Current Status Diploma Exam Thread 2007I just deleted another thread in thie section and for some strange technological reason, it took out the threads above it, too. I'm searching for a way to retrieve the thread, checking FAQs, mailing ezboard moderators, etc.
Until then, could the eight last posters who haven't received corrections from me re-post their answers in this thread (if you have them stored. Also, if anyone has printed out the material on the previous thread, do you think you could scan it in and send it out to MARS/FIRST 2009 Day and Evening?
Also, please make sure not to start your own "report/letter answer" threads in this section anymore. I'm not going to risk deleting them anymore, and I don't want to clutter up the board too much.
I'll keep you posted on potential thread retrieval as soon as I here something!
Best,
G
Thank you for your letter from 2 April concerning your plans to improve your employees’ motivation. In reply to your question we will give you some advice for how to do this best.
Before we will give you some advice, we will start by comparing the terms “job enlargement” and “job enrichment”. After that we would like to explain the Hawthorne effect. And finally we will give you some advice how you can improve your employees’ motivation.
Job enlargement means increasing job satisfaction by improving the jobs done by employees. For this it is very important to have a job description from each job and a job specification from all employees. If HR managers have both, they can combine tasks. Each employee can perform more tasks. As HR managers have a job specification of all employees, they know who needs some training and who does not need.
Job enrichment means increasing job satisfaction by adding one ore more motivations factors to the job activities. This can be done by adding new skills or by increasing responsibility. Employees should get a broader overview of their work and their organization.
Job satisfaction and moral improves motivation. Motivation is a key factor to enjoy the work
Hawthorne’s “Behaviour theory” describes the connection between physical environment and worker’s output. He makes some experiences whereas he changed the lighting levels of workplaces. Increasing lighting levels improved productivity. But also lower lighting levels improved productivity. The researches concluded that productivity rose in respond to almost any management action that workers interpreted as special attention. Today this effect is known as the “Hawthorn effect”. If workers believe that they receive more attention form management, productivity will increase.
As we have already described motivated employees are more satisfied and productivity will increase. We would like to give you some advice for how to improve your employees’ motivation. We propose implementing a management by objectives system (MBO). This is a system of collective goal setting. This system involves all employees from the top of organizations to the bottom. It helps mangers to implement and to carry out their plans. Mangers and subordinates are setting goals together and evaluating progress. Employees learn more about the companywide objectives and feel as an important part of a team, and see how they can improve companywide performance by reaching their own goals. Therefore, it can also serve as a program for improving satisfaction and motivation.
In your company you should involve all your employees. Each employee has to know the company’s and their personal goals. And in several intvervals the current performance should be discussed.
We hope the above information proves useful to you. We look forward to an opportunity to personally discuss the position with you. We will call you within the next five days to arrange an appointment.
Re: Exercise 4 Motivating employees
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Mr. Fuchs,
we would like to thank you for your letter of April 8 in which you described your current situation of your employees’ lack of motivation. In response to your questions and request for appropriate methods that could be taken, we would like to briefly outline various concepts and theories pertaining to staff motivation and thereby help resolve your problems. First we are going to describe the concepts of “job enlargement” and “job enrichment”. After that we will go into detail about the behaviour theory of motivation, the so-called “Hawthorne effect”. Finally we would like to offer advice on how to deal with your particular situation.
Over the past few years HR experts and scholars have developed various theories of how to motivate employees. As motivation is closely linked to the particular job the employee performs, some of these theories concentrate on how to make the job more fulfilling and thereby raising motivation. Job enrichment does exactly that. If a job is enriched, employees are given additional, usually more responsible tasks that they are expected to perform. Another way of enriching a job is to rotate specific tasks among various employees. Thereby they perform different tasks, don’t get bored so easily and are thus more motivated. Job enrichment, however, should not be confused with job enlargement. Job enlargement, as opposed to job enrichment, means that the employees are asked to accept a higher work load without the benefit of variation or increased responsibility. As a result, job enlargement does usually not contribute to employee motivation.
Ever since managers have started to establish ways to increase motivation and thus productivity, various motivation theories have started to emerge over the course of time. One of these theories, which is called behaviour theory or the Hawthorne effect, states that employees are motivated if they receive special attention by their managers. This theory was tested at the Hawthorne plant, therefore the name, where the experts tried to find out how employees would react to increased or decreased lighting levels and heating. Although the Hawthorne effect does shed some light on how to increase motivation and productivity, contemporary theories have proven to be more accurate and more useful.
As far as your situation is concerned there are various steps that could be taken. First of all, participative management might prove successful, if your employees are given a say in how they can perform their jobs and can contribute their ideas to major management decisions. Moreover, job enrichment in the form of job rotation could solve some of your problems. Additionally, this step would help your employees better understand their colleagues’ jobs and responsibilities. As a third measure we would suggest considering introducing so-called modified work schedules, e.g. flexitime or work-share programs, where employees are offered decision-making authority as far as their working hours are concerned. Various studies have shown that flexitime arrangements are among the most appreciated and accepted offers by employers.
We hope that the above information will prove useful to you and that our suggestions are able to contribute to solving your problems. If you need any further information, please don’t hesitate to contact us again. We would like to wish you good luck with your new motivation strategy.
Yours faithfully,
(544 words)
P.S. to Gerhard: I copied the 4 assignments - I'm going to send them out via E-mail.
As a financial consultant, you have been contacted by the investment board of the newly founded Austrian fund manager Investfonds AG. The investment board plans to invest heavily in corporate bonds in the future.
You have been asked to prepare a short business report that should cover the following points:
• Brief explanation of the function of agencies like Moody's and Standard & Poor's
• A comparison of secured bonds and debentures
• A suggestion for how Investfonds AG could make sure it always has the most up-to-date information on stock and bond developments.
In this rapid development of markets especially in Eastern Europe and in China is important to get the right investment information for investing in a company and in the long run to make a profit. For this reason the author focuses on corporate bonds.
This report gives a brief explanation of the functions of agencies like Moody’s and Standard & Poors. Next, the report shows a comparison of secured bonds and debentures also called unsecured bonds. Finally, the author suggests for how Investfonds AG could make sure it always has the most up-to-date information on stock and bond developments.
