Simply Speaking Legal Positivism Philosophy Essay

Simply Speaking Legal Positivism Philosophy Essay Simply speaking legal positivism is synonymous with the positive norms as against the principles of natural law. Legal positivism is often contrasted with Natural law. Going by the natural law school of jurisprudence, most written laws must be or are usually informed by, or made to comport with, universal principles of morality, religion, and justice, such that if not considered fair, it loses the very basic premise for being termed law. For example, persons engaging in peaceful protest through civil disobedience often appeal to a higher natural law in denouncing societal practices that they find objectionable. Legal positivism acknowledges the existence and influence of non-legal norms as sources to consult in evaluating human behaviour, but they contend that these norms are only aspirational, for persons who contravene they suffer no immediate adverse consequences for doing so. By contrast, positivists emphasize that legal norms are binding and enforceable by the police power of the administration, where persons who disrupt the law may be made to face serious consequences which may include fine, custody, loss of property, may end up with death. Legal positivism is based on the ways in which laws have been created and does not demand justification for the content of law or a decision for or against the obedience to law. As such emphasis is mostly on the way laws have emerged over time through practicing, deciding or tolerating certain ways of creating a law. Positivism is based on the framework that issues of legal validity must be strictly separated from questions of morality. What is ought to be has nothing to do what the law actually is. Legal positivism finds it roots way back in ancient Christianity. It is believed that the Ten Commandments held sacred and pre-eminent values. When ancient Greeks intended for a new law to have permanent validity, they inscribed it in stone or wood and displayed it public for all to see. Prior to the American Revolution, English political thinkers like John Austin and Thomas Hobbes came up with the command theory of law. This philosophy model said that the only lawful establishments that the Courts should recognize are the commands of the sovereign. This was because only the Sovereign is entrusted with power over the military and police force. Three varied schools of thought emerge in discussion of legal positivism. 1. The Pedigree Thesis: The pedigree thesis asserts that legal validity is a function of certain common truths. Deriving profoundly from Jeremy Bentham, John Austin  [1]  contends that the major characteristic feature of a legal system is the presence of a sovereign who is habitually obeyed by most people living in the society, but not in the routine of observing any specific human superior. Austins assessment, a rule R is lawfully binding (that is, is a law) in a society S if and only if R is directed by the sovereign in S and is backed up with the danger of an approval. The severity of the threatened sanction is irrelevant; any general sovereign imperative supported by a threat of even the smallest harm is a law. For Austins command theory of law there is a need for the existence of identifiable sovereign in self-governing civilizations. In the United States of America, for instance, the final political power appears to belong to the common people, who pick leaders to represent their welfares. The chosen leaders have the authority to compel the behaviour but are regarded as servants of the people and not as repositories of independent power. The polling population, on the other hand, seems to be the source of the final political authority, yet it lacks the immediate power to coerce behaviour. Thus, in democracies like that of the United States, the final political authority and the power to coerce behaviour seems to reside in different entities. However according to the reputable H. L. A. Hart  [2]  , every legal system must contain so-called primary rules that regulate citizen behaviour, a system consisting entirely of the kind of liberty a restriction found in the criminal law is, at best, a elementary or nascent legal system. The Pedigree theory focuses on the specific rule, namely that necessitates citizens to do or abstain from certain actions, whether they wish to or not. On Harts view, Austins stresses on powerful force that leads him to overlook the presence of a second kind of primary rule that confers upon citizens the authority to produce, alter or extinguish rights and obligations in other persons. Hart lays down, the guidelines for leading the creation of contracts and wills cannot plausibly be characterized as restrictions on freedom that are backed by the danger of a approval. These directions allow people to structure their legal relations within the coercive framework of the law-a feature that Hart corre ctly regards as one of laws greatest contributions to public life. The concept relates clearly to a complete monarchy, but it is not vibrant when applied to a society where some group is the sovereign. L. A. Hart argues that the command theory cannot distinguish between a legitimate government and an armed robber (give me your cash or else). The above-mentioned philosophy is completely based on compulsion. Therefore, on Harts opinion, there are two basic situations that are necessary for the existence of a legal system: On one hand those rules of behaviour which are valid according to the systems ultimate criteria of validity must be generally obeyed, and, on the other hand, its rules of recognition specifying the criteria of legal validity and its rules of change and adjudication must be effectively accepted as common public standards of official behaviour by its officials. Harts view is vulnerable to the same criticism that he levels in contradiction of Austins. Hart discards Austins interpretation as the official application of coercive force can no more give rise to an obligation than can the application of coercive enforced by a gunman. Nevertheless the condition is not unlike that, if the gunman takes the internal point of view towards his authority to give rise such to a hazard. Regardless of the gunmans confidence that he is permitted to make the threat, the victim is grateful, but not obligated, to obey the gunmans commands. A gunmans behaviour is no less coercive because he believes he is entitled to make the threat. 2. The Separability Thesis: Legal positivism also finds its explanations in the Separability thesis. In its universal form, is the Separability thesis asserts that law and morality are conceptually distinct. According to this theory only an object-level claim is made about the existence of conditions for legal validity. More commonly, the Separability thesis is interpreted as making only an object-level claim about the existence conditions for lawful legitimacy. For example H.L.A. Hart  [3]  defines it, the Separability thesis is no more than the simple contention that it is in no sense a necessary truth that laws reproduce or satisfy certain difficulties of morals; however in detail they have frequently done. Insofar as the objective level of understanding the Separability thesis denies it, its a necessary truth that there are moral constraints on legal validity, it suggests the presence of a conceivable legal system in which there are no moral constraints on legal validity. 3. The Discretion Thesis: Another theory commonly associated with positivism is the discretion thesis, conferring to which judges resolve problematic cases by making new law in the exercise of discretion. According to this theory a set of valid legal rules is exhaustive in nature and if any persons case is not covered under such a rule, then that particular case cannot be decided by applying that particular law. This gives the judges a quasi-legislative power to create or promulgate a law in circumstances where a case is not covered by a rule and hence the case cannot be decided by interpreting by applying an existing law/rule. Though often associated by positivism, the discretion thesis does not fit into the positivisms hypothetical idea. The pedigree and Separability theories mean to be conceptual claims that are true of every possible lawful arrangement. These two entitlements jointly proclaim that, within in every possible legal structure, the intentions of law are lawful in virtue of having been manufact ured according to some set of social agreements  [4]  . In this regard, there are no ethical restraints on the content of law that hold in every possible legal system. There could be three different senses in which a judge might be said to have discretion: (1) a judge has discretion when she exercises judgment in applying a legal standard to a particular case; (2) a judge has discretion when her decision is not subject to reversal by any other authority; and (3) a judge has discretion when her decision is not bound by any legal standards. Going by these, the discretion thesis is inconsistent with ordinary legal exercise. Even in the greatest problematic cases where there is no clarity appropriate law, lawyers dont request the judge to adapt the relevant issue by making new law. Each lawyer cites cases favourable to her clients position and argues that the judge is bound by those cases to decide in her clients favour. As a practical matter, lawyers hardly, if ever, acknowledge th ere are no legal morals governing a case and ask the judge to legislate in the exercise of discretion. 4. Conclusion: I conclude by saying that the modern rules in relation to particular place or people were mostly traced or taken from the past rules or from another lawful organization. All the contemporary laws have its individual creation, the issue of conflict of positivists view and historical interpretation is not as real as it thought. The most influential criticism of legal positivism all flow from the suspicion that it fails to give principles its due. The law has significant tasks like bringing harmony and peace in our lives, preceding the common good in safeguarding human rights, or to rule with honesty and therefore it has more relevance with our morals. A. Lon Fuller denies the separation of law and morality. He considers that all the good qualities and characteristics flow by clear consistent and open practices, which can be found not only in law but also in all other social practices in which those features including custom and positive ethics prevail. Further he reproaches that if law is a matter of fact then we are without an explanation of the duty to obey. If amoral law is made there is an obligation to obey.

