Get a raise without asking for one

Get a raise without asking for one You’ve put in the time and work and want to see the results in your paycheck. But while just simply steeling yourself and asking might be your most direct bet, it’s tough. Many of us probably would rather suffer along with our current measly salaries than actually get up the courage to face our managers in person. If this sounds like you, never fear: there are ways of asking for a raise without directly asking for a raise. If you’re backwards about coming forwards, here’s what to try.Be everybody’s go-to guy or gal.If there’s a crisis or a conundrum, be the team member everybody else turns to: the port in a storm, the level head, or the problem solver. Bonus points if you’re also the one everybody likes and trusts the most.Do more/better.If you can bring on extra clients or customers or drastically cut cost by switching to a new supplier? Aces. Show your value by helping the company grow or by making a direct influence on its bottom li ne- especially if your company is suffering. If you don’t help bring in more business, how can they even afford to up your pay?Do everything you were hired to do- extremely well- plus take on as many additional value-adding projects as you can. If you rock everything you take on, everyone around you will notice.Make your boss look good.Your boss is human and therefore susceptible to this kind of vanity. Remember: she probably wants a pay bump as much as you do. Do whatever you can to make her look good and she’ll probably be more inclined to help you out by seeing that you receive extra monetary appreciation. After all, she’ll want to keep you around so the good work and accolades continue.Do the grunt work.You know those hot potato projects nobody wants to touch? That work no one wants to do? Volunteer and do it with style and vigor. Not only your boss will appreciate this- your whole team will be grateful and have you to thank. And the more popular you are com e review time, the better your odds of getting upgraded in the salary department.Get someone on the inside.If possible, seek out an advocate within your company- someone high up enough who really knows your capabilities and has influence over decisions. It could be your boss or another mentor within the company. Find someone you know likes you and your work to sing your praises when the time comes- a trusted company voice lobbying for you is gold come review time.Make yourself irreplaceable.The more you render yourself indispensable, the more valuable you become. If your boss and company realize they could not perform without you, they’ll do what it takes to keep you around.Go beyond your job description.Don’t just get good at what you do and train up on the skills and experience you need for your specific job. Inform yourself on current industry trends and the evolution of your field and company. Follow the latest developments and challenges and start thinking about p ossible changes you can make within your company. Ask the questions the higher-ups don’t have time to delve into and find viable solutions. There’s no way people won’t notice you if you make a long-lasting change that gets tangible results.

The Best Way to Approach ACT English Passages

The Best Way to Approach ACT English Passages SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The format of the ACT English ispretty weird and unusual, compared to most of your high school English tests(though the new SAT Writing is fairly similar). If you want to succeed on this section, you have to know how to approach its unique passage-based structure. "And how," you ask, "do I do that?"Always, always, have a plan. In this guide, I'll show you the best way to read and answer ACT english questions when you attack the passage. These strategies come from my experience working personally with nearly a hundredstudents. You should apply themin your own ACT English practice to help you prepare thoroughly for test day. Why You MUST Have a Plan The structure of the ACT English is weird. That's just a fact. It's unlike anything you'll have seen elsewhere, it has a lot of questions, and it gives you a lot more information than you actually need. Because of its strange format, a lot of students find this section confusing. They make two main mistakes: rushing through the questions so quickly that they endup with a lot of extra time at the end and skipping between the underlined sections without looking at the context. By far the best way to combat these issues is to have a plan of attack that you employ in the exact same way every time. Your exact approach will depend on what works for you,but anygood strategy will ensure that you always read the entire sentence surrounding an underlined portion before trying to answer the question. Consistency is key: once you pick a strategy, you should use iton every ACT English practice passage andtest. The Best Strategy for Reading the ACT English Passages Though, as I mentioned, every student is different, there is one strategy that I recommend everyone at least tries: we'll call itthegraf-by-graf strategy. For this approach, youread each paragraph, and then go back through and answer the questions in that paragraph. Simple enough, right? This strategy is ideal because it gives you a clear sense of the passage and forces you to read full sentences before answering questions about them. It can be a little time-consuming, so if you struggle with running out of time, you may want to consider one of the alternatives listed below. But make sure to try this one first- you might be surprised! Let's go through how the graf-by-graf approachworks on an actual ACT English section: In this example, you start by reading the first paragraph, until you reach the purple line, and then answer the questions that are marked with purple boxes. You can see how having read the entire paragraph makes answering question 26, which asks for the sentence that "most effectively introduces the information that follows," much easier. Questions 27 and 28 are still a bit tricky since they appear in the same sentence- in these cases, make sure to look at both underlined portions and consider whether the answer to one will affect the answer to the other. Once you've completed the two-step process for the firstparagraph, you move on to the next one. Read down to the green line and then answer the question marked in green. On a real ACT English section, you would repeat this process for each paragraph in each of the five passages. 