First of all, it is very important to know the different symbols like AAA or C means which are used by Moody’s and Standards & Poors. These two mentioned companies are rating companies. They analyse the bonds exactly for the level of risk versus potential yield. The most secured bond gets the symbol AAA because triple A is the highest grade. An example for AAA bond is a government bond. The lowest grades are from C to D. These grades represent unsecured bonds also called junk bonds. These bonds have a high level of insecurity but could make a lot of profit or loss.
The next step is to distinguish between secured bonds and debentures.
Secured bonds backed by pledges of assets to the bondholders. Whereas unsecured bond for which no specific property is pledged as security. This means, if a company goes bankrupt the holders of secured bonds would get their money back, because the bonds are backed by first mortgages or other mortgages and the holders of unsecured bonds would lose money.
Finally the author gives suggestions to Investfonds AG to be always up-to-date referring to the information on stock and bond developments.
There are some possibilities to get the right information on time. For example the stock quotations, bond quotations and mutual funds quotations are reported in most city newspapers daily. An other option is to get the right information from the internet or the latest technology to follow the developments of stock and bonds is to get the right software from NASDAQ. This software is expensive but in fact, by right using this software you could save a lot of money.
Exercise 4
Dear Mr. Fuchs,
we have received your letter of April 08th, 2007 and we are pleased to provide you with following information. As you know, today it is very important to focus on employees and workers job satisfaction, because the human resource capital is a very expensive cost factor in the production area.
As an Human Resource manager of Krampf GmbH it is very important to find a way to motivate your 35 employees. There are two possibilities to do this.
Firstly, we will inform you about job enrichment and job enlargement. Both are methods of increasing job satisfaction. Secondly, we give you a brief overview about the Hawthorne effect. Last but not least we provide you with a possibility to improve the motivation of your employees.
Job enrichment and job enlargement are both methods to increase job satisfaction. Job enrichment is a process of improving work processes and environments so they are more satisfying for employees. Many jobs are monotonous and boring. Job enrichment tries to eliminate these problems and bring a better performance to the workplace. Job Enlargement is the horizontal expansion of a job. It involves the addition of tasks at the same level of skill and responsibility. It is done to keep workers from getting bored.
Now we would like to give a brief explanation about the Hawthorne effect. Researchers wanted to increase the employee’s productivity, so they changed the physical environment of the employees, like the temperature or the light level. The results of the research were very interesting. It shows that employees can be motivated if the management pay more attention to them. As you can see the Hawthorne effect has a major influence in the Human Resource Management. Managers have to pay more attention to their employees.
This Mr. Fuchs could be the solution for your problem with your unmotivated employees. I would suggest following steps to improve the motivation of your employees.
Firstly, you should introduce appraisal interviews every month. At these interviews the employees could say what is important for each of them to improve the motivation and the productivity. Secondly, we would recommend introducing a job rotation program. These rotation programs give the people the possibility to get not only new skills but also a broader overview of their work and their organization.
We hope the above information is useful for you. Please feel free to contact us if you should require any further information or help.
Exercise 1 - Prost AG
Hi Gerhard,
I just started doing some of your preperatory exercises and i began with the first one - so thats why the following report is still based on your first assignment.
Thank you & best regards,
Christian
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Recently discovered unethical business practises have led to a significant loss in confidence especially in consumer markets. To restore trust many companies have started implementing corporate social responsibility programmes. The following report will cover a few aspects of CSR programmes and will give a suggestion what steps Prost AG could take to limit unethical behaviour on all management levels to ensure a high level of confidence in the company.
First of all the terms “insider trading” and “whistle blower” will be explained briefly. After that the term collusion will be defined. To conclude a suggestion for further steps Prost AG could take will be given.
Insider trading occurs, if somebody draws an advantage of information, which is not openly available. This can happen by either buying or selling stock. An example for this practise would be, if the manager of a company knows about negotiations with a certain investor and buys stock himself to gain an advantage from this knowledge. Another possibility would be if the chief financial officer of a company knows about the possible bankruptcy of the company and therefore sells its shares. Insider trading is illegal in most cases but often it is hard to supply evidence.
The next paragraph will explain the term of a “whistle blower”. A whistle blower is somebody who reports illegal practises within a company to government authorities. To ease this Whistle blowers are protected by law in the United States. Unfortunately this lead to a significant increase in false or inaccurate information provided to the authorities. Many recent US business scandals have been revealed by whistle blowers. A well known example is the collapse of the US electricity provider Enron.
In the following paragraph the term collusion will be explained. Collusion happens whenever firms illegally collaborate for a mutual gain. A widely known example is the so called “Lombard club” a cartel between some of the largest banks in Austria which colluded to maintain a higher level of interest rates than it would have been possible in free market operations. Collusion is very effective and therefore forbidden in most countries in the market situation of an oligopoly, where a few companies together can influence a wide area of the market.
As some examples described in the former paragraphs show, Corporate Social Responsibility becomes more and more important for many companies to ensure trust by their stakeholders. In any case implementing a CSR programme involves a few steps: First of all a manager responsible for all CSR activities should be appointed. After that clear rules – a corporate “code of conduct” – should be deployed. It is very important to communicate these rules of conduct within the company. Frequently a CSR audit should check if funds earmarked for meeting corporate social responsibility goals are used correctly.
The author of this reports suggests, that Prost AG should start implementing a CSR programme as soon as possible. This especially important because of Prost AG being a publicly hold corporation on the stock market.
exercise #3
Dear Mr. Fuchs,
we acknowledge receipt of your letter from April 08th, 20007 and are gladly taking the opportunity to respond to your inquiries.
In simultaneous consideration of current research findings concerning this particular area of expertise, our statement will provide you with appropriate information about human resource management.
The first section will give a brief overview about topics related to motivational theories. The second part will focus on a brief comparison of the terms “job enlargement” and “job enrichment” and will be followed by a recommendation for how to enhance the level of motivation of a company's workforce.
To begin with, we would like to elucidate the term motivation, which is the set of forces that people causes to behave in certain ways. Each contract of employment is by the same token a psychological contract, consisting of both an employer's and an employee's contributions and expectations. Key issues, which must be carefully monitored, are job satisfaction of each individual worker and staff morale, representing the overall attitude of all workers.