Intertwined Cultures in the Writings of Jhumpa Lahiri Essay -- Literar

Charlemagne was once quoted having said â€Å"To have a second language is to have a second soul† (Kushner 29). In achieving full comprehension of another language, one also gains insight into the culture of foreign individuals. It is common knowledge that in the modern world, English is the dominant tongue. Yet, bilingualism, even multilingualism, is a sure sign of possessing the scarce knowledge of cultural diversity. As American society becomes more accepting of various cultures in its politics and education, foreign voices also appear more in American literature. The diversity of origins of the latest young writers is vast: In The New Yorker’s 2010 â€Å"Top 20 Under 40† list of new American writers, over one-third were not born in this country. Their homes cross the globe, from Latvia to Peru (â€Å"Top 20 Under 40†). The rise in popularity of stories of these bicultural writers can be attributed to the changing of attitudes in America. Our history and present is laden with the accounts of immigrants. Their perspectives are fresh and bursting with talent. Jhumpa Lahiri, a female Bengali author, gained prominence after she was listed in the 1999 edition of the â€Å"Top 20 Under 40†. That same year, her collection of short stories â€Å"Interpreter of Maladies† was published, and went on to sell millions of copies worldwide. Lahiri in particular is well known for, in the words of Aviya Kushner, â€Å"translating the immigrant experience for us, often lyrically†¦as the English-born child of immigrants, she can move smoothly between both worlds, marveling and assuring us that, yes, it will be all right† (Kushner 27). In many of her short stories, Lahiri focuses on that transition from a foreign culture-in her case, Indian-to American culture. More than oft... ... May 2012. . Kakutani, Michiko. "BOOKS OF THE TIMES; A Broken Body in Shiny, New China." The New York Times. The New York Times, 04 July 2008. Web. 4 May 2012. . Kushner, Aviya. "McCulture." The Wilson Quartlerly 33.1 (2009): 22-29. JSTOR. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Dec. 2009. Web. 2 May 2012. . Lahiri, Jhumpa. Interpreter of Maladies: Stories. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. Print. Ranjini, V., and N. Ramakrishna. "Immigrant Experience In Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter Of Maladies And The Namesake." Poetcrit 21.1 (2008): 64-74. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 5 May 2012 Tyrell, Michael. â€Å"Interpreter of Maladies: Review.† Harvard Review 17 (1999): 198-199. JSTOR. Web. 4 May 2012.

Is Caffeine Addictive? Essay -- Biology Essays Research Papers

Is Caffeine Addictive? As exams approach, students everywhere reach for their coffee mugs, their Vivarine and No-Doz. Legions of wide-eyed and shaky young people stay up late into the night, printing out final papers and cramming a year worth of information into their over-burned minds. Falling asleep over books is not acceptable at this time of year. But this is not a new thing; many students have a late-night lifestyle supported by caffeine, getting an average of 5 hours of sleep a night. These young people are a part of the nearly 80% of Americans who depend on caffeine (1). They use it to stay awake when their bodies tell them they need to sleep. Many people use it simply to feel more awake or simply because they like the taste of coffee, sodas or teas which contain the drug. For those who love coffee, the taste is often cited as the reason for the "addiction" and the use of that word does not imply anything like a drug addiction. However, try to take away someone's coffee abruptly and chances are they will experience withdrawal symptoms (2). The body develops a dependence on caffeine which is very obvious; stop drinking coffee for a day after being a regular drinker and get a headache, then drink coffee and it goes away. Some call this an addiction, coining terms such as "caffeinisme" and "caffeine withdrawal syndrome" (4), and classify caffeine as a mind-altering drug (3) (5) (6) (7). Many others protect caffeine, saying it does not compare to a true drug addiction and some even claim it has benefits-that it not only increases alertness but has other healthful properties (2) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13). It is very difficult to find an objective article on the effects of caffeine, for while the information is often c... ...xhaustion. There is great need for more research regarding the properties of caffeine. There is too much contradictory information and studies are not conclusive. A huge number of people around the world consume enough caffeine to be diagnosed as dependent who have not been reassured that it is safe. Nor have they been given a good enough reason to stop their consumption or cut down to safer levels of caffeine intake. It would take a lot of negative findings to dissuade people from using the drug, but a better understanding on all properties could also find more uses for caffeine and could reassure those who are doubtful of the safety of caffeine consumption. Internet Sources: http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/publications/usa-gymnastics/1996/4/body-balance.html http://www.healthy.net/scr/article.asp?ID=800 http://www.healthy.net/scr/article.asp?ID=2046

How did the nature of work change during the 20th century? Essay

The industrial revolution transformed the nature of work. It involved a breakthrough in the use of inanimate energy and power, massive investment in industries such as iron, coal, and textiles and a transport revolution. Industrialization changed the dimension of work. In pre-industrial society â€Å"those who are employed experience a distinction between their employers time and their â€Å"own† time. And the employer must use the time of his labour, and see it is not wasted, time is now currency: it is not passed but spent. Writing in the 19th century, Marx predicted that the intermediate strata would be depressed into the proletariat. However during the latter 20th century, a number of sociologist’s had suggested that the opposite was happening. They claimed that a process of embourgeoisement was occurring whereby increasing numbers of manual worker’s were entering the middle class. During the 1950’s there was a general increase in prosperity in advanced industrial societies and, in particular, amongst a growing number of manual worker’s whose earning’s fell within the white-collar range. These highly paid affluent workers’s were seen to be increasingly typical of manual worker’s. This development, coupled with study’s, which suggested that poverty was rapidly disappearing, led to the belief that the shape of stratification system was being transformed. From the triangle or pyramid shape of the 19th century (with a large and relatively impoverished working class at the bottom and a small wealthy group at the top), it was argued that the stratification system was changing to a diamond or pentagon shape with an increasing proportion of the population falling into the middle range. In this middle mass society, the mass of the population was middle rather than working class. The U.S work activity has changed radically For example. In the 1950’s, about 20% of the workforce was professional, 20% skilled and 60% unskilled. By the 1970 the comparable figures were about 20% for professional, less than 20% for unskilled and over 60% for skilled. This reflects a change both in the skills required for new and emerging jobs and the rising skill demands for existing jobs. The theory used to explain this presumed development was a version of economic determinism. It was argued that the demands of modern technology an advanced industrial economy determined the shape of the stratification system. E.g. American sociologist Clark Kerr claimed that advanced industrialism request’s an increasingly highly educated, trained and skilled workforce which in turn leads to a higher pay and status occupations. In particular skilled technicians are rapidly replacing unskilled machine minders. Jessie Bernard argued that working-class affluence is related to the needs of an industrial economy for a mass market. In order to expand, industry requires a large market for its products. Mass consumption has been made possible because large sectors of modern industry have relatively low labour costs and high productivity. Bernard