3 Alternative Passage Strategies Graf-by-graf is generally the best approach, but maybe you've tried and it really doesn't work for you- you're consistently running out of time or find yourself getting distracted by parts of the passage that aren't really that important. In that case, there are three other possibilities you can try, depending on what exactly you're struggling with. Strategy 1: Answer as You Go In this approach, you read through the passage and when you come to an underlined passage you continue past it to the end of the sentence, and then go back to answer the question before moving forward. This strategy is straightforward and quick, so it's great if you're running out of time with only a few questions left on the graf-by-graf approach or if you find yourself getting distracted or overwhelmed with multiple passes involvedin that strategy. However, it gives you a less thorough perspective on the context, which can make answering questions about transitions or about a paragraphas a whole more challenging. It also has the potential to fail completely if you don't implement it strictly: you must always read to the end of the sentence or you will miss questions. Let's walk through how to use this strategy correctly. For this strategy, you would start by reading the pink highlighted sentence and then answering question 26. However, 26 asks how best to introduce the rest of the paragraph, which makes it bit tricky. You can either takeyour best guess based on your knowledge of the passage in general (for example, you can rule out G and H because the passage, and the previous paragraph, is about the narrator's relationship with Rosie, not just facts about tortoises), read a few additional sentences before answering, or skip it and come back after doing 27-29. The next step is to read the green highlighted portion, and then answer 27 and 28. As we discussed above, whentwo questions appear in the same sentence, you need to pay attention to whether they affect each other- although, in this case, they don't. The next step is to read the rest of the first paragraph (highlighted in blue), and answer 29. Finally, read the purple sentence and answer number30. Since this is the last question for the passage, you don't need to worry about reading the res of that paragraph. As you can see, this strategy is more streamlined than the graf-by-graf approach. However, there's also more room for error, so if you struggle with consistency, I wouldn't recommend tackling passages this way. Strategy 2: Sentence-by-Sentence For the sentence-by-sentence approach, you only read the sentences that include underlined portions. This strategy isn't ideal since youwon't get as clear an understanding of the overall context, which can make answering the rhetorical skills questions harder. Also, like the answer as you go strategy, this approach can be challenging to stick to. I don't recommend using it if you are shooting for a score higher than a 25. However, if you are running out of time by a lot using the graf-by-graf approach, whether because you get distracted by irrelevant details or because you struggle to read the full paragraphsquickly enough, this strategy may be a good option for you. Just remember that you always have to read the entire sentence. Let's look at an example to see how this works in practice. First, read the blue highlighted sentence. 26 is a big picture question, solike with the Answer as You Go strategy, you'll need to either make your best guess or skip it and come back. (I recommend the latter option.) Next,look at the pink highlighted sentence and answer 27 and 28. Then, readthe yellow sentence and answer 29. (This is a good point to go back to 26, since you'll now have a good sense of the paragraph it's asking about.) Finally, read the green sentence and answer 30. For a full ACT Englishsection,you just follow the same pattern for all 15questions in each passage. Strategy 3: Passage First The last approach is to skim the entire passage first, and then go back through using sentence-by-sentence to answer the questions. This strategy is the most thorough, and if you find yourselfmissing most of the big picture questions toward the end of passages because you don't really understand the passages, it might be a good fit for you. For most students, however, this approach is more trouble, and time, than it's worth. (In case you're curious, the correct answers for the example questionsabove are as follows: 26. G, 27. D, 28. F, 29. A, 30. G) Finding the Right Strategy for You and Employing It Effectively We've just covereda lot of different ideas, but don't panic!I'm going to give you a step-by-step plan to figuring out the best ACT English passage approach for you and putting it into practice. Step 1: Try Graf-by-Graf Everyone should start by trying out the best strategy. Maybe you'll hate it or maybe you'll love it, but, either way, you need to try it and see. Step 2: Analyze Why You're Missing Questions and Decide on the Best Approach After you finish the practice section, got over it carefully and analyze whichquestions you missed and why. (For a more detailed take on how to review practice tests, check out our walkthrough of the process.) Then consider the following questions as you decide which strategy to use: Did you run out of time? If so, by how much? If you're running out of time with five or fewerquestions left, try the answer-as-you-go approach. If you're running out of time with six or more questions left, try sentence-by-sentence. Do you have time left over? How much? If you have more than 3-4 minutes left at the end, you are probably rushing and need to slow down. Make sure you're reading the passage and the questions thoroughly. Did you miss a lot of the big picture questions that ask about entire paragraphs or the passage as a whole? Did you miss a lot of questionsabout sentence fragments, parallelism, or run-ons? Missing a lot of questions on these topicsoften indicates that you aren't looking at the whole sentence before answering the question. If you're struggling with the concepts themselves, check out our guides on sentence structure and parallelism. Make sure you always read to the end of the sentence before picking an answer- if you have a hard time remembering to do so with the strategy you're using, consider trying another. Based on your answers to these questions, decide which of the four strategies is best for you, and then try it out. Sometimes it takes a couple of tries to figure out what works best. Step 3: Practice, Practice, Practice Once you've decided on a strategy, you have to use it every time you practice. Because the primary goal of these strategies is to ensure that you approach the passages in a methodical way, they're only effective if you use them consistently. If you're having a hard time doing so, consider trying a different approach. It may take a while to find the right strategy for you! What's Next? Need some tests to practice on? You can find five free official PDFs right here. Maybe you've decided on your approach to the passages, but are struggling with some of the specific question types. Take a look at our overview of everything tested on the ACT English. If you're looking for more big picture ACT English strategies, check out the 5 key ACT English tips or these 9 strategies to get a 36 on the ACT English. Not sure whether to take the ACT or SAT? Get the lowdown on the difference between the ACT English and the SAT Writing. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this English lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

Aviation Security & its Impact on Airports Term Paper

