance h2.plan-ranking-box{border-bottom:0}.tabcontent .content p.info{font-size:14px!important}p.tagline{position:initial!important;margin-top:30px!important}.addthis-wrapper{top:78px!important}a.sfc-widget-article-print-trigger{top:79px!important} Each quarter Savingforcollege.com analyzes the investment performance figures for thousands of 529 portfolios and ranks the 529 savings plans from best to worst for one-year investment performance, three-year investment performance, five-year investment performance and ten-year investment performance. The top-performing 529 plans In producing our rankings, we compared the reported investment performance of a subset of portfolios from each 529 savings plan. The "performance score" determines the ranking. For more details, please view our methodology. Here are our 529 performance rankings as of June 30, 2016. We ranked plans that consumers can enroll in directly (see below), as well as those sold through brokers and fee-based financial planners). Top 10 Performing 529 College Savings Plans 1 Year1 Yr 3 Year3 Yr 5 Year5 Yr 10 Year10 Yr One-year rankings are based on a planï ¿ ½s average investment returns over the last 12 months, as of the date shown. To see how a plan performed over a longer time period, see the three-year, five-year and 10-year performance rankings (where available). Rank State Plan Performance score 1 Michigan Michigan Education Savings Program 21.17 Plan Details 2 Tennessee TNStars College Savings 529 Program 23.86 Plan Details 3 South Carolina Future Scholar 529 College Savings Plan (Direct-sold) 25.27 Enroll Now 4 New York New York's 529 College Savings Program -- Direct Plan 27.21 5 Nebraska Nebraska Education Savings Trust - Direct College Savings Plan 27.92 Enroll Now 6 Virginia Virginia529 inVEST 28.79 Enroll Now 7 Louisiana START Saving Program 29.08 Plan Details 8 Pennsylvania Pennsylvania 529 Investment Plan 29.63 Plan Details 9 Missouri MOST - Missouri's 529 College Savings Plan (Direct-sold) 29.76 10 Minnesota Minnesota College Savings Plan 29.76 Plan Details See the full list of one-year direct-sold rankings | For broker-sold plan rankings and fee-based financial planners Three-year rankings are based on a planï ¿ ½s average annual investment returns over the last three years as of the date shown. To see how a plan performed over a longer time period, see the five-year and 10-year rankings (where available). Rank State Plan Performance score 1 District of Columbia DC 529 College Savings Program (Direct-sold) 22.65 Enroll Now 2 New York New York's 529 College Savings Program -- Direct Plan 26.09 3 Tennessee TNStars College Savings 529 Program 26.16 Plan Details 4 Michigan Michigan Education Savings Program 26.79 Plan Details 5 California The ScholarShare College Savings Plan 27.42 Plan Details 6 Louisiana START Saving Program 28.91 Plan Details 7 Maine NextGen College Investing Plan -- Client Direct Series 29.76 Enroll Now 8 Alaska University of Alaska College Savings Plan 30.19 9 Florida Florida 529 Savings Plan 32.31 Plan Details 10 Nevada SSGA Upromise 529 Plan 33.07 Plan Details See the full list of three-year direct-sold rankings | For broker-sold plan rankings and fee-based financial planners Five-year rankings are based on a planï ¿ ½s average annual investment returns over the last five years as of the date shown. To see how a plan performed over a longer time period, see the 10-year rankings (where available). Rank State Plan Performance score 1 District of Columbia DC 529 College Savings Program (Direct-sold) 20.12 Enroll Now 2 New York New York's 529 College Savings Program -- Direct Plan 26.17 3 Alaska University of Alaska College Savings Plan 28.36 4 Maine NextGen College Investing Plan -- Client Direct Series 29.28 Enroll Now 5 Illinois Bright Start College Savings Program -- Direct-sold Plan 30.25 Enroll Now 6 Michigan Michigan Education Savings Program 32.09 Plan Details 7 Florida Florida 529 Savings Plan 32.28 Plan Details 8 Alaska T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan 32.95 9 Utah Utah Educational Savings Plan (UESP) 33.14 Plan Details 10 South Carolina Future Scholar 529 College Savings Plan (Direct-sold) 34.58 Enroll Now See the full list of five-year direct-sold rankings | For broker-sold plan rankings and fee-based financial planners 10-year rankings are based on a planï ¿ ½s average annual