claimed that there is a rapidly growing middle market, which reflects the increased purchasing power of affluent manual worker’s. Home ownership and consumer and consumer durables such as washing machine’s, refrigerators, televisions and motorcars are no longer the preserve of white-collar workers. With reference to the class system, Bernard say’s † The proletariat has not absorbed the middle class but rather the other way round, in the sense that the class structure here described reflects modern technology. It vindicates the Marxist thesis that social organisation is â€Å"determined† by technological forces. (Goldthorpe and Lockwood 1969, p.9.) Change in the nature of work has also been driven by the changes in organization structures and the design of management often referenced as the shift from â€Å"fordism† to â€Å"post-fordism†. â€Å"Fordism† is named after Henry Ford, the American car manufacturer who pioneered mass production, which involved fairly rigid, highly structured and hierarchical forms of management. Michael J. Piore is amongst those who believe that capitalist countries have entered a â€Å"post-fordism† era. He claims that much work is now organised according to the principals of flexible specialization, management now involves more team-based work settings, with more governance, greater decentralization and less hierarchical or â€Å"top-down† management. As a result of this shift in organization and management, job design has changed form being narrow, repetitive, simplified, standardized in the old system to being broad, doing many task’s and having multiple responsibilities in the new system. Employees are now required to be multi/cross skilled, whereas specialized skills were required in the old system. These shifts are not likely to slow or lesson in the immediate future and the current economy suggests that these are the more rapid growing industries and job growth in these types of industries will outpace the rate of growth in other industries where the skills demands may be less. Worker’s in companies which are changing along these lines need to be more broadly trained as their work becomes increasingly varied. Because of their long training and the importance of their skills to their companies, they enjoy more job security, and management makes greater attempts to enlist their cooperation. Some firms have adopted another Japanese technique, quality circles. In quality circles groups of workers and managers meet together periodically to discuss how the production or performance of the company can be improved. Other initiatives may include worker’s representatives sitting on company boards, and profit-sharing scheme’s, which enable worker’s to benefit from any success the company enjoys. Flexible specialization then, increases the skills needed by the workforce, and unlike industries where scientific management techniques are used; workers may cooperate with management in organizing the labour process. By, implication, job satisfaction increases and industrial conflict decreases. The theory of flexible specialization also implies a move away from the concentration of capital in giant corporations and an increase in the number of small businesses. The British economist John Atkinson has developed similar views in his theory of the flexible firm. Atkinson believes that a variety of factors have encouraged managers to make their firms more flexible. Economic recession in the 1970’s and 1980’s, and the consequent reduction in trades union power, technological changes and a reduction in the working week, has all made flexibility more desirable and easier to achieve. According to Atkinson flexibility takes two main forms. One of which is functional flexibility, this refers to the ability of managers to redeploy workers between different tasks. Functional flexibility requires the employment of multi-skilled employees who are capable of working in different areas within a firm. Such flexible workers form the core of a company’s workforce. They are employed full-time and have considerable job security. The core is usually made up of â€Å"managers, designers, technical sales staff, quality control staff, technicians and craftsmen†. The second form of flexibility is numerical flexibility, which is provided by peripheral groups. Numerical flexibility refers to the ability of firms to reduce or increase the size of their labour force. The first peripheral group have full-time jobs but enjoy less job security than core workers. These workers might be â€Å"clerical, supervisory, component assembly and testing†, and they are easier to recruit than core workers because their skills are common to employment in many different firms. The second peripheral group of workers are even more flexible. They are not full-time permanent employees. They may work part-time, on short-term contracts, under temporary contracts or under government-training schemes. Atkinson believes that flexible firms are making increasing use of external sources of labour. More work is subcontracted and the self-employed and agency temporaries are used. A change in the attitudes towards work has also changed as a result of industrialization. The historian Thompson argues that large-scale, machine powered industry necessitated the introduction of new working patterns and with them new attitudes. According to Thompson pre-industrial work was regulated by task orientation; the new necessities of the job determined when and how hard people worked. However in post-industrialization the patterns of work are based round time rather than tasks. Thompson says â€Å"time is now currency; it is not passed but spent†. Workers who were used to a considerable amount of control over their work patterns experienced the new working day in the factory, with its emphasis on punctuality, as oppressive. They resented having to work to the clock. The early factory owners had considerable problems trying to persuade people to take jobs in factories. When they had recruited workers they often regarded their reluctant employees as work-shy and lazy. They therefore sought to change their attitudes and get them to accept new working patterns. According to David Lee and Howard Newby: â€Å"workers brought up under the assumptions of â€Å"task orientation†, were subject to massive indoctrination on the folly of â€Å"wasting† time by their employers, a moral critique of idleness which stemmed from the puritan work ethic†. One of the major changes in the nature of work is that the modern concept of the â€Å"housewife† was created in the 20th century. In earlier times, although there were clearly differentiated gender roles, there was little doubt that men and women were both involved in production. No one would have described the wife in a household of European peasants, or American pioneers, as primarily a consumer. In mid-nineteenth century America, households still carried out a vast range of productive activities; growing and preparing food, sewing and mending cloths, and reusing fabric scraps in quilts, rugs, and homemade upholstery, making and repairing furniture, tools, and other household goods, even making candles and sop from household wastes. The expansion of consumer goods industries toward the end of the 19th century began to change all this, providing affordable mass-produced substitutes for many things that had formerly been made at home. This industrial change allowed, and perhaps required, the rise of a consumer society. In the new regime, the work of the housewife shifted away from material production, toward consumption of marketed goods combined with carrying for, or â€Å"nurturing†, other family members. The change was a contradictory one, at once liberating women form exhausting toil, and commercialising daily life to an ever-expanding extent. Over the past century the way in which we go about getting work done has changed dramatically and this has created and facilitated fundamentally different social arrangements in the workplace. Indeed the application of new technologies has created new workplaces and challenged our thinking about where certain kinds of work can and should be done. Technological advances have resulted in the sharp divisions between professionals, skilled workers and unskilled workers being altered dramatically in the latter stages of this century. Whereas a century ago there were far more unskilled workers than skilled ones, in today’s world this has completely reversed and there are know far more skilled workers than unskilled. Bibliography (1) The sociology of work; Keith Grint (2) The personal consequences of work in the new capitalism: Richard Sennett (3) The future of work: Charles Handy (4) Briton in Europe: Tony Spybey (5) Www.islandpress.org/ecocompass/changingnatow/changing