Research in this particular scope has created various theories. Examples for this would be either Taylor's “Classical Theory of Motivation”, saying that the main source of motivation is money, or the “Hawthorne Studies”, arguing that the motivation of a staff member is straight proportional to the attention received from its supervisor. Although contemporary studies like Herzberg's "Two-Factor Theory", Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs - model", or the "Equity
Theory" provide a more differentiated approach, motivation-theories are a field of ambiguous argumentations and inhomogeneity.
Therefore a more praxis-oriented approach might help to enlighten that confusing concern.
Motivated workforce represents the spine of a successful enterprise. The problem, condensed, is: Management can't simply buy motivated staff and, over and above, keeping staff motivated is a matter of permanent efforts. From an operational view, we would suggest to evaluate whether modified work schedules like flexitime, teleworking, or work-share programs could be a sufficient alternative to existing regulations.
One possibility to increase motivation is job enrichment. In contrast to job enlargement, which only means to accumulate a job with “more of the same”, the former represents the process of a real improvement of a job, provided through an addition of interesting and challenging tasks.
To sustainably improve the level of motivation, we advise to implement the following points:
Firstly, to select staff diligently, and secondly, to perform annual performance appraisals.
Furthermore, management should be obliged to formulate objectives together with their subordinates (collaborative goal setting and planning) and to permanently and accurately respond to positive and negative developments. Again, periodic reviews and evaluations are the keys to success.
We hope the above information proves useful to you. We look forward to an opportunity to personally discuss the position with you.
Yours faithfully
Exercise #4
Dear Mr. Fuchs,
We refer with thanks to your letter of 15th March 2007 concerning the lack of motivation of your employees. We are terribly sorry that it took us so long to reply to your letter but we had to do some research to make sure that our answer is to your complete satisfaction.
The first part of this letter will define the differences between “job enlargement” and “job enrichment”. Furthermore, we will discuss the Hawthorne effect. Finally, some recommendations will be given for how your company can enhance motivation.
To start with, managers that recognise that motivation among their employees is very low and want to counter this problem can apply different methods. Two examples we want to discuss in detail are “job enrichment” and “job enlargement” which both lead to higher productivity and satisfaction as well as to a lower turnover rate. With “job enrichment” managers strive to increase motivation by adding a motivating factor like recognition, more responsibility, … to the job performed by employees. A very popular sample is job rotation meaning employees change the position after a period of time. This allows employees to understand tasks of other departments.
Generally, “job enlargement” is defined as giving employees more tasks to do. It does not necessarily lead to higher motivation. On the one hand, if employees had to perform just one single task they will be motivated by this measure because their job becomes less boring. On the other hand, at employees that had already many tasks to perform this action will lead to less motivation because they get overworked.
Formerly, experts thought that employees are merely motivated by money. Some day, Mr. Hawthorne wanted to find out what other measures lead to motivation and higher productivity. During his studies he recognised that employees produce more according to any management action. The reason for this unexpected result is that if employees receive special attention from the management they enhance their efforts. However, there are boarders for the Hawthorne theory. Managers cannot expect that they can increase motivation by continuous bad treatment because these are actions that will have the opposite effect in the long run.
This leads us to the question of how Krampf GmbH can increase motivation among its employees. The Hawthorne theory was successfully introduced in plants but we do not think that this approach fits to your company. As your company has only 35 employees we would recommend to include your staff in the decision making process. Employees would understand why some tasks must be performed and get more engaged.
We hope our recommendations and explanations are useful for you. In case you have further questions, please do not hesitate to ask. We are looking forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely, DaniE
P.S. to Gerhard:
I just want to inform you that job enlargement as well as GNP form a previous question are not covered by Griffin.
We have received your letter from March, 2nd and we are please to present our proposal regarding your questions.
As an HR manager of the Austrian industrial massage salon Krampf GmbH with 35 employees it’s really very important to find a way to motivate the people. As you are investing a lot of money in Off-the-job trainings you loose a lot of money if you have a high turnover.
To avoid these costs we will talk in this report about “job enlargement” and “job enrichment”. Furthermore we will discuss about the Hawthorne effect and how this could help you. Last I will try to give you a short suggestion how Krampf GmbH could use this new knowledge and improve the level of motivation.
To start with, Job enlargement means increasing the scope of a job through extending the range of its duties and responsibilities. This contradicts the principles of specialisation and the division of labour whereby work is divided into small units, each of which is performed repetitively by an individual worker. Thus, job enlargement seeks to motivate workers through reversing the process of specialisation. A typical approach might be to replace assembly lines with modular work; instead of an employee repeating the same step on each product, they perform several tasks on a single item. In order for employees to be provided with Job Enlargement they will need to be retrained in new fields which can prove to be a lengthy process.
Job enrichment is the process of improving work processes and environments so they are more satisfying for employees. Many jobs are monotonous and unrewarding. Workers can feel dissatisfied in their position due to a lack of a challenge, repetitive procedures, or an over-controlled authority structure. Job enrichment tries to eliminate these dysfunctional elements, and brings better performance to the workplace.
In the following I will try to give you an explanation of The Hawthorne effect. This is the result of an experiment that should examine the relationship between changes in the physical environment and workers output. The experiment failed but there was another effect. The employees increased the productivity because of the special attention from the management.
This, Mr. Fuchs could be the solution for your problems with unmotivated employees. I would suggest as a first step to introduce a performance appraisal. I’m sure this would help you to find out what every individual would like to do in the future within your company. You should define performance standards for each staff and a rating scale for providing a basis for comparison. Thus, people are involved in planning goals for the future and get attention from the management.
And as a second step I would recommend to give the people the possibility to decide by themselves how to reach the personal goals.
This process will be completed when the manager and the individual meet after some time (maybe once a year) to discuss the appraisal and to decide about promotions, demotions or maybe also to make someone redundant.
I hope the above information is useful for you and please, do no hesitate to contact me if you should require any further information or help.
Exercise 3:
Nowadays it’s very important for companies to do secure investment. Therefore bonds are a good solution. The US bond market is supplied by three major sources: US government bonds, municipal bonds and corporate bonds.