investment returns over the last five years as of the date shown. To see how a plan performed during a more recent time period, see the one-year, three-year and five-year rankings. Rank State Plan Performance score 1 Utah Utah Educational Savings Plan (UESP) 24.18 Plan Details 2 Louisiana START Saving Program 27.71 Plan Details 3 Alaska University of Alaska College Savings Plan 28.77 4 New York New York's 529 College Savings Program -- Direct Plan 29.92 5 Florida Florida 529 Savings Plan 31.88 Plan Details 6 Michigan Michigan Education Savings Program 31.89 Plan Details 7 Alaska T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan 33.14 8 Ohio Ohio CollegeAdvantage Direct 529 Savings Plan 37.32 Enroll Now 9 Iowa College Savings Iowa 37.55 Enroll Now 10 District of Columbia DC 529 College Savings Program (Direct-sold) 37.84 Enroll Now See the full list of ten-year direct-sold rankings | For broker-sold plan rankings and fee-based financial planners How to rank 529 plan performance Ranking over 3,000 investment options is no easy task, considering the wide variety of options found in 529 savings plans, and it requires a special methodology. Step one: We select specific portfolios from each 529 plan that can be compared on an apples-to-apples basis to portfolios in other 529 plans, based on their allocation among stocks, bonds and short-term instruments (money market and guaranteed investments). We've set up seven different asset-allocation categories ranging from 100 percent equity to 100 percent short-term. Step two: Within each of the seven categories, we compare historical performance of the selected portfolios and assign each plan a percentile ranking between one (best) and 100 (worst). Separate rankings are developed for one-year, three-year, five-year and ten-year performances. Step three: We take the average of each 529 plan's percentile rankings in the seven asset-allocation categories to produce a combined or "composite" percentile ranking. We then produce reports showing how the 529 plans rank against each other in their composite percentile rankings. Note: We currently produce these composite rankings for one-year, three-year, five-year and ten-year performances. For a more in-depth explanation of our methodology, please read our white paper. See the one-year direct-sold, three-year direct-sold, five-year direct-sold and ten-year direct-sold rankings. More information Links to our full report on the composite rankings for this quarter are provided below for the direct-sold 529 plans. Only our Premium subscribers have access to composite rankings for advisor-sold 529 plans, to the underlying data supporting the rankings and to separate one-year, three-year, five-year and ten-year rankings for each of the seven different asset-allocation categories. In addition, subscribers can easily look up the historical performance for every 529 portfolio in every available share class by using our Fee and Performance Lookup Tool. $('.tabcontent .content').hide();$('.tabcontent1').show();$('.mini-top-ten').attr('id','top-ten-performance');$('.tabs .tab1').click(function(){$('.tabcontent .content').hide();$('.tabcontent1').show();$('.tab').removeClass('active');$(this).addClass('active');});$('.tabs .tab2').click(function(){$('.tabcontent .content').hide();$('.tabcontent2').show();$('.tab').removeClass('active');$(this).addClass('active');});$('.tabs .tab3').click(function(){$('.tabcontent .content').hide();$('.tabcontent3').show();$('.tab').removeClass('active');$(this).addClass('active');});$('.tabs .tab4').click(function(){$('.tabcontent .content').hide();$('.tabcontent4').show();$('.tab').removeClass('active');$(this).addClass('active');});$('.mini-top-ten').attr('id','top-ten-performance'); 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idth:100%;border:1px solid #ced3e1;height:35px!important;box-sizing:border-box;border-left:0;border-right:0;margin-bottom:0}#top-ten-performance .tabs.title{text-transform:uppercase;padding:7px 0;color:#14448b!important;font-family:AvenirNext-Bold,sans-serif!important;margin-bottom:0;border-bottom:0;padding-left:10px;font-weight:bold;display:table}.plan-details{text-transform:uppercase;text-align:center;padding:0 12px;font-family:'AvenirNext-DemiBold',sans-serif;text-decoration:underline}#top-ten-performance td:first-child{text-align:center}.mini-top-ten .tab{width:25%!important;min-width:0!important;float:left;display:inline-block}#top-ten-performance h2.plan-ranking-box{border-bottom:0}.tabcontent .content p.info{font-size:14px!important}p.tagline{position:initial!important;margin-top:30px!important}.addthis-wrapper{top:78px!important}a.sfc-widget-article-print-trigger{top:79px!important} Each quarter Savingforcollege.com analyzes the investment performance figures for thousands of 529 portfolios and ranks the 529 savings plans from best to worst for one-year investment performance, three-year investment performance, five-year investment performance and ten-year investment performance. The top-performing 529 plans In producing our rankings, we compared the reported investment performance of a subset of portfolios from each 529 savings plan. The "performance score" determines the ranking. For more details, please view our methodology. Here are our 529 performance rankings as of June 30, 2016. We ranked plans that consumers can enroll in directly (see below), as well as those sold through brokers and fee-based financial planners). Top 10 Performing 529 College Savings Plans 1 Year1 Yr 3 Year3 Yr 5 Year5 Yr 10 Year10 Yr One-year rankings are based on a planï ¿ ½s average investment returns over the last 12 months, as of the date shown. To see how a plan performed over a longer time period, see the three-year, five-year and 10-year performance rankings (where available). Rank State Plan Performance score 1 Michigan Michigan Education Savings Program 21.17 Plan Details 2 Tennessee TNStars College Savings 529 Program 23.86 Plan Details 3 South Carolina Future Scholar 529 College Savings Plan (Direct-sold) 25.27 Enroll Now 4 New York New York's 529 College Savings Program -- Direct Plan 27.21 5 Nebraska Nebraska Education Savings Trust - Direct College Savings Plan 27.92 Enroll Now 6 Virginia Virginia529 inVEST 28.79 Enroll Now 7 Louisiana START Saving Program 29.08 Plan Details 8 Pennsylvania Pennsylvania 529 Investment Plan 29.63 Plan Details 9 Missouri MOST - Missouri's 529 College Savings Plan (Direct-sold) 29.76 10 Minnesota Minnesota College Savings Plan 29.76 Plan Details See the full list of one-year direct-sold rankings | For broker-sold plan rankings and fee-based financial planners Three-year rankings are based on a planï ¿ ½s average annual investment returns over the last three years as of the date shown. To see how a plan performed over a longer time period, see the five-year and 10-year rankings (where available). Rank State Plan Performance score 1 District of Columbia DC 529 College Savings Program (Direct-sold) 22.65 Enroll Now 2 New York New York's 529 College Savings Program -- Direct Plan 26.09 3 Tennessee TNStars College Savings 529 Program 26.16 Plan Details 4 Michigan Michigan Education Savings Program 26.79 Plan Details 5 California The ScholarShare College Savings Plan 27.42 Plan Details 6 Louisiana START Saving Program 28.91 Plan Details 7 Maine NextGen College Investing Plan -- Client Direct Series 29.76 Enroll Now 8 Alaska University of Alaska College Savings Plan 30.19 9 Florida Florida 529 Savings Plan 32.31 Plan Details 10 Nevada SSGA Upromise 529 Plan 33.07 Plan Details See the full list of three-year direct-sold rankings | For broker-sold plan rankings and fee-based financial planners Five-year rankings are based on a planï ¿ ½s average annual investment returns over the last five years as of the date shown. To see how a plan performed over a longer time period, see the 10-year rankings (where available). Rank State Plan Performance score 1 District of Columbia DC 529 College Savings Program (Direct-sold) 20.12 Enroll Now 2 New York New York's 529 College Savings Program -- Direct Plan 26.17 3 Alaska University of Alaska College Savings Plan 28.36 4 Maine NextGen College Investing Plan -- Client Direct Series 29.28 Enroll Now 5 Illinois Bright Start College Savings Program -- Direct-sold Plan 30.25 Enroll Now 6 Michigan Michigan Education Savings Program 32.09 Plan Details 7 Florida Florida 529 Savings Plan 32.28 Plan Details 8 Alaska T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan 32.95 9 Utah Utah Educational Savings Plan (UESP) 33.14 Plan Details 10 South Carolina Future Scholar 529 College Savings Plan (Direct-sold) 34.58 Enroll Now See the full list of five-year direct-sold rankings | For broker-sold plan rankings and