Aviation Security & its Impact on Airports - Term Paper Example This particular fact is even less arguable than the first two, and has in fact become common knowledge. It is precisely because of this that every airport, without exception, will have more than a few shops and establishments operating there, hoping to make money off the many inbound and outbound passengers – so much so that some airports could easily be mistaken for full-blown shopping malls. Fastfood chains are also omnipresent in airports for those who wish to grab a bite before or after a long flight, not to mention travel agents for those who wish to avail of tours and other travel packages. However, there are also those who would use such knowledge to achieve much more sinister ends, such as al-Qaeda who precipitated 9/11 by slamming airliners into the World Trade Center as well as the Pentagon. An even more recent example is what happened in August 2006, where airports all over the United States, United Kingdom and Canada had to beef up security due to imminent bomb thr eats – especially notable for being the first time the US Terror Alert Level had ever been raised to ‘red’ (Barrot, 2006). Without a doubt, then, airport management has the responsibility of ensuring the safety of their arriving as well as departing passengers. It was in fact the aforementioned incident that led to airports the world over stepping up their security measures permanently. While airport security could hardly have been called lax since 9/11 (Transport Security Administration, 2011), the most recent update to airport security has included a more thorough body check that includes the crotch – an addition that has seen fierce debate on whether to prioritize safety or privacy of passengers. This being the case, this paper aims to examine the very concept of airport security, from the simplest possible definition to the currently existing security measures. All in all, the intent is to reflect whether the current security measures are adequate, whe ther they are lacking, or whether they are a bit excessive, and then from there, to make suggestions on what can still be improved. Airport Security – An Overview Belger (2001) of the US Federal Aviation Administration defines airport and aviation security as a set of techniques and methods employed to safeguard aircrafts and airport, passengers and crew against crime, as well as to support national security and counterterrorism policies. Inbound and outbound passengers, regardless of reputation or stature, are subject to a thorough search for weapons, drugs, explosives and other contraband in order to make flights as safe as possible (Schneier, 2004). Not even well-known public figures are exempt from this SOP, as evidenced from how even Senator Al Gore himself went through such a stringent inspection. As detailed on the website of the Transportation Security Administration (2011), over 700 security checkpoints and over 7,000 baggage checking areas exist all over Americaâ₠¬â„¢s checkpoints today. Each day, in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security Technology Research Lab (TSA, 2011) new technologies and procedures are being tried and tested in order to maximize the efficiency of security checks with the intent of ensuring utmost safety and security for traveling passengers. An estimated 43,000 Transportation Se

Aspects of Adaptive Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Aspects of Adaptive Leadership - Essay Example The various examples and cases discussed in the case study including that of the game strategy used by Earvin 'Magic' Johnson and Bobby Orr; helped in driving home the key message that leaders today are not only required to identify the critical challenges faced by the organizations posed by the external environment but must also orient the employees regarding such challenges and equip them with the task of adapting to the changes by reflecting on their day to day activities. Through various examples discussed in the case study, I learned the value of adaptive work and its relevance, especially in present day and age. This case study helped me in understanding the fact that in the absence of an adaptive work ethics in contemporary corporate environments, businesses risk the threat of extinction. Given the increasing competition brought about by globalization and technological advancements, conventional attitudes towards leadership and management it is imperative to replace convention al approaches to leadership with adaptive leadership. In conclusion, one of the most valuable lessons I learned via this case study is the fact that leadership entails a process of ushering in a generally unwelcome reality and motivating the employees and/or individuals to successfully adapt to it. It refers to the manner in which leaders coax the employees to unlearn the conventional work practices by guiding them to adapt their behavior in a way that helps them thrive in this extremely competitive and dynamic business environment.

Vidal Business Strategy Overconfidence

Vidal Business Strategy Overconfidence Introduction During the annual business plan meeting regarding the shower gel brand Vidal, it was decided for 2017 to decline the 1+1 promo quantities in an effort to achieve better profitability versus last year. From the arguments that were presented, i believe that the team has overestimated the probability for the latter scenario to happen, since the decision might has been impacted by overconfidence. The aim of this report is a) to present arguments that justify the latter, b) to detect the source of this bias and c) to recommend de-bias techniques that will be proved useful also for the future. The case Vidal, in a short period of time became the 3rd player into the segment, with a continuous growth. Last year it gained +3.5 points in terms of market share and a +30% increase in value sales. Managers pointed that the key drivers of success were: a) the great value for money product b) the highest rate of 1+1 promo intensity c) the investment on distribution and traditional advertising. The team concluded that the objective to penetrate the market was completed and there is an opportunity to achieve better profitability and ROI at the end of 2017. This could happen by a 20-25% reduction in 1+1 promo quantities. Following this strategy, managers estimated that they can retain at least last years value sales, which in combination with the lower cost of selling goods will improve the brands profitability. The greatest ally that will support the latter is products excellence and consumer loyalty. More specifically, they considered that the combination of products low price (2ndlowest) and quality is so unique, that by reducing the 1+1 promo, consumers will be directed towards the regular product. Moreover, after the distribution expansion the team estimated that the products superiority versus competition will attract new consumers. I feel that both scenarios are overconfident and their probabilities should be reassessed for the following reasons. Initially, the findings of a qualitative research indicated that Vidal is a value for money product, but still lacks in terms of packaging. Most consumers considered the packaging as old fashioned and correlated it with Private Label. Additionally, they indicated some practical issues during the usage which are