This report will focus on corporate bonds. First, there will be a short explanation of credit rating agencies like Moody’s. Secondly, the reader will find a description of secured bonds and debentures. Finally, the author will provide the Investfonds AG with an advice how to receive up-to-date information regarding securities and investments.
A credit rating agency (CRA) is a company that assigns credit ratings for issuers of certain types of debt obligations. In most cases, these issuers are companies, cities, non-profit organizations, or national governments issuing debt-like securities that can be traded on a secondary market. A credit rating measures credit worthiness, the ability to pay back a loan, and affects the interest rate applied to loans. The ranking goes from Aaa (highest quality, minimum risk) to C or D (very risky). This is what companies like Moody‘s or Standard & Poor‘s do.
Now the report will focus on secured bonds and debentures. Both kind of bonds are corporate bonds. Bonds have traditionally been issued with maturities ranging from 20 to 30 years and are categorized in terms of the method of interest payment or in terms of whether they are secured or unsecured. And this is the term what the author will talk about. Secured bonds are backed by pledges of assets to the bondholders and as the name already says, very secure. A debenture is usually unsecured in the sense that there are no liens or pledges on specific assets. It is however, secured by all properties not otherwise pledged. In the case of bankruptcy debenture holders are considered general creditors.
As the reader of this report can see it is really very important to be well informed about the different possibilities of Securities and Investments.
In the following, to make sure that Investfonds AG always has up-to-date information on stock and bond developments this report recommend to subscribe to a newspaper which reports the daily transaction for stocks and bonds. There the firm can already find information like highest and lowest prices paid for one share or bond during the last year. Furthermore it would make sense to engage a broker. If the company already is used to work with shares and bonds a discount broker is a good solution as these kind of brokers offer services like automated online service, such as stock research, industry analysis and screening for specific types of socks for low costs. But if the company is an uninformed investor or do not have time to keep up with all the latest developments there would be a recommendation for a full-service broker. There are companies like Merrill Lynch, which can offer clients consulting advice in personal financial planning, estate planning, and tax strategies, along with a wider range of investment products.
thank you for your letter of April 7th 2007. According to your request, I take the liberty providing you a brief overview about motivation theories and how they could be implemented in your massage salon. I will start by discussing the differences between “job enlargement” and “job enrichment”. Secondly. I will give you an explanation about the Hawthorne theory and its effect by applying the theory. In closing, I´d like to offer you a suggestion, what steps are needed for increasing employees motivation.
To start, both “job enlargement” and “job enrichment” stand for increasing employees motivation. Although we have to differ between these two terms. First, job enlargement means, that a worker gets an additional task at the same level of responsibility. As a result, the employee won´t be bored through new challenges at work. In contrast to this, job enrichment is the term for adding one or more motivating factors to job activities. More responsibility for employees´ would be an example for this. The employee will feel himself more valueable if he has more responsibility in conducting his job.
Nowadays, human resource management becomes more and more valueable for organizations. Companies recognized, that motivated workforces contribute more to higher outputs than dissatisfied employees. Therefore, human resource managers implement motivation theories like the following one. The so-called “Hawthorne effect” started with a study of Harvard students in 1925. They researched the reaction of employees when they increased and decreased levels of light. They recognized, that workers will increase productivity if they get more attention from management. This study shows, that managers should give recognition to their employees as much as possible. As a result, both employee and employer would be satisfied.
Generally, motivated employees are one of the most valueable resources in an organization. Because motivated employees will perform their allocated tasks better than demotivated employees. If workers are completely satisfied, they will do their work as efficient as possible. As a result, productivity will be increased and companies can generate higher profits. To achieve such results, I will give you advice on how to increase your employees motivation. First, I would recommend to implement an incentive program in your company. Such programs are designed to motivate high performance. An example for this would be a pay-for-knowledge plan. This means, that employees have to learn new skills and in return they will get an extra pay for each new skill. A further factor for motivation could be a gainsharing plan. This plan offers bonuses to employees if they are able to reduce companies costs through greater work efficiency. In closing, I´d like to point out again the importance of satisfied employees. Only a satisfied employee would be able to identify with companies goals.
I hope the above information proves useful to you. Please let me know if you require any further information.
Re: Exercise 4
Dear Mr. Fuchs,
We acknowledge receipt of your letter of May 2nd. In reply to your inquiry, we will give you an overview of motivation as a tool of modern Human Resource.
First we will outline the definitions for the terms job enlargement and job enrichment. Thereafter we will tell you about the Hawthorne effect and it´s useful ideas concerning motivation of employees. In closing we will provide you with all the essential infomation as to how to motivate your employees.
These days a lot of different terms concerning modern theories of job motivation can be found in newspaper articles or business magazines. Two of the most common are, job enrichment and job enlargement. HR department is well-advised to concentrate on job enrichment, which refers to a modification of current tasks or simply to add motivation factors. The goal is to motivate the employee by letting him or her work on something new and/or more challenging. Unlike the term job enlargement, which refers to more work during the same period of time. Very often HR managers confuse a lack of motivation with too less work.
The Hawthorne effect is the result of a study which took place in 1925 and was conducted by a group of Havard researchers. They found out that increased lighting levels as well as lower light level increase productivity. Having noticed this the group of researchers concluded that productivity is a response to the attention employees are receiving.
All in all, therefore paying attention to employees plays a crucial role in the motivation process. There are different kind of motivation theories namely, Maslow´s hierarchy of needs, the two-factor theory of Herzberg or the expactancy theory. According to Herzberg only hygiene factors, such as recognition, the work itself or responsibility lead to satisfaction. That is why we recommend you examining the current situation of you employees. The goal is to get in contact with them in order to gather relevant information. To begin with we suggest you to implement systematic rewards and punishments as to alter your workers´ behavior. At the same time your employees should be given a chance to receive direct feedback from your clients. This is said to be one of the most important motivation tools.
In summery we want to stress the fact that a good relationship with your employees plays a crucial role for motivating them. According to job enrichment the content of a job as well as paying attention to your employees is highly recommendable. We hope that above mentioned information provides useful to you. Our team will be available to answer any questions that may araise in connection with this report.
Yours faithfully,
Referring to your letter of 5th of April concerning your plans to increase economic growth I will try to give your some explanations and hints. Thank you for contacting me. I will do my best to answer your question and to give some ideas, how higher economic growth could be reached. If you have any questions left please do not hesitate to contact me.