fee-based financial planners 10-year rankings are based on a planï ¿ ½s average annual investment returns over the last five years as of the date shown. To see how a plan performed during a more recent time period, see the one-year, three-year and five-year rankings. Rank State Plan Performance score 1 Utah Utah Educational Savings Plan (UESP) 24.18 Plan Details 2 Louisiana START Saving Program 27.71 Plan Details 3 Alaska University of Alaska College Savings Plan 28.77 4 New York New York's 529 College Savings Program -- Direct Plan 29.92 5 Florida Florida 529 Savings Plan 31.88 Plan Details 6 Michigan Michigan Education Savings Program 31.89 Plan Details 7 Alaska T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan 33.14 8 Ohio Ohio CollegeAdvantage Direct 529 Savings Plan 37.32 Enroll Now 9 Iowa College Savings Iowa 37.55 Enroll Now 10 District of Columbia DC 529 College Savings Program (Direct-sold) 37.84 Enroll Now See the full list of ten-year direct-sold rankings | For broker-sold plan rankings and fee-based financial planners How to rank 529 plan performance Ranking over 3,000 investment options is no easy task, considering the wide variety of options found in 529 savings plans, and it requires a special methodology. Step one: We select specific portfolios from each 529 plan that can be compared on an apples-to-apples basis to portfolios in other 529 plans, based on their allocation among stocks, bonds and short-term instruments (money market and guaranteed investments). We've set up seven different asset-allocation categories ranging from 100 percent equity to 100 percent short-term. Step two: Within each of the seven categories, we compare historical performance of the selected portfolios and assign each plan a percentile ranking between one (best) and 100 (worst). Separate rankings are developed for one-year, three-year, five-year and ten-year performances. Step three: We take the average of each 529 plan's percentile rankings in the seven asset-allocation categories to produce a combined or "composite" percentile ranking. We then produce reports showing how the 529 plans rank against each other in their composite percentile rankings. Note: We currently produce these composite rankings for one-year, three-year, five-year and ten-year performances. For a more in-depth explanation of our methodology, please read our white paper. See the one-year direct-sold, three-year direct-sold, five-year direct-sold and ten-year direct-sold rankings. More information Links to our full report on the composite rankings for this quarter are provided below for the direct-sold 529 plans. Only our Premium subscribers have access to composite rankings for advisor-sold 529 plans, to the underlying data supporting the rankings and to separate one-year, three-year, five-year and ten-year rankings for each of the seven different asset-allocation categories. 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The Cautious and Paranoid Foreign Policy of John Adams

John Adams, a Federalist and Americas second president, conducted a foreign policy that was at once cautious, underrated, and paranoid. He sought to maintain Washingtons neutral foreign policy stance, but increasingly found himself grappling with France in the so-called Quasi-War during his only term in office, from 1797 to 1801. Adams, who had significant diplomatic experience as ambassador to England before the adoption of the Constitution, inherited bad blood with France when he took over the presidency from George Washington. His foreign policy responses rank from good to poor; while he kept the U.S. out of the full-blown war, he fatally hurt the Federalist party. Quasi-War France, which had helped the U.S. win independence from England in the American Revolution, expected the US to help militarily when France entered another war with England in the 1790s. Washington, fearing dire consequence for the young country, refused to help, opting instead for a policy of neutrality. Adams pursued that neutrality, but France began raiding American merchant ships. Jays Treaty of 1795 had normalized trade between the US and Great Britain, and France considered American commerce with England not only in violation of the Franco-American Alliance of 1778 but also lending aid to its enemy. Adams sought negotiations, but Frances insistence on $250,000 in bribe money (the