Knowledge management and intellectual capital Essay

Knowledge is something that comes from information processed by using data. It includes experience, values, insights, and contextual information and helps in evaluation and incorporation of new experiences and creation of new knowledge. People use their knowledge in making decisions as well as many other actions. In the last few years, many organizations realize they own a vast amount of knowledge and that this knowledge needs to be managed in order to be useful. â€Å"Knowledge management (KM) system† is a phrase that is used to describe the creation of knowledge repositories, improvement of knowledge access and sharing as well as communication through collaboration, enhancing the knowledge environment and managing knowledge as an asset for an organization. Intellectual capital is considered as a key influencer of innovation and competitive advantage in today’s knowledge based economy. Knowledge management helps in obtaining, growing and sustaining intellectual capital in organisations. This paper focuses on how knowledge management and intellectual capital helps the organization to achieve their goals and as well as the relation between these two concepts. Key words: knowledge management, intellectual capital, organizational goals, benefits Introduction: Knowledge is something that comes from information processed by using data. It includes experience, values, insights, and contextual information and helps in evaluation and incorporation of new experiences and creation of new knowledge. Knowledge originates from, and is applied by knowledge workers who are involved in a particular job or task. People use their knowledge in making decisions as well as many other actions. In the last few years, many organizations realize they own a vast amount of knowledge and that this knowledge needs to be managed in order to be useful. Knowledge management is not one single discipline. Rather, it an integration of numerous endeavours and fields of study. Knowledge management is a discipline that seeks to improve the performance of individuals and organizations by maintaining and leveraging the present and future value of knowledge assets. Knowledge management systems encompass both human and automated activities and their associated artifacts. So, what is Knowledge? Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, expert insight and institution that provides an environment and framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. From this perspective, knowledge management is not so much a new practice as it is an integrating practice. It offers a framework for balancing the numerous of technologies and approaches that provide value, tying them together into a seamless whole. It helps analysts and designers better address the interests of stakeholders across interrelated knowledge flows and, by doing so, better enables individuals, systems and organizations to exhibit truly intelligent behaviour in multiple contexts. The reasons why companies invest in KM are that it either gives them a temporal effectiveness or efficiency advantage over their competitors, or they do it to try to negate the competitive advantage of others. For the purpose of this research, KM is defined to include the five fundamental processes of: (1) Knowledge acquisition (KA) (2) Knowledge creation (KC) (3) Knowledge documentation (KD) (4) Knowledge transfer (KT) and (5) Knowledge application (KAP) These five KM processes are not necessarily sequential but rather iterative and overlap. The effective management of knowledge necessitates a thorough understanding of the relationships not only among the KM processes themselves but also between the KM processes and the intellectual assets of an organization. Intellectual capital (IC): Intellectual capital can include the skills and knowledge that a company has developed about how to make its goods and services. It also includes insight about information pertaining to the company’s history; customers; vendors; processes; stakeholders; and all other information that might have value for a competitor that, perhaps, is not common knowledge. Intellectual capital is therefore, not only organizational knowledge, it is also industry knowledge. It is the combination of both cognitive knowledge and intuitive/experience-related knowledge. Intellectual capital is known for creating innovation and competitive advantage in this knowledge based era. But knowledge management plays a dominant role in obtaining, growing and sustaining intellectual capital in organizations which implies that the successful implementation and usage of KM ensures the acquisition and growth of Intellectual capital. Organizations should deploy and manage their IC resources in order to maximize value creation. The IC term was first introduced by Galbraith (1969) as a form of Knowledge, intellect, and brainpower activity that uses knowledge to create value. Since then, different views of IC have been emerged. For instance, view IC as a knowledge that can be converted into value. IC as the aggregation of all knowledge and competencies of employees that enable an organization to achieve competitive advantages. In addition, IC is defined to include all non-tangible assets and resources in an organization, including its processes, innovation capacity, and patents as well as the tacit knowledge of its members and their network of collaborators and contact. In spite of its multidimensionality, this research conceptualizes IC as consisting of three basic interrelated dimensions: Human capital (HC) Organizational (or structural) capital (OC), Relational (or customer) capital (OR) Human Capital encompasses attitudes, skills, and competences of the members of an organization. Organizational Capital includes elements such as organizational culture, routines and practices, and intellectual property. Relational Capital, however, includes relationships with customers, partners, and other stakeholders. The investments in Human Capital, Organizational Capital, and Relational Capital are expected to increase the value of an organization. The management of intellectual capital involves: Identifying key IC which drive the strategic performance of an organisation. Visualizing the value creation pathways and transformations of key IC Measuring performance and in particular the dynamic transformations. Cultivating the key IC using KM processes The internal and external reporting of performance Knowledge management and Intellectual capital: IC and KM serve different purposes and include the whole range of intellectual activities from knowledge creation to knowledge leverage. IC and KM as a set of managerial activities aiming at identifying and valuing the knowledge assets of an organization as well as leveraging these assets through the creation and sharing of new knowledge. KM and IC are believed to be closely coupled. When KM activities are used to develop and maintain IC, it becomes a resource of sustainable competitive advantage. On the other hand, when IC is properly utilized and exploited, it increases the absorptive capacity of the organization, which, in turn, facilitates its KM processes. Knowledge can add value to organizations through intangible assets such as Intellectual capital. Conceivably, the socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization (SECI) model is a more fitting theoretical foundation for understanding the KM-IC relationship. The SECI model outlines different interactive spaces (Ba), in which tacit knowledge can be made Explicit. The IC components (e.g. HC, OC and RC) represent the input for the knowledge creation process in the SECI model, and its main output takes the form of commercially exploitable intangibles. The four processes of the SECI model involve not only knowledge creation and utilization but also the other KM components including knowledge transfer, knowledge documentation, and knowledge acquisition. Knowledge transfer (sharing) is the common factor of the four processes of the SECI model. Socialization facilitates the conversion of new