First of all I will give you’re a brief overview of what fiscal policy is. After that I will compare the economic indicators “gross domestic product” and “gross national product”. The difference between these two indicators and the importance of each of them will also be explained. Finally I will give a suggestion which steps should be taken to promote higher economic growth.
The fiscal policy defines rules and regulations which affect the economy. In contrary to the monetary policy, which regulates the money supply, the fiscal policy mainly is focussed on regulating taxes and government spending. By raising taxes for example it is possible to slow down the economic growth. In contrast decreasing taxes leads to higher economic growth. Government Spending policies also have a main influence on the economic growth. By spending more money it is possible to encourage companies to invest and therefore government spending can also stimulate economic growth.
The two economic indicators “gross domestic product” and “gross national product” are often mentioned but the difference is not always clear. Where gross domestic product means the value of goods and services produced within a country’s borders by an economy during a given time period (in most cases one year). The gross national product – in addition to the GDP – also includes values produced within the country by using foreign factors of production. [[?]]
Applying these theories to the situation of Austria to promote higher economic growth it would be either necessary to reduce taxes or to increase government spending. In case of Austria monetary policy actions cannot be taken because of the restrictions given by the European Central Bank. Because of this fact fiscal policy measures are the only actions which can be taken.
Reducing taxes leads to an increase in investments and non-government spending in the long run. Increasing government spending can lead to an immediate increase in economic growth. The second option is usually more expensive and has fewer effects in the long run. In addition to attract foreign investors tax cuts should be the preferred method. All over all it is important to state that both measures shouldn’t lead to a significant increase in country’s debts.
To give some outlook to the future it will become more and more important to maintain a low taxation level to remain competitive. As this is in some contrast to the goal of increasing government spending it is important to invest into areas, which also attract more capital from private investors and therefore lead to a significant increase in investments.
Another report - Exercise 3
During the last few years the number of private investors increased sharply. Investment possibilities like stocks, bonds and of course investment funds became very attractive and became very common as alternative to other saving possibilities. Fund Mangers like Investfonds AG are managing huge amounts of these private investments because of the lack of experience and time of these usually low amount investments. This report will discuss some important aspects of investments and will give suggestions to Investfonds AG on how to keep up-to-date with information on stock and bond developments.
First of all this report will briefly explain the function of agencies like Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s. After that the most significant differences between secured bonds and debentures will be shown. Finally this report will try to show, how Investfonds AG could make sure to have always the most up-to-date information on stock and bond developments.
One of the most important questions in terms of Investment is to assess how much a company can be trusted to be able to pay back money invested into it. This is especially important for bonds but is also true for common stock. Rating Agencies like Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s try to assess a company’s financial background and issue a rating based on the information they have about a company. This rating shows how risky an investment seems to be from the point of view of the rating agency. For example a AAA (Triple-A) Rating means that a company, a county’s government or even a municipality is most creditworthy. In contrast a CCC Rating is quite worse. Even tough – for example in the area of bonds - the interest rates for these so called junk-bonds is much higher than for others they may not be worth the risk of loosing all the money.
In the area of bonds the difference between secured bonds and debentures is also quite important. A secured bond is backed by some kinds of assets whereas a debenture is not backed by something special. Therefore debentures are used more commonly by financially strong firms – like the US plane-manufacturer BOEING. Secured Bonds provide more security to the investor with the side effect of lower interest rates.
In the Investment Business it is very important to always have the most up-to-date information on stock and bond developments. Today this became quite easy because of the internet. Many stock exchanges and even brokerage firms provide real time information on stocks and bond developments. A seamless integration into Investfonds AG’s IT systems seems to be necessary. The author suggests that Investfonds AG should have several information providers available for security reasons. Availability is very important because not knowing about the latest facts and figures could cost a lot of money.
To conclude all things considered knowledge about the latest developments is one of the most important assets of an investment company. Rating agencies can help with there experience but these information should only be a part of the facts considered when investing into certain stocks or bonds.
Exercise #1
Ethics plays an important role in business life nowadays. Managers have to decide whether they want to do business according to ethical guidelines or not.
This report is going to explain the terms “insider trading” and “whistle blower”. The author will also define the term “collusion”. In the last part of this report the author will suggest how Prost AG could limit unethical behavior on all management levels.
Insider trading is a form of improper financial management and is illegal. It occurs when somebody uses special knowledge or confidential information about a company for profit or gain.
If a company develops an innovative and pioneering product, enormous future profits are in all probability. Because mangers or employees assume that the stock price of company’s shares will increase they could buy them at a low price and sell them after the successful product introduction at a higher price. Purchasing or selling stocks is only legal on the basis of public information, or in other words, information that is available to all investors.
In the next paragraph, the author is going to explain the term “whistleblower”. If an employee discovers unethical or illegal behavior in a company, he should be able to report this problem to higher-level management. However, many employees get problems with their employers when they try to stop questionable practices. Sometimes these employees feel impelled to make these practices public. At this point they become whistleblowers. Unfortunately, whistleblowers are sometimes laid-off when they try to get help from the public.
Another substantial term in the context of ethics is “collusion”, which is a form of unfair pricing. Collusion is an illegal agreement between two or more companies to commit wrongful acts as price fixing or price gouging.
Companies could equal supply and prices for their products, which would be an example for price fixing.
If companies are confronted with overwhelming demand, they could respond with an enormous increase in prices. This situation is called price gouging.
In the last part of this report, the author is going to suggest how Prost AG could manage social responsibility on all levels of management.
First of all, the author wants to emphasize that social responsibility and ethical behavior must start at top-level management. Ethical behavior has to be a factor already considered in the strategy planning process.
The author suggests compiling a team responsible for ethics and social responsibility.
This team prepares ethical guidelines, which have to be valid for the entire company. To ensure that these guidelines are met, success has to be audited by the team or a single team member.
Furthermore, the team could develop a plan or program consisting of different projects which contribute to the improvement of ethical behavior.
These steps should help Prost AG to behave ethical towards their stakeholders and to consequently take steps to foster a companywide sense of social responsibility.
in reply to your inquiry of 26 of March 2007 we are pleased to provide you with the following information.