XYZ Affair) derailed diplomatic attempts. Adams and the Federalists began building up both the US Army and Navy. Higher tax levies paid for the buildup. While neither side ever declared war, the US and French navies fought several battles in the so-called Quasi-War. Between 1798 and 1800, France captured more than 300 US merchant ships and killed or wounded some 60 American sailors; the US Navy captured more than 90 French merchant ships. In 1799, Adams authorized William Murray to make a diplomatic mission to France. Treating with Napoleon, Murray crafted a policy that both ended the Quasi-War and dissolved the Franco-American Alliance of 1778. Adams considered this resolution to the French conflict one of the finest moments of his presidency. Alien and Sedition Acts Adams and the Federalists brush with France, however, left them afraid that French revolutionaries might immigrate to the U.S., link up with the pro-French Democrat-Republicans, and stage a coup that would oust Adams, install Thomas Jefferson as president, and end Federalist domination in the US government. Jefferson, leader of the Democrat-Republicans, was Adams vice-president; however, they hated each other over their polarized governmental views. While they became friends later, they rarely spoke during Adams presidency. This paranoia prompted Congress to pass and Adams to sign the Alien and Sedition Acts. The acts included: The Alien Act: enabled the president to deport any resident alien he believed to be dangerous to the U.S.The Alien Enemies Act: enabled the president to arrest and deport any alien whose home country was at war with the US (an act aimed directly at France)The Naturalization Act: extended the length of residency required for an alien to become a US citizen from five to 14 years and prevented immigrants from voting against incumbent Federalist office-holdersThe Sedition Act: made it illegal to publish false, scandalous, or malicious material against the government; the president and justice department had such wide latitude to define those terms that this act nearly violated the First Amendment Adams lost the presidency to his rival Thomas Jefferson in the election of 1800. American voters could see through the politically driven Alien and Sedition Acts, and news of the diplomatic end to the Quasi-War arrived too late to mitigate their influence. In response, Jefferson and James Madison wrote  the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions.

Biography of Sojourner Truth, Abolitionist and Lecturer

Sojourner Truth (born Isabella Baumfree; c. 1797–November 26, 1883) was a famous African-American abolitionist and womens rights activist. Emancipated from slavery by New York state law in 1827, she served as an itinerant preacher before becoming involved in the anti-slavery and womens rights movements. In 1864, Truth met Abraham Lincoln in his White House office. Fast Facts: Sojourner Truth Known For: Truth was an abolitionist and womens rights activist known for her fiery speeches.Also Known As: Isabella  BaumfreeBorn: c. 1797 in Swartekill, New YorkParents: James and Elizabeth BaumfreeDied: November 26, 1883 in Battle Creek, MichiganPublished Works: The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave (1850)Notable Quote: This is what all suffragists must understand, whatever their sex or color—that all the disfranchised of the earth have a common cause. Early Life The woman known as Sojourner Truth was born into slavery in New York as Isabella Baumfree (after her fathers owner, Baumfree) in 1797. Her parents were James and Elizabeth Baumfree. She was sold several times, and while enslaved by the John Dumont family in Ulster County, she married Thomas, also enslaved by Dumont and who was many years older than Isabella. The couple had five children together. In 1827, New York law emancipated all slaves. At this point, however, Isabella had already left her husband and run away with her youngest child, going to work for the family of Isaac Van Wagenen. While working for the Van Wagenens—whose name she used briefly—Isabella discovered that a member of the Dumont family had sold one of her children into slavery in Alabama. Since this son had been emancipated under New York Law, Isabella sued in court and won his return. Preaching In New York City, Isabella worked as a servant and attended a white Methodist