tacit knowledge through shared experience, which allows the less communicated knowledge to be communicated. Therefore, the socialization processes involve knowledge transfer. In addition, externalization is the process of articulating tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge, which can be shared by others. In the combination and internalization processes, knowledge is exchanged and reconfigured through documents, meetings, or communication networks. Effective execution of the SECI processes can generate different types of IC. Socialization involves the accumulation of HC, OC, and RC by sharing and transferring experiences through joint activities. Also, the conversion of tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge through externalization creates and accumulates OC. Combination creates knowledge structures in the form of systemic, institutionalized knowledge (i.e. OC) that can be directly disseminated and distributed. Internalization, on the other hand, accumulates HC and RC through learning by doing. Review of Literature: Francis Bacon has emphasized on importance of knowledge management in organizations with his famous phrase â€Å"knowledge is power† (Muller-Merbach, H. 2005). The strategy that considers knowledge along with other resources such as land, work and capital as an asset is knowledge management (Nonaka and Takouchi, 1995). Dell (1996) believes that knowledge management is a systematic approach for finding, understanding and applying of knowledge in order to create knowledge. According to Simon (1999) knowledge management is intelligent planning of processes, tools, structures and etc with the purpose of increasing, restructuring, sharing or improving of knowledge application that is apparent in each of three elements of mental capital, i.e. structural, human and social. Some of the clear-sighted believe that knowledge management is not a technology (Clair Guy, 2002; Lang, 2001; DiMatta, 1997; Koenig,2002; McInerey, 2002). This process helps organizations to be able to use their assets, work faster and more wisely and obtain more capital (Shawarswalder, 1999). An increased attention is focused on KM and IC management in the organisation. In the last decade there has been a shift in management focus from traditional accountancy practices where financial capital is paramount, to growing realisation that intangible assets are of greater significance in our knowledge-based economy (Egbu et al 2000, 2001). Knowledge can be a valuable resource for competitive advantage and harnessing its value is one of the pre-eminent challenges of management. Identifying and exploiting knowledge assets, or intellectual capital (IC), has been vastly documented. There are different types of knowledge in an organisation from the tacit knowledge of individuals, which is unarticulated and intuitive, to explicit knowledge that is codified and easily transmitted (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). Further distinctions have been made by academics and practitioners involved in the IC debate. Three components of IC have been identified comprising human, structural and customer capital (Edvinsson, 2000; Bontis, 1998; Bontis et al., 2000). However, it is asserted that the human capital in an organisation is the most important intangible asset, especially in terms of innovation (Edvinsson, 2000; Stewart, 1997; Brooking, 1996). Marr et al. (2003) argue that KM is a fundamental activity for growing and sustaining IC in organizations. Bontis (1999) posits that managing organizational knowledge encompasses two related issues: organizational learning flows and intellectual capital stocks. Organizational learning, as a part of KM (Rastogi, 2000), reflects the management’s effort to managing knowledge and ensures that IC is continually developed, accumulated, and exploited. A thorough review of the relevant literature and discussions with targeted researchers in the field would suggest that the development of successful knowledge management programmes involve due cognisance of many factors. Compilation of data: Knowledge Management consists of managerial activities that focus on the development and control of knowledge in an organization to fulfil organizational objectives. The knowledge sharing takes place in the organizations in two ways, explicit and tacit. The knowledge management seem to in two tracks as dynamic process or static object. Depends on how individuals understand what knowledge is and their aims both intellectual capital and knowledge management actors thus emphasize either the static or the dynamic properties of knowledge. Measuring the knowledge management is growing area of interest in the knowledge management field. The metrics are being developed and applied by the some organizations, but limitation of current measures is that they do not necessarily address the knowledge level and the types of value added knowledge that individuals obtain. The intellectual capital is most valuable asset it brings intellectual capital firmly on to the management agenda. The sum of everything everybody in organization knows that gives a competitive edge in the market place. The individual intellect effect more attribute of an organization. The intellectual capital characterizing as Intellectual material that has been formalized, captured and leveraged to produce the static properties of knowledge are inventions, ideas, computer programs, patents, etc., as Intellectual Capital also include human resources, Human Capital, but emphasize that it is clearly to the advantage of the knowledge firm to transform the innovations produced by its human resource into intellectual assets, to which the firm can assert rights of ownership. The measures for intellectual capital in use: 1. Value extraction 2. Customer capital 3. Structural capital 4. Value creation 5. Human capital Components of intellectual capital: Human capital indicators Structural capital indicators The knowledge management community needs to be responsive to the needs management in the organization by trying to adequately measure the intellectual capital and assess the worthiness of the knowledge management initiatives. Developing metrics and studies for measuring intellectual capital will help to consolidate the knowledge management field and give the discipline further credibility. Applying of knowledge is very important to the supply chain design and operation. Intellectual capital and knowledge management principle helps to enterprise supply chains. Knowledge management is formalizes approaches to understanding and benefiting knowledge assets at the firm level. The drivers which maximizes the enterprise supply chains Operational efficiency Opportunities to better service customer and stakeholders need A spring board for innovation A foundation concept in the field of intangible assets that is important for practice in that there are two dimension of knowledge, explicit and tacit. Next we develop these ideas further by interleaving intangible and traditional firm assets. Later we indentify the special characteristics priorities for the four generic supply chain models The intellectual capital approach: Intellectual capital comprises all the nonmonetary and nonphysical resources that are fully or partially controlled by the organization and contribute to the value creation. Three categories of intellectual assets are organizational, relationship and human. Strategies to manage knowledge: 1. Operational excellence 2. Design excellence Conclusion: Hence we would like to conclude that this paper has considered the importance of knowledge management and intellectual capital to organisations. Knowledge management practices differ from organisation to organisation. Organisations are at different stages in the knowledge management trajectory. Organisations ‘learn’ at different rates and apply different techniques (formal and informal) in managing knowledge. In the study on which this paper is based, there is a general consensus that the management of knowledge assets is vital for business. Knowledge Management and Intellectual Capital should be integrated to maximize organizational effectiveness. However, the relationship between KM and IC is complex and so is its management. In order to effectively manage such a relationship, it is imperative to understand where and how the accumulated IC is reflected in managing KM activities in organizations. The management of knowledge and intellectual capital provides opportunities for project creativity and innovation. However, the effective implementation of knowledge management in organisations depends on many factors, which includes people, culture, structure, leadership, people and the environment. In most organisations, there is a lack of appropriate formal measuring constructs for the measurement of the benefits of knowledge assets to organisational performance. Managers operating in the knowledge economy are required to be â€Å"knowledge leaders,† who must be aware of the relationship between knowledge and those who possess it in order to successfully fulfil their leadership responsibilities. Based on the findings of this research, managers in the organizations are expected to develop strategies, adopt structures, and construct systems that effectively coordinate and integrate the efforts aiming at managing knowledge, human resource, and customer relationship in order to enhance knowledge flows, accumulate IC, and create and sustain business values. References: Intellectual capital and knowledge management: A new era of management thinking?