As you have already noticed, today it is very important to focus on employee´s and worker´s job satisfaction, because human capital could be a very cost intensive production factor. So we are glad to provide you with some ideas of how you can increase motivation and job satisfaction of your workers.
First, we inform you about job enrichment and job enlargement which both are methods of increasing job satisfaction. Second, we give you a brief explanation about the Hawthorne effect – one of the 3 major approaches of human relations in the workplace. Last, we provide you with a suggestion of how to improve the level of motivation of your employees.
As I have already mentioned above, job enrichment and job enlargement are strategies of improving job satisfaction.
Job enrichment is a method which allows employees to do the same job as before, but add one or more motivating factors to job activities. One of these motivating factors could be to give your employees the opportunity planning their own schedules.
Job redesign is a method which tries to design a job which fits the workers wants and needs.
There are three possible ways of redesigning a job. First you can combine different tasks to enlarge jobs. Second you could form natural work groups among your employees.
And, last you can allow employees establishing client relationships to give them the feeling to be responsible for customer satisfaction.
Now I would like to give a brief explanation about the Hawthorne effect. The Hawthorne effect is one of the three major motivation theories. Researches wanted to increase the productivity of workers, so they changed work conditions, like the light level or the temperature in the workplace, and found out, that workers were more motivated.
The result of these experiment shows that employees can be motivated with paying more attention to them. You have to treat your employees like individuals with their wants and needs, and not like machines.
I would suggest following steps to improve the level of motivation within your workforce.
First you should allow your employees to have control over their own schedule. As I mentioned above this is the method of job enrichment. It is very important to give employees the control over the way of doing their job and give them the opportunity to work more flexible. Furthermore, you should focus on establishing worker – client – relationships. If your employees get positive feedback from their clients they will be more motivated. Additionally, you could offer a performance bonus for employees who perform very well. But it is really important that this bonus is directly linked with the performance, otherwise it has no effect on motivation improvement.
Hopefully these suggestions could help you to improve motivation among your workforce.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards, P
I hope it’s ok if I also answer some of the previous assignments. I don’t want to bother you with too many reports/letters to correct but I see it as a very good exercise to check whether I can restrict myself to the word and the time limit and to also practice for the stressful exam situation.
I also want to take this opportunity to thank you for making such an effort in helping us prepare for the exam!
Exercise: Securities - Bonds
Over the last few years investment funds, sometimes also called mutual funds, have started to emerge as a securer alternative to stock portfolios, which sometimes bear great risks. One of the most important strategies these funds use is investment in bonds. This report is going to outline various issues in the area of bond management and it will also aim at providing suggestions relating to Investfonds AG’s situation.
First, the author would like to briefly explain the role of rating agencies, such as Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s when it comes to deciding which bonds to buy. After that, the report will draw a comparison between two of the most important categories of bonds, i.e. secured bonds and debentures. Finally, suggestions are provided for how Investfonds AG can ensure up-to-date information for their decision-making.
One of the most important advantages of bonds over stocks is that a bond’s risk can be evaluated. So-called rating agencies, such as Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s gather information about bonds and especially their issuers and subsequently determine as well as categorise a bond’s default risk, i.e. the issuer’s likelihood of not being able to redeem the bond at maturity. A bond’s rating can range from triple A (very solvent and guaranteed repayment) to the lowest classification (either C or D depending on the particular agency), which is usually associated with so-called junk bonds.
Bonds fall into various categories according to their specific features. The most important classification distinguishes between secured bonds and debentures. Secured bonds are usually bonds that are backed by certain securities, such as a company’s assets. In case the issuer is not able to redeem the bond, the investor has claims to the pledged assets. In contrast, debentures are not backed by any form of security and therefore carry a much higher risk.
For Investfonds AG as a newly founded fund manager who mainly invests in corporate bonds it is vital to get not only sufficient but, most importantly, up-to-date information on the stocks and bonds they hold in their portfolio and those they plan to buy. The easiest way of guaranteeing to receive the latest information would be to regularly check news agencies such as Bloomberg and Reuters. Moreover, the company could constantly follow the news on TV channels that provide real-time information from stock exchanges all over the world. However, since Investfonds AG’s core business is in the financial market, it would be recommendable to set up a special department whose only responsibility is to gather information and distribute it within the company. An additional benefit of this approach presents itself in the fact that this department could then also calculate its own ratios and performance measures.
As initially mentioned, bonds have become a preferred alternative to stocks for some investors. Due to sometimes very volatile stock markets over the past few years investors, especially risk-averse investors, have focused their attention on bonds. Investors, nevertheless, also have to take into account that not even bonds can guarantee a risk-free investment. Investment funds have started to come close to this concept of a nearly secure investment by spreading the risk over their entire portfolio. But in order to do so they need to have accurate and up-to-date information on bond developments.
Thank you for your letter from 2 April concerning your plans to improve your employees’ motivation. In reply to your question we will give you some advice for how to do this best.
Before we will give you some advice, we will start by comparing the terms “job enlargement” and “job enrichment”. After that we would like to explain the Hawthorne effect. And finally we will give you some advice how you can improve your employees’ motivation.
Job enlargement means increasing job satisfaction by improving the jobs done by employees. For this it is very important to have a job description from each job and a job specification from all employees. If HR managers have both, they can combine tasks. Each employee can perform more tasks. As HR managers have a job specification of all employees, they know who needs some training and who does not need.
Job enrichment means increasing job satisfaction by adding one ore more motivations factors to the job activities. This can be done by adding new skills or by increasing responsibility. Employees should get a broader overview of their work and their organization.
Job satisfaction and moral improves motivation. Motivation is a key factor to enjoy the work
Hawthorne’s “Behaviour theory” describes the connection between physical environment and worker’s output. He makes some experiences whereas he changed the lighting levels of workplaces. Increasing lighting levels improved productivity. But also lower lighting levels improved productivity. The researches concluded that productivity rose in respond to almost any management action that workers interpreted as special attention. Today this effect is known as the “Hawthorn effect”. If workers believe that they receive more attention form management, productivity will increase.