capable to restrain both users experience and perceptional quality. From a quantitative perspective, it was noticed that 55% of Vidals revenues were generated from the 1+1 quantities whereas the regular product presented a sharp increase in 3 out of 5 variances, mainly because of distribution expansion and not from gaining consumers from other players. Private Labels are leaders into the segment while in 2016 presented a substantial growth. From the data report, I noticed that the second player had around -40% lower price during some periods that are not supported from their 1+1 promo wave. From the latter I suspect that they might invested in price reductions in order to constrain PLs growth since they are more expensive. As a consequence I would like to underline that: Private labels are growing significantly in a price sensitive segment. Maybe by reducing 1+1 quantities we might push our consumers towards them, since we are highly correlated and more expensive. Palmolive might has realized the threat of PL and might has adapted its strategy by offering price reductions. The initiative to reduce our investment under these circumstances might also outflow consumers towards them. I think that the team has overestimated the regular products competitive advantage compared with competition and underestimated the importance of 1+1 promo. I believe that the source of this bias is generated by the teams motivation to improve profits since its a key performance indicator for both the companys and managers growth. During this effort managers knew that is not feasible to increase investment in order to boost sales and consequently they thought about a cost reduction strategy. The initial feedback about the very good results might boosted their confidence, whereas the fact that the brand has experienced only successes might constrained them to consider alternative scenarios. In order to improve the decision making process I would like to recommend some techniques of reducing overconfidence. The first is related about the importance of counter-argumentation. This means that managers when taking a decision should consider reasons why this decision might goes wrong. If the latter is difficult then they could ask from outsiders to express their opinion. For example in our case before approving the decision all the team members is recommended to list a number of reasons why the 1+1 reduction could not lead to increased profitability. In case that no one could think about any reason then, the Sales force should provide some input, since they have excellent sense of the market and its dynamics. Secondly, I would indicate the importance of feedback. The company is operating since 1970 while is consisted form experienced and new members. It is a great opportunity to exploit the companys knowledge by creating a case-study library that will host all the companys past successes and failures. Once a year we could organize the Sarantis-Training-Academy, in which managers will be assigned with cases, and they will be asked to provide their input for each strategy by assigning probabilities about their favored hypothesis. Afterwards, they will be informed about the real outcome and managers will be aware if they are overconfident or not. Finally from now on, I recommend that the Brand manager should be accountable for every decision. After every business plan meeting he will be responsible to present the proposals on the board of directors. The fact that he will have to present the ideas to seniors and experienced members might help him to enhance both self and group-criticism and reducing overconfidence. Conclusion The marketing team might has overestimated the probability of their scenario regarding the brands strategy of 2017, whereas this time has neglected also the normative approach. The excellent launch in combination with the fact that Vidal has experienced only successes might boosted the level of confidence. In order to improve the decision process this report has proposed 3 debias techniques (feedback, consider-the opposite and accountability) that according to the behavioral research seem to eliminate overconfidence. Part B Introduction Overconfidence might be proved a deleterious element for the decision making process since it does not only evokes people to overestimate their probabilities about the favored scenario but it also can cause catastrophic consequences. For example, in a study that examined the effect of overconfidence on newsvendors forecasts, showed that the higher the overconfidence the faster the profit loss (Crosson and Ren, 2009), while nowadays overconfidence seems to be a key driver for many start-up failures. This report is based on previous studies, and aims to underline the causes that triggered overconfidence to the Vidals marketing team while in parallel is focusing to provide a series of debiasing techniques in an effort to eliminate its effect. Overconfidence and Success In Vidals case I feel that the successful launch among with the wide recognition of the teams efforts, might have boosted their level of confidence. This relationship between success and overconfidence has lot of similarities with the case of Ducati. More specifically, in 2003 Ducati entered the motorcycle racing circuit MotoGP without having high expectations. During this effort, the team was focusing on data analysis and was gathering continuous feedback from the drivers for its improvement. At the end of the first year, Ducati surpassed every expectation and gathered the 2nd place, whereas for next year the team targeted the 1st place. This time the differentiated point was that the team stopped looking deeply into the data and receiving feedback. They considered that now their experience was enough in order to create an even better motorbike. Once a team member indicated you look into the data to understand whats going wrong and not why you are performing well. The next year Ducati did not covered expectations and performed even worse than the previous year. (Gino and Pisano,2011). Similarly, like on Ducatis case, it is remarkable how the Vidals marketing team after its successful launch didnt look deeply into the data, since so far it was a key principle prior taking any action. Additionally, the team seemed overconfident not only about their predictions but also about the products characteristics and performance. There are findings which show that success can inspire overconfidence. For example in a recent study, Hilary and Menzly (2016) found that analysts becoming overconfident when they achieve accurate forecasts as they tend to rely more on private information and to neglect markets reaction. As a consequence they perform less accurate predictions in the future. Additionally, when a trader achieves successful performance he becomes overconfident as he tends to revise his perceptional skills higher than the expected. The latter leads him not to use important information even though he might has a good database (Gervais and Odean, 2001). Walter and Ferrier (2004) stated also that success could generate overconfidence while it makes managers intolerant on new prospects. Since, success inspires overconfidence, it