- Jodee Allanson Reconfiguring knowledge management – combining intellectual capital, intangible assets and knowledge creation – Tomi Hussi Intellectual capital and Knowledge management effectiveness Bernard Marr, Oliver Gupta, Stephen Pike, Goran Roos. Developing knowledge management metrics for measuring intellectual capital – Jay Liebowitz Influence of KM and Intellectual capital on organisational innovations – Charles Egbu, Katherine Botte rill and Mike Bates

Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement

Care should be taken, however, to ensure that deals are accurately valued, taking into account all considerations, such as relationship value, time value of money and the likelihood that the other party will live up to their side of the bargain. These other considerations are often difficult to value, since they are frequently based on uncertain or qualitative considerations, rather than easily measurable and quantifiable factors. The BATNA is often seen by negotiators not as a safety net, but rather as a point of leverage in negotiations. Although a negotiator’s alternative options should, in theory, be straightforward to evaluate, the effort to understand which alternative represents a party’s BATNA is often not invested. Options need to be real and actionable to be of value,[1] however without the investment of time, options will frequently be included that fail on one of these criteria. [citation needed] Most managers overestimate their BATNA whilst simultaneously investing too little time into researching their real options. [citation needed] This can result in poor or faulty decision making and negotiating outcomes. Negotiatiors also need to be aware of the other negotiator’s BATNA and to identify how it compares to what they are offering. 2] BATNA was developed by negotiation researchers Roger Fisher and William Ury of the Harvard Program on Negotiation (PON), in their series of books on Principled negotiation that started with Getting to YES, unwittingly duplicating a game theory concept pioneered by Nobel Laureate John Forbes Nash decades earlier in his early undergraduate research. [citation needed] Contents [hide] 1 Definitions 2 Examples 2. 1 Selling a car 2. 2 Purchasing 3 See also 4 References 5 External links [edit]Definitions BATNA An acronym defined by negotiation researches Roger Fisher and William Ury which means Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement. 3] It is the alternative action that will be taken if your proposed agreement with another party result in an unsatisfactory agreement or when an agreement cannot be reached. Historical Theories The Nash Equilibrium as developed by John Forbes Nash, the father of Game Theory, is described in Getting to YES[3] as the underlying idea for the concept of BATNA in negotiation (Roger B. Myerson, April 1996). [4] In a nutshell, Nash Equilibrium theory explains that, if in a group of players, each player has in consideration the other player’s decisions, then no one will benefit from altering their decisions, if the other players haven’t either. 5] Example of Nash Equilibrium Theory Amy and Phil are in Nash Equilibrium if Amy is making the best decision she can, taking into account Phil’s d ecision, and Phil is making the best decision he can, taking into account Amy’s decision. Likewise, a group of players are in Nash Equilibrium if each one is making the best decision that he or she can, taking into account the decisions of the others. We cannot think of BATNA without first understanding the notion of negotiation. Negotiation has been part of the â€Å"business† mentality of human beings as we know it, since the beginning of mankind. Take for example the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, one of the longest ongoing negotiations of the kind, based primarily on the dispute over land (UN, 1948). We negotiate every single day of our lives; whether it is goods, commodities, ideas, positions, or money. The list could be endless. For this reason knowing how to negotiate is very important. The idea is to have all parties mutually satisfied with the results achieved through the highest standards of (Ethics) and legitimate standards. In no other time of world history as the modern days, has the ability and the necessity of knowing how to negotiate, using sophisticated tools and civil discourse been so essential to society. As explained in Getting to YES, â€Å"We are each participants in a pioneering generation of negotiators†¦ it is central to human life and the survival of our species. â€Å"[3] Negotiations Concepts Leading to Good BATNA A ruthless, aggressive and cold blooded negotiation style is the framework approach most people have when it comes to negotiation,[6] a theoretical example of that is Adversarial Approach Style Negotiation. 6] But in reality, as mentioned by experts and researchers such as Fisher and Ury [3] it doesn’t have to be that way. As the world moves to more sophisticated platforms of communication, negotiation follows the trend and Problem-Solving Approach(citation) is in a way, the â€Å"antidote† of Adversarial Approach Style Negotiation. Getting to YES[3] sugge st an Interest-Based Model for the use of Problem-Solving Approach. Interest-Based Model focus on separating the person (positional) from the problems (resolution) and then concentrate on the resolution. This way allowing for both parties in a distributive way to get the results they both want. ABC’s of BATNA Having a BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) as part of the negotiation is imperative as the name explains. No one should come to the negotiation table without a BATNA. [7] This will allow for intelligent negotiation and bargain zones. In addition to having a BATNA, parties should have a Bottom Line or Reservation Price. What this prevents is that neither party will come out with agreements they don’t need[3] Often, parties go to the negotiation table with what they imagine is a great BATNA. For example, how many times have you walked into a job interview with no other solid job offers in hand, let alone perspective of solid salaries, benefits and other great things you are looking for in a job. [3] The ability to be in a powerful position so the negotiation can be intelligent and satisfactory to both parties requires preparation and research. So do not cut yourself short for the lack of having a better BATNA at all times. [3] If having a good BATNA in essential, developing a BATNA is equally important. Let’s assume that you are going to work for a company that is not offering you the salary you desire. Instead, you know that they offer other perks such as, company cars, luxurious vacation homes, and state-of-the-art computers and laptops to their employees. In other words, Alternatives. [3] Attractive Alternatives is what you want to explore in order to develop a very strong BATNA. In Getting to YES, the authors give 3 suggestions of how you can accomplish this: Inventing a list of actions you might take if no agreement is reached Converting some of the more promising ideas and transforming them into tangible and partial alternatives Selecting the alternative that sounds best BATNA rules Parties should never disclose their BATNA, unless, the alternative is better. In other words, if