As we have already described motivated employees are more satisfied and productivity will increase. We would like to give you some advice for how to improve your employees’ motivation. We propose implementing a management by objectives system (MBO). This is a system of collective goal setting. This system involves all employees from the top of organizations to the bottom. It helps mangers to implement and to carry out their plans. Mangers and subordinates are setting goals together and evaluating progress. Employees learn more about the companywide objectives and feel as an important part of a team, and see how they can improve companywide performance by reaching their own goals. Therefore, it can also serve as a program for improving satisfaction and motivation.
In your company you should involve all your employees. Each employee has to know the company’s and their personal goals. And in several intvervals the current performance should be discussed.
We hope the above information proves useful to you. We look forward to an opportunity to personally discuss the position with you. We will call you within the next five days to arrange an appointment.
Best regards
Alexandra
Korrektur
Dear Mr. Fuchs,
Thank you for your letter from 2 April concerning your plans to improve your employees’ level of motivation. In reply to your question, we will give you some advice for how to do this best.
Before we __give you some advice, we will start by comparing the terms “job enlargement” and “job enrichment”. After that, we would like to explain the Hawthorne effect. And finally, we will give you some advice for how you can improve your employees’ motivation.
Job enlargement means increasing job satisfaction by improving the jobs done by employees. For this it is very important to have a job description of each job and a job specification for all employees. If HR managers have both, they can combine tasks. Each employee can perform more tasks. As HR managers have a job specification of all employees, they know who needs some training and who does not need.
Job enrichment means increasing job satisfaction by adding one ore more motivating factors to the job activities. This can be done by adding new skills or by increasing responsibility. Employees should get a broader overview of their work and their organization.
Job satisfaction and morale improve motivation. Motivation is a key factor to enjoy the work
Hawthorne’s “Behaviour theory” describes the connection between the physical environment and workers' output. He conducted an experiment in context of which he changed the lighting levels of workplaces. Increasing lighting levels improved productivity. But ___ lower lighting levels also improved productivity. The researchers concluded that productivity rose in response to almost any management action that workers interpreted as special attention. Today, this effect is known as the “Hawthorn effect”. If workers believe that they are receiving more attention from management, productivity will increase.
As we have already described, motivated employees are more satisfied and they increase productivity. We would like to give you some advice for how to improve your employees’ level of motivation. We propose implementing a management by objectives system (MBO). This is a system of collective goal setting. This system involves all employees from the top of organizations to the bottom. It helps mangers to implement and to carry out their plans. Managers and subordinates set goals together and evaluate progress. Employees learn more about the companywide objectives and feel that they are an important part of a team, and see how they can improve companywide performance by reaching their own goals. Therefore, it can also serve as a program for improving satisfaction and motivation.
In your company, you should involve all your employees. Each employee has to know the company’s and their personal goals. And at several intervals, the current performance should be discussed.
We hope the above information proves useful to you. We look forward to an opportunity to personally discuss the position with you. We will call you within the next five days to arrange an appointment.
Best regards
Alexandra
Inhalt:
1) Perfekt
Sprache:
1) Keine besonderen Erläuterungen notwendig
Re: Exercise 4 Motivating employeesOriginal
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Mr. Fuchs,
we would like to thank you for your letter of April 8 in which you described your current situation of your employees’ lack of motivation. In response to your questions and request for appropriate methods that could be taken, we would like to briefly outline various concepts and theories pertaining to staff motivation and thereby help resolve your problems. First we are going to describe the concepts of “job enlargement” and “job enrichment”. After that we will go into detail about the behaviour theory of motivation, the so-called “Hawthorne effect”. Finally we would like to offer advice on how to deal with your particular situation.
Over the past few years HR experts and scholars have developed various theories of how to motivate employees. As motivation is closely linked to the particular job the employee performs, some of these theories concentrate on how to make the job more fulfilling and thereby raising motivation. Job enrichment does exactly that. If a job is enriched, employees are given additional, usually more responsible tasks that they are expected to perform. Another way of enriching a job is to rotate specific tasks among various employees. Thereby they perform different tasks, don’t get bored so easily and are thus more motivated. Job enrichment, however, should not be confused with job enlargement. Job enlargement, as opposed to job enrichment, means that the employees are asked to accept a higher work load without the benefit of variation or increased responsibility. As a result, job enlargement does usually not contribute to employee motivation.
Ever since managers have started to establish ways to increase motivation and thus productivity, various motivation theories have started to emerge over the course of time. One of these theories, which is called behaviour theory or the Hawthorne effect, states that employees are motivated if they receive special attention by their managers. This theory was tested at the Hawthorne plant, therefore the name, where the experts tried to find out how employees would react to increased or decreased lighting levels and heating. Although the Hawthorne effect does shed some light on how to increase motivation and productivity, contemporary theories have proven to be more accurate and more useful.
As far as your situation is concerned there are various steps that could be taken. First of all, participative management might prove successful, if your employees are given a say in how they can perform their jobs and can contribute their ideas to major management decisions. Moreover, job enrichment in the form of job rotation could solve some of your problems. Additionally, this step would help your employees better understand their colleagues’ jobs and responsibilities. As a third measure we would suggest considering introducing so-called modified work schedules, e.g. flexitime or work-share programs, where employees are offered decision-making authority as far as their working hours are concerned. Various studies have shown that flexitime arrangements are among the most appreciated and accepted offers by employers.
We hope that the above information will prove useful to you and that our suggestions are able to contribute to solving your problems. If you need any further information, please don’t hesitate to contact us again. We would like to wish you good luck with your new motivation strategy.
Yours faithfully,
Korrektur
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Mr. Fuchs,
We would like to thank you for your letter of April 8 in which you described your current situation of your employees’ lack of motivation. In response to your questions and request for appropriate methods that could be taken, we would like to briefly outline various concepts and theories pertaining to staff motivation and thereby help resolve your problems. First, we are going to describe the concepts of “job enlargement” and “job enrichment”. After that, we will go into detail about the behaviour theory of motivation, the so-called “Hawthorne effect”. Finally we would like to offer advice on how to deal with your particular situation.
Over the past few years, HR experts and scholars have developed various theories of how to motivate employees. As motivation is closely linked to the particular job the employee performs, some of these theories concentrate on how to make the job more fulfilling and thereby raising motivation. Job enrichment does exactly that. If a job is enriched, employees are given additional, usually more responsible tasks that they are expected to perform. Another way of enriching a job is to rotate specific tasks among various employees. Thereby they perform different tasks, don’t get bored as easily and are thus more motivated. Job enrichment, however, should not be confused with job enlargement. Job enlargement, as opposed to job enrichment, means that the employees are asked to accept a higher work load without the benefit of variation or increased responsibility. As a result, job enlargement does usually not contribute to employee motivation.