is important for managers to examine and understand the causes of success (Gino and Pisano,2011). Definition and Sources of Overconfidence Plous (1993,p.217) stated that no judgement decision is more prevalent and more catastrophic than overconfidence. In order to support this rationale in his book are some examples of the negative consequences of overconfidence. One of them is the destruction of Pearl Harbor, since Americans considered impossible the scenario for someone to conduct a proper attack in that location. Similarly, NASA, before the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986, had estimated that the risk of failure was 1/10,000. Overconfidence might has different forms. The first is related when someone overestimating the probability of the favored outcome to occur (Griffin and Varey, 1996), while the others are related when people consider themselves to be better than others, or when someone overestimates his skills or performance (overestimation) (MooreHealy,2007). I believe that in Vidals case both types are valid. This happens because the team might overestimated the probability to retain the amount of 2016 value sales by neglecting critical information, while they have excellent perception about the products potential. Russo and Shoemaker (1992) stated that a major cause of overconfidence is a persons difficulty to imagine all different outcomes that an event could have (availability bias).Due to this deficiency people become overconfident regarding their predictions as they have fewer paths to consider. In Vidals case the team could not envision different consequences of the cost reduction strategy, whereas the fact that the brand had only successes, might restricted the teams effort to recall or envision different scenarios. Another cause of overconfidence according to Russo and Shoemaker is anchoring. They stated that managers are anchored to one value or idea without making any adjustments, As a result they might generate sales forecasts before setting and adjusting their confidence rates. A prior study of Tversky and Khaleman (1974) confirmed this relationship by also stating that people tend to underestimate the risk of failure. The fact that cost reduction was the first thing that crossed the teams mind, might be due to an association based error. People are not used to think hard and usually trust the judgment that comes first into their mind (Kalheman,2003). Here, the first thing that the managers noticed was that Vidal had by far the highest promo intensity, while they might recalled from their semantic memory that cost reduction is a common and direct way to improve profitability. Arkes (1991) stated that people can think reasons to support their judgments much faster than the contradictory ones. The latter in combination with the fact that supportive reasons are greatly cued can cause overconfidence. Debiasing Techniques and Limitations Lichtenstein and Fischhoff (1980), stated that people are usually overconfident, but in an experiment that they conducted they found that feedback could improve participants calibration. Calibration is the skill to assign probabilities that equals the correct estimations (Sharp et.al, 1988). Performance feedback is one out of four types of feedback (outcome, process, environmental, performance) that are related with judgmental predictions, and can be divided into two subtypes (scoring-rule and calibration feedback)(Benson Onkal, 1992). In 1987, Arkes conducted an experiment between 2 groups in order to detect the effect of feedback. The 2nd group was informed that will have easy questions to answer while the 1st group was told that the questions were difficult. However, in reality both questions were difficult. After the first 5 questions the second group had higher confidence but same accuracy ratio with the first group. During the next sessions and after the second group received the discouraging feedback the members expressed less confidence and better accuracy. Similarly, in a recent study in which participated 57 students it was founded that performance feedback reduced overconfidence and lead to more accurate predictions (Al-Harthy 2016). Moreover, Richards (2015), examined as well the effect of feedback. This time the sample was consisted from 171 MBA students with 5 years of working experience. The participants were asked to assess themselves in 5 areas and afterwards to participate in a 3-hour assessment regarding their skills (problem solving, decision making, leadership, teamwork and planning).After the assessment, they participated in a pedagogy course in order to understand the essentials of behavior in relevance with the above skills. In parallel, they were being involved with many tasks such as: feedback and discussions with students. At the end of the semester the subjects repeated the same assessment. It was found that participants initially were overconfident in their self-assessment but after the feedback and the training cou rse their overconfidence level was reduced. Russo and Shoemaker(1992) pointed out the importance of feedback in companies since its a fast and cheap way to reduce overconfidence. He proposed that, companies should provide the employees with actual past cases where the result is known and to ask them to provide their guesses combined by their confidence level. With this method that was applied also successfully in Shell in order to train its junior gemologists, the employees learn to assess their level of confidence in relevance with their job and to identify if they are overconfident or not. However, all the above do not mean that feedback is always effective. Meikle et.al (2016) stated that this method is not suitable for people who have vested interest in seeing the world in a biased way. More specifically, a study in which participated football fans showed that feedback was not able to improve their accuracy on predictions since most of them still had preferences towards their favorite team (Massey et.al,2011).Additionally, the scoring-rule feedback (subtype of performance feedback) in which the forecaster gets rewards or penalties according to the outcome of his prediction doesnt show to reduce overconfidence (Fisher,1982). Finally, its important to indicate that this method is less efficient on overconfident CEOs, as they tend to show greater resistance on feedback which restricts them from improving calibration (Chen,et.al,2014). Feedback is useful for improving the decision making process since one of its characteristics is to warn that something, goes wrong or it might go wrong Thaler and Sunstein (2008). Kahneman (2003) stated that an outsiders view can provide more accurate predictions while it is less possible to provide unrealistic estimations. This happens because the outsiders view can provide safety against favored predictions that have less probabilities than the expected to happen (Kahneman Lovallo,1993). The outsiders can exploit knowledge from previous experiences by taking also into account the problems unique characteristics and data. As a result, since many people are overconfident, it is recommended for important decisions to ask either from an