church and an  African Methodist Episcopal Church, where she reunited briefly with three of her older siblings. Isabella came under the influence of a religious prophet named Matthias in 1832. She then moved to a Methodist perfectionist commune, led by Matthias, where she was the only black member, and few members were of the working class. The commune fell apart a few years later, with allegations of sexual improprieties and even murder. Isabella herself was accused of poisoning another member, and she sued successfully for libel in 1835. She continued her work as a household servant until 1843. William Miller, a millenarian prophet, predicted that Christ would return in 1843 amid economic turmoil during and after the panic of 1837. On June 1, 1843, Isabella took the name Sojourner Truth, believing this to be on the instructions of the Holy Spirit.  She became a traveling preacher (the meaning of her new name, Sojourner), making a tour of Millerite camps.  When the Great Disappointment became clear—the world did not end as predicted—she joined a utopian community, the Northampton Association, founded in 1842 by people interested in abolitionism and womens rights. Abolitionism After joining the abolitionist movement, Truth became a popular circuit speaker. She made her first antislavery speech in 1845 in New York City. The commune failed in 1846, and she bought a house on Park Street in New York.  She dictated her autobiography to womens rights activist Olive Gilbert and published it in Boston in 1850.  Truth used the income from the book,  The Narrative of Sojourner Truth, to pay off her mortgage. In 1850, she also began speaking about womens suffrage. Her most famous speech, Aint I a Woman?, was given in 1851 at a womens rights convention in Ohio. The speech—which addressed the ways in which Truth was oppressed for being both black and a woman—remains influential today. Truth eventually met Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote about her for the Atlantic Monthly and wrote a new introduction to Truths autobiography. Later, Truth moved to Michigan and joined yet another religious commune, this one associated with the Friends. She was at one point friendly with Millerites, a religious movement that grew out of Methodism and later became the Seventh Day Adventists. Civil War During the Civil War, Truth raised food and clothing contributions for black regiments, and she met Abraham Lincoln at the White House in 1864 (the meeting was arranged by Lucy N. Colman and Elizabeth Keckley). During her White House visit, she tried to challenge the discriminatory policy of segregating street cars by race. Truth was also an active member of the National Freedmans Relief Association. After the war ended, Truth again traveled and gave lectures, advocating for some time for a Negro State in the west. She spoke mainly to white audiences and mostly on religion, the rights of African-Americans and women, and temperance, though immediately after the Civil War she tried to organize efforts to provide jobs for black refugees from the war. Death Truth remained active in politics until 1875, when her grandson and companion fell ill and died. She then returned to Michigan, where her health deteriorated. She died in 1883 in a Battle Creek sanitorium of infected ulcers on her legs. Truth was buried in Battle Creek, Michigan, after a well-attended funeral. Legacy Truth was a major figure in the abolitionist movement, and she has been widely celebrated for her work. In 1981, she was inducted into the National Womens Hall of Fame, and in 1986 the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp in her honor. In 2009, a bust of Truth was placed in the U.S. Capitol. Her autobiography is read in classrooms throughout the country. Sources Bernard, Jacqueline.  Journey Toward Freedom: The Story of Sojourney Truth. Price Stern Sloan, 1967.Saunders Redding, Sojourner Truth in Notable American Women 1607-1950 Volume III P-Z. Edward T. James, editor. Janet Wilson James and Paul S. Boyer, assistant editors. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press, 1971.Stetson, Erlene, and Linda David.  Glorying in Tribulation: The Lifework of Sojourner Truth. Michigan State University Press, 1994.Truth, Sojourner.  The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: a Northern Slave. Dover Publications Inc., 1997.