Ever since managers have started to establish ways to increase motivation and thus productivity, various motivation theories have started to emerge ___. One of these theories, which is called behaviour theory or the Hawthorne effect, states that employees are motivated if they receive special attention from their managers. This theory was tested at the Hawthorne plant, therefore the name, where the experts tried to find out how employees would react to increased or decreased lighting levels and heating. Although the Hawthorne effect does shed some light on how to increase motivation and productivity, contemporary theories have proven to be more accurate and more useful.
As far as your situation is concerned, there are various steps that could be taken. First of all, participative management might prove successful __ if your employees are given a say in how they can perform their jobs and can contribute their ideas to major management decisions. Moreover, job enrichment in the form of job rotation could solve some of your problems. Additionally, this step would help your employees better understand their colleagues’ jobs and responsibilities. As a third measure we would suggest considering introducing so-called modified work schedules, e.g. flexitime or work-share programs, where employees are offered decision-making authority as far as their working hours are concerned. Various studies have shown that flexitime arrangements are among the most appreciated and accepted offers by employers.
We hope that the above information will prove useful to you and that our suggestions are able to contribute to solving your problems. If you need any further information, please don’t hesitate to contact us again. We would like to wish you good luck with your new motivation strategy.
Yours faithfully,
Der über-drüber 1er.
Inhalt:
1) Perfekt
Sprache:
1) "Ever since managers have started to establish ways to increase motivation and thus productivity, various motivation theories have started to emerge over the course of time.": "over the course of time" hier weg weil Du mit "Ever since" eh schon Dein zeitlichen Parameter festgelegt hast (doppelt).
Re: Exercise Numaro threeee 3Original
In this rapid development of markets especially in Eastern Europe and in China is important to get the right investment information for investing in a company and in the long run to make a profit. For this reason the author focuses on corporate bonds.
This report gives a brief explanation of the functions of agencies like Moody’s and Standard & Poors. Next, the report shows a comparison of secured bonds and debentures also called unsecured bonds. Finally, the author suggests for how Investfonds AG could make sure it always has the most up-to-date information on stock and bond developments.
First of all, it is very important to know the different symbols like AAA or C means which are used by Moody’s and Standards & Poors. These two mentioned companies are rating companies. They analyse the bonds exactly for the level of risk versus potential yield. The most secured bond gets the symbol AAA because triple A is the highest grade. An example for AAA bond is a government bond. The lowest grades are from C to D. These grades represent unsecured bonds also called junk bonds. These bonds have a high level of insecurity but could make a lot of profit or loss.
The next step is to distinguish between secured bonds and debentures.
Secured bonds backed by pledges of assets to the bondholders. Whereas unsecured bond for which no specific property is pledged as security. This means, if a company goes bankrupt the holders of secured bonds would get their money back, because the bonds are backed by first mortgages or other mortgages and the holders of unsecured bonds would lose money.
Finally the author gives suggestions to Investfonds AG to be always up-to-date referring to the information on stock and bond developments.
There are some possibilities to get the right information on time. For example the stock quotations, bond quotations and mutual funds quotations are reported in most city newspapers daily. An other option is to get the right information from the internet or the latest technology to follow the developments of stock and bonds is to get the right software from NASDAQ. This software is expensive but in fact, by right using this software you could save a lot of money.
Korrektur
In this era that has witnessed a rapid development of markets, especially in Eastern Europe and in China,it is important to obtain the right investment information for investing in a company and making a profit in the long run___.
For this reason, the author focuses on corporate bonds.
This report gives a brief explanation of the functions of agencies like Moody’s and Standard & Poors. Next, the report shows a comparison of secured bonds and debentures, which are also called unsecured bonds. Finally, the author suggests __ how Investfonds AG could make sure it always has the most up-to-date information on stock and bond developments.
First of all, it is very important to know what the different symbols, like AAA or C,__ which are used by Moody’s and Standards & Poors, mean. These two mentioned companies are rating agencies. They analyse the bond issuersaccording to the level of risk they pose. The most secured bond receive the symbol AAA because triple A is the highest grade. An example for a AAA bond is a government bond that has been issued by a financially stable country. The lowest grades range from C to D. These grades represent unsecured bonds, which are also called junk bonds. These bonds have a high level of risk but could also help the buyer make a high profit ___.
The next step is to distinguish between secured bonds and debentures.
Secured bonds are backed by pledges of assets to the bondholders, whereas unsecured bond are bonds for which no specific property has been pledged. This means that if a company goes bankrupt, the holders of secured bonds would get their money back, because the bonds are backed by first mortgages or other mortgages and the holders of unsecured bonds would lose money.
Finally the author gives suggestions to Investfonds AG for how to always be up-to-date referring to the information on stock and bond developments.
There are certain possibilities through which to acquire the right information on time. For example, the stock quotations, bond quotations and mutual funds quotations are reported in most city newspapers daily. Another option is to obtain the right information from the internet or by relying on the latest technology to follow the developments of stock and bonds, namely software from NASDAQ. This software is expensive but in fact, by __ using this software correctly, you could save a lot of money.
Inhalt:
1) Bestens
Grammatik:
1) Hier gibt es noch Arbeit. Versuche, Deine Sätze weiter zu kürzen und soviele "Nummer Sicher" Phrasen zu üben, wie nur möglich, um Dich bei der DP auf viele Anker zu stützen. Möglichst viele Posts im Thread helfen hier sicher noch weiter. Versuche hierbei immer, ähnliche Phrasen einzubauen, bist Du sie perfekt beherrscht.
2) "Whereas unsecured bond for which no specific property is pledged as security.": ACHTUNG: Kein vollständiger Satz: Bei "Whereas" zu Beginn eines Satzes immer nochmals checken, ob es sich da wirklich um einen Satz oder nur eine Phrase handelt.
3) "There are some possibilities to get ": Für einige ist "certain" fast immer stilistisch besser als "some"
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