outsider to share his opinion or the decision maker to try to think like an outsider (Bazerman, 2013). This means that the decision maker should either think of reasons why his scenario might go wrong or to ask from others to provide counterarguments (Russo Shoemaker,1992). The latter might be proved helpful since considering the opposite scenario is capable to reduce the high levels of confidence (Soll et.al 2013).In a study that was conducted by Koriat et.al (1980), it was found that when subjects wrote down contradicted reasons and alternatives against their selected answer, they showed less confidence and better calibration. One way that might lead to this direction and to reduce overconfidence is accountability. The fact that the person is accountable for the decision, will lead him to enhance his pre-emptive self-criticism as he will have to present the decision and its rationale to others (Larrick, 2004).This mechanism will lead him to improve the decision quality and to assess more objectively the alternatives (Tetlock et.al, 1989). In a study that was conducted by Tetlock Kim(1987) the subjects participated in a person-perception process. The participants after receiving responses from each test taker they were asked to submit a short personality brief and to retake the test. This time they had to predict the responses of each test taker by assigning probabilities and level of confidence. It was found that subjects that they were told (before the test), that the researcher would like to have a detailed interview about their answers, to show more appropriate levels of confidence and better accuracy. Similarly in a recent study that participated 71 student students in a computer-based laboratory showed that accountability reduced significantly overconfidence (Jermias,2006). However, Brown (1999) stated that accountability might lead managers to take decisions that are most favorable to their peers, while the great amount of information could cause the lost-pilot effect if it will not being used properly (Larrick,2004). Accountability, does not seem to improve calibration in organizations in which the answer to the question what is a good decision is maddeningly subjective (e.g advertising agencies), whereas it is more effective in preventing rather reversing judgmental biases (Tetlock Kim 1987). The positive effect of overconfidence recommendations Contrary to all the above, overconfidence does not have solely negative effects. As Goethe wroteFor a man to achieve all that is demanded of him he must regard himself as greater than he is. Bernardo and Welch (2001) stated that overconfident entrepreneurs are more likely to explore their environment and to provide additional information to their social group while overconfident managers are more willing a)to take risk decisions b)to devote more effort and c) to motivate the team to accomplish its goal (Gervais et.al,2002). Finally, Taylor and Brown (1998) indicated that overconfident and optimistic people are more positive, happier and they have excellent ability for caring about others. Since overconfidence has also a positive side, Russo (1992) recommends that managers should distinguish between deciding and doing. This means that the decision process should be combined by realism and rationality, whereas the implementation of the decision should take advantage of the motivational benefits of overconfidence. As a result, its important for the decision makers to realize what they do know and what they dont, while the ones who are implementing the decision should indulge overconfidence when they think that will be proved beneficial for the performance. Conclusion Overconfidence when impacts the decision process could have negative consequences. However, it has some advantages that can be exploited from the ones who are implementing the decision. Since the decision process is critical, it is suggested to eliminate this effect by using three debiasing techniques. Performance feedback seems to improve calibration, whereas when people are thinking about why their decision might go wrong, they tend to reduce overconfidence. Finally, in special cases accountability seems to enhance self-criticism and to lead to a more rational way of thinking. References       Al-Harthy, I. (2016). Prediction Accuracy: The Role of Feedback in 6th Graders Recall Predictions. International Education Studies, 9(3), 212. doi:10.5539/ies.v9n3p212 Arkes, H. (1991). Costs and benefits of judgment errors: Implications for debiasing. Psychological Bulletin, 110(3), 486-498. doi:10.1037//0033-2909.110.3.486 Arkes, H., Christensen, C., Lai, C., Blumer, C. (1987). Two methods of reducing overconfidence. Organizational Behavior And Human Decision Processes, 39(1), 133-144. doi:10.1016/0749-5978(87)90049-5 Bazerman, M. (2013). Becoming a first-class noticer. How to spot and prevent ethical failures in your organization. Harvard Business Review. Bernardo, A. Welch, I. (2001). On the Evolution of Overconfidence and Entrepreneurs. Journal Of Economics Management Strategy, 10(3), 301-330. doi:10.1162/105864001316907964 Benson, P. ÃÆ'-nkal, D. (1992). The effects of feedback and training on the performance of probability forecasters. International Journal Of Forecasting, 8(4), 559-573. doi:10.1016/0169-2070(92)90066-i Brown, C. (1999). Do the Right Thing: Diverging Effects of Accountability in a Managerial Context. Marketing Science, 18(3), 230-246. doi:10.1287/mksc.18.3.230 Chen, G., Crossland, C., Luo, S. (2014). Making the same mistake all over again: CEO overconfidence and corporate resistance to corrective feedback. Strategic Management Journal, 36(10), 1513-1535. doi:10.1002/smj.2291 Chen, G., Crossland, C., Luo, S. (2014). Making the same mistake all over again: CEO overconfidence and corporate resistance to corrective feedback. Strategic Management Journal, 36(10), 1513-1535. doi:10.1002/smj.2291 Ferrier, W. Lyon, D. (2004). Competitive repertoire simplicity and firm performance: The moderating role of top management team heterogeneity. Managerial And Decision Economics, 25(67), 317-327. doi:10.1002/mde.1193 Fischer, G. (1982). Scoring-rule feedback and the overconfidence syndrome in subjective probability forecasting. Organizational Behavior And Human Performance, 29(3), 352-369. doi:10.1016/0030-5073(82)90250-1 Gervais, S. Odean, T. Learning To Be Overconfident. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.36313 Gervais, S., Heaton, J., Odean, T. Overconfidence, Investment Policy, and Executive Stock Options. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.361200 Gino, F. Pisano, G. (2011). Why Leaders Dont Learn From Success. Harvard Business Review, 1-8. Griffin, D. Varey, C. (1996). Towards a Consensus on Overconfidence. Organizational Behavior And Human Decision Processes, 65(3), 227-231. doi:10.1006/obhd.1996.0023 Healy, P. Moore, D. The Trouble With Overconfidence. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.1001821 Hilary, G. Menzly, L. Does Past Success Lead Analysts to Become Overconfident?. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.1753771 Kahneman, D. (2003). Maps of Bounded Rationality: Psychology for Behavioral Economics. American Economic Review, 93(5), 1449-1475. doi:10.1257/000282803322655392 Kahneman, D. Lovallo, D. (1993). Timid Choices and Bold Forecasts: A Cognitive Perspective on Risk Taking. Management Science, 39(1), 17-31. doi:10.1287/mnsc.39.1.17 Koriat, A., Lichtenstein, S., Fischhoff, B. (1980). Reasons for confidence. Journal Of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning Memory, 6(2), 107-118. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.6.2.107 Larrick, R. (2004). Blackwell handbook of judgment and decision making. Choice Reviews Online, 42(08), 316-337. doi:10.5860/choice.42-4710 Lichtenstein, S. Fischhoff, B. (1980). Training for calibration. Organizational Behavior And Human Performance, 26(2), 149-171. doi:10.1016/0030-5073(80)90052-5 Massey, C., Simmons, J., Armor, D. Hope Over Experience: Desirability and the Persistence of Optimism. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.1552394 Meikle, N., Tenney, E., Moore, D. (2016). Overconfidence at work: Does overconfidence survive the checks and balances of organizational life?. Research In Organizational Behavior, 36, 121-134. doi:10.1016/j.riob.2016.11.005 Plous, S. (1993). The psychology of judgment and decision making (1st ed.). Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Ren, Y., C. Croson, D., T.A. Croson, R. (2016). The overconfident newsvendor. Journal Of The Operational Research Society. doi:10.1057/s41274-016-0103-5 Richards, D. (1997). Developing Cross-Cultural Management Skills: Experiential Learning in an International MBA Programme. Management Learning, 28(4), 387-407. doi:10.1177/1350507697284001 Russo, E. Shoemaker, P. (1992). Managing Overconfidence. Sloan Management Review, 1-7. Sharp, G., Cutler, B., Penrod, S. (1988). Performance feedback improves the resolution of confidence judgments. Organizational Behavior And Human Decision Processes, 42(3), 271-283. doi:10.1016/0749-5978(88)90001- Soll, J., Milkman, K., Payne, J. (2015). A USERS GUIDE TO DEBIASING, 1-29. Sunstein, C. Thaler, R. (2008). Nudge: improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness (1st ed.). Clitheroe: Joosr Taylor, S. Brown, J. (1988). Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health. Psychological Bulletin, 103(2), 193-210. doi:10.1037//0033-2909.103.2.193 Tetlock, P. Kim, J. (1987). Accountability and judgment processes in a personality prediction task. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 52(4), 700-709. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.52.4.700 Tetlock, P. Kim, J. (1987). Accountability and judgment processes in a personality prediction task. 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Accounting Harmonization In The Eu Accounting Essay

This study will supply a brief history and background on the procedure of harmonisation in the European Union with respects to the 2 methods it employed: Directives and IFRS acceptance. By supplying a footing for which harmonisation can be understood and why it is necessary, this study strives to clarify the successes and failures of the methods. In peculiar, the issues that arose during the execution of IFRS in the EU will be used to further show the demand for harmonisation, utilizing specific criterions as illustrations. The relationship between accounting harmonisation and auditing will be debated with specific focal point on the EC Green Paper on iAudit Policy: Lessons from the Crisisi as it points to ongoing concerns in the effort to accomplish accounting harmonisation. 2. History and Background of Accounting Harmonization Definition Harmonization is a procedure of increasing the compatibility of accounting patterns by puting bounds to their grade of fluctuation ( Nobes & A ; Parker, 2010 ) . Basically, harmonisation allows states to utilize different criterions so long as they are non in struggle. This varies somewhat from convergence, the end of the IASB, which aims to develop high quality criterions alongside national standard-setters to cut down international differences. The importance of this differentiation highlights the differences in the harmonisation attempts by both the EU and IASC/B. The demand for harmonisation Globalization has led to big companies looking to increase their gross revenues and growing chances beyond national markets. To pull equity and debt funding to accomplish these ends, many of these companies are looking to be listed on different stock exchanges. Additionally, investors are spread outing their portfolios beyond national boundary lines as planetary markets have created greater chances for puting. As a consequence, the differences in the coverage patterns of such companies is now of great importance as this has led to troubles for those who prepare, consolidate, audit and interpret fiscal statements. Two of the major obstructions to accounting harmonisation are patriotism and the current size of the bing differences between states. The EU has attempted to accomplish harmonisation by utilizing Directives and Regulation through IFRS criterions ias such, the attempts of the EU in making a incorporate concern environment every bit good as the acceptance of IFRS in 2005 provide a relevant platform for understanding the harmonisation procedure. This study seeks to convey this in subdivision XXXXX below. 3. The Accounting Directives The Directives are an effort to harmonise coverage patterns by necessitating member states to integrate the directives into their national Torahs. The Fourth and Seventh Directives were aimed at accounting harmonisation while the Eighth Directive was aimed at audit. Fourth Council Directive i Annual histories of companies with limited liability iThis Directing co-ordinates Member Statesi commissariats refering the presentation and content of one-year histories and one-year studies, the rating methods used and their publication in regard of all companies with limited liability ( European Commission, 2009 ) .i The commissariats of the Directive require populace and private companies in all EU states to include a balance sheet, net income and loss history, with a pick of 2 different layouts, every bit good as notes to the histories as portion of the one-year histories. It besides provides the general rules by which points must be valued. The earliest proposal for the Fourth Directive led to the first bill of exchange being developed in 1971 i the bill of exchange was to a great extent influenced by German jurisprudence and as a consequence, the Directive prescribed conservative rating regulations, stiff formats and limited revelation in the notes. By 1974, a twelvemonth after accession to the EU, UK influence in the Directive became evident with the debut of the itrue and just viewi construct ; greater flexibleness in the presentation formats and increased accent on revelation in the notes. The Directive was adopted by the EU in 1974 and has since been amended every bit many as 14 times in line with international developments. One major amendment was in 2001 when the Directive was further aligned with IASB criterions by leting the demands of IAS 39 on the just rating of fiscal instruments to be employed. This was a significant move as this had been a combative