your best alternative to a negotiated agreement is better than what the other party is offering, then disclosing it, is to your advantage. If on the other hand it is worse, then do not disclose it. BATNA in Cross Cultural Frameworks Currently in the United States and due to recent world events, there are more and more individuals with a different cultural background and approach to negotiation. When individuals come to the negotiation and bargaining table ready to use their BATNA, and one of the parties is from a different culture, there is a tremendous game change in approach. Both parties need to think and account for cultural cognitive behaviors. Both parties must expand their thinking negotiation hats by not allowing external judgment and biases to affect the negotiation. As mentioned earlier, separate the individual from the objective[3] For example imagine you are negotiating with a party from an Arab Nation. Is this going to effect your view of how you are going to negotiate? Or even if you are the party from that nation, are you prepared to receive an offer lower than your BATNA because you know you are from a different culture. The previous is a very simple example, but the purpose here as Gulliver[8] mentioned, is for negotiation parties to be aware. Disclosure This is a very new topic in negotiation and there aren’t many frameworks in place to help this scenario. Nonetheless, preparation at all levels, including prejudicial free thoughts, emotional free behavior, biases free behavior are just a few ways according to the Handbook of Negotiations and Culture[9] that can helps in the right direction. edit]Examples The following examples illustrate the basic principles of identifying the BATNA and how to use it in further negotiations to help value other offers. [edit]Selling a car If the seller of a car has a written offer from a dealership to buy the seller’s car for $1,000, then the seller’s BATNA when dealing with other potential purchasers would be $1,000 since the seller can get $1,000 for the car even without reaching an agreement with an alternative purchaser. In this example, other offers that illustrate the difficulty of valuing qualitative factors might include: An offer of $900 by a close relative An offer of $1,100 in 45 days (what are the chances of this future commitment falling through, and would the seller’s prior BATNA (the $1,000 offer from the dealership) still be available if it did? ) An offer from another dealer to offset $1,500 against the price of a new car (does the seller want to buy a new car right now, and the offered car in particular? ) [edit]Purchasing Buyers are often able to leverage their BATNA with regards to prices. This is done through buying from the lowest cost or best value seller. [edit]See also Getting to YES Getting past No Conflict resolution research Alternative Dispute Resolution in a Nutshell [edit]References ^ Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement | Negotiation Experts ^ Negotiation, Readings, Exercises and Cases, Roy J. Lewicki ^ a b c d e f g h i j Fisher and Ury, Roger and William (2011). Getting to YES. Penguin Books. pp. 1–170. ISBN 978-0143118756. ^ Myerson, Roger B. â€Å"Nash Equilibrium and the History of Economic Theory†. Nash Equilibrium and the History of Economic Theory. Journal of Economic Literature. Retrieved 1 October 2012. ^ Hawkins and Steiner, Jeff and Neil. â€Å"The Nash Equilibrium Meets Batna†. Gamed Therory Varied Ueses in ADR. Harvard University Press. Retrieved 1 October 2012. ^ a b Nolan-Haley, Jaqueline M (2001). Alternative Dipute Resolution in a Nutshel. Thomson West. pp. 39–50. ISBN ISBN 978-0314180148. ^ Honeyman and Schneider, Andrea and Chistopher (2006). The Negotiators Fieldbook: Desktop Reference. American Bar Association. pp. 200–300. ISBN 978-1590315453. ^ Gulliver, P. H (1979). Disputes and Negotiation: A Cross Culture Perspective. Academic Press. p. 287. ^ Brett and Gelfand, Jeanne and Michael (2004). The Handbook of Negotiations and Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement Care should be taken, however, to ensure that deals are accurately valued, taking into account all considerations, such as relationship value, time value of money and the likelihood that the other party will live up to their side of the bargain. These other considerations are often difficult to value, since they are frequently based on uncertain or qualitative considerations, rather than easily measurable and quantifiable factors. The BATNA is often seen by negotiators not as a safety net, but rather as a point of leverage in negotiations. Although a negotiator’s alternative options should, in theory, be straightforward to evaluate, the effort to understand which alternative represents a party’s BATNA is often not invested. Options need to be real and actionable to be of value,[1] however without the investment of time, options will frequently be included that fail on one of these criteria. [citation needed] Most managers overestimate their BATNA whilst simultaneously investing too little time into researching their real options. [citation needed] This can result in poor or faulty decision making and negotiating outcomes. Negotiatiors also need to be aware of the other negotiator’s BATNA and to identify how it compares to what they are offering. 2] BATNA was developed by negotiation researchers Roger Fisher and William Ury of the Harvard Program on Negotiation (PON), in their series of books on Principled negotiation that started with Getting to YES, unwittingly duplicating a game theory concept pioneered by Nobel Laureate John Forbes Nash decades earlier in his early undergraduate research. [citation needed] Contents [hide] 1 Definitions 2 Examples 2. 1 Selling a car 2. 2 Purchasing 3 See also 4 References 5 External links [edit]Definitions BATNA An acronym defined by negotiation researches Roger Fisher and William Ury which means Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement. 3] It is the alternative action that will be taken if your proposed agreement with another party result in an unsatisfactory agreement or when an agreement cannot be reached. Historical Theories The Nash Equilibrium as developed by John Forbes Nash, the father of Game Theory, is described in Getting to YES[3] as the underlying idea for the concept of BATNA in negotiation (Roger B. Myerson, April 1996). [4] In a nutshell, Nash Equilibrium theory explains that, if in a group of players, each player has in consideration the other player’s decisions, then no one will benefit from altering their decisions, if the other players haven’t either. 5] Example of Nash Equilibrium Theory Amy and Phil are in Nash Equilibrium if Amy is making the best decision she can, taking into account Phil’s d ecision, and Phil is making the best decision he can, taking into account Amy’s decision. Likewise, a group of players are in Nash Equilibrium if each one is making the best decision that he or she can, taking into account the decisions of the others. We cannot think of BATNA without first understanding the notion of negotiation. Negotiation has been part of the â€Å"business† mentality of human beings as we know it, since the beginning of mankind. Take for example the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, one of the longest ongoing negotiations of the kind, based primarily on the dispute over land (UN, 1948). We negotiate every single day of our lives; whether it is goods, commodities, ideas, positions, or money. The list could be endless. For this reason knowing how to negotiate is very important. The idea is to have all parties mutually satisfied with the results achieved through the highest standards of (Ethics) and legitimate standards. In no other time of world history as the modern days, has the ability and the necessity of knowing how to negotiate, using sophisticated tools and civil discourse been so essential to society. As explained in Getting to YES, â€Å"We are each participants in a pioneering generation of negotiators†¦ it is central to human life and the survival of our species. â€Å"[3] Negotiations Concepts Leading to Good BATNA A ruthless, aggressive and cold blooded negotiation style is the framework approach most people have when it comes to negotiation,[6] a theoretical example of that is Adversarial Approach Style Negotiation. 