issue and served the intent of modernizing European accounting regulations – this will be discussed in more item in subsequent subdivisions. Another critical amendment came in 2003, when the Accounts Modernisation Directive was issued i it extended the usage of just values and farther eliminated incompatibilities with IASB criterions. The most recent amendment in 2009 resulted in 2 developments ; foremost, companies in member provinces with 10 or fewer employees were exempt from the demands of the Directive. In add-on, a audience papers was issued puting out a proposal for rearranging the Directives to better its comprehension* . Seventh Council Directive i Consolidated histories of companies with limited liability iThis Seventh Company Law Directive coordinates national Torahs on amalgamate ( i.e. group ) accounts Together with the Fourth Directive on the one-year histories of public limited liability companies, it belongs to the household of â€Å" accounting directives † that form the armory of Community legal Acts of the Apostless regulating company histories ( European Commission, 2009 ) .i This Directive was adopted in 1983 to better international readying and comparing of fiscal statements. It does so by ordering the fortunes under which amalgamate histories must be prepared every bit good as the methods for readying. Harmonizing to the Directive, any company that lawfully controls another company is required to fix amalgamate histories. The 1976 and 1978 bill of exchanges failed to clear up the construct of control for the intent of consolidation. As such, the adopted Directive efforts to better what is meant by the term icontroli . In states where consolidation had been unheard of e.g. Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain, the Directive signified a marked move towards modernization. This was of great significance given that in 2005, the EUis harmonisation attempts in footings of group accounting eventually converged with that of the IASB with the acceptance of IFRSs by EU listed companies. As such, the Seventh Directive has now since been overtaken by IFRS criterions. 4. Statutory Audit Directive ( Previously ) Eighth Council Directive i Qualifications of individuals responsible for transporting out the statutory audits of accounting paperss iThis Directive purposes to increase the credibleness of fiscal coverage and to heighten the European Unionis ( EU ) protection against fiscal dirts by puting down regulations harmonising the processs for statutory audits of one-year histories and amalgamate histories. It establishes, among other things, a demand for external quality confidence, commissariats on public supervising, the responsibilities of statutory hearers and the application of international criterions and the rules of independency applicable to statutory hearers. The Directive besides provides a footing for cooperation between regulators in the EU and those in 3rd countriesi ( European Commission, 2009 ) . The adopted Directive ( 1983 ) differs well from earlier bill of exchanges which would hold had important impact on the preparation forms and range of work of comptrollers in a figure of states, notably the UK. The Directive was introduced to find which individuals are allowed to transport out audits by ordering making and educational demands. The demand to overhaul the Eighth Directive was recognized by the EC in the communicating iReinforcing the statutory audit in the EUi , published in 2003. It contained the scheme of the EC in coming old ages sing audit affairs such as public inadvertence and ordinance at the EU degree. In response to Enron and other accounting dirts, the Directive was amended in 2006 i it focused on quality confidence by necessitating the constitution of hearer inadvertence organic structures, supplying regulations on professional unity and independency, guaranting attachment to ISAs as endorsed by the EU in executing statutory audits, constitution of audit commissions and the publication of transparence studies on audit houses. In a command to promote the growing of alternate audit houses, farther recommendations were released in 2008 with the aim of giving more duty to oversight organic structures and to promote member provinces to restrict the civil liabilities of hearers ( European Commission, 2008 ) . Following the fiscal crisis of 2007/8, the EC has deemed it necessary to amend the statutory audit directive through a proposal issued in November 2011 ( European Commission, 2011 ) . The amendments follow on from the EC Green Paper on iAudit Policy: Lessons from the Crisisi and tackles issues such as joint audits, proviso of non-audit services, etc. , which are discussed subsequently on in this study. Red boxes to travel in appendix? To travel in sum-up? EU efforts at harmonisation through the usage of Directives were non wholly successful and as such the EC chose alternatively to follow the convergence scheme of the IASB by following IFRS. The insufficiencies of the Directives derived from the fact that they failed to cover many subjects e.g. rental accounting, accounting alterations, foreign currency interlingual rendition etc. , which IFRSs were better equipped to manage. Besides, the Directives still allowed for a grade of pick within their prescriptions which meant that non-comparability was still an issue.

Watershed Issues And Policies Of The Himalayan Region

Sharon Fighter Final Paper Watershed Issues and Policies in the Himalayan Region The Himalayan region provides water to more than 150 million people in the uplands and lowlands, and the water basins support 1.5 billion people who inhabit the area, and up to 3 billion people rely on the food and energy produced using the Himalayan watershed (1). The glaciers in the Himalayas deliver large quantities of runoff to the major tributaries of the Ganges and the rivers in the adjacent basins (2). These glacial resources are essential to the water supply both in the uplands and lowlands for irrigation, hydroelectric power and agriculture and household use. The flows of the Himalayan watershed are affected by the precipitation and the melting of snow and ice from the glaciers. The runoff of melting snow and ice in recent years suggests that climate change may be having a significant impact on flows in the watershed, reducing the amount of runoff in addition to the decline in monsoon rainfall since the 1960’s (2). Inadequate water supplies and energy shortages are causing serious problems in all the surrounding countries that these rivers serve. They threaten domestic stability, leading some of the countries to build dams to control the flow of water and to generate hydroelectric power (3). In the uplands, China has an increasing demand for hydro-electric power, but water scarcity of the rivers is causing tension in the Himalayan watershed and international tension is created alongShow MoreRelatedWater Is Essential For Meeting Human Needs1022 Words   |  5 Pagesstoring the excess run-off, the average production of rice can be raised to 120 million tonnes and that of wheat to 70 million tonnes within the next 5 to 10 years. 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