6] But in reality, as mentioned by experts and researchers such as Fisher and Ury [3] it doesn’t have to be that way. As the world moves to more sophisticated platforms of communication, negotiation follows the trend and Problem-Solving Approach(citation) is in a way, the â€Å"antidote† of Adversarial Approach Style Negotiation. Getting to YES[3] sugge st an Interest-Based Model for the use of Problem-Solving Approach. Interest-Based Model focus on separating the person (positional) from the problems (resolution) and then concentrate on the resolution. This way allowing for both parties in a distributive way to get the results they both want. ABC’s of BATNA Having a BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) as part of the negotiation is imperative as the name explains. No one should come to the negotiation table without a BATNA. [7] This will allow for intelligent negotiation and bargain zones. In addition to having a BATNA, parties should have a Bottom Line or Reservation Price. What this prevents is that neither party will come out with agreements they don’t need[3] Often, parties go to the negotiation table with what they imagine is a great BATNA. For example, how many times have you walked into a job interview with no other solid job offers in hand, let alone perspective of solid salaries, benefits and other great things you are looking for in a job. [3] The ability to be in a powerful position so the negotiation can be intelligent and satisfactory to both parties requires preparation and research. So do not cut yourself short for the lack of having a better BATNA at all times. [3] If having a good BATNA in essential, developing a BATNA is equally important. Let’s assume that you are going to work for a company that is not offering you the salary you desire. Instead, you know that they offer other perks such as, company cars, luxurious vacation homes, and state-of-the-art computers and laptops to their employees. In other words, Alternatives. [3] Attractive Alternatives is what you want to explore in order to develop a very strong BATNA. In Getting to YES, the authors give 3 suggestions of how you can accomplish this: Inventing a list of actions you might take if no agreement is reached Converting some of the more promising ideas and transforming them into tangible and partial alternatives Selecting the alternative that sounds best BATNA rules Parties should never disclose their BATNA, unless, the alternative is better. In other words, if your best alternative to a negotiated agreement is better than what the other party is offering, then disclosing it, is to your advantage. If on the other hand it is worse, then do not disclose it. BATNA in Cross Cultural Frameworks Currently in the United States and due to recent world events, there are more and more individuals with a different cultural background and approach to negotiation. When individuals come to the negotiation and bargaining table ready to use their BATNA, and one of the parties is from a different culture, there is a tremendous game change in approach. Both parties need to think and account for cultural cognitive behaviors. Both parties must expand their thinking negotiation hats by not allowing external judgment and biases to affect the negotiation. As mentioned earlier, separate the individual from the objective[3] For example imagine you are negotiating with a party from an Arab Nation. Is this going to effect your view of how you are going to negotiate? Or even if you are the party from that nation, are you prepared to receive an offer lower than your BATNA because you know you are from a different culture. The previous is a very simple example, but the purpose here as Gulliver[8] mentioned, is for negotiation parties to be aware. Disclosure This is a very new topic in negotiation and there aren’t many frameworks in place to help this scenario. Nonetheless, preparation at all levels, including prejudicial free thoughts, emotional free behavior, biases free behavior are just a few ways according to the Handbook of Negotiations and Culture[9] that can helps in the right direction. edit]Examples The following examples illustrate the basic principles of identifying the BATNA and how to use it in further negotiations to help value other offers. [edit]Selling a car If the seller of a car has a written offer from a dealership to buy the seller’s car for $1,000, then the seller’s BATNA when dealing with other potential purchasers would be $1,000 since the seller can get $1,000 for the car even without reaching an agreement with an alternative purchaser. In this example, other offers that illustrate the difficulty of valuing qualitative factors might include: An offer of $900 by a close relative An offer of $1,100 in 45 days (what are the chances of this future commitment falling through, and would the seller’s prior BATNA (the $1,000 offer from the dealership) still be available if it did? ) An offer from another dealer to offset $1,500 against the price of a new car (does the seller want to buy a new car right now, and the offered car in particular? ) [edit]Purchasing Buyers are often able to leverage their BATNA with regards to prices. This is done through buying from the lowest cost or best value seller. [edit]See also Getting to YES Getting past No Conflict resolution research Alternative Dispute Resolution in a Nutshell [edit]References ^ Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement | Negotiation Experts ^ Negotiation, Readings, Exercises and Cases, Roy J. Lewicki ^ a b c d e f g h i j Fisher and Ury, Roger and William (2011). Getting to YES. Penguin Books. pp. 1–170. ISBN 978-0143118756. ^ Myerson, Roger B. â€Å"Nash Equilibrium and the History of Economic Theory†. Nash Equilibrium and the History of Economic Theory. Journal of Economic Literature. Retrieved 1 October 2012. ^ Hawkins and Steiner, Jeff and Neil. â€Å"The Nash Equilibrium Meets Batna†. Gamed Therory Varied Ueses in ADR. Harvard University Press. Retrieved 1 October 2012. ^ a b Nolan-Haley, Jaqueline M (2001). Alternative Dipute Resolution in a Nutshel. Thomson West. pp. 39–50. ISBN ISBN 978-0314180148. ^ Honeyman and Schneider, Andrea and Chistopher (2006). The Negotiators Fieldbook: Desktop Reference. American Bar Association. pp. 200–300. ISBN 978-1590315453. ^ Gulliver, P. H (1979). Disputes and Negotiation: A Cross Culture Perspective. Academic Press. p. 287. ^ Brett and Gelfand, Jeanne and Michael (2004). The Handbook of Negotiations and

INTRODUCTION TO ACCOUNTING Speech or Presentation

INTRODUCTION TO ACCOUNTING - Speech or Presentation Example For example, the cost of sales amount represents the total amount of cost that was incurred or during the same accounting period as when the sales output was made. The purpose is to ensure that the gross profit and the net profit are generated from deducting the same period costs and expenses to the same period revenues (Dyson, 2010). Relevance concept states that all data gathered and presented must be relevant to the decision making process (Noreen, 2008). If the manager plans to set up a branch in Scotland, the manager needs relevant data from Scotland, not from China (Dyson, 2010). Additionally, the raw materials information is relevant to the management’s decision as to replacing the current raw materials with higher quality raw materials (Weetman, 2006). The move is set to increase the customers’ demand for the company’s products and services. Reliability concept states that some misstatements of the company’s financial report accounts may reduce the readers’ reliability on the financial reports (Dyson, 2010). For a report to be reliable or trustworthy, companies are required to have an independent or external auditor submit a report as the trueness of the financial reports presented to interested parties (Verzuh, 2005). On the other hand, the amount paid is recorded as a debit to taxes or licenses or business permits. The company will also record the credit to cash for the year 2012. Consequently, the amount paid increases the expenses shown in the income statement. Similarly, the balance sheet will show a deduction amounting to  £4,800 and another  £4,800 for the entire 2012 annual accounting period ending December 31 2007 (Drury, 2006). The company should record a debit to accounts receivable. The account title represents the amount that the customer promises to pay at an agreed future time. Similarly, the company will record a sales amount in the sales or revenue section of the client’s financial statements (Dyson,